JOHN GRAUNT AND HIS BILLS OF MORTALITY

摘要

I N 1662, John Graunt, a citizen of London, addressed to the Right Honourable Baron Roberts, Lord Privie-Seal, his "Natural and Political Observations," based upon Bills of Mortality as they were called. The preface in its fulsome adulation of his lordship falls little short of what would now be accepted as satisfactory if of a Sunday it were offered by a worshiper in church. But let that pass, for his Te Deum can be read in the original if you care to spend the time. There is also an epistle by the same author, dedicated to Sir Robert Moray, Privy Council for the Kingdom of Scotland. Graunt himself winds up by saying that he ought to have dedicated his book to the King, that "Prince of Philosophers and Learning," save that his own name was not fit to be mentioned in the same breath with the name of His Most Sacred Majesty. Mind you, this divine creature was no other than Charles the Second!