ls us of a small spring outside the bathing well at
Whiteford, which was once famed for the cure of weak eyes. The patient
made an offering of a crooked pin, and at the same time repeated some
words. The well still remains, but the efficacy of its waters is lost.
In recounting his tour of Wales, the same author describes the church
of St. Tecla, virgin and martyr, at Llandegla. He says: "About two
hundred yards from the church, in a Quillet called Gwern Degla, rises
a small spring. The water is under the tutelage of the Saint, and to
this day held to be extremely beneficial in the falling sickness. The
patient washes his limbs in the well; makes an offering into it of
four-pence; walks round it three times; and thrice repeats the Lord's
Prayer. These ceremonies are never begun till after sun-set, in order
to inspire the votaries with greater awe. If the afflicted be of the
male sex, like Socrates, he makes an offering of a cock to his
AEsculapius, or rather to Tecla Hygeia; if of the fair sex, a hen. The
fowl is carried in a basket, first round the well; after that into the
church-yard; when the same orisons and the same circum-ambulations are
performed round the church. The votary then enters the church; gets
under the communion table; lies down with the Bible under his or her
head; is covered with the carpet or cloth, and rests there till break
of day; departing after offering sixpence, and leaving the fowl in the
church. If the bird dies, the cure is supposed to have been effected,
and the disease transferred to the devoted victim."[37]

"At Withersden," says Hasted, "is a well, which was once famous, being
called St. Eustache's well, taking its name from Eustachius, Abbot of
Flai, who is mentioned by Matt. Paris, An. 1200, to have been a man of
learning and sanctity, and to have come and preached at Wye, and to
have blessed a fountain there, so that afterwards its waters were
endowed by such miraculous power, that by it all diseases were
cured."[38] Unfortunately, wells do not always benefit the bathers.
Lilly[39] relates that in 1635 Sir George Peckham died in St.
Winifred's Well, "having continued so long mumbling his pater nosters
and Sancta Winifreda ora pro me, that the cold struck into his body,
and after his coming forth of that well he never spoke more."

The people of the Highlands of Scotland regarded fountains with
particular veneration. According to the Statistical Account of
Scotland, the minister of K