in good earnest, an enthusiast, and almost beside himself. Then he would fall out of it into a serious discourse; but it was very rarely he would be prevailed upon to oblige the company with the faculty, and that only amongst most intimate friends. My Lord D. of Ormond once obtained it of him, and was almost ravished with admiration; but by and by he fell upon a serious reprimand of the faults and miscarriages of some Princes and Governors, which, though he named none, did so sensibly touch the Duke, who was then Lieutenant of Ireland, that he began to be very uneasy, and wished the spirit layed, which he had raised; for he was neither able to endure such truths, nor could he but be delighted. At last he turned his discourse to a ridiculous subject, and came down from the joint-stool on which he had stood, but my lord would not have him preach any more.'[1]
Sir William was now the father of two children: John, born in February 1669; and a daughter. But in 1670 both son and daughter died, apparently of small-pox, in Dublin. From this time forward Lady Petty evinced a great and natural dislike to the idea of returning to the Irish capital. The fate of her two children is alluded to in a letter from Sir William to Lady Petty in 1671. 'I did not forget upon the 17th and 18th,' he says, 'to commemorate the translation of our dear children; but without any regret or chagrin, and with much pleasant contemplation upon their blessed estate and condition, practicing as well as I could how to resign our best things to the disposure of God and to acquiesce perfectly in his will. I hope you have done the same and no more.'[2]
In 1672 Lady Petty had another daughter, Anne.
Sir William to Lady Petty.
'Dublin: 13° July 1672.
'I hope, my Dearest, That this will find you safely delivered, the news whereof will be of all others most welcome. I
