364 INTRODUCTION 



find that the one hundred articles are as explicit as any 

 of the patent specifications of, and prior to, the reign of 

 Charles the Second. Yet men of unquestionable 

 literary taste, but unacquainted with these simple facts, 

 have charged the Marquis of Worcester with mystify 

 ing his statements, by writing too enigmatically, without 

 considering his promise, had he lived, &quot; to leave to 

 posterity a book&quot; containing &quot; the means to put in 

 execution all these inventions ;&quot; and without the indul 

 gence of awarding him at least the merit of writing his 

 very syllabus with all the amplification required by law 

 for the enrolment of a Patent Specification. 



While the Marquis was struggling to obtain royal 

 and state patronage, he had a powerful rival in Sir 

 Samuel Morland, a gentleman of the Privy Chamber 

 and Master of Mechanics, to Charles the Second. It 

 has never been noticed that, simultaneously with 

 the Marquis, he was projecting plans of novel means 

 for draining mines, and it is very improbable that, while 

 so engaged, he could view disinterestedly the various 

 efforts of the Marquis of Worcester. In the &quot; Calendar 

 of State Papers, Domestic Series for 1661-1662, edited 

 by Mrs. M. A. E. Green,&quot; octavo, 1861, we find the 

 following particulars under the respective dates, viz : 

 &quot;Dec? 1661. No. 36. Petition of [Sir] Samuel Mor 

 land to the King, for a patent for the sole use 

 of his invention of an Engine for raising water 

 out of mines or pits, quicker and ^better than 

 before practised. 



&quot; Dec. 11. Whitehall. Warrant for a grant to Sir 

 Sam. Morland of the sole use for 14 years of 

 his invention for raising water out of pits, &c. to 

 a reasonable height, &quot; by the force of powder 

 and air conjointly.&quot; 



