That age was fond of patronizing what we should now-a-days be disposed to call "nic-nacs." Ingenious automata, curious toys and works of art, small fountains, singing birds, and similar curiosities attracted the serious attention of the virtuosi of the 17th century; so that we need not feel surprised that the Marquis set up a speaking Brazen Head; or that it should be of gigantic proportions, for he was always regardless of cost in such matters, and was never small where he could be great in developing his resources of ingenious contrivance. Wherever it was possible, he was magnificent—fortifications, embankments, ships rowing against wind and tide, great floating baths, and gardens, large cannon, in short, he was princely in his expenditure of his private fortune on whatever he undertook to perform, whether in war or in peace. It was thus he spent, lent, and lost for his King and country £918,000. He particularly notices that he laid out on buildings and experiments at Vauxhall, the sum of £59,000. But these items are far from representing his actual expenditure, although they indicate the scale of his operations; and taken at their value two centuries back such sums manifest marvellous munificence.
We have no certain key to any of his inventions, if we except two specimens of his cipher writing. One exists in the British Museum,[3] and there is a deciphered letter in the Bodleian Library, Oxford.[4]
His noblest invention, that which must for ever embalm his memory in the breasts not alone of Englishmen, but of all classes throughout the civilized world, was in operation at Vauxhall from 1663 to 1667, during his life time, and appears to have been working as late as 1670. It was ordered by the Act granted him, "that a model thereof be delivered to the Lord Treasurer or Commissioners for the Treasury for the time being, at or before the 29th of September, 1663; and to be put into the Exchequer, and kept there." And in the 98th article of the "Century," alluding to this same engine he says—"I call this a semi-omnipotent engine, and do intend that a model thereof be buried with me." Yet, strange to say, neither the one model nor the other, although zealously searched for, has come to light: and so little attention did this invention, notwithstanding its surprising utility, excite in the 17th century, that all the account we have of it, besides that by the inventor himself, is the briefest possible notice given by two foreign travellers, Sorbière in 1663-4, and Cosmo the third, Grand Duke of Tuscany, in 1669. It is satisfactorily ascertained, however, that upwards of seventeen persons, all living in 1663, were more or less acquainted with the Marquis's mechanical operations at Vauxhall, and must have seen the great water-engine at work, if only as a novelty, and a matter of curiosity.
Returning to the "Century of Inventions," we find it to be a journal of the fruits of its noble author's study of mechanical philosophy for nearly forty years, so that in it we may almost trace the youth and age of his mental capacity. Viewed through a modern medium we might feel disposed to discredit the genius of a man who could contrive so many curious alphabets for secret writing as those he mentions, but such systems were extensively practised in political and private correspondence during the Civil war period to baffle the curiosity of political opponents. What may be called mechanical tricks were also much in vogue, such as singing and flying birds, artificial figures and horses, and curiously contrived watches, cabinets, locks, and keys. Unless we bear in mind the taste of the age, we shall read with surprise such an announcement as the following, in the 88th article in the "Century":—
"How to make a brazen or stone head, in the midst of a great field or garden, so artificial and natural, that though a man speak never so softly and even whispers into the ear thereof, it will presently open its mouth, and resolve the question in French, Latin, Welsh, Irish, or English, in good terms uttering it out of his mouth, and then shut it until the next question be asked."
No doubt the Marquis had in mind the history of the renowned Brazen Head attributed to Friar Bacon. The authors of the works on mechanical subjects published down to the 17th century, did not disdain to describe the way to manufacture automatic men, animals, and birds, with suitable joints, springs, weights, and bellows; and therefore, the Marquis did really no more than express the character of the times, without lowering his own superior intelligence. He was seeking the patronage of royalty, parliament, and the public, and if he offered occasionally such trifles as commanded the attention of the multitude, he never in the whole course of his chequered life lost sight of his more important occupations, the conceptions of a mind far in advance of that dismal and dark period. At the same time, that his age neglected to uphold applied science, and pertinaciously opposed whatever appeared to savour of innovation on time-honoured manufactures and trades, we cannot overlook the anomalous fact that it gave birth to Shakspeare, Bacon, and Milton; Sir Thomas Brown, Wallis, Hook, Newton, and Boyle, together with a brilliant constellation of luminaries who adorned every department of our general literature. Science alone stagnated, and the construction of public works was chiefly conducted by foreign aid. The establishment of the Royal Society in 1660, however, gave promise of that improvement which has steadily gone on year by year to the present day.
We have thus before us a broad outline of the Marquis of Worcester's birth, education, studies, and scientific pursuits. His tastes and employments were not suited to a successful political or military career, at a time when the rupture between the Crown and the Parliament rendered it necessary for every man to take the side either of the Cavaliers or the Roundheads. Both father and son displayed unbounded loyalty, although professing the Roman Catholic faith. Had they, like many other noble families, adopted the policy of taking opposite courses, the family might eventually have retained estates which were forfeited when the King was deposed, and were principally enjoyed by Cromwell. Raglan Castle was demolished, all that could be carried away was sold, the strong tower or citadel was partially blown up, its ditch left dry, and all that could be most readily spoiled was mutilated, even to the marble and alabaster monuments in Raglan Church, raised to the memory of ancestors of the family. Such ruthless destruction and pillage has failed, however, to obliterate the towers, walls, arches, chambers, and numerous vaults of that once princely residence.
From the year 1601 to 1641, (forty years of his life) was a period to which he refers as his "Golden Age" in the dedication of his "Century." While that from 1641 to 1647-8, (when he fled from Ireland to France,) was the most exciting, exhausting, and disastrous of his whole existence, and closed with utter ruin to himself and his family. He had then living his second wife, Henry, his son and heir, and two daughters. The family town mansion, Worcester House in the Strand, partly used as a State Paper Office, was eventually granted to the Marchioness of Worcester for her residence. The wearisomeness and distress attendant on his residence as a refugee in France during four years, was embittered by above two years imprisonment in the Tower, the result of his venturing to revisit London while proscribed by the Parliament as "an enemy and traitor to the Commonwealth," all such being threatened that they shall "die without mercy, whenever they shall be found within the limits of this nation." Burton, in his interesting Diary of Oliver Cromwell's Parliament, says in reference to the case of the Marquis on this occasion:—"It was urged he was an old man, had lain long in prison, and the small-pox then raging under the same roof where he lay; and he had not, as was said, done any actions of hostility, but only as a soldier; and in that capacity had always shown civilities to the English prisoners and Protestants. It was therefore ordered that he should be bailed out of prison." He was probably then about fifty-three years of age, but so harassed and so worn down by fatigue that he might well appear to be a prematurely "old man." He was not, however, too old to write his "Century" in 1655, and to re-write and publish it in 1663; to apply for and obtain an Act of Parliament for his great invention of a steam water-raising engine; and to get a working engine set up at Vauxhall, and project a public company for obtaining funds sufficient to extend its utility to the supply of towns, and canals, and for draining mines and marsh lands.
The Marquis of Worcester was sincerely impressed with the capabilities and great value of his invention; 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 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. It is so short and significant that no apology can be required for quoting it entire: