anufacturers of fine carpets
over from France and Flanders and laying the foundation of that trade,
in which England now far surpasses those countries. The factory at
Axminster, on the southern coast, was also afterwards transferred to
Wilton. These carpets are all hand-made, and the higher class, which are
an inch or more in thickness and of the softness of down when trod upon,
are also of the most gorgeous design and brilliancy of colors.

BATH.

Crossing over the hills to the north-west of Salisbury Plain, we descend
to the attractive valley of another river Avon, and come to the "Queen
of all the Spas in the World," the city of Bath. It is the chief town of
Somersetshire, and is surrounded by an amphitheatre of hills. The abbey
and principal streets are in the valley, while above, on its northern
slope, rise terraces and crescents, tier upon tier, to a height of
nearly eight hundred feet, the most conspicuous being the Royal and the
Lansdowne Crescents. Many of the buildings are handsome, and are
constructed of the white great-oolite, known as bath-stone. To its
waters this famous resort owes its importance, but from an insignificant
place Bath has risen to the highest point of popularity as a fashionable
watering-place and in architectural magnificence through the genius of
Architect Wood and Master-of-Ceremonies Beau Nash. The legendary king
Bladud is said to have first discovered the Bath waters twenty-seven
hundred years ago, and to have built a town there and dedicated the
medicinal springs to Minerva, so that "Bladud's Well" has passed into a
proverb of sparkling inexhaustibility. The Romans, passionately attached
to the luxury of the hot springs, made Bath one of their chief stations,
and here and in the neighborhood the foundations of their extensive
buildings have been traced, with the remains of altars, baths,
tessellated pavements, and ornaments, and few British towns can produce
such a collection of Roman relics. In the height of the Roman power in
the fifth century the city extended nearly three miles along the valley,
and was surrounded by a wall twenty feet high and nine feet thick. Such
a fascinating spot was naturally selected for the foundation of a
religious house at an early period, and we consequently find that the
abbey of Bath was built by King Offa in the eighth century, and
refounded by King Edgar in the tenth century. It existed until the
dissolution in 1539. The church fell into decay i