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111-479: Tobias George Smollett (bapt. 19 March 1721 – 17 September 1771) was a Scottish writer and surgeon. He was best known for writing picaresque novels such as The Adventures of Roderick Random (1748), The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle (1751) and The Expedition of Humphry Clinker (1771), which influenced later generations of British novelists, including Charles Dickens . His novels were liberally altered by contemporary printers; an authoritative edition of each

222-401: A World Heritage Site , recognising its international cultural significance. Between 1991 and 2000, Bath was the scene of a series of rapes committed by an unidentified man dubbed the " Batman rapist ". The attacker remains at large and is the subject of Britain's longest-running serial rape investigation. He is said to have a tights fetish , have a scar below his bottom lip and resides in

333-522: A literary technique or model than to the precise genre that the Spanish call picaresco . The English-language term can simply refer to an episodic recounting of the adventures of an anti-hero on the road. Laurence Sterne 's The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (1761–1767) and A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy (1768) each have strong picaresque elements. Voltaire 's satirical novel Candide (1759) contains elements of

444-452: A 'man of letters' and associated with such figures as David Garrick , Laurence Sterne , Oliver Goldsmith , and Samuel Johnson , whom he famously nicknamed "that Great Cham of literature". In 1755 he published an English translation of Miguel de Cervantes ' novel Don Quixote , which he revised in 1761. In 1756, he became briefly editor of the 58-volume Universal History , and editor of The Critical Review , from which later he had

555-652: A Cloud (1950) by Denton Welch , Two Serious Ladies (1943) by Jane Bowles , Death on Credit (1936) by Louis-Ferdinand Céline , and even himself. In contemporary Latin American literature, there are Manuel Rojas ' Hijo de ladrón (1951), Joaquín Edwards ' El roto (1968), Elena Poniatowska 's Hasta no verte Jesús mío (1969), Luis Zapata 's Las aventuras, desventuras y sueños de Adonis García, el vampiro de la colonia Roma (1978) and José Baroja 's Un hijo de perra (2017), among others. In 1987 an Italian comedy film written and directed by Mario Monicelli

666-418: A Foundling (1749), though Fielding attributed his style to an "imitation of the manner of Cervantes , author of Don Quixote ". William Makepeace Thackeray is the master of the 19th-century English picaresque. His best-known work, Vanity Fair: A Novel Without a Hero (1847–1848) — a title ironically derived from John Bunyan 's Puritan allegory of redemption The Pilgrim's Progress (1678) — follows

777-713: A cure at Bath, he retired to Italy, where he died in September 1771 and was buried in the Old English Cemetery, Livorno . There is a monument to his memory beside Renton Primary School, Dunbartonshire , Scotland, on which there is a Latin inscription. The area around the monument was improved in 2002, with an explanatory plaque. After his death in Italy in 1771, his cousin Jane Smollett had the Renton monument built in 1774. It comprises

888-590: A different meaning than it has today—has been called into question. There is unresolved debate within Hispanic studies about what the term means, or meant, and which works were, or should be, so called. The only work clearly called "picaresque" by its contemporaries was Mateo Alemán 's Guzmán de Alfarache (1599–1604), which they considered "El libro del pícaro" (English: "The Book of the Pícaro"). While elements of literature by Geoffrey Chaucer and Giovanni Boccaccio have

999-417: A large degree sought to better accommodate the motor car, including the idea of a traffic tunnel underneath the centre of Bath. Though criticised by conservationists, some parts of the plan were implemented. In the 1970s and 1980s, it was recognised that conservation of historic buildings was inadequate, leading to more care and reuse of buildings and open spaces. In 1987, the city was selected by UNESCO as

1110-457: A literary tradition with similar themes, is thus another possible influence on the picaresque style. Al-Hamadhani (d.1008) of Hamadhan (Iran) is credited with inventing the literary genre of maqāmāt in which a wandering vagabond makes his living on the gifts his listeners give him following his extemporaneous displays of rhetoric, erudition, or verse, often done with a trickster 's touch. Ibn al-Astarkuwi or al-Ashtarkuni (d.1134) also wrote in

1221-437: A little broad, but she may read anything now she's married, you know. I remember they made me laugh uncommonly – there's a droll bit about a postillion's breeches." In W. M. Thackeray 's novel Vanity Fair , Rebecca Sharp and Miss Rose Crawley read Humphry Clinker : "Once, when Mr. Crawley asked what the young people were reading, the governess replied 'Smollett'. 'Oh, Smollett,' said Mr. Crawley, quite satisfied. 'His history

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1332-613: A picaresque feel and may have contributed to the style, the modern picaresque begins with Lazarillo de Tormes , which was published anonymously in 1554 in Burgos , Medina del Campo , and Alcalá de Henares in Spain, and also in Antwerp , which at the time was under Spanish rule as a major city in the Spanish Netherlands . It is variously considered either the first picaresque novel or at least

1443-630: A picaresque story. The sixth episode of Season 1 of the Spanish fantasy television series, El ministerio del tiempo (English title: The Ministry of Time ), entitled "Tiempo de pícaros" (Time of rascals) focuses on Lazarillo de Tormes as a young boy prior to his adventures in the genre-creating novel that bears his name. The Netflix series Inventing Anna (2022) has been called "somewhat anhedonic post-internet picaresque". [REDACTED] Media related to Picaresque novel at Wikimedia Commons Bath, England Bath ( RP : / b ɑː θ / ; local pronunciation: [ba(ː)θ] )

1554-564: A practice in Downing Street but his wife did not join him until 1747; they had a daughter Elizabeth, who died aged 15 years about 1762. His two native languages were English and Scots . He translated famous works of the Enlightenment from other European languages. Smollett's first published work in 1746 was a poem about the Battle of Culloden entitled " The Tears of Scotland ". However, it

1665-456: A practice in the city in 1668. He was interested in the curative properties of the waters, and he wrote A discourse of Bathe, and the hot waters there. Also, Some Enquiries into the Nature of the water in 1676. It brought the health-giving properties of the hot mineral waters to the attention of the country, and the aristocracy arrived to partake in them. Several areas of the city were developed in

1776-616: A royal borough ( burh ) of Alfred the Great , and was reformed into a municipal borough in 1835. It has formed part of the county of Somerset since 878, when ceded to Wessex , having previously been in Mercia (the River Avon had acted as the border between the two kingdoms since 628). However, Bath was made a county borough in 1889, independent of the newly created administrative county and Somerset County Council . Bath became part of Avon when

1887-499: A series of lectures involving the topic in 1979 at Naropa University in Colorado. He says it is impossible to separate the anti-hero from the picaresque novel, that most of these are funny, and they all have protagonists who are outsiders by their nature. His list of picaresque novels includes Petronius' novel Satyricon (54–68 AD), The Unfortunate Traveller (1594) by Thomas Nashe, both Maiden Voyage (1943) and A Voice Through

1998-404: A single channel. Periodic flooding, which shortened the life of many buildings in the lowest part of the city, was normal until major flood control works were completed in the 1970s. Kensington Meadows is an area of mixed woodland and open meadow next to the river which has been designated as a local nature reserve . Water bubbling up from the ground as geothermal springs originates as rain on

2109-466: A son who was in the military. Smollett attended Dumbarton Grammar School and then was educated at the University of Glasgow , where he studied medicine and eventually qualified as a surgeon. Some biographers assert that he then proceeded to the University of Edinburgh , but left without earning a degree. Others state that his career in medicine came second to his literary ambitions at the age of 18, and it

2220-453: A successful libel case brought against him by Admiral Sir Charles Knowles , and a three-month prison sentence, and fine of £ 100. Smollett then began what he regarded as his major work, A Complete History of England (1757–1765) which helped recoup his finances, along with profits from his only performed play, a farce, The Reprisal; or the Tars of Old England . After his imprisonment, he used

2331-416: A surgeon during the disastrous campaign to capture Cartagena . These experiences were later included in the narrative of his novels. He married a wealthy Jamaican heiress, Anne "Nancy" Lascelles (1721–1791). She was a daughter of William Lascelles, but was unable to access her inheritance as it was invested in land and slaves. On their return to Britain, at the end of his Navy commission, Smollett established

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2442-544: A tall Tuscan column topped by an urn. On the plinth is a Latin inscription written by Professor George Stuart of Edinburgh, John Ramsay of Ochtertyre and Dr Samuel Johnson . It is a category A listed building . There is also a plaque at his temporary residence in Edinburgh , just off the Royal Mile at the head of St John's Street, where his wife lived after his death until at least 1785. This states that he resided there in

2553-544: Is a city in Somerset , England, known for and named after its Roman-built baths . At the 2021 Census, the population was 94,092. Bath is in the valley of the River Avon , 97 miles (156 km) west of London and 11 miles (18 km) southeast of Bristol . The city became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987, and was later added to the transnational World Heritage Site known as the " Great Spa Towns of Europe " in 2021. Bath

2664-481: Is also elected. The coat of arms includes a depiction of the city wall , and two silver stripes representing the River Avon and the hot springs. The sword of St. Paul is a link to Bath Abbey. The supporters, a lion and a bear, stand on a bed of acorns , a link to Bladud , the subject of the Legend of Bath. The knight's helmet indicates a municipality and the crown is that of King Edgar (referencing his coronation at

2775-575: Is also the largest city and settlement in Somerset. The city became a spa with the Latin name Aquae Sulis ("the waters of Sulis ") c. 60 AD when the Romans built baths and a temple in the valley of the River Avon, although hot springs were known even before then. Bath Abbey was founded in the 7th century and became a religious centre; the building was rebuilt in the 12th and 16th centuries. In

2886-530: Is buried. Laurence Sterne , in his A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy , refers to Smollett under the nickname of Smelfungus , due to the snarling abuse Smollett heaped on the institutions and customs of the countries he visited and described in his Travels Through France and Italy . Mr Brooke in George Eliot 's Middlemarch says to Mr Casaubon: "Or get Dorothea to read you light things, Smollett – Roderick Random, Humphry Clinker . They are

2997-868: Is more dull, but by no means so dangerous as that of Mr. Hume . It is history you are reading?' 'Yes,' said Miss Rose; without, however, adding that it was the history of Mr. Humphry Clinker." Charles Dickens 's David Copperfield mentions that his young protagonist counted Smollett's works among his favourites as a child. John Bellairs referenced Smollett's works in his Johnny Dixon series, where Professor Roderick Random Childermass reveals that his late father Marcus, an English professor, had named all his sons after characters in Smollett's works: Roderick Random, Peregrine Pickle, Humphry Clinker, and even "Ferdinand Count Fathom", who usually signed his name F. C. F. Childermass. George Orwell praised him as "Scotland's best novelist". In Hugh Walpole 's fifth novel Fortitude ,

3108-560: Is typical. November to March have the highest mean wind speeds, and June to August have the lightest winds. The predominant wind direction is from the southwest. Bath is fully enclosed by green belt as a part of a wider environmental and planning policy first designated in the late 1950s, and this extends into much of the surrounding district and beyond, helping to maintain local green space, prevent further urban sprawl and unplanned expansion towards Bristol and Bradford-on-Avon , as well as protecting smaller villages in between. Suburbs of

3219-807: The 2017 general election and retained her seat at the 2019 general election. Howlett had replaced the retiring Liberal Democrat Don Foster at the 2015 general election . Foster's election was a notable result of the 1992 general election , as Chris Patten , the previous Member (and Cabinet Minister ) played a major part, as Chairman of the Conservative Party , in re-electing the government of John Major , but failed to defend his marginal seat. The fifteen electoral wards of Bath are: Bathwick , Combe Down , Kingsmead , Lambridge, Lansdown , Moorlands, Newbridge , Odd Down , Oldfield Park, Southdown, Twerton , Walcot , Westmoreland , Weston and Widcombe & Lyncombe . These wards are co-extensive with

3330-718: The Bath Blitz , more than 400 people were killed, and more than 19,000 buildings damaged or destroyed. Houses in Royal Crescent , Circus and Paragon were burnt out along with the Assembly Rooms . A 500-kilogram (1,100 lb) high explosive bomb landed on the east side of Queen Square , resulting in houses on the south side being damaged and the Francis Hotel losing 24 metres (79 ft) of its frontage. The buildings have all been restored although there are still signs of

3441-566: The Elizabethan era , when the city experienced a revival as a spa . The baths were improved and the city began to attract the aristocracy. A Royal charter granted by Queen Elizabeth I in 1590 confirmed city status . James Montagu, Bishop of Bath and Wells from 1608, spent considerable sums in restoring Bath Abbey and actively supported the Baths themselves, aware that the 'towne liveth wholly by them'. In 1613, perhaps at his behest, Queen Anne visited

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3552-594: The Hwicce , perhaps using the walled area as its precinct. Nennius , a 9th-century historian, mentions a "Hot Lake" in the land of the Hwicce along the River Severn , and adds "It is surrounded by a wall, made of brick and stone, and men may go there to bathe at any time, and every man can have the kind of bath he likes. If he wants, it will be a cold bath; and if he wants a hot bath, it will be hot". Bede described hot baths in

3663-474: The Mendip Hills . The rain percolates through limestone aquifers to a depth of between 9,000 to 14,000 ft (2,700 to 4,300 m) where geothermal energy raises the water's temperature to between 64 and 96 °C (approximately 147–205 °F). Under pressure, the heated water rises to the surface along fissures and faults in the limestone. Hot water at a temperature of 46 °C (115 °F) rises here at

3774-534: The Mesolithic period. Several Bronze Age round barrows were opened by John Skinner in the 18th century. A long barrow site believed to be from the Early Bronze Age Beaker people was flattened to make way for RAF Charmy Down . Solsbury Hill overlooking the current city was an Iron Age hill fort and the adjacent Bathampton Camp may also have been one. Archaeological evidence shows that

3885-588: The Stothert & Pitt factory site, and the riverside Bath Quays office and business development. In 2021, Bath become part of a second UNESCO World Heritage Site, a group of spa towns across Europe known as the " Great Spas of Europe ". This makes it one of the only places to be formally recognised twice as a World Heritage site. Since 1996, the city has had a single tier of local government — Bath and North East Somerset Council . Bath had long been an ancient borough , having that status since 878 when it became

3996-521: The Stuart period, and more building took place during Georgian times in response to the increasing number of visitors who required accommodation. Architects John Wood the Elder and his son laid out the new quarters in streets and squares, the identical façades of which gave an impression of palatial scale and classical decorum. Much of the creamy gold Bath stone , a type of limestone used for construction in

4107-645: The Victoria Art Gallery , the Museum of East Asian Art , the Herschel Museum of Astronomy , Fashion Museum , and the Holburne Museum . The city has two universities – the University of Bath and Bath Spa University – with Bath College providing further education . Sporting clubs from the city include Bath Rugby and Bath City . The hills in the locality such as Bathampton Down saw human activity from

4218-574: The Wansdyke district and therefore includes a wider area than the city (the 'North East Somerset' element) including Keynsham which is home to many of the council's offices, though the council meets at the Guildhall in Bath. Bath was returned to the ceremonial county of Somerset in 1996, though as B&NES is a unitary authority, it is not part of the area covered by Somerset County Council. Bath City Council

4329-416: The non-metropolitan county was created in 1974, resulting in its abolition as a county borough, and instead became a non-metropolitan district with borough status . With the abolition of Avon in 1996, the non-metropolitan district and borough were abolished too, and Bath has since been part of the unitary authority district of Bath and North East Somerset (B&NES). The unitary district included also

4440-456: The unreformed House of Commons , as an ancient parliamentary borough. From 1832 until 1918 it elected two MPs and then was reduced to one. Historically the constituency covered only the city of Bath; however, it was enlarged into some outlying areas between 1997 and 2010. The constituency since 2010 once again covers exactly the city of Bath and is currently represented by Liberal Democrat Wera Hobhouse who beat Conservative Ben Howlett at

4551-606: The ' Protestant work ethic '. So too is Thomas Mann 's Confessions of Felix Krull (1954), which like many novels emphasizes the theme of a charmingly roguish ascent in the social order. Under the Net (1954) by Iris Murdoch , Günter Grass 's The Tin Drum (1959) is a German picaresque novel. John Barth 's The Sot-Weed Factor (1960) is a picaresque novel that parodies the historical novel and uses black humor by intentionally incorrectly using literary devices . Other examples from

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4662-414: The 13th century. Around 1200, the first mayor was appointed. By the 15th century, Bath's abbey church was dilapidated and Oliver King , Bishop of Bath and Wells, decided to rebuild it on a smaller scale in 1500. The new church was completed just a few years before Bath Priory was dissolved in 1539 by Henry VIII . The abbey church became derelict before being restored as the city's parish church in

4773-461: The 16th and 17th centuries, it is essential to take into consideration the circumstances surrounding the lives of conversos , whose ancestors had been Jewish, and whose New Christian faith was subjected to close scrutiny and mistrust. The Spanish novels were read and imitated in other European countries where their influence can be found. In Germany, Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen wrote Simplicius Simplicissimus (1669), considered

4884-487: The 17th century, claims were made for the curative properties of water from the springs, and Bath became popular as a spa town in the Georgian era . Georgian architecture , crafted from Bath stone , includes the Royal Crescent , Circus , Pump Room , and the Assembly Rooms , where Beau Nash presided over the city's social life from 1705 until his death in 1761. Many of the streets and squares were laid out by John Wood,

4995-446: The 1960s and 1970s include Jerzy Kosinski 's The Painted Bird (1965), Vladimir Voinovich 's The Life and Extraordinary Adventures of Private Ivan Chonkin (1969), and Arto Paasilinna 's The Year of the Hare (1975). Examples from the 1980s include John Kennedy Toole 's novel A Confederacy of Dunces , which was published in 1980, eleven years after the author's suicide, and won

5106-491: The 1981 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction . It follows the adventures of Ignatius J. Reilly, a well-educated but lazy and obese slob, as he attempts to find stable employment in New Orleans and meets many colorful characters along the way. Later examples include Umberto Eco 's Baudolino (2000), and Aravind Adiga 's The White Tiger (Booker Prize 2008). William S. Burroughs was a devoted fan of picaresque novels, and gave

5217-727: The Abbey). A mural crown , indicating a city , is alternatively used instead of the helmet and Edgar's crown. The Arms bear the motto "Aqvae Svlis", the Roman name for Bath in Latin script; although not on the Arms, the motto "Floreat Bathon" is sometimes used ("may Bath flourish" in Latin). Bath and North East Somerset Council has established the Bath City Forum, comprising B&NES councillors representing wards in Bath and up to 13 co-opted members drawn from

5328-526: The Bath area or knows it very well. He has also been linked to the unsolved murder of Melanie Hall , which occurred in the city in 1996. Although the offender's DNA is known and several thousand men in Bath were DNA tested, the attacker continues to evade police. Since 2000, major developments have included the Thermae Bath Spa , the SouthGate shopping centre, the residential Western Riverside project on

5439-650: The Devil, and the Grim Reaper so that he can sneak into Heaven to party forever. Aleko Konstantinov wrote the 1895 novel Bay Ganyo about the eponymous Bulgarian rogue . The character conducts business of uneven honesty around Europe before returning home to get into politics and newspaper publishing. Bay Ganyo is a well-known stereotype in Bulgaria. In the English-speaking world, the term "picaresque" has referred more to

5550-485: The Dogs")". "Cervantes also incorporated elements of the picaresque into his greatest novel, Don Quixote (1605, 1615)", the "single most important progenitor of the modern novel", that M. H. Abrams has described as a "quasi-picaresque narrative". Here the hero is not a rogue but a foolish knight. In order to understand the historical context that led to the development of these paradigmatic picaresque novels in Spain during

5661-593: The Elder , and in the 18th century the city became fashionable and the population grew. Jane Austen lived in Bath in the early 19th century. Further building was undertaken in the 19th century and following the Bath Blitz in World War II. Bath became part of the county of Avon in 1974, and, following Avon's abolition in 1996, has been the principal centre of Bath and North East Somerset . Bath has over 6 million yearly visitors, making it one of ten English cities visited most by overseas tourists . Attractions include

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5772-544: The Seven Years' War in the guise of a tale from ancient Japan. In 1768, the year he moved to Italy, Smollett entrusted Robert Cunninghame Graham of Gartmore with selling off the slaves he still owned in Jamaica. A further visit to Scotland helped to inspire his last novel, The Expedition of Humphry Clinker (1771), published in the year of his death. He had for some time been suffering from an intestinal disorder. Having sought

5883-535: The UK. Three of the springs feed the thermal baths. Along with the rest of South West England , Bath has a temperate climate which is generally wetter and milder than the rest of the country. The annual mean temperature is approximately 10 °C (50.0 °F). Seasonal temperature variation is less extreme than most of the United Kingdom because of the adjacent sea temperatures. The summer months of July and August are

5994-563: The abolition of Abbey ward, the merger of Lyncombe and Widcombe wards, the creation of Moorlands ward, and the replacement of Oldfield with Oldfield Park, as well as considerable changes to boundaries affecting all wards. Bath is in the Avon Valley and is surrounded by limestone hills as it is near the southern edge of the Cotswolds , a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty , and the Mendip Hills rise around 7 miles (11 km) south of

6105-675: The antecedent of the genre. The protagonist, Lázaro, lives by his wits in an effort to survive and succeed in an impoverished country full of hypocrisy. As a pícaro character, he is an alienated outsider, whose ability to expose and ridicule individuals compromised within society gives him a revolutionary stance. Lázaro states that the motivation for his writing is to communicate his experiences of overcoming deception, hypocrisy, and falsehood ( engaño ). The character type draws on elements of characterization already present in Roman literature , especially Petronius ' Satyricon . Lázaro shares some of

6216-549: The appearance of parliamentary forces the gates were thrown open and the city surrendered. It became a significant post for the Western Association army under William Waller . Bath was retaken by the royalists in July 1643 following the Battle of Lansdowne and occupied for two years until 1645. Luckily, the city was spared the destruction of property and starvation of its inhabitants unlike nearby Bristol and Gloucester . During

6327-483: The basis for numerous film adaptations . Camilo José Cela 's The Family of Pascual Duarte (1942), Ralph Ellison 's Invisible Man (1952) and The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow (1953) were also among mid-twentieth-century picaresque literature. John A. Lee 's Shining with the Shiner (1944) tells amusing tales about New Zealand folk hero Ned Slattery (1840–1927) surviving by his wits and beating

6438-576: The bishop's palace beside it. New baths were built around the three springs. Later bishops returned the episcopal seat to Wells while retaining the name Bath in the title, Bishop of Bath and Wells . St John's Hospital was founded around 1180 by Bishop Reginald Fitz Jocelin and is among the oldest almshouses in England. The 'hospital of the baths' was built beside the hot springs of the Cross Bath , for their health-giving properties and to provide shelter for

6549-509: The bombing. A postwar review of inadequate housing led to the clearance and redevelopment of areas of the city in a postwar style, often at variance with the local Georgian style. In the 1950s, the nearby villages of Combe Down , Twerton and Weston were incorporated into the city to enable the development of housing, much of it council housing . In 1965, town planner Colin Buchanan published Bath: A Planning and Transport Study , which to

6660-406: The career of fortune-hunting adventuress Becky Sharp , her progress echoing the earlier Moll Flanders . His earlier novel The Luck of Barry Lyndon (1844) recounts the rise and fall of an Irish arriviste conniving his way into the 18th-century English aristocracy. The 1880 Romanian novella Ivan Turbincă tells the story of a kind, but hedonistic and scheming ex soldier who ends up tricking God,

6771-621: The city bordering the green belt include Batheaston , Bathford , Bathampton , the University of Bath campus, Ensleigh, Twerton , Upper Weston , Odd Down , and Combe Down . Parts of the Cotswolds AONB southern extent overlap the green belt north of the city, with other nearby landscape features and facilities within the green belt including the River Avon, Kennet and Avon Canal, Bath Racecourse , Bath Golf Club, Bathampton Down , Bathampton Meadow Nature Reserve, Bristol and Bath Railway Path,

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6882-452: The city's social life from 1704 until his death in 1761, drew up a code of behaviour for public entertainments. Bath had become perhaps the most fashionable of the rapidly developing British spa towns, attracting many notable visitors such as the wealthy London bookseller Andrew Millar and his wife, who both made long visits. In 1816, it was described as "a seat of amusement and dissipation", where "scenes of extravagance in this receptacle of

6993-524: The city, except that Newbridge includes also two parishes beyond the city boundary. These wards return a total of 28 councillors to Bath and North East Somerset Council ; all except two wards return two councillors (Moorlands and Oldfield Park return one each). The most recent elections were held on 4 May 2023 and all wards returned Liberal Democrats except for Lambridge and Westmoreland which returned Green Party and independent councillors respectively. Boundary changes enacted from 2 May 2019 included

7104-521: The city, was obtained from the Combe Down and Bathampton Down Mines owned by Ralph Allen (1694–1764). Allen, to advertise the quality of his quarried limestone, commissioned the elder John Wood to build a country house on his Prior Park estate between the city and the mines. Allen was responsible for improving and expanding the postal service in western England, for which he held the contract for more than forty years. Although not fond of politics, Allen

7215-606: The city. The hills that surround and make up the city have a maximum altitude of 781 feet (238 metres) on the Lansdown plateau. Bath has an area of 11 square miles (28 square kilometres). The floodplain of the Avon has an altitude of about 59 ft (18 m) above sea level , although the city centre is at an elevation of around 25 metres (82 ft) above sea level. The river, once an unnavigable series of braided streams broken up by swamps and ponds, has been managed by weirs into

7326-575: The classical world, and were revived and widely read in Renaissance Europe. The principal episodes of Lazarillo are based on Arabic folktales that were well known to the Moorish inhabitants of Spain. The Arabic influence may account for the negative portrayal of priests and other church officials in Lazarillo . Arabic literature , which was read widely in Spain in the time of Al-Andalus and possessed

7437-696: The communities of the city. The first meeting of the Forum was held on 13 October 2015, at the Guildhall, where the first chair and vice-chair were elected. In 2021, this was re-launched as the Bath Area Forum. Bath is one of the oldest extant parliamentary constituencies in the United Kingdom, being in continuous existence since the Model Parliament of 1295. Before the Reform Act 1832 , Bath elected two members to

7548-427: The current meaning in 1545, though at the time it had no association with literature. The word pícaro does not appear in Lazarillo de Tormes (1554), the novella credited by modern scholars with founding the genre. The expression picaresque novel was coined in 1810. Whether it has any validity at all as a generic label in the Spanish sixteenth and seventeenth centuries—Cervantes certainly used "picaresque" with

7659-427: The electoral wards that cover Bath ( see below ) are the trustees, and they elect one of their number as their chair and mayor. The mayor holds office for one municipal year and in modern times the mayor begins their term in office on the first Saturday in June, at a ceremony at Bath Abbey with a civic procession from and to the Guildhall. The 794th mayor, who began her office on 6 May 2021, is June Player. A deputy mayor

7770-420: The emperor Charles V , these tales began to be read in Italian translations in the Iberian Peninsula . As narrator of his own adventures, Lázaro seeks to portray himself as the victim of both his ancestry and his circumstance. This means of appealing to the compassion of the reader would be directly challenged by later picaresque novels such as Guzmán de Alfarache (1599/1604) and El Buscón (composed in

7881-480: The exact date is uncertain, yet it was certainly a very early work) is considered the absolute masterpiece of the genre by A. A. Parker, because of his baroque style and the study of delinquent psychology. However, a different school of thought, led by Francisco Rico , rejects Parker's view, contending instead that the protagonist, Don Pablos, is a unrealistic character, simply a means for Quevedo to launch classist , racist and sexist attacks. Moreover, argues Rico,

7992-505: The experience in producing another novel, The Life and Adventures of Sir Launcelot Greaves (1760). In 1763, Smollett was ill, perhaps with tuberculosis, and suffered the loss of his only child at the age of 15. He gave up his editorships and, with his wife Nancy, and relocated to Continental Europe , which led to the publication of Travels Through France and Italy (1766). He also published The History and Adventures of an Atom (1769), which gave his opinion of British politics during

8103-602: The first decade of the 17th century and first published in 1626) because the idea of determinism used to cast the pícaro as a victim clashed with the Catholic Revival doctrine of free will . An early example is Mateo Alemán 's Guzmán de Alfarache (1599), characterized by religiosity. Guzmán de Alfarache is a fictional character who lived in the city of San Juan de Aznalfarache , in Seville , Spain. Francisco de Quevedo 's El Buscón (1604 according to Francisco Rico;

8214-463: The first decade of the 5th century, the baths fell into disrepair and were eventually lost as a result of rising water levels and silting. In March 2012, a hoard of 30,000 silver Roman coins, one of the largest discovered in Britain, was unearthed in an archaeological dig. The coins, believed to date from the 3rd century, were found about 150 m (490 ft) from the Roman baths. Bath may have been

8325-402: The genre maqāmāt , comparable to later European picaresque. The curious presence of Russian loanwords in the text of the Lazarillo also suggests the influence of medieval Slavic tales of tricksters, thieves, itinerant prostitutes, and brigands, who were common figures in the impoverished areas bordering on Germany to the west. When diplomatic ties to Germany and Spain were established under

8436-577: The geographical introduction to the Ecclesiastical History in terms very similar to those of Nennius. King Offa of Mercia gained control of the monastery in 781 and rebuilt the church, which was dedicated to St. Peter . According to the Victorian churchman Edward Churton , during the Anglo-Saxon era Bath was known as Acemannesceastre ('Akemanchester'), or 'aching men's city', on account of

8547-702: The house of his sister, Mrs. Telfer, for the summer of 1766. A second plaque (dating the building at 1758, making it relatively new at that time) states that he "stayed here occasionally," implying more than one visit. Smollett is one of the 16 Scottish writers and poets depicted on the lower section of the Scott Monument in Princes Street , Edinburgh. He appears on the far left side of the east face. There are streets named after him in Nice , France and in Livorno, Italy, where he

8658-513: The most important of non-Spanish picaresque novels. It describes the devastation caused by the Thirty Years' War . Grimmelshausen's novel has been called an example of the German abenteuerroman (which literally means "adventure novel"). An abenteuerroman is Germany's version of the picaresque novel; it is an "entertaining story of the adventures of the hero, but there is also often a serious aspect to

8769-415: The mud to provide a stable foundation, and surrounded the spring with an irregular stone chamber lined with lead. In the 2nd century, the spring was enclosed within a wooden barrel-vaulted structure that housed the caldarium (hot bath), tepidarium (warm bath), and frigidarium (cold bath). The town was later given defensive walls , probably in the 3rd century. After the failure of Roman authority in

8880-475: The occupation, the finances of the Bath City Council took a drubbing with council spending, rents and grants all falling. The billeting of soldiers in private houses also contributed to disorder and vandalism. Normality to the city quickly recovered after the war when the city council achieved a healthy budget surplus. Thomas Guidott , a student of chemistry and medicine at Wadham College, Oxford , set up

8991-569: The picaresque novel or narrative form, all or some of which an author may employ for effect: In the English-speaking world, the term "picaresque" is often used loosely to refer to novels that contain some elements of this genre; e.g. an episodic recounting of adventures on the road. The term is also sometimes used to describe works which only contain some of the genre's elements, such as Miguel de Cervantes ' Don Quixote (1605 and 1615), or Charles Dickens ' The Pickwick Papers (1836–1837). The word pícaro first starts to appear in Spain with

9102-592: The picaresque. The classic Chinese novel Journey to the West is considered to have considerable picaresque elements. Having been published in 1590, it is contemporary with much of the above—but is unlikely to have been directly influenced by the European genre. Henry Fielding proved his mastery of the form in Joseph Andrews (1742), The Life and Death of Jonathan Wild, the Great (1743) and The History of Tom Jones,

9213-483: The picaresque. An interesting variation on the tradition of the picaresque is The Adventures of Hajji Baba of Ispahan (1824), a satirical view on early 19th-century Persia , written by James Morier . Another novel on the same theme is A Rogue's Life (1857) by Wilkie Collins . Elements of the picaresque novel are found in Charles Dickens ' The Pickwick Papers (1836–37). Nikolai Gogol occasionally used

9324-524: The poor infirm. Administrative systems fell within the hundreds . The Bath Hundred had various names including the Hundred of Le Buri. The Bath Foreign Hundred or Forinsecum covered the area outside the city and was later combined into the Bath Forum Hundred. Wealthy merchants had no status within the hundred courts and formed guilds to gain influence. They built the first guildhall probably in

9435-521: The protagonist Peter refers to Peregrine Pickle as a text that inspired him to document his own memoirs. The Expedition of Humphry Clinker was adapted for radio in three one-hour episodes in August 2008. It was dramatised by Yvonne Antrobus and starred Stuart McLoughlin as Clinker and Nigel Anthony as Matthew Bramble. Picaresque novel According to the traditional view of Thrall and Hibbard (first published in 1936), seven qualities distinguish

9546-508: The rate of 1,170,000 litres (257,364 imp gal) daily, from the Pennyquick geological fault . In 1983, a new spa-water bore-hole was sunk, providing a clean and safe supply for drinking in the Pump Room. There is no universal definition to distinguish a hot spring from a geothermal spring, although, by several definitions , the Bath springs can be considered the only hot springs in

9657-430: The regional average of 1,600 hours. In December 1998 there were 20 days without sun recorded at Yeovilton. Most of the rainfall in the south-west is caused by Atlantic depressions or by convection . In summer, a large proportion of the rainfall is caused by sun heating the ground, leading to convection and to showers and thunderstorms. Average rainfall is around 700 mm (28 in). About 8–15 days of snowfall

9768-549: The reign of Edward the Elder coins were minted in Bath based on a design from the Winchester mint but with 'BAD' on the obverse relating to the Anglo-Saxon name for the town, Baðum, Baðan or Baðon, meaning "at the baths", and this was the source of the present name. Edgar of England was crowned king of England in Bath Abbey in 973, in a ceremony that formed the basis of all future English coronations . William Rufus granted

9879-478: The reputation these springs had for healing the sick. By the 9th century, the old Roman street pattern was lost and Bath was a royal possession. King Alfred laid out the town afresh, leaving its south-eastern quadrant as the abbey precinct. In the Burghal Hidage , Bath is recorded as a burh (borough) and is described as having walls of 1,375 yards (1,257 m) and was allocated 1000 men for defence. During

9990-449: The sacred spring by archaeologists. The tablets were written in Latin , and laid curses on personal enemies. For example, if a citizen had his clothes stolen at the baths, he might write a curse against the suspects on a tablet to be read by the goddess. A temple was constructed in AD ;60–70, and a bathing complex was built up over the next 300 years. Engineers drove oak piles into

10101-491: The sense of religious redemption of delinquency that was very important in Spanish and German novels. The triumph of Moll Flanders is more economic than moral. While the mores of the early 18th century wouldn't permit Moll to be a heroine per se , Defoe hardly disguises his admiration for her resilience and resourcefulness. The autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini , written in Florence beginning in 1558, also has much in common with

10212-559: The site of the Battle of Badon ( c. 500 AD), in which Arthur , the hero of later legends, is said to have defeated the Anglo-Saxons . The town was captured by the West Saxons in 577 after the Battle of Deorham ; the Anglo-Saxon poem The Ruin may describe the appearance of the Roman site about this time. A monastery was founded at an early date – reputedly by Saint David although more probably in 675 by Osric , King of

10323-525: The site of the Roman baths' main spring may have been treated as a shrine by the Britons , and was dedicated to the goddess Sulis , whom the Romans identified with Minerva ; the name Sulis continued to be used after the Roman invasion, appearing in the town's Roman name , Aquae Sulis (literally, "the waters of Sulis"). Messages to her scratched onto metal, known as curse tablets , have been recovered from

10434-519: The spas, canal boat tours, Royal Crescent, Bath Skyline , Parade Gardens and Royal Victoria Park which hosts carnivals and seasonal events. Shopping areas include SouthGate shopping centre , the Corridor arcade and artisan shops at Walcot , Milsom , Stall and York Streets. There are theatres, including the Theatre Royal , as well as several museums including the Museum of Bath Architecture ,

10545-553: The story." Alain-René Le Sage 's Gil Blas (1715) is a classic example of the genre, which in France had declined into an aristocratic adventure. In Britain, the first example is Thomas Nashe's The Unfortunate Traveller (1594) in which a court page, Jack Wilson, exposes the underclass life in a string of European cities through lively, often brutal descriptions. The body of Tobias Smollett 's work, and Daniel Defoe 's Moll Flanders (1722) are considered picaresque, but they lack

10656-458: The structure of the novel is radically different from previous works of the picaresque genre: Quevedo uses the conventions of the picaresque as a mere vehicle to show off his abilities with conceit and rhetoric, rather than to construct a satirical critique of Spanish Golden Age society. Miguel de Cervantes wrote several works "in the picaresque manner, notably Rinconete y Cortadillo (1613) and El coloquio de los perros (1613; "Colloquy of

10767-753: The technique, as in Dead Souls (1842–52). Mark Twain 's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884) also has some elements of the picaresque novel. Kvachi Kvachantiradze is a novel by Mikheil Javakhishvili published in 1924. This is, in brief, the story of a swindler, a Georgian Felix Krull , or perhaps a cynical Don Quixote , named Kvachi Kvachantiradze: womanizer, cheat, perpetrator of insurance fraud, bank-robber, associate of Rasputin, filmmaker, revolutionary, and pimp. The Twelve Chairs (1928) and its sequel, The Little Golden Calf (1931), by Ilya Ilf and Yevgeni Petrov (together known as Ilf and Petrov ) became classics of 20th-century Russian satire and

10878-514: The top. Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia spent four years in exile, from 1936 to 1940, at Fairfield House in Bath. During World War II , between the evening of 25 April and the early morning of 27 April 1942, Bath suffered three air raids in reprisal for RAF raids on the German cities of Lübeck and Rostock , part of the Luftwaffe campaign popularly known as the Baedeker Blitz . During

10989-516: The town to take the waters: the Queen's Bath was named after her. The cue for the visit may have been the completion of the restoration work to Bath Abbey, the last instalment of which had been paid for two years previously. Anne of Denmark came to Bath in 1613 and 1615. During the English Civil War , the city was garrisoned for Charles I . Seven thousand pounds was spent on fortifications, but on

11100-457: The town, abbey and mint to a royal physician, John of Tours , who became Bishop of Wells and Abbot of Bath, following the sacking of the town during the Rebellion of 1088 . It was papal policy for bishops to move to more urban seats, and John of Tours translated his own from Wells to Bath. The bishop planned and began a much larger church as his cathedral, to which was attached a priory, with

11211-407: The traits of the central figure of Encolpius , a former gladiator, though it is unlikely that the author had access to Petronius' work. From the comedies of Plautus , Lazarillo borrows the figure of the parasite and the supple slave. Other traits are taken from Apuleius ' The Golden Ass . The Golden Ass and Satyricon are rare surviving samples of the " Milesian tale ", a popular genre in

11322-456: The warmest, with mean daily maxima of approximately 21 °C (69.8 °F). In winter, mean minimum temperatures of 1 or 2 °C (33.8 or 35.6 °F) are common. In the summer, the Azores high pressure affects the south-west of England bringing fair weather; however, convective cloud sometimes forms inland, reducing the number of hours of sunshine. Annual sunshine rates are slightly less than

11433-550: The wealthy and the idle, the weak and designing" were habitual. The population of the city was 40,020 at the 1801 census, making it one of the largest cities in Britain. William Thomas Beckford bought a house in Lansdown Crescent in 1822, and subsequently two adjacent houses to form his residence. Having acquired all the land between his home and the top of Lansdown Hill , he created a garden more than 1 ⁄ 2 mile (800 m) in length and built Beckford's Tower at

11544-490: Was The Adventures of Roderick Random , a semi-autobiographical story of a 'north Britain on the make' which made his name. His poetry was described as "delicate, sweet and murmurs as a stream". The Adventures of Roderick Random was modelled on Le Sage 's Gil Blas and despite its scandalous content covering 'snobbery, prostitution, debt and hinting at homosexuality', it was published in 1748. After that, Smollett finally had his tragedy The Regicide published, although it

11655-585: Was a civic-minded man and a member of Bath Corporation for many years. He was elected mayor for a single term in 1742. In the early 18th century, Bath acquired its first purpose-built theatre, the Old Orchard Street Theatre . It was rebuilt as the Theatre Royal , along with the Grand Pump Room attached to the Roman Baths and assembly rooms . Master of ceremonies Beau Nash , who presided over

11766-468: Was abolished in 1996, along with the district of Bath, and there is no longer a parish council for the city. The City of Bath's ceremonial functions, including its formal status as a city, its twinning arrangements, the mayoralty of Bath – which can be traced back to 1230 – and control of the city's coat of arms , are maintained by the charter trustees of the City of Bath. The councillors elected by

11877-459: Was edited by Dr O. M. Brack Jr and others. Smollett was born at Dalquhurn, now part of Renton in present-day West Dunbartonshire , Scotland, and baptised on 19 March 1721 (his birth date is estimated as 3 days previously). He was the fourth son of Archibald Smollett of Bonhill , a judge and landowner, laird of Bonhill , living at Dalquhurn on the River Leven , who died about 1726, when Smollett

11988-564: Was just five years old. His mother Barbara Smollett née Cunningham brought the family up there, until she died about 1766. He had a brother, Captain James Smollett, and a sister, Jean Smollett, who married Alexander Telfair of Symington, Ayrshire. Jean succeeded to Bonhill after the death of her cousin-german , Mr Commissary Smollett, and resumed her maiden name of Smollett in 1780. They lived in St John Street off Canongate, Edinburgh, and had

12099-499: Was never performed. In 1750, he travelled to France , where he obtained material for his second novel, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle , another success. Having lived for a brief time in Bath , he returned to London and published The Adventures of Ferdinand Count Fathom in 1753, but this did not sell well and he went into debt. His novels were published by the well-known London bookseller Andrew Millar . Smollett became considered as

12210-412: Was not until 1750, that Smollett was granted his MD degree at the University of Aberdeen . In 1739 he went to London having written a play The Regicide , about the murder of King James I of Scotland. Unsuccessful at getting this on stage, he obtained a commission as a naval surgeon on HMS  Chichester and travelled to Jamaica , where he settled down for several years. In 1742 he served as

12321-486: Was released under the Italian title I picari . It was co-produced with Spain, where it was released as Los alegres pícaros , and internationally as The Rogues . Starring Vittorio Gassman , Nino Manfredi , Enrico Montesano , Giuliana De Sio and Giancarlo Giannini , the film is freely inspired by the Spanish novels Lazarillo de Tormes and Guzman de Alfarache . The Disney film Aladdin (1992) can be considered

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