A BRIEF RETROSPECT OF THE MARQUIS OF WORCESTER’s GENEALOGY,
AND HIS PRIVATE, POLITICAL, AND PHILOSOPHICAL CHARACTER;
INCLUDING HIS OWN STATEMENT OF EXPENDITURE DURING THE CIVIL WAR.
The ancient and Honourable family of Somerset is descended from John of
Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, son of Edward the Third.
1. Charles,[A] the only natural son of Henry Beaufort, third Duke
of Somerset, in that line (eldest son of Edmond, Duke of Somerset),
assumed the surname of Somerset. He, in consequence of the devastating
wars of the Roses, was, on the accession of Henry the Seventh to
the throne, the only remaining representative of that monarch’s
illustrious ancestors, and he, therefore, considerably distinguished
him. In addition to his other honours, he was created a Knight of the
Garter; and in the succeeding reign elevated to the dignity of Earl of
Worcester, on the 1st of February, 1514.
In right of his first marriage with Elizabeth Herbert, only child
of William Herbert, Earl of Huntingdon, he bore the titles of Baron
Herbert, Lord Herbert of Raglan, Chepstow and Gower. After the decease
of his first wife he was twice married; first, to Elizabeth West,
daughter of Thomas, Lord la Warr; and on her decease to Eleanor Sutton,
daughter of Edward Sutton, Lord Dudley. He died on the 15th of April,
1526, leaving her a widow.
2. He was succeeded by his eldest son Henry, second Earl of Worcester,
who died 26th of November, 1549.
3. And he was succeeded by his eldest son, William, third Earl of
Worcester, and a Knight of the Garter, who died the 21st of February,
1589.
4. Being succeeded by his only son, Edward, fourth Earl of Worcester,
and a Knight of the Garter, who died 3rd of March, 1628.
5. And was succeeded by his second son, Henry (his eldest son William
having died during his father’s lifetime). Charles the First created
him Marquis of Worcester, by patent dated at Oxford, 2nd of November,
1642 (which dignity was repudiated by the Commonwealth Parliament). He
was the fifth Earl and first Marquis of Worcester, and died December,
1646.
6. When he was succeeded in his honours by his eldest son, Edward,
the subject of this memoir; but the latter never enjoyed any portion
of the vast estates until after a lapse of fourteen years, when, at
the Restoration in 1660, he recovered a large portion of his landed
property, as already set forth.
He bore the second or family title of Lord Herbert, from March, 1628,
to the end of March, 1643; being on the 1st of April following, created
Earl of Glamorgan (during his father’s lifetime) by Charles the First,
he was best known by that title, from the part he took in Irish affairs
during the civil commotions from 1644, until the decease of his father
in 1646; when, in consequence of the Cromwellian Parliament refusing
to acknowledge any of the King’s later creations of Peers, he was
uniformly styled _Earl_ of Worcester; but at the Restoration in 1660,
his proper style of Marquis of Worcester was fully recognized. These
latter party distinctions now materially serve to fix or limit the
dates of some documents, not otherwise to be approximated.
Until the 27th year of his age we meet with little respecting his
education, travels, and pursuits. With his marriage commenced his
engagement with that artificer Caspar Kaltoff, whom he employed in
promoting his own practical course of studies in a branch of inquiry
which had never before, and has never since, been so assiduously
examined and tested. The pursuits then commenced and indefatigably
pursued, as well for instruction as amusement, combined with a strong
natural bias for such occupations, may have served at a later period,
under less favourable circumstances, to lighten the tedium of exile and
imprisonment.
He enjoyed but seven years of married life, being then left with three
children, and remained a widower for three years; when, in 1639, he
married a second time, having but one child by his second marriage, who
died an infant. In the family group, painted by Hanneman (now first
engraved), the artist has drawn him seated beside his wife and child;
but when this work was executed is unknown, although it most likely
dates between 1639 and 1641.
The breaking out of the Civil War would seriously interfere with the
Marquis of Worcester’s scientific investigations; he would no longer be
able to settle down to the serious study of his favourite authors; his
models and mechanical experiments would be in abeyance; and there was
no alternative left for him but to unite himself to the cause either of
the King or the Parliament. His loyalty led him to choose the former
course, and his association with Charles the First, combined with that
unfortunate monarch’s unhappy situation and disposition, eventually
worked the entire ruin of the Marquis of Worcester. But apart from the
ordinary occurrences of the war, it was his misfortune to be selected
by the King to act as his emissary in negotiating a peace with the
Roman Catholic party in Ireland, on terms contrary to the established
religion of the realm and irrespective of the laws. That he should
have listened to the urgent demands of his sovereign is, under any
circumstances, not very remarkable; and we are the less disposed
to be surprised at his being won over by the King’s solicitations,
considering that he was not a practised statesman, and that the
proposed measure was preceded by his being created Earl of Glamorgan,
and that it was represented as offering enlarged privileges to his own
church and party, as well in Ireland as in England. A more cautious
politician might have suspected some ulterior design beneath this
promising external appearance, might have questioned the possibility
of some extraordinary exercise of the royal prerogative, and at
length concluded that no measure was safe, coming from a sovereign
who actually seemed to imagine that divine right was delegated to him
to annul any obligation whatever, however freely tendered by himself,
provided he could satisfy his own conscience that his so acting would
be to the advantage of the Crown. But the Marquis was no grovelling
worldling; he had left the study for the battle-field, and for awhile
abandoned the path of philosophy to become the King’s agent in Ireland.
It was thus that his loyalty and his zeal, uniting with his religious
sentiments and his sovereign’s gracious conduct toward him, and seeming
sincerity, combined effectually to plunge himself, his family, and his
posterity into a series of disastrous losses in fortune and property.
He had not been many months a refugee in France, when he received a
very welcome and highly gratifying acknowledgment of his past services,
from the exiled Queen, in a present of valuable jewels, accompanied
with a testimonial, empowering him to make what use he might please of
the regal gift. The original, written in French and sealed with the
royal arms, is translated as follows:--
“HENRIETTA MARIA R.,
“We, Henrietta Maria of Bourbon, Queen of Great Britain, have, by the
order of the King our very honoured Lord and Husband, caused to be
delivered into the hands of our dear and well beloved cousin, Edward
Somerset, Count and Earl of Worcester, a necklace of Rubies, containing
ten large Rubies and one hundred and sixty pearls set and strung
together in gold; among the said Rubies are likewise two large diamonds
called the Sancy and the Portugal, acknowledging that besides the great
expenses made by him for the said King our very honoured Lord, he has
supplied us with three hundred and seventy thousand Livres Tournois,[B]
exclusive of the very great services at least of equal consequence,
which up to the present time, even, he has rendered us, in regard
to which we make known that the said necklace and diamonds belong
entirely to him, so that he may either sell or engage them without any
interference on our part, or that of any other, or seeking after or
troubling any person, who may buy them, or lend money on the ten jewels
heretofore mentioned, in faith of which we have signed this present and
put thereto our Royal Seal in our Court at St. Germain en Laye, this
20th day of May, one thousand six hundred and forty-eight.”
(ROYAL ARMS.)
The lamentable fate that befel Charles the First, effectually
terminated all expectation of relief; and therefore, from the year
1647, when the Marquis left Ireland, to 1660 the period of the
Restoration, about 13 years, was, if possible, the most unhappy and
gloomy of his eventful life. He was about five years in exile, about
two years and a quarter a prisoner in the Tower, and nearly six
years a state prisoner at large, most likely under strict surveillance.
The year following his Lordship’s release from the Tower, 1655, will
ever be memorable for his having then written his “Century of
Inventions,” which was published eight years later.
There is every reason to believe that the Marquis of Worcester pursued
his scientific inquiries both in secrecy and seclusion. This might
arise from his early domestic habits, particularly during his married
life, commencing in 1628, when he first engaged Caspar Kaltoff. We
never find him associated with, or mentioned by, men of his time,
which, therefore, leads to the supposition that he was naturally of
a recluse and retiring disposition. But, on the other hand, we have
nothing to guide us in forming an opinion of the origin, the nature,
and the progress of his experimental operations. They may have been
commenced for the simple gratification of a mind desirous to satisfy
itself in every particular of whatever it undertakes. In his early
travels, when at Venice, he had observed in the arsenal there a
peculiar employment of the lever; and when at Rome his mathematical
studies had led him to a knowledge of a particular kind of fountain.
After his return he had undertaken the erection of water works at
Raglan Castle, in connection also, no doubt, with the fountain set
up in one of its adjacent courts. The young engineer may have been
deeply read in Ramelli’s elaborate work, and may have determined, with
the assistance of Kaltoff, to adopt, what he long after expressed, as
“a humour I have, _never to be contented_ to produce any invention
the second time, without appearing refined.”[C] Once started on an
inquiry so peculiarly suitable to his taste, he may have pursued it
almost without design, and continued it only because it interfered
with no more serious employment. Being drawn into the designing of
novel inventions, and further encouraged by his workman’s production
of excellent models, it seems natural enough that, in the seclusion
of Raglan, immersed in the scientific literature then available, and
possessing as he did a remarkably inquisitive and inventive genius,
he should grow up an inventor almost without taking cognizance of
his own progress. It is certain that it was peculiar to him to take
nothing on trust, but to reduce everything to the test of absolute
experiment. There was perhaps never any contrivance of which he thought
or read, that he did not reduce to a model; and his was the experience
of a great practical mechanic, whose information was founded on known
results; whether of success or failure. It was thus that he required
the services of Kaltoff through nearly forty years, together with many
assistants employed under him. The great ingenuity, perfection, and
variety of his Lordship’s inventions are traceable to this laborious
and expensive practical process.
When at length, in 1655, he commenced in earnest to make known among a
select number of persons his determination to bring out his inventions
for public advantage, he had a difficult task before him. The recluse
philosopher was about to assume a new character, offering to submit
for approbation, to an ignorant and prejudiced public, his mechanical
marvels, the product of nearly thirty years’ study! At fifty-four years
of age, without the least practice in trading transactions, bred to no
profession, and known only as a high-minded but ruined nobleman, he
sues for public patronage!
Among his manuscripts we find a slip of paper which has all the
appearance of having passed through many hands,[D] and suggests the
idea that it was one of many similarly written, to enable others to
make known among their friends what the Marquis had to offer, seeking
their encouragement therein, of what they chose to select. It reads
thus:--
1. Intelligence at a distance communicative & not limitted to
distance, nor by it the time p’long’d.
2. Ffountaines of pleasure, with artificiall snow or haill or
thunder, & quantity not limitted.
2. Oft suteing [shooting] peerds, controuleable, in one plane,
either for number or time.
3. Discourse to be had by a Lamp.
4. A Brass head, capable to Receave at the Eare a Whisper & the mouth
thereof to Render Answere in any Language to the Interrogator.
There is a somewhat similar but fuller MS. list of eight of his
inventions, evidently issued between 1655 and 1660, from its being
headed, “Inventions of ye Earl of Worcester.”[E] as he only bore the
title of Earl during the Commonwealth. By these means, a small select
circle of friends would become acquainted with the singular mechanical
skill of the Marquis; but, with what success for the desired end is
problematical. He would unquestionably astonish all, while it is but
too likely he would convince very few indeed. Besides, his ultimate
views were beyond the scope of the ordinary trader, and could only be
effectually realized through government influence; particularly in an
age when the common manufacturing resources of the country were but
sparingly developed, and when trading enterprise was monopolized by
special corporate bodies. Here was a spectacle to behold; one of our
country’s brightest ornaments, and its unquestionable glory, degraded
to this hopeless drudgery; deprived of his princely property, and
allowed a pittance of £3 per week!
When, in 1661, Parliament passed “An Act for distribution of £60,000
amongst the truly loyal and indigent commission-officers, &c.” the
following was the appointment of Commissioners named therein for
Monmouth:--“Henry, Lord Herbert[F] of Raglan, eldest son of Edward,
Lord Marquis of Worcester; Sir Anthony Morgan, Sir George Probert,
Knights; William Jones of Lanarth; Thomas Morgan of Lansoan; Miles
Morgan; William Morgan, one of his Majesty’s household; Charles Hughes;
Roger Williams of Kentild, Esquire; James Progers, Esquire.”
Also, “For the county of Gloucester, and the city and county of the
city of Gloucester, Henry Lord Herbert of Raglan, &c.” along with 21
other Commissioners.
The Marquis of Worcester had every reason to expect an agreeable change
of fortune on the accession of Charles the Second to the throne. He
made a full declaration to Lord Clarendon of the powers under which he
had acted for the late King in Ireland. He recovered a large portion of
his estates. He had given up all claim to the promised title of Duke of
Somerset. He was granted an Act of Parliament for his Water-commanding
Engine, in 1663; and immediately after he printed the first edition
of his “Century of Inventions.” But he was entirely neglected by
the frivolous monarch on whose consideration and patronage he had
calculated, with his usual confiding sincerity of heart.
Worn out by three years’ delay, without any prospect of improvement, he
seems to have concluded on an appeal in person to the House of Lords.
But his first course was to submit a draft of his proposed discourse
to his Majesty, agreeable to an understanding at the Hague, when his
Majesty was in exile, that he should so act, previous to consulting
any of his ministers. The document now at Badminton, is most likely
his Lordship’s own copy of the one forwarded to the King, who seems
either to have discouraged its being brought forward, or to have given
it no further attention. It is in every sense a remarkable production,
whether as regards its matter, its style, or the extraordinary evidence
it affords of his Lordship’s unbounded confidence in and devotion to
Charles the First. The MS. is endorsed--
“Statement of the Marquis of Worcester’s expenses for his King and
country;” and is as follows:--
“MAY IT PLEASE YOUR MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY.
“SIRE,
“To ease your mind of a trouble incident to the prolixity of speech,
and a natural defect of utterance which I accuse myself of, I have
presumed here to set down summarily in writing what I desire (if your
Majesty approve thereof) to speak in the House of Lords, whereby your
Majesty may gather how far (some things being rectified) I am confident
of myself to serve you, praying your Majesty’s favourable construction
of what I shall endeavour candidly to submit unto your Majesty.
“In the first place, according to your most gracious commands laid
upon me at the Hague, when I offered to make my Lord Chancellor privy
to what I should at any time presume to offer to your Majesty’s
transcendent judgment, having sufficiently suffered for treating with
the late King, of happy memory, alone; to which request of mine you
were pleased to give this most gracious and never-to-be-forgotten
reply, that, notwithstanding you would have me first to acquaint
yourself therewith, and then only such as your Majesty should consent
unto, and think proper for it: In pursuance whereof I most humbly
offer this following discourse, which I shall with a most ready and
implicit obedience augment, diminish, or alter, as your Majesty shall
think fittest; disputing nothing, much less waiving anything, that your
Majesty shall command either as to substance or circumstance.
“MY LORDS,
“Amongst Almighty God’s infinite mercies to me in this world, I
account it one of the greatest that his Divine goodness vouchsafed me
parents as well careful as able to give me virtuous education, and
extraordinary breeding at home and abroad, in Germany, France, and
Italy; allowing me abundantly in those parts, and since most
plentifully at my master of happy memory, the late King’s Court, by
which means, had it not been my own fault, I ought to have become
better able and more capable to serve Almighty God, my King and
country, which obligatory ends of theirs have I always had in my
eyes, as drawing and sucking them thence, it being certainly the
greatest and surest portions parents can leave to their children;
since breeding and knowledge cannot be taken from them, when as
riches and possessions are fading and perishable, witness my own
case, my Lords. Yet, by dear-bought experience and their great
expenses, for which I honour the happy memory of my most beloved
parents, more than for my very life, drawn from them, they giving me
by the one but my being, and by the other my _bene esse_. Whereby I
find nothing more certain than that the way to make oneself
considerably useful to his Prince and nation, is the surest means for
him to become cherished by them, which they then do for their own
sake, not his, though he had spent and lost above 7, or £800,000,
sterling; and narrowly escaped several times, both by sea and land,
imminent dangers, and long and close imprisonment, and a scaffold,
threatening death, as I have done, _Experte Crede Roberto_, my Lords;
yet happy is this day unto me, wherein I have the honour, sitting
amongst your Lordships, to express from my heart that I have not the
least repining thought within me, though I had suffered ten times
more for so good a cause, and so gracious and obliging a master as
the late King, of happy memory, was unto me. And for so majestical
and promising a Prince as my new sovereign is, whom God long
preserve; and, morally speaking, cannot do amiss, whilst he hearkens
to so wise a great Council, and so tender of his good and welfare as
your Lordships, assisted by so discreet, experienced, and
well-affected persons as sit now in the honourable House of Commons,
the whole kingdom’s representatives. And may your Lordships be ever
as tender of your innate privileges, members, and birthrights, as
they of theirs, and both of you equally likewise tender of his
Majesty’s just and undoubted prerogatives, upon which two hinges, or
rather bases (that is, our most gracious King’s prerogatives and the
birthright of his subjects), this excellent government of King and
Parliament outvies and excels all other in the world. Let them,
therefore, my Lords, hold together as the surest props of a settled
kingdom; his Majesty’s power consisting in nothing more than in the
greatness of your Lordships, who are, as well by Divine Providence as
human policy, allotted to be as it were the medium between the King
and the people; that is, to interpose yourselves as mediators if the
King’s supreme authority should become severe, which cannot be feared
from so gracious a Prince; as also to be curbers of the people’s
rustic stubbornness, if they should prove insolent, which cannot
likewise happen to a nation that hath so lately smarted for such
inconveniences, as, had the Lords’ former greatness and power been
continued in them, could never have happened; for, as I hold with the
old saying, _No Bishops, no King_, so may I boldly aver that no power
of temporal Lords being extant, there will be neither Bishop nor
King. But I am too tedious, my Lords; yet what I further shall
presume to say, will need no eloquence, being upon a theme pleasing,
as I humbly conceive, to the minds of all your Lordships, there being
none of you whose birth brings you unto this place, but so much
generosity possesses your hearts, that you conclude and harbour a
firm resolution to believe and follow that noble and heroic
maxim--_Beatius est dare quam accipere_, since _Beneficium accipere
est libertatem vendere_, a thing beneath your Lordships. According,
then, to which maxim, as having the honour to be a member of this
House, esteeming in the first place the right of Peerage, even before
the titles of Earl, Marquis, or Duke; as a Peer, therefore, I say of
this House, I shall (with your Lordships’ approbation) humbly offer a
present unto his most excellent Majesty, our most gracious Sovereign,
a present, my Lords, which cannot be done without you, and fit to be
owned by a House of Lords, it being no less than to raise an
auxiliary troop for his Majesty’s Life-guard, of an hundred horse,
and commonly called in France an hundred Meistres; [Reistres?] that
is, each Cavalier to keep a servant with a led horse, as well as his
own, and one of them to be worth £100. The whole troop shall amount
the first day unto upwards of ten thousand pounds, besides arms and
equipage accordingly; nay, my Lords, every one of this troop shall be
of that quality and power as to be capable to raise at his Majesty’s
command an hundred men in 14 days; and at the entering into the
troop, shall furnish into his Majesty’s store-house a 100 foot arms,
two parts fire-arms, and the third pikes, at his own proper cost and
charges, and marked by him, there to be kept till his Majesty’s
occasions be to raise men accordingly: but God long preserve his
Majesty from needing of them; yet if, at any time, then will his
Majesty have in readiness at a fortnight’s warning 10,000 men,
without costing his Majesty or the kingdom sixpence, till they be
raised and armed. And that most worthy nobleman, the Earl of
Northampton, who, according to the Spanish saying, _So many brothers
united so many castles_,[G] hath approved himself to be such in
gallantry and strength for his King and kingdom’s defence, is
desirous and willing through his zeal to his Majesty’s service, to be
but lieutenant to the said troop. But the whole troop, consisting of
such persons qualified as above-mentioned, volunteers, and not
serving for pay or gain, will deservedly require not to be put upon
common services, and not to be commanded but by his Majesty, or his
most deserving general the Duke of Albemarle; and they themselves not
to be tied to daily duties, but to have liberty to substitute some
gentleman of quality, or an experienced officer, to serve for him at
any time when his Majesty requires not his personal appearance, and
that the Captain of the troop gives way unto it. I presume, my Lords,
to nominate my Lord of Northampton but as second to me, because his
goodness and zeal to his Majesty’s service makes his Lordship
contented to give me the precedence as Captain, though far less
worthy, and shall indeed be but a servant to his Lordship and the
rest of the troop, in order to his Majesty’s command, and the welfare
of his tenderly beloved people. The rest of the troop shall be
nominated when your Lordships shall approve of the motion, and his
Majesty vouchsafe an acceptance thereof. They shall all of them be
approved persons in zeal, loyalty, and allowed by you, and do
ambition the honour of being called a troop of the House of Lords,
and being so termed, and most of them of your members, I dare without
vanity affirm that no King in Christendom but may boast of such a
troop; and it will not only be a safety to his Majesty’s person, but
an honour to the whole nation; and an evident testimony of your
Lordships’ constant loyalty and zeal to both King and kingdom, and
will keep up the honour of this House, and not subject [it] again to
be thrust out of doors; and I beseech your Lordships that I may be
rightly understood, for it is my duty to his Majesty, and the honour
I bear to this House, and not the ambition of being Captain of the
said troop, that makes me to motion the raising thereof; for as I
acknowledge that there are many greater persons in the House, as well
titular as real, in merit and power, any of whom, if they please to
undertake it, I shall with more joy and readiness serve as a trooper
therein, than to have the command thereof.
“My second humble offer, disposable by your Lordships, is at my own
cost and charges, but under your Lordships’ name and approbation, and
out of the accruing profits of my Water-commanding Engine, to cause to
be erected a competent ordinary, affording as well wine as meat, for
one meal a day, for forty indigent officers, such as the calamity of
the late times has brought to so pressing necessities, as none of your
Lordships, I am confident, but is very sensible thereof, especially
of such persons who (had not their zeal to their King and country
transported them) might have lived plentifully of their own; yet if
your Lordships’ commiserating eyes look not speedily upon them, may
follow the destiny of some others of quality, yea colonels, and never
were under my command; yet I never made distinction when his Majesty’s
honour or service was interested, or his well-deserving subjects
suffered, and were within my power of relief, for whose burials it
hath been my good fortune to pay; they not leaving behind them to the
value of an angel; and I humbly conceive this act of charity, worthy
your Lordships’ owning, since your Lordships’ cheerfully passing the
act of my Water-commanding Engine enableth me thereunto; and I most
humbly offer this little testimony of gratitude, to be under your name
thus employed. And I intend there shall be so good order given therein,
within 6 months, as that there shall be a stipend given to a person
to read unto them during their meals, either of military affairs or
history, the better to avoid frivolous discourse tending to quarrels
and quaffing.
“Thirdly, in favour and benefit of the commonalty as well as your
Lordships, and for the general good and honour of this most famous
City of London, I most humbly offer, under your Lordships’ name
and protection, to cause a fair causeway to be made, upon which,
without disturbance, two carts may pass one by the other for 2 miles
together, at 4 of the greatest avenues to the City, as the Lord Mayor
and Aldermen shall best advise; and at the end of each of the four
causeways, an Hospital and House of Correction to be erected and
endowed, with a perpetuity of £500 a year to each house; and this pious
work to begin within two years, and to be finished within seven.
“Fourthly--and, indeed, I should have begun with it, according to
the true rule--_a Jove principium_--I do humbly offer, in honour of
this House, to cause £1000 a year, for ten years, from Michaelmas
come twelve-month, to be allotted towards the building of Paul’s,
according as his Grace the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury, and the
Bishop of London, and now Bishop of Winchester, together with the Dean
and Chapter of Paul’s shall set forth, and may continue:--a memorable
gift from the House of Lords. And thus, I humbly conceive, to have
offered an acknowledgment of thankfulness both to his Majesty, and to
your Lordships, Spiritual and Temporal, and for the Honourable House
of Commons, for passing the Act of my Water-commanding Engine; and
to improve this my humble thankfulness, shall be my daily exercise
and study, no ways meaning that what here I suffer shall set a period
thereunto, so as your Lordships will be pleased to set your helping
hands to remove some misconstructions and personal inconveniences,
which, if not diverted from my mind, and from a too generally received
opinion, though upon false grounds, and not appearing otherwise than
false; I beseech your Lordships to be so tender of a member of yours,
as to contribute to the vindicating of me therein, whereof no ways
doubting but that your Lordships will remove such an absolute remora
to all my intended services; and, therefore, I will presume to lay my
case openly and cheerfully before you, not doubting but that at your
Lordships’ intercessions, his most gracious Majesty (having given
way that I should speak thus before your Lordships) will vouchsafe a
concurrence, and suffer himself to be disabused, and such false and
malicious opinions to be eradicated out of his princely mind, as have
been endeavoured, by either envy, malice, or ignorance, to be rooted
therein, and so certainly have obstructed the natural influence of
grace and favour, which could not otherwise but have been the effects
of so great a Sun as shines within a throne of so much goodness and
majesty. Now, whether my merits have been considerable, I beg leave
here to set down not as a trumpet to proclaim them, but narrative-wise,
modestly, yet truly, for your Lordships’ better information, accusing
myself in some things with the same candour and freedom as to vindicate
myself, in others, desiring to stand or fall by your Lordships’ just
judgment, and his Majesty’s gracious proceeding thereon; no further
relying even upon his Majesty’s most gracious act of general pardon,
than in compliance with others, his Majesty’s subjects, have taken it
out, yet with so great a reluctance, through the clearness of my heart,
not to have deserved for it, that the Lord upon the Woolsack was forced
to chide me to it, through his tenderness of my good, and, as I humbly
conceive, a further apprehension than I could have of a necessity
thereof; for which his tender care I acknowledge thankfulness, yet, at
the same time, I must humbly ask leave to stand upon my justification,
humbly praying to be rightly understood, for I do it not out of pride
or vain glory, but purely--_Me defendendo_,--and if any body--_Se
defendendo_,--kills another, the law quits him, much more will your
Lordships pronounce me not guilty of arrogance, though I should
arrogate to myself a praiseworthy desert, and not, through too much
modesty, be mealy-mouthed, and not discover what of right appertains to
the blessed memory of my dead father, and even my own commendations,
crying with Virgil,--_Sic vos non vobis nidificatis aves; sic vos non
vobis vellera fertis oves; sic vos non vobis fertis aratra boves; sic
vos non vobis mellificatis apes_. Know, then, my noble Lords, that
herein I speak not to derogate from the merit of the Roman Catholics
from their duty and love to their Sovereign, we having all of us,
with an unanimous resolution, _nemine contradicente_, that is to
say, no one gentleman of quality throughout the whole nation, but has
stuck to the cause, adventuring his life, and lost his whole fortune
therein; yet give me leave to aver it, boldly, that all the Catholics
of England assisted not my father, or me, to the value of £5, without
real security for it, and such, indeed, as at this time lieth heaviest
upon me; and this I aver as in the presence of Almighty God and your
Lordships. In the second place, my Lords, how came the then Marquis of
Hertford, after his defeat in the west, with recruits to his Majesty
at Oxford, but by my father’s means and mine. The forces that I sent
with him had cost me £8000; and £2000 my father lent him, ready money.
How came Sir John Byron’s regiment of horse to be first raised, but by
£5000 in gold, given him by my father? How came the Forest of Dean to
be reduced; Goodrich strong castle to be taken; Monmouth itself, with
its garrison, to be surprised; Chepstow, Newport, and Cardiff to be
taken, and secured for his Majesty, but by my forces and my father’s
money? How came Raglan Castle to be first fortified and last rendered,
but by £50,000 disbursed therein by my father?
“How came his Majesty’s army to be considerable before Edge-hill
fight, but by the men I brought, and how was his Majesty recruited
at Gloucester side, even after the defeat given by Waller to my men?
God forgive those of the King’s party, who were the occasion that
1500 were surprised, and I not despatched from Oxford until the day
after; yet, my Lords, at 14 days warning I brought 4000 foot and 800
horse to the siege of Gloucester, paying them £6000 down upon the
nail at Gloucester, besides my troop of Life-guard, consisting of 6
score noblemen and gentlemen, whose estates amounted to above 3 score
thousand pounds a-year, most of whom I furnished with horse and arms,
which of a sudden they could not do themselves; for I was then master
of 34 horses in my stable, for the worst of which I have refused £100,
and above 40 others lonely worth £50 a horse. I kept a table for the
said troop, not only at Gloucester side, but all the way to the west,
without so much as making use of free quarter, but all upon the penny;
for General Raven complained of me to the King, who graciously and
smilingly reprehending me publicly, I desired to know my accuser, and
called my Lord-General Raven, afterwards made Earl of Bradford, before
his Majesty, who, objecting that it was of ill example and made them to
be thought the more burdensome; my humble reply was, that I yielded to
his Excellency to be the better soldier, but still to be a soldier of
fortune, here to-day and God knows where to-morrow, and therefore he
needed not care for the love of the people; but though I were killed
myself I should leave my posterity behind me, towards whom I would not
leave a grudge in the people, but whilst I could serve his Majesty upon
my own purse and credit I would really do it, and afterwards leave it
to such as his Lordship.
“I confess I raised this troop without my father’s consent first asked;
his Majesty’s peremptory commands and the shortness of time requiring,
and I confess his Lordship checked me for it, and said I had undone
myself thereby, and [I] replied that 5 or £6,000 would not undo me;
the horses being all my own already, and the arms, by accident coming
to Bristol afforded a sudden and cheaper means for it. My father
answered, that he did allow that 6 nor £16,000 would not undo me, but
the consequence would be that the love and power I had in my country
would be perspicuous; although I should have thanks from the King, yet
others, though his Majesty’s well-wishers, yet, through envy, they
would hate me for it: which I confess I have found too true, and my
services have been more retarded by those who called themselves the
King’s friends than obstructed by his enemies.
“Pardon me, my Lords, if I detain you a little longer, descending to
some particulars as near as I can call to mind; and beginning first
to tell your Lordships that I was not privy nor present with his
Majesty at Greenwich, when he first took his resolution for the
North, and removed without the Queen to Theobalds, from which he was
pleased to write me a lamentable letter by the hands of Sir John
Byron, averring that he had but £600, and £300 of which was given to
defray his horses, which the Marquis of Hamilton, then Master of the
Horse, refused to do, fearing to displease the Parliament; but upon
such a lamentable complaint, and pressing necessities of my dear
master (yet no ways advising him unto the journey), I sent him to
Theobalds. £3,000
“To Huntingdon, after his departing from Theobalds 3,000
“To Nottingham 4,000
“To York 8,000
“And took order for a table, to be kept for several
experienced officers, who by this means were kept from
taking arms for the Parliament, and were ready for the
King’s service, and the defraying of their debts here,
their journey into York, and their table there, which none
of them but 2 knew it came from other hand than the King’s
privy purse, yet stood me in 1,500
“And these sums, with as great privacy as may be, keeping
good correspondence with the Parliament, and myself present
at London, to avoid suspicion, being then trusted both by
King and Parliament. For victualling the Tower of London,
by his Majesty’s command I sent to the then Lieutenant, Sir
John Byron, in old plate, under pretence of coining it 2,500
“By a feigned pretence getting leave of the Parliament (the
circumstance being too tedious to relate to your Lordships,
but yet notable in itself), I went with their pass to York,
and carried to his Majesty in ready money 15,000
“In bills and assurances. 80,500
“For both which sums I had his Majesty’s note, yet extant,
for ninety-five thousand 5 hundred pounds. Which done, in
two days, his Majesty’s further commands received, I
returned to the Parliament, with a plausible answer to a
message sent from them by me, and I agreed with Parliament
to remove the magazine of powder and [ammunition] for
[from?] Monmouth, which was a town of my own, to Carlyon, a
town of the Earl of Pembroke, a professed adherent unto
them, which they took kindly at my hands, though done by
design by me, who could not have pretension to take it from
the town of Monmouth had it been still there.
“For the raising of Sir John Byron’s regiment of horse,
being the first completed 5,000
“Things being thus set in order between his Majesty and me,
I fairly took leave of the Parliament to go down to my
father; where I no sooner arrived but there came directed
unto me from his Majesty a Commission of Array; whereof I
presently, by a servant of my own, sent word to the
Parliament, with a letter to the House of Lords, which I
directed to my Lord of Holland, and to the House of
Commons, to Mr. Pym; in both of which I offered to
intercede to his Majesty, and conceived I should prevail to
suspend the Commission of Array, if they should make an Act
that their militia should not come into my country; but
they, with civil compliments and thanks, replied, that his
Majesty’s [proceeding?] was so illegal, and theirs for the
kingdom so just and necessary, that by no means would they
waive the one for the other. At which I declared myself
irritated to see that they durst tell me that anything
commanded by my master was illegal, and professed I would
obey his Majesty’s commands, and let them send at their
perils. So, immediately, and in 8 days’ time, I raised 6
regiments, fortified Monmouth, Chepstow, and Raglan;
fetching away the magazine from the Earl of Pembroke’s
town, Carlyon, and placed it in Raglan Castle, leaving a
garrison in lieu thereof. Garrisoned likewise Cardiff,
Brecknock, Hereford, Goodrich Castle and the Forest of
Dean, after I had taken them from the enemy.
“To the then Lord Marquis of Hereford, in Wales, as many
forces as cost me the raising and arming [H][8000?]
“Lent him to prosecute that expedition, in raising of [2000?]
forces in Wales, first and last, [to the?] number of twelve
thousand men, and [maintaining] them, whilst the country
was tottering, [also providing?] them weekly for fifteen
months: . . [plainly?] speaking, and it shall be made
good. [I] }
“Brought to Oxford and delivered [with my?] own hands[I] } [130,500?]
“My journey to Ireland with levies and incident
[al expenses?], there as well at sea as at land.[J] ****
[Illustration: One line of the Marquis of Worcester’s cipher
writing]
“The furnishing of troops of 6 score [gentlemen with?]
arms, and most of them with horses, some of them of an
hundred pounds price, and many of £50; for though the
gentlemen betwixt them made above £60,000 per annum land of
inheritance, yet being unexpectedly raised in 8 days, and
could not furnish themselves, which I did according to
their quality, together with their servants to the number
of 200, keeping a constant table for them the whole
journey, all along from Gloucester into the West; whereat
they never wanted wine, that being carried along with us,
but oftentimes beer; together with £6,000 in ready money,
paid my foot soldiers at the raising of the siege of
Gloucester: which, all modestly rated, came unto above 25,000
“The keeping of the garrison of Raglan, towards which, till
the very last cast, there was never a penny contribution
raised or exacted, amounted to, at the least 40,000
--------
The total £318,000
========
“Besides the garrison of Monmouth, both town and castle,
Chepstow, Goodrich with Hinan, and the Forest of Dean,
recovered from the enemy, all at my charge till Sir William
Vavasour came, who hath had of me 500 twenty shilling
pieces at a time, to encourage him to go on at Gloucester;
besides, likewise, the charge of reducing of Abergavenny,
Carlyon, and Newport to his Majesty’s obedience.
“Furthermore, for seven years, both in England and Ireland,
I allowed twenty pounds each meal, to which all officers
and gentlemen were welcome; and I believe the charges in
these particulars, not to be inserted or charged on this
account, amounts to one-half as much as the former sums. I
never received a farthing towards it as General or
[otherwise], nor a penny out of my estate in 20 years.
These times came unto upwards of _sumebus viis et modis_,
which alone amounted unto 600,000
--------
“These sums added together balance the accounts and make
good that I have spent, lent, [and lost?] for my King and
country, _revera_ £918,000
========
“My Lords, being conscious of this, and many things forgotten by me
to set down, I was become proof against anything the King’s enemies
could do against me, since by their principles I knew I deserved it;
but, since his Majesty’s return and happy restoration it hath almost
stupified me to have been so laid by as not to have had any promise
made good to me, for which I had his Majesty’s royal word, hand, or
even the Great Seal of England; but, of the contrary, I humbly beseech
your Lordship’s leave to set down what, with all submission to his
Majesty’s will and pleasure, flesh and blood cannot but resent, yet
so far only as shall stand with the duty of a loyal subject and the
unquenchable zeal of my real heart towards my King and country, and a
most humble submission to your Lordships’ better judgment, casting
myself wholly at your disposal and favourable construction of what I
shall set down, according to the old saying, that--_losers may have
leave to speak_.”
In this proposed address to the House of Peers, the Marquis of
Worcester offers some introductory remarks bearing on his parentage,
education, and travels; but the burden of his speech is a detailed
account of the severe losses himself and his family sustained,
consequent on the Civil War, combined with his father’s and his own
liberality to Charles the First personally. His proposed plan of laying
his case before the House is prefaced with a singular offer on his own
part, under four different heads:--
1st. He proposes to raise an auxiliary troop for his Majesty’s
Life-guard.
2nd. To cause to be erected a complete ordinary for forty indigent
officers.
3rd. To cause a fair causeway to be made, for two miles together, at
four of the greatest avenues to the city.
And 4th, to cause £1,000 a year, for ten years, to be allowed towards
the building of St. Paul’s.
Then follow items of the various and vast sums expended in the Royalist
cause.
His allusion to the Act obtained for his Engine, in 1663, fixes the
date of this document at or soon after that period. The amount expended
in the Royal cause by his father and himself was so enormous, that it
is difficult to understand on what ground he considered he bettered
his claim to some compensation, by burdening his statement with four
separate offers, calculated to absorb far more than he could ever
expect to obtain through a monarch so needy, extravagant, and dissolute
as Charles the Second.
Whatever may have been the Marquis of Worcester’s previous private
engagements, there is every reason to believe that from the time he
was protected by Act of Parliament, he vigorously put forth all his
energies to promote the works at Vauxhall, where, aided by Caspar
Kaltoff, he soon had one of his “stupendous” engines in operation.
James Rollock, an “ancient servant of his Lordship’s” (as he styles
himself), who made some pretence to being a poet, wrote “a Latin
Elogium and an English Panegirick, both of them composed through duty
and gratitude.” He informs us that, he “hath for forty years been an
eye-witness of his great ingenuity:” adding, “I think it not amiss
to give further notice in his Lordship’s behalf, that he intends
within a moneth or two to erect an Office, and to intrust 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.”[K] About the same time would also appear
to have been issued large posting bills, one rare and curious specimen
of which may be seen in the Library of the British Museum,[L] setting
forth a short address to the King, followed with the usual “definition”
of “A stupendous or a Water-Commanding Engine, boundless for height or
quantity.” We have thus very clear evidence that he was employing every
possible means at command to impress his claim on public notice.
Then, as regards the Engine itself, it was required by the Act of
Parliament, “that a model thereof be delivered to the Lord Treasurer
or Commissioners for the Treasury for the time being, at or before
the 29th day of September, 1663,” and the same to be “put into the
Exchequer and kept there;” a requirement which he was certain to obey
punctiliously, not only to avoid dispute, but because nothing was
easier for him to perform, through the agency of Kaltoff.
Another remarkable point referring to his Engine is that he concludes
the 98th article of his Century, which alludes to it, by saying:--“I
call this a semi-omnipotent Engine, and do intend that _a model thereof
he buried with me_.”
And lastly, there was his practical demonstration on a large scale.
As early as May 1654, we have an intimation of his being in treaty
for works at Vauxhall. Not long afterwards we find his workman
Kaltoff settled there, and in one of his Petitions he explicitly
mentions having spent “£9,000 on buildings and improvements,” and at
least “£50,000 in trying experiments and conclusions of art in that
Operatory:”[M] thus actually curtailing his personal comforts to fulfil
his engagements with all those persons who confided in his promises to
perfect his novel undertaking.
His works and Engine were examined and noticed in 1663, by the French
traveller M. Sorbière; in 1666 or 1667 by the eminent mathematician
Dr. Robert Hook, whose cynicism unfortunately thwarted his judgment;
in 1669, by the Grand Duke, Cosmo de Medici; and we find it still in
existence in September, 1670, being then alluded to in a letter written
by Walter Travers, a Roman Catholic priest.[N]
We have, therefore, certain evidence that the Marquis of Worcester’s
Engine was in full operation for at least seven years, and that one of
the conditions of the Act of Parliament obliged him to deposit a model
in the Exchequer. His own estimate of its value may be judged by his
gladly giving up for the promised tithe of it to the King, his claim on
Charles the First equal to £40,000, in lieu thereof.[O]
His Lordship’s invention was never offered by him as a merely amusing
trifle; it was not a curious model which might or might not possess
some practical advantage; and it was not of a nature of which he was
but partially aware, and which it was left to others to apply. It
is even possible that as early as 1628 he had set up his Engine in
its most simple form of application; and that, improved upon through
thirty-five years of study and experimenting, the Engine of 1663
was a master-piece of workmanship and contrivance for that age. His
invention was no longer a secret, he had done all that any inventor
could possibly be required to perform to establish his claim to be
considered as a true and first inventor. His right did not depend on
the vague notice first put forth in his _Century_, but on the actual
Engine made, and, for not less than seven years, constantly worked for
public inspection at Vauxhall. Any one so disposed could have obtained
the same examination of it that was conceded to Sorbière and to Cosmo
de Medici. Dr. Hook does not condescend to state what he saw of it; he
set out for Lambeth with the intention of going to Vauxhall, but the
_laughing_ philosopher may have settled the problem in his own mind, to
his own entire satisfaction, without taking any trouble on a supposed
foolish errand. We speculate in vain whether among the visitors
stimulated by curiosity, or invited by intending shareholders, there
were such men as Sir Samuel Morland, the King’s Master of Mechanics;
Rupert, Duke of Cumberland; Dr. Sprat, the historian of the Royal
Society; Bishop Wilkins, the author of “Mathematical Magic”; the
Honourable Robert Boyle, Sir William Petty, Lord Viscount Brouncker,
and other distinguished personages.
Without positive facts to guide us we are ever in danger of misjudging
a bygone age, and in the present instance it would be imprudent to
hazard an opinion on what is no less true than strange, that the
Marquis of Worcester entirely failed to arouse public inquiry into the
merits of his invention: being treated throughout with an indifference,
which, to modern apprehension, appears wholly inexplicable. Yet, so
inconsistent is human nature, that the same age which burned and
drowned so-called witches, which believed in the transmutation of base
metals into gold, put faith in the curative effect of sympathetic
powders, and the King’s touch for bodily distempers, saw portents in
meteoric phenomena, and considered astrology a sound science, could
yet look with stolid indifference on this germ of the steam-engine,
unimpressed by what was publicly exhibited, written, printed, and
for at least four years made the subject of its inventor’s daily
conversation. Books and pamphlets were constantly being published,
filled with mysticism, gravely recording the day-dreams of fanatics and
impostors, and letters lent their aid to promulgate such fables; yet
here was a new agent at work, of such potent power that its like had
never been seen, which nevertheless men saw, heard, and listened to in
dumb astonishment, with the infantile simplicity of the poor Indian,
ignorant of the value of the gold or diamonds strewn in his path.
The early associated scientific men may have been perplexed on finding
an individual coming forth, in the sixty-second year of his age, to
propound a new doctrine. The suspicion was natural; the cause appeared
evident; his project might be a chimera, or an absolute delusion. No
one ever so remotely suspected his own want of wisdom. Had the Marquis
suddenly dropped from the clouds, or sprung from the earth, he could
not have been in himself a much greater phenomenon than he appeared to
the virtuosi (as the learned were called) of his day. Such a prodigy
had never been heard of, and perhaps will never again appear, as that
of a secluded scholar, studying all his life, suddenly coming to light
with unheard-of knowledge. If true, he was a Leviathan, and compared
with him all must have acknowledged a sense of painful inferiority. The
Marquis on his part appears to have acted with unsuspecting confidence
and modesty, as one quite unconscious of the intellectual disparity
between himself and the professors of mechanical science in his day.
However, he neither sought nor formed new acquaintances; he seems to
have rested satisfied with his early associates, or his own immediate
connexions; so that no one was gratified by his condescension, or
induced to proffer advice, through any application on his part.
Indeed he mainly looked to the Crown for efficient support; but the
luxurious and gay monarch sought only youth and beauty, the banquet,
the ball-room, or the tennis-court, and was not to be disturbed in his
pleasures by aged philosophy propounding mechanical experiments, and
smoky steam-engines. The King carried “Hudibras” in his breast, and
might perchance have a copy of the “Century” in some remote cabinet.
Need we be surprised that his Lordship’s confidence in succour from
such a source was every way misplaced? His treaties with the business
world, it is to be feared, ran counter to all accepted forms, the
talented philosopher being no plodding trader; so that act as he
might for the best, it nevertheless appears to have been his uniform
misfortune neither to acquire friends nor conciliate enemies, a posture
of affairs not uncommon to fallen greatness.
It is most unfortunate that he did not survive to complete his intended
publication of a larger work than the “Century,” presenting his hundred
inventions with illustrative engraved plates. But in common candour let
it never be overlooked, that we have before us a promise published in
1663, long preceding 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 such
accumulated public calamities his health appears to have suddenly
given way, aged, harassed, disappointed, and dismayed, when he was
prematurely called to his long rest.
Neglected by contemporaries, modern writers have rested satisfied
with a detail of some three or four years of his political career
in Ireland, and a notice that he possibly possessed some mechanical
ability, as giving a sufficiently comprehensive view of his character
through a life extending over sixty-six years. This lax course, on the
part of his biographers, has favoured the opinion expressed on the
Continent, that the invention of the steam-engine is not of English,
but of French origin! And this statement has been long colourably
supported by means of a forged letter, the subject of which has been
graphically represented by the painter, and copied by the lithographer;
all attesting the prevailing zealous ardour of France to honour native
genius. Thus, as though it were not a sufficient infliction to be
ruined, dishonoured, oppressed, and neglected while living, it would
almost seem as if events conspired to lessen, if possible, the lustre
of his memory by the dark shades of apocryphal history.[R]
The Marquis of Worcester, considered in his true character, was in
every sense a learned, deep-thinking, studious, amiable, and good man.
He was a Roman Catholic wholly free from religious prejudices, and
a most loyal subject without displaying under an adverse change of
circumstances any appearance of undue party zeal. In all his public
conduct he was invariably consistent, scrupulously conscientious, and
strictly honourable and humane. In scientific acquirements he stood
grandly alone, not from pride, but rather as the result of a naturally
modest retiring habit, probably constitutional, but certainly confirmed
by long continued close study, favoured by his early domestic course
of life. When at length he was forced to come before the public, he
proved himself one of the most extraordinary mechanical geniuses of the
seventeenth, or any preceding century; yet he was neither understood
nor appreciated in his own day; his surpassing mental endowments
were probably lost for want of earlier and fuller exhibition; while
the influence of combined prejudice and ignorance served further to
obstruct his rising in public estimation. It is, however, the glorious
privilege of genius to leave on all its works the sure impress of
mighty intellect. The “Century of Inventions,” gradually increasing in
public estimation through two hundred years, owes its vitality to its
remarkable ingenuity and its concentration of thought; and it cannot
fail to happen that each succeeding age will inquire, with increasing
interest, into every particular of the singular and touching history of
its noble author.
END OF THE LIFE.
Footnotes
[Illustration: C. Somerset (autograph) Charles Somerset, 1st Earl
of Worcester]
[A] The annexed autograph of this great ancestor of the
Marquis of Worcester, is obtained from a document in the British
Museum. Cotton. MSS. Vesp. F. xiii. fol. 78.
[B] According to the old money system prevalent in France
before the Revolution, accounts were kept in Livres Tournois of
20 Sous or Sols.--_Dr. Patrick Kelly’s Universal Cambist_, 4to.
1811, page 146.
[C] See page 225.
[D] From MSS. Badminton.
[E] Appendix A.
[F] Between the 14th of July, and the 21st of August, 1684, being
then Duke of Beaufort, he made his progress through North and
South Wales, as Lord President of Wales, and Lord Lieutenant of
the counties of Gloucester, Hereford, and Monmouth, accompanied
by “T.D. _gen._” that is “T. Dineley,” who left the particulars
thereof in a manuscript of some length, containing many
interesting anecdotes, inscriptions of arms, and pen sketches of
scenery and antiquities, now very curious.
At Worcester, on Wednesday--“After divine service his Grace was
attended in great order with drums, trumpets, the city-waites,
haut-bois, flutes, and other wind music, together with harps,
Welsh and Irish, viols, violins, and other stringed instruments,
to the Town Hall.” His Grace was numerously and handsomely
attended, being himself “in glorious equipage.” While at Troy,
near Monmouth, on the 20th of August, his Grace viewed the County
Militia Regiment; “several of the principal gentry” on the
occasion “placing themselves in the front of the stand of pikes.
Doublings, countermarches, wheelings, variety of exercise, and
good and close firings were made.”
He returned to Badminton after nine weeks’ absence, “extremely
satisfied with the good order in which his Grace found the
militia,” also “with the reception and entertainments in all
places of the progress.”
The MS. has been printed for private circulation, under the title
of “An account of the progress of his Grace, Henry the First Duke
of Beaufort, through Wales, 1684. And Notitia Cambro-Britannica.
By T. Dineley. Edited by Charles Baker, Esq. 4to. 1864.”
[G] The Earl of Northampton, who fell at Hopton Heath, left five sons
in arms for the King. The young Earl fought as gallantly as his
father for the cause.
[H] See page 328.
[I] The MS. being defective on this side, the particular sums
of money cannot be ascertained.
[J] The cipher follows on the same line, and agrees in
character with the cipher-writing on page 180. See Comment on
Article No. 5, in the “Century.”
[K] “An Exact and true Definition, &c.” Appendix C.
[L] Brit. Mus. 12. El. 75. 10.
[M] See page 287.
[N] Appendix D.
[O] See page 257, and Appendix F.
[P] Appendix H.
THE CENTURY OF INVENTIONS, WRITTEN IN 1655;
BY EDWARD SOMERSET, MARQUIS OF WORCESTER.
BEING A VERBATIM REPRINT OF
THE FIRST EDITION, PUBLISHED IN 1663.
* * * * *
“He was a man, take him for all in all,
We shall not look upon his like again.”
* * * * *
WITH
An Introduction and Commentary
BY HENRY DIRCKS, ESQ.,
CIVIL ENGINEER,
AUTHOR OF “PERPETUUM MOBILE, OR HISTORY OF THE SEARCH AFTER
SELF-MOTIVE POWER;” “CONTRIBUTION TO THE HISTORY OF
ELECTRO-METALLURGY;” AND “THE LIFE OF SAMUEL HARTLIB;” ALSO
INVENTOR OF THE “DIRCKSIAN PHANTASMAGORIA,” PRODUCING THE
OPTICAL ILLUSIONS POPULARLY CALLED “THE GHOST!”
INTRODUCTION.
The Middle Ages are usually considered to have closed between 1490
and 1500, only one century previous to the birth of that Marquis
of Worcester to whom posterity is indebted for his ever memorable
publication, the “Century of Inventions,” of which a reprint is now
before the reader. It records the earliest full, though brief, sketch
of a practically working Steam-Engine; an invention which, whether in
relation to the age in which it was produced, or the difficulties under
which it was wrought out, cannot be considered otherwise than as a
marvellous effort of ingenuity. The literature and science of that era,
as compared with the progressive stages of improvement distinguishing
the two succeeding centuries, were barren and meagre indeed. Hallam
justly observes: “Learning, which is held pusillanimous by the soldier,
unprofitable by the merchant, and pedantic by the courtier, stands in
need of some countenance from the ruling powers before whom all three
bow down.” But even at that early period Leonardo da Vinci, born 1452,
had anticipated Lord Bacon in the universally accepted principle, that
experiment and observation must ever be the only sure guides to the
forming of just theories in the investigation of nature.
The “Century of Inventions” derives its name rather from the
circumstance of the work containing one hundred articles, than the
same number of inventions. Its noble author may have had in mind the
_Centuria di Secreti Politici, Cimichi, e Naturali_, by Francesco
Scarioni of Parma, duodecimo, printed at Venice in 1626, when he fixed
on the quaint title of his own remarkable production.
Among the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum Library is
a manuscript copy of the “Century,” the title of which omits the
words “at the instance of a powerful friend,” also the motto, date,
dedications, and author’s name. It also differs in other respects from
the printed edition, by introducing “A stamping Engine” as the 88th
article, in place of which its author has printed his account of “A
Brazen Head;” the concluding article likewise varies, especially in
closing with a short notice of “three sorts” of other inventions “set
down in cypher,” but which do not appear. The top of the title page has
written on it “From August ye 29th to Sept. ye 21st 1659,” probably
by the copyist, to notify the time occupied in writing.
The first edition was printed in 1663, during the author’s lifetime,
as he died in 1667; and the last edition, with notes by Mr. C. F.
Partington, is dated 1825. This last edition professes on the title
page to be “from the Original Manuscript”; and, at page 6, alludes
to “a manuscript in the Marquis’s handwriting, having been preserved
in the _Harleian_ Collection, appended to _an original copy_ of the
Century of Inventions.” Now, as no other manuscript is known to exist,
it is important to state distinctly that the Manuscript Century in
question is neither original nor yet in the handwriting of the Marquis;
it is evidently no more than one of those copies, which it was then
a common practice to circulate; and the MS. bound up in the same
volume with this interesting document, relating to a method of “Cypher
writing,” is _not_ in the Marquis’s handwriting.
So far, therefore, from “The Century of Inventions of the Marquis of
Worcester, from the Original MS.” being what it thus distinctly
professes, it is an amalgamation of the Harleian MS. copy, and the
first printed edition. This obliges the introduction of two Nos. 88;
but unfortunately there is neither mark, note, nor observation to
guide or guard the reader even as to the editor’s numerous
emendations; and the result has been such as to render this the most
unreliable of all the reprints of the “Century,” which will appear
more evident by the unauthorised readings, marked P, in the notes.
The “Century” remained in manuscript from 1655, the period of its
author’s release from the Tower, until 1663, the date of the first
printed edition; the title page of which repeats the date of its
composition, adding, “my former notes being lost;” as he was, however,
the inventor of many ciphers or kinds of short-hand, it is probable his
lost notes would be written so as to be unreadable without the key. It
was printed soon after the passing of the Act for his “Water-commanding
Engine,” which is mentioned in the Dedication to the Houses of
Parliament.
It has been frequently reprinted singly, as well as produced entire in
larger works, of all which publications a list is hereunto annexed.
We subjoin the title pages of the “Century”:--
From the Harleian MS. in the
British Museum.
“From August ye 29th to Sept. From the printed edition of 1663.
ye 21st, 1659.
“A Century of the names and “A Century of the Names and
scantlings of such Inventions Scantlings of such Inventions,
as att present I As at present I
can call to mynde to have can call to mind to have
tryed, and perfected; (my tried and perfected, which
former notes being lost) I (my former notes being
have endeavoured to sett lost) I have, at the instance
these downe in such a way, of a powerful Friend,
as may sufficiently instruct endeavoured now in the year
me to putt any of them 1655, to set them down in
in practice havinge wherewith such a way as may sufficiently
to doe it.” instruct me to put
any of them in practice.”
-----------
“Artis et Naturæ prole.”
-----------
The peculiar term “Scantlings,” here employed, is no doubt derived from
_eschantillon_, a pattern or quantity cut for a particular purpose,
a certain small quantity serving as a sample of some similar larger
piece of work; the “Century” being intended by its author as but the
precursor of his proposed ample, finished, descriptive and illustrated
production.
No one unacquainted with the state of scientific knowledge between
1601 and 1667, can justly estimate the character and value of the
Marquis’s labours. Properly to understand him the reader must place
himself as much as possible in his actual condition, peruse the books
that he might have read, and consider the existing state of society and
science. No commentator has yet done this, and consequently a serious
difficulty has been thrown in the way of the purely classical scholar,
who, though he might fairly estimate the Marquis’s character on points
of history, learning, or theology, could in no way turn to account
his one hundred extraordinary inventions. When Walpole composed his
“Catalogue of Royal and Noble Authors,” the capricious cynic was sorely
perplexed how to treat such a literary production as the “Century.” It
has been said of the wit that he had so disparaged all things in his
own eyes, that nothing appeared to him worthy of admiration, respect,
or emulation; and it is no wonder, therefore, that he should cover his
own ignorance on scientific matters by declaring the book he affected
to criticise, “an amazing piece of folly;” closing his flippant
strictures with the sapient remark, “But perhaps too much has been said
on so fantastic a man; no wonder he believed transubstantiation, when
he believed that himself could work impossibilities!”
David Hume was equally at fault in comprehending the mechanical skill
of the Marquis of Worcester, for we find the eloquent historian, in his
History of England, in perfect simplicity and ignorance, observing,
“That the King judged aright of this nobleman’s character, appears from
his _Century of arts or scantling of inventions_, which is a ridiculous
compound of lies, chimeras and impossibilities, and shows what might
be expected from such a man!” That the “Century” shows “what might be
expected from such a man,” as its author, all must willingly admit; but
that Hume’s pungent tirade presents any logical sequence, all must as
strenuously deny. Never surely did two talented writers, in different
departments of our literature, figure so unfortunately and contemptibly
as Walpole and Hume in their unseemly efforts thus to misrepresent and
malign their country’s noblest mechanical genius.
Verstegan, in his “Restitution of decayed Intelligence,” printed at
Antwerp in 1605, treating in the second chapter of Germany as it was
of old, exclaims: “And as touching the knowledge of the people, what
learning or skill is there among men that they exceed not in.” And
proceeds--“Sundry most rare inventions have had their original and
birth among them. Whereof the noble art of printing, and the use of
Artillery, are of most note.” He then goes on to enumerate “the heaven
of silver,” a piece of exquisite workmanship which it took twelve men
to carry; and the wonderful flying “eagle made of wood.”
We in the 19th century are ever liable to misunderstand the inventions
of the 17th century. Either the inventions often appear puerile, or
their authors seem perplexed on very small occasions of difficulty.
Many have no doubt hastily formed opinions in regard to the automata
and other curiosities of the “Century.” But such judgments can only
emanate from persons not versed in our history and literature from
Elizabeth to Charles the Second’s reign. A few brief illustrations
may be advantageously offered here, to show that within a very short
period after the death of the Marquis of Worcester, scientific
men, in mechanical matters, not only seldom rose above very slight
improvements, but were at the same time delighted with every species of
amusing mechanical device.[A]
The late Marquis’s nephew, then Lord Herbert, being on the Continent,
writes from Blois, 18th July, 1674:[B] --“We are again settled here
for this summer. In our passage from Aix we saw at Lyons the most
curious closets of Monsieur Cervier, which for mathematical
Inventions and Machines (all his own handywork) are the most
surprising and astonishing, I believe, in the world. His many
pretended Perpetual Motions, Hydraulic Dials, various Clocks and
Hour-glasses, his Engines of Sympathy and Antipathy; but above all
his device to discover the most predominant quality in every
spectator, are past my comprehension and conception. These, and a
hundred other things there, might be well worthy a journey in this
long vacation for one of your experimentators.”
In the 21st volume of the Royal Society’s Transactions, for 1685, Dr.
Papin, describes the external appearance, and the performance, of a
small hydro-pneumatic fountain, which is represented in an engraving,
as being enclosed by a cylindrical glass, under a glass shade. The
Doctor states that it might be seen at his house, in operation on his
mantel-piece, where Dr. Hook had watched it for half an hour, and other
visitors for four hours together. The secret had been communicated
to Mr. Boyle, but, with a view to excite the speculations of the
ingenious, was not made public; for it was the pleasure of the learned
to puzzle each other with such paradoxes.
The Diaries of John Evelyn and of Samuel Pepys offer numerous instances
of the possession of similar cabinets of mechanical curiosities.
In the Life of Baron Guilford,[C] we have a fuller notice of scientific
society about the same period, of which the following extracts will
suffice to give a clear idea. It is evident that, except as relates
to the most ancient, approved appliances, then in common use in the
mechanical arts, all mechanical improvement beyond these was in its
non-age; so much indeed was this the case, that no invention was too
simple, and scarcely any too outrageous or absurd, to be esteemed
unworthy of being submitted to the attention of the learned.
“His Lordship was no concealed virtuoso; for his diffused acquaintance
and manner of conversation, made him known and esteemed, as a
professor of most polite arts, and given to scientific inquiries. This
brought upon him an importunity to be admitted a member of the Royal
Society. But his Lordship never countenanced the proposal; and at
length, gave his positive denial. He esteemed it a species of vanity
for one, as he was, of a grave profession, to list himself of a society
which, at that time, was made very free with by the ridiculers of the
town: and he could not discover what advantage of knowledge could come
to him that way, which he could not arrive at otherwise.”
Among his acquaintance were “Sir John Werden--very far gone in the
mystery of algebra and mathematics.--
“One Mr. Aubrey of Surrey, a professed virtuoso, and always replete
with new discoveries.
“One Mr. Weld, a rich philosopher, lived in Bloomsbury. He was single,
and his house a sort of knick-knack-atary. Most of the ingenious
persons about town, sometimes visited him; and, among the rest, (his
Lordship) did suit and service there.
“His Lordship was once invited to a philosophical meal, at the house of
Mr. Evelyn at Deptford. The house was low, but elegantly set off with
ornaments and quaint mottos at most turns; but, above all, his garden
was exquisite, being all boscoresque.
“He had a great value for Sir Jonas Moor, a capital mathematician,
knowing well his worth and honesty, ... (he) once invited his Lordship
to dine with him in the Tower, and, after dinner, presented Mr.
Flamstead ... the star-gazer (who was) invited to come and see him.”
He “had another virtuoso acquaintance in the Temple, one Mr. Ball
... one in the list of his Lordship’s ingenious acquaintance.”
“And once, upon an invitation, his Lordship dined with Sir Samuel
(Morland) at his house; and though his entertainment was exquisite,
the greatest pleasure was to observe his devices; for every thing
showed art and mechanism, as--1. A fountain in the room.--2. A cistern
in his garret--supplying all parts of the house.--3. His coach was
most particular.--4. A portable engine, moved by watch-work--it had a
fire-place and grate,--cost £30. He took it with him in his own coach,
and, at inns, he was his own cook.”
These notices afford a glimpse of the early progress of mechanical
science. To return to our remarks on the “Century;” two of the articles
the Marquis borrowed, No. 21, “A Bucket fountain,” of which he obtained
information at Rome; and No. 26, “A to and fro Lever,” which he saw at
Venice. A great number refer to Cipher writing and means of holding
secret correspondence, many of which contrivances depend on very
slight modifications, so that, although only twenty-three are set
down, he might very easily have enlarged this one subject tenfold,
only to arrive at still more extended conclusions. His engine is noted
under the articles Nos. 68, 98, and 100, as, _a fire water-work_;
_a semi-omnipotent engine_; and _a stupendous water-work_. So that
discarding 2, and reducing these three to one, will leave 96 inventions
emanating from the Marquis. But a further reduction might be made, if
we strike out the additions made to the list, thus: No. 9 is “a ship
destroying engine,” but No. 10 is only the means whereby to fasten it;
and No. 11, a mode of preventing the operation of the engine, in the
hands of an enemy. Now in strictness the whole can only be considered
as one invention. So likewise, in his improvements on Fire-arms;
No. 61, is a way for Muskets, No. 62, for Harquebusses, and No. 63,
for Sakers, &c. which again can but be taken as representing _one_
invention variously applied. These examples would remove four other
inventions from the list, thereby reducing the number of inventions,
due to the Marquis of Worcester in the Century, to 92. But this rather
explains the plan adopted in indicating the several inventions, and in
no way detracts from the value of the work.
The Inventions may be thus classified:
3 refer to Seals and Watches.
2 . . . Games.
2 . . . Arithmetic and Perspective.
6 . . . Automata.
23 . . . Ciphers, Correspondence, and Signals.
10 . . . Domestic affairs.
9 . . . Mechanical appliances.
32 . . . Naval and Military affairs.
13 . . . Hydraulics and the Water Engine.
---
100
The very incongruous character of these matters is suggestive of their
having occurred to the inventive mind of the Marquis at very different
times, at remote intervals, and under varied circumstances; they might
occasionally have resulted from his reading, his studies, or his
experiments. He evidently availed himself of every suggestion that
either reading, accident, experience, or travel threw in his way. His
domestic life led to light, amusive, and mechanical exercises; while
his military operations drew him to consider improvements in ordnance,
fire-arms, and military and naval affairs generally.
All we know regarding the origin of the work itself is derived from the
author’s title page, wherein he states that it was written in 1655, his
“former notes” then “being lost.” He consequently sets down “at the
instance of a powerful friend,” only those inventions he “can call to
mind to have _tried and perfected_.” This explicit language admits of
no doubtful construction, yet he has been maligned by the envious as
recording dreams and fancies. The Century closes with the remarkable
declaration 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 brass-plates.” An intention
which his premature decease rendered unavailing, yet sarcastic
writers have not been wanting to stigmatize the “Century” as though
its author had offered it to public approbation as a complete work;
making no allowance for the circumstances under which it was produced,
as a mere syllabus of the intellectual treasures he possessed, or
the sad occurrence to which alone the non-completion of his promised
publication with engravings of his several designs can be attributed.
Some of his inventions he specially notices to signify their practical
development. Thus No. 56, he performs at the Tower before Charles I,
most of his Court, and the Lieutenant, Sir William Balfour.
No. 64, an improvement on fire-arms, was “tried and approved before the
King (Charles I.), and an hundred Lords and Commons.”
Nos. 59 to 67, further improvements on fire-arms and cannon, occasion
his particularly stating that:--“by several trials and much charge I
have perfectly tried all these.”
No. 77, his scheme for flying, whatever it might have been, whether
a balloon, wings, or a machine, yet even of this he says--“which I
have tried with a little boy of ten years old.”
Lastly, No. 100, a water-work is spoken of as “by many years
experience and labour, advantageously contrived.” And connected with
this water-raising subject we may take No. 68, of which he says:--“I
have seen the water run like a constant fountain-stream forty feet
high.” This is not the language of a speculative theorist. It is
experimental, practical, and demonstrative.
Considering the vast sums expended by the Marquis on his experimental
and on his practical works, the immense variety of his inventions, and
the extreme novelty and singularity of many, it is rather surprising
that no account of any of them has come down to our time, through some
of the many channels of information then open to receive any accounts
of the marvellous. Our next surprise is that none of the many cabinets
of the curious seem to have possessed any model or any curious work
of his production; not even the indefatigable Tradescant, although
his museum was at Lambeth, bought by Ashmole, and given by him to
the Bodleian Museum at Oxford. The Marquis did, however, present a
peculiarly constructed box to Charles the Second, and he offered an
improvement on it to the Earl of Lotherdale,[D] remarking:--“I promise
your Lordship a box, with such conveniences and rarities as that which
you saw had,--though it were a presumption in me to say, I would give
a subject a better qualified present than I gave my Sovereign.” The
invention might refer to the Cabinet mentioned in article No. 79, of
the Century, as well as include some of his ingenious escutcheons,
keys, and locks.
We cannot but suppose that the Marquis was intimately acquainted with
the published works of the renowned Roger Bacon, born in 1212, and who
died at Oxford in 1292, celebrated for his proficiency in mathematics,
mechanics, and chemistry. In his “Discovery of miracles of Art,”
published 1659, there occurs the following passage:--“A man may easily
make an instrument, whereby one man may, in despite of all opposition,
draw a thousand men to himself, or any other thing, which is tractable.”
The Marquis has left in manuscript a list of nine inventions, due to
the “Quint-essence of Motion,” by means of which, he says in the 8th
section,--“I can stop any other man’s motion, and render it null, since
from any point of the compass, I can forcibly and effectually cause
a counter-buff, or absolute obstruction to such motion, which way I
please; all ways being indifferent to me, to work a perfect resistance,
and to countermine their intentions, or to force their motions a clear
contrary way.”[E]
What may be the meaning of either statement it is difficult to imagine;
or even to decide whether they be really allied to each other, for
although in some respects alike, each is very enigmatical.
We have also given in the “Life,” at page 216, a copy of a MS. list
of heads of some inventions, among which occurs:--“Intelligence at a
distance communicative, and not limited to distance, nor by it the
time prolonged.” The wording of which article as clearly as possible
expresses what in modern times has actually been attained by the
magnetic and the electric telegraph. The “not limited to distance,”
and the “time not prolonged” appear conclusive. Wires, tubes, or other
mechanical means of communication would necessarily be “limited to
distance;” and that which alone we believe to be illimitable through,
any human agency is _electricity_. Truly the Marquis of Worcester was a
man of no ordinary stretch of mind.
The “Century” has but slender claims to our notice as a literary
performance. Some persons have even imagined that it would have been
fortunate for the character of its noble author had it never been
written. This is a mistaken view of the subject. In the absence of his
elaborated work, it is fortunate that this precious relic has come
down unmutilated to our time. It is but as a sketch compared with the
finished picture, but we realize the master-hand in the brief outline,
and feel conscious of the intelligence and versatile genius of the mind
that could conceive, work out, and minutely register the forming of
alphabets, automata, ordnance, and finally “a semi-omnipotent engine.”
His work has two dedications, one addressed to Charles the Second, the
other to both Houses of Parliament, composed in a quaint but courtly
style. He mingles classic lore with every-day proverbs. He re-entitles
his book as a “summary collection,” and a “Century of summary heads
of wonderful things,” as “experiments extant and comprised under
these heads practicable with my directions,” and is convinced of “The
treasures buried under these heads both for War, Peace and Pleasure
being inexhaustible;” concluding that it is a “Century of Experiences
perhaps dearly purchased” by him.
He also touches on his pecuniary position, offering, in case he is
assisted with the patronage and support sought, “to outgo the £6 or
£700,000 already sacrificed;” alludes to “the melancholy which hath
lately seized” upon him; and to his work-place at “great expenses made
fit for public service,” amounting to about £10,000, “yet lately like
to be taken” from him.
He assures Parliament that his several inventions are “practicable
with my directions, by the unparalleled workman both for trust and
skill, _Caspar Kaltoff’s_ hand, who hath been these five and thirty
years as in a school under me employed.” So that, dating from 1663,
when he made this statement, we are thus carried back to the year
1628, about the period of his first marriage, and the whole comprises
a space of time from the 27th to the 62nd year of his age. How had he
employed the peaceable portion of those 35 years? It seems to have
been peculiar to the noble experimenter to keep his favourite workman
fully employed in putting into practice whatever was known, and in that
way establish his own improvements. We can find some analogous device
in old scientific writings for the greater part of the subjects he
investigated; and it is no disparagement of his ingenuity to say that
his refinements may often be traced to the crude efforts made by others
to attain similar results. Italy, Germany, Holland, and France abounded
in authors whose works we may easily imagine formed a favourite portion
of his library; Vitruvius, Vegetius, Hero, Ramelli, Branca, De Caus,
Fludd, Besson, Van Etten, Schwenter, Porta, Lana, and other similar
tomes replete with engraved brass, copper, and wood-engravings. But the
English press likewise produced such works, as Bourne’s Inventions,
1578; Lucar’s Lucar-solace, 1590; Bate’s Mysteries of Art, 1634;
Wilkins’ Mathematical Magick; Porta’s Natural Magick, 1658; De Caus’
New and Rare Inventions, 1659, &c. Of all these we are disposed to
think that _Bate’s Mysteries of Nature and Art_ was an early favourite;
the second edition appeared in 1635, when the Marquis was 34 years of
age. The first portion of the work on “Water-works” opens with the
observation: “It hath beene an old saying amongst Philosophers, and
experience doth prove it to bee true, _Non datur vacuum_, that is
to say, Nature will not admit of any vacuity or emptinesse. For some
or other of the Elements, but especially Ayre and Water, doe insert
themselves into all manner of concavities, or hollownesses, in, or
upon the earth, whether they are such as are formed either by Art or
Nature.” Through 82 pages the same subject of Water-works is carefully
examined, and at page 57, is a description with engravings of “the
Watermill or Engine neare the North end of London Bridge.”
In the composition of the “Century,” we notice several peculiarities
which may sometimes be accounted for by the writer having caught
the style of certain English authors. In a letter dated 30th of
August, 1646, he quotes the proverb, “a _child_ burned dreads the
fire,” and in the “Century” we find the word “_child_” occurring
six times to indicate little power or strength being required. The
word “_conceited_” is used three times in the sense of ingeniously
contrived. All these modes of expression are also peculiar to Bate,
Plat, and the translation of Van Etten. The “_twinkling of an eye_”
is an expression used twice. The article No. 15, is “A boat _driving_
against wind and tide;” in _Humane Industry_, 1661, appears--“a way to
_drive_ their ships without oar.” The term “_admirable_” is common to
Bate and to the Marquis; and so is another, that of the word “_force_,”
peculiarly used in article No. 68, when he speaks of the “vessels”
being “strengthened by the _force_ within them:” really meaning no
more, as appears, than some kind of pump-force or plunger acting the
part of a valve to diminish any superabundant steam pressure; and not,
as is perplexingly supposed, that he had some contrivance for making
the expansive force of the steam within the boiler act of itself to
strengthen the vessel!
When we read in article No. 56, the expression, “A most incredible
thing if not seen,” and find Dr. Dee, in his preface to Euclid,
expressing himself on a kindred subject, that it is--“A thing almost
incredible,” we cannot refuse to believe from internal evidence that
the author was from natural inclination well acquainted with that
early English translation. The range of such studies as he delighted
in, taken from the reign of Elizabeth to the troubled times of
Charles the First, or even later, was very restricted; therefore a
course of scientific reading would soon be exhausted by an
indefatigable inquirer, who would then probably settle down to being
satisfied with a small but chosen collection of his favourite
authors. It is not only in traits of language that we see a
resemblance in such early authors, but equally do we find a certain
agreement in their matter. John Bate, for example, mingles the great
with the small, the serious with the ludicrous; he has philosophical
experiments, a great water-work, amusive toys, pyrotechny, drawing,
and medical recipes arranged in four books; and the several editions
appear to have enjoyed an amount of popularity which has made any of
them very scarce in a perfect form.
A careful perusal of the “Century” will satisfy the reader that
its contents relate principally to the practical and useful,
notwithstanding that some appear of doubtful value, and some even
paradoxical. The variety of cannon and musquetry is singular, the
improvements in ships and fortifications quite surprising, and in
various mechanical appliances remarkably ingenious. But, after all,
what was the special design of its author; what was he principally
seeking to establish through this wide course of investigation? It is
evident he sought some mechanical power to supersede ordinary wind,
water, and animal power. He tried weights and springs, screws and
levers, and finally he filled a piece of a cannon three-quarters
full of water, which, after making a fire under it, “burst and made a
great crack.” The aim and object of all his laborious experiments was
now attained, and from the day when he thus burst the cannon, steam
power was realized, its application pursued, various kinds of machines
constructed, and the strangeness, novelty, and power of the new engine
were such that he declared, as in an ecstacy of delight, “I call
this _A Semi-omnipotent Engine_, and do intend that a model thereof
be buried with me.” Nay, more, he bowed down in adoration before his
Maker, rendering him most humble thanks for vouchsafing him “an insight
in so great a secret of nature.”
It is worth remarking, that the very form of the “Century” was rather
due to a custom among scientific inventors than to any whim on the part
of its author. In the 13th century, Wilars de Honecort had given a
statement of fourteen inventions. In like manner Leonardo da Vinci, of
ten various schemes for bridges, ditches, fortifications, and others,
military and naval. So again Ralph Rabbards in 1574, Edmund Jentill
in 1594, and Henry Marshall in 1595, gave notices of their several
discoveries in medical waters, fire-works, and mechanical devices.
In 1583, appears a MS. note of twenty “sundry sorts of engynes.” In
1596, Lord Napier wrote concerning his four “secret inventions,”
concluding:--“These inventions, besides devices of sailing under water,
with divers other devices and stratagems for harming of the enemies, by
the grace of God, and work of expert craftsmen, I hope to perform.” In
James the First’s reign was published a tract entitled, “Cornu-Copia:
a miscellaneum of lucriferous and most fructiferous experiments,
observations, and discoveries, immethodically distributed; to be really
demonstrated and communicated in all sincerity.” The suggestions,
amounting to seventeen, are chemical, medicinal, agricultural, and
mechanical. In 1632, Thomas Grent patented six inventions, not one
of which is otherwise described than after this manner:--“First. An
instrument very profitable when common windes doe fail, for a more
speedy passage of calmed shipps, or other vessels upon the sea or great
rivers, which may be called the wind’s mate.” In 1636, Sir John C. Van
Berg patented eight inventions, specified after this manner:--(First)
“Diverse mechanicke instruments and frames operating by waights, soe
to bee fitted and ordered that the force and strength of them may bee
augmented or diminished either in regard of the instruments themselves,
or in respecte of the number of workmen to be employed aboute them
accordinge as occasion or necessitie shall require; &c.” In 1646,
Captain Bulmer gave Emanuel College, Cambridge, a certificate of four
hydraulic and mechanical inventions. In 1659, an account of Roger
Bacon’s “admirable artificial instruments” was published, relating to
ships, chariots, flying, scaling ladders, diving bell, &c. So that
there was no lack of precedents for the form adopted in treating the
multifarious subjects recorded in the “Century.” But, indeed, had
no other existed, he had a sufficient example in the vague patent
specifications that his predecessors, and he himself (in 1661), lodged
as sufficient and valid instruments to secure a right in the matters
therein specified. And in confirmation of this we have only to place in
juxta-position the fore-named patent of 1661, and the “Century,” to see
at once the close resemblance between the two; thus No. 1, is the 78th
article, No. 2, the 58th, No. 3, the 19th, and No. 4, the 15th article
of the “Century,” copied almost verbatim.[F] We, therefore,
find that the one hundred articles are as explicit as any of the patent
specifications of, and prior to, the reign of Charles the Second. Yet
men of unquestionable literary taste, but unacquainted with these
simple facts, have charged the Marquis of Worcester with mystifying
his statements, by writing too enigmatically, without considering
his promise, had he lived, “to leave to posterity a book” containing
“the means to put in execution all these inventions;” and without the
indulgence of awarding him at least the merit of writing his very
syllabus with all the amplification required by law for the enrolment
of a Patent Specification.
While the Marquis was struggling to obtain royal and state patronage,
he had a powerful rival in Sir Samuel Morland, a gentleman of the Privy
Chamber and Master of Mechanics, to Charles the Second. It has never
been noticed that, simultaneously with the Marquis, he was projecting
plans of novel means for draining mines, and it is very improbable
that, while so engaged, he could view disinterestedly the various
efforts of the Marquis of Worcester. In the “Calendar of State Papers,
Domestic Series for 1661–1662, edited by Mrs. M. A. E. Green,” octavo,
1861, we find the following particulars under the respective dates,
viz:--
“Dec? 1661. No. 36. Petition of [Sir] Samuel Morland to the King,
for a patent for the sole use of his invention of an Engine for
raising water out of mines or pits, quicker and better than
before practised.
“Dec. 11. Whitehall. Warrant for a grant to Sir Sam. Morland of
the sole use for 14 years of his invention for raising water out
of pits, &c. to a reasonable height, “by the force of powder and
air conjointly.”
“Dec. Whitehall. Vol. 46. No. 49. Warrant for a grant to Sir Sam.
Morland of the sole making of an Engine invented by him for
raising water in mines or pits, draining marshes, or supplying
buildings with water.”
The annexed reprinted title page is a facsimile for size and
letter-press _within_ the gothic frame, employed to enlarge it. The
smallness of the work was by no means unusual, indeed the first
edition, in the British Museum, is bound in a volume uniform with the
discourses of Sir William Petty, and of Dr. Grew, before the Royal
Society, in 1674, issued by its own printer. Although more than ten
years later the quaint style reminds one of the Dedications to the
“Century,” as when Sir William says he was commanded to print his
discourse--“Because, as drapers cut patterns of their whole cloth out
of an end, not because the end is better than the rest, but because
it may be best spared; so (I suppose) the Society are content, that
this exercise pass for a sample, _pro tanto_, of what they are doing.”
And of his second part he observes that it is “To excite the world to
the study of a little Mathematics, by showing the use of Duplicate
Proportions in some of the most weighty of human affairs, which notion
_a child of 12 years_[G] old may learn in an hour.” Lastly, the Epistle
Dedicatory informs us that:--“Falsity, disproportion, and inconsistence
cannot be rectified by any sermocinations, though made all of figurate
and measured periods, pronounced in tune and cadence, through the most
advantageous organs; much less by grandiosonous or euphonical nonsense
farded with formality; no more than vicious wines can be remedied with
brandy and honey, or ill cookery with enormous proportions of spice
and sugar: _Nam Res nolunt malè administrari_.” One example from Dr.
Grew’s epistle to his discourse will suffice, where he says:--“I know,
my Lord, that there are some men, who have just so much understanding,
as only to teach them how to be ambitious: the flattering of whom, is
somewhat like the tickling of children, till they fall a dancing.”
The annexed Commentary has for its object to show the several
sources from which it is not less probable than possible that the
Marquis derived a certain amount of information for his guidance in
endeavouring to advance and refine on the same by his own efforts at
improvement. Many intelligent persons, particularly classical scholars,
and men of purely literary tastes, whose reading has not embraced the
study of the literature of science, have supposed that the whole or
greater part of the Marquis of Worcester’s inventions emanated solely
from his own unguided inventive skill; and not a few may have imagined
it would be derogatory to the originality of an inventor to suppose
him walking in the steps of others, however much he might outstrip
their attainments in the same branch of inquiry. But all invention is
progressive--first, laws of nature are discovered, then applications
are invented, and last follow divisions and sub-divisions of endless
great, small, and minute improvements. The Marquis originated many
improvements, but assuredly only one pre-eminent invention, his
great “fire water-work.” It would have been easy for us to make the
commentary consist of essays on modern improvements, more or less
traceable to the suggestive character of the “Century.” But we stop
where the Marquis laid down his pen, preferring rather to show that
materials existed from which he might derive the several classes of
subjects therein noted, which many have so far doubted as to believe
they originated wholly with himself; as by adopting the other course,
we should only satisfy the public of the great use the “Century” has
been to others, a matter which has never been doubted.
We thus see that the “Century” is but the epitome of a greater work,
designed to have been published with suitable explanatory engravings,
which the premature decease of the author alone frustrated. During two
hundred years the subjects of the various inventions and improvements
it calendars have been long superseded, so that there is not one,
perhaps, that would in the least assist the modern engineer, however
minutely it could be described. Yet the history of the Steam Engine,
of Inventions, and of Inventors would be incomplete indeed without a
Memoir of the Marquis of Worcester, and some account of his inimitable
“Century of Inventions.”
Much might be written on the conflicting opinions expressed by
historical, biographical, and scientific writers, regarding the
intellectual capacity and ingenuity of the Marquis as well as of
their adverse statements on various historical points. But instead
of adopting such a thoroughly controversial strain, which after all
would only lead to a very doubtful result, another and very different
course has been adopted in the present work, by supplying facts in
place of conjecture. The writer, who is strongly imbued with political,
theological, or scientific views, cannot write otherwise than as
directed by the natural effect of such influences. But as a rule the
arena of scientific discussion is neutral ground; and the biographer
and commentator, in the present instance, does not feel swayed by
any party prejudice, and certainly not by any peculiar scientific
views. It has been his wish to associate himself as much as possible
with the Marquis and with his times, irrespective of modern taste,
changed customs, and enlarged knowledge, as contrasted with a period
about the middle of the seventeenth century. Here the critic rises in
importance with the information he possesses of a bygone age. But it
has been so uniformly the misfortune of the Marquis of Worcester to be
examined solely through a modern medium, that it is almost surprising
his antiquated costume, and style of writing, should have escaped the
generally reckless course of censure bestowed on the precious relics
that alone remain to attest his amazing genius.
Every work descriptive of the Steam-engine, gives some historical
notice, awarding a certain amount of dubious merit to the Marquis of
Worcester, among other early inventors, but it would be impossible
to point to a single instance savouring of any national pride in the
inquiry. It seems incredible, and might be believed to be so, had we
not the fact before our eyes, that the true history of the origin of
the Steam-engine is only now emerging into light in the form best
calculated to place the fact beyond dispute.
Like all other great inventions, the improvements in the Steam-engine
have been progressing from 1663 to the present day. Its history
presents three eras:--1st, the period when the parent engine and
its immediate successors were called “fire engines;”--2nd, from
Newcomen’s time, when that stage of improvement was designated
the “atmospheric-engine;” and, 3rdly, its last form, the true
“steam-engine” of Watt. We cannot destroy one link in this mystic chain
without serious hazard, without deranging the natural consanguinity of
these children of the brain. But while we consider it unnecessary to
deal singly with each work contributing an apocryphal history to the
origin of the steam-engine, a solitary instance occurs, within the last
five years, the publication of which demands special notice.
Nowhere should we less expect to find a want of sympathy with the
amiable character and astonishing scientific abilities of the Marquis
of Worcester than in the pages recording the life of James Watt; for
there we might hope to be supplied, as from a fountain-head, with the
pure stream of most authentic information; an elaborate, careful,
and comprehensive digest of the best materials that learning and
influence could accumulate; at once clearing up many doubts, and for
ever dissipating the groundless surmises of a multitude of superficial
writers. We should never expect a less careful procedure, or in its
absence other than the most respectful allusion to the true inventor of
the steam-engine--that engine from which Watt’s is lineally descended.
Had the Marquis of Worcester and his “Century,” together with his
Engine, been unknown, and consequently also his untiring representation
and advocacy of its wonderful properties, where would have been the
justly-admired models of Savery, Newcomen, and Watt? The inveterate
prejudice against the employment of any new engine with which the
Marquis had to contend, was not wholly extinct even in the days of
Watt’s early career; and it was the all-powerful influence of large
capital alone that secured for him what Charles the Second blindly
withheld from the great engineer’s noble predecessor.
We are far from advocating any undue devotion either to a theory or
to a hero. But, certainly, if the rhetorical flourishes of M. Arago
can justly be summoned to eulogize the hot-water fountain of De Caus,
in preference to producing his own clear, simple description; then,
assuredly, in common fairness Mr. Muirhead should have felt bound to a
somewhat similar advocacy of the Marquis of Worcester’s invention. If
M. Arago’s example is to be quoted, showing how much could be advanced
in favour of De Caus’s little metal sphere, then surely Mr. Muirhead
should have exerted himself to represent and distinguish the superior
properties of the Marquis’s Water-commanding Engine, raising four
vessels of water, forty feet high, through a tube a span wide.[H]
But Mr. Muirhead hazards no opinion decidedly favourable to either the
Marquis or his inventions; while, on the contrary, his observations
suggest unfounded difficulties, and raise unnecessary doubts,
contributing to increase the existing confusion found in our current
literature, in relation to the great inventor and his projects; an
instance is even adduced of the pseudonymous writer, Robert Stuart,
who, in his “Anecdotes,” and his “History,” flatly contradicts himself;
and frequently what one compiler only conjectures, another takes up
as a fact. But this vicious system of writing is not to be corrected
by following in the same track and proposing new speculative views,
offered too in a strain seriously derogating from the Marquis’s
character for honour, integrity, consistency, and consummate ingenuity.
In quoting the “Century” Mr. Muirhead notices that it concludes with
the promise of a more finished work, which only elicits the sinister
remark: “that he either was unable, or never seriously intended to
make such a further publication.” This is indeed unjust, and severe
enough. And what he quotes from the “Century” about the _Engine_, is
only to tell what “posterity supposes” about it; and to note that,
in respect to it, “there has always prevailed a great diversity of
opinion.” But here is no attempt made to trace and analyse that
“diversity of opinion,” or to dissipate the cloud. The Marquis’s
captivity in the Tower is mis-stated; and the luckless “pot-lid” story
enlarged and improved upon, for it is concluded that hence--“so runs
the story--arose the ‘Century of Inventions,’ with its steam-engine
all ready--made and acting;--at least in the mind of its contriver!”
This undignified view of the case of the imprisoned, ruined, neglected
inventor of the steam-engine, never deserved to be enrolled in the
volume devoted to the life of his glorious but remote successor.[I]
Although, however, we have been presented with a view of De Caus
as elevated through the medium of Arago’s eloquent Eloge, when
endeavouring with true national zeal to claim the honour of the
invention of the steam-engine (even on this slender proof) for his own
country; this position seems only to have been assigned to him in the
present instance, to make his downfall the more signally complete;
for Mr. Muirhead most dispassionately observes:--“Considering the
uselessness of the contrivance of De Caus, and the doubtfulness
existing as to that of the Marquis, it is, perhaps, rather surprising
that ‘the invention of the steam-engine’ should have been attributed
to either of them, with such great confidence as both English and
French writers have alternately shown.” Unfortunately for this
antithesis, the one invention is not “worthless,” and the other is not
properly to be charged with “doubtfulness.” It may be justly said, in
one sense, that all the engines preceding those made in Watt’s time
are “worthless,”--but we have here a wide range. In 1615 De Caus’s
invention was not “_worthless_,” although its worth was limited to
its demonstrating one simple mode of applying an important elementary
principle. And the vast amount of accumulated evidence relating to the
Marquis of Worcester’s Engine indisputably removes all “_doubtfulness_”
as to its actual accomplishment and general construction, so far
as words, irrespective of absolute models and drawings, can supply
information; and the absence of these latter accessories is traceable
solely to the lapse of time, combined with the indifference of the
public to designs that went beyond general information on such matters,
as well as from their exceeding the common manufacturing skill, and
not captivating the small commercial enterprize of that age.
We must estimate the Marquis of Worcester by his general character.
His natural taste and domestic habits led him into mechanical
studies, while his large fortune enabled him to retain a paid
mechanic in his service for nearly forty years, expending many
thousands of pounds in experimental and practical trials of engines,
machines, automata, naval and military works, and great guns and
fire-arms. In his private life he was strictly honourable, virtuous,
consistent, and free from all narrow or bigoted views, either in
politics or religion. So adverse, however, did the course of events
prove to him, that his loyalty and his religion combined, can alone
be named against him as his greatest misfortune. His “Century” has
been preserved to these times, but all his other works which might
have thrown a fuller light on his inventions have perished. Whether
books and papers belonging to him were procured and burnt, according
to the story relating to such an incident, is now past discovery; but
it is abundantly evident that the great scarcity of information which
exists, has led to the propagation of many unfounded statements, and
given undue weight to others purely conjectural. That which cannot be
established by producing positive evidence, is too often only
complicated by hazarding opinions irrespective of reasonable
evidence, or worse, in the face of reasonable grounds for contrary
statements. The “Century” stands alone in the languages of the
civilized world, the strange monument of a strong mind, seeking its
full development in a prejudiced age, striking into new paths which
society could not comprehend, and which it therefore would not
patronise.
H. D.
Blackheath, Kent, November, 1864.
EDITIONS OF THE CENTURY.
* * * * *
1663. London: Printed by J. Grismond in the year 1663. small 12mo.
1746. London: Printed in the year 1663. Reprinted and sold by T.
Payne, in Round-Court in the Strand, 1746.
1748. No particulars. A copy was sold, according to Lowndes’s Bib.
Man. with MS. additions.
1763. No particulars. Query--1663.
1767. Glasgow: Printed by R. and A. Foulis, 1767.
1778. Dated “Kyo, near Lanchester [co. Durham], June 18, 1778,” with
an “Appendix containing an Historical account of the Fire-Engine
for raising water.”
1778. A reprint agreeing with above, except in having _no name or_
_date_. It repeats the Title of the first edition, 1663, and
at the end gives the foregoing “Appendix: containing an
Historical Account of the Fire-Engine for raising water.” 8vo.
In the latter, Dr. Desagulier’s Lectures, 1744, are quoted, so
that this may possibly be an edition short only of a leaf,
bearing the same place and date as the preceding.
1786. Glasgow, Printed. London: Reprinted by W. Bailey, Proprietor of
the Speaking Figure, now shewing, by Permission of the Right Hon.
the Lord Mayor, at No. 40, within Bishopgate, 1786. Sq. 16mo.
1813. Newcastle; Printed by S. Hodgson, Union Street, 1813. 8vo. pp. 53.
Title page:--“The Marquis of Worcester’s Century of Inventions,
to which is added, An Appendix containing an historical account
of the Fire-Engine, for raising Water; which invention originated
from the above work. By John Buddle.” [The Preface is dated “Kyo,
near Lanchester, June 18, 1778,”--in the North West of Durham.
See edition 1778. A copy of this reprint is in the Library of the
Patent Office.]
1813. The Title page is a reprint of 1663, and on the back appears
“Reprinted by J. Adlard, 27, Bartholomew Close, 1813.” [London.]
Sq. 16mo. 1813. [It would appear from a MS. note by Mr. P. Bliss,
in an interleaved edition of “Walpole’s Royal and Noble Authors,”
Brit. Mus. that this year there was another edition of “The
Century, &c.” viz.]--
London, sold by R. Triphook, 37, St. James’s Street; J. Major,
West Smithfield; and R. Priestley, 143, High Holborn.
[12mo. price 4_s._ sewed; 100 copies printed, 1813.]
1825. The Century of Inventions of the Marquis of Worcester. From
the Original MS. &c. By Charles F. Partington. London: John
Murray, Albemarle Street, 1825. 12mo.
REPRINTED IN THE FOLLOWING WORKS: VIZ.--
1789. The Gentleman’s Magazine, Vol. 18. 8vo.
1801. The Philosophical Magazine. By Alexander Tilloch. Vol. 12. 8vo.
pp. 43 to 57.
1802. The Repertory of Arts, Manufactures, and Agriculture. Vol. 1.
Second Series. 8vo.
1809. The Harleian Miscellany: a collection of scarce Pamphlets and
Tracts, &c. By Oldys and Park. Vol. 4. 4to.
1815. A Treatise of Mechanics. By Olinthus Gregory, L.L.D. &c. 3rd
edition. Vol. 2. 8vo.
1822. The Mechanic; or, compendium of Practical Inventions. By James
Smith. 2 vols. 8vo. p. 403.
1824. The Kaleidoscope. Liverpool. Vol. 5. 4to. No. 212 to No. 219.
1825. The Mechanics’ Magazine [London.] Vol. 3. 8vo. p. 18.
1827. One thousand Notable Things. London, T. Tegg; and Glasgow,
Griffin and Co. [Appended to this reprint of the original work,
12mo. by “Thomas Lupton,” B.L. 1586. 4to.]
1833. Mechanics’ Magazine. New York. Vol. 1. 8vo. pp. 82 to 92.
1856. Weale’s Quarterly Papers on Engineering. Vol. 5. 4to.
[Illustration: ornate border surrounding the following title page]
A CENTURY OF THE Names and Scantlings OF SUCH INVENTIONS,
As at present I can call to mind to have tried and
perfected, which (my former Notes being lost) I have, at the
instance of a powerful Friend, endeavoured now in the Year
1655, to set these down in such a way as may sufficiently
instruct me to put any of them in practice.
------_Artis & Naturæ proles._
_LONDON_: Printed by _J. Grismond_ in the year 1663.
TO THE _KINGS_
_Most Excellent MAJESTY_.
SIR,
SCIRE meum nihil est, nisi me scire hoc sciat alter, _saith the Poet,
and I most justly in order to Your Majesty, whose satisfaction is my
happiness, and whom to serve is my onely aime, placing therein my_
Summum bonum _in this world: Be therefore pleased to cast Your gracious
Eye over this Summary Collection, and then to pick and choose. I
confess, I made it but for the superficial satisfaction of a friends
curiosity, according as it is set downe; and if it might now serve
to give aime to Your Majesty how to make use of my poor Endeavours,
it would crowne my thoughts, who am neither covetous nor ambitious,
but of deserving Your Majesties favour upon my own cost and charges;
yet, according to the old English Proverb_, It is a poor Dog not worth
whistleing after. _Let but Your Majesty approve, and I will effectually
perform to the height of my Undertaking: Vouchsafe but to command, and
with my Life and Fortune I shall chearfully obey, and_ maugre _envy,
ignorance and malice, ever appear_
YOUR MAJESTY’S
Passionately-devoted, or
otherwise dis-interested
Subject and Servant,
WORCESTER.
_To the Right Honourable_
THE LORDS SPIRITUAL AND TEMPORAL;
_And to the_ KNIGHTS, CITIZENS, AND BURGESSES _of the
Honourable House of Commons;_ NOW _assembled in Parliament_.
_My Lords and Gentlemen_,
Be not startled if I address to all, and every of you, this Century
of Summary Heads of wonderful things, even after the Dedication of
them to His most Excellent Majesty, since it is with His most gracious
and particular consent, as well as indeed no wayes derogating from my
duty to His Sacred Self, but rather in further order unto it, since
your Lordships, who are His great Council, and you Gentlemen His whole
Kingdoms Representatives (most worthily welcome unto Him) may fitly
receive into your wise and serious considerations what doth or may
publickly concern both His Majesty and His tenderly-beloved People.
Pardon me if I say (my Lords and Gentlemen) that it is joyntly your
parts to digest to His hand these ensuing particulars, fitting them
to His palate, and ordering how to reduce them into practice in a way
useful and beneficial both to His Majesty and His Kingdom.
Neither do I esteem it less proper for me to present them to you in
order to His Majesty’s service, then it is to give into the hands of
a faithful and provident Steward whatsoever dainties and provisions
are intended for the Masters diet; the knowing and faithful Steward
being best able to make use thereof to his Masters contentment and
greatest profit, keeping for the morrow whatever should be overplus or
needless for the present day, or at least to save something else in
lieu thereof. In a word, (my Lords and Gentlemen) I humbly conceive
this _Simile_ not improper, since you are His Majesty’s provident
Stewards, into whose hands I commit my self, with all properties fit to
obey you; that is to say, with a heart harbouring no ambition, but an
endless aim to serve my King and Countrey: And if my endeavours prove
effectual, (as I am confident they will) His Majesty shall not onely
become rich, but His People likewise, as Treasurers unto Him; and His
Pierless Majesty, our King, shall become both belov’d at home, and
fear’d abroad; deeming the riches of a King to consist in the plenty
enjoyed by His People.
And the way to render him to be feared abroad, is to content his
People at home, who then with heart and hand are ready to assist
him; and whatsoever God blesseth me with to contribute towards the
increase of His Revenues in any considerable way, I desire it may be
imployed to the use of His People; that is, for the taking off such
Taxes or Burthens from them as they chiefly groane under, and by a
Temporary necessity onely imposed on them; which being thus supplied
will certainly best content the King, and satisfie His People; which,
I dare say, is the continual Tend of all your indefatigable pains,
and the perfect demonstrations of your Zele to His Majesty, and an
evidence that the Kingdoms Trust is justly and deservedly reposed in
you. And if ever Parliament acquitted themselves thereof, it is this
of yours, composed of most deserving and qualified Persons; qualified,
I say, with your affection to your Prince, and with a tenderness to
His People; with a bountiful heart towards Him, yet a frugality in
their behalfs.
Go on therefore chearfully (my Lords and Gentlemen) and not onely our
gracious King, but the King of Kings, will reward you, the Prayers of
the People will attend you, and His Majesty will with thankful arms
embrace you. And be pleased to make use of me and my endeavours to
enrich them, not my self; such being my onely request unto you, spare
me not in what your Wisdoms shall find me useful, who do esteem my
self not onely by the Act of the Water-commanding Engine (which so
chearfully you have past) sufficiently rewarded, but likewise with
courage enabled to do ten times more for the future; and my Debts
being paid, and a competency to live according to my Birth and
Quality setled, the rest shall I dedicate to the service of our King
and Countrey by your disposals: and esteem me not the more, or rather
any more, by what is past, but what’s to come; professing really from
my heart, that my Intentions are to out-go the six or seven hundred
thousand pounds already sacrificed, if countenanced and encouraged by
you, ingenuously confessing that the melancholy which hath lately
seized upon me (the cause whereof none of you but may easily guess)
hath, I dare say, retarded more advantages to the public service than
modesty will permit me to utter: And now revived by your promising
favours, I shall infallibly be enabled thereunto in the Experiments
extant, and comprised under these heads practicable with my
directions by the unparallel’d Workman both for trust and skill,
_Caspar Kaltoff’s_ hand, who hath been these five-and-thirty years as
in a school under me imployed, and still at my disposal, in a place
by my great expences made fit for publick service, yet lately like to
be taken from me, and consequently from the service of King and
Kingdom, without the least regard of above ten thousand pounds
expended by me, and through my Zele to the Common good; my Zele, I
say, a field large enough for you (my Lords and Gentlemen) to work
upon.
The Treasures buried under these heads, both for War, Peace, and
Pleasure, being inexhaustible; I beseech you pardon me if I say so;
it seems a Vanity, but comprehends a Truth; since no good Spring but
becomes the more plentiful by how much more it is drawn, and the
Spinner to weave his web is never stinted but further inforc’d. The
more then that you shall be pleased to make use of my Inventions, the
more Inventive shall you ever find me, one Invention begetting still
another, and more and more improving my ability to serve my King and
you; and as to my heartiness therein there needs no addition, nor to my
readiness a spur. And therefore (my Lords and Gentlemen) be pleased to
begin, and desist not from commanding me till I flag in my obedience
and endeavours to serve my King and Country.
_For certainly you’l find me breathless first t’ expire,_
_Before my hands grow weary, or my legs do tire._
Yet abstracting from any Interest of my own, but as a Fellow-Subject
and Compatriot will I ever labour in the Vineyard, most heartily and
readily obeying the least summons from you, by putting faithfully in
execution, what your Judgments shall think fit to pitch upon amongst
this Century of Experiences, perhaps dearly purchased by me, but now
frankly and _gratis_ offered to you. Since my heart (methinks) cannot
be satisfied in serving my King and Country, if it should cost them
any thing; As I confess when I had the honour to be neare so obliging
a Master as His late Majesty of happy memory, who never refused me his
Ear to any reasonable motion: And as for unreasonable ones, or such
as were not fitting for him to grant, I would rather to have dyed a
thousand deaths, then ever to have made any one unto him.
Yet whatever I was so happy as to obtain for any deserving Person, my
Pains, Breath and Interest imployed therein satisfied me not, unless I
likewise satisfied the Fees; but that was in my Golden Age.
And even now, though my ability and means are shortened, the world
knows why my heart remains still the same; and be you pleased (my Lords
and Gentlemen) to rest most assured, that the very complacency that I
shall take in the executing your Commands shall be unto me a sufficient
and an abundantly-satisfactory reward.
Vouchsafe therefore to dispose freely of me, and whatever lieth in my
power to perform; first, in order to His Majesty’s service; secondly,
for the good and advantage of the Kingdom; thirdly, to all your
satisfactions, for particular profit and pleasure to your individual
selves, professing that in all and each of the three respects I will
ever demean my self as it best becomes,
_My Lords and Gentlemen_,
_Your most passionately-bent Fellow-Subject in
His Majesty’s service, Compatriot for the
publick good and advantage, and a most
humble Servant to all and every of you_,
WORCESTER.
A CENTURY OF THE Names and Scantlings of Inventions by me
already practised.
[*.* The numerals refer to variations in the reading, afforded by the
_Harleian MS._; except when marked P, to distinguish the unauthorised
and other alterations made by Mr. Partington, in his edition of 1825.]
I.
Several sorts of Seals, some shewing by scrues, others by gages,
fastening or unfastening all the marks at once; others by
additional points and imaginary places, proportionable to
ordinary[1] Escocheons [2][3] and Seals at Arms, each way
palpably and punctually setting down (yet private from all
others, but the Owner, and by his assent) the day of the Moneth,
the day of the Week, the Moneth of the Year, the Year of our
Lord, the names of the Witnesses, and the individual place where
anything was sealed, though in ten thousand several places,
together with the very number of lines contained in a Contract,
whereby falsification may be discovered, and manifestly proved,
being upon good grounds suspected.
Upon any of these Seals a man may keep Accompts of Receipts and
disbursments from one Farthing to an hundred millions, punctually
shewing each pound, shilling, peny or farthing.
By these seals likewise any Letter, though written but in
English, may be read and understood in eight several languages,
and in English it self to clean contrary and different sense,
unknown to any but the Correspondent, and not to be read or[4]
understood by him neither, if opened before it arrive unto him;
so that neither Threats, nor hopes of Reward, can make him reveal
the secret, the Letter having been intercepted, and first opened
by the Enemy.
Footnotes
[1] _Escocheon_ is the old heraldic term.
[2] Escucheons. MS.
[3] Escutcheons. P.
[4] nor to be.
[_Seals abundantly-significant._] Under this title the present
article is referred to in the “Index,” given by the Marquis, at the
end of the first edition of his “Century,” while the articles
themselves are only distinguished by consecutive numerals. Therefore,
without deranging the original form of the “Century,” the designation
of the several articles will appear throughout, as above, at the head
of each comment.
The author, never having met with any attempt to elucidate the
mechanical arrangement here suggested, communicated a plan that
occurred to him in 1829, soon after reading the foregoing, which was as
follows:--
A Cipher Seal. Amidst the variety of inventions for giving security
to property, few improvements have been made in seals or signets. I
shall proceed to describe a cipher seal, which, though not, perhaps,
so “abundantly significant” as those described by the Marquis of
Worcester, might, nevertheless, be applied to very important uses,
inasmuch as the face of the seal may be varied at pleasure.
[Illustration: A Cipher Seal]
Fig. 1. A, the seal handle; B, the seal made moveable on the pivots at
_c c_.
Fig. 2. Is a section of the seal. It consists of two metal plates, B
B, and D D, having a number of corresponding holes drilled through
them, as at _a a a a_, and _b b b b_, into which the ends of small
rollers, _a b_, _a b_, are made to fit and turn exactly. When all the
holes are supplied with rollers, the plates, B B, D D, are retained at
a proper distance by a metal rim, soldered to the edges of the plates.
The ends of the rollers being thus exposed, and ground level with the
surface of each plate, are to have a groove cut in each, similar to a
screw head; this is to be effected by cutting lines from end to end
of the plate, as shown at _e e_, _e e_, Fig. 1. With a graver a small
dot is next to be made, all to the right on one plate, and all to the
left on the other; or, _vice versa_, of each line occupying the small
circular end of _each_ roller. It is now evident that, by using a small
chisel-shaped steel instrument, or key, with which to turn the roller,
the small dotted line on its end, may be so varied as to form any
alphabetical arrangement.
The position of the dotted line admits of sufficient variety to take
in 24 letters, distinct enough to the eye, without increasing the size
of the seal. In this alphabet only three variations are supposed to be
made from the horizontal and perpendicular, one very slight on either
side, the other greater, and the third at an angle of 45°. It only
requires a transposition of the letters to produce a correspondence
which shall be private between two persons. The use of two faces to the
seal is obvious, one serving to compose on, and _the other_, being a
reverse, to make an impression on the wax. Were this not the case, a
sentence would have to be written from right to left. Its use might be
multiplied by making each cipher refer to an entire word or sentence;
as, if _a_, stood for men; _b_, for horses; _c_, food; _d_, money; and
so forth: a mode which it would be next to impossible for any third
party to decipher.--See Mechanics’ Mag. vol. x.
2.
How ten thousand Persons may use these seals to all and every of
the purposes aforesaid, and yet keep their secrets[5] from any
but whom they please.
Footnote
[5] secrets private.
[_Seals private and particular to each owner._] The present is one of
those articles of a nature already noticed in the introduction, which
can scarcely be classed as an independent invention; it is in fact
little, if any, more than some intricate application of the foregoing,
a mere step beyond the more obvious employment of such seals. We may
consider the first as the instrument, and No. 2 as an ingenious table,
by the aid of which to construct alphabets, words, or sentences.
3.
A Cypher and Character so contrived, that one line, without
returns and[6] circumflexes, stands for each and every of the 24.
Letters; and as ready to be made for the one letter as the other.
Footnote
[6] or--for and.
[_An one-line Cypher._] A line to be continuous, and yet capable of
signifying a series of letters, must be curved. A method of performing
this occurred to the author some years ago, which affords a very
simple key, being composed from the Circle and the Ellipsis, and can
be, therefore, very readily kept in mind. The first affords only one
figure, the second can be varied to one vertical and two inclined
figures, and all can be again varied as to size, but for convenience
only three gradations are recommended, as four or more would increase
the difficulty of writing accurately. These varieties are shown in the
annexed diagram--
[Illustration: A one line Cipher]
where each is described three-fold, with a horizontal line through
the centre. Each figure thus affords three varieties of size above,
and three below the line, making six figures each, or twenty-four in
all, as curvilinear signs for letters. These taken in rotation, may be
extended as above, or in any arbitrary order, and each employed, as in
short-hand, to signify letters, syllables, or words. In practice it
is only requisite to bear in mind the three gradations of size, so as
never to mistake the middle semicircle for the outer ones. This is to
be avoided by invariably making the small figure as small as possible,
and the greater figure as large as space will permit.
4.
This invention refined, and so abreviated that a point onely
sheweth distinctly and significantly any of the 24. letters; and
these very points to be made with two pens, so that no time will
be lost, but as one finger riseth the other may make the
following letter, never clogging the memory with several figures
for words, and combination[7] of letters; which with ease, and
void of confusion, are thus speedily and punctually, letter for
letter, set down by naked and not multiplied points. And nothing
can be less then a point, the Mathematical definition of[8] being
_Cujus pars nulla_. And of a motion[9] no swifter imaginable
then[1] _Semiquavers_ or _Releshes_, yet applicable to this
manner of writing.
Footnotes
[7] combinations. P.
[8] of it. MS. and P.
[9] motion, equally as swift as _semiquavers_. P.
[1] than what expresseth even.
[_Reduced to a Point._] A man of the Marquis of Worcester’s ingenious
cast of mind could readily have made up the entire “Century” out
of these systems of alphabets and secret writing. He may have been
acquainted with “Traicté des Chiffres, ou Secretes Manieres d’escrire,
par Blaise de Vigenere, Bourbonnois.” 4to. Paris, 1586--now very
scarce; but indeed there were many learned works on the subject, among
which Trithemius’s “Libri Polygraphia VI,” 1600, was conspicuous. The
long disuse of such methods of secretly conveying information, has
reduced the cleverest of these systems of Cryptographia in public
estimation. But, at the same time, these inventions were quite
consistent with the early times in which the Marquis flourished. We
shall see, in the next article, what probably illustrates this proposed
use of a mere point or dot.
5.
A way by a Circular motion, either along a Rule or Ring-wise, to
vary any Alphabet, even this of Points, so that the self-same
Point individually placed, without the least additional mark or
variation of place, shall stand for all the 24. letters, and not
for the same letter twice in ten sheets writing; yet as easily
and certainly read and known, as if it stood but for one and the
self-same letter constantly signified.
[_Varied significantly to all the 24. letters._] This and the former
article may certainly be taken in connection with each other; and the
cipher engraved in No. 3, would seem to anticipate the present proposal
of “a circular motion along a rule.” The “ring-wise” method may have
been no more than a substitution for the octagon or any other figure.
We fortunately find among the Harleian MSS. in the British Museum,
No. 2428, a probable clue to this particular method of writing, which
we shall give entire. It forms the first portion of the small oblong
folio volume containing the Manuscript Century at the end, with many
intervening blank pages between them. It is as follows:--
“_An explanation of the most exact and most compendious way of short
writing. And an example given by way of Questions, and Resolves upon
each significant point, proving how, and why, it stands for such and
such a letter, in order Alphabetically placed in every page._
“A. Q. How is a point made to signifie an A. Resol. By being placed
between the constant center of the square and the right side thereof
in a streight line not touching it. [See diagram at the end].
It is proved by drawing a line from the said center towards, and
not to touch the right side line, and then you will finde the line
placed under an A of the Alphabett in each page.
“B. Q. How is a point made to signifie a B. Res. By being placed
between the center of the square, towards the right corner upper angle
of the Octagon, or square devided in to eight Angles, not touching the
line thereof.
It is proved by drawing an oblique line from the center, towards the
right corner upper angle, yett not touching the line thereof, and
then you will finde it to bee the line placed under a B, in the
Alphabett of each page.
In like manner lett there be a Question, and a Proofe made of all the
other Letters in order and you will finde--
“C. The C. to bee placed in a streight line from the center upwards,
but not arriving to the upper side line of the square.
“D. The D. in an oblique line towards the left upper corner line but
not touching it.
“E. The E. in a streight line between the center of the left side line,
butt not touching it.
“F. The F. in an oblique line downwards, towards the left angle line,
butt not touching it.
“G. The G. in a streight line downwards from the center, likewise
towards the lower line of the square not touching it.
“H. The H. in an oblique line downwards towards the right angle line,
butt not touching it.
“I. The I. in a streight line from the center to the midle of the right
side line.
“K. The K. in an oblique line from the center to the right upper angle
touching it.
“L. The L. in a streight line from the center upwards, and touching
the upper line.
“M. The M. in an oblique line from the center towards the left upper
corner line touching it.
“N. The N. in a streight line from the center to the midle of the left
side line.
“O. The O. in an oblique line from the center downwards, towards the
left corner touching the line thereof.
“P. The P. in a right line from the center downwards touching the
lower side line.
“Q. The Q. in an oblique line downwards towards the right corner
touching the line thereof.
“R. The R. in a streight line from the center to the outside, and
furthest line of the right midle and opposite chequer touching it.
“S. The S. in an oblique line from the center, and passing the right
upper corner line.
“T. The T. in a streight line from the center and passing the
upper-side line of the square.
“V. The V. in an oblique line from the center upwards passing the left
upper corner line.
“W. The W. in a streight line from the centre to the left outside and
furthest line of the left midle and opposite chequer.
“X. The X. in an oblique line downwards passing the left lower corner
line.
“Y. The Y. in a streight line downwards passing the lower side or
bottome line.
“Z. The Z. in an oblique line downwards passing the
right corner line of the square.
“The Chequers are five in number, which of either outside show the
vowells, and each Chequer haveing two corners inwards of each side
make tenn, those towards the preceding square may conteyne of the 24
letters, and the opposite corners as many Alphabetically, and the
centers of the two upper Chequers square, and of the two lower shew
the other 4 letters; The 20 in the Chequers are noted by a separation
of a corner in the printed Alphabett, and the 4 by the midde points.
“It is for curiosity and secresy to bee deservedly observed that
whether in squares or chequers single points only stand for letters,
and they being varyed att pleasure, it is in any ones power to keepe
his secrett from me or any other not made acquainted with the
denominations by him given to the severall points, and accordingly by
him marked in the 24 blank squares, and rowes of chequers placed
under the Alphabett in his private explanation easily to be framed by
him mutatis mutandis, only that is making the questions and resolves
according to his points as they represent the letters to his owne
fancy keept private from others without his consent.
“The points are to bee written, and reade as they precede, or as they
are the one above the other, unlesse they have a sequell distinction
made by takeing the penn of the paper thus ✓ without further
losse of tyme, and such as are soe marked, must be written and read as
the others they being soe made, but for husbanding of paper, the word
being soe conteyned in lesse roome, the e at the end of most words
prolonging butt the sillable, and all needlesse and unsounding letters
are to bee omitted; I will not trouble you with more rules leaving the
rest to practice.”
The preceding description is written on small oblong pages, which
measure 11¼ by 7¼ inches, the whole surface of the unwritten
portions being covered with an engraved pattern, of which Fig. 1 is
but a portion of the top left-hand corner, and therefore proceeds no
further than letter _h_, which ends the application of that particular
figure.
[Illustration: The Marquis’s Cipher]
Fig. 2. Gives the next form for 8 other similar situations, commencing
at _i_. And--
Fig. 3. Is again 8 more, commencing at _r_; making in all 24 characters
or letters.
We thus see how, whether by a dot, or a short line of three gradations
in length, an entire alphabet may be obtained.
On page 180 of “The Life of the Marquis of Worcester,” is the facsimile
of a letter written by his Lordship about 1646–7, apparently adopting
this very cipher. It occurs in a volume, entitled “Carte Papers,
1634–57. Ireland, No. 63,” in the Bodleian Library.
It is worth remarking here, that the foregoing description, with
its accompanying brass-plate engravings, looks exceedingly like an
instalment of his promise, conveyed to us in the concluding lines of
the 100th Article.
6.
How at a Window, far as Eye can discover[2] black from white, a
man may hold discourse with his Correspondent, without noise made
or notice[3] taken; being, according to occasion given and means
afforded, _Ex re natâ_, and no need of Provision before-hand;
though much better if foreseen, and means prepared for it, and a
premeditated course taken by mutual consent of parties.
Footnotes
[2] discern.
[3] noise--for, notice. P.
7.
A way to do it by night as well as by day, though as dark as
Pitch is black.
[_A mute and perfect discourse by colours._]
[_To hold the same by night._]
These two may be ranked as the same system, the one used by day, the
other illuminated to be conspicuous at night. As early as 1658, John
Baptista Porta, in his “Natural Magick,” entitled the last chapter of
his 16th Book, “By night we may make signs by fire.”
We have here a simple system of telegraphy, the only examples afforded
by the “Century,” of this particular mode of correspondence.
8.
A way how to level and shoot Cannon by night as well as by day,
and as directly; without a platform or measures taken by day, yet
by a plain and infallible rule.
[_To Level Cannons by Night._] In 1587 was published, “_The Arte of
shooting in great Ordnaunce_,” by William Bourne. Among other matters
in the table of contents are the following:--
“The 10th Chapter showeth how to mount a mortar piece, for to lay the
shot at any distance appointed.
“The 13th Chapter is, how to give level at a mark upon a hill or valley
with a quadrant.
“The 24th Chapter is, how for to batter the walls of any town, as well
by night as by day.
“The 25th Chapter doth declare how to plant ordnance by night, to
batter the walls of any town, or displace any ordnance in any bulwarks,
or any such other like, as well by night as by day.” And--
“The 26th Chapter doth declare how for to keep a haven, or river, on
the sea coast, for to sink a ship, as well by night as by day in all
points.”
On the subject of levelling great guns, Fludd’s “Historia Macrosmi,”
1618, would afford abundant suggestions, with three copper-plate
engravings, showing the operation of using the quadrant.
9.
An Engine, portable in ones Pocket, which may be carried and
fastened on the inside[4] of the greatest Ship, _Tanquam aliud_
_agens_, and at any appointed minute, though a week after, either
of day or night, it shall irrecoverably sink that Ship.
Footnote
[4] the side.
[_A Ship-destroying Engine._] In 1578, William Bourne, in his
“Inventions or Devices,” had in the 17th article, suggested, “How for
to sink a ship that hath laid you aboard, without shooting of ordnance.”
And again in his “Arte of shooting in great ordnaunce,” published in
1587, the 56th Chapter, suggests a mode “to sink a ship.”