Afterword. 259 



grey soon re-asserts itself and is not less grateful to the eye than 

 are the comfort of the well paved streets, the variety of ex- 

 cellent shops, and the symmetry of the stately succession of 

 handsome residences, striking and attractive. 



Surrounded as Bath is by wooded hills, it is scarcely neces- 

 sary to indicate those " coigns of vantage " from which the finest 

 views may be obtained, but the abrupt precipitousness of Beechen 

 Cliff, overhanging the city on its southern side and easily as- 

 cended from the Old Bridge, has long secured for its bird's eye 

 view the palm of priority. " What Mount Oliyet is to Jerusalem, 

 and what Jotham's Crag is to Shechem, such is Beechen Cliff to 

 the city of Bath. From this point every cranny and crumple of 

 the site seems to open and unfold itself to the view, and the 

 many-aspected city lies collected to a focus in one undulating 

 plain."* The cliff itself is a remarkable feature in the landscape, 

 and, swelling gently with grassy slope from the further side, 

 with rolling woodland descending from its crest, it has been 

 compared to a breaking sea-wave, and seen from many points 

 the comparison is just and striking. 



" Soracte's height " — " from out the plain 

 Heaves like a long-swept wave about to break 

 And on the curl hangs pausing." 



— Childe Harold. 



Of other favourite view-points — those of Prior Park and Pope's 

 Walk, Hampton Cliffs, Beckford's Tower and Prospect Point on 

 Lansdown, may be mentioned as a hint to the pedestrian, but 

 every excursion has its charm, and from each surrounding height 

 the eye naturally turns to 



"Where the glad city lies in distance doubly rare." 

 But it is not necessary to quit the pavement to enjoy fine 

 scenery. Varied and delightful prospects are to be obtained 

 from spots as easily accessible as Camden Crescent or Widcombe 

 Hill, the North Parade and Cleveland Bridges, the Cleveland 

 Walk on Bathwick Hill, and Widcombe Old Church and Church- 



* Earle's i' Bath Anct. and Mod.," p. 286. 



