SMEATON'S LTGHTHOUSE COMPLETED. 169 



had stood the winter storms,, could land on the rock. He was delighted to find that the 

 entire work remained intact, as he had left it. At the end of this season, the 

 twenty-ninth course of stones had been laid, and the apartments of the lighthouse-keepers 

 commenced. While living- at Plymouth, Smeaton used to come out upon the Hoe* with 

 his telescope and, from the spot where the Spanish Armada was first descried making for 

 the English coast, peer out towards the rocks on one of which his lighthouse stood. 

 "There were still many who persisted in asserting that no building erected of stone could 

 possibly stand upon the Eddystone; and again and again the engineer, in the dim grey 

 of the morning, would come out and peer through his telescope at his deep-sea lamp-post. 

 Sometimes he had to wait long, until he could see a tall white pillar of spray shoot up 

 into the air. Thank God ! it was still safe. Then, as the light grew, he could discern 

 his building, temporary house and all, standing firm amidst the waters ; and, thus far 

 satisfied, he could proceed to his workshops, his mind relieved for the day." 



The winter following the third season was spent by Smeaton in London, where he made 

 the designs for the cast and wrotight iron and copper works of the lantern, the glass, and 

 rails of the balcony, which were carried out under his own eye. The ensuing season 

 proved so stormy that it was the 5th of July before a landing could again be made on 

 the rock, but from this point the work proceeded with such rapidity that in thirteen days 

 two entire rooms were erected, and by the l7th of August the last pieces of the corona were 

 set, and the forty-sixth and last course of masonry laid, bringing the tower to its specified 

 height of seventy feet. "The last mason's work done was the cutting out of the words 

 ' Laus Deo ' upon the last stone set over the door of the lantern. Round the upper store-room 

 upon the course under the ceiling, had been cut, at an earlier period, ' Except the Lord build 

 the house, they labour in vain that build it.' The iron-work of the balcony and the lantern 

 were next erected, and, over all, the gilt ball, the screws of which Smeaton fixed with 

 his own hands, 'that in case/ he says, 'any of them had not held quite tight and firm, 

 the circumstance might not have been slipped over without my knowledge/ Moreover, this 

 piece of work was dangerous as well as delicate, being performed at a height of some 

 hundred and twenty feet above the sea. Smeaton fixed the screws while standing on four 

 boards nailed together, resting on -the cupola; his assistant, Roger Cornthwaite, placing 

 himself on the opposite side, so as to balance his weight whilst he proceeded with the 

 operation. Smeaton worked with the men in fitting the lantern and interior arrangements. 

 The light was first exhibited on the night of the 16th of October, 1759. About three years 

 after its completion, one of the most terrible storms ever known raged for days along 

 the south-west coast; and though incalculable ruin was inflicted upon harbours and 

 shipping by the hurricane, all the damage done to the lighthouse was repaired by a little 

 gallipot of putty." 



Whatever may be the truth regarding the foundations of the Eddystone, the old 

 lighthouse has done good work for considerably over a century. Sometimes when the sea 

 rolls in with more than usual fury the lighthouse is enveloped in spray, and when struck 

 by a strong wave, the central portion shoots up the perpendicular shaft and leaps quite over 



* The Hoe is an elevated promenade, forming the sea-front of Plymouth, and overlooking the Sound. 



