When they dug up some of the earth, the water flew up 

 to a great height, and a candle that was in their hand, 

 set the vapour on fire. There is now (viz. in 1711) an 

 iron cistern round the spring, with a cover having a hole ' 

 in the middle of it. If yon put a. lighted candle to the 

 hole, the water takes fire, and burns like spirits of wine. 

 It burns as long as you keep the air from it ; but if you 

 take up the cover, it goes out. The heat of this fire ex- 

 ceeds that of common fire. Some people, after they 

 have set the water on fire, have put a kettle of water 

 over the cistern, with a joint of meat in it. It was boil- 

 ed much sooner than it could be, by any artificial fire. 

 If you put wood, or even green boughs upon it, it pre- 

 sently consumes them to ashes. The water of itself 

 feels as cold as any common water. Nay, if you put 

 your hand into it as soon as the fire is out, at feels as 

 cold as if there had been no fire near it. But it still 

 continues boiling up, with a considerable noise. 



But this well was lost for many years. The poor 

 man in whose land it was, missing the profit he used to 

 have J by shewing it, used all his endeavours to find it 

 again: and in May, 1744, hearing a rumbling noise un- 

 der ground, a little nearer the river than the former well 

 was, he lighted upon it again. For five or six feet deep, 

 jt was above six feet wide.* Within this was a smaller 

 hole, of like depth, dug in the clay, in the bottom of 

 which was a cylindric earthen vessel, four or five inches 

 diameter, having the bottom taken off, and the sides 

 fixed in the clay. Within the pot was brown water, 

 thick as puddle, continually forced up with a violent mo- 

 tion and a hollow noise, rising and falling by turns, five 

 or six inches. Upon putting a candle at the end of a 

 stick, within a quarter of a yard, it took fire, darting and 

 flashing in a violent manner, about half a yard high, 

 much like spirits in a lamp, but with a greater agitation. 

 The man said it had^made a tea-kettle boil in nine mi- 

 nutes, and that it would burn forty-eight hours without 

 any sensible diminution. It was extinguished by put- 

 ting a wet mop upon it. And still the water felt very 

 cold. 



4 



