Page:Life of Sir William Petty 1623 – 1687.djvu/35

 cordial reception, and Petty dedicated the copying machine, or 'Instrumentum Pettii,' as it was termed, to him.

In 1648 he entered into an agreement with John Holland of Deptford, as a partner for three years. Holland was to find the money and Petty the brains. The partnership was to be confined, at least in the first instance, to the development of 'such adventures as Petty had perfected and knew the correctness of, for public good and private advantage,' more particularly the double writing instrument, a machine for printing several columns at once, a scheme for making a great bridge without any support on the river over which it stands, and other undertakings of the same kind. But there is no record of what the partnership effected.

In October 1649, Antony Petty, who shared the mechanical genius of his brother and was evidently a congenial spirit, died. The following letter from William Petty to his cousin John, written at the time, shows the difficulties he had to contend with and his desire to assist his family: —

'It hath been alwayes my desire and endeavour to help my friends, but it pleased God so to order my fortunes and successes, that as yet I have beene never able to doe much for any of them, how neer so ever they were unto mee, and how great so ever their need was. That "little helpe" which I have done to some of them, I did but by little and little, and with as little hindrance as I possibly could to myselfe, because, God knows, a little hindrance would have made me unable to helpe either myselfe or them any more.

'My poor brother being departed this life and consequently needing no more of my helpe, I have thought good to propound unto you those considerations, which I have had long in my mind, and wishes of bettering, for a little at leastwise, that uncomfortable condition wherein you live. Now, as I said before, and as I protest before God, the truth is, beeing