“M. de Monconis showed me his journal, which was so curious, and where he had collected so exactly all that was passing among the learned men of the Royal Society of London, that his industry has made me negligent in collecting afresh for myself the things found there. We shall see some day all that he has said in it, for if he believes me he will lay before the public that, as well as his other journal of Egypt and Jerusalem. He speaks of several new inventions, which would be very difficult to believe, if not tried. One is a self-registering instrument to mark atmospheric changes which happen every 24 hours, effected by a pendulum clock. A thermometer; a compass; a self-registering weather-cock; a means by which Mr. Willis causes a piece of iron by exposure to moderate heat to calcine, without the help of a corrosive, and dissolve on being plunged into water; of a deaf and dumb person at Oxford, who Mr. Willis has taught to read by showing the different inflexions of the voice necessary for articulation; a new manner of exploding ships in the water; a way by which several short beams can be made into a plain flat surface, by placing them one on the top of another without being supported, nailed, or grooved one into another; of a furnace or stove by Dr. Kuffler, in the style of Drebble’s, which I saw some time ago at La Hague, and which was so successful at Arnheim, with self-acting registers; another kind of furnace which, for five sous worth of wood, cooked a large quantity of bread; a way of distilling salt-water to make it drinkable, where for five sous you can distil water enough for 100 persons to drink; an instrument to design and draw every description of object by a person who has never learnt.”
He adds:—“One of the most curious things I wished to see was a Hydraulic Machine, which the Marquis of Worcester has invented, and of which he has made an experiment. I went expressly to Vauxhall, the other side of the Thames, a little below Lambeth, which is the Palace of the Archbishop of Canterbury, in sight of London. This machine will raise to the height of 40 feet by the strength of one man, and in the space of one minute of time, four large buckets of water, and that by a pipe or tube of 8 inches. But what will be the most powerful help to the wants of the public is the work which is performed by another ingeniously constructed machine, which can be seen raised on a wooden tower on the top of Somerset House, which supplies that part of the town with water, but with some difficulty, and a smaller quantity than could be desired. It is somewhat like our Samaritane water-work on the Pont-Neuf; and on the raising pump they have added an impulsion which increases the force; but for what we obtain by the power of the Seine, they employ one or two horses which incessantly turn the machine, as the tide of their river changes its course twice a day, and the spring or wheels which are used for the ebbing tide would not do for the flow.”
M. Sorbière’s Dedication of his narrative to the King is dated 12th December, 1663, so that it is possible the Century had been published previous to the visit he has just described, and it is worthy of notice that he expresses no difficulty in obtaining access to the exhibition of the machine, which gives colour to the belief that it was on public view, for the purpose of establishing a company to carry out the invention on a large scale.
Vauxhall, as it is now called, was variously designated Fox-hall, Faukeshall, Fulke’s Hall, corruptions of a derivation from Fulke de Breauté, who built a mansion in the manor of South Lambeth, long known as Fulke’s-hall.[94] In 1652, the Parliament having determined that Vauxhall-house, which had been reserved by a former order, should be sold, it was purchased by John Trenchard of Westminster. After the Restoration it was leased to Henry Lord Moore, afterwards Earl of Drogheda, together with the demesne lands of Kennington for 31 years; with a proviso, that if his Majesty should think fit to make use of the house, or any part thereof, it should be surrendered upon a proper allowance being made for the same. The King, availing himself of this proviso the year after the lease was granted, settled Casper Kaltoff, a Dutchman, at Vauxhall, who was employed in making guns and other warlike implements for government service.[65]
By an Act of the House of Commons, 17th of July, 1649, for the sale of the houses, &c. of the late King, Queen, and Prince, it is provided that “it should not extend to the house called Vaux Hall, nor to the grounds, houses, buildings, models, utensils, or other necessaries for practical inventions therein contained; but that they should remain for the use of the Commonwealth, to be employed and disposed of by the Parliament, as they shall think fit.”[3] Now the mention of inventions and models, taken in connection with recent facts, would lead to the inference that the Marquis of Worcester might have been much earlier associated with practical experiments at Vauxhall than at first appears. On this point he was always reserved, even in his Century only cautiously alluding to Kaltoff as being “in a place by my great expenses made fit for public service, yet lately like to be taken from me.”
Among the manuscripts of the Royal Society is a letter from Samuel Hartlib, the author of works relating to Husbandry, addressed to the Honourable Robert Boyle,[14] dated Amsterdam, May the 18th, 1649, in which he remarks:[104]—“Fauxhall is to be set apart for public uses, by which is meant making it a place of resort for artists, mechanics, &c. and a dépôt for models and philosophical apparatus.” It is further proposed, that “experiments and trials of profitable inventions should be carried on,” which, says Hartlib, “will be of great use to the Commonwealth.” Adding that the late King (Charles I.) “designed Fauxhall for such an use.”
After a lapse of five years, he writes another letter to Boyle,[14] on the same subject, furnishing us, incidentally, with the following curious and important details:—“The Earl of Worcester is buying Fauxhall from Mr. Trenchard, to bestow the use of that house upon Gaspar Calehof [Kaltoff] and son [son-in-law], as long as they shall live, for he intends to make it a College of Artisans. Yesterday (he adds) I was invited by the famous Thomas Bushel to Lambeth Marsh, to see part of that foundation.”[104]
Hartlib was a generous-hearted man, who projected many schemes for public benefit. Evelyn styles him an “ingenious person, honest and learned;” that he deserved the latter distinction we may infer from the fact of Milton having addressed to him his treatise “Of Education.”
These particulars serve to show a very early connection on the part of the Marquis of Worcester with Vauxhall, making it still more probable that he had established a laboratory or workshop there, years before the Civil War broke out; that from its extent it was proposed to retain it for the benefit of the State; and that on his own release from the Tower he sought to regain possession of the premises, but possibly, for politic reasons, in the name of his faithful workman Caspar Kaltoff.
During 35 years there would be a large accumulation of models for one hundred inventions and several hundreds of experiments, as well as a considerable quantity of tools and machinery. He would certainly choose some place as near as possible to the great mart, where alone he could obtain, within any reasonable time, the numerous articles and materials constantly required in experimental employments; and desiring to be near London, when we find him at Vauxhall in 1663, who can doubt, that he rather continued, than selected for the first time, the locality where we now find the indefatigable noble inventor and his veteran “unparalleled workman,” engaged on the first public example of the “Water-commanding Engine.”