attentive eye on
his behaviour when he stands alone, when his native impulses are under
no external excitement, when he is, in fact, 'in the undress of one
who has retired from the stage on which he felt he had a part to
sustain[2].'

But a detail of the public and private events in the life of a
distinguished man do not alone suffice to form a just estimate of his
character. The reader requires to be made acquainted with the state of
a particular branch of knowledge at the time when the individual
appeared whose efforts so greatly extended its boundaries;--without
this it is quite impossible to estimate the worth of the man whose
life is being perused, or the blessings and advantages conferred upon
society by his means.

On the other hand, in tracing the history of any particular branch of
knowledge, unless connected with biography, we lose sight of
individual efforts;--they are mingled with the labours of others, or
are absorbed into the history of the whole, and are consequently no
longer individualized:--hence we are likely to fail in recognizing the
obligations due to our distinguished countrymen, or to deprive of
their just merit those of our foreign brethren whose useful lives have
influenced distant lands, as well as their own.

With these views we propose to connect the name of SMEATON with the
interesting subject of LIGHTHOUSES. In the _first_ place, we propose
to present a brief history of Lighthouses, up to the time when Smeaton
gave a type for this peculiar class of buildings upon dangerous and
difficult points of coast; _secondly_, a general sketch of the life of
Smeaton, so far as his very brief biographers will allow; and
_thirdly_, a history of the improvements in Lighthouses which have
been effected since the erection of the Eddystone.

In this compilation, the writer desires to express his obligations to
the following works: _A Narrative of the Building, and a Description
of the Construction of the Eddystone Lighthouse with Stone_, by JOHN
SMEATON, fol. London, 1791;--Mr. HOLMES's short _Memoir of_
SMEATON;--The Communication of Mrs. DIXON, Smeaton's daughter, to the
Institution of Civil Engineers;--_An Account of the Bell-Rock
Lighthouse, including the Details of the Erection, and peculiar
Structure of that Edifice_, by ROBERT STEVENSON, 4to. Edin.
1824;--_The Edinburgh Encyclopaedia_, and the _Encyclopaedia
Britannica_;--An article _on Lighthouses_, by M. ARAGO, in the
_Annuaire_;--_The Civil