At sea he appears to have been ill-treated by the sailors and finally abandoned by them on the French coast near Caen, with a broken leg, in a small inn. The tale of his sufferings was explained by him in Latin, and by the time he had recovered, the whole society of Caen had heard of his adventures, and was wondering at the precocious ability of the English cabin boy. As soon as he was able to move, he was sent for by an officer who, having served with distinction in the Civil Wars of France, was desirous of knowing something of naval tactics also. These young Petty contrived to expound in Latin, to the satisfaction of his employer. A gentleman of rank desirous of visiting the English coast, but unacquainted with the language, next employed him as teacher, and paid him well enough to enable him to buy a suit of clean linen. 'Vestibus irradio nitidis' is the triumphant record of this transaction in some Latin verses containing a sketch of his early life and adventures.[1]
Determining to abandon the sea, he entered himself at a private school at Caen, but did not fail to discover that the education offered by the Jesuits' College was the best to be had. It was the habit of the students from all the Colleges to bathe in the river which runs through the promenades which surround the town. Here William Petty met and made acquaintance with many of the Jesuit students. The result was an offer on the part of the Fathers to take the young Englishman as a pupil, on condition that their attempts on his religion should be confined to prayers for his conversion: an offer which he accepted.
The following letter, written long after, contains a sketch of his adventures at this period:
'Piccadilly, 14 July, 1686.
'Deare Cozen,—The next part of my answer to yours of the 10th inst. is, (1) How I gott the shilling I mentioned to have had at Xmas, 1636: which was by 6d I got of a country Squire for showing him a pretty trick on the cards, which begot the other 6d fairly won at cards. (2) How this
- ↑ Petty MSS.
