Though Mr. Smeaton completed the building of the Eddystone light-house in 1759, a work that does him so much cre dit, yet it appears he did not soon get in to full business as a civil engineer; for in 1764, while in Yorkshire, he offered him self a candidate for one of the receivers of the Derwentwater estate ; and on the thirty-first of December, in that year, he was appointed, at a full board of Green wich Hospital, in a manner highly flatter ing to himself, when two other persons, strongly recommended, and powerfully supported, were candidates for the em ployment. In this appointment he was very happy, by the assistance and abili ties of his partner, Mr. Walton, one of the receivers, who, taking upon himself the management and accounts, left Mr. Smeaton leisure and opportunity to exert his abilities on public works, as well as to make any improvements in the mills, and in the estates at Greenwich Hospital. By the year 1775, he had so much busi ness as a civil engineer, that he wished to resign this appointment; and would have done it then, had not his friends, the late Mr. Stewart, the hospital surveyor, and Mr. Ibbetson, their secretary, pre vailed upon him to continue in the office about two years longer.
Mr. Smeaton, having now got into full business as a civil engineer, performed many works of general utility. He made the river Calder navigable, a work that required great skill and judgment, owing to the very impetuous floods in that river. He planned and attended the execution of the great canal in Scotland, for convey ing the trade of the country either to the Atlantic or German Ocean ; and having brought it to the place originally intended, he declined a handsome yearly salary, in order that be might attend to the multi plicity of his other business.
On the opening of the great arch at London bridge, the excavation around and under the starlings was so considera ble, that the bridge was thought to be in great danger of falling. He was then in Yorkshire, and was sent for by express, and arrived with the utmost dispatch. "I think," says Mr. Holmes, the author of his Life, " it was on a Saturday morn ing, when the apprehension of the bridge was so general, that few would pass over or under it. He applied himself imme. diately to examine it, and to sound about the starlings as minutely as he could ; and the committee being called together, adopted his advice, which was, torepur chase the stones that had been taken from the middle pier, then lying in Moorfields, and to throw them into the river to guard the starlings." Nothing shows the ap prehensions concerning the falling of the bridge more than the alacrity with which this advice was pursued ; the stones were repurchased that day ; horses, carts, and barges, were got ready, and they began the work on Sunday morning. Thus, Mr.
Smeaton, in all human probability, saved London bridge from falling, and secured it till more effectual methods could be taken.
The vast variety of mills which Mr. Smeaton constructed, so greatly to the satisfaction and advantage of the owners, will show the great use which he made of his experiments in 1752 and 1753 ; for he never trusted to theory in any case, where he could have an opportunity to investigate it by experiment. He built a steam engine as Austhorpe, and made experiments thereon, purposely to ascer tain the power of Newcomen's steam en gine, which he improved and brought to a far greater degree of perfection, both in its construction and powers, than it was before.
Mr. Smeaton, during' many years of his life, was a frequent attendant on parlia ment, his opinion being continually call ed for. And here his strength of judg ment and perspicuity of expression had their full display. It was his constant cus tom, when ap pli ed to to plan or support any measure, to make himself fully acquaint ed with it, to see its merits before he would engage in it. By this caution, add ed to the clearness of his description and the integrity of his heart, he seldom failed to obtain for the bill which he sup ported an act of parliament. No one was heard with more attention, nor had any one ever more confidence placed in his testimony. In the courts of law he had several compliments paid him from the bench by Lord Mansfield and others, for the new light which he threw on difficult subjects.
About the year 1785, Mr. Smeaton's health began to decline; and he then took the resolution to endeavour to avoid all the business he could, so that he might have leisure to publish an account of his inventions and works, which was certain ly the first wish of his heart ; for he has often been heard to say, that " he thought he could not render so much service to his country as by doing that." He got only his account of the Eddystone light house completed, and some preparations to his intended Treatise on Mills ; for he could not resist the solicitations of his friends in various works : and Mr. Aubert, whom he greatly loved and respected, being chosen chairman of Ramsgate har bour, prevailed upon him to accept the place of engineer to that harbour; and to their joint efforts the public is chiefly in debted for the improvements that have been made there within these few years, which fully appears in a report that Mr. Smeaton gave into the board of trustees in 1791, which they immediately publish. ed.