anciently a part of the royal forest of the same name. Preston Guild was celebrated three times during the reign of George III., an event that never occurred in the reign of any other king of England. [17] "I've climb'd the Alps,--I've cross'd the seas, And travers'd many a land, Where summer smiles on spicy isles, And coral decks the strand: But the fairest spot that Earth can boast, Is here, by the blue sea-wall, And the fairest maid on her native coast Is the Lass of Lytham Hall," &c. &c. [Illustration: THE SANDS AT SOUTHPORT.] SOUTHPORT SANDS. LANCASHIRE. There's Buxton bath for gout and spleen; There's Cheltenham for wealth; There's Matlock vale for Beauty's queen; And SOUTHPORT SANDS for health. Southport--formerly South Hawes--is about two miles to the southward of North Meols, near the estuary of the Ribble, and opens upon a magnificent bay. Its situation among the dry sand-hills, or _meols_, contributes much to the salubrity of the place, and it appears to gain in popularity as it becomes more generally known. This popular watering-place is of modern erection, as in the year 1809 it contained only eighty-eight houses, but it no sooner obtained the patronage of the wealthy and active merchants of Lancashire, than it sprung up with rapid strides, and those numerous appliances of luxury which its patrons know so well how to appreciate were produced in abundance, while the low, barren sand-hills of this part of the coast were soon covered with spacious hotels, boarding-houses, baths, and all the essentials of a fashionable sea-bathing town. There is no doubt but that at some period the sea must have covered much of what is now dry land, as in the churchyard of North Meols, sea shells, in considerable numbers, are frequently found when the ground is opened for graves, to the depth of five or six feet.