CHAPTER XV.

HIS PROSPECTS AT THE PERIOD OF THE RESTORATION—PROCEEDINGS IN PARLIAMENT RESPECTING THE PATENT TO CREATE HIM DUKE OF SOMERSET—RECOVERY OF ESTATES, ETC.—PARLIAMENTARY DUTIES.

Charles the Second was only thirty years of age when he ascended the throne, the Marquis was verging on sixty. Charles, gay, lively, accomplished, and fascinating in his manners, well knew from bitter experience the pain of leading a courtly life on straitened means; and the Marquis had been too closely associated with him on the continent, not to be aware of his exact position then, and his now brilliant change of circumstances. The Marquis of Worcester too, was one of those happily constituted men who do not grow misanthropic on every fresh instance of the world’s ingratitude. His own nobleness and goodness of heart found a thousand excuses for the cold, callous, calculating society around him; and with his enlarged views, and greatness and purity of mind, he never despaired that the day would arrive, when he should be able to move at least in ease, if not in plenty. As regarded his Majesty, he enjoyed the fullest confidence in his behaving towards him with more than ordinary consideration; he might not be able to be magnificent, but at the very least he dared not to doubt that the word of the King would be realized, who had written to inform him[A]—“I am truly sensible of your great merit and sufferings in the service of the King my father, and I never shall be wanting to reward and encourage as well that kindness to his person as that zeal to his service which you have expressed in all your actions.” But he was then only nineteen years of age, unseared by the eleven years of profligacy, the expiration of which found him on the throne of his ancestors.

The Marquis’s political position had been unpopular, making him many enemies, which even altered times could not wholly obliterate. It was not merely a question whether he was justified in acting in concert with the late King, but it was manifestly imprudent and unwise, to say the least, his becoming the champion of his church in so dangerous an enterprise as that in which he engaged in Ireland. Consequently he found comparatively few who sincerely sympathised in his sufferings, amidst the crowd of suffering humanity distinguishing those unhappy times.

On the 9th of May, 1660, being the day after the King’s proclamation, the House of Lords had before them a petition from the Marchioness of Worcester,[B] the subject of which was strange enough, being no other than to complain “That Colonel Christopher Copley, doth undermine Worcester House.” Wherefore it was ordered, “That stop be made to further proceedings therein.”

His Lordship early solicited the kind offices of Lord Clarendon, offering him gratuitously the use of his mansion in the Strand.[26] He says:—

“My Lord Chancellor,

“The world speaks you to be a person of honour, and I know your Lordship to be so, and that if you say the word your Lordship will make good the same. My humble suit, therefore, to your Lordship is, but to tell me freely whether you will be my friend in all things honourable, just, and fitting; and when I ask of your Lordship anything contrary to either of these, then do not only deny it me, but spit in my face, having afforded me only patience first to give you my reasons.

“Nothing, I am confident, can set an obstacle to your Lordship’s granting me this reasonable request, but an apprehension of the obnoxiousness of my religion, as for that, such are my abilities to serve not only my Prince but the whole kingdom, that when once known in Parliament, and his Majesty looking but as favourably upon me as the tenth part of my deserts (pardon me if I say so) doth require, I will undertake, within few days, there shall be a vote in the very House of Commons to make me capable of any service whereof I may be thought worthy. Another Remora doth perhaps forcibly lie in the way, which is my son the Lord Herbert’s underhand working by false suggestions; but I shall soon blow them over. In a word, if your Lordship please to accept of me, I am the most real and affectionate servant, and as a little token of it, be pleased to accept of Worcester House to live in, far more commodious for your Lordship than where you now are, though not in so good reparation; but such as it is, without requiring from you one penny rent (yet that only known between your Lordship and me). It is during my life at your service, for I am but a tenant in tail; but were my interest longer, it should be as readily at your Lordship’s command, and I believe I may serve you in some things of ten times the value; yet I never desire word or deed from your Lordship other than according to what I first began with. Be but pleased to deal plainly with me, and I desire to show your Lordship in the King’s presence or ... if you please, what I intend to produce or say, having had a dearly bought experience what it is to trust to Princes alone. So preventing your Lordship further trouble, and asking pardon for what I have put your Lordship unto, I only desire to receive a verbal answer by this most deserving person, Mr. White, my ancient acquaintance, into whose hands I would deposit the greatest imaginable treasures untold, and intrust the greatest secrets, without other tie than his acceptance of them.

“My Lord,

“your Lordship’s,

“Most really affectionate and humble servant,

“Worcester.

“June 9th, 1660.
“For the Right Honourable the Lord Chancellor, present these.”[C]

It is painful to find the Marquis of Worcester compelled by the theological tendencies of that age, to allude in his letter to “the obnoxiousness of his religion.” But it is in just accordance with all that we have seen of his progress through life, his “having had a dearly bought experience what it is to trust to princes alone,”—that is, without witnesses or other sufficient legal evidence. This last observation is called forth by his “desire to show” Clarendon, as he states—“what I intend to produce or say.” This might possibly have reference to his long written statement of his losses, amounting to £918,000, intended for the King’s inspection, if not also to form the basis of an address to the House of Lords, as given in the last chapter. If this surmise is correct, it would clearly establish how severely pressing were his pecuniary affairs, the King having then only been eleven days at Whitehall; so early, would it seem, was he a suitor for the royal favour.

The House, on the 20th of June,[D] upon the reading of the Marquis’s Petition, “That he hath been dispossessed of his estate in the late unhappy wars, and hath undergone many pressures in the same,”—ordered, “That he be put into possession of his estate, which is not sold; and a stop and stay of waste, and cutting wood upon his land sold; and the rents to be stayed in the tenants’ hands; and to have a view of the writings and evidences which concern him, which are in the custody of the trustees at Drury Lane.”

And further, on the 11th of September,[E] the said order was ratified and confirmed, with the exception that, it was not to “extend to any manors or lands sold unto or enjoyed by Henry Lord Herbert, son and heir apparent of the said Marquis.”

But previously, on the 9th of July,[F] the House of Lords, “Upon information given, That Elizabeth Cromwell, widow, the relict of Oliver Cromwell; Richard Cromwell, Esquire; and Henry Lord Herbert, have many deeds, evidences, and writings belonging to the Lord Marquis of Worcester,”—it was ordered that “all such deeds, evidences, conveyances, court-rolls, surveys, patents, fines, recoveries, rentals, plates, papers, memorials, and writings, whatsoever,” in their hands, should be delivered up unto his Lordship.

Among other purchasers of his estates under the authority in power, in 1651, was one Ann Tisser, a widow, whose husband had become possessed of the Gatehouse attached to Worcester House. On the 27th of July the House had ordered possession to be given up, but Ann Tisser refusing, another order was issued on the 20th of August, requiring possession within two days, but with no better effect; so, on the 29th, the refractory widow “was brought to the Bar, to hear what she can say, why she does not deliver up the Gatehouse.” To which she answered, “She bought it of the trustees that did sell the Marquis of Worcester’s lands in 1651.” Her plea, however, was only met by the House directing the Lord Chancellor to inform her, “That the House expected that she should deliver up the said Gatehouse forthwith; or else she must expect to undergo the displeasure of the House, for contempt of their Lordships’ order.” Three days were allowed her to obey this mandate, and as we hear no further account of Ann Tisser, she, like many others in the same pitiable plight, was doubtless speedily ejected.

In August, 1660, the House of Lords[G] discussed the subject of his Patent creating him Duke of Somerset, declared to be in prejudice to the Peers; and therefore the following particulars will prove interesting, taken in connexion with the copy of this Patent given at page 162.

On the 18th of August, “upon information to the House, by the Marquis of Hertford, that a patent is granted to the Marquis of Worcester, which is a prejudice to the Peers:—

“It is Ordered, That the consideration of the said Patent is referred to the consideration of these Lords following:—

D. of Gloucester.

Marq. of Winton.

Marq. of Dorchester.

L. Steward.

Comes South’ton.

L. Chamberlain.

L. Great Chamberlain.

Comes Derby.

Comes Portland.

Comes Peterborough.

Comes Bolingbrooke.

Comes Bristol.

Comes Devon.

Comes Winchilsea.

Comes Dorset.

Comes Scarsdale.

Comes Berks.

Comes Rivers.

Viscount Stafford.

Viscount Paget.

Viscount Fynch.

Viscount Lucas.

Viscount Arundel.

Viscount Robertes.

Viscount Seymour.

Viscount Mohun.

Viscount Wharton.

Vis. Howard de Charlt.

Viscount Tenham.

“Their Lordships, or any five, to meet on Monday next, in the afternoon, at 3 of the clock; and to have power to send for such persons as they think fit, to give them information concerning this business; and to send for the Patent.”

On the 20th of August, it was ordered, “That the Lord Chancellor and Mr. Attorney General do attend the Lords Committee, which are to meet this afternoon, to advise them, in point of law, concerning the Marquis of Worcester’s Patent.”[H] Then on the 23rd of August, the Marquis of Dorchester reports from the Committee, “That the Marquis of Worcester confessed to their Lordships, that a Patent was made, and left in his hands, by the King, to create him Duke of Somerset, upon certain conditions, which never yet were performed; that he made no use of it; that the said Patent is in the hands of his son the Lord Herbert; and his Lordship is willing to deliver it up to his Majesty.”

A message was sent to the House of Commons, by Justice Tyrrell and Justice Turner:

“To let them know, that the Marquis of Worcester hath acknowledged that the Patent of the Dukedom of Somerset was made to him upon conditions on his part to be performed, which he hath not performed; and that therefore he hath not assumed the place or title, and is willing to submit it to be surrendered, or otherwise disposed, as the King should appoint; but that it is in the hands of his son the Lord Herbert, who is a member of the House of Commons; and therefore to desire that the Lord Herbert may deliver it up to the Marquis of Worcester.”[I] Then it was on the—

1st of September, “Ordered, That the Committee formerly appointed to examine the business concerning the Marquis of Worcester’s patent do meet on Monday next, in the afternoon, peremptorily: And these Lords following are added to that Committee:—

Comes Bristol.

Comes Bridgwater.

Comes Clare.

Viscount Montagu.

Viscount Maynard.

Viscount Petre.

Viscount Culpepper.

Viscount Clifford.

Viscount Craven.

“The Marquis of Worcester is to have notice hereof; and if his Lordship be not present in the House on Monday morning, then witnesses are to be examined upon oath in the business, by the Committee.”[J]

On the 1st of September it was “Ordered, That the said Committee do meet on Monday next in the Prince’s lodgings;” but in repeating the names the Earl of Bristol was omitted.

On the 3rd of September, the Lord Arundel of Warder signified to the House, “That the Marquis of Worcester hath delivered up the patent to his Majesty, for the Dukedom of Somerset.” When it was—

“Ordered, That the same Committee prepare a Bill, that all patents and grants obtained since the beginning of the late wars shall be brought within a short time to be limited, or else the same to be vacated.”

In consequence of this order, on the 5th of September, Lord Roberts reported the Draught of a Bill for bringing in of grants and patents, which was twice read and committed; and being read a third time on the 6th, it was duly passed.

It is very humiliating to find the Marquis of Worcester stripped, not only of his great wealth, but of even empty titles; and this latter act not by professed enemies, but through his peers conjointly with his very sovereign! There is something so utterly contemptible in the whole proceedings, which deprive without substitution, and sap the wealth of any man without an adequate effort at remedial measures, that we feel perplexed how to account for treatment so heartless and discreditable; whether considered in reference to Charles the First, or his son and successor, or the reformed Parliament. In all the relations of private life the conduct of Charles the First was as commendable as that of his son was reprehensible; and if Charles the Second had viewed the Marquis’s case only in respect to his father’s private debts, he must have felt bound in honour and in common gratitude to assist and uphold the Marquis of Worcester in every way and by every means consistent with existing circumstances. It is true that his property was restored along with the very deeds held by Cromwell, but his Castle was an untenantable ruin, and his estates denuded of their wood; so that without fortune, and in debt, his possessions were almost valueless. Besides, the Marquis was remarkably modest and fastidiously considerate in all he urged; yet he sought royal patronage in vain, for the gay monarch was not to be won from his levity by the philosopher’s most plausible petitions.

On the 14th of December, 1661, Lord Herbert and other members brought a message to the Lords, with several Bills, one being “An Act for confirming the Marquis of Hertford to the Dukedom of Somerset,” which had passed the House of Commons; and on the 17th, having then been read a third time, it also passed the House of Lords.

As Courthope[70] observes, although the Marquis of Worcester thus resigned his claim on the Dukedom of Somerset he still retained the titles of Earl of Glamorgan and Baron Beaufort, as will be seen hereafter in the copy given of his funeral certificate.

The Marquis seems to have attended the House of Lords for the first time after the Restoration, on the 13th of June, 1660, continuing very regularly for some months. The only others of his rank were the Marquises of Winton, Hertford, Dorchester, and Newcastle, and later, the Marquis of Winchester, seldom more than one or two of these being present on the same occasion. Between this date and the 30th of August, he sat in the House on thirty-seven days. Then after an absence of more than two months he is again present on the 6th of November, from which to the 24th of December he attended twenty-five meetings, the King being in the chair on the last occasion. He was not again in his place until the 29th, when his Majesty in person adjourned the House; which, meeting again on the 8th of May, “his Majesty, being arrayed in his regal robes with his crown on his head, ascended his seat of state, the Peers being in their robes. On the right hand of his Majesty stood the Lord Great Chamberlain of England, the Marquis of Winton, bearing the cap of state, and on his left hand stood the Earl of Brecknock, Lord Steward of his Majesty’s household, bearing the sword.

“And the Commons being below the bar, his Majesty made a short speech, declaring the cause and the reasons for his summoning this present Parliament.”

In all this august assembly the Marquis of Worcester, robed as were the other Peers, claims our special notice. He sat there in strange contrast with that gorgeous company, and the formalities which marked every process of action or language. Was it possible for him to be too expectant, seeing what he then saw and hearing what he then heard? Here was one who was no obscure individual, no questionable professor, or undeserved claimant on the patronage and smallest available favours often solicited by him from the crowned monarch in whose presence he then sat.

We again miss his attendance until the 11th of May, and the 8th of June, from which time he attended twenty-nine meetings, the last being on the 30th July, when his Majesty in person adjourned the House, and again recalled it on the 20th November, when the Marquis was present, as before.

He again attended in his place on the 26th of November, 1661, from which time to the 17th of May, when Parliament was prorogued, until the 18th of February, 1662, he attended thirty-two meetings with much irregularity, being on one occasion absent for above a month; and he did not appear on the re-opening of Parliament, when the House being called, he was declared absent; wherefore, it would seem he attended on the next meeting of the House, on the 25th of the same month, when he was elected one of a Committee to report on Petitions, occasioning his further more regular attendance.

These particulars satisfactorily show his residence in or near London, while they likewise account for the nature of a large share of the employments that then engaged his active mind. But a change in the Government had brought him little if any alleviation in a pecuniary point of view, for on the 2nd of July, 1661, his petition was read in the House of Peers,[K] showing “That he having contracted many debts in the service of his late Majesty’s wars, and some of his creditors have obtained judgments against his estate, and are now extending his lands, being contrary to the privilege of Parliament, he being a Peer of this Realm.

“It is Ordered, That there shall be no further proceedings, by any of the Marquis of Worcester’s said creditors, against him, during the time of the privilege of this Parliament: And hereof all counsel, attornies, and solicitors herein employed, or to be employed, are to take notice, and yield obedience to this Order, as the contrary will be answered to this House.”

And as affecting his property, on the 7th of August, 1660, he had leave granted him by the House to bring in a Bill,[L] “for restoring him to his estate, as other Lords have.” Accordingly, on the 13th of that month an Act for the same was read. But in consequence of the petitions of certain creditors, his Lordship had leave granted him on the 28th of February, 1661–2, to withdraw his Bill; and on the 10th of March following he brought forward an amended Bill, entitled—“An Act on the behalf of Edward, Marquis of Worcester, and of the creditors of the said Marquis, for vesting and settling upon the feoffees, in trust, certain manors, lands, and tenements, for payment of the debts of the said Marquis.” In fact, the estates were heavily encumbered, the petitioners, among others, alleging, that “They have bought lands and houses of the Marquis of Worcester, for which they have as good assurances as the law can give;” and being heard by counsel at the bar of the House, they succeeded in their object, as just stated.

It was in the midst of such distractions as these Parliamentary details serve to illustrate, that this talented inventor and noble benefactor to his species, had to maintain his social position; and at the same time, struggle to convince a bigoted age 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.

CHAPTER XVI.

HIS INVENTIONS—FURTHER PETITIONS—PUBLICATION OF HIS CENTURY—CHARLES II. VISITS HIS SON AT BADMINTON—WORCESTER HOUSE, STRAND.

The preamble of an Act for awarding £60,000 to poor cavaliers sets forth, that “Whereas there was a loyal party which through all hazard and extremities in the defence of the King’s person, crown, and dignity, the rights and privileges of Parliament, the religion, laws, and honour of the English nation, did bear arms by command of his late Majesty of ever blessed memory, according to their duty, and the known laws of this land, and did with an unwearied courage, faith, and constancy, with their lives and fortunes, oppose the barbarous rebellion raised against his most excellent Majesty in the year 1642, &c. &c.”[A] But means so inadequate could really benefit few, particularly so large a claimant as the Marquis of Worcester, who had sacrificed more than fifteen times the whole amount of that fund.

And although he received back a large portion of his estates, the very deeds held by Cromwell being at this day in the family’s possession, his own debts had accumulated to a most ruinous extent, less from improvidence on his own part, than from the precarious course of life his necessities had obliged him to lead, especially during the last ten or twelve years.

But his indomitable spirit rose superior to every calamity, whether public or private, and we find him in the midst of all his personal grievances having a patent sealed on the 15th of November, 1661, for four several inventions; 1. a watch or clock; 2. guns or pistols; 3. an engine applicable for giving security to a coach; and 4. a boat to sail against wind and tide. No description is afforded to guide the mechanic in constructing such inventions, being a mere statement of their nature and properties, as detailed probably in the first written copy of the Century in 1655, and still preserved in the printed edition. There is not the slightest connection between these inventions, and their incongruity would rather dishearten than encourage modern enterprise, variety of employments being contrary to the proverbial recommendation of all traders. It may be as well, therefore, to remark that this brief and strange assemblage of inventions in the same inventor, and in his single patent, was customary long before and after this period; so that, considered in this respect alone, the circumstance wore no air of singularity in the 17th century. Nothing occurs to throw the least light on the effect of this first publication of these inventions, we are consequently led to suppose that they proved of but little value to him, as regarded watches or firearms; and in respect to coaches and paddle-boats we should certainly have heard more about them had the one perambulated the streets or the other sailed on the Thames.

He appears, previous to his patent, probably immediately after his release from the Tower, to have circulated a written statement of such of his inventions as he conceived most likely to attract public notice. In the Library of the British Museum[B] there is a small quarto half sheet of paper, closely written on both sides in a clerk’s hand, bearing the title of “Inventions of y^e Earle of Worcest^r,” enumerating eight subjects, viz. improvements in a watch, vessel, artificial bird, hour ball, coach engine, raising weights, raising water, and to stay motion.[C]

A matter of slight consequence at the time makes us acquainted with a small matter passing in reference to the recovered estates. Sir Robert Mason writing, on the 10th of November, 1661, to Mr. Secretary Nicholas, states that the person whom he has taken into custody is Edward Herbert, late of the Grange, near Magor, Monmouth, where he was Cromwell’s tenant of part of the Marquis of Worcester’s estate; but since the Marquis had power to recover it, he retired to Bristol. He further says, that he was Cromwell’s right hand, and is an Independent.[D]

The Marquis of Worcester must have been very fully occupied at this time, with the various incidents portending a change in his domestic affairs, yet he appears never to have forgotten, or considered it any trouble, to assist and relieve the necessities of others. In this humane spirit we find him addressing two long letters to the Secretary of State, the first in respect to Captain William Foster, a prisoner in the Tower; the other relating to the Captain’s servant. They derive a further interest from the allusion he makes to his own former captivity in the same fortress:—[E]

“Right Honourable,

“Though I bear as great a reverence to the Act of Oblivion as any, yet methinks justice also requires it at my hands to make a great difference between those who in their then actings carried a respect and afforded kindness to us their poor prisoners for his Majesty’s cause; I think myself therefore bound in honour and gratitude to give such a testimony in Captain William Foster’s behalf to my own knowledge, and was an eye-witness thereof to the very saving some prisoners of quality and merit [from?] their greatest hazards, who I believe (if they were in town, or present with you) would not deny it: the favour he only begs, and I in his behalf, is, that upon sufficient bail, he may follow his own calling, and provide for many children of his wife’s relict, of one once a soldier for his Majesty; and some little ones of his own, now by her ever a most Lady Cavalier. And if my intercession may be of stead to him, and of value to you, I shall take it for a good obligation upon one who am confident his accusations are of some priest animosities, and will prove so when rightly understood: for before his Majesty’s happy restoration his commission was upon that account taken from him to his damage, and that he should now likewise suffer for his Majesty does seem very hard. But I submit all this to your Honour’s best judgment towards him, and create an obligation from you upon me, though not very personally known to you, yet a great admirer of your great parts and merit; and shall ever approve myself

“Your Honour’s

“most affectionate and most humble servant,

“Worcester.

“November 18th, 1662.
“For the Right Honourable Sir Henry Bennett, One of his Majesty’s principal Secretaries of State, these.”

And the month following he wrote:—

“Right Honourable,

“Had not my indisposition hindered my attendance at Court, I should in one of the first places waited upon you to give humble thanks for your extended favour upon my letter, in taking bail for Captain Foster’s servant; and I hope his Honour is now satisfied so well at the sessions, as not to detain him any longer, in whose behalf, had I thought him in the least guilty, I should rather have suffered myself than have appeared for him; but my six years’ experience of him during my imprisonment in the Tower, made me confident, and if you please now to crown your favour to me by his despatch, it shall be, ere long, most thankfully acknowledged by me, who do not long for any one reason more to be at Court, and haste thither, than to be an eye-witness of so bright a star showing there; and that I may have occasion to appear

“Your Honour’s

“most humble and obliged servant,

“Worcester.[F]

“December 13th, 1662.

“For the Right Honourable Sir Henry Bennett, One of his Majesty’s principal Secretaries of State, these.”

We learn from the latter communication that he was in attendance at Court, though at the time, through indisposition, obliged to discontinue. His expression—“my six years’ experience of him, during my imprisonment in the Tower,” will bear two or three constructions, unless certain particulars are well noted. He may be considered to have been a state prisoner from July 1652, to May 1660. But he may have been confined in the Tower only from July 1652, until 5th of October 1654, when an order passed for his liberation on bail, but yet virtually a prisoner. As we have for the longest period the term of nearly eight years, the preceding “six years” acquaintance may have commenced only shortly before his discharge on bail, which appears to be the most reasonable construction, as he is not speaking of the precise term of his own imprisonment but of that of his “experience of him during my imprisonment.” From the time of his enlargement to the termination of the Protectorate was five years and seven months, still leaving five months to accomplish the acquaintance within the precincts of the prison, and which he might fairly date to the period of Charles the Second’s accession, as the full term of his “imprisonment,” whether within or without its precise locality; for he was certainly not at liberty, like any other subject of the Commonwealth, to leave the kingdom. It has generally, however, been supposed that he suffered many years of absolute close confinement, and most romantic fictions have grown out of the interesting fable of a philosopher incarcerated in some dungeon-like chambers within the Tower, experimenting on culinary vessels, led by the explosion of a pot-lid to study the nature of steam, thereon applying his great discovery to practice, and forthwith writing a book, a true picture of science struggling under the most excruciating difficulties. The fable lost nothing of interest by repetition, being of a nature which left much to the imagination whether of readers, writers, or artists, all of whom have exercised almost unlimited indulgence in picturing the Marquis of Worcester, under circumstances purely mythical and absurdly ingenious.

We now approach the great event of the Marquis of Worcester’s life, that for which alone, through all time, he will be distinguished, as pre-eminent among the luminaries who have advanced those branches of science which have most contributed to promote and extend the necessaries, conveniences, and comforts of mankind, thereby giving a decided impulse to civilization.

The new reign was marked by highly favourable circumstances connected with the advance of science, giving rise to the institution of the Royal Society, in 1660, for “improving natural knowledge,” which was incorporated by Royal Charter two years later.

As early as January 1660–61, the Marquis had intimated his intention to proceed practically to work, so soon, as he expresses himself,—“as with security and satisfaction, by Act of Parliament, I may put in practice the greatest gift of invention for profit, that I ever yet heard of vouchsafed to a man, especially so unworthy and ignorant as I am (I mean my Water-commanding Engine).[G]

Two years later the House of Peers, and afterwards the House of Commons, had this subject before them, and therefore, in a matter which has grown to be one of national importance, we shall proceed to afford the fullest particulars of what transpired, to obtain for the Marquis the long contemplated Act.

In the House of Lords, on the 16th of March, 1662–3, the Marquis of Worcester being present, his Bill was read the first time, for—“An Act to enable Edward Marquis of Worcester to receive the benefit and profit of a Water-commanding Engine, by him invented; one tenth part whereof is appropriated for the benefit of the King’s Majesty, his heirs and successors.”[H]

It was read a second time, and committed on the 19th following, his Lordship again attending, when a Committee of 14 members was appointed.[I]

“His Lordship was again present on the 28th of March, 1663, when the Bill was reported with amendments and recommitted; and he also attended on the 30th, when the Report was received with a proviso, which was read twice, agreed to, and the Bill ordered to be engrossed. And on the 31st of the same month it was read a third time and passed.”[J]

On the 2nd of April[K] the House of Lords sent the Bill, with the following message, to the House of Commons, by Sir Thomas Bennett and Sir Justinian Lewyn, Knights:—

“Mr. Speaker, The Lords have sent you down a Bill to enable Edward Marquis of Worcester to receive the benefit and profit of a Water-commanding Engine, by him invented; one tenth part whereof is appropriated for the benefit of the King’s Majesty, his heirs and successors; to which they desire the concurrence of this House.”

After other business, in the House of Commons,[L] on the 4th of April, the Bill was read a second time and committed, and it was recommended to the Committee[M] to provide, “That after the death of the Lord Marquis, the benefit of the Water-commanding Engine may come to the Lord Herbert his son.”

“And they are to meet on Tuesday next, in the Exchequer Chamber, at two of the clock in the afternoon: And to send for persons, papers and records.”

The Commons’ Committee[N] reported on the 5th of May following, through Mr. Hungerford, “That the Committee had accordingly prepared a proviso for the purpose aforesaid: which he read in his place; and after, delivered the same in at the clerk’s table.

“The said proviso being twice read;

“Resolved, &c. That the words ‘raising and’ be inserted in the proviso, after the word ‘the,’ and before the word ‘carriage,’ in the fourth line of the proviso.

“Which was done accordingly.

“The proviso, thus amended, was read the third time.

“Resolved, &c. That the proviso, so amended, be agreed to.

“Resolved, &c. That the Bill, with the amendments and proviso, agreed to, be returned to the Lords, for their concurrence.

“And the Lord Herbert is to carry the same up to the Lords.”

In the House of Lords,[O] on the 7th of May, “A message was brought from the House of Commons, by the Lord Herbert and others: To return a Bill formerly sent down, concerning the Lord Marquis of Worcester’s Water Engine; wherein they have made some amendments and alterations, and desire their Lordships’ concurrence therein.”

On the 8th of May, after other business:—“Next, was read the alterations and proviso brought up from the House of Commons, which are to be added to the Bill concerning the Marquis of Worcester’s Water-commanding Engine; and being thrice read over, and considered of,—

“The question being put, ‘Whether this Bill, with the alterations and additions now read, shall pass?’

“It was resolved in the affirmative.”

On these three last occasions the Marquis was likewise present.

On the 12th of May[O] their Lordships, in their message,[P] by Sir William Child and Sir Toby Woolrich, to the House of Commons, acquainted them that they agreed to their alterations; and, on the 3rd of June, the royal assent was given to “An Act to enable the Marquis of Worcester to receive the benefit and profit of a Water-commanding Engine, by him invented, &c.”—in these words:—

“Soit fait come il est desiré.”

But the Marquis was not in attendance, as on former occasions, to watch the proceedings.

We have thus traced the progress of this remarkable Act through Parliament; from the 16th of March to the day of its receiving the royal assent on the 3rd of June. It will have been remarked that the Marquis was in constant attendance, and that it was his son who was deputed by the Commons, on the 3rd of May, to present the amended Bill to the Peers. It is impossible to imagine what might have been the feelings of the Marquis himself throughout the period of these prolonged proceedings, but he unquestionably had set his mind on this measure as the palladium of his inventive rights and the forerunner of brighter prospects.

In a memorandum relating to various grants, among others, occurs one to the Marquis of Worcester, thus noticed:—“March, 166¾. That by Act of Parliament his Invention of a Water-commanding Engine, granted him for ninety-nine years, one tenth reserved to the King. The King remitted the tenth to the Marquis upon a surrender of a Warrant dated at Oxford, 5th Jan. 20 Car. I. by which his then Majesty did grant the Marquis lands to the value of £40,000, in consideration of a debt due to the Marquis from his Majesty.”[Q][R]

The prospect of better days had now fairly set in; he had at least succeeded in securing his invention to himself and to his family after him, as a property in the value of which he felt unbounded confidence, roundly estimating it at not less than £400,000. Shortly after the passing of this Act he published his ever memorable and extremely curious and ingenious little work, entitled “A Century of the names and scantlings of Inventions.”[S]

It is dedicated to Charles the Second, and also to both Houses of Parliament; in addressing the latter he expresses himself as being—“by the Act of the Water-commanding Engine (which so cheerfully you have passed) sufficiently rewarded;” and as the work bears date on the title page, 1663, it must have been published after the passing of the Act, in May, that year. This edition, only duodecimo size, consisting of 98 pages, is now very scarce, but it has been frequently reprinted. This small volume was most likely only intended for private distribution, particularly among members of Parliament, and persons whose support might be solicited; for it is generally believed that a company was being organised for bringing the invention into public use.

During this state of affairs in London an agreeable episode was being enacted at Badminton House, Gloucestershire, the seat of his son, Lord Herbert. In September, 1663, Charles the Second and his Queen visited Bath, Badminton, Cirencester, and other places, in their progress to Oxford. Mr. Godolphin, writing from Bath on the 18th of September, 1663, to his brother, says:—[T]“We were waiting on the King to Badminton, a house of my Lord Herbert of Raglan, where the King dined, and was handsomely entertained.” From Oxford, he again writes to his brother, on the 28th September, 1663, in which he informs him that, among other matters, he will “receive the account promised of our progress through Bath, hither.” A news-letter, dated “Oxford, 28th” [1663,] which is no doubt the one alluded to, commences:—

“On Tuesday, the 22nd instant,.[?] the King and Queen left Bath, and at their entrance into Gloucestershire were met by the High Sheriff; and a little after by the Lord Herbert of Raglan, Lord Lieutenant of that County, with a brave appearance of the gentry of that County, who all conducted their Majesties to the Lord Herbert’s house, at Badminton, where their Majesties were nobly entertained at dinner.”

They went thence to Cirencester, where they supped at Lord Newburgh’s, and lodged that night.

An obvious discrepancy occurs in the two accounts of the dinner, Mr. Godolphin on the 18th writes of it as having taken place, whereas the Oxford news-letter names the 22nd.

From 1660, we find Lord Clarendon making a temporary residence of Worcester House in the Strand, where, in December, the same year, Evelyn paid a visit to the Lord Chancellor’s newly married daughter. And four years later he dined there, being afterwards taken in their coach by the Chancellor and his Lady, to see their palace, building at the upper end of St. James’s Street.[37]

The Marquis’s own residence never transpires, but it is more than probable he would reside near to, or within easy access of Vauxhall, where we have next to trace his very different, exceedingly arduous, and most trying undertaking.