Page:Life of Sir William Petty 1623 – 1687.djvu/193

 astrum." Could such a Monk, such an object as I am, think that Sir Wm 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 impossible, 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, according to his opinion, was the great requisite in life. There was 'much boggy ground in this world;' but he was ready to fight all his enemies to the bitter end, whether on firm ground or the opposite, whether they were his ancient foes of the Sankey type, who under the ægis 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, sometimes 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.' 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