“Oh! infinitly omnipotent God whose mercyes are fathomlesse, and whose knowledge is immense and inexhaustible next to my Creation and Redemption I render thee most humble thanks even from the very bottome of my heart and bowells, for thy voutchchafeing me (the meanest in understanding), an insight in soe great a secret of nature beneficial to all mankind as this my Water-commanding Engine. Suffer me not to be puff’d upp, O Lord, by the knowing of it, and many more rare and unheard off, yea unparaleled Inventions, Tryals, and Experiments, but humble my haughty heart, by the true knowledge of myne owne ignorant, weak, and unworthy nature, proane to all euill O most mercifull Father my creator, most compassionatting Sonne my Redeemer, and Holyest of Spiritts, the sanctifier, three diuine persons and one God! grant me a further concurring grace with fortitude to take hould of thy goodnesse, to the end that whatever I doe, unanimously and courageously to serue my King and Countrey, to disabuse, rectifie, and convert my vndeserved yet wilfully incredulous[P] enemyes, to reimburse thankfully my creditors, to reimmunerate my benefactors, to reinhearten my distressed family, and with complacence to gratifie my suffering and confiding friends may, voyde of vanity or selfe ends, only be directed to thy honour and glory euerlastingly. Amen.”
With Caspar Kaltoff to superintend the work at Vauxhall, the engine would no doubt be kept in operation, for the benefit alike of the Dowager Marchioness and all interested, most likely including Colonel C. Copley.
In the travels of Cosmo de Medici the Third, Grand Duke of Tuscany,[30] through England,[Q] among other matters that attracted his attention in the metropolis, it is recorded that on the 23rd of May, 1669:—“His Highness went to see an hydraulic machine upon a wooden tower, in the neighbourhood of Somerset House,[R] which is used for conveying water of the river to the greater part of the City. It is put in motion by two horses, which are continually going round, it not being possible that it should receive its movement from the current of the river, as in many other places where the rivers never vary in their course; but this is not the case with the Thames, owing to the tide; consequently the wheels, which serve at the ebb, would not be able to do their office when the tide returns.”
On the 29th following, his Highness was entertained by the Earl of Devonshire, when a sumptuous banquet was provided.
“His Highness, that he might not lose the day uselessly, went again after dinner to the other side of the city, extending his excursion as far as Vauxhall, beyond the palace of the Archbishop of Canterbury, to see an hydraulic machine, invented by my Lord Somerset, Marquis of Worcester. It raises water more than forty geometrical feet by the power of one man only; and in a very short space of time will draw up four vessels of water through a tube or channel not more than a span in width; on which account it is considered to be of greater service to the public than the other machine near Somerset House.”
Up to September next year we still find the “Water-commanding Engine,” engaging the attention of the Dowager Marchioness, who was fully alive to the importance of so wonderful an invention; not only as enhancing her late husband’s fame, but also as affecting her own interest, with that of the other parties who had assisted in its promotion. She seems to have acted with a persevering and noble spirit under all the disadvantages of her situation, oppressed as she was in fortune, her heart lacerated by the accumulated wrongs she and her husband had through life endured, and now alone, neglected, and with but this one hope left, of which his prophetic views must have left a lively impression on her heart.
But the Marquis’s surprising invention was doomed to another, and a more novel persecution than could well be conceived possible, one which assuredly might very justly be doubted, had we not the written record before our eyes. Among the other manuscripts at Badminton House is the letter of a Roman Catholic priest, dated 6th of September, 1670, addressed to the Marchioness “at her house in Lincoln’s Inn Fields.”[S]
As her spiritual adviser, he says:—“Almighty God hath, Madam, put you into a happy and flourishing condition, fit and able to serve God, and to do much good to yourself and others; and your Ladyship makes yourself unhappy, by seeming not to be contented with your condition, but troubling your spirits with many thoughts of attaining to greater dignities and riches.”
He next declares that she is in danger “to lose the right use of her reason,” all arising from disposing herself for great dignity and wealth—“by getting of great sums of money from the King to pay your deceased Lord’s debts, and enriching yourself by the great Machine [the Water-commanding Engine] and the like.”
To deter her from proceeding in this course, he points out, as ill effects, “the danger of losing her health and judgment,” and “the probability of offending Almighty God.” That she is under “great temptation” he considers certain, “yet I confess (he adds) that the devil, to make his suggestion the more prevalent, doth make use of some motives that seem plausible, as of paying your Lord’s debts, &c.” For her future government he recommends her Ladyship—“To seek after eternal riches and honours, which your age doth assure you are not far off; for which you may dispose yourself, before death comes, by retiring into the country for some time, from the distractions of the Court, where you may have the advice and directions of some learned priest, in whose virtue you may wholly confide, for your internal quiet and security.” With this view he recommends a lady’s house at Hammersmith, where, “by Almighty God’s blessing, you may recover from that most pernicious distemper of body and mind, into which every one sees you to be very near approaching.”[T]