TO THE CENTURY. 369 



contributing an apocryphal history to the origin of the 

 steam-engine, a solitary instance occurs, within the last 

 five years, the publication of which demands special 

 notice. 



Nowhere should we less expect to find a want of 

 sympathy with the amiable character and astonishing 

 scientific abilities of the Marquis of Worcester than 

 in the pages recording the life of James Watt; for 

 there we might hope to be supplied, as from a fountain- 

 head, with the pure stream of most authentic informa 

 tion ; an elaborate, careful, and comprehensive digest 

 of the best materials that learning and influence could 

 accumulate ; at once clearing up many doubts, and for 

 ever dissipating the groundless surmises of a multitude 

 of superficial writers. We should never expect a less 

 careful procedure, or in its absence other than the most 

 respectful allusion to the true inventor of the steam- 

 engine that engine from which Watt s is lineally 

 descended. 



Had the Marquis of Worcester and his &quot; Century,&quot; 

 together with his Engine, been unknown, and conse 

 quently also his untiring representation and advocacy of 

 its wonderful properties, where would have been the 

 justly-admired models of Savery, Newcomen, and Watt ? 

 The inveterate prejudice against the employment of 

 any new engine with which the Marquis had to contend, 

 was not wholly extinct even in the days of Watt s early 

 career ; and it was the all-powerful influence of large 

 capital alone that secured for him what Charles the 

 Second blindly withheld from the great engineer s noble 

 predecessor. 



We are far from advocating any undue devotion 

 either to a theory or to a hero. But, certainly, if the 

 rhetorical flourishes of M. Arago can justly be summoned 

 to eulogize the hot-water fountain of De Cans, in pre- 



2 B 



