Tandridge.
"_Go to Bath_" (Vol. ix., p. 421.).--I have little doubt but that this
phrase is connected with the fact of Bath's being proverbially the resort
of beggars; and what more natural, to one acquainted with this fact, than
to bid an importunate applicant betake himself thither to join his fellows?
See also Fuller's _Worthies_ (co. Somerset).
I transcribe the passage for the benefit of those who have not the book at
hand:
"_Beggars of Bath._--Many in that place; some natives there, others
repairing thither from all parts of the land; the poor for alms, the
pained for ease. Whither should fowl flock in a hard frost, but to the
barn-door? Here, all the two seasons, being the general confluence of
gentry. Indeed laws are daily made to restrain beggars, and daily
broken by the connivance of those who make them; it being impossible
when the hungry belly barks, and bowels sound, to keep the tongue
silent. And although oil of whip {578} be the proper plaister for the
cramp of laziness, yet some pity is due to impotent persons. In a word,
seeing there is the Lazar's-bath in this city, I doubt not but many a
good Lazarus, the true object of charity, may beg therein."