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.

Footnotes

[A] Bod. Lib. “Carte Papers. Lord Wharton’s Papers, 81.”

[B] Brit. Mus. Birch MSS. No. 4459.

[C] See Appendix A.

[D] Col. State Papers, 1661–1662; Domestic Series. Edited by Mrs. M. A. E. Green, page 141. 8vo. 1861.

[E] Col. State Papers, Dom. Series, 1662. [Nos. 28 and 60. Vols. 63 and 64.]

[F] This and the former letter are holographs.

[G] See page 222.

[H] Jo. H. of Lords. Vol. xi. p. 493, 494.

[I] It was “Ordered, That the consideration of this Bill is committed to these Lords following; videlicet,

Lord Privy Seal.

Marquis of Dorchester.

Comes Bridgwater.

Comes North’on.

Comes Bollingbroke.

Comes St. Albans.

Viscount Say et Seale.

Bp. London.

Bp. Winton.

Bp. Ely.

Bp. Sarum.

Bp. Petriburgh.

Bp. Carlisle.

Ds. Berkeley de B.

Ds. Pagett.

Ds. Chandos.

Ds. Hunsdon.

Ds. Craven.

Ds. Loughborough.

Ds. Byron.

Ds. Colepeper.

“Their Lordships, or any other five, to meet on Saturday next, in the afternoon at three of the clock, in the Prince’s Lodgings.”

[J] Jo. H. of Lords, Vol. xi. p. 499, 501, 502.

[K] Ibid. p. 504.

[L] Jo. H. of Com. Vol. viii. p. 464.

[M] The following Members were on the Committee:—

Lord St. John,

Sir Geo. Probert,

Sir Robert Atkyns,

Mr. Clifford,

Sir John Goodrick,

Sir Tho. Meres,

Mr. Wm. Sandis,

Mr. Chichley,

Sir Tho. Ingram,

Mr. Crouch,

Mr. Culleford,

Serjeant Charlton,

Lord Herbert,

Lord Bruce,

Mr. Hen. Coventry,

Sir Lanc. Lake,

Mr. Birch,

Sir Tho. Tompkins,

Mr. John Vaughan,

Sir Rich. Braham,

Sir John Birkinhead,

Mr. Wren,

Sir Rowland Berkley,

Colonel Fletchvile,

Sir Geo. Downing,

Mr. Westphaling,

Mr. Waller,

Sir Cha. Harbord,

Mr. Wm. Montague,

Colonel Windham,

Mr. Hungerford,

Mr. Sprye,

Sir Wm. Lewis,

Sir Rich. Onslow,

Mr. Gaudy,

Mr. Prideaux,

Sir Tho. Littleton,

Sir Humphrey Bennet,

Colonel Gilby,

Sir Wm. Fleetwood,

Sir Solomon Swale,

Mr. Geo. Montague,

Mr. Morice,

Sir John Low,

Sir John Holland,

Sir Roger Bradshaigh,

Sir Nich. Steward,

Mr. Whorwood,

Sir John Denham,

Sir John Norton,

Mr. Cornwallis.

[N] Jo. H. of Com. Vol. viii. p. 475, 476.

[O] Jo. H. of Lords, Vol. xi. pages 517 and 519.

[P] Jo. H. of Lords, Vol. xi. p. 522 and 533; and Jo. H. of Com. Vol. viii. p. 480.

[Q] See Calendar of State Papers, 1663–1664. Domestic Series, Charles II. edited by Mrs. M. A. E. Green, referring to Vol. 95, and papers between Nos. 101 and 102. The same memorandum, in another form, appears also in Domestic Correspondence, Feb. 1664. Vol. 93, No. 83,—thus:—

“Water Engine Invented. The tenths of the benefit remitted to the Marquis of Worcester, the Inventor, in lieu of lands to the value of £40,000, granted by warrant from his Majesty for that sum disbursed in his service.”

[R] See Appendix F.

[S] Mr. Thomas Baker, a talented engineer, and withal a poet, has very gracefully epitomized the character of the Century in his poem on “The Steam Engine; or the Powers of Flame,” published in 1857. As the work is now extremely scarce, and not likely to be met with by the general reader, the following extract may prove acceptable:—

The Vision of the Marquis of Worcester.

[T] Cal. State Papers, Dom. Series, 1663–64, edited by Mrs. M. A. E. Green, 8vo. 1862.

[37] Evelyn.