derision of their owne delusion to haue others likewise deceiued Time hath quite worne all their strength and consumed all their vertues so that nothing of worth now remaines with them sauing onely their bare names and titles Sic magna suâ mole ruunt Wherefore to omit these as scarce worthy the mentioning those are chiefly here to be described which doe participate of minerall vertues and faculties CHAP. 4. Of fiue fountaines neare vnto the towne which doe participate of minerall vertues OVt of the diuers Fountaines springing hereabouts fiue are worthy the obseruation of Physitians The first whereof is very neare vnto the riuer banke ouer against the Castle called by the name of the Dropping-well for that it droppeth distilleth and trickleth downe from the hanging rocke aboue The water whereof hath a certaine quality or property to turne any thing that lieth in it into a stony substance in a very short space Three of the others being all of them much of one and the same nature are termed by the country people thereabouts the Stinking-wels in regard they haue an ill and fetide smell consisting most of Sulphure-viue or quicke brimstone One of them and that which hath the greatest current or streame of water is in Bilton park The other two are in the sayd Forest one is neare vnto the towne the other is further off almost two miles from it beyond a place called Haregate-head in a bottome on the right hand of it as you goe and almost in the side of a little brooke The fift and last for which I haue principally vndertaken to write this short Discourse is an acide or tart fountaine in the said Forest commonly named by the vulgar sort Tuewhit well and the English Spaw by those of the better rank in imitation of those two most famous acide fountaines at the Spaw in Germany to wit Sauuenir and Pouhon whereof the first being the prime one is halfe a league from the Spa or Spaw village the other is in the middle of the towne CHAP. 5. A more particular recitall of the first foure Wells I Purpose to speake somewhat more in this place of the firs◠foure Springs mentioned in the former Chapter in regard the consideration of them may perhaps giue some light to those who shall hereafter search further into the secrets which nature may seeme to afford in the Country hereabouts The first is the Dropping-well knowne almost to all who haue trauelled vnto this place The water whereof distilleth and trickleth downe from the hanging Rocke ouer it not onely dropping wise but also falling in many pretty little streames This water issueth at first out of the earth not farre from the said hanging rocke and running a while in one entire current continueth so till it commeth almost to the brim of the cragg where being opposed by a damme as it were artificiall of certaine spongy stones is afterwards diuided into many smaller branches and falleth from on high in manner aforesaid It is therefore very likely that Mr Camden in person did not see this Fountaine but rather that hee had it by relation from others or at least wise if he did see it that hee did not marke and duly obserue the originall springing vp of the water when in his Britannia he saith thus The waters thereof spring not vp out of the veines of the earth c. Concerning the properties and qualities thereof I haue nothing more to write at this time there being formerly little tryall had of it sauing that diuers inhabitants thereabouts say and affirme that it hath beene found to bee very effectuall in staying any flux of the body which thing I easily beleeue The other three are sulphureous fountaines and cast forth a stinking smell a farre off especially in the winter season and when the weather is coldest They are all noysome to smell to and cold to touch without any manifest or actuall heat at all by reason as may most probably be thought their mynes and veines of brimstone are not kindled vnder the earth being perhaps hindred by the mixture of salt therewith Those who drinke of their waters relate they verily thinke there is gunpowder in them and that now and then they vomit after drinking thereof The waters as they runne along the earth doe leaue behind them on the grasse and leaues a gray slimy substance which being set on fire hath the right sauour of common brimstone They are much haunted with Pigeons an argument of much salt in them of which in the euaporation of the water by fire wee found a good quantity remaining in the bottome of the vessell One thing further was worth obseruation that white mettall as siluer dipped into them presently seemeth to resemble copper which we first noted by putting a siluer porrenger into one of these vnto which Sir Francis Trapps did first bring vs. Which tincture these waters giue by reason of their sulphur Touching their vertues and effects there may in generall the like properties be ascribed vnto them as are attributed vnto other sulphureous Bathes actually cold participating also of salt The vulgar sort drinke these waters as they say to expell reefe and fellon yea many who are much troubled with itches scabs morphewes tetters ring-wormes and the like are soone holpen and cured by washing the parts ill affected therewith Which thing they might much more conueniently and more commodiously doe if at that in Bilton parke were framed 2 capacious Bathes the one cold the other to be made hot or warme by art for certaine knowne howers a day CHAP. 6. A more particular description of the fift or last fountaine called the English Spaw THis being the principall subiect of this whole Treatise is in the said forest about halfe a league or a mile and a halfe west from the towne from whence there is almost a continuall rising to it but nothing so great as the ascent is from the Spaw village to the Sauuenir This here springeth out of a mountainous ground and almost at the height of the ascent at Haregate-head hauing a great descent on both sides the ridge thereof and the Country thereabouts somewhat resembleth that at the Spaw in Germany The first discouerer of it to haue any medicinall quality so far forth as I can learn was one Mr. William Slingesby a Gentleman of many good parts of an ancient and worthy Family neere thereby who hauing trauelled in his younger time was throughly acquainted with the taste vse and faculties of the two Spaw fountaines In his latter time about 55 yeeres agoe it was his good fortune to liue for a little while at a grange house very neare to this fountaine and afterwards in Bilton Parke all his life long Who drinking of this water found it in all things to agree with those at the Spaw Whereupon greatly reioycing at so good and fortunate an accident he made some further tr all and assay that done he caused the founta ne to be well and
arâ—â—â—cially walled about and paued at the bottome as it is now at this day with two faire stone flags with a sit hole in the side thereof for the free passage of the water through a little guttered stone It is open at the top and walled somewhat higher then the earth as well to keepe out filth as Cattle for comming and approaching to it It is fouresquare three foot wide and the water within is about three quarters of a yard deepe First we caused it to be laded dry as well to scoure it as also to see the rising vp of the water which we found to spring vp onely at the bottome at the chinke or cranny betweene two stones so left purposely for the springing vp of the water at the bottome Which as Yliny obserueth in his 31 booke of his Naturall History and the third Chapter is a signe aboue all of the goodnesse of a fountaine And about all saith he one thing would bee obserued and seene vnto that the source which feedeth it spring and boyle vp directly from the bottome and not â—ssue forth at the sides which also is a maine point that concerneth the perpetuity thereof and whereby wee â—y collect â—hat it will hold still and be neuer drawne drye The streame of water which passeth away by the hole in the side thereof is much one and about the proportion of the current of Sauuenir The aboue named Gentleman did drinke the water of this Fountaine euery yeare after all his life time for helping his infirmities and maintaining of his heâ—lth and would oftentimes say and auerre that it was much better and did excell the tart fountaines beyond the seas as being more quicke and liuely and fuller of minerall spirits effecting his operation more speedily and sooner passing through the body Moreouer Doctor Timothy Bright of happy memory a learned Physitian while hee liued my very kind friend and familiar acquaintance first gaue the name of the English Spaw vnto this Fountaine about thirty yeares since or more For he also formerly had spent some time at the Spaw in Germany so that he was very able to compare those with this of ours Nay hee had furthermore so good an opinion and so high a conceit of this that hee did not onely direct and aduise others to it but himselfe also for most part would vse it in the Sommer season Likewise Doctor Anthony Hunton lately of Newarke vpon Trent a Physitian of no lesse worth and happy memory to whom for his true loue to mee and kind respect of mee I was very much beholden would often expostulate with mee at our meetings and wi h other Gentlemen of Yorkeshire his patients how it came to passe that I and the Physitians of Yorke did not by publiâ—e writing make the fame and worth thereof better knowne to the world CHAP. 7. Of the difference of this Fountaine from those at the Spaw to wit Sauuenir and Pouhon THis springeth almost at the top of the ascent as formerly hath beene said from a dry and somewhat sandy earth The water where of running South-East is very cleare pure full of life and minerall exhalations We find it chiefly to consist of a vitrioline nature and quality with a participation also of those other minerals which are said to be in the Sauuenir fountaine but in a more perfect and exquisite mixture and temper as wee deeme and therefore to be supposed better and nobler then it The difference betweene them will be found to be onely Secundum maius minus that is according to more or lesse which maketh no difference in kind but in degrees This partaketh in greater measure of the qualities and lesser of the substances of the minerals then that doth and for that cause it is of a more quicke and speedy operation as also for the same reason his tenuity of body and fulnesse of minerall spirits therein contained it cannot be so farre transported from its owne source and spring without losse and diminution of his strength and goodnesse For being caried no further then to the towne it selfe though the glasse or vessell be closely stopt it becommeth somewhat weaker if as farre as to Yorke much more but if 20 or 30 miles further it will then bee found to be of small force or validity as we haue often obserued Whereas contrariwise the water of the lower fountain at the Spaw called Pouhon is frequently and vsually caried and conueyed into other Countries farre off and remote as into France England Scotland Ireland diuers parts of Germany and some parts of Italy yea and that of Sauuenir which is the better fountaine and whose water cannot be caried so farre away as the other may is oftentimes vsed now adayes at Paris the chiefe City of France But this of ours cannot be sent away any whit so farre off without losse and decay of his efficacy and vertue so ayrie subtill and piercing are its spirits and minerall exhalations that they soone passe vanish and flye away Which thing wee haue esteemed to be a principall good signe of the worthy properties of this rare Fountaine So that this water being newly taken vp at the Well and presently after drunke cannot otherwise but sooner passe by the Hypochondries and through the body and cause a speedier effect then those in Germany can Whereby any one may easily collect and gather that this getteth his soueraign faculties better in its passage by and through the variety of minerals included in the earth which only afford vnto it an halitious body then those doe If then wee bee desirous to haue this of ours become commodious either for preseruing of our healths or for altering any distemper or curing any infirmity for which it is proper and auaileable it ought chiefly to bee taken at the fountaine it selfe before the minerall spirits bee dissipated CHAP. 8. That Vitriol is here more predominant then any other minerall VVE haue sufficiently beene satisfied by experience and trialls through what minerals this water doth passe but to know in what proportion they are exactly mixed therewith it is beyond humane inuention to find out nature hauing reserued this secret to her selfe alone Neuerthelesse it may very well be coniectured that as in the frame and composition of the most noble creature Man the lesser world there 〈…〉 of the foure elements rather adjustitiam as Philosophers say then ad pondus so nature in the mixture of these minerals hath likewise taken more of some and lesse of others as shee thought to be most fit and expedient for the good and behoofe of mans health and the recouery â—nd restitution of it decayed being indeed such a worke as no Art is able to imitate That Vitriolum otherwise called Chalcanthum is here most predominant there needs no other proofe then from the assay of the water it selfe which both in the tart and inky smack thereof ioyned with a piercing and a pricking quality and in the sauour which is somewhat
Spadacrene Anglica OR THE ENGLISH SPAW-FOVNTAINE Being A BRIEFE TREATISE of the acide or tart Fountaine in the Forest of Knaresborow in the West-Riding of Yorkshire As also a Relation of other medicinall Waters in the said Forest BY Edmund Deane Dr. in Physicke Oxon. dwelling in the City of YORKE LONDON Printed for Iohn Grismand and are to be sold by Richard Foster neere the Minster gate in Yorke 1626. TO THE PHYSITIANS OF YORKE THough it was my fortune first of all to set a new edge on this businesse yet my iourneyes to this Fountaine haue not been made without your good companies and association nor the seuerall tryals had there and at home performed without your worthy helpes and assistance nor this little Treatise begun without your instigations and incitements Therefore I find none so fit and meet to patronize it as your selues being able out of your owne knowledge and obseruation to defend it against all malicious detractions To extoll it aboue the Germaine Spaw may be thought in me either indiscretion or too much partiality but why I may not parallele them being in natures and qualities so agreeable nor I nor you I suppose know any inducing much lesse perswading argument Wherefore being thus confident I thought it no part of our duties either to God our King or Country to conceale so great a benefit as may thereby arise and accrue not onely vnto this whole Kingdome and his Maiesties louing subiects but also in time after further notice taken of it to other foraigne nations and countries who may perhaps with more benefit lesse hazard and danger of their liues spoiling and robbing better partake of this our English Spaw Fountaine then of those in Germanie It were to be wished that those two famous Physitians Dr. Hunton and Dr. Bright had beene yet liuing to haue giuen testimony of the great good hopes and expectation they conceiued of it The former of which did oftentimes request me to publish it to the world and the other was resolued in case hee had longer liued to haue done it himselfe So carefull were they both to promote their countries good and â—udious to procure the health of their Countrimen I am as briefe and plaine as possibly I may to the end the Reader may not be wearied nor the patient deluded and if for these causes I may seeme to bee censured yet I am well assured that to your selues breuity and perspicuity cannot but bee acceptable So wishing you all happinesse I shall euer rest and remaine From my house in Yorke this 20th of April 1626. Your assured friend Edm Deane THE ENGLISH SPAW CHAP. 1. Of the situation of the Towne of Knaresborow GNaresbrugh commonly called Knaresborow is a very ancient Market towne in the West-Riding of Yorkeshire distant 14 miles from the City of Yorke where the Pole is eleuated 54 degrees and 20 odde minutes On the South-west part thereof is that faire and goodly Fort so much renowned both for the pleasant situation and remarkable strength knowne by the name of Knaresborow Castle seated on a most ragged and rough Rock whence as learned Mr. Camden saith it is so named Both the Castle and Towne are fenced on the South and West parts with the Riuer Nid which is beautified here with two faire Bridges of stone which lead from the Towne into the Forest adioyning as also vnto a large empaled Park of his Maiesties called Bilton parke well stored with fallow Deere part whereof is bordered with the said riuer The Towne it selfe standeth on a hill hauing almost on euery side an ascent to it and about it are diuers fruitfull valleyes well replenished with grasse corne and wood The waters there are wholesome and cleare the ayre dry and pure In briefe there is nothing wanting that may fitly serue for a good and commodious habitation and the content and entertainment of strangers Many things are very obseruable in this place which because they rather do appertaine to the volumes of Geographers Antiquaries then to the purpose intended in this little treatise are here omitted CHAP. 2. Of the seuerall earths stones and mineralls found neere and about this place ALthough there are in sundry places of this Kingdome as many or moe seuerall kinds and sorts of earths quarreyes of stone minerals and mines of mettalls then in any other Realme whatsoeuer notwithstanding no one place hath beene obserued to haue them either in such plentie or variety in so small a distance as this For here is found not onely white and yellow marle plaister oker rudd or rubricke free-stone an hard greet-stone a soft reddish stone iron-stone brim-stone vitreall nitre allum lead copper and without doubt diuerse mixtures of these but also many other mineralls might perhaps be found out by the diligent search and skilfull industrie of those who would take paines to labour a little herein All which do manifestly demonstrate that nature hath stored this little territorie with a greater diuersitie of hidden benefits then great and spacious Countries otherwise abounding in outward natiue commodities and that the fountaines or springs of water hereabouts cannot otherwise then participate of their seuerall natures and properties CHAP. 3. Of the fountaines of pure and simple waters neere and about the Towne AS generally most parts of the West Riding of Yorkeshire especially the hilly and more mountaineous places thereof are stored with fountaines and springs of cleare limpide and pure simple waters so likewise the territorie here abouts is not without plenty of them Two whereof haue gotten and purchased that reputation as to be saincted The one called by the name of Saint Magnus or Mugnus-Well th' other that of Saint Roberts These formerly for a yeere or two haue beene in great request in these parts amongst the common sort much sought vnto by many and great concourse of people haue daily gathered and flocked to them both neare and a farre off as is most commonly seene when any new thing is first found out Fama enim crescit eundo euen vnto incredible wonders and miracles or rather fictions and lyes All which commeth to passe as wee may well suppose through our ouermuch English credulity or as I may better say rather superstition For to any such like Well will swarme at first both yong and old especially the female sexe as euer more apt to bee deluded halt lame blind deafe dumbe yea almost all and that for all manner of maladies and diseases both inward and outward But for as much as these are springs of pure and simple waters meerely without any mixture at all of minerals to make them become medicinable it is verily thought that the many seuerall cures which haue bin attributed vnto them in those times when they were so frequented were rather fained and imaginary then true and reall and that those who then visited them were desirous either to vphold and maintaine the credit and reputation of their Saints or else to auoyd the scorne and
a little vitrioline is altogether like vnto the ancient Spaw waters which according to the consent of all those who haue considered their naturall compositions doe most of all and chiefly participate of vitrioll Notwithstanding for a more manifest and fuller try all hereof put as much powder of galls as will lye on two-pence or three-pence into a glasse full of this water newly taken vp at the fountaine you shall see it by and by turned into the right and perfect colour of Claret wine that is fully ripe cleare and well fined which may easily deceiue the eye of the skilfullest Vintner This demonstration hath beene often made not without the admiration of those who first did see it For the same quantity of galles mingled with so much common water or any other fountaine water thereabouts will not alter it any thing at all vnlesse to these you also adde Vitrioll and then the colour will appeare to be of a blewish violet somewhat inkish not reddish as in the former which hath an exquisite and accurate coniunction of other minerall exhalations besides the vitrioline But this probation will not hold if so be you make triall with the said water being caried farre from the well by reason of the present dissipation of his spirits CHAP. 9. Of the propâ—rties and effects of Vitrioll according to the ancient and moderne Writers THe qualities of Vitrioll according to Dioscorides Galen Aetius Paulus Aegineta and Oribasius are to heate and dry to bind to resist putrefaction to giue strength and vigour to the interiour parts to kill the flat wormes of the belly to remedy venemous mushromes to preserue flesh ouer moyst from corruption consuming the moysture thereof by its heat and constipating by his astriction the substance of it and pressing forth the serous humidity And according to Matthiolus in his Commentaries vpon Diâ—â—orides it is very profitable against the plague and pestilence and the chymicall oyle thereof is very auaileable as himselfe affirmeth to haue sufficiently proued against the stone and stopping of vrine and many other outward maladies and diseases Andernacus and Gesner adde to these the Apoplexy all which for auoyding of prolixity I doe here puposely omit Neither will I further trouble the Reader with the recitall of diuers and sundry excellent remedies and medicines found out and made of it in these latter times by the Spagyricke Physitians and others In so much that Ioseph Quercetanus one of those is verily of opinion that out of this one indiuiduall minerall well and exquisitely prepared there might be made all manner of remedies and medicines sufficient for the storing and furnishing of a whole Apothecaries shop But it will perhaps be obiected by some one or other in this manner If vitrioll which as most doe hold is hote and dry in the third degree or beginning of the fourth nay of a causticke quality and nature as Discorides is of opinion should here be predominant then the water of this fountaine must needs bee of great heat and acrimony and so become not onely vnprofitable but also very hurtfull for mans vse to be drunke or inwardly taken To which obiection not to take any aduantage of the answer which many learned Physitians doe giue viz. that vitrioll is not hot but cold I say First that although all medicinall waters doe participate of those mineralls by which they doe passe yet they haue them but weakly viribus refractis especially when in their passages they touch and meet with diuers other minerals of opposite tempers and natures Secondly I answer that in all such medicinall fountaines as this simple water doth farre surpasse and exceed in quantity whatsoeuer is therewith intermixed by whose coldnesse it commeth to passe that the contrary is scarce or hardly perceiued For example take one proportion of any boyling liquor to 100. or more of the same cold and you will hardly find in it any heat at all Suppose then vitrioll to be hot in the third degree it doth not therefore follow that the water which hath his vertue chiefly from it should heat in the same degree This is plainly manifest not onely in this fountaine but also in all others which haue an acide taste being indeed rather cold then hot for the reasons aboue mentioned CHAP. 10. Of the effects which this fountaine worketh and produceth in those who drinke of it EXperience sheweth sufficiently besides reason that this water first and in the beginning cooleth such as vse it But being continued it heateth and dryeth and this for the most part it doth in all yet not alwayes For as we shall more fully declare afterwards it effecteth cures of opposite and quite contrary natures by the second and third qualities wherewith it is endowed curing diseases both hot cold dry and moist Those waters saith Renodaeus which are replenished with a vitrioline quality as those at the Spaw doe presently heale and as it were miraculously cure diseases which are without all hope of recouery hauing that notable power and faculty from vitrioll by the vertue and efficacy whereof they passe through the meanders turnings and windings of all parts of the whole body Whatsoeuer is hurtfull or endammageth it that they sweepe and carie away what is profitable and commodious they touch not nor hurt that which is flaccid and loose they bind and fasten that which is fastned and strictly tyed they loose what is too grosse and thicke they incide dissolue attenuate and expell More particularly the water of this fountaine hath an incisiue and abstersiue faculty to cut and loosen the viscous and clammy humours of the body and to make meable the grosse as also by its piercing and penetrating power subtilty of parts and by his deterging and desiccatiue qualities to open all the obstructions or oppilations of the mesentery from whence the seeds of most diseases doe arise and spring liuer splen kidneis and other interiour parts and which is more to be noted and obserued to coole and contemperate their vnnaturall heat helping and remouing also all the griefes and infirmities depending thereupon Besides all this it comforteth the stomacke by the astriction it hath from other minerals especially iron so that without doubt of a thousand who shall vse it discreetly and with good aduice their bodies first being well and orderly prepared by some learned and skilfull Physitian according to the states thereof and as their infirmities shall require there will scarcely be any one found who shall not receiue great profit thereby Moreouer it clenseth and purifieth the whole masse of blood contained in the veynes by purging it from the seresity peccant and from cholericke phlegmaticke and melancholike humours and that principally by vrine which passeth through the body very cleare and in great quantity leauing behind it the minerall forces and vertues Their stooles who drinke of it are commonly of a blackish or darke greene colour partly because it emptieth the liuer and splen from adust humours and melancholy or
other world Wherefore let all those who are yet liuing bee admonished hereafter by their examples not obstinately and wilfully to eschue and shunne these two remedies in hot seasons and in the time of the Dog-dayes much lesse all other manner of physicall helpes not once knowing so much as why or wherefore and without any reason at all following blind and superstitious tradition and error haply first broched by some vnworthy and ignorant Physitian not rightly vnderstanding Hippocrates his saying in all likelyhood or at least wise misapplying it Which hath so preuailed in these times that it hath not onely worne out the vse of purging but also of all other physicke for that season because most people by the name of physicke vnderstanding purging onely and nothing else As though the art and science of Physicke was nothing else but to giue a potion or purge Then we rightly and truly might say Filia deuorauit matrem But for as much as most people are altogether ignorant of the true ground or reason from whence this so dangerous an error concerning the Dog-dayes did first spring and arise giue me leaue a little to goe on with this my digression for their better instruction and satisfaction and I will briefly and in few lines shew the case and the mistake somewhat more plainly Hippocrates in his fourth booke of Aphorismes the fift hath these words Sub canicula ante caniculam difficiles sunt purgationes That is vnder the canicular or dog-star and before the dog-star purgations are painfull and difficill This is all that is there said of them or brought against them for that season or time of the yeare A great stumbling-blocke against which many haue dashed their feet and knockt their shinnes and a fearfull scar-crow whereat too many haue nicely boggled Here you doe not find or see purging medicines to bee then prohibited or forbidden to be giuen at all much lesse all other physicke but onely said to be difficill in their working partly because as all expositors agree nature is then somewhat enfeebled by the great heat of the weather partly because the humours being then as it were accended are more chaffed by the heat of the purging medicines partly and lastly because two contrary motions seeme then to be at one and the same time which may offend nature as the great heat of the weather leading the humours of the body outwardly to the circumference thereof and the medicine drawing them inwardly to the center All which circumstances in our cold region are little or nothing at all as formerly hath beene mentioned to be regarded For as Iacobus Hollerius a French Physitian much honoured for his great learning and iudgement hath very well obserued in his Comment vpon this Aphorisme Hippocrates speaketh here onely of those purging medicines which are strong and vehement or hot and fiery and that this precept is to take place in most hot Regions but not in these cold Countries as France England and the like Ouer and beside all this those churlish hot purging medicines which were then in frequent vse in Hippocrates his time and some hundred of yeares after are now for most part obsolete and quite growne out of vse seldome brought in practice by Physitians in these dayes because we haue within these last six hundred yeares great choice and variety of more mild benigne and gentle purgatiues found out by the Arabian Physitians which were altogether vnknowne vnto the ancients to wit Hippocrates Dioscorides Galen c. which haue little heat and acrimony many wherof are temperate and diuers cooling which may most safely be giuen either in the hottest times and seasons of the yeare or in the hottest diseases Let vs adde to these the like familiar and gentle purging medicines more lately yea almost daily newly found out since the better discoueries of the East and West Indies So that henceforth let no man feare to take either easie purgatiues or other inward Physicke in the time of the canicular or dog-dayes The same Hollerius goeth on in the exposition and interpretation of the said Aphorisme and confidently saith Ouer besides that we haue benigne medicines which we may then vse as Cassia c. Wee know and finde by experience no time here with vs more wholsome and more temperat especially when the Etesian or Easterly winds do blow then the Canicular dayes so that wee finde by obseruation that those diseases which are bred in the moneths of Iune and Iuly doe end in August and in the Canicular dayes Wherefore if a disease happen in those dayes we feare not to open a veyne diuers times and often as also to prescribe more strong purging medicines Wherefore away henceforth with the scrupulous conceit and too nice feare of the Dogge-dayes and let their supposed danger be had no more in remembrance among vs. And if any will yet remaine obstinate and still refuse to haue their beames pulled out of their eyes let them still be blinde in the middest of the cleare Sun-shine and groape on after darknes and let all learned Physitians rather pitty their follies then enuy their wits CHAP. 13. At what time of the yeare and at what houre of the day it is most fit and meet to drinke this water TO speake in generall tearmes it is a fit time to drinke it when the ayre is pure cleare hot and dry for then the water is more tart and more easily digested then at other times On the contrary it is best to forbeare when the ayre is cold moist darke dull and misty for then it is more feeble and harder to be concocted But more specially the most proper season to vndertake this our English Spaw dyet will be from the middest or latter end of Iune to the middle of September or longer according as the season of the yeare shall fall out to be hot and dry or otherwise Not that in the Spring time and in Winter it is not also good but for that the ayre being more pure in Sommer the water also must needs be of greater force and power Notwithstanding it may sometime so happen in Sommer that by reason of some extraordinary falling of raine there may be a cessation from it for a day or two Or if it chance to haue rained ouer night it will then be fit and necessary to refraine from drinking of it vntill the raine bee passed away againe or else which I like better the fountaine laded dry and filled againe which may well be done in an hower or two at most Touching the time of the day when it is best to drinke this water questionlesse the most conuenient hower will be in the morning when the party is empty and fasting about seauen aclocke Nature hauing first discharged her selfe of daily excrements both by stoole and vrine and the concoctions perfected This time is likewise fittest for exercise which is a great good help and furtherance for the better distribution of the water whereby