History SPA. 32. Route. 207 cent on the charges at the baths, in the theatre, and at fétes. Between May ist and July 3rd, and between Aug. 25th and Oct. 10th 8 weeks’ treatment, with baths, board, and lodging, costs 350 or 260 fr. Concerts in the Promenade de Sept-Heures at 2.30 and 8 p.m. (see p. 278) from mid-May to mid-October. i Post and Telegraph Office, Rue Louise (open 7 a.m. to7 p.m., Sun. 7-11). Horse Races in the Hippodrome de Sart. — Pigeon Shooting in the former Hippodrome de la Sauveniére. — Regattas and Venetian Fétes on the Lac de Warfaz (p. 278 Golf Course on the race-course. Baths: Elablissement des Bains (see below), Place Royale, open 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.; baths for subscribers {\/2-5 fr. — Swimming Bath: Ecole de Na- tation, Promenade du Lac (60 ¢.). Bookseller & Library: Engel-Krins, Rue Royale 23. English Church Service, in the handsome English Church of SS. Peter & Paul (Pl. 8) in the Boul. des Anglais; Sunday services at 8, 11, and 5; 4 E Chaplain, Rev. E. B. Tanqueray, B. A. — Presbyterian e in July and August at the Chapelle Evangélique. British Vice-Consul, H. Hayemal. Spa (820-1080 ft. above the sea-level), a small, attractive- looking town with 8100 inhab., is prettily situated at the 8. base of wooded heights, at the confluence of the Wayai or Spa and the Picherotte. Like other watering-places it consists chiefly of hotels and lodging-houses, while numerous shops and bazaars with tempt- ing souvenirs and trinkets, a pleasure-seeking throng in the pro- menades, and numbers of importunate valets-de-place and persons of a similar class, all combine to indicate that character which occasioned the introduction of its name into the English language as a generic term. This, the original and genuine ‘Spa’, the oldest European watering-place of any importance, has flourished since the 16th cent., though it attained its zenith in the 18th century. Peter the Great was a visitor herein 1717, Gustavus III. of Sweden in 1780, the Emp. Joseph IJ. and Prince Henry of Prussia in 1781, and the Emp. Paul, when crown-prince, in 1782. After the French Revolution its prosperity began to decline, but it has of late regain- ed much of its popularity, and many new buildings have sprung up. Itis now frequented by upwards of 412,000 visitors annually, a large proportion of whom are English. The Season lasts from May to October, and is at its height in August. The pretty painted and varnished woodwares offered for sale everywhere are a speciality of Spa (‘Bois de Spa’). The ‘Elixir de Spa’ is a fine liqueur. The town is entered from the station by the Avenue du Marteau (p. 278), which leads to the right past the former Queen's Palace (Villa Royale; Pl, A, 1, 2) and the side-entrance of the Promenade de Sept-Heures (see p. 278) to (1/2 M.) the Place Royale (P1.B,1), on the left side of which is the chief entrance of the Pare de Sept- Heures, while to the right is the Etablissement des Bains, a Renais- sance structure by Léon Suys (1866-68). — Near this point, in the tue Royale, is the Kursaau (Pl. C, 1, 2; adm. see p. 276), erected by Chambin in 1903-1903 and partially destroyed by fire in 1909. It contains a café-restaurant, ete. The ball-room and the theatre are relics of the old casino (1763). d