BATH, the chief town of Somersetshire, is, from the elegance of its buildings and the beauty of its situation, allowed to be one of the handsomest cities in Britain. It stands on both sides of the river Avon, inclosed by an amphitheatre of hills belonging to the great western oolitic range. The town is well laid out, rising in beautiful terraces and crescents from the river; and its sheltered position renders the temperature mild and agreeable. It contains many fine public walks, and the vicinity presents a great variety of beautiful landscapes. The houses are mostly built of white freestone quarried in the vicinity. The abbey church is a handsome cruciform edifice, 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. There are 25 other parish churches and Episcopal chapels in Bath, besides numerous chapels belonging to the Independents, Baptists, Wesleyans, Roman Catholics, &c. There is a free grammar school founded by Edward VI., and free and other schools for boys and girls. The Roman Catholics have a college here; and a Wesleyan college has lately been erected. The literary and scientific institution, founded in 1826, is a handsome building of the Doric order, with a laboratory, lecture-room, library, and a museum containing a very valuable collection of Roman remains found here. Among its public buildings are the guild-hall, with an elegant Grecian front, founded in 1766; the assembly-rooms, opened in 1771, the hall-room of which is 106 feet in length by 43 in breadth and 42½ in height; the prison; market-house; theatre, one of the best out of London; and the pump-room of the king's bath, 85 feet in length by 56 in breadth, and 34 high, containing a marble statue of the celebrated Beau Nash, to whom the city is indebted for much of its prosperity. Bath has five banks; a new savings-bank, built in 1842; a number of charitable institutions; a mechanics' institute; and a school of arts. The thermal springs, to which the city principally owes its importance, rise near the centre of the city. They were known to the Romans, who had a station here under the name of Aqua Calida, or Aqua Sulis, commonly Aqua Solis; and very extensive remains of Roman baths have been discovered here. The springs supply five distinct establishments, viz., King's, Queen's, Hot, Cross, and Abbey baths. The temperature varies in the different springs from 90° to 117° Fahrenheit, and the specific gravity of the hot bath is 1.002. Mr R. Phillips obtained from a quart of this water about 30 grains of foreign matter, viz., carbonic acid, 2.4 inches; sulphate of lime, 18.0 grains; chloride of soda, 6.6; sulphate of soda, 3.0; carbonate of lime, 1.6; silica, 0.4; oxide of iron, a trace; but much carbonic acid escapes from the springs. When fresh drawn,
it has a slight chalybeate taste; and, taken internally, it Knights of acts as a stimulant. It is very beneficial in cases of palsy, the Bath. rheumatism, gout, leprosy, cutaneous and scrofulous diseases. During the season, the city receives sometimes as many as 14,000 visitors. The Sydney Gardens have been open since 1795, and are frequently employed for horticultural exhibitions and other amusements. Negotiations are now in progress for the purchase of these grounds for the erection of a handsome proprietary college. The Victoria Park was opened in 1830. Bath now carries on no extensive manufactures, the fabrication of the coarse woollens known as "Bath coating" having much declined.
The earliest extant charter of the city is that granted by Richard I., which was afterwards confirmed by Henry III. and extended to its present state by George III. The corporation consists of a mayor, 14 aldermen, and 42 councillors, and the town returns two members to parliament.
The Great Western Railway connects Bath with London and Bristol; from the former of which it is 107 miles distant, and from the latter 12 miles. The Kennet and Avon canal, which joins the Thames at Reading, connects Bath with London by water. The river Avon is here crossed by two stone, two iron, and three suspension bridges. Lat. 51. 23. N. Long. 2. 22. W. By the census of 1851, it contained 7744 inhabited houses, and 54,240 inhabitants.