• Life and Letters at Bath in the Eighteenth Century [top]
  Written by Alfred Barbeau; Preface by Austin Dobson, Ealing, 1904
  First published in 1904 in Great Britain
  Reprinted in 2009 in Great Britain by The History Press in paperback, 286pp, ISBN 9781845886028

About this book/synopsis: Eighteenth-century Bath was at the cente of English culture and fashion. It was a pleasure resort and spa town playing host to the beau monde in search of diversion in addition to the infirm in search of a cure by taking its waters. Its pump room, assembly rooms and theatre attracted aristocracy and gentry from all over the country, particularly under the auspices of Master of Ceremonies Beau Nash, notable dandy and leader of fashion. Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Thomas Gainsborough and Jane Austen were among its famous visitors and residents. Life and Letters at Bath in the Eighteenth Century chronicles this fascinating period in the history of the city and gives details of the wide variety of famous people associated with it.

Contents:
Illustrations; Preface
1. Bath to the Last Years of the Seventeenth Century
2. The King of Bath - Organisation of fashionable life (1730-1761)
3. Life at Bath: Amusements
4. Society in Bath
5. Society in Bath: Sheridan's Marriage
6. Society in Bath: the Methodists
7. Authors at Bath: Bath in Plays and Novels; Sheridan, Smollett, Jane Austen, and Dickens
8. Authors at Bath: the "Water Poets"; the Bath Easton Parnassus; Anstey
9. Authors at Bath: Prior Park; its literary guests (Pope, Warburton, Fielding), and other famous visitors
10. Art and science: the Woods, Gainsborough, Lawrence, Herschel
11. The Transformation of Bath in the Nineteenth Century
Appendix: A Ballad of Bath
Bibliography

Illustrations
Beau Nash -from the portrait by Hoare
The Bath Easton Vase
General View of Bath from the Claverton Road from the drawing by John Claude Nattes
The Queen's Bath from the drawing by John Claude Nattes
The King's Bath from the picture by Robins
Plan of Bath, 1783
King's and Queen's Baths from the picture by Robins
The Pump Room (exterior) from the drawing by John Claude Nattes
The Pump Room (interior) from the drawing by John Claude Nattes
A Long Minuet as danced at Bath from the drawing by H. Bunbury
Henderson from the portrait by Gilbert Stuart
Mrs Siddons from the picture by Gainsborough
Lord Chesterfield from the portrait by William Hoare
Catherine Hyde, Duchess of Queensberry from the portrait by Charles Jervas
The Comforts of Bath from a drawing by Rowlandson
Richard Brinsley Sheridan after the portrait by Gainsborough
The Misses Linley from the portrait by Gainsborough
Selina, Countess of Huntingdon from the picture by J. Russell
Lady Huntingdon's Chapel at Bath
Frances Burney, from the portrait by F. Burney
Tobias Smollett, after an original portrait, painted in Italy about 1770
Quin from the portrait by Hogarth in the National Gallery
Jane Austen as a girl
Christopher Anstey from an engraving in the British Museum
Oliver Goldsmith from the portrait by a pupil of Sir Joshua Reynolds
Marshal Wade from the picture by Hogarth
Ralph Allen from the drawing by William Hoare, RA
William Warburton from the portrait by Charles Phillips
Henry Fielding from Basire's engraving of the portrait by William Hogarth
Thomas Gainsborough from the portrait by himself
Sir Thomas Lawrence from an engraving by Worthington
The Old Bridge from the drawing by John Claude Nattes