many and exquisite specimens of Gothic tracery and carving there found, and its new stone Gothic altar-piece, and dwelt on its numerous and important monuments and tablets, ancient as well as modern, albeit arranged in a formal and stiff manner, so as literally to cover all the walls around. I should have wished, also, on emerging from thence, to have escorted my invalid visiter up to Prior's Park,

once the mansion of "humble" Ralph Allen, a sort of "fortunate youth" of his day, at whose hospitable board the brightest wits of the age, Sterne and Fielding and Smollett, with Warburton, Garrick, and Quin, had often assembled, but which is now converted into a palace for a Popish prelate of pious character, and into a college for the education of Popish youths. I should have desired, lastly, to salute the hallowed spot on which stands Bath Easton Villa, the Parnassus of Bath during the years 1750-60, presided over by a single muse, who invited the votaries of fashion and fortune to a refined social intercourse by rhyme and verses. All this it would have been a satisfaction to have accomplished; but I am warned of how much yet remains of my unfinished task in other parts of England, and how rapidly my volume is thickening; I must therefore close my description of the fair city of Pallas," and of the "waters of the sun," by simply

66

inviting all those who may have visited the foreign baths, Baden especially, and who have not yet seen the English "Spa of Spas" (as I trust it will soon again become), to proceed thither in numbers as soon as Sir Isambard, the magician, shall, with his Great Western wand, have brought Bath within three hours of the metropolis, and so judge for themselves of its superiority and importance.

444

CHAPTER VI.

ENVIRONS OF BATH-MELKSHAM SPA.

SOMERSET SEA-BATHING PLACES.

ROAD TO THE SOUTH-WEST COAST.

WELLS GLASTONBURY-EXETER.

Corsham House-Bow-Wood and Longleat-The MENDIP Hills and CHEDDAR-MELKSHAM Spa-Its Mineral Waters-Three Wells and a Spa-house-Bristol Coast-Sea-bathing Places-WESTON-Super-Mare -Pelagus of Sands-MINEHEAD-Mildness of its Climate-Journey towards Torquay-Objects of Inquiry through Somerset-The TURBARY -The POLDEN Hills-Hawkins and the Psauri Fossils-Approach to GLASTONBURY—A Lias Village-WALTON Drive and Hood's Monument-Magnificent View-Glastonbury Torr-The OLDEST CHURCH in England-The George Inn and the Pilgrims-The RUINED ABBEY— Harry the Destroyer-WELLS and St. Andrews-The CATHEDRAL and the Bishop's Palace-The Allotment Colony-Its Success-The Worthy Bishop-FRONT of Wells Cathedral-Its Interior-MONUMENTS—The Philanthropist of Montacute-The CRYPT-Skull of INA-Favourable Position of the Cathedral-Progress into Devonshire-The WELLINGTON PILLAR-TAUNTON-Descent into EXETER-A Coffeeroom Scene-Foreign and English Manners-Look at Home.

THE same reasons which restrained my pen, when treating of one of its most interesting suburbs, Clifton, from dilating at the same time on the many important establishments of Bristol, where wealth, industry, and knowledge have made rapid strides since my first visit in 1812, compel me to pass over in silence many subjects of interest at Bath which

would have been justly entitled to consideration. But, as I approach nearer the conclusion of my Grand Spa Tour through England, space is failing me for more than a mere glance at many of the several topics,-such as those, for instance, which are enumerated at the head of the present chapter. Though, as a traveller, I have derived both pleasure and information from their contemplation, as a writer, I have no reason to conclude that a minute description of them would equally interest my readers. Of the environs of Bath most likely to awaken the curiosity of the stranger, those in the direction of the old London-road, but now upon or near the Great Western Railway, present a higher degree of attraction, as being the residence of titled rank, wealth, and taste.

It is impossible to visit that immense Gothic pile, CORSHAM HOUSE, and its splendid gallery of paintings; or Bow-WOOD, the seat of the Marquis of Lansdowne, which lies a little to the right of the former, near the old Roman-road, without admitting the truth of my remark. How beautifully the latter mansion, by its noble station and architectural elevation, contrasts with the former building. Of the same character, but more seignorially imposing and extensive, is LONGLEAT, in another direction, though still within an easy reach of Bath, from whence the approach to the quadrangular structure of the Thynnes, over that fine Warminster road of which notice has been already taken, is beyond description enchanting.

But if the Bath visiter or invalid be more in favour of Nature than Art in the choice of objects for his excursions, then let him direct his chariot's course to the south-west; let him mount, and again descend, the Mendip Hills, there to be lost in astonishment and awe among the Cheddar Cliffs, while looking straight up to catch a glimpse at the vault of heaven, between two nearly perpendicular rocks that rise eight hundred feet above the level of the valley where that

well-flavoured cheese is manufactured which gourmets love to taste before a bumper of tawny port.

There is one of the environs, however, of which, in a book on mineral waters, I am bound to speak more especially; and that is MELKSHAM SPA. Two wells of mineral water, respecting which I regret to say I have no modern and wellauthenticated quantitative analysis, are to be found at the small town of Melksham, about eleven miles distant from Bath by the London or Great Western railroad. The one is said to be a saline aperient, the other a chalybeate. But a new spring, somewhat stronger, as a saline aperient, was discovered afterwards; so that Melksham is abundantly supplied with mineral water. A company was formed to extend, improve, and work out these several wells; and some lodging-houses, as well as a spa-house, were built in consequence. But I am not aware that the fortunes of this new health-giving source, so near the great leviathan Spa, have been prosperous; and here I must leave Melksham Spa.

The mania for sea-bathing is certainly not the one most conspicuous among the people of this country; and yet fewer nations love better than they to dwell on sea-shores at certain seasons of the year, be it only to look upon the glorious ocean, and listen to its roaring. Accordingly here, on a line of sixty miles of coast in the eastern and western divisions of the county, forming the English boundary of the Bristol Channel, Somersetshire reckons nearly as many bathing-places (so considered) as there are towns or hamlets possessed of a beach or a sand-strand before it.

Of these, WESTON-Super-Mare and MINEHEAD are the most frequented, and consequently the most fashionable places of summer resort. The former is situated at the foot of Ashcombe Cliff, looking south-westwardly, and forming the north horn; while the latter lies under the slope of a rocky eminence, called Greenleigh, constituting the south horn of Bridgewater Bay.