The life of Sir William Petty, 1623-1687 : one of the first Fellows of the Royal Society, sometime secretary to Henry Cromwell, maker of the 'Down Survey' of Ireland, author of 'Political Arithmetic' &c. : chiefly derived from private documents hitherto unpublished / by Lord Edmond Fitzmaurice.

  • Fitzmaurice, Edmond George Petty-Fitzmaurice, Baron, 1846-1935.
Date:
1895
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The life of Sir William Petty, 1623-1687 : one of the first Fellows of the Royal Society, sometime secretary to Henry Cromwell, maker of the 'Down Survey' of Ireland, author of 'Political Arithmetic' &c. : chiefly derived from private documents hitherto unpublished / by Lord Edmond Fitzmaurice. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    the second is in the Library at Bowood ; the third is in the Library of King’s Inn, Dublin. It is from these MSS. that ‘ The History of the Down Survey,’ edited with notes by Sir Thomas Larcom for the Irish Archaeological Society, was printed (Dublin, 1851), and the references are to that volume, the notes and appendices to which are of great value, from their combination of historical knowledge with a perfect acquaintance with the details of the practice of the art of surveying. (2) ‘ Deflections on some Persons and Things in Ireland,’ which purports to be a correspondence between Dr. Petty and a ‘ candid friend,’ but the whole of which is the work of Dr. Petty himself. It is a more popular account of the events with which ‘ The History of the Down Survey ’ deals in detail. (3) ‘ A Brief Account of the most Material Passages relating to the Survey managed by Dr. Petty in Ireland, anno 1655-1656.’ This tract is reprinted in Sir Thomas Larcom’s work, pp. xiii.-xvii., as an introduc- tion to the ‘ History of the Survey.’ (4) ‘ The Report to the Council of the Survey of the Soldiers’ Lands,’ of which only a small and imperfect fragment exists among the Petty MSS. * at Bowood. The MSS. of Sir Robert Southwell passed into the hands of the De Clifford family, and were sold in 1834. The copy of the ‘ Down Survey ’ in that collection was bought by Mr. James Weale, of the Office of Woods, and at his death by the Government. It was subsequently presented to Trinity College, Dublin. The copy at Bowood was removed to England from Shelburne House, Dublin, where it was seen in 1777. In the British Museum is a valuable MS. volume from the Library in Dublin, which belonged to the late Dr. Nelligan. Besides a copy of the ‘Political Anatomy’ it contains the