Page:Life of Sir William Petty 1623 – 1687.djvu/157

 now had to agree to give up one-third of their lands, on condition of receiving an absolute title to the remainder; 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 arrangements 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.'

The Act of Settlement by the 43rd section formally acknowledged the debt due to Sir William, and the 101st clause confirmed him in the property actually held by him on May 7, 1659. 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 Explanation 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.' 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,' 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