166 SPRINGS, RIVERS, CANALS, LAKES, 



may be drunk, and the beasts and fov.'ls killed by it may be 

 safely eaten. 



Aix LA C HAP ELL E, in the circle of Westphalia, has been long 

 distinguished for mineral springs ; here is a noble fountain, formed 

 by four springs, which run from above into a copper cistern thirty 

 feet in diameter, weighing twelve thousand pounds; and on the 

 top of the fountain is a large brass statue, of Charlemagne in rich 

 armour. As the city lies in a valley surrounded with mountains, 

 there are twenty other public fountains of clear water, besides many 

 private ones. Without St. James's gate are ten hot mineral springs, 

 and some cold ones, beside several in the adjacent fields. The 

 streams that run through the city keep it very clean, and drive 

 several mills. 



Of the more celebrated baths of this city, there are three within 

 the inner walls, which are called the Emperor's, St. Qttirtnu/f, 

 and the Little Bath. Charlemagne was so much delighted with 

 the first, that he frequently invited his sons and nobles to bathe and 

 swim there with him ; but it is now divided into five bathing-rooms. 

 The Little Bath joins to it, and the springs of both rise so hot, that 

 ten or twelve hours are allowed for their cooling before they can be 

 used. They are strongly impregnated with nitre and sulphur and 

 sulphurated hydrogen gas ; and sometimes cakes of brimstone and 

 saltpetre of a considerable thickness are taken out of them. Their 

 taste is at first unpleasant, and their smell resembles that of a rotten 

 egg, or of our Harrogate water. Near these baths is a spring of 

 warm water, much resorted to in the summer mornings, and drunk 

 for chronical diseases. Those in the New Town, which are the 

 Rose Bath, the Poor's Bath, and St. Corneille's, are by no 

 means so hot and clear as the former ; but they are of much the 

 same nature, and their smell is as offensive. Near the hot springs 

 lie many cold ones, by which their heat might be tempered, and 

 with a little expense they might be made some of the most delight- 

 ful baths in the world. 



About the distance of a furlong from the south gate of Aix la 

 Chapelle lies the delightful village of POIICET, or Borcet, which is 

 *aid to have derived its name from the wild boars that formerly 

 abounded in the neighbouring woods. Here are many hot springs, 

 on both sides of a small cool rivulet that runs through the village, 



