350 INTRODUCTION 



ship which it took twelve men to carry ; and the won 

 derful flying &quot;eagle made of wood.&quot; 



We in the 19th century are ever liable to misunder 

 stand the inventions of the 17th century. Either the 

 inventions often appear puerile, or their authors seem 

 perplexed on very small occasions of difficulty. Many 

 have no doubt hastily formed opinions in regard to the 

 automata and other curiosities of the &quot; Century.&quot; But 

 such judgments can only emanate from persons not 

 versed in our history and literature from Elizabeth to 

 Charles the Second s reign. A few brief illustrations may 

 be advantageously offered here, to show that within a 

 very short period after the death of the Marquis of 

 Worcester, scientific men, in mechanical matters, not 

 only seldom rose above very slight improvements, but 

 were at the same time delighted with every species of 

 amusing mechanical device.* 



The late Marquis s nephew, then Lord Herbert, being 

 on the Continent, writes from Blois, 18th July, 1674 :f 

 &quot; We are again settled here for this summer. 

 In our passage from Aix we saw at Lyons the most 

 curious closets of Monsieur Cervier, which for mathe 

 matical Inventions and Machines (all his own handy - 

 work) are the most surprising and astonishing, I 

 believe, in the world. His many pretended Perpetual 

 Motions, Hydraulic Dials, various Clocks and Hour 

 glasses, his Engines of Sympathy and Antipathy ; but 

 above all his device to discover the most predominant 

 quality in every spectator, are past my comprehension 

 and conception. These, and a hundred other things 



* See, at page 263, M. Sorbiere s enumeration of inventions considered exceed 

 ingly curious in 1 663. 



f A letter from Lord Herbert, to Mon. Grubendol, London. MSS. in the 

 Library of the Royal Society. His Lordship alludes to M. Grollier de Serviere s 

 Cabinet, of which a Catalogue was published at Lyon, 1719. 



