Page:Sir William Petty - A Study in English Economic Literature - 1894.djvu/35

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36
Sir William Petty.
[406

14 This faculty of imitation also noticed by Evelyn, vol. ii, p. 96.


15 Evelyn, ii, p. 97. "He could never get favour at Court, because he outwitted all the projectors that came near him."


16 This double-keeled boat is referred to several times in Pepys' "Diary," pp. 31, 87, 89, 193, 210; also in Evelyn's "Diary," i, 358, 378-387; ii, 95.


17 Pepys' "Diary," vol. ii, 89. Petty had a small opinion of the "Religio Medici" and the "Hudibras." He could hardly be expected to sympathize with either work. In his manuscript directions to his sons he advises them to read Aristotle's "Rhetoric," Hobbes's "De Cive," Justinian, and the Common Law. In a letter to Boyle[1] he discourages reading.


18 The following account of the latter part of Petty's life may supplement the scanty information given by Aubrey. Petty's interests in his earlier pursuits revived with his retirement from public life. Hartlib hoped that he would make some practical use of his "Tractate on Education." He had talked of spending a part of his fortune in carrying out his educational schemes.[2] At least there was now an opportunity for again taking up the neglected "History of Trade." The meetings of the Philosophical Club,

  1. Works, vi, 138.
  2. Cf. Evelyn's "Correspondence," iii, 131.