Some people may tell you that the Romans discovered Bath, but the old
story gives the honour to a British Prince, Bladud, who is, variously,
said to have been the father of King Lear, and the eldest son of King
Lud. Like these two illustrious monarchs, Bladud came in time to be
king of Britain. But that was after he had passed through a very sad
experience.
Prince Bladud, as was becoming the eldest son of a king, spent many
years in Athens studying the liberal arts and sciences. But, alas!
while in Greece he became a leper, and on his return to Britain he had
to be shut away from his fellow-men, for fear that he should infect
them with the dreaded disease.
The Prince bore his confinement patiently for a time, but at last it
became unendurable, and he escaped in disguise, and went out into
the world to forget his royal birth and to earn his living as best
he could. His wanderings brought him to the hamlet of Swainswick, a
few miles from where Bath now stands, and there he found the only
occupation given to one afflicted as he was, that of a swineherd.
Here for some time he carried on his lowly duties, content to be a free
man, no matter how humble his station in life. And they say that early
one winter’s morning when he was out in the neighbouring woods with his
pigs, the animals suddenly became restive. Before he could stop them
a large part of the herd had taken panic and rushed furiously down a
hill-side into a swamp, at the foot where they began to wallow in the
mud.
Bladud pursued them, wondering that pigs should seek to roll in cold
muddy water on a winter’s day. But when he reached them, he found, to
his surprise, that the water and slime in which they rolled was hot,
and that steam arose from the marsh. This explained the problem to the
Prince, though he marvelled greatly at the existence of such springs.
But there was another surprise in store for him. He noticed that those
pigs that habitually went to the hot swamp were in ill-health and
afflicted, somewhat like himself, with skin diseases. After a short
time they became fat and well, their coats as clean and glossy as any
in the herd.
“If this marvel can come to base animals,” Bladud mused, “why should it
not come to me?” So he determined to try the effect of the hot springs
upon his own complaint, and after a few weeks’ bathing in them, to his
intense joy, he found his leprosy leaving him. By summer he was cured
completely of his affliction, and he returned to the king, his father,
to announce his good fortune.
King Lud, who had mourned him as dead, was over-joyed to see his eldest
son again; more joyful still to find him cured. So Bladud resumed his
duties at Court, and in due time, when Lud died, he became King of
Britain. Then it was, as a token of gratitude, and that others might
benefit from the miraculous waters he had found, that he built a great
city on the scene of his cure, and that city we know to-day as Bath.
Of course, when the Romans came, they were delighted to find this
wonderful “spa” as we call it. They put up great buildings, and their
chief men visited Aquæ Sulis, as they called it, to be cured of gout
and rheumatism, and a score of other complaints. And because of the
wonderful buildings they left behind them--and many of them remain to
this day--people, who do not know the old story, say that they founded
the city.
But no matter who really did found it, we know that for nearly 2,000
years people have been visiting Bath and finding a cure there which
they have sought elsewhere in vain.
Bath is a wonderful city set in glorious surroundings, and you need
not be an invalid to enjoy a visit there. With its memories and
relics of Beau Nash, and the spacious days of the eighteenth century;
its wonderful old Abbey Church, its Roman remains and its sunny
sheltered walks, Bath is an amazingly attractive place in which to
spend a holiday. The country round about is full of interest, the town
possesses every attraction a holiday resort should possess.
Of its waters, let the doctors speak. They will speak of them as
enthusiastically as Bladud must have done, and tell you that, in Bath,
you may find all the benefits that so many people travel hundreds of
miles to Continental spas to seek.
[Illustration: _Roman Remains at Bath._]
[Illustration: King Arthur at the Round Table conversing with knights.]