A compleat history of the most remarkable providences both of judgment and mercy, which have hapned in this present age extracted from the best writers, the author's own observations, and the numerous relations sent him from divers parts of the three kingdoms : to which is added, whatever is curious in the works of nature and art / the whole digested into one volume, under proper heads, being a work set on foot thirty years ago, by the Reverend Mr. Pool, author of the Synopsis criticorum ; and since undertaken and finish'd, by William Turner...

CHAP XV. Curiosities in the Hydratilick Art, or Water-works.

THE Water, of all the Elements, seems the least capable of the Operations and curiosities of Art; yet (besides what I have spoken of in the Chapters precedent, of Experimental

Philosophy and Navigation,) we find this Fluid Element reduced by the Wit of Man to many useul and pleasant Purposes: So that we may conclude in good Earnest that the Brain of Man hath left no part of the whole Creation within its reach untried, unransacked, un∣cultivated.

1. At Tibur, or Tivoly, near Rome, in the Gardens of Hippolitus d'Este, Cardinal of Far∣rara, there are the Representations of sundry Birds, sitting on the tops of Trees, which, by Hydratilick Art, and secret Conveyances of the Water, tho' the Trunks, or branches of the Trees, are made to sing, and clap their Wings; but at the sudden Appearance of an Owl out of a Bush of the same Artifice, they immediately become all mute and silent; it was the work of Claudius Gallus, as Possevine informs us. Hist. Man. Art. Ch. 3. Pag. 37.

2. At the Mint of Segovia, in Spain, there is an Engine, that moves by Water, so arti∣ficially made, that one part of it distendeth an Ingot of Gold, into that breadth and thick∣ness, as is requisite to make Coin of. It delivereth the Plate that it hath wrought into another that printeth the Figure of the Coin upon it, and from thence it is turned over to another, that cutteth it forth according to the Print, in due shape and weight. And lastly, the several pieces fall into a Reserve in another Room, where the Officer, whose Charge it is, finds Treasure ready coined. Sir Kenelm Dighy's Bodies, Chap. 23. Pag. 207.

3. Sir Chr. Wrenn invented an Instrument, that measures the quantity of Rain that falls, which, as soon as 'tis full, empties it self, so that at the Years end 'tis easie to com∣pute how much as fallen on such a quantity of Ground for all that time; and this he con∣trived, in order to the discovery of the Theory of Springs, Exhalations, &c. And also other Instruments, whereby he has shewn the Geometrical Mechanic of Rowing, viz. that the Oar moves upon its Thowle, as a Veeti on a yielding Fulcrum, and found out what Degree of Impediment the Expansion of a Body to be moved in a liquid Medium, ordi∣narily produces in all Proportions, with several other Matters, in order for laying down the Geometry of Sailing, Swimming, Rowing, and the Fabrick of Ships. Plot's Nat. Hist. Oxford. Pag. 232.

4. Hither also belong the Locks and Turn-Pikes, made upon the River Isis, that 21 of King James, when it was made Navigable from Oxford to Bercot, which are absolutely necessary for that purpose, on shallow Rivers that have great Falls, to keep up the Wa∣ter, and give the Vessels an easie Descent. For the first whereof, provided the fall of Wa∣ter be not great, a Lock will suffice, which is made up only of Bars of Wood, called Ri∣mers, set Perpendicular to the bottom of the Passage, and Lock-gates put down between every two of them, or Boards put athwart them, which will keep a Head of Water as well as the Turn-pike for the Passage of a Barge, but must be all pulled up at its Arrival, and the Water let go, till there is an Abatement of the fall, before the Boat may pass either down or upwards; which, with the Stream, is not without violent Precipitation; and a∣gainst it, at many Places, not witout the Help of a Capstain at Land, and sometimes nei∣ther of them, without imminent Danger.

But where the Declivity of the Channel, and fall of Water, is so great, that few Barges will live in the passage of them; there are Turn-pikes, whereof there are three between Oxford and Bercot, and are thus contrived. First, There are placed a great pair of Fold∣ing-Doors, or Flood-gates of Timber cross the River, that open against the Stream, and shut with it, not so as to come even in a straight Line, but in an obtuse Angle, the bet∣ter to resist and bear the weight of the Water, which by how much the greater it is, by so much the closer are the Gates pressed; in each of which Flood-gates there is a Sluce to let the Water thro' at Pleasure, without opening the Gates themselves. Within these there is a large Square, taken out of the River, built up at each side with Free-stone, big enough to receive the largest Barge afloat; and at the other end another pair of Flood-Gates, opening and shutting, and having Sluces like the former; which is the whole Fa∣brick of a Turn-pike.

At the uppermost pair of these Gates the Water is stopt, which raises it in the River above, and gives the Vessels passage over the Shallows; which, when it comes to the Turn∣pikes, the Sluces are first open'd, and the Water let in to the Square, or inclosed Space be∣tween the two pair of Gates, where it must necessarily rise (the lower Gates being shut) till at length it comes to be level with the Surface of the River above: When this is done, the upper Steam then making no such pressure on the Gates as before, they are ea∣fily opened by two or three Men, and the Vessels let in one at a time; which done, they shut those upper Gates and Sluces as before: Then they open the Sluces or Gates at the other end of the Turn-pike, and let the Water by degrees out of the inclosed Square, till it be sunk down, and the Vessel in it, level with the River below, and then open the Gates themselves, and let the Vessel out; the upper Gates all the while being drove too, and keep so fast by the Water above, that little of it can follow. And thus the Boat goes down Stream.

But when they return, they are first let into the inclosed space (where the Water stands constantly level with that of the lower Channel) at the lower Gates; which as soon as shut again, the Sluces are opened at the uppermost Gates, and the Water let in, till it rises with the Boat upon it, to be equal with the River above: This done, the upper Gates are easily opened as before, there being no pressure upon them, and the Boat let out: So that notwithstanding the Channel has much steeper descents where these Turn-pikes are set,

than at any of the Locks, yet the Boats pass at these with much more ease and safe∣ty. Ibid.

5. Dr. Wilkins, late Bishop of Chester, when Warden of Wadham-College, contrived an En∣gine, whereby of but four Gallons of Water forced thro' a narrow Fissure, he could raise a Mist in his Garden, wherein a Person placed at a due distance between the Sun and the Mist, might see an exquisite Rainbow in all its proper Colours; which Distance I con∣ceive was the same with that assigned by Des Cartes, viz. where the Eye of the Behold∣er is placed in an Angle of 42 Degrees.

6. A Clock at Sir Ant. Copes at Hanwel, moves by Water, and shews the Hour, by the Rise of a new guilded Sun for every Hour, moving in a small Hemisphere of Wood, each carrying in their Centers the Number of some Hour depicted black; as suppose of one a Clock, which ascending half way to the Zenith of the Arch, shews it a quarter past One, at the Zenith half an hour; whence descending again half way toward the Horizon, three quarters past One; and at last absconding under it, there presently arises another guilded Sun above the Horizon, at the other side of the Arch, carrying in its Center the Figure two; and so of the rest.

7. At the same place, in a House of Diversion, built in small Island in one of the Fish-ponds, Eastward of his House, where a Ball is rost by a Column of Water, and Artificial Showers descend at pleasure; within which they can so place a Candle, that tho' one would think it must needs be overwhelmed with Water, it shall not be extin∣guished, &c. Ibid.

8. But the most surpassing Water-works are those of Enston, at the Rock first dis∣covered by The Bushel, Esq; who cleansing the Spring, then called Goldwell, to place a Cistern for his own Drinking, met with a Rock so wonderfully contrived by Nature it self, that he thought it worthy of all imaginable Advancement by Art. He made Cisterns, and laid divers Pipes between the Rocks, and built a House over them, con∣taining one fair Room for Banquetting, &c. Which, when finished, A 1636. together with the Rocks, Grove, &c. he presented to the Queen; who in Company with the King himself, was pleased to honour the Rock not only with her Royal Presence, but commanded the same to be called after her own name, Henrietta. VVhich Structure (in the unhappy Civil VVars) became neglected, and decayed, till at last it lapsed into the Hands of the Right Honourable Edw, Hen. Earl of Litchfield, Lord of the Soil; who, A. 1674. not only repaired the broken Cisterns and Pipes, but made a fair Addition to it, in a sinall Island, situate in the passage of a Rivulet, just before the Building set over the Rock. The Rock is Artificial in the middle of the Island, covered with liv∣ing Aqueous Plants; the Keeper of the VVater turning the Cocks, casteth a Canopy of VVater over the Rock, by an Instrument of Brass for that purpose: In the middle of the Rock is a Column of VVater rising about 14 Foot, designed to toss a Ball. The Streams of VVater that make the Canopy flow from about 30 Pipes, set round the Rock, which streams while Persons strive to avoid, by turning other Cocks, they are unavoidably besprinkled, either upon their Heads or Leggs, or the Reins of their Backs. In the Grot the Rock is to beseen, made up of large craggy Stones, with great cavities between them, out of which flows VVater plentifully and perpetually, dashing against the Rocks below, fed only with a single Spring, the natural Rock is about ten Foot high, and as many broad; but advanced about four Foot more, by the addition of some few Shelves of Lead, and dry Stones on the top; upon turning one of the Cocks rises a Chequer Hedge of VVater, and upon turning another two side Columns of VVater; and by turning of a third Cock a Column of VVater rises in the middle, which ascending into the turn of the Arch, and not rising again, is received into hidden Pipes; into one of which, terminated in a very small Cistern of VVater, behind a Stone of the Rock, and having a Mouth and Languet just above its Sur∣face, the Air being forced into it by the Approaches of the VVater, a noise is made near resembling the Notes of a Nightingale: But when that Pipe is filled, the singing ceas∣eth, till the VVater has passed away by another Pipe in the lower part of the Rock; which, when almost done, a noise is heard like the beating of a Drum, perform'd by the rushing in of Air into the hollow of the Pipe, which is large, and of Copper, to supply the place of the VVater almost gone out; which done, the Nightingale may be made to sing again. From the turned Roof of the Rock, by help of a brass Instru∣ment, and turn of a Cock in one of the Closets above, they can let down a Canopy of VVater; and from the top they can throw arched Spouts of VVater crossing one ano∣ther, &c. with some other Sportive Streams of VVater, a Cellar behind the Rock, to keep Liquors cool, or place Musick in, for the Surprizal of Strangers, &c. we think fitter for the Eye, than the Pen to describe. Ibid.