OF ANDREW YARRANTON, THE FOUNDER OF ENGLISH POLITICAL ECONOMY. EDINBURGH: M.DCCC.LIV. 210. m. 124. ACCOUNT OF ANDREW YARRANTON, THE FOUNDER OF ENGLISH POLITICAL ECONOMY. BY PATRICK E. DOVE, ESQ. Appended to "ELEMENTS OF POLITICAL SCIENCE," &C. [As the Theory of Rent, advanced in this work, is based on the fact, "That the rent-value of a country depends on the proportional amount of the non-agricultural labours of the whole population," I have appended the following dissertation, which will serve two purposes,-first, it will prove that the theory is borne out by historic fact; and, second, it will give the reader some account of the genuine founder of English political economy. Andrew has been almost forgotten; let us restore to him at least some of those honours which are duly his, and which have been so lavishly bestowed on less deserving men.-Note to the "Elements of Political Science."] ANDREW YARRANTON, Gentleman, was the founder of English Political Economy, the first man in England who saw and said that peace was better than war, that trade was better than plunder, that honest industry was better than martial greatness, and that the best occupation of a government was to secure prosperity at home, and to let other nations alone. In the present treatise, I propose to give the reader a short account of his doings and his doctrines. But first, I shall say a word on his book, with its many titles. The volume is a small quarto of 195 pages, with no less than three separate dedications, a prefatory Epistle, and a valedictory address to the reader. It was licensed by Roger L'Estrange, October 4, 1676, and the copy in our possession has on the title page J. Rex, written in ink, and partly erased with a knife. It may therefore have been perused by James II. himself. The title in full is as follows: England's improvement by sea and land. To outdo the Dutch without fight ing. To pay debts without moneys. To set at work all the poor of England with the growth of our own lands. To prevent un necessary suits of law; with the benefit of a voluntary register. Directions where vastquantities of timber are to be had for the building of ships, with the advantage of making the great rivers of England navigable. Rules to prevent fires in London, and other great cities; with directions how the several companies of handicraftsmen in London may always have cheap bread and drink. By Andrew Yarranton, Gent. London, printed for the author, &c., 1677.” In style, the book is as multifarious as the questions of which it treats: we have a little bit of autobiography, and a certain amount of dissertation; a few voyages and travels, with the preamble of a proposed act of parliament; a dialogue "betwixt a clothier, a woollen-draper, and a country yeoman;" a little of "theorick," and a little of "practick;" some ethic, some agriculture, and some considerations regarding rats and mice. The worthy Andrew, in fact, seems to have thought that when once in the garden of literature, it was only fair that he |