collapsed. The Hot Well house was long ago removed to admit a
widening of the river, and the well itself is now inaccessible. There is
no spa, once of great reputation, that has sunk into such complete
oblivion as the Clifton Hot Well: this may be due, in part, to the
exaggerated estimate that was formed of the virtue of the water, and to
the blamable practice which prevailed of sending patients here at their
last gasp as a forlorn hope. Of too many it might be said as in these
lines from the epitaph on his wife by the poet Mason in Bristol
cathedral:

To Bristol's fount I bore with trembling care
Her faded form: she bowed to taste the wave,
And died.

The little village of Clifton has now become a handsome suburb, where
reside the wealthy successors of the merchant-venturers of Bristol. It
is continuous with Bristol, and where the one begins or the other ends
is not evident except to the parish authorities. The downs are what they
were in Pope's time, with the exception of what is now their most
striking feature--the suspension bridge across the chasm. As early as
1753, Mr. Vick, an alderman of Bristol, bequeathed one thousand pounds,
to be kept at interest until they should reach ten thousand, when the
amount was to be expended upon a stone bridge across the Avon. Nearly
eighty years after, in 1830, the fund had reached eight thousand pounds,
and it was determined to form a company to push forward the project: a
plan for a suspension bridge by Mr. Brunel was accepted at an estimated
cost of fifty-seven thousand pounds, and subscriptions were vigorously
solicited. On the 27th of August, 1836, the foundation-stone was laid in
the presence of the members of the British Association for the
Advancement of Science, then holding its sixth annual meeting in
Bristol. The work went on slowly for seven years, at the end of which it
was abandoned for want of funds, forty-five thousand pounds having been
expended, including the legacy of eight thousand. For nearly twenty
years the towers and abutments stood, unsightly objects in a lovely
scene, until in 1860 the Hungerford suspension bridge in London was
taken down, and it was found that its chains might be made use of to
carry out the uncompleted plan at Clifton. A new company was formed
with a capital of thirty-five thousand pounds, in ten-pound shares, and
at length, in December, 1864, the bridge was thrown open to the public.
Its span is seven hundred and two fe