laudable pride to the natives of Bath, that within the remembrance of a few fleeting years, upon those very green fields the pastime and pleasure of their boyish days, and also in climbing those hills, whether in pursuit of exercise, or to enjoy the delightful prospects which so often present themselves to their enraptured sight, are now all vanished in the metamorphose of beholding splendid mansions, &c. risen in their stead; and the once straggling suburbs now closely filled up, and enveloped as it were in the very heart of the city. Admiration, in contemplating and appreciating this increasing scene of magnificence, feels at a loss whether to give the palm to the spirit of the builders-the liberality in employing such immense capitals-or to the great patronage and support of the nobility and gentry. But while this spirit of enterprise and speculation existed towards the northern side of the city, it would be unjust to omit, that the valuable tracts of land which were situated on the other side of the town were not suffered to remain in a dreary and barren state. The late Sir William Pulteney, anxious to keep pace with the general design, namely THE IMPROVEMENT OF BATH, and possessing the true spirit of emulation and rivalry even to exceed the other part of the city, erected a bridge of communication, (called after his name,) and held out such encouragement to builders, that a NEW TOWN might almost be said to have been produced from his exertions. Possessing also the advantages of rough stone being dug from his own contiguous hills, and being in the immediate neighbourhood of excel

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lent quarries of free-stone, his plans were prosecuted with redoubled vigour and rapidity, and he lived to see the most elegant and capacious street finished in Bath, as well as several elegant ones adjoining it, His daughter, the late Countess of Bath, also, with becoming zeal, furthered the speculating design of her parent; and the Earl of Darlington (to whom those estates devolved) seems to hold out the same spirit of enterprise and improvement that characterized the laudable efforts of his two noble predecessors. Not a month, it should seem, passes over without the commencement of new buildings in some part of BATH; and, in addition to the erection of a new church at Bathwick, which is a most interesting piece of archi tecture, and a very great ornament to this part of the suburbs, the ground for another church, it is said, is also marked out near James-Street, besides the plans of new squares, streets, &c.

It has however been urged, for a number of years past, that BATH, like most other fashionable places of resort, was likely to experience an excess of buildings, and that, ultimately, ruin would fall upon the various speculators in thus employing their capital; but this prophecy, up to the present time, has proved nothing more than visionary conjecture; and, on the contrary, houses have been scarcely finished, when purchasers have appeared, and tenants not been found wanting. The following anecdote, in illustration of the above fact, is worthy of remark :-In the year 1790, a gentleman, conspicuous for the great botanical taste he had displayed in his garden in the suburbs, was suddenly ordered to

quit this scene of his amusement and delight to make room for a building lease; in the heat of his mortification and anger, and giving vent to his wounded feelings, he wrote the following epigram:

Ye men of BATH, who stately mansions rear,

To wait for tenants from the devil knows where ;
Would you pursue a plan that cannot fail,
Erect a mad-house, and enlarge your gaol.

This epigram called forth the following apposite reply:

Whilst crowds arrive, fast as our streets increase,

And our GAOL only proves an empty space;

Whilst health and ease here court the grave and gay-
Madmen and fools alone will keep away..

It is asserted as a fact, that, at the period the above reply was made public, not a single prisoner was to be found within the walls of the gaol, and the sheriff (C. Philpot, Esq.) had, in consequence, ordered the doors of the prison to be thrown open.

Bath is not alone indebted to the erection of new buildings for improvement, which is evident, from an act of parliament having been procured in 1789, to enable the commissioners to widen and render more convenient many parts of the Old City, which has not only been acted upon with great skill and propriety, but reflects much credit upon the Corporation for their anxious endeavours to let no improvement be neglected, that could add comfort or give increased splendour to the City of Bath.

A grand and spacious square, opposite the South Parade, has also been planned by Earl Manvers, and in some degree begun, and which

cannot fail, when completed, of being a great ornament to this part of Old Bath, and rival some of its most magnificent structures.

The following poetic description of BATH, written by the eloquent and feeling Mr. PRATT, nearly 20 years ago, is another convincing proof of the rapid increase of the buildings, squares, &c. at that period; and the comparison still holds good in 1819:

O BATH, how fair wert thou to view,
When last I said, dear Bath, adieu !
When, in the language of the beau,
I tendered thee my D. I. O.!
Fair were the hills that topt thy scene,
And fair the groves that smil❜d between.
A CRESCENT grac'd thy hairy brow;
A CIRCUS bound thy zone below;
And blithe as Eden in its May,
Nature, with all her train, at play,
Were seen distinct; the frolic gales
Sporting with beauty in the vales;
While temp'rance, to Hygeia giv'n—
Crown'd with roses fresh from heav'n;
Their odours dropping from her wings,-

Shed balm into thy healing springs;

While all that rais'd life's drooping powers,

Were guided by the sober hours;

There regulated dame and play,

And scatter'd blessings o'er the way.
Such wert thou when I saw thee last,
Some twenty fleeting summers past,
But now, so mighty art thou grown,
Thy head so large, thy trunk so swoln,
Thy legs and arms so long and wide,
And such an air of city pride;

Thy sides so blackened by the smoke,

Thy streets so cranimed, thy views so broke;

By upstart buildings, perch'd on high,

Like pigmies aiming at the sky;

Vapour that respiration clogs,
And all the family of fogs;
And modern ruins all a-row,
And winds above, and dust below,
And London fashions rattling down
To make thee yet more overgrown,
And well-bred dinnerings at seven,
And sipping coffee at eleven;
And sandwiches at noon or night,
And dames, at noon of day, in white,
Shewing their shapes to all the men
Up Milsom-street, and down again;
Pacing the smooth parades in crowds,
Like shadows folded in their shrouds ;
Yet shades that prove the substance true,
For each fair limb's betray'd to view,
And though the earth the drapery reaches,
'Tis but a kind of muslin breeches,
Tight e'en as buck-skin on the beau,
With here and there an airy flow,
As waves the linen to the breeze,
O times of freedom and of ease!
And after thus they blow about,
They leave the even of a rout;
Then, hissing hot, retire to bed!
And rise at noon of day, half dead!-
In short, thou art so LONDONIZ'D,
So over-built, and over-siz❜d,

That, my old friend, I scarcely knew,
Since last I said, dear BATH adieu!
Yet, if with this increase of height,
And bulk, thou art so good as great;
If thou more largely can dispense
Thy streams to genius, virtue, sense;
If from those streams more copious flow
The balms that soften human woe:

Or if they offer prompt relief
To pallid sickness, paler grief;
Or give to pity's gentle eye
The melting beam of charity;
Or to the trembling nerves impart

The tone that gives the cheerful heart;