This is the name of some rocks in the English Channel, so called from the variety of contrary currents in their vicinity. They are situated nearly S. S. W. from the middle of Plymouth Sound, their distance from the port is about fourteen miles, and from Rame Head, the nearest point of land, twelve and a half. They are almost in the line which joins the Start and Lizard points; and as they lie nearly in the direction of vessels coasting up and down the channel, they were very dangerous, and ships were sometimes wrecked on them, before the lighthouse was established. They are so exposed to the swells of the ocean, from all the south and west points of the compass, that the heavy seas come uncontrolled, and break on them with the utmost fury. Sometimes after a storm, when the sea in general is, to all appearance, quite smooth, and its surface unruffled by the slightest breeze, the growing swell or under current, meeting the slope of the rocks, the sea beats dreadfully upon them, and even rises above the lighthouse in a magnificent manner, overtopping it, for the moment, as with a canopy of frothy wave. Notwithstanding this tremendous swell, Mr. Henry Winstanley, in 1696, undertook to build a lighthouse on the principal rock; and he completed it 1700. This ingenious mechanic was so confident of the stability of his structure, that he declared his wish to be in it during the most tremendous storm that could blow. Unfortunately he obtained his wish, for he perished in it, during the dreadful storm which destroyed it on the 27th of November 1703. In 1709, another lighthouse was erected of wood on this rock, but on a different construction, by Mr. John Rudyard. It stood till 1755, when it was burnt. A third one, of stone, was begun by the late cele brated Mr. John Smeaton, on the 2d of April, 1757, and finished 24th of August, 1759; and has withstood the rage of all weathers ever since. The rock which slopes towards the south-west is cut into horizontal steps; into which are dovetailed, and united by a strong cement, Portland stone, and granite: for Mr. Smeaton discovered, that it was impossible to make use of the former entirely, as there is a marine animal that can destroy it; and that he could not use the latter solely, as the labour of working it would have been too expensive. He therefore used the one for the internal, and the other for the external part of the structure. Upon the principle of a broad base and accumulation of matter, the whole, to the height of thirty-five feet from the foundation, is a solid mass of stones engrafted into each other, and united by every kind of additional strength. The lighthouse has four rooms, one over another, and at the top a gallery and lantern. The stone floors are flat above, but concave below, and are kept from pressing against the sides of the building by a chain let into the walls. The lighthouse is nearly eighty feet high, and withstands the most violent storms, without sustaining the smallest injury. It has now stood above sixty-three years, during which time it has been often assaulted by all the fury of the elements; and, in all probability, as Mr. Smeaton said, nothing but an earthquake can destroy it. The wooden part of it, however, was burnt in 1770., but renewed in 1774.

Eddystone Lighthouse.