Chapter XVII (1)

HIS OPERATIONS AT VAUXHALL--PETITIONS AND DECEASE--CASPAR KALTOFF
AND FAMILY--M. SORBIERE--COSMO, GRAND DUKE OF TUSCANY--THE DOWAGER
MARCHIONESS OF WORCESTER.

In the second Dedication to his “Century” the Marquis of Worcester expressly alludes to “the experiments extant, and comprised under these several heads, practicable with my directions, by the unparalleled workman both for trust and skill, Caspar Kaltoff’s hand, who hath been these five and thirty years as in a school under me employed; and still at my disposal, in a place by my great expenses made fit for public service, yet lately like to be taken from me, and consequently from the service of King and kingdom, without the least regard of above £10,000 expended by me through my zeal to the common good.”

We have thus the fact on record, that Kaltoff was employed by him in the execution of his mechanical experiments from 1628 to 1663, commencing with the period of his first marriage, when he was about twenty-seven years of age.

In 1664, M. Samuel Sorbière, historian to the King of France, published in Paris a small work entitled--“Relation d’un voyage en Angleterre, &c.” As he appears to have interested himself in scientific matters, as much or more than in any other single subject, no apology need be offered for quoting his entire remarks; because, although perhaps in one sense they appear irrelevant, yet they acquire interest here, as proving that he was not an incompetent authority in reference to his most important remarks resulting from a visit to Vauxhall. Besides, it is not a little remarkable that Dr. Sprat, a Fellow of the Royal Society, as well as its historian,[A] in a book of equal extent to that written by this contemporary authority, addressed to Dr. Wren, Professor of Astronomy, under the title of “Observations on M. Sorbière’s Voyage into England,”[91] not only passes over these remarks, but ridicules his short experience of only “three months;” and, “that when he declares he came into England to content his curiosity, to see all rare things and men amongst us, yet he scarce mentions the Duke of York!” This last omission, however serious a one it might have been in 1665, the lively Frenchman has amply compensated for, by the substitution of matter that has a far greater interest for posterity. Sorbière says:--

“M. de Monconis showed me his journal, which was so curious, and where he had collected so exactly all that was passing among the learned men of the Royal Society of London, that his industry has made me negligent in collecting afresh for myself the things found there. We shall see some day all that he has said in it, for if he believes me he will lay before the public that, as well as his other journal of Egypt and Jerusalem. He speaks of several new inventions, which would be very difficult to believe, if not tried. One is a self-registering instrument to mark atmospheric changes which happen every 24 hours, effected by a pendulum clock. A thermometer; a compass; a self-registering weather-cock; a means by which Mr. Willis causes a piece of iron by exposure to moderate heat to calcine, without the help of a corrosive, and dissolve on being plunged into water; of a deaf and dumb person at Oxford, who Mr. Willis has taught to read by showing the different inflexions of the voice necessary for articulation; a new manner of exploding ships in the water; a way by which several short beams can be made into a plain flat surface, by placing them one on the top of another without being supported, nailed, or grooved one into another; of a furnace or stove by Dr. Kuffler, in the style of Drebble’s, which I saw some time ago at La Hague, and which was so successful at Arnheim, with self-acting registers; another kind of furnace which, for five sous worth of wood, cooked a large quantity of bread; a way of distilling salt-water to make it drinkable, where for five sous you can distil water enough for 100 persons to drink; an instrument to design and draw every description of object by a person who has never learnt.”

He adds:--“One of the most curious things I wished to see was a Hydraulic Machine, which the Marquis of Worcester has invented, and of which he has made an experiment. I went expressly to Vauxhall, the other side of the Thames, a little below Lambeth, which is the Palace of the Archbishop of Canterbury, in sight of London. This machine will raise to the height of 40 feet by the strength of one man, and in the space of one minute of time, four large buckets of water, and that by a pipe or tube of 8 inches. But what will be the most powerful help to the wants of the public is the work which is performed by another ingeniously constructed machine, which can be seen raised on a wooden tower on the top of Somerset House, which supplies that part of the town with water, but with some difficulty, and a smaller quantity than could be desired. It is somewhat like our Samaritane water-work on the Pont-Neuf; and on the raising pump they have added an impulsion which increases the force; but for what we obtain by the power of the Seine, they employ one or two horses which incessantly turn the machine, as the tide of their river changes its course twice a day, and the spring or wheels which are used for the ebbing tide would not do for the flow.”

M. Sorbière’s Dedication of his narrative to the King is dated 12th December, 1663, so that it is possible the _Century_ had been published previous to the visit he has just described, and it is worthy of notice that he expresses no difficulty in obtaining access to the exhibition of the machine, which gives colour to the belief that it was on public view, for the purpose of establishing a company to carry out the invention on a large scale.

Vauxhall, as it is now called, was variously designated Fox-hall, Faukeshall, Fulke’s Hall, corruptions of a derivation from Fulke de Breauté, who built a mansion in the manor of South Lambeth, long known as Fulke’s-hall.[94] In 1652, the Parliament having determined that Vauxhall-house, which had been reserved by a former order, should be sold, it was purchased by John Trenchard of Westminster. After the Restoration it was leased to Henry Lord Moore, afterwards Earl of Drogheda, together with the demesne lands of Kennington for 31 years; with a proviso, that if his Majesty should think fit to make use of the house, or any part thereof, it should be surrendered upon a proper allowance being made for the same. The King, availing himself of this proviso the year after the lease was granted, settled Casper Kaltoff, a Dutchman, at Vauxhall, who was employed in making guns and other warlike implements for government service.[65]

By an Act of the House of Commons, 17th of July, 1649, for the sale of the houses, &c. of the late King, Queen, and Prince, it is provided that “it should not extend to the house called Vaux Hall, nor to the grounds, houses, buildings, _models_, utensils, or other necessaries for _practical inventions therein contained_; but that they should remain for the use of the Commonwealth, to be employed and disposed of by the Parliament, as they shall think fit.”[3] Now the mention of _inventions_ and _models_, taken in connection with recent facts, would lead to the inference that the Marquis of Worcester might have been much earlier associated with practical experiments at Vauxhall than at first appears. On this point he was always reserved, even in his _Century_ only cautiously alluding to Kaltoff as being “in a place by my great expenses made fit for public service, yet lately like to be taken from me.”

Among the manuscripts of the Royal Society is a letter from Samuel Hartlib, the author of works relating to Husbandry, addressed to the Honourable Robert Boyle,[14] dated Amsterdam, May the 18th, 1649, in which he remarks:[104]--“Fauxhall is to be set apart for public uses, by which is meant making it a place of resort for artists, mechanics, &c. and a dépôt for models and philosophical apparatus.” It is further proposed, that “experiments and trials of profitable inventions should be carried on,” which, says Hartlib, “will be of great use to the Commonwealth.” Adding that the late King (Charles I.) “designed Fauxhall for such an use.”

After a lapse of five years, he writes another letter to Boyle,[14] on the same subject, furnishing us, incidentally, with the following curious and important details:--“The Earl of Worcester is buying Fauxhall from Mr. Trenchard, to bestow the use of that house upon Gaspar Calehof [Kaltoff] and son [son-in-law], as long as they shall live, for he intends to make it a College of Artisans. Yesterday (he adds) I was invited by the famous Thomas Bushel to Lambeth Marsh, to see part of that foundation.”[104]

Hartlib was a generous-hearted man, who projected many schemes for public benefit. Evelyn styles him an “ingenious person, honest and learned;” that he deserved the latter distinction we may infer from the fact of Milton having addressed to him his treatise “Of Education.”

These particulars serve to show a very early connection on the part of the Marquis of Worcester with Vauxhall, making it still more probable that he had established a laboratory or workshop there, years before the Civil War broke out; that from its extent it was proposed to retain it for the benefit of the State; and that on his own release from the Tower he sought to regain possession of the premises, but possibly, for politic reasons, in the name of his faithful workman Caspar Kaltoff.

During 35 years there would be a large accumulation of models for one hundred inventions and several hundreds of experiments, as well as a considerable quantity of tools and machinery. He would certainly choose some place as near as possible to the great mart, where alone he could obtain, within any reasonable time, the numerous articles and materials constantly required in experimental employments; and desiring to be near London, when we find him at Vauxhall in 1663, who can doubt, that he rather continued, than selected for the first time, the locality where we now find the indefatigable noble inventor and his veteran “unparalleled workman,” engaged on the first public example of the “Water-commanding Engine.”

Pressing as were his personal necessities, he continued untiring in maintaining the practical working of the new engine set up under protection of the Act he had obtained in 1663. But, like all novel enterprises, people were sceptical as to its real value. He appears to have been wholly neglected by the first scientific authorities of his day, who yet could not be otherwise than aware of the remarkable performance of the engine erected by him at Vauxhall. We find him making sufficient allusion to its nature and properties in his _Century_, published in 1663; then, in 1664, Sorbière published his account of his visit to England, further describing what he had seen of the water-works at Vauxhall; while Dr. Sprat, by the severe strictures he wrote on the Royal-Hydrographer’s book, in the letter he published, addressed to Dr. Wren, at Oxford, must have spread the intelligence, and served to call attention to Sorbière’s statement. What benefit the Marquis of Worcester really received through the intervention of friends or the public, beyond temporary loans of money, does not transpire, and, judging from the following documents, his financial position was reduced to the lowest state possible. The original papers are fortunately preserved at Badminton House. The first is endorsed, “Copy of the letter which was sent by my Lord Duke of Albemarle to the Lord Arlington.”

“MY LORD,

“The sad condition of my Lord Marquis of Worcester, after his so great merits from the Crown of England, as few can imagine, but now discovered by sure hands unto me, inclined me to write such a letter to his Majesty, as I find by him that your Lordship hath been acquainted with; but reflecting, that if it should be presented to the King, it might seem against some resolutions of mine, not to importune his Majesty for things of the like nature, as are therein mentioned, I choose rather to desire my Lord Marquis to suspend my endeavours to serve him therein with his Majesty, till I have the honour personally to attend him; yet, in the meantime, if your Lordship find an occasion to incline the King thereunto, I shall not fail to second your Lordship therein, or any other who may be instrumental to get from his Majesty a due consideration of my Lord Marquis, his just pretensions to as much favour and recompense as any subject I know; and I make no question but when your Lordship hath thoroughly known him, you will be of the same opinion, and if that be any value with you, I do profess that in obliging my Lord Marquis of Worcester, you will also exceedingly oblige,

“Your Lordship’s, &c.”

The next is a Draft Petition in the Marquis’s handwriting, written with more care than usually occurs in his letters:--

“DREAD SOVEREIGN,

“Although I know very well that were the wise and politic Cornelius Tacitus living, he durst not whisper unto your Majesty as he did to other Princes, prone to hear him, when he said:--‘Eo usque grata sunt beneficia quam diu solvi posse videantur ubi semel antevenere pro gratia odium vedditur.’ I am, notwithstanding, very loth to trouble your sacred Majesty in order to myself, not but I am sufficiently necessitated to importune you, even as much as any poor subject your Majesty hath; and warranted by as good a title unto it (if, after an opulent and flourishing condition to become an object of pity, through my zeal and services to the crown you wear, may challenge any esteem); but my very nature abhors anything that may seem self-interest, though indeed whatever I have or do ambition, be it of favour or benefit from your Majesty’s most gracious self, it hath been, really is, and shall be ever, but to make me able the more eminently to serve your matchless Majesty, whose advantage is my greatest comfort; and, in earnest, my very heart’s objectum adæquatum. Think of me whatever others please to suggest, yet such shall your Majesty ever find me, and unless your Majesty command me to speak, I shall still say nothing, but seeing a coldness in your Majesty, I shall continue dumb and speechless:--Leves loquunter curæ ingentes stujescunt. Yet, animated by your Majesty’s cheerful commands, I shall ingenuously lay before you the truth and nothing but the truth, and (though to mine own confusion) I will as candidly shrive me to your benign self, as to a ghostly father, and I will make your most excellent Majesty my sole judge, as well spiritual as temporal, that is to look into my inward man, as well as my outward actions and deportment.”

In November we have another petition in respect to a large claim on his estate, and a report thereon, as follows:--[B]

“To the King’s most excellent Majesty, the humble petition of Edward Marquis of Worcester.

“SHEWETH,

“That whereas your Petitioner and his late father did heretofore lend to serve his then late Majesty’s urgent necessities the sum of two hundred thousand pounds and upwards, (ninety-five thousand pounds whereof appears under his late Majesty’s hand and seal, and the rest the Petitioner, if permitted, will make appear), besides other great sums the Petitioner employed in other his Majesty’s service, by which means your Petitioner’s estate was encumbered, and continued encumbered with vast debts, insomuch that to the Petitioner and his family there is left but a small pittance for a mean livelihood; the Petitioner’s estate being charged with the debts so contracted for his late Majesty’s service, and your Majesty’s, as aforesaid.

“That the Petitioner by bond from himself and others (his sureties) in 1643, amongst other engagements, became bound in six thousand pounds to Henry Hall, Esq.; which bond was sued in his Majesty’s Exchequer by John Hall, Esq. administrator of the said Henry (not only against your Petitioner, but also against his sureties, the Lady Lingen, and Charles Price, Esq. whom the Petitioner is bound to save harmless, great sufferers for their loyalty in his Majesty’s service), who thereupon hath obtained judgment against your Petitioner for six thousand pounds, and as particular receiver of some part of your Majesty’s revenue hath assigned the same as debtor unto your Majesty, whereupon an extent is in the sheriff’s hands (by the said Mr. Hall’s prosecution) to extend your Petitioner’s estate for the use of your Majesty, whose prerogative intervening, that extent (as your Petitioner is advised by counsel) will take place (although subsequent in time of all former encumbrances), by which means not only the Petitioner’s other creditors will be defeated of their respective debts, but the small remainder of your Petitioner’s (once considerable) now shattered estate will by your Majesty (to pay a debt to your Majesty) be swallowed up, and your Petitioner and his other creditors wholly deprived thereof.

“The Petitioner therefore most humbly prays, that in regard your Majesty’s name is made use of against your Petitioner, and since that this debt (being subsequent in time to other encumbrances) could not affect your Petitioner’s estate, but by your Majesty’s prerogative, your Majesty will be graciously pleased to supersede the said Mr. Hull’s prosecution, and order him some other satisfaction; the Petitioner being absolutely disabled by those vast sums in his late Majesty’s service expended as aforesaid.

“And your Petitioner shall ever pray.”

“At the Court of Oxford, Nov. 24th, 1665.

“His Majesty is graciously pleased to refer the consideration of this petition to Mr. Attorney, or Mr. Solicitor-General, to consider how far his Majesty may fitly gratify the honourable Petitioner, of whose condition he hath a just sense, but sees not what he can do in this particular for his satisfaction, till he receive Mr. Attorney’s or Mr. Solicitor’s opinion upon it.

“ARLINGTON.”

Agreeable to the preceding reference the following report was made:--

“MAY IT PLEASE YOUR MAJESTY,

“The Petitioner hath been pleased to show me the sign-manual of your royal father, acknowledging £95,000 to be due to him, for so much advanced by his father and himself in his late Majesty’s service.

“The Petitioner doth further allege that the six thousand pounds [£6000] owing by him to Mr. Hall, and for which Mr. Hall hath obtained a judgment against the Petitioner, is part of that very £95,000 advanced in the service of your royal father.

“I find likewise that Mr. Hall hath assigned this judgment to your Majesty, and all the time of that assignment was indebted to your Majesty five or six hundred pounds.

“But I am humbly of opinion, that though your Majesty may by your prerogative release this judgment thus assigned, yet it will not be fit for your Majesty to do it as this case is, because then your Majesty will stand obliged to make good to Mr. Hall so much money as would remain due to him after your Majesty’s debt [is ?] satisfied, which is in effect to put your Majesty in the Petitioner’s place for payment of Mr. Hall’s debt.

“Nevertheless the Petitioner’s case being very worthy of relief, I do humbly consider it fit for your Majesty to reserve the consideration of his satisfaction to some better occasion.

“HENEAGE FINCH.”

Among family documents at Badminton House is the following draft, which may relate to the foregoing petition:--

“The Case of Edward Marquis of Worcester, &c.

“Edward, Marquis of Worcester is indebted £6000 unto John Hall, Esq. the Receiver for the Counties of Gloucester, Monmouth, and Hereford, &c.

“John Hall assigns this judgment to the King, whose prerogative interfering, John Hall’s debt of £6000 will affect the Earl of Worcester’s estate, and obstruct the other creditors from their respective satisfactions, by the former settlement of my Lord of Worcester’s.

“The Lord of Worcester petitions the King in regard he had expended, and lent towards his late Majesty’s service the sum of £92,500, for which and his other very many and considerable losses, to the utter impoverishment of himself and family, he never yet received any compensation or satisfaction. His Majesty would be pleased to take the state of the Petitioner into his gracious consideration, &c.

“His Majesty is graciously pleased to refer this petition unto Mr. Attorney or Mr. Solicitor. Mr. Solicitor reports to his Majesty matter of fact in the petition mentioned to be true, and further adviseth it is not safe for his Majesty either to supersede or discharge the said judgment, but that likewise the Earl doth justly merit his Majesty’s just and favourable consideration, &c.

“Whereupon the Earl of Worcester prayeth, that in regard what he petitioned for, was for the satisfaction merely of creditors, and not to his mediate or immediate advantage, and his fortune totally disposed of to his Majesty’s service, other than what is settled as aforesaid to the payment of his many creditors, which in honour (his only livelihood now left him), he is bound to see satisfied, the which as the present case standeth with my Lord cannot be, without his Majesty extendeth his favour, either by payment of the money, or some other means equivalently satisfactory, &c.

“His Majesty will be graciously pleased to confer the honour of Baron on J. B. being fitly qualified, and whose estate suits in proportion with the charge that dignity requireth, by which means his Majesty will not be out of purse and the Petitioner indemnified.”

On Christmas day the Marquis wrote a long epistle (but to whom is unknown) requesting the favour of a letter by means of which he could obtain the services of Lord Arlington and Lady Castlemaine, probably to obtain some protective influence over his property, then much jeopardized:--[C]

“HONOURED SIR,

“You have by God’s infinite providence not only befriended my wife and me in Cromwell’s time, but likewise by his great mercy and goodness, I think, reserved to do the like in his now Majesty’s reign; in whose happy memory [he] was pleased to say, even to his Queen, now dowager, that next to his own children and her, he was obliged to take care and recompense me; so can you not do now a greater act of charity, nor loyalty, than to set your concurring hand to procure from her Grace, and her unparalleled deserving husband, the favour of setting their hands each to a letter I shall be bold to present to your perusal first, and then your favour to their Graces; which done, my Lord Arlington and my Lady Castlemaine undertake to perfect my most humble request to his Majesty; so that they shall incur no risk of denial, and yet by the same obliging hand of yours which promotes my most humble suit, I shall present a thousand pieces to the Duchess, to buy her a little jewel to what she deserves to wear every day of the week. And if it please God I live but two years, I will, out of the profits of my Water-commanding Engine, appropriate five hundred pounds yearly, for ever, to her Grace’s, and two hundred pounds yearly, likewise, to your disposal; and in present forty pieces to buy you a Nogge; all which, as I am a gentleman and a christian, shall be faithfully and most thankfully performed, though the benefit I pretend to by my petition, will not amount to what my gratitude obliges; yet the satisfaction which it will be to my mind, and my credit therein at stake, I value at ten times as much. And this will enable me to place my Water-commanding Engine, where I am a certained [assured?] an hundred pounds a day profit, without further troubling the King or any body. And that done the greatest of my ambition will be to show my gratitude and pay my debts; confessing not to owe to any person living more real acknowledgment of thankfulness than to her Grace, who hath been pleased, in my absence and my wife’s, to be a champion for us, which draws upon herself in part this trouble, with more than confidence to receive from her more than gracious hands and princess-like disposition this further favour, which my wife and I shall never forget, and thankfully to acknowledge to her Grace, and your most worthy self, whose further trouble it is time to prevent in subscribing myself as you shall ever find me,

“Sir, your most real affectionate friend,
“and humble servant,
“WORCESTER.

“Christmas Day, 25th of Dec. 1665.

“Because the profit accruing from my Water-commanding Engine may seem uncertain, I humbly offer in lieu thereof and in token of my gratitude, a judgment of ten thousand pounds for the payment of one thousand pounds a year for four years, at the disposal of her Grace, and two hundred pounds per annum at yours; so their Graces be pleased cheerfully to sign the letter, and positively to own them and me to be their perpetual servant, not doubting then to find ways more efficaciously to testify my reality and devotion to them if accepted of, and thus obliged to them and you.

“WORCESTER.”

Whether the following is the draft of a letter, proposed in the preceding communication, is uncertain; it is however in a contemporary handwriting, and, therefore, may be the very letter he offered to submit for approval.[D] It runs thus:--

“MAY IT PLEASE YOUR MAJESTY,

“Upon my Lord of Worcester’s speaking to my husband for his letter to your Majesty, and laying open his sad condition, there comes into my mind a petition from his Lady to the Speaker ready to adjourn the House in Cromwell’s time, without relief to her, but upon her petition, as here enclosed, Worcester House was granted her. God forbid a greater hardness should possess your Majesty’s heart, our most gracious King, than did those regicides to one they took for their enemy; and I do, therefore, with more than confidence in remembrance of my Lady’s former pressures and miseries make myself a party with my Lord Marquis, in his most humble suit to your Majesty, in my Lord Powis his behalf, that he may not be frustrated of what the last King entitled him, of being created Earl, because it came through my Lord Marquis his hands, but further likewise to bestow a Baron’s patent upon a friend of my Lord Marquis, for both which I become a suitor with his Lordship, and beg pardon if I become more importunate to your Majesty in this case, than for myself in anything, who do already acknowledge most thankfully many great favours done to me,

“Your Majesty’s most humble servant.”

The following letter it would appear was addressed to the Duke of Albemarle:--

“MAY IT PLEASE YOUR GRACE,

“The objections you were pleased to make against the owning and subscribing the letter to his Majesty were as I humbly conceive your Grace’s resolution not to trouble the King for money business even in your own behalf, much less in another’s; and secondly that as for Creations you had absolutely promised his Majesty you would not importune him again. To the first I answer that this is to save the King’s coffers, since certainly if either honour or conscience should take place his Majesty ought to save me harmless from the six thousand pound confessed and proved to be the Crown’s debt; so happily now upon his head by your Grace’s no less prudent and valorous, than dutiful endeavours, blest by Divine Providence, never intending the ruin of his best deserving subjects, and the only promoting of his rebels, which the child unborn may rue if not timely prevented; and as a wise Privy-Councillor your Grace’s part is to mind his Majesty so of, as not totally to dishearten, I will not say disgust his good subjects well deserving, yet that as far as loyalty and religion will give them leave; and I am sorry his Majesty should bid adieu to works of supererogation and love in his subjects, and most certainly they are not his best counsellors who advise him to it; and your Grace will be most commendable in doing the contrary, and at long running the King will love you best for it, so that this objection of your Grace I humbly conceive to be totally solved.

“As for the second, your Grace’s promise not to speak for any more Creations, be pleased to understand it rightly, and you are no motioner of this; you do but lay before him my reasonable petition therein, such as my Lord Chancellor was pleased to think so fitting as he once undertook it for me, and I am confident will thank your Grace for reviving of it, and in my conscience so will the King too in granting of it; for I cannot have so mean a thought of his Majesty but that against the hair he hath been forced to bestow honour to the highest degree upon five member men, and * * * upon earth, as subscribed to his father of happy memory his death, and that he will think much to countenance him who only assisted his late Majesty to fly from their compulsion of him, to agree to such acts as would have left himself our now gracious King the successor of a title of a King of three kingdoms, but to the substance of no one of them. It was I furnished his Majesty with money to go (to) Theobalds to go to York, when the then Marquis of Hambleton refused to pay three hundred pounds for his Majesty at Theobalds only to deliver him to the Parliament, as he had done the Earl of Strafford, and to * * * the * * * Parliament. It was I carried him money to set up his standard at York, and procured my father to give the then Sir John Byron five thousand pounds to raise the first regiment of horse, and kept a table for above twenty officers at York, which I underhand sent thither to keep them from taking conditions from the Parliament, and so were ready to accept his. It was I victualled the Tower of London, and gave five and twenty hundred pounds to the then Lieutenant, Sir John Byron, my cousin-german by my first wife’s side. It was I raised most of the men at Edge-hill fight, and after I was betrayed at * * * * * when so many gentlemen of quality were taken, and of twenty-five thousand men first and last by me raised, eight thousand men dispersed by the contrivance of such as called themselves the King’s good subjects, and some of them rewarded for it; they were my men weekly paid, without taking a farthing contribution, because the country tottered; who took * * * * * * * * * in the forest of Dean, Goodridge Castle, Monmouth, Chepstow, Carlyon, and Cardiff from the Parliamentary forces; in which, and the garrison of Raglan, I can bring proof of above an hundred and fifty thousand pounds expended; and in ready money first and last to the King’s own purse above as much more; and of above thirty-five thousand pounds received by my father and me comunely armes, in forty, forty-two, and forty-three, I have not now five and twenty hundred, and that clogged with twenty thousand pounds crying debts, that keep me not only from a competent maintenance, but even from sleep. I speak not here of above three hundred thousand pounds which it hath cost the noblemen, knights, and gentlemen, which rode in my Life-Guard * * for * * * their comporting, they making amongst them above threescore thousand pounds yearly, of land of inheritance; and I, upon my interest with seven counties, had begun an engagement of above three hundred thousand pounds yearly land of inheritance against my return with men from beyond the sea; in which endeavours my charges have been vast, besides hazard by sea even of shipwreck, and by land of deadly encounters, I do not trouble your Lordship with, but all this being true to a tittle, as upon my word and honour, dearer to me than my life, I avouch it; I cannot doubt but your Grace will call for a pen to sign the letter, and if you please send this together with it, and rest assured that if the King refuse my request, I will never importune you more, nor ever set my foot into his Majesty’s Court again, unless expressly commanded by him for his service; otherwise I will only heartily pray for him, but never hereafter shall I or any friend of mine engage for him further, than the simple duty of a loyal subject sitting quietly at home, no ways break the peace, or disobeying the wholesome laws of the land, and God send him better and more able subjects to serve his Majesty than myself; willinger I am sure he cannot, and I beseech your Grace to pardon me if passion hath a little transported me beyond good manners, and lay what penance you please upon me, so I tend not to lessen your Grace’s belief that I am

“Your Grace’s most really devoted friend
“and servant ever to obey you,
“WORCESTER.

“Dec. 29, 1665.”

“My dear Lord, my heart is yet full fraughted, and I can say much more for myself, were I not ashamed of giving your Grace so great a trouble with my scribbling, which I will thus end, promising to smother as long as may be, my deplorable condition, and worse usage, but it will at last fly over the whole world to the disheartening of all zealous and loyal subjects; unless such a true-hearted Englishman and faithful servant as your Grace do awaken his Majesty out of the lethargy my enemies have cast him into, not to be sensible of what I have done or suffered. Cardinal Mazarine presented me to his King with these words, ‘Sire, whosoever hath loyalty or religion in recommendation, must honour this well-born person;’ and the Queen-mother, now Dowager, hath often said to have heard her husband say, that next to her and his children, he was bound to take a care of me, of whom it may be now verified, qui jacet in terra non habet unde cadet, I am cast to the ground, I can fall no lower.”

This month the Marquis appears to have obtained the loan of £200, for which a draft receipt[E] is extant, as follows:--

“I, Edward Somerset, Earl and Marquis of Worcester, do confess and acknowledge to have received and borrowed of **** the full sum of two hundred pounds sterling, for the assurance thereof I do constitute him the said *** to be receiver of two hundred pounds, payable from the Right Honourable the Lord High Chancellor of England, the Earl of Clarendon, at Michaelmas next, which shall be in the year of our Lord 1666, and therewith to repay himself the said two hundred pounds. Witness my hand and seal, this 30th day of Dec. 1665.

“WORCESTER.

“Signed, sealed and delivered
“in presence.”

From 1662 to 1665, the Marquis of Worcester appears to have been pretty regular in his attendance at the House of Peers. But the last we hear of him was on the 31st of October, 1665. When the House met on the 1st of October, 1666, the Marquis was absent, being “excused,” possibly from the state of his health, as he was never present afterwards.[F]

About the same time we have his Petition for the appointment of a Committee of Inquiry:--[G]

“To the King’s Most Excellent Majesty.--The most humble Petition of Edward, Marquis of Worcester:--

“SHEWETH,

“That your Petitioner overwhelmed with the very, very much he hath to say, and fearful too long to detain your sacred Majesty therewith from more serious affairs, humbly prayeth that you will be pleased to refer him to be heard by the Lord High Chancellor of England, the Lord Privy Seal, the Duke of Albemarle, the Earl of Lotherdale, the Lord Arlington, the Lord Ashley and Mr. Secretary Morrice, or to such of them or other persons as your Majesty shall think fit, and that upon their report your Majesty will vouchsafe to do with your Petitioner, or to your Petitioner, what they in the Petitioner’s behalf, and congruous to your service shall find reasonable, and consonant with your Petitioner’s merits or demerits; the Petitioner most entirely submitting to your will and pleasure: Casting himself upon your Majesty’s goodness, no ways standing upon his deserts, though really found never so many not thought of, or hitherto kept from your Majesty’s knowledge, your Petitioner doth not say through envy or malice, since perhaps through ignorance, such ignorance, notwithstanding, as the Divines call ignorantia crassa. But whatsoever in quality or number his services were, they were but due to such a gracious King and Master as your Majesty’s father, of happy memory, was to your Petitioner, and to your incomparable self; and, therefore, acknowledgeth they fall far short of his true loyalty and devotion to either; and being once rightly made known and presented to your sacred Majesty, your Petitioner promiseth himself no less encouragement for the future from your Majesty, nor less abilities in himself to become as useful as formerly; and as disinterestedly to serve you. Neither shall anything for the future dismay, or in any kind deter your Petitioner from that his resolution, but from the bottom of his heart

“He shall ever pray, &c.

]

“At the Court, at Hampton Court, Jan. 29th, 1665/6.

“His Majesty is graciously pleased to refer and recommend the Petitioner to be heard by the within named Lords, referees, or to any four or more of them, and they to give their report to his Majesty as soon as conveniently may be.

“ARLINGTON.”

The next letter is without date or address, but appears both to belong to the present period and to relate to the same business as the foregoing; he says:--[H]

“MY NOBLE LORD,

“I must and ever will most thankfully and humbly acknowledge your Lordship’s civil and obliging language and carriage towards me, your humble servant. But pardon me if I cannot conceive how my Lord Arlington, Principal Secretary of State, and as well of the Bourne [?] as Cabinet Council, and that most deservedly, can, notwithstanding, miss of an opportunity to acquaint and receive his Majesty’s answer to the meanest of his Majesty’s subjects; praying but a reference to the chiefest of his Privy Councillors, and by them only to be heard for the King’s service, as well as his own concerns. His Majesty little thinks what he hath, or doth daily lose for not suffering himself to be disabused of a premeditated opinion concerning me; nor doth your Lordship imagine what services I do intend to your Lordship’s most worthy self, and that the King will have cause to thank you for any service you may please to afford me whose aim (I take God to witness) is in chief more really to the King’s advantage and service than mine own interest, who could not want forty or fifty thousand pounds yearly beyond seas, and do as good as want bread at home, where I was born to five and thirty thousand pounds, land of inheritance, and two hundred thousand pounds in cash left me by my grandfather, which, for so good a cause as I have lost it for, I joyfully renounce.

“Monsieur La Sual told me that Germany, France, Spain, and Italy censured England very much for so ill requiting my services and sufferings, and being so little sensible of my yet abilities to serve it; and yet those Kings and Princes know not the quarter, and mine own King the least of all, or the least sensible and persuaded, as well not to understand what I can yet perform, as not to reflect upon what is past.

“My dear Lord, look once more upon both my petitions; and if the King thinks me not worthy of common justice to be heard, or you deem them fit, and me, to be laid aside, I will gladly acquiesce, and I will not further trouble the King, nor importune your Lordship, but, fair and far off, ever quietly without more importunity remain,

“My Lord, your Lordship’s
“most faithful and most humble servant,
“WORCESTER.”

In the April of this year, the plague had commenced its appalling ravages in the metropolis, the stagnant air of which was partially purified by means of large bonfires, to promote circulation, the air having, it was supposed, become noxious through unusually prevalent calm sultry weather. The unhealthy state of the town may have had its influence on the Marquis, contributing to weaken a constitution already sufficiently harassed; yet so far from relief of any kind coming to solace him in his afflictions, we next find him compelled to petition for protection of his public works, which (as noted three years before, in his _Century_), were again being similarly nearly taken from him, “without (as he observes) the least regard of above ten thousand pounds expended by me, and through my zeal to the common good.” His application is endorsed--“10 Jan. 1666. The Marquis of Worcester’s Petition for a Fee and Farm of Works House at Foxe Hall:”[I]--and is as follows:--

“To the King’s Most Excellent Majesty. The humble Petition of Edward, Lord Marquis of Worcester.

“HUMBLY SHEWETH,

“That the Petitioner (over and above great sums of money lent by him to his late Majesty of blessed memory) did expend in building of a house called Fauxhall, for an operatory for engineers and artists to work public works in, £9000 and upwards, as appears by the bills of the workmen that built the house.

“That the Petitioner hath expended above £50,000 trying experiments and conclusions of arts, in that operatory, which may be useful to his Majesty and his kingdoms.

“That there being a grant made by your Majesty, under the Great Seal of England to the Lord Moore, of the manor of Kennington, (within which manor the said Fauxhall is situated and being) the Petitioner applied himself to your Majesty, and acquainted your Majesty with the Petitioner’s equitable right to the said Fauxhall, that thereupon your Majesty was graciously pleased to recall the said Patent, and to cause an exception to be made therein as to Fauxhall, which was done, whereby your Majesty might gratify the Petitioner therewith, but the Petitioner hath not hitherto desired the same.

“The Petitioner humbly prayeth that your Majesty will be graciously pleased, in consideration that the Petitioner hath built the said house, at so great a charge, to serve your Majesty,

“That you will be pleased to grant it to the Petitioner at some fee farm rent, as your Majesty shall think fit.

“And the Petitioner shall pray.”

This document divulges at least one important secret in regard to the Marquis of Worcester’s personal history, in connection with his practical mechanical pursuits. We now find that he actually built suitable premises as workshops at Vauxhall,[J] for “engineers and artists to work public works in.” That in that “operatory,” or laboratory, he had “expended above £50,000, trying experiments and conclusions of arts.” And that on the building alone he had laid out above £9000. It is, however, only by bearing in mind the enormous amount that these sums of money represent, considered in reference to the value they bore two hundred years ago, that we become fully alive to the princely expenditure of this great scientific experimentalist, whose patronage and encouragement of experimental philosophy, for practical designs, is without a parallel in any other age or country.

The very next month his Lady was necessitated to petition in the following terms, in regard to Worcester House.[K]

“To the right Honourable the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, now assembled in Parliament.

“The humble Petition of Margaret, Marchioness of Worcester, wife of Edward, now Marquis of Worcester.

“HUMBLY SHEWETH,

“That the said Marquis for his services to his Majesty did expend many vast sums of money, and thereby contracted great debts; that although the said Marquis, since his Majesty’s happy restoration, hath paid above fifty thousand pounds of those debts so contracted, as aforesaid, yet there remains so many great debts, that the said Marquis his estate is all seized on by his creditors upon judgments, statutes, and recognizances, insomuch that the said Marquis is deprived of his whole estate; and nothing left for his and your Petitioner’s support and maintenance.

“That in particular the said Marquis his estate was extended by one Mr. John Hall[L] in March last, upon a judgment of six thousand pounds for money borrowed by the Petitioner’s husband in 1642, to pay the garrison of Monmouth, then in a mutiny.

“That the said extent is assigned now to the Lord John Somerset, who now threatens (having got most part of the estate) to turn the Petitioner out of Worcester House, so that she will be destitute of an habitation and maintenance.

“The Petitioner humbly prayeth your Lordships’ consideration of the Petitioner’s most necessitous condition, and to find out a way for her relief, and also your Lordships’ recommendation of her case to the Right Honourable the Lords and Commons of England.

“And your Petitioner shall pray.
“WORCESTER.”

“Die Jovis, 7 die Febr. 1666.

“Upon reading the humble Petition of the Lady Marchioness of Worcester, it is ordered by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in Parliament assembled, that the Duke of Albemarle, the Lord Chamberlain of his Majesty’s Household, the Earl of Anglesey, the Lord Arundell of Warder, and the Lord Howard of Charlton, be appointed a Committee to wait on his Majesty and represent unto him the sad condition of the said Marquis and his Lady.

“JO. BROWN,
“Cleric. Parliament.”

From the Marchioness’ petition we obtain a further acquaintance with the deplorable situation in which the Marquis was placed, even seven years after the Restoration, when he had recovered his estates, and possessed whatever he may have received as gifts from the Crown; and by the way of loans from friends, from secured money-lenders, and for assigned portions of interest in the profits to arise from working his “Water-commanding Engine.”

In a report made to the Duchy of Cornwall[M] (although two years later) full particulars are furnished of the nature and extent of the property in which the Marquis was interested, as stated in his preceding petition. The Surveyors General say:--“Foxhall house is parcel of the manor of Kennington and Duchy of Cornwall, and the use thereof was lately allowed by his Majesty unto Mr. Jaspar Calthoff, who was employed in the making of guns and divers engines and works for his Majesty’s service, since whose death part thereof hath been granted by his Majesty to Peter Jacobson (the said Jaspar Calthoff’s son-in-law) for his life, and the residue is enjoyed by this Petitioner (widow of the said Jaspar) in favour of her said late husband’s services for his Majesty; containing in the whole within the brick walls, two acres and 28 perches of ground, divided into divers parcels, whereof the furthest part S. contains about 214 feet in length from E. to W. and about 66 feet in breadth at the W. end, nearest the Thames, and about 109 feet in breadth at the end next the highway, leading from Lambeth Church towards Kingston; and hath a dwelling house thereon erected at the S.E. corner thereof, containing about 40 feet in length, and 24 feet in breadth, and several sheds both at the E. and W. ends of the said piece, all which are affirmed to be let together to one John Collins, at £16 per annum.

“And one other part of the said ground next adjoining N. used for a great garden, containeth in length, on the E. side thereof next the said highway, about 238 feet, and on the W. side next the Thames about 213 feet, and in breadth at the S. end about 192 feet.

“And other part of the said ground still more N. used for a yard or garden, containeth in length from the last mentioned great garden to the mansion house of Foxhall, about 144 feet, and in breadth from a range of pales, dividing this and the said Jacobson’s part, to the said highway about 98 feet.--On the E. side whereof (next the said way) is erected a long range of building, used for a working house, containing in length about 132 feet, and in breadth (from out to out) about 20 feet, two stories high, besides garrets.

“At the N. end of which working house there is a cross building erected, of the same height, part used for a forging house, and the rest for dwelling; extending from the said highway W. about 46 feet in breadth from out to out.

“Still more W. is the chief mansion house, extending W. from the last mentioned building about 46 feet more in length, and about 24 feet in breadth, three stories high, besides garrets and cellars, with a stair-case built out cross on the N. side thereof about 18 feet square.”

The remaining portion of the report concerns property on the north side let to another tenant; to stables, and to outhouses; concluding with an opinion that the whole, when repaired, would render a lease for 31 years worth £100 per annum.

We thus ascertain that the “Working house,” as it is here called (the “Operatory” named in the petition), where Caspar Kaltoff and his engineers worked, and in or near which the first great public exhibition of the “Water-commanding Engine” was consummated, occupied a considerable space of crown property. It was no exposition of questionable utility that was there offered to public view. And that it was public is every way certain, and, indeed, there could be no reasonable occasion for its being otherwise, after being fully protected for ninety-nine years by Act of Parliament. Besides, in no other way would it have been possible to obtain a sufficient proprietary, such as was evidently sought by the publication made by the Act itself, and apparently also by the distribution of large posting bills; of which latter a curious specimen still exists in the archives of the British Museum.[N]

It was the Marquis of Worcester’s misfortune, being involved in heavy debt, to be necessitated to seek pecuniary benefit from his great invention. What means were particularly adopted, beyond setting up a practical illustration at Vauxhall, it is impossible to ascertain, but he would most likely engage the services of one or more active business agents. That a public company was intended to be carried out by means of several shareholders, is also highly probable, judging from remarks occasionally made by himself, and from the dispersion of placards and similar written statements, headed a “Definition” of the Engine.

Now it is assuredly a matter of surprise that an invention so singular and novel in character, promising unheard of advantages, should not have attracted the general attention of all patrons and promoters of science. The only instance of a passing remark from a scientific source is anything but gratifying. Dr. Hook, writing to the Honourable Robert Boyle about the early part of 1667,[14] reports certain experiments with glass tubes then being carried on at Gresham College, after which he says:--“Sir R. Moray presented the Society with an engine sent them by Prince Rupert; being for raising water, such a one as, I am sure, you have seen and taken notice of in Scottus his mechanics, whose contrivance is, continually to raise water, by turning round a cylinder with a sliding board in it, included in another hollow cylinder, or barrel. The Engine has not been tried, but it will be the next Wednesday. But I find that it goes exceedingly hard with the several grating and sliding motions that it has, so that it is more likely to prove a pretty curiosity than a useful engine. But this gave an occasion for producing the definition or description of the Marquis of Worcester’s Water-commanding Engine, which is so purely romantic that it would serve one rarely to fill half a dozen pages in the _History of Fortunatus his Wishing Cup_. A transcript of some of the most observable passages, because I could not procure the book itself to send you, I have here enclosed, which if it should chance to perform but the least part of what is therein specified, my Lord Brereton is likely to pay £5 towards the revenue, that is to accrue thereby to the Marquis, he having wagered so much against him. I was since my return to London to see this engine, where I found Caltrop his chief engineer, to laugh at it; and as far as I was able to see it, it seemed one of the perpetual motion fallacies. Of which kind Caltrop himself, and two or three others, that I know, are labouring at this time in vain, to make, but after several ways; and nothing but costly experience will make them desist.”