Southport should be visited for the sake of its unusually good Aquarium, with Winter Gardens above, a flower-show all the year round; for the beautiful Churchtown Botanical Gardens, the fernery belonging to which has no rival, as regards our own neighbourhood, except at Tatton; and for the Birkdale sandhills, no dreary place except to the dreary-hearted, but in their way so remarkable and picturesque, so richly stored with curious plants, and breathing an air so soft and salubrious that in the north of England they stand alone. In their wild and ever-changing complexion they supply enjoyments quite distinct from the uniformity of a corn and pastoral country. Standing upon their spear-clad ridges, we seem to be surveying a miniature Cordillera. In winter the northward and eastward slopes are flecked with snow, while the southern and western ones bask in the sunshine; mosses of all shades of green and coppery-gold strew the former parts with little islands of sweet brightness; and in July the open plateaux are crowded with the white cups of the parnassia. Up to about twenty years ago, no place in the entire county, excepting Grange, was so rich for the botanist as Southport in general. Building, drainage, and the changes incident to town-extension, have obliterated many of the best localities; still, so long as the Birkdale sandhills remain intact, it will preserve no trifling part of the reputation. The want at Southport is more sea. The tide not only goes out to an incredible distance, but always seems reluctant to return. It is in respect of this that superiority is so justly claimed by Blackpool, the sea at the latter place, save on exceptional days, being always within view, always grand and inspiring.