Note 12 — Chapter I · Dawnings of Steam Power—The Marquis of Worcester.

His words are these:—“One of the most curious things that I wished to see was an hydraulic machine which the Marquis of Worcester has invented, and of which he is making trial. I went with all speed to Fox-hall, on the other side of the Thames, a little below Lambeth, which is the Palace of the Archbishop of Canterbury, in sight of London. This machine will raise to the height of forty feet, by the strength of one man only, and in a minute of time, four large buckets of water through a pipe of eight inches. But what will be the most powerful help to the wants of the public is the work which is performed by another ingeniously-constructed machine, which can be seen raised on a wooden tower on the top of Somerset House, which supplies that part of the town with water, but with some difficulty, and a smaller quantity than could be desired. It is somewhat like our Samaritane water-work on the Pont Neuf; and on the raising-pump they have added an impulsion which increases the force; but for what we obtain by the power of the Seine, they employ one or two horses, which incessantly turn the machine, as the river changes its course twice a day, and the spring or wheels which are used for the ebbing tide would not do for the flow.”—Sorbière, ‘Relation d’un Voyage en Angleterre.’