The walls of this saloon are decorated with portraits of George IV., William IV., and their queens, for royalty itself is no stranger to the annals of the Trinity House, and monarchs honour themselves by figuring among the insignia of the fraternity of which they have been the members and the patrons. The Duke of Wellington’s portrait, by Lucas, is considered the best in existence of the Conqueror of Waterloo. The busts of the Queen and the late Prince Consort, in white marble, by Noble—one of the few living sculptors who have attained to celebrity in England—rest solemnly at the two corners of the mantelpiece. Twenty arm-chairs ranged round a large table shaped like a crescent, and covered with a green cloth, mark the places of the members of the Council at their various meetings. The associates of the Trinity House think, with Ben Jonson, that good repasts encourage brotherly feeling. The dining-room, lighted by a kind of circular lantern which surmounts the ceiling, displays what may very justly be called a quiet and substantial luxury. Here we may remark the bust of William Pitt, by Chantrey; portraits of the Earl of Sandwich, the Duke of Bedford, Sir Francis Drake, and, especially, that of Sir Kenelm Digby, by Vandyke. At regular intervals, some excellent models of lighthouses in relief, preserved under glass, remind the visitor of the all-important object of this ancient Corporation. * * * * * The French Lighthouses Commission is not so splendidly lodged as the Trinity Board, nor is its Museum equal to the one at Edinburgh.[15] But, side by side with models of modern lighthouses, are models of the most ancient, from the ungainly tower whose summit was lit up with a rude fire of sea-coal, to the elegant edifice of the Héaux de Bréhat. It also contains numerous examples of all the catoptric or dioptric apparatus which are, or have been, in use, as well as specimens of clocks, buoys, and beacons. The Lighthouse Museum is, finally, the central depôt where experiments are conducted in reference to all the elements of maritime lightage, under the supreme direction of M. Emile Allard, the engineer-in-chief. [15] We refer to the Exhibition of Lighthouse Models in the Industrial Museum. [Illustration] [Illustration] CHAPTER II. GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF LIGHTHOUSES.