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372
Graunt's Observations.

of square Miles, produces 6400000[1] Souls in all London included.

3. There are about 10000 Parishes in England and Wales, the which, although they should not contain the 13 part of the Land, nor the 14 of the People of that Country-Pa-|61|rish, which we have examined, yet may be supposed to contain about 600 People, one with another: according to which Account there will be six Millions of People in the Nation. I might add, that there are in England and Wales about five and twenty Millions of Acres at 1612 Foot to the Perch; and if there be six Millions of People, then there is about four Acres for every head, which how well it agrees to the Rules of Plantation, I leave unto others, not only as a means to examine my Assertion, but as an hint to their enquiry concerning the fundamental Trade, which is Husbandry, and Plantation.

4. Upon the whole matter we may therefore conclude, That the People of the whole Nation do increase, and consequently the decrease of Winchester, Lincoln, and other like places, must be attributed to other Reasons, than that of re-furnishing London only.

5. We come to shew, why although in the Country the Christenings exceed the Burials, yet in London they do not. The general Reason of this must be, that in London the proportion of those subject to die, unto those capable of breeding, is greater than in the Country; That is, let there be an hundred Persons in London, and as many in the Country; we say, that, if there be sixty of them |62| Breeders in London, there are more than sixty in the Country, or else we must say, that London is more unhealthful, or that it inclines Men and Women more to Barrenness, than the Country: which by comparing the Burials and Christenings of Hackney, Newington, and the other Country-Parishes, with the most Smoky and Stinking parts of the City, is scarce discernible in any considerable degree.

6. Now that the Breeders in London are proportionably

  1. In fact 6,435,000.