APISTON MEN TAflP 219 



performed at these wells, particularly on Holy 

 Thursday, when they were adorned with boughs of 

 trees, garlands of tulips, and other flowers, and it was 

 customary after service at the church to play and sing 

 at the wells. This is merely an ancient Roman custom, 

 and in ancient Rome ' Fontalia ' was a religious feast, 

 celebrated on October 5, in honour of nymphs of 

 wells and fountains. In Britain there are many 

 accounts of holy wells, to which the most extra- 

 ordinary properties and virtues are ascribed. At 

 some the sick persons were forewarned, if, in dipping 

 a garment in the water, it swam, they would recover, 

 if it sank, they would die. Oblations were always 

 given at holy wells, and visitors conceived that 

 the holy saints could not fail to accept them. 



At Hartwell there is a never failing spring of 

 pure water, but, as far as I know, there is no legend 

 attached to it. Yet in after years it may be dedi- 

 cated to Doctor Lee, who has had it made accessible 

 for his numerous visitors to his teetotal festivals, and 

 has placed over it a stone slab, with the inscription 

 in Greek characters APISTON MEN TAflP, which 

 is believed by the common people to be an adjura- 

 tion to some saint. 



