to my person or fortune, made his addresses to me, which, being then young and foolish, I too readily admitted; he seemed to use me with so much tenderness, and his conversation was so very engaging, that all my constancy and virtue were too soon overcome; and to dwell no longer upon a theme that causes such bitter reflections I must confess with shame that I was undone by the common arts practised upon all easy credulous virgins, half by force and half by consent, after solemn vows and protestations of marriage. When he had once got possession, he soon began to play the usual part of a too fortunate lover, affecting on all occasions to show his authority and to act like a conqueror. First, he found fault with the government of my family, which I grant was none of the best, consisting of ignorant, illiterate creatures, for at that time I knew but little of the world. In compliance to him therefore I agreed to fall into his ways and methods of living; I consented that his steward should govern my house, and have liberty to employ an under steward [the lord-lieutenant], who should receive his directions. My lover proceeded further, turned away several old servants and tenants, and supplying me with others from his own house. These grew so domineering and unreasonable, that there was no quiet, and I heard of nothing but perpetual quarrels, which although I could not possibly help, yet my lover laid all the blame and punishment upon me, and upon every falling out still turned away more of my people, and supplied me in their stead with a number of fellows and dependents of his own, whom he had no other way to provide for. Overcome by love and to avoid noise and contention, I yielded to all his usurpations, and finding it in vain to resist, I thought it my best policy to make my court to my new servants and draw them to my interests; fed them from my own table with the best I had, put my new tenants on the choice parts of my land, and treated them all so kindly that they began to love me as well as their master. In process of time all my old servants were gone, and I had not a creature about me, nor above one or two tenants but what were of his choosing, yet I had the good luck by gentle usage to bring over the greatest part of them to my side. When my lover observed this he began to alter his language, and to those who inquired about me he would answer that I was an old dependent upon his family, whom he had placed on some concerns of his own, and he began to use me accordingly, neglecting by degrees all common civility in his behaviour. I shall never forget the speech he made me one morning, which he delivered with all the gravity in the world. He put me in mind of the vast obligations I lay under to him in sending me so many of his people for my own good, and to teach me manners; that it had cost him ten times more than I was worth to maintain me; that it had been much better for him if I had been damned, or burnt, or sunk to the bottom of the sea; that it was reasonable I should strain myself as far as I was able to reimburse him some of his charges; that from henceforward he expected his word should be a law to me in all things; that I must maintain a parish watch against thieves and robbers, and give salaries to an overseer, a constable, and others, all of his own choosing, whom he would send from time to time to be spies upon me; that to enable me the better in supporting these expenses, my tenants should be obliged to carry all their goods across the river to his own town-market, and pay toll on both sides, and then sell them at half value. But because we were a nasty sort of people, and that he could not endure to touch anything we had a hand in, and likewise because he wanted work to employ his own folks, therefore we must send all our goods to his market just in their naturals; the milk immediately from the cow,

:

without making it into cheese or butter; the corn in the ear, the grass as it was mowed, the wool as it comes from the sheep's back; and bring the fruit upon the branch, that he might not be obliged to eat it after our filthy hands that if a tenant carried but a piece of bread and cheese to eat by the way, or an inch of worsted to mend his stockings, he should forfeit his whole parcel and because a company of rogues usually plied on the river between us, who often robbed my tenants of their goods and boats, he ordered a waterman of his to guard them, whose manner was to be out of the way till the poor wretches were plundered, then to overtake the thieves, and seize all as a lawful prize to his master and himself. It would be endless to repeat a hundred other hardships he has put upon me: but it is a general rule, that whenever he imagines the smallest advantage will redound to one of his footboys by any new oppression of me and my whole family and estate, he never disputes it a moment. All this has rendered me so very insignificant and contemptible at home, that some servants to whom I pay the greatest wages, and many tenants who have the most beneficial leases, are gone over to live with him, yet I am bound to continue their wages and pay their rents; by which means one-third part of my whole income is spent on his estate, and above another third by his tolls and markets; and my poor tenants are so sunk and impoverished that, instead of maintaining me suitably to my quality, they can hardly find me clothes to keep me warm, or provide the common necessaries of life for themselves.

Matters being in this posture between me and my lover, I received intelligence that he had been for some time making very pressing overtures of marriage to my rival, until there happened to be some misunderstandings between them; she gave him ill words, and threatened to break off all commerce with him. He on the other side, having either acquired courage by his triumphs over me, or supposing her as tame a fool as I, thought at first to carry it with a high hand, but hearing at the same time that she had thoughts of making some private proposals to join with me against him, and doubting with very good reason that I would readily accept them, he seemed very much disconcerted. This I thought was a proper occasion to show some great example of generosity and love, and so without further consideration I sent him word that, hearing there was likely to be a quarrel between him and my rival, notwithstanding all that had passed, and without binding him to any conditions in my own favour, I would stand by him against her and all the world while I had a penny in my purse or a petticoat to pawn. This message was subscribed by all my chief tenants, and proved so powerful that my rival immediately grew more tractable upon it. The result of which was, that there is now a treaty of marriage [treaty of union] concluded between them, the weddingclothes are bought, and nothing remains but to perform the ceremony, which is put off for some days because they design it to be a public wedding. And to reward my love, constancy, and generosity, he has bestowed on me the office of being sempstress to his grooms and footmen, which I am forced to accept or starve. Yet in the midst of this my situation I cannot but have some pity for this deluded man, to cast himself away on an infamous creature, who, whatever she pretends, I can prove would at this very minute rather be a whore to a certain great man that shall be nameless, if she might have her will. For my part I think, and so does all the country too, that the man is possessed; at least none of us are able to imagine what he can possibly see in her, unless she has bewitched him or given him some powder.

I am sure I never sought this alliance, and you can

bear me witness that I might have had other matches; nay, if I were lightly disposed, I could still perhaps have offers that some who hold their heads higher would be glad to accept. But alas! I never had any such wicked thought; all I now desire is only to enjoy a little quiet, to be free from the persecutions of this unreasonable man, and that he will let me manage my own Little fortune to the best advantage, for which I will undertake to pay him a considerable pension every year, much more considerable than what he now gets by his oppressions; for he must needs find himself a laser at last, when he has drained me and my tenants dry that we shall not have a penny for him or ourselves. There is one imposition of his I had almost forgot, which I think insufferable, and will appeal to you or any reasonable person whether it be so or not. I told you before that by an old compact we agreed to have the same steward, at which time I consented likewise to regulate my family and estate by the same method with him, which he then showed me written down in form, and I approved of. Now the turn he Links fit to give this compact of ours is very extraerdinary; for he pretends that whatever orders he shall think fit to prescribe for the future in his family he may, if he will, compel mine to observe them without asking my advice or hearing my reasons. So that I must not make a lease without his consent, or give any directions for the well-governing of my family but what he countermands whenever he pleases. This leaves me at such confusion and uncertainty that my servants know not when to obey me, and my tenants, although many of them be very well inclined, seem quite at a loss.

But I am too tedious upon this melancholy subject, which however I hope you will forgive, since the happiness of my whole life depends upon it. I desire you will think awhile, and give your best advice what measures I shall take, with prudence, justice, courage, and honour, to protect my liberty and fortune against the hardships and severities I lie under from that unkind, inconstant man.

THE

ANSWER TO THE INJURED LADY.

MADAM,-I have received your ladyship's letter, and carefully considered every part of it, and shall give you my opinion how you ought to proceed for your own security. But first I must beg leave to tell your ladyship that you were guilty of an unpardonable weakness the other day, in making that offer to your lover of standing by him in any quarrel he might have with your rival. You know very well that she began to prehend he had designs of using her as he had done you; and common prudence might have directed you rather to have entered into some measures with her for joining against him, until he might at least be brought to some reasonable terms: but your invincible harred to that lady has carried your resentments so high as to be the cause of your ruin; yet if you please to consider, this aversion of yours began a good while before she became your rival, and was taken up by you and your family in a sort of compliment to your lover, who formerly had a great abhorrence of her. It is true, since that time you have suffered very much by her encroachments upon your estate, but she never pretended to govern and direct you; and now you have drawn a new enemy upon yourself; for I think you may count upon all the ill offices she can possibly do you, by her credit with her husband; whereas if, instead of openly declaring against her without any provocation, you had but sat still awhile A Disturbances excited by Scottish colonists.

and said nothing, that gentleman would have lessened his severity to you out of perfect fear. This weakness of yours you call generosity, but I doubt there was more in the matter; in short, madam, I have good reasons to think you were betrayed to it by the pernicious counsel of some about you; for to my certain knowledge several of your tenants and servants, to whom you have been very kind, are as arrant rascals as any in the country. I cannot but observe what a mighty difference there is in one particular between your ladyship and your rival. Having yielded up your person, you thought nothing else worth defending, and therefore you will not now insist upon those very conditions for which you yielded at first. But your ladyship cannot be ignorant that some years since your rival did the same thing, and upon no conditions at all; nay, this gentleman kept her as a miss, and yet made her pay for her diet and lodging. But it being at a time when he had no steward, and his family out of order, she stole away and has now got the trick very well known among the women of the town, to grant a man the favour over night and the next day have the impudence to deny it to his face. But it is too late to reproach you with any former oversights which cannot now be rectified. I know the matters of fact as you relate them are true and fairly represented. My advice therefore is this: get your tenants together as soon as you conveniently can, and make them agree to the following resolutions:

First, That your family and tenants have no dependence upon the said gentleman, further than by the old agreement, which obliges you to have the same steward and to regulate your household by such methods as you should both agree to.

Secondly, That you will not carry your goods to the market of his town unless you please, nor be hindered from carrying them anywhere else.

Thirdly, That the servants you pay wages to shall live at home, or forfeit their places.

Fourthly, That whatever lease you make to a tenant, it shall not be in his power to break it.

If he will agree to these articles I advise you to contribute as largely as you can to all charges of parish and county.

I can assure you several of that gentleman's ablest tenants and servants are against his severe usage of you, and would be glad of an occasion to convince the rest of their error, if you will not be wanting to yourself.

If the gentleman refuses these just and reasonable offers, pray let me know it, and perhaps I may think of something else that will be more effectual.

I am, madam, your ladyship's, etc.

OBSERVATIONS

OCCASIONED BY READING A PAPER ENTITLED, "THE CASE OF THE WOOLLEN MANUFACTURES OF DUBLIN," &c.

THE paper called "The Case of the Woollen Manufactures," &c., is very well drawn up. The reasonings of the author are just, the facts true, and the consequences natural. But his censure of those seven vile citizens who import such a quantity of silk stuffs and woollen cloth from England is a hundred times gentler than enemies to their country deserve; because I think no punishment in this world can be great enough for them without immediate repentance and amendment. But after all the writer of that paper has very lightly touched one point of the greatest importance, and very poorly answered the main objection, that the clothiers are defective both in the quality and quantity of their goods.

For my own part, when I consider the several a The subjugation of Scotland by Cromwell.

to my person or fortune, made his addresses to me, which, being then young and foolish, I too readily admitted; he seemed to use me with so much tenderness, and his conversation was so very engaging, that all my constancy and virtue were too soon overcome; and to dwell no longer upon a theme that causes such bitter reflections I must confess with shame that I was undone by the common arts practised upon all easy credulous virgins, half by force and half by consent, after solemn vows and protestations of marriage. When he had once got possession, he soon began to play the usual part of a too fortunate lover, affecting on all occasions to show his authority and to act like a conqueror. First, he found fault with the government of my family, which I grant was none of the best, consisting of ignorant, illiterate creatures, for at that time I knew but little of the world. In compliance to him therefore I agreed to fall into his ways and methods of living; I consented that his steward should govern my house, and have liberty to employ an under steward [the lord-lieutenant], who should receive his directions. My lover proceeded further, turned away several old servants and tenants, and supplying me with others from his own house. These grew so domineering and unreasonable, that there was no quiet, and I heard of nothing but perpetual quarrels, which although I could not possibly help, yet my lover laid all the blame and punishment upon me, and upon every falling out still turned away more of my people, and supplied me in their stead with a number of fellows and dependents of his own, whom he had no other way to provide for. Overcome by love and to avoid noise and contention, I yielded to all his usurpations, and finding it in vain to resist, I thought it my best policy to make my court to my new servants and draw them to my interests; I fed them from my own table with the best I had, put my new tenants on the choice parts of my land, and treated them all so kindly that they began to love me as well as their master. In process of time all my old servants were gone, and I had not a creature about me, nor above one or two tenants but what were of his choosing, yet I had the good luck by gentle usage to bring over the greatest part of them to my side. When my lover observed this he began to alter his language, and to those who inquired about me he would answer that I was an old dependent upon his family, whom he had placed on some concerns of his own, and he began to use me accordingly, neglect ing by degrees all common civility in his behaviour. I shall never forget the speech he made me one morning, which he delivered with all the gravity in the world. He put me in mind of the vast obligations I lay under to him in sending me so many of his people for my own good, and to teach me manners; that it had cost him ten times more than I was worth to maintain me; that it had been much better for him if I had been damned, or burnt, or sunk to the bottom of the sea; that it was reasonable I should strain myself as far as I was able to reimburse him some of his charges; that from henceforward he expected his word should be a law to me in all things; that I must maintain a parish watch against thieves and robbers, and give salaries to an overseer, a constable, and others, all of his own choosing, whom he would send from time to time to be spies upon me; that to enable me the better in supporting these expenses, my tenants should be obliged to carry all their goods across the river to his own town-market, and pay toll on both sides, and then sell them at half value. But because we were a nasty sort of people, and that he could not endure to touch anything we had a hand in, and likewise because he wanted work to employ his own folks, therefore we must send all our goods to his market just in their naturals; the milk immediately from the cow,

without making it into cheese or butter; the corn in the ear, the grass as it was mowed, the wool as it comes from the sheep's back; and bring the fruit upon the branch, that he might not be obliged to eat it after our filthy hands that if a tenant carried but a piece of bread and cheese to eat by the way, or an inch of worsted to mend his stockings, he should forfeit his whole parcel and because a company of rogues usually plied on the river between us, who often robbed my tenants of their goods and boats, he ordered a waterman of his to guard them, whose manner was to be out of the way till the poor wretches were plundered, then to overtake the thieves, and seize all as a lawful prize to his master and himself. It would be endless to repeat a hundred other hardships he has put upon me: but it is a general rule, that whenever he imagines the smallest advantage will redound to one of his footboys by any new oppression of me and my whole family and estate, he never disputes it a moment. All this has rendered me so very insignificant and contemptible at home, that some servants to whom I pay the greatest wages, and many tenants who have the most beneficial leases, are gone over to live with him, yet I am bound to continue their wages and pay their rents; by which means one-third part of my whole income is spent on his estate, and above another third by his tolls and markets; and my poor tenants are so sunk and impoverished that, instead of maintaining me suitably to my quality, they can hardly find me clothes to keep me warm, or provide the common necessaries of life for themselves.

Matters being in this posture between me and my lover, I received intelligence that he had been for some time making very pressing overtures of marriage to my rival, until there happened to be some misunderstandings between them; she gave him ill words, and threatened to break off all commerce with him. He on the other side, having either acquired courage by his triumphs over me, or supposing her as tame a fool as I, thought at first to carry it with a high hand, but hearing at the same time that she had thoughts of making some private proposals to join with me against him, and doubting with very good reason that I would readily accept them, he seemed very much disconcerted. This I thought was a proper occasion to show some great example of generosity and love, and so without further consideration I sent him word that, hearing there was likely to be a quarrel between him and my rival, notwithstanding all that had passed, and without binding him to any conditions in my own favour, I would stand by him against her and all the world while I had a penny in my purse or a petticoat to pawn. This message was subscribed by all my chief tenants, and proved so powerful that my rival immediately grew more tractable upon it. The result of which was, that there is now a treaty of marriage [treaty of union] concluded between them, the weddingclothes are bought, and nothing remains but to perform the ceremony, which is put off for some days because they design it to be a public wedding. And to reward my love, constancy, and generosity, he has bestowed on me the office of being sempstress to his grooms and footmen, which I am forced to accept or starve. Yet in the midst of this my situation I cannot but have some pity for this deluded man, to cast himself away on an infamous creature, who, whatever she pretends, I can prove would at this very minute rather be a whore to a certain great man that shall be nameless, if she might have her will. For my part I think, and so does all the country too, that the man is possessed; at least none of us are able to imagine what he can possibly see in her, unless she has bewitched him or given him some powder.

I am sure I never sought this alliance, and you can

bear me witness that I might have had other matches; nay, if I were lightly disposed, I could still perhaps have offers that some who hold their heads higher would be glad to accept. But alas! I never had any such wicked thought; all I now desire is only to enjoy a little quiet, to be free from the persecutions of this unreasonable man, and that he will let me manage my own little fortune to the best advantage, for which I will undertake to pay him a considerable pension every year, much more considerable than what he now gets by his oppressions; for he must needs find himself a loser at last, when he has drained me and my tenants so dry that we shall not have a penny for him or ourselves. There is one imposition of his I had almost forgot, which I think insufferable, and will appeal to you or any reasonable person whether it be so or not. I told you before that by an old compact we agreed to have the same steward, at which time I consented likewise to regulate my family and estate by the same method with him, which he then showed me written down in form, and I approved of. Now the turn he thinks fit to give this compact of ours is very extraordinary; for he pretends that whatever orders he shall think fit to prescribe for the future in his family he may, if he will, compel mine to observe them without asking my advice or hearing my reasons. So that I must not make a lease without his consent, or give any directions for the well-governing of my family but what he countermands whenever he pleases. This leaves me at such confusion and uncertainty that my servants know not when to obey me, and my tenants, although many of them be very well inclined, seem quite at a loss.

But I am too tedious upon this melancholy subject, which however I hope you will forgive, since the happiness of my whole life depends upon it. I desire you will think awhile, and give your best advice what measures I shall take, with prudence, justice, courage, and honour, to protect my liberty and fortune against the hardships and severities I lie under from that unkind, inconstant man.

THE

ANSWER TO THE INJURED LADY.

MADAM,-I have received your ladyship's letter, and carefully considered every part of it, and shall give you my opinion how you ought to proceed for your own security. But first I must beg leave to tell your ladyship that you were guilty of an unpardonable weakness the other day, in making that offer to your lover of standing by him in any quarrel he might have with your rival. You know very well that she began to apprehend he had designs of using her as he had done you; and common prudence might have directed you rather to have entered into some measures with her for joining against him, until he might at least be brought to some reasonable terms: but your invincible hatred to that lady has carried your resentments so high as to be the cause of your ruin; yet if you please to consider, this aversion of yours began a good while before she became your rival, and was taken up by you and your family in a sort of compliment to your lover, who formerly had a great abhorrence of her. It is true, since that time you have suffered very much by her encroachments upon your estate, but she never pretended to govern and direct you; and now you have drawn a new enemy upon yourself; for I think you may count upon all the ill offices she can possibly do you, by her credit with her husband; whereas if, instead of openly declaring against her without any provocation, you had but sat still awhile a Disturbances excited by Scottish colonists.

and said nothing, that gentleman would have lessened his severity to you out of perfect fear. This weakness of yours you call generosity, but I doubt there was more in the matter; in short, madam, I have good reasons to think you were betrayed to it by the pernicious counsel of some about you; for to my certain knowledge several of your tenants and servants, to whom you have been very kind, are as arrant rascals as any in the country. I cannot but observe what a mighty difference there is in one particular between your ladyship and your rival. Having yielded up your person, you thought nothing else worth defending, and therefore you will not now insist upon those very conditions for which you yielded at first. But your ladyship cannot be ignorant that some years since your rival did the same thing, and upon no conditions at all; nay, this gentleman kept her as a miss, and yet made her pay for her diet and lodging. But it being at a time when he had no steward, and his family out of order, she stole away and has now got the trick very well known among the women of the town, to grant a man the favour over night and the next day have the impudence to deny it to his face. But it is too late to reproach you with any former oversights which cannot now be rectified. I know the matters of fact as you relate them are true and fairly represented. My advice therefore is this: get your tenants together as soon as you conveniently can, and make them agree to the following resolutions:

a

First, That your family and tenants have no dependence upon the said gentleman, further than by the old agreement, which obliges you to have the same steward and to regulate your household by such methods as you should both agree to.

Secondly, That you will not carry your goods to the market of his town unless you please, nor be hindered from carrying them anywhere else.

Thirdly, That the servants you pay wages to shall live at home, or forfeit their places.

Fourthly, That whatever lease you make to a tenant, it shall not be in his power to break it.

If he will agree to these articles I advise you to contribute as largely as you can to all charges of parish and county.

I can assure you several of that gentleman's ablest tenants and servants are against his severe usage of you, and would be glad of an occasion to convince the rest of their error, if you will not be wanting to yourself.

If the gentleman refuses these just and reasonable offers, pray let me know it, and perhaps I may think of something else that will be more effectual.

I am, madam, your ladyship's, etc.

OBSERVATIONS

OCCASIONED BY READING A PAPER ENTITLED, "THE CASE OF THE WOOLLEN MANUFACTURES OF DUBLIN," &c.

THE paper called "The Case of the Woollen Manufactures," &c., is very well drawn up. The reasonings of the author are just, the facts true, and the consequences natural. But his censure of those seven vile citizens who import such a quantity of silk stuffs and woollen cloth from England is a hundred times gentler than enemies to their country deserve; because I think no punishment in this world can be great enough for them without immediate repentance and amendment. But after all the writer of that paper has very lightly touched one point of the greatest importance, and very poorly answered the main objection, that the clothiers are defective both in the quality and quantity of their goods.

For my own part, when I consider the several a The subjugation of Scotland by Cromwell.

societies of handicraftsmen in all kinds, as well as shopkeepers, in this city, after eighteen years' experience of their dealings, I am at a loss to know in which of these societies the most or least honesty is to be found. For instance, when any trade comes first into my head, upon examination I determine it exceeds all others in fraud. But after I have considered them all round, as far as my knowledge or experience reaches, I am at a loss to determine, and to save trouble I put them all upon a par. This I chiefly apply to those societies of men who get their livelihood by the labour of their hands. For as to shopkeepers, I cannot deny that I have found some few honest men among them, taking the word honest in the largest and most charitable sense. But as to handicraftsmen, although I shall endeavour to believe it possible to find a fair dealer among their clans, yet I confess it has never been once my good fortune to employ one single workman who did not cheat me at all times to the utmost of his power in the materials, the work, and the price. One universal maxim I have constantly observed among them, that they would rather get a shilling by cheating you than twenty in the honest way of dealing, although they were sure to lose your custom, as well as that of others whom you might probably recommend to them. This I must own is the natural consequence of poverty and oppression. These wretched people catch at anything to save them a minute longer from drowning. Thus Ireland is the poorest of all civilized countries in Europe, with every natural advantage to make it one of the richest.

As to the grand objection which this writer slubbers over in so careless a manner, because indeed it was impossible to find a satisfactory answer, I mean the knavery of our woollen manufacturers in general, I shall relate some facts which I had more opportunities to observe than usually fall in the way of men who are not of the trade. For some years the masters and wardens, with many of their principal workmen and shopkeepers, came often to the deanery to relate their grievances, and to desire my advice as well as my assistance. What reasons might move them to this proceeding, I leave to public conjecture. The truth is, that the woollen manufacture of this kingdom sat always nearest my heart. But the greatest difficulty lay in these perpetual differences between the shopkeepers and the workmen they employed. Ten or a dozen of these latter often came to the deanery with their complaints, which I often repeated to the shopkeepers. As that they brought their prices too low for a poor weaver to get his bread by; and instead of ready money for their labour on Saturdays, they gave them only such a quantity of cloth or stuff at the highest rate, which the poor men were often forced to sell onethird below the rate to supply their urgent necessities. On the other side, the shopkeepers complained of idleness, and want of skill or care or honesty in their workmen; and probably their accusations on both sides were just.

Whenever the weavers in a body came to me for advice I gave it freely, that they should contrive some way to bring their goods into reputation; and give up that abominable principle of endeavouring to thrive by imposing bad ware at high prices on their customers, whereby no shopkeeper can reasonably expect to thrive. For besides the dread of God's anger (which is a motive of small force among them) they may be sure that no buyer of common sense will return to the same shop where he was once or twice defrauded. That gentlemen and ladies when they found nothing but deceit in the sale of Irish cloths and stuffs would act as they ought to do, both in prudence and resentment, in going to those very bad citizens the writer mentions, and purchase English goods.

I went further, and proposed that ten or a dozen of the most substantial woollen-drapers should join in publishing an advertisement, signed with their names, to the following purpose:-That for the better encouragement of all gentlemen, &c., the persons undernamed did bind themselves mutually to sell their several cloths and stuffs (naming each kind) at the lowest rate, right merchantable goods, of such a breadth, which they would warrant to be good according to the several prices; and that if a child of ten years old were sent with money, and directions what cloth or stuff to buy, he should not be wronged in any one article. And that whoever should think himself ill used in any of the said shops, he should have his money again from the seller, or upon his refusal from the rest of the said subscribers, who if they found the buyer discoutented with the cloth or stuff should be obliged to refund the money; and if the seller refused to repay them and take his goods again, should publicly advertise that they would answer for none of his goods any more. This would be to establish credit, upon which all trade depends.

I proposed this scheme several times to the corporation of weavers, as well as to the manufacturers, when they came to apply for my advice at the deanery-house. I likewise went to the shops of several woollen-drapers upon the same errand, but always in vain; for they perpetually gave me the deaf ear, and avoided entering into discourse upon that proposal: I suppose, because they thought it was in vain, and that the spirit of fraud had gotten too deep and universal a possession to be driven out by any arguments from interest, reason, or conscience.

A LETTER

TO THE ARCHBISHOP OF DUBLIN,a

CONCERNING THE WEAVERS.

MY LORD,-The corporation of weavers in the woollen manufacture, who have so often attended your grace and called upon me with their schemes and proposals, were with me on Thursday last; when he who spoke for the rest, and in the name of his absent brethren, said, “It was the opinion of the whole body that if somewhat was written at this time by an able hand to persuade the people of this kingdom to wear their own woollen manufactures, it might be of good use to the nation in general, and preserve many hundreds of their trade from starving." To which I answered, "That it was hard for any man of common spirit to turn his thoughts to such speculations without discovering a resentment which people are too delicate to bear." For I will not deny to your grace that I cannot reflect on the singular condition of this country, different from all others upon the face of the earth, without some emotion, and without often examining, as I pass the streets, whether those animals which come in my way, with two legs and human faces, clad and erect, be of the same species with what I have seen very like them in England as to the outward shape, but differing in their notions, natures, and intellectuals, more than any two kinds of brutes in the forest; which any man of common prudence would immediately discover, by persuading them to define what they meant by law, liberty, property, courage, reason, loyalty, or religion.

One thing, my lord, I am very confident of; that if God Almighty, for our sins, would most justly send us a pestilence, whoever should dare to discover his grief in public for such a visitation, would certainly be censured for disaffection to the government; for I a Dr. William King, the friend and correspondent of our author.