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A Day at Tunbridge Wells
After church, some of those who did not go to the Tavern would saunter on Mount Ephraim or Mount Sion. "The Company," said Defoe, " walk upon the Two above-named Hills, after they have drank the Waters, and divert themselves with Bowls, Dancing, and other Exercises, as the Weather and the Physicians will permit and prescribe." A few would stroll so far as the Cold-Bath at Rust-hall, which, built at considerable expense by James Long, was, Burr has declared, " esteemed equal to any in the kingdom, being plentifully supplied with rock water from neighbouring hills." " The Bath," says the same authority, " was at first adorned with amusing waterworks, and had a handsome and convenient house over it, in every room of which was something curious, calculated to divert and surprise the company. The ground and gardens belonging to the Bath were elegantly laid out, and embellished with fountains, and other ornaments suitable to the place; in short, the whole was most completely disposed for a scene of amusement." In spite of these attractions, however, the Bath did not continue to attract, and before the century had waned it had been allowed to fall into a state of decay.
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