CHAPTER V. 



OVER THE MEND IPS. 



| HE Parliament of Science is over, and the philoso- 

 pher's playhour has arrived. At the bottom of the 

 hill which lies between Bristol and Clifton the 

 morning mists brood over the shipping ; we have no mists 

 on the higher ground, however, and no mists in either heads 

 or hearts, for we are bound for the Mendip Hills, on an 

 excursion which is to be a mixture of pleasure and profit. 

 We are a small remnant of a scientific host who have de- 

 parted, or are departing, full of pleasant recollections of 

 venerable Bristol. Some went one way and some another. 

 The far-famed St. Vincent Rocks at Clifton were irresistible 

 lodestones to some; others wandered away over the splendid 

 downs which make the fortune of Clifton, Redlands, and 

 Durdhanij others went further afield, and visited the yellow- 

 watered bathing places in the Bristol Channel ; others took 

 the train to Bath, or carriage to noted villages and country 

 houses, within the compass of a six-hours' drive. 



Yet there is no necessity for hurrying away from Bristol. 

 It would take a very long day indeed to get through all the 

 objects of interest which are contained in the rare old city. 



