162 THE SEA. 



beggars." John seems to have been the one sound chick in the whole brood. He had 

 a naturally clear head and honest heart, and succeeded in withstanding the bad example- 

 of his family. When his brothers went out pilfering, he refused to accompany them, 

 and hence they regarded him as sullen and obstinate. They ill-used him, and he ran 

 away. Fortunately he succeeded in getting into the service of a gentleman at Plymouth, 

 who saw something promising in his appearance. The boy conducted himself so well in 

 the capacity of a servant, that he was allowed to learn reading, writing, and accounts ; and 

 he proved so quick and intelligent, that his kind master eventually placed him in a situation 

 where his talents could have better scope for exercise than in his service, and he succeeded 

 in thus laying the foundation of the young man's success in life. 



We are not informed of the steps by which Rudyerd marked his way upward, until we 

 find him called from his silk-mercer's shop to undertake the rebuilding of the Eddystone 

 Lighthouse. But it is probable that by this time he had become well known for his mechanical 

 skill in design, if not in construction, as well as for his thoroughly practical and reliable 

 character as a man of business; and that for these reasons, amongst others, he was selected 

 to conduct this difficult and responsible undertaking. 



After the lapse of about three years from the destruction of Winstanley's fabric, the 

 Brothers of the Trinity, in 1706, obtained an Act of Parliament enabling them to rebuild 

 the lighthouse, with power to grant a lease to the undertaker. It was taken by one Captain 

 Lovet for a period of ninety-nine years, and he it was that found out and employed Rudyerd. 

 His design of the new structure was simple but masterly. He selected the form that 

 offered the least possible resistance to the force of the winds and the waves, avoiding the 

 open galleries and projections of his predecessor. Instead of a polygon he chose a 

 cone for the outline of his building, and he carried up the elevation in that form. In the 

 practical execution of the work he was assisted by two shipwrights from the king's yard at 

 Woolwich, who worked with him during the whole time he was occupied in the erection. 



The main defect of the lighthouse consisted of the faultiness of the material of which it 

 was built ; for, like Wiustanley's, it was of wood. The means employed to fix the work to its 

 foundation proved quite efficient; dove-tailed holes were cut out of the rock, into which strong 

 iron bolts or branches were keyed, and the interstices were afterwards filled with molten 

 pewter. To these branches were firmly fixed a crown of squared oak balks, across these a set 

 of shorter balks, and so on till a basement of solid wood was raised, the whole being firmly 

 fitted and tied together with tre-nails and screw-bolts. At the same time, to increase the 

 weight and vertical pressure of the building, and thereby present a greater resistance to 

 any disturbing forces, Rudyerd introduced numerous courses of Cornish moorstone, as well 

 jointed as possible, and cramped with iron. It is not necessary to follow the details of 

 the construction further than to state that outside the solid timber and stone courses 

 strong upright timbers were fixed, and carried up as the work proceeded, binding the 

 whole firmly together. Within these upright timbers the rooms of the lighthouse were 

 formed, the floor of the lowest the store-room being situated twenty-seven feet above 

 the highest side of the rock. The upper part of the building comprehended four rooms, 

 one above another, chiefly formed by the upright outside timbers, scarfed that is, the 

 ends overlapping, and firmly fastened together. The whole building was, indeed, an 



