WATER CURE REJECTED. 91 



I declare, then, that I, Harry Otter, am by nature a 

 person of considerable aquatic propensities, having been 

 born under the sign of Aquarius, or Pisces — it matters 

 not which. My delight in water, however, has its 

 limits, and extends only to external applications : the 

 placid amusement of wading in a Salmon river is very 

 much to my taste — quite captivating. Showers, and 

 even storms, if not of too long a continuance, are 

 exceedingly refreshing to my person ; but I must in 

 candour admit that the decisive action of a water-spout 

 may not possibly be so gratifying — ne quid nimis. 

 Macintosh's invention I consider as wholly uncalled 

 for, accounting it, as I do, an unpardonable intrusion 

 to place a solution of india-rubber between the human 

 body and a refreshing element. It is like taking a 

 shower-bath under shelter of an umbrella. 



Thus far I can extend ; but desire me to drink water 

 by itself, and I am your very humble servant. Had I 

 been at a symposium of brandy and the said vapid 

 element with that worthy Magnus Troil, he should 

 not have drunk all the brandy himself, and put me off 

 with the water, as he is recorded to have done to his 

 very simple friend. I beg to say that I am not one of 

 those two thousand patients who have been relieved 

 by a ivater cure, administered by James Wilson, Esq., 

 physician to his Serene Highness the Prince of Nassau, 

 as advertised. Internally, in its pure state, I totally 

 discard it. But I like the society of fish ; and as they 

 cannot with any convenience to themselves visit me 

 on dry land, it becomes me in point of courtesy to pay 

 my respects to them in their own element. 



