far removed from the reach of the destructive element, was raised, and the lifeboat transferred to its safer keeping.
The census of the residents taken in 1861 showed a total of 4,061 persons, being an increase of 940 over the number in 1851, and of 1,228 over that in 1841. Hence it is seen that during the long period of twenty years, almost from its commencement to the date now under consideration, through fluctuating seasons of prosperous and depressed trade, the town had succeeded in adding no more than 1,228 individuals to the roll of its inhabitants, many of whom would be the offspring of the original settlers. Truly the foregoing picture is not a very satisfactory one to review when we call to mind the bright auspices under which the place was started,—the early and ample railway accommodation, the short and well-beaconed channel, and the safe and spacious harbour; but could we only add the extensive area of docks, the Fleetwood of 1871 would doubtless have presented a widely different aspect to that we are here called upon to portray. It is scarcely just, however, to lay all the burden of this slow rate of progress on the want of suitable berth provision for heavily-laden vessels coming to the harbour. Fleetwood had other means of extending its circle besides those derived from its happy situation for shipping trade. Its merits as a watering-place were allowed on every hand; eulogistic versions of its special charms were circulated through the public prints; strangers flocked each summer to its shores, and were enchanted with their visits; but after a while the refreshing novelty wore off, and the puny efforts made by those whose interests in the prosperity of the town were greatest, failed to fill the inevitable void the waning newness left in its train. In the meantime other season places, urged on by emulation, enhanced the beauties of nature by works of art; promenades, walks, drives, and, at no distant period, piers, were constructed to meet the popular demands, and in that way the tide of visitors was turned from the non-progressive and now over familiar attractions of Fleetwood to swell the annually increasing streams which overflowed the rising towns of Blackpool and Lytham. The year 1861 will ever be remarkable in the history of Fleetwood as being the date at which the town was for the first time practically diverted from that line of progress which its founder, in too sanguine expectancy, had early marked out for
