Saturday, the seventeenth day of July, 1619, Bernard Calvert, of Andover, about three o'clock in the morning, tooke horse at St. George's Church in Southwarke, and came to Dover about seaven of the clocke the same morning, where a barge, with eight oares, formerly sent from London thither, attended his suddaine coming: he instantly tooke barge, and went to Callice, and in the same barge returned to Dover, about three of the clocke the same day, where, as well there as in diverse other places, he had layed sundry swift horses, besides guides: he rode back from thence to St. George's Church in Southwarke the same evening, a little after eight o'clock, fresh and lusty.--_Stow's Annals._ EDDYSTONE LIGHTHOUSE. [Illustration: The Eddystone Lighthouse.] As the arts and sciences improved, so did the construction of Lighthouses, until one of the greatest accomplishments of engineering skill, ever attempted upon such works, was exhibited in the construction of the Eddystone Lighthouse, which is, indeed, much more entitled than the Pharos of Alexandria to be considered one of the wonders of the world. The rock on which this tower is built is placed about twelve miles south-west of Plymouth, and consists of a series of submarine cliffs, stretching from the west side (which is so precipitous that the largest ship can ride close beside them) in an easterly direction, for nearly half a mile. At the distance of about a quarter of a mile more is another rock, so that a more dangerous marine locality can hardly be imagined. Both these rocks had proved the cause of many fatal shipwrecks, and it was at last resolved to make an attempt to obviate the danger. In the year 1696, a gentleman of Essex, named Winstanley, who had a turn for architecture and mechanics, was engaged to erect a lighthouse upon the Eddystone rock, and in four years he completed it. It did not, however, stand long, for while some repairs were in progress under his direction in 1703, on the 26th November, a violent hurricane came on which blew the lighthouse down, and Mr. Winstanley and all his workmen perished--nothing remaining of the edifice but a few stones and a piece of iron chain. In the spring of 1706 an Act of Parliament was obtained for rebuilding the lighthouse, and a gentleman named Rudyerd, a silk mercer, was the engineer engaged. He placed five courses of heavy stones upon the rock and then erected a superstructure of wood. The lighthouse on the Bell Rock, off the coast of Fife, and the one placed at the entrance of the Mersey on the Black Rock, are similarly constructed, so that there seemed to be good reason for adopting the principle. Mr. Smeaton thought that the work was done in a masterly and effective manner; but in 1755 the edifice was destroyed by fire, and he was next retained as the engineer for this important building.