Lighthouses : their History and Rcmvince. By W. J. Hardy.
(R.T.S.)—Mr. Hardy has brought much interesting research into -old documents, such as petitions and charters for lighthouses, to
bear on his subject. We most of us have heard of the romance of the successive Eddystone lighthouses, but others have possessed romance in a scarcely less d. gree. More than two hundred years ago private individuals made efforts to establish 'lights, chiefly open grates on towers, on important headlands. Hermits had a great part in some of these, and many others also whose motives were pure benevolence. But for a hundred and .fifty years the Trinity Brethren, a Corporation founded in Deptford shortly before the dissolution of the monasteries, fought tooth and nail against such dangerous innovations as lighthouses, or any attempts which threatened their own pre- rogatives. Such was the history of lighthouses; and let all who desire to know their vicissitudes, read Mr. Hardy, who has un- earthed records and plans of unusual interest and value.
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