OF THE MARQUIS OF WORCESTER. 341 



It is most unfortunate that he did not survive to 

 complete his intended publication of a larger work 

 than the &quot; Century,&quot; presenting his hundred inventions 

 with illustrative engraved plates. But in common can 

 dour let it never be overlooked, that we have before us a 

 promise published in 1663, long preceding the devastat 

 ing plague, which almost depopulated the metropolis in 

 1665, and the terrible conflagration of 1666, which 

 laid waste the city of London ; and that it was in the 

 midst of such accumulated public calamities his health 

 appears to have suddenly given way, aged, harassed, 

 disappointed, and dismayed, when he was prematurely 

 called to his long rest. 



Neglected by contemporaries, modern writers have 

 rested satisfied with a detail of some three or four years 

 of his political career in Ireland, and a notice that 

 he possibly possessed some mechanical ability, as 

 giving a sufficiently comprehensive view of his cha 

 racter through a life extending over sixty-six years. 

 This lax course, on the part of his biographers, has 

 favoured the opinion expressed on the Continent, that 

 the invention of the steam-engine is not of English, but 

 of French origin ! And this statement has been long 

 colourably supported by means of a forged letter, the 

 subject of which has been graphically represented by 

 the painter, and copied by the lithographer ; all attest 

 ing the prevailing zealous ardour of France to honour 

 native genius. Thus, as though it were not a sufficient 

 infliction to be ruined, dishonoured, oppressed, and 

 neglected while living, it would almost seem as if 

 events conspired to lessen, if possible, the lustre of his 

 memory by the dark shades of apocryphal history.* 



The Marquis of Worcester, considered in his true 



Appendix II. 



