On the decease of Dr. Hook, there was published “The Miners Friend,” (1702), by Thomas Savery,[O] Gentleman. He there speaks of his model shown to the Royal Society, “June the 14th, 1699,” thanking the Society for “your kindness in countenancing this invention IN ITS FIRST APPEARANCE IN THE WORLD;” that is, within six months _after the death of the Duke of Beaufort_. The Patent of 1698, like all patents of that period, contains no more account of Savery’s engine than the mere title, or designation of the nature and intention of the invention; therefore, when the Act of Parliament was applied for and obtained, there had still been no publication indicating the _modus operandi_. It was not until the 14th of June, 1699, that the Invention made _its first appearance in the world_, in the rooms of the Royal Society. And it was not until 1702, that Savery published any account of his invention, and we then expect to learn something interesting in regard to the wonderful discovery. But all he has to say on the matter is in these few lines “And though my _thoughts_ have been _long_ employed about water-works, I should never have pretended to any invention of that kind, _had I not happily found out this new, but yet a much stronger and cheaper force or cause of motion than any_ BEFORE _made use of_. But _finding_ this of rarefaction by fire, the consideration of the difficulties the miners and colliers labour under by the frequent disorders, cumbersomeness, and in general of water-engines, _encouraged me to invent engines to work by this new force_, that though I was obliged to encounter _the oddest_ and _almost insuperable difficulties_, I spared neither _time_, _pains_, nor _money_, till I had absolutely conquered them.” This stoicism and total absence of the least ray of mental enthusiasm are the first remarkable circumstances to strike our observation. Here, after a lapse of three years, some encouragement, and writing on the matter of a great discovery, the precious jewel is treated as if it were of the nature of the most ordinary pump. “And though my _thoughts_ have been long employed about water-works,” yet we are to presume that he never heard of the great “Water-commanding Engine” at Vauxhall, 30 years previous. He believes in his having “found out this new, but yet a much stronger and cheaper force than any _before_ made use of,” yet never, even remotely, declares how or in what way he came by it. “But _finding_ this of rarefaction by fire,” as he says, we on our part naturally ask, And pray where and how did you _find_ it? He names the considerations that “encouraged him to invent engines to work by this new force;” but from the time of producing the model of 1699 to the last improvement of 1702, there was no essential difference; the invention remained the same throughout. The only difficulties in his way were, in his own words, “the oddest and most insuperable,” but we are left to guess in what their _oddness_ consisted.