this great work was found in
the person of the late Robert Stevenson of Edinburgh, whose perseverance
and talent shall be commemorated by the grandest and most useful
monument ever raised by man, as long as the Bell Rock lighthouse shall
tower above the sea.

It is not our purpose to go into the details of all that was done in the
construction of this lighthouse. Our peculiar task shall be to relate
those incidents connected with this work which have relation to the
actors in our tale.

We will not, therefore, detain the reader by telling him of all the
preliminary difficulties that were encountered and overcome in this
"Robinson Crusoe" sort of work; how that a temporary floating lightship,
named the _Pharos_, was prepared and anchored in the vicinity of the
rock in order to be a sort of depot and rendezvous and guide to the
three smaller vessels employed in the work, as well as a light to
shipping generally, and a building-yard was established at Arbroath,
where every single stone of the lighthouse was cut and nicely fitted
before being conveyed to the rock. Neither shall we tell of the
difficulties that arose in the matter of getting blocks of granite large
enough for such masonry, and lime of a nature strong enough to withstand
the action of the salt sea. All this, and a great deal more of a deeply
interesting nature, must remain untold, and be left entirely to the
reader's imagination. [See note 1.]

Suffice it to say that the work was fairly begun in the month of August,
1807; that a strong beacon of timber was built, which was so well
constructed that it stood out all the storms that beat against it during
the whole time of the building operations; that close to this beacon the
pit or foundation of the lighthouse was cut down deep into the solid
rock; that the men employed could work only between two and three hours
at a time, and had to pump the water out of this pit each tide before
they could resume operations; that the work could only be done in the
summer months, and when engaged in it the men dwelt either in the
_Pharos_ floating light, or in one of the attending vessels, and were
not allowed to go ashore--that is, to the mainland, about twelve miles
distant; that the work was hard, but so novel and exciting that the
artificers at last became quite enamoured of it, and that ere long
operations were going busily forward, and the work was in a prosperous
and satisfactory state of advancement.

Things