The Life, Times, and Scientific Labours of the Second Marquis of Worcester / To which is added a reprint of his Century of Inventions, 1663, with a Commentary thereon.

by Henry Dircks

As Courthope[70] observes, although the Marquis of Worcester thus resigned his claim on the Dukedom of Somerset he still retained the titles of Earl of Glamorgan and Baron Beaufort, as will be seen hereafter in the copy given of his funeral certificate.

The Marquis seems to have attended the House of Lords for the first time after the Restoration, on the 13th of June, 1660, continuing very regularly for some months. The only others of his rank were the Marquises of Winton, Hertford, Dorchester, and Newcastle, and later, the Marquis of Winchester, seldom more than one or two of these being present on the same occasion. Between this date and the 30th of August, he sat in the House on thirty-seven days. Then after an absence of more than two months he is again present on the 6th of November, from which to the 24th of December he attended twenty-five meetings, the King being in the chair on the last occasion. He was not again in his place until the 29th, when his Majesty in person adjourned the House; which, meeting again on the 8th of May, “his Majesty, being arrayed in his regal robes with his crown on his head, ascended his seat of state, the Peers being in their robes. On the right hand of his Majesty stood the Lord Great Chamberlain of England, the Marquis of Winton, bearing the cap of state, and on his left hand stood the Earl of Brecknock, Lord Steward of his Majesty’s household, bearing the sword.

“And the Commons being below the bar, his Majesty made a short speech, declaring the cause and the reasons for his summoning this present Parliament.”

In all this august assembly the Marquis of Worcester, robed as were the other Peers, claims our special notice. He sat there in strange contrast with that gorgeous company, and the formalities which marked every process of action or language. Was it possible for him to be too expectant, seeing what he then saw and hearing what he then heard? Here was one who was no obscure individual, no questionable professor, or undeserved claimant on the patronage and smallest available favours often solicited by him from the crowned monarch in whose presence he then sat.

We again miss his attendance until the 11th of May, and the 8th of June, from which time he attended twenty-nine meetings, the last being on the 30th July, when his Majesty in person adjourned the House, and again recalled it on the 20th November, when the Marquis was present, as before.

He again attended in his place on the 26th of November, 1661, from which time to the 17th of May, when Parliament was prorogued, until the 18th of February, 1662, he attended thirty-two meetings with much irregularity, being on one occasion absent for above a month; and he did not appear on the re-opening of Parliament, when the House being called, he was declared absent; wherefore, it would seem he attended on the next meeting of the House, on the 25th of the same month, when he was elected one of a Committee to report on Petitions, occasioning his further more regular attendance.

These particulars satisfactorily show his residence in or near London, while they likewise account for the nature of a large share of the employments that then engaged his active mind. But a change in the Government had brought him little if any alleviation in a pecuniary point of view, for on the 2nd of July, 1661, his petition was read in the House of Peers,[K] showing “That he having contracted many debts in the service of his late Majesty’s wars, and some of his creditors have obtained judgments against his estate, and are now extending his lands, being contrary to the privilege of Parliament, he being a Peer of this Realm.

“It is Ordered, That there shall be no further proceedings, by any of the Marquis of Worcester’s said creditors, against him, during the time of the privilege of this Parliament: And hereof all counsel, attornies, and solicitors herein employed, or to be employed, are to take notice, and yield obedience to this Order, as the contrary will be answered to this House.”

And as affecting his property, on the 7th of August, 1660, he had leave granted him by the House to bring in a Bill,[L] “for restoring him to his estate, as other Lords have.” Accordingly, on the 13th of that month an Act for the same was read. But in consequence of the petitions of certain creditors, his Lordship had leave granted him on the 28th of February, 1661–2, to withdraw his Bill; and on the 10th of March following he brought forward an amended Bill, entitled—“An Act on the behalf of Edward, Marquis of Worcester, and of the creditors of the said Marquis, for vesting and settling upon the feoffees, in trust, certain manors, lands, and tenements, for payment of the debts of the said Marquis.” In fact, the estates were heavily encumbered, the petitioners, among others, alleging, that “They have bought lands and houses of the Marquis of Worcester, for which they have as good assurances as the law can give;” and being heard by counsel at the bar of the House, they succeeded in their object, as just stated.

It was in the midst of such distractions as these Parliamentary details serve to illustrate, that this talented inventor and noble benefactor to his species, had to maintain his social position; and at the same time, struggle to convince a bigoted age that he was master of a power of such magnitude for the abridging of human labour, as the mind of man had never before conceived.