Bristol as our ancestors saw it, c.1853. >From Stoke's Croft we enter KING SQUARE AVENUE, which leads us to the SQUARE ; the houses in which are uniform and well built, with an area covered with grass, and intersected with a gravel walk in the centre and round the borders, which is planted with young shrubs, and railed in. Going on in a straight line from the bottom of the Square into Dighton Street, we pass the ROMAN CATHOLIC CONVENT of the SISTERS OF MERCY and SCHOOLS, to the ROYAL BRISTOL INFIRMARY, in Marlborough Street, founded in 1735. The annual expenditure in this noble Institution is upwards of £7,000, which is supported by annual subscriptions and donations. It has accommodation for upwards of two hundred in-patients, and the average number received in twelve months is upwards of 2,000, whilst about 8,000 out-patients receive assistance in advice and medicines gratuitously. Still continuing our walk, we pass by the opposite corner of Maudlin Lane, where is the FEMALE PENITENTIARY, which was opened in 1800, for the purpose of receiving those unhappy females who have departed from the paths of virtue, and wish to retrieve their lost character. They are employed in needlework, &c. A little further on to the right is the GUARDIAN HOUSE, opened in 1833, for the benefit of destitute females, of good character, from the age of twelve to eighteen, who are instructed and qualified for servants, till situations can be obtained for them. This establishment is conducted by a committee of ladies. Opposite is the MORAVIAN CHAPEL, and a little beyond it, the WELSH BAPTIST CHAPEL. The former of these is a branch of the oldest Protestant Episcopal Church in existence, and their missionaries are to be found in Lapland, Greenland, Labrador, and other climes where no other missionaries have penetrated. In the latter chapel the service is performed in the WELSH language. -- Josephine Jeremiah http://www.ianandjo.dsl.pipex.com