ABSTRACT
Eighteenth-century Bath was a thriving spa resort with a growing number of charities financed and managed by the Company of Visitors and by residents of the local community. Georgian Bath was, in the words of the eighteenth-century novelist, Tobias Smollett, 'the great hospital of the nation, frequented by all the valetudinarians whose lives are of any consequence to the commonwealth'. The whirl of social activities that characterized the spring and autumn seasons was thus constructed around the assumed medicinal properties of the spa, with a routine that included bathing and taking the waters. Therefore, though the concept of tourism may be premature in an eighteenth century context, Bath visitors were participating in a health resort where the pursuit of soundness of body and mind was a pervading influence. At Bath, as in other spa resorts, new chemical ideas were evident in vitriolic disputes about the composition of the waters.
