it was thirty-one and a
half feet above the rock. Mr. Stevenson was so anxious about his work
that he paid two or three visits to the rock during the next winter.
He found, however, that it was uninjured by the storms, and began to
have a hope that during the coming season it would be completed. Nor
were his hopes vain.

The men began work again on the 10th of May. In July they had a visit
from Mrs. Dickson, the only daughter of Smeaton. On the 29th the last
stone was landed upon the rock, and on the 30th the last course was
laid. There had been ninety courses in all. As soon as the work was
finished Stevenson reverently and thankfully offered this
benediction--"May the great Architect of the universe, under whose
blessing this perilous work has prospered, preserve it as a guide to
the mariners."

On the 17th December in the same year, this advertisement recorded the
fact of the lighthouse being finished:--"A lighthouse having been
erected upon the Inchcape, or Bell Rock, situated at the Firths of
Forth and Tay, in north latitude 56 degrees 29 minutes, and west
longitude 2 degrees 22 minutes, the Commissioners of the Northern
Lighthouses hereby give notice, that the light will be from oil, with
reflectors, placed at the height of about one hundred and eight feet
above the medium level of the sea. The light will be exhibited on the
night of Friday, the first day of February 1811, and each night
thereafter, from the going away of daylight in the evening until the
return of daylight in the morning. To distinguish this light from
others on the coast, it is made to revolve horizontally, and to exhibit
a bright light of the natural appearance, and a red-coloured light
alternately, both respectively attaining their greatest strength, or
most luminous effect, in the space of every four minutes; during that
period the bright light will, to a distant observer, appear like a star
of the first magnitude, which after attaining its full strength is
gradually eclipsed to total darkness, and is succeeded by the
red-coloured light, which in like manner increases to full strength,
and again diminishes and disappears. The coloured light, however,
being less powerful, may not be seen for a time after the bright light
is first observed. During the continuance of foggy weather, and
showers of snow, a bell will be tolled by machinery, night and day, at
intervals of half a minute."

The western coast of Scotland has its wonderfu