24 Jccou7it of the Erection of the Bell Rock Lighthouse. 
and the lighted torch in the other, on a solitary sunken rock, at 
midnight and in darkness, amidst the howling of the wind and 
roaring of the waves. On one occasion, the author expresses 
himself thus : 
The wind being at south-east this evening, we had a pretty 
heavy swell of sea upon the rock, and some difficulty attended 
our getting off in safety, as the boats got a-ground in the creek 
and were in danger of being upset. Upon extinguishing the 
torch-lights, about twelve in number, the darkness of the night 
seemed quite horrible ; the water being also much charged with 
the phosphorescent appearance which is familar to every one on 
shipboard; the waves, as they dashed upon the rock, were in 
some degree like so much liquid flame. The scene, upon the 
whole, was truly awful.” 
By strenuous and unremitting exertions, the beacon-house 
was erected, and the foundation of the building prepared, by 
the middle of the month of July in the second season of the 
work. The foundation had the appearance of a great circular 
platform of compact red sandstone, measuring 42 feet in dia- 
meter, surrounded by an irregular margin of rock, rising from 
18 inches to 5 feet. In the work-yard at Arbroath, where the 
materials were prepared, the first and second courses of the 
lighthouse now lay ready for being shipped for the rock. Each 
stone was accurately marked, so that its relative position in the 
building on the rock could at once be recognised. The stones 
were cut of a dovetail form, on a plan similar to those of the 
Edystone Lighthouse. The foundation-stone at the Bell-rock 
was laid by Mr Stevenson, with masonic ceremony, on the 10th 
of July 1808. Upon this occasion, the author remarks: 
“ Whether we consider this building as an erection of great diffi- 
culty, or, in a nautical point of view, as adding much to the com- 
fort and protection of the mariner, and safety of property, upon 
a range of coast extending almost to the whole eastern shores of 
Great Britain, its importance is evident. If it be proper, there- 
fore, on any occasion, to attach importance to the act of laying 
the first stone of a public building, that of the Bell Bock Light- 
house cannot be said to yield to any in point of interest, either 
for the peculiarity of its situation, or the utility of its ob- 
ject, Under these considerations it is obvious, that but for the 
