In considering the various bathing localities it is only natural that we should begin with London. We have no intention of speaking in detail of the various baths with which private enterprise has provided the inhabitants of London, for such a course would be quite foreign to the intentions of this little work, which is intended merely to furnish the reader with a few general principles which shall be of use to him in selecting a bath. There is no kind of bath which cannot be got in London, and between a dip in the Serpentine and the elaborate process of the Turkish bath the bather has a wide choice. In proportion to its size and the number of its inhabitants, however, the bathing accommodation is very bad. The Thames is still a foul stream, and few care to plunge into the sewage which flows down from Richmond and surges back again from Barking. It is true that we have one large swimming bath floating close to Hungerford Bridge, the water of which is filtered in an ingenious way; but it may safely be said that, were the water of the river cleaner, we should have fifty such baths instead of one. We have often thought that a bathing establishment on a really grand scale would be a success in London, and we hope some day to see baths in our great metropolis, which should remind one of the palatial establishment of Caracalla. A combination of a swimming bath, private baths, Turkish baths, &c., with a first-rate gymnasium, reading-room, lecture hall, and refreshment room, would surely meet with sufficient patronage to pay, and we even believe that the introduction of sea-water for such a purpose (an undertaking which has been started more than once) would be sufficiently appreciated to ensure a dividend to the promoters.