( 336 )
worke." On the 18th of December following he was, by an order in council of that date, "fully discharged." This "noble depository" would have been a curious relic, but it cannot now be found, having no doubt shared the destruction of the many more valuable matters, in the fire of 1711, at the Surveyor-General's office. That office is understood to have been near the old Custom-house on Essex-quay, in a building called "The Elephant," possibly from having before been an inn or shop with that sign. (Whitelaw and Walsh).
At page 179, the words "In June" ought to open a new paragraph, the petition closing and the narrative being resumed.
At page 181, thirteen lines from foot, "secluded" ought to be "excluded."
CHAPTER XIV.
Pages 184-211.
We now open a new page in the history of Dr. Petty. The great work of the "Downe admeasurement" being completed, the survey was to be applied systematically to the purpose for which it had been made. This purpose, indeed, had already been to some extent accomplished, but in a manner so irregular that it led to much subsequent confusion, and leaves no doubt it would have been effected more satisfactorily, if it had been possible either to defer the whole operation till the preliminary labours of the survey were complete, or wholly to have done it, pari passu, with that work, as originally intended; which latter, indeed, was clearly impracticable as a final settlement, though it would have caused less irregularity than the mode which, on the urgency of the parties, was adopted; because the whole lands and the whole survey were really the co-equal units, not any one county or barony with any one regiment or troop.
It was indeed fortunate that, even at this eleventh hour, the great abilities and knowledge of Dr. Petty were available; and the arrangements detailed in this chapter show the characteristics of his peculiar mind, and faculty of order.
The second paragraph of the chapter exhibits in a few words the general view which, with a master's eye, he took of the whole operation, as well that which was done, as what remained to be done. The whole forfeited land set aside for the army, was destined to pay the whole army debt at certain values, specified by the Act (as given in the notes to chapter V.), and it was necessary the whole should be cast or recast in one crucible, that all might share alike. Accordingly, setting aside the enhanced rates at which the debt of the former settled parties had been redeemed, their prayer for additional compensation, and the remonstrance of the army against it, he appears to have computed the claims of the whole army as if one uniform distribution had been made, and then considered each as having received or being about to receive such or such a "quota pars," in order to make up the deficient, and pare down the redundant, to the same rate in the pound on their respective claims.
In this there were of course many practical difficulties. The early settlements had been
