June 1. 1850.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



our Drebbel was named tutor of the young Prince 

 of Austria, by the emperor Ferdinandus II. ; an 

 office which he iulfilled so well, that he was after- 

 wards chosen councillor to his Majesty, and ho- 

 noured with a rich pension for past services. But, 

 alas ! in the year 1620, Prague, the place he dwelt 

 in, was taken by Frederick, then king of Bohemia, 

 several members of the imperial council were im- 

 prisoned, and some of them even put to death. 



Bereft of every thing he possessed, a prisoner as 

 well as the others, poor Drebbel would perhaps 

 have undergone the same lot if the High Mighty 

 States of the United Provinces had not sent a mes- 

 sage to the King of England, asking him to inter- 

 fere in their countryman's favour. They suc- 

 ceeded in their benevolent request; for his En- 

 glish Majesty obtained at last from his son-in-law, 

 the Dutch philosopher's liberation, who (I don't 

 exaggerate) was made a present of to the British 

 king ; maybe as a sort of lion, which the king of 

 Morocco had never yet thought of bestowing upon 

 the monarch as a regal offering. 



Drebbel, however, did not forget how much he 

 owed to the intercession of King James, and, to 

 show his gratitude, presented him with an object 

 of very pecidiar make. I will try to give you an 

 exact version of its not very clear description in 

 the Dutch book. 



" A glass or crystal globe, wherein he blew or made 

 a perpetual motion by the power of the four elements. 

 For every thing which (by the force of the elements) 

 passes, in a year, on the surface of the earth (sic !) 

 could be seen to pass in this cylindrical wonder in the 

 shorter lapse of twenty-four hours. Thus were m.arked 

 by it, all years, mouths, days, hours ; the course of the 

 sun, n\oon, planets, and stars, &c. It made you un- 

 derstand what cold is, what the cause of the primum 

 mobile, what the first principle of the sun, how it moves; 

 the firmament, .^ll stars, the moon, the sea, the surface 

 of the earth, wliat occasions the ebb, flood, thunder, 

 lightning, rain, wind, and how all things wax and mul- 

 tiply. Sec, — as every one can be informed of by Drebbel's 

 own works; we refer the curious to his book, entitled 

 Eenivige htwei/inghe (Perpetual Motion)." 



Can this instrument have been a kind of Orrery ? 



" He built a ship, in which one could row and navi- 

 gate under wuter, from Westminster to Greenwich, the 

 distance of two Dutch miles ; even five or six miles, as 

 far as one pleased. In this boat, a jjcrson could see under 

 the surface of the water, and without candlelight, as 

 much as lie needed to read in the Bible or any other 

 book. Not long ago, this remarkable ship was yet to 

 be seen lying on the 'i hanies or Ivondon river. 



" Aided by some instruments of his own manufac- 

 ture, Drel>bel could make it rain, lighten, and thunder 

 at every time of the year, so that you would have 

 sworn it came in a natural way from heaven. 



" J5y means of other instruments, he could, in the 

 midst oi summer, so much refrigerate the atmosphere 

 of certain places, that you would have thought yourself 

 in the very midst of winter. This experiment he did 



once on his Majesty's request, in the great Hall of West- 

 minster ; and although a hot summer day had been 

 chosen by the King, it became so cold in the Hall, that 

 James and his followers took to their heels in hasty 

 flight. 



" With a certain instrument, he could draw an in- 

 credible quantity of water out of a well or river. 



" By his peculiar ingenuity, he could, at all times of 

 the year, even in the midst of winter, hatch chickens 

 and ducklings without using hens or ducks. 



" He made instruments, by means of which were 

 seen pictures and portraits ; for instance, he could show 

 you kings, jirinces, nobles, although residing at that 

 moment in foreign countries. And there was no paint 

 nor painter's work to be seen, so that you saw a picture 

 in appearance, but not in reality." 



Perhaps a magic lantern ? 



" He could make a glass, that placed in the dark 

 near him or another, drew the light of a candle, stand- 

 ino- at the other end of a long room, with such force, 

 that the glass near hiin reflected so much light as to 

 enable him to see to read perfectly." 



Yfas this done by parallel parabolical mirrors ? 



" He could make a plane glass without grinding it 

 on either side, in which people saw themselves reflected 

 seven times. 



" He invented all these and many other curiosities, 

 too long to relate, without the alil ofthe black art; but by 

 natural philosophy alone, if we may believe the tongues, 

 w liose eyes saw it. By these experiments, he so gained 

 the King's favour, his INlajesty granted him a ])ension 

 of 2000 guilders. He died in London, anno 1634, the 

 sixtieth year of his age." 



Thus writes the Alkmaar chronicler. If you, 

 or any of your learned correspondents, can eluci- 

 daie the history of the instruments made by my 

 countryman, he will much oblige all scientitic an- 

 tiquarians, and me, though not a Dr. Heavybottom, 

 especially. I need not make apologies for my bad 

 English, and hope none of your many readers will 

 criticise it in a Dutch periodical. Janus Dousa. 



Amsterdam, April, 1850. 



VERSES ATTRIBUTED TO CIIARLKS TORKE. 



I have in my possession a MS. book, in his own 

 handwriting, of the late Rev. Martin Stafford 

 SiMiTu of Bath, formerly chaplain to Bisuop 

 Warburton, containing, amongst other matter, 

 a series of letters, and extracts of letters, from the 

 amiable and gifted, but vinfortunate, Charles 

 YoRKE, to Bisho[) ^^'arburton. At the close of 

 this series, is the following note and extract : — 



. " Verses transcribed from the original, iu Mr. C. 

 Yorke's own writing, among his letters to Bishop War- 

 burton ; probably manuscript, and certainly his own 

 composition: written from the Sliudes." 



" Stript to the naked soul, escaped from clay, 

 I'rom doubts mifetter'd, and dissolv'd in day, 

 Unwarm'd by vanity, unreach'd by strife, 

 .\m\ all my hopes and fears thrown oil' with lite, — 



