There is another tower, remarkable for the beauty of its situation,
which overlooks the Avon, about two miles west of Clifton, at the
extremity of the Downs. It is of an octagonal shape, and its name
(Cooke's Folly) is said to be derived from the following circumstance:--
Several centuries since, the proprietor of the land, a gentleman named
Cooke, dreamed that his only son was destined to be killed by the sting
of an adder. This idea took such hold of his mind, that in order to
avert the dreaded catastrophe, he built this tower, to which he rigidly
confined his son. The tradition goes on to relate the futility of all
human precautions against the decrees of fate: for a short period after
the erection of the tower, an attendant happening to bring in some
bundles of fagots in which an adder was coiled, the youth was stung by
it and died in consequence.

There has been a beautiful lithographic engraving, published in Bristol,
of Cooke's Folly, which includes a view of King's Road.

VYVYAN.

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MANNERS & CUSTOMS OF ALL NATIONS.


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THE GERMANS AND GERMANY.