REGENCY RELOADEDLET’S CUT THROUGH THE GLAM AND LOOK AT THE GRITTY, BATH, THE BEAUTIFULIn my last two posts, I wrote about a side of Bath we rarely see—the seamy side (The Seamy Side of Bath, and It’s Not All Pump Rooms and Jane Austen). That little known and disturbing aspect of the city’s history is fascinating, but what we most love about Bath is its beautiful architecture, and its connection to authors like our beloved Jane.
Bath was in its glittering heyday as a resort and spa during the Georgian era. Those were the days when visits from various members of the Royal Family were common, and the elite of England’s aristocracy came to drink the waters, take the baths, and gamble their fortunes away. Some of the liveliest accounts of the city during that period come from the diaries and letters of Fanny Burney, one of the most popular novelists of the day. She loved Bath, and her affection is evident in her letters:
By Jane Austen’s time, however, Bath’s reign as the queen of England’s resorts was passing. The glitterati had moved on to Brighton or Weymouth, leaving Bath to the aspiring professional classes, genteel invalids, or those members of the aristocracy who preferred a quieter society. Jane lived in Bath for several years, and her letters suggest that she found the social life insipid. But her fictional accounts of the city are enormously entertaining and scathingly witty. Can we ever forget the shallow Sir Walter Elliot’s comments on the unusual number of plain women in Bath?
But I prefer the simple yet heartfelt verdict of Fanny Burney’s first heroine, Evelina:
May it ever be so!
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