It is à propos to record here the revenge Swift took on Boulter for the accusation of inflaming the people. The incident was put by him into the following verse:

"At Dublin's high feast sat primate and dean,
Both dressed like divines, with hand and face clean:
Quoth Hugh of Armagh, 'the mob is grown bold.'
'Ay, ay,' quoth the Dean, 'the cause is old gold.'
'No, no,' quoth the primate, 'if causes we sift,
The mischief arises from witty Dean Swift.'
The smart one replies, 'There's no wit in the case;
And nothing of that ever troubled your grace.
Though with your state sieve your own motions you s—t,
A Boulter by name is no bolter of wit.
It's matter of weight, and a mere money job;
But the lower the coin, the higher the mob.
Go to tell your friend Bob and the other great folk,
That sinking the coin is a dangerous joke.
The Irish dear joys have enough common sense,
To treat gold reduced like Wood's copper pence.
It's pity a prelate should die without law;
But if I say the word—take care of Armagh!"

With the lowering of the gold the Primate imported £2,000 worth of copper money for Irish consumption. Swift was most indignant at this, and his protest, printed by Faulkner, brought that publisher before the Council, and gave Swift a fit of "nerves." (MS. Letter, March 31st, 1737, to Lord Orrery, quoted by Craik in Swift's "Life," vol. ii., p. 160.) Swift's objection against the copper was due to the fact that it was not minted in Ireland. "I quarrel not with the coin, but with the indignity of its not being coined here." (Same MS. Letter.)

Among the pamphlets in the Halliday collection in the Royal Irish Academy, Dublin, is a tract with the following title:

"Reasons why we should not lower the Coins now Current in this Kingdom ... Dublin: Printed and Sold by E. Waters in Dame-street."

At the end of this tract is printed Swift's speech to "an Assembly of above one Hundred and fifty eminent persons who met at the Guild Hall, on Saturday the 24th April, 1736, in order to draw up their Petition, and present it to his grace the Lord Lieutenant against lowering said Coin." It is from this tract that the present text has been taken. The editor is obliged to Sir Henry Craik's "Life of Swift" for drawing attention to this hitherto uncollected piece.

[T. S.]

SPEECH DELIVERED ON THE LOWERING OF
THE COIN.

I beg you will consider and very well weigh in your hearts, what I am going to say and what I have often said before. There are several bodies of men, among whom the power of this kingdom is divided—1st, The Lord-Lieutenant, Lords Justices and Council; next to these, my Lords the Bishops; there is likewise my Lord Chancellor, and my Lords the Judges of the land—with other eminent persons in the land, who have employments and great salaries annexed. To these must be added the Commissioners of the Revenue, with all their under officers: and lastly, their honours of the Army, of all degrees.