'Melodious songs do oft impart

Refreshment to the saddest heart.'

For melody, gently soothing nature, disposes and directs the spirits into a dancing, and observing regular motions. You see musick, by its influence, forces sound and sober men, even against their own wills, or thinking of other things, to actions emulating the tune heard. Willis de Convulsione à Tarantula.

Physicians, whom Almighty God has created for the necessity and use of mankind, and commands us to honour*, are here many able, worthy, and eminent of that profession; who, by their diligent scrutiny into the recesses of nature, are come, of late years, to great perfection and knowledge of physick, here in England, far excelling those of former ages, wherein physick laboured under a dying Hippocratical face, and in Cimmerian darkness. These doctors are, in this place, ready to assist, with their learned prescriptions and whole. some advice, according to the exigency of every one, in order to their health, and methodically drinking the waters. Many learned divines and spiritual guides are not here wanting, whom you may freely consult, and make choice of, according to your inclination, in order to the good and safety of your soul.

Here are women, whom they call Dippers, ready to fill you glasses of water.

Confestim advolitat, quæ pocula porrigat ultro
Plena perennis aquæ, quam fons sine munere donat;
Qualem nec Latium novit, nec Græcia jactat:
Illa beat siccos fecunda stirpe parentes;
Deciduumque facit, post funera, vivere nomen :
Illa domat febres; &, si male calculus hærens
Renibus, aut peni, languentia viscera torquet,
Illa fugat; pellit curas; &, nubila menti
Discutiens, aptat doctis, sacratque camænis.

With winged speed, one to you glasses brings,
With water fill'd, free as the living springs;
"Whose fame, far above Rome's, or Greece's, rings:
This blesseth parents with a fruitful race,
'That even death itself cannot deface:

This waters, fevers, and the stone cashiers,
That vex'd the shaft and kidnies many years:
This chaseth sorrow; clears a cloudy mind;
Fits it for learning; which, with muses join'd,
All here a seat, and temple too, do find.

The air, than which, to the preservation of man's life, nothing is more necessary, as all philosophers agree (and the derivation of the very word air, from the Greek word aw, spiro, denotes the same, being composed of two vowels, alpha and omega, as principium & finis vita, which is the beginning and end of man's life) is here clear,

Ecclesiasticus xxviii. 1, 2.

Πατρὸς μὲν ἀνὰρ πολλῶν ἀδάξιος ἄλλων.

serene, lucid, void, of any stinking mephitis, or damps arising from bogs or fens, which may occasion epidemical distempers in the blood; but, on the contrary, the whole ambient of the horizon is filled with an inexhaustible series of odoriferous and fragrant effluviums, incessantly exhaling from sweet-scented herbs and plants, that grow in these parts. The air, thus embodied, we perpetually inspire, which raises, and, analogically speaking, spiritualises our minds far beyond all exotick, either natural or artificial perfumes.

Moreover, at Tunbridge, you find conference with eminent and famous wits, which is the most fruitful and natural exercise of the mind; the use of which is more sweet, than any other action of our life. The study of books is a languishing and feeble motion, in respect of it; for what is delivered viva voce, with a lively voice, makes a deeper impression on the mind, and, consequently, is more advantageous than reading. Much more may be said of the various and manifold benefits and comforts you may receive at Tunbridge*, which I now supersede, hoping these, I have mentioned, are al furements strong enough to invite, if not a magnetism to draw men thither.

It is rare to write any thing to that perfection, as to rescind the occasion of all objections from cavillers; wherefore, what I have said of the vertues of these waters would not be sufficient, if I do not obviate also such objections, as may raise scruples in the minds of those who make use of them.

The first objection is, that many, soon after drinking of these waters, died; and that others, by the use of them, receive no be. nefit: whence they infer these waters to be improper, noxious, lethiferous, and not fit to be drank by men.

Vina bibant homines, animantia cætera fontes;
Absit ab humano pectore potus aquæ.

Let none but cattle water drink,

That fit for men no men can think."

As for the first objection, I confess, one may die soon after taking waters; and so he may after taking any thing else not that the waters, duly prescribed, are the occasion of death, but, through in regularity, disorder, or neglect of something, that was to be done in order to the taking of them, death may ensue: nay, men may die immediately, or soon after taking things indifferent in themselves, and void of any medicinal, or alterative quality, as, for example, after eating bread and butter, or drinking a glass of wine; it doth not therefore follow, that this last thing, they eat, or drank, caused their bane, and that no man ought to eat, or drink, any more of this kind of food.

Secondly, Some of those, who drink waters, may have a malady of a cacoethes-nature, or of such a contumacy, and so far radicated,

Sic variis animum studiis Tunbrigia mulcet,

Ut vix absentes possis lugere penates.

that it illudes all energy of chalybeates, or any sort of physick. *It does not follow therefore, that this martial remedy is ineffectual, in itself, in order to cure other maladies of a different nature, by reason of the impregnable habit and rooting of some incurable distempers: Non defamanda præsidiu, quæ aliis profuere. Celsus. Remedies, which have done others good, are not to be undervalued; +they exert their operation according to the disposition of the subject, on which they work: The sun, for example, with the same heat, melts and hardens the clay:

the wax,

Limus ut hic durescit, & hæc ut cera liquescit
Uno eodemque igni. Virgilius.

And, by this reason, that which is one man's meat, may prove another's poison. So likewise, these waters, if used with a physican's advice, and due consideration, prove effectual and salubrious; but, taken without it, and by an indisposed or unprepared body, may be noxious, and sometimes mortiferous: Wherefore, since all things do not agree with all persons; nay, nor the same thing always, or a long time, with the same person; therefore the careful observation, and daily advice, of a prudent physician is here necessary, that, by indi cations taken from things that, do good, or hurt, the method of cure may be rightly ordered, and now and then changed. Willis, Capite de Colico.

These waters kill and expel all manner of worms, ingendered either in the stomach, intestines, matrix, or any other part of the body.Ryetius, in his observations of the Spaw-waters, makes mention of a woman, who laboured a long time with a chronick distemper under the doctor's hands, without receiving any benefit by all their pre scriptions and physick that she had taken, but was, at last, advised to chalybeate waters, and, by drinking of them with method and con. tinuance, avoided several worms of divers shapes, figure, and longi tude, and was perfectly cured.

They are a polychrest remedy, serving for many uses and inten tions; they both loosen and bind; cool and make hot; dry and moisten: cure distempers of divers states and origins, nay, of con trary natures and dispositions, as I said before. Certainly, a perfect knowledge of their idiosyncrasia and properties would reduce physick to a narrower compass, and to prescribe well the stadium chalybeatum, or chalybeate course, would make the studying of so many volumes of the parts of physick unnecessary; for, by the help of these water's, we prolong man's life by a more facile and easier means, than has hitherto been known, veritas ex puteo exathlanda: truth must be drawn out of a well.

Provocat hæc leniter Tunbrigia menstrua pridem,
Suppressa, & nimium sistit ubi illa fluunt.
Nostraque suppressos ut provocat ipsa vicissim,
Immodicos fluxus sic quoque sistit aqua:

Non est in medico semper, relevetur ut æger;
Nam doctå interdum pins valet arte malum.
↑ Actiones activorum sunt in subjecto dispositos

Ovidius.

Stringunt quippe suá vi lymphæ sive relaxant,
Frigore tum corpus sive calore juvant.
Ecquis idem medicamen eodem in corpore credat,
Adversa inter se pellere posse mala!

1

These waters vertue have to ope and close,
What may be called the female's monthly rose.
These waters loosen, and as firmly bind,
As in all fluxes any one may find.

By their own vertue, strengthen and relax,
Both heat and cool, dry clay, and harden wax.
''Tis strange, that, in one body, the same thing

'Shou'd cross-grain'd maladies to cure bring.

Ecce quam sint naturæ omnipotentis Dei, prudentia & potestate ductæ, admiranda opera quæ aquæ istius limpidæ ac puræ beneficio tot tamque inter se contrarios morbos curat, id quod ars medica sine corporis noxa præstare nequit.-Ryetius, in his Observations de Aquis Spadanis.

"Behold the wonderful works of nature, guided by the prudence and power of the Almighty God, that, by the help of a limpid and clear water, she cures manifold, nay, contrary and opposite ma ladies, which the art of physick, without great detriment to the body, cannot do.'

To accelerate and promote the passing of these waters by urine, Ryetius advises some drops of spirit of vitriol to be instilled into their glasses of water, for acids, being endowed with a diuretick and penetrative faculty, depose the serum, and conveigh it to the reins, to be sent forth by the ureters.

To promote evacuation by stool, he adviseth to mix some common salt in powder with the waters, and a dram to every pint, more or less, proportioning the quantity to the bearing of the patient. This gently expels the loose matter contained in the ventricle and intes tines, and purgeth viscous phlegm adhering to their tunicles and bilous humours from the pancreatick passages: but it is not to be taken indifferently by all persons.

Dum juga montis aper, dum flumen piscis habebit,
Anchora fons agris, hic sacra semper erit ;
Ut biba accurret (rumpantur ut ilia Codris).
Germanus, Scotus, Belga, Britannus, Iber.
Hinc populus floret, crescet Tunbrigia, quicquid
Bellum destruxit, mox reparabit aqua.
Whilst boars on mountains shall abide,
Or fishes in the river glide;

So long, both sure and uncontroul'd,
Will last this health-firm anchor-hold.
"This drink (let Codrus burst with rage)
Will English, Scotch, and Irish sage,
With German, French, and Dutch engage.
Hence people's glory, Tunbridge praise,
What war throws down, water will raise.

Thus much for chalybeates, to comply with your honour's soli citations, hoping this rude essay, upon a barren subject, may be cultivated by other philosophers and physicians, better qualified, to the benefit and advantage of mankind, especially to your honour's sa tisfaction-and welfare; whom Almighty God, the everlasting fountain and source of living waters, preserve with long life and health in this world, and grant immarcescible laurels in that which is to come; which is the earnest and unfeigned desire of,

My Lord, your honour's most humble
and obedient Servant,

P. M. M. D.

A SCHEME

FOR

THE FOUNDATION OF A ROYAL HOSPITAL,

AND RAISING A REVENUE

OF FIVE OR SIX THOUSAND POUNDS A YEAR,

By, and for the Maintenance of a Corporation of skilful Midwives and such Foundlings, or exposed Children, as shall be admitted therein. As it was proposed and addressed to his Majesty King James II. By Mrs. Elisabeth Cellier, in the Month of June, 1687. Now first published from her own MS. found among the said King's papers. Folio, containing nine pages.

To the King's Most Excellent Majesty, the humble Proposal of Elisabeth Cellier,

Sheweth,

THAT, within the space of twenty years last past, above six

thousand women have died in child-bed, more than thirteeen thousand children have been born abortive, and above five thousand chrysome infants have been buried, within the weekly bills of mortality: above two thirds of which, amounting to sixteen thousand souls, have in all probability perished, for want of due skill and care, in those women who practise the art of midwifry.

Besides the great number which are overlaid, and wilfully mur dered, by their wicked and cruel mothers, for want of fit ways to conceal their shame, and provide for their children, as also the many executions on the offenders.

To remedy which, it is humbly proposed, that your majesty will be graciously pleased, by your royal authority, to unite the whole