THE ANECDOTE GALLERY.

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THE EDDYSTONE LIGHTHOUSE.

(_For The Mirror_.)


In the year 1696, Mr. Henry Winstanley, undertook to build the Eddystone
Lighthouse, and in 1700 he completed it. So confident was this ingenious
mechanic of the stability of his edifice, that he declared his wish to be
in it during the most tremendous storm that could arise. This wish he
unfortunately obtained, for he perished in it during the dreadful storm
which destroyed it, November 27th, 1703. While he was there with his
workmen and light-keepers, that dreadful storm began, which raged most
violently on the night of the 26th of the month, and appears to have been
one of the most tremendous ever experienced in Great Britain, for its vast
and extensive devastation. The next morning, at daybreak, the hurricane
increased to a degree unparalleled; and the lighthouse no longer able to
sustain its fury, was swept into the bosom of the deep, with all its
ill-fated inmates. When the storm abated, about the 29th, people went off
to see if any thing remained, but nothing was left save a few large irons,
whereby the work had been so fastened into a clink, that it could never
afterwards be disengaged, till it was cut out in the year 1756. The
lighthouse had not long been destroyed, before the Winchelsea, a
Virginiaman, laden with tobacco, for Plymouth, was wrecked on the