Page:William Petty - Economic Writings (1899) vol 1.djvu/222



The Political Anatomy of Ireland, together with the Political Arithmetick, are the products of Petty's second prolonged Irish residence, as the Down Survey of Ireland was the product of his first residence in that island. Petty went to Ireland in 1667 and seems to have remained there almost continuously until the summer of 1673. He was, however, in London in April 1671, and it is not improbable that at that time Sir Joseph Williamson gave the impulse to a renewal of his literary activity. The 17 January 1671, Edward Chamberlayne, compiler of The Present State of England, had written Williamson asking his criticism of the book, with a view to a new edition of it which the publisher, Martyn, desired. Williamson probably suggested the addition of some matter concerning Ireland, and Chamberlayne wrote again, 29 January, "To give a brief account of the present state of Ireland I shall, at your request, very willingly undertake." In an undated letter, endorsed by Williamson, "Apr. 1671," Chamberlayne wrote further, "I yesterday met with Sir William Petty whom I found very able to promote the Designe of giving an Account in Print of the State of Ireland as you desired. If you would please to speak or write to him and recommend me to him I will most gladly wayte upon him at his leisure ." The Calendar of State Papers, domestic series, for 1671 reveals no further mention of the project. The State Papers for 1672 were not calendared in August, 1895. In a necessarily hurried search I found no later letter by Chamberlayne but may have overlooked some memorandum of the matter in Williamson's