tween these fine monuments of public utility, these seem as if they had lost their regularity, their extent, and all their majesty. The three bridges, Blackfriars, Westminster, and London, being constructed of a soft stone, strongly liable to decomposition, have suffered prodigiously from the ravages of time; and the same is the case with the greater part of those edifices which grace the British metropolis. this colossal monument, worthy of the Sesostrises and the Cæsars, he will admire still more the nation where such works could be produced by the efforts of individuals without name, and lost for ever to fame, amidst a crowd of industrious citizens.' How much merit there is in the completion of so stupendous a design, in so admirable a manner, no one who is in the least acquainted with works of art need be told. Mr. Rennie, while executing it, seemed to feel that he was building for immortality; no branch of the work, however minute or ap 'If, by the incalculable effect of those revolutions to which empires are exposed, people should one day ask, Where stood the New Sidon? and what is become of the Tyre of the west,parently immaterial, escaped his which covered the whole ocean with its ships?- the greater part of its buildings, destroyed by a destructive climate, will no longer reply to the curiosity of men with the voice of monuments; but the bridge built by Rennie, in the centre of the commercial world, will subsist to tell to generations the most remote, "Here was a city, rich, industrious, and powerful." The traveller, at the sight of this superb monument, will be apt to suppose that some great prince had endeavoured, by long years of toil, to consecrate his name to everlasting renown by this magnificent structure. | But should tradition inform him that six years sufficed to undertake and complete this work; that a simple association of merchants possessed opulence enough to build, at their expense, most vigilant attention; he would only use those materials which were the most excellent of their kind, and not an inch of work would he suffer to pass which was not executed in the very best possible manner. One writer remembered to have seen him superintending the preparation of the mortar, as if that had been the only thing he had to attend to in the whole undertaking; and repeatedly turning back loads of the material, because they were not so well wrought as they might be. It was by care like this that the name of Rennie and the genius of stability have in a manner become identified. Superior to every sentiment of envy or jealousy, Mr. Rennie was neither slow in his admiration of other men's powers, nor averse to profit honourably by them. He gave due praise to foreign nations, and to the French in particular, for the work which they have accomplished; and to all strangers who came hither to gather instruction from the many models of art with which Britain has supplied the world, he was ever free of access, and most liberal in his communications. He experienced in return many flattering marks of gratitude and esteem from men of genius of other countries. In 1819, having communicated to some of his scientific friends in France his wish of inspecting the arsenals at Brest and Cherbourg, the French Minister of Marine was no sooner apprised of his wishes than he sent instructions to the superior officers of both these ports, to afford him, for that purpose, every aid and facility in their power. M. Dupin has with equal liberality and good sense remarked, 'that whatever information Mr. Rennie may have derived from such inspection, France may be well assured, that in this interchange of knowledge and politeness she is not the least gainer.' ROBERT STEVENSON. We have now to tell the story of another celebrated lighthouse. The Inchcape Rock lies on the coast about twenty-four miles to the east of the harbour of Dundee. It stands in the track of all vessels making for the estu aries of the Friths of Forth and Tay, and was, from a very remote period, the scene of numerous shipwrecks. The top of the rock being visible at low water, the abbots of Aberbrothock attached to it a framework and a bell, which, being rung by the waves, warned mariners to steer clear of the fatal reef. Every one knows the tradition regarding this bell, preserved by Southey in his ballad of 'Ralph the Rover.' A notorious pirate is said to have cut the bell from the framework 'to plague the abbot of Aberbrothock, and some time after to have met with the just punishment of his wickedness by being shipwrecked on the spot. Since the days of the monks and their bell, says a writer whom we have previously quoted, two attempts have been made to raise a wooden beacon on the rocks; but on each occasion, the sea has swept it indignantly away. It was at last suggested by Mr. Robert Stevenson, engineer to the Lighthouse Board, that a tower of stone should be raised on the reef; and his suggestion was at length adopted. This was a most formidable undertaking, for the rock was covered to the depth of 12 feet by the tide, and at every spring-tide was liable to be buried by 16 feet of water. On the 17th of August 1807, Mr. Stevenson landed on the rock, and commenced his labour by preparing it to sustain a temporary pyramid of wood, in which a barrack for the protection of the workmen was to be reared. This was a most critical part of the business; two or three hours were considered a good spell of labour; for as soon as the flood-tide began to swell up the sides of the rocks, the workmen had to gather up their tools and take refuge in the boats. So precious was time, that even at night, when the state of the tide favoured the work, the little band of devoted men might be seen labouring hard on this one point of rock, illuminated by the fitful glimmer of torches amidst the dark waste of water. In the long list of perils and providential escapes which mark the rise of the Bell Rock Lighthouse, there was one which stands out prominently from the rest. The attendant vessel, the Smeaton, had been anchored at some distance; she broke her moorings and drifted hopelessly away from the rock. Just then the tide, crested by rude waves, was observed to be rising upon the engineer and his 31 men. Soon would the rock be submerged, with its cluster of helpless tenants. In dread silence the men gathered together, their eyes fixed upon the face of their chief. He was about to address them, but he found that all power of speech had left his parched mouth and throat in at moment of agony. Sud denly some one exclaimed, 'A boat! a boat!' Thank Heaven, it was a large pilot-boat which had been riding leisurely at some distance from the rock. The pilot on board had, with his practised eye, read the true position of affairs when he saw the Smeaton drifting away from the shore; and a joyful deliverance was the result. All preparations at last were completed, and all discouragements surmounted. The first stone of the sea-tower was laid on the Bell Rock on the roth of July 1808, 16 feet, let it be remembered, under the surface of the sea at high water of the spring tides; and when the second season closed, some 5 or 6 feet of building were entrusted to the forbearance of the waves. At the beginning of the next season, the storms were found to have dealt gently with these bold beginnings of man's enterprise; and when the third season closed, 30 feet of solid masonry had crept up above the waters. The fourth season's operations completed the stone-work of the tower; and on the night of the 1st of | February 1811, a beautiful revolving star of alternate red and white lights shone over the sea from a tower 100 feet in height. "This effect is produced by the revolution of a framework bearing 16 argand lamps in the foci of paraboloidal mirrors, whose alternate faces have shades of red glass before the reflectors. The machinery |