buildings, stands at the rear of Brock-Street, in an airy and healthy situation. To the north of this, are two handsome streets called Rivers-Street, and Burlington-Street; at the upper end of which is a range of fine, new houses, called Portland-Place, over which, and to the left Lansdown-Road is situated.

Lansdown Crescent, a grand and stately pile of buildings that seem to crown the city. The elevation of the place on which it stands, gives it pre-eminent advantages in respect to air, and extensive picturesque views, above all other parts of Bath. A fine field with a deep descent fronts the Crescent, on one side of which is a beautiful grove; from hence delightful scenes present their variegated beauties. The town sloping to the Avon; on the west, the valley winding towards Bristol, diversified by the hands of nature and art in the most elegant manner; hills swelling over hills and vales intersecting vales, adorned with woods, lawns and gardens display their several charms.

Somerset-Place stands at the west-end of Lansdown-Crescent, and has the same advantages of air and prospects.

Camden-Place lies to the East of Lansdown-Road, is a superb Crescent, composed of majestic buildings, and commands a view not less intereresting than that from LansdownCrescent all the eastern part of the city, the valley, winding to the southward, the Avon meandering through the meadows, with handsome villages scattered on its margin, the great London-road, and the hills rising on either side in an amphitheatrical form.

Orange Grove is a beautiful open area, one hundred and ninety feet long, and one hundred and seventy broad, planted with rows of elm; in the centre stands an obelisk, erected by Mr. Nash, in compliment to the Prince of Orange, with the following inscription :

In Memoriam

Sanitatis

PRINCIPI AURIACO
Aquarum Thermalium Potu

Favente DEO

Ovante Britannia

Felicitur Restituæ

MDCCXXXIV.

In Memory of the happy restoration of the Health of the PRINCE of ORANGE, by the drinking of the Bath Waters, through the favour of GOD, and to the joy of Britain, 1734.

The North Parade, is a fine, open terrace, raised on arches eighteen feet above the level of the old Roman ground, 580 feet in length, and 52 in breadth; a grand uniform range of houses line it on the south side that command a luxuriant prospect.

Two handsome streets, called Duke-street and Pierepointstreet, serve as avenues front the North to the South Parade, which in respect to structure, resembles the former. Here, an enchanting scene opens to view. Prior-Park, and the lofty Beechen-Cliff with its hanging woods, display their various beauties. At the east end flows the Avon, over which there is a ferry into charming meadows, and in the front lies the Ham, now partly turned into a kitchen garden.

Laura-Place, an assemblage of majestic structures, from whence arises Great Pulteney-street, composed of a most superb group of mansions in a direct line. An elegant Hotel, in the front of Sydney-Gardens bounds the present buildings. But it is in contemplation to continue this noble street, beyond the pleasure grounds, so that this beautiful Garden may form the centre; which arrangement, added to the architectural grandeur of the houses, will render it indescribably pompous.

High-Street, is all that space which is contained in a strait line, between the site of the North Gate and precincts of the Abbey Church, and is the principal avenue into the Old Town from London, Oxford, and Glocester. The NorthGate stood at the north-east angle of the old rampire, or borough-wall, and was in its perfect state a handsome building, surmounted with a tower; over the great gateway stood a grotesque figure of King Bladud.

Within a commodious recess, on the cast-side of this street, stands the Guildhall, adjoining to the markets, which extend from it nearly to the edge of the river.

At the entrance from London, there are several new ranges of magnificent buildings, called Grosvenor-Place, Kensington, Piccadilly, &c.

CHAP. VIII.

Of the Bath Waters, Causes of their Heat, and their Medicinal Virtues; of Bathing; a Description of the Baths, &c.

N times of ignorance, and amongst people to whom philosophical research has not as yet developed the mighty chain of secondary causes and their effects: the phenomina of nature, and every deviation from her accustomed processes, are regarded with wonder, and attributed to the operations of magick, or the agency of subordinate intelligen

ces.

Our ancestors held this opinion of the hot springs of Bath; and considered them as produced by the all-powerful art of their royal necromancer, King Bladud, who they believed buried deeply in the earth at Bath, two tuns of burning brass, and two formed of glass, the latter of which contained seven species of salt, brimstone and wildfire; and these being placed over the four springs, occasioned (by the fomentation of their contents) that great heat, which had continued for so many ages, and should last for ever.

"It may easily be imagined, that a mixture so truly infernal as the above would not have many advocates for taking them internally. But exclusive of the impression made by this popular superstition respecting their origin, the practices of the times, and the theories of medical men, three centuries ago, which were both adverse to the drinking of mineral waters, would have operated as a check upon the inward use of the Bath springs. The effect was answerable to these causes; a few patients, indeed, of great good sense, or of more than ordinary courage, used them sparingly in queen Elizabeth's time; but they were not taken generally till the time of Charles the Second, when under the sanction of Sir Alexander Frazer's opinion and advice, invalid's visited the hot-waters of Bath for the express purpose of drinking them.

"Since this period there has been no interruption to the internal use of these admirable waters; and the only alteration in the mode of taking them has been a reduction in the quantity swallowed, which at present seldom exceeds three half pints per day, instead of four or five quarts, the measure prescribed one hundred years ago.

"Various treatises on the nature, causes, and constitution of the Bath waters, have been at different times presented to the world by ingenious men, which have successively faded away and been neglected, in proportion as increasing science has afforded new lights, and detected old errors. To arrive

at certainty on these delicate subjects, which (Dr. Stukely says) seem to be amongst the inscrutable arcana of nature, is perhaps beyond the reach of human skill; but as every further hint, or additional conjecture, may lend somewhat towards their illustration, we hope to be pardoned for introducing a few observations relative to the probable causes and certain effects of the Bath waters.

"Though all waters which flow from the earth may pro perly be called mineral, yet of late this term has been particularly applied to such alone, as are distinguished by a peculiar colour, taste, smell, or other properties, from common water. Mineral waters, thus understood, have long attracted the attention of mankind, by their impregnation and medicinal powers.

"The phænomenon of a spring issuing from the earth's surface considerably hotter than the temperature of the atmosphere, and persevering uniformly at all seasons both its heat and its supply, must early have caught the observation and fixed the attention both of the unlearned and the scientifick. We have already seen, that from this circumstance the Romans were induced to erect on the scite of these waters those splendid structures which we have described in a former part of this work.* To the same beneficial gift of nature. it must also be attributed, that Bath has attained its modern magnificence.

"The medicinal powers of mineral waters can only be properly inferred from their experienced effects. Whilst such effects, however, should form the leading object of attention with those concerned in their administeration, yet, the knowledge of their contents also must be deemed highly important; as well for the purpose of imitating such as are found to be beneficial, in countries where nature does not afford them, as for discovering the salutary powers of certain

*At Buxton in Derbyshire, a place celebrated for its tepid springs, remains of Roman antiquity have also been discovered.

medical ingredients, in the degree of dilution wherein they are afforded by such springs.

There is also another point of view in which an acquaintance with the contents of mineral waters must be deemed of importance. Arising from unknown depths of the earth, they alone announce to us several of the substances therein existing, and frequently the awful operations therein transacted; thus several valuable ores have been discovered, as those of Wicklow in Ireland, and various mines of alum, salt, &c.

"The waters of this city, and of Buxton, Aix-la-Chapelle, Carlsbad,t and many others, manifest the secret operations of intense heat at depths hitherto inaccessible; and by the nature of their contents suggest the causes which most probably concur in their production. To account for these appearances, and of course for the existence of hot springs, has long employed the ingenuity of naturalists, and the labours of chemists. The older hypothethes of their formation have been rejected, as insufficient for their uniform temperature, or various and regular impregnation. Later investigators have made deductions on the subject, more consistent with analogy and correct observation of facts; which evince satisfactorily, that no power inferior to that of subterranean volcanick fire, is adequate to their production. These subterranean fires may be of an intensity incomparably greater than our common ones, and may be supplied with oxygen gas, elicited from the various substances containing it, with which the globe is stored. Water, it is also known, abounds in various cavities of the earth; and may be raised to the temperature of, or above the boiling point, according as it is in covered or in open situations. The heat of the Geyser spring in Iceland, on its emersion from the earth, is (as observed by Dr. Black) much above the boiling point, and sufficiently powerful to dress meat thoroughly in a few minutes; in its cavity it appears red hot. The frequency of warm springs in volcanick countries, as Iceland, and the Lipari islands, forms a very striking proof of the truth of this theory, and of the powers of fire and water when united, of dissolving and hold

+ The Carlsbad spring rises in Bohemia, and is of the astonishing temperature of 165°.