vi PREFACE. 



reward his dreary labours. But the memory of men 

 like Hartlib,, survives every convulsion, for great and 

 good works, blest with a life beyond life, serve to all 

 time, to influence and stimulate others in following like 

 paths of usefulness. 



It was while engaged on his Life of the Marquis of 

 Worcester, that the author was led to inquire into the 

 merits of a pamphlet published by Samuel Hartlib, 

 being the substance of two letters addressed to him, by 

 a nameless correspondent, respecting his Invention of 

 Engines of Motion. Finding that Henry Lord Herbert, 

 the son of the Marquis, had been in communication with 

 Hartlib, the inquiry was pursued further than had been 

 originally contemplated : which was principally in- 

 creased by a desire to trace the authorship of the 

 pamphlet in question. While this remained doubtful, 

 it seemed not unlikely that the Marquis of Worcester 

 himself, as well as his son, might have been intimate 

 with the universal correspondent. Thus led step by 

 step to secure information at every stage of the inquiry — 

 a mass of interesting matter was accumulated respect- 

 ing Hartlib himself; which it was thought might excite 

 some attention and gratify the modem reader, if ac- 

 companied by a reprint of the scarce pamphlet that 

 had originated the inquiry into his life. 



In a literary point of view it was important to 

 establish the true authorship of the work, and for this 

 we now have its publisher's own statement. Scientifi- 



