Spadacrene Anglica | Page 2

publication of "Spadacrene Anglica," the
credit of the discovery being due to a certain Mr. William Slingsby, not
to his nephew, Sir William Slingsby as has been persistently but

erroneously stated. The Tuewhit Well was first designated "The
English Spa" in or about the year 1596 by Timothy Bright, M.D.,
sometime rector of both Methley and Barwick in Elmet, near Leeds,
which goes far to support the well established belief that the waters of
the Tuewhit Well were the first to be used internally for medicinal
purposes in England. To-day the word Spa is, of course, a general term
for a health resort possessing mineral waters, but in the days of Dr.
Timothy Bright no such meaning attached to it; Spa was the celebrated
German health resort, and one can readily conceive with what patriotic
enthusiasm Dr. Timothy Bright would proclaim the Tuewhit Well as
"The English Spa" when the medicinal properties of this Well were
found to resemble those of the two famous medicinal springs of
Sauveniere and Pouhon at Spa.
"Spadacrene Anglica" (as already mentioned) was published in 1626.
Later in the same year appeared another work on Harrogate, entitled
"News out of Yorkshire," by Michael Stanhope, Esq. Further, the time
of Mr. William Slingsby's birth has been traced back to between the
years 1525 and 1527. The year 1926 is therefore the tercentenary of the
publication of Deane's "Spadacrene Anglica," and Stanhope's "News
out of Yorkshire," and may also be regarded as the quatercentenary of
the birth of Mr. William Slingsby. What a triple event for
commemoration!
In this edition of "Spadacrene Anglica" the original title-page and
initial letters have been artistically reproduced by the publishers; the
text has not been modernized except in the case of the old vowel forms
I and U for the consonants J and V. Otherwise, the original spelling and
the use of capitals and italics have been retained. The long S has not
been retained. With these slight changes one cannot but admire the
forceful English in which it is written, and the clearness of the style of
the author.
I am indebted to my daughter Dorothy for the sketch of the Tuewhit
Well.
JAMES RUTHERFORD.

_Saint Mungo, 12, York Road, Harrogate, 1921._
Biographical Notes OF _Edmund Deane, M.D. and others in relation to
the Tuewhit Well, The English Spa_.
BY ALEX. BUTLER, M.B.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES
_=of Edmund Deane and others in relation to the English Spa.=_
The present reprint of "Spadacrene Anglica" should arouse a keen
literary interest in its author, Edmund Deane, and in the early history of
Harrogate. As one who had the privilege of reading the original edition
of this work, belonging to Dr. Rutherford, I was struck by the marked
contrast between Deane's account of the history of the medicinal waters
of Harrogate, and that which is to be found in more recent writings on
that subject.
These modern accounts cannot be better or more authoritatively
exemplified than by taking a short extract from the article "Harrogate"
in the "Encyclopædia Britannica."[1]
"The principal chalybeate Springs are the Tewitt well called by Dr.
Bright, who wrote the first account of it, the English Spaw, discovered
by Captain William Slingsby of Bilton Hall, near the close of the 16th.
Century...."
This paragraph, as a statement of facts, accurately sets out what is to be
found in more or less detail in the accessible literature of to-day and
will be referred to afterwards as the recognised history of Harrogate. It
has received the express or tacit sanction of the Corporation of
Harrogate and is embodied in its publications. Further a memorial has
been erected to Sir William Slingsby, the Captain William Slingsby of
Bilton Hall referred to in the above quotation, as the discoverer of the
Tuewhit Well.

Notwithstanding the complete credence that has been given to this
account for many years, I think there can be no doubt that it is entirely
erroneous, and that unmerited fame has been given to Sir William
Slingsby as the discoverer of the medicinal qualities of the Tuewhit
Well, and to Dr. Bright as the author who first wrote an account of it.
Deane's history of the medicinal springs of Harrogate in the
Elizabethan period is to be found in the earlier chapters of his book. It
is therefore only necessary to mention here that, according to
"Spadacrene Anglica" the Tuewhit Well was not discovered by Captain
(or Sir) William Slingsby, it was not discovered near the close of the
16th Century, and Dr. Bright did not write an account of it. It is hardly
credible that the history as given in the extract from the "Encyclopædia
Britannica" is actually derived from "Spadacrene Anglica." Yet such is
the case. Owing to the great rarity of the first edition of that book, and
the fact