Bristol as our ancestors saw it, c.1853 ... recrossing the old Stone Bridge, at the bottom of High Street, we turn to the left, on the Welsh Back, (so called because the Welsh coasting vessels are stationed there during their stay in Bristol) and enter King Street, on the right of which is ST. NICHOLAS' ALMSHOUSE; and contiguous to it is COOPERS' HALL, now occupied by a CONGREGATIONAL BODY OF DISSENTERS. The THEATRE ROYAL adjoins, which GARRICK highly eulogized on the score of its just dimensions, and who wrote a prologue for the occasion of its opening, which was repeated by POWELL and ARTHUR, May 30, 1766. At a little distance on is the BRISTOL LIBRARY, partly the property of the citizens, and partly the property of the LIBRARY SOCIETY. Its affairs are managed by a committee of shareholders; and the annual subscriber, who must be a shareholder, has to pay £1:11:6. Next to this is the MERCHANTS' ALMSHOUSE, for nineteen superannuated seamen, and for twelve seamen's widows, who each receive 4s. 4d. weekly, besides an annual donation, given by Darby Allen, Esq., amounting to £32 : 10 : 4, which is equally divided between the twelve widows, half-yearly, by the senior churchwarden of ST. STEPHEN'S. By its side is the MERCHANTS' HALL, erected in 1701; and in 1790 it was newly fronted. The chief entrance is at the end of Marsh Street. George IV., on his visit to Bristol, when Prince of Wales, was received here in 1807. -- Josephine Jeremiah http://www.ianandjo.dsl.pipex.com