a city of England, and inferior to none, except London, for wealth, trade, and number of inhabitants. Bristol is a corruption of Brightlow, as it was called by the Saxons. It is thought to have stood anciently altogether on the west or Somersetshire side of the Avon, before the bridge was built; but after that, it came to be partly in Somersetshire and partly in Gloucestershire, until it was made a county of itself, though even before that, in the parliament rolls, it was always placed in Somersetshire. At present, the east side is by much the largest and most populous. It had anciently a castle, built by Robert earl of Gloucester, natural son to Henry I., which was demolished by Cromwell; and the ground is now laid out into streets. The corporation consists of a mayor; recorder; twelve aldermen, of whom the recorder is one; two sheriffs; and twenty-eight common council men. The recorder is generally a sergeant at law, and sits as judge in capital and all other criminal causes. The mayor, to support his dignity, and defray his extraordinary expense, is entitled to certain fees from ships, which long ago amounted to 500l. or 600l. Bristol is a bishop's see, being one of the six erected by King Henry VIII. out of the spoils of the monasteries and religious houses which that monarch had got dissolved. The cathedral church was the church of the abbey of St Austin in Bristol, founded by Robert Fitzhardinge son to a king of Denmark, once a citizen here, by him filled with canons regular in the year 1148. At the reformation King Henry VIII. placed therein a dean and six prebendaries, which mode of government still continues. During a great part of Queen Elizabeth's reign, his see was held in commendam by the bishop of Gloucester. This diocese was formed chiefly out of the diocese of Salisbury, with a small part from the diocese of Wells and Worcester. It contains most of the city of Bristol, and all the county of Dorset, in which are 236 parishes, of which 64 are appropriated. It hath only one archdeaconry, viz. of Dorset; is valued in the king's books at 338l. 8s. 4d. and is computed to be annually worth 1500l. including its commendams. The tenths of the clergy are 333l. 18s. 4½d. This fee hath yielded to the state one lord privy seal. The revenues of the abbey of St Augustine, or St Austin, in Bristol, were valued at the dissolution at 6700l. 13s. 1½d. when it was erected into a cathedral by King Henry VIII. by the name of the Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity. To this cathedral belong a bishop, a dean, an archdeacon, a chancellor, six prebendaries, and other inferior officers and servants. Besides the cathedral, there are 18 parish-churches; and here are dissenters of all denominations, of whom the Quakers are very respectable both for their wealth and numbers. Of the parish-churches, St Mary Ratcliff is reckoned one of the finest, not only here, but in the whole kingdom. In this church, besides two monuments of the founder William Cannings, who had been five times mayor of this city, one in the habit of a magistrate, and another in that of a priest (for in latter days he took orders), there is one of Sir William Penn, father to the famous Quaker. The old bridge over the Avon consisted of four broad arches, with houses on both sides like those formerly on London bridge; but this has been lately pulled down, and another erected in its place. No carts or waggons are admitted into Bristol, for fear of damaging the vaults and gutters made under ground for carrying the filth of the city into the river. Queen's-square, in this city, is larger than any in London, except Lincoln's-Inn Fields, and has in the centre an equestrian statue of King William III. All the gates of the city remain entire, and a part of the walls; the rest were razed in the reign of William Rufus. It is almost as broad as long, about seven miles in circumference, and contains about 95,000 inhabitants. Of the hospitals, the chief are, That called Queen Elizabeth's, in which 100 boys are taught reading, writing, arithmetic, and navigation; six of whom, when they go out, have £10, and the rest £8, to bind them apprentices: the master is allowed £50 a-year, for the maintenance of the boys. 2. Colton's hospital; in which 100 boys are maintained for seven years, and taught and apprenticed, as in Queen Elizabeth's. 3. Another founded by the same gentleman in 1601, for 12 men and 12 women, with an allowance of 3s. per week, and 24 sacks of coals in the year. This charity cost the founder £25,000. 4. Another founded partly by Mr Colton and partly by the merchants, in which 18 men on account of the merchants, and 12 men and women on account of Mr Colton, are maintained. 5. An infirmary, which was opened in 1736 for the sick, lame, and distressed poor of the city, which is maintained by subscription, besides £500 bequeathed to it by John Eldridge, Esq., formerly comptroller of the customs at this port. There are, besides these, a bridewell, several alms-houses, and charity schools. There is also a guildhall for the elections and affizes; the mayor's and sheriffs' courts; a council-house, where the mayor and aldermen meet every day, except Sundays, to administer justice; a handsome new exchange, with three entrances, about two-thirds as large as that in London, and a quay half a mile in length, the most commodious in England for shipping and landing goods, for which purpose it is provided with several cranes. In College-green is a stately high cross, with the effigies of several kings round it. In Winch-street is a guard-house, with barracks for soldiers. As to the trade of this city, it was computed many years ago to be much greater in proportion, especially to America and the West Indies, than that of London. Fifty sail, some of them ships of considerable burthen, have arrived here at one time, or very near one another, from the West Indies. For this trade, and that to Ireland, it is much better situated than London, besides the great advantages it possesses of an inland navigation by the Wye and Severn. Their trade extends to the Baltic, Norway, Holland, Hamburg, Guinea, and the Straits. The largest ships are discharged at Kingroad, four miles below the city, and the goods are brought to the quay by lighters. For building, equipping, and repairing ships, there are docks, yards, rope-walks, and shipwrights. Here are some considerable woollen manufactures; and no less than 15 glass-houses, for which Kingwood and Mendip furnish the coals. The city companies are 13: 1. The merchant adventurers. 2. The merchant tailors. 3. The mercers. 4. The soap boilers. 5. The tobacco-merchants. 6. The butchers. 7. The barbers. 8. The tylers. 9. The holliers, who are the flax-men. 10. Shoemakers. 11. Coopers. 12. Bakers. 13. Smiths. For supplying the city with water there are six public conduits: and handsome hackney coaches may be hired at very reasonable rates, but they do not ply in the streets. There are also stage coaches, which set out every day for Bath, London, and other places. A mile below the city, close by the river is the hot well, whose waters are specific for the diabetes, and good in phthisical, scorbutic, and inflammatory disorders. Hither is a great resort in the summer of invalids, as well as other company; for whose accommodation and entertainment there is a pump-room, ball-room, coffee-house, with taverns, and a great number of elegant lodging houses, both below on a level with the well, and above in the delightful village of Clifton, which is situated on the brow of a hill, from whence there are downs extending several miles, where the company ride out for exercise. Nothing can be more pure and salutary than the air of these downs, which afford a variety of the most romantic and agreeable prospects, comprehending Kingroad, with the ships at anchor, the mouth of the Severn, and the mountains of Wales. In the rocks above the well are found those six-cornered stones called Bristol-jones; but they are not so plentiful now as in Camden's days, when, he says, whole buffaloes might have been easily gathered. In this city is a theatre, where plays are acted almost every night during the recess of the comedians from the metropolis. There are two annual fairs, to which the concourse is so great, that the neighbouring inns have filled 100 beds a piece with their guests. In the winter season there is an assembly every Thursday for the gayer part of the citizens of both sexes. About half way betwixt Bristol and Bath, at a place called Warmly, a company of Bristol merchants have erected a noble manufacture of pins and other brass utensils, which employs a great number of hands, including about 200 children of both sexes from seven to twelve or thirteen years of age. All the different operations of melting, plating, drawing, hammering, turning, &c. are performed by wheels worked with water, which is raised by two fire engines of a very curious mechanism. The city of Bristol gives the title of earl to the family of Hervey, and sends two members to parliament. It is worth observing, that whoever marries a citizen's daughter becomes free of the city.

New-Bristol, the capital of the county of Bucks in Pennsylvania, situated on the river Delaware, about 20 miles north of Philadelphia, in W. Long. 75° N. Lat. 40° 45'.

BRISTOL Water. Of the four principal warm waters naturally produced in England, this is the least so. As the Bath waters are proper where the secretions are defective, so the Bristol water is of service where they exceed the requirements of health. The Bath water warms; the Bristol cools. Bath water helps the stomach, intestines, and nerves; the Bristol favours the lungs, kidneys, and bladder. Except a jaundice attends, the Bristol water may be of use in dropsies by its drying and diuretic qualities. Dr Winter asserts, that there is no iron in Bristol water; and that its mineral contents are chalk, lapis calcareus and calaminaris. Five gallons of this water, after evaporation, afforded only 3 iii. and gr. 2. of mineral substances. The diseases in which this water is useful are internal haemorrhages, immoderate menstres, internal inflammations, spitting blood, dysentery, purulent ulcers of the viscera, consumption, dropsy, feverish heat, stone, gravel, strangury, habitual gout, atrophy, slow fever, scrofula, gleets, and diabetes, in which last it is a specific, and may be drank as freely as the thirst requires it. The hotter months are the best for using it. The Bristol and Matlock waters are of exactly the same qualities. Drs Mead and Lane first established the reputation of Bristol waters in diseases of the kidneys and bladder.