5. After the first meeting of the Society, each person, subsequently admitted a member, must be recommended by two subscribers to the institution.

6. That there be three presidents, a secretary, and experimentalist.

7. Each member to pay, on his admission, two guineas and five shillings, and the same sum annually.

8. Visitors to Bath may be admitted as members, for three months, upon being properly introduced, and paying one guinea and five shillings.

Ladies and gentlemen disposed to become members, are desired to enter their names in the Society's subscription book, at the Kingston Pump Room.

The session is from the first Monday in October, to the last Monday in May. The subscription of each member to be dated from the period of the name being entered on the books.

THE KING'S BATH, PUMP ROOM, AND COLONNADE.

In passing from the Abbey along Stall-street, we approach the great Pump Room, with its open Colonnade. Dr. Oliver, in his Treatise on the Bath Waters, in 1704, suggested the necessity of a building for the reception of those who came to drink the waters; and this induced the Corporation to commence the erection of the first Pump Room, which was finished in 1706, and opened under the direction of Mr. Nash, who was at that time appointed master of the ceremonies. In 1751, this building was much enlarged; and it was again rendered more commodious, and embellished with a handsome Portico, in 1786. The western front received considerable improvement, with the addition of an ornamental frontispiece, in 1791; and in 1796 the whole was taken down, and the present Pump Room, erected under the direction of Mr. Baldwin, to whose taste it does great credit. It was also ornamented and improved in 1813. This building is in length 85 feet, in width 46, and in height 34 feet. The internal decorations are in unison with the beauty of its exterior; with conformity of design in its three-quarter columns, its architrave, and crownings. A fine statue of Mr. Nash, by Hoare, and an elegant timepiece, occupy two niches on the eastern end of the room; and on the opposite end is the Music Gallery.

The Pump occupies the central part of the southern side, between two fire-places; the water issuing out of an elegant vase of marble. The public notice of the Governors of the General Hospital, with the highly beautiful Address by the poet Anstey, are inscribed

Oh! pause awhile, whoe'er thou art,

That drink'st this healing stream;

If e'er compassion o'er thy heart

Diffus'd its heavenly beam;

Think on the wretch whose distant lot

This friendly aid denies ;

Think how in some poor lonely cot

He unregarded lies!

Hither the helpless stranger bring,

Relieve his heartfelt woe,

And let thy bounty, like this spring,

In genial currents flow:

So may thy years from grief and pain,

And pining want, be free;

And thou from Heaven that mercy gain,

The poor receive from thee.

27

Enclosed in a frame, and glazed, are the following Spenserian Stanzas by Dr.

Harrington:

Alwhyle ye drynke, 'midst age and ache ybent,

Ah creepe not comfortless beside our streame,

(Sweet nurse of hope ;) affliction's downwarde sente,

Wythe styll smalle voyce, to rouze from thryftlesse dreame;

Each wyng to prune, that shyftythe everie spraie

In wytlesse flyghte, and chyrpythe lyfe awaie.

Alwhyle ye lave-such solace may be founde;

When kynde the hand, why'neath its healynge faynte?

Payne shall recure the hearte's corruptede wounde;

Farre gonne is that which feeleth not its playnte.

By kyndrede angel smote, Bethesda gave
New vyrtues forthe, and felt her troubledde wave.
Thus drynke, thus lave-nor ever more lamente,
Our sprynges but flowe pale anguishe to befriende ;
How fayre the meede that followeth contente!
How bleste to lyve, and find such anguishe mende.

How bleste to dye-when sufferynge faith makes sure,

At life's high founte, an everlastynge cure!

This elegant and spacious room is open from an early hour in the morning, till four in the afternoon

season

The King's Bath is a bason of large dimensions, being nearly 66 feet by 41 feet, and, when filled, contains 346 tons, 2 hogsheads, and 36 gallons. An octagonal enclosure in the centre is surrounded by a brass railing, within which the spring rises with great force; and from this reservoir the water is distributed in a very pure state to the pumps, for drinking; at the same time that it fills its own cistern, it also fills that of the Queen's Bath, which joins to it on its southern side. This Bath was originally built by Mr. Bellot, and retained the name of the New Bath, being appropriated to the use of the poor; till the year 1615, when the Queen of James the First, being alarmed by a phosphoric light rising from the water, which was considered at that time a supernatural appearance, in the King's Bath, could not be persuaded to bathe in it again, but made use of the New Bath, which on that account was much enlarged and embellished, and received its present name. Convenient rooms are attached to these Baths, with pumps and pipes to direct the hot water to any particular part of the body. The basons fill in about eleven hours, and the heat of the water is 116 degrees of Fahrenheit. The water is retained for the use of the public, from an early hour in the morning till noon there is a handsome colonnade on one side, to shelter the bathers.

In a recess in the "King's Bath," there is a statue, with the following inscription :

"BLADUD,

Son of Lud Hudibras,

Eighth King of the Britons from Brute;

A great Philosopher and Mathematician,
Bred at Athens,

And recorded the first Discoverer and Founder of these Baths,

Eight Hundred and Sixty-Three Years before Christ;

That is,

Two Thousand Five Hundred and Sixty-Two Years

to the present Year,

One Thousand Six Hundred and Ninety-Nine.

ORK