The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.
[Pg i]
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, ANDTHEIR ONLY DAUGHTER MARY, WHO DIED AN INFANT.
Drawn by Henry Dircks, C.E. from the Original of Hanneman in theCollection 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.
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[Pg iii]
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 itwould be impossible to name a more truly exalted character thanEdward Somerset, the sixth Earl and second Marquis ofWorcester, father of Henry, created first Duke of Beaufort by Charlesthe Second.
This pre-eminence, due to his high intellectual[Pg iv] gifts inconstructive ingenuity, distinguishes him not only amongstthe illustrious descendants of Plantagenet, but renders it impossibleto name his compeer, either among the highest nobility, or themost eminent scientific celebrities of Europe, during the last twocenturies. Indeed, it may be justly said, that ancient lineage, nobledescent, illustrious titles, eve