George III, King of Great Britain, 1738-1820; Great Britain -- History -- George III, 1760-1820
Indeed, by most the creator is still esteemed greater than his creation,
and for one who is interested in Bath, a score are fascinated by the
romance of its erstwhile Master of the Ceremonies. In that city even
to-day his presence is felt. Of course, there is the tablet in the Abbey
Church and the memorial stone on the house, in which he died, for all
the world to see; but these are his least enduring monuments, for his
name is written on two-thirds of the buildings in Bath. The theatre was
his residence for many years; the existing Pump Room is on the site of
the older building where he held his court and whence he promulgated his
laws; the lecture hall of the Literary Institution was the ball-room of
Harrison's Assembly Rooms, over which he ruled with despotic power.
There in "The Grove" is the obelisk he erected to commemorate the stay
of the Prince of Orange; there, in Queen's Square, is another which he
placed in honour of the visit of Frederick, Prince of Wales. So might
Bath be traversed from north to south, from east to west, and everywhere
signs discovered of the presiding spirit, even to that small street
where an inn tempts passers-by to enter and drink "Beau Nash and Sulis."
All the world over the old order changeth and giveth place unto the new,
but it is sad to see historic landmarks neglected as they are in Bath,
where Londonderry House has been converted into cheap shops, and the
house where Nash died into a furniture warehouse; Sydney House stands
decaying, and Ralph Allen's city home is let in tenements. The folly of
this is the greater, because the fates may yet decree a revival of this
city which, Landor declared, is "the only place after Florence," and the
beauty of which has been sung in his sweetest strains by the greatest
living English poet.
LONDON: EVELEIGH NASH,
BEDFORD STREET, STRAND
"PUNCH"
A Great Punch Editor
By George Somes Layard
In 1 vol., demy 8vo, cloth gilt, gilt top, 18s. net.
With Eight Full-page Illustrations and twenty-two Initial Letters from
_Punch_.
A Memoir of Shirley Brooks, the second in succession of _Punch_ Editors.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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