houses which, entered from the level
road before Prince's Buildings, ends abruptly in a house which may
indeed be said to "be built upon a rock," the windows looking straight
down its precipitous sides.

Along the road which I have mentioned, which follows the course of the
river, though high above it, was erected 'Prince's Buildings;' the
'first gentleman in Europe' during his long regency appears to have
supplied the names of many streets and terraces in this neighbourhood.

Coronation Road beneath commemorates the auspicious event when Queen
Caroline was shut out from her rights, and Prince's Buildings above was
also previously named in his honour. Crescents and terraces were quick
to follow one another on the heights, and the glories of the Hot wells,
and the salubrity of the waters, became things of the past.

Bracing air began to be the panacea for ailments, and the Clifton Downs,
now secured to the citizens of Bristol by the merchant venturers for
ever, were sought by many who, a few years before, would have buried
themselves and their hopes of recovery under the shadow of the rocky
heights, instead of facing the keen air upon their summit.

There was a medium preserved, however--Prince's Buildings, and the
houses built on the slope of Sion Hill, were sheltered at the back and
from the front commanded a view of the Leigh Woods before them, and a
shoulder of the great St. Vincent Rock to their right, which might well
excite the admiration of those who saw it for the first time.

After Gilbert Arundel had stepped less briskly than sometimes up the
steep slope of Granby Hill, leaving the Crescent to his right, he passed
along the back of Prince's Buildings and up Sion Hill, where his mother
had taken up her temporary abode.

These houses are built with old-fashioned bow windows, some of them
running up from the basement to the roof, and one or two with circular
balconies on the second story.

As Gilbert was beginning to consider which number his mother had given
as her address, he heard his name called from above, and looking up, a
tall, fashionably dressed young lady said:

"Gilbert, we thought you were never coming from Fair Acres. There
must have been some great attraction."

[Illustration: St Vincent's Rock, From Leigh Woods.]

Gilbert did not care to have his personal history proclaimed to the
people who were seated on benches at the top of the Zig-zag--a path now
cut in the rock and made easier of a