t vessels for trade; seeking subsistence from their darling
element the sea.

Persecution prevailing at this juncture in many parts of Europe,
numbers fled to this island as to an asylum, and many settled in this
town, bringing with them industry, and an attachment to maritime
affairs; or soon learning them here. The number of its inhabitants
being thus increased, its trade became proportionably greater: so that
in 1579, a record now subsisting says, "There are in the said town
of Brighthelmston of fishing-boats four-score in number, and of able
mariners four hundred in number, with ten thousand fishing-nets,
besides many other necessaries belonging to their mystery."[3] And the
descendants of many of these French, Dutch, and Spanish families still
reside here.[4]

[3] It is a melancholy reflection to compare the present state
of the fishery with its prosperity in 1579, or in more modern
periods. Within the recollection of the editor, there were 60
boats employed in catching mackerel, and in a propitious season,
that species of fish has produced in Billingsgate market a sum of
L10,000, with which the town was enriched. In the autumn, 20 of
these boats were fitted out for the herring voyage, and one boat
has been known to land during the season from 20 to 30 lasts of
herrings, each last containing 10,000 fish, computing 132 to the
100.

[4] The families of Mighell and Wichelo are all that appear to
remain as of Spanish origin.

From this record we likewise learn, that the town was fortified to the
sea by a flint wall, and that the fort, called the Block-house, had
been then lately erected. The east-gate of this wall, in a line with
the Block-house was actually standing last year, and has been since
taken down to open a more convenient entrance to a battery lately
built.[5]

[5] The kindness of a friend has enabled me to supply this work,
with a view of the town taken from the sea in 1743, when the
wall, Block house, and East gate were partly standing.

The town at present consists of six principal streets, many lanes, and
some spaces surrounded with houses, called by the inhabitants squares.
The great plenty of flint stones on the shore, and in the corn-fields
near the town, enabled them to build the walls of their houses with
that material, when in their most impoverished state; and their
present method of