Edmund Deane - Spadacrene Anglica
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Edmund Deane >> Spadacrene Anglica
Transcriber's Note: A carat is used in some instances to indicate
superscript. If part is in brackets, then only those letters in
brackets are superscripted and the rest of the word is the normal size.
SPADACRENE ANGLICA. OR, _The English Spa Fountain._
BY EDMUND DEANE, M.D. OXON.
The First Work on the Waters of Harrogate.
_REPRINTED WITH INTRODUCTION_ BY JAMES RUTHERFORD, L.R.C.P. ED.
_AND BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES_ BY ALEX. BUTLER, M.B.
BRISTOL: JOHN WRIGHT & SONS LTD. LONDON: SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, HAMILTON,
KENT & CO. LTD. 1922
INTRODUCTION.
If the Author of "Spadacrene Anglica" could see our modern Harrogate,
for whose existence he is to no small extent responsible, he would be
justly entitled to consider his labours as well spent, however surprised
he might be at the change that had taken place in the village as he knew
it in the year 1626. For so was Harrogate in those years, a small
scattered hamlet, part of that great Royal Forest of Knaresborough,
extending westward from the town of Knaresborough for about 20 miles
towards Bolton Abbey, with an average depth of about 8 miles from North
to South, a Royal Forest, as Grainge in his History thereof premises,
from the year 1130 until 1775. Not only the change in the physical
aspect of Harrogate would have been noted by our author. Since his days,
within a radius of a few miles, have been found over 80 mineral springs,
whereby Harrogate is distinguished from all other European health
resorts. Not that the curative powers of these waters were altogether
unknown before Edmund Deane extolled the merits of the Tuewhit Well in
"Spadacrene Anglica." Indeed, he would be a bold man who would
dogmatically lay down at what period the powers of these waters were
unknown. Thus, in mediaeval times the waters of St. Mungo's and St.
Robert's were accredited with miraculous powers. The Tuewhit Well itself
derives its name, according to some authorities, from its association in
pre-Roman times with the pagan God Teut.
"Spadacrene Anglica" was published by Dr. Edmund Deane, an eminent
physician of York, in the year 1626, and passed through three editions
after his death. All these editions are very scarce, and although there
are copies of the four editions in the British Museum, there are only
two other copies known to exist. I was indeed fortunate, therefore, when
some seventeen years ago I picked up a copy in a well-known second-hand
book shop in Harrogate. Now I am reprinting it, not so much for its
interest to my professional brethren as a quaint and learned
contribution to medical literature in the seventeenth century, but
because it is the earliest and most indispensable source of the history
of the waters of Harrogate.
A careful study of it will correct a number of remarkable errors, which
now pass current as historical facts in connection with the rise into
fame of Harrogate as our premier Spa. These errors would never have
arisen had there been a more free access to this very scarce book. Most
writers appear to have depended for their knowledge of its contents
upon the summary of it contained in Dr. Thomas Short's "History of
Mineral Waters," published about a century after the publication of
"Spadacrene Anglica." In commenting on this and other works abridged in
his History, the learned author states:
"Some of them are very scarce and rare. Therefore, such as have them
not, have here their whole _substance_, and need not trouble themselves
for the treatises." Unfortunately, they did not have their "whole
substance," and hence these errors.
"Spadacrene Anglica" deals mainly with the Tuewhit Well or the English
Spa. It is not my intention to discuss here either the history of its
distinguished author or the early history of the English Spa. This task
has been kindly undertaken for me by my friend and colleague, Dr.
Alexander Butler, to whom I take this opportunity to express my grateful
thanks for his very suggestive contribution.
Suffice it for the purpose of this short introduction to state that the
medicinal qualities of the Tuewhit Well were discovered about fifty-five
years prior to the publication of "Spadacrene Anglica," the credit of
the discovery being due to a certain Mr. William Slingsby, not to his
nephew, Sir William Slingsby as has been persistently but erroneously
stated. The Tuewhit Well was first designated "The English Spa" in or
about the year 1596 by Timothy Bright, M.D., sometime rector of both
Methley and Barwick in Elmet, near Leeds, which goes far to support the
well established belief that the waters of the Tuewhit Well were the
first to be used internally for medicinal purposes in England. To-day
the word Spa is, of course, a general term for a health resort
possessing mineral waters, but in the days of Dr. Timothy Bright no such
meaning attached to it; Spa was the celebrated German health resort, and
one can readily conceive with what patriotic enthusiasm Dr. Timothy
Bright would proclaim the Tuewhit Well as "The English Spa" when the
medicinal properties of this Well were found to resemble those of the
two famous medicinal springs of Sauveniere and Pouhon at Spa.
"Spadacrene Anglica" (as already mentioned) was published in 1626. Later
in the same year appeared another work on Harrogate, entitled "News out
of Yorkshire," by Michael Stanhope, Esq. Further, the time of Mr.
William Slingsby's birth has been traced back to between the years 1525
and 1527. The year 1926 is therefore the tercentenary of the publication
of Deane's "Spadacrene Anglica," and Stanhope's "News out of Yorkshire,"
and may also be regarded as the quatercentenary of the birth of Mr.
William Slingsby. What a triple event for commemoration!
In this edition of "Spadacrene Anglica" the original title-page and
initial letters have been artistically reproduced by the publishers;
the text has not been modernized except in the case of the old vowel
forms I and U for the consonants J and V. Otherwise, the original
spelling and the use of capitals and italics have been retained. The
long S has not been retained. With these slight changes one cannot but
admire the forceful English in which it is written, and the clearness of
the style of the author.
I am indebted to my daughter Dorothy for the sketch of the Tuewhit Well.
JAMES RUTHERFORD.
_Saint Mungo,
12, York Road,
Harrogate, 1921._
_Biographical Notes_ OF _Edmund Deane, M.D. and others in relation to
the Tuewhit Well, The English Spa_.
BY ALEX. BUTLER, M.B.
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES
_=of Edmund Deane and others in relation to the English Spa.=_
The present reprint of "Spadacrene Anglica" should arouse a keen
literary interest in its author, Edmund Deane, and in the early history
of Harrogate. As one who had the privilege of reading the original
edition of this work, belonging to Dr. Rutherford, I was struck by the
marked contrast between Deane's account of the history of the medicinal
waters of Harrogate, and that which is to be found in more recent
writings on that subject.
These modern accounts cannot be better or more authoritatively
exemplified than by taking a short extract from the article "Harrogate"
in the "Encyclopaedia Britannica."[1]
"The principal chalybeate Springs are the Tewitt well called by Dr.
Bright, who wrote the first account of it, the English Spaw,
discovered by Captain William Slingsby of Bilton Hall, near the
close of the 16th. Century...."
This paragraph, as a statement of facts, accurately sets out what is to
be found in more or less detail in the accessible literature of to-day
and will be referred to afterwards as the recognised history of
Harrogate. It has received the express or tacit sanction of the
Corporation of Harrogate and is embodied in its publications. Further a
memorial has been erected to Sir William Slingsby, the Captain William
Slingsby of Bilton Hall referred to in the above quotation, as the
discoverer of the Tuewhit Well.
Notwithstanding the complete credence that has been given to this
account for many years, I think there can be no doubt that it is
entirely erroneous, and that unmerited fame has been given to Sir
William Slingsby as the discoverer of the medicinal qualities of the
Tuewhit Well, and to Dr. Bright as the author who first wrote an account
of it.
Deane's history of the medicinal springs of Harrogate in the Elizabethan
period is to be found in the earlier chapters of his book. It is
therefore only necessary to mention here that, according to "Spadacrene
Anglica" the Tuewhit Well was _not_ discovered by Captain (or Sir)
William Slingsby, it was _not_ discovered near the close of the 16th
Century, and Dr. Bright did _not_ write an account of it. It is hardly
credible that the history as given in the extract from the "Encyclopaedia
Britannica" is actually derived from "Spadacrene Anglica." Yet such is
the case. Owing to the great rarity of the first edition of that book,
and the fact that the later editions were all, more or less, abridged or
incomplete, a series of plausible conjectures by later writers founded
on these imperfect editions has evolved a history of Harrogate in this
period which is, as regards the main facts, largely fictitious. The
object of the following biographical notes is, briefly, to restate the
history of Harrogate during the Elizabethan period, in terms of the only
reliable source for such a purpose, and to trace the accumulated errors,
as far as possible, to their origin and source, an inquiry which the
reprint of "Spadacrene Anglica" at the present time makes not
inopportune.
No history of Harrogate should be written, unless preceded by a
biographical note of the author of "Spadacrene Anglica," to whom and to
whose work Harrogate doubtless owes its position as the premier Spa of
this country; and it is with no little sense of the fickleness of fame
that one finds his name so little known, and his worth as a writer
unrecognized. As far as I know, no biography has been written
heretofore, nor is his life given in the various collective records of
the lives of British medical men, such as Aikin, etc.[2] The same
neglect of him occurs in the "Dictionary of National Biography," where
in view of the national importance of the Spas of this country, a
biography of Deane might not unreasonably be expected. Here and there
one is able to glean some small scraps of information about him, but the
result of all the gleanings from contemporary records, so far, can be
condensed in a very small compass. It does not seem amiss therefore to
record here what is known of the "father of Harrogate" albeit at present
unrecognized by his off-spring.
Deane was descended from a family who for many generations lived at
Saltonstall, a hamlet in Warley in the parish of Halifax, and whose
history appears to have been quite uneventful.[3] Owing to the frequency
with which the same Christian names occur in the Parish Registers, it is
by no means easy to identify the several families of the name of Deane,
but in 1612 the family from which the author of "Spadacrene Anglica" was
descended, recorded in the College of Arms a short entry of pedigree, of
which a copy is appended. His parents were Gilbert Deane of Saltonstall
and Elizabeth, daughter of Edmund Jennings of Seilsden in Craven, and
their family consisted of four sons, viz. Gilbert, Richard, Edmund and
Symon (twins). The date of birth of Edmund is not known, but the entry
of baptism is on 23rd of March 1572.[4] The mother seems to have died at
their birth, for the date of her funeral is but two days' later.[5]
Gilbert Deane of Saltonstall,-+-..... dau. of .....
Co. York | Horsfold under the
| bank, near Heptonstall
|
+---------------+------------+-------------------------+--+
| | | |
Richard Deane Gilbert Deane of-+-Elizabeth dau. William 3
s.p. Saltonstall | of Edm. Jennings Roger 4
| of Seilsden in Craven
|
+-----------------------+------+----+-----------------------+--+
| | | | |
Gilbert Richard Edmund Deane--Anne Michaell
Deane -+-Susan Deane, of the City dau of Symon s.p.
| dau of Bishop of of York, ... Faurie
| ... Bentley Ossory in Doctor of of Leicester,
| Ireland Phisick & Widow of
| Marmaduke
| Haddesley of
| Hull, Alderman
+------------------+
|
John Deane, son & heir.
Of the brothers of Edmund, Gilbert, the eldest, apparently lived at
Saltonstall, and it was his son, John Deane, who eventually became the
chief beneficiary under the Will of Edmund. Symon (or Michaell Symon),
the twin brother, died at the age of seven years. His remaining brother,
Richard, born in 1570, entered Merton College, Oxford, in 1589, and in
1609 succeeded Dr. Horsfall as Bishop of Ossory. He died in 1614.
Edmund also entered Merton College, matriculating 26th March, 1591, and
took the degree of B.A. on the 11th of December, 1594. He then "retired
to St. Alban's Hall, where prosecuting his geny which he had to the
faculty of physic" he was licensed to practise medicine on the 28th
March, 1601, subsequently taking his degrees of M.B. and M.D. as a
member of that hall on the 28th of June, 1608. He was incorporated at
Cambridge in 1614. After taking his degrees in medicine he retired to
York and practised in that city till his death in 1640.[6]
Nothing further is known of his life in York, except that Camidge[7]
states that he occupied a house adjoining the residence of Mr. Laurence
Rawden in the street called Pavement, a name, it has been suggested[8],
derived from the Hebrew Judgement seat "in a place that is called the
Pavement,"--this being that part of the City of York where punishment
was inflicted and where the Pillory was a permanent erection. It is not
unreasonable to suppose that this fact was responsible for Deane's
tender pity for the "poore prisoners" in his Will.
In 1626, Deane published his "Spadacrene Anglica" which is here
reprinted. "Spadacrene Anglica" is a model of lucid and logical
exposition. It provides a quaint and interesting epitome of the medical
opinion of the day, but it is of more special interest as the source for
the earliest history of the Harrogate waters. Its importance from this
particular standpoint will be considered later.
Later in the same year Michael Stanhope published his "Newes out of
Yorkshire," and in this book he gives a lively description of his
journey with Deane to the Well "called at this day by the country
people, Tuit Well, it seemes for no other cause but that those birdes
(being our greene Plover) do usually haunt the place." The following
extract of the first recorded visit to Harrogate will, I think, be of
interest.
"In the latter end of the summer 1625, being casually with Dr. Dean
(a Physitian of good repute at his house at York, one who is far
from the straine of many of his profession, who are so chained in
their opinion to their Apothecary Shops, that they renounce the
taking notice of any vertue not confined within that circuit) he
took occasion to make a motion to me (the rather for that he
remembered I had been at the Spa in Germany) of taking the aire,
and to make our rendez-vouz at Knaresbrough to the end wee might be
the better opportuned to take a view of the Tuit-well (whereof he
had sparingly heard) for that it was by some compared to the so
much fam'd Spa in Germany. I was not nice to give way to the
summons of his desire: the match was soon made, and the next day,
accompanied with a worthy Knight and judicious admirer, and curious
speculator of rarities, and three other physitians of allowable
knowledge, we set forwards for Knaresbrough, being about fourteen
miles from Yorke. We made no stay at the towne, but so soone as we
could be provided of a guide, we made towards the Well, which we
found almost two miles from the Towne. It is scetuate upon a rude
barren Moore, the way to it in a manner a continual ascent. Upon
our first approach to the Spring we were satisfied that former
times had taken notice of it, by reason it was encloased with
stone, and paved at the bottome, but withal we plainely perceived
that it had been long forgotten[9], which the filth wherewith it
was choaked did witnesse, besides that through neglect the current
of other waters were suffered to steale into it. Before any
peremptory triall was made of it, it was thought fit first to
clense the Well, and to stop the passage of any other waters
intermixture, which within the compasse of an hour we effected. The
bottom now cleared, we plainely descried where the waters did
spring up, and then the Physitians began to try their experiments.
But, first of all I dranke of it and finding it to have a perfect
Spa relish (I confesse) I could not contain but in a tone louder
than ordinary I bad them welcome to the Spa. Presently they all
took essai of it, and though they could not denie, but that it had
a different smack from all other common waters, most confessing
that it did leave in the pallate a kinde of acidnesse, yet the
better to be assured whether it did partake with Vitrioll, the
prime ingredient in the natural Spa, they mixed in a glasse the
powder of Galls with this water, knowing by experience if this
Minerall had any acquaintance with the Spring, the powder would
discolour the water and turne it to a Claret die; wherein they were
not deceived, for presently (to their both wonder and joy) the
water changed colour, and seemed to blush in behalf of the Country,
who had amongst them so great a jewell and made no reckoning of
it.... You may suppose (being met together at our Inne, where we
found ourselves very well accomodated for our provision) we could
finde no other talke but of this our new Spa.... Three days after
our return to York, Dr. Deane (whose thirst for knowledge is not
superficially to be satisfied) by the consent of his
fellow-physitians sent for a great quantity of the water in large
violl glasses, entending partly by evaporation and partly by some
other chimical means to experiment it...."
It would certainly appear from a perusal of the above, that at the
latter end of the year 1625, Deane knew little of the medicinal value
of the English Spaw. But such a conclusion is entirely opposed to the
dedication and text of "Spadacrene Anglica," which clearly indicates
that Deane was a close personal friend of the eminent physicians Dr.
Timothy Bright, and Dr. Anthony Hunton of Newark-upon-Trent, who for
years had been recommending the waters to their friends and patients.
Moreover Deane himself had paid many visits to the English Spaw with the
physicians of York, and had been at last induced to commit his knowledge
to print. Is it permissible to use imaginative license and see in Deane
a humorist who persuaded Stanhope "of taking the aire" while professing
no intimate knowledge of the spring, yet going the length of taking the
powder of Galls in his pocket to produce a stage effect, which he had
never found to fail?[10]
Stanhope readily adopts the plover origin of the name Tuewhit, but the
silence of Deane is suggestive of his doubt, and especially so as he
mentions the pigeons haunting the sulphur springs as "an arguement of
much salt in them." There is no obvious reason of this kind for the
plovers frequenting the Tuewhit Well in preference to any other spring
in the neighbourhood.
In 1630, Deane published a number of Tracts which had been left more or
less incomplete by Samuel Norton. His share in the authorship of the
different tracts varies. The titles of one or two will sufficiently
indicate the nature of the subjects, and it can be seen that his studies
included the philosophical stone, and other subjects receiving attention
at the present time, such as "culture pearls."
"Mercurius Redivivus, seu modus conficiendi Lapidem Philosophicum."
"Saturnus Saturatus Dissolutus et Coelo restitutus, seu modus
componendi Lapidem Philosophicum ... e plumbo...."
"Metamorphosis Lapidem ignobilium in gemmas quasdam pretiosas, seu modus
transformandi perlas parvas ... in magnas et nobilis ..." etc. etc.
Edmund Deane married twice, first to Anne, widow of Marmaduke Haddersley
of Hull; the date is not known, though it was before the entry of
pedigree was recorded in 1612. In 1625, he had a license at York to
marry Mary Bowes of Normanton at Normanton. There does not appear to
have been a family by either of his wives.
He died in 1640, and was buried in St. Crux Church, York. This church
was demolished about the year 1885, as it was considered structurally
unsafe, but there does not appear to have been any memorial erected to
him in the church. The manuscript Registers of the Parish of St. Crux
are in the College of Arms: the manuscript extracts do not commence
until the year 1678. His Will, however, is preserved. It is dated 30th
of Oct. 1639, and was proved at York on the 14th of April, 1640.
In a biography it should be the task of the writer to visualise the
personality of his subject as well as to record merely the material
events of his life. In this instance it would be quite impossible to do
so from lack of material, but yet from his works, and from the opinion
held of him by Michael Stanhope, and last, but not least, from the
contents of his own Will, I think some picture can be painted of him. A
man of learning is shown from his writings: a perusal of "Spadacrene
Anglica" will exhibit both the clearness of his intellect and the
forcibleness of his style. For many years he successfully practised
medicine at York. He was held in high esteem among his professional
brethren, and was recognized by them as a leader in the profession with
a broad mind, ready to listen to and investigate new ideas. His
personality is fully and finely revealed in his Will, and as this is the
only biography, as it were, written by himself, I append an extract from
it, so that he may speak for himself.
In the name of God, Amen.
I Edmund Deane of the Cittye of Yorke Doctor of Phisicke being some
what weake of bodye, yett in good & pfect remembrance of mynd &
understanding (praised be God therefore) and calling to mynd the
uncertainety of this my naturall life & my mortality, not knowing
howe soone I shall laye downe this my earthly Tabernackle & be
gathered to sleepe in the grave wth my fathers doe therefore
accordinge to the holy Ghost directions make, constitute, ordayne &
declare this my last Will and Testament for the better setleing of
peace & concord amongst my wife, friends & kindred heareby
revokeing in acte, deede and in lawe all other former Wills &
testaments whatsoever. In manner & forme following.
That is to say first & principally I comend & bequeath my soule
unto the ever blessed hands of Almighty God my heavenly father my
maker & creator, whoe out of his meer mercy, free will & love to
mankinde & to me in pticuler did vouchsafe to send his onely
begotten sonne before all eternity, Christ Jesus the pmissed
Messias into this world to save sinners (whereof w^th S^t. Paull I
confesse my selfe the greatest) to laye downe his life for mankinde
& that he dyed for me & for my salvac{~COMBINING OVERLINE~}on, & that he rose againe
the third day for my iustificac{~COMBINING OVERLINE~}on, that where he now is, I shall
be there alsoe after my dissolution & I hope & looke to be saved
only by his mirritts, death & passion alone, & by noe other meanes
whatsoever, & when itt shall please Almighty God to putt an end &
period to these my dayes here on earth, ending this my pilgrimage,
and layeing downe this my earthly Tabernackle.
Then I comitt & bequeath this my nowe liveing body to the earth
from whence itt came, & the same to be buryed (yf I fortune to dye
in Yorke or otherwise yf itt may be done wth convenyency) in the
p'ish Church of St. Crux w^{th}in the said Citty of Yorke in the
Chancell of the said Church & to be enterred as neare as may be
unto the body of my late dearely beloved wife Anne Deane deceased
w^{th}out any bowelling or embalmeing, & there to be decently
enterred by toarch light, w^{th}out any further funerall pompe or
solempnity whatsoever, beinge (as I thinke) a custome not
altogeither laudable to banquett & feast att funeralls w^ch rather
ought to be a tyme of mourneing, then banqueting and feasting