“A Century of the names and “A Century of the Names and scantlings of such Inventions Scantlings of such Inventions, as att present I As at present I can call to mynde to have can call to mind to have tryed, and perfected; (my tried and perfected, which former notes being lost) I (my former notes being have endeavoured to sett lost) I have, at the instance these downe in such a way, of a powerful Friend, as may sufficiently instruct endeavoured now in the year me to putt any of them 1655, to set them down in in practice havinge wherewith such a way as may sufficiently to doe it.” instruct me to put any of them in practice.” ----------- “Artis et Naturæ prole.” ----------- The peculiar term “Scantlings,” here employed, is no doubt derived from _eschantillon_, a pattern or quantity cut for a particular purpose, a certain small quantity serving as a sample of some similar larger piece of work; the “Century” being intended by its author as but the precursor of his proposed ample, finished, descriptive and illustrated production. No one unacquainted with the state of scientific knowledge between 1601 and 1667, can justly estimate the character and value of the Marquis’s labours. Properly to understand him the reader must place himself as much as possible in his actual condition, peruse the books that he might have read, and consider the existing state of society and science. No commentator has yet done this, and consequently a serious difficulty has been thrown in the way of the purely classical scholar, who, though he might fairly estimate the Marquis’s character on points of history, learning, or theology, could in no way turn to account his one hundred extraordinary inventions. When Walpole composed his “Catalogue of Royal and Noble Authors,” the capricious cynic was sorely perplexed how to treat such a literary production as the “Century.” It has been said of the wit that he had so disparaged all things in his own eyes, that nothing appeared to him worthy of admiration, respect, or emulation; and it is no wonder, therefore, that he should cover his own ignorance on scientific matters by declaring the book he affected to criticise, “an amazing piece of folly;” closing his flippant strictures with the sapient remark, “But perhaps too much has been said on so fantastic a man; no wonder he believed transubstantiation, when he believed that himself could work impossibilities!”