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."* 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.

CHAPTER XVIII.

A BRIEF RETROSPECT OF THE MARQUIS OF WORCESTER'S GENEALOGY, AND HIS PRIVATE, POLITICAL, AND PHILOSOPHICAL CHARACTER; INCLUDING HIS OWN STATEMENT OF EXPENDITURE DURING THE CIVIL WAR.

THE ancient and honourable family of Somerset is descended from John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, son of Edward the Third.

1. Charles,* the only natural son of Henry Beaufort, third Duke of Somerset, in that line (eldest son of Edmond, Duke of Somerset), assumed the surname of Somerset. He, in consequence of the devastating wars of the Roses, was, on the accession of Henry the Seventh to the throne, the only remaining representative of that monarch's illustrious ancestors, and he, therefore, considerably distinguished him. In addition to his other honours, he was created a Knight of the Garter; and in the succeeding reign elevated to the dignity of Earl of Worcester, on the 1st of February, 1514.

In right of his first marriage with Elizabeth Herbert, only child of William Herbert, Earl of Huntingdon, he bore the titles of Baron Herbert, Lord Herbert of Raglan, Chepstow and Gower. After the decease of

The annexed autograph of this great ancestor of the Marquis of Worcester, is obtained from a do

C. Someyere

cument in the British Museum. Cotton. MSS. Vesp. F. xiii. fol. 78.

his first wife he was twice married; first, to Elizabeth West, daughter of Thomas, Lord la Warr; and on her decease to Eleanor Sutton, daughter of Edward Sutton, Lord Dudley. He died on the 15th of April, 1526, leaving her a widow.

2. He was succeeded by his eldest son Henry, second Earl of Worcester, who died 26th of November, 1549.

3. And he was succeeded by his eldest son, William, third Earl of Worcester, and a Knight of the Garter, who died the 21st of February, 1589.

4. Being succeeded by his only son, Edward, fourth Earl of Worcester, and a Knight of the Garter, who died 3rd of March, 1628.

5. And was succeeded by his second son, Henry (his eldest son William having died during his father's lifetime). Charles the First created him Marquis of Worcester, by patent dated at Oxford, 2nd of November, 1642 (which dignity was repudiated by the Commonwealth Parliament). He was the fifth Earl and first Marquis of Worcester, and died December, 1646.

6. When he was succeeded in his honours by his eldest son, Edward, the subject of this memoir; but the latter never enjoyed any portion of the vast estates until after a lapse of fourteen years, when, at the Restoration in 1660, he recovered a large portion of his landed property, as already set forth.

He bore the second or family title of Lord Herbert, from March, 1628, to the end of March, 1643; being on the 1st of April following, created Earl of Glamorgan (during his father's lifetime) by Charles the First, he was best known by that title, from the part he took in Irish affairs during the civil commotions from 1644, until the decease of his father in 1646; when, in consequence of the Cromwellian Parliament refusing

to acknowledge any of the King's later creations of Peers, he was uniformly styled Earl of Worcester; but at the Restoration in 1660, his proper style of Marquis of Worcester was fully recognized. These latter party distinctions now materially serve to fix or limit the dates of some documents, not otherwise to be approximated.

Until the 27th year of his age we meet with little respecting his education, travels, and pursuits. With his marriage commenced his engagement with that artificer Caspar Kaltoff, whom he employed in promoting his own practical course of studies in a branch of inquiry which had never before, and has never since, been so assiduously examined and tested. The pursuits then commenced and indefatigably pursued, as well for instruction as amusement, combined with a strong natural bias for such occupations, may have served at a later period, under less favourable circumstances, to lighten the tedium of exile and imprisonment.

He enjoyed but seven years of married life, being then left with three children, and remained a widower for three years; when, in 1639, he married a second time, having but one child by his second marriage, who died an infant. In the family group, painted by Hanneman (now first engraved), the artist has drawn him seated beside his wife and child; but when this work was executed is unknown, although it most likely dates between 1639 and 1641.

The breaking out of the Civil War would seriously interfere with the Marquis of Worcester's scientific investigations; he would no longer be able to settle down to the serious study of his favourite authors; his models and mechanical experiments would be in abeyance; and there was no alternative left for him but to unite himself to the cause either of the King or the