2 68 THE BATH ROAD 



bathing-place, while the reflectious of the columns 

 deep clown in the quiet pool give a singularly com- 

 plete sense of restfulness. 



All this modern prosperity is, no doubt, very 

 gratifying, but prosperity means much building, and 

 Bath has now its suburbs ; uncharted stretches of 

 new villas, isolated, or in streets, that climb the hill- 

 sides of Combe Down, Beechen Cliff, and Lansdowne, 

 and help to destroy Macaulay's well-known, if some- 

 thing too overdrawn, architectural picture of Bath, 

 as '' that beautiful City which charms even eyes 

 familiar with the masterpieces of Bramante and 

 Palladio, and which " (horrible literary solecism !) 

 " the genius of Anstey and of Smollett, of Frances 

 Burney and of Jane Austen, has made classic 

 ground." 



Bath, indeed, was a jewel set in midst of her 

 picturesque amphitheatre of rocky and wooded hills ; 

 but now that those hills and those woods are beino- 

 covered with houses whose architecture is less cal- 

 culated to " charm the eyes familiar with the master- 

 pieces of Bramante and Palladio " than were the 

 buildings of a century and a half ago, the setting 

 of the jewel is by way of becoming tarnished. Now, 

 also, it has been reserved to these times of cheap 

 railway carriage of goods for brick houses to be seen 

 at Bath ; the one place in the world where brick 

 never had an opportunity until these latter days of 

 the " combine " of the allied " Bath Stone Firms," 

 which has raised the price of Bath stone, so that 

 in certain cases it has been found clieaj)er to bring 

 l)ricks from the Midlands to l^uild houses in Bath 



