200 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES. 



enormous through the hazards of the narrow seas. 

 The fate of the Columbus, and that of the Baron of 

 Renfrew, a vessel of equal, if not of larger, dimen- 

 sions, seem to have established the fact, that notwith- 

 standing the greatest attention to strength in their 

 construction, there is a limit in size beyond which, if 

 vessels are attempted to be carried, they are neither 

 profitable nor safe. 



LIGHT-HOUSES. 



One of the most celebrated instances of the appli- 

 cation of timber, in the construction of a light-house, 

 was that by Mr. Rudyerd, upon the rock of Eddy- 

 stone, where Smeaton's magnificent stone edifice 

 now stands. The engineer of this celebrated but ill- 

 fated structure had not been bred to the profession, 

 for he was a silk -mercer upon Ludgate-hill ; but he 

 seems to have been a man of the greatest talents for 

 carpentry; and we have the evidence of Smeaton, 

 that, " he directed the performance in a masterly 

 manner." Before this time, a light-house had been 

 built on the same situation, by Mr. Henry Win- 

 stanley, which was completed in 1699; but which 

 disappeared with its engineer, in the violent 

 storm during the night of the 26th of November, 

 1703. That 26th of November was the most dread- 

 ful storm ever experienced in the British seas; and 

 the damage that it did, both at sea and on land, has 

 not a parallel in the annals of the country; so that, 

 although Mr. Winstanley's light-house was torn from 

 the rock, and it seems to have been so torn in one 

 mass, it does not thence follow that it was a struc- 

 ture of inferior strength, because no subsequent 

 structure has had to abide a trial so severe. What 

 added to the public regret upon that melancholy oc- 

 casion, was the fact that Mr. Winstanley had erected 

 the light-house at his own expense. 



