Chapter XVII (2)

The prejudices created against monopolists in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, were not without foundation, in consequence of the absurd rights conceded to patentees of imaginary inventions; amounting to the legalizing of extortion of the most unquestionable and aggravating kind, without any chance of remedy. Real inventions were few, and impositions were everywhere practised with bold effrontery. There was nothing in the public character of the Marquis of Worcester to bespeak public favour. Who could ever dream that the Earl of Glamorgan was suddenly to assume a new character? The few inventions that were regarded as wonders of art were of ancient origin, slowly perfected, and in 1663 were considered to have reached almost the acmé of perfection. Yet here was a nobleman, unheard of, except for his share in Charles the First’s design to punish his rebellious subjects with the aid of an Irish army, suddenly proposing to supersede all ancient approved and improved methods of elevating water; and to perform many other surprising mechanical feats. And not only was he an inventor, but an innovator on old custom and a monopolist, not by patent alone, but by Act of Parliament for ninety-nine years! Even Dr. Hook could not view the Marquis otherwise than by the common standard of public opinion, acknowledging that he only went to see the wondrous engine at Vauxhall “_to laugh at it_!” And he could even condescend to report of his fellow inventor’s labour, that,--“as far as I could see it, it _seemed_ one of the perpetual motion fallacies.” So that its very regularity and remarkable continuity of operation were alone, considered enough to condemn it! Dr. Robert Hook was deservedly esteemed as a mathematician, and he was also distinguished for his mechanical ingenuity; but he was a man of very peculiar habits and singular disposition, being excessively jealous and cynical. This splenetic philosopher appears to have set out for Lambeth in no disposition to form a dispassionate opinion on the work of a rival inventor. A few lines of description, however meagre, would have been invaluable, whereas his cynical remark leads to the unfavourable supposition that his disingenuous statements had their influence on Boyle and other Fellows of the Royal Society, to check any further inquiry respecting the supposed mechanical marvel.

The Marquis might well allude in his _Century_ to “the melancholy which had lately seized upon him;” his sole desire being to pay his debts and possess “a competency to live according to his birth and quality;” yet every way frustrated, month by month, year by year, even after his last ray of hope was realized in the return of the exiled sovereign. He makes slight allusion to enemies, and none to public neglect. The enemies must have existed, Papist as he was, when so late as November 1666, the King had published a declaration to banish all priests and jesuits, on pain of punishment if found in the kingdom after the middle of the next month; the public neglect, from his aristocratic sympathies, he might not choose to recognise. It is certain he had been abundantly persecuted for his political acts, and was being neglected with a degree of callousness for which it is difficult at this remote period, and in the absence of needful intelligence, to account, so as fairly to reconcile the many incongruities and inconsistencies in the statement of his devotion to Charles the First, the coolness of Charles the Second, the Marquis’s own firm clinging to a Court which used him so basely, and the utter oblivion into which his efforts fell among all classes of men esteemed patrons of art, literature and science.

Amidst plague, and intestine troubles, and surrounded with domestic calamities of the most poignant character, this great and good man, this glorious genius deceased on Wednesday, the 3rd of April, 1667. Where he died is nowhere recorded, and no incident of his latter days affords the slightest information. It is not unreasonable to suppose that he had resided at Lambeth, if not indeed at the mansion then called Faux-hall. He was conveyed with funeral solemnity from London to his barony of Raglan, in the county of Monmouth, where he was buried in the family vault within the Parish Church, on Friday the 17th of the same month, near to the body of Edward, Earl of Worcester, Lord Privy Seal, his grandfather, the following inscription being engraved on a brass plate:--

“_Depositum Illustrissimi Principis Edwardi Marchionis & Comitis Wigorniæ, Comitis de Glamorgan, Baronis Herbert de Raglan, Chepstow, & Gower, nec non Serenissimo nuper Domino Regi Carolo primo, Southwalliæ Locum-tenentis: Qui obiit apud Lond. tertio die Aprilis_, An. Dom. M.DC.LXVII.”

ST CADOCUS: THE PARISH CHURCH OF RAGLAN, MONMOUTHSHIRE.

EAST END VIEW AND PLAN OF RAGLAN CHURCH.

In the above view of Raglan Church, a corresponding plan is given, showing, by the letter A, that portion of the chancel beneath which is situated the family vault of the Beaufort family. The flagged area has a font in the centre, pews in one corner and at the sides, with a window at one end, and at the other a door opening to the church-yard.

Although Francis Sandford, Pursuivant at Arms, in noticing heraldic particulars, when alluding to his funeral, adds, “which myself had the honour to attend,” he makes no comment of a personal or interesting character, beyond the customary genealogical details. From Sandford’s remark one is led to suppose he attended as a personal friend. He was a native of Wicklow, of humble origin and moderate education, long resident in London. He was therefore a person likely to be intimately acquainted with the Dowager Marchioness of Worcester’s Irish connexions, and to take a more than usual interest in the circumstances relating to the death and funeral obsequies of the Marquis.[O]

On the 24th of the same month the following funeral certificate was attested by his son Henry, Marquis of Worcester, at the Herald’s College:--

“The Right Honble Edward Somerset Marquess and Earle of Worcester, Earle of Glamorgan, and Baron Herbert of Raglan, Chepstow, and Gower departed this mortall life upon Wedensday the third of Aprill 1667, and was conveyed with ffunerall Solemnitie from London to his Barony of Raglan in the County of Monmouth (accompanied with many Gentry of ye County’s of Gloucester and Monmouth aforesaid) and there interred in his Lordships Chappell in the Parish Church, neare to the body of Edward Earle of Worcester Lord Privie Seale, his Grandfather (in a vault arched with stone) on fryday the 19 day of the same month. His Lordship married to his first wife Elizabeth Dormer daughter of Sir William Dormer Knight that dyed in the lifetime of his father, and sister unto Robert Earle of Carnarvon by whom he had issue his only son Henry Lord Herbert, now Marquess of Worcester at the time of the takeinge of this Certificate, who, marrying with Mary daughter of that most loyall Nobleman Arthur, Lord Capell, beheaded by the rebells upon the 9th day of March 1648 (Sister to Arthur Earle of Essex, &c.) and Widdow to Henry Seamour, Lord Beauchampe that dyed in the lifetime of his father, by whom she had issue William now Duke of Somerset aged 15 years and Frances and Mary, dead, and Elizabeth Seamour third daughter now liveing, had by the said Mary also issue Henry Somerset his eldest son dead, and buried at Windsor; Charles Somerset second son and heire, now Lord Herbert about 6 years old; Edward Somerset 3d son, dead also, and was interred at Raglan; and Henry Somerset the yonger 4 sonne who departed this world about two dayes before his Grandfather and was buried at Raglan; Elizabeth Somerset elder daughter dyed young and was buried at Raglan, and Lady Mary Somerset, younger daughter is now liveing about a yeare and halfe old. Lady Anne Somerset elder daughter to the defunct was married to Henry Howard second sonne of Henry Earle of Arundell, and brother and heire to Thomas Duke of Norfolke, and by him hath issue Henry Howard, Thomas, Elizabeth and Frances. Lady Elizabeth Somerset younger daughter to the defunct is the wife of William, Lord Herbert of Powis and by him hath issue William Herbert his only son and five daughters.

“The said Edward Lord Marquess defunct married to his second wife the Lady Margaret O’Bryan daughter and coheire of Henry Earle of Thomond, and by her had issue one only daughter named Mary, who dyed an Infant, and was buried at Raglan. This Certificate was taken upon the 24th day of Aprill 1667 by Ffrancis Sandford, Rouge Dragon, who, served for Sr Edward Walker Kt. Garter Principall King of Armes, and the truth thereof attested by the subscription of the Right Hoble Henry Marquesse of Worcester

“Examd. F. R. S. D. WORCESTER.”

It is, throughout, very observable that the invention of the Water-commanding Engine was no imaginary scheme, no merely ingenious idea, but a realized fact, of the nature and importance of which the late Marquis had been fully sensible. And it affords a striking proof of his high estimation and correct knowledge of the magnitude of his discovery, that he should have bowed himself before his Maker in humble adoration, acknowledging in a simple yet solemnly sublime strain, his sense of obligation to the supreme Source of all intelligence, for permitting him to become instrumental in the development of so great a mystery of nature.

The following is from the original manuscript at Badminton:--

“_The Lord Marquesse of Worcester’s Ejaculatory and extemporary
thanksgiueing prayer when first with his corporall eyes, he did
see finish’d a perfect tryall of his Water-commanding Engine
delightfull and usefull to whomsoeuer hath in recomendation
eyther knowledge, profit, or pleasure._

“Oh! infinitly omnipotent God whose mercyes are fathomlesse, and whose knowledge is immense and inexhaustible next to my Creation and Redemption I render thee most humble thanks even from the very bottome of my heart and bowells, for thy voutchchafeing me (the meanest in understanding), an insight in soe great a secret of nature beneficial to all mankind as this my Water-commanding Engine. Suffer me not to be puff’d upp, O Lord, by the knowing of it, and many more rare and unheard off, yea unparaleled Inventions, Tryals, and Experiments, but humble my haughty heart, by the true knowledge of myne owne ignorant, weak, and unworthy nature, proane to all euill O most mercifull Father my creator, most compassionatting Sonne my Redeemer, and Holyest of Spiritts, the sanctifier, three diuine persons and one God! grant me a further concurring grace with fortitude to take hould of thy goodnesse, to the end that whatever I doe, unanimously and courageously to serue my King and Countrey, to disabuse, rectifie, and convert my vndeserved yet wilfully incredulous[P] enemyes, to reimburse thankfully my creditors, to reimmunerate my benefactors, to reinhearten my distressed family, and with complacence to gratifie my suffering and confiding friends may, voyde of vanity or selfe ends, only be directed to thy honour and glory euerlastingly. Amen.”

With Caspar Kaltoff to superintend the work at Vauxhall, the engine would no doubt be kept in operation, for the benefit alike of the Dowager Marchioness and all interested, most likely including Colonel C. Copley.

In the travels of Cosmo de Medici the Third, Grand Duke of Tuscany,[30] through England,[Q] among other matters that attracted his attention in the metropolis, it is recorded that on the 23rd of May, 1669:--“His Highness went to see an hydraulic machine upon a wooden tower, in the neighbourhood of Somerset House,[R] which is used for conveying water of the river to the greater part of the City. It is put in motion by two horses, which are continually going round, it not being possible that it should receive its movement from the current of the river, as in many other places where the rivers never vary in their course; but this is not the case with the Thames, owing to the tide; consequently the wheels, which serve at the ebb, would not be able to do their office when the tide returns.”

On the 29th following, his Highness was entertained by the Earl of Devonshire, when a sumptuous banquet was provided.

“His Highness, that he might not lose the day uselessly, went again after dinner to the other side of the city, extending his excursion as far as Vauxhall, beyond the palace of the Archbishop of Canterbury, to see an hydraulic machine, invented by my Lord Somerset, Marquis of Worcester. It raises water more than forty geometrical feet by the power of one man only; and in a very short space of time will draw up four vessels of water through a tube or channel not more than a span in width; on which account it is considered to be of greater service to the public than the other machine near Somerset House.”

Up to September next year we still find the “Water-commanding Engine,” engaging the attention of the Dowager Marchioness, who was fully alive to the importance of so wonderful an invention; not only as enhancing her late husband’s fame, but also as affecting her own interest, with that of the other parties who had assisted in its promotion. She seems to have acted with a persevering and noble spirit under all the disadvantages of her situation, oppressed as she was in fortune, her heart lacerated by the accumulated wrongs she and her husband had through life endured, and now alone, neglected, and with but this one hope left, of which his prophetic views must have left a lively impression on her heart.

But the Marquis’s surprising invention was doomed to another, and a more novel persecution than could well be conceived possible, one which assuredly might very justly be doubted, had we not the written record before our eyes. Among the other manuscripts at Badminton House is the letter of a Roman Catholic priest, dated 6th of September, 1670, addressed to the Marchioness “at her house in Lincoln’s Inn Fields.”[S]

As her spiritual adviser, he says:--“Almighty God hath, Madam, put you into a happy and flourishing condition, fit and able to serve God, and to do much good to yourself and others; and your Ladyship makes yourself unhappy, by seeming not to be contented with your condition, but troubling your spirits with many thoughts of attaining to greater dignities and riches.”

He next declares that she is in danger “to lose the right use of her reason,” all arising from disposing herself for great dignity and wealth--“by getting of great sums of money from the King to pay your deceased Lord’s debts, and enriching yourself by the great Machine [the Water-commanding Engine] and the like.”

To deter her from proceeding in this course, he points out, as ill effects, “the danger of losing her health and judgment,” and “the probability of offending Almighty God.” That she is under “great temptation” he considers certain, “yet I confess (he adds) that the devil, to make his suggestion the more prevalent, doth make use of some motives that seem plausible, as of paying your Lord’s debts, &c.” For her future government he recommends her Ladyship--“To seek after eternal riches and honours, which your age doth assure you are not far off; for which you may dispose yourself, before death comes, by retiring into the country for some time, from the distractions of the Court, where you may have the advice and directions of some learned priest, in whose virtue you may wholly confide, for your internal quiet and security.” With this view he recommends a lady’s house at Hammersmith, where, “by Almighty God’s blessing, you may recover from that most pernicious distemper of body and mind, into which every one sees you to be very near approaching.”[T]

He claims “the candour of his intentions,” as a plea for this extraordinary interference, in a matter of personal and strictly honourable conduct of a wholly private nature.[U]

We lose after this all intelligence regarding the Vauxhall Water Engine, and it is in vain to enter on mere conjectures as to what may have been its fate. It is certain, however, that great disadvantages in exhibiting, and in manufacturing or repairing, would ensue on the decease of the Marquis’s right hand man “both for trust and skill.”

In 1670–71, letters patent were granted to the late Marquis’s son, Henry, Marquis of Worcester, remitting payment of certain sums due to the Crown at the time of his father’s decease.[V]

And on the 1st of August, 1672, letters patent were obtained, in respect to property at Vauxhall, which state that the same are granted by Charles the Second “from grace and favour towards Jasper Calthoff and Martha Calthoff, _lately deceased_.” From the same document we learn in reference to their children, that there were then living, Catherine, married to Claude Denis, Jasper Calthoff, and Isabel Calthoff.

And we find from letters patent, bearing date 22nd March, 1667–8, that Peter Jacobson (married to another daughter) is named as the “son in law,” So that it would appear that, in 1672, four children were living, one son and three daughters. The Peter Jacobson, here named, was a sugar baker, holding a portion of the Vauxhall estate for carrying on his business, at a trifling rental, during the term of his natural life.[W]

Beyond all question the Marquis of Worcester’s prime invention, the _Water-commanding Engine_, was erected and at work from 1663, to the year 1670, during which time it had been made the subject of an Act of Parliament; had been published in the _Century_, in brief outline; also noticed in a separate pamphlet, copies of which are exceedingly rare; and likewise in large posting bills. Besides which a model was deposited with the Chancellor of the Exchequer as required by the Act. It was also the subject of much correspondence. That it excited the attention of intelligent sight-seeing travellers we ascertain from the Diaries published first by M. Sorbière, and five years later by Cosmo de Medici. And after the noble inventor’s decease, his warm-hearted and enthusiastic widow brought herself under priestly censure for her active endeavours “to enrich herself by the great Machine;” on which, alas! both had built reasonable, but such as were at that time considered extravagant, expectations of present fortune and future fame.

With the Marquis of Worcester this invention was no idle fancy, no mere experiment, no amateur work, no casual, doubtful trial, and was not lightly estimated by himself. He had by practice so thoroughly satisfied himself, that, long after 1655, amidst all his troubles, without his notes, and to oblige a friend, he wrote off, _con amore_, three distinct accounts of his invention, under the titles of, “A fire water-work;” “A semi-omnipotent engine;” and lastly, “A stupendous water-work.”

How it happens that the Marquis of Worcester should have been wholly unnoticed for his inventions by contemporaries it is difficult to offer anything like a sufficiently reasonable or satisfactory conjecture. But surprise might seem to vanish when such diarists as John Evelyn and Samuel Pepys, with all their curiosity and all their apparent pleasure in recording scientific novelties, although they name the Marquis, notice Worcester House, and mention Vauxhall, never so much as hint at one invention by the Marquis of Worcester. When these gossips had nothing to say, conjecture may well cease to promise a satisfactory solution.

But it must be remembered that the means for giving publicity to any matter were then comparatively limited; and it is possible that the Water-commanding Engine was little known beyond a certain aristocratic circle, who afforded the chief support of the affair pending other arrangements. Even this supposition very indifferently accounts for the dead silence on the subject at home, when it seems apparent that the invention was looked on by foreigners as in striking contrast with a much inferior mode of raising water at Somerset House, performed by machinery worked by two horses. One would suppose that of all inventions an engine of superior capabilities for supplying the city with water, would have excited attention in every quarter. The inventor, and all concerned with him, might see certain difficulties in meeting any demand adequately remunerative, until works and machinery were provided; not so much to make the engines, but to provide certain requisite articles and materials, well understood in modern times, but wholly unknown two centuries ago. The Marquis was in fact creating a demand for iron plates, wrought and cast iron cylinders, metal rods, and all manner of tools and novel kinds of workmanship, so completely was this wonderful man in advance of the age he might have adorned.

Charles the Second, in the midst of all his gaiety and all his poverty, had it in his power to benefit the Marquis by, at least, affording him some countenance. He had every reason to be grateful to him, but his ruling passion gained the sway over all other considerations. What Samuel Pepys relates of him, as happening on the 1st of February, 1663–4, is characteristic of what may have been his utmost estimate of even the Marquis himself. He says:--“I to Whitehall, where, in the Duke’s chamber, the King came and stayed an hour or two, laughing at Sir W. Petty, who was then about his boat; and at Gresham College [the Royal Society] in general, which he mightily laughed at, for spending time only in weighing of air, and doing nothing else since they sat.”[78]

Our great historian has given a masterly miniature of the volatile monarch, observing:--“To do him justice his temper was good; his manners agreeable; his natural talents above mediocrity. But he was sensual, frivolous, false and cold-hearted, beyond almost any prince of whom history makes mention.”[X] His neglect of the Marquis of Worcester had the effect of retarding the full development of the Steam Engine in this country for above half a century; and thus he, who had never been known to say a foolish thing, lost the chance of performing a wise one, that would have evinced the existence of at least one redeeming quality in his character.

Footnotes

[A] History of the Royal Society of London. By Thomas Sprat, Bishop
of Rochester, 4to. 1667.

[91] Sprat.

[94] Tallis.

[65] Lysons.

[3] Allen.

[14] Boyle.

[104] Weld.

[14] Boyle.

[104] Weld.

[B] MS. Public Record Office, in course of being calendared by Mrs.
M. A. E. Green.

[C] From MSS. Badminton.

[D] From MSS. Badminton.

[E] From MSS. Badminton.

[F] On the 10th of October, 1667, his son occupied his place, as
Marquis of Worcester.

[G] From MSS. Badminton.

[H] This is a holograph letter, from MSS. Badminton.

[I] Cal. State Papers, Dom. Series. Ch. II. 1667. No. 101.

[J] Appendix G.

[K] Cal. State Papers, Dom. Series. Ch. II. 1667. No. 33.

[L] See page 271 and 273.

[M] Duchy of Cornwall Office. Report H. 1.1665–8. (April, 1668.) See
Appendix G.

[N] It is very similar to the Draft, page 224; and the
“Definition” in Appendix C.

[14] Boyle, Vol. v. page 532.

[O] I am the more particular in naming these facts, as it is singular
that there should be any doubt thrown on the place of his
sepulture. Yet in a copy of “The Baronage of England, by William
Dugdale,” containing his own manuscript corrections, he substitutes
for “Ragland,” to read “Windsor, near to the tomb of Charles of
Worcester his ancestor.” This copy is in the Bodleian Library, and
I have not only examined it very carefully, but also the Register
at St. George’s Chapel, and the tombs in the Beaufort Chapel,
Windsor, without being able to confirm Dugdale’s manuscript
emendation.--D.

[P] This had been written “wilfully malicious”--but “malicious” has
been struck out, and “incredulous” substituted. This with other
corrections are in the Marquis’s own handwriting.

[30] Cosmo.

[Q] Being this portion only of his Travels, derived from two large
folio MS. volumes, narrated by the celebrated Count Lorenza
Magalotti, preserved in the Laurentian Library, Florence.

[R] See Sorbière’s Account, page 265.

[S] Her being there 3½ years _after_ the decease of the Marquis, makes
it probable she had removed from Lambeth, or wherever she had
previously resided.

[T] See Appendix D.

[U] She afterwards married Donough O’Kearney, and died 26th
July, 1681.

[V] Appendix G.

[W] Duchy of Cornwall Office. See Index to Reports--1660–1684.
A. to P. 1. And Report H. 1. 1665–8. And Appendix G.

[78] Pepys.

[X] Macaulay’s Essays.