… of this place is pleasure, life, I think, is seen through a false medium’ ( Bath History IV , 101). Sociability itself was exploited, became a business and the ever-increasing popularity of Bath contributed to its decline. This is … of all Kinds (London: G. Strahan, 1733), p. 181. 17 . Amanda E. Herbert, ‘Gender and the Spa: Space, Sociability and Self at British Health Spas, 1640-1714’, Journal of Social History, (vol. 43, n° 2, Winter 2009), p. 362. 18 . For its …