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NOTE ON THE “FIVE ESSAYS.” - Sir William Petty, The Economic Writings of Sir William Petty, vol. 2 [1681]

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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NOTE ON THE “FIVE ESSAYS.”

Vendredy au soir.

Ce billet est pour vous supplier Monsieur de ne vouloir pas mettre l'endroit de la lettre de Monsieur Auzout ou il parle de celuy qui luy a dit qu'il n'y a que vingt quatre mil maisons parceque cecileur nuirait a tous deux et on me reprocherait d'estre cause de leur malheur. on est si delicat en france que la moindre chose qu'on trove disadvantageuse au pays chocque les gens ou les rend suspects. il faut mettre qu'on a dit a Monsieur Auzout qu'il n'y avait que vingt quatre mil maisons sans nommer celuy qui luy a dit. Vous en pouuez deuiner la raison. J'attends ce plaisir la de votre bonte et suis Vostre tres humble et tres obeissant serviteur

Justel.

For Mr Edmond Halley to be left with Mr Henry Hunt at Gresham College in bishopgatestreet London.

Accordingly no extract from Auzout's letter was published with Petty's three papers.

The Five Essays were published in English and French on opposite pages, each version having its own pagination. The French, here omitted, is a fairly close translation of the English. They were reviewed in Leclerc's Bibliotheque universelle et historique, VIII. Mars, 1688.