Page:Life of Sir William Petty 1623 – 1687.djvu/62

 for want of bounders.' He offered to accept payment either at the rate of 6l. per 1,000 acres, or a gross sum of 30,000l., out of which he was to pay expenses. 'Upon the fielde work, it being a matter of great drudgery to wade through bogs and water, climb rocks, fare and lodge hard,' he said he would instruct foot soldiers, to whom such hardships were familiar.

The committee reported that the plan was far superior to Worsley's, who confessed himself 'gravelled' at the Doctor offering to complete a task in thirteen months which he had calculated would last as many years.

Worsley, however, was not easily beaten, and, having influential supporters, obtained a further reference to the Committee of the Council, to which some fresh names were added at his suggestion. But, notwithstanding this attempt to pack the tribunal, the committee decided against him.

Their report was as follows:

'In obedience to your Honour's reference, dated the 10th instant, wee have taken into consideration the businesse concerning the management of the surveys, and after a full debate thereupon, doe humbly offer, upon the reasons mentioned in our first report, that the lands to be sett out for the payment of the army's arrears and other public debts, be surveyed down as is proposed by Dr. Petty.

'Dated the 16th of October, 1654. Signed in the name and by the appointment of the rest of the referees. '.'

The idea of a survey in the present day is indissolubly connected with the notion of a map; so much so that as a rule the name has come to be applied to the map itself which is the result of the survey, as much as to the preceding inquiries on which the map is founded. But the Civil Survey was simply a specification of lands, recorded in lists, with brief descriptive notes as to acreage and value, and partook of the character of what in modern days is called a