Page:Life of Sir William Petty 1623 – 1687.djvu/24

 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.' 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.'