Notes and Queries: A Medium of Intercommunication for Literary Men, General Readers, Etc;; January June 1886 (Classic Reprint) - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 133127625X ISBN 13: 9781331276258

Publisher: Forgotten Books, 2020

Synopsis

Excerpt from Notes and Queries: A Medium of Intercommunication for Literary Men, General Readers, Etc;; January June 1886 Since the taking of the original Bastille, indeed, the word has passed into common use as a synonym alike for a prison and a workhouse. The other derivation is a little less obvious, but hardly less certain. "The Steel" is generally known as Coldbath Fields Prison, and the history of this particular cold bath is thus related: -"The most noted and first about London was that near Sir John Oldcastle's, where, in the year 1697; Mr. Bains undertook and still manages this business of Cold Bathing, which they say is good against Rheumatisms, Convulsions in the Nerves, &c., but of that those who have made the Experiments are the best judges. The Baths are 2s. 6d. if the Chair is used, and 2s. without it. Hours are from 5 in the Morning to 1 Afternoon." Bagnigge Wells, which a hundred years later had altogether eclipsed the fame of Mr. Bains's establishment, are not mentioned, though they were almost within a stone's throw of "the Gold Bath," which I believe still exists. It is tolerably certain, therefore, that the name was given after 1708, when the 'New View of London' was published, and it seems highly probable that Bag-nigge Wells were originally a rival establishment, to which the enterprising proprietor gave the more ambitious name of "The Bagnios" - a word which, not being generally understanded of the people, gave rise to the later appellation, in which, by the way, the double g was always sounded soft. Battle Bridge lay a little to the north-west of "Black Mary's," but the only record of it left in modern topography is the Battle Bridge Road, which runs at the back of King's Cross and St. Pancras stations. Whether the "River of Wells," the Fleet brook or river, and the Old Bourne were, as Pennant seems to think, three different streams which united about the bottom of Holborn Hill, or whether the Fleet brook is simply an alias of the Old Bourne

Edition details

• Publisher: Forgotten Books
• Publication date: 2020
• ISBN 10: 133127625X
• ISBN 13: 9781331276258
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 556