[An artificiall Ring-horse.] The nearest approach to this automaton was that of a mechanical horse, the invention of Colonel De Hamel, of the Wurtemberg Cavalry. This was, until lately, exhibited at Mason’s establishment, Piccadilly, but is now in Germany. It is made of wood, covered with a natural skin, and contains machinery which can be operated by a lever to produce any variety of action, from that of the most gentle to the fiercest of an unruly horse. But the animal possesses no locomotive power, being restrained to one spot by a strong pillar underneath, working at the centre in a cup-and-ball joint, so that it can fall sideways, backwards, or forwards, unless prevented by equestrian skill; it was, however, more than master of the greater number of many excellent horsemen who subjected themselves to its astonishing gambols.

The Marquis’s automaton was possibly intended for a kind of circus, and we may suppose that a strong post being in the centre, a long wooden bar was so placed across it as to revolve—with the horse attached to one end, and a weight or counterpoise on the other extremity, motion being given to the horse’s legs by internal machinery, and acting to propel it so long as the rider pleased, or the mechanism permitted.

92.

A scrue made like a Water-scrue, but the bottom made of Iron-plate Spade-wise, which at the side of a Boat emptieth the mud of a Pond, or raiseth Gravel.

[A Gravel Engine.] The principle of the modern dredging machine is to be seen in Besson’s “Theatrum Instrumentorum et Machinarum,” 1578, where about 25 hampers or buckets are attached to two endless chains passing over two drums, one at the bottom of two strong inclined poles, the other at the top of the same, where a workman turns it by means of an ordinary winch applied to an endless screw; while labourers below are actively filling the ascending vessels. The Marquis may have had in view to make each bucket dig up its own supply of gravel, &c. as indeed is the present practice.

This antiquated dredging machine, in some other form, had been contemplated in 1558. The Petition of George Cobham, Tomazo Chanata, and others, was presented to Queen Elizabeth, for the sole use of an engine to cleanse and carry away all shelves of sand, banks, &c. out of all rivers, creeks, and havens.—See Cal. State Papers, Dom. Series, 1547–1580. Edited by R. Lemon, F.S.A. 8vo. 1856, page 119, No. 56.

In 1583, an inventor, whose name does not appear, proposed, as one out of twenty inventions:—“An engine for cleansing or taking away of any shelves or shallow places in the river of Thames, or any such river; the same device may serve for cleansing of ditches about cities or towns, ponds, or any such like standing waters.”—Rara Mathematica, edited by J. O. Halliwell, F.R.S., &c. 8vo. 1841.

John Gilbert obtained a patent, dated 16th July, 1618, for a water plough, for the taking up of sands or banks out of the river Thames or other places. And the same John Gilbert, with James Freese, obtained a patent, dated 8th July, 1631, for engines or instruments, called water ploughs, for the taking up of sands, gravel, shelves, and banks out of the Thames and other havens. Also Symon Hill, on the 30th May, 1633, patented his invention for taking away of beds of sand and gravel from rivers.

93.

An Engine whereby one man may take out of the water a Ship of 500. Tun, so that it may be calked, trimmed and repaired without need of the usual way of stocks, and as easily let it down again.

[A Ship-raising Engine.] We find in Besson’s admirably illustrated folio work on Instruments and Machines, 1578, many means delineated for raising vessels; for taking them bodily out of the water; or, for laying them high and dry on shore for repairs, as in plates 55, 56, and 58. All such methods are naturally, however, not only very rude and imperfect, but are at best only applicable for small craft.

In 1636, Sir John Christopher Van Berg, Moravian Knight, dispossessed of all his property “by the devouring wars in Germany,” patented eleven inventions; the fifth being—“An assured way how the very greatest ship may be drawn up again, though it be sunk 80 fathoms deep.”

94.

A little Engine portable in ones Pocket, which placed to any door, without any noise, but one crack, openeth any door or gate.

[A Pocket Engine to open any door.] Doppelmayr gives an account of the screw-jack invented by Leonard Danner in 1550. It must have been well known in the following century, and we can readily understand how the principle of its action may have occurred to the Marquis for application to a pocket instrument that would exactly accord with his statement.

Bishop Wilkins, in his “Mathematical Magick,” 1648, treating on the employment of multiplied wheels, refers to Ramelli, Figure 160, observing:—“Hither also should be referred the force of racks, which serve for bending of the strongest bows, as also that little pocket engine wherewith a man may break or wrench open any door, together with divers the like instruments in common use.”—Chap. 13, pages 91, 92.

95.

A double Cross-bow, neate, handsome and strong, to shoot two Arrows, either together, or one after the other, so immediately that a Deer cannot run two steps but, if he miss[5] of one Arrow, he may be reach’d with the other, whether the Deer run forward, sideward, or start backward.

[A double Cross-bow.] The employment of the cross-bow still lingered when this was first published in 1663. The invention is so obvious that any particular description would be superfluous, the whole effect consisting in either shooting the two arrows singly, or together.

In an article on Cross-bows, in Fosbroke’s Encyclopedia of Antiquities, 1840, it is stated that—“In a letter remissory, dated 1420, it is said, ‘lequel Haquinet a chevauchie tendu crenequins et arbalestes a croc’—that is, which Haquinet rode along with crenequins bent, and arbalestes on the hook. By the croc or crook is meant the hook, into which the trigger caught; of use both in bending the bow and shooting.”

96.

A way to make a Sea-bank so firm and Geometrically-strong, that a stream can have no power over it; excellent likewise to save the Pillar of a Bridge, being far cheaper and stronger then Stone-walls.

[A way for Sea-banks.] This article stands alone in the “Century” as an example of a singular divergence from its author’s main course of pursuits. It is more than likely that his idea in the present instance was the mere use of loose stones, laid down at such a curvature as to break rather than resist the force of heavy seas and rapid torrents, for such a plan would be decidedly “cheaper and stronger” than any masonry, especially if presenting a vertical surface to the surging sea.

97.

An Instrument whereby an ignorant person may take any thing in Perspective, as justly, and more[5] then the skilfullest[6] Painter can do by his eye.

[A perspective Instrument.] John Bate, in his “Mysteries of Nature and Art,” 1635, gives, at page 155, “A very easie way to describe a Towne, or Castle: being within the full sight thereof.” A vertical square frame is divided by means of a number of threads, crossing each other at equal distances. A vertical pillar opposite, has a spy-hole at the top, through which the town, or other prospect is to be viewed, and to be drawn square by square, on paper placed on the table below, until the whole is completed, as shown in a wood-engraved illustration. No doubt the Marquis had refined on this, or some like invention.

98.

An Engine so contrived, that working the Primum mobile forward or backward, upward or downward,[7] circularly or cornerwise, to and fro, streight, upright or downright, yet the pretended Operation continueth, and advanceth none of the motions above-mentioned, hindering, much less stopping the other; but unanimously, and with harmony agreeing they all augment and contribute strength unto the intended work and operation: And therefore I call this A Semi-omnipotent Engine, and do intend that a Model thereof be buried with me.

[A Semi-omnipotent Engine.] The Marquis, previous to the publication of this article, had permitted a written notification of a few of this inventions to be circulated, which is given at length, in Appendix A. In the commencement of this MS. we recognize an earlier reading of the foregoing, as follows:—“The quintessence of motion, or a collection of all kinds of mouvements, to wit; circular, to and fro, perpendicular, upwards and downwards; side-motions, to the right and left; straight motions, forwards and backwards, with a circular vehiculum, to which any of these may be applicable, or moveable to all the points of the compass; at each of which, it will be as powerful as if it were fixed to one place or centre.

“All and every of these, by height of Art, Industry, and Experiment, working the same individual and intrinsical effect, without disturbance one to the other; and yet by these absolutely contrary motions, so performed, most strange and incredible effects may be brought to pass, to the admiration of even the greatest mathematicians.

“The knowledge of these things rendering all things as feasible to him that is master of this art, as it is to make a circle with a pair of compasses, or a straight line with a square or ruler; they being a direct abstract of arithmetic contrived by me.”

No. 98 may be read as a second notice of his steam engine; No. 68, developing the broad principle of its source of action, while the above indicates the working parts. He may allude to the facility of communicating motion to levers, forces, pistons, or plungers, in any direction, by turning on steam to variously arranged pipes, so that to his mind it appeared as though it were something of super-human origin. While the beauty, novelty, and success of his new design overawed his own mind, it was a matter of infinite surprise to him that he could not immediately impress others with a sense of the immense value and unbounded importance of an invention which superseded animal power: placing at man’s disposal a greater and more controllable mechanical agent than even the elements of nature, under the most favourable circumstances, had ever supplied.

He expressed his own solemn impression, on seeing the successful issue of this great work, when he said—“I call this a semi-omnipotent engine, and do intend that a model thereof be buried with me.”

99.

How to make one pound weight to raise an hundred as high as one pound falleth, and yet the hundred pound[8] descending doth[9] what nothing less then one hundred pound[8] can effect.

[A most admirable way to raise Weights.] In his MS. of a select number of his inventions, we have, in No. 6, the following earlier reading of the above:—

“By these (his quintessence of motions) I can make one pound raise an hundred, as high as the pound falls; and the one pound taken off the 112 pounds shall again descend, performing the entire effect of an hundred weight, that is, have the force which nothing less than 112 pounds can have any other way. An incredible effect till seen, but true as strange.”—See Appendix A.

Keeping in view Nos. 25 and 27, we have here a third application of the same principle, by which it is proposed with one pound to raise a hundred “as high as one pound falleth.” In the engraved figure of this demonstrative model, one steam cylinder B, is shown, with its steam pipe and valve at A; one end of a cord is attached to the piston B, and passing over the drum wheel D, is attached to the weight X. As condensation ensues, the descent of B, will raise X; and it may be reset for another lift by drawing off the condensed water at E, and readmitting steam.

Here we are required “to make one pound weight” so that it shall be able to raise 100 times its own weight, always bearing in mind—“as high as one falleth.” This being no Archimedian experiment would be unintelligible to any man ignorant of steam, and some mode of applying its property of condensation.

James Rollock,[S] in his doggerel verses, attempts some description of this principle as applied to raising water, when he says:—

The plain English of Rollock’s feeble lines is, that a stream of water falling like “small drops of rain,” on the steam cylinder, caused the elevation of a hundred or more gallons, which he likens to “Noah’s flood,” in illustration of the greatness of the result; while the steam “weighs but itself,” being condensed. “Here little David,” is no more than the single attendant on the “Giant’s brood,”—the Water-commanding Engine.

The distribution of the three articles, Nos. 25, 27, and 99, is evidently adopted to conceal their connection; as we have already seen in the instance of Nos. 22, 23, and 58, which, although related to each other, are yet separated, as though they were quite independent.

100.

Upon so potent a help as these two last mentioned Inventions a Waterwork is by many years experience[1] and labour so advantageously by me[2] contrived, that a Child’s force bringeth up an hundred foot[3] high an incredible quantity of water, even two foot[3] Diameter, [4]so naturally, that the work will not be heard even into the next Room; and with so great ease and Geometrical Symmetry, that though it work day and night from one end of the year to the other, it will not require forty shillings reparation to the whole Engine, nor hinder ones day-work.[4] And I may boldly call it The most stupendious Work in the whole world: not onely with little charge to drein all sorts of Mines, and furnish Cities with water, though never so high seated, as well to keep them sweet, running through several streets, and so performing the work of Scavengers, as well as furnishing the Inhabitants with sufficient water for their private occasions; but likewise supplying Rivers[5] with sufficient to maintaine and make them portable[6] from Towne to Towne, and for the bettering of Lands all the way it runs; with many more advantageous, and yet greater effects of Profit, Admiration, and Consequence. So that deservedly I deem this Invention to crown my Labours, to reward my Expences, and make my Thoughts acquiesce in way of further Inventions: This making up the whole Century, and preventing any further trouble to the Reader for the present, 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.[7]

[A stupendious Water-work.] The present article concludes the Marquis of Worcester’s own observations on his Water-commanding Engine. His engagements in hydraulic engineering, as we have already seen, commenced about, or before, 1628; but we have later and more satisfactory evidence of his having had the invention, which is here indicated, absolutely at work, under the management of his engineer Kaltoff, at Vauxhall. Hitherto we have confined our notice of any express date to the period of the passing of the Act in 1663, securing to him the profits in his invention for 99 years. We are, however, now prepared to show that, during the reign of Charles the First, in and before 1647, the Marquis was occupied on the mechanical arrangements of his engine, when one William Lambert, a brass-founder, was engaged under him at Vauxhall, in providing material “founded in brass,” expressly for “water-work.” This evidence, being afforded under circumstances very different from any attempt to establish the present statement, is all the more trustworthy, coming as a mere evidence of personal employment in the Marquis’s service, while soliciting from Charles the Second, after his restoration, to be reinstated at Vauxhall, in accordance with an order from the late king.

We shall now give entire the exceedingly interesting and important petition and royal order, from the original in the State Paper Office:—[U]

“To the King’s most excellent Majesty,

“The humble Petition of William Lambert.

“Humbly sheweth,

“That your Petitioner was founder to his late Majesty of blessed memory in Ffoxhall under the Marquis of Worcester, for gun and waterwork or any other thing founded in brass; and in the late unhappy war, your Petitioner was dispossessed of his employment, and left to the value of £2,000. and driven to exile by that usurpers authority.

“That your Majesty was graciously pleased at Brussels to grant your petitioner the place of founder for your Majesty’s works at Ffoxhall, upon your Majesty’s happy restoration, whereupon your Pet^r. depended; and deserted the King of Spain’s service; yet, nevertheless, the house was disposed to one Mr. Calthoofe, now deceased.

“Your Petitioner most humbly prayeth, That your sacred Majesty would be graciously pleased to confer upon your Petitioner some part of your Majesty’s house at Ffoxhall, to make a Founding-house for your Majesty’s use and service.

“And your Petitioner (as in duty bound) shall pray, &c.”

The following is the grant above named:—

“Charles R.

“Our pleasure is, That William Lambert, Founder for our Works at Ffoxhall, shall and may, with his family and servants, abide in and possess to our use, our house at Ffoxhall aforesaid, together with the outhousing and appurtenances of the same, and there proceed in the work as formerly he hath done, without any molestation to him or his, until further express order from us.

“Given at our Court at Oatlands, the 20th day of August, 1647.”[V]

These documents are highly interesting, as they establish, beyond a doubt, the Marquis’s early connection with gunnery and with water-work operations at Vauxhall, and account for the practical character of inventions mentioned in the “Century,” which might reasonably be thought to be beyond the scope of a private individual.

Kaltoff died in, or before, the year 1664, and it is not unlikely, therefore, that the Marquis countenanced Lambert’s present application. For more on Vauxhall and Kaltoff, see Appendix G.

The Marquis of Worcester had principally in view, in this invention, raising water for private and public purposes, and the general draining of mines or other inundated property. Its great value was evidently to supply cities and towns with water, and to drain mines of their superfluous quantity. The mineral wealth of this country was drowned treasure, until the steam engine’s powerful aid placed it within the power of man to eject the water in greater volume than it entered. Until the 17th century, this apparently obvious application of the steam engine was entirely overlooked, and had Savery done no more than impress on public notice its applicability for that invaluable purpose, he would still deserve the highest commendations of posterity. Many remarkable works were, no doubt, effected even with ordinary appliances, and men do not willingly abandon the experience of generations. We find that in the middle of the 16th century, viz.—July 2, 1565, Wm. Humfrey wrote to Sir William Cecil, concerning the working of copper mines; recommending an Almain engineer, who, he represents, can raise water one hundred fathoms high, by a newly invented engine.—Cal. State Papers, Dom. Series, 1547–1580. Edited by R. Lemon, F.S.A., 8vo. 1856, page 254. No. 73.

That the ordinary draining of land had made no material progress in the 17th century, we gather from the correspondence collected in “Samuel Hartlib his Legacie: or an enlargement of the Discourse of Husbandry,” 4to. 1651; where there is a letter written by Cressy Dymock, in which he remarks—“I went into the Isle of Ely, to see one of the Holland-mills, for dreyning; though set up there and kept by certain Frenchmen. The Invention seemed to me but mean and rude, and Mr. Wheeler’s way much more ingenious.” “I saw at Wicklesen the manner of your Holland sluices. The ruines also of a cochlea, for the emptying and dreining of water, of which Ubaldus hath writ a whole treatise.”—Pages 109, 110.

The Act of Parliament, of May, 1663, states in regard to the Marquis’s Invention, that he “hath by long and indefatigable pains and study, and with great and vast expenses, invented and found out a Secret in Nature, never heretofore discovered, being a Water-commanding engine, of greater force and advantage than hitherto hath been known; and being no pump or force now in use, nor working by any suckers, barrels, or bellows heretofore used for the raising and conveying of water; which said Engine will yield very great benefit and advantage to the Commonwealth, by draining of all sorts of Mines, Marish, Oazie, or overflown Grounds, by furnishing of Rivers and Cutts with water to make them Navigable and Portable from Town to Town; by improving of Lands wanting water; by the supplying and bringing in of water into the City of London, or into any other places; and by divers other ways and means whereby great Encouragement will be given to the People of the Nation, to undertake to work rich Mines, to drain and gain in many Marish, Oazie, and surrounded Grounds, which hitherto they have been deterred to endeavour the improvements of, by reason of the vast sums of money which must be necessarily expended by the draining and conveying away the water out of the same. * * * * * And that a Model thereof be delivered by the said Marquis, or his Assignes, to the Lord Treasurer, or Commissioner for the Treasury, for the time being, at or before the 29th of September, 1663.”—See Appendix C.

We trace the early use of steam in some of the simple apparatus of various forms, called Æolipile, to a period anterior to the Christian era. Greece and Rome, France, Holland, and Germany, have each contributed some instrument or other indicative of a knowledge of the expansive property of steam, pent up in close vessels, to give slight motions to, or force water from small delicately constructed apparatus, designed for amusement, or at most only to occasion a strong blast for blowing a fire, as figured in “Vitruvio de Architectura,” folio, 1521. Some of these early stages of progress we shall further notice here.

Besson, in his folio work on Instruments and Machines, 1578, among other contrivances shows, in plate XVIII, a cylindrical vessel, containing a coiled spring, above which is a close fitting disc, secured underneath to a cord, which, passing through the coiled spring, passes out at the bottom of the vessel, by which means it can be used to pull down the disc, so as to compress the spring, while the vessel is being filled with water, and its cover, with a jet in the centre, secured; on releasing the spring, we have here a piston acting from below upwards, to produce a fountain.

John Baptista Porta, in his “Spiritalia,” quarto, 1606, gives a rude wood engraving, as here exactly represented, a metal flask-shaped boiler, fitting the top of a small furnace, while its neck proceeds through the bottom of a cistern of water, within which there is a syphon on the right hand side, and an aperture at the top through which the cistern can be refilled. By this arrangement, the steam presses on the surface of the water, when all is closed, except the syphon, from which the water will rush with increased velocity.

In the 16th century, motive and other Æolipile were well known, and are described and illustrated by Vitruvius, Hero, and other early writers. In 1606, Porta made a slight advance, and John Rovinson, patentee of improvements in the manufacture of iron, in his “Treatise of Metallica,” 1613, among other necessary parts of his invention, describes the following:—“A new-devised vetible, round and hollow, with a long spout, to be made of some mettall or potter’s earth, wherein water being put, and the same placed on a fire, as it heateth, and the water evaporateth by the spout, it maketh a continuall blast to kindle, or increase the fire in furnaces, or fire-workes, and may be converted to many other excellent uses; and same may be made in severall peeces with the top or upper part removeable at pleasure, so as the lower part being made to stand on feet, may serrve at pleasure for a possenet, skellet or boylatory; and when the top is put on, and when fastened and luted, it may then serve for the ventible to make the blast.”

In 1615, De Caus invented, or at all events published an account of a small hot-water fountain; in 1617, Robert Fludd published his voluminous work, “Historia Macrosmi,” containing descriptive and engraved illustrations of the effects produced on water heated in close flask-shaped vessels.

In 1629, Branca suggested the rotating of a wheel, acted on by a jet of steam, as a simple kind of stamping or pounding mill. But the author, who seems to have taken a more practical and enlightened view of the subject, and to have considerably contributed to the Marquis’s enthusiasm, was John Bate, who, in 1634 and 1635, published editions of his “Mysteries of Nature and Art.” His treatise, “The first Booke of Water-workes,” contains, as stated at the commencement, “Experiments of drawing water by the crane (syphon), and by engines; of forcing water by ayre compressed, and by engines; of producing sounds by ayre and water; by evaporation of water by fire, and by engines; of motions by evaporating water, and by rarifying ayre.”

Among his “Experiments of producing sounds by evaporation of water by ayer,” the following is given:—“Prepare a round vessell of brasse, or lattin, having a crooked pipe or necke, whereunto fasten a pipe: put this vessell upon a trevet over the fire, and it will make a shrill whistling noyse.”—Page 27.

He figures a blow-pipe for glass-working, as in the annexed engraving, which he thus describes:—

“Let there be a vessell of copper about the bignesse of a common foot-ball, as A; let it have a long pipe at the top as D, which must be made so that you may upon occasion screw on lesser, or bigger vents made for the purpose. Fill this one-third part with water, and set it over a furnace of coals, as E, G, H, I, and when the water beginneth to heat, there will come a strong breath out of the nose of the vessel, that will force the flame of a lampe placed at a convenient distance as K.”—Page 158.

Sir Hugh Plat, in his “Jewel House of Art and Nature,” 1594, gives an account of the ordinary fire-blowing Æolipile. He says:—“A round ball of copper or lattin, that will blow the fire very strongly, only by the attenuation of water into air; which device will also serve to perfume with.—A round ball of copper or lattin, of the bigness of a small bowl—a round pipe or neck, of 3 or 4 inches in length, less than a goose quill—and an elbow of a less pipe no bigger than a straw, whose vent in the end must be no bigger than a pinhole.” “Heat the same well in the fire, and then put it into a vessel of cold water, and it will suck some of the water into it, you may heat the same so often, till by the peize (poise?) thereof you may be assured that it is more than half full. Then set this ball on a few glowing coals, and you shall find the same to give a very strong blast.... I make no question but that the same may be made so large as that they will blow one whole hour together without any intermission.”—Page 25.

In the second edition of Dr. French’s “Art of Destillation,” 1653, page 150, he describes the “Philosophicall Bellowes:” one is to blow a furnace fire; another a candle, serving as a blow-pipe; and the third for a common fire. He notes “that these kind of vessels must be made of copper, and be exceedingly well closed, that they may have no vent but at their noses.” He recommends, in preparing them for use, that “you must first heat them very hot, then put the noses thereof (which must have a very small hole in them, no bigger than a pin’s head may go in) into a vessel of cold water, and they will presently suck in the water, of which being then full turne the noses thereof towards the candle or fire which you would have blown.”

The third figure, instead of being a copper ball is formed like the human face, and is held by a long stick or handle attached to the back. It is represented and described by Schwenteri, in his “Deliciæ Physico-Mathematicæ,” 1638, along with two tubulated balls for similar use.

Such then were the suggestions the Marquis had before him to excite his experimental inquiries, independent of other sources. But whatever he may have known on the subject of these applications of steam, however much he may have experimented on them, there are two things, of which no one has yet given him the credit of possessing any knowledge whatever, the one is, condensation; the other, a piston. How the Marquis of Worcester could have been experimenting at the cost of £50,000, and upwards, at Vauxhall, and been occupied in this particular class of experiments during a large portion of thirty-eight years, in perfect ignorance that cold water will condense steam, is past all comprehension. Nay, such ignorance would be a greater matter of surprise, than the exhibition of his utmost ingenuity in the mechanical contrivances connected with his engine. Condensation was no mystery. Every work on distillation spoke on the subject, and supplied the forms of refrigeratory worms, and refrigerating heads for alembics. His very allusion to the strength of his vessels must have had reference, first to internal distension, as well as to collapse from external pressure.

John Bate, in his first book, “Of Water Works,” describes a kind of weather glass, which he calls, “the moveable perpendicular glass;” for the construction of which his directions are—“First prepare the glass A, B, fill it almost top full of water, provide also the glass K, L, having a loop at the top of it: divide it into so many equal parts as you would have degrees, and on the mouth thereof fasten a thin board, that will easily slip in and out of the bottom glass; make then a weight of lead or brass somewhat heavier than both the glass and board fastened thereunto; and then tie a little rope to the loop of the glass A, B, and the weight at the other end thereof. Rarifie the air contained in the glass L, and reverse it into the glass A, B, filled with water, and hang the plummet over two little pulleys fastened in a frame made for the purpose; and as the glass K, L, cooleth, the water will ascend the same, and so by the change of the outward both the glass and water will move accordingly.”—Pages 42–43.

From all that has been advanced, an impartial reader must feel satisfied that there existed abundant sources of popular information, highly suggestive to such an inquisitive and inventive mind as the Marquis possessed. Van Etten mentions the filling of a cannon with water, the plugging it up, and exploding it by the action of fire applied to its trunnion. And here John Bate suggests an experimental apparatus on a small scale, which the Marquis would be almost certain to test, and in so doing to vary the construction and application. Rarefaction too is here recommended; and the effect of cooling or condensation is particularly noted, the stated result being, “the water will ascend.” We can readily imagine the Marquis varying such an experiment with infinite delight, and modifying and enlarging it to produce some practical application.

In considering these minuter points, we must never lose sight of the extraordinary perseverance shown by the Marquis throughout a long life, in conducting and varying his experimental inquiries. It was the one pursuit of a studious life-time, the heaviest source of expenditure in his private disbursements. Perhaps we should be very much under the mark in saying that he must have expended above a hundred thousand pounds in experiments alone; which would be represented by nearly ten times that amount in our day. And not only was this outlay very great, but he had for above thirty-five years kept his workman, Caspar Kaltoff, constantly engaged on his models and on practical trials of his variously constructed inventions.

The Act for his Water-commanding Engine received the Royal assent in June, 1663, and the same year he published his “Century of Inventions” (as here reprinted); a pamphlet was next issued, with no other title than the following heading at the top of the first page—“An exact and true definition of the most stupendous Water-commanding Engine, invented by the Right Honourable (and deservedly to be praised and admired) Edward Somerset, Lord Marquess of Worcester, and by his Lordship himself presented to His most Excellent Majesty, Charles the Second, our most gracious Sovereign.”—See Appendix C.

This pamphlet appears to have had some connection with means for giving publicity to the formation of a public company for carrying out the great design on a sufficiently large and remunerative scale. The author, or editor, was James Rollock, who here flourishes in a poetical vein, observing, “After the Act of Parliament, there is here set down a Latin Elogium, and an English Panegirick, both of them composed through duty and gratitude by an ancient servant of his Lordship’s.” He afterwards adds: “This ancient servant of his Lordship’s, hath for forty years been an eye witness of his great ingenuity, indefatigable pains, and vast expences in perfecting for publique service, not onely this most Stupendious Water-commanding Engine, but likewise several other rare, useful, and never formerly heard of Mathematical conclusions, of which he hath owned a Century, and thereunto I refer you: though this alone were enough to eternalize his Name to all Ages and future times.”

The “Definition” given in the pamphlet agrees with that which has already appeared in the “Life, Times, &c.,” pages 224, 225, from another source, and is here stated as follows:—

“The Engine consisteth of the following Particulars;

“1. A perfect Counterpoize for what Quantity soever of Water.

“2. A perfect Countervail for what Height soever it is to be brought unto.

“3. A Primum Mobile commanding both Height and Quantity Regulator-wise.

“4. A Vicegerent or Countervail supplying the place, and performing the full force of a Man, Wind, Beast, or Mill.

“5. A Helm or Stern, with Bitt and Reins, wherewith any Child may guide, order, and control the whole Operation.

“6. A particular Magazine for Water, according to the intended Quantity or Height of Water.

“7. An Aquaduct capable of any intended Quantity or Height of Water.

“8. A place for the Original Fountain or even river to run into, and naturally of its own accord incorporate itself with the rising Water, and at the very bottom of the same Aquaduct, though never so big or high.”

We cannot do otherwise than consider that the articles, Nos. 68, 98, and 100, refer to descriptions of the several parts of his remarkable steam engine. In No. 68, we have the two vessels, with two cocks, connected with a furnace, and so arranged that “one vessel of water being consumed, another begins to force and refil with cold water.” In No. 98, we have intimation of “the primum mobile,” forming the 3rd division of the particulars enumerated above; being some portion of the engine capable of every variety of movement. And in No. 100, we have no mechanical suggestions, but in their place a bare enumeration of results, and of advantages to be derived from the employment of such engines.

What then are we to understand by the preceding list of particulars? “1. A perfect counterpoise,” would suggest that the Marquis had contrived a complete system of pumping; “2. A perfect countervail,” appears to be only a different kind of counterpoise, as though the one were derived from weight, and the other from the action of the steam; 4. “A vicegerent,” may be the force or piston; 5. “A helm or stem, with bit and reins,” can hardly be mistaken for any other than levers, acting on valves, and in some positions connected with chains running over guide pulleys; while the parts 6, 7, and 8, refer wholly to reservoirs, cisterns, and other external arrangements. But this statement is simply made to remind the reader that the Marquis’s Engine was not so entirely simple in its construction as to consist only of a boiler and receiver, and to depend wholly on the effect of the direct action of steam on a large surface of cold water, as generally intimated. It is usual entirely to set aside this full and clear statement of details. So indefinitely has the Marquis’s claim hitherto been stated, that it is always assumed, that while using this early steam engine, he was quite unacquainted with condensation; or, at least, with any mode of employing it to produce a useful effect. On the other hand, it is not only more rational to suppose that he could not be otherwise than fully acquainted with it, but that, having ascertained its various results, he finally succeeded in employing condensation to produce a vacuum for refilling his vessels, and for giving motion to a force or piston. Indeed, we find in the foregoing statement—“6. A particular Magazine for Water, according to the intended quantity or Height of Water.” A particular Magazine, one for a special purpose, for which it was particular to have such a supply; and for size, form, and situation, it had reference “to the quantity and height of water,” for a small cistern would supply sufficient water for condensation, but a larger cistern would be required in proportion to more extended service. Then, “7. An Aqueduct,” might be the vertical main pipe; and “8. A place for the original fountain,” peculiarly arranged reservoirs, with suitable valves, floats, &c.

Uniting his several descriptions, we readily make out a construction of apparatus answering many of the conditions he has stated, as shown in the engraving[W] on the opposite page from a sectional drawing designed by the author.