'There is a Wheel that's turn'd by Humane power, which Spins Ten Thousand Yards of Glass in less than half an hour.
'He also maketh Artificial Eyes of Glass to admiration, they being so curiously made and colour'd, that they cannot be discerned from the Natural Eyes; Likewise he teacheth how they may fix them in their Heads themselves, to the great Satisfaction of all persons that make use of them.... Vivat Regina.'
There was another artist in glass who blew 'Swans, Ducks, Birds, Knives, Forks, and Scabbards, Decanters, Cruets, Bottles and Ladles, with pipes to smoke Tobacco, and Grenadoes to stick by the Snuff of a candle that gives a report like a Gun; blows Tea Pots and other fancies imitating China.'
A singular mechanical toy, too, deserves special mention: 'At the Black Horse in Hosier Lane, near West Smithfield, is to be seen a large piece of Water Work, 12 Foot long and 9 foot high, with a new Mathematical Fountain 8 foot high, made in white flint glass, in which is a Tavern, a Coffee house and a Brandy shop, which at your command runs at one Cock hot and Cold liquor, as Sack, Whitewine, Claret, Coffee, Tea, Content, plain, cherry and Rasberry Brandy, Geneva, Usquebaugh, and Punch. All these liquors of themselves rising much higher than their level, and each liquor drawn singly at one Cock; The like never performed in any Nation by any Person till Now, by Charles Butcher.
For satisfaction your own eyes believe,
Art cannot blind you, nor your Taste deceive;
Com and welcom my friends, and tast e're you pass,
It's but 6d. to see't and 2d. each glass.
But the man who did most with hydraulic power was Winstanley, the builder of the fantastic, semi-Chinese pagoda lighthouse on the Eddystone rock. Winstanley had been a mercer in London, and, having made some money, retired from business, and went to live at Littlebury in Essex. Here he constructed ingenious but useless hydraulic toys, and, from being locally famous, he opened an exhibition of them in London.
The first mention I can find of it in this reign, is in the Postman, May 1/4, 1703: 'Mr. Henry Winstanley's Water Works, will be Opened on Thursday being the 6th of May; And All Persons that please to see them, are desired to be there between 3 and 4 of the Clock. The House is at the lower end of Pickadilly, towards Hide Park.' In the Daily Courant, August 14, 1703, he notifies that: 'Mr. Henry Winstanley's Water Works being now open'd, and several Persons coming too late by reason of the days being shorter, this is to satisfie and give notice, that they will be shewn from Monday next at Four of the Clock. And therefore all Persons that are disposed to see them, are desired to be there before the time, or exactly at it. And also this is further to acquaint, that they will not be shewn this Season longer than 10 or 14 days, by reason of Mr. Winstanley's having extraordinary Occasions of going out of Town.'
It was a disastrous 'out of town' for him, for he had his wish gratified in being in his gimcrack lighthouse 'in the greatest storm ever known,' namely, that of November 27, 1703, which clean swept away the building, Winstanley, and five other persons.'
WONDERFUL FOUNTAIN.