Page:Life of Sir William Petty 1623 – 1687.djvu/84

 these lands being the equivalent of a sum of 2,000l. due to him. The result of all these payments was a net sum of 9,000l.

The maps of the forfeited lands comprised in the army allotments had been completed very close upon the period of thirteen months from February 1, 1655, to which, under his agreement, Dr. Petty was limited; but as he had asked time to make the record complete, the official deposit did not take place till June 24, 1657, when 'all the books with the respective mapps, well drawne and adorned, being fairly engrossed, bound up, indexed and distinguished, were placed in a noble repository of carved worke and so delivered into the Exchequer.'

Fresh difficulties, however, now arose. Many of the officers refused to take up their allotments, hoping that if the adventurers' claims were settled first, the army would obtain a better result by claiming the residue in what were known as the 'dubious lands,' than if their own claims were satisfied first, as was now proposed, and the earlier allottees refused to give up anything. Their eyes were also still fixed on the rich lands in County Louth, which many hoped to obtain instead of allotments in the desolate regions of Kerry.

At length it was agreed, on the suggestion of the Lord Deputy, that in order to get the matter forward, Dr. Petty should go to England and meet the committee of the adventurers. He was also entrusted with the care of handing over