and
light-keepers at the Eddystone during the same winter, when he
received an unexpected and painful refusal from the Corporation of
Trinity-House, to the effect that 'on reading the Acts of Parliament,
the application from the merchants and owners of ships, and
Winstanley's narrative of the first lighthouse erected there, they are
of opinion that a light cannot be exhibited on the Eddystone Rock till
the lighthouse is re-built.'

Smeaton employed the winter of 1758-9 in London, preparing everything
for the final work at the Eddystone the ensuing season. He formed and
made out designs for the iron rails of the balcony, the cast iron, the
wrought iron, and the copper-works of the lantern, &c. There was a
violent storm on the 9th of March, 1759, which it was supposed might
have damaged the unfinished lighthouse, as it had done very great
damage to the ships and houses at Plymouth. As soon as it was possible
to effect a landing the works were visited and a report sent to
Smeaton. From this he found, with pleasure, that not only the solid
but the hollow work remained perfectly sound and firm; all the mortar
having become quite hard, and every part of the work just as it was
left by the workmen in October.

The commencement of the work for the next and last season, took place
on the 5th of July. On the 21st of the same month the second floor was
finished, and by the 29th the fortieth course of stone was laid down,
and the third floor finished.

The main column of the lighthouse was completed on Friday, August
17th. It contained in all forty-six courses of stone, and reached the
height of seventy feet. The beds for the light-keepers were fixed in
the uppermost room, and the kitchen with its fire-place in the room
below it, whereas in the former house, the kitchen had been the upper
room, doubtless, because the funnel for the smoke would be shorter.
But Smeaton having been informed that with the former arrangement the
beds and bedding were in a very damp and disagreeable state, proposed
to remedy the evil by allowing the copper funnel to pass through the
bed-room, and thus to dry the air. This plan completely answered the
desired end; though it must be observed, that the whole edifice, even
those portions of it which were continually subject to the action of
the waves, were much more impervious to moisture than Rudyerd's
edifice; as may naturally be imagined from the difference of material
used in the building of the lig