Transcriber's Notes
Changes to the text (corrections to typographical errors) are listed at
the end of the book.
On page 45, in the reference "Beccheri's Physica Subterranea, Lipsiæ,
1738 (with supplement), 8vo., 1681-80;", no satisfactory explanation of
"1681-80" has been found. Note that the publication date of Physica
Subterranea is 1669.
In Figure 2 on page 82, the following denote the conventional symbols
for planetary bodies: [Sun], [Moon], [Mercury], [Venus], [Mars],
[Jupiter], [Saturn], [Uranus].
On pages 83 & 84 in the explanation of Plate III, a single quote is used
to denote the decimal point: this convention has been retained.
In this Plain Text version of the e-book, the Latin-1 character set
only is used. Italic typeface is denoted by surrounding _underscores_;
small caps typeface is denoted by ALL CAPS; superscript symbols are
preceded by caret (^).
[Asterism] denotes three stars (asterisks).
[oe] represents the oe-ligature.
* * * * *
[Illustration:
EDWARD SOMERSET,
SIXTH EARL AND SECOND
MARQUIS OF WORCESTER.
From a Bust by Mr. James Loft, Sculptor, exhibited at the Royal Academy,
1867; and now in the Sculpture Gallery of the Crystal Palace, Sydenham.
]
SCIENTIFIC STUDIES:
OR
PRACTICAL, IN CONTRAST WITH CHIMERICAL PURSUITS;
EXEMPLIFIED IN
TWO POPULAR LECTURES.
I.
THE LIFE OF EDWARD SOMERSET,
SECOND
MARQUIS OF WORCESTER,
INVENTOR OF THE STEAM ENGINE.
II.
CHIMERAS OF SCIENCE:
ASTROLOGY, ALCHEMY, SQUARING THE CIRCLE,
PERPETUUM MOBILE, ETC.
With Illustrative Diagrams.
BY
HENRY DIRCKS, C. E., LL.D.,
F.C.S., M.R.S.L., F.R.S.R., &c. &c.
AUTHOR OF "THE LIFE OF THE MARQUIS OF WORCESTER;"
"WORCESTERIANA;" &c.
LONDON:
E. & F. N. SPON, 48, CHARING CROSS, S.W.
1879.
INTRODUCTION.
It forms a necessary part of popular lectures that they should possess
breadth with brevity, and interest without too great profundity. It is
possible to see a large extent of country from a lofty tower without
being cognizant of every blade of grass, the perfume of blossoms, or the
notes of the sweetest songsters of the groves. In like manner the
popular lecturer has to present only so much to the eye of the mind as
will give the prominent features of his theme, omitting those details
over which the scholar, or the true lover of his subject, dwells with
the affection of a fond parent over a darling child.
We must look with astonishment at a man of noble birth, who in a period
of civil commotion, with a monarch for his friend, and a court at his
command, secluded himself during his youth in a stately ancient tower,
engaged in abstruse studies and wonderful mechanical operations; and
who, late in life, amidst the terrors of civil war was found turning his
inventive faculties, like another Archimedes, to the construction of
means of defence, and terrible weapons of offence. But it is only those
who become immersed in studies, whether of theology, philosophy, or
kindred mental pursuits, who can appreciate the growing appetite for
what appears to unlettered men as the driest of all dry occupations. The
mere pleasure-seeker knows not how much is lost, and how little is
gained by sharing the most brilliant gaieties of fashionable life.
Look at the ancient astrologers, whose pursuits were once as pure and
noble as those of modern astronomers. Amidst wild theories,
superstitious beliefs, empirical systems, and pagan divination, a
rupture became inevitable: one side adopted stellary divination or
Astrology, the other Astronomy, or the simple and true study of the
stars.
Whatever a man's intellectual pursuits may be, he has the advantage over
the mere man of fashion of being engaged in employments which the
longest life cannot exhaust.
But intellectual pursuits partake either of the negative or the
positive; they are useful or useless, and when useless they fritter away
and render nugatory the talent that might have been better employed.
The Marquis of Worcester affords an eminent example of genius of a high
order, grandly and effectively directed towards the advancement of man's
political and social position. His contemporary, Dr. John Dee, the
Astrologer, together with his friend Kelly, the Alchemist, may be
appropriately distinguished as representing a class chimerically
inclined, and hurtful to the well-being of society; while a less eminent
and less blameable section of chimerical labourers are those of whom
the worst we can say is, that they waste much valuable time, energy, and
fortune, through attaching themselves to mathematics, mechanics, and
other learned pursuits, only in search of marvellous, instead of useful
applications.
All chimeras are built on assumptions, and so far are "castles in the
air;" in many forms they are simply ridiculous; but when they pretend to
the supernatural they are pernicious and often wicked.
In the two lectures now presented for his perusal, the reader will find
both these topics illustrated by suitable lives and authentic evidence.
H. D.
_London, February, 1869._
I.
Lecture
ON
THE LIFE OF EDWARD SOMERSET,
SECOND
MARQUIS OF WORCESTER.
"He was a man, take him for all in all,
We shall not look upon his like again."
DELIVERED AT
THE LITERARY INSTITUTION, GREENWICH,
16TH FEBRUARY, 1864.
LECTURE I.
The Biographer of Edward, second MARQUIS OF WORCESTER, naturally finds
some difficulty in rendering prominent the political position that
nobleman enjoyed in the 17th century; or of impressing the minds of his
hearers or readers with a just sense of the wonderful genius of the
author of the "Century of Inventions," even although the fact be
established of that remarkable man being also the true and first
inventor of a veritable steam engine.
When we consider the eventful period in which he lived, (from 1601 to
1667,) and his personal character, together with the social, political,
and romantic incidents of his life, the career of the Marquis of
Worcester cannot fail to interest and instruct us. He was at once the
most fortunate and unfortunate of men, living in times of mingled
enlightenment, superstition, and civil discord, and finally finding
himself cast on the tender mercies of a corrupt Court; the possessor of
a high order of mechanical genius, yet proscribed politically and
theologically; most loyal, yet falling the victim of puritanism; and
closing his life neglected by a Sovereign whose father had been the
chief ruin of his patrimony.
Descended from the Plantagenets, Edward Somerset, second MARQUIS OF
WORCESTER, is supposed to have been born about, or soon after 1601, the
records to establish his natal year being wanting. His father, Henry
Somerset, created first Marquis of Worcester by Charles I., was married
on the 16th June, 1600, at Blackfriars; Queen Elizabeth, attending in
great state, graciously danced at the wedding ball; and the festivities
of the occasion were continued for three days.
We obtain little information respecting the Marquis of Worcester until
about the twenty-seventh year of his age, when he married Elizabeth,
daughter of Sir William Dormer, eldest son of Lord Dormer of Weng, and
sister of Robert, Earl of Carnarvon. It is not known where he was
educated, but it was certainly neither at Oxford nor Cambridge. Mention
is made of his preceptor, Mr. Adams, at Raglan Castle, the baronial seat
of the lords of Raglan, in Monmouthshire. There is every probability,
however, that he finished his education at some foreign university. His
son and heir, Henry, born in 1629, was created by Charles II. the first
Duke of Beaufort, and from him the present Duke of Beaufort is the
eighth of that rank in lineal descent.
It was during the first or second year of his married life that he
engaged the services of Caspar Kaltoff, whom he employed as a practical
assistant, to work out his numerous mechanical experiments, and whom he
extols as an "unparalleled workman, both for trust and skill."[1] There
are still to be seen on one side of the Keep--or citadel of Raglan
Castle, the remains of grooves in the wall, probably for the insertion
of large metal pipes, in some way or other connected with the waterworks
which are known to have been erected there, and which were most likely
carried out by Kaltoff, under his master's directions.
[1] Dedication to "The Century of Inventions."
Becoming a widower in 1635, his lordship married in 1639, his second
wife, Margaret, second daughter and co-heir of Henry O'Brien, Earl of
Thomond.
It must have been about this period of his life that the Marquis of
Worcester made one of his most singular and perplexing mechanical
experiments, which he exhibited at the Tower before Charles I., several
of his Court, some foreign ambassadors, and the lieutenant of that
fortress. As he names Sir William Balfour (who held the latter
appointment from 1630 to 1641) we can arrive at an approximate date. The
mechanical surprise which he states he thus presented to gratify his
royal master, was no other than a gigantic wheel, 14 feet in diameter,
weighted with 40 weights of 50 lbs. each, equal to 2000 lbs., by means
of which we are left to infer that the wheel maintained a rotatory
motion, without assistance from any external aid whatever; that it was
in fact, a realization of that long sought for curiosity--perpetual
motion. As he wrote deliberately a statement of this circumstance
fifteen years later, or more, which he afterwards printed, we are left
without any grounds to suppose otherwise than that he deceived himself,
or was deceived, from interested motives, by persons in his employment.
The circumstance is scarcely worth notice except as a singular proof
that such a hallucination could exist in the mind of the same genius
that perfected the first practical steam-engine. We can only say that if
the mystery could be cleared up, although it would be of little or no
value to mathematics or mechanics, it would go far to elevate the
scientific character of the Marquis, though he was not the only
celebrity of his time infatuated with a thorough belief in the
possibility of solving the paradox.
The Marquis of Worcester, born at the close of Queen Elizabeth's reign,
is not mentioned as appearing at the Court of James I; his courtier life
most likely commenced later, in the reign of Charles I, who was about
his own age, and with whose career, the fortunes of both the Marquis of
Worcester, and his father, family, and friends, were unhappily but too
intimately interwoven.
It requires a visit to Raglan Castle fully to realise the grandeur,
nobleness, and strength of that romantically situated, and almost regal
stronghold. It wears all the solemnity that antiquity can bestow, it is
so gothic, so solid, and embowered, as it were, in a constant dubious
shade. Then it is so extensive in its bounds, its apartments are so
capacious, and its massy walls so lofty and so finely chiseled and
proportioned, that when we consider there is no quarry within any
reasonable distance, nor any river or stream for conveyance, the whole
structure assumes the mystery of absolute romance. Its historic
associations also rivet the attention of every beholder who is
acquainted with the part it played in determining the fate of that great
struggle between the Crown and the Parliament, which commenced in 1640,
and ended with the establishment of a Commonwealth.
The county of Monmouth is eminently distinguished for its scenery, its
green hills and dales presenting a beautifully wooded and highly
picturesque landscape from every point of view. The village of Raglan is
a small unpretending hamlet, principally remarkable for its parish
church, which contains the chapel of the Beauforts, the resting place of
several members of the Somerset family. Peering above lofty neighbouring
trees, the Donjon, Keep, or Citadel of Raglan Castle is a conspicuous
object; itself very lofty and standing on a considerable eminence, it
commands a most delightful and extensive panoramic view of the
surrounding country in that fertile district.
The Castle may be described as consisting of two portions, distinguished
by two courts and two fortified arched entrances. The grand entrance,
between two hexagonal towers, leads to the paved court, with the closet
tower or library to the right, a withdrawing or ball-room overhead, and
a banqueting or stately hall to the left, which last apartment attracts
much notice from its great size and remarkable state of preservation.
Externally situated is the Citadel or Tower of Gwent, surrounded with a
broad moat over which there appears to have been a drawbridge on one
side, and on the other, adjoining the castle a permanent stone bridge.
During his youth, the Marquis of Worcester, as Lord Herbert, resided at
the Castle, and may have had his laboratory, workshop, and study
conveniently situated in the Citadel; at all events, in connection with
his early career, the ruined remains of the family mansion cannot be
visited without intense interest. His father was a noble minded, hearty,
generous man, living in princely state; an extensive and wealthy landed
proprietor, and in case of need capable of defending his Citadel against
any foe whatever. This last necessity made itself conspicuous between
the years 1640 and 1641, when the civil war broke out. After the fatal
battle of Naseby, 14th June, 1645, Charles I. three times rested at the
Castle, staying there in all twenty-seven days. The strength of that
fortress enabled it to resist the Parliamentary arms longer than any
other stronghold--its surrender following very shortly after that of
Pendennis Castle.
When civil war was raging in this country, when King and Parliament were
in opposition, when Puritan, Protestant, and Papist sought for mastery,
when cavaliers met roundheads in mortal conflict, and every man stood in
fear of his neighbour, the Marquis of Worcester could no longer remain a
mere student of mechanism and of mathematical problems: if like
Archimedes in one sense, he was now seen, unlike him, buckling on his
armour, raising troops, and doffing the student's gown to become the
soldier. Alas! his military career forms no brilliant page in the annals
of his country's history. He was essentially neither a statesman, nor a
military man. He was bold, courageous, and energetic, but he could
neither be fierce nor ferocious on occasion. He tampered with opponents,
lost means of surprise, and was ever being tricked by the cunning and
chicanery of adversaries not over-scrupulous in their promises or
proceedings. His very goodness of heart, urbanity and uprightness were
the sources of his utter ruin. Himself incapable of deceit, he was
perpetually being made the victim of it: those who appeared his assured
friends, and had every reason to be so, proving in any emergency
shallow, empty, and worthless. Flattered by Charles I. he became
instrumental in assisting that Prince from his parent's private
fortune; and when that was exhausted, the King sapped the property of
the son, repaying both with titles, promises, and valueless bonds. He
created the Marquis of Worcester Earl of Glamorgan, during his father's
life-time; and, inducing him to raise Irish troops to fight against
English subjects, he completed the Earl's ruin; for, that untoward
enterprise failing, and being followed by the fall of Raglan Castle, and
the victories of the Cromwellian army, the Marquis of Worcester had to
quit his native land to seek refuge, with many other political refugees,
at the Court of France. His wife, who had been residing at Raglan
Castle, obtained leave from the Parliament in 1646 to flee to Paris,
where the Marquis also arrived in 1648.
The Marquis was proscribed both as a Papist and a rebel. Throughout his
political career the religion of his father and himself had made many
weak-minded men their enemies; but that his loyalty should be considered
rebellion was nothing more than might be expected from the dominant
party of those troubled times: although undoubtedly the result of that
great moral earthquake benefited our nation.
His only son, Henry, sat in the Cromwellian Parliament, and this fact
may, in part, explain the circumstance that most probably induced the
Marquis of Worcester to visit London in 1652; for he must have been
well-advised before committing such an apparently rash act. He was
immediately incarcerated in the Tower, from which he was released in two
years and a quarter, no doubt on his parole, as in 1655 a warrant was
signed by Cromwell to pay the Marquis of Worcester the sum of _three
pounds per week_ for his maintenance.
He was utterly beggared; what was he to do? It seems to have occurred to
him to turn his mechanical ingenuity to account, the Pretender's
monetary consideration being insufficient for the purpose intended. This
high-minded nobleman in the same year wrote his remarkable "Century of
Inventions," although it was not printed until eight years afterwards.
The title-page declared its production to have been "at the instance of
a powerful friend," who was, as we have reason to think, no other than
Colonel Christopher Coppley, or Copley, who had served in the
Parliamentary army of the North, under the command of General Fairfax;
for agreements were drawn up between them to secure a participation in
any benefits arising from introducing the steam engine, or
water-commanding engine, as it was then called.
It is not to the historic page, but to the calm unobtrusive volumes of
scientific record, that we must turn to be enlightened with respect to
the mental and mechanical achievements of the Marquis of Worcester; and
we must at the same time not overlook the fact, that many branches of
science were, in his day, but just emerging from that thraldom of
empiricism, which had for centuries clouded every department of
philosophical research.
The Marquis of Worcester was so essentially a scientific, and not a
literary man, that Horace Walpole acted most inconsistently in classing
him among his _Royal and Noble Authors_. That brilliant cynic, however,
had a purpose to serve, and although he found in the Marquis a vein of
pursuit of which he was totally ignorant, he presumed to criticise the
"Century," and to question its author's veracity; a charge which, if
established, even in a minor degree, would serve a political purpose, by
proving the Marquis to be unreliable in other respects, and thus
weakening his authority in religion and politics. But the dilettante
Walpole, a connoisseur in paintings and works of _vertu_, was, in
matters of science, more ignorant of the Marquis of Worcester's worth,
than was the equally satirical Voltaire of Shakspeare's genius. Hume,
the historian, attracted by the sparkling wit of Walpole, adopted
without examination, his plausible criticism, unconscious of its
superficiality and absolute untruthfulness in every respect.
We would here notice the probable cause of the Marquis's indefatigable
study of, and attention to, practical mechanics. As in the time of
Charles II., so also during the reign of his father, there is reason to
believe that some distinguished public officer was appointed to
superintend Government works connected with the army and navy, and that
they were situated at Vauxhall. It was probably a department similar to
that held in 1661, by Sir Samuel Morland, designated Master of
Mechanics. Otherwise how are we to account for the Marquis of
Worcester's devoting his time, his energies, and his very fortune to
inventions affecting mechanical appliances generally, and particularly
to those connected with naval and military affairs, and hydraulic
engines?
One of his inventions (No. 56) he exhibited to Charles I. at the Tower,
and of another (No. 64) being an improvement in fire-arms, he observes
it was "tried and approved before the King (Charles I.), and an hundred
Lords and Commons." Then his great invention, the "Water-commanding
Engine," was set up at Vauxhall in 1663, where it was certainly at work
in 1667, or probably three years later. All these circumstances wear the
aspect of royal patronage, of public employment, and of the possession
of influence suitable to the holder of a dignified position.
This view of the high and honourable public official position held by
the Marquis is also borne out by the petition of William Lambert, about
1664, to be found in the State Paper Office. It was addressed to
Charles II. and sets forth:--"That your petitioner was founder to his
late Majesty of blessed memory, in Vauxhall, under the Marquis of
Worcester, for gun and water-work, or any other thing founded in brass."
Nothing surely can be more certain than that the Marquis's was a public
situation, and his "Century" affords ample evidence of his aptitude in
_that_ respect for the post which he filled; nor can we better account
for his numerous improvements in fire-arms, cannon, sailing vessels,
fortifications, and embankments.
His "Century of Inventions" is the mere syllabus or outline of a
proposed larger work, for he concludes with the statement of
his--"meaning to leave to posterity a book, wherein under each of these
heads the means to put in execution and visible trial all and every of
these inventions, with the shape and form of all things belonging to
them, shall be printed by brassplates,"--the usual substitute at that
time for copperplates. It is most unfortunate that he did not live to
complete his projected publication. But in common candour let it not be
forgotten that, the promise thus placed before us was published in 1663,
not long before the devastating plague, which almost depopulated the
metropolis in 1665, and the terrible conflagration of 1666, which laid
waste the city of London; and that it was in the midst of the
accumulated calamities thus inflicted on society, that his health
appears to have suddenly given way; aged, harassed, disappointed, and
dismayed, he was prematurely called to his long rest on the 3rd of
April, 1667; but whether he died at Vauxhall, at the family town
mansion, Worcester House, in the Strand, or at some other place is
unknown; so little was he understood or esteemed for his intellectual
capacity at the period of the Restoration. As though it were not a
sufficient infliction to be ruined, dishonoured, oppressed, and
neglected while living, it would almost appear that events conspired to
lessen, if possible, the lustre of his memory by the dark shades of
apocryphal history; which ascribed the invention of the steam-engine to
the pretended fact of the Marquis while in imprisonment, having seen a
pot lid blown off by the expanding steam; made out against him a false
case of political forgery; and, worse than all, scandalously forged a
letter in Paris to make it appear that in 1641 the Marquis borrowed his
idea of the steam engine from Salomon De Caus, during a visit to the
Bicêtre, at Paris. The fact that this same De Caus died at Paris, and
was buried in the Church of La Trinité, in February, 1626;[2] shows how
requisite it is for rogues to remember historical dates.
[2] See _Worcesteriana_, 8vo. 1866, page 257.
On the 3rd of June, in 1663, the Parliament passed an Act securing to
the Marquis of Worcester the full benefit and profit of his
"Water-commanding Engine," for the term of ninety-nine years. And in the
same year he printed his memorable "Century," in the Dedication of which
he alludes to the above Act, as one by which he feels "sufficiently
rewarded."
The "Century" is little more than a Catalogue Raisonné, although each
matter of invention is as fully and intelligibly stated as was required
in the Patent office specifications of the period. To give some idea of
its contents, we shall enumerate only the first twenty-five. 1. Seals
abundantly significant; 2. private and particular to each owner; 3. a
one line cipher; 4. reduced to a point; 5. varied significantly to all
the 24 letters; 6. a mute and perfect discourse by colours; 7. to hold
the same by night; 8. to level cannon by night; 9. a ship-destroying
engine; 10. how to be fastened from aloof and under water; 11. how to
prevent both; 12. an unsinkable ship; 13. false destroying decks; 14.
multiplied strength in little room; 15. a boat driving against wind and
tide; 16. a sea-sailing fort; 17. a pleasant floating garden; 18. an
hour-glass fountain; 19. a coach-saving engine; 20. a balance waterwork;
21. a bucket fountain; 22. an ebbing and flowing river; 23. an ebbing
and flowing castle clock; 24. a strength increasing spring; and 25. a
double drawing engine for weight.
We find in the "Century" that three of the articles refer to improved
seals and watches; two to games; two to arithmetic and perspective; six
to automata, or self-acting mechanical contrivances; no less than
twenty-three to ciphers, correspondence, and signals: in short, secret
writing and telegraphs; ten to useful appliances in domestic affairs;
nine are wholly mechanical; upwards of thirty-two were intended for use
in naval and military affairs; and thirteen, including his
Water-commanding Engine, were connected with hydraulics. It is singular
that he professes "to have _tried and perfected_ all these," words of
great import in all matters of novel invention.
That age was fond of patronizing what we should now-a-days be disposed
to call "nic-nacs." Ingenious automata, curious toys and works of art,
small fountains, singing birds, and similar curiosities attracted the
serious attention of the virtuosi of the 17th century; so that we need
not feel surprised that the Marquis set up a speaking Brazen Head; or
that it should be of gigantic proportions, for he was always regardless
of cost in such matters, and was never small where he could be great in
developing his resources of ingenious contrivance. Wherever it was
possible, he was magnificent--fortifications, embankments, ships rowing
against wind and tide, great floating baths, and gardens, large cannon,
in short, he was princely in his expenditure of his private fortune on
whatever he undertook to perform, whether in war or in peace. It was
thus he spent, lent, and lost for his King and country £918,000. He
particularly notices that he laid out on buildings and experiments at
Vauxhall, the sum of £59,000. But these items are far from representing
his actual expenditure, although they indicate the scale of his
operations; and taken at their value two centuries back such sums
manifest marvellous munificence.
We have no certain key to any of his inventions, if we except two
specimens of his cipher writing. One exists in the British Museum,[3]
and there is a deciphered letter in the Bodleian Library, Oxford.[4]
[3] See engraving and account of it in _The Life, Times, and Scientific
Labours of the Marquis of Worcester_, 8vo. p. 398. 1865.
[4] Ibid, page 180.
His noblest invention, that which must for ever embalm his memory in the
breasts not alone of Englishmen, but of all classes throughout the
civilized world, was in operation at Vauxhall from 1663 to 1667, during
his life time, and appears to have been working as late as 1670. It was
ordered by the Act granted him, "that a model thereof be delivered to
the Lord Treasurer or Commissioners for the Treasury for the time being,
at or before the 29th of September, 1663; and to be put into the
Exchequer, and kept there." And in the 98th article of the "Century,"
alluding to this same engine he says--"I call this a _semi_-omnipotent
engine, and do intend that a model thereof be buried with me." Yet,
strange to say, neither the one model nor the other, although zealously
searched for, has come to light: and so little attention did this
invention, notwithstanding its surprising utility, excite in the 17th
century, that all the account we have of it, besides that by the
inventor himself, is the briefest possible notice given by two foreign
travellers, Sorbière in 1663-4, and Cosmo the third, Grand Duke of
Tuscany, in 1669. It is satisfactorily ascertained, however, that
upwards of seventeen persons, all living in 1663, were more or less
acquainted with the Marquis's mechanical operations at Vauxhall, and
must have seen the great water-engine at work, if only as a novelty, and
a matter of curiosity.
Returning to the "Century of Inventions," we find it to be a journal of
the fruits of its noble author's study of mechanical philosophy for
nearly forty years, so that in it we may almost trace the youth and age
of his mental capacity. Viewed through a modern medium we might feel
disposed to discredit the genius of a man who could contrive so many
curious alphabets for secret writing as those he mentions, but such
systems were extensively practised in political and private
correspondence during the Civil war period to baffle the curiosity of
political opponents. What may be called mechanical tricks were also much
in vogue, such as singing and flying birds, artificial figures and
horses, and curiously contrived watches, cabinets, locks, and keys.
Unless we bear in mind the taste of the age, we shall read with surprise
such an announcement as the following, in the 88th article in the
"Century":--
"How to make a brazen or stone head, in the midst of a great field or
garden, so artificial and natural, that though a man speak never so
softly and even whispers into the ear thereof, it will presently open
its mouth, and resolve the question in French, Latin, Welsh, Irish, or
English, in good terms uttering it out of his mouth, and then shut it
until the next question be asked."
No doubt the Marquis had in mind the history of the renowned Brazen Head
attributed to Friar Bacon. The authors of the works on mechanical
subjects published down to the 17th century, did not disdain to describe
the way to manufacture automatic men, animals, and birds, with suitable
joints, springs, weights, and bellows; and therefore, the Marquis did
really no more than express the character of the times, without lowering
his own superior intelligence. He was seeking the patronage of royalty,
parliament, and the public, and if he offered occasionally such trifles
as commanded the attention of the multitude, he never in the whole
course of his chequered life lost sight of his more important
occupations, the conceptions of a mind far in advance of that dismal and
dark period. At the same time, that his age neglected to uphold applied
science, and pertinaciously opposed whatever appeared to savour of
innovation on time-honoured manufactures and trades, we cannot overlook
the anomalous fact that it gave birth to Shakspeare, Bacon, and Milton;
Sir Thomas Brown, Wallis, Hook, Newton, and Boyle, together with a
brilliant constellation of luminaries who adorned every department of
our general literature. Science alone stagnated, and the construction of
public works was chiefly conducted by foreign aid. The establishment of
the Royal Society in 1660, however, gave promise of that improvement
which has steadily gone on year by year to the present day.
We have thus before us a broad outline of the Marquis of Worcester's
birth, education, studies, and scientific pursuits. His tastes and
employments were not suited to a successful political or military
career, at a time when the rupture between the Crown and the Parliament
rendered it necessary for every man to take the side either of the
Cavaliers or the Roundheads. Both father and son displayed unbounded
loyalty, although professing the Roman Catholic faith. Had they, like
many other noble families, adopted the policy of taking opposite
courses, the family might eventually have retained estates which were
forfeited when the King was deposed, and were principally enjoyed by
Cromwell. Raglan Castle was demolished, all that could be carried away
was sold, the strong tower or citadel was partially blown up, its ditch
left dry, and all that could be most readily spoiled was mutilated, even
to the marble and alabaster monuments in Raglan Church, raised to the
memory of ancestors of the family. Such ruthless destruction and pillage
has failed, however, to obliterate the towers, walls, arches, chambers,
and numerous vaults of that once princely residence.
From the year 1601 to 1641, (forty years of his life) was a period to
which he refers as his "Golden Age" in the dedication of his "Century."
While that from 1641 to 1647-8, (when he fled from Ireland to France,)
was the most exciting, exhausting, and disastrous of his whole
existence, and closed with utter ruin to himself and his family. He had
then living his second wife, Henry, his son and heir, and two daughters.
The family town mansion, Worcester House in the Strand, partly used as a
State Paper Office, was eventually granted to the Marchioness of
Worcester for her residence. The wearisomeness and distress attendant
on his residence as a refugee in France during four years, was
embittered by above two years imprisonment in the Tower, the result of
his venturing to revisit London while proscribed by the Parliament as
"an enemy and traitor to the Commonwealth," all such being threatened
that they shall "die without mercy, whenever they shall be found within
the limits of this nation." Burton, in his interesting Diary of Oliver
Cromwell's Parliament, says in reference to the case of the Marquis on
this occasion:--"It was urged he was an old man, had lain long in
prison, and the small-pox then raging under the same roof where he lay;
and he had not, as was said, done any actions of hostility, but only as
a soldier; and in that capacity had always shown civilities to the
English prisoners and Protestants. It was therefore ordered that he
should be bailed out of prison." He was probably then about fifty-three
years of age, but so harassed and so worn down by fatigue that he might
well appear to be a prematurely "old man." He was not, however, too old
to write his "Century" in 1655, and to re-write and publish it in 1663;
to apply for and obtain an Act of Parliament for his great invention of
a steam water-raising engine; and to get a working engine set up at
Vauxhall, and project a public company for obtaining funds sufficient to
extend its utility to the supply of towns, and canals, and for draining
mines and marsh lands.
The Marquis of Worcester was sincerely impressed with the capabilities
and great value of his invention; and it affords a striking proof of his
high estimation and correct knowledge of the magnitude of his discovery,
that he should have bowed himself before his Maker in humble adoration,
acknowledging in a solemnly sublime strain his sense of obligation to
the Supreme Source of all intelligence, for permitting him to become
instrumental in the development of so great a mystery of nature. It is
so short and significant that no apology can be required for quoting it
entire:
"_The Lord Marquis of Worcester's ejaculatory and extemporary
thanksgiving prayer when first with his corporal eyes, he did see
finished a perfect trial of his Water-commanding Engine, delightful
and useful to whomsoever hath in recommendation either knowledge,
profit, or pleasure._
"Oh! infinitely omnipotent God whose mercies are fathomless, and
whose knowledge is immense and inexhaustible, next to my creation
and redemption I render Thee most humble thanks even from the very
bottom of my heart and bowels, for thy vouchsafing me (the meanest
in understanding), an insight in so great a secret of nature
beneficial to all mankind, as this my Water-commanding Engine.
Suffer me not to be puffed up, O Lord, by the knowing of it, and
many more rare and unheard of, yea unparalleled inventions,
trials, and experiments, but humble my haughty heart, by the true
knowledge of my own ignorant, weak, and unworthy nature, prone to
all evil. O most merciful Father, my Creator, most compassionating
Son, my Redeemer, and Holiest of Spirits, the Sanctifier, three
Divine persons and one God! grant me a further concurring grace
with fortitude to take hold of thy goodness, to the end that
whatever I do, unanimously and courageously to serve my king and
country, to disabuse, rectify, and convert my undeserved, yet
wilfully incredulous enemies, to reimburse thankfully my creditors,
to remunerate my benefactors, to re-enhearten my distressed family,
and with complacence to gratify my suffering and confiding friends
may, void of vanity or self-ends, only be directed to thy honour
and glory everlastingly. Amen."
Judging of the Marquis of Worcester's personal appearance from two
family portraits, one when he was probably about twenty-five years of
age, by Vandyck; the other when between forty and fifty years old, by
Hanneman; he must have been rather of a delicate frame, and in stature
somewhat under the average height; his face oval, with sharp bright
eyes, and wearing a cheerful benignant aspect. His dress was, of course,
the costume of the period of Charles the Second's reign, but its
character has not been observed in either of the portraits just named,
one of which represented him in armour, and the other, as was not then
unusual with artists, attired as a Roman general. We infer that he
laboured under a defect in his speech, from his remarking in a memorial
addressed to the King that he penned it--"To ease your Majesty of a
trouble incident to the prolixity of speech, and a _natural defect of
utterance_ which I accuse myself of." It might be interesting to
speculate how his sense of deficiency in physical strength, in eloquence
of speech, and volubility of language might have contributed to the
fostering of that disposition for intense application to scientific
studies which became to him like a second nature.
During the first two years of the Restoration, the Marquis was in pretty
regular attendance on his Parliamentary duties. In 1661, he was obliged
to seek protection so that proceedings might not be taken against him by
his creditors; and about the same time his forfeited estates were
restored to him, but so encumbered and impoverished as to yield him a
very insufficient income, if any. It was in the midst of such
distractions as these that this talented inventor and noble benefactor
to his species had to maintain his social position; and, at the same
time, endeavour to convince the bigoted age in which he may be said
rather to have existed than to have flourished, that he was master of a
power of such magnitude for the abridging of human labour, as the mind
of man had never before conceived.
It may be freely conceded that, _stupendous_ as he himself pronounced
the parent engine to be, it was but as the acorn compared to the
time-honoured monarch of the forest. Just as the existence of the plant
is dependent on that of the seed, so if the Water-commanding Engine, the
great Fire Water-work he constructed had never existed, we might have
been unacquainted, to this day, with the mechanical application of
steam, and should have been deprived in consequence of the manifold
blessings it bountifully bestows on mankind.
ADDENDUM.
Evidence of the Marquis of Worcester's claim to the Invention of the
Steam Engine.
1. His personal claim to have written a statement respecting it in 1655;
his MS. being afterwards lost.
2. The Act of Parliament[5] which was granted him for the term of
ninety-nine years, and which received the royal assent on the 3rd June,
1663.
[5] For lists of the names of members on the several Committees
appointed on the occasion of this Act being applied for, see--"The Life,
Times, &c.," 8vo. 1866, pages 254-5.
3. His "Century of Inventions," printed from a re-written copy of his
lost notes of 1655; and which names in the Dedication, the granting of
the above Act.
The following list[6] comprises upwards of seventeen persons all living
in 1663:--
[6] From "Worcesteriana," 8vo. 1866, page viii.
4. CASPAR KALTOFF, a confidential workman, engaged by the Marquis as his
engineer in 1628, who died about 1664, and is honourably mentioned in
the "Century."
5. MARTHA KALTOFF, wife of Caspar Kaltoff, who is named in letters
patent dated 1672, _as lately deceased_. Her family was--
CATHARINE, married to Claude Denis.
CASPAR KALTOFF, and his unmarried sister--
ISABEL KALTOFF.
6. PETER JACOBSON, a sugar refiner, who married one of Kaltoff's
daughters, had a portion of the buildings at Vauxhall, where the
Water-commanding Engine was erected, and in operation from 1663, till at
least to the year 1669, if not some years later.
7. WILLIAM LAMBERT, another workman, a founder at Vauxhall, in the reign
of Charles I., "under the Marquis of Worcester, for gun and waterwork,
or any other thing founded in brass," in 1647, and who was living in
1664-5.
8. CHRISTOPHER COPLEY, who had been a Colonel in the Parliamentary
service, and was probably an iron master, having been the proprietor of
four Iron Works. He assisted the Marquis at an early period and held a
pecuniary interest in his invention of a Water-commanding Engine. Indeed
it is highly probable that he was the "powerful friend" at whose
instigation the "Century" was written in 1665.
9. The EARL OF LOTHERDALE, written to in January, 1660, had a copy of
the "Definition" of the Engine sent to him, and is promised an
ingeniously contrived box or cabinet. He was appointed as late as March,
1665, to be one of a Commission to report on the affairs of the Marquis,
and must, therefore, have been familiar with all matters relating to the
noble inventor.
10. DR. ROBERT HOOK, the eminent mathematician, was acquainted with
Caspar Kaltoff, and early in 1667, went purposely to see the engine
working at Vauxhall, having read the "Definition."
11. THE HONOURABLE ROBERT BOYLE received from Dr. Hook a copy of the
"Definition," sent to him with a letter on the subject.
12. LORD BRERETON is specially mentioned by Dr. Hook, as being so
confirmed in his doubts of the excellence of the Marquis's engine, that
he had laid a wager on the subject.
13. HENRY SOMERSET, Lord Herbert, afterwards created first Duke of
Beaufort, by Charles II., must have frequently seen the engine in
operation. He died in 1699.
14. JAMES ROLLOCK, who wrote a poetic eulogy on the Engine about 1663,
speaks of himself as "an ancient servant," having known his lordship
forty years, dating back to 1623.[7]
[7] He was the author of a pamphlet now very rare, and which is absurdly
enough attributed by Horace Walpole to the Marquis of Worcester. A
reprint will be found in "The Life, Times, and Scientific Labours of the
Marquis of Worcester," 8vo. 1866, page 559. It contains the following
intimation to the reader:--
"I think it not amiss to give further notice in his Lordship's behalf,
that he intends within a month or two, to erect an Office, and to
entrust some very responsible and honourable persons with power to treat
and conclude with such as desire at a reasonable rate, to reap the
benefit of the same Water-commanding Engine."
So that it is manifest a public company was intended to be established
in 1663-4, to extend operations with the engine then actually raising
water at Vauxhall.
15. SAMUEL SORBIÈRE visited the works at Vauxhall, and published
particulars of the engine he saw there in 1663.
16. LORD JOHN SOMERSET, the Marquis's eldest brother, appears latterly
to have lived at Vauxhall, according to a warrant dated September, 1664;
and would certainly be admitted into his brother's confidence.
17. COSMO THE THIRD, Grand Duke of Tuscany, in his Diary exactly
describes the engine he saw at Vauxhall in 1669, "considered to be of
_greater service to the public_ than the other machine near Somerset
House."
18. WALTER TRAVERS, a Roman Catholic priest, names the engine in a
letter which he wrote to the Dowager Marchioness of Worcester, in 1670.
19. DR. THOMAS SPRAT, F.R.S., published in 1665, a critical work on "M.
Sorbière's Voyage into England," and could not therefore be ignorant of
the Marquis's engine, as it was named by the French traveller, although
Sprat omitted to notice it specially in his own "Observations."
20. Among his other contemporaries were Sir Samuel Morland, Dr. Wallis,
Sir Christopher Wren, Sir Isaac Newton, and many more, who, however, (so
far as is at present known,) are silent in regard to all matters
relating to the Marquis.
II.
LECTURE
DELIVERED ON THE 5TH NOVEMBER, 1868:
BEING THE FIRST OR INAUGURAL LECTURE
OF THE
FREE LECTURES,
AT THE CRYSTAL PALACE, SYDENHAM,
ON
CHIMERAS OF SCIENCE:
ASTROLOGY, ALCHEMY,
SQUARING THE CIRCLE,
PERPETUUM MOBILE,
ETC.
With Illustrative Diagrams.
AND RE-DELIVERED AT THE
BIRKBECK LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC INSTITUTION,
17TH FEBRUARY, 1869.
"A little knowledge is a dangerous thing,
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring;
There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,
But drinking largely sobers us again."--POPE.
PREFACE.
The present Lecture, embodying a variety of subjects, under the general
title of CHIMERAS OF SCIENCE, not only reviews them in succession, but
expresses sentiments with regard to each which result from a long
acquaintance with ancient and modern scientific authors; supported by an
experimental, and, not unfrequently, by a practical acquaintance with
several branches of natural philosophy. The consequence of this intimacy
with various scientific studies, has been a thorough conviction of the
necessity of possessing a knowledge of elementary principles, before
professing a belief in new doctrines, whose only recommendation is their
novelty, extravagance, and inutility. Without absolutely pretending to
any golden road, or short path to learning, superficial but ambitious
scholars are the first to seize on first impressions, build up some
grand theory, lay down certain postulates, seek proselytes, and display
a wonderful amount of enthusiasm in creating systems which, however
beautiful in appearance, can boast of no solid foundation. Imperfectly
educated, and shallow, but not unfrequently highly imaginative, men, if
not themselves absolute charlatans, are the easily led dupes, who become
the admirers and abettors of every "new wind of doctrine."
Every age has been sensational. Man delights in mystery, and mysticism
is a certain sign of imperfect knowledge. A classic age was not proof
against the tricks and deceitful practices of the oracles, soothsayers
and jugglers. The dark ages only served to keep alive the human desire
for sensation; and less than a century ago, poor, simple, half idiotic
women, were burnt at the stake as witches. The Mahometans had their
prophet, and so have the Mormons. Mesmer had his disciples, and so have
many modern Spiritualists. The Astrologer of the 17th century, is
presented to us in a modern dress by the seer Zadkiel. Jacob Behmen and
Emanuel Swedenborg, but represent a class that is continually dying out,
yet is as continually reproduced; the authors of pious romances,
theological enigmas, scientific spiritualisms, and spiritualized
transcendental philosophisms. Swedenborg introduces us to the
inhabitants of the moon; they are short, the size of a youth of seven
years of age; and they speak with a thunderous voice for want of an
atmosphere, and not from the mouth, but from the abdomen! But many
persons admire such wanderings of a pretended inward and prophetic
light.
There are still living a few faithful believers in _Alchemy_, who
earnestly look forward to the coming of the day when the grand, the
glorious secret, shall be fully revealed; not, however, to the vulgar
crowd, but to the noble, true, and virtuous adept,--to him, and him
only.
A class of _Mathematicians_ still continues to publish papers and
pamphlets on squaring, cubing, and trisecting. On this subject, the
reader might find some amusement in the critiques of Professor De
Morgan, who wrote several papers in the _Athenæum_, 1865, under the
title of _A Budget of Paradoxes_.
_Mechanics_ are still living who firmly believe in the possibility of
realizing a mechanical perpetual motion,--to spin, pump, or drive
carriages or machinery, by means of a constantly descending weight. And,
year by year, many such schemes, find their final resting place in the
archives of the Patent Office.