* * * * * The first actual work done on the rock was in August 1756, but the autumn was mainly occupied in the transportation and preparation of the granite and other materials, and in excavating the steps or stages for the reception of the foundation. Early in June 1757 Smeaton resumed his task with great energy and decision. On the 12th, the first stone was laid, weighing two tons and a quarter. On the next day the first course was finished, consisting of four stones. These were ingeniously dove-tailed together, and into the rock, so as to form a compact mass, from which it was impossible to separate any particular stone. The sloping form of the rock, remarks Mr. Smiles,[28] to which the foundation of the building was adapted, required but this small number of stones for the first course; the diameter of the building increasing until it reached the level of the rock. Then the second course, completed on the 30th of June, consisted of thirteen stones; the third, completed on the 11th of July, of twenty-five pieces; the fourth, on the 31st, of thirty-three. The sixth course was finished on the 11th of August, and rose above the general wash of the tide, so that Smeaton might fairly consider he had surmounted the greatest difficulties of his task. [28] Smiles, “Lives of the Engineers,” ii. 38. Up to this level, the highest point of the rock, all the courses had been begun by the stones that were securely dove-tailed into the rock, and also made fast by oak wedges and cement. To receive these wedges, a couple of grooves were cut in the waist of each stone, from the top to the bottom of the course, an inch deep and three inches wide. We borrow from Smeaton’s own narrative his description of the manner in which each stone was laid:—