In the churchyard is a pump room, a classical building upwards of a century old, and bearing on its pediment a Greek inscription, the translation of which is “Best on the one hand is water.” The room was built at the suggestion of Beau Nash, the famous organiser of pleasure and the character most intimately associated with the “renaissance” of Bath. He became the uncrowned king of the city and his plans were accepted as law. When it was proposed to place a full length portrait of this “Bathoniæ elegantiæ arbiter,” as he is styled, on his monument, between small busts of Sir Isaac Newton and the poet Pope, Lord Chesterfield made fun of Nash in the oft-repeated epigram: “Immortal Newton never spoke More truth than here you’ll find: Nor Pope himself ere penned a joke Severer on mankind. This picture placed these busts between Gives satire all its strength; Wisdom and wit are little seen But Folly at full length.” Among the many pithy epitaphs to be seen on the tablets and slabs inside the abbey church, one, almost hidden in the north aisle of the chancel, and written by Garrick on Quin the actor, is characteristic of the punning tendency of the time: “That tongue which set the table in a roar And charmed the public ear is heard no more; Closed are those eyes, the harbingers of wit, Which spake before the tongue what Shakespeare writ; Cold is that hand which living was stretched forth At friendship’s call to succour modest worth. Here lies James Quin: deign reader to be taught Whate’er thy strength of body, force of thought, In nature’s happiest mould however cast, To this complexion thou must come at last.” Ob. MDCCLXVI Etates LXXV. TEWKESBURY (_Mitred Benedictine_) 715, Monastery founded by two brothers, Oddo and Doddo, Dukes of Mercia, on the site of the cell inhabited by Theocus, a hermit--1102, Refounded and endowed by Robert Fitz-Hamon as a Benedictine abbey--Church and monastery built--1123, Church consecrated--1539, Dissolved. Annual revenue, £1598 1s. 3d.--Conventual buildings destroyed but church purchased by the parishioners--John Wakeman, last abbot, retires on a pension and becomes first Bishop of Gloucester--1875, Church restored by Sir Gilbert Scott. The ruins of this abbey church of a former Benedictine monastery stand overshadowed by the glorious Malvern hills in a beautiful valley in Gloucestershire, through which flow the Avon and Severn with two tributaries. The rich colouring of the country side and the ever varying tints of the surrounding hills make the environment of Tewkesbury one of singular beauty--a perfect setting for the abbey with its imposing Norman tower, one of the most perfect of the kind in England.