MY LORD,

I reflect too late on the maxim of common observers, "that those who

meddle in matters out of their calling will have reason to repent;" which

is now verified in me: for, by engaging in the trade of a writer, I have

drawn upon myself the displeasure of the government, signified by a

proclamation, promising a reward of three hundred pounds to the first

faithful subject who shall be able and inclined to inform against me; to

which I may add the laudable zeal and industry of my Lord Chief Justice

Whitshed, in his endeavours to discover so dangerous a person. Therefore,

whether I repent or not, I have certainly cause to do so; and the common

observation still stands good.

It will sometimes happen, I know not how, in the course of human affairs,

that a man shall be made liable to legal animadversion where he has

nothing to answer for either to God or his country, and condemned at

Westminster Hall for what he will never be charged with at the day of

judgment.

After strictly examining my own heart, and consulting some divines of

great reputation, I cannot accuse myself of any malice or wickedness

against the public,--of any designs to sow sedition,--of reflecting on the

King and his ministers,--or of endeavouring to alienate the affections of

the people of this kingdom from those of England.[13] All I can charge

myself with is, a weak attempt to serve a nation in danger of destruction

by a most wicked and malicious projector, without waiting until I were

called to its assistance; which attempt, however it may perhaps give me

the title of _pragmatical_ and _overweening_, will never lie a burden upon

my conscience.

God knows, whether I may not, with all my caution, have already run myself

into a second danger by offering thus much in my own vindication; for I

have heard of a judge, who, upon the criminal's appeal to the dreadful day

of judgment, told him he had incurred a _premunire_, for appealing to a

foreign jurisdiction; and of another in Wales, who severely checked the

prisoner for offering the same plea, taxing him with "reflecting on the

Court by such a comparison, because comparisons were odious."

But, in order to make some excuse for being more speculative than others

of my condition, I desire your Lordship's pardon, while I am doing a very

foolish thing; which is, to give you some little account of myself.

I was bred at a free school, where I acquired some little knowledge in the

Latin tongue. I served my apprenticeship in London, and there set up for

myself with good success; until, by the death of some friends, and the

misfortunes of others, I returned into this kingdom, and began to employ

my thoughts in cultivating the woollen manufacture through all its

branches, wherein I met with great discouragement and powerful opposers,

whose objections appeared to me very strange and singular. They argued,

"that the people of England would be offended if our manufactures were

brought to equal theirs;" and even some of the weaving trade were my

enemies, which I could not but look upon as absurd and unnatural. I

remember your lordship, at that time, did me the honour to come into my

shop, where I showed you a piece of black and white stuff just sent from

the dyer,[14] which you were pleased to approve of, and be my customer

for.

However, I was so mortified, that I resolved, for the future, to sit

quietly in my shop, and deal in common goods, like the rest of my

brethren; until it happened, some months ago, considering with myself that

the lower and poorer sort of people wanted a plain, strong, coarse stuff,

to defend them against cold easterly winds, which then blew very fierce

and blasting for a long time together, I contrived one[15] on purpose,

which sold very well all over the kingdom, and preserved many thousands

from agues. I then made a second and a third kind of stuffs[16] for the

gentry with the same success; insomuch, that an ague has hardly been heard

of for some time.

This incited me so far, that I ventured upon a fourth piece,[17] made of

the best Irish wool I could get; and I thought it grave and rich enough to

be worn by the best lord or judge of the land. But of late some great

folks complain, as I hear, "that, when they had it on, they felt a

shuddering in their limbs,"--and have thrown it off in a rage, cursing to

hell the poor Drapier who invented it; so that I am determined never to

work for persons of quality again, except for your lordship, and a very

few more.

I assure your lordship, upon the word of an honest citizen, that I am not

richer, by the value of one of Mr. Wood's halfpence, with the sale of all

the several stuffs I have contrived, for I give the whole profit to the

dyers and pressers;[18] and, therefore, I hope you will please to believe,

that no other motive, beside the love of my country, could engage me to

busy my head and hands, to the loss of my time, and the gain of nothing

but vexation and ill-will.

I have now in hand one piece of stuff, to be woven on purpose for your

lordship; although I might be ashamed to offer it to you after I have

confessed, that it will be made only from the shreds and remnants of the

wool employed in the former. However, I shall work it up as well as I can;

and, at worst, you need only give it among your tenants....

I am told that the two points in my last letter, from which an occasion of

offence has been taken, are where I mention his Majesty's answer to the

address of the House of Lords upon Mr. Wood's patent; and where I

discourse upon Ireland's being a dependent kingdom. As to the former, I

can only say that I have treated it with the utmost respect and caution;

and I thought it necessary to show where Wood's patent differed, in many

essential parts, from all others that ever had been granted; because the

contrary had, for want of due information, been so strongly and so largely

asserted. As to the other, of Ireland's dependency, I confess to have

often heard it mentioned, but was never able to understand what it meant.

This gave me the curiosity to inquire among several eminent lawyers, who

professed they knew nothing of the matter. I then turned over all the

statutes of both kingdoms, without the least information, farther than an

Irish act, that I quoted, of the 33rd of Henry VIII., uniting Ireland to

England under one King. I cannot say I was sorry to be disappointed in my

search, because it is certain I could be contented to depend only upon God

and my prince, and the laws of my own country, after the manner of other

nations. But since my betters are of a different opinion, and desire

farther dependencies, I shall outwardly submit; yet still insisting in my

own heart, upon the exception I made of M. B., Drapier.... All I desire

is, that the cause of my country against Mr. Wood, may not suffer by any

inadvertency of mine. Whether Ireland depends upon England or only upon

God, the King, and the law, I hope no man will assert that it depends upon

Mr. Wood. I should be heartily sorry that this commendable spirit against

me should accidentally (and what, I hope, was never intended) strike a

damp upon that spirit in all ranks and corporations of men against the

desperate and ruinous design of Mr. Wood. Let my countrymen blot out those

parts in my last letter which they dislike; and let no rust remain on my

sword, to cure the wounds I have given to our most mortal enemy. When Sir

Charles Sedley was taking the oaths, where several things were to be

renounced, he said, "he loved renouncing;" asked, "if any more were to be

renounced; for he was ready to renounce as much as they pleased." Although

I am not so thorough a renouncer, yet let me have but good city-security

against this pestilent coinage, and I shall be ready not only to renounce

every syllable in all my four letters, but to deliver them cheerfully with

my own hands into those of the common hangman, to be burnt with no better

company than the coiner's effigies, if any part of it has escaped out of

the secular hands of my faithful friends, the common people. But, whatever

the sentiments of some people may be, I think it is agreed that many of

those who subscribed against me, are on the side of a vast majority in the

kingdom who opposed Mr. Wood; and it was with great satisfaction that I

observed some right honourable names very amicably joined with my own, at

the bottom of a strong declaration against him and his coin. But if the

admission of it among us be already determined, the worthy person who is

to betray me ought in prudence to do it with all convenient speed; or else

it may be difficult to find three hundred pounds sterling for the

discharge of his hire, when the public shall have lost five hundred

thousand, if there be so much in the nation; besides four-fifths of its

annual income for ever. I am told by lawyers, that in quarrels between man

and man, it is of much weight which of them gave the first provocation, or

struck the first blow. It is manifest that Mr. Wood has done both, and

therefore I should humbly propose to have him first hanged, and his dross

thrown into the sea; after which the Drapier will be ready to stand his

trial. "It must needs be that offences come, but woe unto him by whom the

offence comes." If Mr. Wood had held his hand, everybody else would have

held their tongues; and then there would have been little need of

pamphlets, juries, or proclamations, upon this occasion. The provocation

must needs have been very great, which could stir up an obscure, indolent

Drapier, to become an author. One would almost think, the very stones in

the street would rise up in such a cause; and I am not sure they will not

do so against Mr. Wood, if ever he comes within their reach. It is a known

story of the dumb boy, whose tongue forced a passage for speech by the

horror of seeing a dagger at his father's throat. This may lessen the

wonder, that a tradesman, hid in privacy and silence should cry out when

the life and being of his political mother are attempted before his face,

and by so infamous a wretch.

I am now resolved to follow (after the usual proceeding of mankind,

because it is too late) the advice given, me by a certain Dean.[19] He

showed the mistake I was in of trusting to the general good-will of the

people; "that I had succeeded hitherto better than could be expected; but

that some unfortunate circumstantial lapse would bring me within the reach

of power; that my good intentions would be no security against those who

watched every motion of my pen in the bitterness of my soul." He produced

an instance of "a writer as innocent, as disinterested, and as

well-meaning as myself; who had written a very seasonable and inoffensive

treatise, exhorting the people of this kingdom to wear their own

manufactures;[20] for which, however, the printer, was prosecuted with the

utmost virulence; the jury sent back nine times; and the man given up to

the mercy of the Court." The Dean farther observed, "that I was in a

manner left alone to stand the battle; while others, who had ten thousand

times better talents than a Drapier, were so prudent as to lie still; and

perhaps thought it no unpleasant amusement to look on with safety, while

another was giving them diversion at the hazard of his liberty and

fortune; and thought they made a sufficient recompense by a little

applause." Whereupon he concluded with a short story of a Jew at Madrid,

who, being condemned to the fire on account of his religion, a crowd of

schoolboys following him to the stake, and apprehending they might lose

their sport if he should happen to recant, would often clap him on the

back, and cry, "_Sta firme, Moyse_: Moses, continue steadfast."

I allow this gentleman's advice to have been very good, and his

observations just; and in one respect my condition is worse than that of

the Jew; for no recantation will save me. However, it should seem, by some

late proceedings, that my state is not altogether deplorable. This I can

impute to nothing but the steadiness of two impartial grand juries; which

has confirmed in me an opinion I have long entertained; that, as

philosophers say, virtue is seated in the middle; so, in another sense,

the little virtue left in the world, is chiefly to be found among the

middle rank of mankind, who are neither allured out of her paths by

ambition, nor driven by poverty....

But, to confess the truth, my lord, I begin to grow weary of my office as

a writer, and could heartily wish it were devolved upon my brethren, the

makers of songs and ballads, who perhaps are the best qualified at present

to gather up the gleanings of this controversy. As to myself, it has been

my misfortune to begin and pursue it upon a wrong foundation. For, having

detected the frauds and falsehoods of this vile impostor Wood in every

part, I foolishly disdained to have recourse to whining, lamenting, and

crying for mercy; but rather chose to appeal to law and liberty, and the

common rights of mankind, without considering the climate I was in. Since

your last residence in Ireland, I frequently have taken my nag to ride

about your grounds, where I fancied myself to feel an air of freedom

breathing around me; and I am glad the low condition of a tradesman did

not qualify me to wait on you at your house; for then I am afraid my

writings would not have escaped severer censures. But I have lately sold

my nag, and honestly told his greatest fault, which was that of snuffing

up the air about Brackdenstown; whereby he became such a lover of liberty,

that I could scarce hold him in. I have likewise buried, at the bottom of

a strong chest, your lordship's writings, under a heap of others that

treat of liberty, and spread over a layer or two of Hobbes, Filmer, Bodin,

and many more authors of that stamp, to be readiest at hand whenever I

shall be disposed to take up a new set of principles in government. In the

meantime, I design quietly to look to my shop, and keep as far out of your

lordship's influence as possible; and if you ever see any more of my

writings on this subject, I promise you shall find them as innocent, as

insipid, and without a sting, as what I have now offered you. But, if your

lordship will please to give me an easy lease of some part of your estate

in Yorkshire, thither will I carry my chest, and, turning it upside down,

resume my political reading where I left off, feed on plain homely fare,

and live and die a free, honest English farmer; but not without regret for

leaving my countrymen under the dread of the brazen talons of Mr.

Wood;--my most loyal and innocent countrymen, to whom I owe so much for

their good opinion of me, and my poor endeavours to serve them.

I am, with the greatest respect,

My Lord,

Your Lordship's most obedient, and most humble servant,

M. B.