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[CHAPTER II.]: Of People, Houses, and Smoaks; their Number, Differences, and Values. - Sir William Petty, The Economic Writings of Sir William Petty, vol. 1 [1662]

Edition used:

The Economic Writings of Sir William Petty, together with The Observations upon Bills of Mortality, more probably by Captain John Graunt, ed. Charles Henry Hull (Cambridge University Press, 1899), 2 vols.

Part of: The Economic Writings of Sir William Petty, 2 vols.

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[CHAPTER II.]

Of People, Houses, and Smoaks; their Number, Differences, and Values.

lf0605-01_figure_015

1

VIZ.

Of the People, there are English200,000
Of Papists800,000
Of Non-Papists300,000
Scots100,000
Irish800,000
——
32,200,000

2

Such as have no fix'd Hearths, are160,000
Such as have but one Chimney24,000
Such as have more than one16,000

Of Smoaks.

The Single-Smoak-houses, are ut supra184,000
lf0605-01_figure_017

1

And of Smiths Forges, near the same number, or rather ⅕ more.

A more particular Account of the Houses in Ireland, which have more than one Chimney, viz.

The Castle of Dublin hath Chimneys125
The Earl of Meath's House in Dublin27
   The Houses of Dublin which have above 10, are164

2The Number of Coaches, besides Hackneys, near the same Number, or rather fewer.

There be (ut supra) 160,000 Cabins without Chimneys, whose worth are not reckoned; but as for the others, we rate as follows, viz. Houses of ‖

1 Chimny24000 at 5 l. each120,000l.
of 2, and 3,6800 at 40 l.272,000l.
4, 5, 6,5600 at 100 l.560,000l.
7, 8, 9,2500 at 300l.750,000l.
10, 11, 12,700 at 600l.420,000l.
———
2,522,0003

3

For 20 Transcendental-houses, per estimate78,000
———
Total2,600,000
lf0605-01_figure_018
      To the English2,275,000
There are of Non-papists in Dublin28,000
In the other Cities, Towns, Corporations, &c.72,000
In the Country100,000
———
12,000,000

1

There is in Nature but one in 500 at most who are Blind, Lame, and under incurable Impotence; so as not above 2000 in Ireland, whom 12000l.2 would maintain without Scandal. ‖

lf0605-01_figure_019
The said number of Impotents2000
The number of Soldiers3000
———
280,000
lf0605-01_figure_020
People in all1100 M.
Of above 6 years old704
16462
26297
36198
46132
5688
66771

1

So as there are in Ireland fit for Trade2780,000
which are Imployed as followeth, viz.

2

lf0605-01_figure_021

3

By the other side42220,000

4

lf0605-01_figure_022
Smiths as by account, Men and Women15,000
  Their Servants to the Trade57,500
Taylors and their Wives45,000
Carpenters and Masons, and their Wives10,000
Shoemakers and their Wives20,000
and Servants2500
Millers and their Wives1600 ‖
Workers of Wooll and their Wives.30,0001
Tanners and Curriers, and their Wives.10,000
———
331,6002

5

1

2

lf0605-01_figure_023

Memorandum, That in Dublin, where are but 4000 Families, there are at one time 1180 Ale-houses, and 91 publick Brew-houses, viz. near ⅓ of the whole; it seems, that in Ireland, there being 200 M. Families, that about 60 M. of them should use the same Trade.

lf0605-01_figure_024 lf0605-01_figure_025

In order to Money and Universal Wealth Local Wealth, or Universal Wealth

lf0605-01_figure_026
Fortifying the City of Dublin30,000
Building a new Palace for the chief Governour.20,000
Making there a Mold for Shipping.15,000
lf0605-01_figure_027
Building of 100 Churches, at 200 l. each20,000
lf0605-01_figure_028

In order to Money and Universal Wealth.

For Ten Thousand Tuns of Shipping100,000
lf0605-01_figure_029

3

[2]On the hearth money in Ireland see a note to chap. II of the Polit. Arith.

[2]See note on p. 142

[Note to last line of p. 144 :]

lf0605-01_figure_016 The editors of the 1691 and 1719 eds., by an obvious blunder, made the total 2,200,000. Neither here nor elsewhere does Petty make use of the returns of the census taken in 1659, though it is probable that he once had the figures of that enumeration for nearly the whole of Ireland. The population at that time has been calculated at 500,091, of whom about one fifth were Englishmen or Scotsmen. Hardinge in Trans. R. I. Acad., xxiv., Antiquities, 317–328. If these figures are correct, Petty unquestionably overestimated the population of Ireland, both here and when, at a later date, he increased his estimate to ‘about 1,200,000 people’ and ‘near 300,000 hearths,’ and still later to 1,300,000. Polit. Arith., chap. II, and the Treatise of Ireland. Subsequent investigations have thrown but little additional light upon the correctness of his figures. The next estimate is for the year 1696. Calculating from the poll tax returns in three counties and in the city of Dublin, Capt. Sough set the population of Ireland at 1,034,102. ‘An Account of the Number of People in Ireland,’ Philos. Trans., 1700, no. 261, vol.xxii., p. 520. Nearly a century later Mr G P. Bushe, commissioner of revenue, published in the Trans. of the R. I. Academy, iii., Science, 145–155, his ‘Essay towards ascertaining the Population of Ireland.’ Bushe points out that the returns of hearth money before 1686 were very defective, 200,000 houses being added by Ormond's reform in that year. He thinks that the houses must have been more numerous in 1672 thatn Petty makes them, and intimates that Petty's calculation of the population also is too small. But Thomas Newsham, an investigator quite as careful as Bushe, is of the contrary opinion. “Whether Sir William Petty overrated the population of Ireland in 1672, it is impossible now to determine. That he did not underrate it we may consider as certan.” An Historical and Statistical Inqutry into the Progress and Magnitude of the Population of Ireland (1805), p. 89.

[1]‘165, M’ should be ‘16 M,’ and is so corrected in S.

[2]1719 omits this paragraph.

[3]This footing falls, both in S and in the first edition, in the middle of a page, where it is superfluous. It may have originated in a MS. which was the arche-type of S as well as of the first edition. Cf. note 4, p. 145.

[1]‘2,000,000’ appears to be a misprint for ‘200,000,’ the reading of S. But on p. 142 Petty found 300,000 ‘Non-Papists’ in Ireland. See also p. 148.

[2]Cox, ‘he allows 120001 to 2000 Impotents & pag 60 [of the MS., p. 189 of this ed.] but 80001.’

[1]Had Petty adopted Graunt's table [Observations, ch. XI.] without modification, his figures would have been 704, 440, 275, 176, 110, 66, 33. The figures actually used correspond more nearly to the probable mortality of Ireland at the time, but there is no indication of the reasons which led Petty to substitute them for Graunt's (or his own) 'six mean proportional numbers.’

[2]

In the margin of S,‘1,100,000
320,000’

[3]Cox, ‘6,000,000 of black Cattle or their equivalent is more yn all Ireland will feed vide pag 42’ [of the MS., p. 175 of this ed.].

[4]This line stands at the top of folio 10 in S and repeats the total (‘220,000,’ one line above) from the bottom of folio 9 (misnumbered 13). In the first edition both lines fall (as here) in the middle of a page where they are superfluous. Cf. note 3, p. 143.

[5]Cox, 'smiths 15000 and their servts but 7500: whereas of all Trades Smiths doe most need a servt to help: It is indeed a two handed trade yt cannot be without a servt: ergo there should be as many Servts as Smiths.’ But Petty allows a servant to each smith, though none to the smiths’ wives.

[1]Cox, ‘Workers of Wool & their wives are x times as many as are computed it being comon for one bagmaker to Imploy 1000 Spinners weavers &c. There are also three times as many Carpenters and Masons as he mentions.’

[2]S, 1691, ‘331,600,’ 1719, ‘364,600,’ which is the correct footing.

[3]Making the corrections indicated, Petty's ‘employments’ foot up to £2,384,833. 6s. 8d. as against £2,380,000 of employments required.