The Cathedral of Gloucester is deservedly considered one of the noblest specimens of ecclesiastical architecture in Christendom. It is a grand object with every traveller who enters upon a tour of the English provinces, and makes a strong impression on the mind, even after he has visited the gorgeous temples of Rome and Milan.
In the interior of the cathedral are numerous specimens of monumental sculpture; among which the most remarkable are those of Robert, Duke of Normandy, and Richard the Second. The present altar, of the Corinthian order, is placed before the rich tracery of the original high-altar, which, except from the side-galleries of the choir, is concealed from view. The great elevation of the vault overhead, the richness and variety of its designs, the elaborate and minute tracery with which the walls are adorned, added to the vast dimensions of the great oriel—eighty-seven feet in height—render the choir an almost unrivalled specimen of what is styled the florid Gothic, and leave an impression upon the stranger's mind never to be obliterated.
BRISTOL,
FROM ROWNHAM FERRY.
"But Avon marched in more stately path,
Proud of his adamants[2] with which he shines,
And glistens wide; as als of wondrous Bath
And Bristow faire, which on his waves he buildeth hath."
Spenser.
The city of Bristol has enjoyed a celebrity of many centuries, and is continually adding to her power and affluence by that spirit of enterprise which has drawn tribute from the remotest shores and peopled her harbour with the ships of all nations. The commercial importance which she acquired at so early a period of our history, and which gave her for a time so preponderating an influence over the other ports and harbours of the kingdom, has been sustained by her spirited citizens with a skill and industry rarely equalled and never surpassed. To the great facilities formerly enjoyed by the merchants of Bristol another advantage has been added by the construction of the Great Western Railway, which has opened a rapid channel of intercourse between the Thames and the Severn,—the London docks and the harbour of Bristol. This event has been still further advantageous in having given origin to various ramifications of the same means of conveyance, so that the products of our native manufactures can be thrown into this channel, and an interchange effected, with a cheapness and facility quite unprecedented in the history of our inland commerce. That Bristol has recently extended her commercial interests by her connexion with the West Indies, Russia, France, and Germany, is abundantly indicated by the numerous traders from those countries which are to be seen lading and unlading in her port.