The author goes to Harrogate. S. I. SECTION V. As once, ('twas in Aftræa's reign) Were hedding round hirn dews and flow'rs; And Hefper's golden lamp was last. N the year 1731, I arrived at Harrogate, in the Weft-riding of Yorkhire, in order to amufe my mind with the 5 diverfion s count of and com pany. diverfions and company of the place. It is An aca fmall ftraggling village on a heath, two the place, miles from Knaresborough, which is thirteen the wells, miles from York, and 175 from London. The fulphur wells are three, on the north fide of the town, about 500 yards east of the bog. They rife out of a little dry hill. The fecond is a yard from the first, and the third is five yards and a half from the fecond. The water rifes into stone-bafons, which are each inclofed in a small neat building of ftone and lime a yard fquare on the infides, and two yards high, covered over with thick flagftones laid fhelving. The foil out of which these springs rife is, firft, corn-mould, then a marle lime-ftone, and a ftratum of plaifter: the lime-ftone is fo abraded by the falt in the water, that when dried, it fwims: and where the water ftagnates between the bafons and the brook, the earth is ink black, and has a dry white fcum, which smells like fulphur, and burns with a blue flame. The water does likewife throw up much candied fea falts, that is, falts to which fulphur adheres, and the pigeons refort from all parts to pick them up. In moift or rainy weather, thefe waters. fend forth a ftrong fmell at a diftance, and before rain, they bubble up with an impetuous force; yet neither rain nor drought increases or decreafes the fprings. From From the large quantities of fine flower of brimstone which thefe waters throw off, it is plain, that fulphur is the principal thing in them; but experiment likewife proves, that befides fulphur, the ftinking well has vitriol, nitre, copper, and falt: Thefe lie in folutis principiis in earth from which the water comes, and may be feparated by operation: fome, I know, deny there is any copper in these waters; but they do not confider that the glittering glebes of a gold colour found here, can be nothing else than glebes gilt with copper. As to the difeafes wherein this ftrong fulphur-water is proper, it is good for every thing, except a consumption. For this I recommend the Scarborough purging-chalybeate above all waters. But if, reader, you have obftructions in your liver and other vifcera, and are tormented with vicious humours in your inteftines; if your bowels are full of worms, the afcarides, or the broad round worm, or the worms called the dog and the wolf, from their likeness to these animals; orif, from a venereal caufe, (the malady of many a priest and layman) you have an ulcer in the anus, or in the neck of your bladder, go to Harrogate; drink the ftinking-water, live temperate, and you will be cured. For the fcurvy, that univerfal difeafe, it is better than all other medicines. It is excellent in the jaundice, 5 jaundice, though of many years ftanding. It cures the afthma, the scotomia, and palfy, and in many other deplorable cafes gives wonderful relief. Whatever ails Whatever ails you, (the confumption excepted) fly to Harrogate, and the water will do you good, if your hour be not come and if you are well, the waters will promote long life, and make you the more able to dance with the ladies. Four pints of water are enough for a patient, to be taken from half an hour to two hours after fun rifing, upon an empty stomach. You should take fome preparatory medicine; and walk drinking the waters to warm the body a little, and make the paffage the cafier. Some people I have known drink their dofe in bed, and it does well enough but exercise and the thin open air do better, and contribute not a little to the patient's recovery: and there is no finer fresher air in England than at this place. In short, these wells are the ftrongest fulphur-water in Great-Britain, and, from the fuperior ftrength of the impregnating fulphur, it does not lofe but retain the fulphureous smell, even when exposed to a scalding, and almost a violent heat; and, in diftilling it, when three pints had been taken off from a gallon of it, the laft was as ftrong as the first, and stunk intolerably. Make Some ad drinkers of waters. Make hafte then to Harrogate, if you are fick, and have money, and in all probability you will find the waters efficacious, unlets thy diftemper be a confumption, or in its nature incurable, which is the case of many, as death is the common fate of mankind. §. 2. But when you are there, let me vice to the advise you to exercife as much as you can Harrogate bear, without fatiguing yourself, and in the next place, to be regular in meats and drinks, and as temperate as poffible. Without these things, you will lofe the benefit of the waters. No good can be expected, if men will indulge during a course of drinking the spaw, and be not only exceffive in quantity, but indifcreet as to the quality, of meats and liquors. Some obfervations on ipaw advice to ers in a mineral course. I have known fome worn-out hard drinkers come to the Wells for relief, and at the waters, and fame time increafe by intemperance what the drink they had contracted by the fame measure. I have likewife feen fome in a diabetes drink white wine; in a cachexy, ale; in the stone and gravel, claret. I have known a man in a dropfy, eat nothing but cooling, infipid, mucilaginous foods, and drink malt-drink plentifully: a man in a jaundice, eat nothing but flesh meat and claret:-in a scurvy, prefer the pungent, faline dict:-in obftinate obftructions, and a chronic hyppo, feed on thickning, |