Light-houses [pp. 147-152]

THE
COMMERCIAL REVIEW.
Volume IV. OCTOBER, 1847. No. 2.
Art. I.-LIGIIT-IIOUSES.
I Now twilight dims the water's flow,
And from the tower the beacon's glow
Waves flickering o'er the main."
ScHILLER.
HE who has ventured out upon the deep ocean and heard the dash
of its breakers, and the wild revelry of the storms, that whistle, and
whirl, and rage, and roar, and pile up mountains. as it were, to the
stars, only can comprehend the true poetry of the LIGHT-IOUSE. Its
star on the horizon gleams o'er the water and tells a tale of home and
its joys to the weather-beaten mariner. Who has ever contemplated
this soft lustre at evening, or at midnight, or in early morning, without blessing its mission of charity and love?
These beacons of the ocean are of great antiquity; men have even
imagined that the Cyclops, so famous in classic song, were none other
than the keepers of light-houses, or perhaps light-houses themselves
metaphorically personified. This, however, is inconsistent with the
well-remembered lines of the Odyssey.
E,s' ov-rtS Tip. viiOV E epaKCev 60aa,ioL Lv
'Ovr', ovv Kvpatra laKpa KoX1 cl6pieva rort XEp'ov
Etotrojopv rtpi. vrt7a5 i.aiXlOjV Erre)E\,at.-IX. 146.
About the year 300 A. c., the great Colossus of Rhodes was constructed, the wonder of all antiquity; between its ponderous legs the
"tallest admiral" of the times could sail, and its great height sufficed
as a beacon for distant navigation.
The Pharos of Alexandria was a tower raised to a lofty altitude,
and supported ever upon its top fires sufficiently large and high to
be observed forty miles across the deep. The tower of Corrunna was
also a fim,i)us light-house in the earliest days of Ireland.
One of the most celebrated modern lights is the Tour du Corduan,
at the mouth of the Garonne, built in 1589, 197 feet high.
The Eddystone tower is equally remarkable; it was constructed
upon the rocks near Cornwall, England, as early as 1696, but destroyed by fire in 1755, and rebuilt in 1759.
But space does not allow us to dwell much upon observations of