The interior of the thermal baths, Caldas da Rainha, Portugal. Coloured aquatint by H. L'Evêque, 1814.

"At the distance of 15 leagues (60 miles) to the north of Lisbon, are some tepid baths, which are held in great repute. A considerable town has been erected there, called As Caldas da Rainha, the appellation of Caldas being given by the Portuguese to warm springs of every description, and an hospital having been founded on this very spot by a queen of Portugal, for the reception of any poor who might be sent there. This benevolent institution, to which successive additions have been made by the munificence of the queens of Portugal, is now capable of containing from two to three hundred persons. The hospital of Lisbon sends there every year a prodigious number of sick at its own expense. These waters are of great service in rheumatic and paralytic cases, and in some cutaneous disorders. Taken internally, they remove complaints of the stomach, and give a fresh tone and vigour to the intestines. The time for taking them is from the month of April to the end of October. During this interval they are frequented by a great number of people of condition, who go there from all parts of the kingdom, some to establish their health, others to enjoy the pleasure of a society, very numerous, and composed of persons of every description. The plate represents the bathing-room appropriated to the men. Some of the sick are seen plunged into the water ; others taken out by the attendants, who conduct them to the neighbouring appartments, where they have left their cloaths."-- L'Evêque, loc. cit.