admirable sermons, preached
at Bristol, when discoursing upon "the new heavens and the new earth,"
he indulged in an astonishing outbreak of eloquence, while he conducted
his audience to the surpassing beauties of their own vicinage,
sin-ruined as it was, and then supposed that this earth might become the
dwelling-place of the redeemed, when, having been purified from all
evil, it should again become "very good." Here, on these scenes of
unrivalled beauty, Southey, and Lovell, and Coleridge, and Cottle have
loved to meditate; and the wondrous boy Chatterton fed his muse amid
these rare exhibitions of the power and wisdom of the Godhead. A Roman
encampment is still visible on the summit of the rocks. We were all
sorry, to see such havoc going on among the quarries, where, to use
Southey's language on this subject, they are "selling off the sublime
and beautiful by the boat load."

[Illustration: Samuel Taylor Coleridge.]

Our favorite walk is on the downs. George seems really penetrated with
the uncommon beauty of the region, and wants to stop as long as
possible, and does not believe any thing can be more beautiful. We look
over the awful cliffs--gaze on the thread of water winding its devious
course at an immense distance below--watch the steamers from Wales and
Ireland shoot up to the city, and the noble West Indiamen, as they are
towed along. The woods opposite are charming, and contain nearly every
forest-tree belonging to the country. Dr. Holland, in his travels
through Greece, refers to this very spot in the following language: "The
features of nature are often best described by comparison; and to those
who have visited Vincent's Rocks, below Bristol, I cannot convey a more
sufficient idea of the far-famed Vale of Tempe than by saying that its
scenery resembles, though on a much larger scale, that of the former
place. The Peneus, indeed, as it flows through the valley, is not
greatly wider than the Avon, and the channel between the cliffs
irregularly contracted in its dimensions; but these cliffs themselves
are much loftier and more precipitous, and project their vast masses of
rock with still more extraordinary abruptness over the hollow beneath."
We devoted a morning to visit Leigh Court, the residence of Mr. Miles, a
wealthy merchant and member in Parliament for Bristol. This is regarded
as one of the finest residences in the west of England. The mansion has
an Ionic portico, supported by massive columns. The