Читать книгу The Cambrian Tourist, or, Post-Chaise Companion through Wales: 1834 - Anonymous - Страница 7

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The pin manufactory was established here by John Tisley, in the year 1626, and the business is now become so extensive that the returns from London alone are estimated at near twenty thousand pounds per annum. Before the introduction of pins into England, anno 1548, skewers of brass, silver, and gold, and likewise thorns curiously scraped, called by the Welch women pindraen, were used. Though the pins themselves are apparently simple, yet their manufacture is not a little curious and complex. The wire in its most rough state is brought from a wire company in the neighbourhood of Bristol: till the year 1563 English iron wire was drawn out by manual strength. The first operation attending this curious process is the fixing the circular roll of wire to the circumference of a wheel, which in its rotation throwing the wire against a board, with great violence, takes off the black external coat: vitriol is next applied to bring the brass to its common colour. The brass wire being too thick for the purpose of being cut into pins, is reduced to any dimension the workman pleases, by forcibly drawing it through an orifice in a steel plate, of a similar diameter. The wire being thus reduced to its proper dimensions, is next straightened: it is then cut into portions of six inches in length, and afterwards to the size of the pin, and each piece respectively sharpened on a grinding-stone, turned by a wheel. We now come to a distinct branch of the manufactory; the forming the heads, or, as the workmen term it, head spinning: this is accomplished by means of a spinning-wheel, which, with astonishing rapidity, winds the wire round a small rod: this, when drawn out, leaves a hollow tube between the circumvolutions: every two circumvolutions, or turns, being cut with shears, form one head. The heads thus formed are distributed to children, who, with great dexterity, by the assistance of an anvil, or hammer, worked by the foot, fix the point and the head together. The pins, thus formed, are boiled in a copper, containing a solution of block-tin pulverized, and the lees of port; and by this last process it changes its yellow brassy colour, and assumes the appearance of silver or tin. The labourers are all paid according to the weight of their work.

Near Gloucester, at the small island of Alney, formed by the river Severn dividing itself into two branches, historians relate that Canute and Edmund, after many bloody engagements in Essex, determined to prevent a farther effusion of blood by a single combat. Neither, however, as the story relates, obtaining a victory, peace was concluded, and the kingdom divided between them. We paid, however, little regard to the supposed place of this contest, as it was not for us puisne antiquarians to discuss points on which the greatest historians had so materially differed.

The roads round Gloucester have been greatly improved of late years, more particularly the one to Ross and Hereford, which was hilly, rocky, and generally dangerous: their texture and surface are now totally changed, and, winding the hills, the gradual ascent removes both danger and difficulty; the expense must have been enormous, and the traveller pays proportionably in turnpike tolls; they are, generally speaking, round Gloucester and Hereford, the highest in England. Nothing can surpass the excellence of the road from Gloucester to Bristol, to which conveyances are constantly going; and to such parties as have not visited that eager bustling mart of trade, two or three days may be afforded with a certainty of meeting with the most ample return for the trouble and expense bestowed. The Church of St. Mary Redcliff, which is both ancient and beautiful; the Abbey Church or cathedral: the docks; the charities, and particularly that for teaching the blind to work; the hot wells at Clifton; St. Vincent’s rocks, and the diminished vessels gliding on the Avon; the beautiful views, mansions, villas, and pleasure grounds in every direction in its vicinity, evincing at once the taste and opulence of its merchants and citizens, but particularly those going to and returning from King’s Weston, the view of Lord de Clifford’s mansion, and the varied prospects it commands, as well as those from the park and plantations, which are open to the public, constantly varying the scenery on the Avon, Kingroad, and the distant Cambrian Alps, afforded pleasure so exquisite to my romantic fancy, that for ten times the labour and expense bestowed, I would not have debarred myself of them. Here most happily are blended commercial riches and the life of trade with all that nature’s bounty can bestow to please the fancy or delight the sight.

The antiquity of Bristol is recorded by Gildas, who has set it down as one of the principal fortified cities in Britain, when the Romans abandoned the island in the year 430. But little mention is made of it again in history till the year 1063, when Harold, the son of Earl Godwin, embarked from Bristol with an army to wreak his vengeance on Griffith, King of Wales, who had committed divers aggressions. After sailing along the coast and landing his men at various points, he reduced the country to yield obedience to King Edward, and having compelled the Welsh to cut off the head of their king and give him hostages for their fidelity, he returned again to England.

The Castle of Bristol was formerly of great extent and strength, and is repeatedly mentioned by historians for the gallant defences it has made, and the noble prisoners it has held in safe custody; but it was not till the time of Charles the First that it belonged to the city, when being found to be a harbour and receptacle for rogues and vagabonds, it was first added to the jurisdiction of the county of the city of Bristol, and afterwards sold to the mayor and burgesses for 959l., to be held under the manor of East Greenwich in Kent, at the yearly fee-farm rent of 40l.

Both Henry the Second and Henry the Third, during their minorities, were placed at Bristol as a place of security, at which they might receive their education. It was here, in the year 1211, that the following infamous act of tyrannic cruelty was exercised by King John. That monarch having laid a heavy tax upon all the Jews throughout his dominions, one of that race, named Abraham, having refused to pay the tax, was fined in the sum of ten thousand marks; this the obstinate Jew likewise refused to pay, which so much exasperated the King, that he commanded one of his teeth to be drawn every day till the sum was paid; the unfortunate Jew had seven of them taken out of his head, and then submitted to the payment, rather than lose his last tooth, he having but one left.

Bristol sends two members to Parliament; the first regular summons by writ was issued by King Edward the First, directing that two proper persons should be sent as its representatives to the Parliament at Shrewsbury.

“King Henry the Seventh visited Bristol in 1490, and held his court in St. Augustine’s Back, when the citizens, willing to shew the King all the respect they could during his residence, arrayed themselves in their best clothes; the King thinking some of their wives rather too well dressed for their station, ordered that every citizen who was worth 20l. in goods, should pay twenty shillings, for that their wives went so sumptuously apparelled.”

The present Cathedral was the collegiate church of the monastery of St. Augustine, originally founded by King Henry the Second, and Robert Fitzharding, father of Maurice, the first of the Berkeley family. At the suppression of the monasteries by king Henry the Eighth, after that of St. Augustine had been destroyed, with the exception of the gate, and the west end of the collegiate church had begun to share the same fate, the King changed his mind, and resolved upon erecting it into a bishopric, directing the church to be repaired, and thenceforth termed the cathedral church of the holy and undivided Trinity, appointing Paul Bush, rector of Winterborn, to be the first Bishop, appropriating the revenue of the suppressed monastery, amounting to 765l. 15s. 3d. per annum, partly to the bishop and partly to the chapter; consisting of a Dean and six Prebendaries. He likewise took the county of Dorset from the see of Salisbury, transferring it to that of Bristol.

The interior of the Cathedral, though not to be named with those of Gloucester and Worcester, is still worthy of attention; particularly its vaulted roof, those of the side aisles, and an emblematic picture of the Holy Trinity, by Vansomers, over the altar. The windows of the side aisles, which are of enamelled glass, are said to have been the gift of Nell Gwynn.

On the south-west of the cathedral are the cloisters; and at the south-east corner of the cloisters is the bishop’s palace, which was in great part rebuilt in 1744, when the following extraordinary circumstance happened. “A parcel of plate, supposed to have been hidden during the time of the civil wars, fell through the floor in the corner of one of the rooms; this accident occasioned the floor to be taken up, when, to the surprise of those persons present, a dungeon underneath was discovered, in which were found many human bones, and instruments of iron for torture; at the same time was laid open a private passage to this dungeon, which passage was part of the original edifice; it was an arched way only large enough for one person to pass, and was made within the wall; one end led to the dungeon, and the other end to an apartment of the house, which by appearance had been made use of for a court of judgment. Both the entrances of this mural passage were walled up, and so concealed, that no one could suspect the wall to be hollow.”

St. Mary Redcliff Church, which is supposed to be one of the most beautiful gothic structures for a parish church in England, next merits attention. The present edifice was erected by William Canning, an eminent merchant of Bristol, about the year 1456; the foundation having been commenced by his grandfather of the same name, on the site of the former church, built by Simon de Burton, in the year 1294. Canning having been rendered unhappy by the death of his wife, and being pressed by the King to a second marriage, he took holy orders to avoid an act so repugnant to his feelings: he was afterwards Dean of Westbury, to which he was likewise a great benefactor. He died in 1474, and was buried in the south end of the aisle of this church, in which are two monuments erected to his memory; in the one he is represented in his magisterial robes (he having been five times Mayor of Bristol), with his lady by his side, with a long inscription on two tables. In the other monument he is habited as a priest.

The roof, which is of stone, displaying many curious devices, with much good workmanship, and the lofty pillars which support it, are beautiful; the interior, which consists of a middle and two side aisles, has a light and highly pleasing effect, and is generally much admired. The altar is very elegant and richly decorated, and over it are three capital paintings by Hogarth. The organ, which is of great size and compass, contains upwards of one thousand speaking pipes, and for richness of tone is scarcely to be equalled. It was in a room over the north porch entrance, in an old chest, that Chatterton, then a youth of seventeen, gave out that he found the poetical manuscripts, ascribed to Rowley and others, and said to have been written in the fifteenth century. Chatterton’s father was sexton of St. Mary’s Redcliff and master of a charity school in Pile-street, in which school, under a Mr. Love, who succeeded his father, and at the Colston Blue-coat school, he received his education.

The Exchange in Corn-street is a noble building of free-stone highly finished; it cost upwards of 50,000l. The principal front is 110 feet; it is of the Corinthian order, upon a rustic basement. Next to the Exchange stands the Post-office, and higher up, on the opposite side of the street, the Council-house, where the mayor or some other magistrate sits daily to administer justice, from twelve till two o’clock.

The charities of this city are numerous and extensive; the Infirmary is a noble building, situate in Earl-street, St. James’s; it is conducted on the most liberal plan.

The port of Bristol has of late years been greatly enlarged and improved, principally on a plan suggested by the Rev. William Milton, Rector of Heckfield, Hants; an excellent engineer, and a man of most extensive mechanical abilities, whose only reward for so great a service rendered to this wealthy port was a present of a piece of plate; had he rendered as great a service to the merchants and corporation of Liverpool, he would most likely have obtained a handsome independence for life; for although the charities of Bristol speak highly in its favour, still its high spirit, its hospitality, or its generosity, are not quite so proverbial as those of Liverpool.

The Hot-well is distant about a mile and a half to the west of Bristol, in the parish of Clifton: the water is too well known for its great efficacy in pulmonary complaints, and cases of general debility, to require any recapitulation of its virtues, in this slight sketch of the Hot-well and Clifton.

As a place of fashionable resort, not only for invalids, but for pleasure, its beautiful situation, both for walks and rides, the gentility of the company that frequent it, the easy and well regulated expense with which persons may with comfort and respectability reside here, must always ensure it an overflow of company in the season. The Avon, below St. Vincent’s rocks, is but little wider than it is at Bristol; but as the spring tides rise from 30 to 36 feet, the heaviest ships can navigate it at such times.

St. Vincent’s rocks, overhanging the Avon, afford to the pedestrian, and particularly to the botanist, an infinity of amusement; a great portion of the plants, if not peculiar to this spot, are but rarely to be met with elsewhere.

These rocks are chiefly composed of a species of chocolate-coloured marble, bearing a good polish; it is worked into chimney-pieces, &c., with good effect, the refuse burning into a strong and beautiful white lime. The reverberation of sound occasioned by the miners blasting these rocks, and the dreadful crash of the masses thus hurled from their native beds down the craggy precipices is grand and terrific; it is in the fissures of the rocks thus opened that those beautiful chrystals, called Bristol stones, are found.