Bath in its relation to Literature. 



prizes and certificates. The school did not, then, fall 

 below the average in any instance ; it was decidedly above 

 it in chemistry, electricity, and physiography. 



Literature. 



Bath has had relations with Literature in three ways : the 

 prominence given to it in works both of history and fiction, 

 the excellence of its public and private libraries, and the 

 eminent authors who have made it their abode or paid it 

 frequent visits. 



With regard to books on Bath, Macaulay writes of " the 

 beautiful city which the genius of Anstey and of Smollett, of 

 Frances Burney and Jane Austen has made classic ground." 

 Through more than a century, Bath and its waters, its amuse- 

 ments, its notable characters, and its fashionable society, 

 furnished a constant succession of subjects for readers of 

 fiction. And while the mine worked by Fielding in " Tom 

 Jones,'' Sheridan in the " School for Scandal," Bulwer in 

 " Paul Cliiford," and Dickens in " Pickwick," proved so 

 rich, others were opened in the regions of Science, History, 

 and Archaeology. The botany and geology of the dis- 

 trict were studied, the local annals were found to have 

 historic importance, and the Roman remains inexhaustible 

 interest'. 



Some of the Bath libraries are remarkable. The oldest is 

 in the Vestry of the Abbey Church. It was begun by 

 Bi.shop Lake between 1616 and 1624, when he died. He 

 appears to have wished that the chief church of the city 

 should have a good selection of the standard works of the 

 time. That they were intended principally for the use of 

 the Clergy of the district and other cultivated persons is 



