E U X 



no 



BYE 



Buxton. Duke of Devonshire, solely for the reception of the 

 ' company who resort every season to the wells. It 

 contains three elegant hotels, and some private lod- 

 ging houses ; and in the front is a beautiful colonnade, 

 which is seven feet wide within the pillars, and eleven 

 feet high. This edifice was designed and executed 

 under the direction of Mr Carr ; and, together with 

 the offices behind, which are likewise remarkably ele- 

 gant, is said to ha ve cost nearly L. 1 20,000. It displays 

 DO affected ornament, but is finished in a style of ele- 

 gant simplicity. Besides the crescent, there is another 

 building called the Hall, which was erected in the 16th 

 century by the Earl of Shrewsbury, for the accommoda- 

 tion of visitants, but which was rebuilt and enlarged 

 in 1670 by the Earl of Devonshire. It contains the 

 baths, and is also one of the principal hotels for the 

 reception of company. The baths are five in number; 

 the gentlemen's bath, the ladies bath, one for the 

 poor, and two private baths. The water is gene- 

 rally drank at St Ann's well, an elegant little build- 

 ing in the antique style, opposite to the crescent, 

 where it is conveyed from the original spring into a 

 white marble bason. This well is regarded as one of 

 the seven * wonders of the Peak, from the circum- 

 stance that hot and cold spring water may be obtained 

 within twelve inches of each other. 



Buxton has a small manufacture of cotton, but its 

 chief support arises from the visits of strangers, who 

 are annually attracted by the benefit of its waters, 

 or the curiosities of the adjacent country. During 

 the bathing season, which commences in June, and 

 generally concludes in October, the amusements of 

 Buxton consist in assemblies and plays, of which 

 there are three every week ; and for the diversion of 

 gentlemen, a pack of harriers are kept by subscrip- 

 tion. 



The warm springs of Buxton were known to the 

 Romans, as appears from several ancient roads con- 

 centrating at this spot, and also from the remains 

 of an ancient bath, which was discovered here in 

 1781, and other specimens of Roman architecture ; 

 and they are supposed by Dr Gale to be the Aquis of 

 Ravennas. They seem, however, to have been entirely 

 deserted during the middle ages ; and it was not until 

 the sixteenth century that they were again brought 

 into notice, by Dr Jones, who in 1572 published a 

 treatise on their beneficial qualities, entitled, " The 

 Benefit of the Ancient Bathes of Buckstones, which 

 cureth most grievous Sickness." Since that time 

 their celebrity has continued to increase, and they have 

 been found very beneficial in various diseases, parti- 

 cularly in gout, rheumatism, nephritic and bilious 

 disorders, and debility of the stomach and intestines. 

 The springs yield a most plentiful supply of water, 

 and have been calculated to throw up about sixty gal- 

 lons in a minute. The water is used both externally 

 and internally by invalids, and is also employed in the 

 principal hotels for making tea, and other common 

 purposes. When drank, however, in considerable 



quantities, it is apt to occasion 



feverish symp- 

 toms, and is found to possess a binding and heat- 

 ing quality. Dr Denrnan recommends it to be ia- 



ken in moderate portions ; and observes, that, " in Boston 

 common, two glasses, each of the size of the third II 

 part of a pint, are as much as ought to be drank be- B y e!aw ' 

 fore breakfast, at the distance of for.y minutes be- 

 tween each ; and one or two of the same glasses be- 

 tween breakfast and dinner will be quite sufficient." 

 In the baths, the water rises through the crevices 

 of the floor, and its temperature is almost invariably 

 at 82 of Fahrenheit's thermometer ; but that which 

 is drank at the well loses about three-fourths of a 

 degree in its passage from the spring to the marble 

 basin. This water is perfectly colourless, and with- 

 out either taste or smell; and, except its temperature, 

 has scarcely any quality to distinguish it from the 

 purest common springs. According to Dr Pearson's 

 analysis, a gallon of it, when evaporated, deposited 

 16 grains or sediment, of which 114 were calcareous 

 earth, 2i vitriolic selenite, and nearly 2 sea salt ; and 

 the same gentleman was the first who ascertained the 

 nature of the air-bubbles which constantly rise with 

 the water and break at the surface, and v:hich he 

 found to consist ?lmost entirely of azotic gas, with 

 a small portion of atmospherical air. 



In the neighbourhood of Buxton are immense 

 quantities of lime-stone, of which many hundred tons 

 are annually burnt ; and it is worthy of notice, that 

 the habitations of the workmen are scooped out of 

 the small mounts formed of the refuse of the kilns, 

 and appear like a range of caves along the side of 

 the hill. Some of these habitations contain two or 

 three rooms, but few of them have any other light 

 than what they receive by the door and the chimney. 

 " When the workmen," says a modern traveller, 

 " descend into their caves at the time of repast, and 

 a stranger sees the many small columns of smoke is- 

 suing out of the earth, he imagines himself in the 

 midst of a village in Lapland." 



The village of Buxton contains 180 houses, and 

 76'0 inhabitants ; and its annual visitors, including 

 their attendants, are supposed to be about 500. See 

 Britton's Beauties of England mid Wales, vol. iii. 

 p. 4-37, and DERBYSHIRE. (L) 



BUXU3, a genus of plants of the class Monoe- 

 cia, and order Tetrandria. See BOTANV, p. 323, 



BYE-LAWS, are those orders or private statutes 

 of boroughs and other towns, fraternities of trade, 

 guilds, c. which regulate their members and com- 

 mon interests. The private regulations of courts- 

 leet and courts-baron in England, are likewise so 

 denominated by some writers ; but we can see no 

 reason why the application should stop there, since, 

 in the nature of the thing, it is equally applicable to 

 the private regulations of all courts whatever, even 

 of the highest jurisdiction, and yet the regulations of 

 these courts are not commonly so classed or denomi- 

 nated. The laws of hirlam, still known in some dis- 

 tricts of Scotland, seem not improperly to be con- 

 sidered as bye-laws, and therefore ranked under the 

 same appellation. They are described by Skene, 

 though with some obscurity, (voceJSwr/atu), as rules 

 made for the government of a particular neighbour- 

 hood, by certain individuals who are chosen for that 



* The otner six wonders arc, Poole's Hole, the Ebbing and Flowing Well, Elden Hole, Mam Torr or the Shivering 

 ^Mountain, the Peak Cavern, and Chatsworth. See DERBY-SEIUBV 



6 



