Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 3.djvu/449

Rh mostly built of white freestone. Jointly with Wells, Bath is the head of a diocese, which is co-extensive with the county of Somerset The Abbey Church is a handsome cruciform edifice, dating from 1499, with a quadrangular tower 162 feet high rising from the point of intersection. It is 210 feet in length from E. to W.,and 126 in breadth from N. to S. The west front contains a curious representation of the founder s dream of the angels ascending and de scending on Jacob s ladder. In the in terior are the tombs of Quin, Nash, Mal- thus, Broome, Melmoth, and numerous minor celebrities; while several of the monuments are from the chisels of Bacon, Chantrey, and Flaxman. The church has been recently restored under the direc tion of Sir Gilbert Scott, at a cost of 20,000. There are about thirty other parish churches or chapels in Bath, as well as numerous nonconformist places of worship. St Swithin s, &quot;Valcot, may be mentioned as containing the tombs of Christopher Anstey and Madame d Arblay. Among the most important educational institutions are the Free Grammar School, founded by Edward VI. ; the Somersetshire College, estab lished in 1858 ; the Royal School, for the education of the daughters of military officers, founded in 1865 ; the Bath College in Sydney Place ; the School of Art ; the Roman Catholic College at Prior Park, which was formerly the mansion of Ralph Allen, the friend and patron of Fielding ; and the Wesleyan College at Kingswood. There are several buildings of considerable pretension connected with the baths from which the town derives its name. The springs supply six distinct establishments, namely, the King s, Queen s, Hot, Cross, Abbey, and Grand Pump Boom Hotel baths. Of these the oldest is the King s, which was enclosed in 1236. The pump-room is 85 feet in length by 56 in breadth and 34 in height; it contains a marble atatue to Beau Nash. The Queen s was built in 1597; and the Cross Bath dates from 1790. The tem perature varies in the different springs from 117 to 120 Fahr., and the specific gravity of the hot bath is 1 002. Dr Daubeny in 1833 found that the daily evolution of nitrogen gas amounted to 250 cubic feet ; and Professor Ramsay has calculated that if the mineral ingredients of the waters were solidified they would form in one year a column 9 feet in diameter and 140 feet in height. The principal substances in solution are sulphates of lime and soda and chlorides of sodium and magnesium. The waters are very beneficial in cases of palsy, rheumatism, gout, leprosy, neuralgia, sciatica, chorea, diseases of the liver, and cutaneous and scrofulous affections. The influx of visitors, varying from 10,000 to 14,000 during the season, has greatly stimulated the adornment of the town. The Assembly rooms, built by Wood the younger, at a cost of 20,000, were opened in October 1771, and for elegance, comfort, and convenience, are not surpassed by any similar rooms in the kingdom. The theatre, which is one of the best out of London, was opened in 1863, the former building having been burnt in 1862. The Literary and Scientific In stitution, founded in 1826, is a handsome building of the Doric order, and contains a laboratory, a lecture-room, a museum (with numerous Roman antiquities and ornitho logical specimens), and an extensive library, in which is the Chapman collection illustrative of the history of Bath. The Rev. Leonard Blomefield (late Jenyns) has presented his fine library of natural history and science (including his herbarium) to the institution. The Guild-hall, with an elegant Grecian front, was founded in 1766 ; and the market-halls were reconstructed about 1863. Among the charitable institutions are the Mineral Water Hospital, opened in 1742, and extended in 1861 ; the Royal United Hospital, opened in!826; Bellot s Hospital, which dates from- 1611, though the present building was erected in 1859; St Catherine s Hospital, founded by Edward VI ; St John s, founded by Bishop Fitz Joceline in 1174; and the Ear- and-Eye Infirmary, established in 1837. There are six. banks, besides a savings-bank. The Sydney gardens have been open since 1795, and are frequently employed for public exhibitions and amusements; the Victoria Park, opened by the queen, when Princess Victoria, in 1830, is such as any city might be proud of. The corporation consists of a mayor, fourteen aldermen, and forty-two coun cillors, and the town returns two mem bers to parliament. Several newspapers are published weekly. The Great Western Railway connects Bath with London, Bristol, Salisbury, Wells, Wey- mouth, &c., from the first of which it is 107 miles distant; the Midland line is connected with Bath by a junction at Mangotsfield ; and ready access to the south has recently been obtained by the opening of the Somerset and Dorset line. The Kennet and Avon canal, which joins the Thames at Reading, affords water communication with the metropolis. The population of the municipal borough was 54,240 in 1851, 52,528 in 1861, and 52,557 in 1871, nearly 60 per cent, of the last number being females. In 1871 the parliamentary borough contained 53,704 persons.

Sketch Ground-Plan of Bath. 1. Guildhall 2. Assembly Rooms. 3. Theatre. 4. Post-Office. 5. Market. C. Pivmp-Room. 7. King s and Queen s Bath. 8. Cross Rath. 9. Hot Bath Pump-Room. 10. Kingston Baths. 11. Royal Private Baths. Device of Bishopric. City arms. According to the legend to which the inhabitants adhered till the middle of the 18th century, Bath was founded by the British king Bladud; but its origin cannot be historically traced to ah earlier date than the 1st century, when the Romans established here the city of Aqttce Solis, numerous remains of which have at various times been 