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Of all the powers attributed to the Bath Waters, one, now 
transferred to others farther away, was that of removing barrenness 
in women, a belief traced as existing from an early time. An 
Elizabethan epigram by Sir John Harington, supposed to be 
relating the visit of a lady who sought this remedy, says :— 
Comely was her person, good was her feature, 
In beauty, grace, and speech a lovely creature. 
As the lady in the water staid, 
A plain man fell a talking with the maid 
Who leaned upon the rail. 
This gives a peep of the usual scene at the bathing time. The 
intruder gathered that the lady had been advised that :— 
These baths have power to strengthen that debility 
That doth in men and women breed sterility. 
The physicians took care the idea should not be lost, and notices 
of this power are found in their works. Dr. Sutherland writing 
almost two centuries later gives an account of a lady coming to 
the bath for lameness, who not only got her legs “but her belly 
up also.” Acting on this custom and belief the childless Queen 
determined to go to the Bath, and arrived there from Windsor on 
the 18th August, 1687, joining the King, who had arrived about 
an hour before from Portsmouth. The King was accompanied by 
the Lord Lieutenant Lord Waldegrave , the High Sheriff Mr. 
Edward Strode, and others, the city ‘“‘ sounding with acclamations 
and all things performed that could in any way testify joy for 
their Majesties’ presence.” The Queen stayed at Dr. Peirce’s, at 
the Abbey House, to be prepared as it was called. Dr. Peirce 
had written a notice of the effects of the waters in curing palsy 
and barrenness, and this being published in the “ Philosophical 
Transactions ” for 1€85, was thus stamped with authority. 
The example cited was that of a gentlewoman of Wells, aged 
about thirty or thirty-two, who had been married ten or twelve 
years without being with child. Being seized with palsy in the 
left side she was taken to Bath, where she remained some time. 
