that the wrath of heaven against him might be averted, part of the drove of pigs, as if seized with a frenzy, ran down the side of the hill into an alder-moor, till they reached the spot of ground where the hot springs of Bath now boil up, and from thence returned covered with black mud. The Prince being of a thoughtful turn, and very solicitous to find out the reason why the pigs that wallowed in the mire in the summer to cool themselves, should do the same in winter, observed them further, and following them down, at length perceived a steam to arise' from the place where the swine wallowed. Making his way to it, he found it to be warm; and this satisfied him, that for the benefit of this heat the pigs resorted thither, and after a while became whole and smooth from their foul scurfs and eruptions, by their rolling about in the warm mud. Upon this he considers within himself why he should not receive the same benefit, by the same means; he tries it, and succeeds; and when he found himself cured of his leprosy, declared who he was. His master was not apt to believe him at first, but at length did, and went with him to court, where he was owned to be the king's son, and, after his father's death, succeeded him in the government; and then, in gratitude, made these baths."*

* But what is surprising, no mortal e'er view'd

Any one of the physical gentlemen stew'd.

From the day that king Bladud first found out these bogs,

And thought them so good for himself and his hogs,

NOT ONE OF THE FACULTY EVER HAS TRIED

These excellent waters to cure his own hide;
Though many a skilful and learned physician,

With candour, good sense, and profound erudition,

This singular and curious fragment thus concludes," that when these works were completed, Bladud gave himself up to ingenious studies, which he pursued with so much assiduity, that he at last invented wings to fly with; but these not being quite so safe as the modern balloons, in one of his flights he unfortunately fell upon a pinnacle of a temple which he had founded to Minerva, in Bath, tumbled instantly. to the ground, and, to the great grief of his subjects, broke his neck, after a reign of twenty years."

However romantic and fabulous the above account appears, till within these last eighty years, it seems, it was the positive belief and creed of every staunch native of Bath.†

It appears probable then, that BATH owed its foundation to the Romans, and that it was erected under the reign of Claudius, in the middle of

Obliges the world with the fruits of his brain,
Their nature and hidden effects to explain!

We,

+ In the Rev. Mr. Warner's History of Bath, in allusion to the above circumstance, he has the following note:-"In a manuscript of Mr. Wood, the architect, communicated to me ten years ago, by the Rev. Dr. Ayscough, of the British Museum, the following certificate occurs, written at the foot of the above traditional account, seemingly drawn up to be signed by the principal inhabitants of Bath. whose names are hereunder written, natives of the city of Bath, having perused the above tradition, do think it very truly and faithfully related, and that there is but one material circumstance omitted in the whole story, which is, the grateful acknowledgment Bladud made to his master; for, it is said, the king richly arrayed him, made him a knight, and gave him an estate to support him in all his dignity. As witness our hands, this 1st day of November, 1741.'”

the first century, who made a complete conquest of this part of Somersetshire. If the honour of discovering these springs did not belong to the Romans, a people so addicted to the use of the bath as an article of health and luxury, it is natural they would eagerly embrace the opportunity of indulging their favourite passion, which the thermal waters afforded with so much facility. It is certain they were well known to these warriors during their residence in Britain, and so much indeed did they value the use of these hot springs, that they selected the low and narrow valley in which they rose, to build a town for their better security. This military station, for in those times it could scarcely be viewed in any other character, is thus described by Mr. Warner, in his voluminous History of Bath:"According to a form usually affected by the Romans on such occasions, it approached to a parallelogram; swelling out on one side so as to describe an outline somewhat pentagonal, and stretching in length, from east to west, about 400 yards, and 380 yards in the broadest part, from north to south. From subsequent discoveries, these walls appear to have been twenty feet above ground in height; and, in thickness, sixteen feet at the base, and eight at the summit; strengthened with five towers, rising at the angles, and having four portæ, or entrances, facing the cardinal points, which were connected with each other by two grand streets, dividing the city into four parts, and intersecting each other at the centre." Some of the above walls alluded to are still standing, and denominated

as the "Borough Wall:"* and, the Old City, it is said, was ten or twelve feet lower than the present one. It also received from the Romans the appropriate name of udara Ogua, or Warm Waters; Thermæ Sudatæ, Aquæ Culidæ, Aquæ Solis, or simply Balnea; while it was called Akemanrus Ceaster, i. e. the city of valetudinariaus, by the Saxons. The Britons designated it as Caer Baden; or, the City of Bath: and Caer yn ennaint twymyn; or, the City of the Hot-Bath.

There is little doubt but Bath was much distinguished by its elegance in the time of the Romans; which may be collected from the vestiges of Roman magnificence, discovered in digging at various times for the foundations of new buildings, as well as deciding that it has experienced various revolutions, and been the residence of several kings. But our limits prevent us from following up their successions. Suffice to observe, that copper and brass coins of Nero, Adrian, Trajan, Antoninus, &c. have been found; also several portions of sculpture, particularly the head of a bronze statue, in fine preservation, in 1727, successively assigned to a statue of Apollo or Minerva. Several rough-hewn stone coffins, and pieces of coin of the Saxon kings, Roman baths, sudatories, &c. In 1790, in laying the foundation of the new Pump-Room, in Stall-Street, a great variety of Roman antiquities were also discovered. Indeed, it is urged,

* At the back of the Grove-Tavern, contiguous to the market, part of the old wall and the eastern gate are to be traced.

that Apollo and Minerva were regarded as the patrons of these springs, and a magnificent temple had once been erected on this spot. In 1793, near Sidney-Place, a sepulchral altar was found, almost perfect. The whole of these antiquities, found at various periods, have been very properly deposited, by the Corporation, for the inspection of the curious, in a small building* at the end of Bath-Street.

To render this account of the ancient history of Bath as concise as possible, we shall conclude by observing, that, after the Romans quitted Bath, it sunk in point of grandeur; but, in the time of the Saxons, it was a place of some note. Richard I. gave it a charter, and the immunities of a free borough.

As early as 26 EDWARD I. Bath returned two members to parliament; but, in the first and second years of EDWARD II. the inhabitants declined the honour of representation, as being too expensive. Queen ELIZABETH, in 1590, granted a charter to Bath as a body corporate and politic, and declared it a city of itself; and, in 1794, his present Majesty also granted them a new charter, with an extension of privileges.

In quitting the above slight sketch of the antiquity of this splendid City, the reader's more immediate attention is now claimed to that period, from whence MODERN BATH may date

*Minute and learned accounts have been published upon these fragments by the Rev. Mr. Warner, the late Governor Pownall, S. Lysons, Esq. F.R.S. Keeper of the Records in the Tower; and a small manuscript quarto is also to be seen in this repository, written by John Cranch, and presented to the Corporation, upon these doubtful subjects.