WITH NOTES. 407 



the &quot; Century&quot; of 1663, are rarely indeed to be found 

 in private collections. But, besides these, it was quite 

 possible to procure, within 15 or 20 years after his 

 decease, even manuscripts, drawings, and books, the 

 property of the deceased Marquis, more or less referring 

 to his great invention. 



Even admitting that Savery was an independent in 

 ventor in 1699, notwithstanding so many conflicting 

 circumstances pointing to a different conclusion, he 

 could not have been working many years at York 

 Buildings in the Strand, without hearing of the Engine 

 at Vauxhall, invented by the proprietor of Worcester 

 House in the Strand. This very propinquity alone was 

 sufficient to excite in the mind of some intelligent, 

 inquisitive, and observant visitor the fact, which so 

 singular a coincidence would obviously suggest. 



While, however, everybody else is viewing the engine 

 of Savery s reputed invention with astonishment, 

 Savery himself is present to our mind only as a cold 

 calculating man, proud, not of being a Captain over 

 Mines, but of being designated u Gentleman ;&quot; and 

 while thus precise to inform the world of his gentility, 

 he leaves us in perfect ignorance of his mental acquire 

 ments, or the origin of the marvellous engine. It may 

 appear to some, that his exhibiting of the model before 

 the Royal Society is at once evidence of straightforward 

 ness and uprightness of conduct. But this view is 

 open to the objection, that he had never before shown 

 the model, and he thanks the Eoyal Society for &quot; coun 

 tenancing this Invention on its first appearance in the 

 world&quot; From the 25th of July 1698, to the 14th of 

 June 1669, he had been nursing the invention in secret. 

 What doubts could remain in his mind, when all per 

 sons likely to be most interested were no longer in 

 existence ? Men of science alone remained, who might 



2 K 



