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the Eddystone lighthouse was on fire! Like a pillar of light, a cone of coruscating flame, it burned for day and night, until, by December 7, only a few clumps of blackened iron remained to tell what it had been.-Rudyerd's lighthouse was destroyed!

12. The increasing commerce of the kingdom, however, rendered a lighthouse at this dangerous point a matter of necessity, and the proprietors, who held a lease of it from the Trinity Brethren, determined upon its immediate reconstruction. For this purpose they applied to Smeaton, who had already gained a widespread. reputation for resolution, intelligence, and mechanical ability. He set about his task with a due conception of its difficulties and responsibility. In contemplating,' he says, 'the use and benefit of such a structure as this, my ideas of what its duration and continued existence ought to be, were not confined within the boundary of one Age or two, but extended themselves to look towards a possible Perpetuity.'

The

After several visits to the rock, Smeaton determined that the new lighthouse must be of stone, and he proposed to dovetail each piece together so tenaciously, that its durability, and capacity of effectually resisting the violence of the winds and waves, should be incontrovertible. first stone was laid on August 3, 1756; but little could be effected during the following autumn and winter, and it was not until the summer of 1757 that the work was fairly begun. The construction of the whole was indefatigably superintended by Smeaton himself, who was always foremost when any danger was to be confronted, or any unexpected obstacle dealt with. Thus it happened that, without serious mishap or disaster, the new structure was completed, and the light first exhibited on the night of October 16, 1759.

13. From that date to the present the Eddystone lighthouse has successfully braved the fury of the storm-test waters; a pillar of safety, and hope, and consolation to the homeward-bound barque as she ploughs the rough tides of the channel. The billows will sometimes fling themselves over its very summit, and sometimes hurtle against it with

THE FORTH AND CLYDE CANAL.

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a roar of thunder and a crash like that of a wind-torn pineforest; but still, exultant and defiant, its lamp flings forth a blessed radiance of love and mercy

With strange unearthly splendour in its glare.

Of the

14. The Eddystone lighthouse was, perhaps, the most memorable as it is undoubtedly the best known-of Mr. Smeaton's engineering achievements, but many of his other works were of a character to call forth all the resources of his genius. At Perth, Coldstream, and Banff, he erected bridges; he was largely employed in the drainage of the Lincolnshire fens; and he designed and constructed the Forth and Clyde Canal, to unite the seas which respectively wash the eastern and western coasts of Scotland. latter important work a few details may be given in illustration of the difficulties which Smeaton's genius conquered: it is about 38 miles in length, and includes 39 locks, with a rise of 156 feet from the sea to the summit level. Rocks and quicksands lie in its course, and sometimes the canal has to cross deep rivers, in others to run along embankments more than 20 feet in height. It traverses many roads and rivulets, and two rivers, the Luggie and the Kelvin the bridge over the latter being 275 feet long, and 68 feet high. Its depth is 8 feet, and vessels of 19 feet beam and 68 feet keel are capable of easily passing along the navigation between the east and west coasts.

15. Smeaton was also employed by Dr. Roebuck upon the celebrated Carron Iron Works, projected by that ingenious but unfortunate speculator. There the employment of coal in iron-smelting was first practised on a large scale, and Smeaton was engaged to erect a very powerful blowing apparatus for this purpose, which he effected in 1768, using a water-wheel as the motive power. He also furnished a design for a double-boring mill for drilling cylinders and guns-the well-known species of ordnance called 'carronades' having been introduced by the Carron Company.

16. The construction and improvement of 'harbours' was also included in Smeaton's engineering practice, and

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A MECHANIC TO THE LAST.

his name is associated with those of Bristol, Christchurch, Dover, Lynn, Rye, Scarborough, Sunderland, Whitehaven, Workington, and Yarmouth. But the most important works of this nature which he actually carried out, were those of Ramsgate. In building the pier there he first employed the diving-bell for laying the foundations. In every branch of his profession Smeaton's advice was sought and his authority respected, and there was scarcely an undertaking of any eminence, of an engineering character, in which to the very close of his life-he was not engaged.

17. Smeaton, during this busy and successful career, still continued to reside at the place of his birth, Austhorpe, near Leeds. Here he had erected a square tower, four stories high, at some slight distance from his dwellinghouse-occupying the four stories respectively as his forge, his turning-room, his cabinet of models, and his attic or observatory. To the last he was a mechanic-a mechanic from love and affection; contriving and constructing for the simple pleasure of the work. His pursuits in his workshop and at his desk were varied by visits to his blacksmith's shop. One of his principal objects, on such occasions, was to experiment upon a boiler-the lower part copper, and the upper part lead-which he had fitted up in an adjoining building, for the purpose of ascertaining the evaporative power of different kinds of fuel, and other points connected with the then little understood question of steam power. He was on very familiar terms with the smith, and, if he thought he was not very handy about a piece of work he was engaged upon, he would take the tools himself and point out how it should be done. One of the maxims which he frequently quoted to his smith was, "Never let a file come where a hammer can go."'

18. Smeaton died on October 28, 1792, in the 68th year of his age, and was buried in the parish church of Whitkirk, where a modest tablet, erected by his daughters, not unjustly describes him as a man whom God had endowed with the most extraordinary abilities, which he indefatigably exerted for the benefit of mankind in works of science and philosophical research.' As long