36 CONNECTION OF BATH WITH THE 



been wanting those who upheld the united lights of 

 literature and science in the midst of the population 

 of this city. 



And here I wish that we could recall the spirit of 

 Thomas Chandler, who was Chancellor of the church 

 of Wells in the reign of King Henry VL ; or that 

 we could recover a work of his which existed in the 

 time of Leland, De Laudibus Baiarum et Fonticulorum 

 Civitatum. How much of the writings of the school- 

 men would we give for this curious and interesting 

 tract! How agreeable a picture it in all probability 

 presented of the state of the sister-cities at a period 

 of which we have so few memorials; not inferior 

 perhaps in true and lively colouring to the descrip- 

 tion of London a few centuries earlier by Fitz- Ste- 

 phen. How many of the more distinguished inha- 

 bitants of the monastery of Bath may it have 

 recorded. For Chandler was one who delighted to 

 employ himself in maintaining the memory of the 

 wise and good. But, since his spirit will not come, 

 even though we invoke it in these which were pro- 

 bably once his favourite haunts, and since his work 

 is lost, it is to be feared irrecoverably, we must be 

 content with such imperfect hints as are to be col- 

 lected from other quarters. [5] 



The change in the character of the inmates of this 

 monastery was produced by that remarkable person 



