[Illustration: The "Stone House," Rye, Sussex]
The city of Bath, once the rival of Wells--the contention between the
monks of St. Peter and the canons of St. Andrews at Wells being hot
and fierce--has many attractions. Its minster, rebuilt by Bishop
Oliver King of Wells (1495-1503), and restored in the seventeenth
century, and also in modern times, is not a very interesting building,
though it lacks not some striking features, and certainly contains
some fine tombs and monuments of the fashionable folk who flocked to
Bath in the days of its splendour. The city itself abounds in
interest. It is a gem of Georgian art, with a complete homogeneous
architectural character of its own which makes it singular and unique.
It is full of memories of the great folks who thronged its streets,
attended the Bath and Pump Room, and listened to sermons in the
Octagon. It tells of the autocracy of Beau Nash, of Goldsmith,
Sheridan, David Garrick, of the "First Gentleman of Europe," and many
others who made Bath famous. And now it is likely that this unique
little city with its memories and its charming architectural features
is to be mutilated for purely commercial reasons. Every one knows Bath
Street with its colonnaded loggias on each side terminated with a
crescent at each end, and leading to the Cross Bath in the centre of
the eastern crescent.
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