John A. Taylor is Professor of History at Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville. He has also taught in Japan and Russia as a Fulbright scholar. Among his other books are British Monarchy, English Church Establishment, and Civil Liberty (Greenwood, 1996) and Diana, Self-Interest, and British National Identity (Praeger, 2000).

Taylor sets out to defend King, whose work he admires and whose methods he believes were remarkably effective considering the limitations and unreliability of the data on which he could draw. While studies of a statistical pioneer do not usually suggest a lively text, readers may find Taylor's short study surprisingly stimulating and enthralling. This is partly due to the enthusiasm Taylor brings to the topic and his very genuine admiration for Gregory King. Although far from uncritical, and well aware of the limitations of King's results, he cogently argues that King was hampered not so much by his methodology as by the data he had to work with.

• ChaptersPreliminary RemarksMathematical Probability and Demographic PredictionGregory King: Man of ProjectsBritish Empiricism and Shop ArithmeticHigher Mathematics and 17th-Century Political EconomyShop Arithmetic, Conversation, and ProjectsQueen Anne's BountyGregory King's Methods of CalculationWhat Was Political Arithmetic, Really?George Chalmers and the Stagnation of Political ArithmeticWobbles and PerturbationsAcknowledgments and AfterthoughtsReprinted Documents by or about Gregory KingKing's AutobiographyKing on the Naval Trade of EnglandKing's Natural and Political Observations, 1696King's Letter about Queen Anne's BountyThe Life of Gregory King by George Chalmers

John A. Taylor is Professor of History at Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville. He has also taught in Japan and Russia as a Fulbright scholar. Among his other books are British Monarchy, English Church Establishment, and Civil Liberty (Greenwood, 1996) and Diana, Self-Interest, and British National Identity (Praeger, 2000).

Taylor sets out to defend King, whose work he admires and whose methods he believes were remarkably effective considering the limitations and unreliability of the data on which he could draw. While studies of a statistical pioneer do not usually suggest a lively text, readers may find Taylor's short study surprisingly stimulating and enthralling. This is partly due to the enthusiasm Taylor brings to the topic and his very genuine admiration for Gregory King. Although far from uncritical, and well aware of the limitations of King's results, he cogently argues that King was hampered not so much by his methodology as by the data he had to work with.

• ChaptersPreliminary RemarksMathematical Probability and Demographic PredictionGregory King: Man of ProjectsBritish Empiricism and Shop ArithmeticHigher Mathematics and 17th-Century Political EconomyShop Arithmetic, Conversation, and ProjectsQueen Anne's BountyGregory King's Methods of CalculationWhat Was Political Arithmetic, Really?George Chalmers and the Stagnation of Political ArithmeticWobbles and PerturbationsAcknowledgments and AfterthoughtsReprinted Documents by or about Gregory KingKing's AutobiographyKing on the Naval Trade of EnglandKing's Natural and Political Observations, 1696King's Letter about Queen Anne's BountyThe Life of Gregory King by George Chalmers

John A. Taylor is Professor of History at Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville. He has also taught in Japan and Russia as a Fulbright scholar. Among his other books are British Monarchy, English Church Establishment, and Civil Liberty (Greenwood, 1996) and Diana, Self-Interest, and British National Identity (Praeger, 2000).

Taylor sets out to defend King, whose work he admires and whose methods he believes were remarkably effective considering the limitations and unreliability of the data on which he could draw. While studies of a statistical pioneer do not usually suggest a lively text, readers may find Taylor's short study surprisingly stimulating and enthralling. This is partly due to the enthusiasm Taylor brings to the topic and his very genuine admiration for Gregory King. Although far from uncritical, and well aware of the limitations of King's results, he cogently argues that King was hampered not so much by his methodology as by the data he had to work with.

• ChaptersPreliminary RemarksMathematical Probability and Demographic PredictionGregory King: Man of ProjectsBritish Empiricism and Shop ArithmeticHigher Mathematics and 17th-Century Political EconomyShop Arithmetic, Conversation, and ProjectsQueen Anne's BountyGregory King's Methods of CalculationWhat Was Political Arithmetic, Really?George Chalmers and the Stagnation of Political ArithmeticWobbles and PerturbationsAcknowledgments and AfterthoughtsReprinted Documents by or about Gregory KingKing's AutobiographyKing on the Naval Trade of EnglandKing's Natural and Political Observations, 1696King's Letter about Queen Anne's BountyThe Life of Gregory King by George Chalmers