Page:William Petty - Economic Writings (1899) vol 1.djvu/104

4 We can, therefore, bring the two passages into harmony by assuming that Petty wrote his preface, above quoted, in April, when he expected Ormond to go to Ireland at once, and that the Treatise was published in May, 1662.

Four editions of the Treatise were issued during Petty's lifetime. Of these it is probable that the first alone was authorized by him. The second (1667) was printed at London during his absence in Ireland, and the edition of 1679 seems to have been issued against his expressed wishes. On the 29th May, 1678, he wrote to Aubrey, "As for the Reprinting the Booke of Taxes I will not meddle with it. I never had thanks for any publick good I ever did, nor doe I owne any such booke ." And on the 5th October following, in a letter to Sir Robert Southwell, he again expressed his unwillingness to have the Treatise reprinted. The edition of 1685, being but a re-issue, with a new title-page, of the sheets printed in 1679, is of no independent authority. The first edition, here reprinted, must, therefore, be esteemed the most authentic of the four, and although no MS. has been found, the language of the preface gives assurance that it was not set forth without the author's approval. The edition is anonymous. The first public recognition of its authorship which I have noted occurs in the " Suppliment " to Brief Considerations concerning Trade and the Interest of Money. By J[osiah] C[hild]. London, Elizabeth Calvert, 1668.