18 
PET 
PET 
cuffes all the topics conne&ed with national wealth and 
improvement, with the particular view of pointing out 
the means of augmenting the power and profperity of 
England. The ftate of Ireland is confidered in fome of 
his other pieces, particularly in a treatife on taxes and 
contributions, which palled through feveral editions. 
Some of his papers inferred in the Philofophical Tranfac- 
tions are on mathematical fubjefls, and fome on che- 
miftry, as it was then known. The uncommon activity 
and vigour of his mind are ftrikingly difplayed by the 
great variety of the produ&ions of his pen, while at the 
fame time he was indefatigable in bufinefs, and in the 
improvement of his fortune. With this view he efta- 
blilhed upon his Irilh eftates iron-works and filheries, 
opened lead-mines, and carried on a large timber-trade. 
He was of great fervice to the poor, by providing them 
with employment, in which he juftly thought the moll 
ufeful charity towards them confided. Having thus 
ufefully occupied the term of exiftence allotted to him, 
he was cut off by a gangrene in his foot, the confequence 
of a gouty fwelling, in the 65th year of his age, Decem¬ 
ber 1687, at his houfe in Weltminfter ; and was buried in 
his native town of Rumfey. 
Sir William Petty was regarded as a perfon of great 
worth, as well as extraordinary talents and acquire¬ 
ments. Of his religious opinions he thus fpeaks in his 
hall will: “ I die in the profeffion of that faith, and in the 
praflice of fuch worlhip, as I find eftablifiled by the laws 
of my country: not being able to believe what I myfelf 
pleafe ; nor to worlhip God better than by doing as I 
would be done unto, and obferving the laws of ray 
country, and exprelfingmy love and honour to Almighty 
God by fuch figns and tokens as are underftood to be 
fuch by the people with whom I live, God knowing my 
heart even without any at all.” 
The widow of fir William (daughter of fir Hardrefs 
Waller) was created Baronefs of Shelburne in 1688. 
Three children alfo furvived fir William ; viz. Charles, 
who fucceeded to his mother in the barony of Shelburne, 
and dying without iffue the title became extinfh But in 
June 1669, it was revived in Henry, the fecond fon ; and 
in 1718-19, king George I. advanced him to the further 
titles of Vifcount Dunkeron and Earl of Shelburne. He 
died in 1751, immenfely rich. The prefent Earl of Shel¬ 
burne and Marquis of Lanfdown is great-grandfon of 
Anne the only daughter of fir William Petty, who mar¬ 
ried Thomas Fitzmaurice baron Kerry, created in 1722 
Earl of Kerry. See the article Heraldry, vol. ix. p. 482. 
PETTY BAG', an office in chancery; the three clerks 
of which record the return of all inquifitions out of every 
county, and make all patents of comptrollers, gaugers, 
cuftomers, &c. 
PETTY CONSTABLE. See Constable. 
PETTY HAR'BOUR, a bay on the eaft coaft of New¬ 
foundland. Lat. 47. 30. N. Ion. «. 20. W. 
PETTY MAD'DER. See Crucianella. 
PETTY PAT'EE, f. among confeflioners, a fort of 
finall pie or tart, made of a rich cruft filled with fweet- 
meats 
PETTY SIN'GLES, f. in falconry, the toes of a hawk. 
PETTY WHIN'. See Genista and Ononis. 
FET'TYCHAPS, f. A kind of wagtail; called in fome 
parts of the north the beam-bird, from its nefting under 
beams in buildings. See Motacilla, vol. xvi. p. 79. 
PETTYCUR', a harbour and landing-place from 
Leith, on the coaft of Fife, in Scotland, a little to the weft 
of Kinghorn. 
PET'ULANCE, or Petulancy, /. [ petulance , Fr. 
from petulantia, Lat.] Saucinefs ; peeviffinefs ; wanton- 
nefs.--Wife men knew that which looked like pride in 
fome, and lik e petulance in others, would, by experience 
in affairs and converfation amongft men, be in time 
wrought off. Clarendon.— It was excellently faid of that 
philofopher, that there was a wall or parapet of teeth fet 
in our mouth, to reftrain the petulancy of our words. 
B. Jonfon. —There appears in our age a pride and petu¬ 
lancy in youth, zealous to call off the fentiments of their 
fathers and teachers. Watts's Logic. 
PET'ULANT, adj. Saucy; perverfe; abufive.—Many 
are of to petulant a fpleen, and have that figure <c farcaf- 
mus” fo often in their mouths, fo bitter, fo foolifh, that 
they cannot fpeak, but they muft bite. Burton's Anat. of 
Mel. —If the opponent fees viftory to incline to his fide, 
let him (how the force of his argument, without too im¬ 
portunate and petulant demands of an anfwer. Watts .— 
Wanton ; licentious.—The tongue of a man is Co petulant, 
and his thoughts fo variable, that one ffiould not lay too 
great ftrefs upon any prefent fpeeches and opinions. 
Spedator. 
PETULAN'TIUM FES'TUM, a feftival celebrated by 
the Athenians and Lacedaemonians in honour of the 
Moon, under the name of Venus: at which the men af- 
fifted dreffed in women’s clothes, and the women in the 
habits of men. 
PET'ULANTLY, adv. With petulance; with faucy 
pertnefs.—It is the molt enormous faucinefs that can be 
imagined, to fpeak petulantly or pertly concerning him 
[God.] Burrow. —Wantonly; licentioufly : 
My flowery wreaths they petulantly fpoil, 
And rob my chryftal lamps of feeding oil. Parnell. 
PE'TUM, f. in botany. See Nicotiana.^ 
PETUNG',/. A name given by the Chinefe to their 
white copper, which hasabeautifulfilver-like appearance, 
and a very clofe grain. It takes a fine poliffi ; and many 
articles of neat workmanlhip, in imitation of filver, are 
made from it. An accurate analyfis has determined it to. 
confift of copper, zinc, a little filver, and in fome fpeci- 
mens a few particles of iron and of nickel have been 
found. The artifts at Canton, in making their pe-tung, 
reduce the copper into as thin Iheets or laminae as poffible, 
which they make red-hot, ipereafing the fire to fuch a 
pitch, as to foften, in fome degree, the laminae, and to 
make them almoft ready to flow. In this ftate they are 
fufpended over the vapour of their pureft tutenag, or zinc, 
placed in a fubliming veffel over a brilk fire. The vapour 
thus penetrates the heated laminae of the copper, fo as to 
remain fixed with it, and not to be eafiiy diffipated or cal¬ 
cined by the fucceeding fufion it has to undergo. The 
whole is fuffered to cool gradually, and is then found to 
be of a brighter colour, and of a clofer grain, than when 
prepared in the European way. Macartney's Embajfy, by 
Staunton, vol. ii. 
PETUNTSE', or, as it is ufually called Petun'se, / 
One of the two fubftances of which the porcelain ware of 
China is made. The other is named kaolin. See the ar¬ 
ticle Porcelain. 
PET'WORTH, a market-town in the rape of Arundel, 
and county of Suffex, is fituated on a fmall branch of the 
river Arun, five miles from Midhurfr, and forty-nine 
miles fouth-weft by fouth from London. Its feite is con¬ 
fidered very falubrious ; and the houfes are well built, 
though the ftreets are irregular. The living is one of the 
richeft in the county, (about 1000I. a year,) and in the 
gift of the earl of Egremont- The church, in which are 
interred the remains of many of the Percies, earls of Nor¬ 
thumberland, is built of ftone, and has a fquare tower ; 
but there are no monuments worthy of notice, except 
two very ancient tombs, the one completely defaced, the 
other in a very dilapidated ftate. In the centre of the 
town is a handfome market-houfe of ftone, adorned at 
one end with a bull of William III. The lower part con- 
fifts of piazzas, with an open fpace for the market, over 
which is the room where the quarter-feffions are held. 
Clofe to the church-yard is a charity-fchool, for the edu¬ 
cation of twenty boys, and the fame number of girls, 
founded by the Rev. Mr. Taylor, who alfo left donations 
of twelve pounds a-year to each of two clergymen’s wi¬ 
dows of the neighbourhood, and fix pounds each to two 
poor tradefmen, to affift them in bufinefs. The alms- 
v houfes. 
