WITH NOTES. 401 



est Ship, Tanquam aliud agens, and 

 at any appointed minute, though a 

 week after, either of day or night, 

 it (hall irrecoverably fink that Ship. 



[A Ship-destroying Engim.~] In 1578, William 

 Bourne, in his &quot; Inventions or Devices,&quot; had in the 

 1 7th article, suggested, &quot; How for to sink a ship that 

 hath laid you aboard, without shooting of ordnance.&quot; 



And again in his &quot; Arte of shooting in great ord- 

 naunce,&quot; published in 1587, the 56th Chapter, suggests 

 a mode &quot; to sink a ship.&quot; 



The whole passage in the &quot; Century&quot; is abundantly 

 obscure. The smallness of the Engine suggests some 

 explosive missile, connected with clock-work, as the only 

 means to insure its being compact and operating on a 

 precise day at a stated point of time. But his inventive 

 faculty once stimulated, even by the notices of Bourne, 

 would speedily lead him to many ingenious contrivances. 



IO. 



A way from a mile off to dive 

 and fallen a like Engine to any 

 Ship, fo as it may punctually work 

 the fame effect either for time or 

 execution. 



[How to be fastened from aloof and under water. ~\ The 

 wording of this article so far differs from the title as to 

 allude only to diving, or a kind of submarine navigation, 

 but gives no intimation of the fastening &quot;aloof;&quot; so 

 that this latter may refer to any part of the ship s 

 sides above her water-line. 



&quot; Mersennius,&quot; observes Bishop Wilkins, &quot; doth 

 largely and pleasantly descant concerning the making 



2 D 



