The Antiquary, Vol. 14
| Preis: | 19.95 EUR* (inkl. MWST zzgl. Versand - Preis kann jetzt höher sein!) |
| Versand: | 0.00 EUR Versandkostenfrei innerhalb von Deutschland |
| Partner: | buecher.de |
| Hersteller: | Forgotten Books (Walford, Edward) |
| Stand: | 2015-08-04 03:50:33 |
Produktbeschreibung
Excerpt from The Antiquary, Vol. 14: A Magazine Devoted to the Study of the Past The feature which must be borne in mind by these who seek to understand the history of Bath during the early part of the seventeenth century, is that the city was in a state of transition. In the period of Roman domination the Thermæ formed the city; but when, after for several centuries lying ruined and deserted, Bath was again rebuilt, the hot mineral waters played quite a secondary part in its history. We find, of course, occasional mention of their existence and healing qualities, but the baths were resorted to principally by lepers and the poor. The city, however, became of some importance as a centre of the West-country wool trade, and the scat of a community of Benedictine monks. About the time of the dissolution of monasteries the baths were regarded as a mere adjunct to a tennis court, and were so little frequented that doubts were entertained as to their ownership This question was settled only as one, and apparently the least important, of the terms of a general adjustment of rights between the Municipality and one Humphrey Cotton. At the same time the wool trade decayed to such an extent that, in 1587. the Earl of Leicester wrote from Bath to Walsingham, that many of the clothiers were keeping on their workmen merely out of charity. The transition was from the stale of a manufacturing and ecclesiastical town, to that of a hydropathic establishment, for as trade decayed the reputation of the baths increased. "The Both," as it was commonly called, was a very small place. There were but five hundred houses within the walls, and only two suburbs - one a straggling street leading from the South gate to the Avon, the other a little cluster round the Church of St. Michael extra muros. The city had so little attained to the position of a health-resort, that, in 1622, the mayor complains that there is hut one resident sojourner, whilst a few years before the whole municipality petitioned a judge to let one of the citizens sign his answer in an action without going to London, because he was a baker, and his absence would be most inconvenient. The city was small, and so dirty as to excite indignation, even in those dirty times. Soil and carrion were thrown into the streets and routed amongst by pigs, and butchers slaughtered at their own doors. The baths were pandemonia. Men and women bathed together in open cisterns, which were never cleaned out, and the bathers were exposed to the chaff and the pelting of lads who crowded the public walk which surrounded them. Although noblemen and gentlemen were accustomed, in increasing numbers, to frequent the city, they did so purely for the benefit of the waters, their stay seldom exceeding ten days. There were certainly few attractions (for beautiful scenery was not then appreciated) to detain them. In the pages which follow we shall endeavour to confine ourselves as much as possible to the ipsissima verba of contemporaries, and, whilst avoiding reference to more public events, to mention those personal traits which seem necessary in order to give an idea of what the society of the place really was. Lord Cobham and Sir Walter Raleigh. These two gallants, in their earlier life bosom friends, were frequent visitors. Sir Walter was here in 1587, with the Earl of Leicester, and again in 1590 and 1600, and on each occasion received a complimentary present from the mayor (on one " a calf and a mutton"). But these were more or less formal visits. Raleigh´s letters to Cobham, now extant, show how they were accustomed to run down here for a little change. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www
* Preis kann jetzt höher sein. Den aktuellen Stand und Informationen zu den Versandkosten finden sie auf der Homepage unseres Partners.
Folgende Produkte könnten dir ebenso gefallen
