built after the plan of that celebrated architect Mr Wood. An ingenious author obferves, that it far exceeds London in regularity of building, and in being proportionably a much finer city. The most criticifing eye," fays he, "muft allow, "that the Circus is truly beautiful, "and ornamented to that juft deแ gree of elegance, which, if I 64 may be allowed the expreffion, lies between profufion and fimpli"city." The Crefcent, an elegant femicircular range of buildings, would, if Bath could boast no other edifice worth our attention, claim a particucular fhare of admiration. I do not know how far my tafte may be called in question, when I fay, I can not but prefer the Crefcent to the Circus; for, fetting afide the preeminence it receives from its form, over the ftiff and formal cut of a circle, its fituation, as fronting a de lightful profpect of a fine country, would alone induce me to give it the preference. There is a famenefs in the Circus, which may not perhaps be perceived by thofe who view it merely as a fine piece of ar chitecture, but must be felt by others who are doomed to refide in it. The effect is not fo in the Crefcent; there is, to ufe an expreffion of Gray's, fomething fo rus-in-urbe. thin the whole of it, that I would thufe a house in that edifice, when compared with one in the Circus, with full as little hesitation, as I would prefer apartments in the front of Wilton House, to the dull monaftic chambers in the first court of St John's College, Cambridge. The Cathedral at Bath, is a fmall, but noble ftructure, and the infide of the roof is neatly wrought. The Theatre is large and elegant. In hort, the buildings of this city are magnificent, and in a grand tafte; the treets are large, well paved, and clean; the market place is fpa cious and open; the grove, the fquares, and the parades afford the moft agreeable promenades. The remains of Roman magnificence, their baths and fudatories, and many antique fpecimens of very auguft ftructures, are fill vifible. The wall with which the city was formerly furrounded, is ftill eafily traced. Thus Bath may be faid to afford a univerfal fcope for every thing that is defirable. The man of pleasure, may be here fatiated with amufement: the philofopher may annalize its falubrious fprings; the antiquarian may pursue his refearches till he wearies himself with conjec ture; the man of Letters will find ample repofitories of genius; the poet endless fubjects to exercise his wit; the painter may delineate the features of beauty, or pourtray the luxuriant variety of landfcape; and, laft of all, the dejected invalid may reftore to its wonted tenour the fhattered fyftem of a broken conftitution, and by roufing his debilitated nerves to their accustomed tone, revive his health and renovate his spirits. About Bath, the country on each fide the Avon is very hilly and uneven; thefe hills form a most beautiful profpect, although they are of little advantage to their poffeffors, being neither fertile in herbage nor timber. In general, the foil confifts of rocks, which lie near or quite up to the furface. The fruitfulness of the vallies, however, entirely makes amends for the barrennefs of the hills, and they are generally employed in pasture. There is perhaps no part of the world, fetting afide the infernal purlieus of St James's, where gaming is carried to fo high a pitch as at Bath. This is owing, in great meafure, to that swarm of dæmons, who, under the general name of black-legs, or harpers, infest all places of public amufement. In Bath one is never fecure from the infidious designs of of thefe indefatigable harpies. They have been built, for thofe families infeft the rooms, the promenades, nay, inconfiftent as it may feem, the very churches are not free from the profanation of thefe vermin. The highwayman, who openly demands his plunder, is a hero to reptiles fuch as thefe. What is our police? Where are our magiftrates? in the name of equity and honour, why fleeps the rod of juftice? when fcoundrels with white hairs, I had almoft faid, venerable villains, are fuffered to patrole our streets, arm in arm, with the flower of our nobility, whom they pillage at their leifure, under the affumed and fpacious mask of gentlemen. DESCRIPTION OF BRISTOL HOT-WELLS. FROM THE SAME. THE HE Hot-wells, like Bath, has been formed by the virtue of its fprings. Of all the watering places in this kingdom, there is perhaps no one more pleafing than the delightful village which is here formed for the reception of its vifitants. Its fcenery has more glowing colours, and I believe presents bolder ftrokes of the picturesque, than can be found in any other part of England. The Avon, winding through precipices, whofe fides, almoft perpendicular, fhoot up to a prodigious height, interrupted and broken with rocks, feems as if it had stole a paffage through one of thofe ftupendous chaẩms which nature leaves after her most violent revolutions. Thus, immured as it were by an earthquake, it flows filently along, while trees which have forced their roots through the craggy interftices of its banks, wave their proud arms high above its furface. The beautiful foffil, called Bristol ftone, abounds in great plenty upon the banks of the Avon, and among the rocks in the neighbourhood of the hot-wells. The houfes which who refort to this place, are formed into a village above the wells, which is called Clifton. It is near this place that these ftones are found in the greateft quantity. Thofe dug from St Vincent's Rocks are of the crystal kind; fome of them are perfectly clear and colourlefs, and o thers a little inclining to white; but of thefe laft there are very few. They are naturally as well polishedas if they came from the hands of a lapidary, and many of them feem fit to be fet in rings without any further trouble, except that of feparating them from each other. They are found in large quantities, in the cracks of rocks, and cavities of tones, but chiefly in thofe of iron ore. The poor people, the wives of the labourers who dig the ftone for building the houfes of Clifton, and the fhops near the pump-room, ali fell these ftones. They will afk extravagant prices for good fpecimens of it, and the chief part of that which is the most common they send away to embellish grottos, for which purpose they are very proper, as they have a polish that will last for ever. Those stones rife in a great variety of forms in different places, and the clusters of them are yet more curious in their appearance. About Clifton they refemble table dia monds; but where the pyramids ftand upright they have the appearance of rofe diamonds. In fome places alfo about Clifton, where they are very small, fhort, and numerous, they have fo many angles, and the light is fo varioully reflected, that they appear like clusters of small brilliants, fet by a jeweller. In the neighbourhood of King's Wefton, the clufters rife higher, and are more irregular, yet have an elegant appearance. Some fhoot up like the hinder teeth of a calf, and others like the fpires and turrets of old ca thedrals. thedrals. In fome there feem to be little hairs, in others white fpecks, in many bubbles of air, and in others drops of water. Thofe that are pure and clear, and fuch as are flightly tinged with colours, are exceeding hard, and will bear a ftrong fire without alteration; but those that are flawed, or otherwife imperfect, cannot bear this trial, for they will crack, or turn white in the fire. Wherever there is a crack between the folid parts of a ftone, or wherever there is a cavity in a lump of ore, these cryftals are to be found. They generally adhere to the rock or ore at one end, but this is not always the cafe, for fome adhere to the ftone by one fide, and these are pointed at both ends. They are commonly compofed of a column or ftem of fix fides, and terminate in point like a pyramid that has alfo fix fides. The fmall ones are tinged with various colours much more frequently than the larger. a THE method of exploring thefe fubterranean caverns, is here rendered far more pleasant and expedi ent than thofe we vifited in Cornwall. The entrance is vaulted, and perfectly level, and continues so for about one hundred yards, when our guides made us turn off to the right, to a fort of a staircase, which they call ed to the depth of eighty fathoms, the Horse-road. By this we defcendand came to a fpacious area, where the miners were fending up the coal vaulted level we had juft quitted. It in baskets, through a fhaft, to the there put into carts, with friction wheels, and drawn by oxen to the mouth of the mine. We dedicated one morning for an excurfion to King's Wefton. All that renders it worth visiting is the uncommon beauty of the profpects around it. On one fide, looking towards Briftol and Bath, the eye commands an extenfive range over the most delightful country the imagination can conceive, cultivated to the highest degree, and forming a rich difplay of almost every thing is that can render a landscape beautiful. By changing the fituation, and looking in a contrary direction, the Briftol channel, the river Severn, and the oppofite fhores of Glamorganfhire, with all the fouthern coaft of Wales, is prefented at one view. I hardly know fo beautiful a fpot, nor do I believe one can be found in England, combining a greater varie ty of scenery. fures, Stra't mine eye hath caught new plea ་ It is pleafing to fee the ease and quickness with which these amazing works are carried on. If a stranger beholds the dark paffage by which the horfes defcend, who bring the coal from the place where it is dug to the fhaft, he would indeed be aftonished, and unable to conceive how these animals can be taught to pracfacility, what he with care and attife, without ftumbling, and with tention would find difficult to per form. Proceeding onward, we came to to fome miners, who were engaged They move fecurely along, enveloped in blowing up a part of the rock with by total darkness, never either ftrikgun-powder, in order to make a com- ing their heads against the roof, or munication from one part of the mine. falling among the number of uneven to another. Still farther onward, places they meet with. Among oabout half a mile from the entrance, thers, an old blind horse, who had we came to the cutters, as they are been fifteen years a fervant in the called, a troop of poor miferable mine, paffed by us. Our guide afblack devils, working away their fured us, that he was fo well acquaintvery lives amidst fulphur, fmoke, and ed with his work, that if left to him darkness. felf, he would find his way through all the mazes of the mine. All the paffages in thefe coal mines are broad and low. The roof appears as smooth as the cieling of a drawing-room, but the fatigue of ftooping as you proceed, becomes often exceffive, and wonld prove intolerable, was it not for the relief that is occafionally offered at intervals, by meeting with more lofty a reas. As you creep among thefe regions of darkness, the guide who precedes you, calls out, every now and then, defiring you to ftand close. This happens when a load of coal is coming along the paffage, which is heard at a distance, and if you ftand close to the fide, you are fure of being fafe. The wheels are placed upon iron bars, which they receive in a groove, and these bars being continued parallel to each other, and at equal distances from one end of the mine to the other, they ferve both as a guide to the cart, and by leffening the friction, greatly diminish the weight of the load. As foon therefore as the guide gives warning that a load is coming, you know by your distance from the parallel bars how near the load will approach We did not proceed more than half a mile under ground; but were fufficiently fatigued with the excurfion. If a perfon has fpirit and ftrength fufficient to explore the whole of this mine, he would have above three miles to walk in these gloomy abodes. Their method of cutting the coal is ingenious, as it faves a great deal of labour. They first place ftrong props of wood against the vein, and then cut out a fmall quantity from the bottom, and from each of the fides; the fupporters are then re moved, the whole mafs gives way, and by this means fixteen or twenty tons of coal are frequently brought down at one fall. From the fall it is conveyed in carts by horfes, to a perpendicular fhaft, through which it is fent in baskets to the level, and being again put into carts, is, as I have faid before, drawn from thence by oxen, to the mouth of the mine. PROCESS OF SMELTING THE ORE OF COPPER, IN WALES. FROM THE SAME. AFTER the copper ore is dug from the mines in Cornwall, it is fent to the fmelting-houfes in Wales, to be refined and rendered fit for ufe. This is owing to the convenience which arfes in Wales, from the great plenty of coal in that country. The ore of copper, when it comes in its raw ftate from Cornwall, is firft calcined, then mixed with a portion of lime, and fmelted. Then it is calcined, and fmelted again, and per, than others. I procured a piece of ore in Cornwall, which, when it rofe raw from the mine, fold for fixty pounds a ton; and often perfect copper, when it has been rendered malleable after all the operations of the fmelting houfe, does not fell for more. CHARACTER OF THE GENOESE. FROM WATKINS'S TRAVELS THROUGH SWISSERLAND, ITALY, &c. THE HE Genoese are faid to inherit min; who would have imagined it the character of their Ligurian poffible? but fo it is, and fuch is the ancestors; but I rather think, if they imbecillity, the infatuation, the miretain any part of it, it is the worst, fery, or whatever you may call it, of as they certainly are the moft turbu- human nature at Genoa. lent, moft fuperftitious, moft vindictive, and most mercenary race in all Italy. Of the first charge the hiftory of their country affords a variety of inftances; of the fecond and third, the frequency of religious proceffions and affaffinations. To prove the laft, I need only relate a circumstance that would be incredible, if it were not fufficiently vouched by the teftimony of all travellers who have vifited Genoa; and that is, their voluntary fervitude on board the gallies after the term of their fentence is elapfed. Examples of this are very frequent, the contract is generally for twelve months, and the price of their liberty eighteen fhillings in Genoefe money. I am really at a lofs to account for fuch depravity, but my furprize yields to my indignation, not fo much against the wretched flaves, as against the more wretched government that permits and encourages fo infamous a compact. Though the condition of the galley flaves be better here than in France, nevertheless, it is fo bad, that, was I not affured of the fact, I never had given it credit. Chained one to another, expofed to all weathers on board the gal lies, fubject to severe and arbitrary correction, il cloathed, worfe fed, and finally cat up by difeafe and ver The character of the nobles too has a leading feature in it, that is feldom found in other countries. They pretend to be fuperior to those prejudices, which fo frequently and fo foolishly exift against commerce; yet this mask of wifdom is only the effect of avarice, as no race of men is prouder and more ignorant. But the commerce, carried on by the noble Genoefe, is that of money, or in other words ufury, as they fupply the needy of France and Italy with fums at the most exorbitant interest. They are in poffeffion of this money from the exercife of the most rigid œconomy in domestic life; for, instead of making ufe of the noble palaces, which they owe to the oftentation of their ancestors, they inhabit only the attic ftories; fathers, uncles, brothers, with all their female relatives and fervants, are ftowed in different apartments, and their tables, instead of being ferved in a style adequate to their opulence, are (as I am well informed) moft pitifully fupplied. In the article drefs, as they always wear black, they incur but little expence; and for hofpitality, it is a virtue unknown to them, even among each other. Their general amufement is converfazioni, where they entertain themselves at cards, and are refresh R ed |