THE
CENTURY OF INVENTIONS.

"A practical mathematician, who has quickness to seize a hint, and sagacity to apply it, might avail himself greatly of these scantlings. It is extremely probable, that Savery took from the Marquis the hint of the Steam Engine, for raising water with a power made by fire, which invention alone would entitle the author to immortality."—Granger's Biog. Hist. vol. v. p. 278.

"Here it may not be amiss to recommend to the attention of every mechanic the little work entitled a 'Century of Inventions,' by the Marquis of Worcester, which, on account of the seeming improbability of discovering many things mentioned therein, has been too much neglected; but when it is considered that some of the contrivances apparently not the least abstruse, have, by close application been found to answer all that the Marquis says of them, and that the first hint of that most powerful machine, the Steam Engine, is given in that work, it is unnecessary to enlarge on the utility of it."—Trans. of the Society of Arts, vol. iii. p. 6.

L O N D O N:
PRINTED BY C. ROWORTH, BELL YARD,
TEMPLE BAR.

THE
CENTURY OF INVENTIONS

OF THE
MARQUIS OF WORCESTER.

FROM THE ORIGINAL MS.

WITH

HISTORICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES AND
A BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR.

BY
CHARLES F. PARTINGTON,

AUTHOR OF A DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNT OF THE STEAM ENGINE,
AND LECTURER AT THE
LONDON, RUSSEL, SURREY, AND METROPOLITAN INSTITUTIONS,
MECHANICS' INSTITUTE, &c. &c.

LONDON:
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE-STREET.
MDCCCXXV.

TO
DOCTOR GEORGE BIRKBECK,
PRESIDENT OF THE LONDON MECHANICS' INSTITUTION
AND OF THE CHEMICAL AND METEOROLOGICAL
SOCIETIES, FOUNDER AND PATRON OF THE
GLASGOW MECHANICS' INSTITUTE,
&c. &c. &c.

Dear Sir,

As a connecting link in the History of the Steam Engine, I know that your attention has been directed to the Marquis of Worcester's Century of Inventions, and that its merits were duly appreciated by you at a very early period of Life.—That these Illustrations of one of the most valuable scientific productions of the seventeenth century, may deserve your favourable notice, and prove an acceptable present to the extensive class of Readers which your patriotic exertions are now so rapidly adding to the Scientific World, is the sincere wish of,

Dear Sir,
Your faithful and obliged
humble Servant,
Charles F. Partington.

London Institution,
Feb. 6th, 1825.

BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR
OF

E D W A R D
MARQUIS OF WORCESTER.

[viii]
[ix]

BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR
OF

E D W A R D
MARQUIS OF WORCESTER.

There are few persons who have suffered more from party zeal, or gained less from historic candour, than the noble subject of the following brief memoir. Indeed no regular biographer has yet appeared to do justice to his zealous exertions in the cause of his unfortunate but misguided master, or his still more patriotic efforts for the advancement of scientific knowledge. All, however, who have in any shape alluded, either to the political principles, religious tenets, or scientific acquirements of the Marquis of Worcester, appear to have been guided rather by a spirit of fanatic intolerance, or a wish to clear King Charles from the heavy responsibility which attached to instructions given under his own hand and seal, when the Marquis was employed in Ireland. These then appear to have been the concurring causes, that have so long withheld from the noble Author the veneration his memory so justly merits; and we now proceed to follow him through his short but active career in public life.

Edward, sixth earl and second Marquis of Worcester, was born at Ragland near Monmouth; and his family, who had long been distinguished for the most devoted loyalty, possessed the largest landed estate of any nobleman attached to the British court. His grandfather Edward, fourth Earl of Worcester, enjoyed in a most distinguished degree the favour of Queen Elizabeth, and her successor King James. In 1593, he was instituted Knight of the Garter, and received a pension of fifteen hundred pounds per annum for life. Sandford describes him as "a great favourer of learning and good literature:" he died in the 79th year of his age, at Worcester House, in the Strand; and was buried in Ragland church.

Henry, the fifth earl, and father of the Marquis, succeeded to the title and estates in 1628: the family revenue derived from those in Monmouthshire alone, at this period amounting to upwards of twenty-thousand pounds per annum. In 1642, the year in which he was created Marquis of Worcester, he raised and supported an army of 1500 foot, and near 500 horse-soldiers, which were placed under the command of his son Lord Herbert, the subject of this Memoir.

During the civil commotions, Charles made several visits to Ragland castle, where he was entertained with the greatest magnificence,[1] and on those occasions particularly distinguished the young Lord Herbert. On an open rupture taking place between the King and Parliament, his Majesty invested Lord Herbert with the command of a large body of troops then raising in his native country, and an opportunity was soon offered for calling his military talents into action. Prince Rupert, shortly after the battle of Marston Moor, directed his attention towards the Marches of Wales, which awakening the jealousy of the Parliamentary General Massey, he by a feigned counter-movement surprised the city of Monmouth, which had always been considered as the key of South Wales, and thus threw the inhabitants of Ragland into the greatest confusion and alarm.

On the first intelligence of the fall of Monmouth reaching the Marquis, he despatched Lord Herbert with a considerable body of forces, who joining a troop of cavaliers from Godridge, lodged themselves undiscovered behind a rising ground near that city. A party of about forty men, who volunteered for the occasion, were headed by Lord Herbert, and proceeded to reconnoitre the town. Having climbed an earthen redoubt which had been thrown up by the Parliamentary forces, they passed the ditch and fell upon the guard, who were immediately put to the sword, and a few seconds more sufficed for breaking the port-chain and forcing an entry for the horse, who, having by this time joined their brave comrades, entered the town at full gallop; surrounding the main guard, the whole of