BATH, the chief city in Somersetshire, England. is beautifully situated in a wooded valley in the n.e. part of the co., on the Avon. 20 m. from its mouth, and 106 in. S.W. of London. The houses are built wholly of white freestone—`•bathoolite." worked in the neighboring quarries—bricks being entirely discarded. The city has a finer appearance than any other in England, the variety of level giving very commanding sites for its tine and regular streets, crescents, and public buildings. The beauty and sheltered character of its situation, the mildness of its climate, and especially the curative efficacy of its hot chnlybeate springs, have long rendered B. a favorite fashionable resort. Thu springs, which are four in number, were known to the Romans, who built baths on the spot in the 1st c., of which extensive remains were discovered in 1775. The tempera ture of the springs varies from 97' to 117° F.; they rise near the river bank, in the center of the city, and discharge 184.320 gallons of water daily. The water is most useful in bilious, nervous, and scrofulous complaints, palsy, rheumatism, gout. and cutaneous diseases. Though the gayety of B. has greatly waned since the days of the prince regent, there has been a great general improvement in the city, but the pop somewhat diminished during the twenty years 1851-71. It has two parks, and many
public walks and open places; theater, concert-rooms, and other places of amusement; subscription library, museum, club-house, educational institutions, etc. The abbey church is a cruciform structure in the latest perpendicular style, with a fine roof in the style of Henry VIL's chapel, and a central tower 150 ft. high. About a mile to the n.w. is Beckford's tower, built by the eccentric author of Vathek, but now a cemetery chapel. It is 154 ft. high. B. roturns two members to parliament. Pop. '71, 53.704, at times much increased by visitors. B. has no manufactures of any note. Coal is found in the neighborhood. The Great Western railway from London to the w. passes through the city. B. is of great antiquity; it was a Roman station"ctilled Solis, at the inter section of the great Roman ways from London to Wales, and from Lincoln to the s. coast of England. Richard I. granted B. its earliest extant charter, which was subse quently confirmed by Henry III. and greatly extended by George III. A greater number of Roman remains have been found in and near B. than elsewhere in Britain; they form a collection unrivaled in extent and value.