428
[Book IV.
could apprehend them. Of this mode of exciting public attention, theaccount of the engine of motion in the last chapter is an example; andseveral more may be seen in the pamphlet published by the Marquis of Worcester , in 1663, entitled “ A Century of the Names and Scantlings[outlines or hints] of such Inventions as at present I can call to mind tohave tried and perfected; which, my former notes being lost, I have, atthe instance of a powerful friend, endeavored, now in the year 1655, toto set down in such a way as may sufficiently instruct me to put any ofthem in practice.” This book is made up of one hundred inventions,numbered from one upwards. It contains a distinct reference to a work-ing steam-machine for raising water, and also hints by which its natureand construction are pretty clearly ascertained. There is some reason tobelieve that the modern high-pressure engine is also referred to. Fromthe circumstanee of the author having figured largely in the civil wars, hehaving beeil an enthusiastic adherent of Charles I. and of monarchy, hischaracter and that of his book have been represented in the best and worstof lights. By his enemies he was held up as false and unprincipled inthe highest degree; by his friends, as chivalrous and of unspotted honor.The “ Century” has been denounced as a scheme to impose on the cre-dulity of mankind—the dream of a visionary—and Hume, in his History,goes so far as to name it “ a ridiculous compound of lies, chimeras, andimpossibilities.” On the other hand, it has been received by many (andgenerally by practical men) in the light in which the author represents it,viz. as a memorial of inventions actually put in practice by him—such ashe had really “ tried and perfected.”
With the political conduct of Worcester we have nothing to do. Henaturally enough supported that System by which he and the rest of theLords acquired and entailed their exclusive privileges; among which theabominable one of being legislators by birth was perhaps the most odiousand unnatural. On the fall of the king he retired to the continent, but, atthe request of Charles II , ventured to visit London in disguise in 1656.Being discovered, he was arrested, and confmed in the Tower until thereestablishment of monarchy in 1660. He died in 1667.
We have no positive information respecting the time when he com-menced his mechanical researches. There is however reason to believethat most, if not all, the inventions enumerated in the “ Century ” werematured before the civil wars broke out, and consequently that the accountof them was drawn up, as he declares, in 1655. a No. 56 he observes wastried before Charles I , Sir William Balfour, and the Dukes of Richmondand Hamilton; and this could not have been later than 1641, for Balfourwas dismissed that year. In addressing the Century to Parliament , hementions having had “ the unparalleled workman, Caspar Kaltoff,” in hisemployment “ these five and thirty years,” and who was at that time(1663) engaged in his Service. This carries back his experiments to 1628.Some of his “ water-works ” were in Operation in his father’s castle (atRagland, in Wales ) at the commencement of the Long Parliament , (1640)for by their sudden movements he is said to have frightened certain adhe-rents of the Parliament , who went to search the castle for arms. The na-ture of these works is not indicated, except that they consisted of “ severalengines and wheels,” and that large quantities of water were contained mreservoirs on the top of a high tower. Whether steam was the agent em-ployed to raise this water is unknown. It could not have been if the tra-dition, credited by some writers, was true, viz. that his attention was first