a very beautiful landscape, rising gradually four or five miles from the
verge of the river to the top of Dundry Hill, whereon is a high tower,
esteemed the Proteus of the weather, as being commonly enveloped with
mist, so as scarcely to be visible, against rain; but, on the contrary,
if it be seen clear and distinct in the morning, it denotes the approach
of a fine day.

The salubrious situation of Clifton has long since attracted the
wealthy. Hence, the hill is nearly covered with superb buildings, (for
which the freestone of the country affords peculiar facilities), till
the village has almost become an elegant city. The Downs are covered
with verdure all the year, and the turf abounds with aromatic plants,
growing wild, which are not to be met with elsewhere in England. Here
are also discernible ancient fortifications and intrenchments; and coins
of the later Roman emperors have frequently been found about the camp;
there are other military works opposite, on the Somersetshire side of
the Avon. Besides the above remains, on Clifton Downs, is an old tower
with a brick floor, but without any roof. (_See the Engraving._) From
three open spaces, formerly doors, are exquisite views: in front an
extensive prospect of Gloucestershire; on the right, part of Clifton,
and in the background Dundry Hill; and on the left, King's Road, with
the ships at anchor, the Bristol Channel, and the mountains of South
Wales. At the end of the Downs stands the mansion of Sir William Draper,
once so conspicuous in the public mind from the severe chastisement he
received from Junius. To the left is an expensive monument erected by
Sir William, who was colonel of the 79th regiment, to the memory of his
soldiers who fell in the East Indies, in 1768; and to the right is a
pillared tribute to the patriotic Earl of Chatham, with a brief Latin
inscription by Sir William Draper.