" During my stay in London, in the early part of the year 1759, I received regular accounts of the proceedings at Mill Bay, which were carried on with all the dispatch I could wish ; but the weather having continued unfavourable to visiting the works at the Eddystone during the winter, I got no report thereon till I received Mr. Jessop's letter, dated the 27th of March, wherein he informed me that on the 21st of that month, being the first opportunity he could catch after the violent storm which bad happened on the 9th preceding, they found not only the solid, but the hollow work perfectly sound and firm; all the mortar having become quite hard ; and, in short, every part of the work in the situation in which it was left by the workmen in October : the only derange ment was, that the sea had carried away the south fender pile from the rock ; and also, from the top of the wall, one of the three stones that I had taken care to draw within the verge of the circumference of the wall, as mentioned. They had found the fourteen pieces of stone set in the circum ference of the floor, stuck quite firm to the wall, though two of the pieces requisite to complete the circle were left upset ; and that, finding the centre itself quite tight and firm under neath them, they had lowered down the stone suspended on the triangle upon it, and retnoyed from the wall the other two remaining stones to lie upon the centre; and lastly, that they took down the triangle, and stowed it away in the well hole for the stairs : but, on farther search, nothing of the buoy that was left upon the mooring chains was to be seen.
"Thursday, the 5th of July, I landed on the rock with the men ; they proceeded to set up the shears and windlass, while I inspected the work ; and found ever) thing perfectly sound and firm, with ml. the least perceivable since we left it ; except that the cement used the first 'Vent, now in appearance approached the hardness of the 1110(w-stone ; and that used the last year, of the full hardness of Portland. We now proceeded to set the 11o0r. The two remaining pieces of the outmost circle, were left uncompleted last year, were soon set ; and we proceeded to haul up the stones for• the next circle (No -1.) from the store-room.
The work now proceeded so rapidly. that the second and third stories were completed in thirteen days. On the Sth of August, Course XLV. or the Cove Course, was completed with its two chains ; and the next day, the elliptical centre for the balcony floor was set ; and by the pith, the interior area of the balcony floor was completed, the centre was struck, and the outer circle of stones which finished the cap or the main column, being parts of the corona, or cornice, was begun upon. See Plate II. and Plate IV. Figure 9.
" Friday, August the 17th, the last pieces of the corona were set, and therewith the main column was completed. I
now examined the perpendicularity of the whole building, by letting hill a plumb line from the centre of the man-hole in the balcony floor to the centre of the bottom of the well-hole, being forty-nine feet and a half ; and found it to Call a small matter to the eastward of the centre of the well-hole ; as near as I could determine it, not more than one-eighth of an inch. I then measured the perpendicular heights of the several parts of the building, and found them as follows : Ft. In " The six foundation courses to the top of the rock S "The eight courses to the entry door . . . 12 01 "The ten courses of the well-hole to the store-room floor 15 2+ " The height of the four rooms to the balcony floor 3-1 " Ileight of the main column, containing forty- } o o six courses " We proceeded this day to set up and lead-in the balcony rails, and completed them ; and having brought out a tem porary cover for the man-hole of the balcony floor, I this day applied it to use, as follows : it short tub, of about a foot high, was made without a bottom, and the smaller end of it being sized as near as possible to the man-holes of the floors, it was driven into that of the balcony ; and, by the time it was driven about four inches, the compliancy of the wood to the stone rendered it quite tight ; then the rest of its height, forming a border, and standing about eight inches above the floor, would prevent water from dripping into the rooms through the upper man-hole, or hatchway ; and having also provided another tub, about nine inches deep, having a strong bottom in it, and so much more in diameter than the other, that it would, when inverted, cover it ; this being applied as a cover, would in the greatest stress of weather defend the building from the entry of water at the top." On the 1Sth of the same month, the first course of the lantern was begun ; on the 24th, the last stone, being that which the door-head of the lantern, was set ; and on Sunday evening, the 26th, the whole of the masonry was completed.
Stress of weather prevented the landing of the frame wo•k till Saturday, the 15th of September ; on which day, and four in the morning, the Weston was got into the gut, and delivered of her cargo, consisting of the pillars, sashes, and frame-work of the lantern. I gave my principal attention to the establishing the frame of the lantern upon a bed of lead, and the screwing of it carefully together; seeing that every joint was fulled, and screw covered with and oil, ground up thick for paint ; and every crevice so full that the bringing the screws home made the white-lend matter to ooze from every juncture ; thereby to exclude all wet and moisture, and so as to prevent the iron work from rusting.