… establishment, became the rallying point of Bath visitors, a place where medical treatment was inextricably linked with conversation and where paradoxically illness became an agent of sociability. 8 Discussing one’s illness was a way of … letters and in fiction, Bath could be celebrated for its sociability or conversely lambasted for the poor quality of its conversation, in particular by ladies of fashion (Kerhervé 281-284). In the middle of the century and in its second half, …