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EDD

344

ED D

fcrence of the floor, stuck quite firm to the wall, though twoof the pieces requisite to complete the circle were left unset;and that, finding the centre itself quite tight and firm under-neath them, they had lowered down the stone suspended onthe triangle upon it, and removed from the wall the othertwo remaining stones to lie upon the centre ; and lastly, thatthey took down the triangle, and stowed it away in the well-hole for the stairs : but, on farther search, nothing of thebuoy that was left upon the mooring chains was to be seen.

“ Thursday, the 5 th of July, I landed on the rock with themen ; they proceeded to set up the shears and windlass,while I inspected the work ; and found everything perfectlysound and firm, without the least perceivable alteration sincewe left it; except that the cement used the first year, nowin appearance approached the hardness of the moor-stone ;and that used the last year, of the full hardness of Portland .We now proceeded to set the floor. The two remainingpieces of the outmost circle, which were left uncompletedlast year, were soon set ; and we proceeded to haul up thestones for the next circle (No. 4.) from the store-room.”

The work now proceeded so rapidly, that the second andthird stories were completed in thirteen days. On the 8th ofAugust, Course XLV. or the Cove Course, was completedwith its two chains ; and the next day, the elliptical centrefor the balcony floor was set; and by the 16th, the interiorarea of the balcony floor was completed, the centre wasstruck, and the outer circle of stones, which finished the capof 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 coronawere set, and therewith the main column was completed. Inow examined the perpendicularity of the whole building, byletting fall a plumb-line from the centre of the man-hole inthe balcony floor to the centre of the bottom of the well-hole,being forty-nine feet and a half ; and found it to fall a smallmatter to the eastward of the centre of the well-hole ; asnear as I could determine it, not more than one-eighth of aninch. I then measured the perpendicular heights of theseveral parts of the building, and found them as follow :

Ft. In.

“ The six foundation courses to the top of the

rock .. 8 4f

“ The eight courses to the entry door. 12 0^

“ The ten courses of the well-hole to the store-room

floor . 15 2£

“ The height of the four rooms to the balcony floor 34 4^

“ Height of the main column, containing forty- } _

six courses .j 70 0

“"We proceeded this day to set up and lead-in the balconyrails, and completed them ; and having brought out a tem-porary cover for the man-hole of the balcony floor, I this dayapplied it to use, as follows : a short tub, of about a foothigh, was made without a bottom, and the smaller end of itbeing 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 wasdriven about four inches, the compliancy of the wood to thestone rendered it quite tight; then the rest of its height,forming a border, and standing about eight inches above thefloor, would prevent water from dripping into the roomsthrough the upper man-hole, or hatchway ; and having alsoprovided another tub, about nine inches deep, having a strongbottom in it, and so much more in diameter than the other,that it would, when inverted, cover it; this being applied as ja cover, would in the greatest stress of weather defend thebuilding from the entry of water at the top.’’

On the 18th of the same month, the first course ^lantern was begun ; on the 24th, the last stone, oB

which makes the door-head of the lantern, was s et >Sunday evening, the 26th, the whole of the n»as° n Jcompleted. fraH> e '

Stress of weather prevented the landing of “J®. .work till Saturday, the 15th of September ; on 9 got

“ between three and four in the morning, the Weston ^ t jieinto the gut, and delivered of her cargo, consisting u/pillars, sashes, and frame-work of the lantern,principal attention to the establishing the frame of tl ^ et [ ie r ,upon a bed of lead, and the screvving of it carefully ■ red B' itUseeing that every joint was filled, and screw covewhite-lead and oil, ground up thick for paint; a tb e

crevice so full that the bringing the screws home to

white-lead matter to ooze from every juncture j jroB'exclude all wet and moisture, and so as to preventwork from rusting. g D e ;

“ Sunday, September the 16th, was remarkablythat by the evening the whole frame of the l an ^ y, e d o*screwed together, and its groundsill was rested fth^ 6

lead ; which was done in the following manner : paring

frame being screwed together, was raised from , ^ D p«ten*upon the stone about three-eighths of an inch, by a ^ e $&cnumber of iron wedges ; and adjusted by them , en coS eperpendicular. Both the stone and the iron were . ^ oB eto be oiled before they were applied to each other , r uJ)of the eight sides, having its wedges withdrawn,aSwith hot lead; and making a place for it t0 , 0 , t jjemuch could be used as would competently heat bo the ie rjand stone, to bring them to a close bearing wit r t e d 0then on the lead’s cooling, as the frame became siW^one side by the lead, the wedges of a second side eS9 iv®vdrawn, and treated in the same manner, and so s j t W®"till the whole rested upon a solid basement of l® a s ’ u jgci enot supposed that the succeeding mass could D . ^ a s 1heated to re-melt the ends of the parts already e ^ n g tb ethe case of the chains ; but being heated so as 0 j e adto a close contact, this I judged sufficient, as ^ give 1applied had no other intent but to bear weight,frame of the lantern one solid uniform bearing- _ ce edin£ ^“Monday, the 17th. This morning was a 80 ap poin te<i 0( jfine ; and the Weston being in sight, which was^ ^ ea rsbring out the cupola, we began to set up 0U c0U nted \ etackle for hoisting it. This perhaps may b e a » t jje W**of the most difficult and hazardous °P eratl ? nS w - e igbt, _ t cundertaking ; not so much on account of jts a( . beig a ^only about eleven hundred, as on account of the ® . a pd 9 ° ^which it was to be hoisted, clear of the buil njl Jtif possible, to avoid such blows as might bnu ^ a bo^® £ ofalso required to be hoisted a considerable » b a . j Pbalcony floor ; which, though the largest f e et it

the shears to stand upon, was yet but four to

the rails ; and therefore narrow, nrop

height. The manner in which this was

in propw^- iil iBj

managed,* 0a*

f 1® * * j

great measure, appear by the representation

VI. (seethe uppermost stage) ; but is more leg 9 ° P o i®in the technical detail of that Plate. As u p] ha v ' e ^ joB®shears that had been used upon the rock wo ^ beioS.^tthe way of the cupola, they were now remove^,it ^with there, and were used as a part of this m and 1 , jflnoon the whole of our tackle was in y ea din • ^ . a gJtafternoon the Weston was brought into ^ ag plac eless than half an hour her troublesome ca ®®° _ e .the top of the lantern, without the p morning'

“ Tuesday, September the 18 th, in the monn-awas at south-east, with intervals of thick fog >