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 PICTURESOUE GUIDE 
 
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 BATH, BRISTOL HOT-WELLS, 
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A 
 
 PICTURESQUE GUIDE 
 
 TO 
 
 BATH, BRISTOL HOT-WELLS, 
 
 THE RIVER AVON, 
 
 AND THE ADJACENT COUNTRY; 
 
 ILLUSTRATED WITH A SET OF VIEWS, 
 TAKEN IN THE SUMMER OF I 792 ; 
 
 BY 
 
 Mess. IBBETSON, LAPORTE, and J. HASSELL ; 
 
 AND ENGRAVED IN AQUATINTA. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED FOR HOOKHAM AND CARPENTER, BOND-STREET, 
 
 1 793 * 
 
PICTURESQUE GUIDE 
 
 T O 
 
 BATH, 
 
 &c. &c. 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 L EAVING London by that beautiful 
 and elegant outlet from it, Piccadilly, 
 we are tempted out of the high road through 
 Xnightfbridge, by the attradlions of Hyde 
 Park, a lpot that boafts a fuperiority over 
 moft others of the fame defcription, by offer- 
 ing to the fpeftator, in defiance of all feafons, 
 inceffant though varied lpvelinefs. It is the 
 refort of fafhion, as th z promenade of the town ; 
 but to fafhion, all crowded places are equally 
 acceptable. The contemplative mind will, 
 
 b however. 
 
however, gratefully acknowledge the falu- 
 brious luxury of fuch an expanfe of verdure 
 and foliage, and will thank, at leaft, the be- 
 nevolence of the rural deities , who, to coun- 
 teract the evils of a populous metropolis, 
 extended their dominions and their cares to 
 its termination. 
 
 Few of thofe who delight in this favored 
 fpot are, perhaps, aware of the imminent 
 danger they were in, a very few years ago, of 
 lofing the privilege of frequenting it, or, at 
 leaft, the benefit refulting from that privi- 
 lege. It is held by the crown, under a leafe 
 from the Brudenell family, at a rent, accord- 
 ing to report, of 3000I. per annum. The 
 leafe being nearly expired, the avidity of the 
 London builders would not fuffer them to 
 negleCt applying for a part of it, particularly 
 the eaft fide, which, in a fhort time, they 
 would have covered, as they have Mary bone; 
 but the leafe being renewed between the for- 
 mer contracting parties, the inhabitants of 
 thofe houfes, to which it affords air and a 
 beautiful profpeCt, have efcaped being im- 
 mured. 
 
mured, and the public may ftill enjoy 
 their walks and their airings in Hyde 
 Park. 
 
 Before we quit it, we mull beg leave to 
 fuggeft to thofe who have the care of this in- 
 clofure, our fears that their attention to conve- 
 nience will entirely obliterate all the features 
 of nature. If, becaufe a level road is pleafant 
 to the driver, every rife and every hollow is 
 to be converted into a plain j if, becaufe a 
 ftrait line is the Ihorteft, the grace of a curve 
 is to be given up ; in a word, if all is to be 
 regular, as feems the prefent plan of refor- 
 mation in Hyde Park, we mull be content 
 with recollecting, it once was more various 
 and more beautiful. 
 
 Quitting Hyde Park, to enter Kenfington 
 Garden by the Mount-gate, we turn round 
 to admire the delightful profpeft over the 
 low grounds on the banks of the Thames* 
 terminated by the Surry hills } a view that 
 is, perhaps, feen to more advantage, in 
 croffing the park diagonally from Piccadilly 
 
 to 
 
to Bayfwater ; but wherever it can be caught, 
 it is well worth ftudy. 
 
 Of Kenfington palace, and the gardens, fo 
 many and fuch full accounts have been 
 given, that nothing on the fubjedt, in the 
 compafs of fuch a work as ours, could be 
 worth offering. Every one who vifits either, 
 muff regret that Kenfington is not at prefent 
 a royal refidence ; and perhaps it may 
 be agreeable to fome, who ftroll in the gar- 
 dens, to know that the ftate apartments are 
 very readily fhewn, and that they contain 
 remains of magnificence, and a collection of 
 pictures, ftill worth the trouble of afcending 
 a flight of flairs. 
 
 That part of Hammerfmith, through 
 which the traveller paffes, will afford fmall 
 temptation to loiter on the way. Mr. Lee’s 
 nurfery grounds inclofe a valuable flock of 
 plants 5 and many of thofe derived from 
 our new colony of culprits feem to have 
 found a home with him. His botanical 
 knowledge, and his communicative difpo- 
 
 fltion. 
 
fition, make a lounge amongft his plants 
 particularly agreeable. 
 
 The only advantage Hammerfmith can 
 boaft to a curfory obferver, is the Mall on 
 the edge of the river ; and here large deduc- 
 tions are to be made, for an oppofite fliore 
 affording little better than rufhes. 
 
 In the vicinity of London, it is much to 
 be regretted by the lovers of piCturefque 
 beauty, that the gothic tafte, which tranf- 
 formed a garden into an affemblage of mon- 
 fters, is fucceeded by fomething not lefs dif- 
 pleafing to the eye of a connoijfeur ; the necef- 
 fity of fupplying a dejfert , has occafioned not 
 only the inclofing a garden with a high 
 wall, but the building a variety of crofs- 
 walls in all directions ; and thus, when in- 
 vited to enjoy the evening air, we find our- 
 felves pent up in fmall fpaces, which admit no 
 idea that is not connected with the palate. 
 
 Brentford is a town that feems perpetually 
 under the public ban, whether on account 
 
 of 
 
of its former proverbially rough pavement, 
 or of Mr. Bayes's fixing on it for the pro- 
 duction of two kings, we will not enquire. 
 To counterbalance the one cenfure, Mr. 
 Ireland will forgive us, if we recoiled the 
 anecdote he has jocularly related of, we will 
 fuppofe, a deceafed great perfonage, who ufed 
 to fay, c he liked to ride dro * Brentford it wajh fo 
 like Haunowerjh ! Little refpeCted as it is now, 
 it claims a place in modern hiftory, for hav- 
 ing been the fcene of a conflict between 
 Charles I. and the parliament forces, in 
 which aftion Patrick Ruthen, Earl of Forth, 
 in Scotland, fo diftinguiflied himfelf, that in 
 memory of his valor he was created Earl of 
 Brentford. 
 
 Little occurs to arreft the paflengersj at- 
 tention on this fide Cranford ; nor has the 
 road much to recommend it, that is not 
 common to all turnpike-roads. About Cran- 
 ford bridge, a fmall portion of wood ap- 
 pears ; but after palling through the village, 
 the country relapfes into an uninterefting 
 famenefs. 
 
 On 
 
On the right hand is the feat of the Earl 
 of Berkeley, called Cranford Park. The 
 abundance of game here is not equalled 
 byanyinclofure within the fame diftance from 
 London ; and the noble owner purchafes this 
 fuperiority by means fo liberal, that no one 
 can envy him the diftinftion. Lord Berkeley 
 requefts of the gentlemen in his neighbour- 
 hood to fpare the native inhabitants of his 
 park, and repays the forbearance, by com- 
 plying with every requeft for game, and fre- 
 quently by anticipating the wifhes of all 
 around him. 
 
 Longford is the next village we pafs 
 through; the road ftill level, and continuing 
 fo to Colnbrook, a long irregular town, with 
 the river Colne running through it. At the 
 extremity of this town we enter Bucking- 
 hamlhire. 
 
 Tranfient views of Windfor caftle meet 
 the eye, and enliven the road after palling 
 Colnbrook ; a mile and a half beyond which 
 we turn to the left for Windfor. 
 
 At 
 
At the foot of the hill on which the caftle 
 ftands, lies, in modeft lowlinefs, the pic- 
 turefque village of Datchet, forming a fine 
 contrail: with the fuperb ftrudture which 
 overlooks it. A thoufand ideas rife to the 
 mind in meditating on thefe two difpro- 
 portionate objefts. The terms in which 
 Milton has charafterifed the fexes, are furely, 
 though otherwife appropriated, not abfurdly 
 inapplicable here. The elevated fcite and 
 bold features of the auguft caftle, declare it 
 c for contemplation and for valor formed’, 
 while the mild lineaments of humble Dat- 
 chet befpeak it all c foftnefs and fweet attrac- 
 tive grace/ 
 
 It is to be regretted, that what is moft con- 
 ducive to comfort is not always the moft 
 pleafing to the eye. A furvey has been made 
 by the officers of government, with a view 
 to replace the decaying wooden bridge at 
 Datchet by a ftone one. This certainly is 
 to be wiflied for by all in its vicinity; but 
 the artift will behold the exchange with a 
 figh ; and while he acknowledges the defe- 
 
 rence 
 
( 9 ) 
 
 rcnce due to public convenience, will ftill, in 
 his Own mind, and for his own purpofes, 
 prefer the prefent tottering ftrudlure. 
 
 To defcribe Windfor caftle, is but to copy 
 what hundreds have written on the fubjedt, 
 who could avail themfelves of advantages 
 denied to fo confined a work as ours ; yet to 
 pafs by the nobleft ftrudture in the kingdom 
 without notice, would argue what no writer 
 or artift would chufe to be fufpedled of : a 
 few words therefore fhall fuffice. 
 
 This truly majeftic building has been, 
 ever fince the Norman conqueft, a place of 
 the firft importance, frequently the refidence, 
 and, in more than one inftance, the birth- 
 place of our kings. It occupies a fpace of 
 ground little lefs than a mile in circum- 
 ference ; and foaring far above all other 
 lituations, it commands extenfive profpedls 
 into many counties. The round tower is 
 the charadleriftic feature of the building, 
 and is a perfedt finifh to the whole. From 
 Datchet bridge a very advantageous, and an 
 
 C extremely ^ 
 
( 1 ° ) 
 
 extremely grand view is obtained of it : the 
 Thames there highly embellifhes the fcene, 
 and is in excellent harmony with the other 
 obje£ts. 
 
 On the ftaff of the tower a flag is dis- 
 played during the refidence of his majefty, 
 and is ftruck whenever he leaves the place ; 
 but to any one entering the town of Wind- 
 for there is little need of this token — the 
 countenances of the inhabitants inftantly 
 inform the ftranger. Nothing can be more 
 alive than Windfor when the royal family 
 are there ; their departure produces a general 
 gloom, increafmg with every day of their 
 abfence. 
 
 The town of Windfor is much older than 
 the caftle. William the conqueror built a 
 palace here, with feveral lodges in the foreft, 
 for the purpofe of hunting. Henry the firfl: 
 rebuilt and fortified it ; but it owes moft to 
 the attachment of Edward the third, who, 
 by his munificence, made good his title to 
 his furname, of Windfor. The captive kings 
 
 of 
 
( II ) 
 
 of France and Scotland were lodged here, as 
 was marfhal Belleifle, with a permiffion, 
 which almoft effaces the idea of imprifon- 
 ment, to go any where within twenty miles 
 of the caftle. It fell a prey to the inteftine 
 broils during the reign of Charles the firft; 
 but, after the reft oration, was fitted up with 
 great magnificence. 
 
 The terrace is the work of queen Eliza- 
 beth; and much as we admire it, on account 
 of its natural advantages, we fhould think 
 ftill more highly of it, did we advert to the 
 immenfe labor its conftruftion demanded; 
 for being on a very precipitate declivity, and 
 requiring an artificial foundation, it was ne- 
 ceffary to dig to a great depth, to get a flat 
 equal to the breadth required. It is raifed 
 on folid ftone work of a great thicknefs, croft- 
 ed by walls of ftone, to counteraft any thruft 
 from the weight of earth within. That this 
 walk is fo finifhed as to be always dry, and 
 that it is not exceeded by any work of the 
 kind in the world, are truths with which 
 every one is familiar. 
 
 His 
 
( 12 ) 
 
 His prefentmajeftyhas difplayed his tafte 
 for, and his liberal patronage of the fine arts, 
 by adding a variety of embellifliments to the 
 internal decorations of this noble and en- 
 chanting place. In addition to the works of 
 Van Dyck, Holbein, and the cartoons of 
 Raffaelle, his majefty has fo far honored 
 modern art ills, as to introduce a variety of 
 pictures by Mr. Weft, and a window of 
 ftained glafs, executed by Mr. Jervais, after a 
 defign of Mr. Weft’s. Eldorado-metal falhes 
 have alfo taken the place of the cafements 
 in St. George’s chapel, the whole of which 
 has undergone a variety of improvements. 
 
 It has been in contemplation to fit up the 
 tomb-houfe, as it is called, for a chapter- 
 houfe for the order of the garter; but the 
 defign at prefent fleeps. King James II. did 
 little honor either to this place or himfelf, by 
 converting it into a chapel for the fervice of 
 popery. The refentment of his people foon 
 taught him his error. It wants fome ftamp 
 of royal forgivenefs, to clear it from this op- 
 probrium. 
 
 Windlor 
 
( *3 ) 
 
 Windfor little park is fituated at the 
 foot of the terrace, and is about three 
 miles and a half in circumference: it is ap- 
 propriated to the rural pleafures of the royal 
 family; and abounding with hares, is often 
 the fcene of fport to his majefty and his 
 fuite. There is a path through the centre of 
 this park to Datchet. 
 
 The great park occupies a more con- 
 fiderable fpace, being fomewhat above thir- 
 teen miles round. Many parts of it are 
 beautifully diverfified with wood. The fyl- 
 van fcenes with which it abounds, are fre- 
 quently pi&urefque, and fometimes grand, 
 and the foliage is in general very luxuriant. 
 
 To the fouth is a fpacious piece of water, 
 over which is a ftone bridge, defigned by T. 
 Sandby, Efq. R.A. 
 
 It is impoffible, for any one at all acquaint- 
 ed with that fentiment which gives value to 
 what our poets have recorded, to quit Wind- 
 for park without a tribute of reverence to 
 
 Herne's 
 
( i4 ) 
 
 Herne’s oak. Little now remains of it, but 
 thofe ferocious features, that iron counte- 
 nance which braving the attacks of “ the 
 pitilefs florm,” and the ravages of time, have 
 renounced every appendage not neceflary to 
 exiftence, and feem to have purchafed the 
 right of flill retaining a place, by a fullen 
 abridgment of their influence ; yet even now 
 ’tis grand, and muft ever, while even the 
 flump remains, be venerable. — That our im- 
 mortal poet has mentioned it, is its paflport 
 to immortality: when furveying it, we forget 
 the diflant profpeft of the caflle, and the fine 
 accompaniment of wood, and lofe ourfelves in 
 the idea of Falftaff, and his peculiar humor. 
 
 Three miles from Windfor, and in the 
 great park, flands the ranger’s houfe, the 
 fummer refidence of the late duke of Cum- 
 berland. 
 
 The forefl is abundantly flocked with 
 deer, and all forts of game. Roads are cut 
 through it in every dire£lion; and as its 
 circuit is computed at not lefs than between 
 
 fifty 
 
( i5 ) 
 
 fifty and fixty miles, it affords an excellent 
 range for field fports. It is joined by Cran- 
 bourne chace and Bagfhot heath, which in- 
 clude extenfive trails of country. 
 
 To return to the town of Windfor. The 
 principal ftreet is decorated with good houfes, 
 and a handfome town-hall, built in the 
 time of Charles II. The prefent town arofe 
 out of the ruins of old Windfor, which de- 
 cayed in proportion as the new one advanced; 
 The corporation confifts of a mayor, high 
 fteward and deputy, a town clerk, two bai- 
 liffs, and twenty-eight burgeffes: they hold 
 the manor of Windfor by a grant from 
 James I. and pay a quit-rent of three pounds 
 odd fhillings yearly to the crown. 
 
 The parifh church is a fpacious ancient 
 edifice in the high ftreet, in which is alfo the 
 guild-hall or town-houfe, a neat building 
 erefted in 1688, fupported and adorned with 
 columns and arches of Portland ftone. At 
 the north end of it, in a niche, is a ftatue 
 
 of 
 
( 16 ) 
 
 of queen Anne. Windfor returns two mem- 
 bers to parliament, and has a weekly market 
 well fupplied with provifions of all kinds. 
 
 Leaving the town, and eroding by the 
 bridge at the foot of it, we enter Eton, made 
 famous by its college founded by Henry VI. 
 and elieemed one of the beft ieminaries of 
 education in England. The buildings, ex- 
 cepting the great fchool-room, are all an- 
 cient; the chapel is gothic, and a mod: beau- 
 tiful fpecimen of that ftyle of architecture. 
 Though in the neighbourhood of grand ob- 
 jects, and though the traveller generally 
 vidts it with a mind overawed, as it were, 
 by the majeftic charms of Windfor, this* 
 edifice, whether examined as to its propor- 
 tions, or taken only as a feature of the land- 
 
 fcape, commands our attention and admi- 
 ration. 
 
 Mr. Ireland has jultly cenfured the modem 
 introduction of the doric order into the 
 icene; and we cannot but join his wifhes to 
 
 fee 
 
( J 7 ) 
 
 fee this incongruity removed. Mr. Bacon 
 has decorated the eaft end with a whole 
 length marble ftatue of the pious founder. 
 
 The genuine lover of poetry, and the ad- 
 mirer of thofe accomplifhments that deno- 
 minated Gray an elegant fcholar, will, with 
 inquifitive eye, feek the fpire of Stoke Pogeis 
 church, which lies about four miles from 
 Eton. 
 
 Palling through Eton we come to Slough, 
 and have now again entered on the high 
 road from London to Bath. 
 
 ■ - 
 
 Next beyond Slough is Salt-hill, a fitua- 
 tion, from the left of which Windfor caftle 
 makes a moft magnificent appearance; but 
 the want of accompaniment in the fore- 
 ground, renders it lefs attractive than from 
 the river at Datchet. 
 
 Four miles farther we reach Maidenhead 
 bridge. On the right, the village of Taplow 
 prefents itfelf : the abrupt knolls and hang- 
 
 D ing 
 
( i8 ) 
 
 ing woods of Clifden and Taplow near it, are 
 highly pifliurefque, and much to be pre- 
 ferred to the view on the other fide of the 
 bridge. 
 
 Maidenhead is a corporation, under the 
 government of a high fteward, a mayor or 
 fteward, and ten aldermen, and has a weekly 
 market. The town is a great thoroughfare, 
 with many good inns, which are much bene- 
 fited by the frequent excurfions made hither 
 by parties for the purpofe of filhing. Maiden- 
 head lies in two parifhes, one part is in Bray, 
 famous for its accommodating vicar, the 
 other in Cookham. The prefent ftone bridge 
 was erefted after a defign of fir Robert Tay- 
 lor’s, and is a very handfome ftrudture, con- 
 fifting of feven large arches, with the ad- 
 dition of three fmaller ones of brick at each 
 end. It unites Buckinghamfhire to Berk- 
 fhire. 
 
 f- • . : 1 
 
 About four miles beyond the town of 
 Maidenhead, lies the thicket, the views from 
 which are in general flat and infipid. 
 
 To 
 
( 19 ) 
 
 To the natural beauties of the country 
 hereabouts, tafte and magnificence have ad- 
 ded all their artificial charms. The neigh- 
 bourhood abounds with elegant feats, amongft 
 which thofe of the earl of Inchiquin, Mrs. 
 Philips, Mr. Ximenes, and Mrs. Parrot, are 
 the moft diftinguifhed. 
 
 Hare-hatch is the next village we meet 
 with. It contains feveral reputable modern 
 houfes. After palling this fpot, the coun- 
 try becomes more open, but with little claim 
 to notice. 
 
 On the right hand is Wargrave, a place 
 raifed from rural obfcurity into polite cele- 
 brity, by the late earl of Barrymore’s newly 
 erefted theatre, and his tafte for fplendid 
 amufements. Oppofite Wargrave lies the 
 village of Twyford, important only as a 
 thoroughfare. Beyond Twyford, on the left, 
 a new road is cut to Windfor. The country 
 now affords an inceffant fcene of beauty till 
 we arrive at 
 
 Reading, 
 
( 20 ) 
 
 Reading, the metropolis of Berkfhire, plea- 
 fantly fituated on the river Kennet, near its 
 confluence with the Thames. It is the lar- 
 geft, and in every refpeft the bed: town in 
 the county, has three parifh churches, and a 
 very good market. The ftreets are hand- 
 fome, and remains of the venerable abbey are 
 ftili to be feen. The gate-houfe is kept in 
 good repair, but is fuppofed to have under- 
 gone a variety of alterations. The parliament 
 of England has fometimes been held in this 
 abbey : and it was the place of fepulture to 
 many noble, and fome royal perfons, amongfl: 
 others Henry I. who had built a caftle here, 
 but it was demolifhed by Henry II. for af- 
 fording refuge to Stephen^ party; and not 
 even the fcite of it can now be traced, unlefs, 
 as Mr. Ireland feems inclined to think, it is 
 to be found amongfl the ruins, near the pre- 
 cincts of the abbey. 
 
 During the civil commotions in the reign 
 of Charles I. the town made an obftinate de-r 
 fence againft the parliament forces, headed 
 by the earl of Eflex. It is governed by a 
 
 corporation. 
 
( 21 ) 
 
 corporation, confifting of a mayor, twelve 
 burgeffes, and other officers, and fends two 
 members to parliament. 
 
 A very {lately manfion was built in the 
 reign of George I. by the then earl of Ca- 
 dogan, at Caverfham, nearly oppofite to 
 Reading, and fituated on an eminence, com- 
 manding a very extenfive view. It has been 
 fince much altered and contrafted. 
 
 Two miles beyond Reading is the feat of 
 Edward Bower, efq. The country now be- 
 comes woody, and highly pi£turefque ; the 
 road is frequently entirely fhaded by high 
 oaks and afh. Where the eye can penetrate, 
 the river prefents itfelf winding through the 
 adjacent vale. 
 
 We now proceed acrofs Clacket green, and 
 reach the village of T'heal, fituated at the 
 foot of an inconfiderable hill, and with a 
 large quantity of wood adjoining to it. On 
 the left, the country is open for many 
 
 miles ; 
 
miles ; but the diftance is terminated by a 
 long range of well-planted hills. On the 
 right, the road is fheltered by gentle emi- 
 nences the greateft part of the way to 
 
 Woolhampton, a pleafant village, at a 
 fmall diftance from which is the feat of Mrs. 
 Crewe ; a little farther, on the right hand, 
 the country aflumes a countenance of ftronger 
 features ; but the vale on the left has few 
 attraftions : even in the height of fummer 
 it has a gloomy and infipid appearance, and 
 is diverted of every claim to the notice of an 
 artift. 
 
 Thatcham is a neat, but inconfiderable 
 town, near which is Dunftead Park, late in 
 the pofleffion of Sir Archer Crofts, de- 
 ceafed. 
 
 Beyond Thatcham the countiy is ftill 
 tame and uninterefting, and continues fo 
 till we reach Newbury, fituated at an equal 
 diftance from London to Bath. 
 
 Newbury 
 
( 23 ) 
 
 Newbury is a very handfome and popu- 
 lous town, on the Kennet, governed by a 
 corporation, confifting of a mayor, high- 
 Reward, aldermen, and burgefles. It had 
 once an extenfive manufactory of woollen 
 cloths, which has of late years considerably 
 diminilhed. 
 
 In this town began the reformation, and 
 here lived the famous John Winchcomb, 
 commonly called Jack of Newbury ; he 
 flourifhed in the time of Henry VIII. and 
 was the moft confiderable clothier in Eng- 
 land, employing an hundred looms. He 
 marched at the head of an hundred of his 
 own men, all drefled in an uniform, and 
 maintained at his own charge, to the battle 
 of Flodden-field : he rebuilt part of New- 
 bury~church, and the whole tower of it. A 
 lord Bolingbroke married the heirefs of one of 
 his defcendants. 
 
 Newbury, as well as Reading, has been 
 the fcene of domeftic feud. It was in a field 
 very near it that Charles I. and the parlia- 
 ment 
 
 t 
 
( 24 ) 
 
 ment army fought two battles, in two fuc- 
 ceeding years ; and it was here that the earl 
 of Eflfex was out-generaled by prince Ru- 
 pert, who permitted his army to pafs, and 
 then fell on the rear. 
 
 The village of Speen, now called Speen- 
 ham land, is a part of Newbury, and arofe 
 out of the ruins of an old town, called Spine, 
 which occafioned the calling the new town 
 Newborough, or bury. 
 
 On the right of the road, beyond New- 
 bury, Hands Donnington cattle, and beneath 
 it is Donnington grove, the refidence of Mr. 
 Brummel. The river Lambourn paflfes 
 through the grounds, which are laid out 
 with great tafte, and decorated with a very 
 elegant wooden bridge. 
 
 Donnington cattle is fituated on the fum- 
 mit of a rocky and abrupt wooded emi- 
 nence, and commands a fine view of the 
 vale, the town of Newbury, and the hills of 
 Hampfhire. 
 
 This 
 
( *5 ) 
 
 This caftle was once the refidence of the 
 poet Chaucer, from whom it defcended, in li- 
 neal fucceffion, till the reign of Henry VII. 
 Since that period it has had a variety of 
 pofleflors. The poet’s oak has long lince 
 given way to time. Twenty years ago per- 
 fons were living who remembered it. The 
 prefent refident at Donnington caftle is Mr. 
 Hartley. 
 
 The river Kennet, on the left, continues 
 its feemingly unimportant courfe through 
 the vale, which is ftill deficient in character- 
 iftic variety ; but the diftance is pleafantly 
 diverfified. 
 
 Hungerford is a fmall town, on the banks 
 of the Kennet, and at the foot of a hill. It 
 is governed by a conftable, chofen annually, 
 who is, for the time being, lord of the 
 manor. This place is celebrated for the 
 fineft trout in England. 
 
 We enter Wiltfhire at a fmall village, 
 called Frogsfield, and next meet with Saver- 
 E nake 
 
( 26 ) 
 
 nake foreft, extending for a confiderable 
 length of way by the road-fide, the property 
 of the earl of Aylelbury, who has a feat, 
 called Tottenham park, contiguous to it. 
 The foreft is about twelve miles in circum- 
 ference, plentifully ftocked with deer, phea- 
 fants, hares, &c. and is the only ground of 
 that denomination in England, poffefled 
 by a fubject. A number of avenues are cut 
 through it, which meet in a fpacious open- 
 ing near the centre. 
 
 The houfe is a ftately edifice, erefted on the 
 fpot, where flood, in the time of Charles I. 
 a palace, belonging to the marquis of Hert- 
 ford, afterwards duke of Somerfet, from 
 whom the earl is defcended. The prefent 
 ftru&ure was defigned by lord Burlington. 
 
 A fteep defcent of two miles, when we 
 had cleared Savernake foreft, brought us to 
 the town of 
 
 Marlborough, which we enter by a bridge 
 over the Rennet. It is a borough by pre- 
 
 fcription. 
 
( 2 7 ) 
 
 fcription, but has been incorporated, and is 
 governed by a mayor, aldermen, and bur- 
 geffes, with other officers. This town is 
 rendered famous by having been once the 
 feat of parliament. It is at prefent well 
 built; having been deftroyed by fire in the 
 year 1728. 
 
 The inns at Marlborough are celebrated ; 
 and one of them having been the family 
 feat of the duke of Somerfet, has for fome 
 years enjoyed a fuperiority over mofl: others 
 in the kingdom. The town has little bufi- 
 nefs, but as a thoroughfare. It fends two 
 members to parliament, has a weekly mar- 
 ket, and gives the title of duke to the noble 
 family of Spenfer. 
 
 The face of the country now perceptibly 
 alters, and the road leads over a fpacious 
 plain, at the foot of Marlborough Downs. 
 On the left, the river Kennet winds, in a fer- 
 pentine courfe, for a confiderable diftance 
 within view. 
 
 Five 
 
( 28 ) 
 
 Five miles beyond Marlborough, and its 
 downs, ftands the village of Abury, near which 
 are fome huge Hones, refembling Stonehenge, 
 called by the country people the Grey Wethers , 
 from their refemblance, when feen at a di- 
 flance, to fheep feeding. Dr. Stukeley fup- 
 pofes them to be the remains of a Druid’s 
 temple, and of Hill greater antiquity than 
 Stonehenge. 
 
 There is a walk, about a mile in length, 
 from Abury to Weft Kennet, which was once 
 marked out with large ftones on each fide ; 
 one range yet remains nearly perfefl, but 
 the other has been broken down, and carried 
 away by the inhabitants of the villages, for 
 the purpofe of building. 
 
 In a field near Weft Kennet, are three im- 
 menfe large ftones, which ftand upright, and 
 are called by the villagers, the Devil’s Quoits. 
 Dr. Stukeley conjectures them to have been 
 Britifh deities. 
 
 Large 
 
( 29 ) 
 
 Large flights of white- winged rooks were 
 frequently in fight as we traverfed the downs ; 
 and the land was almoft covered by the nu- 
 merous flocks of fheep fed here, for whofe 
 convenience wells are funk by the road-fide. 
 On the left, the downs open and prefent the 
 view of a final 1 village, furrounded with 
 wood; the fpire of its church breaks the 
 line to great advantage; and beyond it to the 
 weftward, Salifbury plain appears as level as 
 a bowling-green. 
 
 Faffing through Beckington, and by Wanf- 
 ditch, we enter the Devizes, the laft town in 
 Wiltfhire. This road is preferable to that 
 through Caine and Chippenham, which is 
 fomewhat fliorter, but not in fuch good con- 
 dition. 
 
 The Devizes is a pleafant clean town, 
 fituated on a gentle eminence, which itfelf 
 lies in a bottom. It is a place of great an- 
 tiquity and confiderable extent; the chief 
 part of the town lies in two parallel ftreets, 
 the houfes in which are moftly of timber. 
 
 The 
 
( 3 ° ) 
 
 The name of the place is conjectured to 
 be a corruption of the latin divifa , as the 
 town was formerly divided between the king 
 and the bilhop of Salilbury ; but at prefent 
 the inhabitants boait themfelves tenants to 
 the king. Their government confifts of a 
 mayor, a recorder, eleven matters, and thirty- 
 fix common council-men. They have a very 
 excellent weekly market, and return two 
 members to parliament. 
 
 The cattle was a Roman work, and, aflifted 
 by the natural advantages of its fituation, 
 and the improvements of one of the bifhops 
 of Salilbury, obtained the character of im- 
 pregnable. It is now in the moft dila- 
 pidated ftate imaginable; the ditch is ftill to 
 be traced by a road the inhabitants have 
 made almoft round the tower. 
 
 Here are three churches : the choir of St. 
 Mary’s, and the choir and fteeple of St. John’s 
 are very ancient. 
 
 In 
 
( 3i ) 
 
 In the green, near this town, it was that 
 Cadby, the gardener, about the year 1714, 
 dug up his Roman antiquities, which were 
 afterwards fhewn about the kingdom, and 
 fome of them purchafed by collectors ; they 
 were found in a cavity inclofed with Roman 
 bricks, and confifted of ftatues of feveral 
 deities of the ancients. 
 
 The Devizes affords an appearance of in- 
 duftry we had not met with in fome miles ; 
 its fituation is well adapted to its chief trade, 
 the manufacture of woollen cloths, as it is 
 contiguous to all the principal wool fairs • in 
 the weft of England. The water of the river 
 Avon, which runs through the adjacent vale, 
 is reckoned particularly favorable to the pur- 
 pofes of dying colors, and for fulling and 
 drefling cloth. Another important branch 
 of trade here is malt. The greateft defect in 
 the town feems to be an infufficiency of 
 water for the private ufe of the inhabitants. 
 
 Quitting the Devizes, we enter Somerfet- 
 fhire. A gradual defcent of a few miles 
 brings us again between hedge-rows, and a 
 
 view 
 
( 32 ) 
 
 view of Chippenham prefents itfelf on the 
 right. Chippenham lies confiderably lower 
 than the Devizes, and from this point of 
 fight the valley has a peculiarly luxuriant 
 appearance. On the left, the plains of Salif- 
 bury ftretch to the fouth-eaft towards War- 
 minfter, where they break off fuddenly, and 
 totally difappear. 
 
 Melkfham affords little fubject of remark, 
 except as being the firft poft-town in this 
 road to London from Bath. The river 
 Avon paffes through it in a large fheet of 
 water, and croffes the wood at the weftern 
 extremity of the town. 
 
 Three miles beyond Melkfham, the coun- 
 try again becomes open on the right; while 
 on the left, for a confiderable diftance, the 
 hedge-rows aflume the appearance of a wood. 
 On the other fide, the hills to the north of 
 Chippenham join thofe of Lanfdown; the 
 valley between thofe hills and the Melkfham 
 road is variegated with detached coppices and 
 corn-fields. 
 
 We 
 
( 33 ) 
 
 We were now warned of our approach to 
 Bath, by overtaking frequent droves of afles 
 and mules laden with coals. On the com- 
 mon, eight miles on this fide of the city, we 
 paffed a number of thofe laborious animals : 
 after a hard day’s work they are turned loofe 
 to graze, and fleep, during the night, with 
 their panniers on their backs : at day-break 
 they are collefted by their owners, and 
 driven away to undergo their diurnal drud- 
 gery. During the day they are never fed, 
 unlefs they pick up the fcanty blade of grafs 
 round their places of lading, whilft they are 
 waiting for their turn to receive the accuf- 
 tomed burden, or while their drivers are at 
 their own meals: yet, with all this fatigue 
 and hardfhip, they generally appear in tole- 
 rable plight. 
 
 For the next five miles, the road prefented 
 nothing remarkable ; on the left a wood now 
 and then clofed up the fcene, while the oppo- 
 fite fide, at intervals, opened to the valley 
 beneath us. 
 
 F 
 
 Quarries 
 
( 34 ) 
 
 Quarries of free-ftone were frequently in 
 fight, and by the road fide, peopled with a 
 multitude of fawyers, &c. preparing the ftone 
 for immediate ufe. Thefe figures would give 
 a much more pi&urefque and pleafing cha- 
 racter to the fcenery, were it not that the 
 fpecies of their labour throws one indif- 
 tinguifhing tint over their figures, and a me- 
 lancholy ghaftlinefs over their countenances. 
 
 Immenfe large mafies of ftone are carried 
 down the fteep hills round Bath, by a curious 
 machine invented by the late ingenious Mr. 
 Allen of Prior-park, near this city. This 
 machine is a four- wheel’d carriage, the wheels 
 of which are broad and low, made of caft 
 iron, with a groove in the perimeter, which 
 ferves to confine their courfe to the pieces of 
 wood, on which they fmoothly move down 
 the hills without the help of horfes, and car- 
 rying four or five tons weight of ftone at a 
 time, the motion being regulated by a fric- 
 tion lever, which bears more or lefs on the 
 hinder wheels as occafion requires. 
 
 The 
 
I 
 
( 35 ) 
 
 The facility with which this ftone may be 
 wrought, has rendered it of common ufe 
 throughout England ; it is faid to harden by 
 expofure to the air. 
 
 Gaining the fummit of the hill, we have 
 an extenfive view of Bath : its appearance is 
 unlike that of any other town or city in 
 England. In beauty and elegance it far ex- 
 ceeds any view of London. The river Avon 
 glides along its fertile vale till it reaches the 
 city, where the buildings obfcure it from the 
 fight. From this fpot the mountains of 
 Monmouthfhire, particularly thofe about 
 Chepftow, Woolafon Chace, and Piercefield, 
 are diftindtly to be feen. 
 
 Viewed under the influence of a meridian 
 fun, and through the medium of an un- 
 clouded atmofphere, Bath prefents to the 
 fight, and the imagination, every thing that 
 is united with the idea of perfeft beauty ; and 
 fo ftrong is the impreffion it makes on the 
 mind of almoft all people at firfl: fight, that 
 the prepofleffion is converted into opinion, 
 
 and 
 
( 36 ) 
 
 and when enveloped in thofe exhalations 
 which arife from its falubrious fprings, it is 
 ftill called to mind in all its lovelinefs and 
 attractions. 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 \ 
 
 
 
 V 
 
 
 ■S 
 
 
( 37 ) 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 TN the account we propofe to give of 
 A Bath, the candid reader will hardly look 
 for originality of intelligence. A judicious 
 compilation, corrected and enlarged by an 
 occular comparifon, is all we pretend to offer; 
 and if we can, in our few pages, colled: that 
 general information which may gratify the 
 curiofity of the palling traveller, or excite 
 that of a lettered mind, we have accomplifhed 
 our end. We will confider Bath under thele 
 diftind heads ; 
 
 Situation. 
 
 Soil. 
 
 Waters, 
 
 History. 
 
 Antiquities, 
 
 G 
 
 Public 
 
( 38 ) 
 
 Public Buildings. 
 
 Present State of the City: 
 
 Projected Improvements. 
 
 Amusements, &c. &c. 
 
 Situation. Mr. Wood, in his defcrip- 
 tionof Bath, gives the following account of 
 its fituation : 
 
 * Bath, confidered in its middle ftate as 
 a fingle group of building, encompaffed with 
 a ftone wall, and that furrounded firft with 
 towns, and then with villages, each having 
 a proper berton [fpace of farming land] 
 about it, for railing necelfaries for the imme- 
 diate fubfiftence of its inhabitants, is fituated 
 in the rnidfl of a rich tract of land, fpreading 
 itfelf into three different counties, and ex- 
 tending at leaft fifty miles in length, by 
 twenty miles in breadth. 
 
 ‘ This great region of country appears low 
 in refpedt to the lands about it ; but, never- 
 thelefs, its furface is vaftly irregular, and 
 compofed of nothing but hills and vales, na- 
 turally 
 
( 39 ) 
 
 turally abounding with rivers, as well as rich 
 meadow and pafture grounds. It is bounded 
 on one fide by the open and extenfive plains 
 of Wiltfhire and Dorfetlhire, and on the 
 other by the fecond river of England, the 
 river Severn, increafed into a fea upon its 
 uniting with the river Wye, within fight 
 from the fummit of one of the hills of Bath, 
 and within the diftance of about fifteen 
 miles of its hot fp rings. 
 
 c The city, thus fituated, makes the north- 
 eaft corner of the county of Somerfet ; and 
 geographers place the central part of it in the 
 latitude of fifty-one degrees twenty minutes 
 north, and in the longitude of two degrees 
 thirty-two minutes weft from London. 
 
 ( The furface of the land within the an- 
 cient limits of Bathforum [now one of the 
 hundreds of Somerfetfhire], is divided into 
 great variety of vales and hills ; and the 
 buildings now [1765] conftituting the body 
 of the city that contained that forum, ftand 
 upon an ifthmus of declining ground at the 
 
 foot 
 
( 40 ) 
 
 foot of the fouth-eaft corner of one of the 
 chief hills, commanding, at the fame time, 
 the principal and moft pleafant vale of the 
 whole hundred, for more than two miles to 
 the north-eaft, with the Avon (a common 
 name, in the Britifti tongue, to all rivers) 
 winding through it. 
 
 •* 
 
 «• This river forms the outline of a para- 
 bolical figure, about the fouth-eaftern part of 
 the buildings in the body of the city, as well 
 as the berton belonging to them ; and by that 
 curving line of the Avon, a man would ima- 
 gine that the cold waters of the river were 
 deftined by Divine Providence to pay homage 
 to the hot mineral fountains as they glide by 
 them ; for, in the central part of the body of 
 the city, the hot fprings boil up/ 
 
 The author of ‘ A. Defcription of England 
 and Wales 5 remarks, that ‘ though the hills 
 about Bath form a moft beautiful profpeft, 
 they are of little advantage to their pofleflbrs, 
 being neither fertile in herbage nor timber, 
 but in general confift of rocks, which often 
 
 lie 
 
 / 
 
( 4 1 ) 
 
 lie near, or quite up to the furface : they are 
 in a manner covered with fern and furze, 
 and the few trees fcattered upon them do not 
 flourifh like thofe in a better foil.’ This 
 may be, and is, in iome meafure, very true, 
 though art has lately nearly covered this de- 
 feat of nature •, but when we confider, that 
 to-the temper of the foil, Bath owes its cha- 
 racter, and that, in fpiteof this difadvantage, 
 the coup-d'ceil is by every one acknowledged 
 peculiarly charming, nothing farther can 
 be proved from it, than that nature has va- 
 rious colors and forms in which fhe decorates 
 landfcapes. 
 
 Soil. — ‘ There is fome reafon,’ fays the 
 laft mentioned writer, ‘ to believe that thefe 
 hills abound with iron, from the rednefs of 
 the earth and ftones, which, in many places, 
 are covered with that ore, and from the ochre 
 found in the cracks of the rocks. Theval- 
 lies, however, being fruitful, and having in 
 many places a deep foil, make amends for the 
 barrennefs of the hills, and are chiefly em- 
 ployed in pafture.’ 
 
 The 
 
( 42 ) 
 
 The general foil, in and about Bath, is 
 faid to be hard clay, and marie, intermixed 
 with veins of marcafite and coral, ftrata of 
 horizontal rock, and beds of gravel. 
 
 Waters. — There are in this city feveral 
 public baths, befides the private baths built 
 by the late duke of Kingfton. The firft in 
 notice is the King's bath, which is by much 
 the largeft, and accommodated with feveral 
 feparate dreffing-rooms. Both fexes bathe in 
 dreffes. The principal fpring rifes near the 
 centre, and is covered over with a large leaden 
 refervoir, to reftrain its rapidity, and to dif- 
 tribute the water more equally to the diffe- 
 rent parts of the bath, as well as to receive 
 the pipes of the various pumps which fupply 
 the water for drinking. Every three or four 
 years, this refervoir is opened for the purpofe 
 of cleanfing it of a fandy fediment that col- 
 lects, and would choak up the communica- 
 tion with the pipes that ferve the drinking- 
 room. This fand is extremely fine, of a 
 light grey color, and not more ponderous 
 than common fand. 
 
 The 
 
C 43 ) 
 
 The dimenfions of the King’s bath, which 
 is on the fouth-weft fide of the abbey church- 
 yard, are fixty-five feet ten inches, by forty 
 feet ten inches, and it will contain three hun- 
 dred and forty-fix tons, two hogfheads, and 
 thirty-fix gallons of water. In the centre of 
 this bath is eredted an elegant ftone building, 
 with recefles and feats for the company. It 
 is covered in, and fupported by a colonnade of 
 the Doric order. The bath is inclofed by a 
 ftone parapet eredted in the laft century. 
 The fides of the wall near the bottom are full 
 of recefles. 
 
 In the adjoining room are pumps for ap- 
 plying the water to any particular part of the 
 body difeafed : thefe are called dry pumps , a 
 term which, it muft be confefled, needs a 
 little explanation to render it intelligible to 
 thofe who have never vifited this city. 
 
 The methods by which the Bath waters 
 are applied, exclufive of drinking, are bath- 
 ing and pumping, and fometimes both unit- 
 ed. Thofe whofe complaints require both, 
 ftand in the bath while the water is thrown 
 
 over 
 
( 44 ) 
 
 over the head, or other part particularly af- 
 fedted, by means of a pump ; by which me- 
 thod it is thought the water penetrates deeper 
 than by the abforption or immerfion alone ; 
 but fuch as cannot bear the heat of the bath, 
 may have the water pumped upon the dif- 
 eafed part, without going into the bath : and 
 thefe pumps, in contradiftin&ion to thofe 
 placed in the bath, are called dry -pumps. 
 
 On the fouth wall of this bath is a ftatue 
 of King Bladud, with a date affixed to it, 
 1699, anc ^ an inscription on copper, as 
 follows : 
 
 BLADUD, 
 
 Son of Lud Hudibras, 
 
 Eighth King of the Britons from Brute, 
 
 A great philofopher and mathematician. 
 Bred at Athens, 
 
 And recorded the firft difcoverer and founder 
 of thefe baths, 
 
 Eight hundred and fixty-thr.ee years before 
 Chrift, 
 
 That is, 
 
 T wo thoufand five hundred and fixty-t woyears 
 To the prefent year 
 
 One thoufand fix hundred and ninety-nine. 
 
( 45 ) 
 
 The mention of this infcription leads us 
 to interrupt the enumeration of the baths, 
 and here to notice the popular tradition re- 
 fpeCting the difcovery of the waters ; a ftory 
 fo well known, fo varioufly related, and fo 
 little fupported by hiflorical evidence, that we 
 fliall only give as much of it as is neceffary 
 to underflanding the connexion between this 
 learned prince and the Bath waters. 
 
 Bladud, returning from Athens, to which 
 place he had been for the ftudy of the liberal 
 arts and fciences, after eleven years > refi- 
 dence, contracted a leprous difeafe. From 
 the clofe confinement to which the difeafe 
 fubjeCted thofe afflicted with it, he contrived 
 to effeCt his efcape, and, wandering in the 
 difguife of a peafant, on his arrival at Swainf- 
 wick, three miles from Bath, he hired him- 
 felf there as a fhepherd : in this fervice he had 
 often the care of pigs, which he drove for 
 food to different places. Having one day ob- 
 ferved that they left him fuddenly, and ran 
 all together with precipitation, as if to fome 
 determined fpot, he followed them clofely 
 H till 
 
( 4 6 ) 
 
 till they reached the place whence the hot 
 fprings now iflue : he faw them plunge 
 themfelves into the mud that then marked 
 the falubrious fpot, where they wallowed a 
 confiderable time. It was now that he per- 
 ceived a fleam to arife from the mud they 
 had difturbed, and finding it of an agreeable 
 warmth, he from this time continued daily to 
 bring them to it. They repeated the fame 
 exercife, and, in a fhort time, he obferved, 
 that they were free from a fort of mange 
 their bodies had been covered with ; it died 
 away, and the hair grew again* 
 
 Induced by thefe circumftances, he tried 
 the experiment on himfelf, and foon becom- 
 ing perfectly found, he returned to his fa- 
 ther’s court, and, in commemoration of this 
 event, immediately converted thefe pools 
 into baths. 
 
 The 9%ueen's bath is behind the King’s, and 
 is fupplied with water from the fame fpring. 
 This bath, Mr. Collinfon informs us, had 
 its name from Anne, the queen of James I. 
 
 who. 
 
( 47 ) 
 
 who,beingalarmedbya flame or vapor, which 
 rofe up by her fide when flie was bathing in 
 the King’s bath, could not be prevailed upon 
 to ufe that ciftern any more, but removed to 
 the adjoining one, out of the way of the 
 fpring which caufed the terrifying phenome- 
 non. After this event, the corporation 
 ereded a crofs in the centre of this bath, in 
 honor of the queen, on the top of which 
 was the crown of England on a globe, with 
 this infcription, “ Annae Reginae facrum.’ 
 It is a fquare of twenty-five feet. Both thefe 
 baths are twelve feet from the furface of the 
 ground. 
 
 This bath, and the king’s, have been lately 
 converted into private baths. The Neiv baths , 
 with dry-pump rooms, and various other 
 conveniences, have been added, under the 
 infpedion of Mr. Baldwin, the city archited, 
 to whom Bath is indebted for much elegance. 
 The fimplicity and corrednefs of tafte ftiewn 
 in all the public works he hasconduded, are 
 equally admirable. 
 
 The 
 
( 48 ) 
 
 The Crofs hath , fituated on the weft fide of 
 Stall-ftreet, is of a triangular form, and takes 
 its name from a crofs eredted in it by the 
 earl of Melfort, fecretary of ftate to James II. 
 in memory of the effedt it produced on the 
 conftitution of the queen by bathing, Mr. 
 Baldwin has added to this a neat pump-room, 
 &c. The crofs has been taken down ever 
 fince the year 1783. An engraving is given 
 of it in Mr. Collinfon’s Hiftory of Somer- 
 fetihire. 
 
 The baths, known by the name of the duke 
 of Kiagfon’Sy or the abbey baths , lie between 
 Abbey-ftreet and Church-ftreet, and are 
 very convenient and elegant. 
 
 At a fmall diftance from the Crofs bath is 
 one fupereminently diftinguifhed by the name 
 of the Hot bathy as being reputed much hot- 
 ter than the others ; but experiments by the 
 mercurial thermometer have proved that this 
 difference is not great. Mr. Collinfon gives 
 us the heat of the Bath waters, taken by the 
 degrees of Fahrenheit’s thermometer ; King’s 
 
 bath 
 
( 49 ) 
 
 bath ii 6, Hot bath 117, Crofs bath m: 
 but no obfervations made on the baths, as to 
 their degree of heat, will apply to the 
 ftate in which the waters reach the pumps. 
 
 Dr. Falconer, in his effay, fays, that in 
 the ftate in which they are drank, they are 
 as follows : King’s bath 1 16, Hot bath 1 16, 
 Crofs bath 1 12. "I once,’ fays he, 4 found 
 the King’s bath 1 1 8, fo that I fuppofe the ge- 
 neral heat at which they are taken, fcarcely 
 exceeds 116 degrees.’ 
 
 Independent of all thefe baths, there is 
 one for the ufe of poor invalids, annexed 
 to the infirmary. 
 
 On the north fide of the King’s bath ftands 
 the Pump-room, which was built in 1704, 
 enlarged in 1751, adorned with a portico in 
 1786, and with a frontifpiece in 1791. In 
 it is a marble ftatue of Richard Nafh, efq. of 
 ceremonial memory, executed at the expence 
 of the corporation by the late Mr. Prince 
 
 Hoare. 
 
( 5 ° ) 
 
 Hoare. The clock was a prefent from Mr. 
 Tompion. 
 
 Bath water feen unmixed, and in a fmall 
 quantity, appears clear and tranfparent ; but 
 in the bath it affumes a marine hue. The 
 fmell is not agreeable, efpecially from the 
 Hot bath . Thofe who have written on the 
 fubjedt obferve, that, 4 when carried to a dif- 
 tance from Bath, it will precipitate filver out 
 of fpirit of nitre into a hardifli curd. The 
 King's bath and Hot bath will turn the folu- 
 tion of filver white, with a blueifti caft, 
 which becomes gradually more dufk-colored, 
 and then depofits a dark-grey fediment. 
 The folution of vitriol of iron, mixed with 
 this water, turns to a pearl color, that is with 
 the King's and Hot bath , and both will be 
 covered with a thin variegated pellicle. 
 With oil of vitriol, and other acids, the Bath 
 waters will excite fome inteftine motion, and 
 greatly blunt the acidity. If one part of 
 boiling milk be mixed with two parts of 
 Bath water, a thin whey and curd will ap- 
 pear, 
 
( S 1 ) 
 
 pear, if the water be juft taken up. A 
 drachm of fyrup of violets will tinge with 
 grafs green an ounce of the King 3 s bath wa- 
 ter, as well a$ of the Hot bath 9 in twenty- 
 four hours’ time. 
 
 * Some experiments (hew that there is a 
 vitriolic principle in the Bath water ; for, if 
 it be taken frefh from the pump, in clear 
 frofty weather, galls will tinge it of a purple 
 color ; but, when cold, they fcarce make any 
 alteration. It is generally thought to be ow- 
 ing to the ferruginous principle of Bath wa- 
 ter, that it makes better and blacker ink than 
 common water. The fand of the baths, ex- 
 pofed to the air for fome time, will become 
 vitriolic, and make ink with infufion of galls. 
 That there is an ochre in this water, appears 
 from the yellow color of the (tones at the 
 bottom of the bath, and from the yellow 
 matter, like thin cream, floating on the fur- 
 face of the water in winter. 
 
 * From thefe, and other experiments, it 
 is concluded, that there is a mixture of calca- 
 
 reous 
 
( 52 ) 
 
 rcous fubftance with the ochre ; and the mud 
 is found to confift of a blueiflh clay, with 
 fome teftaceous particles ; ufed as a cata- 
 plafm, it has fomewhat of the fmell of ful- 
 phur, and, when rubbed on filver, it changes 
 it black. The fand, thrown on a red-hot 
 iron, emits a blue flame with a fulphureous 
 fmell, and, being expofed to the air, becomes 
 vitriolic, as before obferved. 
 
 * A gallon of the Queen's bath water will 
 yield one hundred and fifty-five grains of fe- 
 diment, the Hot bath one hundred and 
 thirty-nine, and the Crofs bath one hundred 
 and thirty. The quantity of calcareous and 
 argillaceous fubftance is double to that of the 
 faline — the quantity of fait in each gallon 
 fcarce exceeds forty- three grains ; and the 
 reft of the matter is a grit, with a blue ful- 
 phureous earth or marie. The grofs remainer 
 emits a ftrong fulphureous fmell, with a blue 
 flame, upon calcination ; and by this opera- 
 tion a fourth part of the weight is loft by 
 burning away. The refult of all the obfer- 
 vations of different phyficians plainly fhews, 
 
 that 
 
( 53 ) 
 
 that the minerals in Bath water confift of a 
 calcareous and marly earth and ochre, a ma- 
 rine and fea fait, a little calcareous nitre and 
 vitriol, a little bitumen, and a very fmall 
 quantity of fulphur, which laft can be made 
 to appear no otherwife than by confequences. 
 
 This is the analytical account of the Bath 
 waters, given by the author of ‘ A Defcription 
 of England and Wales.’ Mr. Collinfon, 
 from later experiments, gives, as their com- 
 ponent parts, a fmall portion of common 
 fait, a larger proportion of felenites, a por- 
 tion of fixible air, and fome fulphureous gas 
 or inflammable air, together with a flight 
 chalybeate impregnation. Thefe, heobferves, 
 are all that chemiftry has as yet difcovered ; 
 but, from the inadequacy of thefe impregna- 
 tions to the effects produced, it is probable 
 that fome latent caufe is concerned, of too 
 fubtile a nature to be fubje&ed to fuch ana- 
 lyfis, or perhaps to be the objed: of our 
 fenfes, or even of our comprehenfion. 
 
 I 
 
 The 
 
( 54 ) 
 
 The difeafes to which thefe falubrious waters 
 are applicable, are obftruCtions of the vifcera, 
 the palfy, gout and rheumatifm, the colic and 
 jaundice, white fwellings, the leprofy, hyfte- 
 ric and hypocondriac complaints, fpafmodic 
 difeafes, affections of the head and nerves ; 
 and, in almoft all cafes where a powerful fti- 
 mulus is wanting, or which arifc from relax- 
 ation, they are ferviceable, provided the pa- 
 tient be free from fever, cough, and afthmatic 
 oppreffion. Any relief that nature herfelf 
 has found by fuppuration, &c. is inimical to 
 the ufe of the Bath water. A tendency to 
 mania, and a plethoric habit, render them 
 dangerous ; and, in all cafes, a previous pre- 
 paration of the conftitution, and a ftriCt regi- 
 gimen, muft be attended to. 
 
 It is Angular, but ftri&ly true, that 
 perfons have received great benefit from drink- 
 ing the waters at Bath, who, on reforting to 
 them, as they are imported into London, have 
 found them fo altered by the mere circum- 
 ftance of carriage, as totally to difagree with 
 
 the 
 
( 55 ) 
 
 the ftomach ; fo that no one ought to def- 
 pair of regaining health, till the fair expe- 
 riment of a journey to Bath has been tried. 
 
 In local difeafes, the pump is the mode 
 of applying the water. It is ufed daily, and 
 from fifty to two hundred ftrokes are received. 
 Where the diforder affedts the whole frame, 
 or an inacceffible part, the bath is reforted 
 to twice or thrice a week ; and fometimes, 
 as has been faid, the ufe of the pump is 
 added to it. Patients bathe in the public 
 baths in a morning, and remain in the water 
 from ten to thirty minutes. Should the de- 
 gree of heat of the public baths not fuit the 
 conftitution, at the private baths it may be 
 accommodated to it. The Crofs bath is gene- 
 rally recommended, both for thofe who 
 bathe, and thofe who drink the water, to be- 
 gin with. 
 
 The quantity of water to be drank is regu- 
 lated by medical opinion, which fhould al- 
 ways be fought at Bath itfelf, none being 
 fo well acquainted with that point as the 
 
 phyficians 
 
( 56 ) 
 
 phyficians of the place. From half a pint 
 to two pints is given daily : two thirds of 
 the quantity are generally taken before break- 
 faft, the other part at noon. 
 
 In the vicinity of Bath there are many 
 other fprings of mineral water, various in 
 their properties and ufes. Thefe are cold, 
 yet very often break out near the hot fprings. 
 One of thefe, called Muddle brook , rifes at 
 Lanfdown, and, at its fource, bears the name 
 of St. Winifred's well . About half a mile 
 to the weft of this fpring, is another, called 
 Lime-kiln fpa , from its lituation. At the 
 eaft end of Lanfdown is a fpring, known by 
 the name of Carn well , and in great eftima- 
 tion as a mineral. Bath Ford fpa rifes in 
 the pariftt of Bath Ford, about three miles 
 from the hot fprings. Frog's well is fituated 
 in the middle of the village of Box ; and at 
 Shocker wick is a well, formerly known by 
 the name of St. Anthony's well. The eaft 
 end of Blakeleigh abounds with mineral 
 fprings ; but the beft known in that neigh- 
 bourhood is Lyncomb fpa , which rifes in a vil- 
 
 lage 
 
( 57 ) 
 
 lage of that name. Middle hill j pa is in the 
 village of Box. It is the property of Mr. 
 Weft, a baker, who accidentally difcovered its 
 virtues. He had a little boy, who was terri- 
 bly afflidted with a fcorbutic humour, and 
 who, by frequently playing with the water, 
 and dabbling in it, was foon reftored to 
 health. Mr. Weft communicated this cir- 
 cumftance to fome of the faculty at Bath, 
 The water was analyfed, and found to poflefs 
 all the properties of the Cheltenham water, 
 with others fimilar to that of Harrow- 
 gate. 
 
 Hi story. It would be little fatisfadtion 
 to our clafs of readers, were we to enumerate 
 the various Saxon, Greek, and Latin names, 
 by which Bath was known to our learn- 
 ed anceftors. It is fufficient for the pur- 
 pofes of general curiofity, if we fay that 
 it is reckoned the Aquae Solis of Anto- 
 ninus, and that the Avon is the Antona of 
 Tacitus. 
 
 The 
 
( J8 ) 
 
 The Roman forces are fuppofed tohavefub- 
 jugated all this part of Britain, about the year 
 of our Lord 44, in the reign of the emperor 
 Claudius, and under the immediate condudfof 
 Flavius Vefpafian. Bladud’s foundation of the 
 city is carried back to a period long before the 
 birth of our Saviour ; but his legend bears 
 fo fabulous an appearance, that every thing 
 refpedting him is fufpicious, even to his very 
 exiftence. The Saxon name for Bath, which, 
 according to Camden, lignified the city of 
 Valetudinarians , implies a decided knowledge 
 of the property of the waters, which it cer- 
 tainly required neither magic nor fable to 
 difcover, or render an adt of reafon. 
 
 Till the latter end of the fixth century, 
 Bath continued in the pofleflion o; the Bri- 
 tons. Soon afterwards, the decifion of a bat- 
 tle forced it to fubmit to the Saxon yoke : it 
 remained part of the Weft Saxon dominions 
 for near two centuries more ; but, before 
 this time, it is faid that Ofric, a Northum- 
 brian king, had erefted in the city of Bath a 
 
 houfe 
 
( 59 ) 
 
 houfe of female religious, in honor of God 
 and St. Peter. 
 
 Offa, king of Mercia, refeued this city 
 from the Saxons, about the year 774 ; and 
 to him the re-edification of Ofric’s monaftery, 
 which the chances of war had demoliflied, is 
 owing. He not only re-built it, but inflituted 
 there a fociety of fecular canons. 
 
 After having fuffered greatly by the Danifh 
 irruption, the city revived with increafed vi- 
 gor in the reign of Edgar, who was confe- 
 crated and crowned in the church of St. 
 Peter. 
 
 Till the reign of William Rufus, Bath ap- 
 pears to have enjoyed a ftate of uniform 
 tranquillity. A fpecies of revolution was 
 then effected in it by John de Villula, a na- 
 tive of Tours in the Orleannois, and a prac- 
 titioner of phyfic at Bath, who having, by 
 his intereft with the monks, procured for 
 himfelf the bifhopric of Wells, and retaining 
 a doting partiality for Bath, ftrove to remove 
 
 the 
 
( 6o ) 
 
 the pontifical feat from Wells thither. The 
 fandtion of the crown being neceffary for this 
 ad; of epifcopal violence, the bifhop and the 
 monks purchafed the city of the king for 
 five hundred marks. The bifhop then re- 
 paired the monaftery, built a palace near it, 
 and adorned the city with various buildings. 
 
 It was, as we learn from Mr. Collinfon, at 
 the inftance of bifhop Burnet, temp. Ed- 
 ward I. that this city firft fent members to 
 parliament. 
 
 It is to be lamented, that, after the convul- 
 fions of war have abated, and the difficulties 
 of colonization are overcome, topographical 
 hiftory is generally filent. We know little 
 of the civil ftate of Bath, or of its buildings, 
 till the middle of the fixteenth century, about 
 which time a map or view of it was pub- 
 lifhed by a Dr. Jones, which reprefents the 
 city as of an irregularly pentagonal form, 
 furrounded by its wall, and comprehending a 
 trad; of ground not difficult to trace, even in 
 
 its 
 
( 6i ) 
 
 its prefent ftate. Another plan was publifh- 
 ed by Dr. Guidott, but little differing from 
 this. 
 
 But the ecclefiaftical occurrences, though 
 lefs interefting to the vifitors of Bath, have 
 come down to us in more regular continuity. 
 The epifcopal fee was removed back to Wells 
 in the reign of King John ; and foon after 
 the diffolution of monafteries, King Henry 
 VIII. by letters patent, granted the feite of 
 the abbey, with many appendages, to Hum- 
 phry Colles, efq. who fhortly fold it to 
 Matthew Colthurft, whofe fon gave the ab- 
 bey-church, then become ruinous, together 
 with fome ground about it, to the mayor and 
 citizens of Bath, for their parochial church 
 and church-yard. The abbey-houfe, and the 
 park, called Prior's park, Mr. Collinfon fays, 
 were fold, 1569, to Fulk Morley, from 
 whofe defeendants it came to the duke of 
 Kingfton. 
 
 t 
 
 K 
 
 The 
 
( 6 * ) 
 
 The city having thus devolved to the care 
 of the laity, its bounds were extended, trade 
 was encouraged, the reputation of the waters 
 was increafing, and it became a general refort 
 for Grangers. 
 
 In the reign of Elizabeth, people of dif- 
 tindtion lent all their aid to eftablifh the 
 fame of Bath and its fprings, for the political 
 purpofe of keeping invalids at home in their 
 own country, by fupplying them there with 
 the means of obtaining health. Elizabeth 
 knew well the ill effedts of fuffering wealth 
 to travel; and the fafhion of the court was 
 the fafhion of the time. 
 
 The accommodations for fuch as fought 
 the benefit of the waters, were very fordid 
 and inadequate, till near the clofe of the 
 fixteenth century, when the improve- 
 ments began by the eredtion of an aque- 
 dudt in the king’s bath : adts of parlia- 
 ment patted in favor of the city and cor- 
 poration. The queen of James I. came 
 
 hither 
 
( 6 3 ) 
 
 hither to bathe. A new bath was then 
 conltru&ed. 
 
 The Crofs and Hot baths, with a houfe for 
 the private accommodation of bathers, were 
 finilhed in 1602. The public fpirited gene- 
 rofity of Mr. Bellot, in the foundation of 
 his hofpital, and in his benefactions to the 
 abbey, excited others to bellow their munifi- 
 cence on Bath ; but Hill much was wanting 
 to render the city what the vilitors, even of 
 that time, wilhed it ; and the civil govern- 
 ment was fo remifs, that the injury of mo- 
 rals, hazarded by reforting to thefe waters, 
 almolt counterbalanced their falutary advan- 
 tages. 
 
 The city was, in the early part of the civil 
 war, garrifoned by Charles I. and feven 
 thoufand pounds were bellowed on its fortifi- 
 cations; but, on the approach of fome dra- 
 goons, the gates were thrown open, and it 
 furrendered. It then became one of the 
 principal polls of the parliament forces in 
 
 the 
 
( 64 ) 
 
 the county ; and here Sir William Waller lay 
 for a long time. After the battle of Round- 
 way-down, 1643, in which this general was 
 defeated, the king’s troops again took pof- 
 feflion of Bath without obftrudtion. 
 
 In 1632, the Vifcountefs Scudamore gave 
 a Angular inftance of ingenious liberality, by 
 fettling a falary on a phyfician, who fhould 
 be eledted annually by the mayor and aider- 
 men of Bath, to affift gratuitoufly the poor 
 in general with his beft advice : and about 
 1650, the corporation began to putin force 
 bye-laws, previoufly framed, for removing 
 nuifances, and eftablifhing order in the city. 
 The good effedts of thefe regulations were 
 immediately vifible; people began to flock 
 to Bath for recreation as well as for health ; 
 and the woollen trade flourished here with 
 the moft refpedtable fuccefs. 
 
 Charles II. at his coronation, created John 
 Granville, fon of Sir Beville Granville, earl 
 of Bath, baron Granville, and vifcount Lanf- 
 
 down. 
 
( 65 ) 
 
 down. In 1663, the fame king brought his 
 queen to the bath. Sir Alexander Frafer, at- 
 tending her majefty as her phyfician, obferved 
 the quality of the waters, and advifed the 
 drinking them. It was he who, returning 
 to the city about the year 1673, for fome 
 bodily ailment of his own, projected the 
 method now ufed for drawing the water from 
 the fpring. 
 
 Queen Anne, and her hufband, the prince 
 of Denmark, contributed much to the increafe 
 of company, by their vifit to Bath in the year 
 1702 and 1703. The city was fo crowded, 
 that many families were forced to retreat to 
 the neighbouring villages, lodgings being at 
 that time fo fcarce as to oblige thofe who oc- 
 cupied them to pay a guinea a night for their 
 beds. 
 
 Familiar treatifes and effays were now 
 publilhed, explaining the properties and ufes 
 of the Bath waters ; and the ceremonial ad- 
 miniftration of Mr. Nafh ftamped Bath with 
 
 the 
 
( 66 ) 
 
 the character of an exhilarating retreat for 
 almoff all invalids, and a fcene of uninter- 
 mitting gaiety for thofe who enjoyed, with 
 perfed health, the means of purchafing the 
 brilliant pleafures of fociety. 
 
 Of this Angular benefador to Bath, whofe 
 charader was truly original, and very diffe- 
 rently underftood, it is foreign to ourpurpofe 
 to fpeak at large. An anonymous life of 
 him, printed by Newbery, in the year 1762, 
 \vith the motto, ‘ Non ego paucis offendar 
 maculis,’ gives a very candid and judicious 
 portrait of him ; and the great good fenfe 
 with which it is written, removes us equally 
 from the danger of contemning Mr. Nafh. 
 for the faults of his charader, and of ido- 
 lizing him for his eccentric virtues. To this 
 work, therefore, we refer our readers, con- 
 tenting ourfelves with obferving, that greater 
 evidences of veneration for a patron-faint are 
 hardly to be found in any city of the conti- 
 nent, than thofe difperfed up and down Bath, 
 to commemorate the exigence of a man whom 
 
 nature 
 
( 67 ) 
 
 nature feems to have intended equally for 
 the office he filled, and the place where he 
 held it. 
 
 • , r ^ ^ \ - W.ff rx ^ r ' s j r ' 
 
 The anonymous author of the life of Nafh> 
 fpeaking of the revolution brought about in 
 Bath by this fingular man, deduces very ra- 
 tionally the motives by which company were 
 drawn hither. He fays, * At this time, 
 London was the only theatre in England 
 for pleafure and intrigue. A fpirit of gam- 
 ing had been introduced in this licentious 
 age of Charles II. and had by this time 
 thriven furprizingly ; yet all its devaluations 
 were confined to London alone. To this 
 great mart of every folly, (harpers from 
 every country daily arrived for the winter, 
 but were obliged to leave the kingdom at the 
 approach of fummer, in order to open a new 
 campaign at Aix, Spa, or the Hague. Bath, 
 Tunbridge, Scarborough, and other places of 
 the fame kind here, were then frequented 
 only by fuch as really went for relief; the 
 pleafures they afforded were merely rural, the 
 company fplenetic, ruftic, and vulgar. In 
 
 this 
 
( 68 ) 
 
 this fituation of things, people of fafliion 
 had no agreeable fummer-retreat from the 
 town, and ufually fpent that feafon amidft 
 a folitude of country fquires, parfons* wives, 
 and vifiting tenants or farmers ; they wanted 
 fome place where they might have each 
 other’s company, and win each other’s mo- 
 ney, as they had done during the winter 
 in town. 
 
 ‘ To a perfon who does not thus calmly 
 trace things and their fource, nothing will 
 appear more ftrange, than how the healthy 
 could ever confent to follow the fick to 
 thofe places of fpleen, and live with thofe 
 whofe diforders are ever apt to excite a gloom 
 in the fpedlator. The truth is, the gaming- 
 table was properly the falutary font to which 
 fuch numbers flocked. 
 
 4 Thefpirit of Mr. Nafli was particularly 
 roufed by the threats of an eminent phyfician 
 that he would write down the Bath waters. 
 To this threat, Nafli oppofed the more 
 
 fllent 
 
( 6 9 ) 
 
 filent allurements of intoxicating pleafure; 
 and how he fucceeded, the city is to this day 
 a witnefs. 
 
 In the year 1734, the prince of Orange vi- 
 fited Bath, and received great benefit from 
 the ufe of the waters, which Mr. Nafh, in his 
 whimfical generofity, recorded on an obelifk 
 eredted at his own expence, in the grove, cal- 
 led afterwards Orange Grove ; and, four years 
 after, his royal highnefs Frederick prince of 
 Wales, and his confort, conferring on this 
 city the honor of a temporary refidence, were, 
 in like manner, immortalized, by the erec- 
 tion of another obelifk in Queen-fquare. 
 The prince, pleafed with the reception he 
 had met with, made the corporation a pre- 
 fent of a magnificent cup and falver. 
 
 Antiquities. In fpeaking of the anti- 
 quities of Bath, wefhall confine ourfelves to 
 the mention of thofe which will excite the 
 curiofity of vifitors, by obtruding on their 
 notice ; and of thefe, the firft in precedence 
 would be the ancient city wall , which was 
 
 L the 
 
•> 
 
 ( 7 ° ) 
 
 the work of the Romans ; but the extenfion 
 of the city has almoft obliterated this, before 
 its time, from the light and from the me- 
 mory. 
 
 Of the four principal gates, named from 
 the four cardinal points, and which formerly 
 gave accefs to the city, no one is now re- 
 maining but the Eaft gate . It was the 
 fmalleft of the four, being only feven feet 
 wide, and nine high ; the wall adjoining it 
 on the weft ward, and now built on, is yet 
 vilible. The Weft gate was taken down in 
 1 776 : there were fome good apartments 
 over it, which had occalionally been occupied 
 by divers of the royal family. 
 
 The abbey church , which, though rather in 
 the firft rank of public buildings , mull not be 
 omitted under the head of antiquities , is dedi- 
 cated to St. Peter and St. Paul, and was re- 
 built by Elphege Prior of Glaftonbury, on 
 his being promoted by king Edgar, about 
 the year 970, to the prelidency of the new 
 abbey of Bath, which, upon that king’s re- 
 formation 
 
( V ) 
 
 formation of religious eftablifhments, had 
 been founded in lieu of the ancient monaftery . 
 It received a variety of favors from fucceed- 
 ing abbots. In 1088, John de Villula an- 
 nexed the abbey to his fee, and fubjedted it 
 to the government of a prior. In 1499, 
 old conventual church being ruinous, bifhop 
 Oliver King, at the inftance, and with the 
 afliftance of William Bird, the then prior, 
 fet about rebuilding it ; but neither of them 
 lived to fee it finifhed. The next prior ap- 
 plied himfelf to this great work; but in 1539 
 was obliged to furrender the whole to the 
 king ; and it was granted away, as has been 
 faid, to Humphrey Colles. 
 
 The buildings of the monaftery extended 
 over a large fpace of ground : they confifted 
 of the church, cloifters, chapter-houfe, prior’s 
 houfe, monks’ lodgings, and dormitory, built 
 by bifhop Beckington. Some time after the 
 diflolution, the prior’s houfe was repaired, 
 and again made habitable : a part of the old 
 houfe was left in its primitive ftate. On 
 pulling down fome of thefe buildings, in the 
 
 beginning 
 
( 72 ) 
 
 beginning of the prefent century, one of the 
 apartments which had been walled up, and 
 never explored, difclofed a curious fight. 
 Round the walls, upon pegs, were hung 
 the officiating habiliments of the religious, 
 which, on the admiffion of the air, became fo 
 rotten as to crumble into powder. There 
 was alfo found the handle of a crofier, and 
 on the floor lay two large chefts, e?npty , as 
 the workmen declared, one of whom, how- 
 ever, grew rich immediately, and retired 
 from bufinefs. 
 
 After having been expofed, as Mr. Col- 
 linfon exprefires it, to the ruthlefs elements 
 for a number of years, it was, by the contri- 
 butions of pious benefactors, particularly of 
 Thomas Bellot, efq. and bifliop Montague, 
 fitted up for divine worlhip in nearly its pre- 
 fent fly le. It is a very magnificent building, 
 in the form of a crofs, light and airy; but 
 with a due mixture of folidity. From eaft 
 to weft, it meafures two hundred and twelve 
 feet ; from north to fouth one hundred and 
 twenty-fix. The breadth of the nave and 
 fide ailes is feventy-feet ; the choir in length 
 
 is 
 
( 73 ) 
 
 is feventy-four. Over the inferfedtion of the 
 crofs ftands the tower, beautiful in its form, 
 one hundred and fixty-two feet high, and 
 containing ten large bells. The weft end of 
 the nave is profufely decorated with fculp- 
 ture. The great door, which was beautified 
 in 1617 by Sir Henry Montague, knt. lord 
 chief juftice of the king’s bench, is richly 
 carved, and charged with the arms of the 
 fee, impaling thofe of Montague ; and on 
 one fide of it, in a nich, ftands a large ftatue 
 of St. Peter ; on the other, that of St. Paul. 
 At each angle of the front is an odtagon tur- 
 ret, on the fides whereof are images of the 
 twelve apoftles ; and in the fore part are re- 
 prefented angels afcending and defcending a 
 lofty ladder, expreflive, as is faid, of a dream 
 or vifion of bilhop Oliver King, previous to 
 his defign of rebuilding the church. Sir 
 John Harington relates this circumftance in 
 the following paflage : 
 
 ‘ Dr. King, having been at Bath, imagin- 
 ed, as he one night lay meditating in bed, 
 that he faw the Holy Trinity, with angels 
 
 afcending 
 
( 74 ) 
 
 afcending and defcending by a ladder, near 
 to which was a fair olive tree, fupporting a 
 crown. 
 
 * The impreffion was fo ftrong, that the 
 prelate thought he heard a voice, which 
 faid, 
 
 - ■ , ? ’ ' - ‘ - f . 7- *"• .1. « ft f .* 
 
 “ Let an Olive eftablilh the crown, and 
 let a King reftore the church.” 
 
 Over the great window is a reprefentation 
 of the Holy Trinity, furrounded with angels 
 and cherubs, which has given offence to 
 fome ferious people, by exhibiting that fpe- 
 cies of prefumption which is never worfe 
 employed than in attempts to render that fa- 
 miliar which cannot be held too facred. An 
 infcription accompanies this fculpture, ‘ De 
 furfum eji: It is from on high. 
 
 Over the window of the north aile is this 
 infcription, in old Englifh characters, Domus 
 mea, my houfe: over that of the fouth, 
 Domus oronis, i. e. orationis — the houfe of 
 
 prayer. 
 
C 75 ) 
 
 prayer. On each of the buttrefles, at the an- 
 gles, is carved in high relief, an olive-tree, 
 fupported by two elephants, and underneath 
 is, in the fame character as the foregoing in- 
 scriptions, the following allufion to the 
 founder’s name, taken from the ninth chap- 
 ter of the book of Judges. 
 
 Ierunt ligna ut ungerent Super fe regem 
 
 Dixeruntque Olivae * Impera nobis.’ 
 
 Trees going to choofe their king. 
 
 Said, Be to us the Oliver king. 
 
 The choir is very neat, and has that fo- 
 lemnity in its appearance, that Strikes the 
 mind with devotional awe. The party- 
 coloured glafs of the eaft window is whim- 
 fically difpofed in the form of billets, in al- 
 lufion, as it is faid, to the name of its donor, 
 Thomas Bellot, efq. called by many Billet . 
 
 The nave of the church is lofty, and ii 
 divided from the fide ailes by twelve cluttered 
 pillars, Supporting elliptic arches. 
 
 The 
 
( 7 6 ) 
 
 The infide of the cathedral contains a great 
 number of monuments, fome of which are 
 extremely well executed. To one, at the 
 fouth end of the fouth tranfept, belongs an 
 anecdote, which is recorded by Mr. Collin- 
 fon. The monument is to the memory of 
 Jane, lady Waller ; and the fculpture repre- 
 fents the effigy of the knight, her hulband, 
 in armor, in a cumbent pofture, raifed on his 
 right arm, and mourning over his lady by his 
 lide. At their head is a fon, and at their 
 feet a daughter, fitting. The face of the 
 knight has loft the nofe, which is faid to 
 have been ‘ hacked off* by James II. as he 
 pafled through the church ; but James more 
 than once proved himfelf a brave man, and 
 therefore it is not eafy to fuppofe him capa- 
 ble of fo mean a revenge, nor however ill 
 entitled he is to our refped:, is it very credi- 
 ble that he, whofe greateft faults ftiewed a 
 bigotted flavery even to the external forms of 
 religion, fliould be fo ready to deface the or- 
 nament of a church. 
 
 The 
 
( 77 ) 
 
 The altar-piece, the fubjedt of which is 
 the wife men’s offering, was a gift to the ca- 
 thedral by general Wade : the coloring of the 
 pidture has loft its brilliancy, nor can it be 
 confidered in any way a chef d'ceuvre. 
 
 On the eaft front of the church are a num- 
 ber of Roman infcriptions, ftill legible, 
 which will be found at large in Mr. Collin- 
 fon’s valuable hiftory of Somerfetfhire. 
 
 Abundance of infcriptions, fragments of 
 ftatues and of buildings, and other Roman 
 antiquities, have been dug up in and near 
 Bath. Thefe are carefully preferved by dif- 
 ferent perfons in different places. The cor- 
 poration have depofited feveral in the guild- 
 hall. Coins are not unfrequently dug up ; 
 fo that, as if the city were itfelf defirous of 
 pleafing the tafte of all its vifitors, it offers 
 to them, with health and gaiety, an opportu- 
 nity of gratifying refined curiofity. 
 
 Public Buildings. Under this head, 
 the places of worfhip claim, on account of 
 
 M their 
 
( 78 ) 
 
 their ufe, our firft notice. Bath is divided 
 into four parilhes: — i. St. Peter and St. 
 Paul , i. e. the abbey parifh. — 2. St. James . — 
 3. St. Michael. — 4. Walcot. Of thefe, the 
 church of the firft is already defcribed. That 
 of St. James is a little eaftward from the 
 fcite of the old fouth gate. This church 
 originally confifted of a nave, chancel, and 
 north aile, with an embattled tower at the 
 eaft end. In 1716, it was partially taken 
 down, and an additional aile and tower were 
 ere&ed ; and in 1768, the body of the church 
 was rebuilt by fubfcription. It is fixty-one 
 feet in length, and fifty-eight in breadth, and 
 is fupported by four Ionic columns. The 
 altar is inclofed within a large femicircular 
 niche, in the front of which is a painting of 
 the Laft Supper. There are no monuments 
 in this church; but it has eight very well- 
 toned bells. 
 
 St. Michael's church, which, to diftinguifti 
 it from another St. Michael, was, when both 
 exifted, diftinguifhed by the addition of 
 extra mures [without the walls], is fituated 
 
 between 
 
( 79 ) 
 
 between the northern limits of the old city 
 and the foot of Lanfdown hill. The prefent 
 building is not more than fixty years old, and 
 is of the Doric order, with a dome : it is in 
 length fixty-three feet, in breadth thirty- 
 feven. On the north-weft fide is a tower, 
 in which are eight bells. 
 
 Of the architecture of this church, Mr. 
 Wood fpeaks in terms of opprobrium that 
 may well be forgiven to one who under- 
 ftood the art of building, and was offended 
 when its rules were violated. He fays, that 
 ,fo little credit was gained by the man em- 
 ployed to defign it, that the very workmen, 
 to mortify him, declared,, that a horfe ac- 
 cuftomed to the fight of good buildings was 
 fo frighted at the odd appearance of the 
 church, that he would not pals it till he was 
 hoodwinked. 
 
 Walcot church , dedicated to St. Swithin, 
 ftands on the (lope 'of the north-eaft bafe of 
 Lanfdown. This church, on the firft view, 
 declares itfelf a creation of the latter end of 
 
 the 
 
( 8o ) 
 
 the eighteenth century : it has a chapel-like 
 appearance, with the addition of a fmall 
 tower and fpire ; the former of which con- 
 tains a clock and three bells. The church 
 was built in 1780. 
 
 The chapels of Bath are, 1 . Queen-fquare 
 chapel , dedicated to the Virgin Mary : it was 
 begun in 1734, by fubfcription, and is private 
 property. The outfide is Doric — the inlide 
 Ionic ; and it has a handfome portico towards 
 the fquare. Mr. Wood, who built ^it, fays 
 it coft 2000!. 2. The O 51 agon chapel, a 
 
 light building, finifhed in 1767: here is a 
 good altar-piece, painted by Mr. Hoare. 
 
 3. Margaret chapel , in Margaret buildings, 
 built in 1773. It is a neat Gothic ftrudture, 
 feventy feet by fixty. The altar ftands in a 
 recefs, and is decorated with a painting of 
 the Wife Men’s Offering, by Mr. Williams. 
 
 4. The chapel under Lanfdown place is Gothic, 
 and very neat, embelliflied with turrets and 
 niches. It has a fmall tower at the weft end. 
 
 5. A chapel, at Lower Eaft Hayes, in Walcot 
 parifh ; and, 6, Another, built on a tontine, in 
 
 Henrietta- 
 
( 8 . ) 
 
 Henrietta-ftreet, complete the lift of places of 
 public worfhip. The chapel of St. John is 
 an adjunct to the hofpital fo called. 
 
 The diflenting chapels, or meeting-houfes, 
 are, Lady Huntingdon's , in Harlequin-row ; 
 Mr. Wefiey's, in New King-ftreet ; Mr. Whit - 
 field's, in St. James’s Palfage ; Anabaptifis , in 
 Garrard-ftreet ; Quakers', in Merchant’s Court, 
 High-ftreet ; Independents' , in Argyle-build- 
 ings; Moravians' , in Monmouth-ftreet ; Ro- 
 man-catholics' , in Corn-ftreet; and Unitari- 
 ans' , in Frog-lane, Burton-ftreet. 
 
 Adverting to the ufes, rather than to the 
 architectural rank of public buildings, and 
 having already noticed, in our account of the 
 waters, the feveral baths, we will enumerate 
 the edifices reared for the noble purpofe of 
 charity. 
 
 St. John's Hofipital is fituated in the weft- 
 ern part of the city, near the Crofis Bath. It 
 is a very old foundation, and was rebuilt, in 
 1728, by the Duke of Chandos. It main- 
 tains 
 
J 
 
 ( 82 ) 
 
 tains fix poor men and as many poor women, 
 who refide in it, and have a weekly allowance 
 of four {hillings and two-pence each. They 
 have a chapel in which prayers are read to 
 them twice a day. The lord chancellor, lord 
 keeper, mafter of the rolls, and bilhop of 
 the diocefe for the time being, are its vifitors. 
 
 South eaft-ward from this, Hands Bellot’s 
 hofpital founded upon part of the lands be- 
 longing to St. John’s hofpital, by Thomas 
 Bellot, efq. who was houlhold -fie ward and 
 one of the executors of lord-treafurer Bur- 
 leigh. An infcription recording the grant, 
 and placed over the door, is dated 1672. The 
 building is low, fixty-feven feet in front, and 
 forty-fix in depth, with a court in the centre- 
 Twelve poor men and women who, befides 
 lodging and the liberty of bathing gratis, have 
 the fmall ftipend of one {hilling and ten-pence 
 per week, but no clothing, are annually 
 maintained here ; but the charity feems to 
 want the aid of munificent friends, if it be 
 true that the ftipend is difcontinued, and the 
 
 houfe Ihut up during the winter half year. 
 
 This 
 
( §3 ) 
 
 This charity is under the guardianfhip of the 
 city ; and is often mentioned by the name of 
 Rufat's or Rufcott's charity ; Rujlat being the 
 name of the grantor of the ground. 
 
 St. Catharine's Hofpital , known alfo by 
 the names of the Bimberries and the Black 
 Alms , is fituated in a narrow palfage to the 
 fouth of Bello? s Hofpital , and was founded 
 by two fitters named Bimbury. It was re- 
 built by the corporation in 1553 ; is a mean 
 ftruttture two ftories high, containing four- 
 teen tenements for as many poor perfons 
 of either fex, ten of whom have an allow- 
 ance of three (hillings and fix-pence weekly, 
 and a black coat once in two years. Here 
 
 j 
 
 was anciently a chapel. 
 
 Two other inconfiderable foundations that 
 rank with thefe, are mentioned by Mr. Wood ; 
 the Leper s Hofpital adjoining the Leper's 
 Bath , which derived its water from the Hot 
 Bath , and St. Mary Magdalen s Hofpital, which 
 had a chapel, and was a retreat for ideots ; but 
 of thefe, perhaps, only the tradition remains. 
 
 The 
 
( §4 ) 
 
 The General Hofpital or Infirmary , is that 
 which has acquired the moft celebrity. This 
 truly benevolent inftitution was projected as 
 far back as the year 1711 ; but the want of 
 a fufficient fund prevented its execution till 
 1 738 , when, by the united and indefatigable 
 exertions of Dr. Oliver and Mr. Nafh, a 
 fubfcription was raifed, and in 1742, the 
 building was completed, Mr. Allen having 
 contributed all the ftone for it. An ad: of 
 parliament for incorporating the diredors was 
 procured ; and the houfe was opened for the 
 reception, under certain regulations, of all 
 fick poor of Great Britain or Ireland, whofe 
 cafes required the ufe of the Bath waters, 
 with the exception only of thofe belonging 
 to Bath, to whom other advantages had been 
 previoufly held out in the accefs they have by 
 prefcription to the waters. Mr. Wood re- 
 lates a circumftance refpeding the bringing 
 this noble fcheme to perfedion, that is too 
 pleafing to humanity to be omitted. All 
 thofe concerned in this undertaking, performed 
 their feveral parts in it at their own coft, and 
 the expences of the meetings neceffary for 
 
 con- 
 
( 8 5 ) 
 
 coiifultation, were defrayed by thofe who 
 tompofed them ; fo that not a fhilling of the 
 fubfcription was diverted from its immediate 
 purpofe. 
 
 The building is fituated on the north fide 
 of the old city, and ftands on the fcite of the , 
 old theatre. It is a very handfome ftrudture 
 of the Ionic order, ninety-nine feet long in 
 front. It is well laid out, and well regu* 
 lated. 
 
 The exclufion of the Bath poor from the 
 benefit of the General hofpital, gave rife to 
 another charity, which, in 1747, was efta- 
 blifhed under the name of the : Pauper charity , 
 and lirxiited to thofe of the feveral parifhes of 
 Bath. 
 
 The Cafualty hofpital , inftituted in 1788, 
 was founded by the private fubfcriptions of a 
 few inhabitants of .the city. It is, as its 
 name imports, a charity appropriated to the 
 ufe of thofe who meet with accidents to their 
 limbs or bodies. The patients have been 
 
 N very 
 
( 86 ) 
 
 very numerous. The building is in Kings-* 
 mead-ftreet; This is one of the inftitutions 
 that deferve equal praife for the ingenuity 
 that contrives, and the liberality that fup- 
 ports them. Bath is a place to which fuch 
 charity is peculiarly applicable, as the num- 
 ber of inhabitants, the hafte of travelling, 
 the ftone quarries, and even the fteep decli- 
 vity of many parts, muft occafion more 
 accidents than happen in moft other pla- 
 ces. 
 
 Two other humane inftitutions remain to 
 be fpoken of. The Blue-coat charity , begun 
 in 1711, by the learned and exemplary 
 Mr. Nelfon ; and the Public grammar fchool 
 founded by Edward VI. The fchool-houfe 
 for the former is near Bridewell-lane, and 
 was built in 1721 . It is large and lofty, and 
 contains one hundred children, who at the 
 age of fourteen are apprenticed out. The 
 other is a handfome ftrudture, eredted in 
 1752, in Broad-ftreet, and in which the citi- 
 zens* children are taught the Latin gram- 
 
 mar. 
 
 We 
 
( 8 7 ) 
 
 We come now to the New Guildhall , or 
 Town-hall> which is an elegant building de- 
 figned by Mr, Baldwin, and eredted on the 
 eaft fide of the market-place, where it is 
 highly ornamental. It confifts of a centre 
 and wings, and contains many ufeful and 
 magnificent apartments. The banqueting 
 room is eighty feet in length, forty in breadth, 
 and thirty-one in height, and is very ele- 
 gantly decorated. 
 
 Here are depofited the coloffal head of 
 Minerva, dug up in Stall-ftreet, in 1725, 
 and a variety of other antiquities. 
 
 Behind the Guildhall are the markets. 
 
 The City prifon ftands in Bathwick mea- 
 dow, on the eaftern bank of the Avon, and 
 is a fpacious edifice fit for the purpofe. 
 
 The Theatre is in Orchard ftreet, juft at 
 the fouth-eaft angle of the old wall, and near 
 the parades, with which it communicates by 
 a portico on the weft fide of Pierpoint-ftreet. 
 
 It 
 
( 88 ) 
 
 It is fmall, but very commodious and neat : 
 even the inhabitants of London and Weft- 
 minfter are indebted to this theatre, it having 
 been the hot-bed on which many a hero and 
 heroine of the fock and bufkin have been 
 brought to maturity. 
 
 The Old AJfembly -rooms ftand at one corner 
 of Orange-grove, and were built in 1750. 
 The great ball-room is ninety feet by thirty- 
 fix, and ornamented with a very handfome 
 ftucco ceiling, from which chandeliers are 
 fufpended. The card-room is fixty feet by 
 thirty. Each of thefe rooms contains a por- 
 trait of Nafh. The tea-rooms are neat and 
 commodious. 
 
 The New AJfembly-rooms are in the upper 
 part of the city, on the eaft fide of the Cir- 
 cus. They were eredted between the years 
 1768 and 1771, by a fubfcription of only 
 feventy perfons, which amounted nearly to 
 twenty thoufand pounds ! The ball-room of 
 this fuperb pile of building is one hundred 
 and fix feet in length, forty-three in breadth, 
 
 and 
 
 / 
 
( §9 ) 
 
 and forty-two in height. One of the card,* 
 rooms is an o&agon of forty-eight feet dia- 
 meter, and contains two portraits of matters 
 of the ceremonies : that of Captain Wade 
 is done by Gainlborough in his befl: man- 
 ner. The fmaller card-room is an oblong 
 of feventy feet by twenty-feven. All thefe 
 rooms are elegantly fitted up and furnifhed 
 with fumptuous chandeliers, &c. 
 
 The Coffee-houfes of Bath are fufficiently 
 important to rank as public buildings. They 
 are three; viz. that in the Grove, that on 
 the Parade, and that adjoining the New 
 rooms, and are all in the very firft ftyle of 
 modern elegance. 
 
 Present State of the City. To 
 give any methodical account of Bath at the 
 prefent day, it is neceffary to trace many 
 things to a fource that would hardly repay 
 travellers or vifitors for the tedioufnefs of the 
 detail. We will therefore only fay as much 
 as we think fhould be known by every per- 
 son defigning to go thither. 
 
 Bath 
 
( 9 ° ) 
 
 Bath is governed by a mayor, recorder, 
 eight other aldermen, twenty common-coun- 
 eilmen, and a town-clerk. It fends two 
 members to parliament, has two fairs in a 
 year, a market for meat, poultry, &c. &c. 
 on Wednefdays and Saturdays ; and one for 
 fifh on Mondays, Wednefdays and Fridays. 
 A greater variety or abundance of the very 
 belt provifians is no where to be found. 
 
 In its ecclefiaftical conftitution, Bath is 
 one foie reftory exclufive of Walcot. The 
 corporations are the patrons: the income is 
 not eftimated at more than £ 200 a year, 
 and the churches are ferved by curates, who, 
 for their emoluments, depend on the genera- 
 lity of the inhabitants and vifitors. Walcot 
 is a rectory, and the patronage of it is veiled 
 in the lord of the manor. 
 
 The trade of Bath, though at various times 
 flourifhing in the clothing branch, and after- 
 wards by the manufacture of ftone and me- 
 tal, feems now to confift folely in the traffic 
 of the waters, and the entertainment of Gran- 
 gers, 
 
( 9 1 ) 
 
 gers. The Avon was made navigable fo 
 long ago as 1727, and barges are employed 
 on it to and from Briftol. 
 
 The form of the city, though anciently a 
 pentagon, is now nearly a triangle, the fub- 
 urbs having fpread wider in the heights to- 
 wards Lanfdown, than at the oppofite part 
 towards the river. 
 
 It would convey no diftindt idea to the 
 reader, were we to enumerate every ftreet 
 and lane in Bath. We will therefore confine 
 ourfelves to mentioning the principal parts 
 of the city and fuburbs. 
 
 Orange~grove is a fine open area, one hun- 
 dred and ninety feet by one hundred and 
 feventy. It is planted with rows of elms. 
 In the centre is the obelifk eredted by Mr. 
 Nafli, in compliment to the prince of Orange. 
 On the fouth fide of the grove is a paved 
 terrace walk, two hundred feet in length, 
 and twenty-feven in breadth, called the 
 Walks . 
 
 
 The 
 
( 9 * ) 
 
 The North Parade is a noble terrace, raifed 
 on arches, and is fifty-two feet broad, and 
 near five hundred and forty long. The build- 
 ings are confined to the fouth fide, and are 
 very handfome and convenient. They com- 
 mand a lovely view of the beautiful vale to 
 the eaftward of Bath, watered by the Avon, 
 and fkirted by the hills. 
 
 The South Parade nearly refembles the 
 other ; but its profpedt being that of Wid- 
 combe, Prior park, and the hanging woods 
 of Beechen cliff, is very different. The Avon 
 flows at the eaft end, and there is a ferry over 
 it into the meadows. In the front of the 
 buildings on this parade, lies the Ham> origi- 
 nally a large meadow, but now moftly con- 
 verted into garden grounds. 
 
 Here let us beg the reader’s patience, while 
 we notice a vulgar error refpefting this mea- 
 dow. The word Ham is of Saxon derivation, 
 and imports a dwelling-place, as might eafily 
 be inferred from the ufe made of it, as an 
 adjunct to a variety of proper names, when 
 
 a place 
 
) 
 
 i 
 
 
( 93 ) 
 
 a place was to be denominated from a perfon . 
 It is however the opinion of fome, who have 
 been refident at Bath, that this meadow is fo 
 named from its fancied refemblance to a ham 
 of bacon, and accordingly it has been repre- 
 fented in that form. 
 
 King’s mead fquare , fo called from a plot of 
 ground, part of the ancient royal demefne, 
 is an area of one hundred and fifty feet, by 
 one hundred and twenty. 
 
 §lueen fquare is on the north-weft fide of 
 the city, and ftands on an elevated fpot. It 
 is in length from north to fouth three hundred 
 and fixteen feet, and in breadth three hundred 
 and fix. In the centre is a planted inclofure, 
 ornamented by the pointed obelilk ereCted 
 by Mr. Nafh, in honour of the prince and 
 princefs of Wales. 
 
 Nothing can exceed, in correCtnefs of ar- 
 chitecture and elegance of defign, the houfes 
 furrounding this area. The whole credit of 
 them is due to the late Mr. Wood, who to a 
 O very 
 
( 94 ) 
 
 very rich fancy, joined that degree of archi- 
 tectural fcience, neceflary for fo great a work 
 as the embellifhment of this city. 
 
 The King's Circus , which communicates 
 with Queen fquare, by Gay-ftreet, is a grand 
 circular range of houfes, uniform in appear- 
 ance, exhibiting the graces of the Doric, Ionic, 
 and Corinthian orders, and magnificently or- 
 namented. The centre is arefervoir of water. 
 
 The Royal Crefcent connects with the weft 
 fide of the Circus by the medium of Brock- 
 ftreet. It is of an elliptical form, and the build- 
 ings are fuperb; a fingle row of Ionic columns 
 fupports the cornice. The Crefcent contains 
 only thirty houfes, and commands a delight- 
 ful view of great part of the city, the vale on 
 each fide of the river, and theoppofite hills, 
 among which Barrow hill makes a Angular, 
 but highly piCturefque appearance. This 
 eminence, whofe name imports that it is 
 thought a tumulus, though it has been by 
 many deemed a natural mount, ftands on the 
 brow of a high ridge of hill, about half a 
 
 mile 
 
( 95 ) 
 
 1 
 
 mile eaftward from the village of Inglifh- 
 combe, clofe by the fide of the road from 
 Briftol to Frome, and commands, from its 
 fummit, a full view of the city of Bath, the 
 Wiltfhire hills, Lanfdown, the vale of Avon, 
 and a long tradt of Gloucefterfhire beyond it, 
 bounded by the Severn, and Cambrian moun- 
 tains. 
 
 To return into Bath . — Marlborough build- 
 ings ftand at the weft end of the Crefcent, 
 are very handfome, and form the boundary of 
 the city weftward. It is towards the north 
 that the extenfion now takes its courfe ; Lanf- 
 down place, the name of which denotes its fitu- 
 ation, is very much elevated, and commands a 
 noble profpedt from the Wiltftiire hills on the 
 eaft, to the environs of Briftol on the weft, 
 and including the lofty tower of Dundry. 
 
 Between Marlborough buildings, and the 
 Lanfdown road, occur a variety of ele- 
 gant dwellings. At the end of Lanfdown- 
 ftreet, and upon the edge of a projecting 
 point, called Beacon-hill, is a fuperb range 
 
 of 
 
( 96 ) 
 
 of buildings of an elliptic form, called Cam- 
 den place , and now, after a variety of hin- 
 drances that would have damped the ardor of 
 any but Bath builders, completed. Almoft 
 immediately under it lies Walcot, ferving to 
 decorate a profpedt in itfelf extremely beau- 
 tiful. 
 
 Catherine-place and Portland-place , muft not 
 be omitted in our enumeration of the elegant 
 ftru&ures of Bath ; but the additions on the 
 Pulteney eftate form almoft another town. 
 Laura-place, four rows of fuperb houfes dif- 
 pofed in a lozenge, is one of the moft diftin- 
 guifhed fpots on it for fpace and magnifi- 
 cence. Thefe erections are after plans made 
 by Mr.Baldwin, andeverydayis addingto the 
 extent and grandeur of the city in this quarter. 
 
 In this part the Avon has a handfome mo- 
 dern bridge, called the New Bridge , built 
 over it at Mr. Pulteney "s expence. It refts 
 on two arches, and on each fide is a row of 
 fmall neat shops, which entirely conceal 
 from the paffenger that he is crofting the water. 
 
 Near 
 
I 
 
 
 
 
 
 
I 
 
 \ , 
 
 l 
 
 
 0 
 
 t 
 
 

( 97 ) 
 
 Near this bridge, and to the fouth of 
 Laura-place, is Spring-garden , Vauxha/l y a 
 place of great refort in the fummer feafon; 
 but the ground will fhortly be covered with 
 houfes, and this entertainment removed. 
 Oppofite to this garden is the weir above 
 which the river is not navigable. 
 
 The fituation of the new Vauxhall, which 
 fuperfedes the entertainments of this place, is 
 an area of nineteen acres, at the eaft end of 
 Great Pulteney-ftreet. 
 
 Grofvenor hotel and gardens are on the bank 
 of the Avon, eaft of the London road, and 
 within a fmall diftance of the Guild-hall. — 
 Both this, and Spring-garden are to be 
 fupported by fubfcription ; but the prefent 
 fituation of public affairs has flopped their 
 completion. 
 
 Bath is divided from the parifhes of Wid- 
 combe and Lincomb, by St. Laurence's gate 
 and bridge . 
 
 The 
 
( ) 
 
 The ftreets in the new part of Bath are 
 wide and airy, the footways paved with broad 
 flag ftones, and moft of them being on a 
 declivity, they are made clean by a (bower, 
 and prefently dry after the heavieft rain. 
 
 The police of the city contributes much to 
 the comfort of an abode there ; and it is to 
 its well digefted and enforced by-laws, that 
 the vifitors owe it that they can never be im- 
 pofed on. The corporation have adjufted the 
 price of the refpedtive baths, and the fees to 
 be given to attendants ; and if complaint is 
 neceffary, there are magiftrates ready to grant 
 redrefs, fitting every Monday morning at the 
 Guildhall. The chairmen are alfo under the 
 controul of the corporation : a table of fines 
 is printed, and they are compellable to carry 
 the chair five hundred yards for fix-pence, 
 and a proportional greater diftance for a (hil- 
 ling. 
 
 Projected Improvements. Till the 
 check the rage for building experienced at 
 the breaking out of the war, Bath bid 
 
 fair 
 
C 99 ) 
 
 fair fhortly to double its prefent bulk ; and it 
 muft be confefled, that no place affords greater 
 encouragement to afpirit of adventure, whe- 
 ther we confider its natural or acquired ad- 
 vantages. All who have ever vifited it, ac- 
 knowledge it to be unique , and captivating in 
 the higheft degree ; and when even the im- 
 provements now determined on are carried 
 into execution, it will be ftill more fafcinating 
 to the eye of tafte. 
 
 In the year 1789, the corporation procured 
 an ad: of parliament, for widening and en- 
 larging the principal avenues in the lower, or 
 old town, and for making five new ftreets. 
 The firft of thefeis to lead from Burton-ftreet 
 to Stall-ftreet ; the fecond, from the weft 
 fide of Stall-ftreet to the Crofs Bath ; the 
 third, from the north fide of the Crofs Bath 
 to Weftgate-ftreet ; the fourth, from the 
 fouth fide of the Crofs Bath to the Borough 
 Wall ; and the fifth, from the weft fide of 
 Stall-ftreet to the Borough Wall. 
 
 Anew 
 
( 100 ) 
 
 A new road is to be made through Bath- 
 wick meadows, communicating with the 
 New Bridge, by which a confiderable ftretch 
 of the London road through Walcot, &c. 
 will be cut off. On the Pulteney eftate, 
 there are to be many more new ftreets, a 
 fquare, a circus, and a crefcent. 
 
 Amusements. The various modes of 
 diffipation at Bath are not to be looked 
 on, if reafonably purfued, as the ferious evils 
 they would be in almoft every other place. 
 Application of all kinds being injurious to 
 thofe who feek health from the waters, idle- 
 nefs here becomes a virtue, and a moft pain- 
 ful one it is to thofe who are accuftomed to 
 habits of induftry. But as it is neceffary, it 
 muft be recommended ; and ftrongly recom- 
 mended it is at Bath, by all that can give 
 activity to ennui . 
 
 The circumjacent country affords, to a fen- 
 fible mind, that fpecies of pleafure which 
 dilates the imagination, and makes the heart 
 
 expand 
 
( 101 ) 
 
 expand without fatiguing the fpirits or relax- 
 ing the nervous fyftem. Surely, even to an 
 uninformed eye, nothing can afford more ex- 
 quifite delight than the contemplation of a 
 richly variegated profped: ; and with fuch 
 profpedts the vicinity of Bath abounds. 
 Thofe, whofe trifling hours to be palata- 
 ble muft be fcientific, may find pleafure in 
 fearching for foflilsand plants ; and for more 
 genuine idlers, the theatre, the parades, the 
 rooms, the coffee-houfes, nay, the very fhops 
 and ftreets, prepare inceflant amufement. 
 Thofe who follow the ftream of pleafure, 
 live in a feene of gaiety that varies with the 
 hours. In the morning they aflemble at the 
 Pump-room; till noon they lounge on the 
 Parades; from thence it is cuftoraary to re- 
 turn to the Pump-room, to infped: the arri- 
 vals, &c. After this, they ride to the adja- 
 cent downs, or take a frefh flroll; then drefs 
 for dinner, and finifh with the theatre or the 
 ball, or private parties. The balls clofe at 
 eleven, even if in the middle of a dance: a 
 regulation it would be well to adopt at the 
 fea-bathing public places, where, for want 
 
 P of 
 
( I0 * ) 
 
 of it, many contratt, inftead of difmijjing dif- 
 eafes. 
 
 We will now confider Bath and its neigh- 
 bouring objedts, as is more particularly our 
 province, under the idea of landfcape and fub- 
 j eel for Jludy , remarking, in the courfe of thefe 
 obfervations, whatever places moft attradt our 
 notice. 
 
 The general afpedt of Bath depends more 
 for its charadteriftics on the hour of the day, 
 and the Bate of the atmofphere, than almoft 
 any other city. In a clear morning, half an 
 hour after fun-rife, and when the fmoke of 
 the town, which is always the greateft at the 
 time of lighting fires, is difpelled, the eaftern 
 part of the town appears to great advantage, 
 particularly Camden-place, and Beacon-hill: 
 the light partially connedts itfelf with the 
 lower town, till it reaches the cathedral; 
 it is then intercepted by Claverton-downs ; 
 and the remaining part of Bath, towards 
 Widcombe, is enveloped in fhade. When 
 the fun has rifen above the fummit of the 
 
 oppofite 
 
( I0 3 ) 
 
 oppofite down, the effect of the light then 
 becomes general, and difperfes without form- 
 ing any compolition for a pi&ure. 
 
 An evening fcene is productive of much 
 more brilliant effect : the Crefcents are then 
 feen to the utmofl advantage; their fituation, 
 their concave form, which catches a variety 
 of light, and their tone of color, are then 
 peculiarly adapted to the pencil. In the 
 month of January, when the air is frofty, 
 and the fun is dropping from the horizon, 
 there is an effect of light and fhadow on 
 thefe buildings, and on the Circus, that is 
 not to be defcribed with the pen. 
 
 It will perhaps be objected, that the white- 
 nejs of Bath is highly unfriendly to it, confi- 
 dered as a picturefque object. Were it not 
 for the variety of form in its buildings, and 
 the various elevations on which they ftand, 
 this circumftance would certainly detract 
 much from its beauty, at leaf! in the artift’s 
 eftimation ; but there is a grey hue which 
 objects in fhadow alfume, into which the 
 
 white 
 
( io4 ) 
 
 white foftens, and with which it harmonizes 
 with peculiar effed at Bath. 
 
 When viewed from a fmall diftance, the 
 city has an appearance equally Angular and 
 beautiful : ftreets interfed ftreets — crefcents 
 rife above crefcents, with plots of grafs and 
 fmall plantations intervening between them — 
 the venerable majefty of the cathedral con- 
 trails admirably with the newer buildings ; 
 and the repofe the eye finds when it wanders 
 from the ftievvy grandeur of the ftately edi- 
 fices to the fimplicity of the furrounding 
 country, is equally friendly to our forming 
 a corred judgment of the pretenfions of 
 both. The greateft defed in the coup d y oeil 
 is the want of the river Avon, which it is 
 impoffiblc to bring into the fame view with 
 the Cathedral and the Crefcents. It, per- 
 haps, might be done in a pidure, but it is 
 exceeding the limits of truth, which furely 
 cannot be violated with greater impunity by 
 the pencil, than by the tongue or pen, fince 
 it is ftill more the bufinefs of the former to 
 imprefs corred ideas, on the mind, than of 
 
 the 
 
( 10 5 ) 
 
 the latter ; and it is to forms we have recourfe, 
 when words are inadequate to the conveying 
 our conceptions. 
 
 And here, in juftification of ourfelves, if 
 it fhould be urged againft us, that, by copy- 
 ing too rigidly, we have facrificed beauty to 
 minute veracity, let us beg our readers* pati- 
 ence, while we candidly animadvert on a mo- 
 dern refinement in one branch of defcriptive 
 art, which feems to threaten the ruin of- one 
 fpecies of integrity: a refinement, if falfe, 
 that cannot be too ftrenuoufly oppofed, as it 
 comes from an authority, even we who con- 
 demn it, acknowledge to be refpedtable, 
 and with which we often are happy to co- 
 incide. 
 
 We have been induflrioufly taught of late, 
 that, when delineating a view from nature, 
 we are not only permitted, but obliged, if we 
 would gain the approbation which all artifts 
 feek, to correct any deformities or difcords 
 we may meet with in the objefts before us. 
 Now, if this pra&ice be once admitted and 
 
 fane- 
 
( 106 ) - 
 
 fandioned, adieu to all refemblance in land- 
 fcape, and to all thofe pleafing emotions 
 which are excited when we trace on canvas 
 the haunts of our youth, or the fcenes en- 
 deared to us by circumftances of focial or do- 
 meftic felicity. All deviation from beauty 
 is not uglinefs, all want of harmony is not 
 grating difcord. Perhaps, the ftrait line, or 
 unfortunate angle was the feature which gave 
 character to the view ; and without it all 
 comparifon may be vain. 
 
 Another ftrong objection to the pradice 
 here reprobated, is, that the ideas of hardly 
 any two will agree refpeding beauty, and, 
 confequently, that what one artift would re- 
 ject as ftiff, heavy, or inharmonious, another 
 may adopt as fublime and contrafting. 
 
 When we are employed to compofe a junc- 
 tion of pidurefque objeds, we are undoubt- 
 edly at liberty to pillage all the ftore-houfes 
 of nature, to groupe, to tranfpofe, and to 
 riot in all the luxuriance of fancy; but a 
 portrait muft be a refemblance, or it is worth 
 
 little 
 
( I0 7 ) 
 
 little to the poffeffor ; and if we affume to 
 ourfelves the licence of planting and felling 
 trees, cleaving mountains, and bending ri- 
 vers, what is to deter us, when depicting the 
 human form, from amending in it whatever 
 we think faulty ? 
 
 When, exerciling our tafte without re- 
 ftraint, we feek a fpot affording a fubjedt for 
 the pencil, we are not compellable to take 
 fuch as thwart our ideas of pidturefque 
 beauty ; but when we are inftrudted as to the 
 compofition of our pidture, furely fidelity 
 demands that it fhould be a copy, and not a 
 creation. 
 
 We muft often caricature improprieties be- 
 fore we can judge how far fmall deviations 
 will lead us aftray. Suppofe, then, we are 
 diredted, in a ftrongly-featured country, to 
 a level encompaffed with dufky rocks, bar- 
 ren, and, to ufe the modern phrafe, imprac- 
 ticable: fuppofe the middle of the plain af- 
 fords us fome acres of a lake redlilinear in its 
 boundaries, that the back-ground is formed 
 
 of 
 
( io8 ) 
 
 of a mountain divided in the middle by an 
 angular opening; and that the fore-ground, 
 on one hand, gives us an acclivity nearly an- 
 fwering to one of thefe maflfes. The pidtu- 
 refque painter turns with abhorrence from 
 fuch a jargon of croffing lines, till recollect- 
 ing that a wood in the fartheft diftance, a rag- 
 ged plantation on one of the rocks, a grace- 
 ful bend of the water, and a little chizeling 
 of the fore-ground, or the partial conceal- 
 ment of it by an old oak, will make it an 
 agreeable view, he fets to work, and pre- 
 fently produces a creation, it is true, of his 
 own brain, but not a reprefentation of an 
 awful, fterile country. 
 
 On the whole, as to falfify is to deceive ; 
 and as to attempt ornament is often to de- 
 form what was not defigned for it, we, in 
 this work are content to take our views as 
 they really exift, aiming at nothing higher 
 than making the moft of them, by chufing a 
 good point of view, and fatisfied with the 
 praife of fcrupulous fidelity. 
 
 One 
 
( io 9 ) 
 
 One of the greateft pleafures attending a 
 vifit to Bath, being that of exploring the 
 beautiful country that furrounds it, we will 
 endeavour to point out to obfervation the 
 feats and villages our limited leifure allowed 
 us to examine. 
 
 Baimington , the feat of his grace the duke 
 of Beaufort, is in Gloucefterfhire, and near a 
 place called Petty France, the firft ftage from 
 Bath to Oxford, Gloucefter, &c. We leave 
 Bath by Walcot, and, keeping the new road 
 on the left hand of the London road, pafs 
 through Swainfwick turnpike. This road is 
 much to be preferred to that over Lanfdown. 
 Afcending the hill, we have a good view of 
 the valley as far as Bath Ford, where King’s- 
 down terminates the landfcape towards the 
 Devizes. 
 
 The right of this hill is fkirted by a wood 
 of confiderable extent, and near the fummit 
 is a plantation of young firs. On almoft all 
 the hills about Bath thefe trees are planted 
 and thrive; but no artift can hail their ap- 
 
 pearance ; 
 
( io 9 ) 
 
 One of the greateft pleafures attending a 
 vifit to Bath, being that of exploring the 
 beautiful country that furrounds it, we will 
 endeavour to point out to obfervation the 
 feats and villages our limited leifure allowed 
 us to examine. 
 
 Badmington , the feat of his grace the duke 
 of Beaufort, is in Gloucefterfhire, and near a 
 place called Petty France, the firjft ftage from 
 Bath to Oxford, Gloucefter, &c. We leave 
 Bath by Walcot, and, keeping the new road 
 on the left hand of the London road, pafs 
 through Swainfwick turnpike. This road is 
 much to be preferred to that over Lanfdown. 
 Afcending the hill, we have a good view of 
 the valley as far as Bath Ford, where King’s- 
 down terminates the landfcape towards the 
 Devizes. 
 
 The right of this hill is fkirted by a wood 
 of confiderable extent, and near the fummit 
 is a plantation of young firs. On almoft all 
 the hills about Bath thefe trees are planted 
 and thrive; but no artift can hail their ap- 
 
 pearance ; 
 
( 110 ) 
 
 pearance : the gloomy and fullen afpedt they 
 prefent, renders a romantic fcene often dull 
 and difagreeable. 
 
 To the left of the hill, and on the brow of 
 a fmaller one, the village of Swainfwick 
 fhews itfelf, encircled with elms and oaks. 
 On the fame fide, and at a little diftance, are 
 the powder-mills, and the village of Wolley ; 
 and on the right, at the fummit behind the 
 road, is Swainfwick-down. 
 
 Palling over Nimlet-down to the crofs 
 hands, there is an opening to the left, which 
 prefents to the eye the hills round Briftol, 
 and, in the extreme diftance, the mountains 
 of Monmouthftiire. There is hereabouts a 
 point of fight, from which the Severn is vi- 
 fible acrofs a valley of peculiar richnefs and 
 beauty. 
 
 At the crofs hands, the two roads from 
 London to Briftol interfedt each other. Lit- 
 tle occurs to arreft the traveller’s attention 
 till we reach Petty France, which is the 
 
 fouthern 
 
( III ) 
 
 Ibuthern extremity of the duke of Beaufort’s 
 park, and little more than a large inn, and 
 its neceflary appendages. 
 
 From the lodge-gate to the duke’s houfe, 
 a road, three miles long, and in a ftrait line, 
 is cut through the park, which is in circum- 
 ference eftimated at nine or ten miles, and 
 diverfified with every thing that fuch fcenery 
 admits of. It abounds with deer and game 
 of all forts. Hares, in particular, are in 
 fuch abundance, that it is impoffible even to 
 courfe them. 
 
 The gardens are elegantly laid out, and am- 
 ply flocked with every vegetable delicacy. 
 
 At the clofe of the laft century, when the 
 fcience of botany was in few hands, and there 
 were, perhaps, no botanic gardens in Eng- 
 land, except the public ones at Oxford and 
 Chelfea, and King William’s at Hampton 
 Court, the duchefs of Beaufort cultivated a 
 very curious collection of exotic plants at 
 Badmington. 
 
 To 
 
( *« ) 
 
 To our fhame be it fpoken, we fpent fo 
 much time in admiring the beauties of the 
 park and gardens, that we had no day-light 
 left to take an accurate view of the houfe. 
 What it is, may be judged of from the com- 
 pliment king William bellowed on it (and 
 no one will accufe him of a difpolition to flat- 
 ter) when he made the then duke a vifit 
 here. He faid, he was not furprifed that he 
 came fo feldom to his court, now that he faw 
 he had a palace of his own ; a fpecies of 
 commendation that might be very acceptable 
 from fo honeft a man; but, in earlier times, 
 it might have made the noble pofleflbr fear 
 left fuch a fentiment as ’This mon wud ?nake a 
 bra traitor , or, I mun'have it for Carr , might 
 have transferred his property. 
 
 We were told that the houfe contained a 
 good collection of pictures. 
 
 Farley cajile is at the diftance of fix miles 
 from Bath, and is, on account of its anti- 
 quity, its importance, and the beautiful ro- 
 mantic fcenery with which it is encompafled, 
 
 a fub- 
 
( "3 ) 
 
 a fubjedt of equal gratification, whether con- 
 templated by the antiquary, the hiflorian, or 
 the artifl. Hill and valley, thick woods, 
 and avenues protradled in long perfpedtive ; 
 and, above all, the favage flate of defolation 
 into which the ancient park is now funk, 
 form a pidture that needs not the fmallefl 
 aid from the imagination to imprefs the mind 
 very forcibly. 
 
 The village of Farley may be traced back 
 to the time of the Norman government in 
 England, and was bellowed by the Conque- 
 ror as a gift on one of his followers, fir Ro- 
 ger de Curcelle. From him, it reverted 
 again to the crown, and was granted to the 
 Montforts by William Rufus ; whence the 
 adjundt of Montfort to its name of Farley. 
 It afterwards got into the Burgherfh family; 
 and, after various meanderings, came to the 
 Hungerfords: by fale, in 1686, the Bayn- 
 tuns became the proprietors of the caftle and 
 demefne ; then it came to the Houlton fa- 
 mily, to whom, after a little deviation into 
 that of Frampton, it has returned, and is 
 
 now 
 
( 1 T 4 ) 
 
 now the property of Jofeph Houlton, efq. 
 who is alfo the patron of the living. 
 
 How old this venerable fabric is, cannot 
 be eafily afcertained; but fo early as 1383 
 it was fortified, and had great additions made 
 to it by Thomas, lord Hungerford. 
 
 On comparing our own obfervations with 
 the account given by Mr. Collinfon of this 
 monument of ancient grandeur, we find our- 
 felves anticipated; and fhall, therefore, take 
 the liberty of preferring his words to any we 
 could make ufe of to defcribe it. 
 
 ‘ The ruins of the caftle ftand on the nor- 
 thern acclivity of a rocky hill, embowered 
 with oaks, walnut-trees, and poplars, and 
 prefent a melancholy pidture of fallen great- 
 nefs. It confifted of two courts, or wards, 
 lying north and fouth; the court northward 
 w as one hundred and eighty feet in length 
 from eaft to weft, and one hundred and 
 forty-four feet in breadth from north to 
 fouth ; and was flanked by four round towers 
 
 fixty 
 
( US ) 
 
 fixty feet in height * Each of thefe towers, 
 the walls of which are five feet thick, was 
 originally divided into three ftories, the apart- 
 ments lit by narrow windows and embra- 
 fures. The walls of the fouth-eaft and fouth- 
 weft towers are ftill remaining tolerably en- 
 tire (except the ftair-cafes), and beautifully 
 veiled with ivy. More than half alfo of the 
 north-eaft tower is ftill Handing: the fouthern 
 wall being fallen down, the windows and 
 old chimney-pieces, interwoven with ivy 
 and wild rofes, appear to view. The north- 
 weft tower is quite down, as are alfo all the 
 intermediate walls and buildings, except a 
 fmall portion of the parapet, which over- 
 looks a deep dell ftiaded with the thickeft 
 wood. In this court flood the great hall, 
 and the ftate apartments, which, (if tradition 
 fpeaks the truth) were not to be equalled in 
 grandeur by any ftrudture in this part of Eng- 
 land, being decorated with rich tapeftry, 
 exquifite fculpture, and beautiful paintings. 
 The hall was a very large and long apart- 
 ment, hung round with armor worn by its 
 martial pofleflors, and fpoils brought from 
 Crefly, Poidtiers, Agincourt, and Calais. 
 
 But 
 
( 116 ) 
 
 But, of thefe buildings which, towards the 
 clofe of the laft century, were nearly entire, 
 the fmalleft remnant now is not left {landing; 
 the whole area of the court being rudely 
 ftrewed with their ruins, which lie in heaps, 
 covered with weeds and luxuriant herbage. 
 A large gateway led from this to the fouthern 
 court, in which were the offices, ftables, 
 ftore-houfes, and guard-rooms; the princi- 
 pal entrance was on the eaft fide, through 
 an embattled gate-houfe, the fhell of which 
 is Hill {landing. Before it, there was for- 
 merly a draw- bridge, over a deep moat, 
 which furrounded the whole caftle; the holes 
 through which the pullies of the bridge 
 palTed, are Hill vifible in the gateway wall; 
 and over the arch are the arms and ereft of the 
 Hungerfords, richly fculptured in the {lone. 
 On the eaftern fide of this court {lands the 
 chapel to which there is a defcent of feveral 
 Heps. This building has of late years been 
 repaired* and is now in tolerable condition: 
 it confifts of a nave and chantry chapel, on 
 the north fide; the former, fifty-fix feet in 
 length, and nineteen and a half in breadth; 
 the latter, twenty feet in length, and four- 
 teen 
 
( ”7 ) 
 
 teen in breadth. The altar-flab is of rich 
 granite ; againft the fouth wall Hands the old 
 pulpit ; and underneath it are feveral pieces 
 of armour, fuch as a head-piece and breaft- 
 plate, with a faddle, brought hither in an old 
 cheft from the old caftle-hall, about the time 
 of its demolition. 
 
 4 In this cheft were found feveral original 
 letters of Oliver Cromwell, of one of which 
 the following is a copy : 
 
 SIR, 
 
 “ I am very forrye my occa- 
 c< cion will not permitt mee to return to you 
 “ as I would. I have not yett fully fpoken 
 “ with the gentleman I fent to waite upon 
 €€ you ; when I ftiall doe it, I ftiall be enabled 
 <l to be more perticular, being unwillinge to 
 “ detaine your fervante any longer. With my 
 “ fervice to your lady and family I take leave 
 “ and reft 
 
 “ Your affeftionate fervant, 
 
 July 30th. 
 
 “ O. Cromwell. 
 
 For my honoured friend 
 Mr. Hungerford, at his 
 houfe. Thefe.’* 
 
 R 
 
 * The 
 
( "8 ) 
 
 * The cieling of this chapel was once de- 
 corated with a good painting of the refurrec- 
 tion, fome parts of which ftill remain in live- 
 ly colors ; and in a border underneath, are 
 the figures of St. John, St. Philip, St. Bar- 
 tholomew, St. Thomas, St. Matthew, St. 
 James the great and St. James the lefs. Over 
 the chapel door, cut in ftone, is a garb be- 
 tween two fickles, the creft of the Hunger- 
 ford family. 
 
 4 Behind the chapel ftands the old habita- 
 tion of Walter Hungerford’s two chantry 
 priefts, now converted into a dairy; the ex- 
 ternal walls of this part of the caille retain 
 fome of their priftine battlements. 
 
 ‘ In this caftle was bom Margaret Planta- 
 genet, daughter of George duke of Clarence, 
 brother of king Edward IV . 
 
 « The village of Farley is but fmall, con- 
 taining about twenty families. The living 
 is redtorial. The parifh-church ftands on an 
 eminence fouthward from the caftle, and is of 
 
 one 
 
( "9 ) 
 
 one aile, ninety-two feet in length and twen- 
 ty-four in breadth. At the weft end is a 
 fmall tower, containing five bells/ 
 
 Corjham houfe , the feat of Paul Methuen, 
 efq. is in Wiltfhire, ten miles from Bath, and 
 four from Chippenham, on the road to Lon- 
 don. The fituation of this houfe is faid to 
 be near that of a palace built by the Saxon 
 king Ethelred ; and the foundation of this 
 family manfion is afcribed to William Holly- 
 day, efq. alderman and fheriff of London, 
 who died in 1648. 
 
 The prefent proprietor has much enlarged 
 and beautified the building, and has eredted 
 a gallery feventy feet by twenty-four, for the 
 reception of his collection of pictures. 
 
 The park is extenfive, and in many parts 
 affords good fubjedts for the pencil. From 
 hence we made an excurfion through Chip- 
 penham, to pay an external vifit to Burr-wood , 
 the feat of the marquis of Lanfdown. In 
 his park there is a maufoleum eredted to the 
 
 memory 
 
( * 2 ° ) 
 
 memory of the late earl of Shelburne, whofe 
 body was interred beneath the fpot it ftands 
 on. The marquis has greatly extended and 
 improved the park, by the addition of a large 
 piece of water. 
 
 Returning from Burr-wood, we halted at 
 Chippenham, and found it apleafant market- 
 town, fituated in an extenfive valley. From 
 this town, there is every way, for the diftance 
 of three miles, a paved path-way, which is 
 kept in repair by a legacy bequeathed for 
 the purpofe, by a lady who lived in the 
 town. 
 
 Midford cajlle , fituated in a hamlet of that 
 name, about two miles fouth-weft of Bath, 
 is a modern edifice in a romantic fpot, built 
 a few years ago by Henry Difney Roebuck, 
 efq. and now the refidence of Dr. Pugh. 
 Mr. Collinfon defcribes the building and fitu- 
 ation very accurately : he fays, its conftruc- 
 tion is fingular, being of a triangular form, 
 with the angles rounded off, and embattled 
 at the top. It is erected on the declivity of 
 
 a hill. 
 
( 121 ) 
 
 a hill, and has a terrace furrounded with a 
 baluftrade of Bath Hone. On the north and 
 eaft lides, is a very deep narrow fequeftered 
 glen, the fteep rugged fides of which are 
 cloathed with fine coppice woods, interfered 
 beautifully with ferpentine walks, and orna- 
 mented with flowering fhrubs. On an abrupt 
 part of the brow which overlooks the hol- 
 low, at the bottom of which a brook, called 
 Horfecombe-brook, murmurs along the rocky 
 channel, is an elegant building called the 
 Priory , a modern eredtion with an antique 
 appearance, with gothic windows, and a cir- 
 cular battlemented tower, in which is a com- 
 modious tea-room, with offices below. At 
 a little diftance from this, under a thick mafs 
 of lhade, Hands a ruftic hermitage, on the 
 brow of a deep defcent. The whole fur- 
 rounding fcenery is highly pidlurefque and 
 romantic. 
 
 The church of South Stoke which joins this 
 lovely hamlet, ftands on the hill, and above 
 it the profpedt is finely diverfified with inclo- 
 fures, woods and bold rocks. Tothefouth- 
 
 eaft 
 
( «** ) 
 
 eaft it is very extenfive, being bounded only 
 by the high ridge of Salifbury-plain. The 
 nearer landfcape offers to the fight the village, 
 with its bridge and mills. 
 
 A tranfient glance at Midford caftle would 
 immediately recall to the Englifh travellers 
 remembrance Eaglehurft, in Hampshire. The 
 furrounding landfcape refembles as much as 
 is natural of that about Tivoli ; the rocks are 
 no bad fubftitutes for ruins, and a contempla- 
 tive eye may wander from the terrace at Mid- 
 ford caftle, till the imagination is tranfported 
 into Italy. 
 
 The folemn gloom of this enchanting fpot, 
 is accompanied by a repofe and filence in per- 
 fedl harmony with it. The murmur of an 
 indiftindt echo, produced by a fmall but pic- 
 turefque water-fall in the vale beneath, the 
 tinkling of a bell, or the barking of a dog, 
 reverberated from rock to rock, are all the 
 founds that intrude on this abode of contem- 
 plation. 
 
 Declining 
 
, r 
 
 
 
 
* u4u.cUiw9.6a. iy %/. Jfu/Zeii 
 
( ) 
 
 Declining from the caftle by a defcent al- 
 moft perpendicular, we enter the village by a 
 turnpike. From the bridge, the water-fall 
 may be difcerned, though indiftindly : there 
 is apalfage to it through a farm near the turn- 
 pike, from whence we crofled a fmall wooden 
 bridge over the brook, and immediately af- 
 cended to the left, where the falls of Comb- 
 hay brook may be perfectly feen, 
 
 Inconfiderable as thefe falls will certainly 
 appear to the northern tourift, they have pe- 
 culiar beauties in the eye of an artift ; forming 
 a number of rills, they rufh over the rocks 
 with impetuofity, and break into elegant and 
 broad maffes. The rocks that feparate their 
 courfes, are mantled luxuriantly with mofs 
 and fedge, and contribute to complete a ftudy 
 highly deferving of the pencil. From the 
 top to the level of the pool beneath, the dis- 
 tance may be about fifteen feet. 
 
 . ‘ ' [/ ji „ ' I {‘ l Of] l jJ{\ 4 \j 
 
 The effed is heightened by a wooden bridge 
 over this pool, and the afh-trees that furround 
 it. The moil pidurefque, or even poetical 
 
 imagination. 
 
( 124 ) 
 
 imagination, could neither add nor alter 
 here without injury. The annexed view 
 was taken from the lowed: ground, oppofite 
 the falls. 
 
 From this bewitching fcene we returned 
 over the bridge to the village, clofe at the 
 back of which a more confiderable ftream 
 forces its channel. Abundance of fmall rural 
 ftudies might be found in the vicinity of this 
 fpot. We re-afcended the hill, which we 
 learnt from theruftics was called Midford-cliff, 
 and reached Bath, after a pleafant walk of 
 eight miles. 
 
 Combe or Combe Monkton is a vicarage three 
 miles fouth of Bath, divided by the rivulet 
 rifing at Midford, from the firft parifli in 
 Wiltfhire. 
 
 The village ftands at the bottom of a hill, 
 called Combe-down> whence the largeft quanti- 
 ty of Bath ftone is extra died. The vale here 
 is narrow, and watered by the above-mention- 
 ed ftream, which having turned the corn- 
 
 mill. 
 
( ) 
 
 mill, empties itfelf into the Avon. The 
 woods here are beautiful, and at the entrance 
 of the village, is an elegant houfe delight- 
 fully placed, called Combe-grove , the proper- 
 ty of Mr. Simpfon. The fummit of the 
 down was rough and barren, till Mr. Allen 
 planted amongft the ftone quarries large groves 
 of firs for the purpofe of ornamenting it. — 
 Here is a pretty range of fmall houfes, origi- 
 nally defigned for the workmen in the quar- 
 ries, but now let out to invalids who refort to 
 this place, on account of the falubrity of the air. 
 
 Claverton is feated on the border of a wind- 
 ing vale at the edge of the Avon, three miles 
 eafl: from Bath. The hill that unites it with 
 Bath, is called Clavert on-down , and is very 
 high, except where it joins Combe-down. 
 From the fummit there is a beautiful view, 
 and as it is in that part a fmooth plain finely 
 turfed, it is a very favorite airing. Mr. Al- 
 len eredted here the fhell of a caftle, which, 
 with the plantation about it, forms an objedt 
 feen a great way off. A turnpike roadcroffes 
 this down, and the quantity of wood here, and 
 
 S the 
 
( «6 ) 
 
 the manner in which it isdifpofed, do honor to 
 Mr. Allen’s liberality and tafte. 
 
 The manor-houfe adjoins the church, and 
 is a noble fabric, to which there is an afcent 
 of thirty fteps. It was here, that in the civil 
 war, a party of gentlemen were fitting, when 
 a cannon ball pafifed through the room, and 
 lodged in the breaft of the chimney, without 
 hurting any one of them. 
 
 Wejlon is a village irregular and ftraggling, 
 near half a mile in length, and pleafantly fitu- 
 ated : the lands hereabouts are moftly pafture, 
 but there is fome wood. 
 
 Great part of Lanfdown lies in this parifh, 
 and the church abounds with monuments, -as 
 mifcellaneous as poflible ; this being, if we 
 might be allowed fo ludicrous an exprefiion, 
 the fajhionable burial-place of the temporary 
 inhabitants of Bath. 
 
 Lanfdown and Claverton were a few years 
 ago almofl: inacceflible; but the roads are now 
 
 perfectly 
 
( I2 7 ) 
 
 perfectly commodious. From one fpot on the 
 former, may be feen great part of the counties 
 of Somerfet, Wilts, Worcefter, Gloucefter ancf 
 Monmouth, and, with a friendly atmofphere, 
 the eye may penetrate into Wales. The downs 
 themfel ves afford fine fore-ground s for a painter. 
 
 The races have been removed from Cla- 
 verton-down to Lanfdown, and are now, by 
 the exertions of Mr. Chichefter, kept up 
 with great vigor. The herbage on Lanfdown 
 is accounted the moft delicate for fattening 
 fheep of any in the weft of England; and more 
 are fed here, than on any of the adjacent hills. 
 
 There is on Lanfdown a monument eredted, 
 in 1720, by George Lord Lanfdown, to the 
 memory of Sir Beville Granville, who was 
 flain here on the 5th of July, 1643, in a 
 battle between the king’s, and the parliament’s 
 forces. In this adtion, the king’s horfe, com- 
 manded by the marquis of Hertford, received 
 fo violent a fhock, that out of two thoufand, 
 not fix hundred were left alive. The marquis, 
 neverthelefs, drove Sir William Waller, who 
 
 commanded 
 
( '28 ) 
 
 commanded the parliaments forces, from his 
 ftrong poll, and forced him to return into Bath. 
 
 The monument is of free ftone, with the 
 figure of a griffin on its fummit, and a tablet 
 on the north and fouth fidcs, with very full 
 infcriptions, which may be found at length 
 in Mr. Collinfon’s elaborate work. 
 
 On the eaft are the king’s arms, and thofe 
 of Granville, and on the weft are trophies of 
 war. The monument ftands within a fquare 
 of twenty-one feet, and near it are remains, 
 as is fuppofed, of a Saxon fortification. 
 
 At no great diftance, are the places where 
 Waller’s army intrenched themfelves, and 
 fome veftiges of the intrenchments may ftill 
 be traced. 
 
 The fpot where the king’s army were en- 
 camped, is to the eaft of the monument. 
 
 A few barrows are to be feen on Lanfdown, 
 and to the fouth of the monument is a fmall 
 
 plantation 
 
( i*9 ) 
 
 plantation of wood, called Nortb-Stoke brow , 
 from whence there is a view of Bath and Brif- 
 tol, with the river Avon in all its windings, 
 as far as, and even beyond Briftol ; its junc- 
 tion with the Severn is very confpicuous, as 
 are the Monmouthfhire hills. In a clear day, 
 the view from this fpot is enchanting, and one 
 of the moft extenfive in this part of England. 
 The Blorench and Sugar-loaf mountains, near 
 Abergavenny, may be diftinftly feen, though 
 at a diftance of forty miles in a right line 
 from Lanfdown. When the fun is declining 
 behind the Welch mountains, in a fine even- 
 ing in July, nothing can be more charming 
 than this view. Any little circumftances that 
 are lefs pidlurefque than they fhould be when 
 feen under the glare of a mid-day light, are 
 then foftened by the evening tints, and mel- 
 lowed into harmony. 
 
 On the top of Lanfdown, near the monu- 
 ment of Sir Beville Granville, are boundaries 
 between the counties of GloucefterandSomer- 
 fet ; from hence they continue weftward 
 down to S winford-mill ; and on the northern 
 
 bank 
 
( *3° ) 
 
 bank of the Avon, till it reaches the Se- 
 vern. 
 
 To the eaftward, the boundaries pafs by 
 Fry’s-farm and Catherine-mill, and continue 
 acrofs the brook of the fame name for a con- 
 fiderable diftance : they then meet the fofle- 
 way in Wiltfhire, where the three counties 
 form a conjunction. 
 
 The downs near Bath abound with free 
 ftone, the ufe of which is general, not only 
 in Bath and Briftol, but in all parts of the 
 weft of England, to which it can be convey- 
 ed by water. — The confumption of it in 
 Briftol has increafed very much of late, as it 
 may be carried thither every tide, and may 
 be (hipped at Briftol at a trifling expence. 
 
 i 
 
 Bath-Eajlon is a parifh, fituated two miles 
 eaftward of the city of Bath. It is very po- 
 pulous, and comprifes a large village. On 
 the fouth-eaft,this parifh is divided from Bath- 
 Hampton, by the Avon, which, fringed with 
 willows, forms an eafy bend through a range 
 
 of 
 
( I 3 I ) 
 
 of fine rich meads, called Arno's Vale> extend- 
 ing from Bath Ford to the city. The houfes 
 on the turnpike-road overlook this beautiful 
 valley, with the village of Hampton, uri- 
 bofomed in trees on the oppofite banks of the 
 Avon, and over-hung by the lofty ridge of 
 Hampton-down, whereon plantations of firs, 
 and patches of rugged rocks, are contrafted 
 with each other. 
 
 On the north-weft fide of the village, Salif- 
 bury hill rifes with a fteep afcent from behind 
 the houfes, to the height of nearly fix hundred 
 feet from the river. About mid-way up the 
 hill, hangs a beautiful grove, which, with 
 the naked fummit towering behind it, forms 
 a fine pidturefque objedt. 
 
 At a little diftance from the village, and 
 fituated on a rifing ground, commanding one 
 of the richeft profpedts imaginable, watered 
 by the Avon, and bounded by majeftic hills 
 and romantic rocks, ftands Bath-Eajlon villa , 
 the feat of Sir J ohn Riggs Miller. Avery 
 beautiful monument , executed by Bacon, has 
 
 been 
 
( * 3 * ) 
 
 been eredted to the memory of Lady Miller, 
 the accomplifhed and deplored miftrefs of this 
 elegant manfion, in the abbey-church, Bath. 
 
 Bath-Ford, fo called from its having a ford 
 over the Avon, is a confiderable parifti, three 
 miles weft of Bath, and in the high road 
 to Bath through the Devizes. 
 
 The fituation of the town is extremely 
 pleafant, being on the declivity of a bold hill 
 called Farley -down, which rifes behind it 
 near feven hundred feet, and is fo variegated 
 with wild rocks, ftone quarries and irregu- 
 larities, as to form a charming landfcape. 
 To the fouth, and within a mile on the oppo- 
 fite fide of a beautiful valley, through which 
 the Avon winds, rife in great magnificence 
 Hampton cliffs, cloathed with hanging woods, 
 and crowned with rude rocks. To the weft 
 and north-weft, an enchanting fcene is form- 
 ed by part of the city, the villages of Bath- 
 Eafton and Hampton, and the rich vale be- 
 tween. 
 
 Here 
 
( *33 ) 
 
 Here is an elegant houfe of Bath ftone, the 
 refidence of Mr. Wiltfhire. 
 
 Bath-Hampton is a fmall parifti, two miles 
 eaft of Bath, pleafantly iituated on a gentle 
 eminence, on the fouth-eaft bank of the 
 Avon. The river divides the village from 
 that of Bath Eafton, It is furrounded on 
 three fides by hills, and on the weft has a 
 very grand view of the city. Here is a mill 
 on the river, and a pretty water-fall from the 
 high weir. Part of the hill which rifes 
 fouth-eaft is called Hampton down : the eaftern 
 part, called the Cliff's , is more than fix hun- 
 dred feet above the river, and, from its ex- 
 ceflive fteepnefs, almoft inacceflible. Its 
 brow is finely contrafted by rugged projecting 
 rocks and quarries, and by plantations of 
 firs, beneath which, fine hanging coppice 
 woods extend almoft to the bottom. From 
 this elevated fpot the profpeCts are truly ro- 
 mantic and beautifully diverfified. On the 
 north and north-eaft, the village of Bath- 
 Eafton, and its noble back-ground of hills, 
 
 T the 
 
( 1 34 ) 
 
 the fine vale which extends between Colerne 
 and Box, through which the London road 
 winds, and which is divided into beautiful 
 inclofures, and the village of Bath-Ford, 
 with the fhapelefs brow of Farley-down 
 hanging over it, are commanded by this emi- 
 nence. To the eaft, immediately under the 
 eye, is the fteep, rugged defcent. At the 
 bottom is a continuation of the vale, inter- 
 fered by hedge-rows, and wafhed by the 
 river Avon. On the oppofite fide of this 
 vale, Farley-down rifes to an immenfe height. 
 This hill is in form of an amphitheatre; the 
 lower part is cultivated enclofures ; the mid- 
 dle, ftone quarries; and the north-eaftern 
 point is a rough cliff crowned with an ancient 
 tumulus, and clumps of firs, forming a noble 
 contraft with the lower fcenery. To the 
 right, the vale winds fouthward, till it is loft 
 to the eye between the hills of Claverton and 
 Monkton Farley. Hampton-down is agreea- 
 bly ornamented with clumps of firs, which 
 harmonize here better than in many other 
 fpots, where they are in abundance. 
 
 Bath - 
 
( r 35 ) 
 
 Bath-Wick can hardly now be feparated, 
 even in idea, from Bath itfelf, being but a 
 quarter of a mile from the New Bridge, It 
 is a pleafant fpot, much reforted to by the 
 tradefmen of Bath, as Illington is by the 
 Londoners, for the purpofe of enjoying the 
 evening in fummer, by fpending it in a little 
 garden and fummer-houfe. The fituation in 
 winter is faid to be damp and foggy; it is 
 frequently under water by the overflowing of 
 the Avon ; and, when the wind is wefterly, 
 it is much annoyed by the city fmoke. 
 
 Fre/hford is a parifh and village four miles 
 fouth of Bath, feated on a hill very romantic, 
 and applicable to the purpofe of the pencil. 
 
 Kelverton , Kelwejion , or, as it is pro- 
 nounced, Kelflon , is a fmall parifli three 
 miles and a half north-weft from Bath, on 
 the northern bank of the Avon, and in the 
 upper turnpike road from Bath to Briftol, by 
 King-road. Nothing can be imagined 
 more beautiful than this road, as it is formed 
 on a waving terrace, and commands on both 
 
 fides 
 
( * 3 6 ) 
 
 lides a very rich profpedL On the left is a 
 vale through which the Avon winds, edged 
 by the villages of Newton, Twiverton, and 
 Corfton, with a high range of cultivated hills 
 behind them. On the left, the towering 
 heights of Lanfdown rife immediately from 
 the road. Combe-brook has its fource under 
 this part of Lanfdown, and empties itfelf into 
 the Avon a little lower. 
 
 In the eaft of Kelfton parifh is a hill called 
 Hcnjlridge hill , or Kelfton round hill . It is 
 very high, and is lingular in its appearance, 
 from a circum fiance not pleafing to the eye 
 of a landfcape painter, its top terminating 
 with a plantation of firs, inclofed by a circu- 
 lar wall; but the profpedl atones for this 
 feeming blemifh ; and, if Henftridge hill is 
 not the molt agreeable object in the county, 
 it prefents one of the firft profpetfts in it. 
 Marlborough foreft is feen in the eaft, Salif- 
 bury plain, and part of Dorfetfhire, towards 
 the fouth ; the Mendip hills in the weft; 
 and, on the north-weft the Briftol channel, 
 the coaft of Wales, part of Monmouthfhire, 
 
 and 
 
( «37 ) 
 
 v> ecvw 
 
 and the foreft of Devon. Bath and Briftol, 
 with all their accompaniments, are clofe in 
 view. 
 
 Kelfton is dignified, as having been the pro- 
 perty of the family of Harington, in whofe 
 pofifeflion the manor continued till a few 
 years fince, when it was fold to the late Sir 
 Caefar Hawkins, whofe grandfon is the pre- 
 fent proprietor. 
 
 The old manor-houfe which had been 
 built about 1587, after a defign of Barozzi of 
 Vignola, was pulled down upwards of 
 twenty years ago by Sir Caefar Haw’kins, 
 who erefted the prefent elegant manfion. 
 It is fituated on a rifing ground, and com- 
 mands, if not a very grand, yet a very ex- 
 tenfive and finely variegated profped:. The 
 meandrings of the Avon are here difplayed to 
 great advantage, and Bath makes altogether 
 a beautiful object : fine lawns and hanging 
 woods give the furrounding grounds a foft- 
 nefs of outline and of tints well adapted for 
 copying. 
 
 Langridge 
 
( t 3 S ) 
 
 Langridge is a fmall parifh on the eaftern 
 declivity of Lanfdown hill, three miles from 
 Bath, and overlooking a very rich vale. The 
 old manor-houfe is now reduced to a farm- 
 houfe, and prefents a Angular appearance, 
 having in one part an old fquare tower, and 
 in another a gothic window. 
 
 North Stoke is a place four miles north- 
 weft of Bath, and much reforted to for the 
 fake of the beautiful profpedl, from a point 
 of land we have before mentioned, called 
 North-Stoke brow. 
 
 St. Catharine's is one of the moft beautiful 
 villages in the neighbourhood of Bath ; it is 
 two miles out of the London road, through 
 Bath Eafton, and four from the city itfelf. 
 Mr. Collinfon thus defcribes it : * The vil- 
 lage ftands on the declivity of a fteep hill 
 called Holt Down y facing the eaft, and co- 
 vered with wood difpofed in the moft pidlu- 
 refque manner. A fmall rivulet winds 
 through the vale, beneath which is compofed 
 of rich verdant meadows; and on its back 
 
 rifes 
 
( *39 ) 
 
 rifes another hill of about equal height, 
 Ikirted with wood. The road hither, from 
 Bath-Eafton, which is almoft the only way 
 to get to the village, is through dark lanes, 
 overhung with trees and hedges, and, in 
 many places, very fteep and rocky. The 
 precipitous height of Holt-down on the 
 right, and the profped: on the left of a rich 
 varied country, ftretching to the Wiltfliire 
 hills ; and the wildnefs and filent gloominefs 
 of the fcenery around, render this folitary 
 track, which is little vifited by the traveller, 
 pleafing and delightful. * 
 
 This fequeftered fpot has its humble 
 church, at the weft end of which is a fquare 
 tower with battlements. 
 
 Charlcombe is one mile and a half north- 
 eaft of Bath, and is a village of only nine 
 houfes and a church, fmall, but very ancient, 
 and well worth an antiquary’s notice. The 
 iituation of this diminutive parifh is under 
 Lanfdown : its views are not extenfive, but 
 very pretty. It is almoft furrounded with 
 
 hills 
 
( * 4 ® ) 
 
 hills adorned with woods and coppices. Vi- 
 fiting the church, our minds were forcibly 
 ftruck on reading an infcription, pointing out 
 the place of interment of the right honourable 
 lady Barbara Montague, daughter of George 
 earl of Halifax. The idea of title , when 
 connected with fuch a fpot as this, would be 
 an incongruity, did it not lead us to contem- 
 plate that equality to which all return, when 
 we find thofe, whom birth and fortune buoy 
 up above the common level of mankind, 
 feeking their lall repofe in the obfcurity of 
 Charlcombe. 
 
 Swainfwick, or, as in compliment to king 
 Bladud, and his pigs, it is generally called 
 Switiefwick. is a pretty village three miles 
 north-eafi: of Bath, with a church. 
 
 Wolley is a parifli confifting only of a few 
 ftraggling houfes, two miles north-eaft from 
 the city of Bath, in the valley between Lanf- 
 down and Holt-down. Here is a pleafing 
 variety of fwells and receffes; and the-valeis 
 a range of rich meadows, watered by a fmall 
 
 ftream. 
 
( ) 
 
 ftream, on which are Mr. Worgan’s gun- 
 powder mills. They form a very pidturefque 
 objedt, being almoft furrounded with wood. 
 The church is elegant and modern, rebuilt 
 at the foie expence of one lady. 
 
 Widcombe and Lyncombe , are two parifhes 
 confolidated into one, containing, as Mr. Col- 
 linfon fays, though not of large extent, fix 
 hundred houfes, and nearly four thoufand in- 
 habitants. 
 
 The Avon divides it from Bath ; but there 
 is a very handfome ftone bridge over it, built 
 at the expence of the corporation of Bath, in 
 1 7 54. There are in this parifh feveral very 
 elegant villas, commanding rich profpedts. 
 
 The church ftands under a ridge of a per- 
 pendicular rocky hill, and near it is a hand- 
 fome houfe, built by the late Mr. Bennett. 
 
 Lyncombe is in a deep valley very roman- 
 tic and various. Two mineral fp rings have 
 been difcovered here. Here is a houfe of en- 
 U tertainment, 
 
( 14 * ) 
 
 tcrtainment, much frequented by the vifitors 
 to Bath, called King James's Palace , becaufe 
 James II. is faid to have concealed himfelf 
 here, after his abdication. 
 
 A part of Widcombe is called, from its 
 concavity, Hollow -way , and immediately over 
 this and part of Claverton-ftreet, hangs Beecb- 
 en-cliffy covered with a beautiful coppice- 
 wood. The hill is more than four hundred 
 feet above thefurface of the Avon, and affords 
 from its fummit, a very Angular view of the 
 city and the vale from Bath-Ford to Kelfton. 
 The common water for the ufe of the city of 
 Bath, is fupplied from nearly this fpot. 
 
 In this parifh is fituated one of the great- 
 eft ornaments of the vicinity of Bath, the 
 ftately manfion of Prior-park. The houfe 
 ftands on a terrace, about one hundred feet 
 below the fummit of Combe-down, and 
 four hundred feet above the city of Bath, 
 from which it is a mile and half diftant, in 
 a fouth-eaftern direction. 
 
 This 
 
B AT'U , from tlie private Road leading to Prior Park. 
 
( H3 ) 
 
 This beautiful and fuperb feat was, as is 
 known' to every body, built by the celebrated 
 Mr. Allen : he had engaged his interefts in 
 the quarries near Bath, and wiftiing to recom- 
 mend the Jftone to general ufe, by vending it 
 at a low rate, and bringing it into notice, he 
 was one of thofe who offered to contrail 
 for the buildings then projected at Green- 
 wich-hofpital. He was here oppofed by 
 Colin Campbell, who, as Mr. Wood relates, 
 unfortunately miftaking two famples, one of 
 Portland, the other of Bath-flone, while he 
 was defcanting on the fuperiority of the 
 former, and endeavouring to prove it; by inad- 
 vertently producing that he meant to con- 
 demn, gave the committee fo much light in- 
 to the bufinefs of the mafon, that though 
 they adopted the Portland ftone, they got the 
 work done three and thirty per cent, cheaper 
 than it otherwife would have been. 
 
 This difappointment, and an increafing de- 
 fire to fhew the world, that the general de- 
 grading opinion was ill founded, induced Mr. 
 Allen to build a dwelling-houfe and offices 
 
 for 
 
( *44 ) 
 
 for himfelf, of this material, that fhould 
 prove what it could do ; and accordingly a 
 plan was made, and the fpot chofen on his 
 eftate, which, from its having been an ap- 
 pendage of the priory, ftill retained its roman- 
 tic name. 
 
 The claffic tafte of Mr. Wood was never 
 more fitly employed, or more happily exerted, 
 than when thus indulged in all its luxuriance, 
 by the wealth and liberality of Mr. Allen. 
 The building confifls of a principal front, 
 nearly one hundred and fifty feet in length, 
 with two pavilions, and two wings of offices, 
 united with the centre by arcades, the whole 
 forming a curved line of near one thoufand 
 feet. The centre itfelf confifls of three parts, 
 the middle one of which is adorned with a 
 projecting portico, reputed the moft nicely 
 correCt of any in the kingdom. The columns 
 of the portico are of the Corinthian order, and 
 it is finifhed at top with an entire pediment 
 and cornice; the other two thirds of the front 
 terminate at top with a baluftrade. The 
 height of the building contains a bafement, 
 
 aprin- 
 
 
( *45 ) 
 
 a principal and an upper ftory, and in length, 
 fifteen windows. The Corinthian hall, the 
 chapel, which is of the Ionic order, and a 
 Corinthian gallery extending over the hall, 
 and the rooms on each fide of it, are allfinifhed 
 with ftone. Whoever wifhes for an accurate 
 and fcientific account of this magnificent 
 building, will find it in Mr. Wood’s Eflay 
 towards a defcription of Bath. 
 
 The gardens are adorned with a variety 
 of ftone-work, particularly a ftatue placed 
 at the head of a water-fall, reprefenting Mofes 
 ftriking the rock. At the bottom of the lawn, 
 before the houfe, is a piece of water, and a 
 Palladian bridge of ftone. 
 
 The natural beauties of thefe grounds are 
 great, # and they have been fuccefsfully aided 
 by art. The views are pi&urefque, and the 
 fcenery is often romantic. 
 
 The whole of this eftate defcended from 
 Mr. Allen to his niece, the lady of Bifhop 
 Warburton, and is now, in confequence of her 
 
 fecond 
 
fecond marriage, occupied by the Rev. Mar. 
 tin Stafford Smith. 
 
 It was from the new road made by Mr. 
 Allen to Combe-down, that the annexed view 
 of Bath was taken. 
 
 Before we quit this fpot, let us intreat the 
 forgivenefs of our readers, for having omitted 
 to remark, that the prefent improved ftate of 
 the roads all round Bath, has fuperfeded the 
 ufe of the machine invented by Mr. Allen, 
 for the fafe conveyance of maffes of flone, &c. 
 
 Wellow is a large parifh, five miles fouth- 
 weft of Bath, and fituated in a champain 
 country, furrounded with hills finely wood- 
 ed. This place has been eminently fertile in 
 Roman antiquities. Its neighbour, Camerton , 
 has nothing remarkable in it but ahandfome 
 houfe and plantations, near the church, the 
 refidence of James Stephens, efq. 
 
 Combe-hay is beautifully fituated, and has 
 a neat modern church, with an old tower. 
 
 D unker ton, 
 
( I 47 ) 
 
 Dunkerton , Inglijhcombe , Kinton-Charter - 
 houfe> Norton St. Philip's , and feveral other 
 villages in the neighbourhood, join in the 
 beautiful chorus of Somerfetlhire landfcape ; 
 but, individually, are of little importance* 
 
( H8 ) 
 
 SECTION III. 
 
 HERE are two roads from Bath to Brif- 
 
 A tol : the one, called the higher road, 
 leads by Bitton, through Kingfwood ; that 
 called the lower , goes by Twiverton and 
 Keynfham. The higher road is nearer by 
 two miles ; but the lower is in general prefer- 
 red by travellers, as being lefs incommoded 
 by carts and colliers. 
 
 Under Holloway, we proceed by the banks 
 of the Avon, till we reach the village of 
 Twiverton, only two miles diftant from Bath. 
 On the right, and on the other fide of the ri- 
 ver, is a worfted and cotton manufactory; 
 below this, are the brafs and wire mills, and 
 here is a lock made to communicate again 
 with the river Avon. 
 
 Twiverton 
 
( *49 ) 
 
 Twiverton is prettily fheltered by gentle 
 eminences. The hills hereabout are of a 
 very rocky texture, and are faid to abound in 
 iron ore. Red ochre is frequently to be feen 
 in the excavations. 
 
 The valley, through which the Avon runs 
 in this part, amply atones, by its richnefs, for 
 the ftony barrennefs of the hills. It curves 
 in broad elegant forms, and the river here 
 takes a beautiful ferpentine diredlion. 
 
 The new bridge of one arch, is univerfally 
 admired, and in its conftru&ion, refembles 
 that of the well-known Pont y Pridd, in Gla- 
 morganfhire. Part of it broke down by an ac- 
 cident a few years fince ; but it has been re- 
 paired and perfected. Exclufive of that at 
 Keynfham, this is the only bridge, between 
 Bath and Briftol, that opens a paflage from 
 the higher to the lower road. 
 
 Till we reach the five-mile ftone, the road is 
 level, and fhews little variety of profpedl : we 
 then fee Kelfton, the feat of the late Sir Caefar 
 
 X Hawkins. 
 
( 150 ) 
 
 Hawkins. As we have before defcribed this 
 charming place, we {hall only fay, that here 
 it is feen to great advantage, and with its ac- 
 companiments of wood and lawns, judici- 
 oufly interperfed, makes not only a pic- 
 turefque, but a magnificent appearance. 
 
 About the four mile ftone, the Wells road 
 from Bath branches off to the left. Amend- 
 ing the hill, we have an opening of the 
 valley beneath, as extenfive, but deftitute of 
 thofe features that recommend landfcape to the 
 pencil. The principal objed: is the weir, which 
 lies clofe under the hill, and extends acrofs the 
 river. The innumerable eddies, and the rage 
 of the foam, ferve in fome meafure as a con- 
 trail: to the quiefcent famenefsof the view. 
 
 Having gained the fummit of the hill, we 
 reach Salford, an inconfiderable village. The 
 road is now pent up between hedge-rows, 
 affording little to attradl attention, except the 
 oppofite hills, that join Lanfdown, and the 
 village and church of Bitton at its foot, by 
 which the Avon meanders. This, together 
 
 with 
 
( ) 
 
 with the quantity of wood furrounding the 
 village, form an agreeable coup (Tail. 
 
 Two miles farther, we enter Keynftiam, a 
 town formerly of fome note. It is fituated 
 fix miles weft of Bath, on the fouth bank of 
 the Avon, and on the weft bank of the river, 
 or rather rivulet Chew, which here lofes itfelf 
 in the Avon. The church is large ; and its 
 lofty tower may be feen above the furround- 
 ing hills at a great diftance. Here was a pri- 
 ory of regular canons, founded by the earl of 
 Gloucefter, about 1 170. A handfome ftone- 
 bridge, of fifteen arches, ftretches acrofs the 
 Avon here, and joins Somerfetfhire to Glou- 
 cefterfhire. Near the bridge, are the wire 
 mills, belonging to the brafs and wire com- 
 pany of Briftol, who have a monopoly of all 
 fuch works on this river between Bath and 
 Briftol. Keynftiam has a weekly market, and 
 two fairs are held in March, the other in Au- 
 guft. A chief article of trade here is malting. 
 
 The river Chew is celebrated, in its neigh- 
 bourhood, for producing great numbers of 
 
 fmall 
 
( J 5S ^ 
 
 fmall eels, which it is the cuftom to boil, and 
 make into cakes : the fpring of the year is 
 the feafon for them ; they have a peculiar 
 flavor, and are accounted a great dainty in 
 the After cities. 
 
 Snake-ftones are very commonly found 
 about Keynftiam. The fuperftitious of the 
 country are of opinion, that they were the 
 miraculous produdtion of a Britifti virgin, 
 Keina, who thus petrified living ferpents. 
 To the lefs credulous, it may be fufficient to 
 obferve, that the town is built on a rock, 
 abounding in foflil and fpar. 
 
 At Stantonbury, a village at no great dif- 
 tance from Keynftiam, are the remains of a 
 camp, fituated on the top of a hill, and re- 
 puted to contain near thirty acres of ground. 
 
 Defcending from Keynftiam, we climb 
 another hill, on the left of which, the valley 
 and the river prefent themfelves : we then 
 again lofe fight of them, and fink into the 
 road, which lies between hedges, till we reach 
 
 Briflington, 
 
( l S3 ) 
 
 Briflington, a village two miles fouth-eaft of 
 Briftol. 
 
 We were now warned of our approach to 
 this city, by blazing furnaces, and glafs- 
 houfes, and by meeting droves of over-bur- 
 thened coal-horfes, &c. The coal-mines 
 here are very numerous and productive ; the 
 veins are covered with a kind of fhell or 
 cruft, of a black and ftony fubftance, called 
 Wark, w r hich fplits like (late, but is ftill more 
 frangible. On dividing it, there is frequently 
 found the print of a fern leaf, as if engraved, 
 and on the correfponding furface, a protube- 
 rant figure, by which the impreflion is made. 
 
 On the right, as we leave Briflington, the 
 valley opens, and acquires the name of Arno's 
 vale ; by what right is not eafy to conjecture, 
 as it contains nothing but fmoking brick-kilns 
 and footy furnaces. We now again fall in 
 with the Avon, which bears us company till 
 we enter 
 
 BriJloL — The name of this city is a cor- 
 ruption of that of Brightftow, which was 
 
 beftowed 
 
( *54 ) 
 
 beftowed on it by the Saxons, and fignifies 
 a celebrated place. By the Britons it is faid 
 to have been called Caer-Oder-Nant-Vadon, 
 or the city of Odera, in Badon valley. It is 
 mentioned fo early as the beginning of the 
 eleventh century, as having been the place 
 whence Harold fet fail for the conqueft of 
 Wales. In the reign of William Rufus it 
 was the feat of war, in the rebellion of the 
 bifhop of Conftance, and was then fortified 
 by an inner wall, part of which is fuppofed 
 ftill to be vifible. In the reign of Stephen, 
 Robert, brother to the emprefs Maud, built 
 a caftlehere; the ditch is at this day exifting, 
 but the fabric was levelled by Oliver Crom- 
 well, and the fcite of it is now laid out in 
 ftreets. King Stephen was fent hither a pri- 
 foner after his defeat at Lincoln ; but Robert, 
 the illegitimate fon of Henry I. being in cap- 
 tivity with the oppofite party, an exchange 
 was agreed on, which procured the king his 
 liberty. 
 
 Cromwell cannonaded the city from Bran- 
 don hill, and, with his wanted fandtity, con- 
 verted 
 
( *55 ) 
 
 verted the abbey into ftabling for his troops, 
 mutilating and deftroying whatever had a 
 claim to refpecft from its office or antiquity. 
 While the civil commotions lafted, Briftol 
 was alternately poffefled by the king’s and 
 parliament’s forces. 
 
 The city of Briftol may vie with moft in 
 England, for beauty as well as convenience of 
 fituation. It lies in a valley of an uneven 
 furface, encompaffed with eminences of vari- 
 ous heights and forms. The air, in its na- 
 tural ftate is remarkably pure ; but the fmoke 
 bluing from the brafs-works,glafs-houfes, &c. 
 keeps the town in an almoft impenetrable ob- 
 fcurity. As it ftands on feven hills, and is 
 interfered by the Avon, Briftol has been fre- 
 quently compared to ancient Rome and its Ti- 
 ber. On the north fide, the houfes rife above 
 each other to a confiderable height, and en- 
 tirely overlook the lower part of the city. The 
 moft elevated point is that of Kingfdown; 
 and of the fteepnefs here, fome idea may be 
 formed from the flight of fteps which have 
 been hewn in the hill to facilitate the afcent. 
 
 Briftol 
 
( ) 
 
 Briftol ftands in the two counties of Glou-* 
 cefter and Somerfet, and is alfo a county of 
 itfelf, having been made fo by Edward III. 
 who eftablifhed a' wool-manufadtory here. 
 The river Avon, which here joins the Froome, 
 divides the counties. The fhores abound with 
 convenient quays and wharfs, far fuperior to 
 any on the Thames, wet and dryi docks, and 
 a great number of dock-yards. The river, 
 rapid in its courfe, and rifing to the height of 
 forty feet, brings fhips, of a thoufand tons 
 burthen, up to Briftol bridge. The bufinefs 
 of fhip-building is carried on here with very 
 great fuccefs. 
 
 The bridge, diftinguifhed by the name of 
 Briftol bridge, is a plain, yet elegant ftrudture 
 of three arches, with a ftone baluftrade on 
 each fide, about feven feet high, and raifed 
 foot-paths chained in. The avenues leading 
 to this bridge have been lately much improved, 
 and are daily mending. 
 
 Over the river Froome there are two bridges, 
 the one, called the Draw-bridge, leads to the 
 
 center 
 
( 1 57 ) 
 
 center of the city, and that at the extremity 
 of the wharfs, called the Stone-bridge, com- 
 municates with the lower parts towards St. 
 James’s. 
 
 In commercial importance, Briftol owns 
 no fuperior in Great Britain excepting Lon- 
 don.— The merchants here freight {hips to 
 every part of the globe ; and their opulence 
 fets them on an equality with any traders in 
 Europe. The idea of total occupation in 
 trade, which muft ftrike every mind, on be- 
 holding a city, in which from twenty to thirty 
 fugar-houfes, and abundance of fulphur, tur- 
 pentine, vitriol, and coal-works, brafs and 
 iron founderies, diftilleries, glafs-houfes, and 
 manufactories of woollen {tuffs, and china, 
 are almoft incelfantly at work, is agreeably 
 corrected by the great encouragement and 
 fuccefs literature, and the polite arts, meet 
 with in this emporium of the weft, and the 
 very liberal urbanity with which perfons of 
 all nations are encouraged to fettle here, and 
 become free of the city. Luxury, in her 
 paflage through our ifland, has not forgotten 
 
 Y to 
 
( 158 ) 
 
 to vifit Briftol ; but (he has not been able to 
 expel induftry. The gentry, merchants, and 
 traders, have very elegant town and country 
 houfes, and public amufements, as frequent, 
 and as various, as thofe of the metropolis. 
 A particular degree of civility and attention 
 is remarkable in the (hop-keepers, and they 
 are in general free from the charge of extor- 
 tion. 
 
 The city is governed by a mayor, who, 
 before the difpute with the colonies, had an 
 annual allowance of fifteen hundred pounds 
 tofupport his dignity ; at prefent it is reduced 
 to one thoufand : during his mayoralty, this 
 officer is rarely feen in the ftreets but in his 
 carriage. The corporation is compofed of 
 twelve aldermen, all juftices of the peace, 
 two (heriffs, who have each four hundred 
 pounds for the difchargeof the office, twenty- 
 eight common council-men, a town clerk and 
 his deputy, a chamberlain and vice-chamber- 
 lain, clerks of the court of confcience, under- 
 fheriff, fword-bearer, &c. &c. 
 
 The 
 
( *59 ) 
 
 The principal buildings are the Cathedral, 
 or collegiate church, St. Mary Redcliffe, the 
 Exchange, the Cuftom-houfe, the Council- 
 houfe, the Guildhall, the Port-office, the Mer- 
 chants 5 , the Coopers’, and the Merchant-tay- 
 lors’ hall, the Theatre, and the Aflembly rooms. 
 
 The cathedral is fituated on the brow of a 
 gentle afcent, and on the weft fide of a plot 
 of ground, called College-green. The build- 
 ing formerly extended confiderably, both to 
 the north and fouth ; but Cromwell’s artillery, 
 on Brandon-hill, abridged it at both ends moft 
 cruelly. The architecture is for the moft 
 part Gothic, but with a flight intermixture 
 of the Saxon. Its external appearance is 
 heavy and confufed. The tower is low, and 
 not unlike that of Winchefter. The length 
 of the church is one hundred and feventy-five 
 feet, and the height to the fummit of the 
 tower, one hundred and thirty. The win- 
 dows are of painted glafs, and the infide 
 of the church is decorated with a few mo- 
 numents : that of Robert Fitzharding, mayor 
 of Briftol, and who, in the twelfth centu- 
 ry* 
 
( i6° ) 
 
 ry, founded the monaftery here, is near the 
 door. 
 
 The religious foundation was originally 
 dedicated to St. Auguftine, and by Henry II, 
 was converted into an abbey. After the 
 diffolution, Henry VIII. made it a cathedral, 
 called it that of the Holy Trinity, and placed 
 in it a dean, fix prebendaries, and other 
 ecclefiaftical officers. 
 
 To the weft of the cathedral, there remains 
 a Gothic arched gateway, leading from the 
 upper to the lower green. On each fide, are 
 four ftatues of kings, and over the gate on 
 the north fide, is the following infcription : 
 
 4 Rex Henricus fecundus et Dominus 
 * Robertus filius Hardingi, filii Regis Daciae, 
 
 4 hujus monafterii primi fundatores exti- 
 4 terunt. > 
 
 King Henry II. and Lord Robert, fon of 
 Harding, fon of the king of Denmark, were 
 the firft founders of this monaftery. 
 
 The 
 
( * 6 * ) 
 
 The church of St. Mary Redcliffe is univer- 
 fally efteemed the fineft parochial church in 
 the kingdom. It ftands without the walls of 
 the city, and in the county of Somerfet. The 
 afcent to it is by a grand flight of ftone fteps, 
 and the whole building exhibits the perfection 
 of Gothic architecture. The tower is Angular 
 but elegant, and nearly two hundred feet 
 high. The church has a large and excellent 
 organ, and the altar-piece is a painting by 
 Hogarth, undoubtedly his chef-d’oeuvre in a 
 ftyle his genius was not formed for. The 
 fubjeCt is the rolling the ftone from the fe- 
 pulchre. The figures have energy, the co- 
 loring is clear and brilliant ; the compofition 
 is judicious, and the chiaro ofcuro has been 
 clolely attended to. 
 
 Among the monuments, is one for Wil- 
 liam Cannings, the founder of this church, 
 temp. Hen. VI. and another for Sir William 
 Penn, Knt. Vice-admiral of England, and 
 father of William Penn, the quaker, who 
 was a native of Briftol. 
 
 There 
 
( 1 6a ) 
 
 There are in Briftol no fewer than eigh- 
 teen parifh churches : the moft remarkable of 
 them, befides thofe we have defcribed, are 
 St. Stephen’s, admired for the beauty of its 
 tower; All Saints, noticed for its refemblance 
 to Bow church, London; and the Temple 
 church, the tower of which is many degrees 
 out of the perpendicular, and which, accord- 
 ing to Camden, when the bells are rung, 
 moves as he exprefles it, * hue et illuc> this 
 way and that. On the fide of the green op- 
 pofite to the cathedral, is the church of St. 
 Mark, now called the Mayor’s chapel. 
 
 The Exchange is fituated in Corn-ftreet, 
 and was opened in 1743, after fifty thou- 
 fand pounds had been expended in the pur- 
 chafe of ground, and eredtion of it. The 
 front is one hundred and ten feet in extent, 
 and the depth is one hundred and forty-eight. 
 It is capable of containing fifteen hundred 
 perfons. Before the Exchange, and on the 
 Tolfey, are fome of the old brafs pillars ufed 
 for tranfadfing bufinefs before this edifice 
 was built. 
 
 The 
 
( 1 63 ) 
 
 The Council-houfe is a ftone building 
 erected in 1701. Over the chimney, in the 
 room where the corporation meet, there is a 
 whole length portrait, by Vandyke, faid to 
 be that of an earl of Pembroke, a prefent to 
 the city of Briftol. 
 
 In the Guildhall, the affizes and feffions, 
 and the mayor’s and fheriffs’ courts are hol- 
 den. Adjoining to it is a lofty room called 
 St. George’s chapel, in which the city offi- 
 cers are chofen. 
 
 The theatre is in King-ftreet. The per- 
 formers are thofe of Bath, and they have 
 plays every Monday night. 
 
 The aflembly-room, in Prince’s-ftreet, is a 
 lofty ftone building, about ninety feet in 
 length. It has a mafter of the ceremonies, 
 diftindt from that of the hot- wells. Over 
 the door is this infcription, 4 Curas Cytherea 
 tollit.’ 
 
 The 
 
( ) 
 
 The charitable inftitutions of Briftol reflect: 
 the utmoft honor on the city for their num- 
 ber and variety. The former are faid to ex- 
 ceed the parifhes in number, and the latter 
 include almoft all the neceffities of infancy 
 and age. 
 
 Queen-fquare is decorated with an equef- 
 trian ftatue of King William III. 
 
 A furvey of the circumference of this city 
 was made about fixty years ago, and it was 
 then calculated at feven miles. Since that 
 time it has increafed nearly one third, befides 
 the addition of many houfes, at Ihort dis- 
 tances, all round the town. The liberties 
 extend from Lawford’s gate down to the 
 Rownham paflage. 
 
 A fpirit of emulation and improvement 
 has pervaded Briftol within thefe few years, 
 and contributed much to the beauty of its 
 appearance. In that part towards Clifton it 
 bids fair to rival Bath. 
 
 Adjoining 
 

 
 T> 
 
 ? 
 
( *S ) 
 
 Adjoining Park-ftreet is a ftone houfe be- 
 longing to Mr. Tyndale. It has three 
 fronts, and overlooks the principal parts of 
 the city, the river, and the adjacent country, 
 the vale of Afhton and Dundry hill and 
 tower, which in the morning, and at fun fet, 
 have a very remarkable effed. This group 
 of fcenery pofleffes no fmall degree of beauty: 
 the valley is well wooded, and breaks into 
 forms pleafingly irregular. Clofe under the 
 hill paffes the Avon, and, at the turn of the 
 tide, prefents the {hips floating up. The 
 greatefl: objection to this view is the long 
 line of the hill of Dundry. 
 
 A purchafe has recently been made of 
 Mr. Tyndale’s park for the purpofe of build- 
 ing, and a number of labourers were, when 
 we vifited it, preparing the ground. 
 
 The road to the Hot-wells leads by the 
 bottom of N Brandon-hill, on the left of which 
 the Avon ftiapes its courfe. A fliort diftance 
 farther, the river is concealed from fight by a 
 
 Z 
 
 row 
 
\ 
 
 ( 1 66 ) 
 
 row of houfes to the left, called the HoUwell 
 road, till we reach Dowry-fquare, a plain, 
 but beautiful fituation, at the foot of Clifton- 
 hill. 
 
 On the left of the Hot- well road a crefcent 
 is now building, which will, when com- 
 pleted, make a handfome appearance. 
 
 Beyond Dowry-fquare, the road leads by 
 the Old and New Rooms, and down to the 
 ferry, at the Rownham paffage, where again 
 the Avon accompanies the path, and remains 
 with us till we reach the Hot-well houfe. 
 
 The Parade, leading to the Hot-well houfe, 
 is Ihelteredon each fide by trees, and has, of 
 late, received feveral additions. It wants 
 breadth, but is kept in excellent order. The 
 road from the Rooms to the Wells has been 
 alfo much improved; and, inftead of a few 
 paltry huts that Ikirted this avenue, there are 
 now building fome very handfome ftone 
 houfes. 
 
 The 
 
V 
 
 f 
 
 
 
 ' / 
 
 
( i6 7 ) 
 
 The Well-houfe is fituated at the foot of 
 the romantic rocks of St. Vincent, and under 
 the fteep crags of Clifton, and obtrudes itfelf 
 feveral feet into the Avon. It has a good 
 effect when viewed from almoft any point ; 
 and, for a building of the fort, may be termed 
 pidturefque. Its gable ends are converted 
 into chimnies. The crefcent that extends 
 towards what is called the Rock-houfe, varies 
 the forms of this compofition very happily^ 
 and it is backed by abrupt rocks, well co- 
 vered with verdure, and affording an agreeable 
 repofe for the eye. The Well-houfe harmo- 
 nifes with this fcene, and prevents the ftu- 
 pendous cliffs from burfting on the fight at 
 an improper diftance, and thereby leffening 
 their pi&urefque effedt. Palling under the 
 piazza, and through the paffage of the houfe, 
 the view is grand, even to a degree of awful- 
 nefs. Some violent effort of nature appears 
 to have rent the folid rock to form a bed for 
 the river Avon, which rolls in a tremendous 
 chafm for more than two miles. 
 
 The 
 
( 168 ) 
 
 The water of the Hot- well, commonly- 
 known by the name of Briftol water, iiTues 
 out of a rock on the north fide of the river 
 Avon, and when firft drawn, is warm and 
 of a whitifh color; but this hue it lofes as 
 it cools. Bubbles rife in it on its firft expo- 
 sure to the air; the tafte is very foft and 
 milky, but it leaves a peculiar ftiptic fenfa- 
 tion on the palate. The elafticity of the air 
 with which it is impregnated, makes it ne- 
 cefifary to drink it quickly. An impregna- 
 tion of lime, Sulphur, nitre, and iron, with 
 the addition of an alkaline quality, is disco- 
 vered in this water by the ufual chemical 
 procefs. It diflolves Sal-ammoniac with a 
 confiderable effervefcence. Oil of tartar will 
 make it effervefce, and increafes the milky 
 appearance, which, in going off, leaves a 
 light earthy precipitate. Dififolved Soap cur- 
 dles it, and covers the fur face with a greafy 
 fubftance, the water below at the fame time 
 becoming turbid. Solution of filver will 
 produce an inky appearance in the water. 
 A gallon of water contains about thirty-four 
 
 grains 
 
( i6 9 ) 
 
 grains of a light grey brackifh fediment, 
 with a latent bitternefs, perceptible in the 
 throat. This fediment ferments with acids, 
 and is turned green by fyrup of violets. 
 
 Amongft the writers who have treated of 
 the Briftol water, Dr. Keir, Dr. Higgins, 
 and Dr. Randolph, are the moft confpicuous. 
 The degree of heat by Fahrenheit's thermo- 
 meter is judged to be feventy-fix. 
 
 Thofe who refort hither for health, drink 
 the water early in the morning, and about 
 five in the evening, ufing gentle exercife after 
 it, A lefs quantity is taken at firft than af- 
 terwards, and it muft be perfevered in daily : 
 it may be drank at meals, and agrees well 
 with wine and malt liquors ; but, in common 
 with moft other means of reftoring or pre- 
 serving health, it is, highly inimical to all 
 fpirituous liquors. 
 
 The effedts of firft taking this water are 
 unpleafant, and far from encouraging, unlefs 
 the patient is aware that they are to be con- 
 
 fidered 
 
\ 
 
 ( * 7 ° ) 
 
 fidered as indications that it agrees and will 
 produce benefit. The fymptoms are nearly 
 thofe of intoxication, but in a few days they 
 ceafe to be troublefome. 
 
 This water is faid to have been difcovered 
 by fome failors, who coming from long 
 voyages, much afflidted with the fcurvy, as 
 they paffed from King-road to Briftol, here 
 drank and Wafhed, and found relief. For 
 all eruptions of this nature, for obftrudtions, 
 for internal inflammation, for confumptive 
 habits, and fometimes even in fcrophulous and 
 cancerous difeafes, this water has been found 
 a remedy, if applied to in an early ftage of 
 the diforder ; and in chronic diforders it has 
 afforded great relief. 
 
 The wells have the neceflary attendant of 
 fuch a place, gaiety. The refort to them is 
 great, and during the fummer months, a band 
 of mufic attends every morning. Here is a 
 mafter of the ceremonies, who conducts the 
 public balls and breakfafts, which are given 
 twice a week. 
 
 The 
 
( *7 1 ) 
 
 The miners of the neighbouring country 
 bring great quantities of foffil to this place, 
 and in the city is of fuch common ufe, that 
 it is rare to fee a chimney not decorated with 
 pieces of fpar. Specimens have been dug of 
 the weight of half a hundred. 
 
 The ftofies, known by the name of Briftol 
 ftones, are dug out of St. Vincent’s rock, and 
 are of a chryftal kind, as perfectly polifhed 
 as poflible. In general they are clear and 
 deftituteof color, but fome are of a whitifh 
 hue. They are found in the neighbourhood 
 of the iron ore, and when dug, are often fit 
 for the purpofe of fetting in rings, &c. Many 
 grottos in the vicinity of Briftol are orna- 
 mented with them, particularly one at Clif- 
 ton. They rife in a variety of forms; in 
 fome places refembling rofe diamonds, and 
 in others table diamonds. Thofe about Clif- 
 ton often look like clufters of fmall brilliants; 
 thofe of King’s Wefton are remarkable for 
 the whimfical Angularity of forms into which 
 they fhoot. In fome there feem to be little 
 hairs ; in others, white fpecks ; in many, 
 
 bubbles 
 
4 
 
 ( * 7 2 ) 
 
 bubbles of air or drops of water. Thofc 
 that are pure and clear, and fuch as are tinged 
 with color, are hard enough to bear a ftrong 
 fire without alteration; fuch as are imperfect 
 turn white in this trial. They generally ad- 
 here to the rock or ore by one end, but 
 fometimes by one fide ; fome are pointed at 
 both ends, fome are pyramidal and fexangu- 
 lar. The fmall ones are more frequently 
 colored than the larger ones. 
 
 The fcenery round the Hot- well road, as 
 far as the Rownham ferry, is very various. 
 On the left of the ferry houfe, an extenfive 
 valley prefents itfelf, with the Avon form- 
 ing an elliptical curve. The oppofite fide 
 abounds in trees well grouped, between 
 which are feen the vale of Afhton, with 
 Dundry-hill and tower. The hill ap- 
 pears to much greater advantage from this 
 point of view than from Mr. Tyndale’s 
 park, the fummit being broken by the inter- 
 vening trees. — Almoft oppofite to this fpot, 
 and on the left, looking towards Briftol, is 
 the famous floating dock, the property of 
 
 — Wood- 
 
I 
 

 \ 
 
I 
 
 ( 173 ) 
 
 Woodhoufe, efq. a gentleman of confi- 
 
 derable tafte. His collection of paintings is 
 feleCted with the truth of a critic, and the 
 judgment of a painter. This floating dock 
 is capable of containing a great number of 
 veflels ; its fuperior commodioufnefs has 
 occafioned that at Sea-mills to be negleCted 
 and choaked up. 
 
 ■ ■ 0 
 
 On the oppofite fide of the Avon, and 
 between the floating-dock and the ferry- 
 houfe, is that feemingly neceflary appendage 
 to all populous towns, a Vauxhall. It is 
 not fair to defcribe it in its prefent ftate, as 
 it is in contemplation to improve it greatly. 
 
 A view of the oppofite fide where the 
 boat lands, affords a fubjeCl for the artift; 
 and though not in the grand guflo , may, by 
 the addition of the ferry-boat, and groups 
 of ruftic figures and horfes, frequently to 
 be feen there, be formed into a good land- 
 scape. The eye now looking towards the 
 Hot-well houfe, will catch another fubjedt ; 
 but here the formal hand of art has deftroyed 
 the bolder features of nature, by the interpo- 
 
 A a fition 
 
( 174 ) 
 
 fition of fome huts, ftiff in their outline, and 
 mean in their general character. About four 
 o’clock in a fummer’s afternoon and when 
 the tide is high, one of the broadeft, and 
 beft effe&s of light and fhade may be feen, 
 by looking from the tree where the ferry-boat 
 lands. On the weftern fide the rocks rife 
 to a confiderable height, and are covered 
 with wood aim oft to the fummit ; beneath 
 them the Avon forms a broad fheet, and 
 lofes itfelf imperceptibly behind the rocks of 
 St. Vincent. On the eaft, the bed of the 
 river is bounded by rocks limilar to thofe 
 on the oppofite fhore, but not wooded. At 
 the above-mentioned point of time, the fun 
 declining juft overlooks the weftern rocks, 
 and reflects the fhadow from the woods 
 beneath it, to about mid-way on the river, 
 where a broad light unites the remaining part 
 of the fcene into an harmonious compofi- 
 tion. 
 
 The village of Clifton is accounted the 
 largeft, and one of the moil polite of any in 
 the kingdom. The houfes are of late be- 
 come very numerous, and, in general, are 
 
 large 
 
* 
 
( I7« ) 
 
 The Rownham, or Roman ferry, is, for a 
 confiderable diftance, the only communication 
 between Gloucefterfhire and Somerfetfhire. 
 There can be no doubt that this place was 
 pitched on by the Romans, for the purpofe 
 of palfage, as it is fordable at low water, 
 and has a hard bottom. It was befides 
 contiguous to their camp, which lay on the 
 right of Leigh-down, and clofe to the river. 
 
 The ftations which the Romans poffeffed 
 here are not noticed by Camden, though 
 they were very confiderable. The phalanx 
 of Qftorius’s army, A. D. 50, occupied the 
 heights on each fide of the Avon. On the 
 Somerfetfhire fide were two camps, called 
 Bower walls and Stokeleigh. An oppofite 
 one was on Clifton-down. Thefe camps, 
 from their great height, commanded an entire 
 view of the chain of Roman ftations along 
 the banks of the Severn ; to the weftward 
 they had a road, parts of w r hich may ftill be 
 traced, that led to Walton, by Fayland’s inn, 
 at which place, the traces of other camps, 
 contiguous to the Severn, may be difcovered. 
 
 To 
 
( 'll ) 
 
 To the north-eaft they had perfedt views 
 of the camps on Blaize-hill and Aldmonfbu- 
 ry ; thefe pofts, and thofe of Clifton, were 
 rendered by nature the complete!! ever pof- 
 feffed by that people. 
 
 The double ditches are ftill to be traced on 
 the Rownham-hill ; and the fence, which ad- 
 joined each camp, is in many parts perfedh 
 
 In the neighbourhood of Briftol, there 
 were many other works of the like nature ; 
 at Portbury, and St. George’s near Pill, and 
 at Elberton, Old Abbey, and Cadbury, are 
 evident traces of Roman fortification. 
 
 To a painter, and indeed to the nice ob- 
 ferver of varied life, the ferry affords an 
 inexhauftible fund of fludy, the groups of 
 figures and cattle, either waiting the return 
 of the boat, embarking or landing, being 
 infinitely various. 
 
 From the Rownham-paflage, the river con- 
 tinues its rapid courfe under the Hot-well 
 
 parade. 
 
( -78 ) 
 
 parade, and clofe by the Well-houfe, oppo- 
 fite to which are the cotton mills. The 
 annexed lketch was made on the mills fide 
 of the river, and a little before we reached 
 them. Clifton might have been introduced, 
 particularly the buildings about Sion-row, 
 but it would have deftroyed the compofition. 
 The time when the view was taken, and on 
 which the refemblance in a great meafure 
 depends, was juft before fun-fet, when a 
 gleam of light had ftolen over the hill, and 
 broke partially on the Well-houfe. 
 
 The mills are happily fituated under an 
 immenfe mafs of lime-ftone rocks, on the 
 furface of which is a profufion of wood. 
 Thefe rocks lie in broad ftrata, fhelving over 
 one another, and declining gradually down 
 to the bed of the river. A fpring of water 
 ifliies behind the mills, and is conducted to 
 turn them. -It empties itfelf into the river, 
 at the Hot-well houfe. 
 
 We now pafs between thefe ftupendous cliffs, 
 and are delighted with the rude fcenery fur- 
 rounding 
 
firn.wn k ingrrxxtJ tyJ.HdstU < 
 
 Front View 0 t Bristol Hot Wells and ST Vincent's Rocks 
 
( x 79 ) 
 
 rounding us ; the craggy broken furfaces of 
 St. Vincent’s, are finely contrafted with the 
 wooded rocks that form the oppofite fide. 
 
 St. Vincent’s rocks, in thofe parts which 
 the miners haveblafted, prefent a variety of 
 colors, which altogether produce a hue, that 
 conveys to the mind the idea of ignition. 
 The rocks that have not been blown are of 
 a light grey, and covered with fhrubs. 
 
 William of Worcefter, mentions a chapel 
 and hermitage on thefe rocks, dedicated to 
 St. Vincent. He defcribes them as fituated 
 about twenty fathoms from the bottom, and 
 about the middle of the afcent, which con- 
 firms the conjecture, that St. Vincent’s rocks 
 rife to a height of more than three hundred 
 feet. On the right hand, andalmofi: at the 
 fummit, is a large chafm, generally called 
 Giant’sHole. It is a fpot muchreforted to by 
 the lads of the countryfor diverfion, which, as 
 the fport confifts wholly in defcending an 
 almoft perpendicular height of three hun- 
 dred feet, at the hazard of their lives, is 
 fome proof of provincial hardihood. 
 
 Lapis 
 
C 180 ) 
 
 Lapis calaminaris is found in great plenty 
 about St. Vincent’s rocks and they abound 
 with fubjedts of botanical refearch. Sir 
 Jofeph Banks was the firft who difcovered 
 here a fpecies of ophrys, often met with on 
 Durdham-downs . 
 
 On the left, the rocks and woods break 
 abruptly down to the foot-path, prefen ting 
 a very interefting and noble fcene. The 
 rocks which are better known by the name 
 of the Roman Jlation , are alternately relieved 
 by wood ; and every fleep break has its 
 pendant group of afh, moft beautifully va- 
 rying what otherwife would have been mo- 
 notonous and infipid. Thefe rocks fall, by a 
 gentle declivity, behind the wood, on the 
 banks of the Avon, and imperceptibly lofe 
 themfelves. Another mafs of rock, of the 
 fame appearance, joins the oppofite one, and 
 rifes to the fame height, though not fo ab- 
 ruptly ; thefe two form a femicircle, at the 
 bottom of which a path leads through a fhady 
 retreat, and up a coomb of fome length, to 
 Leigh-down, which feparated the Roman 
 
 camps. 
 
( i8£ ) 
 
 camps. Frequent parties are made to this 
 fpot, for the purpofe of drinking tea : an old 
 oak’s projedting withered branch ferves to 
 fling the kettle from, while a piece of rock, 
 and a felled tree, fupply the deficiency of a 
 table and chair : a fmall band of mufic is 
 often an adjundt to this rural fcene ; and the 
 reverberation of the founds among the rocks, 
 produces a fort of gentle confufion, that is, 
 at leaft in perfedt harmony with the wildnefs 
 of the fcene, if not to the advantage of fhe 
 performers. 
 
 On the top of the rocks, and on the left, 
 as we enter the dell, there was formerly a 
 ftone wall, to prevent the accidents common 
 in a precipitous fituation ; but notwithftand- 
 ing this precaution, a gentleman once riding 
 hard in purfuit of a fox, and unable to reftrain 
 theimpetuofity of his horfe, cleared the fence, 
 and came to the bottom, a fpedtacle not to 
 be defcribed. It is faid, that a huntfman of 
 the late lord de Clifford’s, in purfuit of the 
 fame diverfion, once rode up to the very top, 
 and that neither he nor his horfe were hurt ; 
 
 Bb 
 
 * 
 
 an 
 
( i8a ) 
 
 an efcape, of which no one can judge who 
 has not furveyed the fpot. 
 
 The eye turning now towards Briftol, is 
 treated with a fcene uncommonly gratifying. 
 The river forms a broad expanfe, and is 
 bounded by the hills towards Bedminfter; 
 but to thofe who wifti to avoid the prejudice 
 of a difagreeable firft impreffion, we would 
 recommend a vifit to this place only when 
 the tide is up, as at other times much of the 
 effedt is loft by a deficiency of water. 
 
 From the Hot- well houfe, the river makes 
 a gentle curve, and at the extremity of the 
 reach, its courfe is turned into another chan- 
 nel, by a knoll of the fame texture and ap- 
 pearance as thofe before defcribed. The path 
 on the St. Vincent’s fide, leads over a gentle 
 eminence that projects into the Avon, and 
 confines its boundaries. 
 
 From this rifing ground, a very good view 
 of the Hot-well houfe may be taken ; but 
 the ftiflf forms of the buildings now eredting 
 
 above 
 

 f' 
 
 "■( 
 
 
 
 
 ' 
 
 [t 
 
 •/ J 
 
 
 
 ■ 
 
 i • 
 
 
 ' I 1 t 
 
 V 
 
 -Oi 
 
 
 ' 
 
 ' j ' , 
 
 
 
VIEW ot the MOT WJE JLJL. MOIJ SE, 011 the MJYJ&M AV OK - 
 
( i8 3 ) 
 
 above it, on the rocks of Clifton, however 
 they may, when finifhed, embellifh the fcene, 
 have totally ruined a once magnificent land- 
 fcape. 
 
 In this reach, and particularly about this 
 fpot, the water is in general very rough, and 
 the wind often blows a perfedt fquall ; eddies 
 being formed in the interftices of the rocks 
 and hills, from which it burfts with great 
 violence. 
 
 Doubling thefe laft-mentioned eminences, 
 we enter another reach, along the fides of 
 which are many ftone quarries. The fcenery 
 now aflfumes an entirely new afpedt, equally 
 attradtive with that we have pafifed, though 
 not fo bold and pidturefque. Nothing can 
 be more various than the ftudies this place 
 offers to the painter's eye. During a refidence 
 of two years in Briftol, we feldom failed to 
 make a diurnal vifit to this reach, and always 
 found it a frefh fubjedt, and always worthy 
 notice. With refpedt to the fcenery itfelf, 
 the frequent blafting of the rock continu- 
 
 ally 
 
( 1 8 4 ) 
 
 ally changes the fore-ground ; and the clear- 
 ance the miners are forced to make, even to 
 get room to work in, is another great caufe 
 of variety. The figures are alfo perpetually 
 changing their grouping and their attitudes ; 
 their barrows, their pick-axes, and other 
 implements, aflifl: the variety ; and to com- 
 plete their fitnefs for the pencil, the ochre 
 communicates to every objedt a hue fo warm 
 and glowing, that the tout enjemble is ready 
 for the canvas. 
 
 The firfl: fet of quarries, as we enter this 
 reach, is marked by a pyramidal top, running 
 into a triangular form, as it declines towards 
 the river. Where the miners have blown for 
 ftone, they have left projecting rocks, not un- 
 like diamond fquares, the coloring of which 
 is a very full red. In the disjointed frag- 
 ments of the other parts, they partake of a 
 grey and purple hue. To give the belt color- 
 ing to this fcene, it lhould be that of a warm 
 fun-fet ; the other parts of the landfcape 
 would then participate the fame hue, and 
 reduce the predominant violence of the red. 
 
I 
 
* 
 
 js’s watt Sc Rocks 
 
 itmn*nme£ *r Jt. H&tl' jrf 
 
 IEOH'S FOLLY trom trie Path near the Hot Welle H o u. L> f 
 
 . : ", .«a -'-a JW '■'/*> 
 
, V 
 
 
 /' 
 
 V 
 
( i«5 ) 
 
 Beyond thefe quarries, and on the fame fide 
 of the river, a fteep and rocky defcent 
 almofl: environs the New Hot-well houfc, on 
 the path by the fide of the Avon ; beyond 
 which, the immenfe rocks under Wallis’s 
 wall, and Cook’s folly and wood, clofe the 
 fcene, and to appearance join the wood, 
 which ftretches from the quarries on the 
 Somerfetfhire fide, beneath Leigh down. 
 
 This part of the river, feen at high water, 
 refembles a long narrow lake, and is juftly 
 admired for its variety and grandeur. Its 
 greateft defedt is on the left hand, where the 
 rocks, though covered with wood, are in too 
 unbending a line. 
 
 Purfuing our way on the fame fide, we 
 come immediately under the red quarries, 
 from whence looking towards Briftol, a frefh 
 fcene prefents itfelf. The rocks of the Ro- 
 man ftation, which we noticed in the Hot- 
 well reach, alfume a more pidturefque ap- 
 pearance; they fall in elegant and flowing 
 lines, while thofe on the St. Vincent’s fide, 
 
 feem 
 
( ‘86 ) 
 
 feem from hence confolidated into one broad 
 high mafs, rather graceful than otherwife, 
 and clofe up the fcene by appearing to ftretch 
 acrofs the river, where thofe of the oppofite 
 fide unite with them. 
 
 We continue along the banks of the Avon 
 till we reach the New Hot-well houfe, from 
 whence, looking either way, we have a view, 
 the fombre gloom of which is fcarcely ex- 
 ceeded by that of Terni. A folemn ftillnefs 
 is here interrupted by nothing, but the innu- 
 merable kites and daws which hover over 
 the lofty rocks at Wallis's wall. 
 
 The New Hot-well houfe was eredted 
 here to rival the other. It has a fpringof the 
 fame virtues ; but the accefs to it being ex- 
 tremely dangerous, it has gone to decay, and 
 is now converted into a hovel for the miners. 
 The view from it is wonderfully grand. 
 Immediately above it, Wallis's rocks rife in 
 all poffible majefly, to the height of three 
 or four hundred feet. 
 
 From 
 
( i8 7 ) 
 
 Prom hence the margin of the river is 
 delightfully variegated with plants and rocks, 
 while on the right, a broken craggy bank 
 gives a rich fide-fcreen to the pidture. Be- 
 yond Wallis’s rocks, the wood with Cook’s 
 folly on its fummit, paffes towards the penin- 
 fula, and is met by the rocky and wooded 
 knolls on the other fide. 
 
 The path continues under this immenfe 
 ftack of rock, and by the fide of the Folly- 
 wood. About mid -way, the retrofpedt pre- 
 fents the objedts under an appearance totally 
 different from what we had obferved when 
 nearer them, and far more pidturefque than 
 w T hen feen from the New Hot-well houfe. 
 The detached parts unite themfelves, and 
 form a broad and bold mafs. 
 
 Annexed we have given an accurate repre- 
 fentation of this fcene. It was our intention 
 to have referved it for a moon-light; but 
 finding another for this effedt, we preferred 
 it. We would however, recommend this for 
 the purpofe to any one, who may hereafter 
 
 vifit 
 
( i88 ) 
 
 viflt this place, on our errand ; as by an eight 
 or nine o’clock full moon, there can fcarcely 
 exift a fubjeCt better adapted to it : the lights 
 and lhadows would admit of the greateft 
 breadth, and as the moon at times rifes 
 immediately from behind, the naked rocks in 
 the diftance would be converted into fhadow, 
 and add confequence to the large malTes in the 
 fore-grounds. 
 
 The Avon, from its junction with the 
 Severn as far as Briftol, has a ftrong impreg- 
 nation of mud, which to fpedators in gene- 
 ral is difgufting ; with an artift, this objec- 
 tion is of fmall importance, as by the prin- 
 ciples of optics, the reflections and fhadows 
 are little affeCted by this circumftance. 
 
 The river now again alters its courfe, and 
 winds round a peninfula, called the Folly 
 marfh. At a fliort diftance to the left is the 
 village of Leigh, from whence the down 
 takes its name. Cook’s folly is an odtagon 
 building, on the higheft point of the wood, 
 above the meadows ; it is ufed only as a 
 
 fummer- 
 
( i8 9 ) 
 
 fummer-houfe, and is the property of Mifs 
 Jackfon, who has a houfe a few fields from 
 it. It is faid to have been built by a gentle- 
 man of the name of Cook, of whom the 
 following ftory is current in the neighbour- 
 hood : it was predidled to him by fome for- 
 tune-tellers, that he fhould die by the.bite of 
 a ferpent. To avoid this calamity, he built 
 this tower, with a terrace on the top, where 
 he might walk for the air ; but no other accefs 
 to it, than by a ladder placed againft a door, 
 many feet from the ground. Here he fe- 
 cluded himfelf with an old maid-fervant, fhe 
 going out for whatever was wanted, and he 
 drawing up the ladder when fhe had defend- 
 ed. It happened that fhe fell fick, and 
 being now forced to light the fire, he fetched 
 fome wood from a place where a flock of it 
 was kept. Some venomous animal had been 
 brought in with it — it wounded him — his 
 
 terror brought on a fever — and he died. 
 
 For the truth of this legend we will not vouch; 
 but fuch it is. 
 
 C c 
 
 From 
 
( * 9 ° ) 
 
 From the path leading from the Folly to- 
 wards Wallis’s rocks, there is a moft enchant- 
 ing view of the river, with a part of the valley 
 oppofite the Rownham paffage, and the hills 
 of Dundry . This profped is little known to 
 the people of Briftol ; it was accident that 
 difcovered it to us. 
 
 Pafling round this peninfula, we are brought 
 to an opening of meadows on each fide of 
 the river: the foot-path leads to Sea-mill dock, 
 and over a plank bridge that communicates 
 with the meadows on the bank of the Avon. 
 
 Sea-mill dock, like all others places that 
 have been rivalled fuccefsfully, is left a prey 
 to time. The ftore-houfes, that were here in 
 great numbers, are now fallen to decay: fcarce 
 a roof remains perfed ; and of thofe build- 
 ings that are occupied, the inhabitants are as 
 wretched as the hovels. This dilapidation 
 is in fome meafure the confequence of a te- 
 dious litigation, in which the proprietors 
 have been involved ; but it is now defigned 
 
 to 
 
( I 9 I ) 
 
 to repair the dock, and make it once more fit 
 for the reception of velfels. Before this 
 place was converted into a dock, a great num- 
 ber of Roman coins were dug up ; and when 
 the dock was making, in the year 1712, an 
 arched gate- way was difcovered, and abund- 
 ance of coins of Conftantius, Conflantine, 
 and Nero. 
 
 On the Somerfetftiire fide, and diredtly op- 
 pofite to this place, is a beech-tree, beneath 
 the branches of which a troop of horfe 
 might take fhelter. 
 
 The fcenery on each fide of the Avon, now 
 gives up all claim to beauty of any kind ; the 
 fir-woods in lord de Clifford’s park, termi- 
 nate the profpedt one way ; the Folly wood 
 is another confpicuous feature ; but beyond 
 it, all is a confufion of objedts. 
 
 At the bottom of lord de Clifford’s park, 
 the river again alters its courfe, and continues 
 weftward by the powder mills, as far as 
 Hunger- road ; at which place fhipsare moor- 
 ed. 
 
( *9* ) 
 
 ed, and wait, as at Gravefend, for orders or. 
 clearance. 
 
 We now reach the village of Pill, which 
 is fituated on the Somerfetfture fide of the 
 river, a place famous for pilots and boat-men, 
 who conduct the veffels to and from Briftol. 
 It is principally inhabited by this defcription 
 of perfons, and by fiftiermen, and is an irre- 
 gular, ill-built, dirty place. There is a never- 
 ceafing enmity between this village and Brif- 
 tol ; the people of Pill vent their rage on 
 thofe of Briftol, by every fpecies of impofi- 
 tion and rapacity ; w hile contempt and op- 
 probrium are liberally returned to them* 
 
 Oppofite to Pill, and confequently on the 
 Gloucefterfhire fide, is a well known houfe, 
 known by the name of Lamplighters’ hall: 
 it is a place of refort for parties of pleafure, 
 and particularly frequented by the captains of 
 veffels, lying in King- road. 
 
 At this nlace w T e embarked for Portifhead- 
 
 a 
 
 \voods, taking with us a cold collation ; a 
 
 necef- 
 
( 193 ) 
 
 neceflary precaution on fuch an excurfion, as 
 there is no houfe within a mile of the landing 
 place. 
 
 The river from Pill is open on each fide, 
 with the Monmouthfhire mountains in the 
 diftance, and the fmall ifland of Denny near 
 the middle of the Severn. The feat of lord 
 de Clifford, which we fliall hereafter defcribe, 
 lies on the right hand. 
 
 Two miles from Pill, we entered the 
 Briftol channel ; and the tide being high, 
 palTed over the flats on the weft fide. Unlefs 
 it is a very high tide, this paflage is inconve- 
 nient, on account of a fhoal, where veflels are 
 often detained till the tide rifes fufficiently 
 to take them off. 
 
 i 
 
 An hour’s pleafant failing brought us to 
 the woods at Portifhead point, the weftern 
 extremity of King- road, and which, ftretching 
 for a confiderable diftance into the Severn, 
 forms an extenfive bay, where fliips may ride 
 in the worft weather. 
 
 The 
 
( *94 ) 
 
 The fhore is bold, and the combination of 
 objedts about it very pleafing. Parties are 
 often made to this place and its neighbour- 
 hood, for the purpofe of Ihooting water-fowl. 
 A wifh to vifit Leigh-houfe, made us deter- 
 mine on returning by land to Briftol, from 
 which place it is diftant about eleven miles. 
 
 From Portilhead woods, the road led us 
 by fome fifhermen’s huts ; we then entered 
 the village, and kept the lower road through 
 St. George’s and Portbury, by Pill, to Leigh - 
 houfe, which Hands near a mile from the 
 village of the fame name, and between the 
 high road and the river Avon. The ride was 
 beautiful, and abounded with views, worthy 
 an artifl’s attention. Mounting a hill, we 
 had a very extenfive profpect, on both fides, 
 of the Avon, the Severn, and the Welch 
 coaft, towards Henbury. The inns at King’s 
 Wefton, the windmill beyond it, and Blaize 
 caftle, are all confpicuous objects. 
 
 Defcending on the left hand near half a 
 mile, we reached Leigh-houfe, the residence 
 
 of 
 
( *95 ) 
 
 of Mr, Jones. It is rendered famous, by ha- 
 ving afforded fhelter to king Charles II. who 
 fled hither from his purfuers, by whom he 
 was fo clofely preffed, that on entering the 
 houfe, he had only time to difguife himfelf, 
 by throwing a carter’s frock over his fhoul- 
 ders ; he made the cook his friend ; and 
 when thofe who were in queft of him rufhed 
 in, and enquired if he had been feen, Hie 
 anfwered with Anan , and inftantly applied a 
 cudgel to the back of the king, whom flie 
 had fet to wind up the jack, at the fame 
 time fcolding him loudly for his tardinefs ; 
 the men feeirig her lay her blows on with fo 
 much good will and ability, called out for 
 mercy for the lad, and immediately left the 
 houfe, not at all fufpedting the deception* 
 The block on which he flood to perform 
 this fervile office, and the chair on which he 
 fat, have been preferved, and are ftill fhewn. 
 
 The manfion is a heavy ftone building. 
 During the life of lady Trencher Gordon, 
 who occupied it, it was decorated with 
 an excellent colledtion of pictures, moft 
 
 of 
 
( ! 9 6 ) 
 
 of which were purchafed by Mr. Weeks, 
 the well-known matter of the Bufh tavern, 
 in Briftol, and re-fold by him. 
 
 Returning into the high road, we enter 
 the village of Leigh, pleafantly fituated at 
 the fummit of a confiderable hill, from whence 
 it overlooks the valley, as far as Portifliead. 
 The road declines, till it reaches the down, 
 which affords extenfive profpedts. The downs 
 of this neighbourhood occupy a large tradl 
 of land, ftretching from the Rownham paflage 
 to Clapham, a village about two miles from 
 Portifliead. The whole is a warren, abun- 
 dantly flocked with rabbits. 
 
 Crofling Leigh downs, we had a view 
 of the houfe of Mr. Abbot to whom 
 they belong. It is on the right hand, 
 oppofite the wood, near the Roman camp. 
 The road leads for a fliort diftance through 
 the wood, when it abruptly breaks off. We 
 croffed the ferry, and were again at the 
 Hot-wells. 
 
 Vifitors 
 
/ 
 
 ( 197 ) 
 
 Vifitors <o the Hot-wells derive great ad- 
 vantage and equal pleafure from the number 
 and variety of rides and walks the neigh- 
 bouring country affords. Durdham-downs, 
 King’s-Wefton hill, and the banks of the 
 Severn, are the fituations moft reforted to. 
 This noble river adds more than its own pe- 
 culiar charms to the beauty of the country, 
 by prefenting an inexhauftible variety of {hip- 
 ping.. The ufual morning-ride is round 
 Wallis’s wall on Durdham-downs, where 
 horfes and carriages are to be feen, as in 
 Hyde-park. The air of this down is efteem- 
 ed the pureft of any in England ; and in its 
 temperature, is neither too cold for tender 
 conftitutions, nor too warm for the purpofes of 
 healthy exercife. It has always a gentle breeze 
 palling over it ; and the morning and evening- 
 tides of the Severn bring a great quantity 
 of the faline vapor hither, 
 
 Wallis’s wall is an ereilion by a Briftol gen- 
 tlemen, whofe name it carries, for the benevo- 
 lent purpofe of rendering a ride on thefe downs 
 perfectly fafe. From it there is an extenfive 
 
 D d view 
 
( * 9 8 ) 
 
 view of a Iongvale,in which are feenthevillages 
 of Pill, Portbury, St. George, and Portifhead, 
 with the Avon gliding clofe under the eye. 
 
 A number of detached coppices, and gen- 
 tlemen's houfes, decorate the valley, while 
 the lea appears as if above Portifhead point, 
 and is fkirted on the oppofite fide by the 
 Monmouthfhire and Glam organ fli ire hills. 
 In the extremity of thediftance, Cardiff in 
 Glamorgan (hire maybe perfectly difcerned, 
 by the help of a glafs and a clear atmofphere. 
 A greater variety of objects can hardly be 
 found in one view than that here. Looking 
 fouthward from the down, the Avon is 
 again feen winding from rock to rock, until 
 it is clofed up behind St. Vincent’s, where 
 Dundry obftrudts the eye. On the right of 
 Durdham-down, an extenfive, but very un- 
 attractive profpeCt, offers itfelf. Croffing 
 from Wallis’s wall, towards an inn called 
 the Oflrich, we turn into the road that leads 
 to Shirehampton, King’s Wefton, and Lamp- 
 lighters’ hall. The walk acrofs the fields 
 from Durdham-down, by Pitch and Pay farm, 
 
 to 
 
( *99 ) 
 
 to lord de Clifford’s, is preferable to the high 
 road. 
 
 Below the down on the right, we pafs the 
 elegant manfion of Lady Lippincott, fituated 
 at the fummit of a hill, and commanding 
 extenfive profpedts, nearly the fame as thofe 
 of Durdham-down. The houfe has a An- 
 gular appearance, and is furrounded by a 
 fmall park, paddock and gardens. A little 
 below the houfe, through an opening in the 
 trees, is feen Blaize-caftle. Oppofite to lady 
 Lippincott’s and by the foot-path, is the 
 farm called Pitch and Pay. 
 
 Defcending rather abruptly, we enter the 
 village of Stoke, on the left of which, a lane 
 branches off, leading to Sea-mill dock, a ru- 
 ral and pleafant ride. Stoke lies in a com- 
 preffed valley, at the foot of inconfiderable 
 hills, from whence the road continues to the 
 right. Intermitting fpaces admit of views 
 on both fides ; on the left, are the houfes of 
 Mr. Harford, Mifs Jackfon, and Mr. Skid- 
 more. 
 
 At 
 
( 200 ) 
 
 At the termination of the road, leading to 
 the inn at King’s Wefton, another road paffes 
 through lord de Clifford’s park, to the plea- 
 fant village of Shirehampton. A number of 
 remarkably large elms extend on each fide of 
 the road, their boughs fpreadingto a great dis- 
 tance. The park, which is planted with oaks 
 and pines, is by no means fo confiderable a 
 fpace of ground as is ufually allotted to 
 parks. The road declines gradually till we 
 are brought to the lodge, at the other extre- 
 mity of thefe grounds, from whence we im- 
 mediately enter Shirehampton. 
 
 There is but one view from the park that 
 deferves notice, and this includes the river 
 Avon and Sea-mills ; they appear at a fhort dis- 
 tance, and are backed by the Folly- wood. Dur- 
 ing a fpringtide, when the banks of the river 
 are flooded, and the fhipping are floating up 
 to Briftol, thefcene is pleafant ; but its claims 
 to praife, even at the beft, are very flender. 
 
 The village of Shirehampton is prettily 
 fituated under a gentle eminence, called Pen- 
 
 pole 
 
( 201 ) 
 
 pole hill, and is furrounded by lofty and nu- 
 merous groups of afh, oak, and elm trees , 
 The vicinity of this village to Briftol, and 
 the eafy conveyance thither by water, are 
 circumflances that render it an inviting fum- 
 mer-refidence to the gentlemen of that city. 
 At the entrance of Shirehampton, and in the 
 centre of the green, oppofite the George inn, 
 is an elm tree of a very great height ; but flill 
 more remarkable, on account of the manner 
 in which the root has twilled itfelf into a 
 parcel of rock, that lies beneath it • in 
 many parts, it has perforated the folid ftone, 
 and comes out at an oppofite part. It makes 
 an appearance that cannot fail of exciting 
 every paflfenger’s curiofity. 
 
 There are feveral genteel houfes in this 
 village, among which Mr. Seager’s claims 
 a fuperiority ; his gardens and grounds which 
 furround the houfe, are laid out with tafte, 
 and the avenues to the fummer-houfe and 
 grotto, prefent a fudden and extenfive view 
 of the Severn, King-road, and Portifhead- 
 pointandbay, with a confiderable diftance 
 
 to 
 
( 202 ) 
 
 to the weflward, and the Monmouthfhire 
 hills to the north. It is to this gentleman’s 
 politenefs and patronage, that we are indebted 
 for much of the pleafure we derived from 
 this part of our tour. 
 
 From Shirehampton, a back-road leads to 
 Pen-pole, an abrupt knoll at one of the 
 terminations of lord de Clifford’s park. On 
 the extreme northern point of this knoll is 
 a dial pedeftal, which attra&ed us to thebeft 
 view we had yet found here, though it pre- 
 fented only the vale of Severn, which Somer- 
 ville has fo exquifitely introduced in his Hob- 
 binol. It extends to the Old or Auft paffage 
 houfe, where a gentle, but formal fwell of 
 hills clofes the view. The New paffage 
 houfe in Gloucefterfhire, and the oppofite 
 one in Monmouthfhire, are very difcernible, 
 as opaque white fpots, which are relieved 
 by woods and fields. The valley is decked 
 with a richnefs rarely to be met with ; cop- 
 pices and hedge rows are grouped in graceful 
 confufion, till the whole refolves itfelf into 
 a continued wood. Immediately above the 
 
 vale, 
 
( 203 ) 
 
 vale, and on a gentle acclivity, ftands the 
 manfion of lord de Clifford, furrounded by 
 woods, and fheltered by King’s-Wefton 
 down. 
 
 PafTing through the lodge, we entered the 
 private grounds, from whence, by a broad 
 gravel walk, and a flight of fteps, we ap- 
 proached the houfe. The time allowed by 
 his lordfhip for the admiflion of ftrangers to 
 fee the pi&ures, when he is refident there, is 
 from ten in the forenoon, till two in the af- 
 ternoon ; when he is abfent, they are fhewn 
 at all times. 
 
 Entering the great hall, we are prefented 
 with numerous portraits of the Southwell 
 family. Oppofite the door, and over the 
 chimney-piece, are five whole lengths, by 
 Kneller j the two principal, are the earl and 
 countefs of Ardglafs : above thefe are five 
 other family portraits kitcat ; on each fide of 
 the fire-place are portraits by Vandyck, one 
 of Finch, earl of Nottingham, the other a 
 very capital picture of doctor Harvey ; the 
 
 color- 
 
( 204 ) 
 
 9 
 
 coloring of this is very much faded, and the 
 varnifh on it is chilled by damp ; but thefe 
 cafual imperfections do not obfcure its merit. 
 
 On the drawing-room fide, and on a line 
 with the other whole lengths, are five more ; 
 that of a lady named Catherine Watfon, who 
 married into the Southwell family, is well 
 painted by Ramfay, the drapery is by Vanu- 
 den ; this picture is much fuperior in grace to 
 thofe of the earl and countefs of Rockingham, 
 Lewis Watfon and Catharine Furnefs, which 
 hang near it. Above thefe there are five 
 kitcats of the family ; among them an earl 
 of Rockingham, when a boy, well painted. 
 
 Beneath the whole lengths are four more, 
 by fir Peter Lely and fir Godfrey Kneller. 
 
 On the breakfaft-room fide are a Robert 
 Southwell, and a Mrs. Southwell, by Van- 
 dyck ; and on the lower pannels, oppofite to 
 thefe, are two more of the family, by Knel- 
 ler. Above them are three whole lengths by 
 Kneller and Lely, of two Edward Southwells 
 
 and 
 
( 205 ) 
 
 and lady Elizabeth Cromwell. Over the 
 whole lengths are five portraits all kitcat. 
 
 From the great hall we are immediately 
 conducted into the green room, where are 
 alfo many portraits ; the mod confpicuous, by 
 Hans Holbein. That of Thomas Cromwell, 
 and one beneath it, are equal to any thing of 
 this matter's : there are about ten others by 
 him. Two by Rembrandt, hang on the 
 right hand fide as we enter ; the iubjed of 
 one is St. Peter, painted with all the ttrength 
 of light and fhadow, that fo eminently dif- 
 tinguifhed this artift ; the companion is a 
 younger head, in the fame ttyle, but not 
 equal to the former. 
 
 Over the door is a portrait of Edward 
 Southwell, by Hudfon, the drapery by Van- 
 uden. This pidure has as much tafte, and 
 brilliancy of coloring, as any of Hudfon's 
 portraits ; but labors under the difguife of an 
 antiquated and formal drefs. The obferva- 
 tion here ftrikes us, that to paint fafhions, 
 is to difguft every generation that outlives 
 
 E e them. 
 
( 206 ) 
 
 them. The works of Vandyck will ever be 
 agreeable to the eye, becaufe he avoided all 
 the defeats that regular drapery is fubjedt to, 
 and invented fuch drefles, as make no appeal 
 to cuftom. The fame praife is due to fome 
 artifls of our own time. 
 
 Oppofite the fire-place, is one by fir God- 
 frey Kneller, of king Charles in his robes ; 
 this pidture merits attention ; but is not a 
 firft-rate performance. Over the chimney- 
 piece is a whole length of William Afhburn- 
 ham, by Lely, a portrait of very great merit ; 
 it is very much in the ftyle of Vandyck, and 
 little inferior to many of his works. For 
 want of fires in the apartments, the varnifli 
 of feveral of the pictures is much hurt, and 
 many have fuffered effentially by it. 
 
 Near the chimney is a lady of the South- 
 well family, painted by Kneller, with whom 
 as a fubjedt for the pencil, fhe was a great 
 favorite ; fhe is drawn here in two different 
 attitudes ; in one fhe is playing on a lute or 
 guitar, in the other fhe is contemplating a 
 
 minia- 
 
( 207 ) 
 
 miniature. The earl of Ofifory, by Lely, is 
 a good pidture ; here is a remarkable portrait 
 of fir Philip Percival, by an Italian mailer, 
 and another of the earl of Stafford in armor, 
 near the door on the left. A few others are 
 by Vandyck, and in his ufual ilyle of excel- 
 lence. 
 
 On the flab, is a fmall, but beautiful piece 
 of fculpture, of a fatyr chained to a tree. 
 
 The number of portraits in this room is 
 fifty. 
 
 In the breakfaft-room, and oppofite the fire- 
 place, is another portrait of Catharine Wat- 
 fon, and one of Elizabeth Dering, both by 
 fir Peter Lely. 
 
 A whole length of Mrs. Afhburnham hangs 
 over Catharine Watfon, a brilliant, well-paint- 
 ed pidture ; the drapery is iliff, and the want 
 of a broad effedt on the figure, makes it 
 ftiffer. She is dreifed in white, with a queen 
 Elizabeth’s ruff. 
 
 Alto- 
 
( 20 $ ) 
 
 Altogether there are ten on this fide of 
 the room ; and facing the window are fe- 
 ven more, one by Kneller, an allegorical 
 fubjedt, with a portrait of his favorite in- 
 troduced in it. On this fide are three 
 whole lengths. 
 
 Over and by thb fire-place are ten, one a 
 portrait of the dowager lady de Clifford, by 
 fir Jofhua Reynolds. This pidture has been 
 painted many years ; it has all the vivacity 
 and elegance of fir Jofhua's portraits, but 
 the coloring is gone : contrafted with the 
 works of Lely and Kneller, this pidture has 
 a great advantage. It was the cuftom of thefe 
 artifts, to relieve their portraits only on a 
 dark brown back-ground : the painter of our 
 time preferred one that fhould harmonize 
 with the figure, and the difference of effedt 
 is very ftriking. It is farther to be obferved 
 of Lely and Kneller, that they always gave 
 their nobility, ftatefmen, and judges, the 
 charadteriftics of aufterity and pride. Rey- 
 nolds blended affability with dignity, rendered 
 a thoughtful countenance engagipg, and could 
 
 temper 
 
( 2o 9 ) 
 
 temper the rigor of juftice by the mild ex- 
 preffion of benignity. 
 
 In this room are twenty-feven pictures, 
 chiefly portraits, a bronze head of one of 
 the Roman emperors, a centaur and cupids, 
 and three others of the fame defcription on 
 the chimney-piece. 
 
 In the veftibule are two paintings, one of 
 the Roman charity, the other the anatomizing 
 a fatyr. 
 
 We are now conduced up flairs into the 
 beft bed-chamber, and pafling through the 
 tapeftry-room to it, are prefented with fome 
 of the fineft kind of that work, and three 
 pidlures, two of which are fhipping, by 
 Stork; they hang almoft too high for criticifm, 
 but they do not appear to be the beft of this 
 matter's works. — Over the chimney is the 
 Circumcifion, by Paul Veronefe, a very dark 
 picture; the outline is hard, and all the 
 figures are ftiff. In this room there are eleven 
 portraits, two of them are in crayons ; that 
 of lord Sondes, is by the late Mr. Hoare. 
 
 The 
 
C 2X0 ) 
 
 The adjoining clofet is furnifhed with 
 twenty-nine paintings of different fubjedts, 
 and in different ffyles. Four are afcribed to 
 Salvator Rofa, probably two are by him ; 
 they are his favorite fubjedt, banditti and 
 armed foldiers. Four of buildings, one by 
 Marco Ricci. On the other fide is an oval 
 landfcape, by Gafpar Pouffin, the figures by 
 Carracci ; a fmall pidturc of Jupiter and 
 Leda, by Jordaens ; one by Antony Pala- 
 medes ; a landfcape by Graffine ; and a 
 brilliant and fpirited merry-making by Te- 
 niers, over the door. 
 
 Returning through the fame apartments, 
 we are led to lady de Clifford’s dreffing-room, 
 which is fitted up with fome of the choicefl 
 and belt feledted pictures that ever graced a 
 collection, all in the higheft prefervation. 
 The room is fomewhat long, and the light 
 is admitted only at one end, yet there is a 
 fufficient quantity of it. Over the door is a 
 battle-piece ; a capital and brilliant perform- 
 ance. Its great height makes it difficult to 
 afcertain the matter, but it appears a perform- 
 
 ance 
 
( 211 ) 
 
 ance of Wyke’s. On the right and left are 
 two by Claude, the one, morning with an 
 extenfive diftance ; the other, fun-fet, with 
 an Italian fea. The fun-fet is painted with 
 all the truth and chaftity of Claude : the fun 
 is objedled to as too large ; but this fault is 
 abundantly atoned for by a thoufand perfec- 
 tions ; the effedt of light gradually approach- 
 ing the fore-ground, is fine and well con- 
 trived : the rays iffuing from the fun are 
 charming, and the harmony throughout this 
 pidture is complete. Its companion is a 
 beautiful clear pidture ; the aerial perfpedlive 
 is particularly attended to, and exhibits a 
 country of confiderable extent, bounded by 
 immenfe mountains : the coloring is a warm 
 grey, without any light too predominant. 
 ’Tis the work of a ttudious ferene mind. 
 
 In criticifing fuch a performance of fuch 
 a matter, it is impoflible not to remark his 
 admirable faculty of fixing the attention to 
 the principal objedt of his pidture ; an equa- 
 lity of importance never diftradts the eye ; we 
 are invited by the general beauty to examine 
 
 it 
 
( 212 ) 
 
 it in detail ; but we are never fuffered to wan- 
 der far from the grand feature. 
 
 rf ii i ' /, ■ -v . 
 
 On each fide of the fire-place is a landfcape 
 by Pouffin, perhaps the beft performance of 
 this mafter; that nearefl: the window is 
 much fuperior to the other. The fcenelies in 
 Italy ; and at a proper diftance, it has the 
 effeft of a highly finifhed pidlure; but on a 
 clofer infpedtion, we difcover not the leaft 
 appearance of its having been labored; it 
 may vie with any landfcape in the colle&ion : 
 the companion is a morning, and more in the 
 ftyle of Claude than that of Pouffin ; it is 
 a fober chafte performance. 
 
 Above thefe are two by Baptifte, allego- 
 rical fubjedts. 
 
 On one fide of the chimney is a holy fa- 
 mily, by Titian ; and on the other is a dead 
 Chrift, by Michael Angelo. The Titian is 
 clear and well colored ; and the other has 
 great merit. Beneath thefe is a Magdalen, 
 by Guido, an inimitable performance ; and a 
 
 Jupi- 
 
( 2I 3 ) 
 
 Jupiter andDanae, by P. Laws. Above and 
 on each fide are two highly finifhed, by Wren, 
 of Holy Families, feftooned round with 
 flowers. 
 
 Over the chimney-piece is a drawing in 
 crayons, by Gardiner, of the Dowager Lady 
 de Clifford and her Family, an excellent 
 compofition. Over this is the Adoration of 
 the Shepherds, by Luca Jordano, in which 
 the light is happily introduced, and the figures 
 finely difpofed. On each fide of this picture 
 is an upright painting. 
 
 The oppofite fide contains four views on 
 the canals of Venice, by Canaletti, paint- 
 ed in a broad ftyle, and equal to any of his 
 works ; a fmall landfcape by Claude ; two 
 by Vangoen ; one in the manner of Both; 
 two by Pouflin ; one by Kneller, in which 
 he has introduced his favourite as St. Ceci- 
 lia ; and two fmall pictures faid to be by 
 Berchem : if fo, they are his early produc- 
 tions. Befides miniatures, there are in this 
 room forty-five pictures. 
 
 Ff 
 
 At 
 
( 214 ) 
 
 At the farther end, and on each fide of the 
 door, are two glafs-cafes for china and cu- 
 riofities, in the centre of which are two 
 frames of miniatures and cameos. 
 
 In lady de Clifford’s bed-room is fome 
 very fine tapeftry, part of it appears to have 
 been executed after Raffaelle. Here are alfo 
 two fmall pictures of the Virgin Mary. 
 
 We now defcend again to the ground- 
 floor, and come to the drawing-room. 
 
 Over the chimney is a St. John in the Wil- 
 dernefs, by Raffaelle, an exquifitely fine pic- 
 ture, the drawing chafte and elegant, and 
 grace and force in every limb and mufcle. 
 The fuperior knowledge of this great mafter, 
 in whatever related to attitude and propor- 
 tion, is in all his works confpicuous ; but 
 there is a vaft difference between- thofe of his 
 works that have found their way to our coun- 
 try, and thofe to be feen only in the Vatican. 
 The picture we are now confidering is cer- 
 tainly one of the very befit of his oil paintings ; 
 
 but 
 
( 215 ) 
 
 but in the fame room is a Holy Family by 
 him, far below mediocrity ; the child is an 
 ungraceful lump : the other figures are harfh 
 and badly coloured. 
 
 Sir Joftma Reynolds, in his ledture to the 
 ftudents of the Royal Academy, given in the 
 year 1772, on the Diftribution of the Prizes, 
 fpeaks of him in the following words : 
 
 44 Raffaelle, who ftands in general foremoft 
 44 of the firft painters, owes his reputation, 
 44 as I have obferved, to his excellence in 
 44 the higher parts of the art, therefore his 
 44 works in frefco ought to be the firft object 
 44 of our ftudy and attention. His eafel works 
 4 4 ftand in a lower degree of eftimation ; for 
 44 though he continually, to the day of his 
 44 death, embellifhed his works more and 
 44 more with the addition of thefe lower 
 44 ornaments, which entirely make the merit 
 4 4 of fome ; yet he never arrived at fuch per- 
 44 fedtion as to make him an objedt of imi- 
 tation; he never was able to conquer per- 
 44 fedtly that drynefs, or even littlenefs of 
 
 44 man- 
 
( *■« ) 
 
 “ manner, which he inherited from his maf- 
 “ ter. He never acquired that nicety of 
 i( tafte in colours, that breadth of light and 
 “ fhadow, that art and management of uniu 
 €t ing light to light and fhadow to fhadow, 
 “ fo as to make the objedt rife out of the 
 “ ground with that plentitude of effedt fo 
 “ much admired in the works of Coreggio* 
 “ When he painted in oil, his hand feemed 
 “to be fo cramped and confined, that he 
 u not only loft that facility and fpirit, but I 
 <c think even that corredtnefs of form, which 
 “ is fo perfedt and admirable in his frefco 
 “ works : I do not recolledt any pidtures 
 “ of his of this kind, except perhaps the 
 “ transfiguration, in which there are not 
 “ fome parts that appear to be even feebly 
 “ drawn. 
 
 <£ That this is not a neceffary attendant on 
 <£ oil painting, we have abundance of inftances 
 “ in more modern paintings ; Lodovico Ca- 
 “ racci, for inflance, preferved in his works, 
 “ in oil, the fame fpirit, vigour, and corredt- 
 “ nefs, which he had in frefco. 
 
 “ I have 
 
“ I have no defire to degrade Raffaelle 
 iC from the high rank which he defervedly 
 “ holds : but by comparing him with him- 
 “ felf, he does not appear to me to be the 
 c< fame man in oil as in frefco.” 
 
 On the fame fide with the St. John are a 
 Sufanna and the Elders, by Rubens, a fine 
 picture ; a Virgin and Child, by Guercino ; 
 St. John the Evangelift, by Gargione ; a 
 Holy Family by Coreggio, one of the fineft 
 of his works ; a St. Cecilia, by Carlo Marat ; 
 and a Rock Scene, by Salvator Rofa. 
 
 On the fide next the ante-room, are a por- 
 trait by Titian ; the two painters by Car- 
 racci, an early ftudy of his, and in the Vene- 
 tian flyle ; Mofes in the bulrufhes, by Nico- 
 las Pouflin, a very highly-finifhed picture, 
 finely drawn and coloured ; the Holy Family 
 beforementioned, by Raffaelle ; the wife 
 men’s Offering by Titian, which appears to 
 have been touched on, and two landfcapes 
 over the door by Horizonte. 
 
( ai8 ) 
 
 On the right-hand fide, next the door, are 
 a St. Jerome by Carracci, a firft-rate per- 
 formance of this matter ; Jofeph and our Sa- 
 viour, by Guido, a brilliant and delicately 
 painted pidture ; the head of Jofeph is, as 
 Sterne defcribes the Calaifian friar’s, ‘ mild, 
 pale, and penetrating ; a Magdalen, by the 
 fame hand, and in the fame ftyle ; St. Ceci- 
 lia, by Dominichino ; and a Sibyl by Carlo 
 Marat. 
 
 The pidtures in this room and the ante- 
 room, which we now enter, are all in the 
 beft prefervation, and are efteemed the flower 
 of the collection. 
 
 Over the chimney-piece of the ante-room, 
 are a Venus and Cupid, by Coreggio; 
 the fame fubjedt by Guido ; and the fame 
 again, by Lovet, is over the door ; Chrift and 
 the Woman at the Well, by Carlo Marat ; 
 Sampfon and Delilah, by Nicolas Pouflin ; a 
 Madonna and Child, by Guercino ; a Her- 
 mit, by Kneller; and a Pilgrim, by Zeeman. 
 
 In 
 
( 219 ) 
 
 In the eating-parlor are three whole- 
 
 lengths of perfonages of the family, by Knel- 
 ler ; three views of ruins ; and fome 
 bronzes on the chimney-piece, which make 
 up the whole of the collection. 
 
 The gardens belonging to this feat are laid 
 out with fuitable tafte, and may be feen at 
 any time, a gardener attending exprefsly for 
 the purpofe of conducting ftrangers. On a 
 knoll of inconfiderable height above the 
 
 eaftern extremity of the park, is a houfe called 
 King’s-Wefton Inn, much reforted to by 
 thofe who vifit lord de Clifford's, as being a 
 convenient place to leave their carriages and 
 fervants at. The down above this houfe is 
 frequented by morning parties from the 
 
 Wells : its elvation and pure air are great in- 
 ducements with invalids. The walk acrofs 
 the fields to King's -Wefton is about three 
 miles and an half from Park-ftreet, Briftol, 
 through afhady path*, 
 
 From the down, and near the wind-mill, an 
 extenfive profpeCt may be feen : a furface of 
 
 about 
 
( 220 ) 
 
 about thirty miles appears declining on all 
 fides below the brow of this hill : all the paf- 
 fage-houfes on the river Severn, and the boats 
 crofling it, may be diftindtly leen : the river 
 may be traced eaftward far beyond Newnham, 
 and to the weft as low as Cardiff ; the en- 
 trance of the Wye, and the lofty mountains 
 about Piercefield ; the mountains in Mon- 
 mouthfhire, which pafs in flowing lines on 
 the oppofite ftiore, and lofe themfelves in 
 pleafing confufion ; and the infinite variety 
 of verdure obfervable in different fpots of this 
 fublime landfcape, render it one of the firft in 
 the kingdom. * 
 
 To the fouth are Lanfdown hills and Dun- 
 dry. The eye is inftantly, on turning this 
 way, attracted by the artificial building called 
 Blaize Caftle, fituated at the very fummit of 
 afpiral rock, and furrounded with wood. 
 From hence it appears confiderably higher than 
 any ground within the fame diftance of Briftol. 
 
 The road from King's- Wefton continues 
 under the brow of this hill, and has the vale 
 
 of 
 
 - 
 
( 221 ) 
 
 of Severn, with the river, and its accompa- 
 niment of rude fcenery on the oppofite fide. 
 A fhort mile from hence is the village of 
 Henbury, where a number of the inhabitants 
 of Briftol have country houfes. 
 
 At the foot of Blaize-caftle wood, and ad- 
 joining the church, is the feat of Mr. Harford. 
 Since the caftle and grounds have been in his 
 occupation, he has made very confiderable im- 
 provements ; the battlements form a terrace, 
 on which he has mounted eight cannon. In 
 the walks up to it are many objects of curiofi- 
 ty. The only day when ftrangers are admit- 
 ted, is Thurfday. 
 
 From the top of the caftle, we look down a 
 coomb of confiderable length, on each fide of 
 which are high perpendicular rocks, with a 
 great quantity of wood beneath them. A par- 
 ticular part of the rock refembling a feat, is cal- 
 led the Giant’s chair. Blaize-caftle has been ce- 
 lebrated in a poem, named after it, by Davies. 
 
 Leaving the pretty village of Henbury, we 
 proceed up Gloucefter-lane. On the left hand, 
 
 G g and 
 
 t 
 
( ZZZ ) 
 
 and half way towards Cribb’s caufeway, is the 
 feat of Mr. Batterfby, a merchant of Brif- 
 tol. It ftands about half a mile out of the 
 road, and on the brow of a hill that com- 
 mands the Severn, and has the fame view 
 from it, as that feen from King’s-Wefton 
 hill. At the end of this lane, we enter 
 the high-road to the New and Old Paffage 
 houfes. 
 
 The road is now hemmed in on each fide 
 by hedge-rows, with little variation, for a 
 confiderable difiance. The feat of Mr. 
 Daubigny, and another more elevated near 
 Aldmonlbury, are very confpicuous, and are 
 not inferior, in beauty of fituation, to any on 
 the banks of the Severn. 
 
 A little beyond the fix-mile ftone, we find 
 a very humble public-houfe, from whence 
 there is an unbounded view ; the principal ob- 
 jects are the entrance of the Wye, and the river 
 Severn with its vale. Nothing can be richer 
 than the appearance of the vale from this 
 fpot. It is a luxuriant garden, rather than 
 fields, the hedges having much more the 
 
 afpedt 
 
( 223 ) 
 
 afpedl of an ornamental fhrubbery, than of 
 fences and boundaries. 
 
 Defcending a fteep woody hill, we arrive 
 at the entrance of Marflx-common ; the 
 fcene is now quite changed ; and inftead of 
 rich fore-grounds, that had accompanied us 
 hitherto, with towering oaks on each fide, 
 that fcreened us kindly from a fummer fun, 
 we had nothing in profped: but an expofed 
 common, near three miles acrofs, affording 
 nothing but pafture. It is reckoned a choice 
 fpot for fattening fheep, and is generally 
 well flocked with them and with black 
 cattle, befides geefe in abundance. It alfo 
 produces one article of food not often to 
 be found within land, this is fhrimps, which 
 come up the ditches, cut here from the 
 Severn. 
 
 The firft time we vifited the New Paflage- 
 houfe was about half an hour before fun-fet, 
 and the effedt was fuperior to any we could 
 afterwards catch on the Severn. The ftrength 
 of light and lhade, at that moment, entirely 
 
 con- 
 
( 224 ) 
 
 concealed the want of tranfparency in the 
 water : the reflections were vivid, without 
 that chill clearnefs that is often produced in 
 purer water by a flrong light. * 
 
 / ~ ) 31/ * [.; ' l . 1 *// . ; jJK 
 
 Another good effect we obferved on this 
 river, when flying clouds produced a confined 
 light that pafled through the view, and with 
 a high and rich fore-ground, a fpacious vale 
 beneath, and the Severn waffling its fhores, 
 gave a true keeping to the diftant mountains. 
 Such a light thrown over this fpot, blends 
 the land and water into foftnefs, and gives 
 harmony to the compofition. On the con-, 
 trary, a light that catches only on the water, 
 throws the land into a hard fhadovv, and the 
 effect is deftroyed. 
 
 Our curiofity led us, one fummer morning, 
 to obferve the Severn fcenery, a fhort time be- 
 fore day-break. The eaftern hills were ftreak- 
 ed with red, which gradually broke into a chill 
 vapoury purple fky ; the water was .fmooth, 
 and reflected the morning ftar ; the diftant 
 mountains, but juft perceptible, were half 
 
 enve- 
 
VI IE Won the SEVEK.M ironi the NewPnfsage4i.cru.fe in Glofterfhire ; with fneEERMY IB OAT preparing' to depart at low Water. 
 
) 
 
 i 
 
 » 
 
 
( 225 ) 
 
 enveloped in the morning mift ; the reft of 
 nature in 4 fober grey,* foretold the day’s ap- 
 proach. The variations were infinite ; the 
 objedls changed their form and hues every 
 moment ; and the fcene we had been contem- 
 plating, was foon, by the broad glare of day, 
 paft recognition. 
 
 When the fun has rifen fo high as to illu- 
 mine the river, it deftroys all keeping. The 
 hedge-rows on the oppofite fide, are too con- 
 fpicuous for the canvas ; the gleams of light 
 dazzle with more force than effe<ft on the 
 water, and the Iky in general aflumes more 
 of a raw blue than is grateful to the eye ; 
 nor do the clouds exhibit thofe brilliant filver 
 touches, fo admirably caught in the works of 
 David Teniers. 
 
 The views from the New Paflage-houfe 
 are extenfive and grand. To the left are two 
 remarkable mountains, which, though heavy 
 and fhapelefs, ferve admirably to relieve a 
 long ftrait line of hills; the intervening fpace 
 is of a femicircular form ; they are well wood- 
 ed 
 
ed to the tops, and are fituated at the begin- 
 ning of Went wood foreft, on the road lead- 
 ing from St. Pierre’s to Ufk and Abergavenny. 
 The hills round Piercefield, and which form 
 the bed of the river Wye, are noble and 
 ftriking; rifing firft in gentle eminences, they 
 mount above each other, till the rocks at 
 Piercefield, towering to a ftupendous height, 
 and intermixed with hanging woods and jut- 
 ting precipices, unite with them to form a 
 fcene, that leaves the eye bewildered in aw- 
 ful confufion. Above the bed and entrance 
 of the Wye, the Paffage-houfe at Beachley 
 may be diftindly feen, with a long uninter- 
 efting fweep of hills, devoid of form or 
 recommendation of any kind. 
 
 Clofe by the New Paffage-houfe, an em- 
 bankment, to prevent the Severn from en- 
 croaching on the meadows, extends to the 
 Old or Auft Paffage-houfe, three miles dif- 
 tant. The different cuts into the river from 
 Marfh common, occafion a circuit of at leaft 
 a mile and half, between the New and Old 
 Paffage houfes. 
 
 Who- 
 
fGEW of the Entrance of the RIVER WYE*, from a Fifherman’s Cottage 'below the New Eafsage Houle on 'the Severn. 
 
( 227 ) 
 
 Whoever, previous to vifiting this fpot, has 
 read Mr. Gilpin’s betwitching defcription of 
 the river Wye, cannot withftand the allurement 
 of a paffage to the other fide, for the fake 
 of viewing the remains of Chepftow caftle, 
 the folemn ruins of Tintern abbey, and the ro- 
 mantic walks of Piercefield. As all thefe places 
 may be explored in one day, mofi of thofe who 
 come to Briftol make this excurfion. 
 
 To facilitate this pleafant purpofe, we an- 
 nex fome particulars, which are neceflfary to 
 be known to thofe who crofs the Severn. 
 
 From the New Paflage-houfe in Gloucefter- 
 fliire, to Port Skewith, near St. Pierre’s, it 
 is about three miles over, and this is the di- 
 red: road to all parts of South-wales, and 
 the lower parts of Monmouthfhire. 
 
 From the Old or Auft Paflage-houfe, to 
 Beachley, it is two miles over. This road 
 leads from Briftol to Newent, Newnham, 
 the foreft of Dean, and the upper parts of 
 Monmouthftiire. 
 
 The 
 
( 228 ) 
 
 The winds for crofting the Severn, are 
 diftinguifhed by the appellation of Winds 
 below and Winds above . 
 
 Winds below, are thofe that blow up the 
 river, fouthcrly or wefterly ; with thefe, the 
 palTage is during the ebb or going out of the 
 tide, which is feven hours. 
 
 * 
 
 Winds above , are thofe that blow down the 
 river, northerly or eafterly. With thefe the 
 river may be paffed, during five hours on 
 the flood, or coming in of the tide. 
 
 When the wind is fouth-eaft or north- weft, 
 it is diredly acrofs the river ; therefore paf- 
 fengers muft be at the Paffage-houfe, where 
 they intend to crofs, an hour before high- 
 water. 
 
 The difference of pafling at Auft, and the 
 New Paffage-houfe, varies about an hour. 
 
 Tide coming in, and wind above, New 
 Pafiage is an hour fooner than Auft. 
 
 Tide 
 
( 229 ) 
 
 Tide going out, wind below, Auft is an 
 hour fooner than New Paffage. 
 
 The tide at Briftol bridge is an hour fooner 
 high water than at the New Paffage ; fo that 
 an enquiry there obtains all the information 
 neceffary, when thefe rules are known. 
 
 The price of paffage by the horfe-boat is, 
 for a four-wheeled carriage, ten (hillings; for 
 a two-wheeled carriage, five (hillings; for a 
 man and horfe, one (hilling ; for a borfe 
 alone, eight-pence ; for a foot paffenger, fix- 
 pence; for cattle, fix-pence per head; for 
 (lieep and pigs, two (hillings and fix-pence 
 per fcore. For a fmall boat to crofs over with 
 a private party, five (hillings, exclufive of 
 fix-pence for each perfon. 
 
 The New Paffage-houfe has long been re- 
 forted to by companies for dinner and tea. 
 The accommodations and entertainment have 
 been much and juftly complained of ; but new 
 inhabitants have retrieved its character. 
 
 H h 
 
 A coach 
 
( 23 ° ) 
 
 A coach fets out every morning, at feven 
 o’clock, from Briftol for the New Paflage- 
 houfe ; and another at eight o’clock for the 
 Auft. The mail-coach for Milford, with 
 the Waterford mail, leaves Briftol about 
 eleven in the forenoon in fummer, and is 
 a fure conveyance acrofs the Severn in the 
 packet-boat, which is kept in the pay of 
 government for this exprefs purpofe. 
 
 At low water, when the horfe-boat is 
 ready to receive its paflengers, the boatmen 
 found a horn as a fignal for embarkation ; 
 and it is a ludicrous light to fee the whim- 
 fical groupes that have attended Briftol mar- 
 ket haftening to fecure their paflage. Great 
 inconvenience often attends the embarkation 
 at low water, from the roughnefs of the 
 Ihore and the rapidity of the current; but 
 when the tide is up, the boat takes in its 
 freight at Pill, dole to the houle it goes 
 from, and there is no difficulty. 
 
 Accidents in this Ihort, yet critical paflage, 
 are very rare. The moll remarkable occurred 
 
 many 
 
( 2 3 I ) 
 
 many years ago : a gentleman, one of a com- 
 pany in a fmall boat, had his hat blown off ; 
 he immediately ordered the man at the helm 
 to put the veflel about, that he might fave his 
 hat : it was low water and the man refufed 
 
 9 
 
 on the plea of extreme hazard : the gentle- 
 man in a paflion caught the helm and would 
 do it himfelf ; the rapid current and a fquall of 
 wind which rofe at the moment, overfet the 
 boat, and all, excepting two, perifhed. This 
 mad impetuofity was afterwards in fome mea- 
 fure accounted for, though nothing could 
 juftify it, by the difcovery that in the hat 
 were concealed feveral bank-notes. Another 
 fatal accident once happened by careleflnefs 
 in not fecuring a plank of the horfe-boat, 
 when crofting from Auft to Beachley ; the 
 water rufhed in, and it went to the bottom. 
 
 The rapidity of the Severn is known to all 
 acquainted with its name, but none who have 
 not witnefled it, can form a juft idea of it : 
 the coming in of the tide is aftoniftiingly 
 grand ; and under particular circumftances it 
 is terrific. — Towards the clofe of the day an 
 
 awful 
 
( « 3 * ) 
 
 awful folemnity is the character the river 
 aflumes ; and it conveys to the contemplative 
 mind a peculiar caft of ideas nature in this 
 place only has power to infufe. 
 
 In fummer the fmall exprefs-boat is al- 
 ways to be preferred to the horfe-boat, as it 
 makes a quicker paflage, and the company is 
 more feleft. With a little wind in its favor, 
 it crofles ufually in half an hour. 
 
 At low water, the bar acrofs the Severn 
 may be traced almoft from one fide to the 
 other : this barrier contributes in fome mea- 
 fure to the force of the current : the channel 
 for velfels navigating the Severn, is very in- 
 confiderable, when compared with its width, 
 and the body of water it exhibits. 
 
 Beyond the rocks we have a diftindt view 
 of the influx of the Avon and Portifhead bay 
 and point, with the coafl: of Somerfetfhire 
 extending to a great diftance. In the mid- 
 channel we fee the little ifland we before 
 noticed, and on the other fide we have a 
 
 clofe 
 
I 
 
 ( 23 3 ) 
 
 clofe view of the modeit Wye purfuing its 
 courfe between rocks and woods for near 
 three hundred miles, and loiing itfelf in the 
 Severn’s impetuous torrent. Thefe two ri- 
 vers take their rife from the mountain Plin- 
 limmon, in the wildefl: part of Cardigan- 
 fhire ; and though they iffue from fpots with- 
 in a few paces of each other, preferve their 
 independence till they become united here. 
 
 We landed at Fortfcuit — on a much better 
 fhore than that we had embarked from. No 
 trouble ever attends the entering or quitting 
 the boat here, the beach being perfectly 
 folid. 
 
 But however convenient it may be when 
 the elements are at peace, we were witneifes 
 of a fcene that might have deterred many 
 from ever again trufting the Naiads of the 
 Severn. At the clofe of a remarkably ferene 
 evening in July, while we were enjoying the 
 beauty of the fcene, extended on a grafs plat, 
 we were ftartledby a very vivid flaih oflight- 
 ningand a fudden and moil tremendous clap of 
 
 thun- 
 
( 234 ) 
 
 thunder : a heavy cloud inftantly fpread itfelf 
 over us, and the elements were in a moment 
 oppofed in all their fury to each other : the 
 Severn rolled with a tremendous roar, while 
 the fire that flafhed from the clouds at every 
 inftant, caught fome rifing wave, or the foam- 
 ing furf, and horribly illumined it : peal af- 
 ter peal of thunder refounded in ten thoufand 
 echos, reverberating among the rocks on the 
 Wye, till, fpending itfelf on the oppofite fhore, 
 it murmured out its rage. 
 
 A horfe-boat that had been becalmed, was 
 attempting to make the fhore : the flirieks of 
 women, the hoarfe bawling of the boatmen, 
 and the inceflfant kicking of the horfes, were 
 perfectly diftinguifhable, and added to our 
 own terrors thofe we felt for thefe unfortu- 
 nate beings. — Untenable as was the fpot we 
 were in, it was impoflible to quit it with fuch 
 objects in view : we watched and faw a wo- 
 man, half dead with horror, borne to the fhore 
 by two men. Ahorfe was next landed; and he, 
 rearing up againft every coming flafh, dragged 
 with him his keeper, who yet held him by a 
 
 halter : 
 
( 235 ) 
 
 halter : at one moment we faw him flip many 
 feet down the rocks ; the next he was fwim- 
 ming cheft high. At length, by perfeverance 
 and by repeating his efforts, he gained the 
 Jliore, where breaking from his confinement, 
 he galloped away, and was with much diffi- 
 culty recovered. 
 
 jTj • : f j ) ‘ , r : - y- l; 
 
 The paffengers were, after many vain at- 
 tempts, all fafely landed ; and in a few hours 
 the tempeft abated, and a fcene prefented itfelf 
 that might almoft have effaced the remem- 
 brance of the part. The full moon climbed 
 to the fummit of the oppofite hills, and 
 fhewed us the bark we had juft before feen 
 contending againft the waves, now riding on 
 the glaffy furface of the river, where fcarcely 
 a breath of air was perceptible : all was now 
 tranquil : the vociferous oaths of the boat- 
 men gave place to the plaintive ditty, ‘ A 
 failor's life's a life of woe , 5 while the rude 
 breakers, that had lafhed the rocks, crept gen- 
 tly at their feet, and ftole to hide themfelves 
 in the mid-channel. 
 
 It 
 
( 236 ) 
 
 It was two in the morning before we could 
 leave a fcene which had excited in us fuch a 
 variety of paffions and fenfations. The wea- 
 ther on the fucceeding day was as ferene as 
 poffible, and fhewed us, that thefe Severn 
 ftorms are wholly unconnected with the ge- 
 neral temperature of the atmofphere. 
 
 # 
 
 To thofe who love rural or aquatic excur- 
 fions, nothing can be more delightful than to 
 leave Briftol with the latter part of a fummer 
 afternoon’s tide, fail down the Avon to 
 King-road, and wait at the New Paflage- 
 houfe the return of the tide. The accommo- 
 dations here are good, and the affiduity of the 
 inhabitants has ranked this amongft the beft 
 inns in this country. 
 
 At the diftance of a quarter of an hour’s 
 walk from the Paflage-houfe, are to be feen 
 the chapel and intrenchments at Sudbrook, a 
 work of the Romans, where great quantities 
 of their bricks and coins have been dug up. 
 The antiquarian will here find many things 
 worthy his attention. 
 
 At 
 
( 237 ) 
 
 At Caerwent, about three miles from 
 hence, on the road to Newport and U(k, 
 the fervants of Mr. Lewis, of Chepftow, 
 digging in an orchard, at the fouth-weft 
 angle of the old walls, in the year 1777, 
 ftruck againft fomething that refilled their 
 tools, which, on examination, proved to be 
 a teflfelated pavement of twenty-one feet fix 
 inches in length, and eighteen feet four inches 
 in breadth, funk two feet below the furface 
 of the earth. The pieces of which it is 
 compofed are almofl: fquare, and nearly the 
 fize of a common die, the colors are blue, 
 white, yellow, and red : the two firft are 
 of Hone, the other two terra cotta, and the 
 whole is furrounded with the Greek fcroll 
 and fret-work. 
 
 It is fuppofed to have been part of a work 
 of Agricola, who is known to have greatly 
 promoted the arts of civilization, and com- 
 manded in Britain during the reign of the em- 
 peror Titus. The pleafure of feeing fo curi- 
 ous a relic of antiquity, is much diminilhed by 
 the vexation every one muft feel on perceiv- 
 
 I i ing 
 
( 238 ) 
 
 ing that it fuffcrs by almoft all its vifitors. 
 Mr. Lewis eredted a building over it, to 
 protedl it from the rude and ignorant ; but 
 thofe who come purpofely to examine it, are 
 as much its enemies ; and pilfering greedinefs 
 has already deprived it of nearly eight inches 
 all round. 
 
 In the vicinity of this place are Caldecot- 
 caftle, and Matherne palace, near St. Pierre’s, 
 the feat of Thomas Lewis, efq. On the 
 lofty brow of Went wood foreft is Strighill 
 caftle, as ancient as the Norman conqueft, 
 and once the refidence of the earls of Pem- 
 broke and Strighill. Richard Strongbow 
 was the lad earl of his family who refided 
 in it. It is now falling faft to decay. 
 
 Within a two days’ excurfion from the 
 Paflage-houfe, lie Caerleon, Uik, Aberga- 
 venny, Ragland caftle, and Monmouth, all 
 of which may be vifited within that time, as 
 the circuit is not more than feventy-fix miles. 
 The firftof thefe places is about fixteen miles 
 from the Paflage-houfe, through a pleafant 
 
( 239 ) 
 
 woody country ; it is nine miles farther to 
 Uik ; from Uik to Abergavenny eleven miles; 
 from thence to Monmouth, by Ragland caftle, 
 eighteen miles; and from Monmouth, by 
 Abbey-Tintern and Chepftow, back to the 
 New Paflage-houfe, or to Beachley, which 
 is nearly the fame diftance, about twenty 
 miles. At all of thefe places, except Caerleon, 
 poft-chaifes are to be had. 
 
 Caerleon, orKher-Leon, was a Ration of 
 the Romans, and of great confideration. It 
 was therefidence of their chief commanders, 
 and adorned with baths, palaces, and ftately 
 edifices. Some teftimonies of its former 
 magnificence remain, particularly the keep 
 of the caftle ; and parts of an aqueducft, and 
 of the walls of the theatre, may be traced. 
 
 The bridge here over the Uflc, is on the 
 fame conftru&ion as that at Newport, and 
 part of that over the Wye, at Chepftow. 
 It confifts of wooden piles, floored with 
 boards, which are not fixed down, but pre- 
 vented from flipping, by fmall tenons at the 
 
 ends 
 
( 240 ) 
 
 ends of each ; this precaution is neceflary to 
 prevent refiftance to the tide when it rifes. 
 
 Of this place and others in this route, 
 we forbear to fay more here, as it is our defign 
 to defcribe them in a future work, more 
 immediately relative to Monmouthfliire and 
 Wales. 
 
 From Caerleon, a pleafant ride of nine 
 miles, partly by the fide of the Ulk, brings 
 us to a town named from the river, and as 
 we pafs an angle of rock clofe to the water, 
 are prefented with a full and piCturefque view 
 of the town, the cafile, the bridge, and 
 weir. Continuing under thefe woody rocks, 
 we arrive at the foot of the bridge, and have 
 a very attractive profpeCt before us. The 
 road is bounded by rocks, above which is 
 an uninterrupted range of wood ; the fore- 
 ground was then ftrewed with large maflfes 
 fallen from the heights, and which had been 
 removed to the edge of the river ; the water 
 formed a noble fiieet ; the bridge became an 
 objeCt of only fecondary importance, and 
 
 had 
 

 f 
 
( 241 ) 
 
 had a good effed. It is of ftone, and con- 
 lifts of five arches ; but the largeft arch, in- 
 ftead of being in the centre, is that next to 
 . the town, probably to accommodate a cur- 
 rent. Diredly over the bridge is a double 
 hill, with fome wood on it ; beyond which 
 the Blorench and Sugar-loaf mountains clofe 
 the fcene. 
 
 Another good view may be obtained by 
 looking the other way from the bridge ; the 
 accompaniments are what have been defcrib- 
 ed ; but the ftream affumes the form of a 
 lake, widening in the diftance. With the 
 weir and nets placed here, great quantities 
 of falmon are taken. 
 
 From Ufk, a road leading diredly to Rag- 
 land caftle, without going to Abergavenny, 
 reduces this tour to fifty inftead of feventy 
 miles ; but as the vale of Uik is celebrated 
 for its fertility, and it has in its neighbourhood 
 feveral remarkable mountains, many are in- 
 duced to take the longer way, and vifit Lan- 
 tony abbey, which is but eleven miles farther. 
 
 From 
 
( 2 4 2 ) 
 
 From Ufk, the road leads by the river, for 
 about three miles, through a fcene of rock 
 and woods ; in the diftance, are feen the 
 Blorench and Sugar-loaf mountains. Paffing 
 beyond the three mile-ftone, a continued 
 wood brings us within five miles of Aberga- 
 venny, where the road branches off to Mon- 
 mouth and Ragland, without returning to 
 Ufk. On the hill oppofite to the feat of Mr. 
 Jones, is an artificial caftle commanding very 
 extenfive views. The vale of Ulk continues 
 between inconfiderable hills, till it reaches 
 the foot of the Blorench. 
 
 Abergavenny appears, on our approach to 
 it, as if fituated in the deepeft recefifes of 
 inacceflible mountains. All about it, is in 
 the highelt degree romantic ; and the pen- 
 dent rocks, the jutting promontories, the 
 hanging woods, and the clamorous cataradts, 
 convey no very imperfedl idea of the land- 
 fcape of Switzerland. 
 
 The town takes its name from its pofition, 
 which is at the confluence of the rivers Ulk 
 and Gavenny (Aber, in the Welch language, 
 
 fig- 
 
( 3 43 ) 
 
 fignifying the mouth of a river). It is fur- 
 rounded by mines of various defcriptions, and 
 is of a larger fize than the generality of towns 
 in Wales. Though we do not reckon Mon- 
 mouthfhire a Welch county, the inhabitants 
 of Abergavenny call themfelves Welchmen, 
 and fpeak the language. 
 
 Returning from Abergavenny by the way 
 we came, for five miles, we paffed Mr. 
 Jones’s houfe, leaving the U(k road on the 
 right hand, and from hence had a complete 
 view of the Holy mountain, to the fouth-eaft 
 of Abergavenny. Beyond this we faw the ter- 
 mination of the Haddrell mountains, towards 
 Herefordlhire. 
 
 A few miles hence, we turned to the right 
 for Ragland, which is confpicuoufly fituated 
 on the brow of a hill, of fome height ; the 
 ride to it is very pidturefque. The wood- 
 bine and wild rofe perfumed the air, and deco- 
 rated the hedges, till we reached the caftle. 
 
 Ragland caftle is the property of his grace 
 the duke of Beaufort, and is inferior in fize 
 
 to 
 
( 244 ) 
 
 to no building of the kind in South Wales, 
 excepting Caerfelli, or Caerphilly. It con- 
 tains many fpacious apartments, in one of 
 which are two figures in alto relievo, but fo 
 mutilated, that all conjecture about them is 
 vain. A fubterraneous paflfage under the caftle 
 communicates with the church-yard, at the 
 diftance of more than a quarter of a mile. 
 Several alterations appear to have been made 
 in the building, as lately as the laft century ; 
 the windows in the great hall were added in 
 the reign of Elizabeth ; but many of the ftone 
 chimney-pieces, decorated with a light freize 
 and cornice, are of much later date. 
 
 The unfortunate Charles I. retreated hither 
 after the battle of Nafeby, in hopes of railing 
 an army in Wales, but this fchemewas frus- 
 trated ; the marquis of Worcefter, the 
 owner of the caftle, was his Heady friend ; 
 but Charles was foon after made prifoner, and 
 conveyed to Holmby : the caftle flood a fiege 
 by Cromwell’s forces, and was the laft that 
 furrendered to the parliament. 
 
 The 
 
( 24 5 ) 
 
 The country from hence to Monmouth 
 differs little from that between Abergavenny 
 and Ragland. Approaching Monmouth, 
 which makes a refpedtable appearance, we 
 have a view of the tower which gave birth to 
 our glorious Henry V* 
 
 Monmouth is a clean neat town, fituated 
 at the junction of the rivers Munnow and 
 Wye, over both which there is a ftone 
 bridge. The aflizes for the county are held 
 here. The church is a lofty building, with a 
 light fpire. 
 
 The Wye, at Monmouth, does not exhibit 
 fuch romantic fcenes as about Chepftow ; yet 
 thofe who can vifit it during the fpring-tides 
 will find ample compenfation for their trou- 
 ble, in the pleafure of going by water from 
 Chepftow to Monmouth, and back again. By 
 land, there is not a Angle object till we reach 
 Tintern abbev, that deferves notice. 
 
 As we declined hence towards Tintern, 
 the road was obftrudted by great quantities 
 
 K k of 
 
( 2 4 6 ) 
 
 of loofe (tones laid on it, and rills of water 
 crofling it at fmall diftances. We feemed 
 now to be penetrating a gloom aptly fuited to 
 prepare the mind for the venerable objedt of 
 our curiofity ; but our contemplations were 
 prefently difturbed by the fight of a number 
 of fmelting-houfes on the banks of the Wye, 
 and much too near the abbey : clouds of 
 thick black fmoke, and an intolerable flench* 
 iflued from thefe buildings, difgufling to the 
 utmoft degree, and entirely deftroying the 
 landlcape. Here and there we could difco- 
 ver a feledt fpot that might have afforded a 
 fketch, but we were difappointed and vexed. 
 At the end of this road we come to a fmall 
 inn, the landlord of which ferves as keeper 
 and guide to the ruins of Tintern abbey. 
 
 This beautiful ruin is fituated in the loweft 
 part of a fmall vale, encompafled with woods 
 and rocks, fome of which rife to the height 
 of three hundred feet, and form the bed of 
 the Wye : it is much to be regretted, that the 
 hollow fiuation of the abbey prevents its be- 
 ing feen from the river. 
 
 As 
 
/>rawn Sc Eturraved iy ./ Na/sc/t . 
 
 llNSIDJE VIEW of Tl[NTERN ABBEY looking* towards the Eaft Window. 
 
 Puio/hed iy tioo/cfuvn Sc C° Mew tiond Street, Oct? /• tjfis- 
 
 
( *:7 ) 
 
 As we approached, the wretched inhabi- 
 tants of fome miferable hovels prefented 
 themfelves: neither the dwellings, nor the 
 occupiers of them, were at all in harmony 
 with the grandeur of the fcene we were con- 
 fidering. We entered at the eaft gate, through 
 a large arch, and faw all we had yet beheld 
 of awful magnificence, furpaffed by the ruins 
 of Tintern. Nothing fabricated by human 
 hands can be more fublime. The figure of 
 the abbey is a crofs : at the weft end is a 
 large Gothic window of exquifite beauty : 
 the windows and the pillars that fupported 
 the roof, are in the pureft ftyle of this archi- 
 tecture. The walls are all ftanding. The 
 length of the nave is two hundred and thirty- 
 one feet, the breadth thirty-three. The crofs 
 aifle is one hundred and fixty feet long. 
 
 Mr. Gilpin exclaims loudly againft the 
 effeCt of perfeCt gable-ends in a ruin, and la- 
 ments that a chiffel is not ufed to reduce 
 them to abetter form; but the experiment is 
 dangerous. In Tintern abbey there are four 
 gable-ends, that certainly give an air of ftiff- 
 
 nefs 
 
( 2 4 8 ) 
 
 nefs to the building ; but we were much 
 more difgufted with the ftone walls that pafs 
 in oblique directions, and cut it off from the 
 road, fo that nothing but a bird’s-eye view 
 can give a correCt delineation of the whole. 
 The daws and martlets, which in great num- 
 bers have taken up their abode here, feem 
 its proper inhabitants. On the authority of 
 our immortal bard we may accept them as a 
 token of the purity of the air ; and the fitua- 
 tions chofen by the martlet, brought forcibly 
 to our recollection his defcription of their 
 ceconomy : 
 
 c No coigne of vantage, jetting frieze, or buttrice, 
 But what this bird has made his pendent- bed 
 And procreant cradle.’ 
 
 Macbeth. 
 
 The man who conducted us, put into our 
 hands the following account of the abbey, 
 written on a fcroll of parchment. 
 
 4 This abbey, dedicated to God and St. Ma- 
 ry of Tintern, was founded about the year 
 1 1 3 1 , by Walter Fitz-Richard de Clare, 
 
 lorcj 
 
( 249 ) 
 
 lord of Caervvent and Monmouthfhire. Wil- 
 liam earl of Pembroke and marefchal of Eng- 
 land, married the daughter and heirefs of 
 Richard de Clare, furnamed Strongbow, and 
 gave divers lands and privileges to the abbots 
 and monks thereof, who are of the Cifter- 
 cian order, obliging them to pray for their 
 fouls, and thofe of his and his wife's ancef- 
 tors. Richard de Bigod, duke of Norfolk, 
 added to thefe benefactions. It has been fa- 
 mous for the tombs and monuments of feveral 
 great perfons, principally the aforefaid Rich- 
 ard de Clare, called Strongbow, and Walter 
 earl of Pembroke, who, in the difpute be- 
 tween the houfes of York and Lancafter, was 
 taken prifoner in Banbury fight, and behead- 
 ed, and buried here. The length of this ab- 
 bey, from eaft to weft, is feventy-feven yards ; 
 in breadth, from north to fouth, fifty-three 
 yards. It has twenty-four pillars, and 
 eighty-four windows.' 
 
 From Tintern abbey the road leads up a 
 long fhaded lane, and again enters the high- 
 road from Monmouth to Chepftow, 
 
 b 7 
 
( 2 5 ° ) 
 
 By water, we pafs the abbey between tre- 
 mendous high rocks, winding alternately 
 round abrupt precipices and woody promonto- 
 ries. In this part of the river Wye there is a 
 famenefs of fcenery. Two high promonto- 
 ries on each fide fweeping behind each other, 
 with a third interpofed, fo as to clofe up the 
 view, are the general accompaniments ; but 
 though the forms are nearly the fame, they 
 are much diverfified by wood and rock : in 
 fome places they ftand feveral feet from the 
 furface of the earth, and hang as if threaten- 
 ing all beneath them : diftorted oaks and 
 overgrown afh combine with the landfcape 
 in this feeming danger, and ftand as if ex- 
 pecting every moment to be hurled to the 
 bottom. 
 
 After running a confiderable diftance be- 
 tween fuch objeCts as thefe, we arrive at the 
 beautiful peninfula of Llancot, which feems 
 to be tied by a narrow ifthmus to the hills on 
 the Gloucefterfhire fide of the Avon. It is 
 nearly two miles in circumference, confiding 
 of meadows and detached coppices. 
 
 At 
 
( 251 ) 
 
 At this place, Abbey Tintern, and Broch- 
 way, the fifhermen make ufe of coracles on 
 the water ; they are about five feet and a half 
 long, and four broad, with a feat in the mid- 
 dle, and are compofed of wicker curioufly 
 wove, on the outfide of which is a raw hide 
 
 v 
 
 (whence its name) pitched all over, and 
 brought up to the gunwhales : the bottom is 
 round, and the form oval. The mode of 
 ufing them is whimfical. After throwing 
 his net or line, the man fifties with one hand 
 and paddles with the other : fometimes both 
 man and boat are carried under water, but the 
 dexterity of the country people is fo great, 
 that they rarely meet with any difafter, Sir 
 John Hawkins, in his notes on Walton’s 
 Complete Angler, defcribes thefe veflels as 
 called in fome places a thorrocle or truckle, 
 and in others a coble, from the Latin corbula> 
 a little bafket ; he fays, ‘ It is a baiket fhaped 
 like the half of a walnut-fhell ; but ftial- 
 lower in proportion, and covered on the out- 
 fide with a horfe’s hide : it has a bench in 
 t he middle, and will juft hold one perfon, 
 and is fo light, that the countrymen will hang 
 
 it 
 
I 
 
 ( 252 ) 
 
 it on their head like a hood, and fo travel, 
 with a fmall paddle which ferves for a flick* 
 till they come to a river ; and then they 
 launch it, and ftep in : there is great diffi- 
 culty in getting into one of thefe truckles ; 
 for the inftant you touch it with your foot, 
 it flies from you ; and when you are in, the 
 leafl: inclination of the body overfets it. It 
 is very diverting to fee how upright a man is 
 forced to fit in thefe veffels, and to mark 
 with what ftate and folemnity he draws up 
 the ftone which ferves for an anchor, when 
 he would remove, and lets it down again.* 
 
 Mr. Gilpin defcribes a voyage made in 
 one of thefe wattled barks to the ifland of 
 Lundy, at the entrance of the Briftol chan- 
 nel, which was performed after a week’s 
 inceflant labor. 
 
 At Llancot, the river and its fcenery im- 
 prove much : the oppofite rocks rife in many 
 places to the height of fix hundred feet per- 
 pendicular. On the top of one of thefe 
 mantled mountains, is one of the bounda- 
 ries 
 
( 253. ) 
 
 ries of Piercefield. Doubling another pro- 
 montory, we enter immediately under its 
 woods. 
 
 Nothing can exceed, as to compofition, the 
 fcene of rock and wood that meets the eye, 
 as we advance towards Chepftow. The caf- 
 tle ftands on the ba.ik of the river, and clofe 
 to the town ; its fituation entirely commands 
 both thefe and the bridge, and, confidered 
 only as artifts confider all things, it is the 
 happieft embellifhment of this fpot that 
 could have been contrived. As a ruin, it is 
 much admired, and occupies a large piece of 
 ground : its conftruCtion is fuppofed to have 
 been of Norman origin ; but there are fome 
 beautiful fpecimens of Gothic architecture to 
 be found about it. A deep chafm divides it 
 from the town. 
 
 The keep is now called the chapel, and 
 is faid to have been the work of a jew. A 
 part of it has been fitted up for the recep- 
 tion of a family. A tower adjoining, ferved 
 as aprifon, during life, for colonel Martin, 
 
 L 1 who 
 
C 254 ) 
 
 who had fat as one of Charles the firft’s 
 
 judges. 
 
 Cromwell befieged Chepftow caftle ; but 
 not being able to take it while in perfon here, 
 he left colonel Ewer, with a train of artillery, 
 feven companies of foot, and four troops of 
 horfe, to profecute the liege. The garrifon 
 confifted of only one hundred and lixty 
 men, who defended themfelves till their provi- 
 lions were gone, and then formed a fcheme for 
 efcaping by night ; for which purpofe, they 
 had a boat ready under the walls ; but being 
 fufpecfted, one of colonel Ewer’s men crofted 
 the Wye, and fet it adrift. The caftle was 
 taken on the 25th of May, 1648, by the 
 parliament’s army. Sir Nicholas Kemys, 
 the brave defender of it, periftied with about 
 forty of his men during the liege. 
 
 The bridge at Chepftow, is, as has been 
 faid, partly on the fame conftrutftion with 
 that at Caerleon, and about feventy feet high. 
 The tides rife here from forty to fifty feet. 
 Stupendous as this and the ftill greater phe- 
 nomenon 
 
( 255 ) 
 
 nomenon of the Severn may appear, no one 
 who is at all acquainted with the maritime 
 geography of this coaft, can look on it as 
 arbitrary or unaccountable. The immenfe 
 body of water that rolls from St. George’s 
 channel, and the Atlantic ocean, feems ready 
 not only to caufe high tides, but to over-run 
 our ifland. The power that fets limits to its 
 fury, is infinitely more, an objed of our 
 wonder and admiration, than this natural 
 and fimple fecondary caufe, though it muft 
 be confeffed one of the grandeft exertions of 
 the laws of nature. 
 
 One end of Chepftow bridge ftands in the 
 county of Monmouth ; the other in that of 
 Gloucefter, and divides the two fhires ; the 
 Monmouthfhire part has been re-built with 
 brick and ftone : that belonging to Gloucefter- 
 fhire remains in its original ftate. In the 
 month of January 1738, the water rofe to 
 the aftonifhing height of leventy feet, and 
 very much damaged it, carrying every thing 
 before it : one man loft a hundred and thirty 
 head of cattle, and the whole damage was 
 
 eftima- 
 
( ) 
 
 eftimated at upwards of eight thoufand 
 
 The town of Chepftow, has, within this 
 century, rifen from obfcurity to opulence, 
 and now carries on a great trade. Inftead 
 of the fmall veflels that navigated only the 
 Wye, it boafts thirty or forty fhips of con- 
 fiderable burthen. 
 
 Chepftow is fituated on the fide of a fteep 
 hill, declining to the water’s edge, where 
 there are convenient quays for loading and 
 unloading, and docks for building and re- 
 pairing veflels of any fize. It has a parochial 
 church, formerly the priory. The entrance 
 to it is by a large arch of Norman archi- 
 tecture. Leland is of opinion, that on the 
 decay of Caerwent, Chepftow began to flou- 
 rifli. 
 
 t 
 
 Mr. Evans, of this town, has a well which 
 conftantly ebbs and flows contrary to the tide. 
 Camden mentions another of this defcription 
 in Glamorganfhire, called Sandford’s well. 
 
 From 
 
( 257 ) 
 
 From the Gloucefterfhire fide of the bridge, 
 the ruins of the caftle have a magnificent ap- 
 pearance, {landing on the fummit of a grey 
 perpendicular rock, and furrounded by the 
 luxuriant woods of Piercefield. 
 
 An artift, defirous of making a {ketch from 
 it, will, at the foot of the bridge, find a 
 rich fore-ground to accompany it. 
 
 Beyond Chepftow, the river lofes all its 
 grandeur. The knolls on each fide of it are 
 diminutive, compared with what we faw 
 from Chepftow to Tintern. It winds through 
 a mountainous landfcape of woody and rocky 
 eminences, until it enters the Severn near 
 Beachley. 
 
 Piercefield is defervedly an objedl of every 
 ftranger’s attention ; but is to be feen only on 
 Thurfdays. It is about four miles from Chep- 
 ftow by the road. The eftate commences near 
 the three mile-ftone ; beyond which, a road 
 leads through the grounds up to the houfe, 
 where the names of all vifitors are regiftered. 
 
 We 
 
( 2 5 8 ) 
 
 We entered the fhrubbery by a wicket, at 
 the weft end of the lawn before the houfe, 
 from whence we were conducted through a 
 wildernefs to the fummer-houfe, where a fcene 
 burft fuddenly on our fight, that cannot fail 
 of enrapturing every fpeCtator. The town, 
 and caftle, and bridge of Chepftow were 
 beneath us ; the rocks oppofite to them 
 ranged themfelves fo as to appear over the 
 town, above which, and in an intervening 
 fpace, we could trace the Wye to its junc- 
 tion with the Severn, which exhibited an 
 immenfe fheet of water, and was bounded 
 by the Gloucefterfhire hills. The compofi- 
 tion of this landfcape, and the foreground, 
 are well adapted fora picture. 
 
 From hence the path, now rifing, now 
 defcending, is continued through a wood, 
 when, from an opening, we are prefented with 
 a rock fcene, but more contracted than that we 
 have defcribed. The path then afcends ab- 
 ruptly, and we continue our fhady walk near 
 a mile. From an avenue, we look down the 
 river, and fee a beautiful hanging wood. Above 
 
 this. 
 
( 2 59 ) 
 
 this, rife the higheft rocks on the Wye. No- 
 thing can be grander than this fcene ; but we, 
 who flood three hundred and feven feet above 
 the level of the river, loft much of the effed 
 fuch ftupendous heights muft produce, when 
 viewed from their bafes. From hence we 
 gradually afcended to an eminence, com- 
 manding the molt extenfive views. 
 
 All that had before charmed us in detail, 
 was now colleded into one grand whole ; 
 rocks, woods, hills, vales, lawns, and rivers, 
 were blended in the molt graceful confufion. 
 The hills of Somerfetfhire, the Briftol chan- 
 nel, the Denny rock in the mid-channel of 
 the Severn, and the beautiful peninfula of 
 Llancot, were all within view, and contri- 
 buted to form a pidure, which can neither 
 be conceived nor defcribed, without detrading 
 infinitely from its charms. 
 
 Having gazed with rapture on all that fur- 
 rounded us, we relundantly declined towards 
 the houfe, which is but an indifferent build- 
 ing for fo grand a fituation. The grounds 
 
 were 
 
( 2,60 ) 
 
 were laid out at an enormous expence by the 
 late Mr. Morris, and are receiving daily im- 
 provements from the prefent proprietor. 
 
 From the lawn before the houfe, there is 
 an extenfive, but inferior view* looking down 
 on Chepftow and the Wye, which is here feen 
 meandring through a romantic valley. 
 
 Quitting this delightful aftemblage of all 
 nature’s prime pofleflions, we returned to 
 Chepftow. The road led to the right when 
 we had pafled the bridge ; we left the 
 foreft of Dean on our left, and purfuing our 
 way through a rural and woody fcene, for 
 about three miles, arrived at Beachley Paftage- 
 houfe. 
 
 The houfe is very pleafantly fituated on a 
 rock above the Severn, from which a very 
 well-contrived road is made for carriages down 
 to the ferry-boats. The profpedts are nearly 
 the fame as thofe from the other paflage- 
 houfes ; but improved by a farther view to- 
 wards Gloucefter. We found the accommo- 
 dation 
 
( *61 ) 
 
 dation here indifferent, and could not eafily 
 get horfes to proceed with. 
 
 This place is memorable for having been 
 vifited by Edward I. who, being at Auft- 
 clive, invited Llewellin, the Welch poten- 
 tate, then at Beachley, to come over and 
 confer with him on the adjuftment of fome 
 points of difference between them. The 
 haughty prince refufing, the king croffed 
 over to Beachley himfelf, and, by this aft of 
 condefcenfion, fo entirely fubdued the pride 
 of Llewellin, that he voluntarily did ho- 
 mage to him. 
 
 Crofling the Severn we landed at Auft, 
 and found here a very good inn. From Aufl 
 we deviated about four miles for the fake 
 of feeing Thornbury cable, the walls of 
 which are very perfeft: here is an echo 
 which repeats feventeen times. The village 
 is eleven miles from Briftol, and on the 
 Gloucefler road ; it can boafl little to detain 
 a traveller. 
 
 M m 
 
 Palling 
 
( s6o ) 
 
 were laid out at an enormous expence by the 
 late Mr. Morris, and are receiving daily im- 
 provements from the prefent proprietor. 
 
 From the lawn before the houfe, there is 
 an extenlive, but inferior view ; looking down 
 on Chepftow and the Wye, which is here feen 
 meandring through a romantic valley. 
 
 Quitting this delightful aflemblage of all 
 nature’s prime pofleflions, we returned to 
 Chepftow. The road led to the right when 
 we had pafled the bridge ; we left the 
 foreft of Dean on our left, and purfuing our 
 way through a rural and woody fcene, for 
 about three miles, arrived at Beachley Paflage- 
 houfe. 
 
 The houfe is very pleafantly fituated on a 
 rock above the Severn, from which a very 
 well-contrived road is made for carriages down 
 to the ferry-boats. The profpedts are nearly 
 the fame as thofe from the other paftage- 
 houfes ; but improved by a farther view to- 
 wards Gloucefter. We found the accommo- 
 dation 
 
( 261 ) 
 
 dation here indifferent, and could not eafily 
 get horfes to proceed with. 
 
 This place is memorable for having been 
 vifited by Edward I. who, being at Auft- 
 clive, invited Llewellin, the Welch poten- 
 tate, then at Beachley, to come over and 
 confer with him on the adjuftment of fome 
 points of difference between them. The 
 haughty prince refufing, the king croffed 
 over to Beachley himfelf, and, by this ad: of 
 condefcenfion, fo entirely fubdued the pride 
 of Llewellin, that he voluntarily did ho- 
 mage to him. 
 
 Crofling the Severn we landed at Auft, 
 and found here a very good inn* From Auft 
 we deviated about four miles for the fake 
 of feeing Thornbury caftle, the walls of 
 which are very perfect: here is an echo 
 which repeats feventeen times. The village 
 is eleven miles from Briftol, and on the 
 Gloucefter road ; it can boaft little to detain 
 a traveller. 
 
 M m 
 
 Pafling 
 
( 262 ) 
 
 Pafling the Ship at Alvingflon, we have 
 tranfient views of the Severn, and the moun- 
 tains we crofled in our excurfion in Mon- 
 mouthfiiire, till we arrive at Aldmonfbury, 
 a Roman Ration. Hedge-rows exclude all 
 profpedt till we regain Brifiol, after one of 
 the fineR tours that can be made in fo Riort 
 a fpace of time. To thofe vifitors of the 
 Hot-wells who cannot fpare even as much 
 leifure as we devoted to this trip, it may be 
 gratifying to know, that they may fee Chep* 
 Row, Tintern-abbey, and Piercefield, and 
 return to BriRol the fame evening, if the 
 tide happens to ferve early in the rooming* 
 
 Among the excurfions made from the 
 Wells, is one to Brockley-coomb. We crofs 
 the Avon at the Rownham ferry, and pafs 
 through Afhton. On the right of this village 
 is the feat of fir John Smith, baronet, plea- 
 fantly fituated at the foot of a hill, at the ex- 
 tremity of Leigh down. 
 
 The company at the wells have frequently 
 an opportunity of joining in this gentleman’s 
 
 field 
 
/ 
 
( 263 ) 
 
 field fports, as he politely fends notice the 
 evening before, when he intends to throw off 
 his hounds, 
 
 Afhton is one of the pleafanteft villages in 
 the vicinity of Briftol, and famous for fine 
 fruit : an attraction which draws abundance 
 of company thither in the fummer evenings. 
 At the back of the houfes in the village, al- 
 coves are fitted up for their reception, where 
 they may be accommodated with tea, &c. 
 
 Continuing onward, we pafs through Long 
 Aihton, and by a high road to the nine-mile 
 ftone, where on the left a path is cut through 
 the coomb, refembling that between the 
 Roman camps oppofite Clifton, but much 
 wider. The rocks are bold, and on both 
 fides there is a profufion of wood : as an 
 agreeable morning’s ride, this place is worth 
 vifiting. 
 
 If time and circumftances admit of it, an 
 excurfion to the city of Wells, and the Men- 
 dip hills, is well worth the trouble, as alfo 
 
 that 
 
( 264 ) 
 
 that to Glaftonbury torr and rocks. The 
 road to this place leaves Afhton on the right, 
 and leads over Bedminfter down to Dundry- 
 hill, from whence there is an enchanting 
 view of a valley in which ftand a great num- 
 ber of villages : the moft remarkable are 
 Chew Magna and Stanton Drew, in the road 
 to Wells. The firft of thefe abounds with 
 pidturefque fubjedts : the ftream, from which 
 it takes its name of Chew, pafles through it 
 and joins the Avon at Keynfham. Stanton 
 Drew is on the left, and near it are the re- 
 mains of a druidical temple, called by the 
 common people the Weddings, from a po- 
 pular tradition, that a bride and her attendants 
 were here converted into thefe ftones. The 
 circle formed by them is ninety paces in 
 diameter, and each of them is about five or 
 fix feet high. Mr. Wood, in his Hiftory of 
 Bath, has given a very full account of them. 
 
 Near this fpot, where three ways meet, is 
 an old elm, rendered infamous for having 
 borne the bloody trophies of judge Jefferies, 
 who, after the fuppreflion of Monmouth’s 
 
 rebellion. 
 
( 26s ) 
 
 rebellion covered the boughs with the heads 
 and limbs of the vidtims. 
 
 At Bowditch, near Chew Magna, and on 
 a hill of a circular form, there are the re- 
 mains of a large camp with treble entrench- 
 ments : it exhibits a very good profpedf of 
 the Briftol channel. 
 
 Thefe places may, if more convenient, be 
 vilited from Bath : a road leads from Keyn- 
 fham to Briftol, which avoids the hill of 
 Dundry, but it is farther about. 
 
 i 
 
 Among the rides round Briftol, are French 
 Hay, where the Duchefs of Beaufort has a 
 feat ; and Penpole park and hole. Of this 
 Angular cavern, Mr. Doddrell, of Briftol, 
 publifheda defcription, with a map and ac- 
 curate dimenfions. Some years fince a me- 
 lancholy accident happened here. The cu- 
 riofity of a gentleman led him too near it, and 
 he fell to the bottom. 
 
 Our 
 
( 266 ) 
 
 Our laft excurfion from the Hot-wells 
 was an aquatic expedition round the Holmes: 
 the fcenery on each fide of the Briftol channel 
 is the fame as that defcribed from lord de 
 Clifford’s, till we are within fight of Cardiff 
 and the iflands. The caftle-rock on the 
 Holmes is worthy of notice ; as are alfo the 
 town, and the entrance of the Taafe. Hav- 
 ing dined on the ifland, we embarked and 
 failed round both the fteep and flat Holmes, 
 and returned with the tide and a brifk gale, 
 the fame night, to Briftol Hot-wells. 
 
 — juvat ire et Dorica caftra, 
 
 Defertofque videre locos, litufque reli&um. 
 
 Virg. 
 
 FINIS. 
 
DIRECTIONS FOR PLACING THE PLATES. 
 
 age 
 
 1 View of the Caflle Rock, the landing place at Holmes, 
 
 to front title — — — — — — 
 
 2 Waterfall, oppofite the Bridge, at Midford — . — 
 
 3 .View of Bath • — • — — — — 
 
 4 7 View from the Ferry-houfe, on the river Avon, look- 
 ing towards Dundry Tower — — . — 
 
 5 vView from Clifton, of the Avon and Severn — . . — 
 
 6 Front view of the Hot-wells — — — — 
 
 7 Back view of the Hot-wells ■ — — — — 
 
 8vX^iew on the river Avon, from the Stone Quarries, look- 
 ing toward Briftol — — 
 
 9 /Wallis's Wall, and Rocks, and Cook's Folly, from the 
 path, near the New Hot-well houfe — — 
 
 io v Wallis's Rocks, looking towards Briftol — 
 
 1 1 v View from the New Paffage-Houfe, with the Ferry- 
 
 boat, preparing to depart at low-water — 
 
 12 View of the entrance of the river Wye, from a fifher- 
 
 man’s hut, below the New Paffage-houfe, on the 
 
 13 'View of the River and Bridge of Ulk — 
 
 i4yView of the great Gothic window, at the weft end of 
 
 Tintern Abbey — — — • — 247 
 
 15 /View of the Town and Caftle of Chepftow, from 
 
 Piercefield — ■ — — — . . — 258 
 
 1 6,/View on the river Avon, from Durdham-down 2 62 
 
 1 
 
 123 
 142 
 
 * 7 * 
 *74 
 *78 
 183 
 
 r 7 " X ^4 
 
 , 8 ; 
 
 187 
 223 
 
 22 6 
 241 
 
 P*ge 6 
 11 
 34 
 60 
 
 90 
 
 96 
 
 120 
 
 131 
 
 137 
 
 138 
 I40 
 IJ I 
 155 
 
 I 7 2 
 
 I8l 
 
 194 
 
 244 
 
 246 
 
 2 j8 
 
 ERRATA. 
 
 Line 17 for pajfengers, read pajfengers. 
 
 — 4 from bottom, for wa//, read •walk. 
 
 — IO for are carried , read •were carried. 
 
 — 9 for Burnet , read Burncl. 
 
 — 12 for corporations , read corporation. 
 
 — 2 1 for two arches , read three arches. 
 
 — 15 for two miles, read three milet. 
 
 — 4 for unbofomedy read embofomed. 
 
 — 1 for Devon y read Dean. 
 
 - — a from bottom, for vale, beneath , read vale beneath,. 
 
 — 15 after called } infert a comma. 
 
 — 20 for two fairs are , read two fairs, one , tfjV. 
 
 — a from bottom, for flight , read flights . 
 
 — 17 for are, read is. 
 
 — 23 after top , infert of St. Vincent's rocks. 
 
 — 19 for inns, read inn. 
 
 — 13 for freize , read frieze. 
 
 — a from bottom, for fluation , read filiation. 
 
 — 15 for landfcape , read °Jffiip< 
 
LITERARY ASSEMBLY, 
 
 OLD BOND. STREET. 
 
 UNDER THE PATRONAGE OF THEIR ROYAL HIGHNESSES 
 
 THE PRINCE OF WALES, 
 
 DUKE OF YORK, 
 
 DUKE OF CLARENCE, 
 
 DUKE OF GLOUCESTER, 
 
 HIS HIGHNESS PRINCE WILLIAM FREDERICK, 
 
 AND MANY OF THE PRINCIPAL NOBILITY AND GENTRY. 
 
 Whofe moft ftrenuous exertions have been uniformly and unremittedly directed to pro- 
 mote the intereft of fociety, by the encouragement and diffemination of Literature, 
 has, at a very great expence, fitted up an elegant fuite of apartments for the eftablilh- 
 ment of a 
 
 LITERARY ASSEMBLY, 
 
 Which he daily furnilhes with the various Publications of this and every foreign country, 
 on all fubje&s ; and including all the Periodical and Diurnal Produdtions of repute to 
 be met with on the continent, in Great Britain and Ireland, the Eaft and Weft Indies, 
 as well as the Foreign Gazettes. 
 
 His plan having received, independent of particular patronage, the fan&ion of the 
 public approbation, and his very refpedlable Lift of Subfcribers already convincing him 
 that he was not too fanguine when he projedted it, he now prefumes to folicit the more 
 immediate attention of Men of Letters and ‘Travellers. It is to fuch he looks for its fupport, 
 and from fuch he hopes for that information which will tend to its perfection. What- 
 ever improvements they may pleafe to fuggeft, fhall be thankfully adopted. 
 
 It is hishigheft ambition to render his Literary Assembly a centre of general com- 
 munication, where perfons of curiofity may find the beft company, the beft books, the beft 
 intelligence, with the beft accommodations. He is confident, that when the fcale and aim 
 r.f his Plan are fully known, it will be found beneficial to the community at large, and 
 extremely convenient to all who have occafionto confult a library, or who wilh to know 
 the occurrences of the day, as it. is the moft extenfive inftitution of the kind ever at- 
 tempted, and as he, though at , an age when moft men claim the privilege of retreating 
 from bufinefs, will not confider it as complete, till it furnifhes every poflible aid to Litera- 
 ture, and is deemed as much an honour to his country as his 
 
 CIRCULATING LIBRARY, 
 
 Now for thirty yeai*s eftablifhed, has been a benefit to it. The Subfcription to the 
 
 Literary Assembly is Two Guineas per annum , which, he is convinced, will be 
 thought moderate, confidering the immenfe number of publications daily ifluing front 
 the prefs. 
 
 As it is his wilh to have the company as feledt as poflible, none but Subfcribers can be 
 admitted, nor any perfon as a fubferiber unlefs introduced by a member, or known to 
 Hockbam; but as many refpe<ftable foreigners, whofe refidence may not exceed three months, 
 may wilh during that time to fee the Gazettes of their refpe&ive countries, they alfo will 
 be admitted, for that period, by the introdu&ion of a member, on paying One Guinea. 
 
 The Rooms are opened at ten in the morning every day, Sundays excepted, and Ihut at 
 the fame hour in the evening. 
 
 *** No book, pamphlet, or newfpaper can he allowed to be taken out of the room. 
 
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