BRISTOL. 4*3 
world. Here are alfo upwards .of twenty large fugar- Had all the appearance of being as well cut, and of as 
■. houfes ; feveral turpentine, fulphur, and vitriol, houfes; high a polidi and luflre, as if they had been wrought 
confiderable manufactures of woollen dud's, dialloons, du- by the mod Ikilful lapidary j fome few are found tinged 
roys, plutli, ferges, filk, lace, broad-c.l6th, and fail-cloth ; with purple, and others of a yellow colour; thefe lad may 
particularly a manufacture of cantaloons, carried on chief- not improperly be termed amethids and topazes. In paf- 
ly by French refugees. Alfo the china manufactory on ting along by the tliops, we fee expofed for fale pieces of 
Cattle-green, where they exceed the foreign china, both done incrufted with cinders of glittering forms refembling 
in figure and vafe, and render it cheaper. The diftilleries cryfials, which the venders call Bridol dones; but thefe 
are carried on in a, very extenfive line, the demand for incrudations are generally nothing but fpar, of a quite dif- 
fipirits for the African trade, and internal confumption, ferent nature from the other, being fofr, and if put into 
being prodigiouily great. On the banks of the Avon, a fire loon become lime, while the true (tone differs no 
nearly oppofite the Hot-well houfe, a large building is alteration. They are modly ufed for the decoration of 
erefled, wherein is a curious mill for fpinning cotton, up- grottos, See. 
on the principle of Arkwright’s, but greatly improved ; Were it not that the river exhibits rather a muddy ap- 
a fpringof pure water that gullies directly from the rock, pearance, imagination could not form any thing more en- 
works this mill, and from thence runs immediately into chanting and beautiful than the views about the Hot-well, 
the river. . whether feen from below, or from the fummit of the cliffs: 
All kinds of perfons are free to exercife their trades and 
callings here, without molefiation from the corporation ; 
and, if poor, they may, if they pleafe, purchafe the free¬ 
dom of the city fora very moderate fum. Hence Bridol 
is peopled with an heterogeneous mixture from Wales, 
Ireland, Scotland, America, all parts of England and the 
world ; yet they are remarkable for their activity, induf- 
try, and obliging, upright, and punctual, behaviour, in 
their btifinefs. Titerature and genteel education are much 
cultivated in Briflol; and it abounds with agreeable wo¬ 
men, whofe.mode of drefs, for modeft elegance, is uni- 
verfally approved. People of rank and education here, 
as every where elfe, pronounce with propriety; but fome 
of the bourgeois fpeak a broad dialed, much worfe than 
the common people in the metropolis, though they are 
not willing to acknowledge it. 
The Hot-well is diflant one mile and a half ivefiward 
from the city of Briflol, on the Glouceflerfhire fide of the 
river Avon, in the parifh of Clifton. The river here is 
but little if any broader than it is at Briflol, and is almoft 
dry at low water; but on the full and change of the moon 
the fpring-tides rife to the height of thirty to thirty-fix 
feet perpendicular, fo that there is ftifficient depth of wa¬ 
ter fora feventy-gun (hip of war to pafs up or down with 
fafety. On eacli fide of the river riles a mod magnificent 
range of ftupendous craggy rocks; thofe on the Hot-well 
fide are called St. Vincent’s, on the higned of which was 
formerly a chapel dedicated to that faint, who was a na¬ 
tive of Spain, and differed martyrdom at Valencia, anno 
305, therefore the fpring was anciently called St. Vincent’s 
well. About one-third of the way dowm this rock (where 
are now the remains of a windmill) is a large cavern called 
Giant’s-hole ; it is fuppofed to have been an old hermit¬ 
age, and originally to* have communicated with the fur- 
face near the chapel. Thefe rocks for the mod part, when 
broken up, are of a brown or chocolate-coloured marble, 
very hard, clofe grained, and on being flruck with a ham¬ 
mer emit a ftrong fulphurous fmell. When /awed into 
llabs, it appears beautifully variegated throughout with 
veins of white, bluifh grey, yellow, or faint red ; and, as 
it bears ns high a polifii as any of the foreign marbles, it 
is frequently wrought for chimney-pieces, &c. much of it 
is alfo ufed as ballad for the diipping, and for making 
lime, for which lad purpofe there is not any done in Eng¬ 
land equal to it for drength and whitenefs; and on this 
account there is a great demand for it abroad. As thefe 
pocks on one fide of the river fo perfectly coincide with 
the oppofite, (the drata of each running in correfpondent 
parallels,) mod people concur in opinion that they were 
once united in the fame body, and have been leparated by 
fome dupendous convulfion of nature. 
On the blowing up of thefe rocks, between the joints of 
the different dratu, in crevices and (mail cavities, thole 
crydals known by the name of Brillol dones are found, 
fome of which are exceedingly clear, colourlefs, and bril¬ 
liant, and of fo hard a texture as to cut glafs, which gave 
rife to their being called Bridol diamonds : we have feen 
fome of them fet in rings, &c. in their natural date, which 
Vol. III. No. 138. 
the richnefs and grandeur of the feene are inconceivable.; 
in fome places the rocks, venerably majedre, rife perpen¬ 
dicular, or over-hanging, craggy, and bare; in others they 
are clothed with the mod luxuriant fitrnbs and dately 
trees, all in their wilded date, riling one above the other, 
difplaying the greated variety of verdure, accompanied 
with every hue, and elegance of colour, that nature can 
bedow on her mod favourite production, to gratify the 
fenfe and charm the eye ; the turf alfo, on which we 
tread, abounds with aromatic plants, geraniums, Sec. na¬ 
tives of this fpot, and which are not to be met with in 
any other part of the kingdom ; they here grow fpontane- 
oufly, and, the air being perfumed with their refrefhing 
fragrance, the valetudinarian feems to breathe new life, 
and again enjoy the bledings that await returning health 
and cheerfulnefs. From the bottom of thefe cliffs, on the 
ead brink of the river, iffues the Bridol Hot-well, water, 
fo defervedly edeemed for its efficacy in a variety of dis¬ 
orders. The fpring rifes out of an aperture in the folid 
rock, about ten feet above the furface of the river at low 
water, and is computed to difeharge about forty gallons 
in a minute. Tradition tells us, that it was at fird difeo- 
vered by fome failors in pafftng up and down the river in 
their boats, and that they ufed it outwardly for fcorbutic 
complaints, and healing old fores ; on this account it was, 
that fome perfons made a kind of brick refei voir for it, 
which was paved at the bottom, and in this date it re¬ 
mained till the beginning of the feventeenth century. 
There is now a fliaded walk, by the well-houfe, for the 
company ; and when the river is full, and the flrips are 
carried up and down by the tide, pafftng through the mea¬ 
dows and trees, or between the rocks, the profpect is en¬ 
chanting. The well-houfe,has a fmall piazza, and a hand- 
fome pump-room, clofe by the water-fide, where the ri¬ 
ver makes its entrance between ’'the rocks. The pumps 
raife the water up thirty feet high in the centre of the 
pump-room, whole thick wall keeps off the tide from the 
fpring. The water is drunk chiefly in the fuminer months. 
See the article Bristol Water. 
Clifton is univerlally allowed to be one of the mod 
agreeable, healthy, and pleafant, villages in the kingdom ; 
the air is fo remarkably pure and falubviotts as to occafion 
its being called the Englifh' Montpellier; it lies in the 
hundred of King’s-barton ; is fituatecl on the fout.h and 
wed of a did' or hill, (whence its name,) one mile wed- 
ward of the city of Bridol, over great part of which it 
commands a very pleafing profpect, as alfo of the diips 
and velfels, that on the flood and ebb tide fail up and 
down the Avon. On the oppofite fhore, the well-culti¬ 
vated lands of Somerfetfhire prefent themfelves in a very 
beautiful landfcape, riling gradually four or five miles, 
from the verge of the river to the top of Dundry-hill, 
whereon is a high tower, edeemed the Proteus of the wea¬ 
ther, as being commonly enveloped with mid, fo as fcarce- 
ly to be vifible, againd rain ; but, on the contrary, if it is 
feen clear and didinCl, it denotes fair and fettled weather. 
The delightful fituation of Clifton, has long fince tempt¬ 
ed feveral perfons of large fortune to niake it their princi- 
5 N pal 
