Life of Sir William Petty 1623 - 1687/Chapter I

by Lord Edmond Fitzmaurice

LIFE

OF

SIR WILLIAM PETTY

CHAPTER I

EARLY LIFE

1623-1652

 

Early days—Friendship with Hobbes—Correspondence with Dr. Pell—Pamphlet on education—John Petty—Life at Oxford—Case of Ann Green—University Professor of Anatomy.

William Petty was born at his father's house at Rumsey, 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.'^[1]

The home of the Pettys seems to have been near the ancient conventual church of the Benedictine nuns, which the parishioners at the Reformation are said to have bought for 100l. 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 neighbourhood esteem him a peculiar person, and, to use his own words, 'a perfect cheiromantes.'^[2] At Rumsey he went to school, and 'learned by twelve years a competent smattering of Latin, and was entered into the Greek before 15;' and there also, Aubrey relates, 'happened to him the most remarkable 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 shortsighted. '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]

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 which 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 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 to her 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 Matelot Anglois qui parle 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, Captⁿ 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 afterwards cheated. Upon the remainder (my Ring 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 Royal 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 recognised 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 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 Marsin 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 notwithstanding the recrudescence of theological strife, were to transform the world in every department of human knowledge. The atmosphere of the time throbbed with scientific discovery, 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, Kepler, and Hervey. Hobbes himself was the rival and rather petulant correspondent of Descartes on the origin of knowledge.

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 mathematician, 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 thankfulness 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 Cavendish, 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 Analyticks 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 doe many pretty questions. I entend to reade no Author of that 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 Dr. Pell.

'S^r,—On Sunday, noone, I received your letter of Friday, together with 9 copies of your Refutation of Longomontanus; ye which, according to your desire, I have distributed as followeth: 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 Invention, 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 would better become his yeares than ye mathematicks." I then went to Salmasius, Professor Honorarius, 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. Walæus 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 with ye others. To Dr. Ryper beeing a man reasonably versed in those studies, and not of low esteeme here, I presented one. I have given 2 to Joncker Horghland, a Chymist and Physician, Des Cartes his most intimate freind and correspondent, 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 disposed 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 world 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^[10] this your favour, That I confesse my selfe obliged to bee

'Your most affectionate freind and humble servant

'W. Petty.

'Leyden, ¹⁴⁄₂₄ Aug^st, 1644.'

'There are some in whom (as in him qui ex pede Herculem, &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 on de Zee dyck.

tot Amsterdam.'

'S^r,—According to your desire, I have presented your refutations 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 Gentlemen my friends, who, having now come from y^e Leagher, tell me y^t they know no certayne conveyances these troublesome 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, Wm. Petty.

'Leyden, 8° Septemb^r, 1644.
'Received (9 September)
(30 Aug).

'Endorsed Mons. Jean Pell.

'In den ouden convoye on de Zee dyck.

à 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 60l. to 70l., 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.'^[11] 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.^[12] The use of it, Rushworth 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.'^[13] Petty announced his patent 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 handling, may write two resembling copies of the same thing at once, as serviceably and as fast as by the ordinary way.'^[14] 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 unworthy fustian preachers in divinity; in the law so many pettyfoggers; in physics so many quacksalvers, and in country schools so many grammaticasters.'^[15] Some such plan he seems in subsequent years to have proposed to carry out under the name of a Glottical College, but the circumstances of the time were adverse and the scheme was abandoned.^[16] 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 ingenious 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 miraculously progress and new inventions be more frequent, but that there would also be the best and most effectual opportunities 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 whereof 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.'^[17] Boyle gave him a 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 correctness of, for public good and private advantage,' more particularly 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 mechanical genius of his brother and was evidently a congenial spirit, died.^[18] 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.

'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 done 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 propound unto you those considerations, which 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 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 businesses, 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 againe undertake some of these things, as chymistry and anatomy, whereby I 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.

'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 40l. 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 inventions, 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, whereupon I shall need your assistance, if your assisting mee therein will bee more profit or pleasure to you than your other worke, you shall have the employment; otherwise not.

'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 briefe, 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 doubtful success, it made Hartlib and his friends look to the inventor to show himself to the world 'by some rare piece or other;'^[19] and, together with the publication of his 'Thoughts on Education,' it greatly extended Petty's acquaintance 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 Theodore Haak, a German from the Palatinate, and comprised amongst the members the already well-know names of Dr. Wallis and Dr. Wilkins. In 1649 Petty resolved to follow their example, and remove to Oxford,^[20] where Wilkins had just been appointed Warden of Wadham.

The city had surrendered to the Parliamentary army on June 24, 1646, and the University was soon after reorganised 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 60l.'^[21]

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 doubtless 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 imperium in imperio, 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 interfere in matters of State and lay hands on the Government. It was in this sense that Hobbes accepted the doctrine of the Divine Right 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 himself been mathematical teacher to Charles.^[22] Hobbes therefore 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 Roman 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.'^[23] 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 kingdom 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 Commonwealth and to the established civil and political order—conditions which in any case for the time being effectually excluded Roman 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 University 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 importance, and it is probable that through them the name of Dr. Petty may have 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 Wylde, a member of Parliament, 'a great fautor of ingenious men for merit's sake,'^[24] 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.'^[25] 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 Reading, a good while to read on, some way preserved or pickled.'^[26]

In 1650 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 executed at Oxford on December 14, 1651, for the murder of her illegitimate child. Her execution seems to have been carried out with a combination of clumsiness and brutality characteristic 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 was 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.^[27] 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 lectures 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 omnia qua habeam in scientiis laudabilia, quæ puto quam sint exigua, in unum quasi pilulam condensare et coaptare possem, quam vobis lubens afferrem, ut non magis honorificam de meipso sententiam extorqueam, quam ut vobis, quantum potero, prodessem.'^[28]

He had now saved about 500l.^[29] 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.^[30]

'At Oxford,' says Aubrey, 'he was beloved of all ingenious scholars,' his especial allies, besides Dr. Wilkins, 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.^[31]

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 Wadham,^[32] which was 'then the place of resort of virtuous and learned men.' 'The University,' says the earliest historian of the Royal 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 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 unimpassionate 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 themselves 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.'^[33]

In the spring of 1651, Dr. Petty obtained leave of absence from the college for two years, with an annual stipend of 30l. 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 Limerick. He, however, received the same appointment from Ireton's successors, General Lambert and General Fleetwood, at a salary of 365l., and 35l. out of 'the State's apotheca,' and without being debarred from private practice.^[34]

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 unprocurable, that it was hard to have any Hermetic thoughts in it.' The arrival of Dr. Petty was consequently very welcome 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 receptaculum chyli, made by the influence of the venæ lacteæ; 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.'^[35]

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 120l., he did save them 500l. 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 reorganisation 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;'^[36] and the Lord Deputy Fleetwood resolved to call on Dr. Petty to bring his scientific attainments and organising powers to aid in the vast undertaking.

 

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1. Bodleian Letters, ii. 481. The name of Petty is still common in the neighbourhood of Rumsey. Some details as to the Petty family will be found in ch. x., p. 315.
2. Petty MSS.
3. Bodleian Letters, ii. 482.
4. Petty MSS.
5. July 14, 1686, to Sir R. Southwell.
6. In several of the published copies of his will, e.g. in that contained in the Petty Tracts, published by Boulter Grierson, Dublin, 1769, and reprinted in Lodge's Peerage, 'Caen' is printed 'Oxford.' The original of the will is in the Registry of the Probate Court, Dublin. There is a copy at British Museum.
7. Andreas Vesalius, a celebrated Dutch anatomist, 1514-1564. His De Humaná corporis Fabricá was published in 1543. A complete edition of his writings appeared at Leyden, 1725.
8. Bodleian Letters, ii. 481. The 'Tractatus Opticus' was included in a collection of scientific tracts published by Marsin Mersen under the title of Cogitata Physico-Mathematica in 1644.
9. Pell's ' Letters and Papers,' Bibl. Birch, British Museum, 4278. Plut. cvii. d.
10. In the sense of the French ressentir, to be conscious of.
11. Bodleian Letters, ii. 481.
12. Seventh Report of the Hist. MSS. Commissioners, p. 11; Calendar of the House of Lords' Papers, February 25, 1648; Boyle's Works, v. 280.
13. Rushworth's Collections, ii. 1118.
14. 'The advice of W. P. to Mr. Samuel Hartlib for the advancement of some particular parts of learning.' Hartlib's name is well known to the readers of Milton's prose works.
15. The pamphlet is reprinted in the Harleian Miscellany, vol. vi.
16. Evelyn's Memoirs, iii. 131, 132.
17. Boyle's Works, v. 256-296.
18. Antony Petty was buried in Lothbury Church on October 18, 1649. The letter given below is among the Petty MSS.
19. Boyle's Works, v. 264.
20. Birch, Life of Boyle, p. 83.
21. Reflections, p. 17.
22. The De Cive was first printed in 1642, and published in 1647 at the Elzevir Press at Amsterdam. The English translation appeared in 1651 at the same time as the larger work, The Leviathan. On the views generally of Hobbes, and that he was in no sense the mere apologist of tyranny or absolute monarchy, see the remarks of John Austin, Jurisprudence, i. 249, note. On the juridical origin of the doctrine of the so-called Divine Right of Kings, see Maine, Ancient Law, p. 346.
23. Carlyle's Cromwell, i. 201-220, ed. 1846.
24. Bodleian Letters, ii. 483.
25. Wood's Fasti Oxon. ii.156. Hearne's Diary, Oxford edition, edited by W.C.E. Doble, i. 78. Wood says that Colonel Kelsey had been 'a godly button-maker' in London. He was afterwards promoted to several places of trust by Cromwell. An entry of September 12, 1650, in the college books, records Dr. Petty's election as a fellow of Brasenose.
26. Bodleian Letters, ii. 483.
27. See News from the Dead: or a true and exact narration of the miraculous deliverance of Ann Greene, Oxford 1651, reprinted in the Phoenix Britannicus, i. 233; Evelyn Memoirs, ii. 401; Bodleian Letters, ii. 483.
28. Notes of the Lecture, Petty MSS.; Wood, iv. 215.
29. Reflections, p. 17.
30. See Ward, Lives of the Professors of Gresham College, 1740, p. 218, article 'Petty.'
31. Sprat, History of the Royal Society, p. 55.
32. Birch, History of the Royal Society, i. 2; Life of Boyle, p. 84; Sprat, History of the Royal Society, pp. 53. In his will Sir William Petty, alluding to this period of his life, speaks of his connection with clubs of the 'Virtuosi.' This, in the printed copies, has been transformed into 'virtuous,' and W.L. Bevan observes that the author of the article 'Petty,' in Ersch and Grueber's Encyclopedia, founds on it a statement that Petty took an active part in the religious movements of the time.
33. Sprat, History of the Royal Society, pp. 55-56.
34. Will of Sir William Petty. See Appendix.
35. Boyle's Works, v. 242.
36. Down Survey, ch. i. pp. 1-3.