“6. A particular magazine for water, according to the intended height and quantity.
“7. An aqueduct, capable of any intended quantity, or height of water.
“8. A place for the original fountain, or even river, to run into, and naturally of its own accord to incorporate itself with the rising water, and at the very bottom of the same aqueduct, though never so big or high.”
This communication affords the earliest distinct reference to the Water-commanding Engine, and renders it reasonable to suppose that similar written copies of the “Definition” were in circulation at the same period, if not earlier.
The letter itself is peculiarly interesting for the insight it gives us into a distinguishing trait in his mental constitution, when he observes:—“a humour I have, never to be contented to produce any invention the second time without appearing refined.” He seems to have had no idea of cessation in invention. It was in this self-same spirit that he dedicated his “Century” to the Houses of Parliament:—“The more you shall be pleased to make use of my inventions, the more inventive shall you ever find me, one invention begetting still another.”
It is rather remarkable that, with this exception, his inventions are never named either in his own or his family’s correspondence; indeed the latter may have considered the circumstance as more marking his misfortune, than calculated to bring him enduring fame.
The death of Cromwell, the short reign of his son, and the proclamation of Charles the Second on the 8th of May, 1660, followed by his triumphal entry into the metropolis on his birth-day, the 29th of the same month, must have had their influence on the Marquis in his most distressing condition. He was, no doubt, one among the privileged to congratulate his Majesty in private, at Whitehall, while bonfires blazed, fireworks glared, and cannon roared; what conflicting emotions must have revelled in his own breast, broken down as he was by disasters on every hand, which through more than thirteen years he had borne with magnanimous fortitude.
His son, Lord Herbert, resided at Badminton House, Gloucestershire, but being in London, on his way to Dover, after the proclamation, he wrote to his wife, as follows:—[K]
“My Dear Heart,
“We have this night received our instructions, and to-morrow begin our journey towards the King, whom we are commanded to acquaint with what great joy and acclamation he was here proclaimed; and to let him know that the Parliament hath enjoined all ministers in England and Ireland to pray for him, the Duke of York, and the rest of the Royal progeny; and ordered that the Arms of the Commonwealth, wherever they are standing, be taken down, and that his Majesty’s be set in the place. We are further to beseech his Majesty to return with speed to his dominions and government; and finally, to acquaint him that the Parliament hath given order to the Admiral to obey his commands with the navy, and to desire that he will please to signify to us when and where he will land, and whether he will come from Dover by land, or to London by water; where lodged, and how his pleasure is to be received.