, 1865-02-03

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Avon between the city of Bristol and
Bristol Channel to shew that this has
been done there. We expect. generally,
to find navigabIe rivers studded with
warehouses, ship-buildlng yards, and
manufactures but to the general rule
the Avon is a singular exception. The
distance from Bristol to the Channel is
four or five miles, and along this space
there is not a solitary mandatory or
warehouse of any kind. If the reader
has never been on the Avon, let him
fancy himself entering the river from
Bristol Channel. On the right is PortiS-
head, the termination of the Portishead
Railway, now in course of construction;
and on the left is the lighthouse and The
site Of the Bristol Channel Docks, for
which a bill has been obtained. Here.
too, Is the end of the Port and Pier Rail-
way, also in course of construction,
Sailing higher up the river, we come to
Phi, on the right, the residence of the
Bristol pilots !; and on the left, Shore
hampton and KingSwcston Park. SIIl
further up, but before we arrive at the
site of The suspension-bridge we have
Leigh Woods on the right, and Sneyed
Park and Durham Downs on the left.
The whole of this distance, instead of be-
ing dark and grimy with smoke, is one
of the brightest aud most beautiful spots
in all England. Theirs is a leafy luxuri-
ance on every side and were ii not for o
little quarrying here and there, and them
novations of those terrible VandalS, the
hawkes. who are engaged in laying a
line of rails on both sides of the river, the
aspect of the Aroa is pretty much the
same as we can flHcy it 10 have had when,
centuries ago, Sebastian Cabot-who saw
the mainland If America before Column
bus dii-saIltd out OF it on his famous
expedition. At Clifton Down, the Avon
runs through a gorge Of limestone, which
towers up 10 Il height Of near three hun
dred feet above high water and it was
TO span this gorge that Mr.. Wick proposed
his bridge.
The local guide-books point out this
spot as the most romantic on the Avon,
and it we'll deserves the prominence
which is given to it. On the face of the
precipitous and Inaccessible cliffs, II colo
ny of rocks have established themselves;
and when they are circlihg round their
nests, two hundred and fifty feet above
the river, you may look down upon them
from The summit, fifty feet above them.
Up TO within a few years past, there was
nothing to prevent any one walking over
these high rocks, there being no rail or
fence of any kind. Several persons did
walk over, and fell to the bottom of this
great chasm. 1t was here, close to The
site Of the suspension-bridge, that, in
1853, q granddaughter of the Rev. Leigh
Richmond, author ofthe D0iryman's Daugh-
ter. met with "a terrible death. She was
picking up some botanical specimens on
the verge Of the cliffs, when. incauliousIy
approaching too near the edge, her foot
slipped, and she fell. Since that time, u
rail has been placed ON the edge Of the
rocks, and the danger of walking on these
high downs has consequently been dimin-
ished.
For nearly eighty years, the thousand
pounds left by Mr.. Wick was allowed to
accumulate and in the year 1880. when
the railway-sy stem was beginning to
make itself felt. the citizens OF Bristol
began to think of the old legacy, and the
possibility of applying it to the purpose