At Beachy Head the light, which revolves in two minutes, is 285 feet above high water. At Dungeness, the light, a red one of great power, is situated on the low projection of Dungeness beach. Next are sighted the harbour lights of Folkestone and Dover; whilst on the French coast beams the flashing light of the Varne Bank, and the splendid revolving light of Cape Grisnez. We quit the Channel with the South Foreland Lights, one above the other, on our left, and enter the historic waters of the Downs—so often traversed by the keels of our victorious fleets—with the South Sandhead floating light on the right. Then, on the one hand, our course is guided by the floating lights of the Gull and the North Sandhead—on the other by the friendly ray of the North Foreland lighthouse—until we reach the broad estuary of the Thames, where the lightship of the Nore marks the entrance of the greatest marine highway in the world. [Illustration] [Illustration] CHAPTER II. THE SMALLS LIGHTHOUSE. The motive which inspired the founder of the Smalls Lighthouse was of a higher order than those of most of his contemporaries. In erecting a warning light upon these dangerous rocks, Mr. Philips (for this was his name) proposed to himself, as his great and enduring recompense, “to serve and save humanity.” But, in this instance, generosity met with its due reward even upon earth; and when the descendants of the philanthropist disposed of their establishment to the Trinity House, they received, by way of compensation, a sum of £15,000. The undertaking which Philips set himself was one of no ordinary difficulty, of no common danger. The rock on which he resolved to erect his lighthouse, in ordinary weather rose fully twelve feet above the water; but when the waves were heavy—a very common occurrence in those parts—it was completely submerged. And in Philips’s time engineers were not so numerous as they are to-day; the professors and practical expositors of science were then but few, were misunderstood, frequently persecuted or slandered, notwithstanding the precious contributions they were making yearly to the great sum of human knowledge and human happiness. Philips, therefore, searched far and wide before he discovered a man able to carry out his idea. At length he found him, but neither among architects nor engineers; the assistant he chose was named Whiteside, a musical instrument maker at Liverpool, and gifted with a remarkable aptitude for mechanical pursuits. * * * * *