ON LIGHTHOUSES. 273 



bedding are always kept dry. Underneath is 

 their kitchen. It has now stood firm upwards 

 of a hundred and five years, and shows no 

 symptoms of injury or decay, and the opinion 

 of its strength is so great that, in the worst 

 weather, the men consider themselves as secure 

 as if they were living on shore. 



At a later period, a beautiful lighthouse was 

 erected on the Bell Rock, situated on the south- 

 eastern extremity of Forfarshire, at the entrance 

 of the Frith of Tay, and which does great 

 honour to the skill of Messrs. Rennie and Ste- 

 phenson, under whose directions it was com- 

 pleted on the 1st of February, 1811. It was 

 four years in erection, and Mr. Smeaton's plans 

 for the Eddystone Lighthouse were generally 

 followed. The Bell Rock Lighthouse is a cir- 

 cular building of stone: the diameter below is 

 forty-two feet, the extreme height, from the base 

 to the top of the lantern, a hundred and fifteen 

 feet, of which the lower thirty feet are solid 

 masonry, the wall above being seven feet in 

 diameter, gradually diminishing to one foot at 

 the top of the parapet. The entrance-door is 

 placed immediately above the solid foundation, 

 and is entered by a rope-ladder, which is sus- 



T 



