Page:Sir William Petty - A Study in English Economic Literature - 1894.djvu/43

44 meddle with it; I never had thanks for any public good I ever did. I am not forward to printing the Political Arithmetic, but do wish that what goeth abroad were compared with the copy in Sir R. Southwell's hands, which I corrected in 1679." The treatise on taxes to which he here refers was printed in 1662 anonymously. Petty's name does not appear on the title page until 1690. It is difficult to discover any great diversity in style, language, or in any other point between the "Bills" and Petty's authentic writings. Fortunately there is an effective way of testing this question. The first edition of the "Bills of Mortality" bears the date 1661. It was, however, probably published in $1661/1662$. The following passage from Pepys' "Diary," 24th March, 1662, throws some light on the date of its publication: "To Westminster Hall, and there bought Mr. Grant's book of observations upon the weekly bills of mortality." The "Treatise on Taxes" appeared in 1662. The two works were nearly coincident. The following parallel passages show a conspicuous similarity. The pages are quoted from the first editions of each book: