VORCESTER, EDWARD SOMERSET, MARQUIS OF, was a distinguished political character in the time of Charles I., by whom he was created earl of Glamorgan, while heir apparent to the marquis of Worcester. This nobleman flourished chiefly in the reign of Charles I., and seems to have been a most zealous adherent to the cause of that unfortunate monarch, on whose account it is said that he and his father wasted an immense sum. Of this the king was sensible, that he granted to the earl a most extraordinary patent, the chief powers of which were, to make him generalissimo of three armies, and admiral with nomination of his officers; to enable him to raise money by selling his majesty's woods, wardships, customs, and prerogatives; and to create by blank patents, to be filled up at Glamorgan's pleasure, from the rank of marquis to that of baronet. If anything, says Lord Orford, could justify the delegation of such authority, besides his majesty having lost all authority when he conferred it, it was the promise with which the king concluded, of bestowing the princess Elizabeth on Glamorgan's son. This patent was given up by the marquis to the House of Peers after the restoration. He died in 1667, after he had published his celebrated work entitled "A Century of the Names and Scantlings of such Inventions as at present I can call to mind to have tried and perfected, which (my former notes being lost) I have, at the instance of a powerful friend, endeavoured now, in the year 1655, to set these down in such a way as may sufficiently instruct me to put any of them in practice." Some of the inventions referred to in this work are the following. A ship-destroying engine, a coach-stopping crane, a balance water-work, a bucket fountain, an ebbing and flowing castle-clock, a tinder-box pistol, a pocket ladder, a most admirable way to raise weights, a stupendous water-work. For the last contrivance the marquis procured an act of parliament in 1663, for the sole benefit arising from it, one tenth of it being appropriated to Charles II. and his successors.
Various and very opposite opinions have been held with regard to the title of this nobleman to be considered as a mechanical genius. Lord Orford has pronounced his work an amazing piece of folly; and Mr Hume, speaking of his political conduct, says, "that the king judged aright of this nobleman's character, appears from his Century of Arts, or Scantling of Inventions, which is a ridiculous compound of lies, chimeras, and impossibilities, and shows what
might be expected from such a man." It may be fairly presumed, that neither Lord Orford nor Mr Hume was qualified to judge of the marquis's work, otherwise a more temperate or more modified opinion would have been given. By others, its author has been regarded as one of the greatest mechanical geniuses; and he is considered as the inventor of the steam-engine, which he denominates a stupendous water-work. See STEAM-ENGINE.