Bath, Somersetshire


Kearsley's Traveller's Entertaining Guide Through Great Britain (1803):

This city has been famous from the time of the Romans for its hot springs, the most remarkable in England and inferior to few in Europe: they are not only used as baths, but internally as a medicine; and great benefit is derived from them in gouty, paralytic, bilious and other cases. The reputation of these waters is so much increased that Bath is become the principal resort, next to the metropolis, for persons of rank and fortune and for the constant residence of opulent invalids as well as numerous votaries of dissipation. In splendour and elegance of buildings it exceeds every town in England, being constructed of a white stone of which the surrounding soil is chiefly composed. It is seated on the river Avon in a valley, and, from the reflection of the sun's rays from the white soil, it is very hot in summer. The principal seasons for the waters are spring and autumn. The poor, who come here to drink them, may be received in a magnificent hospital. It is supposed to be very ancient. King Edgar was crowned here. On the l. is Prior-park, lord Hawarden.

Inns: York Hotel, White Hart, White Lion, Lamb.

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Quotations
 Chapter 1 
Mr. Allen, who owned the chief of the property about Fullerton, the village in Wiltshire where the Morlands lived, was ordered to Bath for the benefit of a gouty constitution —
 Chapter 2 
In addition to what has been already said of Catherine Morland’s personal and mental endowments, when about to be launched into all the difficulties and dangers of a six weeks’ residence in Bath, it may be stated, for the reader’s more certain information...

It is remarkable, however, that she neither insisted on Catherine’s writing by every post, nor exacted her promise of transmitting the character of every new acquaintance, nor a detail of every interesting conversation that Bath might produce.

They arrived at Bath. Catherine was all eager delight —

 Chapter 3 
The wish of a numerous acquaintance in Bath was still uppermost with Mrs. Allen, and she repeated it after every fresh proof, which every morning brought, of her knowing nobody at all.

I have not yet asked you how long you have been in Bath; whether you were ever here before; whether you have been at the Upper Rooms, the theatre, and the concert; and how you like the place altogether.

Not keep a journal! How are your absent cousins to understand the tenour of your life in Bath without one?

“Bath is a charming place, sir; there are so many good shops here. We are sadly off in the country; not but what we have very good shops in Salisbury, but it is so far to go — eight miles is a long way; Mr. Allen says it is nine, measured nine; but I am sure it cannot be more than eight; and it is such a fag — I come back tired to death. Now, here one can step out of doors and get a thing in five minutes.”

 Chapter 4 
Every creature in Bath, except himself, was to be seen in the room at different periods of the fashionable hours; crowds of people were every moment passing in and out, up the steps and down; people whom nobody cared about, and nobody wanted to see; and he only was absent.

“What a delightful place Bath is,” said Mrs. Allen as they sat down near the great clock, after parading the room till they were tired; “and how pleasant it would be if we had any acquaintance here.”

Compliments on good looks now passed; and, after observing how time had slipped away since they were last together, how little they had thought of meeting in Bath, and what a pleasure it was to see an old friend,

Catherine was delighted with this extension of her Bath acquaintance, and almost forgot Mr. Tilney while she talked to Miss Thorpe.

Catherine was delighted with this extension of her Bath acquaintance, and almost forgot Mr. Tilney while she talked to Miss Thorpe.

 Chapter 5 
I for a fine Sunday in Bath empties every house of its inhabitants, and all the world appears on such an occasion to walk about and tell their acquaintance what a charming day it is.

He must be gone from Bath. Yet he had not mentioned that his stay would be so short! This sort of mysteriousness, which is always so becoming in a hero, threw a fresh grace in Catherine’s imagination around his person and manners, and increased her anxiety to know more of him. From the Thorpes she could learn nothing, for they had been only two days in Bath before they met with Mrs. Allen.

Mrs. Allen was now quite happy — quite satisfied with Bath.

 Chapter 7 
Everybody acquainted with Bath may remember the difficulties of crossing Cheap Street at this point;

This evil had been felt and lamented, at least three times a day, by Isabella since her residence in Bath;

“A third indeed! No, no; I did not come to Bath to drive my sisters about; that would be a good joke, faith! Morland must take care of you.”

“Because I thought I should soon see you myself. I hope you will be a great deal together while you are in Bath."

“Yes, very much indeed, I fancy; Mr. Allen thinks her the prettiest girl in Bath.”

 Chapter 8 
“I am very happy to see you again, sir, indeed; I was afraid you had left Bath.”

But the hindrance thrown in the way of a very speedy intimacy, by the frequent want of one or more of these requisites, prevented their doing more than going through the first rudiments of an acquaintance, by informing themselves how well the other liked Bath,

"Well, remember that it is not my fault, if we set all the old ladies in Bath in a bustle. "

 Chapter 9  “And are Mr. and Mrs. Tilney in Bath?”
 Chapter 10 
" — even your modesty cannot doubt his attachment now; his coming back to Bath makes it too plain."

I get so immoderately sick of Bath; your brother and I were agreeing this morning that, though it is vastly well to be here for a few weeks, we would not live here for millions.

and though in all probability not an observation was made, nor an expression used by either which had not been made and used some thousands of times before, under that roof, in every Bath season,

“That never occurred to me; and of course, not seeing him anywhere, I thought he must be gone.

“Do you find Bath as agreeable as when I had the honour of making the inquiry before?”

“Bath, compared with London, has little variety, and so everybody finds out every year. ‘For six weeks, I allow Bath is pleasant enough; but beyond that, it is the most tiresome place in the world.’ "

“Well, other people must judge for themselves, and those who go to London may think nothing of Bath."

"But certainly there is much more sameness in a country life than in a Bath life. One day in the country is exactly like another.”

"You will be able to talk of Bath, and of all that you did here.” "“Oh! Yes. I shall never be in want of something to talk of again to Mrs. Allen, or anybody else. I really believe I shall always be talking of Bath.... — and especially as it turns out that the very family we are just got so intimate with are his intimate friends already. Oh! Who can ever be tired of Bath?”" "“Not those who bring such fresh feelings of every sort to it as you do. But papas and mammas, and brothers, and intimate friends are a good deal gone by, to most of the frequenters of Bath — "

In chatting with Miss Tilney before the evening concluded, a new source of felicity arose to her. She had never taken a country walk since her arrival in Bath. Miss Tilney, to whom all the commonly frequented environs were familiar, spoke of them in terms which made her all eagerness to know them too

 Chapter 11 
“It is all one to me,” replied Thorpe rather angrily; and instantly turning his horse, they were on their way back to Bath.
 Chapter 12 
“Yes, by heavens! And the general thinks you the finest girl in Bath."
 Chapter 13 
 Chapter 14  Catherine was so hopeful a scholar that when they gained the top of Beechen Cliff, she voluntarily rejected the whole city of Bath as unworthy to make part of a landscape.
 Chapter 15 
Mrs. Thorpe, with tears of joy, embraced her daughter, her son, her visitor, and could have embraced half the inhabitants of Bath with satisfaction.
 Chapter 17 
The Allens had now entered on the sixth week of their stay in Bath; and whether it should be the last was for some time a question, to which Catherine listened with a beating heart.

No sooner had she expressed her delight in Mr. Allen’s lengthened stay than Miss Tilney told her of her father’s having just determined upon quitting Bath by the end of another week.

We leave Bath, as she has perhaps told you, on Saturday se’nnight. A letter from my steward tells me that my presence is wanted at home; and being disappointed in my hope of seeing the Marquis of Longtown and General Courteney here, some of my very old friends, there is nothing to detain me longer in Bath.

I am almost ashamed to make the request, though its presumption would certainly appear greater to every creature in Bath than yourself.

 Chapter 18 
"His attentions were such as a child must have noticed. And it was but half an hour before he left Bath that you gave him the most positive encouragement."
 Chapter 19 
But Captain Tilney had at present no intention of removing; he was not to be of the party to Northanger; he was to continue at Bath.

“Why do not you persuade him to go away? The longer he stays, the worse it will be for him at last. Pray advise him for his own sake, and for everybody’s sake, to leave Bath directly. "

“Though Frederick does not leave Bath with us, he will probably remain but a very short time, "

 Chapter 20 
Her happiness in going with Miss Tilney, however, prevented their wishing it otherwise; and, as they were to remain only one more week in Bath themselves, her quitting them now would not long be felt.

At last, however, the door was closed upon the three females, and they set off at the sober pace in which the handsome, highly fed four horses of a gentleman usually perform a journey of thirty miles: such was the distance of Northanger from Bath, to be now divided into two equal stages.Catherine’s spirits revived as they drove from the door; for with Miss Tilney she felt no restraint; and, with the interest of a road entirely new to her, of an abbey before, and a curricle behind, she caught the last view of Bath without any regret, and met with every milestone before she expected it.

 Chapter 21 
It was only in his presence that Catherine felt the smallest fatigue from her journey; and even then, even in moments of languor or restraint, a sense of general happiness preponderated, and she could think of her friends in Bath without one wish of being with them.
 Chapter 24  “Have you had any letter from Bath since I saw you?”
 Chapter 25 
IShe saw that the infatuation had been created, the mischief settled, long before her quitting Bath,

She was quite impatient to know how the Bath world went on, and how the rooms were attended;

I left her and Bath yesterday, never to see either again.

And yet, when we talked about it in Bath, you little thought of its ending so.

“Indeed I am afraid she will,” replied Henry; “I am afraid she will be very constant, unless a baronet should come in her way; that is Frederick’s only chance. I will get the Bath paper, and look over the arrivals.”

Society is becoming irksome; and as for the amusements in which you were wont to share at Bath, the very idea of them without her is abhorrent.

 Chapter 27 
I have had my pen in my hand to begin a letter to you almost every day since you left Bath,

I rejoice to say that the young man whom, of all others, I particularly abhor, has left Bath.

 Chapter 28 
She trusted he would never speak of Miss Thorpe; and indeed, as he must by this time be ashamed of the part he had acted, there could be no danger of it; and as long as all mention of Bath scenes were avoided,

“I hope, I earnestly hope, that to your real safety it will be of none; but to everything else it is of the greatest consequence: to comfort, appearance, propriety, to your family, to the world. Were your friends, the Allens, still in Bath, you might go to them with comparative ease; "

 Chapter 29 
“Only think, my dear, of my having got that frightful great rent in my best Mechlin so charmingly mended, before I left Bath, that one can hardly see where it was. I must show it you some day or other. Bath is a nice place, Catherine, after all."
 Chapter 30 
"Your head runs too much upon Bath; but there is a time for everything — a time for balls and plays, and a time for work. You have had a long run of amusement, and now you must try to be useful.” Catherine took up her work directly, saying, in a dejected voice, that “her head did not run upon Bath — much.”

Under a mistaken persuasion of her possessions and claims, he had courted her acquaintance in Bath, solicited her company at Northanger, and designed her for his daughter–in–law.

 

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