The life of Sir William Petty, 1623-1687 ...

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SIE WILLIAM PETTY

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THE LIFE

OF

SIB WILLIAM PETTY

1623 I687

ONE OF THE FIRST FELLOWS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY

SOMETIME SECRETARY TO HENRY CROMWELL

MAKER OF THE 'DOWN SURVEY' OF IRELAND, AUTHOR OF

'POLITICAL ARITHMETIC &c.

CHIEFLY DERIVED FROM PRIVATE DOCUMENTS HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED

By LORD EDMOND FITZMAUBICE

AUTHOR OF 'THE LIFE OF WILIAM, EARL OF SHELBURNE'

WITH MAP AND PORTRAITS

LONDON

JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET

1895

PREFACE

The present work is mainly founded on the collection of MSS.
now at Bowood, consisting of the papers originally belonging
to Sir William Petty, which afterwards passed to his grandson,
John Fitzmaurice, son of Anne Petty, Countess of Kerry, and
afterwards Earl of Shelburne; and of the letters written
by Sir William Petty to Sir Eobert Southwell, which appear
to have been added to the collection at Bowood by the third
Marquis of Lansdowne, through a purchase made at the
time of the sale of the MSS. of Lord de Clifford, the then
representative of the Southwell family. The economic works
of Sir William Petty have also been freely referred to, as
they frequently throw light on the events of his life, as well
as on his opinions relating to politico-economic subjects. I
have also used a number of scattered MSS., mostly in the
Sloane and Egerton collections at the British Museum, and in
the Bawlinson collection at the Bodleian Library, Oxford.

Of the transactions connected with the Survey of Ireland,
Sir William Petty has left more than one account : (1) ' The
History of the Down Survey,' of which three MSS. exist :
the first, originally the property of Sir Robert Southwell, to
whom it was entrusted by Sir William Petty towards the close
of his life, is now in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin ;

[6] LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY

the second is in the Library at Bowood ; the third is in the
Library of King's Inn, Dublin. It is from these MSS. that
' The History of the Down Survey,' edited with notes by Sir
Thomas Larcom for the Irish Archaeological Society, was
printed (Dublin, 1851), and the references are to that volume,
the notes and appendices to which are of great value, from
their combination of historical knowledge with a perfect
acquaintance with the details of the practice of the art of
surveying. (2) ' Eeflections on some Persons and Things
in Ireland,' which purports to be a correspondence between
Dr. Petty and a 'candid friend,' but the whole of which
is the work of Dr. Petty himself. It is a more popular
account of the events with which ' The History of the Down
Survey ' deals in detail. (3) * A Brief Account of the most
Material Passages relating to the Survey managed by Dr.
Petty in Ireland, anno 1655-1656/ This tract is reprinted
in Sir Thomas Larcom's work, pp. xiii.-xvii., as an introduc-
tion to the ' History of the Survey.' (4) ' The Beport to the
Council of the Survey of the Soldiers' Lands,' of which only
a small and imperfect fragment exists among the Petty MSS.
at Bowood.

The MSS. of Sir Bobert Southwell passed into the hands
of the De Clifford family, and were sold in 1834. The copy
of the ' Down Survey ' in that collection was bought by Mr.
James Weale, of the Office of Woods, and at his death by the
Government. It was subsequently presented to Trinity College,
Dublin. The copy at Bowood was removed to England from
Shelburne House, Dublin, where it was seen in 1777.

In the British Museum is a valuable MS. volume from
the Library in Dublin, which belonged to the late Dr. Nelligan.
Besides a copy of the 'Political Anatomy' it contains the
four papers described in the notes to Chapter IX. of this

PREFACE [7]

work, and also some memoranda by a contemporary writer
on Dr. Petty's method of work while engaged on the
Survey. I have referred to this volume under the title of
the < Nelligan MS.' l

My work has been greatly lightened by the use of a
syllabus of the most important of the Petty MSS. at Bowood,
made by my late uncle, the Earl of Kerry, who a short time
before his death, as stated in ' Moore's Diary and Correspon-
dence/ commenced collecting materials for a * Life of Sir
William Petty.' The Earl of Kerry had also collected some
information from extraneous sources. In a few cases, when I
have not been able to identify the origin of it, I have referred
in the notes to the MS. he left.

I desire to acknowledge the obligations I owe to the notes
of Sir Thomas Larcom in his edition of 'The History of
the Down Survey,' and to the studies on the ' Irish Survey? '
by Mr. W. H. Harding, published in the ' Transactions of the
Royal Irish Academy,' vol. xxiv., parts i. and iii. (Antiquities) ; 2
and to Mr. Prendergast's work ' On the Cromwellian Settle-
ment of Ireland ' (Longmans, 1865).

The references to Eoscher are to a study by that author
on ' The English Political Economists of the 17th and 18th
Centuries,' published in the ' Abhandlungen der philologisch-
historischen Classe der Koniglich Sachsischen Gesellschaft der
Wissenschaften,' vol. ii. (Leipzig, 1857), which is probably the
most complete account of Petfcy's work as an economist which
has yet been published. I am indebted to Mr. Madden, Sub-
Librarian of the Bodleian Library, for the opportunity I have
had of reading a very careful dissertation on Sir William

' British Museum, Miscellaneous Series, 21128, Plut. clxiii. d.

a The references are throughout to Part I. except where otherwise stated.

[8] LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY

Petty, presented to the Faculty of Political Science of the
University of Munich by Mr. W. L. Bevan, which as yet is
only privately printed, but deserves a wider circulation.

The references to Evelyn's ' Memoirs ' are to the edition of
1854, published by Colburn ; and those to Pepys's ' Diary '
refer to the edition of 1893. The references to the 'Bodleian
Letters ' are to the work generally known as ' Aubrey's
Lives,' published in the second volume of the ' Bodleian
Letters ' (London, 1813).

I have received valuable assistance in the course of my
work, which I desire to acknowledge, from Mr. G. Bickley
and Mr. Jeayes, of the MS. Department in the British Mu-
seum ; from Mr. Hubert Hall, Deputy-Keeper of the Becord
Office ; from Mr. Wrix, of the Boyal Society ; from Mr.
E. Nicolson, Librarian of the Bodleian Library; from Mr.
George Scharf ; from Mr. Charles Heberden, M.A., Principal
of Brasenose ; from Mr. A. C. Peskett of Magdalene College,
Cambridge ; and from Mr. C. H. Firth and Mr. Archibald
Bence-Jones.

Through the kind permission of the Marquis of Bath I
have been allowed to consult a MS. at Longleat containing
some interesting details as to Sir William Petty's death and
copies of some of his papers.

I desire to express my obligation to Mr. W. S. Taylor, the
editor of ' England under Charles II.' in the * Series of
English History by Contemporary Writers,' published by
Messrs. Nutt, for the references in that book to * Bugge's MS.
Diary ' and the ' Secret History of Whitehall.'

In the Appendix is printed a complete list of Sir William
Petty's Works, found in his own handwriting at W'ycombe
Abbey, and transcribed by Lord Shelburne in the last century

PREFACE [9]

on the fly-leaf of a copy of the ' Petty Tracts ' published by
Boulter (jrierson (1769) at Dublin, which contains the prin-
cipal works of Sir William Petty, and is the edition referred to
throughout the notes in the present book, in the quotations
from his writings.

By the kind permission of Mr. Charles Monck, I have been
allowed to reproduce the picture of Sir William Petty, by Sir
Peter Lely, now at Coley Park; and by the kind permission
of the Master and Fellows of Magdalene College, Cambridge,
I have been able to present the readers of this book with an
authentic likeness of the celebrated ' double bottom ' vessel,
from the Pepysian Library at that College.

I desire to acknowledge specially the valuable help I have
received in regard to several points in the seventh chapter
from Professor Henry Sidgwick.

The map illustrating the settlement of Ireland was ori-
ginally prepared for Mr. Charles Walpole's ' History of Ireland,'
and is reproduced by the kind permission of Messrs. Kegan
Paul, Trench, Triibner, & Co.

E. F.

1894.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I.
1623-1652.

PAGE

Birth at Rumsey — Early taste for mechanics and seamanship — Apprentice-
ship at sea — Stranded on the coast of France — Studies at Caen— Enters
the Royal Navy— Outbreak of the Civil War — Retires abroad — Studies
in Paris — Friendship with Hobbes— Correspondence with Dr. Tell —
Returns to England — Death of his father — Invents a manifold letter-
writer, and writes a treatise on Education — Idea of a society to advance
arts and science— Partnership with Holland of Deptford — Death of
Antony Petty — Agreement with John Petty — Friendship with Boyle —
Removal to Oxford — Degree of Doctor of Physic— Becomes Fellow of
Brasenose and Deputy-Professor of Anatomy — Case of Ann Green —
The dead raised to life — Appointed Professor of Anatomy and Gresham
Professor — Oxford Philosophical Society — Appointed Physician General
to the army in Ireland — His reform of the medical service of the army
— Death of Ireton 1

CHAPTER II.

1652-1658.

Arrival in Ireland — Condition of that country in 1652 — General Fleetwood
Lord Deputy — The forfeited estates — Proposal to transplant the former
proprietors and replant with English settlers — The adventurers and
the army — Plan to pay the debt with the forfeited estates — A survey
necessary — Benjamin Worsley, Surveyor-General — The Grosse Survey
— Early distributions of land — Struggle between Worsley and Petty —
Rapacity of the officers and commissioners — Henry Cromwell's mission
—The transplantation into Connaught of the native Irish proprietors —
Attacked by Vincent Gookin — Petty supports him — A new scheme set
on foot— The massacre of the Waldenses — Outburst of popular fury —
The transplantation ordered to proceed— The Civil Survey instituted to
ascertain the forfeitures — Dr. Petty prepares a plan for the mapping
and admeasurement of the army lands — A general map of Ireland
-The 'Down Survey '—Letter to Robert Boyle - Conclusion of the

[12]

LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY

Civil Survey — The Down Survey commenced — Henry Cromwell
succeeds General Fleetwood in Dublin— Dr. Petty's methods of work
and assistants— Employment of soldiers as surveyors on the spot and
of skilled artists at head-quarters — Quarrels amongst the officers
— Firmness of Henry Cromwell — He is appointed Lord Deputy
— The survey completed and approved by the Council— The adven-
turers entrust the survey of their lands to Dr. Petty — Dr. Petty carries
out this survey also — The distribution of the army lands— Violence
of the officers — Dr. Petty resists the rapacity of the army— He is sup-
ported by Henry Cromwell — The struggle embittered by the political
situation— Payment of Dr. Petty in land — Embarrassed condition of
the finances of the Commonwealth —The distribution of the adven-
turers' lands — Journey to England to meet the committee of ad-
venturers—Death of Oliver Cromwell — Dr. Petty returns to Ireland ---
Carries out the distribution of the adventurers' lands — Opinion of Lord
Clarendon and of Sir Thomas Larcom- Effects of the rapidity with
which the survey was completed ........ 23

CHAPTER III.

1G58-16G0.

Discontent of the army — Quarrels among the claimants— Sir Hierome
Sankey— Struggle between the party of the Protector and the Ana-
baptists — The struggle extends to Ireland — Sir Hierome Sankey attacks
Dr. Petty — Various attempts to ruin Dr. Petty— Offer of a military
command— Henry Cromwell appoints Dr. Petty private secretary and
additional clerk to the Council — Effect of the death of the Protector —
Controversy in regard to the distribution of the lands before the Council
in Dublin — A committee appointed — They approve Dr. Petty's conduct
— Dr. Petty elected Member of Parliament— Account of an Irish election
in 1659 — Sir Hierome Sankey attacks him in Parliament— Dr. Petty's
speech in Parliament — Support given by Henry Cromwell to Dr. Petty
— Dissolution of Parliament— Fall of the Cromwellian party — Dr. Petty
dismissed from all his employments — Retires to Ireland— Renewed
attacks of Sir Hierome Sankey — Disappearance of Sir Hierome
Sankey— Dr. Petty publishes a defence of his conduct— His impru-
dent use of ridicule and satire— He commences a History of the
Survey— He returns to England— The Rota Club— Dr. Petty's conduct
at the Restoration ( J

CHAPTER IV.

1660-1667.

The Oxford Philosophical Society removes to London— Meetings at (ires-
ham College — Extracts from the Journal — The King affects the society
of scientific men— Shows special interest in the researches of Dr. Petty
— The Duke of York— Attempts to undermine the confidence of the
King in Dr. Petty— He is denounced for acting a£i trustee for the family

CONTENTS [13]

PAUK

of the Protector— Failure of these attempts — Dr. Petty is knighted on
the occasion of the incorporation of the Royal Society — Marked favour
shown by the King and the Duke of Ormonde to Dr. Petty— Sir Robert
Southwell, Clerk to the Privy Council, and Sir William Petty — A grant
of land in Ireland made to the Royal Society— Anecdote of Sir
William Petty by John Aubrey— Sir William Petty's scientific experi-
ments — The ' double-bottom ' ship— Success and subsequent failure of
the ' experiment ' — A party at the Durdans — Sir William Petty and
Mr. Pepys - Latitudinarian views of Sir William Petty — Designs a
treatise entitled the ' Scale of Creatures ' — His hostility to the Church
of Rome The Oporto A uto-da-/4— The death of George Penn — Sir
William Petty's hostility to the Calvinists and Anabaptists . . . 102

CHAPTER V.

1G60-1G67.

Sir William Petty invests a portion of his fortune in Irish land — Kerry in
the latter half of the seventeenth century — Parties at the Restoration
— The Acts of Settlement and Explanation — Sir William Petty's
estates confirmed to him — Completes a map of Ireland— His rela-
tions with the widow of Henry Cromwell — ' The Political Anatomy
of Ireland '—His estimate of the results of the successive changes
in the tenure of land in Ireland -The farmers of the Irish Revenue
— Their extortionate conduct— They claim arrears from Sir William
Petty — Hostility of Sir James Shaen — Difference with the Duke
of Ormonde— Letter to Lord Aungier— The commercial policy of
England— Hostility of the English landed classes to Ireland— Sir
William Petty opposes the Irish Cattle Acts — The Acts passed— Effect
of the Acts on the rate of exchange — Rise of the class of absentee pro-
prietors - Sir William Petty proposes a union between England and
Ireland— His high opinion of the capacity of the Irish character— His
plans for improving the country — Settlement at Kenmare— Condition
of the South of Ireland— Continuation of the struggle with the farmers —
Fall of the Duke of Ormonde - Attacks on Sir William Petty — Sir Alan
Brodrick challenges Sir William Petty to a duel ..... 125

CHAPTER VI.

1667-1078.

Marriage of Sir William Petty— Sir Hardress Waller— Lady Fenton—
Troubles of furnishing -Offer of a peerage— Sir William Petty's reply
His London house destroyed in the Great Fire — Domestic corre-
spondence—Versatility of Sir William Petty's character — His manifold
accomplishments— Anecdote of Sir William Fetty and the Duke of
Ormonde— Sir William Petty's children: Charles, Henry, and Anne —
Correspondence with Lady Petty— The Quakers of Balliboy —Letters
from William Penn and John Aubrey— Character of Sir William Petty
. He is committed for contempt of court— His spiritual consolations —
The Duke of Ormonde again Lord-Lieutenant— Sir William appointed

[14]

LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY

TAGE

Judge of the Irish Admiralty Court— He spends three years continuously
in Ireland— Vicissitudes of Sir William's struggle with the farmers of
the revenue— Remonstrances of Sir Robert Southwell— Sir William
Petty goes to England— He is assaulted by Colonel Vernon . . . 153

CHAPTER VII.

POLITICAL ARITHMETIC.

Account of Sir William Petty by John Aubrey— His inventive head and
practical parts— Special devotion to economic studies — * Observations
on the Bills of Mortality of the City of London ' — Relations of Petty
and Graunt — ' Observations on the Dublin Bills of Mortality ' — Birth of
statistical science— Condition of political economy in the seventeenth
century— Relations of political philosophy with economics— The science
or art of political arithmetic— Sir William Davenant on the works of
Petty— Petty 's methods of inquiry and calculation— His principal
works —Influence of Hobbes— Petty's desire to strengthen and organise
the powers of the State — His hostility to privilege and separate
jurisdictions— The finances of the Restoration— The Act of Navigation
— The examples of France and Holland— Colbert— The ' Treatise on
Taxes '—Petty's account of the natural charges of a State— His views
on taxation— His attitude towards the prohibitory and the mercantile
systems— His opinion that labour is the true origin of wealth— His
theory of trade— His * measures of customs '—Concessions to adver-
saries — Explanation of these concessions — Comparison of Petty with
Quesnay— Opinions of Sir William Davenant— Petty's silence on the
General Navigation Act — Considers an excise the best tax— An excise
on beer— His views as to 'a par of value,' currency, laws against
usury, State lotteries, rent and population — The 'multiplication
of mankind '—Southwell and Petty on the Deluge— The growth west-
wards of London— High wages and low living— The division of labour
— Supply and demand — Economic effects of penalties— Results of
religious toleration— Example of Holland— Multiplicity of parishes
and of sermons— The « Political Arithmetick '—Summary of the views
of the author— A protest against political pessimism— Petty's con-
fidence in the greatness and future of England 179

CHAPTER VIII.

1678-1685.

The ' Popish Plot '—Conversion of Captain Graunt— He is accused of
helping to cause the Great Fire— Discussion of the Popish Plot- Sir
William Petty and the Church of Rome— Outburst of popular fury
against Roman Catholicism— It extends to Ireland— Condition of that
country— The secret and clandestine Government— Sir William Petty
declines to join in the outcry— Effects of the struggle on the powers of
the House, the Privy Council, and the Cabinet— Plans of Sir William
Temple — Sir William Petty and the Privy Council- He is again offered

CONTENTS [15]

PAGE

a peerage— His prospects in Ireland improve— Southwell appointed
Envoy to Brandenburg— Eeaction after the Oxford Parliament —
Renewed troubles — Attacks of the farmers on Sir William Petty — His
troublesome position as Judge of Admiralty — Eesigns it — Summoned
to England to aid in the reorganisation of the Eevenue— The Privy
Council rejects his proposals, but abolishes the system of farming —
Made a Commissioner of the Navy— Illness of his children— Founds
the Royal Society of Ireland— Reorganises the Dublin College of
Physicians —Extracts from the minutes of the Dublin Society — Various
designs and inventions— The 'double bottom ' again— Correspondence
with Southwell, Aubrey, and Lady Petty— Death of Charles II. . . 232

CHAPTER IX.

1685-1687.

Accession of James II. —Effect on Ireland— Sir William Petty takes a
favourable view of the intentions of the King— The ' Sale and Settle-
ment of Ireland '—Sir William Petty writes a reply— Correspondence
with Southwell— Southwell's warning— Plans of Sir William Petty for
meeting the situation— He again suggests a union between England
and Ireland, and proposes a plan for freedom of conscience— His views
on Imperial questions and on the reform of Parliament— Interviews
with the King— Draws up a plan for the reform of the Irish Adminis-
tration—A squib against Sir William Petty— Southwell's opinion of
his plans— The King avows his real intentions- -Petty recognises the
danger of the situation— His correspondence with Southwell— Tyr-
connel, Lord Deputy— The Declaration of Indulgence— Repeal of the
Edict of Nantes 269

CHAPTER X.
1687.

Attack on Kenmare — The survivors escape to England — Sir William Petty's
failing health— He commences to put his affairs in order— His papers
relating to the survey- His coat-of-arms— His views on the education
of his children— Anne Petty— Instructions to Lady Petty— Letters to
Southwell on his early life— Discussion of a paper by Pascal on the
relations of the mathematical faculty to general ability— Instructions
to his sons, Charles and Henry— Views on the education of Edward
Southwell— The ' Principia ' of Newton— Sir William Petty at once
recognises the greatness of the work— Serious illness— Last dinner

at the Royal Society - Account of his death— A political prophecy

Lady Petty made a peeress— Anne Petty marries John Fitzmaurice—
Sir William's views on mourning for the dead and charitable be-
quests—His will— Monument in Romsey Church 289

APPENDIX

317

!NDEX , 331

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Picture of Sir William Petty, by Sir Peter Lely, at Coley

Park Frontispiece

Map of Ireland illustrating the Survey. . . . to face page 68

The Double-Bottom Ship „ „ 112

Picture of Sir William Petty, by Closterman, at Lansdowne

House „ ,,234

White House Kuin, Kenmare 200

LIFE

OF

SIE WILLIAM PETTY

CHAPTEE I

EARLY LIFE

1G23-1652

Early clays— Friendship with Hohbes — Correspondence with Dr. Pell— Pamphlet
on education — John Petty— Life at Oxford — Case of Ann Green — Univer-
sity Professor of Anatomy.

William Petty was born at his father's house at Eumsey, a
little town in Hampshire on the banks of the Test, famous
as a seat of the woollen industry, on the 26th of May, 1623,
' eleven hours, 42' 56" afternoon, Trinity Sunday,' according
to Aubrey, who puts down the event with his usual love of
minute detail. He was the third child of Antony Petty and
Francesca, his wife. Aubrey says that Antony Petty, the
father of William, ' was born on the Ash Wednesday before
Mr. Hobbes, 1587 ; and that by profession he was a clothier,
and also did dye his own cloths.' l

The home of the Pettys seems to have been near the
ancient conventual church of the Benedictine nuns, which
the parishioners at the Eeformation are said to have bought

1 Bodleian Letters, ii. 481. The details as to the Petty family will
name of Petty is still common in be found in ch. x., p. 315.
the neighbourhood of Rumsey. Some

2 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, i

for 100/. as a place of worship. The chief amusement
of William- Petty, when a boy, was ' looking on the artificers :
e.g. smyths, the watchmakers, carpenters, joiners, &c. ; and,
at twelve years old, he could have worked at any of these
trades,' according to Aubrey's account. But he is also said
to have developed a satirical and jocular humour, and a
power of caricature in drawing, which made the neighbour-
hood esteem him a peculiar person, and, to use his own
words, 'a perfect cheiromantes.' 2 At Rmnsey he went to
school, and 'learned by twelve years a competent smatter-
ing of Latin, and was entered into the Greek before 15;'
and there also, Aubrey relates, ' happened to him the most re-
markable incident of his life, which was the formation of all the
rest of his greatness and acquiring riches. He informed me,'
says Aubrey, 'that about 15, in March, he went over to Caen,
in Normandy, in a vessel that went hence with a little stock,
and began to play the merchant, and had so good success that
he maintained himself and also educated himself : this I
guess was the most remarkable accident that he meant.'
Besides ' playing the merchant ' he found time to learn ' the
French tongue, and perfected himself in Latin; and had
Greek enough to serve his turn.' He also ' studied the arts.'
It appears that, anxious above all things to see the great world
outside his native town, after some unsuccessful attempts
to exchange home and employment with a lad from the
Channel Islands, he ultimately bound himself apprentice to
the master of a vessel, in which he sailed for France, and
on this journey discovered for the first time that he was short-
sighted. ' He knew not that he was purblind,' says Aubrey,
'till his master (the master of a ship) bade him climb
up the rope ladder ; and give notice when he espied a steeple,
somewhere upon the coast, which was a landmark for the
avoiding of a shelf. At last the master saw it from the
deck ; and they fathomed, and found they were but in foot
water ; whereupon as I remember his master drubbed him
with a cord.' 3

- Petty MSS. 3 Bodleian Letters, ii. 482.

1636 EARLY DAYS 3

At sea he appears to have been ill-treated by the sailors and
finally abandoned by them on the French coast near Caen, with
a broken leg, in a small inn. The tale of his sufferings was
explained by him in Latin, and by the time he had recovered,
the whole society of Caen had heard of his adventures, and
was wondering at the precocious ability of the English cabin
boy. As soon as he was able to move, he was sent for by an
officer who, having served with distinction in the Civil Wars
of France, was desirous of knowing something of naval tactics
also. These young Petty contrived to expound in Latin, to
the satisfaction of his employer. A gentleman of rank
desirous of visiting the English coast, but unacquainted with
the language, next employed him as teacher, and paid him
well enough to enable him to buy a suit of clean linen.
' Vestibus irradio nitidis ' is the triumphant record of this
transaction in some Latin verses containing a sketch of his
early life and adventures. 4

Determining to abandon the sea, he entered himself at a
private school at Caen, but did not fail to discover that the
education offered by the Jesuits' College was the best to be
had. It was the habit of the students from all the Colleges
to bathe in the river w T hich runs through the promenades
which surround the town. Here William Petty met and made
acquaintance with many of the Jesuit students. The result
was an offer on the part of the Fathers to take the young
Englishman as a pupil, on condition that their attempts on
his religion should be confined to prayers for his conversion :
an offer which he accepted.

The following letter, written long after, contains a sketch
of his adventures at this period :

' Piccadilly, 14 July, 1686.

' Deare Cozen, — The next part of my answer to yours of
the 10th inst. is, (1) How I gott the shilling I mentioned to
have had at Xmas, 1636 : which was by 6 d I got of a
country Squire for showing him a pretty trick on the cards,
which begot the other 6 d fairly won at cards. (2) How this

1 Petty MSS.

n 2

4 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, i

shilling came to bee 4 s 6 d . When I went to sea was 6 d given
(or rather paid) mee by Mother Dowling, who having been a
sinner in her youth, was much relieved by my reading
toher in the " Crums of Comfort," Mr. Andrews' "Silver
Watchbell," and " Ye plain man's pathway to Heaven." The
next 6 d I got for an old Horace given (why do I say given)
or delivered mee by Len : Green, for often construing to him
in Ovid's Metamorphoses till my throat was soare, though to
so little purpose that hee, coming to say his lesson, began,
Protinus (signifying "soon after") King Protinus, &c. My
next Booty was 18 d , given me by my God-father for making
20 verses to congratulate his having been made a Doctor
in Divinity by some good Luck. The other shilling was
impressed by my Aunt, whom I repaid by a Bracelet bought
in France for 4 d but judged to be worth 16 d . This 4 s 6 d was
layd out in France upon pittiful brass things with cool'd
glasse in them, instead of diamonds and rubies. These I sold
at home to the young fellowes, whom I understood to have
sweethearts, for treble what they cost. I also brought home
2 hair hatts (which within these 11 years might have been
seen) by which I gayned little lesse. Having been ten
months at sea, I broak my leg, and was turned ashore,
strangely visited by many, by ye name of " le Petit Matclot
Anylois qui park Latin et Grec " neer my recovery ; and, when
I resolved to quit ye sea, as not being able to bear the envy
of our crew against mee for being able to say my Compasse,
shift my tides, keep reckoning with my plain scale, and for
being better read in the " seaman's Kalender," the " safeguard
of saylers," &c, than the seamen of our ship, I made verses
to the Jesuits, expressing my desires of returning to the muses,
and how I had been drawn from them by reading Legends of
our countryman, Capt 11 Drake, in these words :

Rostra ratis Dracis nimis admiratus, abivi
Nauta scholam fugiens, et dulcia carmina sprevi.

< I must not omit that " La Grande Jane," ye farrier's
wife, had an escu for setting my broken leg; the Potticary
10 sols, and 8 sols a payer of crotches, of which I was after-

1643 FRIENDSHIP WITH IIOBBES 5

wards cheated. Upon the remainder (my Eing trade being
understood and lost) I set up, with the remainder of 2 cakes
of Bees-wax sent mee in reliefe of my calamity, upon the
trade of playing cards, white starch, and hayre hatts, which
I exchanged for tobacco pipes and the shreds of Letter and
parchment, wherewith to size paper. By all which I gott
my expences, followed by Colledge, proceeded in Mathematics,
and cleer'd four pounds.' 5

After leaving the college at Caen, 6 he entered the Boyal
Navy, having obtained at Caen, according to his own account,
' the Latin, Greek, and French tongues ; the whole body of
common arithmetic, the practical geometry and astronomy ;
conducing to navigation, dialling, &c. ; with the knowledge of
several mathematical trades ; all which and having been at
the University of Caen, preferred me to the King's Navy,
where at the age of 20 years,' he says, ' I had gotten about
three-score pounds, with as much mathematics as any of my
age was known to have had.'

At the outbreak of the Civil War, feeling no taste for
military adventures, and probably sharing the hostility of
the West of England clothiers to the Cavaliers, he retired
to the Continent. Before his return, there had elapsed
three years spent by him almost entirely in France and
the Netherlands. He frequented the schools at Utrecht,
Leyden, and Amsterdam, and the School of Anatomy in
Paris. In that capital, with the help of some English
letters of introduction from Dr. Pell, the mathematician,
he made the acquaintance of Hobbes, like himself a refugee
from civil strife. The great philosopher at once recog-
nised his ability and admitted him to familiar intercourse.
Hobbes was at the moment engaged in the preparation
of a treatise on optics. Aubrey says ' that they read

5 July 14, 1686, to Sir E. South- in Lodge's Peerage, ' Caen ' is printed
well. ' Oxford.' The original of the will is

6 In several of the published copies in the Registry of the Probate Court,
of his will, e.g. in that contained in Dublin. There is a copy at the
the Petty Tracts, published by Boulter British Museum.

Grierson, Dublin, 1769, and reprinted

6 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, i

Vesalius together, 7 and that the younger student traced the
optical schemes for the elder, for he had a very fine hand in
those days for drawing, which draughts Mr. Hobbes did much
commend.' 8

Through Hobbes, Petty became acquainted in Paris with
several of the most brilliant of the English refugees, such
as the Marquis of Newcastle and Sir Charles Cavendish,
and also with Father Mar sin Mersen, the mathematician.
Mersen's house was the centre of a distinguished scientific
and literary circle, which his genial character held together,
notwithstanding the bickerings and quarrels which frequently
raged among the members. In that circle all the great ideas
were rife, which before the century was over, and notwithstand-
ing the recrudescence of theological strife, were to transform the
world in every department of human knowledge. The atmo-
sphere of the time throbbed with scientific disco very, and the
mental horizon of man seemed daily to grow wider. In the
history of France the period was one of special brilliancy. A
Cardinal more Statesman than Churchman ruled the country.
The rights of the Calvinists were secured by the privileges, as
yet unimpaired, which the Edict of Nantes had granted, and
a political alliance existed with Sweden, the greatest Protestant
military state of the Continent. Free inquiry in philosophy
and science, driven out, like Protestantism, from Spain and
Italy, had found a refuge north of the Alps, on an implied
understanding that no attack was to be made on the unity
of the State, and that the established religion was not to
be too openly criticised. It was the time of Gassendi and
Descartes in philosophy ; of Pascal and St. Cyran in theology ;
of St. Vincent de Paul in the sphere of practical philanthropy.
The French world of science had been deeply stirred by the
discoveries in astronomy, physics, and physiology, of Galileo,

7 Andreas Vesalius, a celebrated s Bodleian Letters, ii. 481. The
Dutch anatomist, 1514-1504. His De 'Tractatus Opticus ' was included in
Humana corporis Fabricd was pub- a collection of scientific tracts pub-
lished in 1543. A complete edition lished by Marsin Mersen under the
of his writings appeared at Leyden, title of CogitataPhysico-Mathcmatica
1725. in 1044.

1644-1646 CORRESPONDENCE WITH DR. PELL 7

Kepler, and Hervey. Hobbes himself was the rival and rather
petulant correspondent of Descartes on the origin of know-
ledge.

The following letters written at this time by William Petty
to Dr. Pell, who had fled to Amsterdam owing to the stress of
the times, may be read with interest. Pell is now chiefly
remembered for his controversy with the Danish mathe-
matician, Longomontanus, on the quadrature of the circle, a
subject which had also a fatal attraction for Hobbes : 9 —

' Sir, — Father Mersen, his desire to convey this inclosed
to you, serves me for a happie occasion to express my thank-
fulness for ye good of that acquaintance with Mr. Hobbes,
which your letters procured mee ; for by his meanes, my
Lord of Newcastle, and your good friend, Sir Charles Caven-
dish, have been pleased to take notice of mee ; and by his
meanes also, I became acquainted with Father Mersen, a man
who seems to mee not in any meane degree to esteem you
and your works ; and who wishes your studies may ever
succeede happily, hoping (as others doe) that ye world shall
receyve hope and benefitt by them. Sir, I desire you not to
conceive that any neglect or forgetfulness hath caused my
long silence, for ye often speech I have of you, either with
Sir Charles, Mr. Hobbes. and Father Mersen (besides the
courtesy I receyved from you), makes mee sufficiently to
remember you. But to speake ye truth, it was want of
business worthy to make ye subject of a letter of 16 d postage,
especially since Mr. Hobbes served you in procuring and
sending you ye demonstrations of our French mathematicians.
I could wish, with Sir Charles, that we could see your way of
Analy ticks abroad ; or, if a systeme of ye whole Art were too
much to hope for, for my owne part I could wish wee had
your " Deophantus," which was ready for ye press before my
departure from you. Those rules of Algebra (though few)
which you gave me, and exercise, have made mee able to doc
many pretty questions. I entend to reade no Author of that

" Pell's ' Letters and Papers,' Bibl. Birch, British Museum, 4278. Pint.

8 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, i

subject, untill I may be so happie to reade something of yours.
Sir, if there bee anything wherein I might serve you, I desire
you to use,

' Your thankfull freind and humble servant

'William Petty.

'Paris, regd. November 1645.'

To Br. Pell.

' S r , — On Sunday, noone, I received your letter of Friday,
together with 9 copies of your Eefutation of Longomontanus ;
ye which, according to your desire, I have distributed as
follow 7 eth : viz. To Golius, who upon perusall of it, said it was
a most solid refutation, thanking you very much, that you
remembered him with a copie ; and said withall that hee, at
his last beeing at Amsterdam, much endeavoured to have
wayted on you there. But he told mee that it is well 30
years since Longomontanus his doctrine, first saw light.
Since which tyme he hath by many letters beene advertised
of his errour ; but being strangely enamoured with his In-
vention, could not bee made to retract it, and so hath growne
extreme old in his dotage thereon, "Whereas," said Golius,
" it were scarce Religion to trouble ye obstinat old man any
more, since other thoughts w 7 ould better become his yeares
than ye mathematicks." I then went to Salmasius, Professor
Plonorarius, who likewise shewd many tokens of his kind
acceptance, and told mee among other discourse, whereof I
had much with him, that ye Age of ye Author of this false
opinion would sett an Authority on it, and therefore it had ye
more need of refutation. Waheus thanckes you very much,
expressing no faint desires to have ye honour (as hee said it),
ye honour of your acquaintance. Mons. de Laet will bee at
Amsterdam before my letter. I gave one to Monsr. de Laet,
but this morning; for at ye many other tymes that I had
formerly beene to wayte on him, I was not so happy as to
find him. Van Schooren also thancks you, but hee beeing
very old and indisposed, I had not much talke with him as I
had w T ith ye others. To Dr. Hyper beeing a man reasonably

1644-1646 CORRESPONDENCE AVITH DR. PELL 9

versed in those studies, and not of low esteeme here, I pre-
sented one. I have given 2 to Joncker Horghland, a Chymist
and Physician, Des Cartes his most intimate freind and corre-
spondent, who has promised at his next writing to send one
to Des Cartes. And so having retayned only one to shew my
freinds up and downe where I goe, I hope they are all dis-
posed of to your mind. If you please to send 12 more, I can
dispose them to some other professors, 3 or 4 I would send
for England to Mr. Oughtred, Mr. Barlow, and others ; if
you doe not yourselfe. I judge by the leaves that these copies
are part of some booke which you will shortly blesse ye w T orld
with, and hope that my Expectation shall not bee in vaine.
Now, Sir, I must thanke you for ye honour you have done
mee by using mee as an Instrument in this your business.
Truly I doe so well like ye employment and so ressent l this
your favour, That I confesse my selfe obliged to bee

' Your most affectionate freind and humble servant

'W. Petty.

'Leyden, \\ Aug st , 1644.'

' There are some in whom (as in him qui ex pede Her-
culem, &c.) this your Magnum Opusculum hath begotten such
an opinion of your meritt, that they resolve to go and live at
Amsterdam to receyve your instructions.

' Endorsed Monsieur Pell.

'In den oulde convoy tot

on de Zee dyck. Amsterdam.'

' S r , — According to your desire, I have presented your re-
futations to Drs. Spanheim and Herbordus, as also Dr.
Wybord, an Englishman and mathematician, with divers
others, who doe all accept them very gratefully. As for
sending Coppies into England, I shall bee able to doe it to
no more than Mr. Oughtred and Mr. Barlow : I thought I
could have sent to some others, by the helpe of some Gentle-
men my friends, who, having now come from y e Leagher,

1 In the sense of the French ressentir, to be conscious of.

10 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, i

tell me y* they know no certayne conveyances these trouble-
some tymes. The waytyng their comming home to know
what they could doe, hath occasioned my so long silence ;
which I pray you to excuse, and believe that I will attempt an
amends of it by all ye offices of an affectionate friend and
servant, which I am, Wn. Petty.

* Leyden, 8° Septemb r , LG44.
'Received /9 September >

/9 September \
V 30 Aug. /

' Endorsed, Mons. Jean Pell.

' In den ouden convoye a,

on de Zee dyck. Amsterdam.'

Friendship with Hobbes, Dr. Pell, and the other learned
refugees was, however, no remunerative investment, and
William Petty was at times reduced to great poverty. On one
occasion, according to Aubrey, he had to live for a week on
'three pennyworth of walnuts ; ' on another he seems to have
been arrested for debt. In spite, however, of his sufferings he
ultimately returned in 1646 to England with improved means,
having increased his 60/. to 70/., and paid the costs of his
younger brother Antony's education. His father was just
dead, and, according to Aubrey, ' left him little or no estate/ -
His elder brother had also died when quite young.

On his return he seems for a time to have followed his
father's business, and to have been occupied with mechanical
inventions to improve it. But he had other and larger ideas.
In 1647 he obtained a patent from the Commonwealth for
seventeen years for an instrument of his own invention, the
prototype of the manifold letter-writer of modern times." 5
The use of it, Eushworth says, ' might be learnt in an hour's
practice; and it was of great advantage to lawyers, scriveners,
merchants, scholars, registrars, clerks, &c. ; it saving the
labour of examination, discovering or preventing falsification,
and performing the whole business of writing, as with ease
and speed, so with privacy also.' 1 Petty announced his patent

2 Bodleian Letters, ii. 481. House of Lords' Papers, February 26,

3 Seventh Report of the Hist. MSS. 1048 ; Boyle's Works, v. 280.
Commissioners, p. 11 ; Calendar of the 4 Eushworth's Collections, ii. 1118.

1647 PAMPHLET ON EDUCATION 11

to the world in a pamphlet on education. 'There is invented,'
he said, ' an instrument of small bulk and price, easily made
and very durable, whereby any man, even at the first hand-
ling, may write two resembling copies of the same thing at
once, as serviceably and as fast as by the ordinary way.' 5 It
was at Hartlib's request in 1644 that Milton had published
his ' Tractate on Education,' and to Hartlib in the present
pamphlet Petty now dedicated his own views. He begins
by suggesting the establishment of ' Ergastula Literaria,' or
' Literary Workhouses,' in which children may be taught as
well to do something towards their living as to read and
write. To these institutions all children of seven years old
might be sent, none being excluded by reason of the poverty
or inability of their parents. Anticipating later reformers, he
proposed that ' the business of education be not, as now,
committed to the worst and unworthiest of men ; but that it
be seriously studied and practised by the best and ablest
persons ; and,' he goes on to suggest, ' that since few children
have need of reading before they know or can be acquainted
with the things they read of; or of writing, before their
thoughts are worth the recording, or they are able to put
them into any form . . . those things, being somewhat above
their capacity — as being to be obtained by judgment, which
is weakest in children — be deferred awhile, and others more
needful for them, such as are in the order of nature before
those above mentioned, and are attainable by the help of
memory — which is either most strong or unpreoccupied in
children — be studied before them.' ' "We wish, therefore,' he
says, 'that the educandi be taught to observe and remember
all sensible objects and actions, whether they be natural or
artificial, which the educators must on all occasions expound
unto them ... as it would be more profitable to boys to
spend ten or twelve years in the study of things than in a
rabble of words. . . There would not then be so many un-
worthy fustian preachers in divinity ; in the law so many

■' ' The advice of W. P. to Mr. Hartlib's name is well known to the
Samuel Hartlib for the advancement readers of Milton's prose works,
of some particular parts of learning.'

12 LIFE OF Sill WILLIAM PETTY cjiai\ i

pettyfoggers ; in physics so many quacksalvers, and in
country schools so many grammaticasters.' 6 Some such
plan he seems in subsequent years to have proposed to carry
out under the name of a Glottical College, but the cir-
cumstances of the time were adverse and the scheme was
abandoned. 7 He also wished for the establishment of a
' Gymnasium Mechanicum,' or ' College of Tradesmen,' to be
such that one at least of every trade (the prime most inge-
nious workman) might be elected a Fellow, and allowed therein
a handsome dwelling rent free. From such an institution the
projector conceived that all trades not only ' would miracu-
lously progress and new inventions be more frequent, but
that there would also be the best and most effectual opportu-
nities and means for writing a history of Trades in perfection
and exactnesse.' ' What experiments and stuffe,' he says,
' would all those shops and operations afford for active and
philosophical heads, out of which to extract wdiereof there is
so little and so bad, as yet extant in the world ! ' There was
also to be a ' Nosocomium Academicum,' or model hospital
for the benefit of the scientific practitioner, as well as of the
patient. The design concludes with the expression of a regret
that no ' Society of Men ' as yet exists ' as careful to advance
arts as the Jesuits are to propagate their religion,' and with
a suggestion of a work on the lines of Bacon's ' Advancement
of Learning,' which should be a treatise on ' Nature free,' or
on arts and manufactures relieved of restraint, in contrast
with a ' History of Nature vexed and disturbed,' or of trade
under the restraints of the then existing commercial system.

' I have put into your hands the design of the history of
trade,' Hartlib wrote to Robert Boyle; 'the author is one
Petty, twenty-four years of age, a perfect Frenchman, and a
good linguist in other vulgar languages, besides Latin and
Greek ; a most rare and exact anatomist and excelling in all
mathematical and mechanical learning ; of a sweet natural
disposition and moral comportment. As for solid judgment
and industry, altogether masculine.' 8 Boyle gave him a

6 The pamphlet is reprinted in the 7 Evelyn's Memoirs, in. 131, 132.

Harleian Miscellany, vol. vi. y Boyle's Works, v. 250-290.

1648-1649 JOHN PETTY 13

cordial reception, and Petty dedicated the copying machine,
or ' Instrumentum Pettii,' as it was termed, to him.

In 1648 he entered into an agreement with John Holland
of Deptford, as a partner for three years. Holland was to find
the money and Petty the brains. The partnership was to be
confined, at least in the first instance, to the development of
'such adventures as Petty had perfected and knew the correct-
ness of, for public good and private advantage,' more particu-
larly the double writing instrument, a machine for printing-
several columns at once, a scheme for making a great bridge
without any support on the river over which it stands, and
other undertakings of the same kind. But there is no record
of what the partnership effected.

In October 1649, Antony Petty, who shared the me-
chanical genius of his brother and w r as evidently a congenial
spirit, died. 9 The following letter from William Petty to his
cousin John, written at the time, shows the difficulties he
had to contend with and his desire to assist his family : —

To John Petty.

1 It hath been alwayes my desire and endeavour to help
my friends, but it pleased God so to order my fortunes and
successes, that as yet I have beene never able to doe much for
any of them, how neer so ever they were unto mee, and how
great so ever their need was. That " little helpe " which I have
clone to some of them, I did but by little and little, and with
as little hindrance as I possibly could to myselfe, because,
God knows, a little hindrance would have made me unable to
helpe either myselfe or them any more.

' My poor brother being departed this life and consequently
needing no more of my helpe, I have thought good to pro-
pound unto you those considerations, w 7 hich I have had long
in my mind, and wishes of bettering, for a little at leastwise,
that uncomfortable condition wherein you live. Now, as I
said before, and as I protest before God, the truth is, beeing

!l Antony Petty was buried in Loth- The letter given below is among the
bury Church on October 18, 1G49. Petty MSS.

14 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, i

not able to doe it, either by giving or lending you much money,
the way whereby I must doe it is this.

' I intend, God willing, so soone as possibly I can, to take
the degree of D r . of Physicke, which being done, it will bee a
discredit for mee and consequently a great hindrance to mee,
to goe and buy small matters, and to doe other triviall busi-
nesses, which I have many times to doe, and being not able
to keepe a servant, and withall not having one fifth part of
employment enough for a servant, and lastly much of that
little business I have being such as I would not acquaint
every one with. And now Anthony, who assisted mee in these
things, beeing dead, and lastly because I may now again e
undertake some of these things, as chymistry and anatomy,
whereby 1 lett him gett somewhat for himselfe, and moreover
hearing you much desire to bee about London, I have thought
fitt to know whether your desires continue the same. If they
doe, these are the helpes which I am in hopes of doing
you.

1 You shall find such clothes of mine and Anthonye's as I
can spare. I will hire you a convenient place to sett up a
Tape loome, with a place to sett a still or two in, to do such
things as I shall direct you, which you may looke to, while
you worke in your loome.

' I will doe my endeavours to bring you acquainted with
such as may perfect you in the trade of Tape-weaving.

' I will lend you 40/. towards your loome and other materials
for that worke.

' If you make good wages and have employment enough
about Tape-weaving, I will not take you off from it to doe any
thing for mee, unlesse it bee for some greater benefitt.

' If you want worke sometimes, you shall make a Sceleton
for mee, and worke upon some experiments relating to my in-
ventions, for which you shall have 12 d . per day, whether I
gett anything by them or no.

' If I undertake anything in Chymistry or Anatomy, where-
upon I shall need your assistance, if your assisting mee there-
in will bee more profit or pleasure to you than your other
worke, you shall have the employment ; otherwise not.

1649 JOHN PETTY 15

' If any invencion which I set you aboute, take effect, you
shall have a share in the benefitt arising from it.

' If you come to my lodging at mornings, evenings, or any
other times of your best leisure, and doe for me such small
things as I have to doe either every day or but once in 2 or 3
dayes, as your, my affaires, doe fall out, you shall not loose
your labour.

' In brief e, all the end that I have in you for myselfe, is to
have a friend whom I may trust and who is handy, neere about
mee. If by God's providence you can find out any way
whereby you may advance yourselfe better than by having any
dealing with mee, I shall promote you therein, and bee heartily
glad of the occasion.

' If you please to come upon these tearmes (which in good
faith are best, and the best hopes I am able to give you) let
mee know it. If I prosper in my wayes, you shall feel it. I
onely desire that you would bee cordiall and true to mee,
without labouring to circumvent mee, and I shall be as willing
to doe for you as you are for yourselfe.

' You were best to bring you a bed and such things else
with you as may bee of use to you here.'

Although the copying-machine had only secured a doubt-
ful success, it made Hartlib and his friends look to the
inventor to show himself to the world ' by some rare piece
or other ; ' l and, together with the publication of his
' Thoughts on Education,' it greatly extended Petty's ac-
quaintance among the leading scientific and literary men of
the time in England. In 1646, with Hartlib and Boyle, he
became a member of the ' London Philosophical Society.'-'
This club had been inaugurated in the previous year by Theo-
dore Haak, a German from the Palatinate, and comprised
amongst the members the already well-know r n names of Dr.
Wallis and Dr. Wilkins. In 1649 Petty resolved to follow
their example, and remove to Oxford, 2 where Wilkins had
just been appointed Warden of Wadham.

The city had surrendered to the Parliamentary army on
June 24, 1641), and the University was soon after reorganised

1 Boyle's Works, v. 2G4. 2 Birch, Life of Boyle, p. 83.

16 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, i

under the auspices of the Parliamentary visitors. On March 7,
1649, William Petty became a Doctor in Physic. On June 25
he also entered himself at the College of Physicians in London,
after the charge whereof he says : * I had left about 60/.' 3

The situation at Oxford was a strained one. Fortunately
for himself, Dr. Petty could not be claimed as an adherent
by any of the rival schools of politics and religion which were
then disputing the country. In religion his views were of a
broad and liberal character. In politics he had been greatly
influenced by Hobbes, who at the time was engaged on the
preparation of ' The Leviathan ' and the smaller work on the
theory of government known as the ' De Cive.". One of the
principal doctrines of these works, which Hobbes had doubt-
less instilled into the mind of his pupil, was that in order to
preserve social order and civil freedom, which are the main
objects of government and the first duty of the citizen, and
to prevent the rise of an imjierium in imjwio, the State must
not be afraid to assume the right, if necessary, of controlling
religion, and must be prepared to resist the pretensions of the
clergy — whether Catholic, Anglican, or Presbyterian — to in-
terfere in matters of State and lay hands on the Government.
It was in this sense that Hobbes accepted the doctrine of the
Divine Plight of Kings, or rather of Civil Governments, as the
only effectual safeguard against the pretensions of the Roman
Church and of authors such as Bellarmine and Suarez. Hobbes,
in consequence of the promulgation of these views, had to fly
from Paris in 1651 ; for, however welcome in the abstract his
schemes might be to the statesmen of the school of Richelieu
and Mazarin, in practice the attack in ' The Leviathan ' on the
Papal system and on clerical pretensions generally went beyond
what the French Government, tolerant as it then was in such
matters, could safely allow. But the proposals of the * De Cive '
were also offensive to the small ring of English courtiers and
churchmen surrounding the exiled King, with which, up to that
time, the author had had very intimate relations, having him-
self been mathematical teacher to Charles. 4 Hobbes therefore

3 Reflections, p. 17. 1(>42, and published in 1047 at the

4 The De Cive was first printed in Elzevir Press at Amsterdam. The

1650 LIFE AT OXFORD 17

thought fit to make his submission to the Government of the
Commonwealth, recognising in the rising authority of Cromwell
the hand of a real ruler who could prevent the country
being torn to pieces by fanatics, whether Eoman Catholic,
Anglican, or Presbyterian, and it can hardly be doubted that
his conduct had a powerful influence in determining the course
of Dr. Petty.

' Sir,' Cromwell had said in 1644, in a letter to Major-
General Crawfurd, one of the Presbyterian commanders of the
Scotch army under the Lesleys in the North, ' the State, in
choosing men to serve it, takes no notice of their opinions.
If they be willing faithfully to serve it, that satisfies.' 5 As
time went on this conclusion seems to have become more and
more impressed upon his mind. England, indeed, was still
to be the kingdom of God ; but the boundaries of God's king-
dom were to be extended, and as many citizens as possible
were to be allowed to live in peace within the precincts, so
long as they did not engage in overt hostility to the Common-
wealth and to the established civil and political order — condi-
tions which in any case for the time being effectually excluded
Eoman Catholics and most of the Anglican churchmen from
place and power.

Cromwell, though his own University connection was with
Cambridge, had in 1651 been elected Chancellor of the Uni-
versity of Oxford. He steadily protected the two great seats
of learning from the attacks of the fanatical party, especially
during the brief existence of the assembly known as Barebone's
Parliament, from July to December 1653, when the prospect
for the Universities was serious. He had appointed two of
his chaplains, John Owen and Thomas Goodwin, both men of
learning and ability, to positions of imjjortance, and it is
probable that through them the name of Dr. Petty may have

English translation appeared in 1651 note. On the juridical origin of the

at the same time as the larger work, doctrine of the so-called Divine Eight

The Leviathan. On the views gene- of Kings, see Maine, Ancient Law,

rally of Hobbes, and that he was in no p. 346.

sense the mere apologist of tyranny or 5 Carlyle's Cromwell, i. 201-220, ed.

absolute monarchy, seethe remarks of 1846.

John Austin, Jurisprudence, i. 249,

18 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, t

become known to him, especially as Dr. Petty, being a person
of detached political opinions, belonged precisely to the class
of men able to serve, for whom the Protector was looking in
the peculiar circumstances of the hour.

Petty had powerful friends in two leading adherents of the
Protector in London : Captain John Graunt, who had served
with distinction in the war, and was the reputed author
of some ' Observations on the Bills of Mortality/ and Mr.
Edmund TVylde, a member of Parliament, ' a great fautor of
ingenious men for merit's sake,' 6 and also in Colonel Kelsey,
the commander of the Oxford garrison. Thus it came about
that he was created a fellow of Brasenose by virtue of a
dispensation from the delegates of the University : according
to Wood's account, ' because they had received sufficient
testimony of his rare qualities and gifts from Colonel Kelsey ; '
according to Thomas Hearne, because ' he had cut upp Dogges
and taught anatomy in the war,' and because the visitors,
whom Hearne detested, liked ' to put out loyal persons in order
to put him and such others in.' 7 He was also appointed Deputy
to the University Professor of Anatomy, Dr. Clayton. The
Professor himself, oddly enough, had such an insurmountable
aversion to the sight of a mangled corpse, that he eagerly
availed himself of his substitute's ability as an operator.
< Anatomy,' says Aubrey, 'was then little understood by the
University, and I recollect that Dr. Petty kept a body that he
brought by water from Beading, a good while to read on, some
way preserved or pickled.' s

In 1050 an event occurred which made his name known
in the whole country and opened up the way to a larger
career. One Ann Green had been tried, convicted, and exe-
cuted at Oxford on December 14, 1051, for the murder of her
illegitimate child. Her execution seems to have been carried
out with a combination of clumsiness and brutality charac-

r > Bodleian Letters, ii. 483. moteel to several places of trust by

7 \Yoo(VxFasti Oxon.u.lo('). Hearne's Cromwell. An entry of September 12,

Diary, Oxford edition, edited by W.C.E. 1650, in the college books, records Dr.

Doble, i. 78. Wood says that Colonel Petty's election as a fellow of Brase-

Kelsey had been ' a godly button-maker ' nose.

in London. He was afterwards pro- s Bodleian Letters, ii. 483.

1651 CASE OF ANN GKEEX 19

teristic of the times. It was observed ' by the spectators that
she seemed to take an unconscionable time in dying, so her
friends went to assist her in getting out of this world, some of
them thumping her on the breast, others hanging with all
their weight upon her legs, sometimes lifting her up and then
pulling her down again with a sudden jerk.' At length the
Sheriff w r as satisfied, and the unfortunate woman was certified
to be dead. The body was then cut down, put into a coffin,
and taken to the dissecting room. When, however, the coffin
lid was opened she was seen to be still breathing and to
' rattle,' ' which being observed by a lusty fellow who stood by,
he, thinking to do an act of charity in ridding her out of
the reliques of a painful life, stamped several times on her
breast and stomach with all the force he could.' Just at this
moment, however, Dr. Petty and Dr. Wilkins appeared on the
scene, and recognising distinct signs of life, decided to attempt
to revive the supposed corpse. They wrenched open Ann
Green's teeth, poured cordials down her throat, and persuaded
a woman to go to bed with her to restore warmth. Signs of
life soon began to appear ; the doctors bled her, ordered her
a julep, and so left her for the night. In two hours she began
to talk. The dead had come to life. 9 Though legally defunct,
she is said to have survived to marry and become the mother
of children, in spite of the Sheriff and to the confusion of
the hangman.

Soon after this exploit Dr. Petty was made Vice-Principal
of Brasenose, and succeeded Dr. Clayton in the Chair of
Anatomy, the duties of which he had practically been for some
time performing, 'upon Dr. Clayton renouncing his interest
therein purposely to serve him.' He delivered his inaugural lec-
tures on March 4, 1651, in Latin, as the custom then was. He
took for his subject the growth and present position of the
science of medicine, a large subject, as the Professor started
by acknowledging. ' Ego equidem optarem,' he went on, ' ut

9 See News from the Dead : or a Oxford 1G51, reprinted in the Phcenix
true and exact narration of the mira- Britannicus, i. 233 ; Evelyn Memoirs,
culous deliverance of Ann Greene, ii. 401 ; Bodleian Letters, ii. 483.

c 2

20 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, i

omnia qua habeam in scientiis laudabilia, qure puto quam
sint exigua, in unum quasi pilulam condensare et coaptare
possem, quam vobis lubens afferrem, ut nonmagis honorificam
de meipso sententiam extorqueam, quam ut vobis, quantum
potero, prodessem.' l

He had now saved about 500?. 2 From 1648 to 1651 he
continued to reside at Oxford, occasionally visiting London ;
and, through the interest of Captain John Graunt, he received
the appointment of Professor of ' Music ' at Gresham College,
which at that time had not yet become the caput mortuum
into which it has since degenerated. 3

' At Oxford,' says Aubrey, ' he was beloved of all ingenious
scholars,' his especial allies, besides Dr. "Wilkin s, Dr. Wallis,
and Boyle, being Seth Ward, celebrated afterwards as the
energetic but rather peculiar Bishop of Salisbury ; Antony
Wood, President of Trinity College; Dr. Bathurst, Dr.
Goddard, and Mr. Christopher Wren — men of varied tastes
and still more various opinions, whom the love of science and
original research brought together. 4

In these stormy times they used, for the convenience of
inspecting drugs, to meet at Dr. Petty's lodgings at an
apothecary's house, as he was acknowledged to bear away the
palm from all competitors in the experimental side of natural
philosophy; and also in those of Dr. "Wilkins of WadhanV
which was ' then the place of resort of virtuous and learned
men.' ' The University,' says the earliest historian of the
Pioyal Society, ' had at that time many members of its own,
who had begun a free way of reasoning; and was also
frequented by some gentlemen of philosophical minds, whom

1 Notes of the Lecture, Petty MSS.; pp. 53. In his will Sir William
Wood, iv. 215. Petty, alluding to this period of his

2 Reflections, p. 17. life, speaks of his connection with

3 See Ward, Lives of the Professors clubs of the ' Virtuosi.' This, in the
of Gresham College, 1740 ; p. 218, printed copies, has been transformed
article ' Petty.' into ' virtuous,' and W. L. Bevan

4 Sprat, History of the Royal observes that the author of the article
Society, p. 55. ' Petty,' in Ersch and Grueber's En-

3 Birch, History of the Royal cyclopedia, founds on it a statement
Society, i. 2; Life of Boyle, p. 84; that Petty took an active part in the
Sprat, History of the Royal Society, religious movements of the time.

1651 UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR OF ANATOMY 21

the misfortunes of the kingdom and the security and ease of
a retirement amongst gownsmen had drawn thither. Their
first purpose was no more than only the satisfaction of
breathing a freer air, and of conversing in quiet with one
another ; without being engaged in the passions and madness
of that dismal age. . . . For such a candid and unimpas-
sionate company as that was, and for such a glorious season,
what could have been a fitter subject to pitch upon than
natural philosophy ? To have been always tossing about
some theological question would have been to have made
that their private diversion, the excess of which they them-
selves disliked in the public. To have been eternally musing
on civil business and the distresses of the country was too
melancholy a reflection : it was nature alone which could
pleasantly entertain them in that estate.' 6

In the spring of 1651, Dr. Petty obtained leave of ab-
sence from the college for two years, with an annual stipend
of 30/. continued to him. His exact occupation in the months
that succeeded is doubtful. He was probably engaged in
travel, but whatever his ultimate intentions may have been,
they were suddenly diverted into an unexpected channel,
for, at the end of the year, he received the appointment of
Physician-General to the army in Ireland, and to General
Ireton, the Commander-in-Chief. He landed at Waterford
on September 10, 1652, but found Ireton dead from the
effect of fever and sickness, contracted at the siege of Lime-
rick. He, however, received the same appointment from
Ireton' s successors, General Lambert and General Fleetwood,
at a salary of 365/., and 35/. out of 'the State's apotheca,'
and without being debarred from private practice. 7

Boyle had preceded him across the Channel. He was
the owner of an estate which required attention. Ireland
he found ' to be a barbarous country, where chemical spirits
were so misunderstood and chemical instruments so unpro-
curable, that it was hard to have any Hermetic thoughts in
it.' The arrival of Dr. Petty was consequently very welcome

6 Sprat, History of the Royal " Will of Sir William Petty. See

Society, pp. 55-5G. Appendix.

22 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FETTY chap, i

to him, and he describes how in the course of experiments
in anatomy, which they at this time carried out together, ' he
had satisfied himself of the circulation of the blood, and the
freshly discovered rcceptaculum chyli, made by the influence of
the venae lactese ; and had seen, especially in the dissection of
fishes, more of the variety of the contrivances of Nature and
the majesty and wisdom of her author, than all the books he
ever read in his life could give him convincing notions of.' H

Dr. Petty had not been long at his official post before,
to quote his own words, he observed ' the vast and needless
expense of medicaments, and how the Apothecary-General of
the army, with his three assistants, did not spend their time
to the best advantage : and forthwith to the content of all
persons concerned, with the State's bare disbursement of 120/.,
he did save them 500/. per annum of their former charge ;
and furnished the army, hospitals, garrisons and headquarters,
with medicaments, without the least noise or trouble, reducing
that affair,' as he claimed, ' to a state of easiness and plainness
which before was held a mystery, and the vexation of such
as laboured to administer it well.'

A more important task, however, than the reorganisa-
tion of the medical service of the army was before him, and
one which determined the future course of his life.

The Civil War was over, and Ireland lay prostrate under
the heel of the conquerors. ' It was hoped that it would be
possible to regulate, replant, and reduce the country to its
former flourishing condition ; ' ° and the Lord Deputy
Fleetwood resolved to call on Dr. Petty to bring his scientific
attainments and organising powers to aid in the vast under-
taking.

v Boyle's Works, v. 242. ! ' Dozen Survey, ch. i. pp. 1-3.

23

CHAPTEE II

THE DOWN SURVEY OF IRELAND
1652-1658

Condition of Ireland in 1652— The forfeited estates— The Grosse Survey —
Vincent Gookin — The transplantation into Connaught — Massacre of the
Waldenses- The Civil Survey— Dr. Petty 's proposals— The Down Survey
— The Map of Ireland— Letter to Boyle -Dr. Petty's method of work —
The Army Survey commenced— Disputes with the army— The Army
Survey finished — Distribution of the army lands — The ' Adventurers' '
Survey— Opinion of Clarendon— The Survey maps.

The actual fighting in Ireland had terminated with the fall of
Limerick and Galway ; and when Dr. Petty arrived in 1652,
the population which had escaped the sword, or had not
lied the country, was anxiously awaiting the decree of the con-
querors.

Acting, it has been said, on the suggestions of Harring-
ton, the author of ' Oceana,' and probably influenced by
the example of the extirpation of the princes and kings of
Canaan by the chosen people of God, and by the success
of the plantation of Ulster in the reign of James I., the
Government of the Commonwealth had resolved on a vast
scheme for colonising the country with new settlers, in order
thereby to secure the English connection, as it was thought
for ever.

Before the actual commencement of hostilities between the
King and the Parliament, 2,500,000 acres of Irish land had
been pledged, in 1642, to those who should ' adventure ' the
money necessary in order to raise an army to put down the
rebellion of the native Eoman Catholic population. One of
the last acts in which Charles concurred with his Parliament
was in giving the Pioyal assent, however unwillingly, to this

24 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, ii

measure, which in the clauses relating to finance and those
limiting the exercise of the royal prerogative of pardon,
bore the impress of the suspicions of the Parliamentary
leaders, that the sympathies of the King were as much with
the Irish rebels, in whom he saw possible allies, as with his
own army, in whom he recognised probable foes. The force
so raised, however, never crossed St. George's Channel at all,
for the funds, having found their way into the Parliamentary
treasury, were used for equipping the armies of Essex and
Manchester, which fought at Edgehill and Newbury. Sub-
sequently fresh advances were made ; and owing to the ever-
increasing necessities of the Commonwealth, the adventurers,
under the ' doubling ordinance,' became entitled to receive
double the original allotment for an increase of one-fourth in
the amount advanced. 1

When Ireland was finally conquered, it was by a portion of
the New Model Army of Cromwell and Fairfax, aided by some
Royalist regiments which, after the second flight of the
Marquis of Ormonde, took service with the Commonwealth
against the native rebellion. The arrears of pay to all these
regiments formed a second category of the obligations of the
Government, and it was proposed to satisfy them out of Irish
lands at ' adventurers' rates.' The debt due to the latter was
300,000/. ; that due to the army was put at 1,550,000/. A
third category of creditors consisted of a number of persons
who had advanced money on various occasions to help the
necessities of the Commonwealth, or to whom money was
owing for salaries and otherwise.

The whole matter had been dealt with by an Act passed
on August 12, 1652, and by two Orders of Council of June 1
and June 22, and a set of further instructions of July 2, 1653 ;
all ultimately recited and incorporated in an Act of Parlia-
ment, passed on September 26, in the so-called ' Little
Parliament.' 2 The Church and Crown lands were thereby

1 See Scobell's Ordinances, pp. 21, - The Acts of Parliament referred

26-37. See also Commons' Journals, to are to be found in Scobell's Ordi-
ii. 420-425 ; Lords' Journals, iv. 593- nances, 1650-1053, pp. 196, 240.

mi.

1652 CONDITION OF IRELAND IN 1652 25

appropriated to the use of the Commonwealth, and also the
estates of all proprietors who, having lived in Ireland during
the recent troubles, could not prove that they had shown
' constant good affection.' This meant in practice the confis-
cation of the estates of all the heads of the ancient Eoman
Catholic native population, and of most of the old Anglo-Irish
nobility, some Eoman Catholics, some Anglican Churchmen,
but all more or less involved in resistance to the Common-
wealth, with but few exceptions. They were bidden to migrate
across the Shannon into Connaught, unless they preferred
to go abroad, which by a liberal system of subsidies they
were encouraged to do. Dr. Petty calculated that 34,000 of
the best fighting population — the chiefs and the ' swordsmen '
— had accepted the alternative and had fled the country :

' Amazement in the van with flight combined,
And Sorrow's faded form and Solitude behind.'

The Presbyterians in Ulster and the English merchants in
the walled towns, who mostly belonged to that religious connec-
tion, fared little better than the Eoman Catholic landowners.
They were indeed the ancient enemies of prelacy, but their
sympathies were known to have been with the Scotch army,
which the Independents had recently defeated at Dunbar and
destroyed at Worcester. They were, therefore, ordered to
make way in favour of the victors. Thus the whole of the
upper and middle classes of Ireland were crushed in a com-
mon ruin. So entirely had the original inhabitants, except
the poorest, been driven out of Dublin, that it was next to
impossible to find a Eoman Catholic physician or even a
Eoman Catholic midwife, and Dr. Petty with other medical
men was ordered ' to consider of the evil and propose a
remedy.' 3

With a view to the distribution of the forfeited lands to
the creditors of the State, a survey and measurement was con-
templated by the Act. The debt due to the ' adventurers '
was primarily charged on the forfeited lands in the moieties

3 Prendergast, p. 139 ; Thurloe, v. 508.

26 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap. 11

of ten counties, which were to be divided equally by them
with the soldiers, as it was considered that peaceable posses-
sion would be thereby secured to the civilian owners, viz. :
Waterford, Limerick, Tipperary, Meath, West Meath, King's
County, Queen's County, Antrim, Down, Armagh, and on the
whole county of Louth as an additional security. The arrears
of the soldiers were charged on the forfeited lands in the
remaining halves of the above counties, and in the counties
of Deny, Tyrone, Fermanagh, Cavan, Monaghan, Wexford,
Kilkenny, and Kerry.

The Government reserved to themselves all the walled
towns, all the Crown and Church lands, the tithes, and the
forfeited lands in the four counties of Dublin, Kildare, Carlow,
and Cork for distribution among distinguished supporters of
the Parliamentary cause, and to satisfy public debts. The
adventurers were to be satisfied next, and then the army. Of the
adventurers' debt, 11,000/. was charged on Minister, 205,000/.
on Leinster, and 45,000/. on Ulster ; and it was settled that
on July 20, 1G5 : 3, a lottery was to be held in Grocers' Hall,
London, the lots to decide first in which province each
adventurer was to have his allotment, and then in which of
the ten counties it was to fall. The lots were not to exceed,
in Westmeath, 70,000/. ; in Tipperary, G0,000/. ; in Meath,
55,000/.; in King's and Queen's Counties, 40,000/. each; in
Limerick, 30,000/.; in Waterford, 20,000/.; in Antrim, Down,
and Armagh, 15,000/. each.

Connaught had originally been reserved in its entirety for
the Irish owners, but subsequently Sligo and part of Mayo
and Leitrim were taken away from the Irish and allotted to a
part of the army which had fought in England in the recent
campaign, and was still unpaid. When these transactions were
concluded, the proportion of land forfeited in Connaught was
found to exceed that in the remaining provinces of Ireland. 1
Donegal, Leitrim, Longford, and Wicklow were given to the
garrisons of the Minister cities, which, before 1049, had served
the King, and, after the defeat and the departure of the Marquis
of Ormonde, had passed from the Royal to the Parliamentary

1 Hardinge, p. 34.

16.32 THE FORFEITED ESTATES 27

cause. Certain special reservations were also made in Dublin
and Cork for maimed soldiers and the widows of those who
had perished in the war ; and well-affected Protestants and
English owners, who might wish to leave Connaught in con-
sequence of the Irish transplantation, were offered the oppor-
tunity of receiving lands of equal value on the left bank
of the Shannon.

Such was the general scheme in outline, but large powers
of adjusting details were left to the Irish Council of State,
which was entrusted with the execution of the Act. The
formation of an Army Commission, to distribute the lands to
the soldiers when the survey was finished, was provided for
by the Act.

It was one thing, however, to make a general arrangement
of this kind, it was another and far more difficult task to
carry it out. A survey and map was the first thing needed,
but surveying was an infant art, and nothing of the kind
existed, except in Tipperary and in some parts of Connaught,
where, during the reign of Charles I., Strafford had instituted
and partly carried out a survey.

There were said to be 85,000 claimants of land in all, and
the Act settled nothing, except that 1,000 Irish acres, equal
to 1,600 English measure, in the counties situate in Leinster
were to represent G00/., in the counties situate in Minister
450/., and in those situate in Ulster 300/. of debt ; the Act
rates being 12s. per Irish acre in Leinster, 8s. in Minister,
and 4s. in Ulster, the latter being considered the poorest of
the three provinces.

In the period between the end of the war and the year
1G53, rough lists of the proscribed had been drawn up, and
courts had been held to determine who could clear themselves
of the charge of conspiracy in the late rebellion, and prove
constant good affection. But a large category of ' dubious
lands,' as they were called, still remained, which awaited a
further and final inquiry, and these both the army and the
adventurers were now clamorously demanding should at once
be assigned to them. The army also confidently expected
that if the adventurers were satisfied first, a large surplus

28 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, ii

would remain, which they could in that case claim for
themselves, and their eyes specially turned to the rich
lands of the County Louth, part of which they hoped would
ultimately fall to their share. Meanwhile, like the adventurers,
the army proceeded to draw a first ' lot,' in order to decide in
which province each regiment was to receive their share of the
' satisfaction.'

The amount of army arrears being ascertained and the
amount of acres they represented, partial attempts had been
made in 1653 to distribute lands amongst some of the regi-
ments, 5 but an accurate method for identifying each lot drawn
with any particular parcel of land on the spot was wanting.
Quartermaster-General Goulding, for example, might have a
debt of 232/. 14s. 9'/., which, calculated at the army rates in
Connaught, was worth in the County of Sligo 465 a. 1 r. 24 p. ;
but how was Quartermaster-General Goulding to know where
his particular 465 a. 1 r. 24 p. exactly lay, and prove his title
against all comers to enter on those lands and no others, and
keep them on a secure title ; and how was he, on the other
hand, to prove that he had not obtained a great deal more
than he was entitled to by force and impudence, or by fraudu-
lent or incompetent measurements ?

Owing largely to the weakness of Fleetwood, the violence
of the officers of the army in Ireland, stimulated by personal
greed and cloaked by religious pretensions, had reached such
a point by the end of 1653, that the Protector determined on
a complete change of administration, and sent over Henry
Cromwell on a mission of inquiry, intending that he should
ultimately replace Fleetwood, who was under the iniiuence of
the military and fanatical party. It was also determined to
institute a general scheme of survey and apportionment as
the Act directed. The first plan set on foot was to make
what was termed a ' Grosse Survey,' or list of forfeited lands
in each barony, with brief descriptive notes. Maps were
directed to accompany this survey, and some undoubtedly
were made. But the work, which was commenced in
August 1653, proceeded very slowly, and when the results

5 See Prenclergast, p. 86. " Hardinge, p. 11.

1053 THE GROSSE SURVEY 29

began to be seen, was at once attacked, by some for want of
accuracy, by others for the interminable time which it seemed
likely to occupy before completion ; and it was also generally
criticised for the manner in which it appeared to be carried
out for the benefit of powerful individuals.

The Surveyor-General, Benjamin Worsley, had arrived in
Ireland at the same time as Dr. Petty. He also was a member
of the medical profession, but what were his qualifications as
a surveyor does not precisely appear. Dr. Petty described
him as one who 'having been frustrated as to his many
severall great designs in England hoped to improve and
repaire himselfe upon a less knowing and more credulous
people. To this purpose he exchanged some dangerous
opinions in religion for others more merchantable in Ire-
land, and carried also some magnifying glasses,' by means of
which Dr. Petty, who seems to have underrated his abilities, 7
says he impressed an ignorant public with a vast idea of his
scientific attainments. He was a dealer in schemes for n
universal medicine, for making gold, sowing saltpetre, esta-
blishing a universal trade, taking great farms, and other
visionary plans, all of which excited the wrath of the practical
and scientific mind of Dr. Petty, who described them as
' mountain-bellied conceptions.' 8

The scheme of survey attempted by him, so far as it was
carried out, w T as to make a survey of forfeited lands only,
without any reference to the civil territorial limits ; and
barren land was to be excepted from it, unless included by
situation within the area of profitable land.

The payment was to be in proportion to the area surveyed,
at the rate of 40s. per 1,000 acres of land, whether profitable
or unprofitable. Dr. Petty at once perceived the defects which
lay on the face of Worsley's plan. The rate of payment, in Dr.
Petty's opinion, was excessive. There was also no check on the
returns of the surveyors, and it was open to question whether
the instructions to them complied in several respects with the

7 See Sir Thomas Larcom's opinion, mentioned by Boyle in a letter printed
Down Survey, p. 320, note. in his works, vol. v. p. 232, where the

8 Reflections, p. 107. Worsley is saltpetre experiment is alluded to.

30 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, tt

Act of Parliament on which they were founded. The men
employed, Dr. Petty said, were not 'skilled artists' at all, but
mostly, as he thought, ' conceited and sciolous persons/ at
whose proceedings AVorsley, whether from pride or ignorance,
or actuated by worse motives, winked, with the approbation,
as Dr. Petty believed, of his influential and highly-placed
patrons.

Dr. Petty, in fact, suspected the Surveyor General of being
as inefficient in his profession as the recently discomfited
Apothecary-General had been proved to be in his purchase
of drugs, and he expressed his opinion, as to these c mis-
carriages,' to "Worsley himself, and proceeded to ' admonish
him,' recommending him ' skilled artists ' for his work.
Worsley did not relish his advice, and preferred that of his
own nominees — persons whom Dr. Petty termed 'mere bulks
and outsides.' The quarrel deepened, and Dr. Petty came
to the conclusion that Worsley was dishonest as well as
ignorant.

The first great disbandment of the army took place
in 1G53, and some distributions were actually made in
1G54 to those who were most clamorous. These Dr. Petty
impugned at once, believing that the public was being
robbed ; and he proceeded, as he says, to attempt to per-
suade ' several sober and judicious persons in the businesse,
that the way of Survey the State was upon was a mistake.' •'
He found a willing listener in Henry Cromwell, who, from
the time of his first arrival in Dublin on his mission of
inquiry, had become the object of the attacks and misrepre-

" ' The first survey or old measure- the barrony of 8,000 acres. Besides

merit was performed by measuring whereas 40 sh. were given for mea-

whole baronyes in one surround, or suring 1,000 acres, in that way, 5 sh.

perimeter, and paying for the same was too much— that is to say, at 5 sh.

after the rate of 40 sh. for every thou- per 1,000, a surveyor might have

sand acres contained within such sur- earned above 20 sh. per diem cleare

round ; whereby it followed that the whereas 10 sh. is esteemed, specially

surveyors were most unequally re- in long employments, a competent

warded for the same work, viz. he allowance.' — ' Brief Account,' p. xiii.

that measured the barrony of 100,000 Down Survey, ch. ii. p. 3. Henry

acres did gaine neare five times as Cromwell to Oliver Cromwell, October

much per diem as he that measured 9,10o5,Thurloe, vi.74. Ludlow, i. 300.

1053 VINCENT GOOKIN 31

sentations of the powerful Anabaptist faction with which the
Protector was at this moment wrestling in England. Henry
Cromwell, unable to conceal his disgust at high pretences
of religion combined with an almost unlimited rapacity in
the affairs of this world, resolved, after trying to stave off a
quarrel as long as possible, to risk a formal rupture. 1 ' Men,'
he wrote to Secretary Thurloe, 'have taken that from the
State for which they paid 20/. p. a. rent, and have im-
mediately let it out again for 150/. per a. ; and, Sir, this is to
be made good in above 40 particular instances ; and 'tis
feared that all your lande in Ireland is let at this rate. I
know three men that took 18,000 acres of the Common-
wealth's land in the County Meath for G00/. p. a., and let it
out again for 1,800/. Sir, and these were Commissioners
instructed with letting your landes. Another let to himself
being a Commissioner, for 400/. p.a., and the State to bear
the contribution, that which was at the same time let by the
State for 800/., the country being at the same time as well
stocked and planted as it is now.' 2

Other difficulties involving a different set of considerations
were also arising. The transplantation of the native Irish
into Connaught had not been adopted without considerable
doubts in many quarters, both in England and in Ireland, as
to the soundness of the policy. Vincent Gookin, member for
Kinsale and a Privy Councillor, was the mouthpiece of the
opposition. He was the son of Sir Vincent Gookin, in former
years a constant opponent and unsparing critic of Strafford
in the government ; and from his father — reputed in his time
the most independent man in the country — he had inherited
a bold heart and a ready pen. He was the special adversary
of the rule of petty military despots, whether Irish or English.
Dr. Petty, himself sprung from the middle rank in life, w T as
willing enough, like Gookin, to see the power of the old
military chiefs broken and their strongholds wasted ; but to
decree the practical ruin of the whole population and to
replace them by a body of English officers, was, he agreed
with Gookin, a different affair, and they jointly prepared a

1 Thurloe, ii. 149 ; iv. 373. - Ibid. iv. 509.

32 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, ii

/ ' Discourse against the transplanting into Connaught,' 3 declar-
ing it on public grounds a wasteful transaction and contrary
to sound policy.

' Mercy and pardon ' as to life and estate had indeed been
decreed in favour of ' all husbandmen, ploughmen, labourers,
and artificers,' 4 and others of the inferior sort ; for the chosen
people, it was recollected, had found the Gibeonites useful in
Palestine as hewers of wood and drawers of water. But all
the landowners who had not fled over sea, and their retainers,
were to cross the Shannon. Many had already fled the
country. The land was already free from the old Irish mili-
tary party. Nobody at least could deny that. ' The chiefest
and eminentest of the nobility, and many of the gentry, have
taken conditions from the King of Spain, and have transported
40,000 of the most active spirited men, most acquainted with
the dangers and discipline of war.' Such is the grim epitaph
of the ancient chiefs and nobles, which the authors of ' The
Discourse ' recorded in their book. Some went to France and
enlisted in the royal armies, others took service with the King
of Spain and the King of Poland. Europe was full of Irish
Roman Catholic exiles eager for revenge. The widows and
orphans, the deserted wives and families of the ' swordsmen,'
experienced a worse fate. They were kidnapped and shipped
wholesale into the West Indies, the slave-dealing merchants of
Bristol achieving a pre-eminence in the nefarious traffic, which
their previous experience enabled them to organise with

3 LansdowneMSS., British Museum, into Connaucjht, 1054. The pub-

822, 1. 26-27, October 21, 1056 ; Pren- lished book bears the marks of joint

dergast, pp. 54-64; also the articles authorship, the opening sentences -

' Gookin ' in Dictionary of National an elaborate medical comparison be-

Biography. The pamphlet referred to tween the State and the human body

above is entitled A Discourse against — being altogether in Petty's style, as

the Transplantation into Connaught. well as the later portions, where the

Two editions were published, both arguments are of exactly the same

anonymously, in London, in January general character as those in the;

and March 1655. Dr. Petty acknow- Political Anatomy of Ireland, ch. iv.

ledges his share in the authorship 4 Preamble of the Act of 1650 :

in a list of his works found amongst Scobell, ii. 197 ; Proclamation of

his papers (see Appendix), where it October 11, 1652, Prendergast, pp.

is mentioned under the title of A 27-28.
Discourse against the Transplanting

1653 THE TRANSPLANTATION INTO CONNAUGHT 33

advantage and profit to themselves. Unmerciful passion
blinded every religious party, with a few trifling exceptions
and with only differences in degree, to the teachings of the
gospel of justice and mercy, of which each professed to be on
earth the special representative. But even in the seventeenth
century, and amid the tumult of conflicting religious animosi-
ties, the voice of human nature could occasionally make itself
heard ; and the views of Gookin and Petty, neither of whose
characters were exactly cast in a sentimental mould, found an
echo in England.

' The cause of the war,' Petty said, ' was a desire of the
Piomists to recover the Church revenue, worth about
1,100,000Z. per annum, and of the common Irish to get all the
Englishmen's estates, and of the ten or twelve grandees of
Ireland to get the Empire of the whole.' 5 These grandees
had led the Irish people into the troubles out of which they
themselves emerged defeated and ruined. But admitting
this, and admitting also, as Vincent Gookin and Petty both
did, that in consequence ' it was for the security of the English
and the English interest to divide the Irish one from the
other, especially the commonalty from the chiefs,' they argued
that it was not, therefore, necessary to drive out also all the
proprietors who could not prove ' constant good affection.'
Further, the peculiar constitution of Irish society and of the
land system must, they saw, cause an enormous mass of their
dependents, their tenants, their retainers and labourers, to be
driven out with them, notwithstanding the exemptions of the
Act ; and it was therefore not true to say that only proprietors
and men in arms were being ordered to go.

The authors of the rebellion and massacres, those who had
led the people to commit the atrocities which had so deeply
stirred the public conscience, ' the bloody persons,' were,
Gookin and Petty argued, ' all dead by sword, famine, pestilence,
and the hand of civil justice ; or remain still liable to it ; or
are fled beyond sea from it ; the priests and soldiers (the
kincllers of the war in the beginning and fom enters of it
since) are, for the first, universally departed the land, and for

5 Political Anatomy, ch. iv. p. 317.

D

34 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, ii

the second, to a vast number and the most dangerous ; and
the remaining are weary of war, having long since submitted ;
and those that are out sue for nothing but mercy. For the
poor commons the sun never shined, or rather not shined
upon a nation so completely miserable. There are not 100
of them in 10,000 who are not by the first and fourth articles
of the Act of Settlement under the penalty of losing life and
estate. The tax sweeps away their whole existence. Neces-
sity makes them turn thieves and Tories, and then they are
prosecuted with fire and sword for being so. If they discover
not Tories, the English hang them ; if they do, the Irish kill
them.' It was possible, no doubt, to reply with Colonel
Lawrence, who published an answer, that technically no pro-
miscuous transplantation was intended ; but a promiscuous
transplantation was none the less going on, and that it would
not even have the merit of success, was the opinion of the
two critics. 6 ' The unsettling of a nation,' they pointed out,
' is an easy work; the settling is not,' and the transplantation
could have but one result — the permanent mutual alienation
of the English and the Irish, and the division of the latter
between a large discontented garrison beyond the Shannon
and scattered bands of pillaging Tories on this side of the
river. Such bands were already sufficiently numerous,
owing to the heavy taxes and to ' the violence and oppres-
sion of the soldiery,' which had driven even loyal men into
rebellion and despair. A settlement of the country, they
fully admitted, was obviously needed ; but it should have for
object to detach the people of the country from lawless courses,
instead of driving them into madness by injustice.

The anomalous result of the rates of distribution under
the Act was another matter which had struck Henry Cromwell.
At the existing rates he saw that ' one might have a thou-
sand acres worth more than 1,000Z., and another in the
same barony a thousand acres not worth 200/.' The great
desideratum of Ireland, he reported home, was to secure

6 The hiterest of England in the wealth's, (Col.) PdcJiard Laurence
Irish Transplantation stated by a London, March 9, 1655 (British Mu-
Faithfal Servant of the Common- seum).

1654 MASSACRE OF THE AVALDENSES db

honest commissioners and incorrupt judges ; but it was
next to impossible to find either. Meanwhile, the Exchequer
of the Commonwealth, both in England and Ireland, was
empty, and the financial situation critical in the extreme.
Some decisive step evidently had to be taken, and on
September 6, 1654 — while Fleetwood was still at Dublin —
an order appeared from the Commissioners of the Common-
wealth of England for the affairs of Ireland, stopping the
further progress of the Survey, and prohibiting the distribu-
tion of lands under it. 7

A crisis had arrived. A new set of instructions was drawn
out for the Lord Deputy and his Council. They were ordered
to devote their whole care to improving the interest of the
Commonwealth ; they were to provide for the advancement of
learning, to try to establish the finances of the country on a
sound basis, and while maintaining true religion and suppres-
sing idolatry, popery, superstitions, and profaneness, they
were given full power to dispense with the orders of the late
Parliament and Council of State for transporting the Irish
into Connaught, if, on full consideration, it should prove for
the public service to do so.

The prospect was fair. But now occurred one of those
fatal and unforeseen coincidences which dash the cup from
the lips of expectation and destroy the plans of statesmen.
In the midst of the events just described, the news arrived,
with all the harrowing details, of the enactment in the South
of Europe of even worse horrors than those which were being-
perpetrated in Ireland ; with this difference only, that the
part of persecutor and persecuted was reversed.

In 1650 the congregation ' de Propaganda Fide' had
established a local council at Turin. Duke Charles Em-
manuel II. of Savoy yielded to the Jesuits, and an order was
issued that the Protestants, known as Waldenses in the
Alpine valleys which converge near Susa, should be exter-
minated. Measures were concerted with France, and an attack
from both sides of the mountains was arranged for 1653;
as in a matter of this kind it was desirable, in the opinion of

7 Thurloe, ii. 413, 506; vi. 810, 811, 819.

d 2

36 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, n

France, to make concessions to the Pope. A large body of
the Irish refugees, who had just entered the Spanish service,
were at the moment discontented with the terms of their
enlistment, and resolved to pass over the Pyrenees.
Attracted by the promise of pay and plunder, they made
thence for Italy. On their march they were said to have
vaunted 'that they had massacred the English Protestants
in Ireland,' and that they would 'now tear in pieces and
crucify quick any of the religion ' they might find else-
where. 8 Early in January 1654 they were near Nimes, one
of the principal Protestant cities of France, and owing to
these boasts they were not allowed to come within the walls.
Thence they passed on into Piedmont, and took service with
the Duke. Soon the barbarities which, with other soldiers of
fortune, they exercised against the unoffending inhabitants of
the Alpine valleys, were a household word in every Protestant
home in Europe. The adversaries of the Irish confiscations
were now swept away in a fierce torrent of national indig-
nation, and the nascent feeling of pity, which was beginning
to make itself felt in England, w 7 as rudely crushed. ' The
distressed and afflicted people of God,' the officers in Ireland
wrote in a memorial to the Protector, ' have so bitter a por-
tion, even a cup of astonishment, put into their hands to
drink by that scarlet strumpet who makes herself drunk with
the blood of the saints, because they refuse to drink of the
wine of the fornication. What peace can we rejoice in when
the whoredoms, murders, and witchcrafts of Jezebel are so
mighty?' 9 An Irish plot, fomented by the Jesuits, to murder
the Protector was also suspected. Two of the ambassadors
of the Commonwealth, Dr. Dorislaus and Antony Ayscam,
had actually fallen under the knives of assassins abroad.

The atmosphere was heavy with anxiety. Dr. Petty
relates how, at Dublin, in the midst of the controversies about
the settlement of the country, < his Excellency, the Lord
Deputy, meeting in the Castle with several officers of the
army, they together did resolve freely to contribute and

8 Thurloe, i. 587 ; ii. 27. '•' Ibid. iii. 4GG.

1654 THE CIVIL SURVEY 37

subscribe towards the relief of the distressed Waldenses ; ' l
and that the officers voluntarily agreed to give a fortnight's
pay and the private soldiers one week's pay, and many still
larger sums. The Cavaliers and the Irish were regarded as
engaged in one evil business. ' The latter,' said Fleetwood, ' are
an abominable, false, cunning, and perfidious people.' 2 . . . 'As
to what you write concerning our transplantation here,' he told
Thurloe, ' I am glad to understand you have a good sense of
it ; though it hath been strangely obstructed and discouraged
by the discountenance it hath received from England. There
is no doubt as bad, if not a worse, spirit in these people than
is in those of Savoy. We are on the gradual transplantation,
though the hopes the people have from England of a dis-
pensation makes them keep off, and not transplant so readily
as otherwise they would, if their thoughts were free from
expectations out of England.' 3

The transplantation, it was now resolved, was to be pro-
ceeded with. In vain did Gookin go over to London and
publish his book there. ' A scandalous book,' Fleetwood
wrote to Thurloe. In vain did he make a particular protest
to the Protector on behalf at least of the * ancient Protestants/
whose case was peculiarly hard, and might have been expected
to excite commiseration in the minds of their co-religionists.
Exasperation and personal greed were together too strong,
and the fatal order was issued.

But it was at least possible, though the policy of trans-
plantation was not to be altered, to prevent a carnival of
jobbery and confusion in connection with it. The Council
accordingly announced the adoption of a new plan, which was
entirely to supersede the former survey. It was decided to
make a preliminary inquisition over the whole country and to
prepare accurate lists of the forfeited lands ; and the work of
surveying was to be entirely separated, at least for the time,
from that of mapping.

Thus was set on foot the ' Civil Survey,' so called because it
was carried out by the civil authorities and not by soldiers.

1 History of the Down Survey, ch. ix. p. 66.

2 Thurloe, ii. 343. 3 Ibid. iii. 468.

38 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, ii

Like its predecessor, it was in substance a gross or estimate sur-
vey. Commissions were issued to bodies of commissioners for
each county, except where the survey made in Strafford's
time already supplied a sufficiently accurate account of the
lands in the district, their area, value, and ownership. It was
to comprehend not only the forfeited lands, but all other
estates and interests belonging to the State as successor to the
Crown, and was in fact an attempt to make a land register. 4
' This improved and most important descriptive survey,'
says Mr. Hardinge, ' was not intended for the sole purpose of
supplying lists of lands to be measured and mapped and then
cast aside as useless, as would be the result had it related to
forfeited lands only ; but it comprehended all other estates
and interests — the Crown's hereditary estates, ecclesiastical
and unforfeited, corporate and lay estates and possessions.
Many persons are under the impression that the civil survey
w T as designed as the basis of the satisfactions afterwards made
to the soldiers for arrears of pay due to them, and that it was
rejected by the Government in consequence of the complaints
of its inaccuracy. Such an impression is altogether erroneous.
This survey was not designed for the purpose assumed. It
w T as a preliminary work, essential to the discovery and de-
scription in a legitimate and solemn manner of the forfeited
lands, and from which lists, technically called "terriers," were
afterwards supplied to the several surveyors, for their ad-
measurement and mapping.' 5

While the work of the Commission was proceeding, Dr.
Petty was summoned to place before the Council his own plan
for the mapping of the lands. The forfeited estates corre-
sponded, as a rule, with former territorial jurisdictions— some
very ancient — which had become the basis of the more modern
division into baronies, themselves divided into parishes and
townlands ; just as in the early history of England the
boundaries of what were originally the lands of villages
became those of manors, and, later in the history of the

* Hardinge, p. 15. Civil Survey are printed in the Ap-

5 Ibid. pp. 15, 20. The commis- pendix to Sir Thomas Larcom's /Mis-
sions and instructions under the tory of the Down Survey, p. 382.

1654 DR. PETTY'S PROPOSALS 39

country, again became those of civil divisions, such as parishes
and other units of administration.

Ireland, Dr. Petty pointed out, was divided into 6 provinces,
countries, baronies, parishes, and farm lands,' but formerly,
he said, ' no doubt it was not so, for the country was called
after the names of the lords who governed the people ; for as
a territory bounded by bogs is greater or lesser, as the bog is
more dry and passable or otherwise, so the country of a
grandee or tierne became greater or lesser as his forces waxed
or waned ; for where was a large castle and garrison, there
the jurisdiction was also large.' As a rule the boundary
between the lands of these grandees was the line of the
division of the waters 'as the rain fell,' and these divisions
were the basis of the larger civil territorial divisions of the
country, the provinces, counties, and baronies ; while as to
the smaller divisions, the ' townlands, ploughlands, colps,
gneeres, bullibos, ballibelaghs, two's, horsmen's, beds, &c.,'
they corresponded with the lands cultivated by certain
societies of men, from an early period, or with the lands of
particular men, or with land allotted to a planter, or to a
servitor as a reward for service, or as the endowment of a
religious cell. The baronies varied in size from 8,000 to
160,000 acres. 6 Starting from the basis of these various
civil divisions, Dr. Petty now proposed to survey the country
and then map out the whole of the forfeited lands ; first
surveying all known territorial boundaries and the natural
divisions, whether rivers, woods, bogs or other, and then to
set out such auxiliary lines and limits in addition to the
county, barony, and townland boundaries, as were necessary
for constructing a map of the forfeitures, and for the ultimate
subdivision amongst the claimants according to the average
of their commuted arrears.

The whole task he undertook to perform in thirteen
months from an appointed day, 7 'if,' he said, ' the Lord give
seasonable weather and due provision bee made against
Tories, and that my instruments be not found to stand still

s Political Anatomy , ch. xiii.pp. 371, 372; Brief Account, p. xiii.
7 Down Survey, p. 9.

40 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, ii

for want of bounders.' 8 He offered to accept payment either
at the rate of 61. per 1,000 acres, or a gross sum of 30,000/.,
out of which he was to pay expenses. ' Upon the fielde
work, it being a matter of great drudgery to wade through
bogs and water, climb rocks, fare and lodge hard,' he said
he would instruct foot soldiers, to whom such hardships were
familiar. 9

The committee reported that the plan was far superior to
Worsley's, who confessed himself ' gravelled ' at the Doctor
offering to complete a task in thirteen months which he had
calculated would last as many years.

Worsley, however, was not easily beaten, and, having
influential supporters, obtained a further reference to the
Committee of the Council, to which some fresh names were
added at his suggestion. But, notwithstanding this attempt
to pack the tribunal, the committee decided against him.

Their report was as follows :

' In obedience to your Honour's reference, dated the 10th
instant, wee have taken into consideration the businesse con-
cerning the management of the surveys, and after a full
debate thereupon, doe humbly offer, upon the reasons men-
tioned in our first report, that the lands to be sett out for the
payment of the army's arrears and other public debts, be
suit eyed down as is proposed by Dr. Petty.

* Dated the 16th of October, 1654. Signed in the name
and by the appointment of the rest of the referees.

' Charles Coote.' !

The idea of a survey in the present day is indissolubly
connected with the notion of a map ; so much so that as
a rule the name has come to be applied to the ma]) itself
which is the result of the survey, as much as to the preced-
ing inquiries on which the map is founded. But the Civil
Survey was simply a specification of lands, recorded in lists,
with brief descriptive notes as to acreage and value, and par-
took of the character of what in modern days is called a

8 Down Survey, p. 18. l Ibid. p. 12.

y Ibid. pp. 18-19.

1654 THE DOWN SURVEY 41

valuation list or register. There were no maps attached to it,
and the scheme of a general map, though present to the minds
of the authors of the ' Grosse Survey,' had hitherto never been
effectually carried out, though commenced here and there.
Dr. Petty now undertook both to survey, to admeasure, and
to map ; and from the wording of his report just quoted, the
work carried out by him came to be known as the Down
Savvey, because it was to be surveyed down on a maj3, unlike
the Civil Survey, which, as already stated, consisted of lists of
lands only with their extent and value.

Worsley, however, was not yet beaten, and he claimed a
detailed examination of the report by the full Council, which
in consequence had again to go into the matter. Then arose
obstruction upon obstruction. The former surveyors, it was
said, had not been properly considered, and it was wrong to
employ soldiers. Worsley also, cleverly using the weapon
given him by his rival's opposition to the transplantation,
intimated that Dr. Petty ' intended to employ Irish Papists,'
to which Dr. Petty relates ' that it was answered (1) by
denyall, (2) by acquainting the Council that there was noe
more danger to have the measurer a Papist than the meres-
man, which for the most part must be such,' 2 because they
were the only persons who knew the boundaries. Eventually
these and other difficulties were got over ; and on December
11, 1654, ' after a solemn seekinge of God performed by
Col. Tomlinson, for a blessing on the conclusion of so great a
business,' the preliminary articles of agreement, which had
been signed on October 27, were finally adopted in a
more detailed shape. 3 Dr. Petty thereupon completed his
securities, obtaining valuable assistance from Sir Hardress
Waller, one of the Cromwellian officers in high command in
Ireland ; and he then entered into a contract with the
Surveyor-General to perform the work in the specified
manner. Orders and warrants were issued by the Council for
the necessary supply of meresmen, for the delivery by Worsley
within thirty days of the lists of the forfeited lands, and
for access to the records of the previous surveys; and a
' l Down Survey, p. 20. 3 Ibid. p. 22.

42 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, ji

Committee of officers was appointed to meet at Dublin, on
February 1, 1655, to consider the best mode of allotting the
lands amongst the regiments. 4

Under his contract, Dr. Petty undertook to survey, ad-
measure, and map all the forfeited lands, profitable or unpro-
fitable, barony by barony and parish by parish, down to the
smallest known civil denominations, 5 together with all Crown
and ecclesiastical lands. Where any civil denomination was
in excess of the lot or number of acres due to any officer
or soldier according to the amount of his commuted arrears,
it was to be subdivided and mapped out into smaller parcels
by the help of auxiliary limits, but except for this express
purpose, no ' surround ' smaller than forty acres was to be
separately surveyed and admeasured. All the particulars
requisite for the proper distribution of the forfeited lands
amongst the claimants were to be entered from the records of
the Civil Survey upon the face of each map, such as the
names of the owners and the area, with the quality and
estimated value. Plotts, or maps, were to be laid down on a
scale of forty perches to an inch, and, with the corresponding
information and references marked out upon them, were to
be delivered to the officers and soldiers on demand, provided
that no separate map was to be required of any proportions less
than 1,000 acres.' 5 The work, it was agreed, was to be completed
in thirteen months dating from December 11, 1G54, allowing
one year more for complaints or appeals against it ; but in
consideration of the unavoidable delays which took place in
the early stages of the work, the date was ultimately postponed
to thirteenth months, from February 1, 1655. The rate of
payment agreed upon was 71. 3s. 4r/. per 1,000 acres of forfeited
profitable land, of which one penny per acre was to be paid by
the army, and the rest by the State. The Church and Crown
lands were to be mapped at the rate of Bl. an acre. Under his
agreement Dr. Petty was to deliver maps of the forfeited lands

1 Down Survey, ch. v. pp. 40, 41. an officer and several soldiers. The

5 Ploughlands,townlands, colps, &c. distribution, it must be remembered,

6 This means a separate map. One was to be by regiments, companies,
map would often cover the claim of &c.

1654 THE MAP OF IRELAND 43

with perfect plots of each townland thereon, with the neces-
sary sub-divisions and books of reference, corresponding to the
reports of the Civil Survey, when complete, into the office of
the Surveyor-General. 7

By separate articles he engaged to map and project, in
addition to the maps of the forfeited estates, the bounds of
all baronies and townlands within the before-mentioned coun-
ties, whether forfeited or not, so that in each province perfect
and exact maps might be had, for public use, of each province,
county, and barony, 8 and for this work he was to receive a
payment, the amount of which at the moment does not seem
to have been specifically stated.

As to the survey and admeasurement of the adventurers'
lands, nothing for the moment was determined.

It will thus be seen that he undertook two things which
had no necessary connection with each other, viz. a survey
and admeasurement with maps on a large scale of the for-
feited lands ; and also the preparation of a general county and
barony map of the whole of Ireland, for public use and con-
venience.

The Act expressly provided that no surveyor or other
officer employed in the execution of this survey, during
the time of his employment, should be allowed to become a
purchaser of land, unless with the consent of the Parlia-
mentary Commissioners appointed under the Act. It was
further expressly provided that it should be open to Parlia-
ment to pay the surveyors with land, if it were found more
convenient than to pay in money : a possibility more than
likely to be realised in the embarrassed condition of the
finances of the Commonwealth.

The war was over. The division of the spoils was about to
commence. ' As for the blood shed in those contests,' Dr. Petty
afterwards wrote, ' God best knows who did occasion it ; but
upon the playing of the game or match the English won, and
had amongst other pretences a gamester's right at least
to their estates.' 9 He had not himself been concerned in the

7 Harclinge, pp. 24, 25, 26. Anatomy, ch.ix. p. 341.

Doiun Survey, p. 25 ; Political 9 Political Anatomy, ch. iv. p. 317.

44 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FETTY cir\r. n

original quarrel, and he now simply regarded himself as a
servant of the State called upon to perform a definite duty.
"While he disapproved much of what had been done, his
work, he thought, would at least prove of permanent advan-
tage to the nation, and the nature of it appealed to his
imagination and his scientific tastes. He entered on his
gigantic task, thinking that besides his pay ' he should receive
monumentall thanks, and not sufficiently considering,' as ex-
perience taught him, ' that too great merit is more often paid
with envy than with condign reward.' When it had been
completed he looked forward to returning to the study of
natural philosophy, thinking his present task ' might prove
rather an unbending than a breaking of that bow.' ' I also
hoped,' he wrote, ' to enlarge my trade of experiments from
bodies to minds, from the emotions of the one to the manners
of the other ; thereby to have understood passions as well as
fermentations, and consequently to have been as pleasant a
companion to my ingenious friends as if such an intermis-
sion from physic had never been.' In this last respect, at
least, he was fully gratified, and in after years, still harping
on his favourite analogies from the field of medicine, he said
he had in this business ' gotten the occasion of practising on
his own moralls ; that is, to learn how, with smiles and
silence, to elude the sharpest provocation, and without
troublesome menstruum*, to digest the roughest injuries that
ever a poor man was crammed with.' 1 A watchful rival was
watching his footsteps, to whom perhaps in some respects he
had been unfair, and whose pow r ers of mischief, like his
abilities, he rated too meanly. This rival had influential
friends amongst the extreme religious fanatics of the
Anabaptist connection, who hated the Doctor as an un-
sound theologian, and also among the eager gang of military
claimants who were ready to plunder the State which they
professed to serve, expecting the officers of the survey to
connive at their misdeeds, and ready to be revenged on them
if met with resistance. Such was the position. For better or
for w T orse, Dr. Petty w*as now about to leave the calm life of
1 Reflections, pp. 15, 16.

1654 LETTER TO BOYLE 45

a scientific student, and the peaceful practice of the art of
medicine, for the stormy sea of political strife in a peculiarly
troublous time. The following letter to Robert Boyle may,
therefore, be deemed no unfitting termination to the narrative
of this period of his career :

' A letter from Mr. "William Petty to the Honourable Eobert
Boyle, Esq., dated from Dublin, April 15, 1653.

' Sir, — Being not able to write you any such complements
as may delight you, nor to enforme you of any such more
real matter as might profit you, I desire that those my de-
ficiencies, together with my usual rudeness, may be taken for
the cause of this long silence. Now indeed I am forced to
communicate with you, even to keep up the face of the visible
church of philosophers ; for by Mr. Worsely his going for
England and Major Morgan's absence in the North, there is
no such thing now left at the headqters. If there be any
other reason of these lines besides this, and to beg my con-
tinuance in the number of your affectionate servants, it is to
dissuade you from some things, which my lord of Corke, my
lord of Broghill, and some other of your friends think pre-
judicial unto you : one whereof is your continual reading.
Here, like a Quacksalver, I might tell you how it weakens the
brain, how that weakness causeth defluxions and how those
defluxions hurt the lungs and the like. But I had rather tell
you that although you read 12 hours per diem or more, that
you shall really profit by no more of what you read, than by
what you remember ; nor by what you remember, but by so
much as you understand and digest ; nor by that, but by so
much as is new unto you, and pertinently set down. But in
12 hours how little (according to these rules) can you (who
know so much already) advantage yourself by this laborious
way ? How little of true history doe our books contain ?
How shy is every man to publish anything either rare or
useful ? How few opinions doe they deliver rationally deduced
but from their own principles ? and lastly how few doe begin
their tedious systems from principles possible, intelligible and
easy to be admitted ?

46 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap. 11

' On the other side, what a stock of experience have you
already in most things ? What a faculty have you of making
every thing you see an argument of some usefull conclusion or
other ? How much are you practised in the method of cleere
and scientifical reasoning ? How well doe you understand the
true use and signification of words, whereby to register and
compute your own conceptions. So well are you accomplisht
in all these particulars, that I safely persuade myself, but
that your modesty thinks every scribler wiser than yourself,
that you can draw more knowledge and satisfaction from
two hours of your own meditation, than from 12 hours
endurance of other men's loquacity. For when you meditate,
it is always upon some thing that you are not yet cleere in
(and a little armor will serve, being put upon the right place);
but when you reade, you must take your chance and perhaps
be corrupted with lies, disgusted with absurdities, and tired
with impertinencies ; or made ready to vomitt at the his (imo
centies) recocta cramhe offered unto you. Besides what a
difference is there between walking with our naturall legs,
and crutches ? or betweene a cloth, whose subtegmen is the
same from end to end, and another peeced up out of a 1000
gaudy rags? But the proverb (vcrhum sapienti) forbids me to
be more tedious. The next disease you labour under, is your
apprehension of many diseases, and a continual fear that you
are always inclining, or falling into one or other. Here I
might tell you of the vanity of life ; or that to fear any evil
long, is more intolerable, than the evil itself e suffered ; &c.

' But I had rather put you in mind that this distemper is
incident to all that begin the study of diseases. Now it is
possible that it hangs yet upon you, according to the opinion
you may have of yourself, rather than according to the know-
ledge that others have of your greater maturity in the faculty.
But ad rem. Few terrible diseases have their pathogno-
monical signes. Few know those signes without experiences
of them, and that in others rather than themselves. More-
over ; the same inward causes produce different outward
signes ; and, rice versa, the same outward signes may proceed
from different inward causes, and therefore those little rules

1654 LETTER TO BOYLE 4<

of prognostication found in our books, need not always be so
religiously believed. Again 1000 accidents may prevent a
growing disease itselfe, and as many can blow away any
suspicious signe thereof, for the vicissitude whereunto all
things are subject suffers nothing to rest long in the same
condition; and it being no further from Dublin to Corke,
then from Corke to Dublin, why may not a man as easily
recover of a disease, without much care, as fall into it ? My
Cousen Highmore's curious hand hath shewn } r ou so much of
the fabrick of man's body, that you cannot thinck, but that
so complicate a piece as yourself will be always at some little
fault or other. But you ought no more to take every such
little struggling of nature for a signe of a formidable disease,
then to fear that every little cloud portends a cataract or
hurricane. To conclude, this kind of vexation hath been
much my own portion, but experience and these considera-
tions have well eased me of it.

' The last enditement that I bring against you, is prac-
tising upon yourselfe with medicaments (though specifics)
not sufficiently tryed by those that administer or advise
them.

' It is true, that there is a conceipt currant in the world,
that a medicament may be physick and physician both, and
may cure diseases a qudcunque causa. But for my part I find
the best medicament to be but a toole or instrument : now
what are Yandijcks Pencills and Pallet in the hands of a
bungling painter, to the imitation of his pieces ? Kecom-
mendations of medicaments doe not make them useful to me,
but doe only excite me to make them so, by endeavouring
experimentally to find out the vertues and application of
them. There be few medicaments that can be more and more
really praised than diafalma and Basilian ; for they have been
carryed up and down in all chirurgeons' salvatoryes for
these many hundred years. Yet how few can perform any
excellent cures by them or such others ? How hard it is to
find out the true vertues of medicaments. As I weep to
consider, so I dread to use them, without my utmost endea-
vours first employed to that purpose.

48 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, ii

' Though none of these arguments prevaile with you, yet
I shall pray that nothing of evil consequent to the things,
from which I have dissuaded you, prevail upon you. The
desire of your encrease in knowledge, and (in order there-
unto) of your health, hath made me thus troublesome ; for if
what I have said, came from any other principle, I should be
ashamed to write myselfe thus confidently
'S',

' Your obliged servant,

' Wm. Petty. 2

< Dublin, 15 April, 1653.'

While the preliminaries of the survey were being arranged,
the struggle between the supporters of Henry Cromwell and
of Fleetwood had continued. Although the latter treated Dr.
Petty with great confidence, he was personally too much under
the influence of the Anabaptist officers to throw over Worsley.
The fortunes of Dr. Petty and his rival accordingly varied in
regard to the survey, according to the advantage gained by
one side or the other in the general political contest. The
final result depended to a great extent on events in England ;
and when, after the dissolution of Cromwell's First Parlia-
ment in January 1655, the breach between the Protector and
the fanatical party had greatly widened, the issue in Ireland
was no longer doubtful. It was known to be a mere question
of time how soon Fleetwood would leave. After several
journeys to and fro, Henry Cromwell finally took up his official
residence at Dublin in July 1655, and, owing to the emptiness
of the Exchequer, it was decided to proceed with the second
great disbandment of the army at once. Fleetwood retired to
England in the September following, still retaining, however,
the title and precedence of Lord Deputy. Dr. Petty could now
feel secure, and he entered on his task with confidence. 3

He found his ablest assistants in his cousin John, who
shared his own talents in mapping and surveying, and in Mr.

2 British Museum Add. MSS. 6198, ceived the title of Major- General of
part i. cxvii. B ; Boyle's Works, v. 296. the Forces. In 1657 he was appointed

3 Henry Cromwell at first only re- Lord Deputy.

1655 DR. PETTY'S METHOD OF WORK 49

Thomas Taylor. No less valuable were the services of Mr.
James Shaen, who had already been employed as one of the
Commissioners for the Civil Survey : a man of great parts
and energy, but prone to believe, in whatever was being done,
that his own and none other could be the organising head and
hand. He was inclined to become the enemy and rival of
whoever was placed above him, and was probably equally
hostile both to Worsley and Dr. Petty.

On April 12, Dr. Petty received from Worsley the in-
structions to be observed in making up the books of refer-
ence, which, when completed, were, with the maps, to be
returned into the office at Dublin. He then proceeded to
organise a staff of one thousand persons, consisting of forty
clerks at head-quarters, and a little army of surveyors and
under-measurers, who worked on the spot in each dis-
trict.

' In all these arrangements,' says a contemporary account,
' he had vast opposition, while he in a manner stood alone.
But he was wont to meditate and fill a quire with all that
could in nature be objected, and to write down his answers to
each. So that when any new thing started he was prepared,
and as it were extempore, to shoot them dead. And as the
distribution required exactness in accounts and method, and
was a dangerous work, for that the great officers expected to
get the parts they had coveted, which going by rate would
disappoint, he was forced to show wonders of his own suffi-
ciency by being ready at all points. This in like moment he
composed by early meditation of all that could happen, so
that he retailed everything to their disadvantage. When, upon
some loud representations, the rest of the Commission would
refer to him, stating all that had passed (which seemed to
require a week's work), he would bring all clearly stated the
next morning to their admiration. His way was to retire
early to his lodgings, where his supper was only a handful of
raisins and a piece of bread. He would bid one of his clerks
who wrote a fair hand go to sleep, and while he ate his raisins
and walked about, he would dictate to the other clerk, who was
a ready man at shorthand. When this was fitted to his mind

E

50 LIFE OF SIR "WILLIAM PETTY chap, ii

the other was roused and set to work, and he went to bed so
that all was ready.' 4

He applied the principle of division of labour to the making
of his instruments, ' considering the vastness of his work/
' One man made measuring chains — a wire-maker ; another
magnetical needles with their pins, viz. a watch-maker; an-
other turned the boxes out of wood and the heads of the stand
on which the instrument plays, viz. a turner ; another the
stands or legs — a pipe-maker ; another all the brass-work,
viz. a founder ; another workman, of more sensitive head and
hand, touched the needles, adjusted the sights and cards,
and adapted every piece to each other.' Time-scales, pro-
tractors, and compasse-cards were obtained from London,
* whither also was sent for "a magazine of royale paper,
mouth glue, colours, pencilles, &c." ' A uniform size of field
book was determined upon, and, where necessary, the sur-
veyors were furnished with small French tents and portable
furniture, as it was to be expected that in the wasted
counties they would often find neither house nor harbour.
Great trouble was taken to secure the most trustworthy
meresmen in each barony, and to organise the department of
accounts as perfectly as possible. ' But the principal division
of the whole work,' Dr. Petty relates, was ' to make certayne
persons such as were able to endure travail, ill lodging and
dyett, as alsoe heatts and colds, being men of activity that
could leap hedge and ditch, and could alsoe rufHe with the
several rude persons in the country ; from whom they might
so often expect to be crossed and opposed. The which quali-
fications happened to be found among several of the ordinary
soldiers, many of whom having been bred to trade, could read
and write sufficiently for the purposes intended. Such there-
fore, if they were but heedful and steady minded, though not
of the nimblest witts, were taught.' 5 The same principle of
dividing the labour as much as possible was carried out in
the actual work of the survey, one set of men being em-
ployed to value the land and to fix what was profitable and
what was unprofitable ; another to do the actual measure-

4 Nelligan MS., British Museum. s Brief Account, p. xv.

16*3 THE ARMY SURVEY COMMENCED 51

ment ; another to make up the books of reference ; and
another to draw and paint the maps ; and a few of the
' most nasute and sagacious persons were employed to super-
vise, and prevent scamping and frauds.' Finally, and in order,
as he says, ' to take away all byass from the under measurers
to returne unprofitable for profitable, or vice versa, he him-
self having engaged in an ensnaring contract begettinge sus-
picioun of those evils against him, in as much he was paid
more for profitable than unprofitable/ the supervisors were
directed 'to cast up all and every measurer's work into Unary
contents, according to which they were paid. . . . The
quantity of line which was measured by the chain and
needle being reduced into English miles, was enough to have
encompassed the worlde ne'ere five times about.' 6 He also
drew up a set of instructions for the office work, to prevent
fraud and dishonesty. These the highest authorities have
pronounced clever and judicious, and have themselves incor-
porated into modern practice. 7

The amount of lands forfeited in each province was in
Leinster about one-half ; in Ulster about one-fifth; in Mini-
ster about two-thirds ; in Connaught about three-quarters ;
in the whole kingdom about eleven-twentieths of the total
amount forfeited. 8 The head rental of the lands of Ireland
was reserved as a source of revenue by the new Government
as the legitimate successor of the Crown, but it was remitted
for five years. Subject to the head rental it was now deter-
mined to proceed to redistribute the whole of the confiscated
estates among the adventurers, the army, and the creditors of
the Commonwealth.

The Civil Survey of most of the baronies had been com-
pleted before the end of March 1655. On February 1 of
that year the measurement and mapping of the army lands
by Dr. Petty actually commenced, and proceeded as the lists
and information came in from the Civil Survey Commis-
sioners.

Dr. Petty's staff had to contend not only with the natural

6 Brief Account, p. xvii. vii. of the Down Survey, p. 324.

7 See Sir T. Larcom'B note to ch. 8 Hardinge, p. 34.

£ 2

52 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, ii

difficulties of the country, but also with the opposition of the
native Irish, who identified the progress of the work with the
loss of their own possessions. Notwithstanding the protec-
tion afforded by the garrisons, several of the soldiers and sur-
veyors were captured and killed by the * Tories.' Eight, for
example, were taken by Donagh O'Derrick, commonly called
' Blind Donagh,' near Timolin, in Kildare, carried off into the
mountains, and, after a mock trial, executed. 9 But these
difficulties were not sufficient even to retard the work in any
material degree. The places of the missing soldiers were
rapidly filled, and owing to the skilful division of the labour
employed, the survey advanced continuously.

The original plan had been to carry out the survey of the
lands and the distribution to the allottees together, the latter
being intended to commence immediately on Dr. Petty
reporting the completion of his survey over any district
sufficiently large to be distributed regimen tally. Owing,
however, to various delays occasioned by the disputes amongst
the committee of officers, to differences of opinion on several
points of detail which arose at the commencement of the
work near Dublin, to the constant appearance of fresh
grantees from England, and the complications caused by the
partial distributions which had taken place in some districts
under the Grosse Survey to favoured individuals before Dr.
Petty's appointment, the original intention had to be aban-
doned, and the distribution definitely severed from the
survey. 1 The partial distributions referred to had been
mainly for the benefit of some of the higher officers, who had
not only managed to get a start in point of time, but also to
get ' the trust of the distribution mainly committed to the
persons concerned themselves.' It was very difficult to ascer-
tain what had been done, and a general suspicion of unfair-
ness and corruption hung over the whole of these transactions.
When he began his work Dr. Petty says, ' No amount of what
was then done ever did appear as a light unto what was
further to be done,' and ' the affair was in an altogether

9 Webb, Irish Biography, article J Down Survey, ch. ix. pp. 66, 80 ;

' Petty.' Thurloe, vi. 683.

1655 DISPUTES WITH THE ARMY 53

ragged condition by reason of the precedent irregular and
somewhat obscure actings, anno 1553 and 1555, and other
uncertainties of debt and credit, as also of clashing in-
terests.' 2

Nor did the confusion grow less as the inquiries of the
Civil Survey Commissioners proceeded. When their esti-
mates first began to come in, it had been believed that
the moiety of the ten counties allotted to the army would
only satisfy the debt up to a maximum of 12s. 6d. in the
pound. As, however, the w r ork of Dr. Petty advanced, his
accurate methods began to reveal the fact that in all pro-
bability the extent of the forfeited lands had been under-
estimated. The committee of officers thereupon demanded
that they should be at once paid two-thirds of the claim and
receive the remaining third afterwards. Owing, however, to
the crippled condition of the finances of the Commonwealth,
the Council declined the proposal in regard to the remaining
third, and the committee reluctantly agreed to accept in lieu
a promise that if, at some future time, it were found possible,
they w T ould be paid the balance in lands contiguous to the
original allotment ; a promise which the officers felt it would
in all probability be impossible to carry out in practice, and
was therefore regarded as little better than a mockery. This
decision laid the seeds of future bitterness which rapidly
grew; for soon it was more loudly declared than ever that
a sufficiency of land evidently existed for the satisfaction
of the whole army debt in full. The army committee accord-
ingly petitioned that the regiments now about to be disbanded
might be put into speedy possession of their full and entire
satisfaction, according to the Act of Parliament, offering, if it
was found on a final account being taken of the whole busi-
ness, that any parties entitled had been shut out, to compen-
sate the losers in money. 3 They also pointed to the four
counties reserved by the Government as in their opinion
equitably within their own claims should any lands in them
remain ungranted, especially if the adventurers, who techni-

2 Doiun Survey, pp. 185, 337.

3 Ch. ix. of the Down Survey contains the account of these transactions.

54 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, ii

cally ranked first, had previously been satisfied in full, and
anything still remained unallotted.

The Council, however, which by this time had passed
entirely under the influence of Henry Cromwell, finding the
financial situation to be even more serious than it had been
believed to be, decided against the demand of the officers to
be satisfied in full. 4 A furious controversy at once sprang up,
and many of the officers threatened to refuse to take up their
allotments, irritated, no doubt, by the sight of their more
fortunate colleagues who had got satisfied first in the hap-
hazard and questionable manner already described. 5 Mean-
while, the officers who in the early distributions had gained
this unfair advantage were representing themselves as ag-
grieved, and were asking for more ; probably hoping that
this was the best means of at least retaining possession of
what they had got. The Council, however, refused to be
intimidated by any of the contending factions. ' Liberty and
countenance,' Henry Cromwell said, ' they may expect from
me, but to rule me or rule with me I should not approve of.'
They were therefore informed that it was intended that the
overplus of the lands, if any, which might remain after the
satisfaction by the two-thirds payment was, owing to the
financial necessities of the situation, * to lye entirely together
for the better convenience of the Commonwealth and remain-
ing part of the army,' and that whether the exact proportion
paid would ultimately be two-thirds, or some other proportion,
must depend on circumstances. This decision in no way
satisfied the claimants ; and to Dr. Petty, as he himself points
out, it became the cause of ' great and unexpected hardshipps,'
as most unjustly, he was made responsible for it by the officers,
who quite understood that under the terms, however courteous
in appearance, there lay a hardly concealed intention of using
whatever surplus lands might ultimately be found to exist, for
the payment of expenses of the survey and of the other grow-

4 See Thurloe, v. 309, 709. iii. 710, 715, 728, 744 ; vi. 683 ;

5 Prendergast, p. 86 ; Down Survey, vii. 291 ; Ludlow's Memoirs, ed. 1771,
pp. 63-66, 211, 185, 186, and note p. 196.

to ch. xiv. p. 337 ; Thurloe, ii. 314 ;

1656 THE AEMY SURVEY FINISHED 55

ing debts of the Commonwealth, civil and military, which
the statutory reservations already made were insufficient to
cover. 6

By April 1656 the greater part of the undertaking was
finished ; in the autumn of that year the work was complete.
Dr. Petty then proposed that proper arrangements should
be made for the official examination, and it was accordingly
referred by the Council to a committee, who reported favour-
ably on the execution of the task. It was next submitted to
"Worsley as Surveyor-General, but he alleged various defects
and omissions, and urged them with great pertinacity. To
these criticisms Dr. Petty replied, pointing out the difficulties,
especially the absence of ready money and the confusion of
the country, under which the work had had to be performed,
and that the omissions in question were all in way of being
completed and were to be traced to the above-mentioned cir-
cumstances. He therefore formally applied to the Council to
give back the contract, and release his securities. This appli-
cation was referred to the Attorney-General, who recom-
mended that the Doctor's application should be granted. The
Council, however, at Worsley's instigation, still for a time
delayed giving their assent, but ultimately decided that the
work had been properly performed. The bond was then
cancelled and the contract given back, to the great vexation
of the persons w 7 ho had constituted themselves the critics of
the work, and had prophesied a failure. 7

' Mr. Worsley,' says Dr. Petty, ' rackt himself and his brains
to invent racks for the examination of my work : not unlike
the policy of the Church of Rome, as it was deciphered to me
by Monsieur Cantarine, that priest whom we were wont to
admire for his wit, notwithstanding his feeding and age. This
priest and self were eating together at the image of St.
Ambrose, our ordinary, and together with us a mad and
swearing debauchee. After dinner I asked M. Cantarine what
penance they used to impose upon such lewd fellows ; he
answered me : "Very little, for," said he, "they would do

6 Down Survey, p. 66 ; Thurloe, ii. 314, iv. 433.

7 Down Survey, ch. xiii.

56 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, ii

little, if we should, and rather neglect the very Church than
put themselves to any pains that way ; which when they do,
they come no more to us, but become incorrigible hereticks.
But," said he, " they be the Bigotts and Devout Persons whom
wee load with penance, and on whom wee impose all the
scrutinies imaginable in their confession ; because such care,
and will submit to us therein." In like manner, because I was
willing to give content in all things reasonable had I unrea-
sonable things put upon mee, always enduring a more than
Inquisition-like severity.' 8

While these events were taking place, the committee of
the adventurers, sitting at Grocers' Hall, London, had be-
come involved in interminable discussions, but at last, in
September 1656, they decided to entrust the survey and
admeasurement of their lands to Dr. Petty and Worsley
jointly. An order and instructions were accordingly issued
by the Council, in regard to the forfeited lands in the
counties on which the adventurers had a joint claim with
the army, to those in Louth and Leitrim, and to those
escheated, but as yet not admeasured, in the remaining
counties of Ireland. The lands in the liberties of Galway
and Athenry were specially excepted from this order,
because they were appointed for the satisfaction of the
regicide, Colonel Whalley, and they were confided to the
superintendence of Dr. Petty by orders of April 3 and
December 29, 1657. Thus was begun ' the second great-
survey,' which was carried out on the same lines and by
the same persons as the first, and proceeded with equal
regularity and speed. 9

Owing to the disputes already described between the
different categories of officers and soldiers, the provision in
the contract by which Dr. Petty had engaged to mark out at
once the subdivision by name amongst the allottees on his
maps had, as already seen, been unavoidably dispensed with,
and the actual allotment for the time adjourned. Meanwhile,

8 Reflections, pp. 23, 24. Compare 9 Down Survey, p. 53 ; Hardinge,

D'Alembert, Sur la Destruction des p. 24.
Jisuites en France, ed. 1765, p. 67.

1656 DISTRIBUTION OF THE ARMY LANDS 57

the lists of forfeited lands prepared by the Civil Survey Com-
mission and the maps, had been returned into the Court of
Chancery. But when, owing to the firmness of Henry Crom-
well, the disputes had at last been brought to some kind of at
least superficial settlement, the work of distribution had to
be entered upon. This was really a far more difficult matter
than even the survey which preceded it. In the first, Dr.
Petty had had mainly to contend with the natural difficulties
of the country ; in the second, whoever was entrusted with it
would have to wrestle with the fiercest passions of the human
heart, excited by greed and ambition.

Henry Cromwell, weary at last of the opposition of a few
interested critics, had insisted that there should be no further
delay, and on May 20, 1656, the Council decided that the
lands allotted to the army should be distributed according to
Dr. Petty' s maps and admeasurement by a committee of agents
or trustees chosen by the army, as contemplated by the Act,
and without necessarily waiting for the previous distribution
of their lands to the adventurers, who, as already seen, techni-
cally ranked first. But a large committee was evidently use-
less, and after long and acrimonious disputes, the distribution
was ultimately delegated, through the determination of Henry
Cromwell, on May 20, 1656, to a committee of six, and
eventually on July 10 following to an executive of three
— Dr. Petty, Vincent Gookin, and Colonel Miles Symner —
the last an officer who appears to have been persona grata to
the party of the Protector, and is described by Dr. Petty as
' a person of known integrity and judgment.' Subsequently
Mr. King was added to their number. The choice was remark-
able. It indicated the triumph of the ideas of the civilian
party over the rapacity of the officers, and the defeat of the
fanatical section amongst the latter.

The larger committee of six would, it was hoped, have com-
posed the differences among the officers before the distribution
began, for it had been discovered at an early period that the Act
rates produced the gravest injustice, as lands varied as much in
value between particular counties as they did between the pro-
vinces. To obviate this injustice, a system of equalising the

58 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, ii

rates as between the different counties in each province had
been agreed upon by the Committee of Officers before casting
the lot, which decided to which county each regiment was to be
assigned. But it soon was noticed that lands varied just as
much in value in the baronies and in the smaller denomina-
tions as in the counties, and fresh complaints arose. After
much discussion the system of equalisation was extended
to the baronies, and the plan on which the lands of the
army were distributed was ultimately arranged as follows.
The regiments in each province having settled in which
county and barony each was to be located, the forfeited lands
were then arranged on a string or list, barony by barony ;
and finally, a lot or ticket was made for every troop or
company, with the arrears marked on it which were due in
each case, and the total number of acres they represented
subject to the equalisation, with the names of the several
officers and soldiers. A species of ballot, or 'boxing/ as it
was called then, determined in what barony the lot fell for
each troop or company ; and finally, the lot of each officer
and soldier in the smaller civil denominations and the order
in which they ranked. 1 The equalisations made by the
officers, notwithstanding their attempt at redressing the most
glaring inequalities, were at best of a very rough and ready
description. 'They were made,' Dr. Petty afterwards wrote,
'as parties interested could prevail upon and against one another
by their attendance, friends, eloquence, and vehemence : for
what other foundation of truth it had in nature I know not.'
The army had indeed signed a paper in which they all declared
' that they had rather take a lott upon a barren mountaine as a
portion from the Lord, than a portion in the most fruitful valley,
upon their own choice ; ' but when Providence gave ' a lott upon a
barren mountaine, ' then too often the contrast with the more for-
tunate possessor who had obtained ' a portion in a most fruitful
valley ' became more than the minds of even the elect could
endure. ' The principal care,' says Dr. Petty, ' was to avoid
the County of Kerry because of its reputed poverty ; ' and
resort was had to every kind of device to obstruct the ways of

1 Down Survey, pp. 86, 102, 208, and p. 337 note.

1656-1657 DISTRIBUTION OF THE ARMY LANDS 59

Providence in fixing a portion from the Lord in that particular
district. 2 ' This party of men,' says Dr. Petty, ' although they
all seemed to be fanatically and democratically disposed, yet
in truth were animals of all sorts, as in Noah's Ark/ 3 * The
great officers expected to get the parts they had coveted,' and
were ready to make everybody who stood in their way suffer
for their opposition. Owing to these furious ambitions and
jealousies, the hope that the committee of officers would be
able to settle all the differences amongst the allottees before
the distribution began, was disappointed, and the commis-
sioners, of whom Dr. Petty by the force of circumstances
became the directing hand, owing to his technical know-
ledge, had now to settle for themselves the burning question
of what proportion of each claim was actually to be paid, and
also to decide how to deal with the earlier allottees, as well
as to settle many minor points.

In order to arrive at a just decision they determined to
pass over all previous discussions, declarations and conces-
sions, and reduced the whole army by calculation to the state
it was in in 1654, when they had cast the regimental lot so
as to allow derivative claims. 4 This was the debtor side of
the account. They then ascertained what lands were at their
disposal, according to the Act of Parliament and the Orders
in Council issued under ifc. This was the creditor side of the
account. ' The whole forfeited land set aside for the army
was destined to pay the whole army debt at certain values
specified by the Act ; and it was necessary that the whole
should be cast or recast in one crucible, that all might share
alike. Accordingly, setting aside the enhanced rates at which
the former settled parties had been redeemed, the prayer for
additional compensation, and the remonstrance of the army
against it, Dr. Petty appears to have computed the claims of
the whole army as if one uniform distribution had been made,
and then considered each as having received, or being about
to receive, such or such a quota pars, in order to make up the

2 Political Anatomy of Ireland, ch. 4 Down Survey, ch. xiv. p. 207 ;
x. p. 342 ; Down Survey, pp. 91, 210. Reflections, p. 116.

3 Nelligan MS., British Museum.

60 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, ii

deficient, and pare down the redundant, to the same rate in
the pound on their respective claims.' 5

The amount actually to be received by each claimant
appears to have been fixed at five-eighths on the arrears of
pay, as commuted into land at the adventurers' rates, subject
to the equalisations agreed upon. The odd roods and perches
on the regimental allotments, called 'the refuse ends and tayle
lots,' were withdrawn with the consent of the army from the
distribution. It was hoped that these surplus lands and
the advantage to the public gained by equalising the rates,
which diminished the total amount allotted, would materially
increase the fund remaining over to meet the other unsatisfied
liabilities of the Commonwealth. The officers grew very
unruly and clamorous while the work went on, so much so
that Major Symner lost his head, and for a time had to
retire; nevertheless by February 1657 the distribution was
complete, so far as the task of the executive committee was
concerned.

Dr. Petty and his staff had surveyed for the army 3,521,181
acres, and the sum passed as due to him was 18,532L 8s. 4^rf.,
including 1,000Z. for the county and barony maps. Out of
this sum had to be deducted the whole of the expenses of the
survey, and a sum of 1,588Z. 8s. 6d. for the surveyors under
the previous abortive survey whom he had agreed to pay.
The money owed him by the army, after considerable delay, was
paid, with the exception of a sum of 614Z. In order to get in a
large portion of the sum due, he says he was forced ' to collect
and wrangle out of the soldiers in an ungrateful way and by
driblets, what the State was bound to pay him in a lump, and
to receive in bad Spanish money what he was to have in good
sterling.' 7 Not being able to get the whole amount due to
him paid, he was obliged to accept in lieu of it as much of a
debt of 3,181Z. 14s. 3d. owed to the State by the army as

5 Sir T. Larcom's note, Down Sur- to the intricate technical points con-
vey, p. 336, and see also Down Stirvey, nected with the survey and distribu-
ch. xiv. pp. 191, 195. I desire here once tion.

more to record the obligation expressed 6 Down Survey, p. 189, and Sir T.

in the Preface, which I owe to the Larcom's note to ch. xv. pp. 339, 340.
notes by Sir Thomas Larcom in regard 7 Reflections, p. 47.

1656-1657 DISTRIBUTION OF THE ARMY LANDS 61

he might be able to collect. Eventually, when the whole of
the arrangements for the satisfaction of the army had been
completed, he commuted this debt into land debentures repre-
senting 1,000Z. in surplus undistributed ' refuse ends and tayle
lots/ which were assigned to him at Act rates by the Council
in exchange for his debt, according to the provisions of the
Act, which, as already stated, enabled the Council to pay
for the work in land in lieu of money. He was also allowed
in connection with this arrangement to invest a portion of
the debt in mortgages on lands encumbered to the Common-
wealth, which under the Act had been kept out of the general
distribution, and to redeem these lands. But he undertook
in the event of the ' refuse ends and tayle lots ' being found to
exceed the amount due to him, or if the soldiers brought in
their remaining pennies, to cancel debentures to that amount;
and he entered into securities of 3,000Z. to guarantee these
conditions.

In this manner he received for the army debt, and the sum
of 1,000L owing to him, 9,665 a. 1 r. 6 p. of profitable land,
with a proportion of unprofitable ; and from mortgages of
encumbered land he bought 300 acres in Leinster and
Munster, and 1,000 in Ulster. By the adventurers Dr. Petty
was promised 600L 8 For his services as Commissioner of
Distribution, Dr. Petty, ' observing the Treasury to be low,
applied to be paid in debentures, and received lands under
Orders from the Council as follows :

A.

In the liberties of Limerick . . 1,653
In the county of Kerry, in the parish

ofTuosist 3,559

In Meath, near Duleek . . . 555

„„.... 250

8 As to the adventurers' survey, see turers' survey in the History are few

the references in the History of and meagre, as compared with the ac-

the Down Survey, pp. 53, 127,136, count of the survey of the army lands ;

236, 246, 247. The order for the the reason being that the adven-

survey is to be found in the appen- turers' survey was not the object of

dix to Sir Thomas Larcom's edition, much subsequent attack. The men

p. 390. The references to the adven- of business with whom Petty had to

K.

p.

1

31

18

62 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, ii

these lands being the equivalent of a sum of 2,00(M. due to
him. 9 The result of all these payments was a net sum of
9,000^

The maps of the forfeited lands comprised in the army
allotments had been completed very close upon the period of
thirteen months from February 1, 1655, to which, under his
agreement, Dr. Petty was limited ; but as he had asked time
to make the record complete, the official deposit did not take
place till June 24, 1657, when ' all the books with the respec-
tive mapps, well drawne and adorned, being fairly engrossed,
bound up, indexed and distinguished, were placed in a
noble repository of carved worke and so delivered into the
Exchequer.' 2

Fresh difficulties, however, now arose. Many of the
officers refused to take up their allotments, hoping that if
the adventurers' claims were settled first, the army would
obtain a better result by claiming the residue in what were
known as the ' dubious lands,' than if their own claims were
satisfied first, as was now proposed, and the earlier allottees
refused to give up anything. Their eyes were also still fixed
on the rich lands in County Louth, which many hoped to
obtain instead of allotments in the desolate regions of Kerry.

At length it was agreed, on the suggestion of the Lord
Deputy, that in order to get the matter forward, Dr. Petty
should go to England and meet the committee of the adven-
turers. 3 He was also entrusted with the care of handing over

deal appear to have behaved far more pp. 339, 340 ; and the Reflections,

reasonably than the grasping body of p. 25.

military men whom he had had to l Sir William Petty's Will,

meet in the first survey. The sum 2 Down Survey, p. 183, and Brief

of 600Z. is given as 60Z. in the copy Account, p. xvii. ' This cabinet of most

of Sir William Petty's will, printed in exquisite joiners' work,' also mentioned

the Petty Tracts ; but the correct as the repository of the maps in the

figure in the text of the will is that Brief Account, is probably the antique

printed above. The survey of the press discovered by Mr. Hardinge in

lands allotted to the other creditors the Treasury Buildings, Lower Castle

are not specially mentioned in any of Yard. See note at the end of the

these accounts. chapter.

9 Down Survey, chs. xii., xv. See, 3 Thurloe, vi. p. 7G0; Down Survey,

too, Sir Thomas Larcom's Notes, p. 211.

1658 THE ' ADVENTUKERS' ' SURVEY 63

to Secretary Thurloe the addresses of the Irish army accept-
ing the order of things established by ' The Humble Petition
and Advice,' and ' The Instrument of Government ' — addresses
not obtained without great difficulty from the Independent
and Anabaptist officers — and he was also the bearer of letters
to General Fleetwood, and to Lord Broghill, then in England
and unwell.

' Dr. Petty,' Henry Cromwell wrote to Fleetwood, 'is
coming over with the addresses, and to see whether any con-
clusion can be made with the adventurers, with whom we are
daily troubled. I shall only say this for him, that he has in
all the late transactions shown himself an honest man.' Dr.
Petty, he told Lord Broghill, ' is one to whom your lordship
may safely communicate such things as your hearers and
indisposition will not permit you to write yourself.' 4

There is a glimpse of Dr. Petty during his visit to London
in a letter from Hartlib to Boyle, from which it appears that
his surveying operations had not quenched his interest in
scientific subjects. Dr. Petty, Hartlib tells Boyle, ' has been
with me two hours. He talked of an educational plan on
which he proposed to spend 2,000£., not doubting but that he
would be a good gainer in the conclusion of it. The design
aims at the founding of a college or colony of twenty able
learned men, very good Latinists of several nations, that
should teach the Latin tongue (as other vulgar languages are
learnt) merely by use and custom. This, with the history of
trades, he looks upon as the great pillars of the reformation
of the world.' 5

Most of his time was, however, occupied by his negotia-
tions. He found the committee of adventurers again in-
volved in disputes. It required several months to adjust the
points at issue, but so favourable was the impression he
created, that notwithstanding anonymous attacks which
pursued him from Ireland, instigated by the officers who were
dissatisfied at not obtaining full measure, he was made a

4 H. Cromwell to Fleetwood, May 5, 5 Hartlib to Boyle, August 10, 1658,

1658 ; H. Cromwell to Lord Broghill, in Boyle's Works, v. p. 280.
May 1658 ; Thurloe, vii. pp. 144-5.

64 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap. 11

member of the executive appointed by the adventurers'
committee for the distribution of their lands. This execu-
tive accomplished its task about the autumn of 1658. The
work was far easier than in the case of the army lands,
for the claims as a rule were larger in amount and smaller
in number. As in the case of the army lands, a ballot
or boxing was adopted to settle the order of the claim-
ants, and the lands were distributed by the string thus
created. The maps of the counties which were the joint
property of the adventurers and the army, and of Louth,
had been completed in about thirteen months, but they
were not returned into the Surveyor-General's Office till the
latter end of 1659, for reasons similar to those which had
caused a delay in the final deposit of the maps of the army
survey.

The allotment of the adventurers' lands was the last step
in the great work Dr. Petty had undertaken, and before it was
entirely completed an event had occurred which hastened
it on and rendered all the claimants anxious to settle. On
September 4, 1658, the Protector died, while Dr. Petty was
still in England. By the end of the year, except in the ' dubious
lands,' the allottees were everywhere entering into possession.
Owing, however, to the determination of the earlier military
allottees not to allow their allotments to be pared down to a
common level, and the impossibility of giving possession in the
case of the ' dubious, encumbered and withdrawn lands,' great
inequalities still existed, ' some of the adventurers being left defi-
cient and some of the soldiers being wholly deficient also, and
some but in part satisfied ; some according to a quota of 4s. M.
in the pound, and some 2s. 3d. only.' The maximum actually
received seems to have varied from 12s. M. to 13s. 4d. 3 The
allotment was not indeed perfect ; the circumstances did not
permit of it ; but to the rapidity with which the survey and the
distribution were carried out, the army and the adventurers
owed it that they were in possession of their lands at the
Restoration, when a very different distribution would probably

6 ' Another more calm and true Nelligan MS., Brit. Mus. ; see also
narrative of the sale and settlement,' Down Survey, p. 208.

1658 OPINION OF CLARENDON 65

have taken place, if the advocates of change had not been met
by the logic of accomplished facts, which they were compelled,
however unwillingly, to respect.

From first to last the settlement of Ireland by the Com-
monwealth had occupied a space of four years, of which
the actual distribution of the lands had occupied half. All
this, * which is the more wonderful,' says Clarendon, ' was
done and settled within little more than two years, to that
degree of perfection that there were many buildings raised for
beauty as well as for use, orderly plantation of trees, and
fences and enclosures raised throughout the kingdom, pur-
chases made by one from the other at very valuable rates, and
jointures made upon marriages, and all other conveyances and
settlements executed as in a kingdom at peace within itself,
and where no doubt would be made of the validity of the
titles.' 7 Such is the contemporary testimony of the great
historian of the rebellion. Equally decisive is the verdict of
one of the most skilled of modern Irish administrators, and
one of the highest authorities on the art of surveying — at an
interval of nearly two centuries — on the labours of his pre-
decessor. 'It is difficult,' Sir Thomas Larcom wrote in 1851,
' to imagine a work more full of perplexity and uncertainty than
to locate 32,000 officers, soldiers, and followers, with adven-
turers, settlers, and creditors of every kind and class, having
different and uncertain claims, on lands of different and un-
certain value in detached parcels sprinkled over two-thirds of
the surface of Ireland ; nor, as Dr. Petty subsequently ex-
perienced, a task more thankless in the eyes of the contem-
porary million. It was for his comfort that he obtained and
kept the good opinion of those who were unprejudiced and
impartial. The true appeal is to the quiet force of public
opinion, as time moves on and anger gradually subsides ; and
from that tribunal the award has long been favourable to the
work of Dr. Petty. It stands to this day, with the accom-
panying books of distribution, the legal record of the title on
which half the land of Ireland is held ; and for the purpose to
which it was and is applied, it remains sufficient.' 8

7 Clarendon's Life, p. 116. 8 Down Survey, notes, pp. 338, 347.

F

66 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, n

NOTES TO CHAPTER II

I

On the Maps of the Survey

It may be surmised that the chest mentioned in Chapter XIII. of
the ' Down Survey ' is the same as that described by Mr. Hardinge,
which, on being opened by him in a room where it was discovered
at Dublin in 1837, was found to contain townlands maps of some
of the surveys on two scales : a reduced scale as described in the
' Brief Account,' and a larger scale, from which apparently the
official maps had been reduced, thereby affording important evidence
for Mr. Hardinge' s contention that there were two sets of townland
maps — the first set on a large scale, and the second set or official
maps on a reduced scale. The latter were undoubtedly those officially
deposited. The maps so deposited were, however, not uniform in
scale, but were made on a variety of scales in order to accommodate
the baronies and parishes, which naturally varied in size, to a sheet
of ' royal ' paper of uniform dimensions ; the effect of which was
to reduce the original barony maps to scales varying from 80 to 640
perches to the square inch, and the original parish maps to scales
varying from 60 to 140 perches to the square inch. These official
maps were greatly injured in the fire of 1711, which destroyed a
large portion of the Government offices in Dublin. What became
of the original maps is doubtful. 9 A few of them were found by
Mr. Hardinge in 1837 in the old press in the ancient Treasury
buildings in Dublin, with a few of the reduced official and parish
maps, but the remainder have been lost. Their discovery, as
pointed out by Mr. Hardinge, would be of special interest, owing to
the partial destruction of the official maps. 1 ' A set of barony maps,'
says Mr. Hardinge, 'preserved in La Bibliotheque Imperiale at Paris,
have by many been supposed to be the originals. The Irish Parlia-
ment and the Government were led into this mistake when Colonel
Yallancey, B.E., was engaged, at a heavy cost, in 1791, to make

9 Down Survey, p. 323, note to the chests of Distribution books, with

ch. vii. ; Hardinge, pp. 26-9. two chests of loose papers relating to

1 In the estimate of his estate made the Survey, the two great Barony

in his will, Sir W. Petty says : * I books, and the books of the History of

value my three chests of original the Survey, altogether, at two thou-

mapps, Field books, the copy of the sand pounds.'
Down Survey with barony mapps, and

1658 THE SURVEY MAPS 67

copies of them for the office of Surveyor- General of Crown Lands in
Ireland. The Irish Record Commissioners fell into the same error,
and it has been recently reiterated in the Preface to a " Calendar of
the Patent and Close Rolls of Chancery in the Reign of Queen
Elizabeth," compiled by Mr. James Morrin, and published under
the directions of the Master of the Rolls in Ireland, with the further
additional statement, " that the Down Survey records were carried
to France by King James II., and that they still remain there." I
personally examined the Parisian set of barony maps many years
ago, and after a very careful comparison of them with an original
volume, belonging to the Surveyor- General's set, brought with me
for the purpose, can authoritatively pronounce the Parisian maps
to be but copies of the Down Survey barony maps, enlarged in their
text by introducing into their parochial subdivisions the outlines
and names of the townlands ; and this enlargement was made by
Petty from the Surveyor- General's set of Down Survey parish
maps. The difference between the Down Survey and Parisian set
of barony maps is so striking, that I am surprised that any official
examiner should have concluded the Parisian set to be originals.
The history of the Parisian maps is this. A French privateer,
cruising in the Channel in the year 1710, captured a ship having on
board these maps in transit from Dublin to the son and heir of Sir
William Petty, at Lothbury, London, when they were immediately
carried to Paris and deposited in La Bibliotheque du Roi, where
they have remained ever since. Were this set of barony maps
restored by the French Government, they would be of no more
value than the copies made of them by Vallancey. They were
compiled, as described, from the Down Survey barony and parish
maps, between the years 1660 and 1678, while Vallancey' s copies of
these were made in 1790 and 1791, but neither set would be
received as evidence, except by consent, in any court of justice
in these kingdoms.' 2 The error as to these maps noticed by
Mr. Hardinge is repeated in Edward's ' History of Libraries,'
ii. 259.

During the Lord Lieutenancy of the Earl of Essex, who succeeded
the Duke of Ormonde, copies of the barony maps were by his direc-
tion made by Mr. Thomas Taylor, in sixteen volumes, imperial
folio. These found their way into the Ashburnham collection of
manuscripts, and without their aid no complete idea can be formed
of the distribution of the forfeited lands. 3

Hardinge, pp. 32, 33. sioners, Part III. p. 40 ; and Har-

3 See Appendix to the Eighth Ee- dinge, Part III. p. 284, who says two
port of the Historical MSS. Commis- copies were made.

p2

68 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, ii

II

Clauses of the Act of 1653 relating to purchase of land by the
surveyors and others, and their payment in land debentures :

1 Provided always, and be it hereby declared, that no Surveyor-
General, Eegistrar, Under- Surveyor, or any other person employed
in the execution of this service, his or their childe, or children,
during the time of their employment, or any in trust for him or
them, shall be admitted directly or indirectly, to be a purchaser of
any part of the lands to be surveyed, upon pain that the purchase
be void unless that they do first acquaint the Commissioners of
Parliament with their desires and obtain excuse from them for the
same.'

' Provided always that if any of the aforesaid persons to be
employed by this Act, their child or children, heir or executors,
have arreares or publique debts due unto them from the Parliament,
which shall be allowed of as aforesaid, that the Commissioners of
Parliament be and are hereby authorized to lay out and make over
lands for their satisfaction in such manner and at such rates as are
appointed by this present Act for other arrears or debts of the same
nature.' 4

4 Scobell, Acts and Ordinances for 1653, ch. xii.

_-..J

London-; Jntvu Murray, ALbemarl& Street/.

69

CHAPTER III

DR. PETTY AND HENRY CROMWELL
1658-1660

Sir Hierome Sankey — Dr. Petty and Henry Cromwell — Death of Oliver Crom-
well—Attacks on Dr. Petty — Election at Kinsale— M.P. for West Looe —
Attack on Dr. Petty in Parliament — Dr. Petty's speech — Fall of the Crom-
wellian party — Renewed attacks on Dr. Petty — ' Reflections on Ireland ' —
* History of the Survey ' — The Restoration— Character of Bradshaw —
Politics and Religion — The Situation in 1660.

Dr. Petty's work was now over, with the exception of the
distribution of the ' dubious lands.' The survey was com-
plete, and, in the statutory acceptation of the term, all
were technically 'satisfied.' But considering the nature of
the operation, the number of the claimants, and all the cir-
cumstances of the case, it can hardly be a matter of surprise
that many were very far from being contented. From the
very outset, the soldiers had been anything but unanimous
in approving the plan of paying them with Irish land ; and,
partly owing to their discontent, and partly through pecuniary
distress, they had commenced selling their debentures at
cheap rates to the officers, who eagerly welcomed the oppor-
tunity of becoming large landed proprietors. Many also of
the officers, and some of the most influential, were dis-
contented with the results of the allotment in their own
particular cases. Some impugned the ways of Providence,
others blamed Dr. Petty. Discontent was especially prevalent
among the Munster regiments, the lot of which had partly
fallen in the inhospitable regions of Kerry. At an early stage
in the distribution, a struggle had begun between the Commit-
tees respectively representing these regiments and those whose
lot had fallen in Leinster and Ulster, as to the assignment of
certain properties. 1 The leader on the Munster side amongst

1 Down Survey, ch. x.

70 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, hi

the officers was Sir Hierome Sankey. He is described by Wood
as having been educated at Cambridge ; ' but being more given
to manly exercises than logic and philosophy, he was observed
by his contemporaries to be a boisterous fellow at cudgelling
and football playing, — though a candidate for holy orders
— and more fitt in all respects to be a rude soldier than a scholar
or man of polite parts. In the beginning of the rebellion, he
threw off his gown, and took up arms for the Parliament; and
soon after became a captain, a Presbyterian, an Independent,
a preacher, and I know not what besides,' says Wood, who
goes on to relate that, when the war ceased and the King's
cause declined, Sir Hierome obtained a fellowship at All Souls
College from the committee of visitors. He was proctor in
1649, and officiated as such when Fairfax was made a Doctor
of Civil Law, but ' retained his military employment, and went
in the character of a commander to Ireland.' 2 There he served
with great distinction, and was amongst the earliest grantees of
forfeited lands, as upon a Parliamentary order of October 22,
1652, the Commissioners for the affairs of Ireland ordered a
survey to be made of the manor of Kilmainham in Leinster
in his favour. 3 He next declared himself an Anabaptist,
and trusting partly to his own pushing temperament, and
partly to the favour which he enjoyed with the extreme
fanatics of the army owing to his new profession of faith,
he attempted to obtain an order for rejecting three thousand
acres which had fallen to him by lot, and for enabling him
to elect arbitrarily the same quantity elsewhere, ' a thing,'
says Dr. Petty, ' never before heard of. 5 4 This demand the
Commissioners refused, and Sir Hierome determined to have
his revenge, 5 especially on Dr. Petty, whom he considered
mainly responsible for the refusal.

Other circumstances besides these militated to bring Sir
Hierome into collision with Dr. Petty and to embitter the
quarrel. Not only was Sir Hierome an Anabaptist, but

2 Wood, Fasti Oxonienses, Part II. Preface xxiv. and p. 130.
pp. 119, 148, 156, Ed. 1817 ; see also A 3 Hardinge, p. 5.

Contemporary History of Affairs in 4 Reflections, p. 69.

Ireland, ed. by Mr. John L. Gilbert 5 Down Survey, p. 81.

for the Irish Archaeological Society.

1658 SIR HIEROME SANKEY 7]

he appears to have belonged to a peculiar section of
that body, which professed itself able to cure illness by the
laying on of hands, and was persuaded that the fumes of
their own bodily humours were the emanations of God's
spirit. 6 On these claims Dr. Petty was constantly pouring a
boundless ridicule from the point of view of medical science.
His ' Keflections' are full of grotesque anecdotes of the spiritual
claims and antics of Sir Hierome and his coadjutors. Thus
he relates how a Mr. Wadman, being in a fit of melancholy,
owing to the death of his wife, was visited by Sir Hierome,
who, taking notice of some odd expressions let fall by the
patient, came to the conclusion that Wadman was possessed :
'that is, to speak in the language of Sir Hierome's order,
enchanted.' Sir Hierome thereupon undertook to cast out
the devil. At the end of every period of his conjurations, he
would ask Mr. Wadman ' how he did,' to which the invariable
reply was, ' All one.' ' At length, Sir Hierome being weary of
his vain exorcisms, was fain to say that Wadman's devil was
of that sort which required fasting as well as prayer to expell
it. Whereupon the spectators, observing how plentifully Sir
Hierome had eaten and tippled that evening, did easily con-
ceive the cause why the devil did not stir.' Sir Hierome
claimed earlier in life to have successfully exorcised a cele-
brated walking spirit named ' Tuggin,' ' between whom and
him there were great bickerings ; ' but that struggle, Dr. Petty
maliciously reminded his adversary, was when he was aspiring
to holy orders in the Established Church, 7 and he told him
that he might consequently be more correctly described as a
' curate adventurer ' than a ' knight adventurer.' 8 For these
jibes and jeers Dr. Petty had to pay. All through the
later stages of the distribution of the army lands, Dr. Petty
describes himself, alluding possibly to the early prowess in
manly sports of Sir Hierome — as ' having been like a restless
football, kickt up and down by the dirty feet of a discontented
multitude,' and as ' having been tyed all day long to the stake,
to be baited for the most part by irrational creatures. 9 . . .

6 Reflections, p. 139. 8 Ibid. p.

7 Ibid. pp. 101, 102. 9 Ibid. p.

20.

72 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, hi

' His adversaries were persons of extraordinary perti-
nacity, sometimes raising up one, sometimes another evil
report, sometimes asserting one kind of crime, sometimes
another ; sometimes accusing him before the Council, some-
times causing him to be convened before the general and chief
officers ; then setting up a court in the Green Chamber at
Dublin, under the pretence of deciding controversies between
soldier and soldier ; and sometimes designing to trouble him
at law, wherein they knew he had noe experience or dexterity
to defend himself.' l

After the dissolution of the second Parliament called
by the Protector, in 1658, the struggle between him and
the Anabaptists continued, and the favour shown to Dr.
Petty by Henry Cromwell was a sufficient reason for his being
the mark of the attacks of the religious fanatics. He was
censured by the old surveyors, the proteges of Worsley, many
of whom he had had to dismiss as incompetent, the evidence
against them being only too clear. Then 'another more
dreadful clamour arose,' that he had employed drunken
surveyors ; and that through their drunkenness unprofitable
land, especially in Kerry, had been set out as profitable land
to the detriment of the soldiery, and to his own advantage. 2
His foes declared him to be ' a Socinian, a Jesuit, and an
atheist. 7 3 He, on the other hand, considered them as
' hypocrites, proud Pharisees and Ananiases, following Christ
for loaves.' They accused him of having profited by his
position as Commissioner to rob the army, to plunder the
adventurers, and to defraud the State. He charged them with
having wished to do so, and of having only failed through his
own opposition.

Where open attack had failed, flattery, it was thought,
might succeed, and his enemies now offered, as a pretended
mark of distinction, to give him the command of a troop
of horse, ' believing that being no soldier, he should soon
fall into some misfortune, for which they would disgrace

1 Down Survey, p. 257. says that Dr. Petty's answers were

' l Ibid, chaps, ix. and x. and Sir perfectly satisfactory.
Thomas Larcom's Note, p. 329, who 3 Reflections, p. 137.

1658 DR. PETTY AND HENRY CROMWELL 73

or punish him at a court martial of their own packing/ 4 But
the wary Doctor, knowing full well what was intended, refused
the insidious honour and declined to be tempted with the pro-
spect of enjoying military rank. A more agreeable distinction,
however, awaited him, for at this moment, ' even,' as he says,
' when the cry of his adversaries was loudest/ he received the
appointment at a salary of 400L a year of Additional Clerk to
the Council, 5 and Private Secretary to the Lord Deputy, which
title Henry Cromwell now at length assumed. The honour
w r as evidently intended as a rebuke to his assailants. 6

' The access, however, of these new and more honourable
trusts,' he relates, ' did but quench his fires with oyle, and
provoked his ambitious adversaries to think of hewing down
the tree uppon a twigg whereof he stood ; so as by multiplying
their surmises and clamours hee became the Eobin Good-
fellow and Oberon of the country ; for as heretofore domestics
in the country did sett on foot the opinion of Kobin Goodfellow
and the fairies, that when themselves had stolen junkets, they
might accuse Kobin Goodfellow of itt ; and when themselves
had been revelling at unreasonable hours of the night, they
might say the fairies danced ; and when by wrapping them-
selves in white sheets, they might go any-whither without
opposition, upon the accompt of there being ghosts and walk-
ing spirits ; in the same manner several of the Agents of the
Army, when they could not give a good accompt of themselves
to those that entrusted them, to say that Dr. Petty was the
cause of the miscarriage w r as a ready and credible excuse.' 7

4 Down Survey, p. 257. Naturam ruin* surripuit : siquidem in

5 Ibid. p. 209. ea nihil bonos mores vitiaturum,

6 The following is a specimen of nihil in imperium nunc florens insidi-
Dr. Petty's Latin style as Clerk to the arum, nee argutias sacrse Fidei infestas
Council. video. Guil. Petty, cler. Concilii.

' License to authorize the publica- Datum Dublinii, et Camera Concilii,

tion of a Latin treatise on Death, by ult. Januarii 1658.' Thanatologia,

John Stearne, M.D., at Dublin in seu De Morte Dissertatio . . . Authore

1659. Johanne Stearne Medicines Doctore,

' Hauriat vitalem auram elegans de 12 Dublin, 1659. I am indebted to

Morte Dissertatio, qua doctissimus W. J. P. Gilbert for this document.

Stearnius noster non modo famam 7 Down Survey, ch. xiv. pp. 209,

suam Morti, sed etiam universam 210 ; Reflections, p. 113.

74 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, in

And so on throughout the whole chapter. "Whatever went
wrong was the fault of Dr. Petty ; for whatever went right
small thanks were due to him : the disappointed accused him
of being the cause of their disappointment ; and the envious
affected to believe he had been corrupted by those to whom
the best lands had fallen.

As the surveyors themselves could not be proved to have
been all either dishonest, incompetent, or drunkards, he was
accused-, notwithstanding the precautions he had taken, of
having maliciously made them return unprofitable as profit-
able land, to increase his own gains, and when it was pointed
out that special precautions had been taken to prevent this,
his methods, it was said, were employed ' to obscure his games/
by puzzling and confounding the surveyors, and so making
them amenable to his purposes. To some he was ' a juggler ; '
to others he was ' Judas Iscariot ; ' to all the discontented
alike he was the common enemy, to be denounced and hunted
down as best they might, by force or by fraud, according to
the circumstances of the hour. 8

The Anabaptists now commenced an organised attack on
the Protector in England, and their influence made itself felt
in Ireland in a general sense of trouble and unrest. ' It is
the worms or vipers lying in the guttsof the Commonwealth,'
Henry Cromwell wrote home to Lord Fauconberg, ' which
have caused the frettings and gnawings you mention ; and this
I rather believe, because of the five hundred maggots which
you say are now again busily crawling out of the excrements
of Mr. Freak's corrupted church.' 9 ' I never lived a more
miserable life than now,' Dr. Petty wrote to Eobert Boyle. 1
But, supported as he was by Henry Cromwell, he could have
continued to defy his enemies, if at this critical moment
the death of the Protector had not altered the whole cha-
racter of the political situation, and threatened to expose him
to far more serious dangers than any which he had hitherto
had to fear.

8 Down Survey, eh. ix. p. 80 ; ch. x. men.

pp. 102-103. Brief Account, p. xvii. l H. Cromwell to Viscount Fau-

9 Freak was one of the leading conberg, February 10, 1657 ; Thurloe,
preachers amongst the Fifth Monarchy vi. p. 789; Boyle's Works, v. 298.

1658 DEATH OF OLIVEK CROMWELL 75

* How hard it is/ Henry Cromwell wrote, on the arrival
of the news of the illness of his father, to Secretary Thurloe,
' to reflect upon the consequences of his Highness' death, and
yet cheerfully to kiss the rod ! If wee may speak as men, if
no settlement be made in his lifetime, can we be secure from
the lusts of ambitious men ? Nay, if he would declare his
successor, where is that person of wisdom, courage, conduct,
and, which is equivalent to all, reputation at home and abroad,
which we see necessary to preserve our peace ? Would not
goode men feare one another and the worlde them ? Would
not the sons of Zeruiah bee to strong for us, and the wheell
be turned upon us, even though the most wise and powerful
single person could be chosen out ? ' 2

All the pent-up passions and jealousies, which had been
kept under restraint by the stern determination of the deceased
Protector to maintain the framework of a regular government,
were now let loose. The pure Parliamentarians or Common-
wealth men, most of whom had been in retirement since the
dispersion of the Long Parliament, came forth from their
hiding-places, believing that the future lay with them, and
that the hour of real liberty was at length at hand. A
struggle at once commenced between them and the adherents
of the dead Protector ; and both eagerly courted the army,
in which Sankey and his Anabaptist allies were powerfully
represented. The Fifth Monarchy men believed that the
second advent of Christ was not far distant, and justified
themselves by visions and by the ominous signs of the times.
The Eoyalists, with a keen eye for the quarrels of their
adversaries, believed the return of Charles II. to be a more
probable event ; and whether belonging to the Cavalier or
Presbyterian section of the party, determined to miss no
opportunity of embarrassing the Government. ' Great en-
deavours being used by some, upon the death of Oliver Pro-
tector, for a change of Government,' Dr. Petty writes with
reference to this period, ' it was thought convenient to begin
the ruin of that family, with pulling out the smaller pins of
that frame wee were in.' One of those 'pins' the Doctor

2 H. Cromwell to Thurloe, September 3, ]658. Thurloe, vii. p. 376.

76 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, iit

knew himself to be; and he noted the probability of the
assembling of a very factious Parliament. 3 Signs of coming
trouble were soon apparent.

At the latter end of 1658, an anonymous pamphlet had
been issued in Dublin, during the Doctor's absence in London,
whither, as already seen, he had gone to attend the Committee
of the Adventurers ; and copies were sent to Secretary
Thurloe and others. This pamphlet began by reciting how
he * had the opportunity of the Lord Deputy and Ladye's ear,
as well as being his physician, and as complying with the then
predominant party.' 4 It compared Henry Cromwell to Henry
VIII. and Dr. Petty to Cardinal Wolsey ; and concluded with
a long series of general charges of dishonesty and malver-
sation. ' A simple and malicious paper, which truly I sett
nothing by,' Thurloe wrote to Henry Cromwell. 5 The latter
at once referred it to a body of forty leading officers to
examine, and these officers appointed a committee on the
matter, 6 which recommended the preparation of a reply by
Dr. Petty and his colleagues on the Committee of Distribution,
in the shape of an authentic book and record to show in detail
what had been done with the army's security. An order to
this effect was issued by the Irish Council on December 20,
1658, and it proceeded to appoint another committee, on
which Sir Hierome himself, Gookin and King had places, to
consider the matter. 7

The pamphlet had been inspired by, if it was not the
actual work of Sir Hierome himself. The grievance specially
put forward related to the liberties of the city of Limerick,
the charge made being one to which Dr. Petty's connection
with the family of the Protector gave a special colour ; for
these lands, then as now reputed amongst the best in Ireland,
had been claimed by the Council as lying within the city,
and had been principally allotted to the gentlemen of the Life

3 Down Survey, pp. 258, 271. private practice as a doctor. Reflcc-

4 He took no salary for his duties tions, p. 126, and Will,
as Private Secretary to Henry Crom- 5 Thurloe, vii. p. 282.

well and Additional Clerk to the Privy 6 Doivn Survey, ch. xvi. p. 258.

Council from this date, and gave up 7 Ibid. ch. xvii. pp. 264-269.

1658 ATTACKS ON DR. PETTY 77

Guard and the officers of the artillery train. A portion had
been elected by Dr. Petty, with the consent of the Council, as
part of his salary as Commissioner of Distributions, at the
Act rates. Sir Hierome and his supporters contended that the
Limerick lands ought to belong to one Colonel Wentworth,
under the ordinary system of boxing, 8 as forming part of the
county which had been allotted to the soldiers. The old
grievance in regard to the decision of the Council to pay part
only of the actual value of the army claims, reserving the
balance to help to clear off the debts of the Commonwealth
and to pay the expenses of the survey, was also again
brought forward, to impart an additional sting to an already
sufficiently embittered contest.

Dr. Petty, considering the character of the attacks made
upon him, and that it was generally put about that he was
shortly to be arrested, ' and as in consequence there was nor
table nor tavern in Dublin unprovided of a theame to dis-
course uppon for days together,' determined to carry the war
into the enemy's camp. He therefore drew up his reply to
show that, if accounts were to be strictly gone into, the State
was still his debtor. A memorial to this effect he placed
before the committee of officers, with facts and figures in
support, as he had nothing to keep back and everything to
gain by publicity. The committee referred it to Mr. Jeoffreys,
a member of their own body, who appears to have been
a professional accountant. His report being favourable
to Dr. Petty, four of the committee, Mr. Roberts, Mr. King,
Mr. Jeoffreys, and Vincent Gookin, drew up a report favour-
able to him; but the officers of the committee refused to
sign it, because it pointed to the Doctor's having more land,
which was against the intention of the army. 9 Then, Sir
Hierome alone dissenting, they drew up a counter report to
that effect, and without making any charges of dishonesty
or corruption. To the counter report the Doctor drew up

8 Doivn Survey, ch. xvii. pp. 281, that Dr. Petty had been compelled
285 ; Prendergast, p. 111. to sell part of his debt to a Mrs. Carey,

9 Ibid. pp. 274, 275, 276, where whose name appears at page 275, pro-
the documents are printed. It appears bably to raise ready money.

78 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, hi

an answer, and the dissentient officers again replied, when
suddenly at this point the controversy was transferred by the
action of Sir Hierome himself from Dublin to Westminster.

On January 27, 1659, the Parliament summoned by
Eichard Cromwell had met, and Ireland sent members to it.
It had been the object of the late Protector to rally to himself
the greatest possible number of members of the conservative
classes of society, but as the majority of these were Eoyalists
or Presbyterians, the choice was limited. Following the same
line of policy, Thurloe now determined to try to strengthen
their forces by the election ' of five or six good argumentative
speakers.' Amongst others the name of Dr. Petty recom-
mended itself to the managers, 1 with those of Mr. William
Temple, Mr. W. Domville, of Lincoln's Inn, Vincent Gookin,
Sir A. Morgan, and Admiral Penn. Dr. Petty was accordingly
returned as member for West Looe in Cornwall, and also
for Kinsale. Vincent Gookin was returned for Youghal.

The following letter from Vincent Gookin to the Lord
Deputy contains an interesting account of the humours of an
Irish Election in 1659 : —

Vincent Gookin to the Lord Dejnity. 2

' May it please your Excellency. Having your Excellencyes
free leave to attend this Parliament, or chuse another in my
place, I pitcht upon Doctor Petty upon these grounds. 1st,
hee is a person of excellent parts. 21y, noe person I thinke
in the 2 nations can doe more to the settlement of the
army and adventurers than hee. 31y, the good the army will
certainly receive by his management of their affayres in the
House, will convince them that they canot harme him with-
out injuring themselves, and possibly that they doe ill if they
love him not. 4thly, hee is (I humbly conceive) fit for such
worke, and will goe through with it, which is too hard for
such as I am and many others noe wiser than myselfe, to

1 Dr. Clarges to Henry Cromwell singular independence of character of*
December 8, 1658. Thurloe, vii. 553. Vincent Gookin, as Lord Broghill was

2 Lansdowne MSS., Brit. Museum, at this moment strongly supporting
822, f . 23. The letter is a proof of the the Protector.

1659 ELECTION AT KINSALE 79

deale with. 5ly, his abillity and honesty, joyned with the
good will and honesty of the other two Parliament men
chosen for this county and the citty of Corke, will contribute
much to the good of these places and make us love him who,
I conceive, deserves it.

' When I came to Corke, I found my Lord Broghill had
engaged some of the wisest of Corke Corporation, without the
consent of the brethren and the freemen of the Citty, to chuse
Lieut.-Col. ffoulkes; and that Bandon and Kinsale had in
their owne courts chosen mee. Those of Corke and Youghall,
on my desire to keepe themselves free, till they had consulted
with the other townes about their members, bemoaned the
losse of their liberty, but however those that were bound
gave those that were not, encouragment to keepe their liberty,
till they heard more from mee. From Corke I went to my
Lord Broghill, desired his assistance, that Corke might be
persuaded to chuse Doctor Petty, and Kinsale to chuse Pen.
The last hee consented ; to the first hee refused ; alleadging it
could not be done without dishonouring him, though I made
noe question but to get Lieut.-Col. ffoulkes his consent to it,
which if Lieut.-Col. ffoulkes should grant, his Lordship sayd
hee would take very ill from him. Thereupon I gave up
thinking to doe any thing in Corke, and returned to Kinsale
and Bandon, propounded Doctor Petty to them, shewing
them that their election of mee oblidged them to mee, and
their chusing Doctor Petty, at my request oblidged him too ;
to which upon the arguments used by mee and their confidence
in mee, they consented ; provided if Corke and Youghall would
chuse mee I would serve them, to which purpose they wrote a
letter to those of Corke and Youghall, which I delivered them,
and in open court told them that in performance of my engag-
ment, I would serve them if they thought fit to chuse mee ;
but withall advized them to consider of their engagement,
and that I desired it not from them, unless they thought fit ;
and untill that time I never told them or any of them, or
any other, that I had any purpose to propound my selfe to
heir election.

' This was Tuesday last in the morning. It was the

80 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, hi

Thursday before, that I was with my Lord Broghill, who in
meane time wrote about 2 dozen of letters to Corke to engage
them for ffoulkes, and had appointed particular agents to
consult with every free man in the citty, which they did at
the law offices and other such like eminent places. All this
while I was not thought of, but when I came to be thus
opposed, such a distraction grew that grieved mee. His Lord-
ship upon this alarme came soe frighted to Corke, that hee
prevented mee in shewing him how I intended his Lordship
noe harme in it ; and that his speaking but one word to the
Kinsale and Bandon people, to have quieted mee of my engag-
ment to stand for Corke and Youghall, had absolutely removed
mee out of his way, who was as much afrayd of going to the
Parliament as his Lordship was of my ellection. His Lordship
as soone as hee came to Corke, and the solemnityes of his
coming performed, went to the Court and there rayled
upon mee and magnified his owne services. Wheather his
Lordship did himselfe any good in it or mee hurt, others
more indifferent to judge will ere long informe your Lordship.
' Upon the coming of the Bandon and Kinsale people to
Corke, I desired them for quietness sake to free me from my en-
gagment, which they, (unspeakably kind to mee in everything)
granted, and thereupon I signified soe much to the citty : all
which notwithstanding, I assure your Lordship that in the
towne hall at the election of Lieut. Col. ffoulkes, his Lord-
ship had with him but one alderman upon the bench and
one in the crowd, and not above 30 of 400 freeholders in
the citty at the election, but his Lordships owne people cryed
up Lieut. Col. ffoulkes. And I doe profess to your Lordship
that I did not in all that time by myselfe or any other in
the least measure interpose in the election, or speake to one
person on my behalfe, though his Lordship doubting mee,
sent to their owne lodgings, for more than 100 of the free-
holders, man by man, and engaged some : others refused.
Thus much I have presumed to aquaint your Excellency,
because I know his Lordship will endeavour to prejudice mee.
There are many particular passages in the carrying on this
business, by which when I have the honour to waite on your

1659 M.P. FOK WEST LOOE 81

Excellency, I shall make it apeare that I designed the election
of Doctor Petty, without offering in the least to prejudice his
Lordships honour, or thuart his purpose, unless against
Dr. Petty, which I confess I should have done, and did, and
doe hope I have not done amisse in it. I know my Lord I
have not bin in my Lord Broghill's favour these many yeares.
Hee now tels the people but what I knew before : that
hee is my enemy. I beseech your Lordship to suspend your
judgment of this difference till you heare mee speake for my
selfe, who am

* My Lord

* Your Lordships obedient and
faythfull servant

'Vin. Gookin.

' Kinsale, Jan. 21, 1659.'

Having been elected for two places, Dr. Petty had to choose
between them, and selected West Looe. Meanwhile, Sir
Hierome had been elected for Woodstock, and at once
sounded the note of attack.

Dr. Petty went to Westminster armed with a letter from
the Lord Deputy to Secretary Thurloe. ' The bearer,' Henry
Cromwell wrote, ' hath been my Secretary and Clerk of the
Council, and is one whom I have known to be an honest and
ingenious man. He is like to fall into some trouble from
some who envy him. I desire you to be acquainted with him,
and to assist him whenever he shall reasonably desire it.
Great endeavours have been used to beget prejudices against
him, but when you shall speak with him, he will appear
otherwise.' 3

On March 24, 1659, Sir Hierome in his place in the
House had already impeached Dr. Petty. ' I open,' he said,
' the highest charge against a member of this House that ever

3 June 1659. See Ward, Lives of W. Cromwell of Gray's Inn, Esqre.'

the Professors of Gresham College, The date given is June 11, 1659, but

1740, p. 220, who says the original is it would appear to be of a slightly

from a collection of letters ' now in the earlier date in that year,
hands of Henry Cromwell's grandson?

G

82 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, hi

was ; such news has not been of a long time : a high breach
of trust. It is against a great person — the charge consists
of several articles : (1) bribery ; (2) imposing money and lands.
He is both cook, caterer, and is Commissioner and Surveyor ;
has had the disposing of two million acres of lands. He is a
man of great parts, and has greatly wronged them. His name
is Dr. Petty.' He then proceeded to develop his charges.

A debate ensued, in the course of which the good service
the Doctor had rendered to the State, and the vexatious pro-
ceedings to w 7 hich he had already been exposed in Ireland,
without any malpractices having been proved against him, were
urged on his behalf by Sir A. Morgan and Mr. Annesley.
Finally it w T as ordered, ' that William Petty, Doctor of Physic,
a member of this House, be appointed to attend this House,
on this day month, to answer the charge.' 4

On March 26 accordingly, Dr. Petty received a summons
' to attend the House ' on April 21, together with a copy of
* certain articles brought into the House against him.'
They were seven in number, and in substance contained
a repetition of those against which he had been defending
himself in Dublin, to which was added a mass of vague charges
of dishonesty and corruption. The last article contained the
sting of the whole matter : * That he, the said Doctor, together
with his fellow Commissioners, have totally disposed of the re-
maining part of the Army's security contrary to law, the debt
still remaining, and chargeable on the State.'

Henry Cromwell watched the proceedings from Ireland
with the deepest interest. ' On Friday,' Dr. Thomas Clarges
wrote to him, ' Sir Hierome Sankey brought a charge into the
House, of bribery and breach of trust against Dr. Petty, to
which he set his hand ; and, amongst other expressions, he
told us he knew so well the danger of bringing a charge o
that nature against a member of Parliament, that he would
not have done it, but in confidence to make it good. Many of
the Long Robe were against the receiving of it till it should

4 Commons Journals, March 24, 1659. Thurloe, vii. p. 658.

1659 ATTACK ON DR. PETTY IN PARLIAMENT 83

have been digested into particulars, for the charge was general ;
but at last it was resolved he should be summoned to attend
the House that day month ; and I believe Sir Hierome finds
the sense of the House so much inclined to particularizing
his charges, that he is gone to Ireland, to enable him to do
it ; and yesterday he began his journey. . . . The speech
Sir Hierome made before he declared his charge made the
business seem very great; but when the thing itself was
read, it made but little impression. Mr. Annesly told us
the Doctor had been used to things of this nature, but never
yet upon any examination could anything be fastened upon
him, and he doubted not but he would acquit himself of
this.' 5

Henry Cromwell, whom Dr. Petty describes as ' passionately
affected with the hardships used towards him,' 6 expressed his
views on the subject to Secretary Thurloe by letter. ' I have
heretofore told you,' he wrote, ' my thoughts of Dr. Petty, and
I am still of the same opinion ; and if Sir Hierome Sankey
run him not down with number and noise of adventurers and
such like concerned persons, I believe the Parliament will find
him as I have represented him. He has curiously deluded
me these four years, if he be a knave. I am sure the junto
of them, who are most busie, are not men of the quietest
temper. I doe not expect you will have leisure or see cause to
appeare much for him. Wherefore this is only to let you
understand my present thoughts of him. The activenesse of
Kobert Eeynolds, and others, in this businesse, shows that
Petty is not the only marke aimed at ; but God's will be done
in all things.' 7

On the day appointed, Thursday, April 21, Dr. Petty
appeared in his place and Sir Hierome attempted to make
good his charges. The rashness with which in the first
instance they had been advanced, was evident from the
prosecutor being now obliged to drop the most important of
the original set of articles he had exhibited, six in number,
and also three of the seven instances of misdoing which he

5 Thurloe, vii. p. 639. 6 Reflections, p. 50.

7 Thurloe, vii. p. 651.

g 2

84 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, hi

had specified in Parliament, and he was driven by the
demand of the House to condescend from mere generalities
to some kind of particulars. 8

After he had spoken amid signs of much impatience,
Dr. Petty replied in a speech of studied moderation. Having
first commented on the vagueness of the charges, and the
entire absence of anything approaching to specific counts
in the huge indictment and the total lack of evidence,
he described the difficulty of the task he had had to perform,
the grasping character of many of the men he had had to
satisfy, and the impossibility of not making some enemies in
so vast an undertaking. He then insisted that the lands he
had got had become his, either as direct payment for his work,
or as purchases legitimately made by the permission of the
Council, after the other claimants had been satisfied ; and he
again asserted that, if a strict account were to be taken, the
State would be found to be still his debtor, and that he had
nothing to conceal.

' I never/ he said, ' was surveyor by office, but undertaker
by contract, and rather a contriver of the way and method
how many surveyors should work, than a surveyor myself.
... I never meddled with leases or debentures till this
surveyorship, such as it was, was at an end ; and then, and
when the distribution also was over, I got an express and
legal leave to buy more debentures than I did. ... I confess,
Sir,' he went on, ' there is a singularity in the modes of one
or two of my satisfactions, but this singularity is a prejudice
to no man but myself ; a convenience to some ; and an
advantage to the State. 9 The practices I have used as Com-
missioner and Surveyor,' he continued, ' are such as I can
glory in ; that is to say to have admeasured 22 Counties in
thirteen months' time, with the chaine and instrument ; to
have done this by the ministry of about one thousand hands,
without any suit of law, either with my superiors, or with

* Reflections, p. 68. reply, are to be found at p. 292 of Sir

9 See Burton's Diary, iv. p. 469; Thomas Larcom's edition of the Down

Reflections, p. 95. Dr. Petty's speech, Survey.

reported by himself, and Sir Hierome's

1659 DK. PETTY'S SPEECH 85

them; to have maintained this survey stiff and staunch
against the impugnation of some thousand diligent fault
finders ; to have freed myself and my sureties by the consent
and mediation of forty-five officers of the Army ; a greater
number, Mr. Speaker, than usually voucheth any Act called
the Army's ; to have assigned satisfaction for above twenty
thousand debentures, as that admitted of no dropping and
changing afterwards ; and so as a slight copy out of our book
is accepted in Courts of Justice as good evidence, merely by
virtue of the natural justice and validity whereupon it stands ;
to have done this under the eye of the chief authority, with-
out ever receiving any check or reproofe for what was done ;
or without being bid so much as to take heed, or do so no
more ; and, which is more than all, Mr. Speaker, that God
gave me courage to oppose the greatest persons, though always
with due respect to their condition, merely to obtain strictness
of rule ; although those worthy persons have afterwards ac-
compted our severity their security, and have thanked us for
it. The truth of it is, Mr. Speaker, this kind of severity
to those that could not bear it but made us enemies ;
whereas corrupt partiality would have made us a kind of
friends ; and this is not the course of corrupt and wicked
ministers.' *

The House of Commons seems to have been inclined to
regard Sir Hierome and his charges with considerable im-
patience. Possibly they had heard of Mr. Wadman and of
' Tug-gin.' The accounts of the debate suggest the reflection
that Parliamentary human nature in the days of the Common-
wealth was much as it is now. Members begin rising to
order and asking Mr. Speaker : ' I wonder you, Sir, so much
forget yourself as to hearken to private quarrels, and neglect
the public' Then, ' the House fell a talking with one another.'
Then somebody moves that ' the gentleman bring his charge
in writing,' and so on. Eventually the House, ' after that
they had tryed by interrupting and downright jeering Sir
Hierome to stop his mouth, did in order to be rid of him
order that he should put his charges into writing, and that

1 Down Survey, ch. xxiii. p. 292.

86 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, hi

the complaints he made of the retention by Dr. Petty of certain
maps and plotts, which he asserted ought to have been de-
posited with the others, with the Surveyor General, should be
referred to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, to deal with ac-
cording to law.' 2

These maps were the ' originalls,' or first editions, of the
maps of the forfeited lands with which, it has been seen, Dr.
Petty was himself dissatisfied, and corrected editions of which
he deposited in the Surveyor-General's office against the dis-
tribution ; and also the rough sketches of the smaller * plott '
maps of the allotments as set out to each claimant. All these
he claimed to be his own private property ; but he offered to
part with them at reasonable rates, if his adversaries thought
they could be of the smallest practical use to them, or to any-
body else. 3

The day following Dr. Petty's speech Parliament was dis-
solved. The danger for the moment was over, and he at once
made for Ireland. ' Dr. Petty is all at large/ Lord Fauconberg
wrote in cypher to Henry Cromwell, who probably feared he
might be forcibly detained. 4 He was gone to meet General
Fleetwood and confer with him before returning to Ireland.
On his way thither he wrote to Henry Cromwell :—

' May it please your Excellency. — Sir Hierome beeing now a
very great man and one of ye Committee of Safety, did in a
manner command mee to stay here, declaring his pleasure to
have mee presented another way, &c. Neverthelesse when
nothing else hind'red I came from London without his leave.
Your Excellency will have fresher newes by the post than
any I can write. "Wee overtooke a Troop sent into Wales for
what new purpose I know not. Gr. Henry Pierce and Lieut.-
Col. Stephens are here at Neston. Majr. Aston upon the way.
People take the late transactions very patiently. I hope I shall

2 Reflections, pp. 72, 95 ; Down has already been made. He thinks
Survey, p. 300. I* r - Petty on the whole ought not to

3 See note at the end of the last have been allowed to retain the maps,
chapter as to the maps. See also 4 October 12, 1658. Thurloe, vii.
Reflections, pp. 36, 37. Compare Mr. p. 437. See, for the letter to Eichard
Hardinge's remarks in the volume of Cromwell, Thurloe, vii. p. 400.

the Transactions to which reference

1659 FALL OF THE CROMWELLIAN PARTY 87

be permitted to proceed with my Vindicacion at Dublin, if this
be a time for any particular busines lesse then the preser-
vacion of the whole.

' I remain
' May it please your Excellency

' Your Excellency's most obedient
and faithful servant

'Wm. Petty. 5

' Sir Ant. Morgan thinks of
retiring to Tame Park this summer,
but is at present at Chelsey,
< Neston, 5° May 59.'

Dr. Petty brought with him to Dublin a message from
General Fleetwood, urging the Lord Deputy to come over
at once for consultation on the perilous situation of their
affairs. Henry Cromwell, however, thought it was impossible
to desert the helm of Government in Ireland, though conscious
that they both might at any moment be swept away by the
rising storm, and he resolved to send over Dr. Petty again to
state his views.

In May the restored Eump Parliament met, and on the
26th of the month the Bepublican party obtained the resigna-
tion of Eichard Cromwell. They also passed a resolution
calling on Henry Cromwell to come over/to London at once to
report. Dr. Petty had meanwhile left for England, the bearer
of a confidential letter to Eichard Cromwell, containing the
Lord Deputy's views on the situation, and of the following-
letter to General Fleetwood, evidently written under a great
sense of discouragement : —

Henry Cromwell to General Fleetwood.

6 1 received yours of the 7th instant, whereby and by divers
other letters, I take notice of the votes in Parliament concern-
ing my coming to England. That news has so many odd cir-
cumstances, and such animadversions are made upon it, as I
think it much concerns me to know the meaning with all the

5 LansdowneMS., Brit. Mus., 823, f. 36.

88 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, hi

speed I can. To which purpose I have sent the bearer, Dr.
Petty, unto you, as one whom I can best trust, now my
nearest concernments are at stake. Wherefore I desire you
to show your kindness to me in being free and plain with him,
as to such advice as you think concerns my preservation, (for
I am well contented to aim at nothing else), and especially
how I shall behave myself in reference to the summonses for
my coming over, when I receive them. I have made so good
use of my time, as I have not money to bring me. Pray give
the bearer access to you upon my account ; he does not use to
be tedious or impertinent. It concerns me to have one that I
can trust, to have such an access to you. I hope that you will
not look upon him, as to me, under the character and represen-
tation that Sir Hierome Sankey and some others may give of
him ; but rather as one, that hath been faithful and affection-
ate unto me, and I may say unto yourself also ; and one who
I think, notwithstanding all that is said, is a very honest
man. I shall not trouble you with much more. He can
best acquaint you with what concerns myself, upon which
single account I have gotten him to come for England. As
for the public differences, I never perceive him forward or busy
in any.

' Dear brother, these are times of tryall, both as to our own
hearts and our friends/ 6

When Dr. Petty arrived in London, he found the Eepub-
lican reaction at full height. A general onslaught had com-
menced on the Cromwellian party, which was driven from
place and power. Henry Cromwell was recalled from Ireland,
and Ludlow, with two other Parliamentary Commissioners,
was sent over to replace him. Dr. Petty was dismissed from
all his appointments as a matter of course. The Parliament
was overawed by the officers of the army, and Sankey became
one of the most prominent and violent of their mouthpieces in
the meetings at Wallingford House. Through his friends in

6 H. Cromwell to Fleetwood, June, 1659, the arrival of Dr. Petty and Col.
1659 ; Thurloe vii. p. 684. In the Edmund Temple as « the bearer of
Mercurius Politicus, June 16 to 23, letters ' is mentioned.

1659 RENEWED ATTACKS ON DR. PETTY 89

Parliament he at once recommenced his attack on Dr. Petty ;
but with no great success, as, although the tribunal to which
he now appealed was far more favourable to him, he only suc-
ceeded in getting the whole matter once more referred back
to the Parliamentary Commissioners for Ireland. He next
appears as one of the military junto which called together the
Committee of Public Safety, and helped Lambert to drive out
the Eump. Then, believing himself to be at last master of
the situation, he immediately threatened to detain Dr. Petty
in London by force ; but Dr. Petty availed himself of the gene-
ral confusion to escape to Dublin, which, of the two cities,
was then the safer place to abide in. 7

Sankey soon after left London to command the regiments
from Ireland in Lambert's army in the North of England.
Thence, after vainly attempting to get Dr. Petty sent over a
prisoner to England, he plied him with threatening messages,
assuring him that the army would support the Brigade's
proposals and his own complaint, and that he would show no
quarter. 1 These threats were, however, nullified by the series
of events which, beginning with the reinstatement of the
Eump by Monk, the overthrow of Lambert and the recall of
the ejected members of the Long Parliament, ended in the
restoration of the King, which had for sometime past been gene-
rally recognised as the only way out of the existing confusion.

In another field, however, Sir Hierome, during the brief
supremacy of the Eump, was able to aim a successful blow at
his antagonist. On August 9, 1659, it is recorded in the books
of Brasenose College that Dr. Petty was deprived of his
Fellowship. His long absences in Ireland, and, still more, his
acquisition of landed property, were solid grounds for urging
that he was now disqualified ; and it is perhaps not too much
to surmise that the watchful eye of the militant Fellow of
All Souls took care that, in an age singularly lax on these
matters, the disqualification in question should be observed,
at least at Brasenose.

After the fall of Lambert, Dr. Petty, though freed from all
immediate fear of Sir Hierome and his Anabaptist allies,

7 At this point the history of the Down Survey terminates.

90 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, hi

determined to appeal to the tribunal of public opinion ; and
published a short pamphlet entitled ' A Brief of the Proceed-
ings between Sir Hierome Sankey and the Author/ and also
the little book already quoted in the course of this narrative,
entitled ' Eeflections on Certain Persons and Things in Ireland.'
In these works he unveils, from their very commencement, the
whole of the doings of Sir Hierome and his adviser Worsley.
His leading adversaries, he points out, were a corrupt clique
of Anabaptists, hostile to the Cromwell family for refusing to
be governed by them, and to himself because of his views on
religion and his perhaps imprudent satires. 'Jews, Chris-
tians and Mahomedans,' he says, ' notwithstanding their vast
differences, do not make so much noise and squabble as the
subdivided sectarians do, their animosities being so much the
greater, by how much their differences are smaller. Upon
which grounds some w r ith too much truth, as well as too much
looseness, have pronounced that gathering of churches may
be termed listing of soldiers.' 8 . . . ' melancholy, jealous,
discontented and active spirits,' he goes on, ' who find fault
with the administration of the Survey, as they do with the
Sacraments, and with the distributing of land as well as
dividing the w 7 ord ; carrying them as fiercely to pull down Dr.
Petty as the Protector or the Priests,' ' and to be esteemed
as worms and maggots in the guts of the Commonwealth.' 9

In regard to the general charges of bribery and corruption
advanced by Sir Hierome in Parliament and brought before
the Irish Commissioners, he dwells with great satisfaction on
their discrepancies. He also points out that those which
had survived to be brought forward in Parliament had not
a shred of evidence to support them, and were not in the
report which had been made in Ireland by the Court of Officers
appointed to examine the matter. He then urges that no
suspicion had ever been suggested against him in his offices
of Clerk to the Council and Private Secretary to the Lord
Deputy, offices in which his opportunities were enormous and

8 Reflections, pp. 92, 93. Reflections in 1660. Wood (Ath. Oxon.)

9 Ibid. p. 119. The Brief was says they were also published in
published in Dublin in 1659 ; the London.

1659 'KEFLECTIONS ON IRELAND' 91

the chances of detection slight ; that General Fleetwood, the
predecessor of Henry Cromwell, had as steadily defended his
reputation as Henry Cromwell himself ; that the world was
asked to believe that he had been guilty of corruption in mat-
ters where detection was almost certain, and had not been
guilty of it where detection was improbable ; and that he had
succeeded not only in deceiving his colleague, Sir Thomas
Herbert, Clerk to the Council, but also his colleagues on the
Commission.

In regard to the charge of arbitrarily withholding lands
from the army, which was the principal count, his reply was
the simple and obvious one : that the decision to withhold
the lands in question from the general distribution was a
decision of the Council, and not his own ; and was made in
conformity with law ; and that he personally had no kind of
responsibility for it. 1 As to his having chosen his own satis-
faction from these lands, he again asserts his own right to be
paid somehow for the immense work he had done, and that
the decision to pay him in land and in this manner was also
an act of the Council done in conformity with the Statute,
and one highly convenient to the State, at a moment when
there was an absolute dearth of ready money in the Treasury,
while land was going a-begging. At that time indeed men
bought as much land for ten shillings in real money as at a
later date yielded the same sum annually above the quit rent. 2
As to his having subsequently bought debentures and bought
them under market rates, which Sir Hierome had mentioned
to prejudice him in the eyes of the House, he points out that,
in the first place, it did not lie with either Sir Hierome or
Worsley to complain, because they had themselves dealt
largely in purchases of land from the distressed soldiers at
very low rates, contrary to the express provisions of the Act
of 1653 ; while he had himself not entered the market till
after those prohibitions were no longer operative, and as a
rule had dealt with the debenture brokers, and not with the
original allottees of land, so as to place himself beyond the

1 Reflections, pp. 28, 29, 39, 136.

2 See the statement to this effect in his will.

92 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, hi

suspicion of bringing pressure to bear on the distressed sol-
diery individually, as long as the latter were still themselves
the holders of land debentures. 3 He concludes with an
elaborate calculation to show that, without ever meddling with
the surveys at all, he might have acquired a far larger for-
tune by simply following the example of others and investing
his own small savings in Irish land debentures at the current
market rates. As to the criticisms which had been made that
he was unduly satirical in his treatment of some of the claim-
ants, he admits it ; but pleads that he was ' forced to restrain
the growing impertinences of some, with very short answers,
and to nip the unreasonableness of others, perhaps with a jest,
when serious answers would not suffice. It came to pass in
consequence that persons so dealt with would think themselves
extreamly injured and abused, especially when the same jest
was used and repeated upon them by others afterwards.'
' Myself, in such their heats and mistakes,' he says, ' was ren-
dered as an insulting and insolent fellow, and one not having
due respect to the officers and others who had business with
me. And this most frequently happened from those who,
trusting to the sharpness of their own wits, would first attaque
me with jeers, but being replied upon beyond their expecta-
tions, and deservedly laught at by the standers-by, would grow
angry, and reek their revenge at other weapons, like game-
sters ; who — out of the high opinion they have that fortune is
bound to favour them — venture to play, but when they find it
otherwise, snatch up their stakes, and betake themselves to
scurrility and violence. Moreover, when I had to do at this
sport with many together at once, all those who were not
themselves toucht, would encourage this jocularity by their
complaisant laughing, on my side ; but yet when they hap-
pened to receive a shot themselves, would seem no less enraged
than he whom alone they intended as a sacrifice to mirth and
laughter.' His conduct in this respect he acknowledges may
have been imprudent. ' For what they say about my satire I
accept it,' he says, addressing the imaginary correspondent to
whom the * Eeflections ' are a reply ; * but those versipelles >

3 Reflections, pp. 24-36.

1659 ' HISTORY OF THE SURVEY' 93

Sankey and Worsley, have shrouded themselves under all
parties, and have done scurvy acts to advance every rising
interest. I could not therefore hit these vermin without beat-
ing the bushes wherein they skulked.' 4 And he then roundly
accuses both Worsley and Sankey, interspersing his charges
with a good deal of rather Eabelaisian wit, of having at-
tempted to induce him to become a party to several doubtful
transactions to their own advantage, in regard to lands at
Clontubride bridge and Lismalin ; ' indeed,' he says, ' the
whole body of future proprietors were always forward with
bribes to tempt me.' 5

But, although confessing the dangers he had brought on
himself by the imprudent use of his wit, the passion was
nevertheless still strong within him, and before he gets to the
end of his ' Eeflections ' he announces how, in addition to a
graver work containing the history of the survey, he will write
< another piece of quite a contrary nature ; being indeed a
Satyre, which though it contain little of seriousness, yet doth
it allow nothing of untruth.' ' 'Tis a gallery/ he announces,
* wherein you will see the Pictures of my chief adversaries
hanged up in their proper colours; 'tis intended for the

honest recreation of my ingenious friends To prepare

myself for which work I will read over Don Quixote once more ;
that having as good a subject of Sir Hierome as Michael
Cervantes had, something may be done not unworthy a re-
presention in Bartholemew Fair.' Meanwhile, he says, he
looks forward to returning to his too long neglected medical
studies and the other pursuits which he had been tempted
into leaving, in order to embark on the stormy seas of practical
affairs. 6

It was now safe to remain in London, for Monk had
occupied Westminster and Sankey had disappeared. The
anxious period which preceded the Eestoration accordingly
found Dr. Petty in the society of his old scientific friends,
many of whom had now settled in the capital. On March 10,
Pepys notes in his ' Diary' that Dr. Petty was one of

4 Reflections, pp. 27, 117, 174. 5 Ibid. p. 131.

6 Ibid. pp. 61, 154.

94 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, hi

a party at the Coffee House, ' with a great confluence of gentle-
men, where was admirable discourse till nine at night.' 7 The
discourse just then was no doubt as much political as scientific,
for the future of the State was the absorbing topic of thought
and discussion, and Monk's intentions were as yet doubtful.

There was at the time a club called the ' Eota,' which met
at Miles's Coffee House, in New Palace Yard, under the auspices
of Harrington. ' In 1659,' says Anthony Wood, ' they had
every night a meeting, . . . and their discourses about go-
vernment and of ordering of a Commonwealth, were the most
ingenious and smart that ever were heard ; for the arguments
in the Parliament House were but flat to those. This gang
had a ballotting box and ballotted how things should be carried
by way of tentamen, which being not known or used in
England before, upon this account the room was very full.
Besides our author (Harrington) and H. Nevill, who were
the prime men of this club, were Cyriac Skinner, a merchant
of London, an ingenious young gentleman and scholar to
John Milton, . . . Major J. Wildrnan, Charles Wolseley of
Staffordshire, Eoger Coke, &c. . . . Dr. William Petty was
a Eota man, and would sometimes trouble Harrington in
his club. The doctrine was very taking, and the more so,
because, as to human foresight, there was no possibility of
the King's return. . . . The model of it, the design, was that
the third part of the Senate, or House, should rota out by
ballot every year, so that every ninth year the said Senate
would be wholly altered. No magistrate was to continue above
three years ; and all to be chosen by ballot, than which choice
nothing could be invented more fair and impartial, as 'twas
then thought, though opposed by many for several reasons.' 8

England at the time was not merely divided between the
partisans of Eoyalty and those of a Eepublic. There was a
further question at issue, one which went down to the very
roots of the question of Government : was the will of the people
to be collected from the votes of the elected representatives in

7 Diary, vol. i. p. 16. 221. Compare Milton's Ready and

8 Athena Oxonienses, ed. 1817, Easy Way to Establish a Free Coi?i-
vol. iii. p. 1119 ; Ward, Lives of monwealth, where the ' rota ' plan is
the Professors of Gresham College, p. discussed.

1659 THE RESTORATION 95

the House of Commons solely, and was all executive authority
to be held in strict subjection to that House ; or was the scheme
of Government to be that ' of a single person and two Houses
of Parliament,' as established by the * Instrument of Govern-
ment ; ' in other words, was the Government in theory to be
strictly democratic, or was it to be fixed on bases in some
degree independent of the popular will as reflected in the
House of Commons, and to represent elements anterior to it in
point of time, or considered superior to it in point of authority
or knowledge ? The Eoyalists and the Cromwellians both
answered the question , in favour of the latter alternative.
Their differences began when they had to decide who the
single person and what the composition of * the other House
of Parliament ' was to be. Between them was the blood of
Charles I., and there was thus an ineradicable difference in
the camp of those who agreed in principle. But neither were
the pure Bepublicans nor Commonwealth men in any but the
most difficult of positions, for they were not the majority of
the nation, but only an energetic minority, in some respects
in advance of their times, though not in all. In their hearts
they had to acknowledge that if the voice of the people was
consulted in a really free Parliament, as they professed to
desire, the first popular demand would be one for their own
expulsion from the Government, whatever else might follow.
They were therefore constantly occupied with devices for
staving off the day of the dissolution of the Eump. In sub-
stance their claim was that a majority in an already discredited
assembly was privileged to overrule the real opinion of the
country, to which they were unwilling to appeal ; and mean-
while they were occupied with plans for substituting in the
place of a real appeal — whenever the inevitable moment at
length came — some artificial scheme of their own arrangement,
which, while keeping their promises to the ear, would enable
them to elude the true verdict of the nation, and renew their
own tenure of power.

Meanwhile the situation of the Cromwellian party grew
desperate. ' Will not the loins of an imposing Anabaptist or
Independent be as heavy as the loins of an imposing prelate

96 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, hi

or presbyter ? ' Henry Cromwell asked Fleetwood. 9 ' Were
they not placed/ he asked his brother in the secret letter of
which Dr. Petty had been the bearer, ' between two almost
equal dangers, on one side the Cavaliers, on the other a com-
bination of pragmatical men ? ' l The answer to these questions
was unfortunately only too clear. c It may be the best way,'
Thurloe had bitterly observed, a short time before the death of
the Protector, ' to fancy ourselves in the condition of Israel
in the wilderness. . . . Truly I should rejoice to be in this
condition, if these gentlemen had as sure a guide as the
Israelites.' 2 But that guide was not now forthcoming.

Dr. Petty had served the Cromwell family, not the Com-
monwealth. Himself, up to a certain point, a political disciple
of Hobbes, he had recognised in the Protector and in Henry
Cromwell men who could govern ; but he had seen their efforts
thwarted and finally destroyed by the wranglings of the
fanatics, who, having got the control of the army, had
made all government impossible since the month of September
1658. They had singled him out as one of the special objects
of their animosity, and their success would have meant his
ruin. The violence of the sects was odious to him. In theo-
logy his views were large and liberal, and his mind was
that of a disciple, not of Calvin, but of Bacon ; though
the theologian and the philosopher nearly always touched
each other in the scientific men of the seventeenth century.
With reference to the problem of government, it may
be clearly inferred from his subsequent writings that he
desired to see the executive authority placed in the hands of
a single person, whether King or Protector ; and he wished
radically to reform the composition of the House of Commons,
and ' to set up two Grand Committees as might equally repre-
sent the Empire, one to be chosen by the King, the other by
the people.' But what he dreaded most was anarchy, and
by the end of 1659 England was fast drifting into it.

9 Henry Cromwell to Fleetwood, loe, vii. p. 400.
October 20, 1658 ; Thurloe, vii. p. 454. 2 Thurloe to Henry Cromwell,

1 Henry Cromwell to Richard July 27, 1658 ; Thurloe, vii. p. 295.
Cromwell, September 18, 1658 ; Thur-

1659 CHARACTER OF BRADSHAW 97

If General Lambert had been able to prove himself the
possessor of abilities equal to his ambition, Dr. Petty would
probably have not unwillingly seen him succeed to the
position of Protector, for Lambert was himself the friend of
science and a patron of learning. Even if Bradshaw, a very
different character, had been able to grasp the Presidency of
the Council with the stubborn obstinacy from which Cromwell
had evidently more than once apprehended possible danger to
himself, Dr. Petty might perhaps have considered the admin-
istration at least placed in safe hands ; but Bradshaw had
just died, despairing of the prospect, amid the quarrels of his
own friends and the violence of the rival generals, whose
appeals to brute force it was as usual sought to justify as a
particular call of Divine Providence. He had sat at the head
of the Council of State when, in April 1653, Harrison and
Lambert announced the dissolution of the Long Parlia-
ment, and his own dismissal. * Sirs,' he had said on that
memorable occasion to the intruding officers, ' we have heard
what you did at the House in the morning, and before many
hours all England will hear of it. But, Sirs, you are mistaken
to think that the Parliament is dissolved ; for no power under
Heaven can dissolve them but themselves. Therefore take
you notice of that/ 3 Since then six weary years had gone
by : years spent in vain efforts to find a permanent basis of
administration and government. Now at length Bradshaw
had seen the desire of his eyes. The legitimate Parliament
was restored and he sat once more in the chair of the rein-
stated Council of State. And all for what ? Merely to see a
vulgar repetition in October 1659 of the scenes enacted in
April 1653. The struggle was evidently over. Weak and
attenuated with illness, yet ' animated by his ardent zeal and
constant affection for the common cause,' the old President
with difficulty made his way to Whitehall, for the approaches
were interrupted. He found Colonel Sydenham invoking the
finger of the Almighty as visible in the recent attack of the
soldiery on Parliament. ' I am now going to my God,' Brad-
shaw fiercely retorted, ' and I have not patience to hear His

3 Ludlow's Memoirs, i. 357.

98 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, hi

great Name so openly blasphemed ! ' 4 With these words he
withdrew. A few days after he was no more. The splendid
obsequies decreed to him were the funeral of the Common-
wealth, just as those of the Protector had marked the end of
the Dictatorship. Nobody now remained except Monk, and
Monk had already mentally decreed the return of the exiled
King as the only measure which could prevent another civil
war, in which there would have been not two, but four con-
tending parties, as well as a rebellion in Ireland.,

' I,' said Dr. Petty in his own defence, ' finding the Lord
Henry Cromwell to be a person of much honour and integrity
to his trust as also of a firm faith and zeal to God and to his
church, and withall to have translated me from a stranger
into his bosom, thinking me worthy of the nearest relation to
himself, and who when all tricks and devices were used to
surprize me by foul play, would still be careful I might have
fair play ; I did (as in justice and gratitude as I was bound)
serve him faithfully and industriously. I was his Secretary
without one penny of reward. I neglected my own private
interest to promote his, and consequently I preferred his
interest before any man's, and I served his friends before his
enemies. Moreover, because he should not be jealous of me,
I became as a stranger to other Grandees, though without the
least distaste intended to them. When he was shaken, I was
content to fall. I did not lessen him to his enemies. To
magnify myself I never accused him to excuse myself. More-
over, though I never promised to live and die with him, which
is the common phrase, yet I did stay to see his then interest,
which I had espoused, dead and buried, esteeming that then
and when a convenient time for mourning was over, that if I
should marry another interest, and be as fixed unto it as I
had been to his, I should do no more than I always in his
prosperity told him I would do, if I saw occasion.' 5 Therefore,
if at the Restoration, in the dedication of some experiments in
navigation to the King, Dr. Petty spoke of the change as under

4 Ludlow's Memoirs, ii. 141. used in the Address of Parliament to

5 Reflections, pp. 119-120. ' To the Earl of Essex, appointing him
live and die with him ' were the words general-in-chief in 1642.

1660 POLITICS AND RELIGION 99

the circumstances ' a restitution of the best Government and
the immortal nature of right,' and rejoiced ' that good patriots
were endeavouring to restore the courses of the Church and
State into their ancient channels/ his language was not that
of political sycophancy, but represented the sober and mature
conviction of the majority of the nation that what was above
all things necessary was some kind of settled government, and
that anything was preferable to the confusion which had
reigned since the death of Cromwell, and the rapid alter-
nations between the rule of second-rate soldiers, the agitation
of religious fanatics, and the vacillations of a divided and
incompetent Parliament. The maggots had eaten out the
guts of the Commonwealth, as Henry Cromwell and Dr. Petty
had foreseen. The noble lines in which Milton in after-years
lamented the fall of the Eepublic, the injustice of man, and
the inequality of fate, were the dirge of an ideal existing in
his own mind, rather than of the reality of existing things.
By 1660 the magnates of the Commonwealth were sleeping
the sleep of death in Henry VII.'s chapel, from which their
corpses were soon to be rudely torn. They had left no
political successors, and the days were over when it could be
said of the Puritan party, that giants were to be seen rising
out of the earth.

The founders of great religions, even in the bygone eras
of the world's history, have never themselves been the founders
of great States. From the nature of the case it is almost
impossible it should be otherwise, because they draw their
ideas from a sphere excluding the compromises, the inequalities,
and even the injustices, which, in secular affairs, have too
often to be accepted as the conditions of the existence of
government. Their task is that of destruction — often a
necessary task. The same fatality has constantly pursued
those who have transported religious ideas into subsequent
and often widely different periods, and sought to make them
the exclusive basis of political institutions and of civil
society. This fatality had now destroyed the Commonwealth
It is true that amongst the party there were men who,
either guided by the political instinct of their race, or ani-

..H 2

" ••

> s

100 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, hi

mated by examples drawn from the history of ancient Eome
rather than from the passions of the Hebrew prophets, under-
stood the limitations which must qualify religious maxims when
applied to human affairs. But without the support of the
army they were powerless, and the army, since the retirement
of Fairfax and the death of Cromwell, had become the prey of
enthusiasts, whose views on government, doubtless sincere,
were as impossible as those which animated the fanatics of
Jerusalem in the last days of the kingdom of Judah. Of the
purely political ideas which had inspired the Eepublican party
some took refuge in America, where in New England they
found a soil ready to receive them, and likely to produce, as
Dr. Petty with true political prescience foresaw, some great
movement at a future time, which might astonish the world. 6
Others lay hid in the ground waiting the seed time of a later
age in England. Fear of the political and religious supremacy
of Eome, which was the dominant public sentiment of the
generation which had fought in the Civil War, and in which
Cromwell had found the force which alone rendered the
triumph of the Parliament over the King possible, had not
indeed ceased to exist, and, as events were before long to prove,
could again easily be worked into a fierce activity ; but at least
for the time it was no longer the mainspring of public action.
Since the peace of Westphalia a truce was understood to exist,
and with the recognition of the practical independence of
Protestant Germany, religious freedom was felt to have been
saved. France, for the time, had become a tolerant Power,
though a change was near at hand. In England an ever-
increasing number of the new generation shared neither the
prejudices of the Cavaliers nor the fanaticism of the Puritans.
Above all they were weary of perpetual strife. They were
statesmen, jurists, and philosophers, resembling the 'parti
politique ' which in France had endeavoured at the close of
the preceding century, though unsuccessfully, to build up the
edifice of civil and political liberty against the encroachments
of the Crown and the Papacy, and to prevent the country
being rent asunder by theological animosities. To this order

6 Political Arithmetic, v. 2GG-269.

1660 THE SITUATION IN 1660 101

of men Dr. Petty belonged by training and by temperament.
They were Protestants, but rather by political opinion than
through theological conviction, and more by reason of what
they denied than of what they affirmed. The prospect to them
of the supremacy of the Puritans was as distasteful as that of
the supremacy of Laud. In the new reign that was opening
many deceptions no doubt awaited them. The forces of
intolerance were not yet spent ; and religious hatred, after a
short interval, was again to furnish the keynote to the history
of the century in Europe. The final battle was only adjourned.
Another change of dynasty was to be necessary in order to
convince the forces of militant Eoman Catholicism that the
verdict of the reign of Elizabeth was not to be reversed ; to
compel the Church of England to see that passive obedience
and the divine right of kings were doctrines invented by and
for the benefit of civil rulers and not of Churches ; and to
make the Puritans acknowledge that they were not the
majority of the nation, and must consent to eschew any claim
to domination over the intellectual freedom of their country-
men. Meanwhile the mass of the people, never disposed at
any time to take long views of public affairs, and always
inclined to deal with the immediate question of the hour
without looking much beyond it, eagerly welcomed the restored
King, and attributing to him qualities which he neither
possessed nor claimed to possess, shut their eyes, in the
intoxication of the hour, to whatever dangers might lie
beyond, in what they deemed a dim and distant future.

102 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, iv

CHAPTEE IV

DR. PETTY AND THE ROYAL SOCIETY
1660-1667

Meetings at Gresham College— Dr. Petty and the King — Knighthood — The
ship ' Experiment ' — Launch of the * Experiment ' — Sir William Petty
and Mr. Pepys — The ' Scale of Creatures ' — Dr. Petty and the Churches —
Unitarianism in the seventeenth century — Concerning the Plagues of
London — Mechanical experiments — Design of a steam-vessel.

It has already been seen that the formation of a permanent
' society of men,' as careful to advance arts as the Jesuits
to propagate religion, was a favourite idea with Dr. Petty.
Such an association it was now determined to found.

Most of the members of the Philosophical Society of Oxford
had by 1658 removed to London ; but they continued their
meetings, the trysting-place being fixed at Gresham College ;
and there, on November 28, 1660, a decision of momentous
consequence for the future of scientific research was adopted.

In the Journal of the Boyal Society the first official
record is :

6 Memorandum that, November 28, 1660, these persons
following, according to the usual custom of most of them, mett
together at Gresham College, to hear Mr. Wren's lecture, viz.,
the Lord Brouncker, Mr. Boyle, Mr. Bruce, Sir Bobert Moray,
Sir Paule Neill, Dr. Wilkins, Dr. Goddard, Dr. Petty, Mr. Ball,
Mr. Booke, Mr. Wren, Mr. Hill. And after the lecture was
ended they did, according to the usual manner, withdrawe for
mutual converse. When, amongst other matters that were
discoursed of, something was offered about a designe of found-
ing a College for the promoting of Physico-Mathematical Ex-
perimentall Learning ; and because they had these frequent
occasions of meeting with one another, it was proposed that

1660 MEETINGS AT GRESHAM COLLEGE 103

some course might be thought of to improve their meeting to
a more regular way of debating things, and, according to the
manner in other countries, where there were voluntary asso-
ciations of men in academies for the advancement of various
parts of learning, soe they might do something answerable here
for the promoting of experimentall philosophy. In order to
which it was agreed that this company would continue their
weekly meetings on Wednesday, at 3 o'clock, of the term time,
at Mr. Eooke's chamber at Gresham College ; in the vacation
at Mr. Ball's chamber in the Temple.' !

They then proceeded to draw up a list of persons ' wil-
ling and fit to join,' fixed a subscription, and appointed
officers.

On December 19, 1659, it is entered in the Journal Books
that Dr. Petty and Mr. Wren were ' desired to consider the
philosophy of shipping, and bring in their thoughts to the
company about it;' on January 2, 1660, that Dr. Petty was
' desired to bring in diagrams of what he discoursed to the
company this day ; and likewise the history of the building of
ships ; ' on January 23, that Dr. Petty was asked ' to deliver
in his thoughts concerning the trade of clothing,' which he
accordingly did in a paper read on November 26, 1661. 2

Besides reading papers, Dr. Petty, though not one of the
officers, was on several occasions appointed his deputy by the
President, Lord Brouncker ; and he was specially entrusted,
on at least one occasion, with the unwelcome duty of collecting
the subscriptions, which appear too often to have been in
arrear.

The King affected the company of scientific men, and was
well pleased to appear as the patron of their learned inquiries.
He professed a particular interest in medical chemistry and
the art of navigation : 3 the special subjects of Dr. Petty's own
investigations. ' I was since my last with the King,' the Doctor
wrote to John Petty ; ' he seemed earnest enough to speak with

1 See Weld, History of the Royal Collection,' British Museum.
Society, i. 65. 3 Burnet's History of his Own

- This paper is in the MS. volume Times, i. 169.
collected by Dr. Hill in ' The Sloane

104 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, iv

me. I began with a small prologue ; among other things telling
him that I never accepted of any trust out of desire or designe
to do him harm ; nor had I ever broken any to do him service.
But the King seeming little to mind apologies, as needless,
replied : " But, Doctor, why have you left off your inquiries
into the mechanics of shipping? " In brief, he held me half
an hour before the forty Lords, upon the philosophy of ship-
ping, loadstones, guns, &c, feathering of arrows, vegetation of
plants, the history of trades, &c, about all of which I discoursed
intrepide and I hope not contemptibly. In fine we parted
faire, and not without clear signes of future good acceptances.
Since I began this letter, the Marquis of Ormonde met me and
told me he had express orders to bring me to the King, saying
that the King's head and mine lay directly one way.' 4

It is possible that Dr. Petty had made the acquaintance of
the Marquis, now Duke of Ormonde, when with Hobbes in
Paris, The wish he shared with Vincent Gookin, to protect
the ' ancient Protestants,' had made him do what he could to
protect the Duke's interest in Ireland during the Common-
wealth, 5 and he was probably able to do so in connection with
the claims of the Countess of Ormonde, who succeeded in con-
tinuing possessed of her own property though that of the Duke
had been confiscated. 6 ' I have a little, interest in my Lord of
Ormonde,' Dr. Petty wrote to John Petty, ' inasmuch as he
was pleased voluntarily to say that he had espoused me for
his friend, and would make me the King's servant, &c.' 7 ' I
am making a projection for the King,' he writes a few days
after, ' and am of the famous Club of all the Vertuosi, and am
operative amongst them : and thus by little and little my life
will crumble away.' 8

Aubrey describes the King ' as mightily pleased with his
discourse.' 9 ' I think/ Dr. Petty hirhself writes after the King

4 February 5, 1660. up in the family of Doctor Abbot,

5 Sir W. Petty to Southwell, 1663. Archbishop of Canterbury. See Pren-
See ch. v. p. 140. dergast, p. 125.

e The Marquis of Ormonde was the 7 August 8, 1660.

only Protestant of his family by the 8 January 22, 1660.

accident of being made a King's ward 9 Bodleian Letters, ii. 485.
on his father's death. He was brought

1660-1661 DR. PETTY AND THE KING 105

had accorded him a second interview, ' that super totam mate-
riam I am in a state of grace, to say no more. I am afraid I
shall not be able to lay aside that natural severity and regu-
larity with which I am too much troubled to live in these
times, but I will endeavour at it. ... I hear knights swarm.
I know not what to do with myself. I think I could be a
knight also/ l

Dr. Petty, however, notwithstanding the marks of royal
favour which he had received, found his interests gravely
jeopardised by the new turn of events. It was one thing to be
able to satisfy the fancies of the easy-going King and to win
the goodwill of the Duke of Ormonde : it was quite another
to deal with the exasperated enmities of the champions of the
Church and State in Parliament, who, more royalist than the
King, more zealous for the Book of Common Prayer than the
Primate or the Chancellor, regarded the adherents of the
deceased Protector, the Commonwealth men and the Ana-
baptists, as all equally objectionable, and drew no subtle dis-
tinctions.

Immediately before the Eestoration Dr. Petty had received
a promise of favourable treatment in a royal letter of
January 2, 1660 ; but the King was now finding great diffi-
culty in maintaining his promises, when they happened to
clash with the views of the party now in the ascendant. 2
After the complete victory of the Church and Cavaliers at the
election of 1661, a general onslaught both on the old Kepub-
lican party and the adherents of the Protector, and even on
the Presbyterians, had begun. The dead bodies of Crom-
well, Ireton, and Bradshaw, had just been dragged from
their graves in the Abbey and hung at Tyburn, and the
question was whether the easy-going King would be able to
protect the property of anybody who had been connected with
the late Protector.

The position of Dr. Petty was peculiar. He belonged to
neither of the two great parties which had made the Restora-

1 To John Petty, February 19, where the above letter is quoted and
1660. the declaration of November 30 is re-

2 14, 15 Charles II. ch. ii. s. 44, cited. (Irish Statutes.)

106 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, it

tion ; he was not a Cavalier, he was not a Presbyterian. Neither
on the one hand was he a ' soldier/ nor was he an ' adventurer ; '
but he held Irish land on a title practically founded upon theirs.
A weaker man would only have seen the risk of losing all,
and might have welcomed a compromise. With charac-
teristic boldness, and undeterred by the tumult around him,
Sir William determined to contend for what he held ; and also
to claim to be paid in full for the debt which he considered
was still due to him for the work performed in connection
with the distribution of the adventurers' lands. He saw that
he was being attacked from the most opposite quarters.
' They say,' he writes to his cousin John, ' that I must be
sequestered in Ireland as an Anabajrtist ; so that sometimes I
must be of no religion and sometimes of all successively : viz.
of that which pro tempore is esteemed worst.' 3 Under the
circumstances, to fight was the best course open, and on
January 28, 1661, he memorialised the Privy Council for
the payment of his still outstanding claims for the survey
and distribution of the adventurers' lands.

The party which, with a firm hold on the House of
Commons, continued from this date, with the briefest of inter-
vals, to dominate the administration of the country till the
Revolution, was Protestant against the Church of Rome, and
Catholic against the Puritans. It was far less liberal than
the King himself ; and the broad latitudinarian views of
Sir William Petty, if distasteful to the theologians of the
Sankey type, were equally so to the upholders of a system of
government based on the narrow orthodoxy of the Caroline
divines in spiritual affairs and the doctrines of Clarendon
in matters of State. At this moment a discovery was made
which it was hoped by them might at once have deprived
Sir William of the royal favour. In consequence of having
been the friend and secretary of Henry Cromwell, Dr. Petty
had become a trustee in some of the family arrangements
of the Cromwell family, and held a power of attorney
to act for Henry Cromwell and his wife. ' The Lord Henry
Cromwell,' he had said in his reply to Sir Hierome Sankey,

3 March 27, 1660.

1662 KNIGHTHOOD 107

' was so careful of me, as that no clamour, whisper, or other
trinckling, in eight months time of my absence could induce
him to sacrifice me to secret rage and malice. In gratitude
and acknowledgment whereof, who hath adhered to him more
closely than I have done ? ' 4 In these sentiments the Resto-
ration made no difference. There were indeed persons base
enough to advise Sir William to disown his obligations to the
fallen family, but he firmly declined, and determined to exert
himself to save what he could out of the wreck to which the
property of the Protector's family was exposed. He now had
the gratification of being told, both by the King and the
Chancellor, that instead of viewing his conduct with disap-
proval, they esteemed him the more for it. 5

Sir William's knowledge of shipbuilding had obtained for
him the good-will of the Duke of York as well as that
of the King. The Duke was Lord High Admiral and 'a
most navarchal prince,' in Sir William's opinion. The two
royal brothers now received with no unfriendly ear a sugges-
tion that the little Club which met at Gresham College should
be given a permanent constitution. With this object a
charter of incorporation passed the great seal on July 15,
1662. Amongst the names of the original members is
that of Dr. Petty, and he was knighted on the occasion. ' I
have the sword,' he tells John Petty, 'wherewith 'twas done.
My Lord Chancellor the same day expressed great kindness
to me as having these many years heard of me. The Duke
of Ormonde tells me that these are but the beginning of
what is intended.' 6 Sir William's two right-hand men soon
after received appointments. John Petty was made Sur-
veyor-General of Ireland, nominally as Sir William's deputy,
with Thomas Taylor as his deputy and principal assistant.
' Meddle with no debentures,' Sir William wrote to him, ' and
stop your ears when the Sirens sing.' '

It was at this time that Sir William first became acquainted

4 Reflections, p. 134. owing to the ill-feeling which existed

5 Life of Lord Shelbtime, i. 4. between Dr. Wallis and him, was not

6 To John Petty, 1662. among the original members of the

7 Ibid. October 4, 1662. Hobbes, Royal Society.

108 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, iv

with Sir Robert Southwell, Clerk to the Privy Council.
Southwell, like Sir William, was largely interested in Ireland,
and was an ' ancient Protestant/ his family having migrated
thither in the earlier part of the century. He was amongst
the most confidential servants of the King, though belonging
to the Anglo-Irish connection which the English aristocracy
always viewed with ill-concealed jealousy. He had been em-
ployed on more than one important diplomatic mission during
the reign, and in 1665 was sent as envoy extraordinary to
Lisbon, on the occasion of the negotiation of the royal
marriage, when he was knighted.

A grant of land was made to the Eoyal Society in Ireland,
and Sir William was requested by his colleagues to prepare an
estimate of the value of the grant. But Sir William found
that in the general confusion of the times, and amid the
apprehensions of further changes, it was next to impossible to
realise the gift. Protestant might contend with Catholic ;
the English ' usurper ' might fight with the native ' Tory ; '
but all were ready with absolute unanimity to join in re-
sisting a suggestion so odious as that of the endowment of
research. 8

The new society decided to fix the annual meeting on St.
Andrew's Day. Aubrey relates that he remembers saying at
one of these recurring festivals : ' Methinks it was not so well
that we should pitch upon the Patron of Scotland's day. We
should rather have taken St. George or St. Isidore ' (a philo-
sopher canonised), ' and that Sir William replied : " I would
rather have had it on St. Thomas's Day ; for he would not
believe till he had seen and put his fingers into the holes,
according to the motto ' Nullius in verba.' " ' 9

The best means of combating the plague was naturally a
subject of special interest to Sir William and the members of
the Society. He has left a memorandum on the subject,
written apparently in connection with some idea of his own
employment as Physician- General. He was also much occu-
pied with an attempt which had originated with Sir William

8 Weld, History of the Royal Society, i. 135.

9 Bodleian Letters, ii. 486.

1662-1663 THE SHIP ' EXPERIMENT ' 109

Spragge, to fix an engine with propelling power in a ship, and
with devising a new rigging. 1 But the subject which claimed
his special devotion was naval architecture, and more particu-
larly the construction of a sluice-boat, or ' double bottomed
ship,' for the easier navigation of the Irish Channel,

On November 27, 1665, after communicating to the Eoyal
Society a paper on the ' History of Clothing,' Sir William read
his general views on the subject of ' Shipping.' His mature
opinions were finally set out in a ' Treatise or Discourse about
the Building of Shippes, presented in MS. to the Boyal Society ; '
which ' William, Lord Brouncker, President of the Council
pertaining to that Society, took away,' says Aubrey, ' and
kept in his possession till 1682, after saying it was too great
an arcanum of State to be commonly perused.' 2

The ' sluice-boat,' or ' double bottom,' to quote the names
by which the experiment is described, was, correctly speaking,
a ship with two keels joined together by transverse con-
nections, and resembled the vessel known as the ' Calais-
Douvres,' which in recent years was successfully used for the
improved navigation of the English Channel, until superseded
by still more perfect designs. On November 12 and November
19, 1662, Sir William addressed two communications to the
Boyal Society, concerning 'a double bottomed cylyndrical
vessel ; ' and Captain Graunt was desired to inform the Doctor
that ' the society was well pleased with the idea, and that the
members of the society in Ireland be appointed a committee
on the matter.' 3 Evelyn says of this invention : ' The vessel
was flat-bottomed ; of exceeding use to put into shallow parts,
and ride over small depths of water. It consisted of two
distinct keeles, crampt together with huge timbers ; so as a
violent stream ran between them. It bore a monstrous broad
saile.' 4

1 See notes to the chapter, p. sophy. See, too, Evelyn's Memoirs, i.
122. 358.

2 Bodleian Letters, ii. 490. An- 3 Journals of the Royal Society,
thony Wood questions whether this 1662, British Museum.

may not be the work published in 4 Evelyn's Memoirs, i. 378, 387,

1691, after Sir William's death, under ii. 95, 96.
the title of A Treatise of Naval Philo-

110 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, iv

The first trials were disappointing, but Sir William was
not to be beaten : and having made a few alterations he again
started ' The Experiment,' as the ship was called, on a trial
sail. ' It is,' says Pepys, ' about thirty ton in burden, and
carries thirty men with good accommodation (as much more
as any ship of her burden), and so as any vessel of this figure
shall carry more men with better accommodation by half than
any other ship. This also carries ten guns of five tons
weight.' 5

The Committee of the Eoyal Society, consisting of Lord
Massereene, Sir Peter Pett, Sir A. Morgan and others, ' could
not think of a better expedient to call together all such who
were conversant with boats and the water, than on a holy-day
to propose a match, and to make a free ofFering of a flag of
silk charged with a gilded harp and a wreath of laurel above,
and a scroll beneath with this inscription, " Proemium Eegalis
Societatis Velociori," and this to be given to any boat that
should outsail Sir William Petty's vessel, in such a course as
should be set. The contest, in which three prime boats with
the best sailors of the harbour of Dublin entered, ended in the
triumph of Sir William's vessel, whose crew ' took down the
premium and bore it at the main- top as " Admiral of the
Cylynders." '

The fame of the double-bottomed vessel now was great, and
was still further increased on her winning a wager of fifty pounds
in a sailing match between Dublin and Holyhead with the packet-
boat ; ' the best ship or vessel the King had there,' according
to Pepys. 6 In coming back from Holyhead they started together.
Sir William's vessel arrived first, at five at night ; the packet
not till eight next morning ; the crew not thinking that the
other could have lived in such a sea.' The success which at-
tended these trips naturally made Sir William anxious that

5 Pepys's Diary, iii. 233. See, too, tion, containing the Register Book of
Birch, History of the Royal Society, i. the Royal Society, vol. i., a picture of
124, 131, 141, 183. the vessel is to be found. See, too, the

6 Pepys, iii. 233. In the Pepysian MS. minutes of the Royal Society of
Library at Magdalene College, Cam- Dublin, i. 3, now at the British Museum,
bridge, and in the MS. volume at the aiadBirch, History of the Royal Society,
British Museum, in the Sloane Collec- i. 183 ct seq.

1664-1665 LAUNCH OF THE ' EXPERIMENT ' 111

his invention should be known in England, and brought to the
notice of the King. In the attempt to obtain Koyal patronage
for his undertaking, it is not unlikely that he was aided by the
interest of Pepys, who filled an important post at the Navy
Board, and had easy access to the Duke of York. In October
1663, a vessel built on the new model was despatched from
Dublin. Sir William gave his crew and their families an en-
tertainment on the night of embarkation, to encourage them.

' Having sent their wives and children in Eingsend coaches,
he provided them a banquet of burnt wines and stewed prunes,
apple pyes, gingerbread, white sopps and milke, with apples
and nutts in abundance ; and all this besides meat, tongues,
and other more solid food for the men themselves ; and soon ?
after much crying and laughing and hopeing and fearing, he
got them all to part very quietly one from another, inti-
mating to the women that if they succeeded, there was a fleet
to be built of double bottomed vessels, whereof every one of
their husbands would be a captain ; and in time it was not
unlikely that they themselves would be ladyes ; unto which
they simperingly said, wiping their eyes, that more unlikely
things had come to pass. Two of the crew, none of the worst,
are volunteers. The substance of the speech which Sir
William made to them was : " That he himself was no seaman,
nor could tell what other vessell they might encounter with at
Dublin, were able to doe : but the intention was to send them
with a vessel to His Majesty, which though full of ugly faults
and eyesores, being built for a fresh-water Lough and to be
carried eight miles on land, was to outsayle any other vessel
whatever ; and to endure all the hazards of the troublesome
passage from hence to London. Wherefore, he advised them,
if they did not believe he should answer these ends, they
should not venture their lives to make them and him ridiculous ;
for, said he, the seamen and carpenters will have noe mercy
upon you ; nor will the Court, with the Port, spare you ; the
players will make scenes of your double bodies, the citizens
will make pageants of your vessel upon my Lord Mayor's day ;
but the comfort is that the King will be your judge.' ' ' 7
7 Register Book of the Boyal Society, and Petty MSS.

112 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, iv

Lord Massereene endeavoured to hinder the sailing of
the vessel for England. He had originally advanced money
towards her construction, when she was intended for his
Lough, and a long dispute began between Sir "William and
him as to the property in her. Sir William, however, ended
by making good his claim to the ownership. The vessel ac-
cordingly started for England, and crossing the Channel
arrived without mishap. Sir William soon succeeded in inte-
resting the King in the experiment. Pepys gives an account
of what followed. On February 1, 1664, he writes in his
diary : —

6 In the Duke's chamber : the King came and stayed an
hour or two, laughing at Sir William Petty, who was then about
his boat, and at Gresham College in general ; at which poor
Petty was I perceived at some loss ; but did argue discreetly,
and from the unreasonable follies of the King's objections and
other bystanders, with great discretion ; and offered to take
odds against the King's best boates ; but the King would not
lay, but cried him down with words only. Gresham College
he mightily laughed at for spending time in weighing of such
things, and doing nothing else since they sat. He told him he
would have to return to Ireland in his own ship, which he
called a fantastical, bottomless, double bottomed machine.' 8
His Majesty, however, was ultimately persuaded, having had
his joke at the expense of the philosophers, to allow the sun of
his royal countenance to shine on the project ; for Evelyn
records that on December 22, 1664, at the launching of a ship
of two bottoms, invented by Sir William Petty, the King
being present, gave it the name of ' The Experiment.' 9
Shortly after, the prospering fortunes of the new vessel, which
appears to have been one of those built on Sir William's plans,
were being celebrated in orthodox fashion by a dinner. ' At
noon, February 18, 1665,' says Pepys, ' at the Eoyal Oak Farm
in Lombard Street ; where Sir William Petty and the owners
of the double-bottomed boat, the " Experiment," did entertain
my Lord Brouncker, Sir Eobert Murray, myself, and others,
with marrow bones and a chine of beef, of the victuals they

8 Pepys's Diary, iv. 28. 9 Evelyn's Memoirs, i. 387.

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THE DOUBLE-BOTTOM SHIP

[ To face Page 112

: : ••• :•• ;:
• • \ :•• • •

1664-1665 WEECK OF THE 'EXPERIMENT' 113

have made for this ship ; and excellent company and a good
discourse ; but above all, I do value Sir William Petty.' The
pleasant prospect was, however, soon to be overclouded, and
dire disaster was impending, for in the following year the ship
perished in the Irish Channel, in a great storm, which, in the
words of Anthony Wood, ' overwhelmed a great fleet the same
night ; so that the ancient fabric of ships had no reason to
triumph upon that new model, when, of seventy sail that were
in the same storm, there was not one escaped to bring the news.' 1

Notwithstanding this disaster, Sir William still continued
to believe in the correctness of the principles on which the
vessel was constructed, and only awaited a favourable oppor-
tunity to apply them again in practice. ' Honoured friends/
he wrote in a circular to the subscribers for the ship, ' I wish I
were able to repair what all of our friends have suffered. . . .
'Tis my unhappiness to believe that this designe will not dye,
and therefore I should be glad to receive somewhat for a fourth
adventure, which I can with the same confidence as upon the
third proceeding. I am not much discouraged, and am less
ashamed at anything that has happened. I have willingly
deceived nobody, nor have I been much deceived myself. The
greatest do not always hitt their marks. This adversitie will
try and steady the resolution.' 2

The controversy which raged around the double-bottomed
ship kept Sir William in London and the neighbourhood.
Evelyn relates how about this time he was at the Durdans, in
Surrey, where he found Sir William and Dr. Wilkins and Mr
Hooke, ' contriving chariots, new rigging for ships, and a
wheele for one to run races in, 3 and other mechanical in-
ventions,' and perhaps, he says, ' three such persons together
were not to be found elsewhere in Europe for facts and learn-

1 Pepys's Diary, iv. 356. Wood, Papers, Domestic Series, lxxx. 274, 437.
Athence Oxonienses, iv. 215, 216. Eve- 3 Apparently an early idea of the
lyn makes the ship perish in the Bay velocipede or cycle. In the church of
of Biscay. Stoke Poges, near Slough, on an

2 June 16, 1666, Petty MSS. Also ancient window of the date of 1642,
' H. M. to Henry Muddleman,' Sep- a figure may be seen riding a rude
tember 16, 1663 ; 'J. C. to Williamson,' wheel. See the Wayfarer, February
January 4, 1664, in the Calendar State 1888, pp. 12-14.

114 LIFE OF SIR "WILLIAM PETTY chap, iv

ing.' 4 Sir William's name also frequently occurs amongst
those present at the gatherings — so faithfully recorded by
Pepy S — a t the coffee-house, where the leaders in science,
literature, and politics, used to assemble and discuss the topics
of the day. The celebrated Diary depicts him the centre of a
brilliant group, kept constantly alive by his discourse, en-
riched as it was by a varied experience of life, and seasoned by
the flavour of paradox and the satirical gifts which, in the practi-
cal affairs of life, had already been the cause of trouble to him,
and were to be so again; but in these meetings struck no
rankling wound, where they only played round the genial souls
of Pepys and his chosen friends, instead of hurtling down
in an iron hail on the obnoxious head of Sir Hierome Sankey
and his Anabaptist allies.

'January 11, 1664. — To the coffee-house, whither came Sir
William Petty and Captain Graunt, and we fell to talke of
musique, the universal character, art of memory, prayers,
counterfeiting of hands, and other most excellent discourses
to my great content, having not been in so good a company a
great while. 5

* January 27, 1664. — At the coffee-house, where I sat
with Sir S. Ascue and Sir William Petty, who in discourse
is methinks one of the most rational men that ever I
heard speak with a tongue, having all his notions the most
distinct and clear, and among other things saying that
in all his life these three books were the most esteemed
and generally cried up for within the world: " Eeligio
Medici," " Osborne's Advice to a Son," and " Hudibras ; ." did
say that in these— in the two first principally — the wit lies ;
and confirming some pretty sayings — which are generally
like paradoxes — by some argument smartly and pleasantly
urged, which takes with people who do not trouble them-
selves to examine the force of an argument which pleases
them in the delivery, upon a subject which they like — whereas
by many particular instances of mine, and others out of
" Osborne," he did really find fault and weaken the strength

4 Evelyn's Memoirs, ii. 244. 5 Pepys's Diary, iv. 11.

1664-1665 SIR WILLIAM PETTY AND MR. PEPYS 115

of many of Osborne's arguments; so as that in downright
disputation they would not bear weight ; at least, so far, but
that they might be weakened and better found in their rooms
to confirm what is there said. He showed finely whence it
happens that good writers are not admired by the present
age ; because there are but few in every age that do mind
anything that is abstruse and curious ; and so longer before
anybody, do put the true praise, and set it on foot in the
world : the generality of mankind pleasing themselves in the
easy delights of the world : as eating, drinking, dancing,
hunting, fencing, which we all see the meanest men do the best ;
those that profess it. A gentleman never dances so well as
the dancing master, and an ordinary fiddler makes better
musique for a shilling than a gentleman will do after spend-
ing forty, and so in all the delights of the world almost.' 6

'April 2nd, 1664. — At noon to the Coffee House, where
excellent discourse with Sir William Petty, who proposed it
as a thing truly questionable, whether there really be any
difference between waking and dreaming ; that it is hard not
only to tell how we know when we do a thing really or in a
dream ; but also to know what the difference is between one
and the other.' 7

1 22nd March, 1665. — With Creed to the Change, and to my
house ; but it being washing day, took him, (I being invited)
to Mr. Houblons, the merchant, where Sir William Petty and
abundance of most ingenious men : owners and freighters
of the " Experiment," now going with her two bodies to sea.
Most excellent discourse. Among others, Sir William Petty
did tell me that, in good earnest, he hath in his Will left
such parts of his estate to him that could invent such and
such things ; as, among others, that could truly discover the
way of milk coming into the breasts of a woman ; and he that
could invent proper characters to express to another the
mixture of relishes and tastes. And says, that to him that
invents gold, he gives nothing for the philosophers' stone;
for, says he, they that find out that, will be able to pay them-
selves. But, says he, by this means it is better than to give

6 Pepys's Diary, iv. 23, 24. "' Ibid. iv. 96.

i 2

116 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, iv

a lecture ; for here my executors, that must part with this,
will be sure to be well convinced of the invention before they
do part with their money.' 8

Sir William, devoted as he no doubt mainly was to science,
and especially to mechanical science, would, however, have
been no true child of the seventeenth century, if he had not
also dabbled in theology, and he unfortunately regarded it as
one of his strong points. His studies frequently wandered off
into the realm of metaphysical inquiry, and the transition
thence to the realm of religious speculation was easy. 9 To
think, meant with him as a rule to write also, on whatever
subject happened to be occupying his mind at the moment ;
and theology had a fatal attraction for his pen. He was for
a long time engaged on a treatise, entitled ' The Scale of
Creatures.' ' The discourse,' he tells Sir Eobert Southwell,
' was not vulgar, nor easy to be answered by the libertine
scepticks ; of whom the proudest cannot be certain but that
there are powers above him, which can destroy him, as they
do with the viler animals. 'Tis hard to say where this scale
ends, either upwards or downwards, but it is certain that the
proud coxcomb man is not the top of it : wherefore let us be
sober and modest, and conforme to the general practise of
good men, and the laws of our age and countrey, and carefully
study the laws of nature, which are the laws of God.' l . . .

The object of his work is alluded to more fully in another
letter to Sir Eobert : —

1 1 am glad,' he says, ' Lord Chief Justice Hayle hath
undertaken the work you mention [on the Origination of Man-
kind], but Galen, De Usu Partium, will not do it : 1. the point
is to prove that the mcst admired piece in the world, which
Galen takes to bee man, was made by designe and pre-con-
■ceived idea, which his Maker had of him before his production.
2. What shall we say to the flaws and many infirmities in ye
said piece, man ; and ye difficulty of helping either your soare

8 Pepys's Diary, iv. 378. of the Deity, the end and object of

9 Amongst the Longleat MSS., the creation, &c. ; also a sort of catechism
copy of a letter exists from Sir Wil- (in Latin) on the fundamental truths
liam to Lord Anglesea (April 22, 1675) of religion.

full of speculations on the nature ! October 30, 1676.

1667 THE ' SCALE OF CREATURES' 117

throat or your father's dropsy ? 3. The question is whether
man was designed to performe the things which he performeth,
or whether he performeth by the same necessity of his fabrick
and constitution, wherewith fire burneth. My medium or
organ of the " Scale of Creatures " doth not wholly remove
these difficulties; but it doth sufficiently humble Man, and
check the insolent scepticisms, which do now pester the w T orld ;
and is a good caution against the slighting religion and the
practise of good men ; and as for the other grand point, men
take too much pains to prove it ; for it is necessary that there
should be a First and Universale Cause of all things, by whose
designe and according to whose idea all other things must be
made, and we may feele the blessings of the incomprehensible
Being, altho' we do not see it ; as blind men may be comforted
by the warmth of the fire. Abyssus abyss urn invocat. Where-
fore let us returne to wish well unto and do well for one another.
I hope when our case of clay is broaken by Naturale Death, wee
shall no longer peep thro' its creaks and cranyes, but then looke
round about us freely, and see clearly the things which wee
now do but grope after. . . . ' 2

But Sir William had not got far in this opus magnum
before he began to realise that his theology might raise up even
more enemies against him than his transactions in Irish land,
although the Court of High Commission no longer existed
and the Inquisition had no jurisdiction in England. < The
" Scale of Creatures" goes on,' he tells Southwell, 'but will
produce only more mischief against mee. There will be
many things in it the world cannot bear, and for which I
shall suffer. But suppose all were transcendently well, what
shall I get by it but more envy ? ' 3 So reflection after a time
brought discretion, and < The Scale,' even if completed, was
never published. The only relic of it is a syllabus of what
* The Scale ' was intended to contain. The work itself is not
extant.

2 November 14, 1676. Earl of Anglesea ' justifying his

3 To Southwell, August 4, Sep- method of explaining the attributes
tember 29, 1677. In the Bodleian of God,' April 3, 1675. (Kawlinson
Library there is a long letter to the MSS.)

118 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, iv

The mental opposition which existed between Sir William
and the extreme Calvinists has already been noticed. Of
him it might have been said, as of Algernon Sidney, that
' he seemed to be a Christian, but in a particular form of
his own. He thought it was to be like a divine philo-
sophy in the mind.' 4 Such views were as odious to the
Church of Eome as to the Church of Geneva, and for the
whole ecclesiastical system of Eome, Sir William, as a fol-
lower of Hobbes, had a rooted aversion, which recent events
had tended to strengthen. He had seen that the true
origin of the troubles in Ireland lay in the constant at-
tempts of the Church of Eome to use the leaders of the Irish
people as the instruments of their own designs ; and he was of
opinion that the cause of all the civil strife, not in Ireland
only but in Europe, for more than a century, had been the
aggressions of that Church on the power of the State, and the
religious persecutions on account of opinion with which it had
devastated Southern Europe like a pestilence, ' punishing
believers heterodox from the authorized way, in public and
open places, before great multitudes of ignorant people with
loss of life, liberty, and limbs.' 5 Eecent events had tended
to accentuate these feelings. At the very time when he was
in London negotiating with Thurloe, in 1658, the latter had
received a despatch from Maynard, the English Consul at
Oporto, with an account of the death by burning as heretics
— of which Maynard had been an ocular witness — of a motley
band of unsound theologians, Jews, and English sailors, who
had been seized on different pretexts by the officers of the
Inquisition and sentenced to be executed at a ' Grand assize '
held there. 6 George Penn also, brother of his friend Admiral
Penn, had died just after the Eestoration under circumstances

1 Burnet, History of his Own — the desire of the Church to get pos-

Timcs, vol. ii. p. 351. session of their wealth was the true

5 Treatise on Taxes, ch. ii. p. 6. cause of their indictment. ' They were

li It is curious that in this letter all of them people of great estate,

Maynard states, with reference to which is supposed was the greatest

several other persons who were burnt crime for which they dyed.' Thurloe,

at the same time, that — just as in the vii. 567.
case of George Penn mentioned below

1667 DR. PETTY AND THE CHURCHES 119

which had strongly moved public indignation. Early in life
George Penn had married a Eoman Catholic lady in Antwerp,
and subsequently settled in Spain, as a merchant, at Seville
and Malaga. He carefully avoided all cause of religious of-
fence, but his property was too tempting a bait. He was
suddenly seized in 1643 in his house by the familiars of the
Holy Office, and dragged away : his marriage was declared
void ; his wife was carried off, and forcibly married to a Eoman
Catholic ; he was himself plunged into a dungeon and called
upon to recant his religion and confess unheard-of crimes.
On his refusal he was almost tortured to death. At length
mind and body gave w r ay, and he promised to sign all that was
dictated to him. On these conditions his life was spared as a
signal instance of the mercy of the Church. But his property
was confiscated and handed over to ecclesiastical uses. Then
he was dragged to the Cathedral of Seville in order publicly to
recant his errors, and be a central figure in one of those
ghastly scenes in which the gloomy and cruel character of the
Spanish people rejoiced as ' acts of faith ' specially agreeable
to God. But on leaving the Cathedral he was again seized,
and plunged into a debtors' prison. Fortunately for himself,
broken and disfigured as he was, he had been recognised by
some English residents who had been attracted to the Cathe-
dral. They communicated with the English Government.
Still more fortunately, Admiral Penn was at this moment on
his station in the Channel (1647), and happened to seize a ship
suspected of communicating w r ith the rebel forces in the South
of Ireland. On board this ship was a Spanish noble, Juan da
Urbino, on his way to Flanders. The rough Admiral stripped
him naked, and treated him with every indignity, announcing
his intention to keep him in his hold till his brother was
released. The slow pulse of the Spanish Ministry of Foreign
Affairs was now probably quickened, and George Penn was
released and sent to England. Separation was demanded, but
as war soon after broke out, the claim remained in abeyance.
At the Bestoration Charles appointed George Penn Envoy to
the Court of Spain, as a striking means of reinstating him in
public opinion after the gross indignities of which he had been

120 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, iv

the object. 7 But he was physically a ruined man. The rack
and the lash, the loss of wife, home, and property, had done
their work; and he died in England leaving an uncertain
pecuniary claim against the Spanish Government to his
family.

In the world of theology a furious bigotry still held an
almost undisputed sway. The idea that the choice lay not
necessarily between blank negation on the one hand and either
Puritanism or the Church on the other, that science and reli-
gion had relations, that there was a possible connection be-
tween the religions and philosophies of the ancient world and
Christianity, and that Christianity itself must have existed
before the New Testament had been written, were ideas which
it was barely possible to hold anywhere, without danger to the
property and person of those who asserted them. Such ideas
also had no hold on the popular mind, which delighted in
definite dogma. The hope indeed of the scientific men and
philosophers of the seventeenth century, especially of the
school of Cambridge Platonists, which Sir William's old Oxford
ally, Dr. Wilkins, had joined, was that the future of religion
lay with a rational and unsectarian form of Christianity ; and
many of the founders of the Eoyal Society looked forward to
establishing religion on a basis of evidence and reason. But
these views, though boasting distinguished adherents in
England, amongst the masses made no converts, and were
equally distasteful to the Protestant and the Bomanist theo-
logians. Those who held them were denounced as Socinians,
and it is conceivable that, under less favourable circumstances,
the fate of Dr. Petty might have been that of his brother-
physician, Michael Servetus, who only escaped from the
clutches of the Boman Catholic authorities of Vienne to fall
into those of Calvin and be burnt at Geneva. ' Being a
votary,' he acknowledges, 'neither to any one particular sect
or superstition (as a member of Christ's universal Church) nor
to any one faith or party, as obedient to my present visible
governors, (it being alleged against me that I had termed

7 See the original documents bear- Penn's Life of Admiral Penn (ap-
ing on this case, printed in Granville pendix to vol. i.).

1667 THE PLAGUE 121

such who were otherwise, to be as worms and maggots in the
guts of the Commonwealth) I was counted as an enemy even
to all the Sects and Factions.' 8

NOTES TO CHAPTER IV

Concerning ye Plagues of London

1. London within ye bills hath 696 th people in 108 th houses.

2. In pestilentiall yeares, (which are one in 20), there dye ^th
of ye people of ye plague and 1th of all diseases.

3. The remedies against spreading of ye plague are shutting up
suspected houses and pest-houses within \ a mile of ye citty.

4. In a circle about ye center of London of 35 miles semi-
diameter, or a dayes journey, there live as many people and are as
many houses as in London.

5. Six heads may bee caryd a days journey for 20 sh .

6. A family may bee lodged 3 months in ye country for 4 sh , so
as ye charge of carying out and lodging a family at a medium will
be 5 sh .

7. In ye greatest plague wee feare, scarce 20 th families will bee
infected ; and in this new method but 10 th , ye charge whereof will
bee 50 th pounds.

8. The People which ye next plague of London will sweep away
will be probably 120 th , which at 1£ per head is a losse of 8,400 ths ,
the half whereof is 4,200 ths .

9. So as 50 is ventured to save 4,200, or about one for 84.

10. There was never a Plague in ye campagne of England by
which £th of ye people dyed.

11. Poore people who live close dye most of ye plague.

12. The Plague is about 3 monthes rising and as much falling,
which cold weather hastens.

13. Killing dogs, making great fires in ye street, nor the use of
medicaments are considered sure, for which everyone by common
directions may bee theire owne Physicians.

14. In ye circle of 70 miles diameter, choose 10 large wide
roomey disjoyned houses with water and garden to each, the Inhabit-
ants to remove at 7 dayes notice.

15. Convenient wagons or coaches to bee prepared to carry away
ye suspected.

s Reflections, p. 119.

122 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, it

16. A method to furnish ye pesthouses with medicines for theire
mony.

17. Bookes of devotion for every house.

Proposalls. — When 100 per week dy, the Plague is begun.
If there dye fewer than 120 ths , out of ye bills, of all diseases within
a yeare after, then W. P. is [to] have 20 sh per head for all lesse and
to pay 10 sh per head for all above it.

Every family removed being to provide 10£ for ye charge of

going and coming, and of 4 monthes rent. Or a gratuity of

with W. P. his insurance. 9

II

' An Attempt to demonstrate that an Engine may be fix'd in a,
good Ship of 5 or 600 Tonn to give her fresh way at Sea in a
Calm.'

In May 1673, Sir Edward Spragge caus'd the Experiment to be
made in a Dogger of about 80 Tonn, and found it effectually to
answer his purpose. He intended to have promoted it, so as to have
it fix'd in some Frigatts against the next Summer ; but his Death
put a stop to the undertaking, and tho' great endeavors have been
used to set it on foot divers times since, it has not yet met with any
encouragement.

The Description. — 1. The Engine is to consist of an Axis or
Shaft of about 35 foot in length, or more or less in proportion to
the bredth of the ship, for it must extend itself without board,
about 3 foot on each side.

2. This Axis is to be placed in a Frigat, lofty, betwixt Decks and
to ly athwart ship, even with the upper deck, or perhaps riseing an
inch or two, that it may not ly lower betwixt Decks then the Beams
of the Ship. Upon the middle of the Axis shall be placed a sub-
stantiall Trundle head.

3. On each end of the Axis, without-side the ship, is to be fix'd a
wheele of about 7 foot diameter, with 12 Stemms issuing out of each
wheele, and a Paddle or Oar at the end of each Stem of 3 feet square
upon the flat ; the Stemms to be of such a length that those Paddles
which hang perpendicular may be quite dipt in the water to the
Stem.

4. To make this Axis and the Paddle wheels turn round, so as
the Paddles may take hold of the water in the nature of Oars one
after another successively.

9 Of Lessening ye Plagues of London, October 7, 1667.

1667 MECHANICAL EXPERIMENTS 123

There is to be a capstern standing upright betwixt Decks, just in
that part of the Ship where the jeer capstern is usually placed. Upon
this capstern shall be fix'd a cog-wheele, with the Coggs standing
upwards to take hold of the aforesaid Trundlehead.

5. The wheele in which the Coggs are placed, shall have 15 holes,
to put so many half barrs in upon occasion as the manner is in
Drum Capsterns. *

These barrs may be in length about 13 foot from the center of
the capstern, if the ship have bredth enough, as I think all ships
have, that have G foot height betwixt Decks ; and then three men
may well be placed to every bar.

6. Upon the wast or upper Deck, must be another capstern and
crown wheele, with the Coggs turn'd downwards to take hold of the
upper part of the Trundle head. So the men betwixt decks heaving
one way, the men on the upper deck must heave the other way, to give
the Axis and Paddle wheels motion ; the like number of Barrs shall
be upon ye upper Deck ; and ye like number of men : 3 men at each
half barr to the 32 half barrs, 96 men in all. And if need should
be on any extraordinary occasion, the Barrs may be swifted with a
rope running from the end of one Bar to ye end of the other quite
round, and one man may heave upon the swifting between ye ends
of every Barr ; 16 betwixt decks and 16 upon Deck ; which added to
the 96 makes 128 men.

7. The Paddles and Stemms without side the ship, and the cap-
stern barrs within shall be so ordered, that they may be put in, or taken
out in a quarter of an hours time, as occasion shall require. So
nothing will remain standing within but the capsterns and Crown
wheels, which will take up so little room, as to hinder nothing in the
ship, and without will onely remain ye 2 ends of the Axis, with the
7 foot wheel upon each, which may always be kept covered by
Tarpaulins made for that purpose.

While the Engine is working, it will hinder the use of 3 or 4 Gunns
on each side the ship ; but when the paddles and capstern barrs are
stow'd, it will neither hinder the use of one Gunn, nor anything else
in the ship.

But the best way to evince this point is to have a perfect modell
of the Engine, fix'd within a good modell of a fourth-rate Frigat.

Since the first Invention and the said Experiment was made,
another use was found out for the Engine, than that for which it
first was design'd. And the same being fix'd on two Boats, covered
over with a house about 6 foot high and 20 foot square, has bin
employed for the Towing of Ships, first wrought with men, and
since with horses, over the Barr at Newcastle, and up and down the

124 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, iv

Eiver of Thames, between London and Gravesend, and it was
wrought with six horses, worth about 8 or 9 1 a horse.

With this Engine has bin towed 4 of his Ma]? 8 ' new thirdrate
Bhips, built at Blackwall, from that place to Woolwich, without any
masts, vizt. the Kent, Essex, Suffolk, and Exeter.

With the same has bin tow'd down the River from Deptford to
severall places divers of his Majesty s 5 th and 4 th rate Frigatts,
when the wind obstructed there ; having all their masts and Rigging
standing and sails furled. Particularly, the St. David, commanded
by Sir Richard Munden, quite thro' Gallions reach, against a stiff
gale of wind.

The Engine has likewise tow'd merchants ships deep laden
drawing 16 foot water, from Blackwall, Gravesend, in one Tyde.

The said third rate ships were of above 1000 Tonn burthen, and
each of them were towed in an houre from Blackwall to Woolwich,
which is 8 miles, and 2 of them tow'd against the Wind.

All this was perform'd by the strength of 6 horses going round
at a capstern in like manner as if it were to heave up an Anchor.

The Demonstration. — Now if wee knew how to place the like
Engine within side a ship, and how to apply as much strength to
work it as was applyed on board the Tow-boat, then the same
strength will give motion to the ship by itself, at least as well as
it used to give motion to the Tow boat and the Ship too.

That the Engine may be so placed in a ship is already set forth ;
and that like force may be applyed to it, is to bee proved.

Twelve men are allow'd to heave as much at a capstern as an
able horse can draw at ye same ; and say the strength of 72 men
are equall to that of 6 horses.

But wee can place 96 men at 2 capsterns, and 32 upon the
swiftings, in all 128 ; which is about -J more strength then the
strength of 6 horses.

And therefore since ye strength of 6 horses, or 72 men, did give
good steerage way to the Towboat and the St. David, against a
brisk gale of wind ; the strength of 128 men, applyed in the same
manner may give fresh way to the St. David (or other like ship) at
Sea in a Calme.

This I conceive to be Demonstration, but humbly submit to better
judgments.

W. P.

Endorsed. — An Attempt to demonstrate how an Engine may be
placed in Frigatts to give them way in a calm.

November 7, '85.

125

CHAPTEE V

THE ACTS OF SETTLEMENT AND EXPLANATION
1660-1667

Condition of Kerry— Ireland in 1662- The Acts of Settlement and Explana-
tion — Dr. Petty and the Cromwell family— The settlement of Ireland in 1667
— Sir James Shaen— Quarrel with the Duke of Ormonde— The Irish Cattle
Acts — Effects of Absenteeism — Estimate of the Irish character - Interests
of the Irish people — Settlement at Kenmare— Instructions for Kerry.

The Eestoration had necessarily reopened the Irish Land
Question, and Sir William had once more to attend to 'his
surveys, distributions, and other disobliging trinkets/ as he
termed them. He was, however, by this time secure of the
royal protection, though a long struggle was yet before him.
His stake in Irish property was large, nor was it represented
merely by the land he had received in direct payment for
his official services on the survey. The long delay which
had taken place in the payment of the army had reduced
a great number of the soldiers, and even of the officers,
to great distress. Land debentures began to pour into
the market soon after the passing of the Act of 1653, es-
pecially those belonging to the common soldiers ; and the
process had gone on ever since. These debentures in 1653
were not commanding more than a price of from four shillings
to five shillings in the pound, and they were eagerly bought
up by the officers from their own men at reduced prices. A
regular land market existed, and brokers established a sort
of Exchange in Dublin. When the army was satisfied, and
the prohibitions of the Act had therefore ceased to be
operative, Dr. Petty, as already seen, himself entered the
market as a buyer — chiefly from the debenture brokers —
and thereby largely increased his own stake in Irish land.

126 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, v

The net sum which, after paying all outgoings, remained
to Dr. Petty as the result of his labours was 13,000/. For
the Army Survey he received 9,000/., and 6001. for the
survey of the adventurers' land. He had saved 500/. before
going to Ireland, and laid by S00L— viz. two years' salary
of his official post as Clerk of the Council — and 2,100/. from
his salary as Physician-General and his private practice.
For the distribution of the adventurers' land he had not
as yet been paid at all. Of the above sums he invested
part in debentures at a time when, as he wrote in his will,
' men bought without art, interest, or authority, as much
land for 10s. '^ in real money as in this year, 1685, yields
10s. per annum above His Majesty's quit rents.' With
the rest he bought the Earl of Arundel's house and grounds
in Lothbury, known as Token-House Yard. That he had
bought debentures was one of the charges by which Sir
Hierome Sankey, though fully aware that his own conduct had
been far more open to criticism in this respect than that of
Dr. Petty, attempted to inflame the public mind in England
when bringing forward his main accusations as to lands
having been wrongfully kept back from the distribution to the
army.

The lands which Sir William had acquired were princi-
pally in Kef ry : the county which the original allottees of
Irish land "did all in their power to avoid, because of the
apparently rough and unprofitable character of the soil and
the wildness of the inhabitants. ' When we first came into that
country,' says Mr. Lewin Smith, one of the assistant surveyors,
'wee viewed the place in a generall way, considering the
lands to be exceedingly bad ; and was about not to returne any
part of the said countrey profitable, but only arable and good
pasture, though our instructions did make mention of severall
kinds of pasture, which did include and reach the worst
pasture, viz. rocky, fursy, heathy, mountaine, and bog, &c. ; but
yet it was soe bad, that wee intended to proceed. Butt then
comming to the more remote part, viz. Iveragh, Dunkeron,
Glanneroughty barronyes, the greatest part of Corkeaguiny
barrony, the parishes of Kilcommen, Killagha, &c, and the

1660-1661 CONDITION OF KERRY 127

west fractions in Magunnity, with much of the mountaine called
Sleavelogher, in the barony of Trughanackny, Magunnity,
Clanmorris, and Iraghticannor, wee were at a loss ; for the
like quantity that wee were about to returne unprofitable in
the more habitable places, was even as good as many whole
denominations consisted of in the said places, except some
small spotts of arable that was in some of them, and yet
goeing by the names of plowlands and parishes, &c, some
men's whole estates consisting of such like ; some of the said
denominations wholly without arable. Soe that wee did not
know what to doe, but was very inquisitive of those that had
been inhabitants on the said places, and of our bounders; soe
that we did clearly see that something had been made of those
places, and something might be made of them againe, if
stocked with cattle ; and we did not judge it safe to take uppon
us to cast away towne lands, parishes, nay, even allmost
barronyes, wholly for unprofitable. Wee could, although we
did at first soe judge, having never been in the like places
before ; yett having information of the aforesaid, and seeing
that the said places were turned in the abstracts, and as plow-
lands and as parishes, and were some men's whole estates,
and that we were informed that the said coarse plowlands
formerly paid contribution or taxes with the rest of the
countrey, when the same was levied by plowlands, therefore
we could not but judge these places good for something, and
resolved to make something of them.' l

Dr. Petty had himself noticed, apart from the possible
agricultural value of the land at some future date, the facilities
which the geographical situation, the land-locked harbours,
the extensive forests, the valuable quarries, and other natural
resources of the county might give in the development of
other than merely agricultural wealth. He therefore added
largely by purchase to the original allotment which he had
received in that desolate district in payment of his services on
the survey. Aubrey described him, in 1661, as able ' from
Mount Mangerton in that county to behold 50,000 acres of
his own land,' most of it, indeed, waste and unprofitable, but

1 Down Survey, p. 94.

128 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, v

which he hoped would ultimately be a source of both private
profit and national wealth. 2 These estates were principally
on the north and south shore of the Bay of Kenmare, in the
baronies of Iveragh and Dunkerron, and lay in a district
famous from the earliest times for the interminable feuds of the
heads of the Irish tribes which inhabited it, conspicuous among
whom were the O'Sullivans and the McCartys, whose lands
were bounded south and west by the sea, and to the north and
east by the territories of the descendants of earlier settlers,
the so-called ' degenerate English : ' Fitzmaurices, Sarsfields,
Barrys, Boches, and Fitzgeralds, many of whom had fled, but
whose head, Patrick, the principal representative of the rebel-
lious houses of the great insurrection of the Earl of Desmond
in the reign of Elizabeth, had somehow succeeded in proving
constant 'good affection/ and in thus retaining his large terri-
tories on the Bay of Tralee, near Listowel and Lixnaw. 3

The peace and material improvement which Clarendon noted
as having begun in Ireland immediately after the resettlement
has already been mentioned. ' Yet in all this quiet,' he goes
on to say, * there were very few persons pleased or contented,'
and so stormy was the outlook at the Bestoration, and so
intricate was the whole situation, that when created Chancellor
and practically First Minister of the Crown, ' he made it his
humble suit,' as he himself records, ' that no part of it might
ever be referred to him.' 4

Four parties at the Bestoration were eagerly pressing their
claims. The first and largest was the English party, the
' settlers,' as they called themselves, the ' usurpers/ as they
were termed by others. 5 Owing to the energy with which the
survey and distribution had been carried out by Dr. Petty,
this party was now in possession of the lands assigned to
them. They held the reins of government ; they filled the army

2 Bodleian Letters, ii. p. 484; generally, see Smith's History of
Wood's Ath. Oxon., iv. 215. See Kerry, pp. 65, 85, 86, 90.
also Sir William Petty's Will, which 3 Smith's H istory of Kerry, p. 217.
says his intention was to ' pro- 4 Life of Clarendon, pp. 106, 116.
mote the trade of lead, iron, marble, 5 The latter phrase is frequently
fish, and timber, whereof his estate used even by Sir William himself, pro-
was capable.' And on the subject bably as the current Irish expression.

1662-1663 IRELAND IN 1662 129

and the public offices ; they formed the body of freeholders by
whom the restored Irish Parliament, about to meet in Dublin,
was elected ; and they urged it as a great merit that they,
quite as much as General Monk, had made the Eestoration pos-
sible. The King, though bound by no tie of affection to men,
many of whom had been distinguished by their exertions
against his royal father, was obliged, from the peculiar circum-
stances which had attended his restoration to the throne, to
conciliate their interests with his own, and to defer as largely
as was possible to their views. The second party consisted of
the old Anglo-Irish aristocracy, some of whom were loyal
Eoman Catholics, others were members of the Church of
England. Of this party the Duke of Ormonde was the recog-
nised head. Though small in numbers, it included many of
the most distinguished Irishmen of the day. They had lost
their homes and their possessions in the service of the King
and that of his father, and now expected their reward. With
them to a certain extent might be classed ' the '49 men,' or
those officers who had served the King before 1649, and had
subsequently served the Commonwealth against the Irish.
Dr. Petty considered that at the time of the survey they had
been harshly dealt with, 6 and he had tried to protect them ;
but the rapacity of their demands now knew no bounds. The
third party consisted of the Presbyterians of the North, who
had fought against the King in the first civil war, but had sup-
ported their Scotch brethren on the royal side in the second.
They had seen large portions of their lands in Ulster confiscated
in consequence; and had also suffered heavy losses in the
walled towns, where many of them resided, being members of
the class principally engaged in commerce. Outside the limits
of these parties, all in a greater or less degree British in origin
and sympathy, were the great mass of the old native Irish
Eoman Catholic proprietors, of whom some had been undoubted
rebels against the English connection, while others had been
innocent altogether, or had only played with sedition. There
were some also who had first rebelled against the King, and
had then joined Ormonde to fight for the King against the

6 Down Survey, p. 210.

K

130 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap.v

Commonwealth. But all were now equally prepared to de-
clare, and if necessary upon oath, that they had been loyal
subjects of his late Majesty throughout, and had suffered on
his behalf in consequence ; and all were eager to join in de-
manding that the lands in the hands of the ' usurpers ' should
be restored to the original and rightful owners. Such w r as the
tangled skein of affairs ; and under these circumstances, the
difficulties of settling the tenure of the land of Ireland without
exciting almost endless discontents were well-nigh insuperable.

In August 1661, Dr. Petty, who had been elected member of
Parliament for Innistioge in Kilkenny, was appointed by the
Irish Parliament, which had met early in the summer, a mem-
ber of a special deputation sent over to England. A plan
had already been laid before the King in November of the
previous year by Lord Broghill, Sir A. Mervyn, and Sir J.
Clotworthy, persons largely interested on behalf of the
Commonwealth officers and the Adventurers. This plan
professed to show that, after leaving the soldiers and Adven-
turers in possession of the lands they actually occupied,
a sufficient acreage would be found in the ' dubious ' and still
unallotted lands, to enable the King to compensate or ' reprize '
the innocent Catholics, and to indemnify his own supporters and
friends. Charles, despairing of ever seeing any perfect settle-
ment of so troublesome a matter, and anxious, above all things,
both by disposition and interest, to get rid of the question
somehow, caught at the solution thus offered, and on Novem-
ber 30, 1660, signed a l Declaration,' which was the first step
taken towards a settlement.

This Declaration, and the Act which in 1662 gave effect to
it in detail, 7 being framed upon the representations of persons
mainly bound up with the Army and Adventurer interest,
naturally provided in the first place for the security of the
property they held, in return for an increase of the royal quit
rents and a grant of one year's value. The grantees were
accordingly confirmed in their possessions as existing on May
7, 1659, subject to certain conditions and exceptions. Loyal

7 14, 15 Charles II. c. 2 (Irish 621, 638. Petty was first returned for
Statutes). Eeturn of Members of Enniscorthy also, but chose to sit for
Parliament, March 1, 1878, vol. ii. Innistioge.

1663-1664 ACTS OF SETTLEMENT AND EXPLANATION 131

Protestants whose lands had been given to Adventurers or
soldiers, and innocent Papists, were to be at once restored to
their estates, and the persons removed were to be compensated
elsewhere. Special provisoes were also inserted in favour of
the Commission officers under the King who had served in
Ireland against the Irish rebels before 1649, and in favour of
the Duke of Ormonde and thirty-six other particular objects
of the royal favour termed ' mero motu men.' All Church and
capitular lands were to be restored to their ecclesiastical
owners, and enormous grants were made to the Duke of York
and a few special favourites. The still undistributed lands,
the lands of the regicides, and of some other prominent
partisans — amongst others Sir Hierome Sankey 8 — were to
form the reprisal fund.

A Commission was appointed under the Declaration of
November 30 to carry out the Act, and Sir William Petty
received a place upon it. It consisted of thirty-six persons,
and they proceeded to appoint a Court of Claims to hear cases,
with full authority to decide and arbitrate. Satisfactory to
the army as the scheme adopted at first appeared, in practice
it worked very differently from what was expected. The
' dubious ' lands had been stated to the King as representing
one million acres ; and to these the lands of the Kegicides and
other prominent ' fanaticks ' were to be added in order to swell
the amount. But so favourable to the old Irish proprietors
and Royalists did the majority of the Executive Court of
Claims, instituted by the Commission, prove itself in judging
' innocency,' that a loud outcry began to arise, as the com-
pensation fund was seen to be totally inadequate to meet the
claims upon it. The Protestant interest became seriously
alarmed, and the mutterings of an intended insurrection
began to be heard. Soon an actual outbreak took place.
The Irish Parliament once more intervened and the so-called
' Act of Explanation ' was passed. 9 The Army and Ad-

8 Carte's Ormonde, iv. 53. He Cont. Writers, Reign of Charles II., p.
appears, however, subsequently to have 40.

recovered some of his estate. He was 9 17, 18 Charles II. c. 2. (Irish

arrested in 1660. See Rugge's MS. Statutes).
Diary, 228, 229, quoted by Taylor,

k 2

132 LIFE OF SIR "WILLIAM PETTY chap, v

venturers now had to agree to give up one-third of their
lands, on condition of receiving an absolute title to the re-
mainder ; and in order yet further to increase the fund for the
reprisal of the Protestants who were called upon to make way
for innocent Catholics, deductions were made from the estates
of the King's grantees and other great landed proprietors.
Thus at length was some kind of settlement arrived at, at
least in theory ; for the task of carrying out these arrange-
ments was long and complicated, giving rise to interminable
questions both of law and fact, and leaving behind a legacy of
passion and hatred amongst those whose lot it had been in
many cases to see, as Sir William Petty described it, 'the
shrinking of their hopes into a Welshman's button.' l

The Act of Settlement by the 43rd section formally acknow-
ledged the debt due to Sir William, and the 101st clause con-
firmed him in the property actually held by him on May 7,
1659. 2 The survey was also recognised by the Act as
the authentic record for reference in cases of disputed claims :
discontented claimants not being permitted to call for other
surveys, unless they could show an error of more than one-tenth
in the measurements. By the 55th clause of the Act of Ex-
planation his property was again confirmed to him, and a
charge on certain of the Adventurers' lands was made by the
100th section ' for his better encouragement to finish the
maps and description of the kingdom.' 3 On October 14 he
again memorialized the Privy Council for the payment of the
debt due to him on this account. The memorial concludes by
saying, ' Your petitioner hath been at many hundred pounds
charge and several years labour, in composing a most exact
mapp of that kingdom, which is yet imperfect for want of
reasonable help and encouragement,' 4 and he expressed the
wish to be able to finish it ; but nothing appears to have
been paid him. In 1665 he again petitioned, but whatever
assistance he received was either small or in illusory secu-

1 The Elements of Ireland, Nelli- See too Evelyn's Memoirs, ii. p. 96.
gan MS., British Museum. l Down Survey, Appendix XV. p.

2 14, 15 Charles II. c. 2, s. 101. 399.

3 17, 18 Charles II. 1663, s. 55.

1665 DR. PETTY AND THE CROMWELL FAMILY 133

rities. Fortunately the work had become a labour of love,
and in the ' Political Anatomy of Ireland ' he was at length
able to record in 1673 that ' at his own charge, besides those
maps of every parish which by his agreement he delivered unto
the Surveyor General's office, he had caused maps to be made
of every barony or hundred, as also of every county, engraved
on copper ; and the like of every province and of the whole
kingdom.' The map so published, which was engraved at
Amsterdam at a cost of 1,000L, was declared by Evelyn to be
' the most exact map that ever yet was made of any country.' 5

Throughout these transactions Sir William continued to
act for the Cromwell family, and was no doubt able to contri-
bute to the protection of his former chief, to whom the King
seems to have been personally well disposed, from the attacks
of the old Cavalier party, who were constantly attempting to
persuade the Court that the former Lord Deputy was engaged
in a plot. By means of a trust the property of Henry
Cromwell escaped, at least in part, the general confiscation
which befell the property of the regicides and those imme-
diately connected with the Protector, 6 though at a later date the
Clanrickarde family succeeded in ejecting the representatives
of the Lord Deputy's family, on some question of title. 7

The following letter to the Lady Cromwell was written
several years after, in connection with these affairs, when she
was living at Spinney, the country place in Cambridgeshire
to which Henry Cromwell retired after the Eestoration : —

' Madam, —I hope your Ladyshipp will not take it ill that
I have not often troubled you with letters. And I hope you

3 Political Anatomy, ch. ix. ; Recollections of Mr. Lespinasse con-
Evelyn's Memoirs, ii. p. 96. tain an account of an interesting con-

(i See 14, 15 Charles II. c. 2, 5, versation on the character of Henry

cexxiv. The persons there named are Cromwell between Lord Macaulay,

connections by marriage of the Crom- Thomas Carlyle, and Sir G. C. Lewis,

well family. Henry Cromw T ell died Pages 84 and 85, note. In the Bodleian

March 23, 1674. The Lady Cromwell Library the conveyance of Henry

died April 7, 1687, only a few months Cromwell's Irish estate to trustees,

before Sir William Petty. Sir W. Russell and Mr. E. Waldron,

7 See article ' Henry Cromwell ' in exists, dated April 3 and 4, 1661.

the Dictionary of National Biogra- Rawlinson MSS. (A. 253, 188).
j)hy. The recently published Literary

134 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, v

beleeve that if writeing or any other labour of mine would
availe you, that your Ladyshipp should not want it. I must
now desire your Ladyship to renew a letter of Attorney which
I formerly had from my dear friend (who is now with God) ,
whereby to enable mee to gett some right from Capt n Stop-
ford, who hath abused mee and his best benefactors exceedingly
in the matter of the arreares, which I purchased from our
friend, who dyed since I commenced a certaine suit against that
man. Wherefore I desire your Ladyshipp to send mee a new 7
letter of Attorney to recover the said arreares, with leave to
take out letters of administration here for Collonell Cromwell's
personall estate in this Kingdome, of which nature these arrears
are which I bought of him. And if there bee any other
personall estate of his in Ireland which may bee recovered, it
shall bee to your Ladyshipps advantage onely.

' Doctor Wood knoweth all the circumstances of this
business, and I hope will inform your Ladyshipp that there can
bee noe inconvenience in doeing what I desire, even although
there were noe legall obligation (as there is) for doeing the same.
I shall send a man down to your Ladyship to bee witnesse to
this Instrument. In the meane time lam,
' Madam,

' Your Ladishipps most

humble and faith full servant,
' William Petty.

' For Madam Cromwell at Spinny, these.' 8

In the work entitled * The Political Anatomy of Ireland,'
published in 1672, Sir William makes an estimate of the
general result of the successive convulsions in the land
tenure of Ireland between 1641 and 1663. He takes the area
of the country to be 10,500,000 Irish acres, 9 of which
7,500,000 were good meadow, arable, and pasture. Of this
amount 5,200,000 belonged in 1641 to ' Papists and seques-
tered Protestants.' Of all the land seized by the usurpers,'
the Papists, he says, recovered 2,340,000 acres; the

8 Dublin, October 10, 1679. Petty MSS. 9 121 Irish = 196 English acres.

1(365 THE SETTLEMENT OF IRELAND 135

4 Protestants ' and Churches, 2,400,000 ; and other mis-
cellaneous claimants, 460,000. * Of all that claimed inno-
cency,' he says, ' seven in eight obtained it. The restored
persons by innocence and proviso have more than what was
their own, 1641, by at least one fifth. They have gotten by
forged feoffments of what was more than their own, at least
one third ; and of those adjudged innocents not one in twenty
were really so.' l In his opinion the whole proceedings
after the Restoration were a mass of favouritism and oppres-
sion, in which the strong trampled on the weak, and the
guilty robbed the innocent. ' It may be inquired,' he wrote
in 1686, ' who caused and procured the said enormities ? '
' Whereunto it may be readily answered,' he replies, ' Those
who got enormous profit by the same.' Wherefore it ought
to be inquired as followeth :

' 1. Who brought in the " 49 officers " to be satisfied, wholly
excluding the Soldiers ? and who had greatest Pretence to " 49 "
arrears ?

' 2. Whose Chaplains and Creatures were the Bishops whose
Revenues were augmented ?

' 3. For whose sake were the Articles of 1648 reputed for no
miscarriage ? 2

' 4. W T ho had the 300 thousand Pounds raised as year's
value and supplement ?

' 5. Who in particular had the many vast Forfeitures, which
should have been apply'd to the Publick ?

< 6. Who put in the 49 Trustees ?

1 7. Who named the Nominees ?

' 8. Whose Servants, Friends and Creatures, were the Private
Grantees ?

' 9. Who had the general Power and Government, while
these Things were transacting ?

' 10. Who were the Privy Councillors, that transmitted
these Acts, and what have they gotten by the same ?

' 11. What has some one man gotten out of Ireland by and

1 Political Anatomy ch. i. p. 304. the Commonwealth. See Froude,

2 The offer by Owen Roe and the English in Ireland, i. 119.
Irish to make a separate peace with

136 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, v

since his Ma tys Kestoration ? And to how many unrestored
Estates is the said Gain equivalent ?

* 12. By the last Clause of the Act of Settlement the Lord
Lieutenant and Council had Power to alter all the premises.

* Memorandum. That the Duke of Ormond, to keep himself
unconcern'd in these Matters, got his Lands restored (A c 1660)
by an Act of Parliament in England, and also his Pardon ; and
soon after his Regalities in Tipperary were set up.

< He only endeavour'd to have gotten some Lands in
Desmond as holding of his ancient mannors, but quitted y e
same.' 3

Such, for the time, was the result of the dealings with
Irish land by the successive Governments which existed be-
tween the Rebellion of 1641 and the year 1665. The whole
story forms one of the most extraordinary chapters in the
history of any country, and leaves the reader to wonder how
any notion of right or respect for law could survive such an
ordeal. ' If in Ireland you are conquered,' Sir William after-
wards wrote, examining why the number of years' purchase of
land was so far less than in England, ' all is lost ; or, if you
conquer, yet you are subject to swarms of thieves and robbers,
and the envy which precedent missions of English have
against the subsequent. Perpetuity itself is but forty years
long, as within which time some ugly disturbances hath
hitherto happened, almost ever since the first coming of the
English thither. The claims upon claims which each hath
to the other's estates, and the facility of making good any
pretence whatsoever, by the favour of someone or other of
the Governors and ministers which within forty years shall
be in power there ; as also the frequency of false testimonies
and abuse of solemn oaths,' rendered a real security of title
impossible. 4 It specially irritated him that in the settle-
ment many of the great Roman Catholic nobles, whom he
^. regarded as the prime fomenters of the Civil War, suc-

3 Nelligan MS., British Museum. ■* Treatise on Taxes, p. 33. Com-

' Narrative of the Sale and Settlement pare the observations in Arthur

of Ireland.' The reference to ' one Young's Travels in Ireland, ch. vii.
man ' is to the Duke of York.

1665-1666 SIR JAMES SHAEN 137

ceeded by perjury and falsification of documents in getting
back their own lands and others also ; while thousands of
those whom they had misled, their own co-religionists, lost
everything irrevocably. 5

Sir William had escaped destruction ; but, notwithstanding
his tenacity, it was only after many suits and after surrendering
much, that he succeeded in getting into actual possession of
his property, even after his legal title had been recognised
and in retaining it when he had once got into possession.
The custom still was to farm out the royal revenues to
the highest bidder, and the farmers of the Irish Revenue, of
whom Sir James Shaen, now an avowed enemy, was the head,
were not only a powerful, but an unscrupulous body. Every
species of abuse and oppression arose in consequence. The
people, Sir William says, preferred ' to pay anything that was
required, rather than to pass the fire of that Purgatory.' G
One device was to claim arrears of rent from the present
holders as due to the Crown on account of the whole period
of the Civil Wars, all such lands having no doubt been charged
with a head rent to the State, which, however, the Act had
remitted for five years from 1653 ; but there were no
doubt some arrears antecedent to 1653, which technically
were due from the holders of the lands as representing the
previous proprietors. Another device was to find a title for
the Crown in the estates of men who had long been in
undisputed possession of their holdings, and to eject on the
title, often for the benefit of some royal favourite. As
the greater part of the land in Ireland during the previous
hundred and fifty years had at one time or another been
forfeited, the opportunities of raising such questions were end-
less, and it became a regular trade ' to find out these flaws
and defects and to procure a commission on the results of such
inquiries.' 7 Sir William, with characteristic fearlessness,
determined to resist what he considered extortion, even at
the risk of the loss of favour. The farmers of the revenue
soon made him feel the effects of their displeasure. ' The

5 Political Anatomy, p. 368. G Ibid. p. 359.

7 Ibid. ch. xi. p. 359.

138 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, v

prejudices His Majesty hath taken against me/ he writes
to Mr. Oldenburg, one of the Secretaries of the Koyal
Society, ' are a great affliction. But because I am conscious
of no kind of guilt, the more tolerable ; notwithstanding I
have been punished with the loss of near half my lands already.
If His Majesty hath any sparks of kindness for me, try of him
the particulars of my faults. If not, I will bear the burthen
with as much patience and belief that others have abused him,
as any subject he hath.' 8 A quarrel with the Duke of
Ormonde about some lands may have been the cause.

' Dear Cousin,' Sir William wrote to Sir Eobert Southwell,
* you did in your late friendly letter blame me for not getting
some terra firma in England. I answered you by an essay,
shewing I had thought of your matter in earnest ; and you
sent me a paper wherewith — as with okum — I calked up
the leaves of my Essay. You advised me in the same letter
to compound my present law suites and prevent new ones.
I answered you by telling what lawsuites I have ; and wished
I could prevent one for about 15,000L against McGillicuddy,
etc. You in your last promise that dear Neddy shall (I
suppose when he is a Maynard or Hales) ferret McGillicuddy,
but say nothing of it in the mean time. Cousin, hoping what
I am now saying shall not recoyle and kill me, I tell you the
Duke of Ormonde is David ; but I am Uriah ; my estate in
Kerry is Bathsheba; you should bee Nathan, and then my
estate would be the poor man's lamb. Nathan told David
that he had Wives and Concubines enough, without taking
Bathsheba from Uriah and without murdering Uriah, a
worthy man, w T ho had served him bravely in his wars and
difficulties ; as I had done the Duke and his interest before
the King's restoration and now lately, to my great hazard.
The Duke, his three sons and his servant, Sir G. L., gott
more by the rebellion of Ireland and the King's restoration,
than all the lands of Ireland were worth as they left it, and

8 November 24, 1663, Petty MSS. In the following entry, * Lawsuits,''
a list of his works found amongst his inserted between the titles of two
papers, in his own handwriting, occurs poetical effusions.

1665-1666 QUARREL WITH THE DUKE OF ORMONDE 139

as in anno 1653 ; besides advantages which cannot well be
expressed by sums of money. You may now say, " What is
that to you '? " I answer : " he needed not my Bathsheeba, nor
the poor mans lamb." I might add that the ship settlement,
wherein I am a sufferer, was thereby made top heavy and lop
sided, so as she could not bear saile nor work in foul weather.
Wherefore, dear Cousin Nathan, go down to Gilgal and tell
old David — the first gentleman of Europe and whom I ever
sought to serve — before hee dyes, that he should not have
meddled with Bathsheeba, nor have caused Uriah to be killed,
who by his means hath been set in the front rank of all
battles.

' I have sent Neddy the best present I am able to make
him ; viz. a specimen of my algebra or Logick ; which, with
what Lhave formerly said of settling and signification of words,
is as much as I think necessary. Doing as wee would be
done unto is a very short rule, but requires much practice,
and so doth Logick. Adieu.' 9

The quarrel did not last long, for as soon as the Duke was
made aware of an error of fact into which his agents had
fallen, he allowed judgment to be entered against him by
default. Sir William would have been fortunate if all his
disputes had ended so easily.

<I have not as yet contributed,' he wrote about this time
to Lord Aungier, 'to the applications lately made to Parlia-
ment, nor am I naturally forward to engage with multitudes.
Nevertheless your Lordship knows it is my opinion that there
is much to complain of ; and that wrongs have been done
needlessly, wantonly, and absurdly ; and it is notorious that
I have had my share ; yet all this shall not provoke me to
speak evil of dignityes, nor to desire great changes ; nor do
I hope ever to see the world and the justice thereof really
mended ; but I believe there may be a change of evil and
evil-doers. I cannot think with your Lordship that some of

9 Petty to Southwell, March 1667. with 'having bragged, he had got
See Carte's Ormonde, iv. p. 386, witnesses who would have sworn
where the author charges Sir William through a three inch board.'

140 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, v

the late rules and practice in Ireland are to be called " old
foundations," but do know them to be new, and already
rotten. I wish that renouncing all my pretensions, an
oblivion of all my wrongs could beget a true settlement upon
principles of natural equity, and not the fictions and shifts of
interest. I will pray for the peace of Jerusalem.' l

But peace seemed further off than ever, owing to the policy
of the English Government at this juncture.

There was, in the first place, a constant interference on
the part of the Court in questions of Irish patronage ; and
the tendency had already begun to assert itself to pension off
on Irish revenues every person to whom it was undesirable
to attract too much attention in England. Public opinion
indicated Sir William as the author of a set of propositions
concerning the government of Ireland which the Duke of
Ormonde submitted about this time to the Crown. The first
of these insisted on the necessity of an absolute cessation of
further grants by way of reward to the King's servants, till the
ordinary revenue was able to sustain the necessary charge of
Government, and all debts had been fully paid ; and another
sought to prevent applications being made in England in
regard to Ireland over the head of the Lord-Lieutenant, and
their decision without consultation with him.' 2 The country,
it was pointed out, was weighed down by the charge of
worthless favourites. Nor was this the only cause of dispute.
Although the Parliament at Westminster, in which Ireland
was no longer represented, was ready enough to secure the
legal hold of the English interest in Ireland on the land,
it was equally determined that that interest should not be
allowed to develop the resources of the country in any way
which might establish industries, whether agricultural or com-
mercial, likely to interfere with the interests of the landowners
and manufacturers of England. A fall of one -fifth in the rent
of land, which took place in 1661 in England, was attributed
to the import of Irish cattle; and in 1663 an Act was passed
at Westminster, practically prohibiting the importation of fat
beasts from Ireland into England between the months of July

1 March 14, 1667. 2 Political Anatomy, pp. 399-401.

1665-1666 THE IRISH CATTLE ACTS 141

and December. 3 Bents, however, continued to fall, and
nothing less would then satisfy the English landed interest
than the total prohibition of the import into England of Irish
cattle, Irish wool, and Irish meat. 4 A fatal blow was thereby
struck, not only at the branch of industry most suitable to the
Irish soil and climate, but also at the Irish carrying trade
into England. There was a strong opposition to the Bill
both in Parliament and in the Privy Council, but the majority
were of opinion that ' in a point evidently for the benefit and
advantage of England, Ireland ought not to be put into the
scale, because it would be some inconvenience there,' and that
' some noblemen of that kingdom lived in a higher garb and
made greater expenses than the noblemen of England ; and
that if something was not done to prevent it, the Duke of
Ormonde would have a greater revenue than the Earl of
Northumberland.' 5 It was true that it could be shown that
many English counties — those which bought their cattle in
Ireland to fat them for the English market — would suffer
greatly by the projected legislation, and that the King and a
majority of the Peers were opposed to the Bill. But the
House of Commons, where the landowners held the pre-
ponderating power, insisted on the Bill, and made it a con-
dition of voting supplies. Ireland was also excluded from
the advantages of the Navigation Act, and her independent
trade with New England was thereby destroyed. Against
these restrictions, so injurious not to trade only but to the
Protestant interest also, largely composed as that interest was
of the commercial and trading classes, Sir William strongly
exerted himself. He drew up a paper of ' Observations upon
the trade in Irish cattle,' in which he pointed out that the value
of the Irish cattle imported into England had been too small to
have been the cause of the fall in the value of English land.
' The owners of breeding lands ' (in England), he said, ' since
the prohibition, have gotten above ten shillings more for their
cattle per head than before it, which the owners of the feeding
lands (in Ireland) have lost. Moreover, the mariners of

3 15 Charles II. c. 7 (English 4 Life of Clarendon, p. 959 et seq.

Statutes). 5 Ibid. p. 967.

142 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, v

England have lost the getting of nine shillings and six pence
for freight and primage, and the people of England have lost
four shillings and sixpence per head more for driving and
grazing. The King hath lost three shillings and sixpence per
head for customs on both sides : besides officers' fees. And
the traders in hides and tallow have lost what they might
have gained out of fifteen shillings per head. And the
merchants and artizans of England have lost yearly what
they might have gained by one hundred and forty thousand
pounds worth of English manufactures.' °

He went over to England as the head of a deputation to
oppose the Bill before both Houses of Parliament. But so
violent were the passions of the English landed interest, that
even the intercession of Sir Heneage Finch on behalf of the
Crown could not prevail on the House of Commons — then
sitting at Oxford, owing to the plague in London — to stop
their headlong course, or to give a copy of the Bill to the
petitioners. They were told that it might be read to them
once, and then they must immediately say what they had to
offer in objection. 7 Sir. "William next appeared with Mr.
Boyle and others before the Committee of the Lords, but
there also his efforts were useless, and the Bill passed into
law.

In 1664, which Sir William considered the year of Ireland's
greatest commercial prosperity, three-fourths of her foreign trade
was with England, but afterwards it was only one-fourth. 8
To alleviate the injury done to Ireland, a project was started
to set up an export trade to Holland, and Sir William wrote
a paper in support of it ; but it does not appear that the plan
was ever carried into effect. He also did all in 'his powev to
second the efforts of the Duke of Ormonde to encourage the
linen trade as some compensation to Ireland, and to establish
a bank to supply a circulating medium of exchange for the
country on a firm basis. * We do the trade between England

6 Petty MSS. The substance of tical Anatomy, ch. x. p. 348, ch. xi
the argument is reproduced in the p. 362. The Acts in question are 18
Political Anatomy, ch. x. Charles II. c. 2, and 32 Charles II.

7 Commons' Journals, 1665. ch. 2. (English Statutes.)

8 Carte's Ormonde, iv. 245 ; Poli-

1666-1667 EFFECTS OF ABSENTEEISM 14S

and Ireland/ he wrote at this period, ' as the Spaniards in
the West Indies do to all other nations ; for which cause all
other nations have war with them there.' It was absurd,
he pointed out, ' that a ship trading from Ireland into the
islands of America, should be forced to unlade the com-
modities shipt for Ireland in England, and afterwards bring
them home, thereby necessitating the owners of such goods
to run unnecessary hazard and expense.' The Irish cattle
trade was thenceforward diverted to the West Indies, where
the cattle were sold in exchange for sugar ; then this sugar
had to be transported to England in English bottoms, and
was sold there to pay what Ireland owed. 9

The amount of remittances to England was greatly in-
creased by the rise at this period of the new class of non-
resident proprietors, and the artificial obstacles placed by the
English Parliament in the way of the natural development
of Irish trade were rendering absenteeism peculiarly injurious
to the country. The ordinary arguments against absenteeism
Sir William Petty rejected, because he considered the remit-
tance of rents to England as simply the remittance of interest
on money invested in Ireland by English capitalists, which
would bring back goods in exchange from England in the
ordinary course ; but ' to remit so many and great sums out of
Ireland into England, when all trade between the two kingdoms
is prohibited must,' he argued, ' be very chargeable ; for now
the goods which go out of Ireland in order to furnish the said
sums in England must, for example, go into the Barbadoes,
and there be sold for sugars, which, brought into England, are
sold to pay for what Ireland owes. Which way being so long,
tedious, and hazardous, must necessarily so raise the exchange
of money, as we have seen 15% frequently given, anno 1671
and 1672.' Exchange, he points out, naturally corresponds
' with the land and water carriage of money, and the insurance
of it while on the way, if the money is alike in both places.' l
' If,' he continues, 'it be for the good of England to keep

9 Political Anatomy, ch. v. p. 323.
1 Ibid. ch. x. p. 349, ch. xi. p. 357.

144 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, v

Ireland a distinct kingdom, why do not the predominant
party in Parliament — suppose the Western members— make
England beyond Trent another kingdom under commerce, and
take tolls and customs upon the border ? Or why was there
ever union between England and Wales, if the good effects
and fruits whereof were never questioned ? And why may
not the entire kingdom of England be further cantonized for
the advantage of all parties ? ' 2 ' If,' he goes on to argue,
following the same line of thought, ' the whole substance of
Ireland be worth 16 millions, as above-said : if the customs
between England and Ireland were never worth above 32,000/.
per annum : if the titles of estates in Ireland be more
hazardous and expensive, for that England and Ireland be
not under one legislative power : if Ireland till now hath been
a continual charge to England : if the reducing the late
rebellion did cost England three times more in men and
money than the substance of the whole country, when re-
duced, is worth : if it be just that men of English birth and
estates, living in Ireland, should be represented in the legisla-
tive power ; and that the Irish should not be judged by those
who, they pretend, do usurp their estates ; it then seems just
and convenient that both kingdoms should be united, and
governed by one legislative power. . . .

' In the mean time, it is wonderful that men born in England,
who have lands granted to them by the King for service done
in Ireland to the Crown of England, when they have occasion
to reside or negociate in England, should by their countrymen,
kindred and friends there, be debarred to bring with them out
of Ireland food whereupon to live ; nor suffered to carry money
out of Ireland, nor to bring such commodities as they fetch
from America directly home, but round about by England, with
extream hazard and loss, and be forced to trade only with
strangers, and become unacquainted with their own country ;
especially when England gaineth more than it looseth by a free
commerce, as exporting hither three times as much as it
receiveth from hence : insomuch as 95/., in England, is worth

- Political Anatomy, ch. v. p. 324.

1666-1667 ESTIMATE OF THE IRISH CHARACTER 145

about 1001. of the like money in Ireland, in the freest time of
trade.' 3

' I have lately perused all the Acts relating to Trade and
Manufactures which are of force in Ireland,' he wrote some
years after to Southwell, when the full evils of the system had
had time to make themselves felt, ' and could without tears see
them all repealed as encroachments on the Laws of Nature ; for
Trade will endure no other Laws, nee volunt res male adminis-
trari. But, Lord, Cousin, to what a magnitude will the Statutes
both of England and Ireland swell, if they grow at this rate.
How hard will it be for our lives, liberties, limbs, and estates
to be taken away upon Statutes which we can never remember
nor understand. Oh, that our book of Statutes were no bigger
than the Church Catechism ! ' 4

The hostility of the English Parliament was doubly odious
to Sir William, because knowledge and experience had con-
vinced him of the possibility of a great increase in the wealth
of Ireland under natural laws, if the country were allowed
to develop her own resources without impediment, and the
freedom of intercourse which had existed under the Pro-
tectorate were allowed to continue. But it was useless,
he said, to have broken the power of the chiefs and
Mazing friars,' if the English Parliament w r as to throttle
all the natural industries. Like Sir John Davis, in
the previous century, he observed nothing in the character
of the people to prevent them attaining a high degree of
material civilisation and prosperity. He considered their
faults, such as they were, to be the result of the confusion
and anarchy of the times, and of ignorance, not of any in-
nate inferiority to the English, or unwillingness on their part
to work, if given a fair opportunity, and if order were main-
tained.

' As for the manners of the Irish/ he said, ' I deduce them
from their original constitutions of body, and from the air ;
next, from their ordinary food ; next, from their condition of
estate and liberty, and from the influence of their governors

3 Political Anatomy, ch. xv. p. 384; comp. ch. v. p. 322.

4 To Southwell, September 10, 1678,

L

146 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, v

and teachers, and lastly from their ancient customs, which
affect as well their consciences as their nature. For their
shape, stature, colour, and complexion, I see nothing in them
inferior to any other people, nor any enormous predominancy
of any humour.

' Their lazing seems to me to proceed rather from want
of employment and encouragement to work, than from the
natural abundance of flegm in their bowels and blood ; for
what need they to work, who can content themselves with
potatoes, whereof the labour of one man can feed forty ; and
w 7 ith milk, whereof one cow will, in summer time, give meat
and drink enough for three men ; when they can every where
gather cockles, oysters, muscles, crabs, &c, with boats, nets,
angles, or the art of fishing ; and can build an house in three
days? And why should they desire to fare better, though with
more labour, when they are taught that this w r ay of living is
more like the patriarchs of old, and the saints of later times,
by whose prayers and merits they are to be relieved, and
whose examples they are therefore to follow ? And why should
they breed more cattle, since 'tis penal to import them into
England? Why should they raise more commodities, since there
are not merchants sufficiently stocked to take them of them,
nor provided with other more pleasing foreign commodities to
give in exchange for them? And how should merchants have
stock, since trade is prohibited and fettered by the statutes of
England? And why should men endeavour to get estates,
where the legislative power is not agreed upon ; and where
tricks and words destroy natural rights and property ?

' They are accused also of much treachery, falseness, and
thievery ; none of all which, I conceive, is natural to them ;
for as to treachery, they are made believe that they all shall
flourish again, after some time ; wherefore they will not really
submit to those whom they hope to have their servants ; nor
will they declare so much, but say the contrary, for their pre-
sent ease, which is all the treachery I have observed : for they
have in their hearts, not only a grudging to see their old pro-
perties enjoyed by foreigners, but a persuasion they shall be
shortly restored. As for thievery, it is affixt to all thin-peopled

1666-1667 INTERESTS OF THE IRISH PEOPLE 147

countries, such as Ireland is, where there cannot be many eyes
to prevent such crimes ; and where what is stolen is easily
hidden and eaten, and where 'tis easy to burn the house, or
violate the persons of those who prosecute these crimes ; and
where thin -peopled countries are governed by the laws that
were made and first fitted to thick-peopled countries; and
where matters of small moment and value must be tried with all
the formalities which belong to the highest causes. In this
case there must be thieving, where there is neither encourage-
ment, nor method, nor means for labouring, nor provision for
impotents.

' As for the interest of these poorer Irish, it is manifestly to
be transmuted into English, so to reform and qualify their
housing, as that English women may be content to be their
wives ; to decline their language, which continues a sensible
distinction, being not now necessary ; which makes those who
do not understand it, suspect, that what is spoken in it, is to
their prejudice. It is their interest to deal with the English
for leases for time and upon clear conditions, which being
performed they are absolute freemen, rather than to stand
always liable to the humour and caprice of their landlords,
and to have everything taken from them, which he pleases to
fancy. It is their interest, that he is well-pleased with their
obedience to them, when they see and know upon whose care
and conduct their well-being depends, who have power over
their lands and estates, than to believe a man at Rome has
power in all these last particulars in this world, and can make
them eternally happy or miserable hereafter. 'Tis their inte-
rest to join with them, and'follow their example, who have
brought arts, civility and freedom into their country.

' On the contrary, what did they ever get by accompanying
their lords into rebellion against tbe English ? what should
they have gotten if the late rebellion had absolutely succeeded, S
but a more absolute servitude ? and when it failed, these
poor people have lost all their estates, and their leaders in-
creased theirs and enjoyed the very land which their leaders /
caused them to lose. The poorest now in Ireland ride on
horseback, when heretofore the best ran on foot like animals*

L 2

148 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM TETTY chap, v

They wear better clothes than ever ; the gentry have better
breeding, and the generality of the plebeians more money and
freedom.' 5

It was, he said, often his lot to hear 'wise men,' when
bewailing the vast losses of England in suppressing rebellions
in Ireland, and considering how little profit had come thereby,
proceed to wish in their melancholy ' that (the people of
Ireland being saved) the island were sunk under water,' while
others wished for another rebellion as an excuse for stamping
out the inhabitants. To these melancholy philosophers he
used to reply that 'the distemper of his own mind ' caused him
to dream that the benefit of their wishes might practicnlly be
obtained without the adoption of such very extreme courses,
' if all the moveables and people of Ireland and of the High-
lands of Scotland, were moved into the rest of Great Britain,'
where he was prepared to show there was abundant room and
occupation for them ; though he thought it as well to guard
himself by saying that, however ingenious and attractive these
speculations might be, they were to be considered 'a dream or
reverie,' rather than rational or serious proposals.' 1 He did,
however, seriously favour a considerable State-aided emigration
from Ireland to England and vice versa, as affording a partial
solution of many political and religious difficulties. 7 This pro-
posal he renewed more than once. He also suggested that the
inhabitants of New England might, as had been proposed in
the time of the Commonwealth, be removed to Ireland. ' The
Government of New England, both civil and ecclesiastical,'
he wrote in almost prophetic words, ' doth so differ from His
Majesty's other dominions, that 'tis hard to say what may be
the consequence of it. . . . I can but wish they were trans-
planted into Old England or Ireland (according to proposals of
their own made within this twenty years) although they were
allowed more liberty of conscience than they allow one an-
other.' 8 But his favourite idea was the union of the countries.

5 Political Anatomy, ch. xii. p. 366. s Political Arithmetic, ch. v. p.

6 Political Arithmetic, ch.iv.Tp. 252. 269. The allusion is to the. expulsion

7 Political Anatomy, eh. v. pp. of Eoger Williams from Massachusetts
318, 320. and the persecution of the Quakers.

1G66-1667 SETTLEMENT AT KENMARE 149

i May not the three kingdoms/ he asks, 'be united into one,
and equally represented in Parliament ? Might not the several
species of the King's subjects be equally mixt in their habita-
tions ? Might not the parishes and other precincts be better
equalized ? Might not jurisdictions and pretences of powers
be determined and ascertained ? Might not the taxes be
equally applotted and directly applied to their ultimate use ?
Might not dissenters in religion be indulged, they paying for
a competent force to keep the public peace ? I humbly ven-
ture to say, all these things may be done if it be so thought fit
by the Sovereign power, because the like hath often been done
already, at several places and times.' °

In order to set the example of promoting the develop-
ment of the country, he established an industrial colony of
English Protestants at Kenmare, in Kerry, with iron and
copper works ; and attempted to develop the sea fisheries.
For the former undertaking ore was shipped from Wales and
Bristol, where Sir Robert Southwell, who lived near the
city, at King's Weston, probably assisted in the undertaking.
The ore was sent to Kenmare, where the woods which clothed
the mountains afforded a large supply of the best fuel.

But there were great local difficulties to contend with.
' The Ministers of Justice,' he writes, ' have been often abused
in their persons and goods ; they have been either terrified
from proceeding in their duty, or else wearied into a compliance
with or connivance at those whom they before sought to
punish. ... In all the Baronies — being about 100 miles
in compass — there is resident but one Minister, and he with-
out Churchwardens or Service Books ; officiating only now 7
and then in one place, and who, although he have 300Z. due
to him, is now ready to perish for want of maintenance.' 1

Some instructions given to his agent illustrate the diffi-
culties of the situation, and show the minute care with which
he superintended every detail.

Political Arith7netic,ch.Y.ip.2G9. addressed to the Lord-Lieutenant.

1 Keport on the condition of Kerry Petty MSS.

150 LIFE OF SIK WILLIAM PETTY chap, v

' Mr. Checsey. — Instructions for Kerry.
' By Sir William Petty.

' 1. When you goe into Kerry find out Cornelius Sulivane of
Dromoughty, in the barrony of Glanneroughty, and take direc-
tions from him for goeing into all the woods in the 2 barronyes
of Glanneroughty and Dunkerron, and particularly those of
Glancurragh, soe as to satisfie yourself what clift ware, ship
tymber, house timber, and other wooden commodityes may
bee made out of them, and at what charges they may bee
brought to the water-side, how far each respective wood.

'2.1 would have you take the best accoumpt you can of
all the staffes and other clift-ware which now lyeth upon the
river, and examine by all the meanes you can what part of
them was brought from any other than my woods, and to
oppose the shipping of any untill all controversyes of that
point bee cleared, to prevent the cutting of any wood but by
my order, to bringe in English and Protestant e workmen in
the greatest number you can, assureing all such who are able
and honest they shall have the best incouragement in Minister,
and forbidding all tenants from paying any rent to any but
myself or my order.

' I would have you encourage Sandford and Sellberry, and
lett Sandford goe on with his boate, slender worke, such a one
as may be able to carry 20 tunne to Corke or Lymericke, and
sett as many hands as you thinke convenient to worke upp
the timber already fallen into clift-ware, and sawing-tymber,
according to such scantlings as I have given you.

' And to agree with as many as you can to take the rent
of the land or stocke for their wages.

' To take care that noe pipe staffes coming from any other
woods be shipped before they have paid the lawfull clutyes.
and customes for the same.

' To consider what conveniencey is for making of sale for
beefe and fish.

' Dublin, dated the 24th of May, 1G6G.' 2

2 History of the Kingdom of Kerry, pp. 279-80.

1667 INSTRUCTIONS FOR KERRY 151

Meanwhile for three weary years the struggle with the
farmers of the revenue had continued, complicated by another
with the ' '49 men ' who claimed the whole of Sir William's
Limerick property. Events in England influenced the situa-
tion. The death of the Lord Treasurer Southampton in 1667,
followed as it was shortly after by the fall of the Chancellor
Clarendon and the rise into power of the heterogeneous body
of statesmen known as the Cabal, had for an immediate con-
sequence the retirement of Ormonde from the Lord-Lieuten-
ancy of Ireland. John Petty was thereupon removed from the
Surveyorship, and was succeeded by Sir James Shaen. Mis-
fortunes, as usual, did not come singly. About the same time
Sir William's house in London was destroyed by the Great
Fire, and his surrounding property seriously depreciated in
value.

' You know,' Sir William writes to a friend in 1667, ' when
I had much money in the bank, much land in Ireland, and
some houses in London ; but the houses and money are gone,
and only so much of the land remains as is a continual foun-
tain of vexations to me, for I have about thirty lawsuits.' 3
In another letter he gives the following enumeration of the
storms which had befallen him since the Eestoration : —

' 1. The " 49 men" siege of my Limerick concernment,
and Sir Alan Broderick ; 1661 and 2.

' 2. The Court of Clayms and Innocents, 1663.

< 3. The great "Double bottom," 1664.

< 4. The Plague, 1665.

' 5. Lord Kanelagh and the Fire of London, 1666.

< 6. War with Lord Kingston, 1667-8-9-70 and 1, when
Sir W. Fenton died.'

In addition to these, he got involved in a suit with Sir
George Carteret, the Treasurer of the Navy, who had joined
him in one of his Irish undertakings.

During the first of these storms, Sir Alan Broderick, ' one
of the '49 men ' who had put in a claim to part of the Limerick
lands, and in other respects also was a sort of second edition
of Sir Hierome Sankey, being given to preaching in Dublin

3 Petty to Southwell, January 21, 1667.

152 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chaj>. v

when not engaged in soldiering elsewhere, sent Sir William a
challenge to fight. Sir William, however, notwithstanding
his recent knighthood, was not more desirous of distinction in
martial exercises than in the days when Sir Hierome's friends
had pressed on him the command of a troop of horse. Being
the person challenged, it lay ^ ith him to nominate place and
weapon. As he was very short-sighted, he claimed, in order
that his adversary should have no unfair advantage over him,
that the place should be a dark cellar, and the weapon a great
carpenter's axe. This turned the challenge into ridicule, and
Sir Alan declined so unexpected a form of contest. 4

4 Evelyn's Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 96. Bodleian Letters, ii. p. 485.

15J

CHAPTEE VI

DOMESTIC AFFAIRS
1667-1678

Marriage -Offer of a peerage— Housekeeping in 1672— Character of Sir William
Petty— Correspondence with Lady Petty— Family troubles— Business affairs
—John Aubrey— The farmers of the revenue— Commitment for contempt
— Portrait by Sir Peter Lely— Southwell as an adviser—Colonel Vernon.

In 1667 Sir William, who was now forty-four years of age,
married Lady Fenton, the widow of Sir Maurice Fenton, and
daughter of Sir Hardress Waller, one of the most distinguished
of the Parliamentary officers. Sir Hardress, as already seen,
had materially assisted Dr. Petty at the time of the survey,
by becoming one of the securities in a bond for the punctual
execution of the contract. His signature appears to the
warrant for the execution of Charles I. At the Restoration
he suffered for his opinions. Narrowly escaping the death
penalty, he was imprisoned for life in the Tower, and appears
to have died there. 1 Aubrey describes Lady Fenton as ' a
very beautiful and ingenious lady, browne, with glorious eyes.'
Her tastes, combined with a certain love of splendour, are con-
trasted by Evelyn with the simple habits of Sir William.
' When I,' he says, ' who have knowne him in meane circum-
stances, have been in his splendid palace, he would himself be
in admiration how he arrived at it ; nor was it his admiration
for splendid furniture or the curiosities of the age ; but his
elegant lady could endure nothing mean, or that was not
magnificent. He was very negligent himself, and rather so
of his own person, and of a philosophic temper. " What a
to-do is here," would he say; "I can lie in straw with as

1 Noble, Lives of the Bcgicides, ii. 285.

154 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, vi

much satisfaction." . . . She was an extraordinary wit as
well as beauty.' 2

Some bantering lines, signed ' Dorothy Anwacker,' thus
allude to his marriage : —

* Petty complains that nature was unkind,

In that she made him heavy- eyed and blind,
Never considering that the mighty three,
Fortune, Love, Justice, were more blind than he.

* The Blind were all his friends, for understand,
It was blind fortune gave him all his land.
Blind love, in her he had gave him a wife,
Kich, fair, and civil, without brand or strife.' : *

'This is the fourth day,' Sir William writes from Dublin,
in the autumn of 1667, to Captain Graunt, ' since my wife's
arrival in the town, and I thank God that her presence and
conversation have been a continual holy day unto me ; so as
I have declined all other business till this time, the better to
entertain her.' ' I am almost weary of living,' he says a few
weeks later, ' did not my wife, as she is at this moment doing,
refresh me with the lute strings, to which purpose I am con-
tented that our dreadful account should be inflamed with two
packets of lute strings, which will cost about 17 or 18 shillings.' 4

The following letter gives an insight into the troubles of
furnishing in 1668 : —

Sir William to Lady Petty,

' I have sent an inventory of such goods as we have.
Consider what you have of your own, and then consider also
what more is next necessary to be bought, to the value of
about 300Z. ; whereof a good part must be in linen ; as also a
pair of horses, about 50/. ; with another pair, about 60L ; and
a pair for loading, to make them up to six. I suppose we
may have them here, either bays or blacks. The great art
will be in buying these horses, next to the finding means to
pay for them.' r>

2 Evelyn's Memoirs, v. 95-97. 4 Petty to Graunt, Oct. 13, Nov. 28,

3 Petty MSS. Sir William Fenton, 1667.

son of Lady Petty by her first mar- 5 Dublin, Oct. 15, 1668.

riage, died on March 18, 1671.

1668-1669 OFFER OF A PEERAGE 155

By his marriage Sir William became connected with the
family of his friend, Sir Eobert Southwell, and they now
addressed each other in their correspondence as cousins. 6

About the time of his marriage, Sir William appears to
have been offered a peerage ; but there was a condition
annexed — a round contribution to the Exchequer of the impe-
cunious King. The offer came at a peculiarly inopportune
moment, when his house in London had just been destroyed,
and in the midst of his struggle w 7 ith the farmers of the
revenue. It appears to have been made through the Bishop
of Killaloe, a friend of Lady Petty ; the title offered, according
to Aubrey, being that of Baron Kilmore. 7

To the Bishop Sir William replied as follows : —

'My Lord, — I thank you on my wife's behalf for your
good intentions ; but is it better for me at this time to buy
titles, or to get me a house and furniture, whereby I may do
for your Lordship as your Lordship hath done for me ; and
to rebuild my ruins at London ; to pay my year's rent ; to
restore the iron works and fisheries of Kerry ; to buy off my
incumbrances, and to carry on the just and necessary war
against Lord Kingston ?

' I wall not tell your Lordship what I think of people who
make use of titles and of tools ; nor w r ould I fall into the
temptation of doing the like. The end of those things will be
like that of the Dublin tokens. I had rather be a copper
farthing of intrinsic value, than a brass half-crown, how 7
gaudily soever it be stamped and guilded. I might have had
those things a long time ago, for the third part of what your
Lordship propounds. Beside, if ever a thirst of that kind
should take me, I hope to quench it . at the very fountain,
where those matters are most clear and wholesome. Herewith
then, I thank your Lordship for the honour you intended me,
and if I can serve your Lordship's friend by being his broker

<; Lady Petty was descended from 7 Bodleian Letters, ii. 485. The

Sir Thomas Southwell, whose brother estuary now known as the Kenmare

Anthony was godfather to Sir llobert River is marked on Sir William Petty's

Southwell. ' map ' Killmare.'

156 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, vi

in the market of ambition, let him give me his selling price,
and employ your Lordship's most thankful, etc., etc., 8

'William Petty.'

The death at this moment of John Petty, who had
managed his affairs in Ireland and understood the labyrinth
of suits in which they were involved, not only deprived him
of a near relative, but of a trusted adviser. Sir William's
marriage in some respects also increased his troubles. The
' war with Lord Kingston,' which is frequently referred to in
his papers, was originally undertaken on behalf of Lady
Petty's son by her first husband, whose cause, once espoused
by Sir William, was pushed by him with characteristic deter-
mination. A Mr. Napper also, who had married Sir William's
only sister, died, and left his wife and family dependent upon
his brother-in-law. Sir William was not wanting to his duty.
Writing to Southwell, he says : ' I am, and ever shall be,
a friend, and as an only brother to my sister and hers ;
and will do for them as for my own self ; but God knows
how long I shall be able to act for either. Let her doubt
nothing of those steady principles whereby I have ever
acted.' 9 The desponding tone of his letter was no doubt
owing to the losses he had himself sustained. ' Sir William,'
Lady Petty says, writing to Lady Ingoldsby, ' lost about
4,0001. by the fire of London ; has lately paid about 2,000/.
for the " yearly value " (which is more than the land is worth) ;
has exj)ended more than 5,000/. in Kerry, without a penny
return ; hath laid out for William Fen ton about 1,500/. more
than he hath received ; is now paying 700/. of Sir Michael
Fenton's debts ; and lives all the time on money taken up
at interest. Consider that I have neither jewels, plate, nor
house to put my head in.' l

. Sir William himself writes in the same strain to Mr.
Waller : ' Exchange being at the intolerable rate of ten per
cent., and we having contracted many debts for furnishing
our house, it behoves us to be frugal ; ' 2 and Mr. Waller's

« Earl of Kerry's MS. The original B To Southwell, Sept. 19, 1671.

is stated to be among the MSS. of Sir ! July 18, 1671.

Thomas Phillips. 2 Nov. 14, 1671.

1670-1672 HOUSEKEEPING IN 1672 157

reply appearing not altogether satisfactory, Sir William in
his answer goes a little into details. ' As to your housekeep-
ing,' he says, ' upon perusal of the accompte, I find there
has been about eleven in family: viz. yourself, Crookshank,
Cary, Antrobus, Sency, Harry, Bryan, and the groom, Jane,
Margaret and Mary ; besides my cousin, before Crookshank
came. Now I see no necessity of above four, yourself,
Crookshank, a groom, and maid. I also find there has been
spent in housekeeping since my departure above 2501. ; at
which rate the whole year's expense must come to 340/. ;
nothing being reckoned for Marshall, Butter, or several other
agents in the country ; which being put together and spend-
ing proportionately, will amount to between 400/. and 500/. ;
whereas I think 200/. is very fair for doing all my business
out of Kerry. I also find that in the same three quarters of
a year there hath been spent in law, letters, and travelling
expenses, and agents' salaries, about 350/., which in the whole
year will amount to above 450/. ; whereas I conceive that about
half the same would very well suffice. To be short, I conceive
that comparing the business which hath been done with your
accounts, that about 400/. may defray the charges of the
lands, letters, travelling charges, dyet, horsement, and two ser-
vants' wages in Dublin ; more than which I neither can nor will
expend, both for the premises and all your salaries, consider-
ing that you have a house, furniture, and horses, over and
above the sum ; which cannot be worth less than 50/. or 60/.
per annum. I now perceive what hath rained me, forasmuch
as till now I never could come to the sight of any of my
accounts ; and being kept in perpetual darkness.' 3

At this period Sir William was almost continuously in
Ireland. 'As for my health,' he writes to Lord Anglesea
from Dublin, ' it is ordinarily well. What I do here are
matters of recreation or business, or mixt. The first sort are
such things as I exercised myself with before the age of
twenty, to delude nryself that I am now as then. The second
sort of my business is to rectify double charges in the
Exchequer, and prevent double payments, to contest with

8 Jan. 9, 1672.

158 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, vi

proud Beggars, and, lastly, I thank God, to provide employ-
ment for 300 useful artisans and labourers without profit to
myself. The last sort are " Political Arithmetick ; " and the
" Political Anatomy of Ireland ; " whereupon I think depends
the Political Medicine of that country ; and these things too
without passion or interest, faction or party ; but as I think
according to the Eternal Laws and Measures of Truth. As for
complaints, the Poor ever complained against the Rich ; one
endeavoured to cheat or oppress the other ; and those out of
power did ever find fault with those that are arm'd with it.
Trading was ever dead among the Lazy and Ignorant ; nor is
it any more than good luck for the Ingenious and Industrious
to thrive, or for the Innocent to be punished as malefactors.
But if you would have me pitch upon the partialitys which
may diminish our grievances in Ireland, I shall shortly do it as
well as I can ; and, I hope, without reflection on any person in
power or envy of his preferment ; altho' I do not think that
shifty and transient expedients, or any gratifying of humours
or opinions, can produce any permanent advantage ; for I
ever fear'd the Act of Settlement (how much I ow T n it ought to
be preserved) not to have been built upon so firm ground, as
ought to have been had at the price.' 4

As already seen, the house which he had erected in Loth-
bury had been totally destroyed in the Great Fire. The
disaster was serious, but never perhaps did the elasticity
of his mind come out more strongly. No sooner was he aware
of the extent of his losses than he set to work to repair them.
He at once addressed a paper of inquiries from Dublin to
Captain Graunt, in order to ascertain the plan proposed for the
restoration of the City. ' What,' he inquires, ' do the several
parties give as the provocation of God unto this vengeance on
London ; and to what action or motion does this providence
incline them ? ' He soon had made up his own mind on what
he intended to do himself. ' I intend,' he said, replying to his
own inquiry, ' God willing, to introduce the use of brick into
the city ; for I find that a sixth part more housing may be
built upon my ground, than with stone, and at less charge/ 5
4 Dec. 17, ir>72. •> To Graunt, August 16G7.

1670-1672 CHARACTER OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY 159

The versatility and pertinacity which this letter exhibits,
and the fund of humour which enriched an otherwise serious
nature and enabled him to see the comic side of events and
to laugh over his own failures, were the gifts which enabled
him to surmount his various troubles. He builds houses in
London and Dublin ; reads papers before the Eoyal Society ;
keeps up his interest in medicine ; commences a metaphysical
treatise; plunges deeply into political economy; not only
translates the Psalms into Latin verse, but also what he
irreverently termed 'the catterwouling songs' of Sir Peter
Pett of the Board of Admiralty, one of his colleagues on the
Council of the Eoyal Society ; writes a quantity of good Latin
and bad English original verse ; builds a new kind of chariot,
not to mention the ' double bottom ; ' and does all these things
in the intervals of his endless suits with the farmers of the
revenue, and the battle with Lord Kingston, besides keeping
up a large private correspondence. He gets a ' custodium '
of his lands in Kerry, and ' is gone,' Lady Petty despairingly
writes to Sir Eobert Southwell, ' upon the unlucky place him-
self ; which she is very sorry for, considering how unfit he is
to ride in such dangerous places.' G He draws up schemes for
the education of his own children and for Southwell's son
Edward ; he dabbles in theology, and consoles himself in
dreamy and rather mystical speculations on the character and
nature of the Deity, for the terrestrial troubles which he
suffers owing to 'there being always some devilish enemy,
who sows tares amongst the corn at night.' 7 His old habit of
mimicry was also an unfailing source of consolation ; and
he could not resist falling back upon it notwithstanding his
constant resolves to abandon a practice too dangerous for
unsettled times. He could speak ' now like a grave orthodox
divine ; then falling into the Presbyterian way ; then to
Fanatical, to Quaker, to Monk, and to Friar, and to Popish
Priest,' all of which Evelyn declares 'he did with such
admirable action and alteration of voice and tone, as it was
not possible to abstain from wonder, and one would sweare
to heare severall persons, or forbear to think he was not

(i Aug. 11, 1683. 7 To Southwell, April 1684.

160 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, vi

in good earnest, an enthusiast, and almost beside himself.
Then he would fall out of it into a serious discourse ; but it was
very rarely he would be prevailed upon to oblige the company
with the faculty, and that only amongst most intimate friends.
My Lord D. of Ormond once obtained it of him, and w r as
almost ravished w r ith admiration ; but by and by he fell upon
a serious reprimand of the faults and miscarriages of some
Princes and Governors, w 7 hich, though he named none, did so
sensibly touch the Duke, who was then Lieutenant of Ireland,
that he began to be very uneasy, and wished the spirit layed,
which he had raised ; for he was neither able to endure such
truths, nor could he but be delighted. At last he turned his
discourse to a ridiculous subject, and came down from the
joint-stool on which he had stood, but my lord would not have
him preach any more.' 8

Sir William was now the father of tw r o children : John,
born in February 1669; and a daughter. But in 1670 both
son and daughter died, apparently of small-pox, in Dublin.
From this time forward Lady Petty evinced a great and
natural dislike to the idea of returning to the Irish capital.
The fate of her two children is alluded to in a letter
from Sir William to Lady Petty in 1671. ' I did not forget
upon the 17th and 18th,' he says, ' to commemorate the
translation of our dear children ; but without any regret or
chagrin, and with much pleasant contemplation upon their
blessed estate and condition, practicing as well as I could
how to resign our best things to the disposure of God and
to acquiesce perfectly in his will. I hope you have done the
same and no more.' 9

In 1672 Lady Petty had another daughter, Anne.

Sir William to Lady Petty.

' Dublin : 13° July 1672.

' I hope, my Dearest, That this will find you safely de-
livered, the news whereof will be of all others most welcome. I

8 Evelyn's Memoirs, ii. 95-97, 1, buried in St. Bride's Church, Dublin,
417. Jan. 23, 1670.

9 March 19, 1671. John Petty was

1672 CORRESPONDENCE WITH LADY PETTY 161

am very weary of this separation, but hope to make this one
the Prevention of any more. Otherwise this it selfe had been
intollerable. I and my affaires do still mend, tho' I shall
trouble you with none of them. Onely I wish that you have or
may get such monyes as are necessary without troubling your
mind in the least. I presume Ewing has ere this payd the 30 H
and that the Lothbury rents, due about the 7 th instant, have
done somewhat, whatever Beechers prove. But as to this point
I say, as in my last, do any thing rather then entertayne an
anxious thought. Draw what you will, I can pay it at sight.
I thinke powerfully of you and pray as often for you. You may
repay this care and kindness, onely by sending mee the Newes
of your being well ; and that I have now 2 strings to my bow,
and that you are patient under the providences of God, and will
forgive the Injury es of my absence, Who neverthelesse am

e Yours entirely,

<W. P.

' Let me know particularly how you did this last night
for I have dreamt very much about you.'

• Dublin : 16° July 1672.

' Notwithstanding the necessity I had to stay here, I am
full of perplexity that I did not breake away from all my
businesse to be with you. I did allwayes presume upon our
deare friend, Dr. Cox, his kindnesse and care of you, and his
goodnesse is almost halfe the cause why I am not with you.
I should now write a great many lynes of thankes to him,
but pray shew him this letter, that he may see I write nothing
to that purpose, as conceiving it too big a worke to be per-
formed by words. I desire that hee would appoint a name to
our Child which I trust to God is by this time borne and well.
If it be a Girle, I except against your name onely because it
rymes to Petty. 1 Why may it not be Anna Maria, the name
of both your sisters, or Katherine, the Queenes name ; And if
a boy, why not Charles or James ? To conclude, desire Dr.
Cox to helpe you alsoe in this weighty matter.

1 Elizabeth, Betty ; Petty.

M

162 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, vi

* For my owne part my businesse is and shall be, night
and day, though without ostentation, to think of you and pray
for you, and to make our being more quiet and comfortable
hereafter than hitherto. In these endeavors I remaine,

' Yours intirely,

<W. P.'

' I vehemently fear/ Sir William told Lady Petty, ' that
an Irish estate cannot exist without the owner daily, for sense
and inspection. But I would have you satisfy yourself of
this matter by your own actual experience upon the place.' 2
Lady Petty, however, continued to be very reluctant to leave
England, for a few days after we find Sir William writing to
her as follows : —

' Aug. 20, 1672.

' To yours of the 13th my deerest, I say God is angry with
us, that we cannot meet without so much inconvenience. In
short I cannot stir from Ireland, unless all I have done should
relapse again. I am a slave and a prisoner, nor did I
ever believe that you could come without inconvenience ;
wherefore stay where you are, and let us pray and withal
endeavour that the time may be shortened.' He very soon,
however, repented of his consent, as only a week afterwards
he writes to Lady Petty : ' In my last perceiving your indis-
position to come hither, I said that then you might stay
there. But opinions and even lawes against nature are not
stable and permanent. Wherefore I say again now, why may
you not take a time before All Hallows tide to come to me,
leaving your family as it is and bringing only a man and a maid.
If your train and attendance in your journey be not great and
splendid, consider that here you are sufficiently known, and
therefore shall not want these outward signs to shew who you
are. Well, I say again, methinks you might come with one
man and a maid, and make any shift rather than let me be here
alone and as it were a prisoner : aye a slave for your sake and
concernments. ... I am in the fairest way to beget a thoro'
settlement in my affairs that there ever yet was. Let the

2 July 30, 1672.

1673 FAMILY TROUBLES 163

work not fall to ruin or decay by my absence hence, neither
let me work here without the best wages, your company.'

Such entreaties were irresistible, and in consequence Lady
Petty went over to Ireland early in the autumn. She had
not been long there before anxieties, of far greater consequence
than pecuniary embarrassments, or the tortuous processes of
the law, made her regret that she had yielded to her husband's
entreaties. The infant daughter left in London was taken
dangerously ill, and it was long doubtful whether she would
not succumb. Writing to Dr. Cox, the physician under
whose care she was placed, Sir William says : ' We have
received your several letters. In giving you all the thanks
we at present can for your patient and affectionate care,
we can acquiesce in the will of God by whom all these
things came to pass. How smart the blow is and how sore
the place whereon it lights, and what a concurrence there hath
been of several other perplexities, many know, and my poor
wife thinks it an aggravation that she is again with child. But
be things how they will, there is one short remedy for all, viz.
That they are the will of God, which we pray may be done.
Hopes of better news do a little flatter nature, but fail much of
satisfying my understanding that we shall be happy even in
that : wherefore I again conclude, God's will be done. As for
my wife she hath a reciprocation of sharp resentments and
stupidity, and is now lately fallen into her tickling cough, &c,
and these things too must be borne. What more to say I
know not, but to beg you to have the same courage for us as I
here pretend to, and to impress the same upon all the servants
that attend the uncomfortable employment, assuring them
that they all shall be considered, whatever the event of their
labors be. I know of no better use for all men can spare
above necessary food and raiment, than to do such justice, and
it is the honestest way of giving it to the children for whom
we are solicitous.' 3

The child recovered. We get some glimpses of her, and
of her brother Charles, born in 1673, in the following letter,
written two years after : —

3 Jan. 25, 1673.

164 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, ti

Sir William to Lady Petty,

' London, 31 July 1675.

' Yours of the 20 th instant mentioning your return to
Dublin, put us all into a flame of joy. Charles rejoyceth, but
little dreames how hee must bee whipt for all his Eogueryes
when you come, which work unless you come suddenly I must
undertake myselfe. But as for My-Anne I protest I think
her, taken altogether, the most desirable child I know. I
assure you shee is neither forward nor abates a jot of her
lusty feeding and sound sleeping, nor of her merry humor and
pretty tricks, for shee also growes a mighty mimick and
mocker of her brother Charles, and when hee bawles, will
counterfet a wondring at him, as well as Lacy. 4 If you doubt
what I say, make hast to disprove mee upon the place, and let
mee know where I shall meete you, but I will not come far,
for I will not leave my children. I was 2 nights at Windsore,
without pleasure, upon your accompt, and would goe to Tun-
bridge and the Bath, and to Bumsey, but for that reason. The
great point you have to do before you come away is to fix
with my brother Tom and James, taking security of them ;
for I need neither of them, and do with my owne hands what
Jemmy did, with far lesse trouble then that of calling upon him,
&c. Beware of caprices about our writings and deeds. There
is one Capt. Shieres, that lives neere Dublin, who would be a
fit instrument in our busines, If Gwyn be not. God blesse
my brother Tom. I wish it sincerely, but feare to have much
dealing with him. Jemmy is much more likely, if hee can
bee fixt right. God direct you in these matters : they are your
brothers and your father's children, wherefore I would endure
much. These my deare are the cheife direccions. I have to
give you thanks for sending us mony or rather for getting it
in. You need none. Crukshank may pay it immediately to
merchants without troubling my Brother Tom, who sends no
accompt, notwithstanding his promises; nor answers any
letter, but writes a deale of the most frivolous stuffe imaginable.
"When your busines is done, wayte a little for a faire passage
4 The famous actor.

] 674-167:5 BUSINESS AFFAIRS 165

to Chester water, which I think is the best way for your con-
dicion, it being summer time and the nights short and light. . . .

6 1 wrote in my last the excellent newes of our quitrents
being reduced to a very good pitch. There hath since fallen
some water into our wine ; but upon that accident, I take heart
againe, and hope to make it better than before. On Tuesday
next we shall have another Tug, especially about the arrears.

i I hope you have been at Balliboy and among other
matters settled with Fletcher, who I believe intends to remove
his goods to Cloncurry, which should be prevented by seizing
y m for our arrears.

' Adieu my dearest,

<W. P.'

Sir William's hands appear at this time to have been full
of business of all kinds. He was again urging upon the
English Government the adoption of a plan for the improve-
ment of the Irish revenue, a subject rarely out of his thoughts.
To do justice to his plan it w T as absolutely necessary for him
to be upon the spot, and he was therefore reluctant to leave
England. Under these circumstances Lady Petty, who had
become the mother of a second son, Henry, born October
22, 1675, undertook to remain in Ireland, and to supply her
husband's place. If anything could mitigate her separation
from the children to whom she was so tenderly attached, it
must have been the habit to which Sir William constantly
adhered of keeping up a correspondence at once most regular
and minute. Every circumstance, however trivial, relating to
the children which could interest a mother was almost daily
dispatched to her, while her conduct was assisted and directed
in all the points w r here advice could be of use.

Interspersed with these directions are instructions for her
guidance in business. ' I suppose,' Sir William writes in May
from London, ' this letter will come to your hand before your
arrival in Kerry. I thought to have said Oceans about that
Gulf of trouble ; but know not what to say more, than what
was in the letters whereof you have a Catalogue, nor was I
willing to perplex you with new and perhaps contradictory

166 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, vi

directions. Wherefore be courageous, let not every cross
affect you ; let none break your rest ; talk with every body ;
hear all their tales, true or false; see with your own eyes
where you can ; compare receipts with the Books and Rent
Eolls ; make no confounding haste ; seem to know and under-
stand more than you do ; cover your ignorance with silence,
nods, shrugs, &c. Make no lasting nor great bargains rashly ;
let Jamesey keep a diary of all your actings, copy your letters
of business, bundle up and endorse your papers ; and let God
be a light to your feet and a Lanthorn to your paths.' 5

1 Sir,' he writes to Mr. Cosby of Balliboy, ' I must once
more take the liberty of writing about the Quakers you
keep in prison. The occasion of their being troubled was from
their tythes. They say that although they cannot pay them
in a formal way, yet they have always permitted you to take
even what you please, so as for want of formality only, and
no way prejudicial to you, they were put into the Bishop's
Court, as they say, to accumulate a new crime upon them,
viz. a contempt : which they say also was not want of appear-
ance, but of form only. Now if upon the whole matter, these
men do not deny the King's nor the Bishop's power nor
jurisdiction, nor withold the Tythe, why should they be
persecuted ; whereby the commonwealth is deprived of their
labour, and His Majesty's intentions, lately declared, frus-
trated ; and the Church and yourself evil spoken of ? You
know that the way is not apostolical, nor is there one Quaker
less in Ireland, since you took this course, but rather the
more; as His Majesty also observed in his declaration; and,'
he sarcastically concludes, ' let me once more desire and advise
you to quit this method of reducing them, and instead thereof
try public preaching and particular admonitions of them from
the Scripture ; and the Lord bless you evermore.' 6

The following letter from William Penn alludes to this
affair : —

* My old friend, — I have broach t y 1 affaire to the great man.
He took it marvellous kindly and desired me to give it him in

5 May 4, 1675. claration ' is the Declaration of Indul-

6 Jan. 24, 1675. The King's ' De- gence of 1672.

1674-1675 JOHN AUBKEY 167

writeing, promissing to name noe person, but upon assurance
to thrive. Now I entreat thee most earnestly to have in
writeing what was read to me of Eng(land) and Ir(eland) as
to revenue. The bearer waites wholly for it, for this night I
am to goe to him again. I was with him yesterday about my
own business, and then fell into discourse about this. Ire-
land took as well as England. Now is the crisis ; therefore
pray fail not, and if anything be to be done for the retriveing
my business about the Lord Eanalagh, lett me have two words ;
and what progress is made in our Irish affaires there. I will
run, goe, or doe ten times more for thee at any time. Noe
more, but once more beseech you not to fail for both our
sakes. In great hast.

' Thy sinceer friend

' Wm. Penn.

4 Windsor : July 30, 1G75.

' For my old and worthy friend Sir William Petty at his
house in Pecedille. Speed and Care.'

Amongst others whose good opinion Sir William at this
time gained was John Aubrey, the celebrated Wiltshire anti-
quarian.

John Aubrey to Sir William Petty.

' Draycot, July 17, 1675.

' Sir, — My quondam neighbour and ever honoured friend,
Sir James Long, hath importuned me to leave my all till
October to wayte on Him. I pass my time away here merrily
in ingeniose conversation, and with very great Beautys. But
notwithstanding all these very great divertisements, I cannot,
nor shall not while I live, ever forget the kindness, the great
favour, friendship, and honour, in my case, of my ever honoured
friend Sir William Petty, to so unlucky and unfortunate a
person as your humble servant. Truly, Sir William, I have
been so battered with the afflictions of this world, that I am
almost weary of it, and could I with a wish advance my
fortune, it should be more to endeavour by way of retaliation
and gratitude (which if I can plead to any virtue 'tis that) to
express my thankfulness to two or three friends, whereof Sir
W m Petty is the chiefe : " Nescio quod me tibi temperat

168 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, vi

astrum." 7 Could such a Monk, such an object as I am, think
that Sir W m Petty, who has so great concerns of his own, so
great thoughts for the advancement of learning, so great
thoughts for the propping up of a Government, would think
upon John Aubrey ? And since it is so, how can I express my
thankfulness enough ? I cannot do it to my mind, it is im-
possible, but I'll tell you what I'll do. Tis true I am no Oratour,
but I will bring Compurgators to attest for me : the Bishop of
Sarum, Mr. Wyld, Mr. Hooke, and this noble Baronet, all
whom I mention for honours sake and upon the account of
Friendship.'

'Sir William,' says Aubrey, 'hath told me that he hath
read but little, that is to say not since 25 Aetat, and is of Mr.
Hobbes, his mind, that had he read much, as some men have,
he had not known so much as he does, nor should have made
such discoveries and improvements.' Energy in action, accord-
ing to his opinion, was the great requisite in life. There was
' much boggy ground in this w^orld ; ' 8 but he was ready to
fight all his enemies to the bitter end, whether on firm ground
or the opposite, whether they w 7 ere his ancient foes of the San-
key type, who under the aegis of Shaftesbury and Buckingham
were showing a renewal of activity, or the representatives of
the dispossessed Roman Catholic owners, who would gladly
have involved him and Sankey in a common ruin. He spends
the whole of 1676, 1677, and 1678 in Ireland, engaged in one
continuous struggle, sometimes up, sometimes down, some-
times fighting his own battles, sometimes those of others. His
buoyancy and pugnacity appear even in the hour of defeat.
< Let me tell you,' he writes to Southwell in 1676, ' that even
in this last storme, which has blown upon my concerns both
in England and Ireland, I have (to shewe mine enemies that
they cannot give me business enough) actually made and
finished the chariot, which I was modelling in England.' 9
Lady Petty is badly hurt in a carriage accident — it is to be
hoped not in the chariot of Sir William's designing. At one
moment he is himself prevented crossing the sea by the fear

7 ' Scit Genius, natale comes qui tern- 8 To Lady Petty, April 27, 1680.

perat astrum.'— Horace, Ep. II. 2, 187. 9 Jan. 13, 1677.

1674-1675 THE FARMERS OF THE REVENUE 169

of the Barbary corsairs, who, under the guidance of some rene-
gade pilots from Liverpool, were making the navigation of the
Channel dangerous ; l at another he is wrecked on his way
to England, and narrowly escapes losing his portmanteau
and all his business papers. In 1677 he is very ill, but mind
triumphs over body ; and he grimly announces his wish that
' his friends and enemies should both alike know that he is in
a much better condition to chastise the one and cherish the
other than at any former period.' ' Tu ne cede malis, sed
contra audentior ito' is his favourite quotation. He tells
Aubrey that some men may accidentally have come into the
way of preferment by lying at an inn and there contracting
an acquaintance on the road; but he proposes to be the
architect of his own fortunes, and does not expect to get
legacies in the future, having observed that he had got very
few in the past, and that they had not been paid ; but he
intends to claim his own. 2

The struggle with the farmers of the revenue was continu-
ing with unabated fury, exasperated by the attempt made by
the Lord-Lieutenant in 1674, and probably suggested by Sir
William, to carry out a proper survey for revenue purposes of
the assessments for the hearth money. Sir William, through
the combined influence of his own obstinate determination
not to give way, and that of his enemies to ruin him, at last
succeeded in getting into Chancery, both in England and
Ireland, and was arrested and imprisoned for contempt of
court. ' The two Chanceries,' he says, writing to Southwell,
' the one of England and the other of Ireland, are two sore
blisters upon my affairs. My throat is also sore with crying
for relief; nor hath paying nor bleeding done me any good.
I cannot continue the parallel between your fortune and mine
in the Point of recovering Losses ; those who wrong you are in
Irons and Chains, and those who abuse me have Eods of Iron

1 To Lady Petty, April 27, 1680. taken and executed. The story is

On June 20, 1631, Baltimore had been the subject of one of Davis's poems,

plundered by Algerine corsairs, who 2 Bodleian Letters, ii. pp. 486 and

were piloted by one Hacket, a native 487.
of Dungarvan. He was afterwards

170 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, vi

in their hands. However I am glad I have any fortunate
friend, how much soever otherwise I am myself.' 3

The ' two Chanceries,' having once got Sir William into
their clutches, showed no inclination to let go of him easily.
He appears to have been partly indebted to his own want of
caution for the trouble in which he found himself involved. 4
' This day,' he says, writing on February 10, ' about 11
o'clock, I and my Councile, one M r Whitchett, were comitted
Prissoners to a Serj^at-Armes by the Lord Chancellor, 5 upon
a very great mistake, as I think. The matter was this, viz. : —
I drew up materials for a Bill to be preferred in Chancery
against the farmers ; and, as I used always to do, I gathered
up all matters and motions which might have any affinity or
relations to my intentions, expecting that my Councile would
have made such alterations in matters and form, as might
answer the practise of the Court. Whereupon he made a few
notes up and downe my paper, as if he had thoroughly
passed over it. But when I myself came to review it, I found
he had not corrected some nonsense and other defects, which
I myself had left in it — insomuch as I went to him, myself
showed him his oversight, and desired him that he would take
a special care of it, for that, although my matter was short,
I would have it soe tempered by him as to give noe offence,
nor spoile my business ; telling him that I had several times
suffered (as you know I have done), by oblique advantages
which my adversaries have taken, upon some faults in the
forme and cirkumstances, when they could not do it directly
upon the matter. But hee having much business, let pass
those two following points, viz. : I complained among other
abuses the farmers had done me, that they (as I believed) had
instigated my L (1 Chancellor of England to speak sharply to
mee ; and that they stood laughing, whilst the dreadful grind-
ing of your orator to the nether Millstone was denounced.
And the point was this, that the farmers had given out
That they would force your Orators plainest pretences at
Common Law into Chancery; and that they had turned

3 To Southwell, Feb. 13, 1077. 4 Feb. 10, 1677.

5 The Lord Chancellor of Ireland.

1676-1677 COMMITMENT FOR CONTEMPT 171

the Chancellors of both Kingdoms against him. Upon the read-
ing of these paragraphs, and having heard both Sir Whitehall
and myself speake somewhat in explanation and excuse of the
matter, he gave sentence as aforesaid : saying that he could
easily pass over those reflections, which was in those words
upon himselfe ; but not what concerned a principal Minister
in England — meaning (as we all think) the L d Chancellor. —
Now see my misfortune : that I who had lately received an
account out of England, how my L d Chancellor there publickly
expressed himself to this purpose, viz. : That though he had
granted an Injunction against mee with some favour to the
farmers, yet that he did not intend that by delays or other
devises, the Justice of the Court should be discredited ; and
therefore bidd them to dispatch their cause by Easter — upon
which I was greatly pleased, and my thought of my Lord
Chancellors former severity was quite banish't away. I say
that my misfortune was that when I was well reconciled to my
Lord Chancellor's proceeding, I should be thought to throw
dirt in his face, whilst I was endeavouring to wipe off what I
conceived to have been thrown against him by others. Now
the mistake I think my Lord Chancellor was in, was that he
punishes me for telling him that some others abused him,
without even questioning those whom I accused for so doing.
There be two or three points more, which I lett pass, for I do
not like to believe that persons in great place doe mistake so much
as it seems to me they doe. In brief, I am now a prisoner for
having scandalized the L d Chancellor of England; whereas I
verily believed I was doing the quite contrary, and at the time
when his Lordship was as kind to me as I desired. All that
I can accuse myself of, is that I took such a method as was
not absolutely necessary ; but which way I scarce had pro-
ceeded. It is an easy matter to say " An asses ears are horses,"
as mine are now esteemed. I presume you will hear this
story with much flourish among mine enemies ; but in these
two above mentioned points does lie the Ratio formalis of my
suffering. . . . Deare Cousin, I am sure you will have some
sympathy with me in these troubles, and I am sorry for it. I
am in the right, and my adversaries are in the wrong : at least

172 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, vi

I am soe happy as to think soe— and my mind is soe quiet,
that when I have done my letters, I intend to make an end
of translating the 104 th Psalm into Latin verse, for which,
amongst all others, Buchanan himselfe was most famous. I
do not hope to reach the admirable purity of his Latin, but in
some other points to come neare him.' G

Sir William's imprisonment was of short duration. While
it lasted this translation of the 104th Psalm was his great
solace. The occupation was one for which he could at
least plead the example of Clarendon, who during his first
exile had consoled himself by writing ' Contemplations and
Reflections on the Psalms of David applied to the Troubles of
this Time.' 7 ' The Chancellors of both Kingdoms,' Sir William
tells Southwell, speaking of this translation, ' are the cause why
it was done at all ; and ye farmers why it was done noe better.
I have sent it you, because I said "I have done it;" but
desire you not to show it, at least not as mine, for I do not
value myself by my Poetry, no more than by my discretion ;
but the pride I take is in the Love of Truth and of a very few
Friends. But you will ask why I meddled with the Poem at
all — to which I answer you that my mind was sick, and that I
tost and travelled from place to place, to find rest; which
when I had in vain sought from truth and reason, I fell to
this poetry ; and when I was vexed in considering ye wicked
works of man, I refreshed myself in considering the wonderful
works of God ; and wrote about fifty of these same verses the
same night I was committed, after I had written my post
letters.' 8 ' Lord,' be exclaims soon afterwards, unable to
help smiling at the absurdity of the situation, ' that a man
54 years old, should, after 36 years discontinuance, return to
the making of verses, which boys of fifteen years old can
correct, and then trouble Clerks of the Council and Secretaries
of the Admiralty to read them.' 9

'I am not well,' he writes to Southwell in the autumn of

6 To Southwell, Feb. 10, 1677. s To Southwell, March 10, 1677.

7 Lord Campbell's Lives of the » To Southwell, April 3, 1677.
Chancellors, iv. 44, ed. 1868.

1677 PORTRAIT BY SIR PETER LELY 173

1677, 'yet better in my mind than in my body. My legs
swelling ; my belly is not only big but hard ; and my breath
short ; and methinks I see the same horse bridled and saddled
for me that carried off your father. . . . My belly seems to
myself a wooden belly.' l But he pulls through, and after a
time is able to sit up at a table, and at once writes to Lady
Petty to keep up her spirits. ' To let you see,' he continues,
' how waggish I am, I acquaint you that I had my picture
drawn this week by Mr. P. Lely in a beard of 31 days
growth, and in my owne hair without perewig, and in the
simplest dress imaginable, without so much as a Band, and
so as the picture is like myself, if I had never stirr'd from
Bomsey. . . . 2 I would not have you troubled at the appre-
hensions I take of my owne growing infirmities. I feele nothing
serious, but severall things which require my care. I'll assure
you my whole study is to. make things cleare, and to naile loose
things fast, for you and my children ; and hope there are some
about me (who should be your friends), that will prevent im-
postures from Books and strangers. As for others I am not
solicitous. The first piece of my new care for my owne health
is the fitting our garden for my exercise and diversion. The
walks will be 1,000 ft. about, planted with the best walled
fruit that Ireland affords. The stone and Brick wall will be
| part of a mile, the House you sufficiently know is very
meane, but 300L will make an apartment which will serve you
for a shift, for I am not furiously bent to the building of a
great house, till I see a change in my affairs; altho' I do
elude my melancholy sometimes by contriving many noble
places upon paper. . . .' 3

In 1677, the vicissitudes of English politics having led
to the restoration of Ormonde to the Lord-Lieutenancy of
Ireland, Sir William saw the prospect brighten before him.
There were still, however, difficulties and delays. ' My Lord

1 Sept. 27, Nov. 10, 1677. been painted out. It may also be

2 This picture is now the property of mentioned in connection with the
Mr. Charles Monck, of Coley Park, above letter, that the word ' beard '
Beading. In the original picture Sir was frequently used at the time for
William was represented holding a any hair on the lips and chin.

skull in his hand, but the skull has 3 Oct. 6, 1677.

174 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, vi

Lieutenant upon your, and my lady as I think upon my own
interest,' he wrote to Southwell, ' I believe would be glad I
had some reasonable reliefe ; but my Lord dreads either the
trouble or the danger of doing it, (though I think nothing of
either in the case) for when he has gone about it, there come
the Chief Judges of each Bench and the King's whole learned
counsel, all armed with prongs and pitchforks. They all
agree in a deep sense of my sufferings ; but breake up in irre-
solution and in some oblique expediente, without any direct
remedy, soe as nothing is yett done.' 4 The exorbitant quit-
rent on his estate was, however, reduced ; a judgment entered
against the farmers, and his principal antagonist among
them, one Sheridan, replaced by a friend, Dr. Eobert Wood.
In the same year he was appointed Judge of the Court of
Admiralty, a post which, amongst other reasons, he was glad to
occupy, because it relieved him of the onerous duty of serving
the office of Sheriff, a post which, from his ownership of land
in more counties than one, he was constantly liable to being
called upon to accept."'

The peace with the farmers, however, proved but a truce.
Fresh quarrels soon arose, for the farmers appear to have
resisted the execution of judgment in his favour by an appeal
to the intervention of the King. Even in England it had not
been unusual before the Civil War to stay legal proceedings by
the issue of a w r rit rege inconsidto, which practically asserted
the right of the King to interfere in private causes. 6 One of
the most discreditable chapters in the career of Bacon is that
of his efforts to maintain this practice, which like other abuses
lingered on in Ireland when it had ceased to exist in Eng-
land. ' I say nothing now,' Sir William writes to Southwell
in May 1677, ' of Poems and Scales of Creatures ; you see
now what these Farmers are ; how they abuse the Chancel-
lors of both kingdoms ; how they fly to prerogative for pro-
tection. They have done all that knaves and fools, and that
sharks and beggars could devise to do ; all is nought. The

4 To Southwell, June 10, 1677. cellors, ed. 1808 ; Life of Bacon, ch.

5 To Mr. Herbert, Aug. 1, 1676. iii. p. 73.

6 See Campbell, Lives of the Chan-

1677 SOUTHWELL AS AN ADVISER 175

delay of indulgence which I have suffered, will endanger my
whole.' 7

He goes on to tell Southwell that he sees no chance of any
redress : nought indeed save ' promises and vapours ; ' but he
is determined to continue the fight ' in the hope of the resur-
rection of slain truth, like the seven sons in the Macchabees.' 8
Southwell, in a letter full of sympathy and good sense, advised
a little prudence and moderation under the circumstances.
' You may imagine,' he writes, ' whether it be not a grief to
me, to see you involved in the anguish and depredation of the
law, beginning the year with one complaint and ending it
with twenty ; running in consequence the hazard of your life
or the ruin of your wife and children by the life of others.
Nor can I foresee a period of such calamities, till you resolve
absolutely on other measures than what you have taken.
But if " Eight be Immortall," yet you have not a Corporation
of lives to assert it, in all that variety of channels and courses
wherein it runs. And there are some wrongs whose scourge
must be remitted to God Almighty alone; and therefore if
even soe dear a thing as the Eight Eye be cffended, pluck it
out ; and enter maimed into the smooth things and Peace of
this Life, which is next door to the Joys of another. And
suffer from me this expostulation, who wish you prosperity as
much as any man living ; and having opportunities to see and
hear what the temper of the world is towards you, I cannot
but wish you well in Port, or rather upon the firm land, and
to have very little or nothing at all left to the mercy and
goodwill of others. For there is generally imbibed such an
opinion and dread of your superiority and reach over other
men in the wayes of dealing, that they hate what they feare,
and find wayes to make him feare that is fear'd. I do the
more freely open my soul to you in the matter, because I see
'tis not for the vitalls that you contend, but for outward limbs
and accessories, without which you can subsist with plenty and
honor ; and therefore to throw what you have quite away, or
at least to put it in daily hazard, only to make it a little more
than it is, is what you would condemn a thousand times over

7 May 10, 1677. 8 Aug. 22, 1677.

176 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, yi

in another; and you would not think the reply sufficient,
that there was plain right in the cause and justice of their
side ; for iniquities will abound and the world will never be
reformed. After all this, I mean not that you should relin-
quish the pursuite of your £2,500, which is money out of
your Pockett, and for which you are a debtor unto your
family. But for other pretensions, lett them goe, for Heaven's
sake ; as you would a hot coale out of your hand ; and strive
to retire to your home in this place, where you had the
respect of all, and as much quiet as could be in this life, before
your medling with that pernicious businesse of the Farme ;
but you may reckon it as a Storme wherein you were seized,
and if it has obliged you to throw overboard some rich Bales,
'tis but the common case, and what others doe for the safety of
the rest.' He concludes by telling his friend to believe in his
unaltered affection, even if he writes unpalatable truths ; and
that he ' will store him in an ebony cabinet, wherein,' he
says, * I keep, as in an archive, all the effects of your pen, for
I look on them as materials fit for those that I would take
most care of ; and hope they will hand them over with like
estimation.' 9

Sir William seems for the moment to have accepted Sir
Bobert's kindly advice. He replies to his friend with a growl,
that he is reserving a place for the farmers in the * Scale of
Creatures,' which part, whenever it appears, will be entitled
' the Scale of Devils ; ' and he acknowledges that patience is
at the moment comparatively easy, as, a final decision releasing
the old quit-rents having at length been given in his favour,
' praise be to God, he had more ready money than his friend
had ever known him to have, and yet not more than half of
what he had nominally received, so much water had the Devil
and his instruments put beside the mill.' l

He was now contemplating a visit to England, having been
three years continuously in Ireland ; but he was not able to start
till quite the end of 1679. Shortly after arriving in London
he became the object of the attacks of Colonel Vernon, 2 a dis-

3 Sept. 15, 1677. ' Nov. 10, 1677. and he may have had some old quarrel
2 The name of a Colonel Vernon with Sir William Petty in connection
appears in the ' History of the Survey,' with it.

1677 COLONEL VERNON 177

contented officer, and one of the professional bravoes of the day,
who had just before been directing their violence against the
persons of those who were obnoxious to their employers. The
attacks of Colonel Blood on the Duke of Ormonde and of Sir
John Sandys on Sir William Coventry were still fresh in the
public mind. Vernon appears to have been a shabby imitation
of Blood, if not actually one of the satellites of that notorious
adventurer, who, for occult reasons, was shielded at Court and
enjoyed a dangerous impunity.

Vernon now commenced a series of insulting attacks
against Sir William, who, exasperated at length by repeated
provocation, and by the advice of those * who pretended to
understand the punctilio of such affairs,' determined to resent
the affronts which this Alsatian knight continued to put upon
him in London. He struck the Colonel in the street with a
cudgel, and, drawing his own sword, desired him to draw also.
The Colonel, however, who seems to have been as cowardly as
he was insolent, took refuge ' in the Blue Posts Ordinary ; '
and, having bolted the doors, appeared at the upper windows
and at that safe distance addressed the by-standers, accusing
Sir William of cowardice. Then Vernon sent one East with a
challenge, which Sir William accepted, and a day was fixed for a
duel ; but when the time arrived, the Colonel was nowhere to be
found. In the events which followed, the Duke of Monmouth
appears upon the scene on behalf of the Court, and sends for
both Sir William and Colonel Vernon, with a view to reconcil-
ing the parties. Colonel Vernon, however, declines his advice,
and files an information in the King' s Bench against Sir William;
and Sir William is fined 200Z. and costs. But before the time
is over, Vernon, East, and their servants, violently assault Lady
Petty's relative, Mr. James Waller, and a friend, Mr. Hughes,
and East gets badly wounded in the encounter. Waller there-
upon files an information against East ; and the Colonel and
his accomplice are on the point of being convicted, when the
Crown enters a nolle prosequi. Then Sir William brings an
action against Vernon for slander, but before the trial comes
on, Vernon, accompanied by his brother, runs the pike of his
cane into Sir William's left eye, ' who saw him not.' Then Sir

178 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, vi

William draws his sword and Vernon decamps, but hearing Sir
William is still breathing vengeance, applies to the King's
Bench for personal protection, and Sir William appears ulti-
mately to have been forced to give securities that he would
keep the peace, ' and neither prosecute the bastinado nor the
suit.'

And thus did this affair, which so strangely illustrates
the manners of the period, at length terminate. 3

8 * The State of Matters between Sir William Petty and Colonel Vernon.'
Petty MSS.

179

CHAPTEE VII

POLITICAL ARITHMETIC

Captain Graunt — Sir William Davenant — Principal works — Hobbes — The ' Book
of Rates ' — France and Holland—' Treatise on Taxes ' — Proposals for reform
— The prohibitory system — The origin of value — The mercantile system —
Difficulties of reform — The Navigation Acts — Customs duties — Excise —
The par of value— Usury laws— Rent— Views on population— Growth of
London — The division of labour— Supply and demand -The 'Essays' —
France and Holland — The example of Holland — The greatness of England.

From Aubrey's friendly pen we get a sketch of Sir William
at about this period of his life. 'He is a proper hand-
some man/ the antiquarian writes ; 'measures six foot high,
good head of brown hair, moderately turning up — vide his
picture as Dr. of Physick. His eyes are a kind of goose grey,
but very short sighted, and as to aspect, beautiful, and pro-
mise sweetness of nature ; and they do not deceive, for he is
a marvellous good natured person, and svawXayxvos. Eye-
brows thick, dark and straight (horizontal). His head is very
large, fiaKpoKscj>a\o9. He was in his youth slender ; but, since
these twenty years and more past, he grew very plump, so
that now (1680) he is abdomine tardus. This last March
1679-80 I persuaded him to sit for his picture to Mr. Logan
the graver, whom I forthwith went for myselfe ; and he drewe
it just before his going into Ireland, and 'tis very like him. 1
But about 1659, he had a picture in miniature drawne by his
friend and mine, Mr. Samuel Cowper (prince of limners of his
age), one of the likest that ever he drew. He is a person
of admirable inventive head and practicall parts.'

It has been seen that in the letter to Lord Anglesea, written

1 Bodleian Letters, ii. 487. This is land, and is mentioned by Walpole in
probably the picture which is engraved his Anecdotes of Painters. See Lar-
on the frontispiece of the map of Ire- com, Doivn Survey, note p. 347.

n 2

180 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, vii

in 1672, Sir William described himself as directing these gifts
to the preparation of a work on ' Political Arithmetick,' in the
intervals of the lawsuits with the farmers of the revenue,
which in a list of his writings are grimly set down in one
particular year of specially evil memory, 1667, as the sole
proofs of authorship he could produce. 2 Already at a very
early period of his career he had given attention to the col-
lection and examination of statistics, and had earned thereby
the goodwill and support of Captain Graunt. Graunt was by
occupation a clothier, but, like many others, had taken to
soldiering during the Civil War, and was a captain and major
of the City train bands. His good sense and probity caused
him to be elected to the Common Council, and to be fre-
quently named arbitrator in trade disputes. He had for some
time been collecting materials for his * Observations on the
Bills of Mortality of the City of London,' which appeared in
1661, and is the first work of the kind published in the
English language. It was generally believed at the time that
Graunt had received material assistance from Petty, and that
he was to be regarded as the literary patron rather than as
the real author. Bishop Burnet and Evelyn were both of
this opinion, 3 which the numerous parallelisms between the
1 Bills ' and Sir William's own work, the * Treatise on Taxes/
go far to support, different though the two books are in style
and in some of the views expressed. On the other hand,
it is difficult to understand why Sir William in this particular
case should have sheltered himself under the name of a friend,
instead of publishing the book anonymously, as he did several
of his works. Whatever the explanation may be, a reasonable
view probably is that it was a true instance of joint authorship.
That Sir William had some hand in it can hardly be doubted,
owing to the frequent mention of Ireland, which is so cha-
racteristic of all his works, and the wealth of medical illustra-
tion, which Graunt could hardly have supplied himself. This

2 The references to Sir W. Petty's 3 Burnet, History of his own Times,

Works throughout this chapter are to i. 423 ; Wood's Athence, iv. 218 ;

the volume published at Dublin in Evelyn, Diary, ii. 97 ; Bodleian Let-

1769, entitled The Petty Tracts. ters, ii. 488.

chap, vii CAPTAIN GKAUNT 181

little book — it occupies barely 100 pages— was the first serious
attempt to classify vital statistics and define the limits of a
science respecting them. 4 It met with an extraordinary suc-
cess, and at the Eestoration the King ordered Graunt's name
to' be enrolled amongst the members of the Eoyal Society,
adding that, if there were any more such tradesmen in his
City of London, he desired they also should be enrolled imme-
diately. In France Colbert is believed to have been encou-
raged by it to provide for the first regular register of births
and deaths. 5

Towards the end of his career, Sir William wrote some
' Observations on the Dublin Bills of Mortality ' 6 in imitation
of those which Graunt had published many years before. The
publisher protested against the brevity of the manuscript sent
him, which in size hardly exceeded a pamphlet. At his re-
quest Sir William added a postscript, but wrote at the same
time : * Whereas you complain that these observations make
no sufficient bulk, I could assure you that I wish the bulk of
all books were less.' 7 ' The observations upon the London
Bills of Mortality/ the book opens by saying, ' have been a
new light to the world, and the like observations upon those
of Dublin may serve as snuffers to make the same candle
burn clearer/ 8 The collection of statistics naturally led Petty
and Graunt to attempt to deduce some general laws from
them, and thus the whole field of public economy, or, as Sir
William Petty generally termed it, 'political arithmetick/ was
opened up to their investigations. 9

Observation, it has been said, is the one eye of political
economy, and comparison the other. 1 Sir William was one
of the first to grasp the fact, and was singularly successful in
seeing through both eyes if, at least, he is to be judged by
the knowledge of the times — in such a case the only legitimate
standard of comparison. Political economy, in the modern

4 See the dissertation by Mr. W. L. 7 Several Essays, p. 145 bis.
Bevan referred to in the Preface, pp. 8 Ibid. p. 131.

20-22. 9 The expression 'political econo-

5 See article * Graunt,' in Chalmers' mies ' occurs in ch. ix. p. 344 of the
Biographical Dictionary. Political Anatomy of Ireland.

6 In 1683. J Roscher, p. 70.

182 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, vii

acceptation of that term, may be seen just beginning^ to
struggle into a bare existence as a separate branch of science
in the pages of the writers of the earlier part of the seventeenth
century. Economics, in the sense in which they were
understood by the authors of antiquity, were concerned with
those practical questions only which affected the finances
of the State. In the Middle Ages even such limited inquiries
could hardly find a natural place in a society which, outside
the limits of the towns, was almost entirely based on the
idea of personal service. Meanwhile political philosophy had
chiefly busied itself with speculations whether man by nature
was or was not a social being, but little or no connection
was established between these speculations and the sphere of
economics. 2

When at length, after the long political and religious
struggles of the sixteenth century, States in their modern
form had arisen, and the trading and commercial classes of
society became a political factor in every country, the inquiries
of the old economics as to what taxes a Government might
properly raise naturally revived, and political philosophy lived
again in the works of Bodin and Grotius. But the two sisters
still stood apart, and political economy cannot be said to have
existed till Hobbes proclaimed the doctrine that political
philosophy was concerned with certain general questions, on
which ' the nutrition and pro-creation of a commonwealth ' 3
depended in practice, as well as with the questions on the
border-land of metaphysics and moral philosophy. Scattered
up and down the pages of both the ' Leviathan ' and the ' De
Cive ' are discussions which not only touch on a number of
social questions, but contain occasional attempts to define
terms, such as value and price, and to analyse the origin of
wealth, 4 as well as the usual practical considerations as to the
taxes which ought to be imposed as a matter of immediate

2 See Bonar, Philosophy and Poll- ch. xxiv.

tical Economy, Book II. chaps, iii. 4 See, for example, Leviathan, ch.

and iv. xxv., as to * price ; ' and, as to ' wealth/

3 ' De Civitatis facilitate nutritivd the De Cive, pp. 221, 222.
et generativd,' Leviathan, Part II.

chap, vii SIR WILLIAM DAYENANT 183

convenience to the law-giver and the State, or are right from
a purely ethical point of view. The ' Oceana ' of Harrington,
published in 1658, further proclaimed the opinion that the
distribution of property determines the nature of govern-
ment, and that the political philosopher is therefore concerned
with the distribution of property.

Petty, as already seen, had been the pupil of Hobbes and
the ally of Harrington in his club ; and it was to Harrington
that the popular belief attributed the original idea of the
settlement of Ireland in which Petty had just played so con-
spicuous a part. Thus all the influences most likely to affect
him, those of his own pursuits and of his social surroundings,
combined to attract him to the examination of those questions
which the final break-up of the old order of things founded on
the ideas of the feudal system, and the rising influence of the
trading and commercial classes, imperatively indicated as re-
quiring an answer on something better than a merely empi-
rical basis. As Petty possessed the mathematical faculty in a
marked degree, his natural impulse was to attempt to apply
mathematical methods and arguments drawn from figures
to the elucidation of economic questions; though whether
he w 7 as the inventor of the term ' political arithmetick ' may
be doubted : it was probably already a current term. Thus
in his hands political economy was to be mainly an inductive
science.

6 By political arithmetick,' says Sir "William Davenant, ' we
mean the art of reasoning by figures upon things relating to
government. The art itself is undoubtedly very ancient, but
the application of it to the particular objects of trade and
revenue is what Sir William Petty first began. ... He first
gave it that name, and brought it into rules and methods.
At the time,' Davenant proceeds, ' the very foundation of the
art, viz. reliable statistics, and more especially a competent
knowledge of the numbers of the people, was wanting.' Sir
William, therefore, in all his inquiries ' had to take the figures
of the customs, excise, and hearth money as his guides, and to
reason from them, trying to compute the number of the
people from the consumption of the nation as evidenced by

184 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, vii

the receipts ; ' to ' guess at our strength and wealth by the
general stock employed in trade ; ' and to compute the popu-
lation by the returns of the number of houses paying the
tax. 5 But even these data were very imperfect ; for example,
the farmers of the excise were never obliged to render a real
account of their receipts prior to 1674, nor was there any
correct return of the gross produce of the hearth money prior
to 1679.

The study of the bills of mortality of the City of London,
which comprised 134 parishes in Middlesex and Surrey, pro-
bably furnished him with his most valuable data ; but it is
obvious that the difficulties with which he had to contend
from the insufficiency of his materials could not fail greatly
to impede the accuracy of his conclusions ; and Davenant
goes on to regret that the < excellent wit ' and ' skilful hand '
of the author had not survived till a later date, w 7 hen the
fuller information which had accumulated under the variety
of taxes that had been lately levied in the kingdom would
have been at his command for purposes of comparison. 6

Of the method of these calculations, admittedly founded
on insufficient data, his views in regard to the amount of
the population of London may be given as an example.
He starts from the number of houses prior to the Plague
and Fire, which appear by the register to have been 105,315 ;
he then estimates that one-tenth of the houses held two
families, the remaining nine-tenths only one ; he takes the
average number of persons to a family at ten in the wealthier,
five in the poorer, eight in the middle class. He then checks
his calculation in two wayR : by multiplying the annual death
rate by thirty, and by taking the number of deaths in the
Great Plague — estimated at one-fifth of the total population ;
and then calculates the natural rate of increase subsequently.
The three methods produce results approximating to the same
result : the first, 695,076 ; the second, 690,360 ; the third,
653,000. 7 His calculation of the stock of Ireland he bases on

5 Davenant, Political Arithmetich ; 7 Several Essays, i. * Of the Growth
Works, i. 128, 129. of the City of London,' pp. 100-

6 Ibid. i. 128, 129. 110.

chap, vii PRINCIPAL WORKS 185

the area of the pasture land of the country, ' supposing them to
be competently well stocked/ and he ' guesses ' that one-third
of the small occupiers have one horse, and ' supposes ' that
16,000 wealthier families have 40,000, and so on. He is of
opinion that, because the export of Irish butter and cattle
in 1664 had increased one-third since 1641, the population
had increased one-third since the latter date also. 8 He calcu-
lates that the population doubles itself in 40 years, and that
the present population of London being about 670,000, the
population of the 133 parishes would in 1840 be 10,718,880,
almost equal to the population of the whole of the rest of the
country, a result which he thinks impossible ; and he antici-
pates that the highest point in population will be reached
about 1800, and that afterwards there will be a falling-off. 9
Such calculations are manifestly hazardous, and based on
very imperfect premises ; but they were the best of which the
existing materials admitted. Nor was anyone better aware of
their defective character than the author himself. ' Curious
dissections/ he says, ' cannot be made without variety of proper
instruments, whereas I have had only a common knife and a
clout, instead of the many more helps which such a work
requires ; ' l and his works contain constant and oft-repeated
pleas for the collection of more accurate information, and for
the intervention of the State, especially in regard to a correct
enumeration of the people, statistics of trade, and a register
of lands and houses : until then everything will be ' by hit
rather than by wit, and all calculations merely conjec-
tural.' 2

Of Sir William's contributions to the infant science five
have achieved a permanent reputation : the ' Treatise on
Taxes and Contributions/ published in 1662 ; the ' Discourse
on Political Arithmetick/ written in 1671, but not published
till 1691 ; and a tract entitled ' Quantulumcumque concerning

8 Political Anatomy of Ireland, ch. * Political Anatomy, Author's Pre-
iv. 312 ; ch. viii. p. 338 ; ch. ix. p. face, p. 289.

362. 2 Treatise on Taxes, ch. v. p. 40. ;

9 Several Essays, ' Of the Growth of Essays, p. 119.
the City of London,' p. 107.

186 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, vii

Money/ dealing with questions of currency, and written in
1682 ; a tract entitled ' Verbum Sapienti,' written in the
last year of the first Dutch war, in 1665 ; and the ' Political
Anatomy of Ireland/ published anonymously in 1672. To
these may be added the two series of detached Essays on
political arithmetic written at various times between 1671 and
1687. All these works are essentially practical in character,
and have for their primary object the introduction of improve-
ments in government and administration. They are largely
inductive in method ; a certain number of facts being as a
rule first noted, and then followed by an attempt to found
some general proposition upon them, and to apply that pro-
position to the circumstances of the time, by the selection of
apposite illustrations, showing either the advantage of adopt-
ing it or the injury of neglecting it in practice. On the other
hand, there are frequent instances of purely deductive reason-
ing ; e.g., the whole speculation on the par of land and labour,
to be noticed further on, is a piece of purely deductive reason-
ing from hypothetical premises. 3

The influence of Hobbes on the early development of Sir
William Petty's mind has already been traced. The ' Treatise
on Taxes ' shows the maintenance of that influence. The great
problem of government, which in a confused manner all the
statesmen of Europe in the seventeenth century were engaged
in trying to solve, lay chiefly in the question what the shape
should be in which the final transition was to take place
from the still surviving mediaeval forms of civil administration
to others more suited to the needs of the time. On one side
were the evils of the confusion caused by a mass of ancient
local customs and exclusive privileges, with maladministration
and weakness at head-quarters. On the other lay the dangers
of extreme centralisation, and, as in France, of the consequent
loss of civil and political liberty. The taxes to be raised, the
methods of raising them, the mode of collection, and their
receipt when collected, were all equally cumbrous and anti-

3 A list of Sir William Petty's works will be found in the Appendix, taken
from a paper left by him.

chap, vii HOBBES 187

quated. They required not so much remodelling, as to be
placed on an entirely new footing. The finances of every
Crown in Europe still bore the character of the budget of a
feudal superior, and were struggling to get free from the
restraints of that system — if system it could be called. 4 In
all these matters centralisation w r as as much the necessity
of those times, in order that the State should live, as a decen-
tralisation is the need of the present day. Different minds,
according as they were constituted, saw — some the dangers of
the existing disorder, others the perils of change, more clearly.
Ministers like Strafford and Eichelieu only recognised in
ancient customs the shield of innumerable abuses, and a
fixed obstacle to the material development of their country
at home and to a consistent foreign policy abroad. In
England the privileges of the aristocracy and corporate towns
fortunately found defenders capable of comprehending that,
in order to survive, they must prove themselves something
more than the bulwarks of a dead past, and that a reformed
and properly organised central administration was necessary
for the benefit of the nation as a whole.

Notwithstanding his undoubted leaning to the monarchical
jelement of the Constitution, Hobbes is not to be identified
with the vulgar adherents of mere personal absolutism. The
enemy he combated was the notion of any shape of imperium
in imperio, whether lay or ecclesiastical, which could stand in
the way of the legitimate development of the State. Following
up the ideas which Bodin was the first to enunciate clearly, he
defended the cause of a strong and powerful administration
on determinate lines, able to assert itself against privilege
within and foreign attack and intrigue without. He may
be regarded as the founder of the doctrine of the ultimate

4 ' En 1614, une derniere Assemblee moderne, concu selon les exemples

des Etats se prepare a examiner, une romains, avec ses exigences souvent

fois encore, le probleme pose depuis mal justifiees, avec ses procedes arbi-

des siecles. Qui va l'emporter ? traires, et sa revendication incessante

Sera-ce la tradition medievale avec ses et souvent abusive de la maxime an-

principes aristocratiques, ses engage- tique : " Salus populi supremalex" ? '

ments etroits, ses entraves apportees Histoire die Cardinal de Richelieu,-pa,Y

a l'unite? Ou bien sera-ce l'Etot Gabriel Hanoteau, tome i. p. 352.

188 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, vii

sovereignty of the State, and therefore, however little he may
have intended or foreseen it, of the sovereignty of Parliament
as the final depositary of the power of the State in England.
More indirectly, he was the father of the school of political
thought which came on the Continent to be known as that
of doctrinaire or authoritative liberalism, as distinct from
democracy pure and simple, which has always had a tendency
to break up into local anarchy. What Hobbes laid down in
theory, Petty sought to apply in practice. The ' Treatise on
Taxes ' is continually occupied with the wide sphere of the
proper powers of the State ; with the benefits which an en-
lightened administration can confer on all its subjects both
by removing the disabilities which shackle and impair their
energies, and also by the positive development of the resources
of the country through a thorough reform of the system of
taxation ; and by the activity of the State being extended
into many as yet neglected directions, including that
of education, including naval and commercial knowledge.
Petty's own connection with Ireland tended to develop the
natural tendencies of his mind. He evidently saw in it, like
Cromwell, ' a clean paper ' for experiments in government
which in England might be impossible owing to the accu-
mulated weight of historical prejudice and the power of vested
interests, 5 especially as his own estimate of the capacities of
the native population, if given a fair opportunity, was high.
It was this order of ideas which made him the natural enemy
of the great Irish nobles of the Eebellion, and also of the
existence of separate Parliaments and of all ecclesiastical pri-
vileges. Improved communications both in England and
Ireland, and between them, was one of the principal weapons
he relied on to attain his objects. He wished 'every year
to make 50 miles of new navigable river in the most advan-
tageous places,' and that ' there might not be a step of bad
way upon all the great nine roads to London,' 6 and then it
would cease to be said that ' the English in Ireland growing
poor and discontented degenerate into Irish ; and, vice versa,

5 Ludlow's Memoirs, i. 246. be done,' 1685. Nelligan MS., British

6 * An Opinion of what is possible to Museum.

chap, vii THE 'BOOK OF RATES ' 189

Irish growing into wealth and favour would reconcile to the
English.' 7

The ' Treatise on Taxes ' was immediately occasioned by
the changes discussed after the Eestoration in the laws
relating to the revenue, both in the method of assessing the
older taxes, and by the imposition of new burdens in lieu of
the feudal duties on land then finally abolished : changes
marking the transition from the system of direct to that of
the indirect taxation which existed almost unimpaired till the
days of Sir Eobert Peel. A new ' Book of Rates,' or table
of duties, with a revised code of customs law, was adopted
under the name of ' the Great Statute ; ' an excise on wines
and liquors was granted to the Crown, in lieu of the abolished
feudal duties ; and ' hearth money,' an unpopular tax copied
from a French original, was imposed on all houses, except
cottages, according to the number of stoves or grates. ' There
is much clamour against the chimney money,' says Pepys in
June, 1662. A few years later, in order to meet the expenses
of the first Dutch war and the costs of the expected struggle
with France, the poll tax, together with the old Tudor
subsidies and the Commonwealth monthly assessments, were
revived, to serve as a rude method of making all sources of
property contribute to the revenue. At the same time the
import and export of a long list of ' ennumerated ' articles
was absolutely prohibited, and the Act of Navigation, which
practically limited trade with England to goods carried in
English bottoms — an inheritance from the Cromwellian
period — was renewed, with a few modifications. 8 At a date
slightly later than the appearance of the treatise, viz., in
1668, 1670 and 1676, the duties on brandies and wines
were raised, in order to protect the home manufacturer,
and to retaliate on France for the prohibition of the
import into that country of many articles the produce of
England. 9 These statutes mark the beginning of the long

7 Political Anatomy of Ireland, ch. 32 ; 15 Charles II. c. 7 and 15
xiii. p. 375. 9 See Dowell's History of Taxation

9 12 Charles II. c. 18, and the for the details, iv. 119, 162.
statutes 14 Charles II. c. 5, 7, 18,

190 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, vti

war of tariffs, which became accentuated after the Bevolution
of 1688, and continued till the middle of the present century.
In France a new tariff, from the adoption of which an
epoch in the commercial history of Europe is to be dated, had
been promulgated at the advice of Colbert, and the question
debated in England was whether the main principles on which
that tariff was founded were sound and to be imitated, or the
reverse. Political leanings influenced personal judgments as
much, perhaps, as any abstract views on the relative advan-
tages and disadvantages of different systems of taxation, accord-
ing as the sympathies of individuals favoured either the French
or the Dutch alliance. The object of Colbert's tariff was by
means of reduced duties on raw materials to encourage the
manufacture and export of French goods, and to discourage
the import of foreign manufactured articles by the imposition
of heavy duties on their entry. The export of French corn
was at the same time prohibited, under the mistaken idea that
food would be thereby cheapened, and French manufactures
be stimulated by increasing the purchasing power of money.
The actual result was to reduce the production of French corn
to the amount required for home consumption, without mate-
rially lowering the price. Underlying the whole of this com-
plicated scheme was the idea that France would be more
enriched by disposing of the surplus of her manufactured
goods abroad for money, than through becoming * tributary/
as the phrase went, to foreign countries, and sending
abroad, in exchange for foreign manufactured goods, the agri-
cultural produce of her soil, which, according to the views of
the supporters of the system, ought to be consumed at home.
Another and a sounder part of the system was the improve-
ment of the means of internal communication by road and by
water, the abolition of monopolies and exemptions, and the
removal of the artificial barriers — so far as popular pre-
judice permitted — by which the unwisdom of man had aggra-
vated the difficulties created by nature.

The mercantile portion of Colbert's policy reposed partly
on the error that value — in other words, wealth — consisted in
the precious metals coming into a country as the result of

cfeap. vii FKANCE AND HOLLAND 191

foreign trade, and that to increase the former was to add to
the latter ; partly in the idea that the profit on the export
of home manufactures, fostered by protective duties and
stimulated by bounties, was greater than that gained by
the export of the agricultural products — the corn and wine
and wool — which Colbert's predecessor, Sully, had recognised
as the sources of the wealth and prosperity of France.
These premises once conceded, the soundness of the system
followed as a matter of course. It was the policy of a nation
of landowners which had been seized with a desire to become
at all hazards a nation of manufacturers and merchants.

Of an exactly opposite character was the example of Hol-
land, whose prosperity it was the desire of France to destroy.
That country, as observed by Adam Smith in the following
century, had approached the nearest to the character of a
free port of all European countries. 1 Holland still held the
greater part of the carrying trade of the world. Colbert
hoped to crush it by hostile duties ; Louvois and his royal
master by open war. The Dutch tariff imposed no protective
duties at all, and the State gathered the necessary revenue
from the home consumer by a wide-reaching system of in-
direct taxation on commodities. It was the policy of a
nation of merchants and bankers who understood the inte-
rests of their class.

' Holland,' to use the words of a recent author, 'was in-
trinsically a poor country. But, notwithstanding, in nearly
all commodities Holland gave the price, and it did so because
her towns had a good market, to which all the world resorted.
The Dutch were manufacturers ; in some articles the successful
manufacturing rivals of England?; but their principal source
of wealth, of that wealth, abundance of good products, on
which alone the capacity for any other industry can be based,
was to be traced to trade and the policy of free trade.' 2

Such were the two rival systems of the Continent, between

1 Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations, pp. 192, 420.
ii. 350. See, too, Thorold Eogers, - Thorold Kogers, Industrial and

Industrial and Commercial History, Commercial History, p. 192.

192 LTFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, vii

which, in the latter half of the last century, England was
being called upon to choose in the settlement of her future
financial and commercial system. Sir William, in his early
days, had travelled in Holland. He had evidently even then
been attracted by the example of Dutch trade and finance,
and as early as 1644 he had written a tract called the
' Frugalities of Holland/ which, however, was lost at sea. 3
In the ' Treatise on Taxes,' with an eye still fixed in the same
direction, he begins by pointing out that the only legitimate
public charges of a State are, its defence by land and sea so as
to secure peace at home and abroad and honourable vindication
from injury by foreign nations ; the maintenance of the chief
of the State in becoming splendour, and of the administration,
in all its branches, in a state of efficiency ; ' the pastorage of
souls by salaried ministers of religion ; ' the charge of schools
and universities, the endowment of which, in his opinion,
ought to be a concern of the State, and the distribution of
whose emoluments ought not to be ' according to the fond
conceits of parents and friends/ and of which one of the
principal aims should be the discovery of Nature in all its
operations ; ' the maintenance of orphans, the aged, and the
impotent/ for, in his opinion, 'the poor can lay up nothing
against the time of their impotency and want of work, when
we think it is just to limit the wages of the poor ; ' and the
improvement of roads, navigable rivers, bridges, harbours, and
the means of communication, and the development of mines
and collieries. 4

He then considers the causes which increase and aggravate
the public charges and render them unpopular. These he
analyses under six heads : (1) The distrust of the people in
the honesty of the administration which collects and spends
the taxes ; (2) their compulsory payment in money and the
want of a proper banking system ; (3) obscurities and doubts
concerning the right of imposing ; (4) scarcity of money and
confusion of coins; (5) the fewness of the people; (6) the
absence of accurate statistics and of proper valuation lists.

3 See list of Sir William Petty's writings in the Appendix.

4 Treatise on Taxes, ch. i. pp. 1-4.

chap, vii 'TREATISE ON TAXES' 193

To these he adds the fear of wars, aggressive, defensive, and
civil: the first of which he traces to mistaken notions of
national greatness; the second to want of adequate pre-
paration, * wherefore to be always in a position of war at home,
is the cheapest way to keep off war from abroad ;' and the
third largely to the persecution of the heterodox in religion.
In connection with these ' aggravations ' he proposes a large
redistribution of the revenues of the Church, and suggests a
return to a celibate clergy, and the abolition of the mass of
unnecessary officials, lawyers, doctors, and professional men,
who make unnecessary business or fatten in idleness at the
expense of the taxpayer. ' If registers/ he says, ' were kept
of all men's estates in lands, and of all the conveyances and
engagements upon them ; and withall, if publick loan banks,
lombards, or banks of credit upon deposited money, plate,
jewels, cloth, wool, silk, leather, linen, metals and other durable
commodities were erected,' he cannot but 'apprehend how
there could be above one tenth part of the law suits and
writings, as now there are. 5 5 He desires that the State should
find work for the unemployed. ' The permitting of any to
beg,' he says, ' is a more chargeable way of maintaining them
whom the law of nature will not suffer to starve, when food
may possibly be had.' 6 He contemplates a large system of
public works, especially in connection with his favourite object,
the improved communications by road of the different parts
of the country. The ' supernumeraries ' of the State, as he
terms them, should ' neither be starved, nor hanged, nor
given away.' That they will either beg, or starve, or steal, is
certain, and there are grave objections to each and all of these
three courses. It would even be better ' to let them build a
useless pyramid on Salisbury plain, or bring the stones at
Stonehenge to Tower hill,' than leave them in absolute
idleness. 7

He then passes to the discussion of taxation, or, in other
words, what the public charges ought to be in a well-regu-
lated State, and suggests that one-twenty-fifth part of the value

5 Treatise on Taxes, ch. ii. p. 11. * Ibid. ch. i. pp. 14-16.

7 Ibid. ch. ii. p. 16.

O

194 LIFE OF SIR AVILLIAM PETTY chap, yii

of land and labour is the share, or ' excisum,' which ought to
be sufficient for public uses. In the tract entitled ' Verbum
Sapienti,' published during the Dutch war — when the burden
of taxation had become intolerable, and was doubly odious
from the want of success attending the operations at sea — he
puts the monthly charge on landed estate of the taxes at
70,000/. a month, or 840,000/. a year ; and hints at the pro-
bability of this charge rising to 250,000/. a month. He cal-
culates that it amounts to one-third of the annual value ; but
that, if the charge were laid in a just proportion and on a
proper basis, the charge would only be one-tenth. He con-
sidered, for example, that the City of London paid about half
the proper contribution, ' because the housing of London
belonged to the Church, the companies, or gentlemen, and is
taxed by the citizens, their tenants.'

The expenses of the State he puts at one million, includ-
ing war expenses. To meet this he estimated the ' ordinary '
or ancient Eevenue of the Crown as follows :

£
70,000
20,000
12,000
4,000
6,000
18,000

Crown Lands

Post Office ....
Coinage and pre-emption of tin
Forests ....
Courts of Justice .
First-fruits ....

130,000
And the Customs at 2 per cent. . . . 170,000

300,000

The above amounts do not include the duties on * wares,
wine, licenses, butlerage, excise, chimney money, the land tax,
the poll tax, and the monthly assessment,' levied in order to
make up the balance. These taxes he proposed to levy in the
proportion of three-eighths on land and houses and the value of
stock-in-trade, and five-eighths on consumption, believing that
this distribution of burdens represented the true proportion of
the value of the former to that of wages, and that it was fair to
distribute taxes in proportion. The sum of 375,000/. he pro-
posed to place on land and on stock-in-trade ; and 625,000/.

chap, vii PROPOSALS FOR REFORM 195

on the people by a poll tax of &d. a head, and an ' excise of
19d., or one eighty-fourth of the value of consumptions/ 8

He insists in this tract, and at still greater length in the
'Treatise on Taxes' and the 'Political Arithmetick/ on the
necessity of a reasonable basis for the ' subsidies ' and ' assess-
ments,' instead of leaving the matter to be scrambled over by
the local authorities of each county. This had ever been the
case with the ' subsidy ' system, partially reformed though it
had been under the Commonwealth ' assessments,* which the
Restoration Government adopted with some modifications.
The inequalities still, indeed, existed of the state of things,
when without more ado ' he that had a cup of wine to his
oysters, was hoisted into the Queen's subsidy book.' 9 Sir
William, as a remedy, propounded a regular survey and a
real valuation of land, in order to get a basis for a land and
house tax, which should be fixed at one-sixth of the total
rent : ' about the proportion that the Adventurers and soldiers
in Ireland retribute to the King in quit rents.' *

A land tax — and the argument he points out applies to
tithes also — can only exist as a consequence of the value
of the land, and is not a cause of the price of land, and
therefore does not raise prices ; ' for hereby is collected a
proportion of all the corn, cattle, fish, fowl, fruit, wool, honey,
wax, oyl, hemp, and flour of the nation, as a result of the
lands, art, labour, and stock which produced them. . . .
"Whosoever buys land in Ireland is not more concerned with
the quit rents, wherewith they are charged, than if the acres
were so much the fewer ; or than men are who buy land out
of which they know tythes are to be paid.' 2 The burden of
a new land tax would therefore fall on those who paid it in
the first instance, after which it would remain an excision
or ' part cut out ' of the land — the property of the State, laid
aside for public uses.

He next passes to the discussion of customs and excise

8 Verbum Sapienti, ch. iv. pp. 478- tion, ii. 5.

480. ' Treatise on Taxes, ch. iv. p. 24.

9 Lyley, Mother Bombie, act ii. sc. 2 Ibid. ch. xii. pp. 70-71.
5, quoted by Dowell, History of Taxa-

o 2

196 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, vii

duties, and kindred topics. Tin and wool were, at this time,
the staple of the English export trade, for England, it is to be
remembered, was not then a manufacturing country to any
very large extent. The trade in wool was a practical monopoly.
In consequence, Parliament had constantly been able to exact
an export duty of 100 per cent, on the sack of ordinary raw
wool without checking the demand or impoverishing the
husbandman, the burden falling on the consumer, who had
no other market to fly to. The manufacture of wool was still
in its infancy. Holland was the great seat of textile industries,
and it had been proposed in influential quarters — under the
influence of the example of France — to try to crush the
manufacturers of Holland, by prohibiting the export of
English wool thither and the import of the Dutch manu-
factured article, so as to compel the wool to be manufactured
into cloth at home. 3

With the extreme prohibitory school Sir William hardly con-
descends to argue seriously. He examines the whole question
of prohibition by the light of the examples of the prohibition
of the export of money. This he shows is practically im-
possible, probably alluding to the experience acquired from
the East India trade. The revenue officers, he says, had
always been bribed, and the result was that the price of the
articles bought with the money had thereby been raised to the
consumer. If, however, a particular branch of trade will not
bear this charge, then he points out it is lost altogether, to
the injury of the nation and the prohibition of so much
foreign trade ; with this difference, that the discretion of
what branch of trade shall be curtailed is left to the mer-
chants. If a merchant, wishing to bring in Spanish wine and
coffee berries, found that he must pay 40,000L abroad in
money to complete the transaction, and was prohibited from
sending that amount abroad, he would curtail his business in
one article or the other, according to his own convenience ;
while at least, under a direct sumptuary law on particular
commodities, the State, and not a private individual, has the

3 This Act was eventually passed, 14 Charles II. c. 18 and 19 (English
statutes).

ohap. vn THE PKOHIBITORY SYSTEM 197

responsibility of choice as to the goods which are to be
allowed to enter. The prohibition of the export of money,
he also points out, diminishes the selling power of the English
merchant by depriving him of an article, money, which he
could bargain with like any other : in this following the
arguments of Mun and others, who had pleaded for a remis-
sion of the rate against the export of specie to the East, and
urged that the sale of Indian imports would bring in an
amount of the precious metals far larger than the silver
exported to purchase them. As to wool, of which, as already
stated, it was proposed to prohibit the export, in order to
destroy the Dutch trade in the manufactured article, he points
out that the prohibition ' would perhaps do twice as much
harm as the loss of the trade.' It would have as an effect
that the English producer would raise the price of his
article by diminishing the supply, of which there were ' such
gluts upon our hands/ Why, he asks, did not the English
producer of wool turn his pasture into arable, thereby
obviating the necessity of importing such large quantities of
corn from abroad, and stop money going abroad to pay for
that corn, thereby giving employment to many, instead of ' one
man by the way of grazing, tilling as it were many thousand
of acres of land by himself and his dog ? ' 4

' Suppose/ he goes on, ' our Hollanders outdo us by more
art, were it not better to draw over a number of their choice
workmen, or send our most ingenious men thither to learn ;
in which, if they succeeded, it is most manifest that this
were the more natural way, than to keep that infinite clatter
about resisting of nature, stopping up the winds and seas,
etc. If we can make victuals much cheaper here than in
Holland, take away burthensome, frivolous and antiquated
impositions and offices ; I conceive even this were better than
to persuade water to rise of itself above its natural spring.
We must consider in general that as wise physicians tamper
not exceedingly with their patients, rather observing and

4 Treatise on Taxes, ch. vi. p. 47. that piece of Ovid's verse prove true,

Compare Bacon's speech, Oct. 1597, " Jam seges ubi Troja fuit "—in Eng-

in the House of Commons : * I should land nought but green fields, a shep-

be sorry to see within this Kingdom herd, and a dog (1 Pari. Hist. 890).

198 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, vir

complying with the motions of nature than contradicting it
with vehement administrations of their own ; so in politicks
and economics the same must be used.

1 Naturam expellas furca, tamen usque recurret.'

Passing to the prohibition of imports from abroad, ' why/
he asked, ' should we forbid the use of any foreign com-
modity, which our own hands and country cannot produce,
when we can employ our spare hands and lands upon such
exportable commodities as will purchase the same and more.' 5
1 For if we should think it hard to give good necessary cloth
for debauching wines, yet if we cannot dispose of our wine to
others, 'twere better to give it for wine or worse, than to cease
making it ; nay better to burn a thousand men's labours for a
time, than to let those thousand men by non-employment lose
their faculty of labouring.' 6

He thus indicated that labour is the true foundation
of wealth and value, and that to increase the facilities for
employment and the yield of labour is the genuine method
of increasing wealth, and that gold and silver are only one of
many forms of it. ' If a man,' he argued, ' can bring to London
an ounce of silver out of the earth in Peru, in the same time
that he can produce a bushel of corn, then one is the natural
price of the other ; now if by reason of new and more easy
mines a man can get two ounces of silver as easily as formerly
he did one, then corn will be as cheap at ten shillings the
bushel, as it was before at five shillings ceteris paribus. 9 7

* But a further, though collateral question,' he proceeds,
' may be, how much English money this corn or rent is worth ;
I answer,' he says, ' so much as the money which another
single man can save within the same time, over and above his
expence, if he employed himself wholly to produce and make
it ; viz. Let another man go travel into a country where is
silver, there dig it, refine it, bring it to the same place where
the other man planted his corn ; coin it, etc. — the same per-

6 Treatise on Taxes, ch. vi. p. 48. 8 Treatise on Taxes, ch. vi. pp. 48,

Political Anatomy of Ireland, ch. 49.
xi. p. 356. See, too, the Quantulum- 7 Ibid., ch. v. p. 38.

cunque concerning Money, Qns. 6 and 7.

chap, vii THE OEIGIN OF VALUE 199

son, all the while of his working for silver, gathering also food
for his necessary livelihood, and procuring himself covering,
etc. — I say, the silver of the one must be esteemed of equal
value with the corn of the other: the one being perhaps
twenty ounces and the other twenty bushels. From whence
it follows that the price of a bushel of this corn to be an
ounce of silver.' 8

Successful trade he saw was a matter of exchange, and that
the wealth of a country did not consist, as was then generally
supposed, in the value of the exports exceeding that of the
imports and the exporter gaining the difference in hard coin :
but the value of the trade of any particular country was, on
the contrary, to be ascertained — by adding the values — so far
as they could be ascertained, of the imports and exports
together, not forgetting to take into account the value of
the payments made for freight and seamen's wages and the
value of cash payments received from abroad. 9

But while thus understanding the great central truths of
commercial economy, he did not push them to their logical
result or always hold clearly to his own principles. Thus he
says in the ' Treatise on Taxes ' that, ' as for the prohibition of
importations, it need not be until they much exceed our ex-
portations.' Again, wishing apparently to make some con-
cessions to his adversaries, after exposing the absurdity of
prohibitions, he acknowledges that nevertheless ' if the Hol-
landers' advantages in making cloth be but small and few in
comparison of ours, that is if they have but a little the better of
us, then that prohibition to export wool may sufficiently turn
the scale.' The 'measures of customs' which, developing
this idea, he describes and classifies in the ' Treatise on
Taxes ' seem to give a carefully-thought-out view of a system
of trade by which the home producer might be secured to
a certain extent, without the volume of trade being seriously
checked. A closer analysis would probably have led him to
see that this was logically inconsistent with a condemnation
of attempts to regulate the tides and to persuade water to rise

8 Treatise on Taxes, ch. iv. p. 9 Political Arithmetick, ch. iv. pp.

29. 261-264.

200 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY

CHAP. VII

above the natural spring. 1 Again, in the 'Political Arithme-
tick ' he seems to miss the full application of his own
doctrines as to the origin of value, and maintains the
advantage of foreign trade because it produces 'not only
wealth at large, but more particularly abundance of silver,
gold and jewels, which are not perishable articles, but are
wealth at all times and all places, whereas abundance of
wine, corn, fowls, flesh, etc., are riches but hie et mine ;
so as the raising of such commodities, and the following of
such trade, which does store the country with gold, silver,
jewels, etc., is profitable before others;' and his analysis of
the influence of supply and demand on value, to be noticed
further on, is partly vitiated by the recognition of an inherent
value in some articles as such, which he thinks must be wealth
at all times and places. 2

To acknowledge these shortcomings is only to acknowledge
that Sir William Petty, though far in advance of his time, had
not shaken himself entirely free from the influences of the
errors which the mercantile system had accepted from the
purely prohibitory system, viz., that wealth consists of the
precious metals, and that a system of revenue and trade is to
be deemed good or bad, according as it can be shown to pro-
mote the influx of those metals into a country or not. There
is always a temptation to believe, when certain general concep-
tions seem present to the mind of an author, that the logical
basis of those conceptions must have been present also ; but
this is an error which the student of economic history has
to avoid.

Progress in economic science in the seventeenth century
was gradual and tentative, and Petty's grasp of logical method
does not require to be exaggerated in order to make him take
a high place in the ranks of the founders of the science. It
was no mean achievement for any writer in the seventeenth
century to have discerned the great theoretic truth on which
free trade depends ; to have clearly realised that the highest

1 Treatise on Taxes, ch. vi. pp. 42- 89, 164.
44. See Progress of Political Eco- 2 Political Arithmetick, ch. i. p.

nomy, by Sir Travers Twiss, pp. 64, 224, and ch. ii. p. 235.

chap, vii THE MERCANTILE SYSTEM 201

wisdom did not consist in closing the ports or in prohibiting
exports ; to have been willing to welcome the arrival of foreign
wealth, even if money had in the first instance to go abroad
to fetch it ; and, finally, to go as far as to allow that it was far
better to consent even to the importation of perishable goods
than to prohibit trade altogether — even though what is said on
all these subjects may occasionally appear slightly inconsistent
with something that has gone before, or may occasionally be
a little uncertain in sound, or not be pushed to the full logical
consequence of the premises, or be accompanied by too many
apparent concessions to adversaries.

With reference to these concessions, a special set of con-
siderations have to be borne in mind. The early authors on
political economy, not only in France, but in England also,
wrote with a constant fear before their eyes of the dangerous
consequences of speaking too freely. Their publications were
frequently anonymous, and even posthumous : the safest
course of all. The liberty of unlicensed printing was not yet
secured; and the ill-will of those in authority was easily
incurred by the expression of views in advance of the times. ■
The only thoroughly free trade pamphlet of the century,
' The Discourses,' published in 1691 by Sir Dudley North, is
believed to have been suppressed. It certainly entirely dis-
appeared from circulation. Parliament had just before pro-
claimed trade with France ' a nuisance,' and North's pamphlet
was like a winter rose. The author of the * Detail de la
France,' Boisguillebert, was not saved by his high position
from ending his days in exile and poverty ; and death alone
preserved Marshal Vauban from a similar punishment for
publishing the strong condemnation of existing abuses and
the sweeping proposals of reform contained in the ' Dime
Royale.' This class of considerations should be present to the
mind of the reader of Sir William Petty's economic works,
when he finds arguments adduced in favour of some of the
restrictions of the mercantile system, and observations almost
immediately afterwards interpolated — and with curious fre-
quency — absolutely fatal to the whole system, thus proving
either that the acute mind of the author was doubtful of the

202 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, vii

accuracy of part of his own reasoning, or thought it prudent
to dispel error by covert insinuation of the truth, rather than
by an open attack on the front of the hostile position, and to
leave some loophole to his antagonists, and some means of
retreat to himself. Unlike his brother physician and economist
in the following century, Quesnay, with whom a comparison
suggests itself, his mind was essentially practical. He would
probably have preferred the relaxation of the fetters of Irish
trade, even of a partial character, to any amount of proclama-
tions of abstract economic truth. Quesnay, sheltered by the
silence and security of a royal palace, elaborated a deductive
system, and pushed it, with the pitiless logic characteristic of
his countrymen, to the most extreme conclusions, and then
left it there to blossom or to wither as might happen. Sir
William Petty wrote in order to influence the political conduct
of the men amongst whom he lived and moved ; he expressed
himself ' in terms of number, weight, and measure ; ' he used
only ' arguments of sense, and such as rested on visible
foundations.' 3 He had to battle with principalities and
powers ; to be closeted with politicians ignorant of the very
elements of commercial policy, but able at any moment to
silence him ; and to persuade kings more open to flattery than

to argument, . . , .,

& qui sciret regibus uti

Fastidiret olus,

is the maxim which, with almost cynical frankness, he placed
at the head of one of his essays on Political Arithmetick ; 4
and at no time would he probably have thought it worth his
while to press for more than there was an actual chance of
obtaining, or to injure his own case by indiscreet advocacy.
' Men of great office in England,' he said, ' are so mutable
and slippery, as that they spend their whole time and thought
in securing themselves, and dare not employ others than
creatures and confederates under themselves.' 5

3 Political Arithmetick, Preface, p. Si pranderet olus patienter, regibus uti

207.

Nollet Aristippus. Si sciret regibus uti,
Fastidiret olus, qui me notat.

4 The quotation is from Horace, Ep. » ' An Opinion of what is possible to

i. xvii. 15, where the full passage is : be done ' (1685). Petty MSS.

chap, vii DIFFICULTIES OF REFORM 203

' Through the whole course of Sir WiJliam Petty's
writings,' says Davenant, 'it may be plainly seen by any
observing man, that he was to advance a proposition not
quite right in itself, but very grateful to those who governed.' 6
The particular instance, however, which Davenant selects to
illustrate this proposition is singularly ill-chosen. He argues
that the opinion advanced in the ' Political Arithmetick,' and to
be noticed further on, that England had nothing to fear from
French competition, was put forward by Petty to ingratiate
himself with Charles II., whose French sympathies were
notorious. But the exact opposite is the case, for that work
was not allowed to see the light during the reign of that king
and his successor, ' because the doctrines offended France,' 7
and were in substance a plea that there was no necessity for
England to join France in her crusade against Holland and
Dutch trade, but that the true policy for England lay not in
trying to crush the manufactures of Holland, but in becoming
rich by following the example of the commercial policy of the
Dutch Government. Sir William Petty no more advocated a
policy hostile to French than to Dutch trade, and would gladly
have seen a good understanding between the two nations.
For that reason probably he was stigmatised by Davenant as
being necessarily a supporter of the French policy of Charles
II., on the assumption that everybody must be on one side or
the other, and either wish to ruin France or destroy Holland,
in order thereby to enrich England. If, however, Davenant
had noticed the scattered observations in which Sir William
Petty sometimes seems suddenly to recoil from the natural
conclusions of his own premises, or to shelter himself behind
an ambiguous plea of want of responsibility or of insufficient
knowledge, he would not have been so wide of the mark in his
criticisms. Some instances of this have already been given
in regard to commercial policy. Others may be noticed in
such passages as those in which, in the ' Treatise on Naviga-
tion,' he suddenly asks if, after all, it might not perhaps really
be better, instead of employing seamen in trade, to employ

6 Davenant, Political Arithmetick, 7 See the Dedication to William III.

Works, i. 129. by Sir William Petty's son, p. 200.

204 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, vii

them under letters of marque against the enemies of England ;
or in which, in the ' Treatise on Taxes,' after observing that
wiser physicians observe and comply with the motions of
nature, and that the analogy might perhaps be applied to the
customs duties, and yet that a prohibition to export under
certain circumstances might be legitimate — he then imme-
diately protects himself with the observation * that he knows
that he is himself neither merchant nor statesman;' 8 and,
after noticing that it may be an impediment to the prospe-
rity of the country ' that the power of making w r ar and
raising money for carrying it on is not in the same hands,'
he quickly adds that he leaves this question to those ' who
may more properly meddle with fundamental laws,' which,
he says, he never ventures to do himself ; 9 and if he ventures
* to discourse ' of the customs, he only takes leave to do so as
' an idle philosopher,' and warns his readers that, whatever
they be, they must certainly be paid. 1

That the Nonconformists increase is stated in the Preface
to the * Political Arithmetick,' with a great appearance of
profound respect, amongst the signs alleged to be apparent of
national decadence. 2 But it is then covertly shown, by the
example of Holland, that Dissenters are for the most part
thinking, patient, and sober men, and ' such as believe that
labour and industry is their duty towards God ' — ' how erro-
neous soever their opinions be ; ' and that ' the case of the
primitive Christians, as it is represented in the Acts of the
Apostles, looks like that of the present Dissenters ' — ' exter-
nally, I mean,' he immediately adds; and that trade is most
vigorously carried on in every State and government ' by the
heterodox part of the same, and such as profess opinions dif-
ferent from what are publicly established,' of which he proceeds
to give numerous instances ; and that absolute religious
freedom is therefore presumably desirable, only licentious
actings, as in Holland, being restrained by force. The reader
is at length left in amused perplexity to wonder what has

8 Treatise on Taxes, ch. vi. p. 48. ! Treatise on Taxes, ch. vi. p. 41.

9 Political Arithmetick, ch. v. p. 2 Political Arithmetick, Preface, p.
268. 205.

chap, tii THE NAVIGATION ACTS 205

become of the observation in the Preface. Elsewhere he
points out the economic objections — which are universally
true — against the prohibition of the sale of land to foreigners,
because such sale would furnish the country with what it then
most wanted, a circulating capital for trade ; and then pru-
dently adds that he can only suppose that ' the laws denying
strangers to purchase ' were made when ' the publick state of
things w r as far different from what they now are.' 3 But in
what way they were different he does not even try to point
out, and ends the sentence evidently with his tongue in his
cheek.

His silence on the general policy of the Navigation
Act may be traced to the same causes. No approval of the
policy of this Act is to be found in the * Treatise,' and no open
disapproval, and yet the question must have constantly
been present to his mind, and indeed prominently so. The
interest w T hich he took in the Irish branch of the subject has
been related. The General Navigation Act had only just been
passed when the ' Treatise on Taxes ' appeared. That celebrated
measure decreed that no goods of the growth, production, or
manufacture of any country in Europe should be imported
into Great Britain except in British ships, or in such ships
as were the property of the people of the country in which
the goods were produced, or from which they could only be,
or most usually were, exported. The object of the Act was to
destroy the Dutch carrying trade and promote the growth of a
British mercantile marine, in other words, of ' shipping ; ' and
as Sir William considered shipping the principal origin of the
wealth of the Dutch, the aim of the Act, ceteris paribus,
might have been supposed to be likely to command his
approval for that reason. Husbandmen, seamen, soldiers,
artisans and merchants, he had written, ' are the very pillars
of any commonwealth ; all the other great professions do rise
out of the infirmities and miscarriages of these; now the
seaman is three of these four. For every seaman of industry
and ingenuity is not only a navigator but a merchant, and also

3 Political Arithmetick, ch. i. pp. 227-229.

206 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, vii

a soldier ; not because he hath often occasion to fight and
handle arms ; but because he is familiarised with hardship
and hazards, extending to life and limbs, for training and
duelling is a small part of soldiery in respect of this last men-
tioned qualification ; the one being quickly and presently
learned, the other not without many years most painful
experience : wherefore to have the occasion of abounding in
seamen is a vast conveniency.' 4 His acute mind, guided
by the study of the Irish question, had no doubt realised
that the inevitable rise of freights, consequent on the cessation
of the Dutch carrying trade to English ports, must seriously
injure the home producer, and that to diminish the number
of buyers in English ports was also to diminish the number
of sellers. Shipping, therefore, unless naturally developed,
would be of little permanent use to the country. But he
probably thought that he had done his part, and gained
unpopularity enough in influential quarters, by his opposition
to the Irish Acts. Certain it is that he passed by the
general subject of the Navigation Acts in a silence which,
under the circumstances, is eloquent.

An anecdote related by Aubrey might perhaps be cited in
support of the view that he approved the encouragement of
native shipping by legislative enactments of a distinctly pro-
tective character. The Privy Council in Ireland, Aubrey
relates, bad a notable plan to prohibit the importation of coal
from England, and for consuming turf, by which the poor, it
was averred, were to be greatly benefited, and a small revenge
perhaps be taken for the prohibition of the import of Irish
cattle into England. Said Sir William : ' If you will make
an order to hinder the bringing in of coals by foreign vessels,
and bring it in vessels of your own, I approve of it very well ;
but for your supposition of the cheapness of turf, 'tis true, 'tis
cheap on the place, but consider carriage ; consider the yards
that must contain such a quantity for the respective houses ;
these yards must be rented, what will be the charge ? And
they found on enquiry that all things considered, turf

4 Political Arithmetick, ch. i. p. 223.

chap, vii CUSTOMS DUTIES 207

would be much dearer to the consumer than coal.' 5 But this
story does not prove much. Taken for what it is worth, it
does not go beyond an approval of the limitation by law of the
coasting trade between England and Ireland to vessels of
native origin, a limitation which has not been held incon-
sistent with the application of free trade doctrines even in
modern times, long after the repeal of the Acts of Navigation. 6
Passing to the consideration of the question of the practical
means of raising the revenue, Sir William discusses in the
' Treatise on Taxes ' the whole question of the customs duties,
which at the beginning of the reign of Charles II. consisted
of a uniform 2 per cent, duty on the value of all exports and
imports. He points out that a tax on exports may at any
moment raise the price of commodities above the limit which
foreign commerce may be able to afford to pay, and that the
smuggler will then have his opportunity for evading the law.
He then urges that export duties, if any, should be levied on
articles which cannot easily evade the law, such as horses,
for they ' cannot be disguised, put up in bags nor casks, nor
shipped without noise and the help of many hands.' 7 He
next dwells on the inconvenience of customs duties on imports,
for analogous reasons. They are a payment before consump-
tion, and raise prices altogether beyond the amount which they
yield to the State. He also dwells on the expense of collec-
tion, and the evasions of duty by the bribery and corruption
of the customs officers. He finally suggests the abolition of
customs duties, calling them ' unseasonable and prepos-
terous,' 8 and the levy in their place of a tonnage duty ; and
that these duties should be treated as a maritime insurance
on the part of the State, which would be a return to their
true original function, like those of the Dutch, which were
intended merely to keep an account of their foreign trade. 9
Nevertheless, he admits that ' all things ready and ripe for
consumption may be made somewhat dearer than the same

5 Sir Josiah Child in 1671 states 6 Bodleian Letters, ii. 490.

that the Act of Navigation had already 7 Treatise on Taxes, ch. vi. p. 43.

seriously injured the British Eastland 8 Ibid. ch. xv. p. 85.

and Baltic trades. See Adam Smith's 9 Ibid, ch. vi. pp. 44, 45.

Wealth of Nations, iv. 384.

208 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY

CHAP. YIl

things made at home/ only trade is not to be destroyed or
seriously hampered; so that here again his opposition to
'customs' is to be traced more to the practical objections
which his keen eye had noticed, than to an abstract opinion in
favour of absolutely unrestricted intercourse and open ports.

As a greater profit he thought could be gained by manu-
facture than by husbandry, and by merchandise than by
manufacture, he argued that the great object of English policy
should be to promote shipping — which was the mother of trade,
and therefore of manufactures and of inventions — and to
raise revenue by taxing the manufactured article, and not the
raw import. He therefore considered an excise to be the justest
of all taxes for the purposes of revenue, as being light to those
who ' please to be content with material necessaries, and being
also self-adjusting ; ' x only it should not be farmed, but
properly collected by paid and responsible officers ; also the
articles taxed must as a rule be few, and not be raw material :
to do the opposite, he says, ' is the same ill-husbandry as to
make fall of young saplings instead of dotards and pollards.' 2
He points out that excise may be what he calls 'accumu-
lative,' i.e., that within one article you really may be taxing
many things together, and, in order to avoid this, whatever
articles are taxed should be so as near the point of consump-
tion as possible. ' Some,' he goes on, ' proposed beer to be
the only exciseable commodity, supposing that in the propor-
tion that men drink, they make all other expences ; which
certainly will not hold, especially if strong beer pay quintuple
unto, (as now) or any more excise than the small : for poor
carpenters, smiths, felt-makers, etc., drinking twice as much
strong beer as gentlemen do of small, must consequently pay
ten times as much excise. Moreover, upon the artisans beer
is accumulated, only a little bread and cheese, leathern clothes,
neck beef, and inwards twice a week, stale fish, old pease
without butter, etc. Whereas on the other, beside drink, is
accumulated as many other things as nature and art can
produce.' 3

1 Treatise on Taxes, ch. xv. p. 87. 2 Ibid. ch. vi. p. 44.

Ibid. ch. xv. p. 86.

CHAP. VII

EXCISE 209

1 The very perfect idea,' he says, ' of making a levy upon
consumptions, is to rate every particular necessary just when
it is ripe for consumption : that is to say not to rate corn
until it be bread ; nor wool until it be cloth, or rather until it
be a very garment ; so as the value of wool, clothing and
tayloring, even to the thread and needles, might be compre-
hended ; but this being perhaps too laborious to be performed,
we ought to enumerate a catalogue of commodities both native
and artificial, such whereof accompts may most easily be taken,
and can bear the office marks either on themselves or what
contains them ; being withal such as are to be as near con-
sumption as possible ; and then we are to compute what
further labour or charge is to be bestowed on each of them
before consumption, that so an allowance may be given
accordingly.' 4

He proposed to levy an excise on flax in Ireland, on linen
goods in England, and on herrings in Scotland : 5 the above
articles being all, in his opinion, those in which the home
producer had a practical monopoly, and which therefore would
bear taxation most easily. He would have allowed these
duties under certain circumstances, especially in Ireland,
where ready money was not easily to be obtained, to be paid
in kind, and he would also have allowed taxes in England to
be paid in corn in the years of an abundant harvest, and the
corn to be stored in Government granaries, to meet the diffi-
culties which so often arose from the absence of a proper cir-
culating medium, until that difficulty was provided for by the
establishment of a bank and the reform of the circulation. 6
The hearth money he thought the best form of ' accumulative
excise/ it being easy to tell the number of hearths, ' which
remove not as heads or polls do ; moreover, 'tis more easy to
pay a small tax than to alter or abrogate hearths, even
though they are useless or supernumerary ; nor is it possible
to cover them, because most of the neighbours know them,
nor in new buildings will any man who gives forty shillings

4 Treatise on Taxes, ch. xv. p. 83. 6 Treatise on Taxes, ch. iii. p. 20 ;

5 Political Arithmetick, ch. ii. p. Political Arithmetick, ch. ii. p. 240.
243.

210 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, yii

for making a chimney be without it for two.' He considered
the house tax to be a species of excise, or tax on the con-
sumption and use of an article, a house, and to be the easiest
and clearest and fittest to ground a certain revenue upon. 7

The poll tax had, in his opinion, the advantage of being
easily collected ; but the great objection to it was that it was
very unequal, and fell severely on the poorest class, while the
attempts which had recently been made at introducing dis-
tinctions between different classes of persons in order to
obviate these evils had only ended in such a mass of ' con-
fusion, arbitraries, irregularities and hotch pot of qualifica-
tions,' that nobody knew where he stood. 8 It is evident that
he gradually came to the conclusion that a just poll or capita-
tion tax was an impossibility, and that, if it was desired to
tax proportionally the income of the mass of the people, it
could only be done, as in Holland, by taxing their expense,
through an excise or tax on commodities ; though, as already
pointed out, the articles taxed were to be few and the tax light.

The risk of relying too much on this species of taxation had
not been fully realised by the political economists of the seven-
teenth century, who were mainly familiar with the evils of a
clumsy system of direct taxation. Sir William Petty was
indeed fully aware that there were taxes the incidence of which
was not on the person who paid them in the first instance ; but
he did not sufficiently realise the dangers arising from the fatal
facility with which the system could be extended. It was left
to Adam Smith to point out, with unanswerable force, that
such taxes, especially when levied upon necessaries, were calcu-
lated to diminish the reward of labour, and therefore either
raised wages in proportion or reduced employment, and that
their ultimate burden was either on the land in the shape of
diminished rent, or on the capitalist in reduced profits ; and
that, by their complicating and disturbing effects on trade and
employment, they diminished the volume of trade and took far
more out of the pockets of the taxpayers than they brought
into the coffers of the State. By the time of Adam Smith,

7 Treatise on Taxes, ch. iv. p. 26, ch. xv. p. 8C.

8 Ibid. ch. vii. p. 50.

chap, vii THE PAR OF VALUE 211

Holland itself could be pointed at as an example to be shunned
rather than to be followed, for taxes on commodities levied
with a fatal facility to meet the needs of a war policy had
reached such a point that they seriously injured the manu-
factures of the country. 9

In the ' Treatise on Taxes ' an examination of the possi-
bility of finding a standard or ' par ' of value which can be
stated in terms follows the discussion of the origin of value.
The precious metals, especially silver, Petty points out, are
principally adapted and used as a standard or measure of
value, owing to their durability and universally recognised
value ; but even their value, he points out, may vary, accord-
ing to the supply and other circumstances, and for that reason,
not being altogether satisfied with them as standards, he de-
sires to find a universal 'par,' not only for commodities, but
for gold and silver as well : an inquiry which may be called
the North-West Passage of political economy. ' All things,'
he says, ' ought to be valued by two natural denominations,
" land and labour: " that is, we ought to say a ship or garment
is worth such a measure of land, with such another measure
of labour ; forasmuch as both ships and garments were the
creatures of lands and men's labours thereupon. This being
true, we should be glad to find out a natural par between land
and labour, so as we might express the value of either of them
alone, as well or better than by both, and reduce one into the
other as easily and certainly as we reduce pence into pounds.' ]
He does not, however, attempt a further development of the
idea, although there is another reference to the subject in the
' Political Anatomy of Ireland,' where he describes it as the
most important subject ' in political economics.' In this
passage he assumes that there is a certain equality of the
cost of production ' in the easiest gotten food of the respective
countries of the world,' and that the cost of transporting it
from one country to another will be about equal. He appa-
rently alludes to the coarser and healthier forms of diet : oat-
meal, rice, &c, which are of general distribution. He next

9 See Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations, iii. 505.
1 Treatise on Taxes, ch. iv. p. 31.

p 2

212 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, vh

supposes two acres of pasture land enclosed, and a weaned
calf put out to graze there. In twelve months' time the calf
will have become one hundred heavier, he thinks, in eat-
able flesh. Then one hundredweight of such flesh is the
' value or year's rent ' of the land. He next supposes the
labour of a man, for a similar period of twelve months, to
make this same land yield sixty days' food of the same or any
other kind. Then the overplus of days' food is the wages of the
man, both being expressed by the number of days' food ; and in
this case land and labour will stand as five to six, the unit
being the ordinary day's food of an adult man. This par,
he declares, seems to promise to be as regular and constant
as the value of pure silver ; but he fails to show 7 how it could
be adapted in practice to the purposes of trade by any instru-
ment of exchange, and the chapter # in the c Political Anatomy '
in which this disquisition occurs concludes, instead, with a fan-
ciful sketch, how the par of land and labour just described
could be extended to art and opinion, eloquence, and other
matters : inquiries which, he ends by acknowledging, ' are
perhaps not very pertinent to the matter in hand.' 2

The want of a proper circulating medium, both in quality
and in quantity, was one of the great difficulties of the finan-
ciers of the reign of Charles II., and, as already stated, the
confusion of coins is set down in the ' Treatise on Taxes '
amongst the principal causes which unnecessarily increase
and aggravate the public charges. 3 A chapter is devoted
to the arguments against raising, depressing, and embasing
the coinage, in which the arguments now universally ac-
cepted are clearly stated. They hardly now need a place in
a formal treatise on public economy, but at the time were
still deemed doubtful and hazardous. Sir William also ex-
pressed himself as in favour of a single metallic standard, in a
passage devoted to a further discussion of these topics in the
' Political Anatomy of Ireland.' 4 In the same treatise he
points out, with reference to the trade of Ireland, that the in-

2 Political Anatomy of Ireland, ch. xiv. p. 76.

ix. pp. 344-340. 4 Political Anatomy, ch. x„ p. 347,

3 Treatise on Taxes, ch. ii. p. 5, ch.

chap, vii USURY LAWS 213

creasing the cash of the nation ' is not of that consequence
that many guess it to be/ but that the amount of money in
the country should not exceed the amount necessary as a
medium of exchange, ' for in most places, especially Ireland,
nay England itself, the money of the whole nation is but about
a tenth part of the expense of one year, viz. Ireland is
thought to have about 400,000L in cash, and to spend about
four millions per annum. Wherefore it is very ill husbandry
to double the cash of the nation by destroying half its wealth ;
or to increase the cash otherwise than by increasing the
wealth, simul et semel;' 5 ' for money,' he observes else-
where, ' is but the fat of the body politick, whereof too much
doth as often hinder its agility, as too little makes it sick.' 6

' Laws made against usury, against raising of money, and
against exportation of gold and silver, and many others con-
cerning Trade,' were all in his opinion equally i frivolous and
pernicious, forasmuch as such matters will be governed by the
laws of nature and nations only ; ' and, following out the same
order of ideas, he points out that the rate of interest depends
upon the accumulation of money and the amount of it in a
country at any given time, and that therefore money, like
everything else, has a legitimate price according to the amount
of it, and the relative difficulty of procuring it at any par-
ticular time or particular place : a truth which had been
obscured by a mistaken interpretation of Scriptural texts in
the Middle Ages. What the Jewish law forbade was usury as
between Jews, not loans to foreigners. It was a moral precept
to be observed as between members of the same society. But
the early Christian doctrine, based on the text, 'Lend, hoping
for nothing again,' adopted and enlarged the Jewish view till
what was termed ' usury ' became the most frightful of moral
offences in the eye of the Church, and was forbidden by the
Canon Law, as contrary both to the law of nature and to
authority. It was to be regarded as worse than theft ; even
what was termed mental usury — the intention of the lender to

5 Political Anatomy, ch. xi. pp. See, too, Quantulumcumque concern-
356, 357. ing Money, Query 27.

Vcrbum Sajpienti, ch. v. p. 48.

214 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY ohap. yii

accept something from the borrower without formally binding
the latter — was a mortal sin. It was only by a refined and
ingenious adaptation of this traditional doctrine to the needs
and facts of economic life, as time went on, that any progress
at all was possible. 7 But the general result was that business
passed largely into the hands of the Jews at high rates of
interest, and that the Church itself had to connive at pious
evasions of its own principles by means of monts de piete and
similar devices ; and that after the Eeformation trade and com-
merce found a more natural home in the countries which had
shaken themselves free from the meshes of the Canon Law,
than in those which still held by the ancient faiths. 8

Exchange, or local usury, Sir William points out, arises
simply when one man furnishes another with money at some
distant place, and engages under peculiar penalties to pay
him there and at a certain day, or at some convenient
time. ' The questions arising,' he proceeds, ' are what are
the natural standards of usury and exchange ? As for usury
the least that can be, is the rent of so much land as the
money lent will buy, when the security is undoubted; but
when the security is casual, then a kind of insurance must
be interwoven with the simple natural interest, which may
advance the usury very conscionably, unto any height below the
principal itself. Now if things are so in England, that really
there is no such security, but that all are more or less hazardous,
troublesome or chargeable to make, I see no reason for
endeavouring to limit usury upon time any more than that
upon place.' But he seems to have conceived the possibility
of a state of such absolute security that no * damnum emergens '
could exist, and any interest on a loan would consequently be
unfair beyond the standard of interest on money fixed by the
rent of land. The laws against usury, he maliciously suggests,
probably arose because those who made such laws 'were
rather borrowers than lenders ' — a suggestion which soon

7 See Ashley's Economic History, Mr. Henry C. Lea in a recent number
Book ii. ch. vi. of the Yale Review, 1894. See, too,

8 An able review of the history of Lecky, Rise and Influence of Ra-
this question has recently appeared by tionalism, ii. 280.

CHAP. VII

RENT 215

received a striking illustration in the closing of the Exchequer
at the time of the Cabal, and the suspension of the payment
of interest on the royal loans. With a sound financial policy
and commercial stability, he thought that the rate of interest
could be reduced to 4 per cent, without any law. 9

Of State lotteries — another favourite device of needy
monarchs — he maliciously observes that they are a tax upon
' self-conceited fools,' and ' that as the world abounds with
this kind of fools, it is not fit that every man that will, may
cheat every man that would be cheated. It had consequently
een ordained,' he adds, 'that State lotteries should be a
royal monopoly.' l

Sir William attributed the increase of rent to the increase
of population ; and considering the increase of population a
certain sign of the prosperity of the country, he looked forward
to increasing population and increasing rents. The fears of
the consequences of a too rapid growth of population, which
at a later period weighed so heavily on the minds of Malthus
and his successors, and in France made Baboeuf declare that
a free use of the guillotine was perhaps the only method of
escaping them, did not oppress him. One thousand acres
which can support one thousand men he thinks are better than
ten thousand acres which do the same thing; 2 and he says he
would prefer to see the Commonwealth passing laws ' to beget a
luxury in the 950,000 plebeians of Ireland, rather than making
sumptuary laws directed against the expenditure of the 150,000
optimates, as the latter would only injure the plebeians, while
the former would promote their splendour, arts and industries.' 3

In the ' Treatise on Taxes ' a long digression occurs,
towards the commencement of the work, on rent, the nature
of which he acknowledges to be ' mysterious.' He treats it
and so far correctly, as a species of profit, arrived at after all
the expenses of cultivation have been paid ; but he makes no
distinction between the profit on capital and the true economic

9 * Opinion of what is possible to be * Treatise on Taxes, ch. viii. p. 53.

done,' 1685. Nelligan MS., British 2 Political Arithmetick,ch. i. p. 219.

Museum. See, too, Quantidumcumquc, 3 Political Anatomy, ch. xi. p. 356.
Qu. 28-30.

216 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, vii

rent of land. ' As great need of money,' he says, 'height-
ened exchange, so doth great need of corn raise the price of
that likewise, and consequently of the rent of land that bears
corn and lastly of the land itself. . . . Hence it comes to pass
that land intrinsically alike near populous places, such as
where the perimeter of the area that feeds them is great, will
not only yield more rent for these reasons, but also more
years purchase than in remote places, by reason of the
pleasure and honour extraordinary of having lands there.' 4

The ' Political Arithmetick,' from which some quotations
have already been made, consists of three parts. The first two
consist of a number of short essays on the ' Vital and other
Statistics of London, Dublin, Paris, Eome, Ptouen, and other
great Cities, and of the United Provinces of Holland,' and were
published in 1682 and 1687. The scope of the first essay was
to be ' concerning the value and increase of people and colonies '
— such is the exordium —and was intended to precede another
essay concerning the growth of the city of London. Only a
sort of syllabus of it remains, the fourteen heads of which well
illustrate the many-sided character of the mind of the writer,
which at one moment is seen grappling with the hardest
statistics, and then flying off into speculative inquiries of an
abstruse character in the domain of theology. He proposes
to examine ' how many live on their lands ; how many on per-
sonal estate ; how many on professions ; how many pay poll
tax, and how much ; how to plant colonies ; the relative value
of land in colonies and at home ; with calculations in how
many years England will be fully peopled.' These, and kindred
topics, form the first ten heads of inquiry ; from which the
reader is suddenly transported by an abrupt transition into an
appendix ' concerning the number of wild fowl and of sea fish at
the end of every thousand years since Noah's flood,' and an
inquiry as to what may be ' the meaning of glorified bodies,
in case the place of the blessed shall be without the convex of
the orb of the fixed stars ; ' 5 just as the essay on population
concludes with a grotesque statistical argument to prove that

4 Treatise on Taxes, ch. v. p. 35. 5 Several Essays, pp. 98, 99.

€HAP. vii VIEWS ON POPULATION 21 7

there would be room in Ireland alone to bury all the dead
bodies up to the day of judgment, which professes to be written
' to assist a worthy divine, writing against some scepticks, who
would have baffled our belief in the resurrection, by saying that
the whole globe of the earth could not furnish matter enough
for all the bodies that must rise at the last day.' G

Sir Eobert Southwell also had views of his own about the
Deluge, and he sent them to his friend for consideration ; but
Sir William professed to be unwilling to meddle with such
dangerous matters, notwithstanding his wish to oblige, for
even his friendship with Southwell could be limited, though it
required Noah's flood to do it. ' I thank you for your theory
of the Deluge,' he cautiously replied, ' but do candidly say
that I do know not what to say on that point, but take it to
be a Scripture mystery, which to explain is to destroy ; ' 7 so
he confined his attention to tracing the economic effects of
that event on remote ages. Southwell appears to have re-
venged himself by declining to enter on the topics suggested.
' I am angry,' Sir William writes to him, 'you did not speak
a word neither of Eeason nor of Eidicule upon the paper for
the Multiplication of Mankind ; as if that desideratum were
frivolous ; which I take to be equal to all the projects which
have been these many years for the advantage of the world.
Pray send it back, with an affidavit on the back of it, that
you have not shewn it to any fortunate fop nor taken any
Copy of it.' 8

Sir Eobert Southwell was at length persuaded to present
his objections to Sir William's scheme. In Sir William's
answer is to be found all that remains of his opinions on the
subject. ' I reply in these following positions, viz. : 1. It is
for the glory of God and the advancement of mankind that the
world should be fully and speedily peopled, and that objections
against the same may be deferred till a thousand years hence.
2. That the more people there are in any country the greater
is the value of each of them. 3. There is no need of careing
how to provide for children, as long as there be three acres of

6 Several Essays, pp. 109, 120. 7 March 10, 1676.

8 Petty to Southwell, 1685.

218 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, vii

and for every head, which I call sufficient peopling. 4. To
say that other nations may use the same expedient as well as
wee, is an objection to all proposals for the good of mankind.
I like your having shewn the paper to Mr. Pepys, for he
is no fopp, tho' fortunate.' 9 The first of these positions is
quaintly elucidated in another letter. ' To honor God,' he says,
' is really (and not in specious words only) to acknowledge his
power, Wisdome, etc. Wee cannot say that the whole earth
and the fixed stars too were made for the use of man ; but till
we see the earth peopled (as perhaps three-fourths is not) we
may doubt it ; and not knowing to what other use it was de-
signed, may stumble into the error of its having been made by
chance, and not by the designe of an Infinite Wisdome — I
should rather say of the greatest Wisdome — wherefore the
sooner the stumbling block is removed the better. I add that
hee who shall give the reason and use of what lyes in the
8,000 miles space between the two poles of the earth, and of
the use of the fixed stars to man, shall honor God more than
by singing the " Te Deum " every day. 2nd, I say that, as in
great cittyes and cohabitations of men, arts and sciences are
better cultivated than in deserts, so I say that if there were as
many men on earth as it could bear, the works and wonders
of God's Providence would be the sooner discovered, and God
the sooner honoured really and heartily. 3rd, I say that Gods
first and greatest command to man and beast was to increase
and multiply, and to replenish the earth. Why therefore should
this duty be put off ? ... I should add to my last head : it being
probable that the world will not be destroyed, nor the day of
Judgement come, till the whole earth be peopled. If we pray
that God would hasten the number of his elect, and if the
Blisse of the Blessed cannot be perfect till the soul and Body are
united, then we must wish the speedy peopling of the world.' l
While insisting on the advantages of an increased popu-
lation, Petty had, however, not failed to grasp the fact that, in
order that an increase of population may not be injurious,
there must be a corresponding increase in the efficiency of
labour and in wealth. The internal prosperity of the country

9 Sept. 8, 1685. « Sept. 19, 1685.

chap. Yii GROWTH OF LONDON 219

and the best means of promoting the material improvement of
the people are, therefore, constantly present to his mind in the
discussions of the subject of population. Thus, for example,
his plan for the transplantation to England of a large portion
of the population of Ireland, was entirely based on the belief
that the population would be increased and the standard of
comfort raised by the accession of a large body of productive
labourers. 2

In connection with this discussion he made a remarkable
forecast of the growth westwards of the City of London. ' If
great cities,' he says, ' are naturally apt to remove their
seats, I ask which way ? I say in the case of London, it
must be westward, because the winds blowing near three
fourths of the year from the west, the dwellings of the west
end are so much the more free from the fumes steams and
stinks of the whole easterly pyle ; which, where seacole is
burnt, is a great matter. Now if it follow from hence, that
the palaces of the greatest men will remove westward, it will
also naturally follow, that the dwellings of others who depend
upon them will creep after them. This we see in London,
where the noblemens ancient houses are now become halls for
companies, or turned into tenements, and all the palaces are
gotten westward ; insomuch that I do not doubt but that five
hundred years hence, the King's palace will be near Chelsea,
and the old building of Whitehall converted to uses more
answerable to their quality. For to build a new royal palace
upon the same ground will be too great a confinement, in re-
spect of gardens and other magnificencies, and withal a dis-
accommodation in the time of the work ; but it rather seems
to me, that the next palace will be built from the whole
present contignation of houses, at such a distance as the
whole palace of Westminster was from the city of London,
when the archers began to bend their bows just without
Ludgate, and when all the space between the Thames, Fleet
Street, and Holborn, was as Finsbury-fields are now.' But
this digression, he acknowledges, may prove a mere imper-

2 Political Arithmetic^, ch. iv. pp. Ranke, English History, iii. 58fr
251-254. See also the observations of (Oxford Edition).

220 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, vii

tinence, since it was not unlikely that, long before the time
arrived at which all this could happen, they ' might all be
transplanted from hence into America, and these countries
be overrun with Turks, and made waste, as the seats of the
famous Eastern Empires at this day are.' 3 He was writing
in the days of Mahomet IV., and the hard- won victory of
Montecuculli at Saint Gothard, which saved Europe, took
place in 1664, only two years after the appearance of the
1 Treatise on Taxes.'

The second series of the Essays was largely devoted to a
discussion of the calculations of the Parisian statistician, M.
Auzout, and was published in the two languages, French and
English, in parallel columns. Like the ' Treatise on Taxes,'
these Essays and the Discourse contain many points of interest
outside the immediate subjects with which they deal. The
author addresses himself, for example, to the question of wages,
and examines whether a high or a low rate of wages, in the
then economic constitution of society, tended to increase pro-
duction. His own observations of the habits of the cloth-
workers in England and of the Irish peasantry compelled him,
however reluctantly, to the opinion that the general standard
of living was as yet too low to make high daily w r ages of any
advantage to the labourer, because of their tendency at once
to reduce their hours and be content with wages just sufficient
to support existence at a very low level of material civilisation.
' It was observed,' he says, ' by clothiers and others who
employ great numbers of poor people, that when corn is
extremely plentiful that the labour of the poor is proportion-
ately dear and scarce to be had at all, so licentious are they
who labour only to eat, or rather to drink.' It was the same
in Ireland, especially since the introduction of that ' bread-
like root, the potato. A day of two hours labour was there
sufficient to make men to live after their present fashion, and
the cheapness of food was the excuse for the people to live in
a condition little above that of animals.' 4 He argues that an

' { Treatise on Taxes, ch. iv. p. 28. p. 478. Compare the opinions of Sir

4 Political Arithmetick, ch. ii. p. W. Temple, Works, i. pp. 60, 114 ; and

240. Verbum Sapienti, ch. ii. s. 10, the discussion of the history of the sub-

chap, vii THE DIVISION OF LABOUR 221

equilibrium between production and consumption is necessary,
and that without an increase of demand, which the State
itself in his opinion may wisely stimulate and direct into proper
channels by taxation, no improvement or increase of wealth
was possible; and that it was the absence of this feeling of the
need of the higher wants of civilisation which constituted one of
the chief causes of the poverty of the population of that island.
' There are in Ireland,' he says, ' 160,000 nasty cabbens,
in which neither butter nor cheese, nor linen, yarn, nor
worsted can be made to the best advantage, chiefly by reason
of the soot and smoaks annoying the same, as also for the
narrowness and nastiness of the place, which cannot be kept
clean nor safe from beasts and vermin, nor from damps and
musty benches, of which all the eggs laid or kept in those
cabbens do partake. Wherefore to the advancement of trade,
the reformation of these cabbens is necessary.' 5

Other passages show that he attached the greatest impor-
tance in theory to the division of labour, which he had already
himself applied so successfully in practice during the survey.
* Cloth,' he says, ' must be cheaper made, when one cards,
another spins, another weaves, another draws, another dresses,
another presses, and packs, than when all the operations
above mentioned are clumsily performed by the same hand ; ' G
and he argues that the division of labour, applied to the ship-
building trade, is one of the reasons of the superiority of
Holland at sea to France, because it enables the Dutch to
build the exact sort of ship required for the circumstances
of each particular branch of trade and navigation, and to
charge less for freight and maritime insurance. 7 ' The gain,'
he argues, with reference to the trade of London, 'which
is made by manufacture will be greater as the manufacture
itself is greater and better. For in so vast a city manu-
factures will beget one another, and each manufacture

ject in Dr. Schultz Gavernitz's, Der topics is acknowledged.

Grossbetrieb (Einleitung), Leipzig, 5 Political Anatomy, ch. ix. p. 354.

1892, and Luio Brentano, Hours, 6 Political Arithmetick, ch. i. p.

Wages, and Production, pp. 2, 3, Lon- 224.

don, 1894, where Petty's position as 7 Ibid. ch. i. p. 225.

one of the first to inquire into these

222 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, yii

will be divided into as many parts as possible, whereby
the work of each artizan will be simple and easie; as for
example in the making of a watch, if one man shall make
the wheels, another the spring, another shall engrave the
Dial plate, and another shall make the case, then the
watch will be better and cheaper than if the whole work
be put upon any one man. And we also see that in towns
and in the streets of a great town, where all the inhabitants
are almost of one trade, the commodity peculiar in those
places is made better and cheaper than elsewhere.' 8 He
distinguishes between productive and unproductive labour,
contrasting two classes of men : the first who produce
material objects, or things of real use and value, or, in other
words, which increase 'the gold, silver and jewels of the
country by trade and arms ; ' the other who ' do nothing at
all but eat, drink, sing, play and dance,' to whom he ma- .
liciously adds ' such as study the metaphysicks or other
needless speculation.' 9 The Essays also show that he under-
stood, at least partially, the principles underlying the laws
of supply and demand in their effect on value. Distinguish-
ing between what he terms ' intrinsic ' and ' extrinsic ' value
in a dialogue on the price of diamonds, ' I will first take
notice,' he says, ' 1. that the dearness and cheapness of
diamonds depends upon two causes ; the one intrinsic which
lies within the stone itself, and the other extrinsic and
contingent, such as are the prohibitions to seek for them in
countries from whence they come. 2. When merchants
can lay out their money in India to more profit upon other
commodities, and therefore do not bring them. 3. When
they are brought, upon fear of wars, to be a subsistence for
exiled and obnoxious persons. 4. They are dear near the
marriage of some great person when great numbers of
persons are to put themselves in splendid appearance. For
any of these causes, if they be very strong upon any part
of the world, they operate on the whole. For if the price
of diamonds should rise in Persia, it shall also perceptibly

8 Several Essays, p. 116.

9 Political Arithmetic!;, ch. ii. pp. 235, 236.

chap, yii SUPPLY AND DEMAND 223

in England, for the great merchants all the world over do
know one another, do correspond, and are partners in most
of the considerable pieces, and do use great confederacy and
intrigue in buying and selling them/ *

Amongst other subjects discussed in the ' Treatise on
Taxes ' is that of penalties considered as a source of revenue,
and the discussion leads him to the consideration of religious
toleration from the point of view of the political economist
and the statesman. The Sovereign, he argues, by punishing
the heterodox with death, mutilations, and imprisonments,
thereby injures the Crown and his own revenue ; and if
heresies existed, it was perhaps because the pastors had
neglected their own duties, and they ought themselves to
be punished accordingly. The true use of the Clergy ' is
rather to be patterns of holiness, than to teach men varieties
of opinion de rebus divinis,' 2 and their excessive wealth should
be curtailed as being injurious to religion ; ' unless/ he sar-
castically says, it is to be denied ' that there were golden priests
when the chalices were of wood, and but wooden priests when
the chalices were of gold.' 3 In the ' Treatise on Taxes ' he
says ' that many have heretofore followed even Christ him-
self but for the loaves he gave them.' 4 He constantly had
floating before his vision the idea of a broad and compre-
hensive Church, founded on ethical precepts rather than on
any definite theological dogma or creed ; the Church of
God rather than the Church of England, or of any strictly
sacerdotal body. To disbelieve indeed in the immortality of
the soul rendered man, in his opinion, a beast ; and persons
holding such views should, he thought, be under civil and
political disabilities. With this exception, the only reason-
able penalties he considered to be fines for actual breaches of
the peace, even if committed in the name of religion. Such
fines he defended ' as being the fittest way of checking the
wantonness of men in this particular ; forasmuch as that
course savours of no bitterness at all ; but rather argues a

' Sloane MS. 2903, British Museum. mary in the Table of Contents, p. xxxi.
2 Treatise on Taxes, ch. ix. The 3 Treatise on Taxes, ch. xii. p. 69.

words quoted above are from the sum- 4 Ibid. ch. i. p. 3.

224 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, vii

desire to indulge ; provided such indulgence may consist with
the indemnity of the State ; for no heterodox believer will
desire to be tolerated longer than he keeps the public peace.' 5
The system was that which Hobbes had laid down in theory,
and Sully had applied in practice in France.

In the work on ' Political Arithmetic/ he states the doctrine
of religious toleration in the boldest and broadest terms.
' They cannot but know,' he says, ' that no man can believe
what himself pleases, and to force men to say they believe
what they do not, is vain, absurd and without honour to
God.' 6 Dissenters, he shows, have been everywhere the prin-
cipal creators of the trade and manufactures of their respec-
tive countries ; even in Ireland, where, the Eoman religion
not being authorised, the professors thereof have a great part
of the trade. ' The Hollanders were one hundred years since
a poor and oppressed people, living in a country naturally
cold, moist and unpleasant, and were withal persecuted for
their heterodoxy in religion, and they were become the greatest
trading and manufacturing people in the world.' He thought,
however, that the Jews might ' well bear somewhat extra-
ordinary ; because they seldom eat and drink with Christians,
hold it no disparagement to live frugally, and even sordidly
among themselves, by which way alone they become able to
undersell any other traders ; and to elude the excise, which
bears but according to mean expenses : as also other duties
by dealing so much in bills of exchange, jewels, and money ;
and by practising of several frauds with more impunity than
others, and by their being at home everywhere and yet no-
where, being become responsible almost for nothing.' 7

With his keen eye for abuses, Sir William had observed
the inequality of the distribution of the revenues of the Church,
and the determination of the beneficiaries not to reform these
and other evils. He had seen how frequently small parishes
had large revenues, and large parishes small revenues ; and,
pursuing his favourite statistical methods, he had arrived at
the conclusion that, by a redistribution of parochial areas and

5 Treatise on Taxes, ch. x. p. 59. 227.

6 Political Arithmetic}*,, ch. i. p. 7 Treatise on Taxes, ch. xiii. p. 74.

chap, vii THE ' ESSAYS ' 225

their revenues, he could not only improve the position of the
parish priests on lines consonant with substantial justice, but
could also economise half a million a year, which could be
paid into the national exchequer. ' If anybody,' he said, * cried
sacrilege, I answer that if the same be employed to defend
the Church of God against the Turk and the Pope, and the
nations who adhere to them, it is not at all, or less, than to
give three fourths of the same to the wives and children of
the priests, which were not in being when their allowances
were set forth.' 8 He enforced this argument still further by
the remark that the unnecessary multiplicity of parishes led,
amongst other disadvantages, to an- unnecessary multiplicity
of sermons. There were in England 10,000 parishes, in each
of which there must be about 100 sermons a year preached.
This was equal to one million sermons a year, and ' it were a
strange miracle,' he said, * if these sermons composed by so
many men, and of so many minds and methods, should pro-
duce uniformity upon the discomposed understandings of
above eighty millions of hearers.' 9

The first two series of the * Essays on Political Arithmetick '
were published during the life of the author, but the third
part, which is the work more generally known as ' The Political
Arithmetick,' was posthumous and did not appear till 1691.
The general object of the book was to show ' the weight and
importance of the English Crown.' It had probably been
commenced after the disaster at Chatham and the Plague
and Fire, at a moment of great national despondency, but it
was not completed till a far later date, when the superiority
of France instead of that of Holland had become the
object of national apprehension. The publication of such
a book was impossible at a period when the King of
England was the pensioner of Louis XIV., the sworn foe of
Holland, and money was desired, not to reform the public
services, but to supply the pleasures of the Court and to stifle
inquiry. Nor was the free manner in which such subjects as

9 Treatise on Taxes, ch. ii. p. 9. pare, as to the abuses of the Church,

9 Several Essays, p. 115, * Of the Burnet, History of his Own Times, i.
Growth of the City of London.' Com- 338.

226 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, vii

religion were dealt with, without danger to the author. There-
fore it was not till after the Eevolution that the book was
allowed to see the light, when it was published by the author's
son, with a dedication to William III. ' What my father
wrote,' so the dedication runs, ' was by him styled " Political
Arithmetic" inasmuch as things of Government, and of no
less concern and intent than the glory of the Prince and the
happiness and greatness of the people, are by the ordinary
rules of arithmetick brought into a sort of demonstration.
He was allowed by all to be the inventor of this kind of in-
struction ; where the perplexed and intricate ways of the world
are explained by a very mean piece of science ; and had not the
doctrines of the Essay offended France, they had long since
seen the light and had found followers, as well as improve-
ments before this time, to the advantage perhaps of mankind.'

The author declares himself satisfied that England is in
no deplorable condition, as some would have the world believe,
notwithstanding trifling and temporary appearances to the
contrary ; and he undertakes to justify his belief. * The
method I take to do this,' he explains, ' is not very usual, for
instead of using only comparative and superlative words, and
intellectual arguments, I have taken the course (as a specimen
of the political Arithmetic I have long aimed at) to express
myself in terms of number, weight or measure, to use only
arguments of sense, and to consider only such causes as have
visible foundations in nature : leaving those that depend upon
the mutable minds, opinions, appetites and passions of
particular men, to the consideration of others : really pro-
fessing myself as unable to speak satisfactorily upon those
grounds, (if they may be called grounds), as to foretell the cast
of a dye, to play well at tennis, bowls, or billiards, (without
long practice), by virtue of the most elaborate conceptions that
ever have been written " de projectilibus etmissilibus " or of the
angles of evidence and reflection.' l

His special aim w r as to prove that the subservient policy
pursued by Charles II. in his relations with France was not
justified by any relative weakness on the part of England,

1 Political Arithmetick, Preface, p. 207.

chap, vii FRANCE AND HOLLAND 227

especially if allied with Holland, and imitating her commercial
policy. A small country, he argues, and few people, may by
their situation, trade, and policy be equivalent in wealth and
strength to a far greater people and territory ; and conve-
niences for shipping and water carriage particularly conduce
thereto. These exist in England, owing to her extended coast-
line and admirable natural harbours, which ought always to
secure for her a marked superiority at sea. 2 He proves the
great wealth of England by reference to the extreme ease with
which she had been able to bear an increasing amount of
taxation ever since the commencement of the century. He
warns his readers against being dazzled by the splendours of
the Court of Louis XIV., and taking those splendours to be a
proof that the wealth of France was greater than that of
England. They simply arose, he pointed out, from the King
of France taking a large share of taxation out of the pockets
of his people, and spending it in brilliant but unproductive ex-
penditure at his Court and in military display. The material
condition of France was, indeed, already a warning, and the
growing misery of the people, crushed down by war and
taxation, was a living commentary on the magnificence of
Versailles. The policy of Colbert had been superseded by
that of Louvois ; and when, in September 1683, that great
and at heart peaceful minister sank into the grave, a mid-
night and almost secret funeral alone protected his remains
from the insults of the rabble, who, however unjustly, asso-
ciated him with the distress of the country.

France, Sir William argued, by reason of perpetual
obstacles interposed by nature, such as her inferior length of
sea-board, could never be more powerful at sea than England
and Holland combined. The people and territories of Eng-
land are, he says, naturally as considerable for wealth and
strength as those of France, and the impediments to her
greatness arise from contingent causes which can be removed :
the principal being an unwise commercial policy and the

2 Compare the passage in Bacon's the sea is an abridgment of monarchy '
Essay, ' Of the True Greatness of King- (Essays XXIX.).
doms,' beginning, 'To be master of

Q2

228 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, yii

insufficient organisation of the military and naval defensive
forces of the country ; with the absence of religious toleration,
proper means of internal communication, a sound banking
system, and the other conditions which he notes as those
of the wealth and prosperity of Holland. One-tenth part of
the annual expenditure of the nation, he calculates, would
maintain an army of 100,000 foot, 30,000 horse, and 40,000
sailors, were the revenue properly administered. He wishes
to employ the surplus labour of the kingdom in some profitable
manner, calculating it could earn two millions a year, but he
believes that the capital and labour actually in the kingdom
are sufficient ' to drive the trade of the whole commercial
world.' Situation, trade, and water carriage would have
been useless to the Dutch, had they not been developed by a
wise policy. This policy he analyses into three heads, viz. :
1. Liberty of conscience ; 2. Securing the title to lands
and houses by land registries ; and 3. the Dutch banking
system, ' the use whereof is to increase money, or rather to
make a small sum equivalent in trade to a greater.' The
Dutch also knew how to make the burden of the maintenance
of the poor as light as possible. The burden of military
service is also reduced by them to the minimum, and the
smallest number possible of the population are engaged in cow 7 -
keeping, which in his opinion is the least profitable branch of
trade. Here is the example for England to follow ; and the
concluding pages of the essay are occupied with an appeal
to the younger sons of the English landed gentry, to go into
trade instead of starving at home, and to their parents to found
a bank with a capital secured upon land. The Dutch, he points
out, had known how to profit by their situation on the sea,
and how to improve the means of water carriage at their com-
mand. Thus situation had given them shipping, and shipping
had given them the command of the trade of the world. ' Do
they not work the sugar of the West Indies,' he asks, ' the
timber and iron of the Baltic ; the hemp of Eussia, the lead,
tin and wool of England, the quicksilver and silk of Italy, the
yarns and dyeing stuffs of Turkey ? ' They do so, he replies,
because their shipping goes to every part of the world ; ' and

chap, vii THE EXAMPLE OF HOLLAND 229

shipping hath given them in effect all other trade, and foreign
traffick must give them as much manufacture as they can
manage themselves, and as for the overplus make the rest of
the world but as workmen in their shops.' 3 If the wealth of
Holland sprang from a wise and enlightened policy, the prin-
cipal impediments to England's greatness had their origin in
defects of policy. The widely separated character of the terri-
tories belonging to the English Crown, with their different
Governments and separate legislative powers, stands first ; and
he again advocates a union between England, Scotland, and
Ireland, with a view to a uniformity of trade and customs.
He dwells on the consequences which may arise from the de-
velopment of the Government of New England upon lines so
widely different from those of the mother country ; and he points
out how the whole burden of the defence of all her scattered
colonies and territories falls with an unnecessary burden upon
England alone. He advocates the formation of an Im-
perial Council of two Chambers, the first nominated by the
Crown and the second by the people. He again attacks the
absurdity and injustice of the commercial policy of England
towards Ireland ; and argues that, if the resources of England
and Ireland at home were properly developed, there was room
at home for the whole population which had fled to the Colo-
nies. Finally, he mentions the evils which had arisen from
farming out the revenue and relying too much on direct taxa-
tion ; from the uncertainty of several material points in the
theory of the Constitution and in the law, viz. the King's pre-
rogative, the privileges of Parliament, and the obscure differ-
ences between law and equity, as also between the civil and
ecclesiastical jurisdictions ; and from the doubts which existed
whether the kingdom of England had power over the kingdom
of Ireland ; and lastly, returning to his favourite subject, from
' the wonderful paradox that English men lawfully sent to
suppress rebellions in Ireland, should after having effected the
same, be, as it were, disfranchised, and lose that interest in
the legislative power which they had in England, and pay cus-
toms, as foreigners, for all they spend in Ireland, whither they

3 Political Arithmetick, ch. i. pp. 222, 223.

230 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, vir

were sent for the honour and benefit of England.' 4 But while
putting his finger on the weak points in the national armour,
he does so in no desponding spirit, but in the belief that he can
thereby stir the public conscience and secure their reform, if
not their removal, by an appeal to the conscience and under-
standing of a progressive and vigorous people.

There always have been and there ever will be those who
are able to detect around them the signs of the approaching
ruin of their country and of the dissolution of society, and
also believe that they can distinctly recollect the time when
things wore a more promising aspect. For minds so constituted
the best medicine would perhaps be a course of the writings of
the pessimist literature of previous generations, and the perusal
of the unfulfilled prophecies of the authors. The desponding
philosopher of the nineteenth century might find consolation
from learning how Mr. Sedgwick, who was an Under-Secre-
tary of State in 1767 — a year now generally considered one
in which the reputation of the country stood at a high pitch
in the prosperous period which intervened between the
Peace of 1763 and the commencement of the American war
— declared that ' it became more evident every day that this
our country is so clearly on the high road to ruin, that
nothing as it seems but a miracle can save it.' Even the
elements he declares were in sympathy with the gloom of the
political prospect, for ' the seasons,' he observes, ' are totally
changed in this country, and one of them is quite done away.
We are not now to expect warm weather till the autumn, and
may therefore as well dismiss the word summer from our
language as being no longer of any use, in reference to our
own country at least.' Nor did Mr. Sedgwick stand alone,
for a congenial spirit, Mr. Waite, writing in the gloomy
atmosphere of Dublin Castle, was clearly of opinion that not
England only, but * the great globe itself, as well as those
who inhabit it, seems hastening to a final period,' and ' that the
spirit of the Devil was gone forth over the whole British
Empire, and Satan seemed to be hastening his kingdom.' 5

4 Political Arithmetic, ch. v. p. MSS. Commission, 1885 : Weston-
267. Underwood Papers. Appendix, pp.

* Tenth Report of the Historical 404, 407, 417, 426.

chap, vii THE GREATNESS OF ENGLAND 231

But Mr. Sedgwick and Mr. Waite in their turn might have
found consolation in the still more sad prognostications which
were current exactly a century before, when men were declaring
that ' the whole kingdom grew every day poorer and poorer,
and that formerly it abounded with gold, but that now there
was a scarcity of gold and silver ; that there was neither trade
nor employment for the people ; and yet that the land was
under-peopled ; that taxes were many and great ; that Ireland
and the plantations in America were a burthen ; that Scotland
was of no advantage ; that trade was decaying ; that the
Dutch were outstripping us as a naval power : and that we
only owed it to the clemency of the French that they did not
swallow us ; and that both the Church and State were in the
same state of decay as the trade of the country,' with many
other equally dismal comments on the condition of the nation^
To these prophets the 'Political Arithmetick,' notwith-
standing the acknowledgment by the author of the existence
of many dangers, was a rejoinder. There is another side
to the picture, the author says. The buildings of London
grow great and glorious ; the American plantations employ
four hundred sail of ship ; shares in the East India Company
are nearly double the principal money ; those who can give
good security may have money under the statutory interest ;
materials for builders — even oaken timbers — are little the
dearer, some are cheaper, for the rebuilding of London ; the
Exchange seems as full of merchants as formerly ; much land
has been improved, and the price of food is so reasonable
that men refuse to have it cheaper by admitting Irish cattle ;
no more beggars exist in the streets, nor are executed for
thieves than heretofore; the number of coaches and the
splendour of equipages exceeds former times; the public
theatres are very magnificent. The King has a greater navy
and stronger guards than before our calamities ; the clergy
are rich and the cathedrals in repair ; and that some are
poorer than others, ever w 7 as and ever will be, and that many
are naturally querulous and envious is an evil as old as the
world. 6

" Political Arithmetic!*, Preface, p. 206.

232 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, vni

CHAPTEE VIII

IRELAND
1678-1685

Captain Graunt — The Church of Kome — Condition of Ireland — Roman Catholic
intrigues — The Popish Plot — Kerry — The Admiralty Court — Reform of the
revenue — ThejDublin Society — The 'Double-bottom ' — Death of Charles II. —
Private correspondence — The ' double-bottom.'

The Duke of Ormonde had hardly been restored to power in
Ireland, when in England a widespread belief arose that a
vast Eoman Catholic conspiracy, or ' Popish Plot,' as it was
popularly denominated, existed, intended by the instigators
and authors to destroy all the institutions of the country.

It is hard at this distance of time to discover what amount
of solid truth lay underneath the huge mass of half-insane
imaginations which confused and distracted the public mind.
The case of Sir William Petty's friend, Captain Graunt,
affords an illustration of the absurdities which, even before
the excitement of the Popish Plot, could be accepted as un-
doubted truth, if a Eoman Catholic was concerned. Early in
the reign he had become a convert. About the time of the
Fire he happened to be one of the trustees of the estate of
the Countess of Clarendon, w r hich consisted partly in shares
in the recently formed New Eiver Company. As he pos-
sessed a considerable knowledge of engineering, he was made
a member of the Board of Directors, and as such had access
to the keys of the Pumping Station at Islington. It was
declared and firmly believed that on the Saturday before the
Fire he went thither, cut off the water, and departed, carry-
ing away the keys with him. * So that when the fire broke
out next morning, they opened the pipes in the streets to find
water, but there was none.' l The inventor of this story for-

1 Burnet, History of his Oivn Times, i. 423, 424.

1678 CAPTAIN GRAUNT 233

got that Graunt was a City man himself, and likely to be a
heavy loser by the fire which he was accused of creating. 2

Petty regretted the change of religion of his old friend,
but stood firmly by him in his troubles. Graunt had become an
opulent merchant of London, of great weight and considera-
tion in the City. Subsequently, however, to the Fire his
circumstances grew embarrassed. As soon as Sir William
became aware of the fact, though a heavy loser himself, he
showed his anxiety to enable his former benefactor to retrieve
his fortunes. ' You know,' he writes to him, ' I have allotted
500Z., besides the year's rent for my own rebuildings, making,
as I conceive, about 700Z. I will rather forbear laying out
that whole sum upon my own grounds, than that you should
want a house of your own wherein to manage your trade.' 3
He accordingly made Graunt his agent in London. But mis-
fortune seemed to dog Graunt's footsteps at every turn. His
efforts to disentangle himself only sunk him deeper in the
mire, and threatened to drag down others with him. Sir
William, after the exercise of much forbearance, was obliged
to withdraw the management of his affairs from his hands.
He did not do so, however, without endeavouring to make an
honourable provision for him elsewhere. This was a very
difficult matter to arrange, as Graunt does not appear to have
liked to be obliged to anyone, even to an old friend. Sir
William proposed an Irish agency, where his change of reli-
gion would have been less injurious to him than in England ;
but Graunt was unwilling to reside anywhere in Ireland except
in Dublin. This was an impossible arrangement, as will be
seen from a letter of Sir William's. 4 ' 150L per annum,' he
says, 'is the least you can have. ... All that I can contribute
to this matter is from my own affairs, which are not at
Dublin, viz. I was thinking to have gotten 3 great Baronys in
Kerry belonging to me and several others to be united into

2 As a matter of fact, Graunt was supposed transaction. See article

not admitted a Governor of the New * Graunt ' in Chalmers' Biographical

Kiver Company till twenty-three days Dictionary, where the whole story is

after the breaking-out of the Great examined.

Fire, and the evidence of his guilt was 3 Oct. 3, 1667.

invented long after the date of the 4 Dec. 24, 1672.

234 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, tiii

one vast Manor, 5 and you should be judge and seneschal
thereof. This being done, 'tis true you would live imperially ;
but in an obscure corner of the world ; but such where I am
forc'd to go twice a year, thro' thick and thin. Consider
hereof : I will not attempt the doing hereof except for your
sake. Let me know what acquaintance you have gotten by
your solicitation and attendance on the great ones, to frame
something on that ground. Sir Henry Ford thinks that you,
being an Englishman and a Eomanist, might be of an indif-
ferent nature to solicit an Union between England and Ireland,
to which many of both kingdoms, both English and Irish,
seem well affected. ... As for difference of religion,' he goes
on to tell him, ' you have done amiss in several particulars.
. . . However we leave these things to God ; and be mindful
of what is the sum of all religion, and what is and ever was
true religion all the world over. ... I cannot approve of
some other things ; nevertheless try all the other friends you
have, and you shall see none of them shall prove so effectuall
as Yours, &c.' 6

Sir William continued to befriend Graunt to the end of
his days, and after his decease in 1674 he provided for his
widow.

It may be asked why, considering his liberal opinions on
all religious questions, did Sir William deem his friend ' to
have acted amiss ' in changing his religion, and becoming a
Eoman Catholic. The answer is obvious. Although the con-
duct of the leading Eoman Catholics in the reign of Elizabeth
was a splendid proof that their religion in itself was no bar to
patriotism, yet Eoman Catholicism in the reign of Charles II.
was none the less an object of fear, and Eoman Catholics of
just suspicion. 7 Men of opinions as different as Temple, Penn,

5 Partly carried into effect a.d. parce qu'elle empecha ce qu'elle crai-
1721, by the erection of the Manor of gnait. L'Angleterre fut comme un
Dunkerron. taureau, que le loup vient flairer la

6 Dec. 24, 1672. nuit. II frappe de la come au hasard,

7 'L'Angleterre,' says a great French et frappe mal ; mais ses coups for-
historian, ' fremissait de sentir autour tuits qui montrent sa force et sa
d'elle et sous elle gronder ce monde f ureur, donnent a penser a l'assaillant.
de la nuit. . . . Vaine panique dit-on. . . . Le complot tres vrai fut la
Pourquoi vaine? On la juge telle, trahison des deux freres, Charles II

1678 THE CHURCH OF ROME 235

and Sidney, but all men able to form a competent opinion,
believed that some kind of plot was on foot. 8 Those who had
fought and suffered in the Civil War — whether Boyalist or
Eepublican— were conscious that the Queen Dowager, foreign
alike in blood and religion, had been ' the principal instru-
ment to advise and encourage the King in his illegal
actions; ' 9 and when she returned after the Eestoration the
watchful Pepys noticed that ' there were very few bonfires in
the city, whereby he guessed that, as he believed before, her
coming do please but very few.' l The Queen had indeed long
since removed to France, but the conversion of the Duke of
York, his open preference for the French and Irish, the in-
trigues of his sister, the Duchess of Orleans, and the infamies
of the Treaty of Dover, unknown in their full extent but even
then suspected, had together concurred in raising a belief
that the removal from the scene of the mischievous person-
ality of Henrietta Maria had indeed altered the characters?
but had not changed the nature of the permanent conspiracy
which was being constantly renewed on the Continent against
the civil and religious liberties of Protestant England. The
quarrels of Louis XIV. with the Pope did not deceive the
acute statesmen of the time, as these differences seemed a
mere repetition of the quarrels of Philip II. with Paul IV.,
which had never prevented ultimate co-operation against the
common enemy. First to ruin Holland, the home of the
religious and political refugees from every country, and while
engaged in that operation to cajole the Nonconformists in
England by a pretended support of religious liberty against
the Church ; then to overawe both with a large standing army
when the projected war with Holland had been brought to a
successful close ; and, lastly, to put down the assertors of
i pretended liberties/ who wished ' to advance the sovereignty
of old hateful laws above the more sacred majesty of princes,
the only rightful legislators,' were the carefully marked stages

et Jacques II, qui vingt-cinq ans Penn, Collected Works, ii. 678 ; Temple

durant annulerent l'Angleterre, ou Memoirs, ii. 491.

merae la vendirent a la France.' — 9 Ludlow's Memoirs, ii. 327.

Michelet, Hist, de France, xiii. 255. 1 Pepys's Diary, i. 274 ; Secret

8 Sidney's Letters to Savile, p. 24 ; History of Whitehall, i. 45.

236 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, yiii

of the well-devised scheme of the French negotiators at Dover,
which sooner or later was to culminate in the public adoption
of the Eoman Catholic religion by the King, and the admission
of the professors of the true faith to a predominant share of
power. 2 Something of all this the public mind more than
suspected.

How far the King and his brother were cognisant, how far
they consented, and how far, below the high-placed political
conspirators, a baser set of men may have existed, ready to
use the doctrines of Mariana and the weapons of Jacques
Clement and Eavaillac, and thereby to make up for the more
cautious and dilatory methods of their superiors, is one of
the unsolved problems of history.

The theology of the Koman Catholic Church was the
theology of the Tridentine Council ; and the period was that
of the Jesuit reaction, which was in full command at the
Court of Vienna and in the affairs of the Empire ; which in
Italy had stamped out Protestantism, philosophic doubt, and
political liberty ; and in France had been successfully directed
to inducing the youthful King to reverse the policy of his
: mir.ediate predecessors and to enter on a career of aggression
against Holland, the representative Protestant State of the
Continent. The liberties of the French Protestants, supposed
to have been secured by the express terms of the Edict of
Nantes, were meanwhile being cunningly sapped and mined
by the action of the Assemblies of the Church, which, whenever
the necessities of the Eoyal Exchequer compelled the King to
seek financial aid from their wealthy treasury, made the limi-
tation of those liberties the unfailing condition of their grants.
The root of the troubles of Ireland, as in the days of the
Cardinal of Fermo, still lay in the intrigues of the Koman Curia,
which simply regarded that island as a counter in the great
political game being played on the Continent, and was deter-
mined never to allow the country to be quiet as long as it suited
the exigencies of the struggle.

Sir William Petty, like his master Hobbes, distinguished
between the Eoman Catholic religion considered as an abstract

2 Secret History of Whitehall, i. 45 ei seq.

1678 THE CHURCH OF EOME 237

scheme of belief and morals, and the imperiwm in imperio which
the Papal Court desired to set up in every country. ' If,' he
argues in a paper on this subject, ' the Pope's power resemble
the sun and that of Kings and Emperours resemble only that
of the moon, that is to say, If the power of Kings be but reflex
and derivative from that of the Pope, then it is absurd to obey
prince or state, when the Pope intimates his pleasure to the
contrary, and consequently no man knows whether he be bound
to kill rather than defend the King, when the Pope demands it.

' The Pope by his power of the Keys, by his keeping men
or letting them out of Purgatory, can give greater rewards and
inflict greater punishments, than any other the greatest mon-
arch in the world can doe ; and consequently the peace and
settlement of all nations and peoples lyes at his meer mercy
and discretion only.

' All which pretensions and powers of the Pope having no
affinity or likeness to the office of Christ, (whose vicar he
would be), Protestants doe well to renounce and have reason
to call the Pope Antichrist, and to bind his said wild and
unruly power in chaines, that it may no longer hurt the
nations of the earth.' 3

Neither did he think more highly of the claims of General
Councils to inspiration. ' If the Holy Ghost,' he says, ' is
pleased to inspire infallible truths into a thousand members
of a General Council, for the good of the whole Church, why
may not the same God immediately inspire into every elect
soul, such truth as he himself knoweth to be sufficient for
him, without all the perplexities and dangerous dependencies
upon Councils, priests, and prelates whom no one can under-
stand.' 4 But it was not Protestants only, Sir William was well
aware, who had to fear. Every scientific man knew the fate
which ' Councils, priests and prelates ' reserved for those who
speculated outside the limits prescribed by orthodoxy. The
funeral pyre of Bruno had cast a lurid light over the opening
years of the century, and remained a standing notice, with
the prison cells of Galileo and Campanella, to the founders of

3 Bibl. Sloane Collection, British Museum, 2903. Plut. xcviii. D. Papers
collected by Dr. Hill. * Ibid.

238 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, vm

the Eoyal Society as to what the fate was which the Church
had in store for those whose inquiries were not stamped with
the seal of ecclesiastical approval, and what might become
of their deliberations if they had to obtain the prior appro-
bation of the General of the Jesuits or the exequatur of
the Queen's Confessor. Therefore, both as a man of science
and a disciple of Hobbes, Sir William, while entirely free
from the narrow bigotry of the Calvinistic Protestants,
and anxious to improve the civil position of the Eoman
Catholics, knew, with the example of Italy and Spain before
him, that the political supremacy of Eoman Catholicism
meant, at that period of the world's history, the entire de-
struction of liberty of thought.

In such a condition of affairs, the uncritical public opinion
of the day was ready to accept almost any fable, however
absurd, and to declare an implicit belief in the active existence,
ready in a moment to stalk the streets, of * a damnable and
hellish plot, continued and carried on by Popish recusants,
for assassinating the King, subverting the government, and
rooting out and destroying the Protestant religion.' 5 The
exigencies of party strife made it necessary for the ministers
and legal advisers of the Crown and the leaders of the opposi-
tion to vie with each other in professing to believe in perjuries
repulsive to minds trained in public affairs and presumably
able to distinguish between false and true testimony. Acting
under the same pressure, the tribunals of the law, which till
then had been occupied in harrying the Nonconformists of the
humbler class, now transferred their attention to the judicial
murder of Eoman Catholics of rank and position. Soon a de-
mand arose not only for precautions against open attack, and
for the prosecution of the leaders of the Eoman Catholic party
in England, but also for violent measures against their co-
religionists in Ireland, who were declared to be in accord with
the authors of the plot in England, if not themselves among
the actual instigators and authors. 6

5 The words are those of the motion 6 The Eleventh Report of the His-

made by Shaftesbury in the House of torical MSS. Commission, Appendix,
Lords. Pari. Hist. iv. 1022. Part ii., contains a great mass of valu-

1678-1679 CONDITION OF IRELAND 239

Notwithstanding the mistaken commercial legislation of
the English Parliament, Ireland was at the time enjoying a
period of greater prosperity than she had known for many
years. The population, which Sir William Petty estimated at
850,000 in 1652, was considered by him as having increased,
in spite of the loss of 616,000 lives in the Civil Wars and
the accompanying disturbances, to 1,100,000 in 1672. Just
before the passing of the Cattle Acts in 1664, the export of
sheep, butter, and beef to England, so far as could be ascer-
tained, had increased one-third ; and the farm of the revenue,
notwithstanding the defects of which Sir William was the con-
stant and unsparing critic, show 7 ed according to his calculations
a yield three times greater than the revenue of 1657. 7 The
walled towns steadily grew r , and improved in the character of
the housing of the inhabitants. The woollen manufactures
were becoming famous. The outward signs of increasing
prosperity were especially to be observed in Dublin, Kinsale,
Londonderry, and Coleraine. 8

The great problem remained : how to improve the lot of the
mass of the people. Not more than 16,000 out of the 200,000
families estimated to be in the country had more than one
chimney in each house. The 16,000 were prosperous enough :
little inferior, in fact, to the well-to-do classes in England.
'Even,' says Sir William, 'the French elegancies are not
unknown among them, nor the French and Latin tongues ;

able information for the study of the (Paris, 1879, ch. i. ' L'Eglise militante

Popish plot, though the papers therein sous Louis XIV). For illustrations of

referred to relate mainly to the State the influence of these events on English

Trials and other public events, and do opinion, see the preamble of the Bill

not throw much light on the question introduced into the House of Lords,

whether any real plot existed. The entitled 'the Protestant Foreigners

influence of events in France on the Bill ' (December 17, 1680), printed in

belief in a plot in England has not the above Report of the Historical

been sufficiently taken into account by MSS. Commission, p. 259.

the English historians. This error 7 Political Anatomy, chs. iv. p. 312

has arisen from treating the final and xi. p. 354.

Revocation of the Edict of Nantes as 8 It was left to the folly and selfish-

an isolated act, instead of as the com- ness of the next generation of English

pletion of a long series of previous statesmen and manufacturers to crush

events. See L'Eglise et les Philosophes the Irish trade in manufactured

au Dix-huitUme Steele, by M. Lanfrey woollens.

240 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM TETTY chap, yiii

the latter whereof is very frequent among the poorest Irish
and chiefly in Kerry, most remote from Dublin.' But the
others all lived in what Sir William describes as ' wretched
nasty cabbins, without chimney, window or door-shut ; even
worse than those of the savage Americans.' To try to im-
plant in the minds of this population a wish for the needs
of an improved civilisation ; to improve education in all its
branches ; to diminish, if possible, the number of ' priests and
lazing friars ; ' to cut down — which was certainly possible —
the number of the sinecurist clergy of the Established Church ;
to remove the grievances of the Protestant Dissenters; to
secure the title to land and to develop trade, were, in his
opinion, the principal remedies. ' Ireland,' he observed, ' lieth
commodiously for the trade of the new American world ; which
we see every day to grow and flourish. It lieth well for send-
ing butter, cheese, beef and fish, to their proper markets,
which are to the southward, and the plantations of America.' 9
But all such developments required time and the mainte-
nance of the existing framework of government and society,
and to the outward eye that framework might have seemed
secure ; but, notwithstanding the presence of the 'external and
apparent government of Ireland,' there always was, Sir William
pointed out, in existence by its side, and acting as a constant
cause of disturbance and in defiance of all the laws and official
ordinances to the contrary, another and ' internal and mystical
Government,' consisting of about twenty gentlemen of good
family of the Irish nation and of the Boman Catholic religion,
who had a firm foothold at the English Court, and at the Court
of the Lord-Lieutenant. These gentlemen were supported by
regular contributions levied throughout Ireland by the priests
of their religion, under the direction of twenty-four bishops,
who, owing to their education abroad, had a powerful interest
at all the foreign Courts, and an intimate knowledge of their
business and policy. They notoriously j exercised spiritual
jurisdiction in Ireland, and an occult temporal power also, by
influencing the justices of the peace of their own religion, so
much so that in some parts of the country no Boman Catholic

9 Political Anatomy, chap. xi. p. 354 ; xiv. p. 379.

1678-1679 ROMAN CATHOLIC INTRIGUES 241

could be convicted, and crime went unpunished, as it was
practically impossible for an English and a Protestant settler
to live ; for the priests had, as Sir William puts it, * a militia '
of their own, consisting of * the divested persons,' who roamed
about the country, and were far stronger than any armed
force which the regular Government could oppose to them. 1
They eagerly watched every opportunity, and with undaunted
hopes looked forward to the subversion of the existing order
of affairs, and to their own restoration to their ancestral lands
and their former political supremacy. Already at the begin-
ning of the confused period which followed the fall of Claren
don and the retirement of Ormonde in 1668, they made a
bold attempt to resume the offensive. Lord Eobartes had
succeeded the Duke. He was a great Presbyterian noble of
austere manners, who quickly rendered himself impossible.
His successor was Lord Berkeley, at heart a Eoman Catholic.
Notwithstanding the nominal existence of the laws forbid-
ding the presence of ' Popish priests,' Talbot, the Eoman
Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, was allowed to appear at the
Council Table in episcopal robes, and the Lord-Lieutenant
was supposed to have said to him that soon ' he hoped to see
high Mass at Christ Church.' Meanwhile he had undoubtedly
sent him plate and hangings from the Castle to furnish out a
ceremony in the Viceregal chapel. But the English Parlia-
ment, the majority of which throughout the Long Parliament
of Charles II. never wavered in its devotion to the Church
of England, and was equally hostile to the Eoman Catholics
and the Dissenters, became alarmed at the course of affairs.
Lord Berkeley was recalled. His successor in 1672 was Lord
Essex, a man of the most opposite stamp, and, like Lord Eo-
bartes, nurtured in Presbyterian traditions. But his melan-
choly character made a retention of his high position for any
lengthened period impossible, and in 1676 he made way for
the Duke of Ormonde.

After these events it was not unnatural that, when a wild

1 Political Anatomy, pp. 327-330. in the note to Burnet, History of his
Compare the letter of Archbishop Own Times, i. 459, 460.
Boyle to Archbishop Sheldon, quoted

242 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, viii

cry against the Roman Catholics arose in England, the Irish
Protestants should join in it. The policy of Ormonde was
directed to securing the country from any actual danger, but
he refused, so far as was possible in the excited condition of
the public mind, to gratify the vindictive outcry for blood
which arose on every side around him, and was fanned by
Buckingham and Shaftesbury in England, in the hope of in-
volving him personally in the unpopularity which attached to
real or supposed Popish sympathisers. 2 The judicial murder
of Archbishop Plunket is the chief record of this triumph of
religious bigotry and political intrigue. The main argument on
which, in order to baffle the popular outcry, Sir William and
the supporters of Ormonde relied, was an appeal to the prac-
tical impossibility of the Roman Catholics of Ireland, in their
then reduced condition, being able, at least at that particular
moment, to give serious trouble, whatever might be the inten-
tions of their co-religionists in England, or the hopes of some
of the Roman Catholic leaders in Ireland, such as Colonel
Richard Talbot and his brother the Archbishop. The opinions
of Sir William on this subject w T ere set out by him in various
memoranda, the main argument of which is to be found in a
complete shape in the ' Political Anatomy of Ireland.' ' That
the Irish will not easily rebel again,' he said, ' I believe ; '
and he gives as reasons the possession by the Protestant
interest of three-fourths of the land and five-sixths of the
housing of the country, of nine-tenths of all the housing in
the walled towns and places of strength, and of two-thirds of
the whole trade of the country ; also that the Crown had the
means of raising, easily and at once, 7,000 men of a regular
army, and a Protestant militia of 25,000 men, mostly experi-
enced soldiers ; that there were places of strength and cities
of refuge within easy reach of the sea, to w T hich in case of

2 The death of the Duke's son, the thumbs won't be excused by saying he

Earl of Ossory, at this moment, was meant no harm.' This did not pre-

^enerally recognised as a great public vent him writing a copy of indiffer-

calamity, and is thus quaintly alluded ent English verses on the occasion,

to by Sir William: 'The name of Seventh Report of the Historical MSS.

Ossory is a tender thing; he that Commission, p. 742,' Ormonde Collec-

riullys it by handling with dirty tion.' Carte, iv. 483-490.

1679 THE POPISH PLOT 243

necessity the Protestant population could retire till reinforce-
ments arrived from England; that the English fleet would
prevent the Irish getting any foreign assistance ; that no
foreign power now wished to assist the Irish, as none had ever
got any benefit by so doing ; and that England was full of men
discontented with their present situation, who would gladly
throw themselves into a new war for the suppression of an
Irish rebellion. 3 These memoranda he sent to Southwell. 4 * I
think,' he wrote to him towards the end of the year, * that the
apprehensions of men are allayed since they were composed.
The world was then full of Fury. But the Temper of these
papers, I conceive to be such as may serve in all Times :
therefore keep them till Antichrist comes.' 5

The passions let loose at the time of the Popish Plot had
a powerful effect on the general course of national history and
on the development of the powers of Parliament and of the
House of Commons in particular. The reign of Charles II.
was a period of transition, not only in finance, but in the civil
administration also, and in the political relations inter se of the
different powers of the State. The first indications of the rise
of the Cabinet are to be recognised and of the steady decline
of the powers of the Privy Council. Sir William Temple in
1679, jealous of the growth of the Cabinet system, had
persuaded the King to place the Privy Council on a new and
extended basis, so as to be representative of all parties loyal
to the Crown. The scheme was intended to maintain the
Privy Council as a living power in the State, by including
in it all the leading men both in Church and State, and to
constitute a body of known and responsible statesmen to act
as the advisers of the King and prevent him trusting him-
self to whatever small knot of political or religious intriguers
might have caught the royal ear in private, or have got pos-
session of the House of Commons. The plan was aimed

3 Political Anatomy, ch. v. p. 318. both parties now standeth in the pre-

4 ' Considerations how the Protes- sent year, 1679.' — Petty MSS. The
tants or non-Papists of Ireland may opinion of Archbishop Boyle, given in
disable the Papists, both for intestine Burnet, History of his Own Times, i.
rebellion there, and also from assist- 459, points to the same conclusion,
ing a French invasion as the state of 3 To Southwell, June 10, 1679.

B 2

244 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, yih

against the domination of the extreme men of both parties,
against Shaftesbury and Buckingham, and also against the
old Cavalier party. It was the first definite attempt of the
wiser heads of the old order that was passing away to prevent
the domination of party over the Crown, and it marks the
opening of the constitutional struggle of which, in the next
century, the schemes of Bolingbroke and the elder Pitt to
break up party form the concluding chapter.

Temple proposed to remodel and extend the Irish Privy
Council on similar lines, only excluding those who were known
to be absolutely hostile to the maintenance of the Acts of
Settlement and Explanation. In such a combination Sir
William Petty was indicated by public opinion as finding a
natural place. 6

* The news of the wonderful alterations in the Council,' he
writes on April 29, 1679, to Southwell, ' hath made us all
drunk with the new wine of further expectations. The change
happened the same day 20 years, that I answered Col. Sankey
in the Parliament at Westminster, the 21 st of April 1659 ;
and, on the 22 nd , the 1 st Parliament was dissolved — since
which time I have been travailing in dark dirty crooked ways,
and have been rowing against wind and tide. May I now
come into some smoothings with Sir G. Carterett, the
farmers, Kerry quit rents, Vernon, and my £1,100 disaster ;
and as my eyes and activity doe faile, may there be clean
weather and a calm at sea ; that I may stand the course for
this little part of my life, which my own needle points at, and
not be dashed to and fro whither the outrages of fooles and
knaves doe force mee. The novaturient world is gaping here
after the like alterations for Ireland. May whatever is done,
tend to the resisting of the French, pulling out the sting of
Popery, and pulling up the old Acts of 17 & 18 Car : prim : 7
being 3 things I have forced on this many years, and which I
believe need not bee forced, if moderate and easy remedies
be timely applyed.' 8

6 Carte, iv. 581. II. c. 2 (English statutes) was the prin-

7 The Navigation Laws already de- cipal Act.

scribed, of which the 17 and 18 Charles * Petty to Southwell, April 29, 1679.

1679-1680 KERKY 245

Fortune now seemed to smile. He was again offered a
peerage, but he declined it, unless it was accompanied by
a seat at the Privy Council. ' There are both conveniencys
and the contrary in being of the Council,' Lady Petty
wrote to her connection, Edmund Waller, the poet, through
whom a communication on the subject had been made from
the Crown, ' for we designed that point as a public sign of
His Majesty's heartiness in the other ; for a bare Title without
some trust might seem to the world a Body without soul or
spirit. Now T , having said all this, I fear we have said just
nothing, for you can't gather from it what we would be at. The
truth is that our belief that you believed the thing to have
been already and cheerfully granted by the King for us, was
the reason of our forwardness, instead of that indifferency
which you found in the first part of one of our letters.' 9

' Though your Privy Council in England be named,' Petty
wrote to Southwell, ' yett I have sent you over a list of such
as I think worthy of preferment. They are strangers to most
of our statesmen, nor have they many friends ; however pray
use your interest to get them in, and endeavour to get your-
self made Clerk of the Councill, and make hay therein while
the sun shineth.' l

His prospects also in Kerry seemed to improve. ' We
have our fore top sail loose and our anchors a-peeke to sail
again,' he wrote to Southwell. ' I hope we shall at last find
the North West Passage into the India of Kerry; altho' all
the while I continue sailing about the Cape of the Law ; and
it is the Cape of Good Hope I am now doubling ; and truly,
Cousin, though I have been unkindly and unequally and
absurdly dealt with, yett I goe on without fear of the French,
of Popery, nor even of death itself.' 2 ' Our children and whole
family are now (blessed bee God) very well,' he tells Lady
Petty. ' I have this day on my back my flower'd velvett
suit, which I doe not find of half the substance and weight
of what I have hitherto worne. Soe that wee need dig no
deeper for the cause of my Lameness, for certainely wearing

9 March 8, 1680. > To Southwell, June 10, 1679.

2 May 3, 1679.

246 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, tiii

that suite all the Christmas hollydayes of a most bitter
winter, did begett all the effects of cold, even to the marrow
of my bones.' 3

Southwell, who already in 1671 had again occupied a
temporary diplomatic appointment, in 1679 took the post of
Envoy Extraordinary to the Elector of Brandenburg, and ter-
minated his connection with the Privy Council. His experi-
enced eye possibly doubted the stability of the new system ;
nor was he mistaken. The sun did not continue to shine
very long, and after the dissolution of the Oxford Parliament
in March 1681, and the complete failure of Sir William
Temple's plans, a reaction in favour of the King set in, through
the violence of the advanced section of the Whig party in the
struggle round the Exclusion Bill, of which the King cleverly
took advantage, knowing that, whatever else might happen, the
public mind dreaded most of all the renewal of the appearance
of the symptoms of civil w~ar. Southwell on his return from
Brandenburg practically retired into private life, and fixed his
residence permanently at Kings Weston. Thence he resumed
his correspondence with Sir William, who by this time was
engaged in a fresh series of encounters with his different
enemies, who all over Ireland had at once taken heart.
Ormonde also hesitated to support his wish to be a Privy
Councillor, 4 and the farmers renewed their attacks. Sir
William, as usual, stood firmly by his own view of law and
right and determined to fight out the issue, notwithstanding
all the wise saws and sermons of Sir Eobert on the wisdom of
compromise. So the battle went on more fiercely than ever.
' I love peace,' he writes to Southwell, ' but will not buy it on
base terms.' ' We are like a cat in a cupboard,' says Lady
Petty, ' and must leap forth. We are now in a close fight
with the farmers : lend us your prayers.' 5

His position at the Admiralty was another cause of trouble,

3 June, 1679. on a suit between J. Marshall and

4 Ossory to Ormonde, June 5, 1680. w. Petty on the Crown, respecting
Seventh Report of the Historical MS S. grants of land in Kerry, 1683. Raw-
Commissioners, p. 739. Report on ii ns0 n MSS., Bodleian Library.

the case of Bandon, farmer of the * Nov. 3 1680.

Revenue of Ireland, 1684. Re orts

1679-1G80 THE ADMIRALTY COURT 247

That position, he had by this time discovered, was no bed of
roses. His knowledge of the principles of the art of naviga-
tion was no doubt a qualification, and no mean one, for the
office ; but it does not appear that, amongst his numerous
studies, he had ever directed any special attention to that of
the law. For the ordinary practitioners of the Common Law
he had indeed an unconcealed aversion, having had only too
much to do with them ; nor does it appear that he had ever
given any special attention to the Civil Law. The general rules
also by which Courts of Admiralty were to be guided, being
in the seventeenth century but ill-ascertained, and an appeal
being held to lie from the Court of Admiralty in Ireland to the
English Admiralty Court, his situation as judge was precarious.

In England itself the jurisdiction was in dispute, for ' in
the reign of James 1 st the Lord High Admiral of the day had
protested against the encroachments of the Courts of Common
Law, and claimed among other things for His own Judges a
Jurisdiction at least concurrent with that of the Judges of the
Land in suits arising out of foreign contracts and contracts
executed in England, but wholly or in part to be performed
on the High Seas, and in suits instituted for the recovery of
Mariners wages. This claim Westminster Hall, which up to
the time of Lord Mansfield never failed to evince great jealousy
towards the Civil Law and its professors, was not prepared to
concede.' 6

At first there was little or nothing to do. ' The famine in

6 Those who are interested in the of Admiralty, in opposition to Chief

merits of this question will find the Justice Vaughan. On another occa-

arguments on either side in 4th Coke's sion he is related to have encountered

Inst, 37 et seq., and in a short treatise in the same cause, but before the King

written expressly in answer to Coke, in Council, a still more formidable

by Dr. Zouch, an eminent civilian, antagonist, viz. Lord C. J. Hale, who,

Judge of the Court of Admiralty in says Molloy, in his preface to the trea-

1641, and again in 1660. The con- tise De Jure Maritimo et Navali, ' by

troversy revived with the office of his law, position, as other his great

Lord High Admiral, in the reign of reasons, soon put a period to that

Charles II. On one occasion, Dr. question, which during his days slept,

Leoline Jenkins argued at the bar of and it may modestly be presumed will

the House of Lords in support of a hardly (if ever) be awaked.' Life of

Bill introduced for the purpose of Sir Leoline Jenkins, I. lxxvi.
denning the jurisdiction of the Court

248 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, viii

our court,' Sir William told his friend, Sir Peter Pett, who was
now one of the Commissioners of the Navy, ' hath been so great,
that I am afraid the tone of its stomach is broken by over-
fasting.' 7 These quiet times, however, did not last long, and
cases began to come in. He wisely determined, as he wrote to
Southwell, to be ' pestilent cautious ' at starting, but unfortu-
nately he was not able to hold firmly by this resolve. ' The
plebs of lawyers ' soon began, as he put it, to find out that the
Admiralty Court ' had a shorter and sounder way of justice
than its neighbours ; ' for, as he triumphantly told Sir Peter
Pett, 'we stumble not at straws but leap over blocks.' 8
Troubles naturally soon began, for his enemies were on the
look-out, and he soon gave them opportunities. A corpse was
washed up somewhere on the coast, and the Court of Ad-
miralty claiming the right to act as a coroner, a jury was
impanelled, a verdict found, and the corpse buried; where-
upon certain ' cunning fellows ' indicted the judge and his
officers for holding ' an unlawful assembly.' Then there was
a quarrel about the right of the Court of Admiralty to inter-
fere with the building of a bridge over the Liffey near Dublin.
Next, a Dutch prize was brought into Youghal by the French,
and adjudged to the captors by Sir William. France was very
unpopular at the moment, for Louis XIV. was still in full
career against the liberties of Holland ; and the decision of
the Court was consequently fiercely criticised. It unfortu-
nately turned out that the decision was very doubtful in point
of law. 'I see the good gentleman meaning well,' was the
opinion of Mr. Bedford, one of the leading civilians of Doctors'
Commons ; ' but he hath not been versed in the practical
matters of Admiralty proceedings ; and I fear the matter will
be complayned of both by the French and the Dutch.' Mr.
Bedford would probably have been still more horrified if he
had seen a serio-comic letter from Sir William to Sir Peter
Pett, in the style of the historical arguments founded on

7 To Sir Peter Pett, 1679. There At the Bodleian Library among the
are several letters at the Bodleian Li- liawlinson MSS., and at Longleat,
brary on the subject. some memoranda exist, by Sir W.

8 To Sir Peter Pett, March 19, 1G79. Petty, on ' Admiralty Jurisdiction.'

1680-1681 THE ADMIRALTY COURT 249

Scripture precedents which were so dear to the jurists of the
time. The pages of Grotius teem with them, and when
Whitelocke proposed to the Parliament of the Common-
wealth that law proceedings should in future be conducted in
the vernacular, he founded his case on the precedent set by-
Moses, who, he said, had expounded his laws in the vernacular
to the Jews. So now Sir William affected to establish the
right of the Lord High Admiral's Court to claim tenths on
shipping by reference 'to Abraham's paying tenths on the
conquest of the five Kings, besides some other precedents of
the Admiralty Court held upon Mount Ararat, when Noah was
Judge, Japhet registrar, and Shem Marshal of the Admiralty. 1
* I wonder/ he says, ' where the Common Law was then, that
troubles us so much now ? Surely the Admiralty Court was
the high Court of the world.' A determined onslaught on
the Judge, as might have been expected, soon began.

' 'Tis expected,' Sir William writes to Sir Peter Pett, 'that
I should some time or other build Hospitalls, &c. ; but I assure
you that the pains, the attendancy and expence I am at, and
the fear of treading awry, in order to doe poor men Justice,
may well commute pro tanto for the Charitys I owe the world.
I am not weary of what I do, because I believe I do well ; but
have often wish't I never had engaged in it; and truly without
the Appeals into England are taken away, or limited, I will
throw up ; for I cannot doe the good which is necessary to bee
done. The last week I adjudged three considerable men of
Dublin to pay wages unto 5 seamen in ye plainest case
imaginable. 9 Now although no case requires a summary and
Speedy Decision more than this ; yett these men appeal to
the Admiralty of England, knowing the poor seamen had not
a penny amongst them ; and must be forc't to go to sea, and
disperse themselves before anything can be done therein.
Besides why should one Kingdom appeal to another ? Can
matters of fact be better examin'd in remote parts, than in

9 This point about the jurisdiction House of Lords, Life, I. lxxx. As to

of the Court of Admiralty over seamen's Whitelocke and the example of Moses,

wages is referred to in Sir Leoline see Lord Campbell, Lives of the

Jenkins's speech at the bar of the Clianccllors, ed. 1868, iii. 392, note.

250 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY

CHAP. YIIT

the very place where they happen ? ' l < I am like to be
brought upon the highway, and say " Date obolum paujjeri
Bellizario" ' he writes to Southwell. ' It is a sad thing that I
almost in everything doe endure the wrong and the punish-
ment.' 2

Under the combined influence of his ' text letter oppres-
sions ' in the suit with the farmers, and of the depressing
atmosphere of the Dublin Court of Admiralty, he about this
time composed a long piece of Latin poetry of a melancholy
tone, under the nom de guerre of ' Cassidius Aureus Manutius,"
with the title of ' Colloquium Davidis cum anima sua.'
The day on which he retired from his troublesome judicial
office was probably not the least happy of his life. He resigned
it, he says, * not because it affords me no wages, but because it
gives me no such work as I expected, and should have been glad
to have bestowed my time upon, even without any other recom-
pense or reward than the satisfaction to have done well.' 3

More congenial work was, however, awaiting him in
England. In 1681 he was summoned to London to take
part in the discussion before the Privy Council of the re-organ-
isation of the Irish revenue, the abuses of which were too
patent to be able any longer to escape reform. He had an
adventurous journey, as the following letter will show : —

1 Chester, 5 June 1682, G a'clock morning.

' We set sayle in the Yatcht from Dunleary 4 upon fryday
noon, the 2 d instant, being our weding day ; and after a deli-
cate Passage came to Neston about 4 aclock on Saturday, but
in the droping our Anchor the Yatcht struck upon the flook of
it, so as in a minutes time there were 2 or 3 foot water in the
hold ; in less than a quarter of an hower we sunk down to the
ground, and the tide coming in was quite covered in an hower
more. I was the first that got out into the boat, and as many
more immediately followed as were like to sink her. But in
brief being near the Shoare, the boat made 2 or 3 returns, and
fetcht every body off, with their goods. I was in great fear for

1 To Sir Peter Pett, 1G79. 3 August, 1G83. Petty MSS.

* Jan. 4, 1G79. 4 The modern Kingstown.

1682-1683 KEFORM OF THE REVENUE 251

my great Portmantle, which was full of papers concerning
my businesse ; but all is well. Wee got all safe to Chester the
same night, where wee are ready to take coach to be in
London on Thursday night, the Eight instant. Bobbin Napper
comes with me, as also one of the black coach horses, Maurice
and Phil.

* The Principall passengers were. my Lady Reynolds and
her daughter upon account of my Ladye's deep consumption.
There came also M r Justice Turner and his Lady with her
woman Cicill, who was dear Masyes maid. There is also the
Elder Lady Davies, young M rs Stopford and her sister, all
goeing for the Bath and 2 of M r Aldworth's Children. Wee
supped this night, being Sunday night, at the Bpp. of Chester's,
who presents you his service, where wee had Pease to Supper,
haveinghad the same at Dinner at our Inne, altho' wee paid 8
shillings a quarter, Wednesday last.

* Alderman Anderson has marryed one of his maids. Wee
left our Children and Sister Biddy well at Dublin. God grant
I may find you all so at London.

' Adieu my dearest.

6 Wee hear the Yatcht is recovered again and almost ready
to sayle.'

On arriving in London, Sir William submitted to the Privy
Council a plan for abolishing the whole system of farming, and
for the introduction of large reforms — including a heavy ale
licence — which would have introduced order and regularity
into the collection of the taxes, and have greatly increased the
royal revenue. 5 He so far prevailed that the obnoxious system
of farming the revenue was abolished, but his other proposals
were rejected. His disappointment was great, especially as
he could trace the hand of his rival, Sir James Shaen, in the
defeat of his plans. 6 ' Yesterday,' he writes, ' came to toune.
It was declared on Sunday night at Windsor, viz. : that the
Revenue of Ireland is to be managed by the Lord Langford,

5 Notes of interview with Lord Privy 6 See Sir W. Temple's Memoirs, L

Seal, Duke of Ormonde, and Earl of 317.
Rochester. Tetty MSS.

252 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY

CHAP. VIII

Sam : Kingdon, one Mr. Strong, of the Excise, Mr. Dixon, of
ye Customs of London, and Capt n Bryden, of Dublin, who as
'tis thought does but represent M r Trant. By good luck I
never sollicitated any body in the case. I only putt in 8
severall papers of proposals, which I think did the service no
harme.' 7 ' 'Tis said the managers are to have 1,000?. per
ann., without any obligation whatsoever, and I suppose they
may treat how and with whom they please concerning Tangier
and the ships ; whereas I did in a manner undertake for the
whole by demonstration, by oath, and a wager of 2,000L
But I am represented (as the Duke of Ormonde told me this
day) by some to be a conjurer, by others to be notional and
fancifull, near up to madness, and also a fanatick.' 8 The
appearance in London of Sir William was in fact the signal
for a general alarm amongst the whole tribe of revenue
farmers and contract-mongers, who hung about the Court and
the public offices. Sir "William was, however, made a Com-
missioner of the Navy, and won golden opinions from the
King, who admired his varied talents, and only reproached
him with excess of zeal and aiming too high : qualities never
welcome at any time to that easy-going monarch. ' There is
not a better Latin poet living,' says Evelyn, 'when he gives
himself that diversion ; nor is his excellence less in Council
and prudent matters of state ; but he is so exceeding nice in
sifting and examining all possible contingencies, that he
adventures at nothing which is not demonstration. There
were not in the whole world his equal for a superintendent of
manufacture and improvement of trade, or to govern a plan-
tation. If I were a Prince, I should make him my second
Counsellor at least. There is nothing difficult to him. . . .
But he never could get favour at Court, because he outwitted
all the projectors that came neare him. Having never known
such another genius, I cannot but mention those particulars
amongst a multitude of others which I could produce.' 9

Having once more failed in his efforts to reform the public
services, Sir William returned to Ireland and undertook a long

7 To Southwell, Sept. 5, 1682. 8 Ibid. Sept. 16, 1682.

9 Evelyn, Memoirs, ii. 95-97, i. 471.

1683-1684 THE DUBLIN SOCIETY 253

journey into the wilds of Kerry. There he was overtaken by
the news of the illness of his children from small-pox in
Dublin. ' I can say nothing,' he writes to Lady Petty, under
the renewal of this calamity ' but that I have been earnest with
Almighty God for their deliverance and your patience in the
worst of events, hoping that you leave the disease to Nature
without interfering anything of pretended art. This letter
may come to your hands about the 3rd of October, and in what
conditions it will find you God knows. With reference to both
the Children, I can only repeat my prayers for your Christian
courage and patience, and tell you how joyful and thankful I
should be in case of a good event. But otherwise I cannot
tell you how I shall bear it.' l

Eeturning to Dublin, Sir William found his children on
the road to recovery. He is next heard of busy with the
formal incorporation of the Philosophical Society of Ireland on
the same lines as those of the parent society in England, and
in the establishment of the Dublin College of Physicians. In
both these societies he maintained a constant interest. For
the Irish Society he drew up a sort of scientific primer, or,
as he termed it, 'a catalogue of mean, vulgar, cheap and
simple experiments.' 2 He also drafted the original rules and
constitution, or, as they were termed, the ' advertisements of
the Society.' 3 In after-years his activity on these two learned
bodies was looked back to in Ireland as 'the instrument,
under God, of reforming the practice of physick in that
kingdom.' 4

Minutes of the Dublin Society, 1683-84. 5

'Jan. 28, 1683-4. — Sir W. Petty produced an instrument
in wood contrived by himself for explaining the difficulty
about the volution of concentrick circles or wheels, on which
he promised to discourse at the next meeting.

1 Limerick, Sept. 24, 1683. 4 Lodge (generally a good authority),

2 Philosophical Transactions, No. Peerage of Ireland, ii. 353.

1G8. 5 Minutes of the Philosophical

3 Weld, History of the Royal So- Society of Dublin. British Museum
ciety, i. 300. Ad. Papers, 4811.

254 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, vjlii

1 Feb. 4. — Sir W. Petty discoursed on the instrument he
produced at the last meeting.

1 Feb. 18. — Ordered that Sir W m Petty bring in a scheme
of experiments to be made relating to land carriages.

' March 30. — Some discourse passed concerning the keep-
ing of a Diary of the weather, which was looked upon by Sir
W m Petty as very difficult to perform, so as to make it useful
and instructive, without a great apparatus of barometers,
thermometers, hygroscopes, instruments for telling the point
of the wind, the force of the wind, the quantity of rain that
falls, the times of the sun's shining and being overcast. As to
the common thermometers of spirits and hygroscopes of bat,
beards, wooden planks, etc., hitherto invented, it was objected
that they loose their quantity by keeping, and that they are
not constant standards, and if we made new ones every year,
we can make no estimate of the weather in relation to what
was observed last year by others.

' March 17. — Sir W m Petty produced a paper of experi-
ments relating to land carriages. These are registered.

' March 24. — Sir W m Petty produced an engine for trying
experiments relating to land carriages, and discoursed of some
experiments he had made therewith in order to the answering
some of the Queries he had formerly proposed. The instrument
was a solid parallelopiped of 5 inches thick ; and 50 inches
long, weighing 99 oz., being so ordered that it may be put on
wheels, either one sott or two sotts, of equal or unequal dia-
meters ; or it may be laid on a sled, or to be drawn on four
or two dragging wheels, or on the full flat. Ordered that the
Experiment be tried before the Company, though the par-
ticulars may be registered. Wednesday next appointed to
begin those experiments at Sir W m Petty' s house.

' June 9. — Sir W m Petty produced a paper containing a
scheme of Experiments for examining Mineral Waters. These
are registered.

i June 29. — Mr. King read an accurate and ingenious ac-
count of Clonuff waters, to the experiments Sir W m Petty
proposed to be tryed on mineral water.

* July 7. — Sir W m Petty gave an account of a commodious

1684 THE 'DOUBLE BOTTOM ' 255

land carriage he had lately contrived, which drawn by an
ordinary horse of about ten pound price, carries one that sits
in it at ease, and a driver on the coach box with a Port-
mantle of 20 or 30 pounds weight, 25 or 30 miles Irish a
day. This carriage is likewise very easy for the traveller,
and far more so than any coach, not being overturnable by
any height on which the wheels can possibly move. It is
likewise contrived to be drawn about the streets by one man,
with one in it, and that with less pains than one of the Sedan
bearers do undergo. It is likewise very cheap, an ordinary
one not costing over 6 or 7 pounds, the 4 wheels being over
J- the money.

' Nov. 1. — Sir W m Petty was chosen President : W m Moly-
neux, Esq., Secretary, and W m Pleydel, Esq., Treasurer.

1 Nov. 3. — Sir W m Petty, our new President, brought in
a paper of Advertisements to the Dublin Society, containing
some proposals for modelling our future progress. These
were so well approved of that they were readily submitted to
by the whole Company.

' Dec. 1. — Our President, Sir W m Petty, brought in a paper,
"Supellex Philosophical containing 40 instruments requisite
to carry on the designs of this society. He likewise ordered
that hereafter at every meeting an experiment in natural
Philosophy should be tried here before the Company, and
that the President should appoint on the foregoing Monday
what should be tryed on the Monday following and the
persons to try it, that accordingly a fit apparatus may be
made.'

But even the construction of his land carriage was not
sufficient to distract Sir William's attention from his favourite
experiments with the sluice boat. ' The fitte of the double
bottom,' he writes to Southwell, ' do return very fiercely upon
me. I cannot be dissuaded but that it contains most glorious,
pleasant and useful things. My happiness lies in being mad.
I wish I were grown mad up to that degree as to believe I am
honestly dealt with.' 6 'I work every day upon the Ship

6 1C83.

256 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, viii

models/ he writes to Lady Petty, 'and have succeeded
wonderfully upon that design. Many think I have little to do
when they see me earnest upon it. But I assure you it is such
refreshment and recreation as, without it, I could hardly
perform my other business. I expect no profit from it, but
intend it as a noble legacy to my Sons.' 7

Sir William's former ill-luck made him cautious in inviting
others to join him. ' As for the ship experiments,' he writes
to Southwell, * I have used them as opium, to stupify a sense
of my sufferings, nor should I have my friend do himself harm
by praising or pressing them.' 8

A paper is preserved showing fourteen proposed trials of
the vessel, as to the result of each of which Mr. Pepys and
Admiral Sir A. Deane joined issue with him, backing their
opinion w T ith heavy sums, while at the same time expressing
' their most faithful wishes ' for the success of the vessel, and
that they might themselves prove wrong. The result un-
luckily more than justified their doubts, as the last edition of
the ' Experiment ' was not nearly so successful as the first.
' Sir William Petty's ship,' Mr. Molyneux writes to Mr. Asten,
on December 23, 1684, ' was tried this day se'nnight in our
harbour ; but she performed so abominably, as if built on
purpose to disappoint in the highest degree every particular
that was expected of her. . . . The seamen swore that they
would not venture over the bar in her for 1,000L a man. Even
right before the wind she doth nothing, so that the whole
design is blown up. What means Sir William will take to
redeem his credit, I know not ; but I am sure a greater trouble
could hardly have fallen upon him.' l Sir William fully
acknowledged his failure to be enough to make him < stagger
in much that he formerly said.' ' I intend,' he goes on to say,
' to spend my life in examining the greatest and noblest
of all machines : a ship ; and if I find just cause for it, will
write a book against myself, so much do I prefer truth before

7 To Lady Petty, December, 1083. ! Aubrey says: 'There is yet a double

8 April 19, 1683. bottomed vessel in the Isle of Wight

9 Petty MSS., also in the Longleat made by one Mr. . . . which they say
MS. referred to in the Preface. sayles well.' Bodleian Letters, ii. 410.

1684 DEATH OF CHARLES II. 257

vanity and imposture.' 2 To the last the subject exercised a
fascination over him, and allusions constantly recur in his
letters to his hope of some day successfully solving the problem.

The model of a double-bottomed vessel built by Sir William
Petty was formerly preserved at Gresham College, but it is
now lost. This, however, was not the model of the actual
vessel which perished in the Irish Channel. 3 A controversy
on the subject having subsequently arisen, Sir William wrote
to Sir Eobert Southwell as follows :

' I say (1) that the model at Gresham College is not the
model of the real ship which was built; that having two
decks, whereas the model hath but one ; (2) that the History
of the Eoyal Society hath already given an account of the fate
of the ship ; (3) if we say any more we must tell how the ship
which required so many men had but 17 when she perished ;
the rest having been taken out of her by the " Dragon "
frigate ; and might add how little encouragement that design
had from the most navarchale Prince, with many other things.
But you have taught me more discretion, than to follow truth
too near. But I have a treatise ready to vindicate the design,
and the necessity of attempting it, which will make it rise
again when I am dead.' 4

Events, however, more serious than the failure of his plans
for the construction of the sluice-boat now came to disturb
him, for early in February 1685, Charles II. died, and a new
king ascended the throne of the three kingdoms, on whose

2 To Southwell, Dec. 18, 1682. in the Bodleian Library contain 'An

3 The collections at Gresham Col- Essay on a general scheme of Naval
lege were removed to the British Mu- Philosophy,' marked as 'lent to Pepys '
seum when the original College was in 1682 ; and ' An Account of models
demolished in 1768, but the model of of ships, produced and explained by
the ' Experiment ' is not now in exist- Sir William Petty ; ' also ' A Notice of
ence, unless it can be identified with the Double-bottomed ship.' In the
one of the ancient models in the Memoirs of the Margravine of Aits-
Naval Museum at Greenwich. pach, vol. ii., ch. vii., an account i&

4 Petty to Southwell, Feb. 1681. given of an attempt by John, Marquis
Amongst the Petty MSS. there are of Lansdowne, in 1806, to renew the
two volumes of papers relating to the experiment of his ancestor, which,
different trials of the * Experiment,' however, nearly ended as disastrously
and other questions of ship-building, as that of 1684.

with diagrams. The Rawlinson MSS.

258 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, viii

accession the Koman Catholic party founded confident expec-
tations of a restoration to their lost estates and former
predominance in Ireland. But before entering on the con-
sideration of the action of Sir William Petty in the crisis
immediately preceding the Eevolution of 1688, the reader
may be invited to peruse the following letters belonging to
the period he has already traversed : —

Sir William Petty to J. Aubrey.

< Dublin : 29 May 1G78.

' S r , — I have received your kind letters, for which I thank
you. As for the Reprinting the booke of Taxes I will not
meddle with it. I never had thanks for any publick good I
ever did, nor doe I owne any such booke. As for that of
Duplicate proportion, I take M r Lodewick's Paynes trial to
put that discourse into the real character, to be an honour
to Bishop Wilkins and myself, but doubt of its acceptance in
the world.

6 As for the opinion of Dr. Woods and others, that the
Emanacions of Visibles, Audibles, &c. should have been in
triplicate (not duplicate) proportion, I say that neither is
demonstrably true, but that duplicate doth better agree both
with reason and Experience. Carpenters and Wheelewrights
say that the diameter is to the Circle as 1 to 3. Others say
better as 7 to 22, but neither is exact ; yet both serve the turne.
So what I have done in that discourse was only to keep men
from grosse errors, and for bringing them into the way of
exacter truth. I hope no man takes what I say'd about the
mocion and burthen of horses and the living and dying of
men for mathematical demonstracion, yet I say they are better
ways of estimating these matters then I had ever heard from
others. I hope better are now found out. But there are 2 or
3 real mistakes in that treatise of which more p r next.
' I am,

' Yours and Mr. Hooks, &c.

'Wm. Petty.' 5

4 Egerton MSS., British Museum, 2231, H. 90-08

1678-1684 PRIVATE CORRESPONDENCE 259

Sir William Petty to Sir Robert Southivell on the
death of Lady Southwell.

< Dublin : 31 Jan. 1681.

' Dear Cousin, — I rec d last night the 111 News of a separa-
tion between those who had been happily united. And I doe
now endeavour to answer the devout custom of condoling with
you ; and I do it by imagining & figuring to myself what
condicion I myself should be in upon the like occasion.

' 1 am persuaded we are both Unison harp-strings as to
the Love of our Wives ; wherefore, you being struck, you
may easily believe that I also tremble, and really so I doe.

' When your good father dyed, I told you that he was full
of years and ripe fruit, & that you had no reasons to wish
him longer in the pains of this world ; but I cannot use the
same argument in this case, for your Lady is taken away
somewhat within half the ordinary years of Man, & soon after
you have been perfectly married to her : ffor I cannot believe
your perfect Union & assimulacion was made till many years
after the Ceremonies at Kingsington.

' What I have hitherto said tends to aggravate rather than
mitigate your sorrow. But as the sun shining strongly upon
burning Coles doth quench them, so perhaps the sadder senti-
ments that I beget in you may extinguish those which now
afflict you. The next thing I shall say is, that when I myself
married, I was scarce a year younger than you are now ; &
consequently do apprehend that you have a second crop of
contentment & as much yet to come as ever I have had. In
the next last place I beg you to divert yourself, by entertain-
ing some powerfull thoughts of other kinds. I had yesterday
a hopefull day in the Exchequer. I have the vanity to think
that to tell you so would a little refresh you : I wish you
could hear a thousand of such news from a thousand as
sincere friends as is

' Yours,

' W. P.' 6

6 Petty MSS.

s 2

260 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, viii

Sir Robert Southwell to Sir William Petty.

* Kingsweston, 28 Feb. 1681.

' Dear Couzin, — You were not onely ray comforter uppon
the death of an excellent father, but you excercised greatte skill
to prevent his death. And now by yours of the 31 th past, you
doe not onely console the greatte loss I have sustained in
a wife, but you seeme to think it reparable. As to the loss,
'tis true 'twas but of a mortall thing, and soe I must submitt.
He that has an unlimited jurisdiction did it ; for we wanted
nothing that humane ayde could give. But perhaps I ought
not to repine, that one whoe had soe many preparations for
heaven, was taken to the rewards thereof.

* But when by 19 yeares conversation I knew the greate
virtues of her mind, and discover since her death a more
secret correspondence with Heaven in Acts of pietye and
devotion which before I knew not of, you will allow me att
least for my childrens sake, to lament that they have too
early lost their guide.

'I have had many other close tryals since my father's
death. The loss of a good mother, of an onely sister, two
nephews educated by my care, and a beloved son who dyed
three years before. And yet I may saye he dyed but even
now, for by what steps & motions he declined towards his
grave, just the same were now gone over againe by his
deare mother, to the observation & sorrow of all that beheld.
Soe that a tragedy e of the greatest past affliction I ever had,
was thus repeated upon me ; and I leave you to judge whether
I had not bade enough. But I hope all these rugged paths will
but conduct me to my journeyes end. 'Tis certain the Earth
becomes less worthy for the good whoe leave it. And weake
Nature may be allowed to think Heaven the more desirable
for their friends who are gone before.

' There is but one strong Motive in me to respite such
desires ; which is the consideration of 4 young children whoe
will hardly find soe good a friend as myself in the whole world.
They deserve well from me, & with application may be leade
into the Paths of a virtuous life. They are all parcels of their

1678-1684 PEIVATE COKKESPONDENCE 261

Mother, acting in small different resemblances the tenor &
habit of her life. Soe that as to your expedient, I look uppon
it, under correction, but as a meere knocking these 4 on the
head. And I cannot think myself out of the Bonds of Wedlock
while they live. Your owne case & mine (about this age)
was quite upon a different foote, & without any proportion.
I speake not this in sorrow, for I have wiped that away, & am
cheerfully entertaining my selfe heere with my children ; &
cannot wish for a better Employ emt of my life. My son either
walks or rides about with me, repeating att a time an 100 of
y r verses (of the 100 th psalme) with such Accent of delight as
would perhaps give you Entertainment to heare him. The
Loadstone, Mercury, the Bee, the 4 small Animalls & so too the
Stars & c , are all to him as the Marine Compass. And would
you have me forgett this Boye, whoe remembers with pride
the kiss you gave him for demonstrating at 8 years old, an
equilateral triangle? Well of this I have saide enough to
justify my rejection of any Salvo that can ever be thought of
on this side Heaven, & I will onely add, as to my selfe, that
being wonderfully troubled with the Scurvey in my nerves, I
am under all the tryalls I can brave to get some deliverance
from it.

' As to your good Sentence lately obtained in the Exchequer,
I am sure I take reall Comfort in itt, & wish from my hearte
that you may see a short & prospering event of that greate
perplexitye, that soe the world might have the fruits &
treasures which your leisure & tranquiletye would afford.

' My blessing to my Godson, & to his hearty brother. My
boy puts in his humble service to his fine Couzins. And I
am ever

* Y r Most Hum. Ser.
<K. S.' 7

Sir William Petty to John Aubrey.

' Dublyn : July ye 12. 81.

' S r , — I recev'd your kind letter, but have noe sorte of
memory or idea of the paper you mention concerning the

7 Petty MSS.

262 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, viii

Coals in Surry, but am glad to understand there is any such
thing ; and do wonder that noe provision is made for Fuell
in case the Newcastle trade were intercepted.

'I am not forward to Print my Political Arithmaticke,
but doe wish that what goeth abroad were compared with the
copy in S r E. Southwell's hand, which I corrected in March.

' I have taken care that the Elephant which was so un-
fortunately burnt here, might be disected for so much as the
fire left capable of it ; which, such as it is, shall be sent to the
Society. The poore man who owns it, hopes to make some
advantage by shewing the skeleton, the trunk, and gutts, and
consequently values them at a vast Bate ; wheras I hoped to
have purchased them for the repositary, but doe wonder that
the English and Dutch surgeons liveing in India, have not
made a perfect Anatomy of this Creature, especially of its
Trunke, nor sent the principall Bones of the largest of them.

' You write of some other particulars which you had from
Doct r Wood and Mr. Weeks. Pray pursue that matter, for
I begine to be afraid of liveing in a Place w T here we have 10
exasperated enemies for one friend, and where I am forced to
spend my whole time upon what I hate.

' Pray give my service to Mr. Colwell, Mr. Hill and Mr.
Hooke, and as many more of our Society as you think fitt,
for I name these three because I observe them to have been
most constantly there.

< I am S r

' Your affectionate humble servant,

« W r . Petty. 8
' For Mr. John Aubrey at Mr. Hooks Lodgeing In Gresham College, London.'

Sir William to Lady Petty.

'Dublin: 10 Sep. 1681.

' I shall returne little answer to yours of y c 30 th of August,
otherwise then that I am affected with what you say of jour
ague, and am glad you understand the cure of it. Wee are
here all in good health, and our affairs do rather mend than
otherwise.

8 E erton MSS., British Museum, 2231, f. 92.

1678-1684 PRIVATE CORRESPONDENCE 263

< I am just now returned from Kilkenny, having through
God's mercy not had the least disaster or disappointment in
that affair. My Lady Dutchesse is soe learned in the art of
Civility, that it is a hard matter to discern them from reall
kindness — but I assure you that if she hath not a reall and
extraordinary kindnes for us both, I am much mistaken. In
particular she did (what was not usuall) earnestly invite me
to lye in the Castle, and that with extraordinary expressions
to others, which was, " That where ever shee had a house,
I should never lye out of it." It were vanity (and perhaps
tedious) to relate the rest. Let it suffice that I say I believe
that she is very reall, etc. My Lord Lieutenant also was
kinder than ordinary, soe as my hopes that he will doe us
good in our business doth not lessen : And I find that by the
printing of our papers, the business is better understood than
formerly.

' Adieu, my dearest.' 9

Sir William to Lady Petty.

' Dublin : 25 March, 1682.

' I am now returned from Kilkenny, where you were
remembered by the Dutchess, Lady M. Cavendish, and many
others ; as also was Cozen Waller. I thought my Lord Lieut*
would have done something for me more than hee did ; but a
little progresse was made at the expence of 13 u in a 10 dayes
journey ; and 1 iiope well next terme. They come to towne
in the beginning of Aprill, and think to bee in England in May,
and Lord Arran to be Lord Deputy, but this you should have
written. The cause of this journey is sayd to [be] the marriage
of Lord Ossory.

' As to S r J. Shaen, hee never did mee good, nor did I
ever do him wrong. Hee is a dangerous freind and a mis-
chevous foe. Let him make himself rich, and I will hope to
make him honest and pay his debts. As for the petition, let
Nature work. If the Eeduced Collumn prosper, we can spare
it. What is meant by the King loosing 13000 u per annum, if
my Kerry state be true, I know not.

9 Petty MSS.

264 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, yiii

' I am ravisht with deare My : Annes writing. I shall bee
glad to see the like progresse in Arithmetic, for if God blesse
mee, I will give her somwhat to reckon. But shee shall not
bee bound prentice to a scrivener, but shall bee her owne
papas steward and secretary mistresse. . . .

' 1 have seen the transactions of Gresham Colledge, wherein
I find the paper D r Wood sent mee, for which I thank him,
and an accompt of the other things hee mentions. Tell him,
I ever thought the fatigue of his place too great for him in
quantity and quality. A person of more strength and youth,
tho' of far lesse learning (nay of no other learning then what
is barely requisite) might do well enough. Neither will the
Sallary of 100 11 gratify a better. I wish twere in my power
to proportion rewards to merits. I would begin that vast
neglected worke by doing D r Wood right ; but " curs't cowes
have short homes."

' When you have done with Brother James, let him goe
directly to Kerry, as formerly directed. I say nothing of our
boyes, because my sister does it. Mr. Mesnill is desperately
in love with Lady Clancartty's Frenchwoman, whereof shee
complaynes alowd and I grumble inwardly. Wee make no
signall progresse.

' Adieu, my dearest.' l

Lady Petty to Sir Robert Southivell.

1 London : Feb. ye 15.

' I should not send the enclosed, Dear S r , w th out asking yu
how yu doe, fearing the retirement yu are in suits too much
with the melancholy of your Temper at the time, and may
prejudice your health, for which I'm sure none is more Con-
cern'd. Let me advise yu to admite of the Ingenious and
harmless diuersion of your preety Chilldren, and endeavour to
preserve your health, the loss of which may be so preiudiciall
to them and all your friends ; amongst which number I hope
you will please to allow me, who am with all respects, Sir,

' Y r affec* huble servt

' E : Petty.' 2
1 Petty MSS. 2 Ibid

1685 PRIVATE CORRESPONDENCE 265

Sir William Petty to John Aubrey.

' London, 22 August, 1685.

* S r — I received the Favour of your Letter dated the 17 th
Instant, being just returned from Epsom, where haveing been
with my Wife and Family about 12 days to take the Ayre and
the water, just as wee were comeing away, wee had such an
overturn of the Coach, as hurt several of us more or lesse, but
my wife so terribly, that wee doubted of her life, the two or
three first days, but have this day at the month's end brought
her home past all fear of Life or Limb as wee think.

'I have carefully perused your letter, and do heartily
thank you for prefering mee in your thoughts to the purchase
of Tobago, and do believe it to be such an Elysium as you
Fancy ; but the designe is as forraigne and incongruous to my
circumstances as any thing can bee, for I am above 60 years
old, and am under some extraordinary thoughts concerning our
affairs in Ireland, nor am I willing to be a Leader of Malecon-
tents ; neverthelesse if there were two or three such Partners
as I did like and could trust, I might (things standing well at
home) venture £500 upon such a Designe ; for my opinion is
upon what I have observed from the Accounts of the People,
that not above half the Women are maryed, and that if the
Government pleased there might bee such a multiplication of
mankind, as in 1500 years would sufficiently plant every habi-
table acre in the world.

' As to the measures of all sorts, it is a shame that they are
not reduced to One, not onely over all our Kings Dominions
but over the whole world also. But the difference thereof is
a kind of mental reservation to the advantage of one party in
the bargain. I wish you would, besides the Account of Sheep
and the quantity of Ground they feed on, (which is a laudable
designe), bring me an Account of the People of two or three
Parishes, according to the directions I printed when I was last
in England.

' I long for the Terme because you promise to be hear then,

266 LIFE OF SIR "WILLIAM PETTY chap, viii

and in the meantime wish you all the good you can wish to
yourself, and remain

' Your very humble servant

* W. Petty. 3

' For John Aubrey Esq re , att Broad Chalk neer Salisbury.'

NOTES TO CHAPTER VIII

York Buildings : December 6, 1684.
Your Sluce-Boat (the S* Michael) being by Our latest Advice
from Dublin, upon y e point of entring on her first Tryall at Sea ;
Wee send you Our most faithfull wishes for her Successe, with a
Paper that may (if you shall soe think fitt to use it) in some measure
Compensate the Charge you shall have goeing in the Experiment ;
remaining w th inviolable respect,

Yo r most affectionate and most

faithfull humble Servants

S. Pepys, A. Deane.

S r William Petty' s 15 Propositions touching his Since Boat,
Answered by S r Anth° Deane & M r Pepys.

S R William Petty.

Wheeeas there is now Building at Dublin, a Double-Keel'd or
Sluce-Vessell, concerning whose Strength, Burthen, Saileing, Steer-
age, Rideing at Anchor, accomodations, &c, many Opinions have
been offered, to the Prejudice of y e Designe ; therefore to distingush
the said Opinions from Envy and Calumny, the following wagers
conserning the said Shipp are proposed, viz. :

1. That at her Launching shee shall not draw above 3| feet
water at a medium.

2. That with eight paire of Oares, shee shall row equall to a
wherry of one paire, putting either of her ends foremost.

3. That being fitted for the Sea with Cables, Anchors, Boats,
&c. on board, shee shall (over and above the same) carry 40 Tunns
weight, without drawing above 5 feet water, beside the Keel.

4. That shee shall goe to Sea without Ballast, and yett carry as
much saile as any other vessell of her Breadth.

5. That (as an Argument of her Strength) after 7 dayes being

3 Egerton MSS., British Museum, 2231, f. 95.

1678-1684 THE 'DOUBLE BOTTOM' 267

at Sea, the distance of her Keeles shall not alter half a Quarter of
an inch.

6. That shee shall not Leake ahove a hogshead of water a watch,
one watch with another, during her Passage to and from Holy -head.

7. That shee shall steer better than any other Vessell of her
length, that is to say, come about above a Quadrant in Lesse time
and space.

8. That shee shall goe from within y e Barr of Dublin into y e
Bay of Holy-head, and back againe within the same Barr of Dublin,
in any 48 houres of the whole yeare, wherein there is a full moone.

9. That shee shall with any Winde and Weather, carry Saile
enough to worke her.

10. That shee shall ride more easy at an Anchor, y* is to say,
heave and sett in sharper Angles and Slower Vibrations, than any
other Vessell of her Length.

11. That shee shall have a Cabin of 14 foot long, 11 broad, and
6 high in the Clear, & shall without the said Cabin carry 12 horses
& 12 Tuns of goods.

12. That shee shall passe the Barr of Dublin any houre of the
day, and goe from the Key of Dublin to the Key of Chester any day
of the yeare.

13. That shee shall Out-saile, By and Large, any other Vessell
by one- sixth part.

14. That shee shall cost lesse, than any other Vessell of the like
performances, after the first Experiment.

15. That shee shall Saile with the same hands as any Vessell
of 40 Tuns.

S R Anth Deane and M r Pepys do (in Returne hereto) Undertake :

1. That drawing but 3^ feet water at her Launching, shee shan't
make good y e 2 d , 7, 8, 10, 12 & 13 th of the following Propositions,
for £100.

2. Shee shan't ; for £500 upon each end.

3. Shee shan't ; for £200.

4. Shee shan't and make good y e 7 th , 8, 10, 12, & 13 th of the
following Propositions ; for £100.

5. Any one day of the said seven proveing of soe much wind, as
to bring her to lye a try but one twelve houres, her Keels shall
alter their Position more than the 8* of an Inch ; for £100.

6. Shee shall Leake more than another Vessell as new built as
shee ; for £100.

7. Another Vessell of the same length and Proportion of Rudder,
shall come about in Lesse time ; for £100.

268 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, vnr

8. Shee shan't ; for £100 a time.

9. The Vessell that opposes her shall doe the same ; for £100.

10. The sharpnesse of Angles, & Slownesse of Vibrations being
of dificult decision at Sea in foul weather, it is offered for greater
certainty, that another Vessell shall ride with her at Sea in a Storme
of wind, when the first of them that breaks loose or cutts, shall
loose £100.

11. Another Vessell of the same length and breadth shall have
and doe as much for £100.

12. Shee shan't ; for £500.

13. Shee shan't ; for £200.

14. A vessell of y e like or better performance shall bee built for
lesse than shee, even after the first Experiment ; for £100.

15. A Vessell of like Burthen shall saile in the Sea with fewer
hands, for £100.

Note.— That upon condition S r William Petty will personally
be on board his Vessell (as wee will on ours) at the proofs of the
4 th , 5, 8, 10 & 12 th Articles, the wagers upon each of those Articles
shall bee double.

S. Pepys ; A. Deane.
York Buildings : 6 Dec r 1684.

269

CHAPTER IX

SIR WILLIAM PETTY AND KING JAMES II
1685-1687

Accession of James II. — ' Speculum Hiberniae ' — Optimism of Sir William
Petty — Plan of a Union — Keform of Parliament— Conference with the
King — Apprehensions of danger — Reaction in Ireland — The Declaration of
Indulgence.

In Ireland the accession of James II. was received with
the gravest apprehension. It was generally believed that
the new king, exasperated by the attempts of the extreme
Protestant party in England in the previous reign to ex-
clude him from the succession, and elated by their failure,
would ascend the throne with a fixed determination to
revenge the wrongs of the Eoman Catholics on those who
had not only attempted to deprive him of the throne for
changing his religion, but had also caused innocent blood
to be shed during the outburst of fanaticism in 1678.
The Acts of Settlement and Explanation were looked upon
as doomed, for although James, as Duke of York, held
vast tracts of Irish land, it was believed that the surrender
of these to the former owners would be easily purchased
by a liberal grant, from a Eoman Catholic Parliament, of
lands to be taken from Protestant proprietors. Only a small
minority clung to the hope that, sobered by misfortune
and warned by the example of his father of the danger of
extreme courses, he might follow a prudent policy ; and while
gaining religious toleration and a free exercise of their form of
worship for his own co-religionists — which might also be the
occasion of securing like benefits for the Protestant Non-
conformists — he would not seek to repeal the Acts of Settle-

270 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, ix

ment and Explanation, and while freeing England from the
domination of the narrow party which had governed it almost
uninterruptedly since the Restoration, would not be tempted
into seeking to throw Ireland into the hands of the Talbots.
To the views of this minority Sir William was inclined to
lean, and his friendship with Penn, who held similar views,
no doubt increased his tendency to be hopeful of the royal
intentions. According to Sir John Perceval, a friend of Sir
William's and a member of the old Cromwellian party, ' the
King, in order to persuade men to vote for taking off the
penal laws and tests, was ready to renounce the Pope's
supremacy, and not suffer him to concern himself with any
branches of his prerogative. This promise he undertook to
embody in a Test that should be a greater security than the
existing one, which he would have taken off. He offered be-
sides to part with the greatest part of his dispensing powers
and the greatest part of his army, and that the established
religion should be inviolably preserved.' l

Parliament had met in May, and was then prorogued till
the autumn of 1685. ' Will you be in London on the 9th of
October,' Sir William wrote to Southwell, ' when the Parlia-
ment sits ; and help to do such things for the common good,
that no King since the Conquest besides his present Majesty
can so easily effect ? ' 2 He augured well of the personal dis-
position of the King ; but he acknowledged his ' fear as to what
men, drunk with rage and mad with revenge, might do of harm
to themselves and others,' 3 notwithstanding the good inten-
tions with which he credited the new occupant of the throne.
' Pamphlets,' he wrote, ' are very rife, pro and contra, con-
cerning religion ; the clergy also, of all parties, are very busy
concerning the same.' c When anybody,' he told Southwell,
* would have you to be a Eoman Catholic, a Papist, a Pro-
testant, a Church of England man, a Presbyterian, Anabaptist,
Quaker, fanatick &c, or even Whig and Tory, let them quit

1 * Notes of a Conversation between Papers, 27,989.

the King and Sir John Knatchbull,' - August 22, 1685.

April 1688, Adversaria Miscellanea 3 August 29, 1685.
of Sir John Perceval, Brit. Mus. Ad.

1685-1686 ACCESSION OF JAMES II. 271

all those gibberish denominations and uncertain phrases ; but
make you a list of credenda and agenda, necessary for your eternal
happiness, and give you the reasons for the same. This being
done, let them give you a clear and sensible explanation of
these words : viz. God, Omnipotent, Soule of Man, Soule of
Beast, Church, Christian, Pope, Spirituall, Substance, Scrip-
ture, Eeason, and Sense. For without these words you can-
not understand these matters, much less can come into any
conclusion.' 4

Events in Ireland soon began to show clearly in which
direction things were about to move. As soon as the failure
of the movement headed by Monmouth and Argyle was
assured, the Irish Eoman Catholic party began to betray
their real intentions. The corporations, partly by fraud and
partly by force, were everywhere packed ; and every post the
appointment to which lay in the hands of the Crown, from
the Lord-Lieutenancies of the counties to the commissions of
the smallest places, from Dublin and Cork to the remotest
districts, fell into Eoman Catholic hands. The repeal of
the Acts of Settlement and Explanation and the practical
expulsion of the whole Protestant population, were already
announced as imminent by the more outspoken members
of the party, of which Eichard Talbot, now created Earl
of Tyrconnel, was the daring and unscrupulous mouth-
piece. But it was officially denied that such were the inten-
tions of the King, and on the recall of the Duke of Ormonde,
the special object of the hatred of the priests, 5 who owing
to age and infirmity was glad to retire from the scene of
his long labours and avoid the coming storm, the Lord-
Lieutenancy was conferred, after an interregnum of nine
months, in December 1685, on the Earl of Clarendon, brother
of the Lord Treasurer Eochester. Hopes were therefore still
entertained that matters might not be pushed to extremes, and
these hopes still continued, even when the command of the
forces had been conferred on Eichard Talbot, in June 1686,
and the Irish Privy Council had been at the same time
entirely remodelled.

4 April 1, 1686. 5 Burnet, History of his Own Times, iii. 72.

272 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chip, ix

At the end of the year a pamphlet, entitled ' The Sale and
Settlement of Ireland,' appeared, and attracted great atten-
tion. It was believed to be inspired from high quarters. The
author was one David Fitz-Gerald. It impugned the whole
Irish land settlement, made a series of bitter charges against
the Duke of Ormonde, and accused Lord Clarendon of
desiring to extirpate the Irish people root and branch. It
was soon followed by another publication of a similar kind,
called ' Queries on the State of Ireland/ written by Dr.
Gorges and also aimed at the Duke of Ormonde and the Earl
of Clarendon.

Sir William was urged to write a reply. He at first
considered it was not within his province to do so. < As to
my answering the " Queries,'' ' he said, ' I say that my Lord
of Ormonde and Lord Chancellor Clarendon's family are much
concerned to satisfy the world as to the said " Queries ; " and
also the substance of the scandalous Treatise called the " Sale
and Settlement of Ireland ; " and that therefore it should be
done by such hands as they think sufficient for it; by lawyers,
skilled in Parliamentary and Prerogative Law ; and such as
are well versed in the history of the wars of Ireland, and in
all the transactions between the Phelym O'Nealians, Owen
O'Nealians, Einuccinians, and Clanricardians of the one side,
and the Ormondians, Inchiquinians, and the Oliverians of the
other side ; or in other words between those who changed the
Government, rebelled against the same, and would have
extirpated the English name and Eeligion — whom we may in
one word call " Eebells " — on the one side, and those who
endeavoured to avenge the wrongs done to their King,
countrymen, and religion, under the best Captains and con-
ductors, which they could from time to time find, in direct
pursuance of the Act made 17 Car. prim, for that purpose ;
whom in one other word we call " Patriots " of the other
side.' 6

He was, however, ultimately prevailed upon to write a
memorandum in reply to Fitz-Gerald and Gorges, which he
developed into a small book called ' Speculum Hibernia3,' the

6 September 8, 1G85.

1686 'SPECULUM HIBERNLE ' 273

object of which was to set out in greater detail the conclusions
to be found in the first chapter of the ' Political Anatomy of
Ireland:' viz., that when all the circumstances of the case
were considered, from the rebellion of 1641 onwards, the
grievances of the great Eoman Catholic proprietors were not
what they had been represented, because those proprietors had
deliberately courted the arbitrament of the sword, which had
proved adverse, and nevertheless had been reinstated in a very
large proportion of their possessions at the Eestoration.
Since then the steady growth of the prosperity of the
country had left them, if with possessions in extent dimi-
nished, yet, all the circumstances considered, in a far more
favourable position pecuniarily, owing to the increase in
the value of land, than would otherwise have been the case.
To overturn the whole of the Land Settlement would, he
argued, not only be an act of injustice, but would once more
plunge the whole country — the great need of which was
security and order — into confusion. It would be far better
to compensate the dissatisfied Catholics in some other way :
for example, with grants of land in England, which would
have the effect of strengthening the Eoman Catholic interest
there, an object which he considered equally desirable with
the strengthening of the Protestant interest in Ireland, in
order to prevent the supremacy of either denomination in
any part of the two kingdoms. He also prepared a plan for
the partial disendowment of the Established Church both
in England and Ireland, in order to pay the Eoman Catholic
priests, and wrote three small tracts developing the same order
of ideas ; but it does not appear that, though privately
circulated, any of them were printed or published. 7

Already early in 1686, in a letter written to Southwell,

7 (1) Speculum Hibemice : or, a Policy, 1687. (3) Another View of

Review of what has been lately Said the same Matter, by Way of Dialogue

and Suggested concerning the Titles between A. and B. (4) Another more

of Estates in Ireland; of the Civil True and Exact Narrative of the

Wars there between the Years 1641 Settlement and Sale of Ireland,

and 1653 ; and of His Majesty's Nelligan MS., British Museum. See

Restoration; the Court of Claims, Preface. Amongst the Petty MSS*

&c, 1686. (2) The Elements of Ire- are several papers which appear to be

land and of its Religion, Trade, and the rough drafts of the above.

T

274 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, ix

after mentioning some particular cases of oppression which
the Eoman Catholics had complained of, he acknowledged that
the situation had made great ' tourbillons ' in his mind ; but, he
continued, 'I retreat to the sayings following: — 1. God is
above all. 2. Few designs succeed thoroughly. 3. Naturam
expellas furca. 4. The balance of knavery. 5. The follyes
of our enemies. 6. Ees nolunt male administrari. 7. We
shall live till we dye. 8. Time and chance, &c. 9. Another
shuffling may cause a better dealing. 10. Fish in troubled
waters. 11. Trees may grow the better for pruning. 12.
Lets do what we can. 13. 'Twill be all one 2,000 y rs hence.
14. Una salus miseris nullam sperare salutem. 15. Some
other Bowls may drive the Jack from the Best. 16. Playing
at tennis in a wheelbarrow, etc'

' The late new addition to the Council,' Southwell replied,
' is a new light which is very dazzling, and will need all y r 16
axioms for consolation. ... I wish it were as easy to find the
cure as the disease. A consultation of doctors is scarce to be
thought of ; for such advising might be called combination,
and so pass for witchcraft. Wherefore all I can at present
think of, is to pray God that there may be from all good Pro-
testants, such demonstrations of Loyalty, zeal, and affection
to his Majesty's person and Government, that their enemies
may not have credit in objecting that his authority is not safe
in their hands, or that they are still the race of those who
murdered the father.' 8

Sir William still went on hoping against hope. He disliked
the extreme Protestant interest, and he had suffered so much
under preceding Councils, that he was inclined to take a
lenient view of the present members, and could not help
trusting that things might still not come to the worst, and
that, as on other occasions, the sun might shine forth again.
< I will set all the Goblins, Furies, Demons, and Devills,
which stand straggling up and down within this letter, in
battle array,' he writes to Southwell on June 5, 1686. He
acknowledges that he knows he is not ' a general favourite ' and
that Kerry will be ' a gnawing vulture,' and that he is himself

8 June 2, 1686.

1686 OPTIMISM OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY 275

ill and the cure not clear; 'to all which/ he goes on, his
irrepressible spirits again getting the upperhand, ' I say —

" Hulchy, Pulchy, suckla mee,
Hoblum, Doblum, Dominee."

' I heartily join in your prayer/ he concluded, ' and you
know that my studyes are how his present Majesty may
even by and with his religion, do glorious things for God
himself and his subjects ; and trust his affairs in no worse
hands than the maligned persons you mention, who will serve
him upon demonstrable motives, not base assentation ; and
who saith, with our friend Horace,

1 Si fractus illabatur orbis,
Impavidum ferient ruinae.' 9

Southwell, from London, again warned him of the serious
character of the position, and against indulging in a foolish
optimism based on the mere fact of Lord Clarendon being
still nominally kept in office, while the real power was fast
passing into the hands of Tyrconnel. ' I have known you
formerly/ he said, ' to mind the cylinders, while your acres
were tearing from you ; and you would not desist from
Philosophy as long as it was not in the power of a decree
to forbid rubarb and Cena from purging.' ]

Sir William's natural inclination to make the best of what
he could not avoid, and his evident disposition at the moment
to put a favourable construction on conduct deserving the
worst, was strengthened by the encouraging manner in
which he was received by the King, who at this juncture
accorded him an interview. His experiments in ship-build-
ing in the previous reign, it has been seen, had brought
him into frequent relations with James during the time that
the latter was Lord High Admiral. It would appear that James
had learnt to place confidence in him, and the optimistic tem-
perament of Sir William led him to desire to take the most
lenient view that was possible under the circumstances of the
intentions of the new ruler. On general grounds Sir William
probably sympathised with the abortive attempts made in the

9 June 5, 1686. » June 0, 1686.

t 2

276 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, ix

previous reign by the late King to effect a general measure of
toleration: efforts which had been defeated by the Parliamentary
action of the Church and State party, in their blind hatred of
the Protestant Nonconformists. Then had come the passage
of the Test Act, when the popular fury had turned against
the Eoman Catholics ; and by this Act the political position
was further complicated, for it at once divided the advocates
of religious liberty between those who simply desired to see
the free exercise of religion, whether in private or in public,
guaranteed by law, and those who wished also for the repeal
of the civil disabilities imposed by the Act. This second
party again was itself divided between those who desired to
repeal the tests altogether, and those who would still have
maintained the tests against the Eoman Catholics, not as
holders of unsound theological opinions, but as the champions
of tenets inconsistent with the maintenance of the free insti-
tutions and the existing government of the country.

' By liberty of conscience,' Sir William said, ' is meant
the liberty of professing any opinion concerning God, angels,
good and bad, the souls of men and beasts, rewards and
punishments after death, immense space and eternity ; con-
cerning the Scriptures, the truth of their copies and transla-
tions ; as also of their history ; with the authority of their
doctrines, precepts and examples ; as also concerning the will
of God revealed in any other ways. But not concerning the
lives, limbs, liberties, rights and properties of men in this
world ; nor extending to punish or reward any man for sin or
not sin against God ; leaving offences against the peace and
commonwealth of the nation to the civil magistrate, God's
visible vicar and lieutenant and true representative of the
people, whether the same be in one or more persons.' 2

In regard to England he saw no difficulty ; but in the
existing condition of affairs in Ireland, the free admission
of Boman Catholics to power was, he thought, too dangerous
an experiment to be tried as an isolated measure. His
wish, therefore, was that ' England and Ireland should be
united by one Common Council, or Parliament, at the pro-

2 Petty MSS. Notes on Religious Toleration.

1686 PLAN OF A UNION 277

portion of ten to one, without tests or embarassing oaths,
and that there be a well grounded liberty of religion in these
Kingdoms such as may be depended on.' 3

' What is meant/ he asked, * by Union between England
and Ireland? ' He answered : ' That the wealth of both peoples
united will increase faster than of both distinct, and conse-
quently that their revenue may also increase proportionally.
That the Government of both united will be less expensive
and more safe. That the enrichment of Ireland will neces-
sarily enrich England, even in spite of statutes made to the
contrary. That the prevention of rebellion in Ireland attain-
able by this Union is a benefit to England : former rebellions,
and the last particularly, having been a vast prejudice to
England. That the said Union will weaken the Popish
power and party as well without as within his Majesty's own
dominions. That the King's loss of Customs between the
two kingdoms will be easily and willingly repaired by the
same Parliament which makes the Union. That neither the pre-
rogative of King nor the privilege of Peers, or of either House
of Parliament in either kingdom, need to be lessened hereby.
That there may be different laws, even in any of the parts of
either kingdom if need be, notwithstanding the Union. That for
want of a Union, even the Protestant and English interest of
Ireland may, as it formerly hath done, in time degenerate, be
estrayed, and rebel. That as Wales is an example of the good
effects of a Union, so will Ireland be to Scotland, New England,
and the other of his Majesty's out-territories. That all his
Majesty's territories being united are naturally as strong and
rich as the kingdom of France. That rather than not unite
Ireland, 'twere better to dispeople and abandon the land and
houses thereof, all movables, with the people, being brought away.
The cause why the same hath not been hitherto done hath been
indeed the vain feares of many, and the interest of but a very
few, and these of the worst members of both kingdoms. That
this Union cannot be thought a private project or intended for
the particular or present advantage of any man. If it be an

3 'Ten tooles for making the Crown than any other now in Europe/
and State of England more powerful Petty MSS.

278 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, ix

evil thing to unite Ireland with England, it seems a good
thing to colonize even England itself into many small king-
domkins as heretofore, and now in America and Africa, though
nominally under one monarch. That this Union must be first
transacted in the Parliament of England before it can be
stirred elsewhere, and to be reckoned amongst the fundamen-
tals of settlement and common peace. That a Union would
ipso facto put an end to several dangerous and new ques-
tions depending between the rights of England and Ireland,
to the disquiet of many of both nations, and which none dare
determine. That poor and decaying persons of England
always went for Ireland, and that the rich of Ireland always
spent their estates in England. That the price of land hath
fallen in England, even since the prohibition of Irish cattle,
but will more probably rise upon the Union. That this Union
is a probable means to get the real sovereignty of the seas,
and to undermine the Hollanders trade at sea, and both
without war and bloodshed. That if either nation did or
should lose by the Union, yet even the loser, in justice, equity,
honour and conscience, ought to promote and accept it from
the other. That the late usurper and his party did hope to
strengthen themselves by it.' 4

He also recognised the growth of a set of Imperial ques-
tions, created by the rise of the colonies and dependencies, for
which the established constitution hardly as yet seemed to
provide any adequate answer; and in order to solve them
he proposed ' a grand National Council consisting of six hun-
dred persons (being the greatest number that can hear one
another speak), propounded not to be a Parliament nor to
make laws, but to give his Majesty advice and information only,
concerning husbandry, buildings, manufacture, money, navi-
gation, foreign commerce, American colonies, and the natural
recolte and consumption of the people. This Council,' he
said, ' might consist of two hundred persons to be chosen
by his Majesty as the very best landed men in England, and
who receive the greatest yearly rent out of their lands, over

4 < Heads of a Treatise proposing a union between England and Ireland/
Petty MSS.

1686 REFORM OF PARLIAMENT 279

and above legal charges and incumbrances particularly lying
upon the same, viz. jointure, dowers, annuities, pensions, rent
charges and extents upon statutes, recognizances and judg-
ments ; as also mortgages, children's portions, &c. ; with liberty
to any person who thinks himself unduly excluded out of the
said two hundred to apply to his Majesty for remedy, and that
his Majesty may every seven years thereof renew and alter his
said election, according to the changes which shall happen in
the landed estates of those who were first chosen. All the free-
holders of England (of which certain lists are to be made and
determined at the general assizes of each county) may choose
one hundred persons out of themselves (whereas there are
now chosen but ninety-three for the House of Commons) to
make up the aforementioned 200 to be 300, and consequently
half of the whole assembly of 600. "Whereas there are now
about 9,600 parishes, whereof some are enormously greater
than others, it is humbly propounded to cut and divide so
many of the said 9,600 parishes as may make the even
number of 12,000 precincts or districts, and that in each
district all the males of above twenty- one years old may
meet upon a certain day to choose a certain person who may
represent them as to the ends above mentioned, and that
forty of the said 12,000 may meet at 300 convenient places
(suppose seven days after their election) to elect 300 mem-
bers for the Grand Council to make up 600 for the whole
as aforesaid. The rules, orders, and methods of debate to
be the same in this assembly, as in the present House of
Commons.'

< Of all the Men in England of 21 years old,' he saw that
' although they have all Eight and Capacity to be made
Members of either House of Parliament, yet scarce one-fifth
part of them have power to elect Members for the House
of Commons ; that 70,000 Persons, called London, send but
eight Members, while 7 other persons send two, and some
counties of equal Bigness and Wealth send ten times as
many as others.' This also had to be altered. There
were also a great number of other urgent administrative
and financial questions, but the immediate 'Work for the

280 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, ix

next Parliament in England ' in his opinion was : ' To
come to a full understanding with Ireland. To form a
Grand and General Council for all the King's dominions.
To make a new aplottment of the public revenue. A new
apportionment and election for the House of Commons. To
restore the true use of seats and titles. To understand and
allow liberty of conscience, and to level the rewards and
punishments depending on religion with oaths, &c. To insti-
tute an account of lands and hands of all the King's subjects.
To moderate the use and learning of the Latin and Greek
tongues. To limit the City of London, to make the same a
county and diocese and a bank. To lessen the sad effects of
the plague in that City. To regulate coins, usury and ex-
portation of bullion. To increase the King's subjects, and
fully people his territories.' 5

In a letter to Southwell he gives an account of his inter-
view w T ith the King. ' As to the Great Man you mention,' he
says, ' I had indeed strange access and acceptance. I spake
unto him as one having authority, and not as the Scribes and
Pharisees ; I said several soure things, which he took as juice
of orange, squeezed into his mince meat, and not as vitrioll ;
for some of the things I told him were these. 1. That all the
lands which the Irish lost as forfeited, were not worth, anno
1653 r when they left them, 300,000/. 2. That the 34,000
men, which the heads of the Irish were permitted and assisted
to carry to foreign states, at 101. p r head, were worth more
than the said lands ; that 10Z. is not ^ the value of negroes,
nor -±- of Algeir slaves, nor f of their value in Ireland.
3. I said that what the Irish got restored, anno 1663,
more than what belonged to them, anno 1641, is worth
more than all they ever lost. 4. That they got 1,110,100
acres of land by innocency, making 7 out of 8 innocent.
He heard me with trouble and admiration. He press'd me
to speak of the Settlement. I told him there were things in it
against the Light of Nature, and the current equity of the
world ; but whether it was worth the breaking I doubted ;
but if it were broken by Parliament, I offered things to be
5 An Opinion of what is Possible to be Bone, 1685. Petty MSS.

1686 CONFERENCE WITH THE KING 281

mixed with those Acts as should mend the condition of all
men.' 6

A few days later he wrote to Southwell : ' I have been
at Windsor, where I had private and ample conference
with the King, who told me expressly and voluntarily
that he would neither break the Act of Navigation in
England, nor the Settlement of Ireland; that hee would never
persecute for conscience, nor raise his revenue, but as the
wealth of his subjects increased. I also conversed with some
Grandees, who do seem to go close haVd, and not quartering
according to the best advantage of that wind, which so blew
from the King's gracious mouth. For my part I find the
storme so great, that I cannot lay my side to it, but am forced
to spoon away before it, without carrying a knot of saile, and
yet believe that all things may do pretty well, if God be not
very angry with us.' 7

During one of these interviews the King, in confidence,
gave Sir William copies of two papers found in the late King's
private chest, explaining the reasons which had induced
Charles, and also the Duchess of York, to adopt the Eoman
Catholic faith. 8 On another occasion he visited the King in
his camp at Hounslow. There he found assembled a formidable
force, which had at once become an object of suspicion. Sir
William would, however, appear to have formed a favourable
opinion of the sincerity of the King's professions that what
he desired in England was a measure, intended no doubt
primarily to benefit the Eoman Catholics, but to be made
feasible by the inclusion of the Nonconformists. He was,
however, unfavourably impressed by the atmosphere of the
Eoyal Court, and could gain no clear view as to what plan the
King had to secure toleration in Ireland, if the government
passed into the hands of the Eoman Catholic majority.

' To leave our mimicks and ridicules,' he wrote to South-
well, ' what do you say to our lands in Ireland ; to the

6 To Southwell, July 13, 1686. p. 9, Orig. Mem. ; Evelyn's Diary,

7 September 30, 1686. October 2,1685; andMacaulay'siZis^.,

8 Copies are amongst the Petty ii. 44 (ed. 1856), on the general sub-
MSS. See Clarke, Life of James II. , ject.

282 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, ix

army, the Judges, Privy Council, and Parliament, which are
like shortly to be there ? Pray write me a word in earnest
concerning the matter. How can we talk of being facetious,
till we have burnt a candle upon these funest and lugubrious
points ? ' 9 'If the Irish,' he proceeded, ' be now to the British
as 8 to 1, and if they should be all armed as an army and
militia, and the English disarm'd, and if the Irish should be
the predominant party in all Corporations, may not the King-
dome be delivered up to the French ? And that it would be,
depends upon the motives on each side to do the same ; which
I leave to the consideration of our superiors, whom God
direct.' l

Apparently with the royal sanction, he drew up some pro-
positions on the civil administration of Ireland for submission
to the Lord Deputy, for as such Tyrconnel was already re-
garded. 2 They covered the points with which the reader is
already familiar : the satisfaction of the leading Irish Eoman
Catholics by large grants from the Crown estates in England ;
the interchange of population by the encouragement of emi-
gration from England to Ireland and from Ireland to Eng-
land ; the protection of the Eoman Catholic minority in
England and the Protestant minority in Ireland ; complete
liberty of conscience in both countries ; and a statutory Union
with an alteration of the representation and of the basis of
taxation ; and many other reforms in Church and State
directly affecting both the prosperity of the people and that
of the Eoyal Exchequer, which Sir William was never weary
of insisting could be shown to be identical interests. He
believed it would be possible by these means to turn the Irish
into loyal subjects in nine years. Eenewing apparently the
set of proposals w 7 hich he had made in the latter years of
Charles, he undertook to carry out several of his own plans, if

9 May 12, 1686. delivered to the Earl of Tyrconnel,

1 September 19, 1686. 12th May, 1686, in Order to an Ac-

2 A great number of papers, mostly commodation ; ' ' Papers concerning
in a very fragmentary condition, exist Sir William Petty's Project of getting
on these topics amongst the Petty Himself Appointed Surveyor General
MSS. The most important are :' The and Accomptant General of all his
Scope and Designe of the Papers Majesty's Dominions.'

1686 APPREHENSIONS OF DANGER 283

appointed Surveyor-General of the kingdom, and placed at
the head of a statistical office, to combine the functions now
discharged by the Ordnance Survey and the Census, and he
once more set out the advantages which would thereby accrue
to the Eevenue and the nation.

His plans were the occasion of a squib, in which he was
described as enumerating the heads of an agreement with the
King for a reform to be introduced into every public depart-
ment, and concluding by demanding that all necessary
powers were indeed to be lodged in the King and his Minis-
ters, but that the partners ' by an under hand writing w r ere
to convey them all to Sir William Petty, and to make him Pre-
sident.' 3 ' Dear Cousin,' Southwell wrote to him from Kings-
Weston, ' I have read yours of the fourth and have read the
papers enclosed, which are either for transplanting or propaga-
tion. The things are mighty, and call unto my mind that
when Paul reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judg-
ment to come, Felix trembled. You know Columbus made
the first offer to us of his golden world and was rejected ; that
the Sybil's books, though never so true, were undervalued ;
and Mr. Newton's demonstrations will hardly be understood.
The markett rule goes far in everything else. Tantum valet
quantum vcndi potest, Soe altho' I do not suspect you can be
mistaken in what you assert, since you enumerate so many
solid as well as bitter objections, yet the dullness of the
worlde is such, the opposers soe many, your fellow-labourers
so few, and your age so advanced, that I reckon the work
insuperable.

' However, I am glad that your thoughts are all written
down for posterity, as favoured by accidents it may cultivate
what the present age neglects ; and in the meantime since
you purpose to entertaine the King on these subjects, lett me
advertise you what his goode brother once said at the
Councill Board " that he thought you one of the best Commis-
sioners of the Navy that ever was, that you had vast know-
ledge in many things ; but," said he, " the man will not be
contented to be excellent but is still ayming at impossible

3 Petty MSS.

284 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, ix

things." You know I am in possession of saying any thing to
you that comes into my head, but this I say for your service :
that being already advanced in his Majesty's opinion for things
that he comprehends, you doe not growe lesse by going beyond
his reason.' 4

Sir William, however, remained unconvinced. ' Standing
upon mine own integrity,' he tells his friend, ' I will (1)
except against several of your doctrines. (2) I will plead
not guilty to some of the faults you suspect me of. (3)
Others I can excuse and attenuate. (4) I will shew how
my practice doth and hath complied with many of your docu-
ments. (5) I will heartily call peccavi upon most of the other
points.' 5

But Sir William had soon to recognise that rougher hands
than those of the economist and the statesman were wanted
by the King for the task in hand. As might have been
anticipated, ideas of administrative reform and religious tole-
ration found no supporters in Tyrconnel and his military
and ecclesiastical coadjutors. The mask was thrown off
and the party of moderation rudely brushed aside, notwith-
standing the advice of the Pope, Innocent XI., who took a
truer measure than his English advisers of the strength of the
Roman Catholic party, and dreaded the supremacy of France
in Europe, which an alliance between James and Louis XIV.
would have secured. It was now hardly concealed that the
expulsion of the Protestants was the object of the new Irish
Administration. Surrounded by Jesuits, influenced by the
Queen, and probably failing in health, the King abandoned
the English in Ireland to the vengeance of his importunate
and overbearing Deputy. Louis XIV. had given up the
Huguenots to the tender mercies of Madame de Maintenon
and his confessor. The example was attractive, but James
forgot that the circumstances were not the same.

Sir William had now begun reluctantly to realise how
extreme was the danger, though he still obstinately hoped
something from the good intentions of the King. Caution
and a careful observation of the times were, he thought, for

4 August 13, 1686. s December 13, 1686.

1686 REACTION IN IRELAND 285

the moment the best policy. If necessary, though now an old
man, he would try to begin life over again and seek to restore
his fortunes. But for the first time in his life he began to lose
hope about the prospect in Ireland, where all seemed in utter
jeopardy.

' Let us have patience,' he wrote to Southwell in October, ' till
our browne necks returne into fashion ; nor venture upon any
necklaces that will strangle us, and that we cannot unty when
we please.' 6 'I am sorry the Eocks whereupon I have for-
merly split, must be shaken down by a general earthquake. The
posts which supported us were rotten and painted ; you must not
wonder that they should moulder away. . . . For, briefe, I am
beginning the world again, and endeavour instead of quarrel-
ling with the King's power, to make him exert all he hath for
the good of his subjects.' 7 In the course of the next month
he writes : ' I tell you again, that I heard nothing from the
King contrary to what he was before graciously pleased to tell
me, concerning the settlement ; but say as I formerly said
that others go very close hal'd upon that wind. "When I told
you I would begin the world anew, I meant that I would take
a new flight, and not any more from Irish grounds. I behave
myself towards great men as cautiously as I can, and repent of
my former methods. ... I have matters under my hands ; and
do study how to proceed humbly with them. . . . The King told
me last week that my Essays were answering in France ; 8 and
I am told by several others that the mightiest hammers there
are battering my poor anvill &c. In all these cases I hear an
old voyce, " Tu ne cede malis, sed contra audentior ito." ' 9 ' I
do not wonder,' he wrote to Southwell in the same month, ' at
your apprehensions, because I take them to be very like my
owne. I cannot tell what to say that may sweeten them. I
find no man doubts but that the Chief Government of Ireland,
the Benches, the Officers, and soldiers also of the Army, the
Commissioners and Collectors of the Bevenue, the Sheriffs and
Justices of the Peace, the Magistrates of Corporations, and the

6 October 26, 1686. 7 November 6, 1686.

8 The Essays on Political Arithmetick, Second Series.

9 November 1686.

286 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, ix

officers of the Courts and Christ Church itself, to say nothing
of the college of Dublin, will shortly be all in one way.
Whether toleration be intended to Dissenters, I know not ; but
find some bitterly against it, altho' the King hath most ex-
pressly told myself the contrary, with as good arguments as
can be used for that purpose. It is manifest that a Parlia-
ment will be called there. It is said that a New Warrant will
be forthwith brought against the Charter of Dublin, and con-
sequently against many more, to make all things fit for " the
great work." Some also say that Poynings' Law shall be
dispens'd with, and bills directly pass'd as here. I hear that
2 or 3 of the new form'd Irish regiments shall be brought
hither ; and that 3 English regiments shall in lieu of them be
carried from hence thither. We hear that many of the most
considerable persons of Ireland will come away with my Lord
Clarendon ; and that there are thousands coming away already ;
the violences in Ireland of several sorts being so many and
unpunished ; the consideration whereof doth make poor people
even of London weep. Dear Cousen, when I first treated with
a great man, things were not near this rapidity ; but I saw
an Eddy in that Tide (tho' indeed strong enough), wherewdth
with pains one might rowe ; and I had prepared oars for that
purpose, that is to say, innocent and beneficiall designs for
the good of mankind, which I had contrived should have been
driven on by the same current that was likely to drive on
worser things for myself. I yet stand fair with many, but
fear as I told you in my last, that my cakes will never be
baked.' 1

In January 1687 Eochester was deprived of the office
of Lord High Treasurer, and Clarendon of the Lord-Lieu-
tenancy of Ireland. Tyrconnel became both Lord Deputy and
Commander-in-Chief, with powers practically unlimited. The
English Parliament had been prorogued in November 1686,
and had not since met. James decided not only to introduce
religious toleration and freedom of worship, but also to
abolish tests, and to carry out all these steps at once by
virtue of the royal prerogative, ' making no doubt,' as he said

1 January 18, 1087.

1687 THE DECLARATION OF INDULGENCE 287

in the royal proclamation which announced his policy, ' of the
concurrence of the two Houses of Parliament, when we shall
think it convenient for them to meet.' Meanwhile the dis-
pensing power would be exercised to relieve all persons
coming within the penalties of the Acts. In Scotland a bolder
policy still was adopted. There the royal prerogative was
claimed as sufficient to deal finally with all such questions.
In Ireland Tyrconnel was given free powers to pack the
Parliament which was about to be summoned, and secure a
favourable verdict as a preliminary to still larger measures.

In the expressions of the fateful Declaration of Indulgence
issued by the King the echo of some of Sir William's economic
ideas may perhaps be detected. The Declaration states the
King's unalterable resolution to grant freedom of conscience
for ever to all his subjects, rendering merit, and not a com-
pliance with the Test Act, the condition of the tenure of
office ; experience had shown the impossibility of constrain-
ing conscience, and that people ought not to be forced in
matters of mere religion; and liberty of conscience would
add to the wealth and prosperity of the nation, and give
to it what Nature designed it to possess— the commerce of
the world. 2

In July 1687 the English Parliament was dissolved, and
it was determined to spare no effort to bring together a more
subservient assembly to carry out the royal wishes. The
words of the royal Declaration were fair, and if the questions
involved had affected England only, it is possible that the
result might have been different from what it proved to be.
But events in Ireland decided the issue in England. It soon
became clear that there, whatever the private views and
wishes of the King might be, Tyrconnel was the real ruler,
and that the King was powerless to protect the lives and
property of his Protestant subjects from the vengeance of their
hereditary enemies. Nor could it escape attention that, even
in England, Eoman Catholics were everywhere being promoted

2 See the text of the two Declara- the Reformed Church of England,
tions of April 4 and April 27, as given ii. 359-66.
in Cardwell's Documentary Annals of

288 LIFE OF SIR "WILLIAM PETTY chap ix

to places of trust and emolument, from the highest to the
lowest, in numbers altogether out of proportion to their
position in the State, and that a huge army was being
collected in the neighbourhood of London, at a moment when
there was no reasonable apprehension of a foreign war, and
therefore with every appearance of being either intended to
overawe the country, or of being used to co-operate with
France in a fresh attack upon Holland — which, if successful,
would be followed by the suppression of Protestant liberties
in England. Meanwhile the country was full of refugees
flying from persecution in France, and the conviction slowly
forced itself on the public mind that, whatever might have
been the case in 1678, a conspiracy against the liberties of
the nation was now on foot, and that the King was con-
niving at it, if not himself the actual instigator.

289

CHAPTER X

DEATH OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY
1687

Capture of Kenmare— Directions to Lady Petty — Recollections— Coat and Armes

— Criticism of Pascal— Views on education — Instructions to his children

— Edward South well— Newton's * Principia ' -Sir William Petty's death— A
political prophecy — On mourning for the dead — Monument in Romsey Church.

' God, Cousin/ Sir William writes in March 1687 to South-
well, ' how doth my foot slip, when I consider what Provi-
dence hath winked at in its dispensations of Ireland ! ' l The
news which had arrived from Kerry was of the most serious
import, as it announced that the native Irish had commenced
a series of attacks on the Protestants ; that Lieutenant-General
Justin Macarthy had been made Governor of that County
and Sir Valentine Brown Lieutenant-Governor, both of them
noted adherents of Tyrconnel. The colony at Kenmare at
once became the object of special hostility. The surrounding
population drove off the cattle, ' plundered haggard, barn,
and granary,' and carried off even the goods and provisions
in the houses. These outrages being evidently winked at by
the authorities, the colonists decided on retiring to Kilowen
House, situated on a kind of peninsula at the head of the Bay
of Kenmare, which they fortified. Thither came in forty-
two families, consisting of 180 persons, among whom were
seventy-five fighting men. ' They had four blunderbusses/
says the author of an account by one of the party, ' forty
muskets, carabines and fowling pieces, twenty cases of pistols,
thirty-six swords, twelve pikes and six scythes, with 170 lbs.
weight of powder, and a proportionable quantity of ball. They
encompassed half an acre with a clay wall fourteen feet

1 March, 1687.

• • ••• * •* •* *•

290

LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY

CHAP. X

high, which lay round the house, and twelve feet thick, and
fortified it with flankers in the manner of an irregular
pentagon, in which work they were assisted by 150 of the
natives that lived amongst them ; and they erected small
huts of planks within the wall, in which some of the families
lodged.' They made Mr. Orpen, Sir William Petty' s agent
and clergyman of the place, who combined the duties of
Judge of Admiralty for the western coast with his eccle-
siastical functions, their leader, and they entered into a

WHITE HOUSE RUIN, KEXMARE

solemn association to stand by one another in defence of
their lives, religion, and liberties. These proceedings, the
narrator of these events quaintly observes, ' greatly disgusted
the neighbouring Irish.' 2 Success rewarded their early efforts.
They made an attack on the known leaders of the recent rob-
beries and captured six of them ; but the prisoners, although
seized under warrants of Lieutenant-General Macarthy, were
almost immediately released by his direction. All further

.... . ' .Smith's History of Kerry, ed. 1756, p. 319.

1687 CAPTURE OF KENMARE 291

disguise as to the sympathies of the representatives of
the law were soon at an end, for on February 25, Colonel
Phelim Macarthy himself attempted to surprise the garrison
at night. Failing in this he next day summoned the place, in
the name of Sir Valentine Brown, to surrender, with a pro-
mise of good conditions, but threatening them with fire and
sword if they held out. They were at the same time in-
formed that all the Protestants in Cork had been dis-
armed, that Castle Martyr had surrendered, and that
Band on was about to do so. Finding resistance hopeless,
the little garrison surrendered on honourable terms, security
for life and property being promised. But hardly had the
surrender taken place, before the native Irish rushed in, and,
having plundered the house, turned out the occupants in a
miserable and starving condition. It is probable that all
would have perished, but for the fortunate arrival at this
moment of two small vessels, which Mr. James Waller, fore-
seeing trouble, had despatched into Kenmare Bay. On board
these vessels all the fugitives crowded, with the exception of
eight, whom the officers of Captain Macarthy's force com-
pelled to stay in order to work in the iron-mines. But the
troubles of the fugitives were not even then over ; for the
native Irish, encouraged by their success in plundering some
French Protestant refugees who had been driven by stress of
weather into the bay in 1685, succeeded in carrying off the
sails of the vessels. A delay of eight days took place in
consequence, and an order then arrived from Captain Hussey,
representing Sir Valentine Brown, prohibiting a journey to
England. Mr. Orpen thereupon passed a bond for 5,000L, to
be forfeited if they did not go to Cork, considering this a
cheap price to pay for life and liberty. At length, with only five
barrels of beef, forty gallons of oatmeal, and some unbaked
dough, the little party was allowed to embark. The masters
of the barques knew nothing of navigation, but the gentlemen
on board were able to shape the course. They made for
Bristol, but the winds were contrary, and they did not arrive
till March 25, 1688, and in so miserable a condition that the
mayor ordered collections for their relief. Many of the party

292 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, x

died soon after landing from the effects of cold and exposure.
The survivors went to London and were hospitably entertained
by Lady Petty. 3 Sir William they found had died a short time
before.

When, in 1687, the serious position of the little colony at
Kenmare first became known, Sir William was in his sixty-
fifth year, and the labours and anxieties of his career had
already begun to impair his strength. The change in Ireland
was an almost intolerable blow to him. It seemed as if his life-
work had been destroyed, and the catastrophe was the harder
to bear because he could not well believe — in spite of his
natural buoyancy of temperament — that he could live to
baffle his enemies himself, even if those who came after him
might succeed in doing so.

A troublesome disease in the feet, apparently some compli-
cated form of gout, now partially lamed him. His health was
shaken and the conviction that his end was not far off was
constantly present to his mind, and he commenced putting his
house in order, so far as events permitted, against the arrival
of ' the horse bridled and saddled,' which he thought was soon
to carry him off.

Already in 1684 he had written from Dublin to Lady
Petty that 'he had rummaged and methodized his papers,'
w r hich amounted to ' fifty-three chests,' and are, he says, ' so
many monuments of my labours and misfortunes.' 4 He also
completed the full and detailed account of the ' Down Survey
of Ireland,' to which frequent reference has been made in
this narrative. < I shrine all up,' Southwell told him, < and
premise that in after times, I shall be resorted to for your
works, as Mr. Hedges is for the true Opobalsamum.' 5 ' As
to your fifty years' adventures, I have them and keep them
more preciously than Caesar's Commentaries.' 6

To Lady Petty, Sir William also sent a summary of his
claims on the nation as a legacy to his children.

3 Losses sustained by the Protes- 11, 1682. The letter quoted in ch. i.
tants of Kenmare, 4to. London, 1G89 ; belongs to this series.

Smith's History of Kerry, pp. 317- 5 Southwell to Petty, September

320. 11, 1682.

4 Southwell to Petty, September « Ibid., November, 1686.

1687 DIRECTIONS TO LADY PETTY 293

Sir William to Lady Petty.

' Do not, my dearest, too much despise the enclosed to our
boys. — We have Acts of Parliament for a reward to the
Survey; authentic accompts of our Wearys in Kerry; the
hands of Lord Halifax, D. of Ormond, and L d Eochester,
for the revenue; and the laws of God and Nature for the
shipping. Meethinks your gossips should instead of silver
spoons, help their gossoons upon these matters. Oh ! God
how many Offices, Eewards and Titles, have been bestowed
these last hundred years for lesse merit. You may show the
enclosed letter, (not to every body), but where it may do noe
harme, if noe good. Meethinks these 4 cows should yield
some milk this next summer, to make butter for the present,
and cheese for the next age. Gods will be done and lett me
be satisfied with the " conscienscia rerum gestarum " and
expect noe more.'

Enclosure.

' Deare Children, — Your father from his Infaney tryed
many ways to raise an Estate for you and a faire name in the
world ; and among the rest he did in the year 1655 measure
Ireland, viz. as much line, in 13 months, as would compasse
the globe of earth neare six times about : of all which many
records and Books, confirmed by two Acts of Parliament, doe
remaine.

' He hath suffered a loss stated by the King's Auditor (in
concernments of Kerry above all other the King's subjects)
about 20 thousand pounds, by the folly and malice of
flatterers.

' He hath propounded a demonstrable way of advancing
the King's Eevenue about 10,000 pounds per ann : with the
benefit, ease, and accomodation of all his subjects in Ireland ;
tho' not yet embraced.

'He hath made so many modells and experiments on
shipping within two and twenty years, and at 1,500/. expense
of his owne money and 3,500/. of other friends, and has
begotten the enclosed opinion concerning shipping.

294 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, x

* The Reputation and Recompense due to these performances
by the King and Country, I hereby bequeath to you, hoping
you tcill not do lesse nor worse in the stations wherein Pro-
vidence shall place you.

< Yr careful Father W. P.' 7

[Here follows an account of a ship designed to be built in
a particular manner.]

But his mind travelled back as well as forward, and in
some letters to Southwell he enshrined a pithy account of his
early struggles.

' June 12, 1686. — I have drawn out a paper shewing what
money I had Xmas 1636, which was Is. ; how r it riss to 4s. 6c?. ;
then to 24s. next to 4/., then to 70/., next how it fell to 26/.,
then riss to 480/. at my landing in Ireland ; next to 13,060/.
at finishing the Survey ; and how after I got my land in
Ireland and Estate in England &c, it was 3,200/. at the
King's Restoration ; and so all along to the present day.
Perhaps the like hath not been seen. This and the like gave
me the courage wherewith I have fought Zanchy. Whatever
becomes of me, I can leave such arguments of arts and industry
as ivill be a credit to my children and friends. And now I say,
naked came I into the world and naked must I go out of it.'

' July 13, 1686. — Concerning myselfe, I say that I had
£13,060 in cash, anno 1656 ; which at 10 per cent., above 12
being then justly taken, would, anno 1666, have been £26,120,
and anno 1676, £52,240 ; and in the yeare 1686, £104,480.
I further say that without meddling with forfeited lands, I
could, anno 1656, have returned into England and been at the
top of practice in Oliver's Court, when Dr. Willis was casting
waters at Alington Market and the Cock louse was but an egg. H
And what the superlucration thereof, besides the £104,000,
might have been in 30 years, I leave to your judgement. I say
the profit of these two funds would have exceeded my present
estate.'

7 June 1684. to one of the leading practitioners of

* This is apparently an allusion the day (see below, p. 296).

1687 RECOLLECTIONS 295

' July 17, 1686.— I said in mine of the 13th instant, that
after I had with £13,060, and £4000, bought my Irish lands,
built Lothbury, and marryed my sister, I had at the King's
restoration £3,200 left. Then you have had the Debtor : now
the creditor side. 1. My troubles with Zanchy, the Rump, and
the Army, 1659. 2. The 49 mens siege of my Limerick
concernments, and Sir A. Brodrick, 1661-2. 3. The Court
of Clayms and Innocents, 1663. 4. The great double bottom,
1664. The Plague, 1665. L d Ranelagh and Fire of London,
1666. 5. Warrs with L d Kingston 1667, 68, 69, 70, 71 &
2, when W. Fenton died. 6. The rebuilding of London ; years
value ; Iron works, and Fisheryes defray, within the said year
and 1672. 7. Eeducement of quit rent and Sir G. Carteret 1673
and 4. 8. Sir James Shean and partners ; and Kerry, 1675,
76 & 77. 9. Kerry custodium & imprint, from 1678 to 82.
10. More mischief about the same and stopping the law to
1685. 11. The fright of 1685 and 1686, with faylure of
Rents. 12. Strange wrongs from paupers set up on purpose
to plague me.

* Now to what my said £3,200, anno 1660, is shrunk to
ann: 1686, I leave to consideration. Think also of my 53
chests of papers containing an epitome of my services and
sufferings ; my Bookes and survey, and Copperplates, with the
accurate and authentic History thereof and the first distribu-
tions ; what I might have gotten without the least meddling
with Irish estates, as from first letters ; how little I have
gotten by religion and factions ; how I have been industriously
opprest and supprest 27 years ; was never the Toole or Turn-
shovell to any person or party; never convicted to have wronged
either private persons or public interests — but have gotten
all, as I did the first Is., 4s. 6d. 9 24s. and 4L — Dear Cousin
adieu. — When I am dead pick me out an epitaph out of these
3 letters, and let my children be ashamed of it, if they dare ;
but out- doe it. What anatomy I have made of myself, I am
able to make also of my enemies. I have herein followed the
advice which Sir P. Pett heretofore gave : viz. That at the
country feasts every man (when he was near drunk but not
quite drunk) should disclose to the company the real cause of

296 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, x

his coming to Ireland. So lett (I say) a dozen others whom I
can name, tell to the next Powers the cause of their coming to
their estates : I say to the next powers ; for the last powers
that gave them were but the summer ; the next may be the
winter, and frost nip them. I have already past the summer
and winter both, as I told Sir George Lane, upon occasion
given. Again, adieu.'

July 31, 1687.— ' I told you that in Sep. 1652, when I
first landed in Ireland that I had £280 in cash, and £120 out
cf Brazenose ; the Anatomy Lecture of Oxford ; and Gresham
College; and that I had £365 p r annum salary, and the value
of £35 per annum more out of the State's apotheca : in all
£520 per annum, besides my practice (which tho' it were not
in those days like Willis, Lowse, or Short's) made my super-
lucration full £800 a year ; w T hich for 4^ years, to Xmas 1656,
was £3,456 ; which made my aforementioned £480 to be
£13,060, as in my letter; which is about £2,176 p r ann., a
sum which Boys have gotten in the late offices, and which I
have only had for measuring the whole world with the Chain
and Instrument for near 6 times about, the monuments
whereof are to be seen in the Survey. ... I have indices
and catalogues of the gross wrongs I suffered between 1656
and 1686 by the Anabaptists, Presbyterians, and the 49 men,
with the rest of the " drinking " interest, 9 till the present time,
which I conceive the new expected Powers cannot well outdo.
Notwithstanding all I have said, I apprehend it will be said
to me :

Pro te non plurima . . .
Labenti pietas, nee pro te vota valebunt .*

Nevertheless, I will endeavour to leave in some good hand
wherewith to shew I have deserved a better fate ; that I
am no mushroom, or upstart ; but that my estate is the
oyle of flint, and that " ut apes feci geometriam." ' 2

Illustrating this last adage, he had devised a coat of

9 The allusion is not clear. 2 The letter quoted in chap. i. p. 3,

1 The quotation is partly from July 14, 1686, belongs to the above

Virgil, JEneid, ii. 429 :— series.

nee te tua plurima, Panthu,
Labentem pietas neo Apollinis infula texit.

1687 COAT AND ARMES 297

arms, and wrote some verses upon it, which young Edward
Southwell carried off to his father. ' To vindicate myself,' Sir
William writes to the latter, ' from wildness of imagination in
the Scutcheon and verses which were sent you, I further add
by way of explanation viz., that I would have those Emblems
and Symbols rather called my Coat and Armes, than my
Coat of Armes; for what is signified are indeed my Coat,
Covering, Shelter and Defence ; viz. :

Caeruleus candore nitor mea scuta decoret,

Non atrum aut fulvum nee cruor horrificet,
Stellam ut spectat avis, positoqile tremore quiescit,

Sic mens qu& spectat sola quieta Deum.
Mella ut Apes condunt, sic scire geometra quaerit,

Utile quaerere apum est ; scire geometriae.
Sedulus ergo ut apes feci geometriam, ut inde

Utile cum dulci scire et habere queam.
At si perdam ut apes quae per geometriam habebam,

Heu vos non vobis mellificatis apes.

And thus,' he concludes, ' you have my field of azure, my
magnet, my star, my Pole, and my beehive expounded.' 3

Sir William w T as constantly occupied with the educa-
tion of his sons, Charles and Henry. In regard to his
daughter Anne, who appears to have inherited much of her
father's talent for business and to have been a favourite
child, he expressed a hope in writing to Southwell ' that one
day Arithmetick and Accountantship willadorn a young woman
better than a suit of ribbands, to keep her warmer than a
damnable dear manteau.' 4 Charles was Sir Kobert Southwell's
godson. He was sent abroad about this time to see the world.
' The end of Charles' travels,' Sir William writes to Sir
Eobert, ' is not to learne French, Latin, nor Arts nor
science, but to learne a competency of Teutonick and Italian ;
to see " mores et urbes multorum hominum," to shift among
dangerous men, to be a frugal accomptant and manager
reipublicae suae ; to distinguish friendship, civility, and flattery ;
and lastly, ad faciendum populum, to make fools believe he is
more than he is, as to appear something at the University
3 August 7, 1686. 4 To Southwell, December 4, 1685.

298 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, x

after he comes home. Wee do not hope he shall make an
interest with the great men abroade ; but are content if he
know their persons and can talk of them, and have their
names in his album.'

To Sir Kobert's regret, Charles appears to have inherited
the faculty of imitation from his father, for Sir William, who
had been evidently again put on his defence, continues as fol-
lows : ' As for the mimicall faculty I say that it was never planted
by me, but one of the weeds mentioned in my former letters, and
which I w r ant pulled up by the roots. I never sent him to the
Playhouse to be instructed in either tragic or comicall Recita-
tions or Acting ; nor is he a frequent spectator there, but when
he is, he doth oftener offer to correct, than to applaud their
performances. I doe neither indulge him in it, nor doth he
value himself upon it ; tho' I am much pleased 1. that he
discerneth the persons who are fit matter for the stage. 2.
That he readily picks out the genius, words, action, voice and
tone, of any mimicable man, and can turne them to sample
them. 3. That when he sees anything written, he can without
art or industry, but by nature and instinct, adapt an action,
speech, voice and tone, suitable to the matter and shape
thereof. 5. That he can execute a just and judicious punish-
ment and revenge on his enemies by this faculty. 6. Make
himself loved by women, feared by men, at once.

' N. B. — He is taught to be careful in ridiculing nations,
great posts of men, and coxcombs in commission, without a
stake proportionable to the hazard thereof ; and must prepare
himself to justify by the sword what he justly does in this
way. His sister hath a dash of the same.' 5

' Your Godson Charles,' he tells Southwell, ' grows like
a weede without much culture or help of the gardiners.
Perhaps it may be never the worse, for the race will not
be to the swift, nor the battle to the strong. Nor will
favour go to the men of skill, or bread to the men of under-
standing.' 6 ' Henry,' he says, ' is more for the bar than
the stage. His talent is in stating arguments impromptu, pro
and contra, for every thing he meets with. In short I lett
5 April 8, 1686. * Decembev 4,

1687

CRITICISM OF PASCAL

299

nature work with them all, and plant no clove nor cinnamon
trees upon them, but am content with the roses, peas and
violets, and even with the hemlocks, nettles, and thistles, that
grow vigorously. The one please the taste and smell of their
friends, and the others sting, prick, and poison their enemies.' 7

Sir William was much interested at this time in a paper
of Pascal's on a definition of ability, disagreeing from his
views, which Sir Kobert Soutlrwell supported. He tells
his friend to let the question alone till he comes to town,
and promises that he ' will then roast him and Sir James
Lowther on one spit.' ' As to Pascal's paper whose name I
honour,' hegoeson: ' I must say as followeth viz. 1st, That there
be many words, phrases and sentences in it, which have not
a certain, sensible signification ; and therefore cannot beget
any clear notion, sense, or science in the reader. 2nd, He dis-
tinguisheth witts only by their learning or aptitude, either
for geometry, or sagacity : whereas I think the best geometri-
cians were the most sagacious men, or that the most sagacious
men did ever make the best geometricians. Wherefore the
distinction of Witts is not well made by those words, which are
but the cause and effect, and consequently the same. 3. He
maketh the difference of the great achievements made by the
severall great men undernamed to have depended upon, either
their making use of many or few principles, whereas the words
" many," " few 7 ," have noe real difference, no man being able to
say whether the number ten be many or few, or be a small or
great number.

' Those I would name among the

Ancient are : Modern are :

Moliere Sir Francis Bacon
Suarez Dr. Donne

Galileo Mr. Hobbes

Sir Thomas More Descartes

Archimedes

Julius (

Aristotle

Cicero

Hippocrates

Varro

Homer

Tacitus

&c.

< Whereas the good parts of men are in generall :

' 1. Good sense.

'2. Tenacious Memory of Figures, Colors, Sounds, Names,

r April 8 } 1686.

300 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, x

' 3. A quickness in finding out, matching and comparing ;
as also in adding and substracting the Sensata layd up in the
Memory.

' 4. A good method of thinking.

' 5. The true use of words.

' 6. Good organs of speech and voice.

' 7. Strength, agility and health of Body and of all its parts.

' The severall achievements of the severall great persons
above named, have proceeded from the just and proportionable
applications of those last mentioned faculties to severall
matters and ends.

' I have now given you a description of what I call good
parts, which I resemble to the severall colours upon a Painters
pallet, out of which any colour may be made by composition.
And I say that I can out of the ingredients before mentioned
make you an Archimedes, a Homer, a Julius Ccesar, a Cicero, a
Chess player, a Musican, a Painter, a dancer of the Ropes, a
courageous spark, a fighting fool, a Metaphisicall Suarez, etc.
And I would faine see how, out of Mr. Pascals grounds, viz.
of aptitude for geometry, or sagacity, and the use by many
of few principles, the same can be performed ; and how
thereby all the above mentioned species of transcendental
men can be produced.' 8

Charles Petty was abroad in 1686. ' I am glad,' Sir
William wrote to his godfather, 'that wee agree that the
main end of travelling is to learn frugality, circumspection,
discreet jealousy, and generall prudence ; with such Beha-
viours as will adapt us for conversation with all mankind —
without laying much weight upon Languages, University Arts
and Sciences — and Interest in the famous men of other nations.
As I did, Deare Cousin, venture to fall upon the great Pascal,
soe I shall now again venture to set down some of my thoughts
on the faculty of Imitation, which you think soe ill of, and I
say viz. : 1. That no man can be a good Painter without a
perfect faculty of imitating all colours, figures and proportions
of magnitude. 2. Noe man can be said to sing well or to

s British Museum, Egerton MSS. ; pendix to the Pensdes : ' Difference
also among Petty MSS. The paper entre l'esprit de Geometrie et l'esprit
referred to is to be found in the Ap- de Finesse.'

1687 VIEWS ON EDUCATION 301

learn the same happily, that cannot readily imitate all the
sounds and tones of voices hee heareth. 3. No man can
danse well or fence well, that cannot readily imitate all the
motions which are taught in those exercises. 4. No man can
be a good orrator that cannot attune and put on all the miens,
looks, gestures, and appearances, which attend the passions
that he would excite in his hearers. 5. Representation, or
the art of making absent Persons and things present, as often
as is requisite — this is imitation, monstration, or demonstra-
tion of persons and things. These are the only Mimicks that I
like in my children, applied to good uses and not to hurt
neighbours. If this be crooked timber, instead of straight,
we must dispose of it to shipping — and beast hooks. I
suppose you do not blame mimicking in this sense, but rather
mean the act or practice of ridiculing any person or thing
and making the same vile and contemptible, which faculty
who is master of, saith your author, Clerambault, 9 is master of
the world. I incline to this opinion, notwithstanding what you
say of the D. of Buckingham, whose case requires a special
Essay. For why do you learn to ride the great horse, but to
trample down your enemies ? Why to fence, but to disarm
or disable them ? Why do you affect great offices, but to
make men subject to you and to become low and weak, in
comparison of yourself ? Yet in all these cases you are not
certain of victory, but only encouraged to fight upon occasion ;
nor doth it follow that whoever can ride or fence and shoot
and wrestle, is thereby made more apt to offend or wrong his
friends, but rather to defend himself against wrongs, by the re-
putation that hee can repay them. Now if the art of ridiculing
be used as aforesaid, where is the evil, when it is only another
more manlike sort of fighting ; whereas in the other sort of
fighting, beasts commonly excell men ? I have expounded
the faculty of mimic or ridiculing : there is another between
them, which is, not to make men laughed at, but to bee
facetious ; that is to make the generality of men laugh, with-
out offending any, but be conscious of their owne fault ; of
which more hereafter.' l

9 The allusion is not clear. Cle- poser, was only born in 1676.
rambault, the celebrated musical com- 1 May 4, 1686.

302 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, x

Among the various studies which Sir William encouraged
his children to pursue, law, notwithstanding his dislike for the
practitioners of it, bore a prominent part. Perhaps he re-
gretted not having had a more intimate knowledge of it him-
self. At Christmas 1685 we find it used to introduce a kind of
family diversion, possibly to gratify the disputatious talents
of Henry Petty. 'As you tell us,' he writes to Sir Eobert,
his old humour breaking out for a moment through the gloom,
' what excellent exercise Neddy and the fair spinsters are
employed upon, so I tell you that my two sons are busy upon
the Law. Harry is the Lions Attorney General, and counsel
for most of those whom Eeynard has wronged ; and Charles
is of counsel to Eeynard, to defend him against all accusations.
I will not prejudice you to be of either side ; but will only give
you a list of the principal points which will come in question :
viz. whether Eeynard conspired with the Carpenter that wedg'd
Sir Bruin into the hollow tree ; about the murder of Dame
Coppett, whether she was a sorceresse and intended to poison
Eeynard ; about the great trepann upon Kynward, so as he
lost his life ; what kind of action Curtis may bring against
Eeynard for the pudding taken from her ; whether the earth
of Malepardus be a privileged place ; and whether replevin
will not lye for the goods which Eeynard hath lodged in it ; '
and so on under thirteen heads of legal quip and joke. 2

The following instructions to his sons were also written at
this time : —

6 Directions for my son Charles, 7 July 1686.

' To pursue dansing, fencing, and riding ; to fence in public,
if you do well ; otherwise not.

' To pursue the flute and sing justly.

' To write fair, straight, and clerklike.

c To practise Arithmetick upon real business that shall be
given you.

* To copy flats, and draw after round and dead life.
' To dress yourself well without help.

* To carve at table and treat friends and strangers.

2 Dec. 31, 1685.

1687 INSTRUCTIONS TO HIS CHILDREN 303

' To pitch upon ten good families, whereupon to practise
civility and conversation.

' To heare 4 or 5 of the most eminent preachers.

i To go to plays, and learn the company, as alsoe to the
Drawing room, S* James Park, Hyde Park, and balls.

' To know the seats upon the river of Thames, between
Windsor and Greenwich, and within 6 miles of London Bridge.

' To know the alliances of all the noble families, with their
friends and friendship.

' To know the names of the most famous persons for every
faculty and talent at home and abroad.

' To know the names of 3 or 4 of the best authors upon
every faculty.

' To be well acquainted with 3 or 4 that make news their
businesse.

' To have a Friend in every great office.

' To heare Tryals, criminal and others.

' To read Josephus, Moliere, Virgil, Caesar, Sallust and
Tacitus without bounds.

' To study the Mathematicks, Globe, Mapps, measuring
Instruments.

' To learn logick, by reading the most rational Discourses,
the History of England and chronological tables.

' To read Aristotles Ehetorick, Hobbes de Cive, 2 Justinians
Institutions, and the Common Law.

' To go to Gresham College.'

* 8 July 1686. Directions for my son Henry,
borne the 22nd of October, 1675.

' 1. To perfect his Latin by reading the Latin Testament,
Corderius, Erasmus, Cicero's Epistles and Offices, and Justin.

' 2. To write a fast and short hand.

' 3, To make a Leg salute to come into a room.

' 4. To sing.

i 5. To write and read the Court hands and manner of
writing.

3 The connection of these two books Hobbes was the translator of the
by Sir William is worth noting, for Rhetoric of Aristotle.

304 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, x

' 6. Arithmetick and measuring and the Globe.
' 7. Map of the world : Europe, England, France, Holland,
and, pro re nata, of the countryes which are the scenes of warre
and businesse pro tempore.

' 8. Josephus, and the 6 first chapters of Genesis, St. Luke- s
Gospell, The Acts of the Apostles, The Catholic Epistles of
Peter, James, John, Jude ; and Homilies, Catechism, Duty of
Man, Psalms, Eclesiasticus.

< 9. The English Chronicle ; Bacon's Collections.

' 10. Eeynard the fox.

' To know the Inns of Court, Chancery, and Guild Hall ;
the Sessions Houses ; Doctors Commons, Westminster Hall ;
the great offices and priveleged places ; The Arches, &c.

i To hear Tryals of Criminals, and see executions of several
kinds.

' To read Latin abreviations in printed books of law.

' To know the names and chambers of all the chief Lawyers
and Atorneys.

* A list of 500 great Estates in England, Coats of Amies
and Pedigrees.

' At 14 or 15 years old to be with the best attorney for 3
years, and to be entered at some Inn of Court at 17 years old.

' To read Aristotles Ehetorick and Logick ; Hobbes de Cive ;
Logick ; Argumentative Discourses ; and begin the Law.

' Some more History, Casuistry and Morals.

' His father's writings.' 4

Southwell himself was constantly consulting his friend on
the education of his son Edward — ' that honey seeking youth,'
as Sir William called him — and was prone to devise elaborate
plans for his instruction, according to the most approved me-
thods of the age. On many of these plans Sir William poured
good-humoured ridicule. ' You would have me dj by deare
Neddy's head,' he tells Southwell, 'as my Lady Dutchess of
Ormond did to the round tower in Kilkenny ; that is, make
his walls thinner, breake out lights, make partitions, set up

4 The above papers are at the Hill, Sloane Collection, 2063 ; also
British Museum, among the Philoso- among the Petty MSS.
phical Papers, dx., collected by Dr.

1687 EDWARD SOUTHWELL 305

shelves, bring in furniture, new frame the stairs, make new
passages etc., after which there would be very little left of
his head.' 5 ' Eemember me to dear Neddy,' he writes on
another occasion. ' Bid him study moderately, and not burn
his fingers with his tonge, nor pinch them in his nose. I
say, cram into him some Lattin, some mathematicks, some
drawing and some law, (which is almost all done already),
and then let Nature work, and let him follow his own inclina-
tions ; for further forcing him to learne what you like, and
not what he chooses himself, will come to no great matter.
But when you see what he thrives and prospers in, provide
him a course of life whereby he may make the best use of his
own natural wares.' 6

' For further impositions ' about Neddy, he writes later on,
' 1 think them needless. You have planted all necessarys
in his ground ; you have led him through all the shops and
Warehouses of other things. Let Nature now worke, and see
what he will choose and learn of himself. What is cramed in
by much teaching will never come to much, but parch away
when the teachers are gone. Within a year or two, you will
have a crisis on him: let's mark that.' 7 . . . 'As to 'the
burthen of providing for families, do you mean that a young
man of 26 years old should provide for all that may
descend from him before fourscore, and that not only for
his ordinary food and raiment, but all the extraordinary
disasters and calamities incidental to man, without any care
or labour of ours. For my own part I have made my 3 chil-
dren to learn and labour proportionally to their ages, and the
common rate of others ; and a man may as well exceed in his
aims and solicitudes concerning the matter as in talking of
meyriads and millions. I have laboured for them 64 years. I
do not make my House a Bridewell unto them, nor myself a
Bedel. I will take to myself as much as I can use, and divide
the rest according to their merits, and it will become them to
be thankful for so much, without grumbling that per fas et
nefas I had not gotten more. To conclude, I do not think

5 October 10, 1686. 1682.

6 To Southwell, September 16» 7 Petty to Southwell, 1686.

806 LIFE OF SIE WILLIAM PETTY chap, x

that I have managed this matter so as to be worser than an in-
fidel. I have been an Ant, but not an Ant which " ore trahit
quodcunque potest," but only "quod Jure potuit, quod posset
honor e" Concerning alliances, that is lofty Marriages, I sett
down with the Greek posey of my Eomsey Schoolmaster King,
which is in English : " he that is Married according to himself
is well Married : " that is to say in parity or proportion of parts,
person, parentage, and fortune. The common opinion of the
world shall be my rule. I will not sweat to make my Daughter
a fortune nor to be honey for Drones. And I desire to enable
my Son to live within the compass of that wifes fortune which
himself best loveth. Concerning leaving money or land to a
son, I incline to your opinion : it is better to leave a Son 501.
worth of land well settled than 501. in money. But if he be
an ingenious active lad it is better to bestow 5 thousand pounds
upon him in an office worth one thousand pounds per ami.,
than to sett him to plow upon a farm of 250 pounds per ann.
Five thousand pounds will buy but 250 pounds per ann. in
land, about 400 pound a year in houses. A thousand pound
a year in offices will buy as many things as will bring in 2
thousand pounds per ann. and as many low priced houses as
may be hyred for above 41. Soe that it dependeth upon a
good Judgment to determine with what species of effects to
stock ones Children.' 8

In 1687 the ' Principia ' of Newton appeared. Sir William
w T as one of the few who at once perceived the transcendent
merits and importance of the book. ' Poor Mr. Newton/ he
wrote on July 9 of that year to Southwell, 'I have not
met with one person that put an extraordinary value on his
book. ... I would give 5001. to have been the author of it ;
and 200Z. that Charles understood it.' 9

On August 16, 1687, he wrote to Southwell : * I have
had no letter from Charles, since the 8th instant from
Amsterdam. I only say God send him luck ; and then a little
learning will serve his turn ; for of the hundred prosperous
men which we have seen since the year 1660, neither the
learning nor parts of five have been admirable ; and the forty

8 December 13, 1686. » To Southwell, July 9-23, 1687.

1687 NEWTON'S ' PRINCIPLE ' 307

five contemptible ; nor have one quarter of that hundred
thriven by following the course which their parents put them
into. I do perfectly approve of your advice concerning
Mountebank players ; but we eate toads and wash our hands
in molten lead to sell of our oyntments for the itch. ... I
gave the King a paper at Windsor/ he goes on to tell South-
well ' entitled " the weight of the Crown of England in 20 short
articles," more stupendous than what I sent you. I desired
the King to pick out of the whole one article which he wisheth
to be true, and another which he thinketh to be false, and
command me within 24 hours and within one sheet of paper,
to shew him my further thoughts concerning them. All was
very well taken, but without getting butter to my parsnips, or
Hobnayles for my shoes ; and poor M r Newton will certainly
meet with the same fate, for I have not met with one man that
putt an extraordinary value on his book. Now because you
cannot believe that my Projects can gaine the Nation 140
millions, I send you another paper to shew how 619 millions
might be gotten in 25 years, and have the five points whereon
the same is bottom'd, as well demonstrated as in the Pulpit
and at the Bar. As usual you will ask me why I persist
in these fruitless labours. I say they are labours of pleasure ;
of which ratiocination is the greatest and most angelicall ;
and, being by my age near Heaven, I think it high time to
build myself a Tomb on Earth, out of these Materialls to which
I hope you will furnish mortar in due time. You will say the
"double-bottom" hath poysoned my proposals, to which I
say that y e Closet I shew'd you containes the solution of all
questions in Shipping and Sayling. A vehement combination
against me made the fourth attempt worse than the first ; I
courted the King's mysteries, and like Actseon would have seen
Diana naked, and was therefore sett upon by many cruel dogs.'
The end was now very near. In December he was taken
ill, but without apparently entertaining any serious fear for
his life at the moment, and he wrote to Southwell, the old
combative spirit reviving : ' On Saturday I was taken with a
great lameness. I have nevertheless shewn how the Farmers
are overpaid all their demands by 2,183Z. ; ' and he announces

x 2

308 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, x

his intention of yet being even with them. If he was to die, he
would fight up to the end and die in harness ; and, notwith-
standing the acute pain he suffered, he attended the annual
dinner of the Eoyal Society. But it was the last flicker
of the expiring lamp, and he was observed by his friends to
be discomposed. Immediately afterwards he sickened, his
foot gangrened, mortification set in, and on the night of
December 16 he died in a house in Piccadilly, opposite to
St. James's Church. It was just a year before King James fled
from England.

' Sir W m Petty/ Lord Weymouth wrote to Sir Eobert
Southwell, ' dyed whilst I was in towne, and I think I saw
him the moment he was taken ill. You know St. Andrew's
day is the Election of Officers for the Society, when my Lord
Brouncker was again chosen President. At dinner at Pentack's,
where we had but one bottle of wine between two, Sir W m
Petty fell very roughly upon Mr. Tovey, to soe unusual a
degree for a man of his breeding and temper, that my Lord
Carbery and I wondered at it, and fancied he might have
drunk some wine in the morning ; but it appeared afterwards
to be the beginning of his distemper, for he went home ill, and
the humours fell into his leg, which gangrened in a very few
days. The subject of his dispute with Mr. Tovey was about
the weight of woods ; Sir William affirming that Quince wood
was the heaviest of all woods, and though Mr. T. argued little
and very modestly, Sir William fell upon him with reproach-
ful language. He was certainly a very great man, and I
heartily wish some knowing person might have the perusal of
his papers, for I am told he had excellent things by him. It
was for some time observed by some of his friends that the in-
justices done to him in Ireland, where he had lost above 7001.
per annum very much discomposed him, upon the apprehen-
sion that the same method would strip him of the rest.' 1

Charles Petty had returned to England before his father's
death. ' Dear Cousin,' he wrote to Edward Southwell, ' if there
be anything to ease the great affliction I lie under for the loss
of such a father, the part Sir Bobert and yourself take in

1 To Southwell, January 4, 1688.

1687 SIR WILLIAM PETTY'S DEATH 309

it would much contribute thereunto ; but what shall I say ?
The blow is very heavy and lowde. God make me to submit
to his will ; for myself I can do nothing. I know you have
kindness enough for me to suffer my complaint, but all I can
say is too short to express my sorrow. And as an high
aggravation I see dayly my dear mother under an unexpress-
able grief ; and indeed she has reason, for she has lost the best
of friends, who living and dying manifested his true value for
her, commanding us to obey her as the best mother in the
world. It was a great satisfaction to me to see how like a
Christian and philosopher he left this world. It has taken off
from me the fear of death to see him die, and I do not think
death so terrible as people make it. I have no more to say,
only to beg you to intercede with your father that he will
please, for my father's sake, to take me under his protection
and preserve me a place in his friendship, which I shall
endeavour to deserve by all wayes imaginable and in the
power of his and yours most affectionate kinsman and humble
Servant, ' Charles Petty,

' As soon as my mother is able to write, she will not faile
to acknowledge the favour of Sir Eobert's letter/

Sir William was at work till the end, and there was found
in his pocket on his decease a paper entitled : ' Twelve Articles
of a good Catholique and good patriot's creed ' — which appears
to be the paper alluded to in his letter of August 16, as
having been sent to Southwell. 2 It contained a summary of
the plans with which the reader is already acquainted.

' Tivelve Articles of a good Catholicque and good patriots creed.
By Sir William Petty. 3

' 1. That y^o- th parte of the Men naturally able to learn
Arms is a Competent Army to be kept in pay.

2 Sir Robert Southwell became Edward Southwell became Secretary

Secretary of State for Ireland in 1690. of State in succession to his father

He died September 11, 1702, at King's till 1720. He died in 1730.
Weston, near Bristol. He served in 3 Longleat MS. ; endorsed, ' Found

three Parliaments and was five times in his pocket after his death.'
President of the Irish Royal Society.

310 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, x

' 2. That 2V h parte of the peoples Expence, is a Competent
Eevenue for England in peace and warr.

' 3. That the officers of the above Army, being T y h of the
same, with a few others, seems to be the Naturall and to have
been the originall House of Peers.

1 4. That the Council elsewhere described, chosen by God
and the whole people, is a good Eepresentation of them and of
the Church Nationall.

* 5. That an account of [the] lands and hands of all the
King's Subjects, is an effectuall Instrument of Government.

' 6. That it is not the Interest of England to seek more
Territoryes nor send out its Subjects, but to unite Ireland with
England and soe enlarge their trade.

' 7. That the Navy Eoyall should consist of particular
ships, with a perfect account of all others, both at home and
abroad.

' 8. That there should be a Bank, sufficient for all the
trade these Nations are capable of, as alsoe a Eegister of
lands.

' 9. That Liberty of Eeligion and Naturalization be secured.

' 10. That the Coynes, weights, and measures, be made
regular and unabuseable.

' 11. That there be a Eeformation of Diocesses, parishes,
and Church Duties.

'12. That means be used to lessen the plagues of London
which probably the next time will carry away twenty thousand
people, worth seventy pound p. head.'

Another paper in his handwriting was found on the table
in his room, containing a remarkable forecast of the course of
events in England and Ireland in the great struggle which was
so clearly at hand. It ran as follows : —

' When the Establishment of Popery in England is found
impracticable, then K. J., being a friend, and the Irish officers,
with their 8,000 soldiers, will make a Convention of the forfeit-
ing Irish and a Militia of 15,000 men. The French will send
7,000 men and shipping ; and will have Cautionary Townes.
The Eevenue will be 300 thousand per annum, and the Pro-
testants estates, above 800 thousand, in all 1100 thousand ;

1687 A POLITICAL PROPHECY 311

whereas 450 thousand will suffice. The Irish will send 100
thousand Protestants into France, which 100 small vessells
will do in one Sumer ; the East India and other trades will be
taken from England by the Hollanders. England will swarme
and be pestered with poore English driven out of Ireland.
' The Princess of Orange will question the loosing of Ireland.
'The Hollanders and all Northerne States will oppose
France in having Ireland.

' The 30 thousand papists of England and Scotland will be
sent into Ireland in exchange of the Protestants.

' The Scotts and fugitive English will come in with Orange
and Holland.

' The French and Irish will invade England, and will be left
Prisoners there.

' The Emperour and Spain will fall upon France.
' The Venetian and the Turk [will be] busyed.
' 1. The Brittish will beat the French and Irish, and keep
them Prisoners in England.

' 2. The Irish and French will be brought Captives into
England.

' 3. Ireland and the Northern third of Scotland will be made
a place of pasturage.

' 4. 9,600 thousand English, Irish, and Scotch, and 2,000
thousand out of France, will plant in 58 millions, and be a
Eepublick, at y e upshot of the troubles, at 5 livres to each
head.' 4

Lady Petty was created a Peeress for life by King James,
who appears to have entertained a sincere goodwill for Sir
William, and possibly regretted that his own policy in Ire-
land had proved so disastrous to his friend. She became
Baroness Shelburne in the Peerage of Ireland, and Charles, her
eldest son, Baron Shelburne, by a simultaneous creation. 5 In
the events which followed, Lord Shelburne was attainted, and
the whole of the Petty estates were sequestered by the Irish
Parliament in 1689, but they were restored by the events of

4 Longleat MS. James II. from England. The patent

5 The privy seal is dated December was passed December 31 of the same
6, 1688, five days before the flight of year. Kot. de A ., 4 Jac. II. 6, p. 1.

312 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETT¥ chap, x

1690. The barony became extinct by the death of Lord Shel-
burne without issue in 1696. It was revived in favour of his
brother Henry in 1699, who was further created Viscount Dun-
kerron and Earl of Shelburne in 1719. These titles becoming
extinct on his death without issue in 1751, the estates and pro-
perty passed to his nephew, John Fitzmaurice, the second sur-
viving son of Thomas Fitzmaurice, Earl of Kerry, who, as his
grandson afterwards wrote, had 'married luckily for me and
mine, a very ugly woman, who brought into his family whatever
degree of sense may have appeared in it, or whatever wealth is
likely to remain in it.' 6 This ugly but sagacious woman was Sir
William's daughter, Anne Petty, who by marrying in Ireland
had complied with the express desire of her father, that such
a sum as he had left her in his will should not be carried out
of that country. 7

A short time before his death Sir "William had written
to Southwell on the question of mourning for the dead.
The letter was occasioned by the loss of a favourite child
by Sir Eobert, who in his grief had asked his friend's
views on what degree of sorrow it was legitimate to express
by public and outward show. 'When any one dies,' he
replied, ' who had promoted your honour, pleasure, or profit,
and still desired so to do, 'tis manifest you mourn for
yourself and your own Life, and may express or suppress
the signs of it, as you think fit to make the world under-
stand what esteem you had of the defunct, and to encourage
the living to serve you as the defunct had done. And you
shall mourn very properly in this case, if you give to the
defunct's surviving friends what you owed to the defunct for
the good he had done you in his life more than you had
requited by reciprocal kindness ; whether by black, called
mourning garments, or by rings with Death's heads on them,
by boxes of sweetmeats, burnt wine or rosemary within sweet
water, or by gloves and scarfs, or any other effectual way or
signs of gratitude, which the world understands, but without

6 Life of Lord Shelburne, Chapter favour of John Fitzmaurice.
of Autobiography, vol. i. p. 3. The 7 See Appendix, * Will.'

Shelburne title was again revived in

1687 ON MOURNING FOR THE DEAD 313

cutting off your joints, 8 as the " Foppes " and other Coxcombs
you mention. I say you need not punish yourself, but with
parting with what you can spare as aforesaid, and giving to
those of the Defunct's friends that most want it. As for Bells,
Sermons, Coffins and Couches, you are to defend yourself from
the reproaches, grounded upon the custom and opinions, true
or false, of the country and age you live in. If you found such
signs of God's grace in your friend as persuade you he is in
Abraham's bosom with poor Lazarus, or in Paradise with the
penitent thief expecting a glorious resurrection and consum-
mation of his bliss, I think you need not mourn at all, except
as aforesaid. But if you suspect him to be in chains of dark-
ness, you must grieve that you did not by your precepts and
example prevent his sad condition ; and if you believe that
any sort of man can relieve him, you shall do well to hire him
at any rate to do so, and in the meantime have such a com-
passion with the defunct, as unison harp-strings have one
with another : and you must warn the living (especially the
defunct's friends) to avoid all those things that caused your
fears concerning him ; for Dives desired that one might be
sent from the dead to his brethren on earth for that purpose.' 9

Sir "William in his will ordered his own funeral charges
not to exceed 300Z. He was buried in the Abbey Church
at Kumsey near his father and mother. He left a sum of
1501. for a family monument, which he had intended to erect
during his lifetime, and he had actually gone as far as to
write the inscription for it, in which he specially recorded his
affection for his brother, Anthony Petty, in whose memory he
also ordered ' a stone worth 51. ' to be set up in Lothbury
Church. The inscription was to be as follows :

' Here lyeth Anthony Petty, who died 22 July 1654, and
Francesca his wife, who dyed Oct 1 " 1663, whose children were
Anthony, Francesca, William, Susan, Anthony J r and Dorothy,
of whom the first, second and fourth dyed Infants. Anthony
Jun r dyed at London 16 Oct r 1649, admirably skilled in all
naturall and practicall knowledge. Dorothy, marryed to
James, Son of Sir Nathaniel Naper, Baronet, liveth yet in

8 In the sense of a knot of ribbands. 9 June 5, 1686.

314 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY chap, x

Meath in Ireland ; and William having many wayes tryed his
fortunes was, anno 1649, after much foreign travel, made
Doctor of Physic and Professor of Medicine in Oxford. Then,
having geometrically surveyed all Ireland in 13 months and
therein measuring as much Line as would encompass the
whole Earth above 5 times about, was anno 1661 Knighted,
and now being 46 anm. of age hath in memory of his family
and in due acknowledgment of his Parents exemplary care in
the education of their children, erected this Tomb and given
his whole patrimony for pious uses to this Town.' l

But altered circumstances and the stress of the times
caused him to abandon his good intentions towards his native
town, and his will, dated May 2, 1685, was found to
contain the following curious passage in regard to charitable
bequests : —

' As for legacies for the poor, I am at a stand ; as for beg-
gars by trade and election I give them nothing ; as for impo-
tents by the hand of God, the publick ought to maintain
them ; as for those who have been bred to no calling nor
estate they should be put upon their kindred ; as for those who
can get no work, the magistrate should cause them to be em-
ployed, which may be well done in Ireland, where is fifteen
acres of improveable land for every head : prisoners for crimes
by the King ; for debt by their prosecutors.

' As for those who compassionate the sufferings of any object,
let them relieve themselves by relieving such sufferers ; that
is, giving them alms pro re natd, and for God's sake relieve
those several species above mentioned, where the above-
mentioned obligees fail in their duties. Wherefore I am
contented that I have assisted all my poor relations, and put
many into a way of getting their own bread ; and have
laboured in publick works, and by inventions have sought
out real objects of charity ; and do hereby conjure all who
partake of my estate, from time to time to do the same at
their peril. Nevertheless to answer custom, and to take the
surer side, I give 201. to the most wanting of the parish
wherein I die. . . .

1 The patrimony was the family house and property in the town.

1687 MONUMENT IN RUMSEY CHURCH 315

' As for religion, I die in the profession of that faith and in
the practice of such worship, as I find established by the law
of my country, not being able to believe what I myself please,
nor to worship God better than by doing as I would be done
unto, and observing the laws of my country, and expressing
my love and honour to Almighty God by such signs and tokens
as are understood to be such by the people among whom I live,
God knowing my heart even without any at alL And thus,
begging the Divine Majesty to make me what he would have
me to be, both as to faith and good works, I willingly resign
my soul into his hands, relying only on his infinite mercy and
the merits of my Saviour for my happiness after this life ;
where I expect to know and see God more clearly, than by the
study of the Scriptures and of his works, I have been hitherto
able to do.

' Grant me, Lord, an easy passage to thyself, that as I
have lived in thy fear, I may be known to die in thy favour.
Amen.'

It does not appear that the projected monument was ever
set up after his death, and till a descendant in comparatively
recent years raised a permanent record in the west end of the
nave to the fame of his ancestor, 2 not even an inscription
indicated that the founder of political economy lay in Eumsey
Abbey ; for the hand of the Church restorer had desecrated
even the stone in the aisle which in a previous generation had
marked the grave with the simple legend, 'Here layes Sir
William Pety.' 3

2 In the present century, Henry, 3 The original of the will is in the

third Marquess of Lansdowne, erected Registry Office of the Court of Probate

a monument by Westmacott. It re- in Ireland. There is a copy in the

presents a full-length recumbent effigy Egerton MSS. (2225), British Museum,
of Sir William Petty.

APPENDIX

i

A system of Astronomy «< "

A copy of the Collection of Sir William Patty's several works since
the year 1636, found at Wycombe, in his own handwriting : —

A course of practicall Geometry and Dialling.

Cursus Khetorices et Geographicse.

Ptolemaical, and
Copernican.

Severall Drawings and Paintings.

An English Poem of Susanna and the Elders.

Collegium Logicum et Metaphisicum.

A Collection of the Frugalities of Holland.

An history of seven Months practice in a Chemical
Laboratory.

A Discourse in Latin, ' de Arthritide et Lue

Venerea ; ' and ' Cursus Anatomicus.'

Advice to M r . Hartlib about the advancement of
learning. Collections for the history of Trees, etc.

The double writing Instrument.

The engine for planting Corne, and Printing ;

Boyling Waters, Woods.

Six Phisico-Medicall Lectures, read at Oxford.

Severall Musick Lectures. Hester Ann Green.
Three Osteological Lectures.

Collection of Experiments.

Pharmacopcea and formula Medicamentorum.

Observationes Medicse et Praxis.

De Plantis. Notse in Hippocratem.

Scholaris situlifuga. Poemata Liturgica.

A Discourse against the Transplanting into Con-
naught.

A Treatise of irregular Dialls.

The Grand Survey of Ireland.

Severall Reports about settling the Quarters and
Soldiers.

Breviar-ia, Clerk of the Council.

Letters, etc., between the Protector and the Lieut.
Gov. of Ireland.

r T1637.

Caen 11638.

fl639.

L ° nd0n ^ 1640.
1 1643.

Holland J 1644.
(lost at sea) J 1645.

Paris rl646.
Oxford \

-1647.

London <^ 1648.

Oxford 1649.
r 1650.

London

Ireland

1651.
1652.

1653.

I 1654.

1654.
1655.
1656.

1657.
1658.

318 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY

1659. The history of the Survey and first Distribution of

Lands in Ireland.

1660. Brev : against Sankey, and William Petty's own

apology.

1660. Observations on the Bills of Mortality.

1661. A Discourse about registry, and Settlement of

Ireland.

/■Materialls of

1662. Treatise of TaxesJ a Bill and

I Small money.

1663. The Grand Map of Ireland, and Brev. of Boroughs.

mi ^t , . . f History of Clothing.

The Natural History of religion | Higtory of Dyeing>

Satyricall Poems -De motu maris et ventorum.

[ De medicinis solutis per aquam
I et aera.

1664. Naval Experiments J Navicula Gemina.

and Discourses. ] Reterium Nauticum.

1665. Verbum Sapienti, Anatomia Navalis.

and the value of I
People.
English Translation of Hermes, per Alex. Brome.

1667. Lawsuits.

1668. Poemata Glanarita.

1669. Severall Latine Epigrams.

1670. Anatomia Politica Hibernise.

1671. Political Arithmetick.

1682. Quantulumque concerning money.

II

Sir William Petty's Will, extracted from the principal Begistry of
Her Majesty's Court of Probate in Ireland

In the name of God. Amen. — I, S r William Petty, Kn 4 , born at
Rumsey, in Haumtshire, doe, revoking all other and former wills,
make this my last will and testament, premising the ensueing pre-
face to the same, whereby to express my condition, designe, inten-
tions, and desires, concerning the persons and things contained in
and relating to my said will, for the better expounding any thing
w T hich may hereafter seem doubtfull therein, and also for justifing
in behalfe of my children the manner and means of getting and
acquiring the estate w ch I hereby bequeath unto them, exhorting
them to emprove the same by no worse negotiations. In the first
place, I declare and amrme that at the full age of fifteene years
I had obtained the Lattin, Greeke, and French tongues, the whole

WILL 319

body of common Arithmetic!*, the practicall Geometry and Astro-
nomy conducing to Navigation, Dialing, &c, with the knowledge of
severall Mathematicall Trades, at which, and having been at the
University of Caen, preferred me to the King's Navy, where, at the
age of 20 years, I had gotten up about three score pounds, w th as
much mathematices as any of my age was known to have had. With
this provision, Anno 1643, when the civill warrs betwixt the King
and Parliament great hatt, I went into the Netherlands and France
for three years, and having vigorously followed my studies, especially
that of medicine, att Utretch, Leydon, Amsterdam, and Paris, I
returned to Kinsey, where I was born, bringing back with me my
brother Anthony, whom I had bred, with about ten pounds more
then I had carried out of England ; with this £70 and my endeavours,
in less than four years more I obtained my degree of Doctor of
Phisick in Oxford, and forthwith thereupon to be admitted into the
College of Phistians, London, and into severall clubbs of the vir-
tuous, after all which expenses defrayed I had left twenty- eight
pounds ; and in the next two years being made Fellow of Brasen
Nose, and Anatomy Professor in Oxford, and also Reader at Gersham
Colledge, I advanced my said stock to about four hundred pounds,
and with £100 more advanced and given me to go for Ireland into
full five hundred pounds. Upon the tenth of September, 1652, I
landed att Waterford, in Ireland, Phisitian to the army who had
suppressed the Rebellion began in the year 1641, and to the Generall
of the same, and the Head Quarters, at the rate of 20s. per diem, at
which I continued till June, 1659, gaining by my practice about
£400 per annum, above the said sallary. About September, 1654,
I, perceiving that the admeasurement of the lands forfeited by the
forementioned Rebellion, and intended to regulate the satisfaction
of the soldiers who had suppressed the same, was most unsufficiently
and absurdly managed, I obtained a contract, dated the 11th of
December, 1654, for making the said admeasurement, and by God's
blessing so performed the same as that I gained about nine thousand
pounds thereby, which, with the £500 above-mentioned, my sallary
of 20s. per diem, the benefit of my practice, together with £600
given me for directing an after survey of the advent 1 * 8 lands, and
£800 more for 2 years' sallary as Clerk of the Councell, raised me
an estate of about thirteen thousand pounds in ready and reall
money, at a time when, without art, interest, or authority, men
bought as much lands for 10s. in reall money, as in this year, 1685,
yield 10s. per ann. rent above his Mattes quitt rents. Now I be-
stowed part of the said £13,000 in soldier's debentures, part in
purchasing the Earl of Arundell's house and garden in Lothbury,

320 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY

London, and part I kept in cash, to answer emergencies ; hereupon
I purchased lands in Ireland with sodier's debentures, bought att
above the markett rates, a great p* whereof I lost by the Court of
Innocents, anno 1663, and built the said Garden called Token House
yard, in Lothbury, which was. for the most part destroyed by the
dreadfull fire, anno 1666. Afterwards, anno 1667, I married
Elizabeth, the relict of S r Maurice Fenton, Barronett. I sett up
iron works and pilchard fishing in Kerry, and opened the lead mines
and timber trade in Kerry, by all which, and some advantageous
bargins, and with living under my income, I have, at the making
this my will, the reall and personall estate following (viz*.), a large
house and 4 tenements in Runsey, with 4 acres of meadow upon the
causway, and about 4 acres of arrable in the fields called Marks and
Woollsworth, in all about thirty pounds per ann. ; houses in Token
house yard, near Lothbury, London, with lease in Piccadilly, and
the Seaven Starrs, and the Blazing Starr, in Birching Lane, London,
worth about five hundred pounds per ann. ; besides mortgages upon
certain houses in Hogg Lane, near Shoreditch, in London, and in
Erith, in Kent, worth about £20 per ann. : I have f parts of the
ship Charles, whereof Deryck Paine is master, which I value at £80
per ann. ; as also the copper plates for the mapps of Ireland, with
the King's priviledge, which I rate at £100 per arm., in all seven
hundred and thirty pounds per ann. I have in Ireland, without the
County of Kerry, in lands, remainders, and reversions, about three
thousand one hundred pounds per ann. I have of neat profits out
of the lands and woods of Kerry, above eleven hundred pounds per
ann., besides iron works, fishings, and lead mines, and marble
quarrys, worth £600 per ann., in all £4800. I have, as my
wife's Joynture, during her life, about £850 per ann., and for 14
years after her death about £200 per ann. ; I have, by £3300 money
at interest, £320 per ann., in all about £6700 per ann. The per-
sonal estate is as foil, viz* — in chest six thousand six hundred pounds,
in the hands of Adam Loftus £1296 ; of Mr John Cogs, goldsmith,
of London, £1251 ; in silver plate and Jewells ab* £3000, in furniture,
goods, pictures, coach horses, books, and watches, £1150 per esti-
mate, in all twelve thousand pounds. I value my three chests of
originall mapps and field books, the coppys of the Down Survey,
with the Barrony mapps, and the chest of distribution books, with
two chests of loose papers relating to the survey ; the two great
Barony books, and the book of the history of the survey, altogether
at two thousand pounds, I have due out of Kerry for arrears, May
rent, and iron, before 24th June, 1685, the sume of £1912, for the
next half year's rent out of my lands in Ireland, my wife's joynture,

WILL 321

and England, on or before the 24 June next, £2000 ; moreover, by
arrears due the 30 Aprill, 1685, out of all my estate by estimate
and interest of money, £1800 ; by other good debts due upon bonds
and bills at this time, per estimate, £900 ; by debts which I call
bad, £4000, worth, perhaps, £800 ; by debts which I call doubtful,
£50,000, worth, perhaps, 25 thousand pounds, in all, £34,612 ; and
the totall of the whole personall estate, £46,412 ; so as my present
income for the year 1685 may be £6700, the profits of the personall
estate may be £4641, and the demonstrable improvement of my
Irish estate may be £3659 per ann., to make in all fifteen thousand
pounds per ann., in and by all manner of effects abating for bad
debts, about £28,000. Whereupon I say in gross, that my reall
estate or income may be £6500 per ann., my personall estate about
£45,000, my bad and desparate debts, 30 thousand pounds, and the
improvements may be £4000 per ann., in all £15,000 per ann., ut
supra. Now, my opinion and desire is (if I could effect it, and if I
wear cleare from the law eustom and all other impediments), to add
to my wives joynture f of what itt now is computed att, viz* — £637
per ann., to make the whole £1587 per ann., which addition of £637
and £850 being deducted out of the aforementioned £6700, leaves
£5113 for my two sons, whereof I would my eldest son should have
f , or £3408, and the younger £1705 ; and that after their mother's
death, the aforesaid addition of £637 should be added in like pro-
portion, making for the eldest £3832, and for the youngest £1916 ;
and I would that the improvement of the estate should be equally
divided between my two sons, and that the personall estate (first
taking out ten thousand pounds for my only daughter,) that the
rest should be equally divided between my wife and three children,
by which method my wife would have £1587 per ann., and £9000
in personall effects ; my daughter would have ten thousand pounds
of the crame, and £9000 more with less certainty ; my eldest son
would have £3800 per ann., and half the expected improvements,
with £9000 in hopefull effects, over and above his wifes portion ;
and my youngest son would have the same within £1900 per ann.
I would advise my wife in this case to spend her whole £1587 per
ann., that is to say, in her own entertainment, charity, and muni-
ficence, without care of increasing her children's fortunes ; and I
would she should give away ^ of the above-mentioned £9000 att her
death, even from her children, upon any worthy object, and dispose
of the other § to such of her children and grand children as pleased
her best, without regard to any other rule or proportion. In case
of either of my 3 childrens death under age, I advise as follow T eth,
viz* — if my eldest, Charles, dye without issue, I would that Henry

322 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY

should have f of what he leaves, and my daughter, Anne, the rest ;
if Henry dye, I would that what he leaves may be equally divided
between Charles and Anne ; and if Anne dyes, that her share be
equally divided between Charles and Henry. Memorandum. — That
I think fitt to rate the 30 thousand pound desperate debts at one
thousand pounds only, and to give it my daughter, to make her
abovenl 10 m and 9 m to be full twenty thousand pounds, which is
much short of what I have given her younger brother ; and the
elder brother may have £3800 per ann. 9 m in money, worth good
more £2000 by improvements, and £1300 by marriage, to make up
the whole to £8000 per ann., which is very well for the eldest son,
as 20 thousand pounds for the daughter. I think, to make a codicill
to my will, when I shall find myself sick or decaying, whereby to
dispose of severall small legacies, with my funerall charges not
exceeding one thousand pounds, I desire may be born by my wife
and 3 children as near as may be, according to the proportions
above-mentioned. Now, whereas, I have made deeds of settlement,
dated .... for my wife and two sons. And, whereas I have hereby
made my yearly income to be £6700, my present will that my wife
shall have, besides the provision made by S r Maurice Fenton, £637
per ann. out of my said £6700, and that what by the said settlement
is short thereof shall be made up out of the said £6700, and what is too
much shall be abated out of £9000. By the aforemade computation,
my eldest son, Charles, when his mother's provision of £850 and
£637 is taken out the s d £6700, will have £3400 per ann. ; whereof
if the settlement be short, it must be supplied out of the rest of
£6700 ; if too much, his share of the £9000 must be retrencht ; the
like I order concerning my son Henry. As my daughter Anne, not
medling with the £3200 at interest, which is part of the £6700 per
ann., I give and bequeath to her of the £6600 in chest, and £1251
in M r Cog's hands, £2149 out of my plate and Jewells, the full sume

ten thousand pounds — to be paid her at the age of eighteen years ;

and I intend that if I shall see cause to dispose otherways of the
said effects, to charge the said ten thousand pounds on some other
reall security. I hereby make Elizabeth, my beloved wife, sole
Executrix of this my will during her widowhood ; but if she marry,
I make her brother, James Waller, and Thomas Dance, Exors in
her room, in trust for my children. I also make my said wife
Guardian of my children during her widowhood, but when she
marry s, I appoint the said James Waller and Tho Dance Guardians
in her room. I recommend to my Exors and the Guardians of my
children to use the same servants and instruments for management
of the estates, as were in my life time, viz* — the said James Waller,

will 323

at the yearly sallary of one hundred pounds ste rl per ann. sterling ;
Thomas Dance, at fifty pounds ; Thomas Milburne, at twenty, . .
* . Crofton, at twelve ; and Maurice Carroll, at eight ; as also
Richard Orpin, at twenty ; John Mahony, at twenty ; Luke Parker,
at five pound ; Phillip Prosser, at Ave pounds ; and Mr. John Cogs,
of London, at twelve ; and Thomas Callow, at six pounds per ann. ;
all which sallarys are to continue during their lives, or untill my
youngest child shall be one and twenty years, which will be the 22 nd
of October, 1696 ; unless seven of the persons above named, whereof
ray wife, Mr. James Waller, and Thomas Dance, shall, under their
hands and seals, certifie that any of the said persons have broken
their respective trusts and notably misbehaved themselves ; and
after the said 22 nd October, 1696, every of my children, being of full
age, may put the management of their respective concerns into what
hand they please, having still a respect to such of the aforenamed
as have been dilligent and faithfull in their respective trusts and
imployments. I would not have my funeral charges to exceed
three hundred pounds, over and above which sum I allow and give
one hundred and fifty pounds to sett up a monument in the Church
of Kumsey, near where my grandfather, father, and mother were
buried, in memory of them and of all my brothers and sisters. I
also give five pounds for a stone to be sett up in Lothbury Church,
London, in memory of my brother Anthony, there buried about the
18 th October, 1649 ; I also give fifty pounds for a small monument,
to be sett up in S* Bride's Church, Dublin, in memory of my son
John, and my near kinsman John Petty ; supposing my wife will
add thereunto for her excellent son, S r William Fenton, Bar 1 , who
w r as buryed there 18 th March, 167? ; and if I myself be buried in
any of the s d 3 places, I w T ould have £100 only added to the above
named sumes, or that the said £100 shall be bestowed on a monu-
ment for me in any other place where I shall dye. As for legacies
for the poor, I am att a stand : as for beggars by trade and election,
I give them nothing ; as for impotents by the hand of God, the
Publich ought to maintaine them ; as for those who have been bred
to no calling nor estate, they should be put upon their kindred ; as
for those who can get no ivork, the magistrate should cause them to
be employed, which may be well done in Ireland, where is 15 acres
of improvable land for every head : prisoners for crimes, by the
King ; for debt, by their prosecutors. As for those who compassion-
ate the sufferings of any object, lett them relieve themselves by
relieving such sufferers, that is, give them alms, pro re nata, and
for Gods sake relieve those severall species above named, where the
above-named obligers faile in their duties. Wherefore, I am con-

324 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY

tented that I have assisted all my poor relations, and put many into
a way of getting their owne bread, and have laboured in public
works and inventions ; have sought out reall objects of charity, and
do hereby conjure all who partake of my estate from time to time
to do the same at their perill. Nevertheless, to answer custome,
and to take the surer side, I give twenty pounds to the most wanting
of the parish wherein I dye. As for the education of my children,
which are 2 sons and one daughter, I would that my daughter
might marry in Ireland, desiring that such a sum as I have left her
might not be carried out of Ireland. I wish that my eldest son may
get a gentleman's estate in England, which, by what I have gotten
already intend to purchase, and by what I presume he may have
with a wife, may amount to between two and three thousand pounds
per ann., and by some office he may get there, together with an
ordinary superlucration, may reasonably be expected, so as I designe
my youngest son's trade and imployment to be the prudent manage-
ment of our Irish estate for himself and his elder brother, which I
suppose his said brother must consider him. For as for myself, I
being now about threescore & two years old, I intend to attend the
improvements of my lands in Ireland, and to gett in the money debts
oweing unto me, and to promote the trade of Iron, Lead, Marble,
Fish, and Timber, whereof my estate is capable ; and as for studies
and experiments, I think now to confine the same to the anatomy
of the people and politicall Arithmetick, as also to the improvement
of ships, land, carriages, guns, and pumps, as of most use to man-
kind, not bleaming the studies of other men. As for religion, I dye
in the profession of that faith, and in the practice of such worship,
as I find establht by the Law of my country, not being able to be-
lieve what I myself please, nor to worship God better than by doing
as I would be done unto, and observing the Laws of my country,
and expressing my love and honour to Almighty God by such signes
and tokens as are understood to be such by the people with whom I
live, God knowing my heart even without any at all ; and thus
begging the Divine Majesty to make me what He would have me to
be, both as to faith and good works ; I willingly resigne my soul
into His hands, relying only on His infinite mercy and the merritts
of my Saviour for my happiness after this life, whereof I expect to
know and see God more clearly then by the study of the Scriptures,
and of His works I have been hitherto been able to do. Grant me,

Lord, an easy passage to thyself, that as I have lived in thy fear,

1 may be known to dye in thy favour. Amen. Dated the second
day of May, in the year of our Lord Christ, one thousand six hun-
dred eighty and five. — Wm. Petty.

THE DOWN SURVEY 325

III

A briefe Accompt of the most materiall Passages relatinge to the
Survey managed by Doctor Petty in Ireland, anno 1655 and
1656 l

Barronyes in Irland are of various extents, viz 1 ., some but 8000
acres, and some 160,000 acres.

The first survey or old measurement was performed by measuringe
whole baronyes in one surround, or perimeter, and payinge for the
same after the rate of 40 s for every thousand acres contayned within
such surround ; whereby it followed that the surveyors were most
unequally rewarded for the same worke, viz*., he that measured the
barrony of 160,000 acres did gaine neere five tymes as much per
diem as he that measured that of 8000 acres. Besides, wheras
40 s were given for measuringe 1000 acres, in that way 5 s was too
much, that is to say, at 5 s per 1000 a surveyor might have earned
above 20 s per diem cleare, wheras 10 s is esteemed, especially in
long employments, a competent allowance.

The error of this way beinge discerned, the same undertakers
order, that instead of measuringe entire baronyes as before, that
scopes of forfeited profitable lands should bee measured under one
surround, bee the same great or small, or whether such scopes con-
sisted of many or few ffarme lands, townelands, ploughlands, or
other denominations usuall in each respective county or barrony.
And for this kind of worke the surveyor was to have 45 s for every
thousand acres, abatinge proportionably for such parcells, either of
unprofitable or unforfeited land as should happen to be surrounded
within any great scope. Now this latter way, besides the inconve-
niencyes above mentioned, laboured with this other and greater, viz*.,
that by how much the measurer's paynes and worke was greater, by
soe much his wages and allowance was lesse, soe as noe surveyor
could foresee wheather hee should be able to performe his respective
undertakinge at the rate above said, or that hee should not gaine
exorbitantly by it.

Hereupon D r Petty propounded that the whole land should be
measured both accordinge to its civill bounds, viz., by barronyes,
parishes, townelands, ploughlands, balliboes, &c, and alsoe by its
naturall boundings by rivers, ridges of mountaines, rockes, loughes,
boggs, &c. ; as answeringe not onely the very ends of satisfyinge the

1 From a manuscript in the Record Branch of the Office of the Paymaster of
Civil Services in Ireland.

326 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY

adventurers and souldiers then in view, but all such other future
ends whatsoever as are usually expected from any survey.

The objection was, that the same would not be don under twenty
yeares tyme, and the settlement must be soe longe retarded. It was
answered, that security should be given for performinge the whole
in thirteen months, provided the allowance might be somewhat
extraordinary. Hereuppon the army agree to give out of theire owne
purses soe much as should be requisite over and above what the
councell were limitted unto by theire superiours.

This undertakinge extended onely to the provinces of Ulster,
Leinster, and Manster (that of Connaght beinge reserved for the
Irish), nor unto all the lands in the said three provinces, although
the same labour and method would have effected the whole, and
more, as well as what was.

Now the method and order used by the said Petty in this vast
worke was as followeth, viz. :

Whereas surveyors of land are commonly persons of gentile and
liberall education, and theire practise esteemed a mistery and intri-
cate matter, farr exceedinge the most parte of mechanicall trades,
and withall, the makeinge of theire instruments is a matter of much
art and nicety, if performed with that truth and beauty as is usuall
and requisite. The said Petty, consideringe the vastnesse of the
worke, thought of dividinge both the art of makeinge instruments,
as alsoe that of usinge them into many partes, viz*., one man made
onely measuringe chaines, viz 1 ., a wire maker ; another magneticall
needles, with theire pins, viz*., a watchmaker ; another turned the
boxes out of wood, and the heads of the stands on which the instru-
ment playes, viz 1 ., a turnor ; another, the stands or leggs, a pipe
maker ; another all the brasse worke, viz*., a founder ; another
workman, of a more versatile head and hand, touches the needles,
adjusts the sights and cards, and adaptates every peece to each
other.

In the meane tyme scales, protractors, and compasse-cards,
beinge matters of accurate division, are prepared by the ablest
artists of London.

Whether alsoe was sent for, a magazin of royall paper, mouth -
glew, colours, pencills, &c. At the same tyme, a perfect forme of a
ffeeild booke haveinge bin first concluded on, uniforme bookes for
all the surveyors were ruled and fitted accordinge to it, and more-
over large sheetes of paper, of perhaps five or six ffoote square, were
glewed together, and divided throughout into areas of ten acres each,
accordinge to a scale of forty Irish perches to an inch, and other
single sheets (by a particular way of printinge dry, in order to pre-

THE DOWN SURVEY 327

Vent the uneertaynties of shrinkinge in the paper) were lined out into
single acres.

Dureinge the same tyme, alsoe, portable tables, boxes, rulers,
and all other necessaryes, as alsoe small Ff rench tents, were provided
to enable the measurers to doe any buissnesse without house or
harbour, it beinge expected that into such wasted countryes they
must at some tymes come.

Dureinge the same tyme, alsoe, bookes were preparinge of all the
lands' names to be measured, and of theire ould propreitors, and
guesse-plotts made of most of them, whereby not onely to direct the
measurers where to beginne, and how to proceed, &c, but alsoe to en-
able Petty himselfe how to apportion unto each measurer such scope
of land to worke uppon, as hee might be able to finish within any
assigned tyme.

At the same tyme care was taken to know who were the ablest
in each barrony and parish to shew the true bounds and meares of
every denomination, what convenient quarters and harbors there were
in each, and what garrisons did everywhere lye most conveniently for
theire defence, and to furnish them with guards, and with all who
were men of creditt and trade in each quarter, fitt to correspond with
for furnishinge mony by bills of exchange and otherwise ; and,
lastly, who were men of sobriety and good affection, to have an eye
privatly over the carriage and diligence of each surveyor in his
respective undertakinge.

Another person is appoynted to sollicite under offices for mony,
and to receive it from severall publique and private persons, uppon
whome each summe was assigned by the publique Treasurer. The
same alsoe paid bills upon stated accompts, drew bills of exchange
into the country, &c, as alsoe attended the course of coynes, which
often rose and fell in that time ; and was to beware of adulterate
and light peeces, then and there very rife.

But the prineipall division of this whole worke was to enable
certayne persons, such as were able to endure travaile, ill lodginge
and dyett, as alsoe heates and colds, beinge alsoe men of activitie,
that could leape hedge and ditch, and could alsoe ruffle with the
severall rude persons in the country, from whome they might expect
to be often crossed and opposed. (The which qualifications happend
to be found among severall of the ordinary shouldiers, many of whom,
havinge bin bread to trades, could write and read sufficiently for the
purposes intended.) Such, therefore (if they were but headfull and
steddy minded, though not of the nimblest witts), were taught, while
the other things aforementioned were in doinge, how to make use of
their instruments, in order to take the bearinge of any line, and

328 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY

alsoe how to handle the chaines, especially in the case of risinge or
fallinge grounds ; as alsoe how to make severall markes with a spade,
whereby to distinguish the various breakings and abutments which
they were to take notice of ; and to choose the most convenient sta-
tions or place for observations, as well in order to dispach as cer-
taynty. And lastly, they were instructed, per autopsiam, how to
judge of the vallues of lands, in reference to its beare qualities, and
accordinge to the rules and opinions then currant, to distinguish the
profitable from such as was to be thrown in over and above, and not
paid for at all. Another sort of men, especially such as had beene
of trades into which payntinge, drawinge, or any other kind of
designinge is necessary, were instructed in the art of protractinge,
that is, in drawinge a modell or plott of the lands admeasured, ac-
cordinge to a scale of 40 perches to the inch, accordinge to the length
and bearinge of every side transmitted unto the said protractors in
the ffeild bookes of the measurers last above described ; the which
protractions were made uppon the papers aforementioned, which
were squared out into areas, some of 10, some of single acres. These
men, and sometimes others of smaller abilities, were employed to
count how many of the said greater or lesser intire areas were
comprehended within every surround.

And withall unto how many inteire acres the broken skirtinge
reduced from decimall parts did amount unto, which worke was soe
very easie, that it was as hard to mistake, as easie to discover and
amend it, and infinitly more obvious to examination and free from
error, then the usuall way of reduceinge the whole surround into
triangles was, and deducing the content from laborious prostapheresis
of them. The next worke was reducinge barrony plott s, which,
accordinge to the scale of 40 perches to the inch, were somtymes 8
or 10 foot square, or thereaboutes, within the compasse of a sheet of
a royal paper, whether the scale happened to be greater or less, soe
as all the barrony plotts, being reduced to one size, might be bound
up togeather into uniforme bookes, accordinge to the countyes or
provinces unto which they did belonge. These reducements were
made by paralelagrames, of which were made greater numbers,
greater variety, and in larger dimensions, then perhaps was ever yet
seene upon any other occasion. Some hands that were imployed in
the said reducements did, for the most parte, performe the colouringe
and other ornament of the worke.

Over and above all these, a few of the most nasute and sagacious
persons, such as were well skilled in all the partes, practices, and
frauds, appartayninge unto this worke, or whereunto it was obnoxious,
did in the first place view the measurers ffeild bookes, and there by

THE DOWN SURVEY 329

the same critickes as artists discerne originalls from coppyes in
paintinge, and truely antique medalls from such as are counterfeit,
did endevour to discover any falsification that might be prejudiciall
to the service. The same men alsoe reprotracted the protractions
above mentioned, compared the comon lines of severall men's worke,
examined wheather any of the grounds given in charge to be ad-
measured were omitted ; and, lastly, did cast up all and every the
measurers workes into linary contents, accordinge to which the said
Petty paid his workmen, although he himselfe were paid by the
superficiall content, or number of acres, which the respective ad-
measurements did conteyne ; the which course of payment he tooke
to take away all byas from his under measurers to returne unprofit-
able for profitable, or vice versa, he himselfe haveinge engaged, in
an ensnaringe contract, begetinge suspicions of those evills against
him, in as much as he was paid more for profitable then unprofitable
land ; for some parcells of unprofitable receveinge nothinge at all.
Ffor this end he paid his under- surveyors by the lineary content of
theire worke as aforesaid, though some suspect he rather did it to
obscure his games, as well from those that employed him as those
others whome himselfe employed, and withall, by removeinge the
old surveyors from of theire old principles, and confoundinge them
with new, to make them more amenable to his purposes. The quan-
tise of line which was measured by the chaine and needle beinge
reduced into English miles was enough to have encompassed the
world neere five tymes about.

There doe remaine of this worke, as large mapps as a sheet of
royall paper will conteyne, of every parish distinctly, by as large a
scale as such sheets of paper will contayne, and other mapps of the
same size for every barrony.

These are fairely bound up in large bookes, according to their
countyes, and the bookes kept in a cabinett of the most exquisit
joyner's worke, made for the purpose, of 60 11 value. Mapps of each
counfcy and province, as alsoe of the whole island, wil be published
in print, according to the severall ancient and modern e divisions of
the same, which have often changed by reason of the often change
of proprietyes, occasioned by the often rebellions and revolutions
there.

INDEX

Act of Explanation, 131

Navigation, 141, 189, 205

Acts of Settlement, 1662, 130
Admiralty, Courts of, 247
Adventurers, 23, 43, 51, 56, 130
Anabaptists, 31, 44, 48, 70, 71, 74, 75,

89, 106
Anatomy, 18, 19, 22 ; see Political
Anglesea, Lord, 157, 179
Appendix I. : Works, 317 ; II. : Will,

318 ; III. : ' Down ' Survey, 325
Argyle, 271
' Arithmetic^' Political, 180, 181, 183,

185, 195, 204, 216, 220, 225
Army lands, 24, 42, 51, 125, 130
Ascue, Sir S., 114
Aubrey, John. 1, 2, 10, 18, 20, 104, 108,

127, 153, 155, 167-169, 179, 206,

256, 258, 261, 265
Aungier, Lord, 139
Auzout, Monsieur, 220
Axioms of Sir W. Petty, 276
Ayscam, Antony, 36

Bacon, Lord, 174

Ballot, 'Boxing,' 58

Bathurst, Dr., 20

Bellarmine, 16

Berkeley, Lord, 241

Bigotry, 117-120

Bills of Mortality: Dublin, 181;

London, 181, 184
Bodin, 182, 187
Boyle, Hon. Kobert, 12, 15, 20, 21,45-

48, 63, 74, 142
Bradshaw, 97, 105
Brodrick, Sir Alan, 151
Broghill, Lord, 79, 130
Brouncker, Lord, 103, 109, 112
Brown, Sir Valentine, 289, 291
Bruno, 237
Buckingham, 242
Budgets, 187
Burnet, Bishop, 180, 232

Cabinet, rise of the, 243

• Calais-Douvres,' a, 109-113, 253-

257, 266-268
Campanella, 237
Cantarine, Monsieur, 55
Carteret, Sir George, 151
Cattle, Irish, 140
Cavendish, Sir Charles, 6
Chancery, Court of, 169-172, 174
Charles I., 23

— II., 103, 112, 225, 243, 257
Cheesey, Mr,, 150

Church views, 223, 224, 234
Clarendon, 65, 151, 241, 271, 272, 275,

286
Clarges, Dr. Thomas, 82
Clotworthy, Sir J., 130
Coinage, 212
Colbert, 181, 190, 227
Commonwealth, end of the, 99
Connaught, transplantation into, 25,

26, 28, 31, 37
Coote, Charles, 40
Council, the Privy, 1679, 243
Coventry, Sir William, 177
Cowper, Samuel, limner, 179
Cox, Dr., 161, 163
Crawfurd, Major-General, 17
' Creatures, Scale of,' 116
Cromwell, Henry, 28, 30, 34, 48, 54,

57, 63, 73-75, 78, 81-83, 87, 88, 95,

96, 98, 133

— Oliver, 17, 48, 74, 105

— Kichard, 78, 87
Customs duties, 207

Davenant, Sir William, 188, 203

Davis, Sir John, 145

' De Cive,' 16, 82

Deane, Admiral, 256, 266-268

Declaration of 1660, 130, 131

Descartes, 6

Dorislaus, Dr., 36

' Dorothy Anwacker,' 154

332

LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY

DOUBLE

1 Double Bottom, the,' 109-115, 253-

257, 266-268
1 Doubling Ordinance, the,' 24
Down Survey, the, 23-68 ; 325 ; map of,

68
' Dubious ' lands, 27, 130
Dublin College of Physicians, 253

— Philosophical Society, 253
Duel, a proposed, 152
Durdans, The, 113

Economics, 182, 185, 201

Edict of Nantes, 236

Education, pamphlet on, 11

Engines in ships, 123

England, France, and Holland, temp.

Charles II., 226
Ergasiula Liter aria, 11
Essex, Lord, 241

Estates, Irish forfeited, 25, 42, 51
Evelyn, 109, 113, 133, 153, 180, 252
Excise, 209
Explanation, Act of, 131

Farmers, revenue, 137, 169, 174, 176,

246, 251
Fauconberg, Lord, 74, 86
Fenton, Sir Maurice, 153

— Sir Michael, 156

— William, 156
ffoulkes, Lieut.-Colonel, 79
Fifth Monarchy Men, 74, 75
Finch, Sir Heneage, 142
Fire, the Great, 151, 155, 232
Fitzgerald, David, 272
Fitzmaurice, John, 312
Fleetwood, General, 21, 22, 28,35,37,

48, 86, 87, 96
Ford, Sir Henry, 234
Forfeited lands, 25, 42, 51
France and Holland, 190-196, 203,

227, 235

Galen, 116

Galileo, 237

Gassendi, 6

Golius, 8

Goodwin, Thomas, 17

Gookin, Vincent, 31, 37, 57, 77, 78-

81
Gorges, Dr., 272
Government, on, 94, 99
Graunt, Captain, 20, 114,154, 158, 180,

232
Green, Ann, revival of, 18
Gresham College, 102, 257
Grotius, 182
Guilbert, Bois, 201

LETTERS

Harrington, * Oceana,' 23, 94, 183

Hartlib, Samuel, 11-13, 63

Hayle, Lord Chief Justice, 116

Hearne, Thomas, 18

Henrietta Maria, 235

Herbordus, Dr., 9

Hervey, 7

Hobbes, 1, 5, 7, 10, 16, 168, 183, 186,

188, 236
Holland, 191, 196, 197, 203, 205, 206,

224-228, 235
Hooke, Mr., 113
Horghland, 9
Houblons, Mr., 115
House of Commons, impeachment, 81-

86

Imperial questions, 278

Indulgence, Declaration of, 287

Ingoldsby, Lady, 156

Inquisition, the, 118

' Instrument of Government,' 95

Ireland, condition of, 1652, 21 scq. ;

1664, 142 ; 1678-79, 239 ; colonisation

scheme, 23-27 ; map of, 68 ; union

with, 229, 276
Ireton, General, 21, 105
Irish, Sir W. Petty on the, 145-148,

239

James, Duke of York, 107, 235
— II., King, 269, 271 scq., 280
Jenkins, Sir Leoline, 247
Jews, the, 224

Kenmare, 128, 149, 155, 289

Kepler, 7

Kerry, 61, 126, 149, 289 ; Instructions

for, 289
Killaloe, Bishop of, 155
King, Mr., 57
Kingston, Lord, 151, 156, 159

Labour, division of, 50, 220

Lambert, General, 21, 89, 97

Land debentures, Irish, 125

Lands in Ireland : adventurers', 23,
43, 51, 56, 130; army, 24, 42, 51,
125, 130; Church and Crown, 24,
42, 137 ; divisions and terms of, 39 ;
dubious, 27, 130

Lansdowne, Marquis of, 315

Larcom, Sir T., 65

Lely, Sir Peter, 173

Letter-writer, the Manifold, 10

Letters from Sir W. Petty to : Angle-

INDEX

33

DO

LETTERS

sea, Lord, 157, 158; Aubrey,
John, 258, 261,265; Aungier, Lord,
139, 140 ; Boyle, Hon. R., 45-48 ;
Cromwell, Henry, 86, 87 ; Cromwell,
Lady, 133 ; Graunt, Captain, 158 ;
Pell, Dr., 7, 8, 10; Pett, Sir Peter,-
249; Petty, John, 13-16; Petty,
Lady, 154, 160-166, 245, 250, 253,
262, 263, 292, 293, 297 ; Southwell,
Sir Robert, 5, 116, 117, 138, 139,
145, 156, 169, 170, 171, 172, 173,
174, 175, 176, 217, 218, 243, 244,
245, 246, 259, 270-274, 280, 285,
294, 304, 306, 312; Waller, Mr.,
156

Letters to Sir William Petty from :
Aubrey, John, 167, 168, 169 ; Penn,
William, 166, 167; Southwell, Sir
Robert, 260, 274, 275, 283, 292

Logan, Mr., graver, 179

London, * Concerning Ye Plagues of,'
121 ; growth of, 216, 219 ; Philoso-
phical Society, 15

Longomontanus, 7, 8

Lotteries. 215

Louis XIV., 227, 235, 248

Louvois, 227

Lowther, Sir James, 299

Macarthy, Lieut.-General Justin,

289, 290
Mansfield, Lord, 247
Maps, the Survey, 66, 67, 68
Massereene, Lord, 112
Maynard, Consul, 118
Men, on, 299
Mersen, Father Marsin, 6
Milton, 94, 99
Minutes of the Dublin Society, 253-

255
Monk, General, 89, 93, 98
Monmouth, Duke of, 177, 271
Montecuculli, 220
Multiplication of mankind, 216, 217

Napper, Mr., 156

Navigation, Act of, 189, 205, 206, 244 ;

treatise on, 203
New England, 148
— River Company, 232
Newcastle, Marquis of, 6
Newton's ' Principia,' 306
Nonconformists, 204
North, Sir Dudley, 201

« Oceana,' 183

Oporto, Inquisition at, 118

PETTY

Optics, 7

Ormonde, Lord, 104, 131, 138, 140, 151,

160, 173, 177, 232, 241, 242, 246,

271, 272
Orpen, Rev. Mr., 290
Osborne's ' Advice to a Son,' 114
Owen, John, 17
Oxford, 15-21, 142

Parliament, the Little, 24 ; the Long,

75, 89, 97; the Rump, 87, 89
Parties, Irish, at the Restoration, 128
Pascal, 6, 299, 300
Paul, St. Vincent de, 6
Pell, Dr., 5, 7-10
Penn, Admiral, 119

— George, 118-120

— William, 166, 234, 270
Percival, Sir John, 270
Pett, Sir Peter, 248

Petty, Anne, daughter, 160, 163, 297,

306, 322
Petty, Antony, father, 1

— Antony, brother, 13

— Charles, son, 163, 226, 297, 300, 302,
306, 308, 311

— Henry, son, 297, 302, 303, 306

— John, cousin, 13-15, 48, 103, 104,
107, 151, 156

— Lady, 153, 154, 245, 311; see
Letters

Petty, Sir William, birth, 1 ; child-
hood, 2 ; at sea, 2,4; as linguist, 3,
4, 5, 12 ; and the Jesuits, 3 ; at Caen,
3-5 ; in the Navy, 5 ; on the Conti-
nent, 5-10; and Dr. Pell, 7-10;
poverty of, 10 ; inventions, 10-13 ;
on education, 11 ; family views of,
13-15 ; at Oxford, 15-21; Doctor in
Physic, 16 ; revival of Ann Green,
18 ; Vice-Principal of Brasenose,
19 ; Chair of Anatomy, 19 ; Pro-
fessor of Music, 20 ; in Ireland,
21 seq. ; and Worsley, 29, 40, 41,
48, 49, 55, 56, 90 ; and Gookin,
31-34; and the Waldenses, 36;
mapping plan, 38 ; and the sur-
vey, 41 seq. ; manner of life and
work, 49 ; and the Adventurers, 56,
64; and Colonel Whalley's lands,
56 ; and the Army lands, 57-63,
69-72 ; in London, 63 (see Sankey) ;
honours to, 73 ; his Latin, 73, 297 ;
and the pamphlet of 1658, 76 ; reply
to attacks, 77; becomes M.P., 78,
81 ; commended by Henry Cromwell,
81, 87 ; arraigned in Parliament, 81,
82 ; defence, 83-87 ; to Ireland and
back, 85, 87 ; dismissal from service,

004

LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY

88 ; from Brasenose, 89 ; escapes to
Dublin, 89 ; pamphlet and book by,
90-93; in London, 93; and the
Cromwell family, 75, 96, 106, 133 ;
his views, 1659, 96, 98, 101 ; on
Henry Cromwell, 98, 106 ; and the
Royal Society, 102, 107 seq.; on
shipping, 103, 104, 107, 109, 113 ; and
the King, 103 ; peculiar position of,
105, 106; claims of, 106, 132;
knighted, 107 ; will of, 108, 114 ; on
the Plague, 108, 121 ; his ' Calais-
Douvres,' 109-113, 255 ; his ' Scale
of Creatures,' 116, 117 ; his Chris-
tianity, 118, 120 ; on a ship-engine,
122-124 ; money gain of, 126 ; land
in Kerry, 126-128, 132; an Irish
M.P., 130; his great map, 133;
troubles and firmness of, 137, 151 ;
on Irish government, 140 ; on Irish
cattle, 141, 142; foreign trade, 142;
absenteeism, 143 ; exchange, 143 ;
on English throttling, 144, 145 ; on
the Irish, 145-148, 239 ; on the New
England, 148; plea for union, 148,
229, 276; his colony at Kenmare,
149, 150, 155, 289 ; and the Great
Fire, 151, 155, 156, 168 ; a challenge
to, 152 ; marriage of, 15$; banter
of, 154 ; tired of life, ^54 ; on fur-
nishing, 154; offered a peerage, 155 ;
troubles and losses of, 156 ; cha-
racter of, 159, 168 ; and his children,
160, 163, 166, 297-306; on the
Quakers. 166 ; in Chancery, 169-172,
174 ; and the Psalms of David, 172 ;
health of, 1677, 172 ; portrait of, 173,
179 ; and the revenue farmers (see
Farmers) ; and Colonel Vernon, 176-
178; Aubrey's sketch of, 179; his
works, 183, 185 seq., 317, 318; on
the Deluge, 217 ; on sermons, 225 ;
and Captain Graunt, 233 ; on Pope
and Councils, 237; on Ireland, 1678,
239 ; declines a peerage, 245 ; in
Kerry, 1680, 245 ; at the Admiralty,
247-250 ; and the reform of the
revenue, 250-252 ; as a Latin poet,
250, 252 ; in Kerry again, 253 ; and
the Dublin Society, 2o3-255 ; and
James II., 269, 275, 280 ; on deno-
minations, 270 ; his * Speculum
Hiberniffi,' 272 ; axioms of, 276; on
Imperial questions, 278 ; and Tyr-
connel, 282 ; preaches patience, 285 ;
his affairs at Kenmare, 289 ; sum-
mary of claims, 293; on his early
struggles, 294 ; on his coat and armes,
297 ; on men, 299-301 ; death of,
308 ; his patriot creed, 309 ; a fore-

SHELBURNE

cast by, 310 ; on mourning, 312 ;
burial-place of, 313 ; will of, 314,
318-324 ; see Letters, Works, &c.

Philosophical Society, Ireland, 253-
255

Plagues of London, 121

Plunket, Archbishop, 242

' Political Anatomy of Ireland,' 33, 39,
43, 59, 133, 134-137, 140, 143-115,
148, 181, 185, 186, 189, 212, 213, 215,
219, 221

« Political Arithmetic,' 100, 148, 149,
180, 181, 183, 185, 195, 204, 209,
215,216,221, 224, 225 seq.

Popish Plot, 232, 234 seq., 240

Population, 216-220

Privy Council, 1679, 243

Quakeks in Ireland, 166
'Quantulumcunque concerning Money,'

185, 213
' Queries on the State of Ireland,' 272
Quesnay, 202

Rater, Book of, 189

* Reflections,' 44, 56, 59, 60, 70, 71, 72,

73, 83, 84, 85, 90, 91, 92, 93, 98, 107,

121
Religions and States, founders of, 99
Restoration, the, 98, 105, 128
Revenue, farmers, 137, 169, 174, 246,

251 ; raising, 207, 251
Robartes, Lord, 241
Rochester, 271,286
Rome, Church of, 234-238
Romsey Abbey, 315
Rota Club, the, 94
Royal Society, the, 20, 21, 107, 108
Hump, Parliament, the, 87 88, 89
Rumsey, 1
Rushworth, 10

St. Cyran, 6

* Sale and Settlement of Ireland,' 272

Salmasius, 8

Sandys, Sir John, 177

Sankey, Sir Hierome, 70, 71, 76, 77,

81-86, 88-93, 106, 131, 151
' Satyre, A,' 93

4 Scale of Creatures,' 116, 176
Sedgwick, Mr., 230
Servetus, 120

Settlement of Ireland, 1654-8, 65
Shaen, Sir James, 49, 137, 151, 251,

263
Shaftesbury, 242
Shelburne Barony, the, 311

INDEX

SIDNEY

Sidney, Algernon, 118, 235

Skinner, Cyriac, 94

4 Sluice-boat, the,' 109-113, 253-257,

266-268
Smith, Adam, 191

— Lewin, 126
Southampton, Lord, 151
Southwell, Edward, 159, 297, 304

— Sir Robert, 108, 116, 117, 138, 145,
155, 159, 169, 172, 174-176, 217,
246, 259, 260, 264, 270-275, 280,
283, 285, 292, 294, 304, 306, 308,
312 ; see Letters

Spanheim, Dr., 9

4 Speculum Hibernise,' 272

Statute, the Great, 189

Strafford, 27

Suarez, 16

* Supellex Philosophical 255

Survey, the Grosse, 28 seq., 35 ; Civil,

the, 37 seq. ; see Down
Symner, Col. Miles, 57, 60

Talbot, Archbishop, 241

— Earl of Tyrconnel, 271, 275, 284,
286, 287

Tariff, Colbert's, 190

— the Dutch, 191, 196
Taxes ; see * Treatise on Taxes '
Taylor, Thomas, 107

Temple, Sir William, 234, 243, 246

' Ten Tooles,' 277

Thurloe, Secretary, 31, 35-37, 75, 76,

78, 81, 83, 96, 118
Tokenhouse Yard, 126
Toleration, Religious, 224, 237, 274,

276
Tomlinson, Colonel, 41
4 Treatise on Taxes,' 118, 180, 185, 188

seq., 223, 224
Tyrconnel ; see Talbot

YORK

Ulster, Plantation of, 23

Union, Sir William Petty on, 148, 229,

276
Universities and Cromwell, the, 17
Usury laws, 213

Value, extrinsic and intrinsic, 222 ;

origin of, 198 ; par of, 211
Vauban, Marshal, 201
4 Verbum Sapienti,' 185, 194, 213
Vernon, Colonel, 176-178
Vesalius, Andreas, 6

Wages, 220

Waite, Mr., 230

Walaeus, 8

Waldenses, the, 35 ; and the Irish, 36

Waller, Edmund, 245

— Mr., 156

— Sir Hardress, 41, 153
Wallis, Dr., 15, 20
Ward, Seth, 20
Weymouth, Lord, 308

White House Ruin, Kenmare, 290
Wilkins, Dr., 15, 19, 20, 113-120
Will, Sir William Petty's, 5, 20, 115,

314 ; in full, 318-325
Wood, Antony, 18, 20, 70, 94, 113
Works of Sir William Petty : Principal,

185 seq. ; List of, and written by, 317
Worsley, Benjamin, 29, 40, 41, 48, 49,

55, 56, 90
Wren, Christopher, 20, 102, 103
Wybord, Dr., 9

York, Duke of, 107, 235 ; as James
II., 269, 271, 280

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