ure of the arrangement to Dublin. Wood himself was unpopular,
so far as anything could be known of him, in Ireland. He was a
stranger to Ireland, and he was represented to be a boastful, arrogant
man, who went about saying he could do anything he liked with Walpole,
and that he would cram his copper coins down the throats of the Irish
people. All these objections, however, might have been got over but
for the sudden appearance of an unexpected and a powerful actor on the
scene. One morning appeared in Dublin "A letter to the shopkeepers,
tradesmen, farmers, and common people of Ireland, concerning the brass
halfpence coined by one William Wood, hardwareman, with a design to
have them pass in this kingdom; wherein is shown the power of his
patent, the value of his halfpence, and how far every person may be
obliged to take the same in payments; and how to behave himself in case
such an attempt should be made by Wood or any other person." The
letter was signed "M. B., Drapier." This was the first of those famous
"Drapier's Letters" which convulsed Ireland with a passion like that
preceding a great popular insurrection. It may be questioned whether
the pamphlets of a literary politician ever before or since worked with
so powerful an influence on the mind of a nation as these marvellous
letters.

[Sidenote: 1724--Swift's sincerity]

The author of "The Drapier's Letters," we need hardly say, was Dean
Swift. Swift had for some years withdrawn himself from the political
world. He is described by one of his biographers as having "amused
himself for three or four years with poetry, conversation, and
trifles." Now and then, however, he published some letter which showed
his interest in the condition of the people among whom he lived; his
proposal, for example, "for the universal use of Irish manufacture in
clothes and furniture of houses, etc.," was written in the year 1720.
This letter--the printer of which was subjected to a Government
prosecution--contains a passage which has been, perhaps, {243} more
often and more persistently misquoted than any other observation of any
author we can now remember. It seems to have become an article of
faith with many writers and most readers that Swift said, "Burn
everything that comes from England, except its coals." Without much
hope of correcting that false impression so far as the bulk of the
reading and quoting public is concerned, we may observe that Swift
never said anyt