we must infallibly lose all our little gold and silver, and all our poor remainder of a very limited and discouraged trade. We urged that the patent was passed without the least reference hither; and without mention of any security given by Wood to receive his own halfpence upon demand, both which are contrary to all former proceedings in the like

cases.

"But in the name of God, and of all justice and piety, when the king's majesty was pleased that this patent should pass, is it not to be understood that he conceived, believed, and intended it as a gracious act, for the good and benefit of his subjects, for the advantage of a great and fruitful kingdom; of the most loyal kingdom upon earth, where no hand or voice was ever lifted up against him; a kingdom, where the passage is not three hours from Britain, and a kingdom where the papists have less power and less land than in England? Can it be denied or doubted, that his majesty's ministers understood, and proposed the same end: the good of this nation,when they advised the passing of this patent? Can the person of Wood be otherwise regarded, than as the instrument, the mechanick, the head workman, to prepare his furnace, his fuel, his metal, and his stamps If I employ a shoeboy, is it in view to his advantage, or to my own convenience? I mention the person of William Wood alone, because no other appears, and we are not to reason upon surmises, neither would it avail, if they had a real foundation.

"Allowing therefore, for we cannot do less, that this patent for the coining of halfpence, was wholly intended by a gracious king, and a wise publickspirited ministry, for the advantage of Ireland; yet, when the whole kingdom to a man, for whose good the patent was designed, do, upon the maturest consideration, universally join in openly declaring, protesting, addressing, petitioning against these half

pence, as the most ruinous project that ever was set on foot, to complete the slavery and destruction of a poor innocent country; is it, was it, can it, or will it ever be a question, not whether such a kingdom, or William Wood should be a gainer, but whether such a kingdom should be wholly undone, destroyed, sunk, depopulated, made a scene of misery and desolution, for the sake of William Wood? God of his infinite mercy avert this dreadful judgment; and it is our universal wish, that God would put it into your hearts, to be his instrument for so good a work.

"For my own part, who am but one man, of ob scure condition, I do solemnly declare, in the presence of Almighty God, that I will suffer the most ignominious and torturing death, rather than submit to receive this accursed coin, or any other that shall be liable to the same objections, until they shall be forced upon me by a law of my own country; and if that shall ever happen, I will transport my self into some foreign land, and eat the bread of poyerty among a free people;

"The great ignominy of a whole kingdom's lying so long at mercy under so vile an adversary, is such a deplorable aggravation that the utmost expressions of shame and rage are too low to set it forth, and therefore I shall leave it to receive such a resentment, as is worthy of a parliament."

Upon the first tidings of the patent's being passed in so extraordinary a manner, Swift took up the pen, and under the feigned character of M. B. Drapier, represented all the fatal consequences that would necessarily attend the carrying of it into execution, in so plain and clear a light, as spread a general alarm through all ranks and orders of men throughout the nation.

But as the parliament, the privy council, grand juries, and so many bodies corporate of the kingdom

addressed, remonstrated, and petitioned against it, their fears were at an end, as supposing it impossible that these should not prevail. Yet what was their astonishment to find that all these, and the cry of the whole nation, were treated with the utmost contempt, and a sham inquiry set on foot by a com mittee of the privy council in England, which ended in sending over orders to all officers under the crown in Ireland, to be aiding and assisting to the utmost of their power in supporting Wood's patent, and giving circulation to his accursed coin! As all persons in office at that time were in the most slavish dependance on the British ministry, there were no hopes but that they would pay implicit obedience to the commands of their masters, especialiy as they could do it under colour of loyalty, as opposing the patent was called, in the language of those days, flying in the king's face. And if this coin was once received into the publick offices, and issued out to pay the king's troops, the affair was over. To prevent this there was but one way, which was to raise such a spirit in the whole body of the people, as to determine them never to receive one piece of this coin in payment. This he so effectually performed in a series of letters, under the same signature of M. B. Drapier, which were universally read over the whole kingdom, that there was scarce an individual to be found, even down to the lowest peasant, except a few placemen, who did not form this resolution. And in order to bind them to it more effectually, in his second letter he drew up the following advertisement. "Whereas one William Wood, hardwareman, now or lately sojourning in the city of London, hath by many misrepresentations, procured a patent for coining a hundred and eight thousand pounds, in copper halfpence, for this kingdom, which is a sum five times greater than our occasions require and whereas it is notorious that the said Wood hath

coined his halfpence of such base metal, and false weight, that they are at hest six parts in seven below the real value: and whereas we have reason to apprehend, that the said Wood may at any time hereafter clandestinely coin as many more halfpence as he pleases: and whereas the said patent neither doth, nor can oblige his majesty's subjects to receive the said halfpence in any payment, but leaves it to their voluntary choice, because by law the subject cannot be obliged to take any money, except gold or silver and whereas, contrary to the letter and meaning of the said patent, the said Wood hath declared, that every person shall be obliged to take fivepence halfpenny of his coin in every payment; and whereas the house of commons, and privy council have severally addressed his most sacred majesty, representing the ill consequences which the said coinage may have upon this kingdom and lastly, whereas it is universally agreed that the whole nation to a man, except Mr. Wood and his confederates, are in the utmost apprehensions of the ruinous consequences that must follow from the said coinage; therefore we, whose names are underwritten, being persons of considerable estates in this kingdom, and residers therein, do unanimously resolve and declare, that we will never receive one farthing or halfpenny of the said Wood's coining; and that we will direct all our tenants to refuse the said coin from any person whatsoever, of which, that they may not be ignorant, we have sent then a copy of this advertisement, to be read to them by our stewards, receivers, &c."

Numbers of these advertisements, signed by a multitude of names together with the " Drapier's Letters," were soon dispersed over the kingdom, and produced such a universal outcry in all ranks of people against this odious project, that the poor tools of power did not dare to attempt any thing in support of it. But the English minister, not at all inti

midated by this violent opposition, seemed resolutely bent on carrying the point. With this view he sent over the lord Carteret, lately appointed lord lieutenant of Ireland, long before the usual time of the chief governor's going to that kingdom, with direc‐ · tions to assemble the parliament, which had been prorogued to a distant day, soon after the arrival, revoking that prorogation, a thing very unusual. Here he was to try the common methods of securing a majority, in order to get the sanction of the Irish parliament to the measure, On his arrival, a proclamation was published by his excellency and council, offering a reward of three hundred pounds, for discovering the author of the "fourth Drapier's Letter." Harding the printer of that letter, was imprisoned, and a bill of indictment was ordered to be prepared against him. Upon this occasion Swift wrote a short paper, called "Seasonable Advice to the Grand Jury, c. copies of which were distributed to every person of the grand jury the evening before the bill was to be presented *, and had such an effect, that the bill was unanimously thrown out. Upon which the same lord chief justice, who had before acted with such violence in a former prosecution of the dean's printer, in a most arbitrary and illegal manner, discharged the jury in a rage. But this proceeding, far from serving the cause which he espoused, only rendered it the more desperate, by exasperating men's minds, already sufficiently provoked. For the next grand Jury that was summoned, not content with

The nation was alarmed; the new coin was universally refused; but the governors of Ireland considered resistance to the King's patent as highly criminal; and one Whitshed, then chief justice, who had tried the printer of the former pamphlet, and sent out the jury nine times, till by clamour and menaces they were frightened into a special verdict, now presented the Drapier, but could not prevail on the Grand Jury to find the bill." Dr. JOHNSON.