The Century of Inventions of the Marquis of Worcester: from the Original MS., with Historical and Explanatory Notes and a Biographical MemoirWorcester, Edward Somerset, Marquis of
History
The Century of Inventions of the Marquis of Worcester: from the Original MS., with Historical and Explanatory Notes and a Biographical Memoir
Worcester, Edward Somerset, Marquis of
Industrial arts -- Early works to 1800; Inventions -- Early works to 1800
"I knowe not with what face to desire a curtesie from you,
since I have not yet payed you the five pownds, and the mayne
businesse soe long protracted, whereby my reallity and kindnesse
should with thankefullnesse appeare; for though the least I
intende you is to make up the somme allready promised, to a
thousand pownds yearly, or a share ammounting to farr more,
(which to nominate before the perfection of the woorke were but
an _individuum vagum_, and therefore I deferre it, and vpon noe
other score,) yet, in this interim, my disapointments are soe
great, as that I am forced to begge, if you could possible,
eyther to helpe me with tenne pownds to this bearer, or to
make vse of the coache, and to goe to Mr. Clerke, and if he
could this daye helpe me to fifty pownds, then to paye yourself
the five pownds I owe you out of them. Eyther of these will
infinitely oblige me. The alderman has taken three days time to
consider of it. Pardon the great troubles I give you, which I
doubt not but in time to deserve by really appearing
"Your most thankful friend
WORCESTER.
_28th of March, 1656._
"To my honored friend
Collonell Christopher Coppley,
These."
On the king's restoration, the Marquis of Worcester was one of the
first to congratulate his Majesty on the happy event, though the
situation of the unfortunate nobleman was little bettered by the
change; indeed it appeared but as the signal for new persecutions,
as one of the earliest public acts of that ungrateful monarch may be
characterized as an invidious attempt to set aside the just claims
of his earliest and best friend.
In 1660 the House of Lords appointed a committee to consider of
the validity of a patent granted to the Marquis of Worcester in
prejudice to the Peers, upon the first intimation of which his
Lordship sent a messenger to the committee then sitting, stating his
willingness to surrender it, and it was shortly afterwards presented
to the House by his son Lord Herbert.
In 1663 appeared the first edition of the noble Author's Century
of Inventions, and on the 3d of April in the same year, a bill was
brought in for granting to him and his successors the whole of the
profits that might arise from the use of an engine, described in
the last article in the _Century_.[4]
[4] Lord Orford describes this bill to have passed on the "simple
affirmation of the discovery that he (the Marquis) had made;" but
his lordship's palpable want of candour in this statement will
be apparent when it is known that there were no less than seven
meetings of committees on the subject, composed of some of the
most learned men in the house, who, after considerable amendments,
finally passed it on the 12th of May.--Vide, _Journals of the Lords
and Commons for 1663-4_.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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