Ch. ix. in England (continued). 433 



the births during the twenty years, diminished 

 by the probable number of deaths abroad, which 

 in this case will be about 124,000, we shall have 

 the number 7,721,000 for the population of 1780, 

 instead of 7,953,000; and there is good reason to 

 believe that this is nearer the truth;* and that not 

 only in 1780, but in many of the intermediate pe- 

 riods, the estimate from the births has represented 

 the population as greater, and increasing more 

 irregularly, than would be found to be true, if re- 

 course could be had to enumerations. This has 

 arisen from the proportion of births to the popu- 

 lation being variable, and, on the whole, greater 

 in 1780, and at other periods during the course of 

 the twenty years, than it was in 1800. 



In 1795, for instance, the population is repre- 

 sented to be 9,055,000, and in 1800, 9,168,000 ;| 

 but if we suppose the first number to be correct, 

 and add the excess of the births above the deaths 

 in the five intervening years, even without making 

 any allowance for omissions in the registers, we 

 shall find that the population in 1800 ought to 

 have been 9,398,000, instead of 9,168,000; or if 

 we take the number returned for 1800 as correct, 

 it will appear, by subtracting from it the excess of 

 births during the five preceding years, that the 

 population in 1795 ought to have been 8,825,000, 



* The very small difference between the population of 1/80 and 

 1785, as given in the table, seems strongly to imply that one of 

 the two estimates is erroneous. 



"f" Population Abstracts, 1811. Preliminary View, p. xxv. 

 VOL. I. F F 



