From this serious discourse, by a grave scholar, and contemporary, relating to the labours of the first mathematicians of a bygone as well as of the existing age, we may form a valuable conception of the state of science, in its popular character, when Edward, Lord Herbert, entered upon his own course of practical philosophical pursuits, affording the ground work of his Century of Inventions, the accumulated digest of whatever he had effected during the early, middle, and later years of his life. Viewed from any other point than the period in which he lived, the means of information around him, and the comparatively limited extent of scientific knowledge, the modern reader would form a serious misconception of his singular abilities, his versatile mechanical talent and the fecundity of his inventive ingenuity. There can be little or no doubt but that he was well versed in the mathematical knowledge of his times, and that it principally contributed in aiding him to obtain those mechanical results, to which we consequently find him restricting his attention.
Lord Bacon had died but the year before the publication of Peacham’s work. Alchemy still ruled and had its adepts and votaries; and Ashmole made a large collection of alchemical writings, for Chemistry was but just faintly emerging from the mysticisms of its precursor, Alchemy.
In the year 1628 Edward Somerset, Lord Herbert, being then about 27 years of age, married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir William Dormer, eldest son of Robert Lord Dormer of Weng, and sister to Robert Earl of Carnarvon.[5] She became in 1629 the mother of Henry[D] Somerset (afterwards created first Duke of Beaufort); and had besides two daughters, Anne, who married Henry Frederick, third Earl of Arundel of the Howards; and Elizabeth, who married William Herbert, first Marquis of Powis.
Engraved by J. Cochran.
ELIZABETH, LADY HERBERT,
Died 31st. May, 1635.
FIRST WIFE OF EDWARD SOMERSET, LORD HERBERT.
AFTERWARDS SECOND MARQUIS OF WORCESTER.
Drawn by Henry Dircks, C.E. from the Original of Vandyke in the Collection of His Grace the Duke of Beaufort.
Published by B. Quaritch, Piccadilly, London, 1864.
No contemporary or other hand has recorded any details of Lord Herbert’s marriage, or even any particulars of his early life; in the absence of decisive information, we can only surmise from stray facts the possibility of his having withdrawn from the Court, taken up his abode at Raglan Castle, and there occupied himself in those scientific studies and pursuits which were his special delight at that early period, and which were indeed the solace even of his declining years.
Judging from a statement that occurs in his writings,[E] it is most likely that in 1628, soon after his marriage, he engaged the services of “the unparalleled workman both for trust and skill, Caspar Kaltoff,” of whom we shall have occasion to speak more at length hereafter, and who, he says, was “as in a school under me employed;”[F] by which we understand that Kaltoff had the practical management of those mechanical and other inventions which, then commenced, became the principal study and employment of his Lordship’s leisure during the remainder of his life. He must have set up a complete laboratory or workshop in which to operate on the many varied ingenious contrivances and experiments, of only part of which he has left us a most interesting catalogue raisonné.
The early genius of Lord Herbert would appear to have exhibited itself in an attachment to mathematical studies, and a singular predilection, in a young nobleman, for mechanical pursuits. He has himself mentioned two instances which we consider may fairly be referred to his earliest continental tour, accompanied by his tutor. Speaking of a certain contrivance for a fountain, he explicitly declares:—“This I confess, I have seen and learned of the great mathematician Claudius his studies at Rome, he having made a present thereof unto a Cardinal.” And when, alluding to a peculiar kind of lever, he pointedly remarks: “This I saw in the arsenal at Venice;”[G] thus showing how early his mind was impressed with those studies which became the distinguishing feature of his writings; and all the more surprising in him, considering his birth, his times, and the originality and fruitfulness of his inventive talent, which might have found ample scope in some branch of literature, in agriculture, or in military works.
His employment of a foreign mechanic was quite in accordance with the spirit of the age. National and private undertakings, as well as manufacturing and other matters requiring engineering skill, were ordinarily superintended by eminent Italian, Dutch, German, French, Swiss, or other continental engineers.
During a period of seven years, from the time of his marriage, his life appears to have borne an entirely studious and domestic character, spent, most likely, principally at Raglan. To the ample leisure and quiet thus afforded him we may attribute all his lesser inventions, such as the numerous schemes for effecting and conveying secret correspondence, which in early and troubled times were esteemed as highly useful; some of his automata, amusive toys, drawing and other instruments and mechanical devices. He appears to have taken considerable interest in multiplying these comparatively minor inventions almost to exhaustion, as it were, of the several subjects to which they apply. So fertile, indeed, was this inventive faculty in him, that he himself has stated: “The more that you shall be pleased to make use of my inventions, the more inventive shall you ever find me, one invention begetting still another.”[H]