Transcribed from the 1899 W. K. Morton edition ,
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTAL,
PHYSIOGRAPHICAL,
AND ARCHÆOLOGICAL,
with
OTHER MATTER.
by
J. CONWAY WALTER,
Author of “Lettersfrom the Highlands,” “Forays among Salmon andDeer,” “LiteræLaureatæ,” “The Ayscoughs.”
Notes on Parishes Round Horncastle, &c.
horncastle:
w. k. morton, highstreet.
The series of “Records” of various kinds whichwill be found in the following chapters are drawn from personalreminiscences, extending over more than half a century, combinedwith notes collected from many different sources during at leasttwo-thirds of that period. In dealing with such materialone is apt, even unconsciously, to be egotistical, and to lingertoo long and too fondly over scenes and incidents of which onemight say, in Virgilian phrase, quorum pars, si nonmagna, at parva fui. Should the reader deem anyportions unduly prolix, he will, perhaps, kindly excuse it onthis score. But I have known several instances, andespecially of late two in this neighbourhood, when a personadvanced in years and of wide experience, has passed away, andthere has been a general, and doubtless sincere, regret that hehas gone, and all his store of accumulated information gone withhim.
Circumstances have given me such opportunities—andenjoyed so long—of acquiring a knowledge of Woodhall Spa,and of most matters connected with it, that I am probably statingonly the unvarnished truth, when I say that no one else livingcould bring together the varied details, however inadequatelytreated, which will here be found. Some of them may seem ofsmall importance in the eyes of many—“caviare to thegeneral”—but I have thought it better that even theseminor details should not be consigned to the limbo of theforgotten, because unrecorded.
I have approached the subject from different points ofview—historical, anecdotal, naturalist, andarchæological, so as to cater for the different tastes ofreaders.
Inheriting an interest in Woodhall Spa, hallowed by cherishedassociations, my aim has been so to unfold its many attractions,even in beast, bird, and flower, as to communicate an interest init to others as well.
In publishing a third issue of these Records, I am bound induty to thank a wide circle of readers for the interest so fartaken in the p. 4work. I had now hoped to give ita more attractive form, but the low price at which a guide-bookmust be sold, in order to bring it within the reach of a generalpublic, precludes a more expensive “get-up” of thevolume. The only change, therefore, has been that theedition is brought “up to date” by a few necessarycorrections and additions. To future readers I would onlysay, in Ovidian phrase:—
Si qua meo fuerint, ut erunt, vitiosa libello,
Excusata, precor, Lector amicus, habe.
J. ConwayWalter.
It has been remarked that the discovery of many of ourmedicinal springs has been due to some romantic incident, or, in