iv. Preface. 



might be desired, but at least with the accuracy of con- 

 tributors competent to speak with authority upon the sub- 

 jects assigned to their care. 



The restrictions of space have indeed imposed upon the 

 several writers a limitation which has been fatal to much 

 pleasant enlargement, a brevity of treatment most unfavour- 

 able not only to the scope of enquiry but to all that literary 

 delightfulness which less severe conditions would have 

 allowed ; but a Handbook is all that was designed, and a 

 Handbook is all that is secured. Prominence has been 

 given to those features of interest which are peculiar to the 

 city, and it will probably be observed that in a very marked 

 measure, in the Topography as in the History, these features 

 represent a remarkable natural development and veritable 

 growth, determined largely by conditions iong antecedent 

 to the earliest records. The Geologist will recognize not 

 only the rock formations from which has been hewn the 

 uniform and workable freestone employed alike in the most 

 ancient edifices and most modern buildings of the city, 

 but the conformation of the hills and intersecting combes 

 which have suggested the sites of its stately crescents and 

 well proportioned streets. The camps which crowned the 

 hills and the baths which occupied the valley ahke tell of 

 the acceptance of natural conditions, but the former have 

 passed away with tl^e times to which they belonged, while 

 the latter have attained a perfection of adaptation to modern 

 requirements which only the advance of modern science has 

 rendered possible. Turn where we may, the city is eloquent 

 of the past ; turn where we may, we see the evidences of 

 Nature's bountiful provision for the creation of a fair city, 

 the health resort of the afflicted, the home of culture, and 

 centre of refinement. The genius loci is everywhere in 



