76 General History of Bath. 



a freeman, which hath of late become a great prejudice to the 

 said City and the freemen thereof who have faithfully and hon- 

 estly served their apprenticeship, it is ordered that no person 

 or persons whatever shall for the future be made a freeman 

 unless he hath served such apprenticeship, except noblemen, 

 gentlemen, and such persons as this Court shall be well assured . 

 will not follow any art, trade, or mystery whatever." 



The natural result was that the citizens had no compe- 

 tition to excite their activity, and were deprived of the 

 advantage they might have derived from new blood and 

 bolder ideas. How great was the stagnation may be in- 

 ferred from two instances. At the commencement of the 

 century there was fear of a famine if a particular baker had 

 to attend as a witness in London. At the end of the same 

 century there was not one goldsmith in the city. 



The population was small, and almost stationary. We 

 have estimated the inhabitants at the Conquest at 890 ; 

 in 1379 the number was a little over 1,000, and at the 

 Restoration it did not exceed 1,200. 



During the whole of the seventeenth century there was a 

 complete absence of all increase in the area of the town. 



As the freemen were as close a corporation as the munici- 

 pality itself, and as no ordinary residents could acquire any 

 influence in local administration, it followed that there was 

 no inducement for either tradesmen or the wealthier classes 

 to make the city their home. 



A graphic though coarse sketch, entitled " A step to the 

 Bath," published in 1700, thus concludes : — 



" 'Tis neither town nor country, yet goes by the name of both. 

 Five months in the year 'tis as populous as London, the other 

 seven as desolate as a wilderness. Its chiefest inhabitants are 

 turnspit dogs, and it looks like Lombard-street on a. Saint's 

 day. During the season it hath as many families in a house as 



