THE SECOND EDDYSTONE. 



161 



been deemed impracticable, and, by the success which attended his endeavours, to show 

 mankind that the erection of such a work was not in itself a thing of that kind/' 

 He may, indeed, be said to have paved the way for the more successful enterprise of 

 Smeaton himself; and its failure was not without its influence in inducing that great 

 mechanic to exercise the care which he did, in devising a structure that should withstand 

 the most violent sea on the south coast. Shortly after Winstanley's lighthouse had been 

 swept away, the Winchelsea, a richly laden homeward-bound Virginian, was wrecked on 



\VINSTANLEY S LIGHTHOUSK. 



RXJDYERD S LIGHTHOUSE. 



the Eddystone Rock, and almost every soul on board perished; so that the erection of 

 a lighthouse upon the dangerous reef remained as much a necessity as ever. 



Mr. Smiles graphically describes the coming architect of the period. He did not, how- 

 ever, come from the class of architects or builders, or even of mechanics; and as for the 

 class of engineers, it had not even yet sprung into existence. The projector of the next 

 lighthouse for the Eddystone was again a London mercer, who kept a silk shop on 

 Ludgate Hill. John Rudyerd for such was his name was, however, a man of unques- 

 tionable genius, and possessed of much force of character. He was the son of a Cornish 

 labourer, whom nobody would employ his character was so bad ; and the rest of the family 

 were no better, being looked upon in their neighbourhood as "a worthless set of ragged 

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