THE GREAT MARQUIS 



cause. Sums enormous for those times passed into 

 the king's possession, and were but a drop in the 

 ocean of his necessities. The liberality of the Earl 

 was indeed in the end more disastrous to his family 

 than the confiscation of his estates by the Common- 

 wealth. The Stuarts never kept a promise or paid 

 a debt of which they could avoid the fulfilment or 

 the discharge. 



Lord Herbert for many years lived quietly at 

 Raglan or at Worcester House in the Strand, and 

 was deeply engaged in his speculations and ex- 

 periments. It was in 1628 that he married Eliza- 

 beth, daughter of Sir William Dormer and sister of 

 Robert, the second Baron Dormer, who in the year 

 of her marriage was created Earl of Carnarvon. 

 The young Lady Herbert died in 1635, leaving a 

 son Henry, who became the first Duke of Beaufort, 

 and two daughters. Not long after her death, Lord 

 Herbert exhibited to the king and some of the 

 court a large wheel, "fourteen feet in diameter," 

 which he had set up in the tower " for exhibiting 

 self-motive power." He assures his readers, in his 

 work styled The Century of Inventions, published 

 many years later, the working of this wheel was " a 

 most incredible thing if not seen," and after dis- 

 cussing the mechanism of its working, ends his 

 description with the trite advice, " Be pleased to 

 judge the consequence." 



But from these peaceful occupations he was to be 

 called away. A dreamer, of unready speech and 



35 D 



