CHAP. IV. 



AND LIGHTHOUSES. 



287 



still stands the Roman Pharos, which is supposed to have 

 been used to light vessels from the coasts of France to their 

 station at Portus Rutupise 

 (now Richborough) near 

 Sandwich, or to Regul- 

 hinm (now known as the 

 Reculvers) on the Thames. 

 The old English adopted 

 a similar practice ; but 

 their beacons were of a 

 more rough and homely 

 character. Lambarde says, 

 " before the time of King 

 Edward III. they were 

 made of great stacks of 

 wood ; but about the ele- 

 venth yeere of his raigne it was ordained that in our shyre 

 they should be high standards, with their pitch-pots." 1 

 These beacons were, however, oftener used to alarm the 

 country on the approach of danger than for the pur- 

 pose of lighting the coasts, though there is good reason 

 to believe that the same sort of beacons were employed 

 for the latter purpose at a more recent period. Professor 

 Faraday says, the first idea of a lighthouse was the candle 

 in the cottage window, guiding the husband across the 

 water or the pathless moor. In the dark the main point 

 was a steady light, and it mattered not whether it was 

 given forth by pitch-pots, coals, or oil. But wood, being 

 the article readiest at hand, was most generally used. 

 The Tour de Cordouan, situated off the coast of France, 



'.-i, DOVER CASTLE. 



1 William Lambarde'fl ' Perambu- 

 lation of Kmt.' Speaking of Dun- 

 licncss Point, Lambanie says : " Before 

 this neshe lieth a flat into the sea, 

 threatening ;j;reat danger to sailors. 

 In tin- ivi-n of I'M ward III. it was 

 lirM ordered that beacons in this 

 country should have their pitch-pots, 

 and that they should no lon-er he 

 made of WOOd-gtacks or piles, as they 



be yet in Wiltshire and elsewhere." 

 On this Holloway ('History of Rorn- 

 ney Marsh ') observes : " This must 

 imply that either a beacon was now 

 first erected on the Ness Point, or that 

 there had previously been one com- 

 posed of wood, and for which a pitch- 

 pot was now introduced, as U'iui; 

 considered preferable." 



