Afterword. 261 



overlook the great artery of daily traffic are pleasing and popu- 

 lar promenades, especially on the occasions of the Floral Fetes 

 and Horticultural Exhibitions now justly famous. 



Close to the Pulteney Bridge may still be seen a portion of 

 the ancient Borough Wall. When Samuel Pepys visited Bath in 

 1668 he tells us that he walked " round the walls of the city, 

 which are good and the battlements ail whole." Now, though the 

 name of ~" Borough Walls " still designates a busy thoroughfare, 

 the Walls themselves are only extant in two places, one facing 

 the Mineral Water Hospital* and the other in a depressed and 

 depressing situation at the back of the Market. Here too is the 

 sole surviving gate, the East gate, a forlorn and half-forgotten 

 relic of the little city in the bend of the Avon, the outline of 

 whose ancient limits is now preserved only in the names of its 

 streets and thoroughfares. 



Hard by the East gate and adjoining the Guildhall are the Mar- 

 kets. There was a time, not so long ago, when Bath in common 

 with other provincial towns held its Fairs and Markets sub Jove, 

 but its Cherry Fair and Orange Fair are things of the past, and 

 a well-housed and admirably appointed Market is now the 

 legitimate successor of the somewhat al fresco arrangements 

 which sufficed our fathers. 



The Market is not only convenient and central, and well 

 provided with all the necessities of a daily food-supply, but is 

 rendered exceptionally attractive by the rich array of flowers 

 and fruits collected under its central dome. At all seasons of 

 the year the emulation of rival vendors secures a display not 

 more remarkable for its profusion than for its tasteful arrange- 

 ment. The law of supply and demand admits of few more 

 pleasing illustrations than this daily exhibition of the way in 

 which the prevailing taste for floral decoration has established a 

 new and beautiful attraction in the midst of a building primarily 

 devoted to the utilities and the necessities. 



* " The battlement is modern, and was placed there by the public spirit of 

 the late J. H. Markland, D.C.L." — Earle's " Bath And. and Mod." ^. loo. 



