Page:Life of Sir William Petty 1623 – 1687.djvu/256

 But Mr. Sedgwick and Mr. Waite in their turn might have found consolation in the still more sad prognostications which were current exactly a century before, when men were declaring that 'the whole kingdom grew every day poorer and poorer, and that formerly it abounded with gold, but that now there was a scarcity of gold and silver; that there was neither trade nor employment for the people; and yet that the land was under-peopled; that taxes were many and great; that Ireland and the plantations in America were a burthen; that Scotland was of no advantage; that trade was decaying; that the Dutch were outstripping us as a naval power: and that we only owed it to the clemency of the French that they did not swallow us; and that both the Church and State were in the same state of decay as the trade of the country,' with many other equally dismal comments on the condition of the nation.

To these prophets the 'Political Arithmetick,' notwithstanding the acknowledgment by the author of the existence of many dangers, was a rejoinder. There is another side to the picture, the author says. The buildings of London grow great and glorious; the American plantations employ four hundred sail of ship; shares in the East India Company are nearly double the principal money; those who can give good security may have money under the statutory interest; materials for builders—even oaken timbers—are little the dearer, some are cheaper, for the rebuilding of London; the Exchange seems as full of merchants as formerly; much land has been improved, and the price of food is so reasonable that men refuse to have it cheaper by admitting Irish cattle; no more beggars exist in the streets, nor are executed for thieves than heretofore; the number of coaches and the splendour of equipages exceeds former times; the public theatres are very magnificent. The King has a greater navy and stronger guards than before our calamities; the clergy are rich and the cathedrals in repair; and that some are poorer than others, ever was and ever will be, and that many are naturally querulous and envious is an evil as old as the world.