Part 3

This view of the high and honourable public official position held by the Marquis is also borne out by the petition of William Lambert, about 1664, to be found in the State Paper Office. It was addressed to Charles II. and sets forth:--"That your petitioner was founder to his late Majesty of blessed memory, in Vauxhall, under the Marquis of Worcester, for gun and water-work, or any other thing founded in brass." Nothing surely can be more certain than that the Marquis's was a public situation, and his "Century" affords ample evidence of his aptitude in that respect for the post which he filled; nor can we better account for his numerous improvements in fire-arms, cannon, sailing vessels, fortifications, and embankments.

His "Century of Inventions" is the mere syllabus or outline of a proposed larger work, for he concludes with the statement of his--"meaning to leave to posterity a book, wherein under each of these heads the means to put in execution and visible trial all and every of these inventions, with the shape and form of all things belonging to them, shall be printed by brassplates,"--the usual substitute at that time for copperplates. It is most unfortunate that he did not live to complete his projected publication. But in common candour let it not be forgotten that, the promise thus placed before us was published in 1663, not long before the devastating plague, which almost depopulated the metropolis in 1665, and the terrible conflagration of 1666, which laid waste the city of London; and that it was in the midst of the accumulated calamities thus inflicted on society, that his health appears to have suddenly given way; aged, harassed, disappointed, and dismayed, he was prematurely called to his long rest on the 3rd of April, 1667; but whether he died at Vauxhall, at the family town mansion, Worcester House, in the Strand, or at some other place is unknown; so little was he understood or esteemed for his intellectual capacity at the period of the Restoration. As though it were not a sufficient infliction to be ruined, dishonoured, oppressed, and neglected while living, it would almost appear that events conspired to lessen, if possible, the lustre of his memory by the dark shades of apocryphal history; which ascribed the invention of the steam-engine to the pretended fact of the Marquis while in imprisonment, having seen a pot lid blown off by the expanding steam; made out against him a false case of political forgery; and, worse than all, scandalously forged a letter in Paris to make it appear that in 1641 the Marquis borrowed his idea of the steam engine from Salomon De Caus, during a visit to the Bicêtre, at Paris. The fact that this same De Caus died at Paris, and was buried in the Church of La Trinité, in February, 1626; shows how requisite it is for rogues to remember historical dates.

See Worcesteriana, 8vo. 1866, page 257.

On the 3rd of June, in 1663, the Parliament passed an Act securing to the Marquis of Worcester the full benefit and profit of his "Water-commanding Engine," for the term of ninety-nine years. And in the same year he printed his memorable "Century," in the Dedication of which he alludes to the above Act, as one by which he feels "sufficiently rewarded."

The "Century" is little more than a Catalogue Raisonné, although each matter of invention is as fully and intelligibly stated as was required in the Patent office specifications of the period. To give some idea of its contents, we shall enumerate only the first twenty-five. 1. Seals abundantly significant; 2. private and particular to each owner; 3. a one line cipher; 4. reduced to a point; 5. varied significantly to all the 24 letters; 6. a mute and perfect discourse by colours; 7. to hold the same by night; 8. to level cannon by night; 9. a ship-destroying engine; 10. how to be fastened from aloof and under water; 11. how to prevent both; 12. an unsinkable ship; 13. false destroying decks; 14. multiplied strength in little room; 15. a boat driving against wind and tide; 16. a sea-sailing fort; 17. a pleasant floating garden; 18. an hour-glass fountain; 19. a coach-saving engine; 20. a balance waterwork; 21. a bucket fountain; 22. an ebbing and flowing river; 23. an ebbing and flowing castle clock; 24. a strength increasing spring; and 25. a double drawing engine for weight.

We find in the "Century" that three of the articles refer to improved seals and watches; two to games; two to arithmetic and perspective; six to automata, or self-acting mechanical contrivances; no less than twenty-three to ciphers, correspondence, and signals: in short, secret writing and telegraphs; ten to useful appliances in domestic affairs; nine are wholly mechanical; upwards of thirty-two were intended for use in naval and military affairs; and thirteen, including his Water-commanding Engine, were connected with hydraulics. It is singular that he professes "to have tried and perfected all these," words of great import in all matters of novel invention.

That age was fond of patronizing what we should now-a-days be disposed to call "nic-nacs." Ingenious automata, curious toys and works of art, small fountains, singing birds, and similar curiosities attracted the serious attention of the virtuosi of the 17th century; so that we need not feel surprised that the Marquis set up a speaking Brazen Head; or that it should be of gigantic proportions, for he was always regardless of cost in such matters, and was never small where he could be great in developing his resources of ingenious contrivance. Wherever it was possible, he was magnificent--fortifications, embankments, ships rowing against wind and tide, great floating baths, and gardens, large cannon, in short, he was princely in his expenditure of his private fortune on whatever he undertook to perform, whether in war or in peace. It was thus he spent, lent, and lost for his King and country £918,000. He particularly notices that he laid out on buildings and experiments at Vauxhall, the sum of £59,000. But these items are far from representing his actual expenditure, although they indicate the scale of his operations; and taken at their value two centuries back such sums manifest marvellous munificence.

We have no certain key to any of his inventions, if we except two specimens of his cipher writing. One exists in the British Museum, and there is a deciphered letter in the Bodleian Library, Oxford.

See engraving and account of it in The Life, Times, and Scientific Labours of the Marquis of Worcester, 8vo. p. 398. 1865.

Ibid, page 180.

His noblest invention, that which must for ever embalm his memory in the breasts not alone of Englishmen, but of all classes throughout the civilized world, was in operation at Vauxhall from 1663 to 1667, during his life time, and appears to have been working as late as 1670. It was ordered by the Act granted him, "that a model thereof be delivered to the Lord Treasurer or Commissioners for the Treasury for the time being, at or before the 29th of September, 1663; and to be put into the Exchequer, and kept there." And in the 98th article of the "Century," alluding to this same engine he says--"I call this a semi-omnipotent engine, and do intend that a model thereof be buried with me." Yet, strange to say, neither the one model nor the other, although zealously searched for, has come to light: and so little attention did this invention, notwithstanding its surprising utility, excite in the 17th century, that all the account we have of it, besides that by the inventor himself, is the briefest possible notice given by two foreign travellers, Sorbière in 1663-4, and Cosmo the third, Grand Duke of Tuscany, in 1669. It is satisfactorily ascertained, however, that upwards of seventeen persons, all living in 1663, were more or less acquainted with the Marquis's mechanical operations at Vauxhall, and must have seen the great water-engine at work, if only as a novelty, and a matter of curiosity.

Returning to the "Century of Inventions," we find it to be a journal of the fruits of its noble author's study of mechanical philosophy for nearly forty years, so that in it we may almost trace the youth and age of his mental capacity. Viewed through a modern medium we might feel disposed to discredit the genius of a man who could contrive so many curious alphabets for secret writing as those he mentions, but such systems were extensively practised in political and private correspondence during the Civil war period to baffle the curiosity of political opponents. What may be called mechanical tricks were also much in vogue, such as singing and flying birds, artificial figures and horses, and curiously contrived watches, cabinets, locks, and keys. Unless we bear in mind the taste of the age, we shall read with surprise such an announcement as the following, in the 88th article in the "Century":--

"How to make a brazen or stone head, in the midst of a great field or garden, so artificial and natural, that though a man speak never so softly and even whispers into the ear thereof, it will presently open its mouth, and resolve the question in French, Latin, Welsh, Irish, or English, in good terms uttering it out of his mouth, and then shut it until the next question be asked."

No doubt the Marquis had in mind the history of the renowned Brazen Head attributed to Friar Bacon. The authors of the works on mechanical subjects published down to the 17th century, did not disdain to describe the way to manufacture automatic men, animals, and birds, with suitable joints, springs, weights, and bellows; and therefore, the Marquis did really no more than express the character of the times, without lowering his own superior intelligence. He was seeking the patronage of royalty, parliament, and the public, and if he offered occasionally such trifles as commanded the attention of the multitude, he never in the whole course of his chequered life lost sight of his more important occupations, the conceptions of a mind far in advance of that dismal and dark period. At the same time, that his age neglected to uphold applied science, and pertinaciously opposed whatever appeared to savour of innovation on time-honoured manufactures and trades, we cannot overlook the anomalous fact that it gave birth to Shakspeare, Bacon, and Milton; Sir Thomas Brown, Wallis, Hook, Newton, and Boyle, together with a brilliant constellation of luminaries who adorned every department of our general literature. Science alone stagnated, and the construction of public works was chiefly conducted by foreign aid. The establishment of the Royal Society in 1660, however, gave promise of that improvement which has steadily gone on year by year to the present day.

We have thus before us a broad outline of the Marquis of Worcester's birth, education, studies, and scientific pursuits. His tastes and employments were not suited to a successful political or military career, at a time when the rupture between the Crown and the Parliament rendered it necessary for every man to take the side either of the Cavaliers or the Roundheads. Both father and son displayed unbounded loyalty, although professing the Roman Catholic faith. Had they, like many other noble families, adopted the policy of taking opposite courses, the family might eventually have retained estates which were forfeited when the King was deposed, and were principally enjoyed by Cromwell. Raglan Castle was demolished, all that could be carried away was sold, the strong tower or citadel was partially blown up, its ditch left dry, and all that could be most readily spoiled was mutilated, even to the marble and alabaster monuments in Raglan Church, raised to the memory of ancestors of the family. Such ruthless destruction and pillage has failed, however, to obliterate the towers, walls, arches, chambers, and numerous vaults of that once princely residence.

From the year 1601 to 1641, (forty years of his life) was a period to which he refers as his "Golden Age" in the dedication of his "Century." While that from 1641 to 1647-8, (when he fled from Ireland to France,) was the most exciting, exhausting, and disastrous of his whole existence, and closed with utter ruin to himself and his family. He had then living his second wife, Henry, his son and heir, and two daughters. The family town mansion, Worcester House in the Strand, partly used as a State Paper Office, was eventually granted to the Marchioness of Worcester for her residence. The wearisomeness and distress attendant on his residence as a refugee in France during four years, was embittered by above two years imprisonment in the Tower, the result of his venturing to revisit London while proscribed by the Parliament as "an enemy and traitor to the Commonwealth," all such being threatened that they shall "die without mercy, whenever they shall be found within the limits of this nation." Burton, in his interesting Diary of Oliver Cromwell's Parliament, says in reference to the case of the Marquis on this occasion:--"It was urged he was an old man, had lain long in prison, and the small-pox then raging under the same roof where he lay; and he had not, as was said, done any actions of hostility, but only as a soldier; and in that capacity had always shown civilities to the English prisoners and Protestants. It was therefore ordered that he should be bailed out of prison." He was probably then about fifty-three years of age, but so harassed and so worn down by fatigue that he might well appear to be a prematurely "old man." He was not, however, too old to write his "Century" in 1655, and to re-write and publish it in 1663; to apply for and obtain an Act of Parliament for his great invention of a steam water-raising engine; and to get a working engine set up at Vauxhall, and project a public company for obtaining funds sufficient to extend its utility to the supply of towns, and canals, and for draining mines and marsh lands.

The Marquis of Worcester was sincerely impressed with the capabilities and great value of his invention; and it affords a striking proof of his high estimation and correct knowledge of the magnitude of his discovery, that he should have bowed himself before his Maker in humble adoration, acknowledging in a solemnly sublime strain his sense of obligation to the Supreme Source of all intelligence, for permitting him to become instrumental in the development of so great a mystery of nature. It is so short and significant that no apology can be required for quoting it entire:

"The Lord Marquis of Worcester's ejaculatory and extemporary thanksgiving prayer when first with his corporal eyes, he did see finished a perfect trial of his Water-commanding Engine, delightful and useful to whomsoever hath in recommendation either knowledge, profit, or pleasure.

"Oh! infinitely omnipotent God whose mercies are fathomless, and whose knowledge is immense and inexhaustible, next to my creation and redemption I render Thee most humble thanks even from the very bottom of my heart and bowels, for thy vouchsafing me (the meanest in understanding), an insight in so great a secret of nature beneficial to all mankind, as this my Water-commanding Engine. Suffer me not to be puffed up, O Lord, by the knowing of it, and many more rare and unheard of, yea unparalleled inventions, trials, and experiments, but humble my haughty heart, by the true knowledge of my own ignorant, weak, and unworthy nature, prone to all evil. O most merciful Father, my Creator, most compassionating Son, my Redeemer, and Holiest of Spirits, the Sanctifier, three Divine persons and one God! grant me a further concurring grace with fortitude to take hold of thy goodness, to the end that whatever I do, unanimously and courageously to serve my king and country, to disabuse, rectify, and convert my undeserved, yet wilfully incredulous enemies, to reimburse thankfully my creditors, to remunerate my benefactors, to re-enhearten my distressed family, and with complacence to gratify my suffering and confiding friends may, void of vanity or self-ends, only be directed to thy honour and glory everlastingly. Amen."

Judging of the Marquis of Worcester's personal appearance from two family portraits, one when he was probably about twenty-five years of age, by Vandyck; the other when between forty and fifty years old, by Hanneman; he must have been rather of a delicate frame, and in stature somewhat under the average height; his face oval, with sharp bright eyes, and wearing a cheerful benignant aspect. His dress was, of course, the costume of the period of Charles the Second's reign, but its character has not been observed in either of the portraits just named, one of which represented him in armour, and the other, as was not then unusual with artists, attired as a Roman general. We infer that he laboured under a defect in his speech, from his remarking in a memorial addressed to the King that he penned it--"To ease your Majesty of a trouble incident to the prolixity of speech, and a natural defect of utterance which I accuse myself of." It might be interesting to speculate how his sense of deficiency in physical strength, in eloquence of speech, and volubility of language might have contributed to the fostering of that disposition for intense application to scientific studies which became to him like a second nature.

During the first two years of the Restoration, the Marquis was in pretty regular attendance on his Parliamentary duties. In 1661, he was obliged to seek protection so that proceedings might not be taken against him by his creditors; and about the same time his forfeited estates were restored to him, but so encumbered and impoverished as to yield him a very insufficient income, if any. It was in the midst of such distractions as these that this talented inventor and noble benefactor to his species had to maintain his social position; and, at the same time, endeavour to convince the bigoted age in which he may be said rather to have existed than to have flourished, that he was master of a power of such magnitude for the abridging of human labour, as the mind of man had never before conceived.

It may be freely conceded that, stupendous as he himself pronounced the parent engine to be, it was but as the acorn compared to the time-honoured monarch of the forest. Just as the existence of the plant is dependent on that of the seed, so if the Water-commanding Engine, the great Fire Water-work he constructed had never existed, we might have been unacquainted, to this day, with the mechanical application of steam, and should have been deprived in consequence of the manifold blessings it bountifully bestows on mankind.

ADDENDUM.

Evidence of the Marquis of Worcester's claim to the Invention of the Steam Engine.

1. His personal claim to have written a statement respecting it in 1655; his MS. being afterwards lost.

2. The Act of Parliament which was granted him for the term of ninety-nine years, and which received the royal assent on the 3rd June, 1663.

For lists of the names of members on the several Committees appointed on the occasion of this Act being applied for, see--"The Life, Times, &c.," 8vo. 1866, pages 254-5.

3. His "Century of Inventions," printed from a re-written copy of his lost notes of 1655; and which names in the Dedication, the granting of the above Act.