owing that the pains are those of the
patient's own seeking, and the penalties not of any long duration." In
short, my friend Bob furnished, instanter, the subject of "Spasmodic
Affections from, ~245~~Spa Waters," (see plate); certainly one of his
most spirited efforts.

[Illustration: page245]

But we must not pass by the elegant structure of Montpelier Spa, the
property of Pearson Thompson, esquire, whose gentlemanly manners,
superior talents, and kind conduct, have much endeared him to all
who know him as an acquaintance, and more to those who call him their
friend. Passing on the left-hand side of the upper well-walk, we found
ourselves before this tasteful structure, and were much delighted
with the arrangement of the extensive walks and grounds by which it is
surrounded:--a health-inspiring spot, and as we are told,

"Where Thompson's supreme and immaculate taste
Has a paradise form'd from a wilderness waste;
With his walks rectilineous, all shelter'd with trees,
That shut out the sunshine and baffle the breeze,
And a field, where the daughters of Erin{12}may roam
In a fence of sweet-brier, and think they're at home."

The Sherborne Spa, but recently erected, is indeed a very splendid
building, and forms a very beautiful object from the High-street, from
which it is plainly seen through a grove of trees, forming a vista of
nearly half a mile in length, standing on a gentle eminence, presenting
on both sides gravelled walks, with gardens and elegant buildings, that
display great taste in architecture. The Pump-room is a good specimen of
the Grecian Ionic, said to be correctly modelled from the temple on the
river Ilissus at Athens, and certainly is altogether a work worthy of
admiration. The grotesque colossal piece of sculpture which crowns the
central dome, as well as the building, has been wittily described by the
author of the "Cheltenham Mail."

12 The great number of Irish families who reside and
congregate at Cheltenham fully justifies the poet's
particular allusion to the fair daughters of Erin.

~246~~

"And then lower down, in fine Leckampton stone,
We've the fane of _Ilissus_ in miniature shown;
And crown'd with Hygeia--a bouncer, my lud!
And as plump, ay, as any princess of the blood,
Carved in stone, but a good imitation of wood:
With her vest all in plaits, l