55 



says, " Our high position often shows us the whole Bath valley 

 filled with vapour, while we are basking under a cloudless 

 sky. On one occasion the Avon valley and all its transverse 

 branches, together with a portion of Wilts, as far as the Devizes 

 chalk range, were all submerged beneath a dense superin- 

 cumbent stratus cloud, whose surface was characteristically 

 plain, with its edges very strongly defined. 



" The elevated table lands of this district appeared to rise 

 up detached like so many islands, whose bases this silver sea 

 seemed calmly to wash, and the numerous deep transverse 

 valleys, reaching from the great oolite strata quite down to 

 the lias formation, were converted into so many Norwegian 

 Fiords, whose tortuous coast-line was strikingly brought out 

 to view. Farleigh and Kingsdown appeared like a more 

 important island of the group, and its Italian tower easily 

 assumed the character of a lighthouse, while Lansdown stood 

 up pre-eminently in the clear sky. 



" A stranger might have thought that he was surveying 

 some sea coast, with its outlying islands ; and the geologist 

 might have envied the opportunity of exliibiting such a 

 graphic representation of the actual former state of this very 

 distl'ict. The beauty of these scenes is not to be described, 

 but cannot be forgotten." 



This manifestly increased quantity of vapour in the valley 

 helps us to explain, in some measure, the depressing feel in 

 the air in the lower parts of the town of Bath in very hot 

 weather. The sensation is illustrated in an amusing way 

 by Mrs. Piozzi, in one of her letters to Miss W'illoughby. 

 Writing from Bath, June 15 th, 1818, a year as remarkable 

 for its very hot summer as the present year, 1868, she says, — 

 " You are fortunate in finding a cool place during the unlooked 

 for heats of a summer season long forgotten in our country. 

 My house is, as you know, on the hills side ; but down in 

 Green Park Buildings one can't help thinking how a fairy 



