445
Chap. 7.]
any thing which Iristory or tradition lias handed down about round-headsand cavaliers. He had a place fitted up at the expense of government,with the requisite apparatus for carrying on his researches, at whichCharles sometimes assisted ; and he speaks of having moreover expendedlarge sums of his own in experiments, to please the king’s fancy. Of thenumber of curious things here contrived, besides his speaking trumpet,capstan, pumps and steam-engines, we may judge from what is reportedof his dwelling house at Vauxhall, every part of which exhibited proofsof his inventive mind ; even the side table in his dining room was suppliedwith a large fountain, and the glasses stood under little streams of water.His coach too contained a portable kitchen with clock-work machinery,by which he could make soup, broil Steaks, or roast a joint of meat.
Vauxhall gardens, as a place of public resort, appear to have originatedin the curious things constructed there by Moreland. Aubrey, in his His-tory of Surrey, States that in 1667, Sir Samuel “ built a fine room atVauxhall, the inside all of looking-glass, and fountains very pleasant tobehold, which is much visited by strangers. It Stands in the middle ofthe garden, covered with Cornish slate, on the point whereof he placed apunchinello very well carved, which held a dial; but the winds have de-molished it.” “ The house [observes Sir John Hawkins ] seems to havebeen rebuilt since the time that Sir Samuel Moreland dwelt in it; andthere being a large garden belonging to it planted with a great numberof stately trees, and laid out in shady walks, it obtained the name of SpringGardens, and the house being converted into a tavern or place of enter-tainment, it was frequented by the votaries of pleasure.”
Moreland’s attachment to mechamcs continued unabated in his old age,and even after his sight was lost. A pleasing proof of this is given in thediary of the celebrated John Evelyn . “ October 25, 1695. The arch-bishop and myselfe went to Hammersmith to visite Sir Sam. Moreland,who was entirely blind ; a very mortifying sight. He shewed us his m-vention of writing, which was very ingenious, also his wooden kalenderwhich instructed him all by feeling, and other pretty and useful inventionsof mills, pumps &c. and the pump he had erected that serves water to hisgarden, and to passengers, with an inscription, and brings, from a filthy partof the Thames neere it, a most perfect and pure water. He had newlyburied s£200 worth of music books, six feet under ground, being, ashe said, love songs and vanity. He plays himselfe psalms and religioushymns on the Theobo .”
It is singulär that almost all the early English steam machinists andsupposed experimenters were comtiers. Bacon was Lord Chancellor;Ramseye, groom of the privy chamber to Charles I; Worcester , a mar-quis and a general; Moreland, a knight, and groom of the privy or bedchamber a to Charles II ; and Bushel] and Savery held offices under thegovernment.
a It is a natural inquiry, what odd duties were attaehed to such an Office, that gentlemenshould desire to perfbrin them? and particularly to such beasts as Charles II or George17? An analysis of the bonors which monarehs bestow, would afford amusement andinstruction to American readers. It wonld add to the canses of honest exultation in thefounders of our republic, for their excluding such fooleries from our shores. Our ex-ample in this respect as well as in others, is destined by Providence to exert a salutaryinfluence on the World. A spirit of enquiry, and iueas of seif respect, are already be-coming too prevalent for men to be kept much longer in a mere state of pupilage, to begoverned like chitdren through the medium of their senses, with pageants and highsounding titles, costumes and ceremonies, tinsel and gewgaws. Those persons whohave not reflected on the subject, have need of a large share of faith to believe One halfthe circumstances connected with the origin and the conferring of titles, so truly pre-