B A 
of them, neither is there any laflltiule from bad hours, or 
from an excefs of difiipation. 
The Pump-room is fituated on the north fide of the 
King’s Bath : it was erefled in the year 1704, but much 
enlarged in the iyear 1751, and is now a handfpme piece 
of building. To this building in 1786 was added a hand- 
fome portico for the reception of the chairs, that the com¬ 
pany in the Pump-room might not be incommoded by the 
chairmen. The nobility and gentry alienable in it every 
morning, between the hours of 1'even and ten, to drink 
the water; for whofe entertainment a good band of mufic 
attends during the feafon. In this room is hung up the 
following curious and beautiful lines : 
Alwhyle ye drynke,—’mydft Age and Ache ybent. 
Ah creepe not comfortlelle belide our Stream'd; 
(Sweet Nurfe of Hope) Afflydtions downward fente 
Wythe ftyll fmalle Voyce,toroufe from thriftlefsDreame, 
Eache wynge to prune, that (hyftythe everie Spraie 
In wytleffe Flyghte, and chyrpythe Lyte awaie. 
Alwhyle ye lave—fuche Solace may be founde : 
“When kynde the Hand, why ’neath its healynge faynte ? 
payne fhall recure the Heartes corruptede Wounde ; 
Farre gone is that whych feelethe not its Playnte. 
By kyndrede Angel fmote, Bethefda gave 
N.ewe Vyrtues forthe, and felte her troublede Wave.” 
Thus drynke, thus lave—nor ever more lamente : 
Oure Springes but Howe pale Anguilh to befriende. 
How fayre the Meed that followethe Contente ! 
How blelle to lyve, and fynde fuch Anguifh mend ? 
How blefte to dye—when fufferynge I'aithe makes fure, 
At Lyfe’s high Founte, an everlaftynge Cure! 
Edgar. 
The perfon or patient intending to bathe puts on, at his 
own lodgings, a bathing-drefs hired for the purpofe; and 
is carried in a dole chair to one of the flips which open 
into the bath. There he defeends by Heps into the water, 
where he is attended by a guide. Having (laid his Hated 
time in the bath, he afeends again into the flip, where he' 
puts off his bathing-drefs, and, being wrapped up in blan¬ 
kets, is carried home to bed, where he lies for fome time 
to encourage perfpiration. The King’s Bath is overlooked 
by the company in the Pump-room ; and adjoining to it 
are places furnifhed with pumps to pour the hot ftreams 
on any difeafed part of the body. 
In Bath there are three churches, feveral chapels, and 
meeting-houfes for moll kinds of diflenters. The cathe¬ 
dral church of St. Peter and St. Paul, commonly called 
the Abbey, (fuppofed to be built on the fpot where flood 
the Roman temple of Minerva, who was the tutelar deity 
of the hot-fprings,) is a noble edifice, built in the form of 
a crofs, and founded in 676, by king Ofric, together with 
the Abbey-houfe for nuns; but, in the year 775, king 
Ofta placed therein fecular canons, who, being expelled 
by king Edgar, he inftituted Benedictine monks in their 
Head; and it was frequently repaired and augmented, till 
Oliver King fet on foot the prefent pile in 1495. This 
church was formerly called the Lantern of England , on ac¬ 
count of the number and lize of its windows; but, as it 
is now inclofed by houfes to the north and fouth, the light 
is much intercepted; it is a (lately and elegant flrufture, 
and affords the curious ftranger as much fpeculation as any 
parochial church of the fame Handing in England. The 
length from eaft to weft is 210 feet, and from north to 
fouth 126 ; the breadth of the body and fide aides is fe- 
venty-tvvo feet, and the windows are fifty-two in number. 
Bath is joined with Wells to form a bilhopric, called the 
diocefe of Bath and Wells. The bilhop’s feat is at Wells. 
John de Viliula, the lixteenth bilhop, having purchafed 
the city of Bath for 500 marks of Henry I. transferred his 
feat to this place in 1088. Difputes arofe between the monks 
of Bath and jhe canons of Wells, about the election of a 
bilhop ; but they were at laft cornpromifed by Robert the 
eighteenth bifliop, who decreed, that from henceforward 
■the bilhop fitouId be ftyled from both places, and that the 
Vol, II, No. 104. 
T H. 801 
precedency fliould be given to Bath ; that, in the vacancy 
ot the fee, the bilhop (hould be elected by a certain num¬ 
ber of delegates from both churches; and that he fliould 
be jnftalled in them both ; both of them to constitute the 
bifliop’s chapter; and all his grants and patents to be con¬ 
firmed in both. So it ftood till the reformation. But, in 
the 35th of Henry VIII. an a£t paffed for the dean and 
chapter of Wells to make one foie chapter for the bifliop. 
This diocefe hath yielded to the church of Rome one car¬ 
dinal ; and to the civil Hate of England (lx lord chancel¬ 
lors, five lord treafurers, a lord privy feal, a lord prefident 
of Wales, and principal fecretary of ftate. It contains the 
county of Somerfet, except a few churches in the city of 
Briftol; the number of pariflies amounting to 388, and 
the churches and chapels to 503. Of the pariflies 16.0 are 
impropriate. It is valued in the king’s books.at 5.35I,. is. 
3d. and computed to be worth annually 2200I. The cler¬ 
gy’s tenth is 353I. 18s. ojd. 
There is a public granimar-fehool in Broad-ftreet, origi¬ 
nally founded and endowed by Edward VI. with part of the 
land belonging to the diffolved religious houfes. The pre¬ 
fent building was begun in the year 1752.—Here is alfo a 
charity-fchool, which was founded in 1711,' and was be¬ 
gun, and for fome years carried on, by the intereft and un¬ 
wearied endeavours of that eminent pattern of learning 
and piety, Robert Nelfon, Efq. who engaged dean Willis, 
(afterwards bifliop of Wincliefter,) and feveral other per¬ 
sons of diftin6tion, to alfift him in this arduous and chari¬ 
table undertaking. It was rebuilt by fubfeription, and 
the corporation liberally contributed towards it, as well 
by their fublcriptions as by a grant of the ground on which 
the prefent fcliool is erected ; and, on the 12th of October, 
1721, the foundation-ftone was laid by Mr. Hoare, on which 
is this infeription : “God’s Providence is our Inheritance.” 
The Grove, near the Abbey-church, is called Orange- 
grove, from an obelifk erefted by the late Richard Nalh, 
Efq. in compliment to the prince of Orange, who came 
here for his health juft before he married the princefs roy¬ 
al of England, and received great benefit from the waters. 
A very handfo.me theatre iseftablifhed here by royal patent. 
It is adorned with columns of the Doric and Ionic orders, 
and is allowed, of its lize, to be as complete a theatre as 
any in Europe. • 
There are only two fairs held annually in this city, of 
very trifling note ; but on Lanfdown, about three miles 
diftant, on the. ioth of Auguft, a fair is annually held for 
cheel'e, horfes, and mod kinds of merchandife. The prin¬ 
cipal markets are on Wednefdays and Saturdays, and plen¬ 
tifully fupplied with every kind of provilions, generally at 
moderate prices. The markets for filh are, Mondays, 
Wednefdays, and Fridays, and are thought to excel thofe 
of any inland town in the kingdom. 
In the vicinity of Bath (lands Midford Cqftle, built by 
Difney Roebuck, Efq. Alfo the magnificent manfion of 
Prior Park, the feat of the late Ralph Alien, Efq. which 
commands a profpeCt, as delightful as it is pollible for the 
imagination to conceive, the city of Bath being the chief 
object, and towards it the principal'front of the houfe is 
turned. The feat conlifts of a houfe in the centre, two 
pavilions, and two wings of offices, all united by arcades, 
and making a continued line of building of above 1000 
feet in front, of which the houfe takes about 150 feet, and 
is of the Corintlfian order, elevated upon a ruftic bafe- 
ment, and crowned with a baluftrade; the centre advan¬ 
cing forward, and making one of the largeft and moft cor¬ 
rect porticos in the kingdom. The order includes two (lo¬ 
ries, and the houfe has fifteen windows in the length of it. 
The portico, together with a Corinthian hall in the prin¬ 
cipal llory, a chapel on the fame floor of the Ionic order, 
fupporting the Corinthian, and a Corinthian gallery ex¬ 
tending over the hall, and the rooms on each fide of it, all 
finifhed with free-ftone, are the beauties and curiolities of 
the pile. The gardens confift of two terraces, and two 
(lopes, lying northward before the houfe, wit'll winding 
walks made through a little coppice, opening to the weft- 
9 S ward, 
