[31] ‘God’s pennies’ was the term used for advance payment made when work begun.
As a ship-surgeon, Gulliver would earn 24 shillings a month. For the estimated voyage of 3 years, that would be the equivalent of £3,844.31 today. But of course, you could buy larger quantities of the fewer merchandize that was available back then, with this amount.
Mary and her children could have survived handsomely on the advance until Gulliver’s return – if he would return…
