Earl of Bath

“ The subscribers engaged to pursue in concert the objects set forth in the Prince's declaration; to stand by him and by each other; to take signal vengeance on all who should make any attempt on his person; and, even if such an attempt should unhappily succeed, to persist in their undertaking till the liberties and the religion of the nation should be effectually secured. 532
About the same time a messenger arrived at Exeter from the Earl of Bath, who commanded at Plymouth. Bath declared that he placed himself, his troops, and the fortress which he governed at the Prince's disposal. ”

“ Of the architectural merits of his 'new house' at Stow, [68] built for him, it is said, by the King, Kingsley writes in disparaging terms, as we have seen. He married Jane, the daughter of Sir Peter Wiche or Wych, by whom he left a noble offspring. The eldest son, Charles, second Earl of Bath, died in 1701,—twelve days after his father; the second son, John, who was created Baron Grenville of Potheridge in 1703, died in 1707; and the male line became extinct on the death, from small-pox, of his son William Henry, third Earl of Bath, in 1771. ”

“ Then he was gazetted as Earl of Bath; and we {195} have all heard the famous anecdote of the first meeting in the House of Lords between the man who had been Robert Walpole and the man who had been William Pulteney, and the greeting given by the new Lord Orford to the new Lord Bath; "Here we are, my lord, the two most insignificant fellows in England." With these words the first great leader of Opposition in the House of Commons, the man who may almost be said to have created the parliamentary part of leader of Opposition, may be allowed to pass out of the political history of his time. ”

“ The popular spirit was (and is) against that Ultramontanism which would stop at no crime to secure its own triumph; which recognises no law, no king, no country, but Roman, and which, asserting licence for itself, is the bitter and treacherous enemy of every civil and religious liberty. The Earl of Bath reflected the better spirit that prevailed when, in 1753, in the debate on the Bill for annexing the forfeited estates in Scotland to the Crown (which ultimately passed) , he said, ‘I wish national prejudices were utterly extinguished. ”

“ It was all over, the King had to surrender to the Whigs, who condescended to resume the seals on easy terms, which were the proscription of Bath's following and the admission of Pitt. The first condition was simple enough, it was the natural result of Bath's defeat. Vae victis. 'We immediately desired,' writes Newcastle, 'that the Court might be purged of all their friends and dependents, that Lord Bath might be out of the Cabinet Council, the Duke of Bolton, Lord Berkeley of Stratton, Mr. William Finch, the Vice-Chamberlain, Mr. Edward Finch, the Groom of the Bedchamber, Mr. ”

“ In the Domesday Tax, 20 William I. (1087) , this district was taxed under the jurisdiction of Orcett, of which more under. In the Inquisition made into the value of Cornish Benefices, in decanatu de Major Triggshire, ecclesia de Kilkhampton was rated xiiiil. xiiis. viiid. In Wolsey’s Inquisition, 1521, 26l. 3s. 101⁄2d.; the patronage in the Earl of Bath; the incumbent Corringdon; and the parish rated to the 4s. per pound Land Tax, 1696, 352l. 10s.
Stowe for many ages hath been the seat of that famous and knightly family now Earls of Bath. ”

“ The corporation of Bath possesses portraits by Hoare of the Earl of Chatham, Christopher Anstey, ‘Beau’ Nash (engraved for his ‘Life,’ 1762) , Samuel Derrick, and Governor Pownall; in the National Portrait Gallery are those of Lord Chesterfield, the Duke of Newcastle, Henry Pelham, Lord Temple, and Pope, all in crayons, and a whole length of the Duke of Grafton in oils. His portraits are solidly painted, natural in attitude, and full of character; those in crayons are fine and harmonious in colouring ”

“ The Countess of Bath died on 3 Feb. 1691-2 (ib. ii. 349) . The earldom became extinct by the death of William Henry Grenville, third earl, on 17 May 1711. In 1680 Bath pulled down the old house at Stowe, and built a magnificent mansion in its place, which was utterly demolished in 1720, and the materials disposed of by public auction. It has been said that almost every gentleman's seat in Cornwall received some embellishment from Stowe. ”

“ I have no political events to acquaint you with; the summer is not the season for them, they ripen only in winter; great ones are expected immediately before the meeting of parliament, but that, you know, is always the language of fears and hopes. However, I rather believe that there will be something patched up between the INS and the OUTS.
The whole subject of conversation, at present, is the death and will of Lord Bath: he has left above twelve hundred thousand pounds in land and money; four hundred thousand pounds in cash, stocks, and mortgages ”

“ He had been made a Knight of the Bath along with Ormonde at Edward VI.’s coronation, had served at St. Quentin, and in 1560 had again been the Earl’s companion in the tilt at Greenwich, where, in presence of the French ambassador, he maintained Elizabeth’s quarrel against all comers. In running a course with Mr. Cornwallis both riders lost their tempers and fell to tilting in the Queen’s presence with sharp lances and without armour—a pastime which she soon put a stop to. The story [Pg 180] is characteristic of the gallant but imprudent man who played so great a part in Irish history. ”

“ Bath was appointed a privy councillor in February 1688-9, and in the following March lord-lieutenant for Cornwall and Devonshire (ib. i. 502, 512) . He took considerable interest in promoting the East India trade, for which purpose two ships were, in March 1691-2, in course of building by several Cornish gentlemen by virtue of a grant of Charles I, and with others subscribed to the amount of 70,000l. (ib. ii. 375) . The next seven years of Bath's life were chiefly occupied in proving his title to the Albemarle estate, which he claimed under the will of the second duke, who died in 1688. ”

“ Kitty Bellairs' cantrips as they affected, among other things, Lady Standish's domestic happiness, Mr. O'Hara's connubial hopes, and my Lord Verney's sentimental education.
It may be noticed, for instance, that the gentlemen wear their swords. That was, as most people know, a distinction strenuously denied them so long as the immortal Master of Ceremonies, Mr. Richard Nash, reigned as King of Bath. ”

“ His left no issue, his only son, Viscount Pulteney, had died at Madrid on his way home from Spain, at the age of seventeen, on 12 Feb. 1763. He was a youth of promise, and had obtained a commission in the army after his father had paid his debts (Life of Bishop Newton, pp. 122–4; Suffolk Letters, i. 146–7, 167) .
Bath's character is very differently estimated by his friends and foes. They agree only in censuring his ‘too great love of money.’ He certainly was no stranger to the instinct of accumulation which is a besetting temptation to very rich men. ”

“ Though we are told that in all probability it is a mere myth that the British king, Bladud, first founded this city of Bath, yet we are inclined to think that the presence of these springs would influence a settlement of even the nomadic British, prior to the Roman invasion.
When we remember what primitive ideas the early Britons had, we cannot wonder at the non-existence of any vestiges of their occupation. In these days of materialism one loves to respect old traditions, however uncertain they may be in substance. ”

“ He had thus become a man of such importance in the city that he was known as ‘The Man of Bath;’ and, although only once mayor (in 1742) , his influence in the town council was so great that it gave rise to a good-humoured caricature portrait of him, long popular in Bath, entitled ‘The one-headed Corporation.’ He now left his old residence, between York Street and Liliput Alley, and built out of his own quarries a solid and magnificent mansion on the Prior Park Estate, Widcombe, some three or four miles from Bath, and near the site of his famous quarries. ”

“ But the King was not the only person who sought health away from London in the seventeenth century. It was becoming the fashion for persons of note to resort to some watering-place, such as Bath or Tunbridge Wells, there to take the medicinal waters, which had long been known to be beneficial. Bath, or The Bath, as it was called at this time, occupied a prominent position in the social life of these times. Thither, during the summer months, flocked the rank and fashion of England, not always, it is true, for the sake of the waters, but "to divert themselves with good company." ”

“ They stand the wear and tear of time as well as its mellowing, and, like language, if they are here and there vulgarized by the usage of every day, without it they would be a dead language.
Queen Anne's Walk, overlooking the river, and close to the town station, is a small colonnade of the Renaissance style, which is most familiar to us in the architecture of Bath; it has an outlandish look, with its classical lines seen against the background of the smooth river and green Devonshire country, and has not the homely charm of Elizabethan or Stuart building. ”

“ Royal visits to Bath were as yet few and far between, indeed the only royal personages who had visited Bath before the Princess were Queen Anne (before she came to the throne) with her husband Prince George of Denmark.33 Princess Amelia was received by the Mayor and Corporation in full state, and a hundred young men on horseback met her coach at the North Gate and formed an escort to her lodgings. ”

“ The existence of a corporation being assumed in the earliest royal charter, and a common seal having been used since 1249, there was no formal incorporation of Bath until the charter of 1590, 1794 and 1835. Parliamentary representation began in 1297. Various fairs were granted to Bath, to be held on the 29th of August, the 9th of August, the 30th of June to the 8th of July (called Cherry Fair) , the 1st of February to the 6th of February, in 1275, 1305, 1325 and 1545 respectively. Fairs are now held on the 4th of February and on the Monday after the 9th of December. ”

“ Merchants and artificers tread upon our knightly heels, and the avarice of trade eats up our chivalry as a rust. We nobles, in our greater day, have had the crown at our disposal, and William the Norman dared not think what Edward Earl of March hath been permitted with impunity to do. We, Sir Earl—we knights and barons—would a king simple in his manhood and princely in his truth. Richard Earl of Warwick, thou art of royal blood, the descendant of old John of Gaunt. In thee we behold the true, the living likeness of the Third Edward, and the Hero-Prince of Cressy. ”

“ Of the sights of Bath, the Abbey is most disappointing, and well it may be, for it was despoiled not only of its glass but even of its iron and lead by Henry VIII, and only a [316] bleak framework left to pass through a series of purchasers to the citizens. The west front wears a curious design of ladders on which battered angels clamber up and down. The interior has no "dim religious light," but gilt and colour and such a throng of gaudy monuments that the wits have made merry at the expense of the vaunted mineral springs. ”

“ Bath was busily engaged in trying disaffected people by offering them the new oath for military officers, and in settling the parliament of tinners, in which he recovered for the crown by 27 Feb. 1662-3 a revenue of 12,000l. lost during many years (ib. 1663-4, p. 57) . In the Dutch invasions of 1666 and 1667 he displayed eminent skill in the work of organising the militia both in Devonshire and Cornwall ”

“ Lord Bath then joined the Duke of Bedford’s opposition, after first reflecting on that Duke himself, who he said had entered his complaint both ways, that the Bill had not been brought in soon enough, and had been brought in too late. That for himself, he could not but think the proposal of examining the claims first very material. Should he, would any man, purchase an estate, before he had examined the nature and validity of the incumbrances? ”

“ Rye, Sussex
The city of Bath, once the rival of Wells—the contention between the monks of St. Peter and the canons of St. Andrews at Wells being hot and fierce—has many attractions. Its minster, rebuilt by Bishop Oliver King of Wells (1495-1503) , and restored in the seventeenth century, and also in modern times, is not a very interesting building, though it lacks not some striking features, and certainly contains some fine tombs and monuments of the fashionable folk who flocked to Bath in the days of its splendour. The city itself abounds in interest. ”

“ Rumour declared that there was to be a Parliament in London almost at once, and that, besides the nobles and knights, "four discreet men" from some of the leading towns were to be summoned to attend. This was a distinct step in the direction of constitutional government, and the policy of the great Earl was warmly commended on all sides. Little feeling at present existed with regard to the captive condition of the King. The nation began openly to say that he was always the slave and captive of his own favourites. ”

“ The “most honourable” Order of the Bath was established by George I. in 1725, to consist of the sovereign, a grand master and 36 knights companions. This was a pretended revival of an order supposed to have been created by Henry IV. at his coronation in 1399. But, as has been shown in the preceding section, no such order existed. Knights of the Bath, although they were allowed precedence before knights bachelors, were merely knights bachelors who were knighted with more elaborate ceremonies than others and on certain great occasions. ”

“ To Sir WATKIN PHILLIPS, of Jesus college, Oxon. DEAR KNIGHT,
I think those people are unreasonable, who complain that Bath is a contracted circle, in which the same dull scenes perpetually revolve, without variation—I am, on the contrary, amazed to find so small a place so crowded with entertainment and variety. London itself can hardly exhibit one species of diversion, to which we have not something analogous at Bath, over and above those singular advantages that are peculiar to the place. ”