[Illustration: A Family Group, being Portraits of the Marquis of Worcester with Margaret his second wife, and their infant daughter Mary.] Engraved by J. Cochran. EDWARD SOMERSET, SECOND MARQUIS OF WORCESTER, Born about 1601. Died 3rd. April, 1667 WITH MARGARET, HIS SECOND WIFE, WHO DIED 26TH. JULY, 1681, AND THEIR ONLY DAUGHTER MARY, WHO DIED AN INFANT. _Drawn by Henry Dircks, C.E. from the Original of Hanneman in the Collection of His Grace the Duke of Beaufort_ THE LIFE, TIMES, AND SCIENTIFIC LABOURS OF THE SECOND MARQUIS OF WORCESTER. TO WHICH IS ADDED, A REPRINT OF HIS CENTURY OF INVENTIONS, 1663, with a Commentary thereon, BY HENRY DIRCKS, ESQ., CIVIL ENGINEER, ETC. ETC. * * * * * Inventas aut qui vitam excoluêre per artes. Quinque sui memores alios fecere merendo. VIRGIL. How few men of genius are there who have not been the victims of misfortune! SIR EGERTON BRYDGES, BART. * * * * * LONDON: BERNARD QUARITCH, 15 PICCADILLY. 1865. [Illustration: Armorial bearings of His Grace the Duke of Beaufort] TO THE MOST NOBLE _Henry Charles FitzRoy_, DUKE OF BEAUFORT, MARQUIS AND EARL OF WORCESTER, EARL OF GLAMORGAN, VISCOUNT GROSMONT, BARON HERBERT OF CHEPSTOW, RAGLAND, AND GOWER, BARON BEAUFORT OF CALDECOT CASTLE, AND BARON DE BATTETCOURT, ETC. ETC. ETC. * * * * * MY LORD DUKE, THROUGHOUT your Grace’s most ancient and regal line of ancestry it would be impossible to name a more truly exalted character than EDWARD SOMERSET, the sixth Earl and second Marquis of Worcester, father of Henry, created first Duke of Beaufort by Charles the Second. This pre-eminence, due to his high intellectual gifts in CONSTRUCTIVE INGENUITY, distinguishes him not only amongst the illustrious descendants of Plantagenet, but renders it impossible to name his compeer, either among the highest nobility, or the most eminent scientific celebrities of Europe, during the last two centuries. Indeed, it may be justly said, that ancient lineage, noble descent, illustrious titles, even when crowned with all the glories of martial deeds, or senatorial honours, fade into comparative insignificance before the enduring renown, which it is alone the prerogative of original genius to confer on the memory of men remarkable for their discoveries in arts conducive to the elevation of mankind in the scale of being.