16 A BIOGRAPHICAL MEIVIOIE 



it became obvious that no trickery was contemplated, 

 and that if the projects recommended to public patronage 

 appeared open to some objections among fastidious per- 

 sons, at all events the author, or agent, promulgated his 

 views in perfect sincerity. 



In all these literary labours, Hartlib's publications 

 plainly show that he was rather the caterer for the 

 advantage of the public, than the scholar himself pro- 

 ducing the needful works of useful knowledge. The 

 prefatory matter of his several publications, pretty well 

 explains his motives of action. 



It must be admitted that few of these works would 

 interest the modern reader ; those on Husbandry, Bees, 

 and Silkworms having long since been superseded ; but 

 the case was quite different in the middle of the seven- 

 teenth century, and we are not to despise the scaffold- 

 ing by means of which the superstructure of modern 

 sciences and improvements has been raised to its present 

 magnitude. 



From a bibliographical sketch of publications bearing 

 Samuel Hartlib's name, appended to the present memoir, 

 the reader will be enabled to form an opinion of their 

 nature and character. Of these, "An Invention of En- 

 gines of Motion" has been reprinted in extenso in the 

 present volume, and will serve as a singular example 

 of the humble state of mechanical information in 1G52. 



In 1641, Hartlib had published "A Description of the 

 famous Kingdom of Macaria" on the models of the 



