30 CONNECTION OF BATH WITH THE 



The lore 

 Of mighty minds doth hallow in the core 



Of human hearts the ruins of a wall 

 Where dwell the wise and wondrous. 



The ground where such have trodden becomes 

 fertile of sentiment and feeling. Inspiration is 

 breathed around, and many a generous passion is 

 raised, especially in the youthful breast. On the 

 banks of the Isis and Cam are still living instructors 

 who are diffusing around the light of science and 

 learning ; but who can doubt that the very places 

 themselves raise a glorious emulation in the bosom 

 of youth! 



Before such venerable and sacred seats of sound 

 learning and exact science all other places must bow. 

 They were of old the chosen seat of the Muses, and 

 from age to age they have continued to send forth 

 those who have supported the honour and advanced 

 the reputation of our country. But long before the 

 days of Alfred, whom the most ancient of them 

 boasts as its illustrious founder, we may discern 

 through the palpable obscure which involves the 

 origin of this and every other city, that the City of 

 the Sun was pre-eminent above all the cities of the 

 west. That here was a point about w^hich the Bri- 

 tons had congregated may be proved without refer- 

 ence to w^hat have been aptly termed the somnia 



