y; and this magnet the Chelts possess in the
acknowledged medicinal properties of their numerous spas, the superior
qualities of which have been thus pleasantly poetized:--

"They're a healthful, and harmless, and purgative potion,
And as purely saline as the wave of the ocean,
Whilst their rapid effects like a----
----Hush! never mind;
We'll leave their effects altogether behind."

In short, if you wish to obtain benefit by the drinking of the waters,
you must do it _dulcius ex ipso fonte_, as my Lord Bottle-it-out's
system, the nobleman who originally planned the Well-walks, of sending
it home ~244~~to the drinkers in bed, has long since been completely
exploded; while, on the other hand, its rapid effects have been very
faithfully delineated by my friend Transit's view of the Royal Wells,
as they appeared on the morning of our visitation, presenting some
very interesting specimens of the picturesque in the Cruikshank style,
actually drawn upon the spot, and affording to the eye of a common
observer the most indubitable proofs of the active properties of the

Sulphate of soda, and oxide of iron,
And gases, that none but the muse of a Byron
Would attempt to describe in the magic of sound,
Lest it made a report ere he'd quitted the ground;
And poets are costive, as all the world knows,
And value no fame that smells under their nose.

"Would you like to take off a glass of the waters, sir?" said a very
respectable-looking old lady to my friend Transit, who was at that
moment too busily engaged in taking off the water-drinkers to pay
attention to her request. "There's a beautiful contortion!" exclaimed
Bob; sketching a beau who exhibited in his countenance all the horrors
of cholera, and was running away as fast as his legs could carry him.
"See, with what alacrity the old gentleman is moving off yonder,
making as many wry faces as if he had swallowed an ounce of corrosive
sublimate--and the ladies too, bless me, how their angelic smiles
evaporate, and the roseate bloom of their cheeks is changed to the
delicate tint of the lily, as they partake of these waters. What an
admirable school for study is this! here we can observe every transition
the human countenance is capable of expressing, from a ruddy state of
health and happiness, to one of extreme torture, without charging our
feelings with violence, and kn