April 23rd 1860
We have been here several weeks... Had I seen Bath earlier in my English life, I might have written many pages about it, for it is really a picturesque and interesting city. It is completely sheltered in the lap of hills, the sides of the valley rising steep and high from the level spot on which it stands, and through which runs the muddy little stream of the Avon. The older part of the town is on the level, and the more modern growth the growth of more than a hundred years climbs higher and higher up the hill-side, till the upper streets are very airy and lofty. The houses are built almost entirely of Bath stone, which in time loses its original buff colour, and is darkened by age and coal smoke into a dusky grey; but still the city looks clean and pure as compared with most other English towns. In its architecture, it has somewhat of a Parisian aspect, the houses having roofs rising steep from their high fronts, which are often adorned with pillars, pilasters, and other good devices, so that you see it to be a town built with some general idea of beauty, and not for business. There are Circuses, Crescents, Terraces, Parades, and all such fine names as we have become familiar with at Leamington, and other watering-places. The declivity of most of the streets keeps them remarkably clean, and they are paved in a very comfortable way, with large blocks of stone, so that the middle of the street is generally practicable to walk upon, although the side-walks leave no temptation so to do, being of generous width. In many alleys, and round about the Abbey and other edifices, the pavement is of square flags, like those of Florence, and as smooth as a palace floor. On the whole, I suppose there is no place in England where a retired man, with a moderate in come, could live so tolerably as at Bath; it being almost a city in size and social advantages; quite so, indeed, if eighty thousand people make a city and yet having no annoyance of business nor spirit of worldly struggle. All modes of enjoyment that English people like may be had here ; and even the climate is said to be milder than elsewhere in England. How this may be, I know not; but we have rain or passing showers almost every day since we arrived, and I suspect the surrounding hills are just about of that inconvenient height, that keeps catching clouds, and compelling them to squeeze out their moisture upon the included valley. The air, however, certainly is preferable to that of Leamington.
There are no antiquities except the Abbey, which has not the interest of many other English churches and cathedrals. In the midst of the old part of the town, stands the housewhich was formerlyBeauNash's residence, but wrhich is now part of the establishment of an ale merchant. The edifice is a tall, but rather mean-looking, stone building, with the entrance from a little side-court, which is so cumbered with empty beer barrels as hardly to afford a passage. The doorway has some architectural pretensions, being pillared and with some sculptured devices whether lions or winged heraldic monstrosities I forget, on the pediment. Within, there is a small entry, not large enough to be termed a hall, and a staircase, with carved balustrade, ascending by angular turns and square landing-places. For a long course of years, ending a little more than a century ago, princes, nobles, and all the great and beautiful people of old times, used to go up that staircase, to pay their respects to the King of Bath. On the side of the house, there is a marble slab inserted, recording that here he resided, and that here he died in 1767, between eighty and ninety years of age. My first acquaintance with him was in Smollett's " Roderick Random/' and I have met him in a hundred other novels.
His marble statue is in a niche at one end of the great pump room, in wig, square-skirted coat, flapped waistcoat, and all the queer costume of the period, still looking ghost-like upon the scene where he used to be an autocrat. Marble is not a good material for Beau Nash, however; or, if so, it requires colour to set him off adequately.
It is usual in Bath to see the old sign of the checker-board on the doorposts of taverns. It was originally a token that the game might be played there, and is now merely a tavern-sign.
We have been here several weeks... Had I seen Bath earlier in my English life, I might have written many pages about it, for it is really a picturesque and interesting city. It is completely sheltered in the lap of hills, the sides of the valley rising steep and high from the level spot on which it stands, and through which runs the muddy little stream of the Avon. The older part of the town is on the level, and the more modern growth the growth of more than a hundred years climbs higher and higher up the hill-side, till the upper streets are very airy and lofty. The houses are built almost entirely of Bath stone, which in time loses its original buff colour, and is darkened by age and coal smoke into a dusky grey; but still the city looks clean and pure as compared with most other English towns. In its architecture, it has somewhat of a Parisian aspect, the houses having roofs rising steep from their high fronts, which are often adorned with pillars, pilasters, and other good devices, so that you see it to be a town built with some general idea of beauty, and not for business. There are Circuses, Crescents, Terraces, Parades, and all such fine names as we have become familiar with at Leamington, and other watering-places. The declivity of most of the streets keeps them remarkably clean, and they are paved in a very comfortable way, with large blocks of stone, so that the middle of the street is generally practicable to walk upon, although the side-walks leave no temptation so to do, being of generous width. In many alleys, and round about the Abbey and other edifices, the pavement is of square flags, like those of Florence, and as smooth as a palace floor. On the whole, I suppose there is no place in England where a retired man, with a moderate in come, could live so tolerably as at Bath; it being almost a city in size and social advantages; quite so, indeed, if eighty thousand people make a city and yet having no annoyance of business nor spirit of worldly struggle. All modes of enjoyment that English people like may be had here ; and even the climate is said to be milder than elsewhere in England. How this may be, I know not; but we have rain or passing showers almost every day since we arrived, and I suspect the surrounding hills are just about of that inconvenient height, that keeps catching clouds, and compelling them to squeeze out their moisture upon the included valley. The air, however, certainly is preferable to that of Leamington.
There are no antiquities except the Abbey, which has not the interest of many other English churches and cathedrals. In the midst of the old part of the town, stands the housewhich was formerlyBeauNash's residence, but wrhich is now part of the establishment of an ale merchant. The edifice is a tall, but rather mean-looking, stone building, with the entrance from a little side-court, which is so cumbered with empty beer barrels as hardly to afford a passage. The doorway has some architectural pretensions, being pillared and with some sculptured devices whether lions or winged heraldic monstrosities I forget, on the pediment. Within, there is a small entry, not large enough to be termed a hall, and a staircase, with carved balustrade, ascending by angular turns and square landing-places. For a long course of years, ending a little more than a century ago, princes, nobles, and all the great and beautiful people of old times, used to go up that staircase, to pay their respects to the King of Bath. On the side of the house, there is a marble slab inserted, recording that here he resided, and that here he died in 1767, between eighty and ninety years of age. My first acquaintance with him was in Smollett's " Roderick Random/' and I have met him in a hundred other novels.
His marble statue is in a niche at one end of the great pump room, in wig, square-skirted coat, flapped waistcoat, and all the queer costume of the period, still looking ghost-like upon the scene where he used to be an autocrat. Marble is not a good material for Beau Nash, however; or, if so, it requires colour to set him off adequately.
It is usual in Bath to see the old sign of the checker-board on the doorposts of taverns. It was originally a token that the game might be played there, and is now merely a tavern-sign.
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