Bristol might be said to have reached its commercial | Dublin, Cork, Waterford, and Liverpool, and for the culminating point about the year 1828, when its gross ports and watering-places on the Bristol Channel, in receipts of customs were £1,204,000. At that time most cases every day. the West India trade was flourishing here exceedingly; the intercourse with Africa and America was also great; and vast quantities of Spanish wool was imported into Bristol for the use of the Gloucestershire cloth manufactures. Since that period the port might be said to have stood still; which, considering the vast increase that of late years has taken place in the population of the city, -at present numbering 180,000 souls-is as much as to say that it has gone back. In 1847 the gross receipts were £1,004,789; if we add to this sum what would have been received but for the operation of the new tariff, we shall have a total a little above that of the year 1828. This want of progress is attributable to many causes besides the injury done by the high port charges. The wool trade has entirely left the port, through causes quite irrespective of local influences. When Saxony wool came into use about thirty years ago, it found its natural place of import at London, and the Spanish trade gradually followed to where the chief market was established. In many of the streets of Bristol you are reminded of the commerce once carried on in this article by the vast warehouses for its reception, now either closed, or turned to other uses; and with the shutting of every warehouse door, a corresponding mooring-ring on the Quay-wall might be said to have grown red with rust. The American trade has mostly flown to Liverpool, to which port some portion of the West India interest has also shifted itself. The whole of the sugar trade is in the hands of a few "merchant princes" possessed of immense wealth, who have banded together to keep it in their own hands; and the monopoly thus produced has been extremely prejudicial to the city. There are two branches of commerce, however, which have flourished here latterly-the African and the timber trade. The African vessels chiefly go to the coast of Guinea, and traffic glass beads and hardware for gold dust, palm-oil, and ivory. These vessels are all smart-looking brigs, and coming in from a voyage there is something extremely picturesque about them: the sailors, with great broad-leaved straw hats, all with something in their hand for shore-parrots, tropical fruits, calabashes, monkeys, rude wooden carvings, or African goats, which they have bartered with shining negroes for a clasp-knife or a string of beads. The timber trade has received a great impetus from the railways. Bristol supplies nearly all the central lines of the kingdom with the deals and other woods which they consume. One part of the Floating Harbour, called the Sea Banks-the widest portion of the river -is occupied by timber ships, some of them upwards of a thousand tons burthen; and it is a most lively sight to see them discharging their great brown logs, which are shot out from the ports in their bows, and fall dashing and splashing in the water. A considerable portion of the trade of Bristol is carried on by steamers. Packets leave once or twice a week for The Floating Harbour of Bristol affords every facility for an extended commerce. No port perhaps in England presents such a length of quay line for the berthing of all kinds of craft. The Welsh Back, as it is called, which alone extends half a mile, is principally occupied by fishing-smacks and sloops trading in the Severn and channel, and brigs from Ireland, with corn and provisions. As we proceed further along, we find that the vessels are of a larger size; and by the time we reach what is termed the Grove,' the coasters have disappeared, and large ships, either West or East Indiamen, or Americans, lie ranged side by side. By the number of the sheds, the size of the cranes, and the noble range of warehouses which here abut upon the wharfage-ground, we are assured that this spot is the principal portion of the harbour. At Princes-street bridge, a small wooden structure which crosses the river from the centre of the Grove, we stand in the very thick of the port, and a perfect forest of masts rises around us on every side. The river at this spot assumes a triangular form. The Sea Banks and the artificial cut (before spoken of) here join the Grove. Besides the line of quay-wall and wharfage-ground, which in all must extend upwards of three miles, and a large portion of which will admit ships of seven or eight hundred tons to discharge alongside them, there are several floating graving docks and basins. (Engraving, page 313.) Bathurst Basin is a large piece of water, connected on the one side with the New Cut or channel made for the river when that portion of it which runs through Bristol was converted into a floating harbour, and on the other with the Grove. Small coasters and barges here find accommodation, whilst Cumberland Basin, situated at the extremity of the Sea Banks, opens immediately upon the tidal Avon, and receives the large vessels and steamers. With such accommodations as these, with a port which vessels can sail from at so many points of the wind, and with a situation which naturally commands the very centre of England, it is to be hoped that Bristol, now she is about to shake off the incubus of her heavy port dues, will again resume her former position in the commercial world, and no longer allow her fame to be talked of as a "thing of history." That her wonted fires yet linger in her breast, let the enter prise which sent forth the Great Western, and pioneered the nations with swift footsteps across the western wave, or the science which built that iron Leviathan, which all the fury of the Irish sea could not destroy, bear living and irrefragable testimony. She has plenty of spirit yet, and, what is quite as important, plenty of capital,-perhaps too much, or at least in too few hands,-to give it play, and a railway system which is quite impregnable. To the north, to the west, and to the east, she grasps with iron hands the custom of an immense district; and as long as the " smooth Severn stream runs her old course to the sea, her vantage ground cannot be out-flanked. There is one inconvenience connected with the port | years ago, it was the largest and best-attended house of Bristol; steamers can only come up the river at certain times of the tide to this circumstance it undoubtedly owes its many other advantages being overlooked, when Southampton was chosen in preference to it as a Government Packet-station. To remedy this evil it is intended to make a railroad to Portishead,--a small watering-place, situated in the Channel some ten miles from Bristol, where a pier will be run out into the sea, and enable the largest transatlantic steamer to disembark its passengers and mails at low water. An Act was obtained in 1846 for the work, and some portions of it had been commenced-when the panic came, and hung it up on the same peg which holds so many of the like projects, cut off in their very bud. For one reason we rejoice at the suspension of this line; it will, we trust, give a long lease to those noble elms which form so beautiful a background to the entrance to Cumberland Basin, and which this railway threatened to destroy. PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND INSTITUTIONS. Among the public buildings which we have not fallen in with in our ramble, the Guildhall, situated in Broad Street, claims our first notice. (Cut, p. 300.) It has been erected on the site of the old one, within the last few years. Its style is Elizabethan; but its design is neither original nor as picturesque as it might have been. The term 'Masons' Gothic' might indeed be justly applied to most of the modern buildings in Bristol, as very few of them have even a decent effect; although, in many cases, ample opportunity has been given the architect of showing his genius, both by the extent and situation of these buildings. The entrance to the Guildhall is by a very long passage, extending nearly the whole depth and length of the interior of the building, and thus cutting it into two portions. At the end of this hall a flight of stone steps leads into the Justice Chamber. The staircase is lighted by some stained glass windows of a deep amber colour, which, viewed through the gloom of the long hall, has a very good effect. The room apportioned to the administration of justice is little better than a corner cupboard, and the light coming in only from one side gives it a very uncomfortable appearance. The reason why the old hall was pulled down was on account of its inconvenience; but we question if the good people of Bristol have gained much by their new one. The Bankruptcy Court for the Bristol district is also held in this building. In King Street and Princes Street there are some public institutions and places of amusement. The Bristol Library, which contains a valuable collection of books, the Merchant Venturers' and the Coopers' Hall are situated in the former street, all of which are handsomely built of freestone. The Bristol Theatre is hidden away behind some old houses: the interior has, however, been panegyrized by Garrick. To those accustomed to the brilliant theatres of the metropolis it looks dingy enough at the present day; but, fifty out of London; and since that time it has been the must " ་ The Post-office-which forms a kind of wing to the Exchange-for such a city as Bristol, is a very confined building. The Custom House, again, rebuilt upon the site of the old one burnt down in the riots of 1831, seems a very mean establishment to represent the commerce of so large a port. It is situated in Queen Square, which is built upon a broad tongue of land, surrounded on three sides by the different quays. This square covers no less than seven and a half acres of ground, and is ornamented by walks of fine elm-trees, and a very beautiful equestrian statue of William III., executed in bronze by Rysbach, which stands in the * In the account of the Birmingham Provident Institution, (BIRMINGHAM, vol. i.,) it should have been stated that the planning of that institution was wholly due to Mr. Sanders: it was only in the development of the plan that others took part. middle of the green. During the riots this spot was the scene of the most atrocious acts; the chief fury of the populace being expended upon it. Beginning at the Mansion House, the residence of the mayor, the mob, composed chiefly of boys and very young men, successively fired every building (with the exception of two, which were defended by the inhabitants) on the north and west sides; and by this magnificent midnight illumination, a vast mass of the rioters, after plundering the wine-cellars of their contents, sat down on the grass, to an orgie from which many of them never arose again. In the old Custom House a most horrible catastrophe took place: some of the rabble having gained access to the housekeeper's room, which was situated on one of the upper floors, were feasting themselves, when they discovered that the place had been fired below by some of their companions. The only means of escape was through the front windows; these looked over the leads covering the portico of the building, which, through the action of the fiery element, was converted into a sea of molten metal. Forced out of the room, and hanging on to the sills, for a moment they remained suspended between two dreadful deaths; then one by one they fell, with horrible cries, into the liquid lead below, where for some time they were seen to writhe in the most dreadful agonies. There are two arcades in Bristol, very elegantly built, and extending in a line upwards of 600 feet: two gaols; that at Bathurst Basin, capable of receiving two hundred prisoners, and so built that the governor can command the whole of the prison yards, without leaving his own apartments; and the other, which is the Gloucester County Prison, situated at the east end of the town. There is also a general Cemetery, planted on a gentle hill-side, at Arno's Vale, within a mile of the city. The ground is full of cypress trees, which at some future date will make this beautifully-situated and tastefully laid-out burying-ground a most picturesque spot. If Bristol cannot boast so many beautiful buildings (always excepting her ecclesiastical edifices, which are unrivalled,) as some other large cities, she at least stands pre-eminent in the spirit that animates her institutions, and in the benevolence that has founded her many noble charities. Turn which way we will in our rambles through the city, we continually meet with some trim almshouse, its quadrangle planted with flowers, and its inmates dosing away their old age in security and comfort. These asylums, which in all number twenty-four, have 'chiefly been endowed by wealthy merchants of a past generation; among them the latest and the most eminent name is that of Edward Colston, whose benefactions to Bristol alone amounted to nearly £60,000. The memory of his good deeds is annually kept alive in the city, by the dinners of the Anchor, Grateful, and Dolphin Societies, on the anniversary of his death. At these banquets the good citizens manage to mingle politics and turtle in a most harmonious manner. Charity, too, is not forgotten, as on some occasions upwards of £3,000 have been sub 66 scribed at them for the use of the poor. In the breast of the effigy of Colston, by Rysbach, in All Saints' Church, where the great philanthropist lies buried, there is placed weekly, in accordance with a bequest left for that purpose, a fresh nosegay,-may it bloom there for ever; but it will never send forth a sweeter incense than the grateful prayers of those whose necessities he has relieved. Of the benevolent Institutions of Bristol, there is really no end. The Infirmary, which stands at the head of them, and bears upon its front the noble motto, Charity universal," was erected in 1735, and the Bristolians boast of it as the first Institution of the kind, supported by voluntary contributions, established out of London. It has accommodations for two hundred in-patients; and upwards of two thousand on an average are received every year, while assistance is given to at least six thousand outpatients gratuitously. There is another 'General Hospital' in the city, and two public Dispensaries. Dorcas and Samaritan Societies, Female Misericordias, Penitentiaries, and Refuges, are as plentiful as blackberries; and as though the good people of the city had exhausted all the ordinary methods of relief, and wished to try their hands upon some good work which all the world besides had considered hopeless, a Deaf and Dumb Institution has been established, in which poor creatures deprived of their two most important senses are instructed with incredible pains and patience to read and write. In Bristol there are a vast number of public schools. The Free Grammar-School, in the immediate neighbourhood of College Green, is the most important of them. This establishment is richly endowed; and here boys residing in the city, for an annual payment of £6, can obtain a first-rate classical education, with the chances of several fellowships and exhibitions. Queen Elizabeth's Hospital, a foundation very similar to that of Christ Church, London, as well as the Bishop's College, will be spoken of when we come to Clifton; the bare mention of them here will therefore be sufficient. Colston's Free School is another large and important charity, that clothes, boards and educates one hundred Boys for seven years; after which they are apprenticed, with £15 each as a premium to their masters. For Girls there is a very handsome establishment, located in a large new building, called the Red Maid's School;' the dress is scarlet, with a white tippet, and it is a very pretty sight to see the long line of brilliant colour this school makes walking in procession every Sunday to St. Mark's Church. There is a vast quantity of Lancasterian, Diocesan, Infant, and inferior Charity Schools; whilst Sunday Schools are innumerable. We have already spoken of the number of the ancient parish churches of the city; the great increase of the suburbs of late years has caused the erection of many more, and now they count no less than thirty, whilst of Dissenting Meetinghouses of all denominations there are thirty-seven, the greater number of these are burly Ebenezers or tasteless Zions; but latterly a marked improvement has taken place in the ideas of the Dissenters as regards architecture. Highbury Chapel, situated at the top of St. Michael's Hill, belonging to the Independents, is a charming specimen of Gothic, plain, yet exquisitely picturesque in all the combinations of its parts; but the triumph of art is at Buckingham Place, Clifton, where there is a Dissenting chapel, erected in the florid Gothic style, so beautiful in its proportions, and so graceful in its details, that we should have imagined it from the hand of Pugin himself. There must be some dreadfully Jesuitical architect at work in Bristol, we fear, who is making an adroit use of freestone and bricks and mortar, to sap the principles of dissent. THE CHURCH OF ST. MARY REDCLIFFE. "The pryde of Bristowe and the westerne londe." The poetical associations connected with St. Mary Redcliffe Church, and the glories of its architecture, demand at our hand more than the cursory notice we have given to the other ecclesiastical edifices of Bristol. Not a Bristolian but believes in this Church, as being the most perfect structure of its kind in the world; not an inhabitant of its parish, that has dwelt beneath its shadow, or listened to the silvery melancholy of its chimes, but possesses for it a mysterious sort of affection and love, such as no other pile in the kingdom perhaps commands. This feeling is not called forth merely by the building; for, beautiful as it is, there are many finer ones in the country-to the associations which are connected with it-to the poetry which still haunts its deep shadows, and plays about its time-worn pinnacles-to the spirit of its poet, which seems yet to hover round it as the perfume lingers round a vase long after the rose-leaves are decayed-we must ascribe the deep attachment Bristolians bear to St. Mary Redcliffe Church. other seems held together by the soot and dust which cover it. The church is cruciform, the tower rising from the west end to nearly 200 feet in height. Its north side, formerly hidden by mean houses, has lately been thrown open, and the charming variety of outline which it exhibits, now strikes the eye as we emerge from Redcliffe Street. The south side has been chosen by our artist. (Cut, p. 299.) The best view is that at the north-west corner,-where the eye catches at the same moment the magnificent tower, the beautiful little porch before spoken of, and the middle north porch. The tower, wrought in a most elaborate manner, yet bears a small portion of the spire, the remainder of which the citizens intend to restore; and the whole height will not then be less than 300 feet. The inte rior, as you enter the western door directly under the tower, is strikingly beautiful; the view to the high altar extending a distance of 197 feet. The church, a few years since, was lighted by large brass chandeliers suspended from the roof, and the view down the centre aisle through the frame caused by the doorway was quite enchanting. The twisted arms of gleaming metal holding the sconces came out sharp and distinct against the gloom in the distance, whilst the clustered pillars, rising to the embossed roof, here and there discovered themselves. All the witchery of the scene, however, has been effectually banished by the introduction of gas, which sheds anything but the appropriate "dim religious light." Those who have the opportunity should visit the church on Whit-Sunday, as on that day the Lord Mayor and Corporation go there in grand procession, when it is superbly decorated with flowers, and the middle aisle is strewn with rushes so deeply that the footsteps of the solemn Bumble, who precedes his Worship to the churchwarden's pew, cannot be heard. The effect of clusters of beautiful colours around the pillars, and every "coigne of vantage," is as strange as it is beautiful. This rare interior, how. The first ecclesiastical structure erected on its site was built in the reign of Henry III.; it appears, however, has no need of foreign ornament to enhance its ever, to have been only an insignificant chapel. In 1294 Simon de Burton, who was five times mayor of Bristol, commenced a very splendid edifice here, which was completed by William Canynges, a merchant,-the greater portion of which was destroyed, according to old documents, in 1466, by the falling of the spire; it was shortly after built, however, in its present form, by the grandson of the first founder of that name, William Canynges, the celebrated merchant so often alluded to in Chatterton's Poems. Beautiful as is the present structure, its predecessor must have been even more so, if we may judge by the smaller north porch, which is evidently much older than the other portions of the building, and in all probability a remnant of the original church. Nothing can exceed the exquisite open-work of this doorway; its character is Norman, but instead of the zigzag ornaments and the hard breadth which marked that style, no lacework could be more beautiful than the lattice-like manner in which its arch is ornamented. Now, however, decay has fortunately worn some portion of it away, and the charms; as long as its clustered pillars shoot up, and, |