Bath in the Time of Ralph Allen: a Cultural Survey
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
BATH IN THE TIME OF RALPH ALLEN: A CULTURAL SURVEY BY BARBARA MARION ROGERS B.A. Hons., University of London, 1938 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in the Department of English We accept this thesis as conforming to the required standard. THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA March, 1968 In presenting this thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of British Columbia, I agree that the Library shall make it freely available for reference and study. I further agree that permission for extensive copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by the Head of my Department or by his representatives. It is understood that copying or publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Department of The University of British Columbia Vancouver 8, Canada ii /Abstract The following survey of the changing aspects of life in Bath during the first fifty years of the eighteenth century makes no claim to be an exhaustive study of the subject, but endeavours to show how the personality of one of her citizens did much to influence the development of the city. Bath, seen as a complete picture in miniature of English society of the time, possessed in Ralph Allen a man eager to forward her interests; a man who combined with his vast personal fortune a character and personality which earned him the respect and veneration of many of the most outstand• ing figures of the age. At his death a unique phase in Bath's history was brought to an end. In preparing this survey I have consulted the works of various contemporary commentators as well as the writings of a number *of modern social historians who have examined in detail the civic, social, and architectural growth of the city during the period under review. Most valuable among these have been Barbeau's Life1and Letters at Bath in the XVIIIth Century, R.A.L. Smith's Bath, Bryan Little's Bath Portrait and Willard Connely's Beau Nash: Monarch of Bath and Tunbridge Wells. Unfortunately I was unable to use Professor iii Benjamin Boyce's The Benevolent Man; A Life of Ralph Allen of Bath, which was not published until late in 1967, after the final draft of this thesis had been completed. In addition to the above, I have also consulted the works of those principal eighteenth century authors who were directly influenced by the cultural life of Bath, and who have given us immediate and vivid impressions derived from the daily life of this extraordinary city. Defoe, Steele, Pope, Fielding, Goldsmith, and Smollett all knew Bath well, and all have incorporated in their works the essence of Bath life. Moreover, Pope and Fielding were much indebted to Allen personally; PJope carried on a constant correspondence with him, and Fielding used him as the prototype for Squire Allworthy in Tom Jones. As for Goldsmith, he centred his interest on Beau Nash and left for us the.first full length biographical study of this dynamic contemporary of Allen. In summary, I have attempted to show, through contemporary and later documents, that Ralph Allen, by his manifold activities, contributed greatly to the cul• tural development of Bath, and that Bath itself was a brilliant mirror, reflecting the ever-changing cultural and social life of England itself. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER Page I. THE DEVELOPMENT OF BATH 1 II. THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE CITY .... 5 Nash's Reforms and Plans 5 Architectural Developments 7 Ralph Allen and John Wood: Prior Park 14 III. SOCIETY, MANNERS AND PERSONALITIES AT BATH DURING NASH'S REGIME 24 Beau Nash at Bath 24 Social Life at Bath 29 IV. SOCIAL LIFE AT PRIOR PARK 59 Ralph Allen as a Personality .... 59 Visitors to Prior Park 65 The Fielding connection with Prior Park . 74 Alexander Pope's connection with Prior Park 81 V. THE CULTURAL MILIEU OF BATH DURING THE FIRST HALF OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY Ill V CHAPTER Page VI. BATH AND THE NOVEL IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 135 Fortune-hunters at Bath in the novels of Defoe and Smollett . 135 Physicians at Bath in Smollett's novels 147 Bath Neighbourhood and Local Characters Reflected in Fielding's Writings 162 A1 SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 199 A PLAN OF 18TH CENTURY BATH KEY TO PLAN OF BATH A SKETCH-MAP FROM THOMAS THORPE'S ACTUAL SURVEY OF THE CITY OF BATH, 1742 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I should like to express my gratitude to Professor Stanley E. Read for his patient and helpful guidance during the writing of the manuscript. I am also grateful to Dr. Geoffrey Creigh for all his help. KEY TO PLAN OF BATH 1 Abbey Church A Saw Close 2 Cross Bath B Upper Borough Walls 3 Hot Bath C Lower Borough Walls 4 Cold Bath D Lilliput Alley 5 King1 s Bath 6 Pump Room [ Harvey, 1706] 7 Lower Assembly Rooms: "Harrison's," 1708 "Dame Lindsey's" Ballroom, 1717 "Thayer's" [ J. Wood I, 1728] 8.. St. John's Hospital fj. Wood I, 1727J 9 Queen Square [j. Wood I, 1728 - C.1735J 10 St. Mary's Chapel f.J. Wood I, 1735] 11 General, or Mineral Water Hospital [j. Wood I, 1738J 12 Kingsmead Square, Globe Inn 13 North and South Parades, Duke Street, Pierrepont Street [j. Wood I, 1740 - 1748] 14 Orchard Street Theatre [Jelly and Palmer, 1750J 15 The Circus [j. Wood I and II, 1754 - 1765J 16 Gay Street [j. Wood II, 1756] 17 Milsom Street, 1763 18 Brock Street [J. Wood II, 1765J 19 The Octagon [Lightoler, 1767] 20 The Royal Crescent ["j. Wood II, 1767 - 1775J 21 Assembly Rooms [j/. Wood II, 1767 - 1771] 22 Pulteney Bridge, jjdesigned by Robert Adam, 177lJ 23 The Guildhall [T.{ Baldwin, 1775J 24 North Colonnade, Pump Room [Baldwin, 1786j 25 Laura Place, Great Pulteney Street [Baldwin, 1788j 26 Lady Huntingdon's Chapel r o -k:.\ I THE DEVELOPMENT OF BATH AFTER 1702 The development of Bath was not an isolated instance of 18th century city growth. Unique, however,.was the extent to which the men of vision involved in the creation of the 18th century city took advantage of their opportunity while, at the same time, the social and cultural milieu which evolved there created a demand for a worthy setting. At the turn of the century, Bath was still a walled town of no architectural distinction, and no larger in area than the original Roman town. By mid-18th century the city had doubled in area and was completely transformed in appearance. Its good fortune was the ccuincidence of civic and social development with the period of the flowering of 18th century English architecture. The extraordinary civic and artistic emergence of an obscure and relatively remote and provincial city can be traced to an almost fortuitous happening. Although the Roman Baths had long been forgotten, the town was still frequented during the summer months by invalids who sought relief in the "waters;" and gambling had existed in Bath since the time of Charles II's visit. But the city was rustic, provincial and lacking in essential amenities. The turning point in its history 2 was the decision of Queen Anne to "take the waters" there in 1702, and again in 1703; and whither the Court repaired, the fashionable world would inevitably follow. London was the social centre of the kingdom, but, since travel abroad had not yet become as fashionable as it was to become in Regency days, a suitable summer resort was completely lacking, and the English countryside of those days was considered excessively boring. London was the only theatre "for pleasure or intrigue," and the pleasures afforded by the provinces were "merely rural, the company splenetic, rustic and vulgar." People of fashion were obliged to spend the summer season "amidst a solitude of country squires, parsons' wives ... or farmers; they wanted some place where they might have each other's company and win each other's money. Gambling in England, and particularly in London, had by this time reached the proportions of a national disease among the leisured classes of both sexes, the men gathering round the card tables at Almack's, White's 2 and Boodle's, the women in their own drawing rooms. Speculation and risk were a passion sought for, and found, ••-Oliver Goldsmith, "Life of Richard Nash" in Works, Globe edition (1925), p. 519. 2 A.S. Turberville, English Men and Manners in the Eighteenth Century (1926), 1959/ ed. p. 88. 3 and fortunes were lost and made "at the turn of a card or a throw from a dice-box. "1 Naturally, to London, the "great mart of every folly, sharpers from every country daily arrived."2 Professional gamblers from Aix and Spa flocked to London during the winter,3 and as soon as people with money to stake began to patronize Bath, the professionals and sharpers lost no time in following in their wake. Among this inevitable crowd of gamesters and their cullies was Richard Nash, a professional gamester who had made a name for himself in London as an organizer of social ceremonies, but who depended for his livelihood upon his gains at the tables. Nash's arrival at Bath in 1705 was motivated by the hopes of making money, but the outcome of his visit was the making of Bath. No sooner had he arrived than he began to speculate upon the possibilities of convert• ing the city into an attractive resort with himself as leader.