Sir William Petty : A Study in English Economic Literature. Wilson Lloyd Bevan

of some particular parts of learning, London, 1648, 4to, reprinted in Harleian Miscellany vi vol. On double writing, London, 1647, folio. Declaration concerning the newly discovered Art of Double Writing, London, 1648, folio. Brief of proceedings between Sir H. Sankey and the Author, London, 1659, folio. Reflections upon some persons and things in Ireland, London, 1660, 12mo.; Dublin, 1790, 8vo. Treatise on Taxes and Contributions, 1662, 4to; 1667, 4to; 1679, 1685, 1689, 1690, 1691; Dublin, 1769, 8vo. On Duplicate Proportion, London, ​4to, 1674. Colloqium Davidis, 1679, folio. Apparatus to the History of Dyeing, 1667. Political Arithmetic, London, 8vo, 1690, 1691, 1699. Essay on the growth of London, London, 1683. Observations on the Dublin Bills, 1683. Maps of Ireland, 1683. Essay on Multiplication of mankind, London, 1682, 1683, 1686. Further observations on the Dublin Bills, 1686, 12mo. Two Essays in Political Arithmetic, London, 1686. Essay in Political Arithmetic, London, 1682, 1687, 1751, 1759; in French, London, 1686, 8vo. Five Essays in Political Arithmetic, London, 1687, 8vo. Treatise of Naval Philosophy, London, 1691, 12mo. Political Anatomy of Ireland, London, 1691, 8vo., 1719, and Dublin, 1769. Verbum Sapienti, 1691, 1719. Several Essays in Political Arithmetic, London, 1699, 1711; Edinburgh, 1751; London, 1755. Quantulumcunque, London, 1682-1695, also in Scarce and valuable Tracts on Money, 1760, in Somers's Tracts and in Select Tracts, 1856. History of the Down Survey, Dublin, 1651, 4to. Politician Discovered, 1681, 1690. Privileges and practices of Parliament, 1680, 1690. Letter to John Pell, in Collection of scientific letters edited by Halliwell, 1841. Three letters to Boyle in vol. v, pp. 276–278 of Boyle's Works, 1st ed. Essays in Political Arithmetic republished in Arber's English Garner, 1877, and also in part by Professor Morley in Cassel's National Library. Papers in the Proceedings of the Royal Society, 161, 167, 183, 185, 198. Discourse of making cloth, printed in Birch's History of the Royal Society, 1665. Observations on the Bills of Mortality, 1661, 1662, 1663, 4to, London; fourth ed., London and Oxford; fifth edition, 1676, 8vo., London; 1759, reprinted. Handgreifliche Demonstrationen (a German translation of the Bills), Danzig, 1693, 1724.

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      Notes on the Petty Manuscripts.

      In Lownde's "Bibliographical Manual" it is asserted that several of the Petty manuscripts are to be found in the Bodleian Library. This is evidently a mistake, for the Bodleian contains only a few letters catalogued in the Aubrey and Pepys collection. After a careful search I failed to discover any other manuscript remains. The British Museum contains manuscript copies of the "Political Anatomy of Ireland," and of the "Essays in Political Arithmetic," two unprinted tracts in defense of the Cromwellian settlement of Ireland, some short papers of no great importance, and a few letters. A list of these manuscripts is given in Ayscough's Catalogue, p. 884, and in the Catalogue of Additional Manuscripts, p. 1137.

      Thorpe's "Sale Catalogue," London, 1837, contains a notice of a manuscript volume of the correspondence between Petty and Sir Robert Southwell. Extensive extracts covering several pages are given. In Notes and Queries, 2d series, viii, 130, mention is made of a collection of letters by Petty, advertised for sale in a catalogue of M. A. Cooper's library, Dublin, 1831. In whose hands these two important volumes at present are there is little prospect of discovering. Aubrey reports (iii, 488) that after Petty' s death he saw in his closet a great many tractatiuniculi, among others "An essay to know and judge the value of lands," and an autobiography in Latin. À. Wood, in his notice on Petty (Athenae Oxonienses, pt. iv, 215,) mentions an autobiography of Petty, which he had heard of, but had not seen.

      Materials for Petty's Biography

       Table of Contents

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      SIR WILLIAM PETTY.

       Table of Contents

      CHAPTER I.

      MATERIALS FOR PETTY'S BIOGRAPHY:

       THE WILL, AND AUBREY'S LIFE OF PETTY.

      Petty' s Will.

      Petty's will, dated May 2, 1685, printed in the Dublin collection (1769) of his writings, gives the following autobiographical data:

      "In the first place I declare and affirm that at the full age of fifteen years I had obtained the Latin, Greek and French tongues, the whole body of common arithmetick, 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,^1[1] preferred me for the King's Navy, where at the age of twenty years I had gotten up about three-score pounds, with as much mathematicks as any of my age was known to have had.

      "With this provision, anno 1643, when the civil wars betwixt the King and Parliament grew hot, I went into the Netherlands and France for three years, and having vigorously followed my studies, especially that of medicine, at Utrecht, Leyden, Amsterdam, and Paris, I returned to Rumsey, where I was born, bringing back with me my brother Anthony, whom I had bred, with about ten pounds ​more than I had carried out of England. With this seventy pounds, and my endeavours, in less than four years more I obtained my degree of M.D. in Oxford,² and forthwith thereupon, to be admitted into the College of Physicians, London, and into several clubs of the virtuous;³ after all which expences defrayed I I had left twenty-eight pounds, and in the next two years, being made Fellow of Brasenose⁴ and Anatomy Professor in Oxford and also Reader at Gresham College, I advanced my said stock to about £400, and with £100 more advanced and given me to go for Ireland, unto full £500. Upon the 10th of September, 1652, I landed at Waterford in Ireland, physician to the army, who had suppressed the rebellion begun in 1641, and to the general of the same, and the headquarters, at the rate of twenty shillings per diem, at which I continued till June, 1659." Here follows an account of his public career in Ireland, more fully related in his other works. He estimates his profits at £13,000. "I bestowed part of the said £13,000 in soldiers debentures, part in purchasing the Earl of Arundel's house and garden in Lothbury, London, and part I keep in cash to answer emergencies. I purchased lands in Ireland, .... a great part 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 dreadful fire, anno 1666. Afterwards, anno 1667, I married Elizabeth, the relict of Sir Maurice Fenton, Bart. I set up iron works and pilchard fishing in Kerry, and opened the lead mines and timber trade there." Here follow detailed accounts of his investments by all of which he estimates that he has an income of £15,000, "As for myself, I being now three-score and two ​years old, I intend to attend the improvement of my lands in Ireland, and to get in the many debts owing 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 political arithmetic, as also to the improvement of ships, land carriages, guns and pumps, as of most use to mankind, not blaming the studies of other men. 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....."

      Aubrey's Biography of Petty.

      The following life of Petty is printed in "Letters of Eminent Persons," by J. Aubrey, London, 1813, volume II., pages 481–491:

      Sir William Petty was the son of ——— Petty,⁵ of Rumsey, in Hampshire, by ———, his wife. His father was born on the Ash Wednesday before Mr. Hobbes, sc. 1587. He was by profession a clothier, and also did dye his own clothes. He died and was buried at Rumsey 1644, where Sir William intends to set up a monument for him. He (Sir William) was born at his father's house, aforesaid, on Monday, the twenty-sixth of May, 1623, eleven hours 42′ 56″ afternoon. Christened Trinity Sunday.⁶

      Rumsey is a little haven town, and hath most kinds of artificers in it. When he was a boy his greatest delight was to be looking on the artificers, smyths, watchmakers, carpenters, joiners, and at twelve years old he could have worked at any of these trades. Here he went to school,