modestly, yet truly, for your Lordships better informa
tion, accusing myself in some things with the same
candour and freedom as to vindicate myself, in others,
desiring to stand or fall by your Lordships just judg
ment, and his Majesty s gracious proceeding thereon ;
no further relying even upon his Majesty s most gracious
act of general pardon, than in compliance with others,
his Majesty s subjects, have taken it out, yet with so
great a reluctance, through the clearness of my heart,
not to have deserved for it, that the Lord upon the
Woolsack was forced to chide me to it, through his
tenderness of my good, and, as I humbly conceive, a
further apprehension than I could have of a necessity
thereof; for which his tender care I acknowledge
thankfulness, yet, at the same time, I must humbly ask
leave to stand upon my justification, humbly praying
to be rightly understood, for I do it not out of pride or
vain glory, but purely Me defendendo, and if any body
Se defendendo, kills another, the law quits him, much
more will your Lordships pronounce me not guilty of
arrogance, though I should arrogate to myself a praise
worthy desert, and not, through too much modesty, be
mealy-mouthed, and not discover what of right apper
tains to the blessed memory of my dead father, and
even my own commendations, crying with Virgil, -
Sic vos non vobis nidificatis aves ; sic vos non vobis vel~
lera fertis oves ; sic vos non vobis fertis aratra loves ;
sic vos non vobis mellificatis apes. Know, then, my
noble Lords, that herein I speak not to derogate from
the merit of the Eoman Catholics from their duty and
love to their Sovereign, we having all of us, with an
unanimous resolution, nemine contra dice nte^ that is



328 LIFE, TIMES, AND SCIENTIFIC LABOURS

to say, no one gentleman of quality throughout the
whole nation, but has stuck to the cause, adventuring
his life, and lost his whole fortune therein ; yet give
me leave to aver it, boldly, that all the Catholics of
England assisted not my father, or me, to the value of
5, without real security for it, and such, indeed, as at
this time lieth heaviest upon me ; and this I aver as in
the presence of Almighty God and your Lordships.
In the second place, my Lords, how came the then
Marquis of Hertford, after his defeat in the west, with
recruits to his Majesty at Oxford, but by my father s
means and mine. The forces that I sent with him had cost
me 8000 ; and 2000 my father lent him, ready money.
How came Sir John Byron s regiment of horse to be
first raised, but by 5000 in gold, given him by my
father ? How came the Forest of Dean to be reduced ;
Goodrich strong castle to be taken ; Monmouth itself,
with its garrison, to be surprised ; Chepstow, Newport,
and Cardiff to be taken, and secured for his Majesty,
but by my forces and my father s money ? How came
Eaglan Castle to be first fortified and last rendered,
but by 50,000 disbursed therein by my father ?

u How came his Majesty s army to be considerable
before Edge-hill fight, but by the men I brought, and
how was his Majesty recruited at Gloucester side, even
after the defeat given by Waller to my men ? God for
give those of the King s party, who were the occasion
that 1500 were surprised, and I not despatched from
Oxford until the day after; yet, my Lords, at 14
days warning I brought 4000 foot and 800 horse to the
siege of Gloucester, paying them 6000 down upon
the nail at Gloucester, besides my troop of Life-guard,
consisting of 6 score noblemen and gentlemen, whose
estates amounted to above 3 score thousand pounds
a-year, most of whom I furnished with horse and arms,



OF THE MARQUIS OF WORCESTER. 329

which of a sudden they could not do themselves ; for I
was then master of 34 horses in my stable, for the
worst of which I have refused 100, and above 40
others lonely worth 50 a horse. I kept a table for
the said troop, not only at Gloucester side, but all the
way to the west, without so much as making use of
free quarter, but all upon the penny ; for General Eaven
complained of me to the King, who graciously and
smilingly reprehending me publicly, I desired to know
my accuser, and called my Lord-General Raven, after
wards made Earl of Bradford, before his Majesty, who,
objecting that it was of ill example and made them to
be thought the more burdensome ; my humble reply
was, that I yielded to his Excellency to be the better
soldier, but still to be a soldier of fortune, here to-day
and God knows where to-morrow, and therefore he
needed not care for the love of the people ; but though
I were killed myself I should leave my posterity behind
me, towards whom I would not leave a grudge in the
people, but whilst I could serve his Majesty upon my
own purse and credit I would really do it, and after
wards leave it to such as his Lordship.

" I confess I raised this troop without my father s
consent first asked; his Majesty s peremptory com
mands and the shortness of time requiring, and I con
fess his Lordship checked me for it, and said I had
undone myself thereby, and [I] replied that 5 or
6,000 would not undo me ; the horses being all my own
already, and the arms, by accident coming to Bristol
afforded a sudden and cheaper means for it. My father
answered, that he did allow that 6 nor 16,000 would
not undo me, but the consequence would be that the
love and power I had in my country would be per
spicuous ; although I should have thanks from the King,
yet others, though his Majesty s well-wishers, yet,
through envy, they would hate me for it : which I



330 LIFE, TIMES, AND SCIENTIFIC LABOURS

confess I have found too true, and my services have
been more retarded by those who called themselves the
King s friends than obstructed by his enemies.

" Pardon me, my Lords, if I detain you a little longer,
descending to some particulars as near as I can call to
mind ; and beginning first to tell your Lordships that
I was not privy nor present with his Majesty at
Greenwich, when he first took his resolution for the
North, and removed without the Queen to Theobalds,
from which he was pleased to write me a lamentable
letter by the hands of Sir John Byron, averring that he
had but 600, and 300 of which was given to defray
his horses, which the Marquis of Hamilton, then Master
of the Horse, refused to do, fearing to displease the
Parliament ; but upon such a lamentable complaint,
and pressing necessities of my dear master (yet no
ways advising him unto the journey), I sent him to
Theobalds. 3,000

" To Huntingdon, after his departing from
Theobalds .... 3,000
" To Nottingham . . . 4,000

" To York ... 8,000

" And took order for a table, to be kept for
several experienced officers, who by this means
were kept from taking arms for the Parliament,
and were ready for the King s service, and the
defraying of their debts here, their journey into
York, and their table there, which none of them
but 2 knew it came from other hand than the
King s privy purse, yet stood me in . 1,500

"And these sums, with as great privacy as may
be, keeping good correspondence with the Par
liament, and myself present at London, to avoid
suspicion, being then trusted both by King and
Parliament. For victualling the Tower of Lon
don, by his Majesty s command I sent to the



OF THE MARQUIS OF WORCESTER. 331

then Lieutenant, Sir John Byron, in old plate,
under pretence of coining it . . 2,500

" B j a feigned pretence getting leave of the
Parliament (the circumstance being too tedious
to relate to your Lordships, but yet notable in
itself), I went with their pass to York, and
carried to his Majesty in ready money . 15,000

" In bills and assurances. . . 80,500

" For both which sums I had his Majesty s
note, yet extant, for ninety-five thousand 5
hundred pounds. Which done, in two days,
his Majesty s further commands received, I re
turned to the Parliament, with a plausible
answer to a message sent from them by me, and
I agreed with Parliament to remove the maga
zine of powder and [ammunition] for [from ?]
Monmouth, which was a town of my own, to
Carlyon, a town of the Earl of Pembroke, a
professed adherent unto them, which they took
kindly at my hands, though done by design by
me, who could not have pretension to take it from
the town of Monmouth had it been still there.

"For the raising of Sir John Byron s regiment
of horse, being the first completed . 5,000

" Things being thus set in order between his
Majesty and me, I fairly took leave of the Par
liament to go down to my father ; where I no
sooner arrived but there came directed unto me
from his Majesty a Commission of Array ; where
of I presently, by a servant of my own, sent
word to the Parliament, with a letter to the
House of Lords, which I directed to my Lord of
Holland, and to the House of Commons, to Mr.
Pym ; in both of which I offered to intercede to
his Majesty, and conceived I should prevail to



332 LIFE, TIMES, AND SCIENTIFIC LABOURS

suspend the Commission of Array, if they should
make an Act that their militia should not come
into my country ; but they, with civil compli
ments and thanks, replied, that his Majesty s
[proceeding ?] was so illegal, and theirs for the
kingdom so just and necessary, that by no means
would they waive the one for the other. At
which I declared myself irritated to see that
they durst tell me that anything commanded by
my master was illegal, and professed I would
obey his Majesty s commands, and let them send
at their perils. So, immediately, and in 8 days
time, I raised 6 regiments, fortified Monmouth,
Chepstow, and Raglan ; fetching away the maga
zine from the Earl of Pembroke s town, Carlyon,
and placed it in Raglan Castle, leaving a gar
rison in lieu thereof. Garrisoned likewise
Cardiff, Brecknock, Hereford, Goodrich Castle
and the Forest of Dean, after I had taken them
from the enemy.

" To the then Lord Marquis of Hereford, in
Wales, as many forces as cost me the raising and
arming . . ;., . *[8000?]

" Lent him to prosecute that expedition, in [2000 ?]
raising of forces in Wales, first and last, [to
the ?] number of twelve thousand men, and
[maintaining] them, whilst the country was
tottering, [also providing?] them weekly for
fifteen months : . . [plainly ?] speaking, "i
and it shall be made good. . * t 1 1~1 30 ^00 91

" Brought to Oxford and delivered [
[with my ?] own hands . . I J

* See page 328.

t The MS. being defective on this side, the particular sums of money cannot be
ascertained.



OF THE MARQUIS OF WORCESTER. 333

" My journey to Ireland with levies and inci
dent [al expenses?], there as well at sea as at
land.* I * * * *



/




\ / //

" The furnishing of troops of 6 score [gentle
men with ?] arms, and most of them with horses,
some of them of an hundred pounds price, and
many of 50 ; for though the gentlemen betwixt
them made above 60,000 per annum land of
inheritance, yet being unexpectedly raised in 8
days, and could not furnish themselves, which I
did according to their quality, together with
their servants to the number of 200, keeping a
constant table for them the whole journey, all
along from Gloucester into the West ; whereat
they never wanted wine, that being carried along
with us, but oftentimes beer 5 together with
6,000 in ready money, paid my foot soldiers
at the raising of the siege of Gloucester : which,
all modestly rated, came unto above . 25,000

" The keeping of the garrison of Eaglan,
towards which, till the very last cast, there was
never a penny contribution raised or exacted,
amounted to, at the least . . 40,000

The total 318,000

" Besides the garrison of Monmouth, both town
and castle, Chepstow, Goodrich with Hinan, and
the Forest of Dean, recovered from the enemy,
all at my charge till Sir William Vavasour came,
who hath had of me 500 twenty shilling pieces at

* The cipher follows on the same line, and agrees in character with the cipher-
writing on page 180. Sec Comment on Article No. 5, in the " Century."



334: LIFE, TIMES, AND SCIENTIFIC LABOURS

a time, to encourage him to go on at Glou
cester ; besides, likewise, the charge of reducing
of Abergavenny, Carlyon, and Newport to his
Majesty s obedience.

44 Furthermore, for seven years, both in
England and Ireland, I allowed twenty pounds
each meal, to which all officers and gentlemen
were welcome ; and I believe the charges in
these particulars, not to be inserted or charged
on this account, amounts to one-half as much
as the former sums. I never received a farth
ing towards it as General or [otherwise], nor
a penny out of my estate in 20 years. These
times came unto upwards of sumebus viis et
modis, which alone amounted unto . 600,000

44 These sums added together balance the
accounts and make good that I have spent,
lent, [and lost ?] for my King and country,
revera . . . . 918,000

44 My Lords, being conscious of this, and many things
forgotten by me to set down, I was become proof against
anything the King s enemies could do against me,
since by their principles I knew I deserved it ; but,
since his Majesty s return and happy restoration it hath
almost stupified me to have been so laid by as not to have
had any promise made good to me, for which I had his
Majesty s royal word, hand, or even the Great Seal of
England ; but, of the contrary, I humbly beseech your
Lordship s leave to set down what, with all submission
to his Majesty s will and pleasure, flesh and blood cannot
but resent, yet so far only as shall stand with the duty of
a loyal subject and the unquenchable zeal of my real
heart towards my King and country, and a most humble
submission to your Lordships better judgment, casting



OF THE MARQUIS OF WORCESTER. 335

myself wholly at your disposal and favourable con
struction of what I shall set down, according to the old
saying, that losers may have leave to speak"

In this proposed address to the House of Peers, the
Marquis of Worcester offers some introductory remarks
bearing on his parentage, education, and travels ; but
the burden of his speech is a detailed account of the
severe losses himself and his family sustained, con
sequent on the Civil War, combined with his father s
and his own liberality to Charles the First personally.
His proposed plan of laying his case before the House
is prefaced with a singular offer on his own part, under
four different heads :

1st. He proposes to raise an auxiliary troop for his
Majesty s Life-guard.

2nd. To cause to be erected a complete ordinary
for forty indigent officers.

3rd. To cause a fair causeway to be made, for two
miles together, at four of the greatest avenues to the
city.

And 4th, to cause 1,000 a year, for ten years, to
be allowed tow r ards the building of St. Paul s.

Then follow items of the various and vast sums
expended in the Royalist cause.

His allusion to the Act obtained for his Engine, in
1663, fixes the date of this document at or soon after
that period. The amount expended in the Royal cause
by his father and himself was so enormous, that it is
difficult to understand on what ground he considered he
bettered his claim to some compensation, by burdening
his statement with four separate offers, .calculated to
absorb far more than he could ever expect to obtain
through a monarch so needy, extravagant, and disso
lute as Charles the Second.



336 LIFE, TIMES, AND SCIENTIFIC LABOURS

Whatever may have been the Marquis of Worcester s
previous private engagements, there is every reason to
believe that from the time he was protected by Act of
Parliament, he vigorously put forth all his energies to
promote the works at Vauxhall, where, aided by Caspar
Kaltoff, he soon had one of his u stupendous" engines
in operation.

James Bollock, an " ancient servant of his Lordship s"
(as he styles himself), who made some pretence to being
a poet, wrote " a Latin Elogium and an English Pane-
girick, both of them composed through duty and gra
titude." He informs us that, he " hath for forty years
been an eye-witness of his great ingenuity:" adding,
" I think it not amiss to give further notice in his Lord
ship s behalf, that he intends within a moneth or two to
erect an Office, and to intrust some very responsible
and honourable persons with power to Treat and Con
clude with such as desire at a reasonable rate to reap
the benefit of the same Water-commanding Engine."*
About the same time would also appear to have been
issued large posting bills, one rare and curious specimen
of which may be seen in the Library of the British
Museum,| setting forth a short address to the King,
followed with the usual " definition" of " A stupendous
or a Water-Commanding Engine, boundless for height
or quantity." We have thus very clear evidence that he
was employing every possible means at command to
impress his claim on public notice.

Then, as regards the Engine itself, it was required by
the Act of Parliament, " that a model thereof be deli
vered to the Lord Treasurer or Commissioners for the
Treasury for the time being, at or before the 29th day
of September, 1663," and the same to be " put into the



* An Exact and true Definition, &c." Appendix C.
f Brit. Mus. 12. El. 75.10.



OF THE MARQUIS OF WORCESTER. 337

Exchequer and kept there ;" a requirement which he
was certain to obey punctiliously, not only to avoid
dispute, but because nothing was easier for him to
perform, through the agency of Kaltoff.

Another remarkable point referring to his Engine is
that he concludes the 98th article of his Century, which
alludes to it, by saying : " I call this a semi-omnipotent
Engine, and do intend that a model thereof be buried
with me"

And lastly, there was his practical demonstration on a
large scale. As early as May 1654, we have an intima
tion of his being in treaty for works at Vauxhall. Not
long afterwards we find his workman Kaltoff settled
there, and in one of his Petitions he explicitly men
tions having spent u 9,000 on buildings and im
provements," and at least " 50,000 in trying expe
riments and conclusions of art in that Opera tory :"*
thus actually curtailing his personal comforts to fulfil
his engagements with all those persons who confided
in his promises to perfect his novel undertaking.

His works and Engine were examined and noticed
in 1663, by the French traveller M. Sorbiere; in 1666
or 1667 by the eminent mathematician Dr. Eobert
Hook, whose cynicism unfortunately thwarted his judg
ment; in 1669, by the Grand Duke, Cosmo de Medici;
and we find it still in existence in September, 1670,
being then alluded to in a letter written by Walter
Travers, a Eoman Catholic priest. f

We have, therefore, certain evidence that the Mar
quis of Worcester s Engine was in full operation for at
least seven years, and that one of the conditions of the
Act of Parliament obliged him to deposit a model in
the Exchequer. His own estimate of its value may



* See page 287. f Appendix D.

f^



338 LIFE. TIMES, AND SCIENTIFIC LABOURS

be judged by his gladly giving up for the promised
tithe of it to the King, his claim on Charles the First
equal to 40,000, in lieu thereof.*

His Lordship s invention was never offered by him
as a merely amusing trifle ; it was not a curious model
which might or might not possess some practical ad
vantage ; and it was not of a nature of which he was
but partially aware, and which it was left to others to
apply. It is even possible that as early as 1628 he had
set up his Engine in its most simple form of applica
tion ; and that, improved upon through thirty -five years
of study and experimenting, the Engine of 1663 was
a master-piece of workmanship and contrivance for
that age. His invention was no longer a secret, he
had done all that any inventor could possibly be
required to perform to establish his claim to be con
sidered as a true and first inventor. His right did
not depend on the vague notice first put forth in his
Century, but on the actual Engine made, and, for not
less than seven years, constantly worked for public
inspection at Vauxhall. Any one so disposed could
have obtained the same examination of it that was
conceded to Sorbiere and to Cosmo de Medici. Dr.
Hook does not condescend to state what he saw of
it ; he set out for Lambeth with the intention of
going to Vauxhall, but the laughing philosopher may
have settled the problem in his own mind, to his own
entire satisfaction, without taking any trouble on a
supposed foolish errand. We speculate in vain whether
among the visitors stimulated by curiosity, or invited
by intending shareholders, there were such men as
Sir Samuel Morland, the King s Master of Mechanics ;
Eupert, Duke of Cumberland ; Dr. Sprat, the historian
of the Eoyal Society ; Bishop Wilkins, the author of

* See page 257, and Appendix F.



OF THE MARQUIS OF WORCESTER. 339

" Mathematical Magic" ; the Honourable Eobert Boyle,
Sir William Petty, Lord Viscount Brouncker, and other
distinguished personages.

Without positive facts to guide us we are ever
in danger of misjudging a bygone age, and in the
present instance it would be imprudent to hazard an
opinion on what is no less true than strange, that the
Marquis of Worcester entirely failed to arouse public
inquiry into the merits of his invention : being treated
throughout with an indifference, which, to modern
apprehension, appears wholly inexplicable. Yet, so
inconsistent is human nature, that the same age which
burned and drowned so-called witches, which believed
in the transmutation of base metals into gold, put faith
in the curative effect of sympathetic powders, and the
King s touch for bodily distempers, saw portents in
meteoric phenomena, and considered astrology a sound
science, could yet look with stolid indifference on this
germ of the steam-engine, unimpressed by what was
publicly exhibited, written, printed, and for at least
four years made the subject of its inventor s daily
conversation. Books and pamphlets were constantly
being published, filled with mysticism, gravely re
cording the day-dreams of fanatics and impostors, and
letters lent their aid to promulgate such fables ; yet here
was a new agent at work, of such potent power that its
like had never been seen, which nevertheless men saw,
heard, and listened to in dumb astonishment, with the
infantile simplicity of the poor Indian, ignorant of the
value of the gold or diamonds strewn in his path.

The early associated scientific men may have been
perplexed on finding an individual coming forth, in the
sixty-second year of his age, to propound a new doc
trine. The suspicion was natural ; the cause appeared
evident ; his project might be a chimera, or an absolute
delusion. No one ever so remotely suspected his

z 2



340 LIFE, TIMES, AND SCIENTIFIC LABOURS

own want of wisdom. Had the Marquis suddenly
dropped from the clouds, or sprung from the earth, he
could not have been in himself a much greater pheno
menon than he appeared to the virtuosi (as the learned
were called) of his day. Such a prodigy had never been
heard of, and perhaps will never again appear, as that
of a secluded scholar, studying all his life, suddenly
coming to light with unheard-of knowledge. If true,
he was a Leviathan, and compared with him all must
have acknowledged a sense of painful inferiority. The
Marquis on his part appears to have acted with unsus
pecting confidence and modesty, as one quite uncon
scious of the intellectual disparity between himself and
the professors of mechanical science in his day.
However, he neither sought nor formed new acquaint
ances ; he seems to have rested satisfied with his early
associates, or his own immediate connexions ; so that
no one was gratified by his condescension, or induced
to proffer advice, through any application on his part.
Indeed he mainly looked to the Crown for efficient
support ; but the luxurious and gay monarch sought
only youth and beauty, the banquet, the ball-room,
or the tennis-court, and was not to be disturbed
in his pleasures by aged philosophy propounding
mechanical experiments, and smoky steam-engines. The
King carried " Hudibras" in his breast, and might
perchance have a copy of the " Century" in some remote
cabinet. Need we be surprised that his Lordship s
confidence in succour from such a source was every
way misplaced ? His treaties with the business world,
it is to be feared, ran counter to all accepted forms, the
talented philosopher being no plodding trader ; so that
act as he might for the best, it nevertheless appears to
have been his uniform misfortune neither to acquire
friends nor conciliate enemies, a posture of affairs not