untries,[4] drawing, perhaps, some inspiration from
the courts of the palaces of the Moors, with their pleasant retired air,
for the frigidarium. I have often thought, when looking at the late Owen
Jones' splendid model at the Crystal Palace, what an admirable
frigidarium the Court of the Lions would make, with its spacious
central area, and retired nooks suitable for couches, and its pretty
sparkling fountain and green plants, its brilliant colouring, and
general cheerfulness of effect. Similarly, in a Roman style, a Pompeian
court seems suggestive of the arrangement of a fine frigidarium, with
its _cubicula_ for couches, and its central area and fountain.

The above are but theoretical suggestions as to what might be done
should the bath make such progress in this country as may necessitate
the provision of handsome public baths for the people. In everyday
practice there is not a great field for elaborate designing in baths.
Although only the Roman and Eastern styles have been mentioned, there
can be no manner of reason why an architect should not design his bath
in whatsoever style he may please.

I have spoken of the plunge bath as a feature capable of being rendered
a thing of beauty. This is in reference as much to its plan as to the
materials of the sides and floor, &c. There is no reason why a plunge
should always be a plain oblong on plan. It may be of any of the shapes
indicated at Fig. 19. Many bathers, especially in warm weather, like to
stay some minutes in the plunge, and not go straight through; they may
like to swim up and down the bath, and thus require room to turn, and a
keyhole plan, such as at A, is suitable, and especially useful where the
bather has to return to the end of bath he entered. Another shape is
shown at B. In ladies' baths still more margin for novel planning is
allowable, as here the true dive seldom pertains. A delicate semi-oval
plan, such as that at D, which is much after the pattern of the Roman
bath recently discovered at Box, could be employed; or a plain, circular
bath with steps around, such as that of the Pompeian _Balneum_, shown at
C; or, again, such a plan as that at E, after the classic one at Bognor
in Sussex. For inspirations as to the plans of plunge baths, we cannot
do better than refer direct to the old Roman remains, either in Italy
itself, or in Great Britain and other provinces and colonial
dependencies of the old Empire. The Romans were fully alive to the
possib