Mr. S-t.-At first there were only two, but an incident of a very extraordinary and distressing nature which occurred showed the necessity of an additional hand. One of the two keepers took ill and died. The dilemma in which this occurrence left the survivor was singularly painful; apprehensive that if he tumbled the dead body into the sea, which was the only way in his power to dispose of it, he might be charged with murder, he was induced for some time to let the corpse lie, in hopes that the attending-boat might be able to land, and relieve him from the distress he was in. By degrees the body became so putrid that it was not in his power to get quit of it without help, for it was near a month before the boat could effect a landing. To such a degree was the whole building filled with the stench of the corpse, that all they could do then was to get the dead body disposed of by throwing it into the sea; and it was some time before the rooms could be freed from the offensive stench.

Visitor.-Do they ever get ashore?

Mr. S-t-Three men are now stationed here, each of whom has, in the summer, a month's leave to visit his friends, and are provided with food and all other necessaries by a boat appointed for that purpose; but they are always stocked with salt provisions, to guard against the possibility of want, as in winter it sometimes happens that the boat cannot approach the rock for many weeks together.

Visitor.-I should think their situation is not very enviable.

Mr. S-t.-The range of their enjoyments is certainly narrow. In high winds so briny an atmosphere surrounds this gloomy solitude, from the dashing of the waves, that a person exposed to it could hardly draw his breath. At these dreadful intervals the forlorn inhabitants keep close quarters, and are obliged to live in darkness, listening to the howling storm, excluded in every emergency from the hope of human assistance, and without any earthly comfort but that which results from their confidence in the strength of the building in which they are immured. fine weather they just scramble about the edge of the rock when the tide ebbs, and amuse themselves with fishing; and this is the only employment they have, except that of trimming their nightly fires.

In

Visitor. And yet there are facts in the history of man which lead us to believe it possible for these men to become so weaned from society as to become enamoured of their situation.

Mr. D-y-The history of that very place supplies a remarkable illustration. Smeaton, in

speaking of one of these light-keepers, says, "In the fourteen years that he had been here he was grown so attached to the place, that for the two summers preceding he had given up his turn on shore to his companions, and declared his intention of doing the same the third; but was overpersuaded to go on shore and take his month's turn. He had always in this service proved himself a decent, sober, well-behaved man; but he had no sooner got on shore than he went to an alehouse and got intoxicated. This he continued the whole of his stay, which being noticed, he was carried, in this intoxicated state, on board the Eddystone-boat, and delivered in the lighthouse, where he was expected to grow sober; but after lingering two or three days, he could by no means be recovered."

Visitor.-That is a most instructive fact in relation to human nature.

Mr. D-y.-In another place he says, "I was applied to by a philosopher kind of a man to be one of the light-keepers, observing, that being a man of study and retirement, he could very well bear the confinement that must attend it. I asked him if he knew the salary? He replied, no; but doubted not it must be something very handsome. When I told him it was £25 a-year, he replied he had quite mistaken the business; he did not mean to sell his liberty for so low a price; he could not have supposed it less than three times as much." Another man, a shoemaker, who was engaged to be the light-keeper, when in the boat which conveyed him thither, the skipper addressing him, said, "How happens it, friend Jacob, that you should choose to go and be cooped up here as a light-keeper, when you can on shore, as I am told, earn half-a-crown and three shillings a-day in making leathern hose (leathern pipes so called); whereas the light-keeper's salary is but £25 a-year, which is scarce ten-shillings a-week?" "Every one to his taste," replied Jacob promptly; "I go to be a light-keeper because I don't like confinement.” After this answer had produced its share of merriment, Jacob explained himself by saying that he did not like to be confined to work.

Visitor. Certainly Jacob was a philosopher; but he is not likely to have many followers. And that long black line in the sea, what is that?

Mr. P-r.-That is one of the most wonderful undertakings of modern times. That arm of the sea, which the line lies across, is Plymouth Sound, that all the world has heard of.

Visitor.-What could lead to such an enterprise ?

Mr. J-s.-Here is Mr. Stuart, the superintendent, who can tell you all about it.

Mr. Stuart-The importance attached to Plymouth as a naval station, arising from the magnitude of its dockyard and other causes, gave rise to the Breakwater. In the early part of the year 1806 the attention of the Admiralty was directed to the subject, and in the month of February in that year their lordships directed the late Mr. John Rennie, Civil Engineer, and the late Mr. Joseph Whidbey, then Master Attendant at Woolwich Dockyard, to proceed to Plymouth to survey the Sound. It is unnecessary that I should say a word upon the judiciousness of the selection thus made of the parties who were to plan a Breakwater for Plymouth Sound. Mr. Rennie was then at the head of his profession, and up to the period of his lamented

death in 1821 maintained his well-earned reputation. Mr. Whidbey had had considerable experience as a master in the navy; had sailed round the world with Vancouver, during which he had made extensive surveys of harbours, tides, &c.; and for several years had been Master Attendant at Woolwich and Sheerness Dockyards. On the 18th of March, 1806, Messrs. Rennie and Whidbey met at Plymouth in order to carry out their lordship's instructions, and on the 21st of April they made a joint report to the Admiralty with the result of their survey, and at the same time submitted to them a plan for a stone breakwater, and gave their opinions upon several plans which had been previously proposed for protecting Plymouth Sound and Cawsand Bay, none of which, however, had been prepared under the directions of the Board of Admiralty. The plan proposed by Messrs. Rennie and Whidbey consisted of a pier or breakwater across Plymouth Sound, of 1700 yards in length at the top, 1000 of which at the middle part was to be straight, and 350 yards at each end was to incline to the straight part in an angle of about twenty degrees, leaving an opening at either end for the passage of vessels, &c. The top of the breakwater was to be ten yards in width at the level of ten feet above the low water of an ordinary spring tide, and to have a slope on the south or sea side of three feet horizontal to one foot perpendicular, and on the north or land side one and a half horizontal to one perpendicular. The work was to be constructed by blocks of stone, thrown promiscuously into the sea, in the line of the intended breakwater, leaving them to find their own base, and the top was to be composed of a cut stone pier.

Visitor.-And did the work then commence ? Mr. Stuart.-No; not till after six years. The first stone of the work was laid on the 12th of August, 1812, after which vessels continued to discharge their cargoes, consisting of stones of from half-a-ton to seven tons in weight, upon the line of the direction of the intended work. By the 30th of March, 1813, a small part of the breakwater was visible at low water, and by the 30th of July following the work was dry at low water to the extent of about 720 yards. The work progressed so rapidly that in the month of March, 1814, first-rate ships of war were enabled to anchor in the Sound, instead of in Cawsand Bay, as they had previously done. In November, 1814, it was determined to bring up the breakwater to the height of twenty feet above low water of spring tides, and to finish it with rubble, instead of with a cut stone pier, as originally intended. In August, 1815, 1100 of the 1700 yards of the intended length of the breakwater were brought up above the level of low water, spring tides. Up to this time 615,057 tons of stone had been deposited.

Visitor. Then, Mr. Stuart, you were engaged in the work from the outset?

Mr. Stuart.-I was, from the first day, and had the honour of being specially selected by Mr. Rennie, the great engineer of whom you have just heard.

Visitor.-Did not people laugh at you when the work began?

Mr. Stuart.-Yes, many did; we were not a little ridiculed by numbers, who thought it impracticable.

Visitor.-Your case seems to have been much analogous to that of our missionaries on first

VOL. III.

arriving in a foreign land, and your present position seems richly fraught with encouragement to the church of God. Have your proceedings never been seriously incommoded by storms?

Mr. Stuart.-Yes; the first storm which materially affected the work occurred in January, 1817; and in the month of November, 1824, another storm occurred, far exceeding in violence any that had preceded it since the work began. The wind blew from the S.S.E. to S. W., and the tide rose seven feet higher than the usual flow of spring tides. At this period 1241 yards in length of the breakwater were completed, of which 796 yards were overturned and deposited upon the north slope during the storm, which lasted only a few hours, leaving only 445 yards remaining, not much damaged, at the east end of the main arm. The slope as left by the sea on this occasion, from low water upwards, was about five feet horizontal to one foot perpendicular, and in some places rather more. It was therefore determined in April, 1825, to form the breakwater regularly from the level of low water, spring tides, with a casing of rough squared blocks of granite and limestone on the top and on the exterior or south side, with a slope of five to one, and on the inner or north side with rough blocks of limestone, with a slope of two to one. It was also determined to change the centre line, by placing it thirty-nine feet six inches to the northward, so as to leave the great mass of materials to seaward, and to increase the width on the top to forty-five feet. I may here remark, that although the breakwater was so much affected by this great storm, and considerable damage was sustained by the shipping then in harbour, yet the generally received opinion was, that had the breakwater not been in existence, the shipping would have sustained still greater damage, and the lower part of the town of Plymouth been swept away. In 1830 it was found necessary still to add to the south side, by depositing about 60,000 tons of stone as a foreshore, fifty feet in width from the toe of the south slope at low water at the west end, and thirty feet at the east end of the main arm. In 1833 it was proposed to complete the extreme western end of the breakwater with a circular head of solid masonry, with an inverted arch, as the foundation of an intended lighthouse. In February, 1838, a storm removed about 8000 tons of stone from the foreshore at the west end, and threw them over to the north side, and disturbed a portion of the masonry, where it was unconnected or in an unfinished state. A further extension of the foreshore at this part was consequently agreed upon. Another severe storm in November of the same year, producing nearly similar results, occasioned the construction of a buttress, not only for the purpose of securing the foot of the south slope, but also to afford protection to the intended lighthouse, by breaking the force of the sea, and preventing the stones composing the foreshore from beating against the lighthouse. The force of the sea at this part of the work is so considerable, that stones of fifteen and even twenty tons have been taken from low water, and carried over the top of the work. The buttress, as well as the work in progress round the west end at the foot of the slope at low water, is composed of granite masonry, dovetailed horizontally, and vertically fixed with iron lewes or cramps, the rough blocks formerly 2 H

deposited being first removed by the aid of a diving-bell, to the depth of from three to five feet below low water, and the masonry then laid at the above-mentioned level.

Visitor. What quantity of stone was it supposed the work would require? As much, I should think, as would suffice to build a considerable town.

Mr. Stuart.-It was originally calculated that 2,000,000 tons of stone would be required to construct a breakwater, according to the plan of Messrs. Rennie and Whidbey; but from the various extensions of the work the quantity has necessarily increased, and the total amount deposited since the commencement of the work on the 12th of August, 1812, up to the 12th of August, 1845, was 3,576,234 tons! The greatest number of tons of stones deposited in any one week amounted to 15,329, and the greatest quantity in any one year to 332,407.

Visitor.-What was the estimated cost?

Mr. Stuart. The estimated cost of the breakwater, as originally planned in 1806, was £1,013,900; but this amount cannot fairly be brought into comparison with the actual outlay, owing to the frequent alterations which have taken place in the mode of executing the work, and the consequent increase in the quantity of materials required for the purpose. The expenditure upon the whole undertaking, when completed, (including the lighthouse,) will not exceed £1,300,000.

Ten steps

Visitor.-When was the lighthouse begun ? Mr. Stuart.-On the 22nd of February, 1841, upon an inverted arch, the foundation of which was laid about one foot six inches below the level of low water spring tides. It is constructed of granite finely dressed, the diameter of the base or first course being thirty-two feet. cut in the solid granite lead from the breakwater to the outer or storm-door, which is formed of bell metal, and is in two parts, moved on rollers. The breadth of the opening at this door is three feet, and the height seven feet. Four feet further in is an inner door, made of wood, and fixed on hinges, in a bell metal frame. Within the inner door is the ground floor, used as a storeroom; it is nine feet in diameter and eight feet six inches high. Under the floor of the storeroom is a well or tank for fresh water, eight feet deep and five feet in diameter. From hence twelve granite steps lead to the second floor, which is used as a living-room; it is fourteen feet in diameter, and nine feet six inches high. Over it is a sleeping-room and a watch-room, each of the same dimensions as the living-room. The largest granite stone used in the building is in the first course, and measures nine feet two inches in length, and weighs about eight tons. All the granite was brought to the work ready dressed, and the stones are vertically fixed by dove-tailed slate dowells. The lantern is twelve feet wide, and seven feet six inches high, and shows a dioptrick fixed light of the second order, with mirrors. The south half shows a red light, to distinguish it from the coast lights; and the north side, towards the sound, is white.

Visitor. The laying of the foundation-stone of the lighthouse must have been a very high day with you.

Mr. Stuart-It was; the stone was laid by Admiral Warren, and the act strangely contrasted with the dropping of the first stone of the breakwater. I shall not soon forget the

feelings with which I handed the trowel to the Admiral to spread the cement, and saw my friend and assistant, Mr. Finlater, who has been foreman of the breakwater since 1812, furnish him with the plum-rule and mallet. It was indeed a high day.

Mr. Jones.-My excellent predecessor, Mr. Smith, now of Poplar, made a speech on the occasion.

Visitor.-Indeed! Have you got it, Mr. Stuart? Mr. Stuart.-I believe I have somewhere a newspaper account of the transactions, which contains it. Here it is.

Visitor-Perhaps Mr. Jones will read it.

Mr. Jones-Well, it is as follows:-“ Mr. Stuart, will you allow me to avail myself of the present opportunity to express my high satisfaction and delight in the ceremonies of this day, and to propose that a suitable expression of our feelings should be given to the worthy Admiral, who has so kindly come forward to lay the first stone of this lighthouse. As an inhabitant of a neighbouring town, and as your personal friend, I rejoice in the commencement of this erection. The Plymouth Breakwater is indeed a national undertaking, whether considered in reference to the amount of physical strength expended, or the amount of wealth employed in its erection, and not only reflects credit on the hearts and heads of the men who planned it, and on the Admiralty, who have so nobly patronized it, but on this great nation to whom it belongs, and it may be justly regarded as indicative of our national wealth, maritime enterprise, and superior skill. The breakwater being thus far completed, the erection of this lighthouse is indispensable to the whole design, and especially demanded as a work of benevolence, to warn the mariner, as he approaches our shores, of that noble contrivance which, intended to promote his safety, would, in his ignorance of its exact locality, become the occasion of shipwreck and ruin. The workmanship we see before us is evidently of a superior order, and I hope the erection of this building, begun under such auspicious circumstances, will advance steadily to a completion. It must be, Sir, a day of high satisfaction to you, connected as you have been with the breakwater from its commencement, to see it thus far advanced, and to be now identified with the interesting ceremonial of this morning. I trust that the wish you have indirectly given utterance to will be fully realized; that your valuable life will be spared to your family, your friends, and to society, for many years; and that you will live to witness the completion of the work this day begun. I conclude these brief remarks, for the utterance of which I ought to apologize, by proposing three cheers for the gallant Admiral."-The paper states, that three hearty cheers were given and duly acknowledged by the Admiral.

Visitor.-Mr. Smith speaks of you, Mr. Stuart, as his "personal friend." Did you belong to his

church?

Mr. Stuart.-That was my privilege.

Visitor-Could you give us any idea, Mr. Stuart, of the dimensions of the breakwater ?

Mr. Stuart.-It is nearly one mile in length. Its width, at low water, is about eighty yards, and at top fifteen yards; its height above low water of spring tides is six yards and two feet; the south or sea slope is at an inclination of five to one, and the north or land slope two to one.

But we must up and away, and get home to the public meeting. The journey before us is long, and beautiful beyond description; to be at all appreciated the romantic grandeur of Mount Edgcumbe must be seen, and he who sees it once will ever after long to see it again. But in Devonport the wonders of Nature are all but surpassed by those of Art. You must not leave without seeing the Royal Dockyard, a sight which is worth a journey of a thousand miles. We speak what we know, and testify that we have seen. It exhibits the head and crown of British MECHANIC POWER. It is a Monster Magazine of marvels! At about this time last year, we traversed this stupendous theatre of the constant and mighty labours of more than two thousand men, and observed, and mused, and inquired, and mused again, the idea which at every stage returned upon us with augmented force amounting almost to oppression, was that of Power! POWER! POWER!

The scale on which every action is performed, and everything exists is gigantic, imperial, stupendous, imparting an overwhelming impression of the greatness and grandeur of the English nation. But it is impossible to survey those prodigious monuments of British wealth and British skill in naval architecture, without the admission of Evangelical reflections. The thought cannot be banished from the heart of the observer, that this region of maritime wonders has been created by the bloody genius of war, horrid war,that here is the treasury of Death, and that here, to a vast extent, have been prepared those instruments of wrath and destruction by which England has broken the power of Europe on every sea, and awed the wide world! It is standing here in the centre of this dreadful repertory, that the soul longs for the day, and anticipates it with rapture, when nations shall no longer lift up sword against nation, neither learn war any more; the day when a world's power shall be consecrated to the furtherance of a world's good. How differently we felt while traversing the magnificent summit of the Breakwater; there all was tranquillity, satisfaction, and gladness. There we beheld the triumph of man not over his fellow man, but over the fury of the elements, -a victory as full of benevolence as it is pure from blood! The achievement is marvellous, most impressively illustrating the power of the continued exercise of human toil and human skill-an illustra

tion which bears, with all conceivable force, on the various enterprises of religion and philanthropy, supplying an inexhaustible source of encouragement and hope for the friends of mankind. Two hundred men, in the space of thirty-four years, have here constructed a barrier which bids eternal defiance to the collective force of the most exasperated fury of the Atlantic! Here is created a haven of safety for the life and property of every nation in all future time!

To our

We cannot conclude without specially congratulating Mr. Stuart, the Superintendent, and Mr. Finlater, the Foreman, both of whom it hath pleased God to preserve and employ in this great national undertaking from the first hour till nowa space of thirty-four years. minds there is something very touching in the scene which occurred in the summer of 1844, on the completion of the Lighthouse, when two hundred men assembled near its base, on one side of which the Royal Standard was hoisted, and on the other the Trinity-house Flag, when Mr. Finlater stood forth, and addressing Mr. Stuart said, they had assembled there that day on the occasion of the completion of the Lighthouse, to request that he would do them the favour of accepting a piece of plate, as a token of their respect and esteem, after his very long connection with the Breakwater. He felt that the testimonial they were about to place in his hands was small, very small, compared with what they could have wished it to have been. He hoped, however, that he would be pleased to accept it, and that it would be an heir-loom in his family for many generations.

This solid man, of few words but strong deeds, having finished, Mr. J. C. Dobson, the Superintendent's Assistant -then addressing Mr. Stuart, said, it had fallen to his lot to discharge the pleasing duty that day of presenting him, on behalf of the officers and workmen belonging to the Breakwater, with a silver salver, as a mark of their respect and esteem. It bore an inscription, explanatory of the gift, which, with his permission, he would read aloud. Mr. Dobson then read the inscription on the salver, as follows:-" Presented to WILLIAM STUART, Esq., Civil Engineer, M.L.C.E., Superintendent of the Plymouth Breakwater, by the Officers and Workmen belonging to that Establishment, on the occasion of the completion of the Lighthouse, erected on the western end of the

Breakwater; as a small token of grateful respect and esteem after his connection with the undertaking for a period of more than thirty-two years.-1st June, 1844."

Under any circumstances we should have had pleasure in proclaiming a fact so honourable to all connected with it, and recording a tribute so richly merited, but this pleasure is enhanced by the circumstance that he whose genius and character are the object of this honest and manly homage is a gentleman who fears God, and a member of the Congregational community. Such also is the case with respect to the worthy foreman, Mr. Finlater.

On our visit to those parts, last year, we were so impressed with the various spectacles which presented themselves, that we determined to use the means at our command to make the facts better known to mankind. With this view, we provided ourselves with the necessary materials, which we have reserved to the present as the fit occasion for their use. While the article which immediately precedes this, sets forth the primary reasons which exist to induce a numerous assemblage of our friends, it is hoped that this paper may also possess sufficient weight, where dubiety exists, to cast the balance in favour of attendance at the Autumnal Meeting of the Congregational Union of England and Wales.

CLAIMS OF NEW BRUNSWICK AND NOVA SCOTIA.

To the Editor of the Christian Witness. MY DEAR FRIEND,-I am sure that you will allow me, through the medium of the CHRISTIAN WITNESS-a periodical which is at once a monument to your untiring energy, and an evidence of the growing attachment of our churches to their denominational principles-to lay before the Congregationalists of the "Old Country" some further statements illustrative of the claims of the provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia upon their strenuous and prompt exertions. By the time this letter reaches you, nearly three years will have elapsed since, at the call of the Colonial Society, I resigned my pastoral connection with an affectionate people, bade adieu to many endeared ministerial brethren, and not less endeared religious institutions, and came to a city, which, though it contained some 25,000 inhabit

ants, yielded me, for several weeks, only one helper in my ministerial duties. Since then we have succeeded in erecting a large, neat, and substantial sanctuary, nearly all the pews in which are let; a church of forty-four members, and a sabbath-school of two hundred and fifty children, have been formed. Our prospects, though we have our trials, are, as far as I know, as fair as they have ever been. Brother Porter arrived at Sheffield, New Brunswick, a few weeks before I came to St. John. A second church has been formed in connection with his ministry there; and though the necessarily limited amount of population in the agricultural district in which he resides prevents that increase of members which my different circumstances enable me to report, still God has evidently smiled upon his labours, and afforded him pleasing evidence that in leaving England for this country, he has followed the guidance of Divine providence. But here we are, some sixty miles apart, rarely favoured with an opportunity of seeing each other's face and for three long years our feeble band, (shall I so call it?) has received no reinforcement-nor is any definite prospect held out by the Colonial Society of any reinforcement being received for some time to come. Were we cast amidst a population so limited that it did not require a larger amount of ministerial help than our united efforts could supply, or were the population beyond that number which our joint labours thus reach so cut off from us by language, or faith, or prejudices, or ecclesiastico-civil enactments that we could not touch them, or were that limited population, which is barely sufficient for our exertions, not likely to increase; had brother Porter and I sought these spheres of labour for ourselves, had we come just for our own gratification, without any regard to the defence and extension of those principles in which our entire denomination is as interested as ourselves -were these things so, it would clearly be as unbecoming as it would prove useless, to write to our brethren at home, and ask them to give or send us assistance. But how widely different from all this are the circumstances in which my esteemed fellow-labourer and myself are placed !

Population limited! At a most moderate calculation there are in these two provinces two hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants, and this amount is on a steady increase. The population inaccessible by language! Some scattered remnants of