The Inch Cape or Bell Rock is situated on the northern side of the entrance of the Frith of Forth at a distance of eleven miles from the promontory called the Red Head, in Forfarshire. The dimensions of the north-eastern or higher compartment of the rock where the lighthouse is built are about four hundred and twenty-seven feet in length and two hundred and thirty feet in breadth. Besides these dimensions, the south-western reef extends about one thousand feet from the main rock. The greatest length of the rock, which may be said to be dangerous to shipping, is about one thousand four hundred and twenty-seven feet, and its greatest breadth about three hundred feet. It is about twelve feet under water at the ordinary height or perpendicular rise of spring tides. In point of situation, this rock is one of the most dangerous on the coast of Great Britain; for while it lies in one of the most frequented estuaries, it is much lower in the water than any rock on which lighthouses are usually erected; and hence the mariner had formerly no warning of his danger when in its vicinity. Indeed, in fine weather the sea is often so smooth, that the place of the rock could not be pointed out from the appearance of the surface. The Bell Rock was therefore considered for ages as the chief obstruction to the navigation of the Frith of Forth, and the want of some mark to point out its position was long lamented. Tradition says, that the abbots of the ancient monastery of Aberbrothock succeeded in fixing a bell upon it in such a way as to be rung by the agitation of the waves. It is further stated, that a band of pirates having carried off the bell, were in a subsequent voyage all lost on the Bell Rock. This legend is beautifully told by Mr. Southey in the following ballad. SIR RALPH THE ROVER. No stir in the air, no stir in the sea, The ship was still as she could be; Her sails from heaven received no motion, Her keel was steady in the ocean. Without either sign or sound of their shock, The waves flow’d over the Inchcape Rock; So little they rose, so little they fell, They did not move the Inchcape bell. The abbot of Aberbrothok Had placed that bell on the Inchcape Rock; On a buoy in the storm it floated and swung, And over the waves its warning rung. When the rock was hid by the surge’s swell, The mariners heard the warning bell; And then they knew the perilous rock, And blest the abbot of Aberbrothok. The sun in heaven was shining gay, All things were joyful on that day; The sea-birds scream’d as they wheel’d round, And there was joyaunce in their sound. The buoy of the Inchcape bell was seen, A darker speck on the ocean green; Sir Ralph the Rover walk’d his deck, And he fix’d his eye on the darker speck.