a lighthouse in the British channel, built on rocks of the same name, which are supposed to have got this appellation from the great variety of contrary sets of the current among them, both upon the tide of flood and the tide of ebb. They are situated nearly south- Edystone, south-south-west from the middle of Plymouth sound, according to the true meridian; and the distance, as nearly as can be collected, is 12 miles and a half; and from the same point in the Sound to the Jetty Head, called the Barbican, in the port of Plymouth, is a mile and a half more, which makes the distance of the Edystone from the port of Plymouth to be nearly 14 miles.

"The promontory called Ram Head is the nearest point of land to the Edystone, which bears from thence south scarcely one point west, distant about ten miles, and consequently by the compass is nearly south-west by south.—Those rocks are nearly in a line, but somewhat within that line which joins the Start and the Lizard Points; and as they lie nearly in the direction of vessels coasting up and down the channel, they must, before a lighthouse was established thereon, have been very dangerous, and often fatal to ships under such circumstances: and many rich ships and other vessels have, in former times, been actually lost upon those rocks, particularly such as were homeward-bound from foreign parts; it being even now a common thing, in foggy and thick hazy weather, for homeward-bound ships from long foreign voyages to make the Edystone lighthouse as the first point of land of Great Britain; so that in the night, and nearly at high water, when the whole range of these rocks is covered, the most careful mariner might run his ship upon them, if nothing was placed there by way of warning.

"The many fatal accidents which so frequently happened, made it a thing very desirable to have a lighthouse built thereon, and that for many years before any competent undertaker appeared. At length, however, we learn, that in the year 1696 Mr Henry Winstanley, of Littlebury in the county of Essex, Gent., was not only hardy enough to undertake it, but was furnished with the necessary powers to put it in execution. This, it is supposed, was done in virtue of the general powers lodged in the master, wardens, and assistants of the Trinity-house at Deptford Strand to erect sea marks, &c., by a statute of Queen Elizabeth, whereby they are empowered 'to erect and set up beacons, marks, and signs for the sea, needful for avoiding the dangers; and to renew, continue, and maintain the same.' But whether Mr Winstanley was a proprietor or sharer of the undertaking under the Trinity-house, or only the directing engineer employed in the execution, does not now appear.

This gentleman had distinguished himself in a certain branch of mechanics, the tendency of which is to raise wonder and surprise. He had at his house at Littlebury a set of contrivances, such as the following:—Being taken into one particular room of his house, and there observing an old slipper carelessly lying on the middle of the floor,—if, as was natural, you gave it a kick with your foot, up started a ghost before you: If you sat down in a certain chair, a couple of arms would immediately clasp you in, so as to render it impossible to disentangle yourself till your attendant set you at liberty: And if you sat down in a certain arbour by the side of a canal, you was forthwith sent out afloat to the middle of the canal, from whence it was impossible for you to escape till the manager returned you to your former place.—Whether those things were shewn to strangers at his house for money, or were done by way of amusement to those that came to visit the place, is uncertain; as Mr Winstanley is said to have been a man of some property: but it is at least certain, that he established a place of public exhibition at Hyde park corner, called Winstanley's water-works; which were shewn at stated times at one shilling each person. The particulars of those water-works are not now known; but, according to the taste of the times, we must naturally suppose a great variety of jets d'eau, &c. (A).

"The lighthouse Mr Winstanley built was begun in the year 1696, and was more than four years in building; not (says the architect) for the greatness of the work, but for the difficulty and danger in getting backwards and forwards to the place. The difficulties were many, and the dangers not less. At length, in the third year, all the work was raised, which to the vane was eighty feet. Being all finished, with the lantern, and all the rooms that were in it, they ventured to lodge there soon after midsummer, for the greater dispatch of the work. But the first night the weather came bad, and so continued, that it was eleven days before any boats could come near them again, and not being acquainted with the height of the sea rising, they were almost all the time drowned with wet, and their provisions in as bad a condition, though they worked night and day to make shelter for themselves. In this storm they lost some of their materials, although they did what they could to save them; but the boat then returning, they all left the house to be refreshed on shore; and as soon as the weather permitted, they returned again and finished all, and put up the light on the 14th of November 1698; which being so late in the year, it was three days before Christmas before they had relief to get on shore again, and were almost at the last extremity for want of provisions; but by good providence, then two boats came with provisions, and the family that was to take care of the light.

"The fourth year, finding in the winter the effects the sea had upon the house, and burying the lantern at times, although more than 60 feet high; Mr Winstanley early in the spring encompassed the building with a new work of four feet thickness from the foundation, making all solid near 20 feet high; and taking down the upper part of the first building, and enlarging every part in its proportion, he raised it forty feet higher than it was at first; and yet the sea, in time of storms, flew up in appearance 100 feet (B) above the vane; and at times covered half the side of the house and the lantern as if they were under water.

"On the finishing this building, it was generally said, that in the time of hard weather, such was the height

(A) It appears that the exhibition of these water-works continued some years after the death of Mr Winstanley, as they were existing in the month of September 1709, being mentioned in the Tatler of that date.

(B) Mr Smeaton says this is short of its real height 50 feet. of the seas, that it was very possible for a six-oared boat to be lifted up upon a wave, and driven through the open gallery of the lighthouse.

"In November 1703, the fabric wanted some repairs, and Mr Winstanley went down to Plymouth to superintend the performance of them. The opinion of the common people was, that the building would not be of long duration. Mr Winstanley, however, held different sentiments. Being amongst his friends previous to his going off with his workmen on account of those reparations, the danger was intimated to him; and it was said, that one day or other the lighthouse would certainly be overset. To this he replied, 'He was so well assured of the strength of his building, he should only wish to be there in the greatest storm that ever blew under the face of the heavens, that he might see what effect it would have upon the structure.'

"In this wish he was soon gratified; for while he was there with his workmen and light-keepers, that dreadful storm began which raged the most violently upon the 26th November 1703, in the night; and of all the accounts of the kind which history furnishes us with, we have none that has exceeded this in Great Britain, or was more injurious or extensive in its devastation.

"The next morning, when the storm was abated, nothing of the lighthouse was to be seen. The following account of its destruction was printed at the time, by Daniel Defoe, in a book entitled *The Storm.*

"The loss of the lighthouse called the Edystone, at Plymouth, is another article of which we never heard any particulars, other than this, that at night it was standing, and in the morning all the upper part of the gallery was blown down, and all the people in it perished, and, by a particular misfortune, Mr Winstanley the contriver of it; a person whose loss is very much regretted by such as knew him, as a very useful man to his country. The loss of that lighthouse is also a considerable damage, as it is very doubtful whether it will ever be attempted again; and it was a great security to the sailors, many a good ship having been lost there in former times.

"It was very remarkable, that, as we are informed at the same time the lighthouse aforesaid was blown down, the model of it in Mr Winstanley's house at Littlebury in Essex, above 200 miles from the lighthouse, fell down and was broken to pieces.

"At Plymouth they felt a full proportion of the storm in its utmost fury. The Edystone has been already mentioned; but it was a double loss, in that the lighthouse had not been long down when the Winchelsea, a homeward-bound Virginia-man, was split upon the rock where that building stood, and most of her men drowned."

"The great utility of Mr Winstanley's lighthouse had been sufficiently evident to those for whose use it was erected; and the loss of the Winchelsea Virginia-man, before mentioned, proved a powerful incentive to such as were interested, to exert themselves in order for its restoration. It was not, however, begun so soon as might have been expected. In spring of the year 1706, an act of parliament passed enabling the Trinity house to rebuild, but it was no earlier than July that it was begun. The undertaker was a Captain Lovell or Lovett, who took it for the term of ninety-nine years, commencing from the day that a light should be exhibited.

"To enable him to fulfil his undertaking, Captain Lovett engaged Mr John Rudyerd to be his engineer or architect; and his choice, though Mr Rudyerd does not appear to have been bred to any mechanical business or scientific profession, was not ill made. He at that time kept a linen-draper's shop upon Ludgate-hill. His want of experience, however, was in a degree assisted by Mr Smith and Mr Notcutt, both shipwrights from the king's yard at Woolwich, who worked with him the whole time he was building the lighthouse.

"It is not very material in what way this gentleman became qualified for the execution of the work: it is sufficient that he directed the performance thereof in a masterly manner, and so as perfectly to answer the end for which it was intended. He saw the errors in the former building, and avoided them: instead of a polygon, he chose a circle for the outline of his building, and carried up the elevation in that form. His principal aim appears to have been use and simplicity; and indeed, in a building so situated, the former could hardly be acquired in its full extent without the latter. He seems to have adopted ideas the very reverse of his predecessor; for all the unwieldy ornaments at top, the open gallery, the projecting cranes, and other contrivances, more for ornament and pleasure than use, Mr Rudyerd laid totally aside: he saw, that how beautiful soever ornaments might be in themselves, yet when they are improperly applied, and out of place, they shew a bad taste, and betray ignorance of its first principle, judgment.

"The building was begun in July 1706, a light was put up in it the 28th July 1708, and it was completely finished in 1709. The quantity of materials expended in the construction, was 500 tons of stone, 1200 tons of timber, 80 tons of iron, and 35 tons of lead; of trenails, screws, and rack-bolts 2500 each.

"Louis XIV. being at war with England during the proceeding with this building, a French privateer took the men at work upon it, together with their tools, and carried them to France; and the captain was in expectation of a reward for the achievement. While the captives lay in prison, the transaction reached the ears of that monarch. He immediately ordered them to be released, and the captors to be put in their place; declaring, that though he was at war with England, he was not at war with mankind; he therefore directed the men to be sent back to their work with presents; observing, that the Edystone lighthouse was so situated, as to be of equal service to all nations having occasion to navigate the channel that divides France from England."

In the year 1715, Captain Lovett being dead, his property in the Edystone lighthouse was sold before a master in chancery to Robert Weston, Esq. — Noyes, Esq. of Gray's Inn; and — Chetham, Esq. an alderman of Dublin, who divided the same into eight shares. After a few years some repairs were found wanting; and in 1723, Mr Rudyerd being, we suppose then dead, Mr John Holland, foreman ship-wright in the dock-yard at Plymouth, became overseer and director of the necessary reparations; which office he again executed in 1734. "The catastrophe of this light-house took place on the 2d December 1755, when the light-keeper upon watch, about two o'clock in the morning, went into the lantern as usual to snuff the candles; he found the whole in a smoke; and upon opening the door of the lantern into the balcony, a flame instantly burst from the inside of the cupola: he immediately endeavoured to alarm his companions; but they being in bed, and asleep, were not so ready in coming to his assistance as the occasion required. As there were always some leather buckets kept in the house, and a tub of water in the lantern, he attempted to extinguish the fire by throwing water from the balcony upon the outside cover of lead. By this time his companions arriving, he encouraged them to fetch up water with the buckets from the sea; but the height of the place, added to the consternation which must attend such an unexpected event, rendered their efforts fruitless. The flames gathered strength every moment; the poor man with every exertion, having the water to throw four yards higher than himself, found himself unable to stop the progress of the conflagration, and was obliged to desist.

"As he was looking upward with the utmost attention to see the effect of the water thrown, a position which, physiognomists tell us, occasions the mouth naturally to be a little open, a quantity of lead dissolved by the heat of the flames suddenly rushed like a torrent from the roof, and fell upon his head, face, and shoulders, and burnt him in a dreadful manner: from this moment he had a violent internal sensation, and imagined that a quantity of this lead had passed his throat, and got into his body. Under this violence of pain and anxiety, as every attempt had proved ineffectual, and the rage of the flames was increasing, it is not to be wondered that the terror and dismay of the three men increased in proportion; so that they all found themselves intimidated, and glad to make their retreat from the immediate scene of horror into one of the rooms below. They therefore descended as the fire approached, with no other prospect than that of securing their immediate safety, with scarcely any hopes of being saved from destruction.

"How soon the flames were seen on the shore is uncertain; but early in the morning they were perceived by some of the Cawsand fishermen, and intelligence thereof given to Mr Edwards, of Rame, in that neighbourhood, a gentleman of some fortune, and more humanity, who immediately sent out a fishing-boat and men to the relief of the distressed objects in the light-house (c).

"The boat and men got thither about ten o'clock, after the fire had been burning full eight hours; in which time the three light-keepers were not only driven from all the rooms and the staircase, but, to avoid the falling of the timber and red-hot bolts, &c. upon them, they were found sitting in the hole or cave on the east side of the rock under the iron ladder, almost in a state of stupification; it being then low water.

"With much difficulty they were taken off; when finding it impossible to do any further service, they hastened to Plymouth. No sooner were they set on shore, than one of the men ran away, and was never afterwards heard of. This circumstance, though it might lead to suspicions unfavourable to the man, Mr Smeaton is of opinion ought not to weigh anything against him, as he supposes it to have arisen from a panic which sometimes seizes weak minds, and prevents their acting agreeable to the dictates of right reason.

"It was not long before the dreadful news arrived at Plymouth. Alderman Tolcher and his son immediately went to sea, but found it impossible to do anything with effect. Admiral West also, who then lay in Plymouth sound, sent a sloop properly armed, with a boat and an engine therein, which also carried out Mr Jessop the surveyor. This vessel arrived early in the day. Many attempts were made to play the engine, but the agitation of the sea prevented it from being employed with success. On the succeeding days the fire still continued, and about the 7th the destruction of the whole was completed.

"The man who has been mentioned already was named Henry Hall, of Stonehouse, near Plymouth, and though aged 94 years, being of a good constitution, was remarkably active, considering his time of life. He invariably told the surgeon who attended him, Mr Spry (now Dr Spry) of Plymouth, that if he would do anything effectual to his recovery, he must relieve his stomach from the lead which he was sure was within him; and this he not only told Dr Spry, but all those about him, though in a very hoarse voice, and the same assertion he made to Mr Jessop.—The reality of the assertion seemed, however, then incredible to Dr Spry, who could scarcely suppose it possible than any human being could exist after receiving melted lead into the stomach; much less that he should afterwards be able to bear towing through the sea from the rock, and also the fatigue and inconvenience from the length of time he was in getting on shore before any remedies could be applied. The man, however, did not shew any symptoms of being much worse or better until the sixth day after the accident, when he was thought to mend: he constantly took his medicines, and swallowed many things both liquid and solid, till the tenth or eleventh day; after which he suddenly grew worse; and on the twelfth, being seized with cold sweats and spasms, he soon after expired.

"His body was opened by Dr Spry, and in the stomach was found a solid piece of lead of a flat oval form, which weighed 7 ounces and 5 drachms. So extraordinary a circumstance appearing to deserve the notice of the philosophical world, an account of it was sent to the Royal Society, and printed in the 49th volume of their Transactions, p. 477.

"The light-house being thus demolished, the proprietors immediately turned their thoughts to the rebuilding of it. They had in it a term of near half a century, but some shares being settled by the marriage articles of one of the parties, some impediments arose which could not be overcome without the aid of parliament, which was soon obtained. To one of the partners, Robert Weston, Esq. the management of the business was committed,

(c) This benevolent gentleman caught a cold on this occasion which cost him his life. committed, and he thought it requisite to apply to the earl of Macclesfield, then president of the Royal Society, to recommend a proper person to superintend the work. On communicating the object of his visit, Lord Macclesfield told him, that there was one of the Royal Society whom he would venture to recommend to the business; yet that the most material part of what he knew of him was, his having within the compass of the last seven years recommended himself to the Society by the communication of several mechanical inventions and improvements; and though he had at first made it his business to execute things in the instrument way (without having been bred to the trade), yet on account of the merit of his performances, he had been chosen a member of the Society, and that for about three years past, having found the business of a philosophical instrument-maker not likely to afford an adequate recompense, he had wholly applied himself to such branches of mechanics as were wanted by the proprietors; that he was then somewhere in the north of England, executing a work: and that as he had always satisfied his employers, he would not be likely to undertake what he could not perform.

"The person thus described was Mr Smeaton, who was written to by Mr Benjamin Wilson the painter, laconically informing him, that he was the person fixed upon to rebuild the Edystone lighthouse. But this intimation conveying to his mind no more than a mere notice that he might, in common with others, deliver in proposals to repair it, not knowing then that it was entirely destroyed, it afforded but little satisfaction, and he returned only a cool answer. Mr Wilson's reply was still more laconic: That the demolition was total, and that as Nathan said unto David, 'Thou art the man.'

"Mr Smeaton immediately divested himself of his engagements in the north, and arrived in London the 23d of February 1756, and had an interview next day with the principal proprietor. The mode of rebuilding then became the subject of their deliberations, which at length ended in a determination to rebuild it with stone.

"On the 5th of April Mr Smeaton first set his foot on the Edystone rock. He immediately began to take his measures for proceeding on the work. He made all the necessary inquiries on the spot, and in the neighbourhood. He considered the nature and quality of the stone proper to be used, and from whence it might be obtained at the best and cheapest rates. He visited the quarries at Beare in Devonshire, and the isle of Portland, and from the latter of these places he at length determined to be supplied with his materials.

"Having proceeded thus far, he returned to London, and had a meeting with the proprietors, who, for reasons highly honourable to them, confirmed their determination to rebuild with stone. He accordingly prepared his models and designs, which were approved by his employers, and directed to be exhibited to the lords of the Admiralty, and the masters of the Trinity house. To the former they were shewn; but the latter having fixed their time for viewing them at so distant a day as to hazard the progress of the work, he determined to set off for Plymouth without their inspection.

"He arrived at Plymouth the 23d of July 1756, and immediately began his operations. He appointed his assistants, hired his men, settled their wages, and drew up rules for their conduct. He also hired a piece of ground for a work-yard. On the 3d of August they went off to the rock, and continued to work as long as the weather would permit. The next winter Mr Smeaton determined to continue at Plymouth, to go through a course of experiments on cements. On the 3d of June 1757, the works were resumed, and on the 12th the first stone was fixed. From this time the erection proceeded with regularity and dispatch, and with no other interruptions than what might be expected from the nature of the work, until the 9th of October 1759, when, after innumerable difficulties and dangers, a happy period was put to the undertaking, without the loss of life or limb to any one concerned in it, or accident by which the work could be said to be materially retarded.

"It now remained only to wait for a storm to try the durability of the building. The hard weather of 1759, 1760, and 1761, appeared to make no impression. The year 1762 was ushered in by a tempest of the first magnitude, the rage of which was so great, that one of those who had been used to predict its downfall was heard to say, 'If the Edystone lighthouse is now standing, it will stand to the day of judgment;' and in reality, from this time its existence has been so entirely laid out of men's minds, that whatever storms have happened since, no inquiry has ever been made concerning it. So confident was a very intelligent friend of Mr Smeaton's of its durability, that he wrote to him, that he might for ever rid himself of any uneasy thought of the house as to its danger from wind and sea.

"The lighthouse is attended by three men, who receive £25 a-year each, with an occasional absence in summer. Formerly there were only two, who watched alternately four hours and four hours; but one being taken ill, and dying, the necessity of an additional hand became apparent. In this dilemma, the living man found himself in an awkward situation. Being apprehensive if he tumbled the dead body into the sea, which was the only way in his power to dispose of it, he might be charged with murder, he was induced for some time to let the dead body lie, in hopes that the boat might be able to land, and relieve him from the distress he was in. By degrees the body became so offensive, that it was not in his power to get quit of it without help; for it was near a month before the attending boat could effect a landing; and then it was not without the greatest difficulty that it could be done, when they did land. To such a degree was the whole building filled with the stench of the corpse, that it was all they could do to get the dead body disposed of and thrown into the sea, and it was some time after that before the rooms could be freed from the noisome stench that was left.

"It is said, that while two light-keepers only were employed, on some disgust they forbore to speak to each other. A person observing to one of them how happy they might live in their state of retirement, 'Yes,' says the man, 'very comfortably, if we could have the use of our tongues; but it is now a full month since my partner and I have spoke to each other.'

"To these anecdotes we shall add one more, and conclude. Edystone clude. A shoemaker was carrying out to the lighthouse in order to be light-keeper. In their way, says the skipper to him, 'How happens it, friend Jacob, that you should choose to go out to be a light-keeper, when you can on shore (as I am told) earn half-a-crown and three shillings a-day in making leathern hose (leather pipes so called); whereas the light-keeper's salary is but 2s. a-year, which is scarce ten shillings a-week.' Says the shoemaker, 'I go to be a light-keeper, because I don't like confinement.' After this answer had produced its share of merriment, he at last explained himself by saying, that he did not like to be confined to work.

'The whole time between the first stroke upon the rock and leaving the lighthouse complete, was three years nine weeks and three days; from the 5th of December 1755, to exhibiting the light October 1759, was three years ten months and sixteen days; and the whole time of working on the rock 111 days 10 hours (D).'