74 General History of Bath. 



general style of the city was that of a mean manufacturing 

 town, with narrow, uneven streets, and affording few of the 

 decencies or comforts of life. It is not surprising, therefore, 

 to read, in a letter written by the Mayor in 1622, that there 

 was but one "resident sojourner." About ten days was 

 the ordinary stay of those who came " for the cure." The 

 population consisted almost entirely of physicians, surgeons, 

 and apothecaries, who added the profits of boarding visitors 

 to their professional honoraria^ and the retail tradesmen, 

 who supplied the necessaries and extravagancies of life. 



The growth of any considerable outside trade was rendered 

 impossible by the state of the roads, which were so bad as 

 to be absolutely impracticable. Indeed, it was sometimes 

 seriously debated in London whether such and such a royal 

 personage could get to Bath at all. If a distinguished 

 visitor was expected, the Corporation sent a deputation 

 from parish to parish with notice to " mend their ways " ; 

 and when this had been done it took quite a little army of 

 pioneers to bring along a couple of carriages. For ordinary 

 commodities Bath was dependant upon the port of Bristol, 

 and during the whole of this century the citizens laboured 

 to have the Avon made navigable, for the land " carriage 

 in most part, though not many miles, by reason of rocks 

 and mountainous ways, cannot be had but at a great rate." 



It would be natural to ask, " Why no one had the enter- 

 prise to inaugurate a change in the city itself?" The answer 

 is to be found in the vices of the local administration. 



By the Charter of Elizabeth, which codified 

 c^'"'oratron ^^ existing customs, the government of the 



city was vested in a mayor, a college of alder- 

 men (varying in number from four to ten), and twenty 

 councillors. The vices inherent in the system of govern- 



