The Abbey of St. Augustine at Bristol was surrendered to King Henry VIII. in 1538, and became, in 1542, the cathedral of the new Episcopal see then created. The first Bishop of Bristol, Paul Bush, was deprived of his see by Queen Mary, being a married clergyman and refusing to part with his wife. Bishop Fletcher, in Queen Elizabeth's time, afterward Bishop of Worcester and of London, was twice married, at which this queen likewise expressed her displeasure. He was father of Fletcher, the dramatic poet; and he is said to have been one of the first English smokers of tobacco. Among noted Bishops of Bristol were Bishop Lake, afterward of Chichester, and Bishop Trelawny (Sir Jonathan Trelawny, Bart., of Cornwall), two of the "seven bishops"; imprisoned for disobeying an illegal order of James II. "And shall Trelawny die? Then twenty thousand Cornishmen will know the reason why." But the most eminent was Bishop Joseph Butler, the author of "The Analogy of Natural and Revealed Religion" and of the "Sermons on Human Nature." He was born at Wantage, in Berkshire, and was educated as a Nonconformist. He was Bishop of Bristol from 1738 to 1750, when he was translated to Durham. In 1836, the see of Bristol was joined with that of Gloucester; and the Right Rev. Drs. J.H. Monk, O. Baring, W. Thomson (now Archbishop of York), and C.J. Ellicott have been Bishops of Gloucester and Bristol.--_Illustrated London News._ * * * * * WAVES. In the first days of August, two startling announcements reached us from the United States. They were as follows: (1.) "The commander of the Cunarder Umbria reports that at 3 o'clock on July 27, about 1,500 miles from Sandy Hook, the vessel was struck by a tidal wave 50 ft. high, which swept the decks, carried away a portion of the bridge and the forward hatch, and flooded the cabins and steerage." (2.) "The captain of the Wilson line steamer Martello reports that at half-past 8 on the evening of July 25, when in lat. 49 deg. 3' N., long. 31 deg. W., an enormous wave struck the vessel, completely submerging the decks." In view of these reports, and inasmuch as questions were asked on the subject in Parliament, though it is quite possible that, as regards the "tidal" character of the waves, there may be something of newspaper _gobemoucherie_ in the announcements, we offer a few remarks on _waves_ in general, which may be useful to some of our readers. _Tidal phenomena_ present themselves under two aspects: as alternate elevations and depressions of the sea and as recurrent inflows and outflows of streams. Careful writers, however, use the word _tide_ in strict reference to the _changes of elevation_ in the water, while they distinguish the recurrent streams as _tidal currents_. Hence, also, _rise_ and _fall_ appertain to the tide, while _flood_ and _ebb_ refer to the tidal current.