“Therefore, we, the said inhabitants of the said Liberty, and in the neighbourhood thereof, from our great love and respect to the said Dean, to whom the whole kingdom hath so many obligations, as well as we of the Liberty, do unanimously declare, that we will endeavour to defend the life and limbs of the said Dean against the said man, and all his ruffians and murderers, as far as the law will allow, if he or any of them presume to come into the said Liberty with any wicked malicious intent against the house, or family, or person, or goods of the said Dean.  To which we have cheerfully, sincerely, and heartily set our hands.”

Swift, at the time of receiving this Resolution lay very ill in bed, and was unable to receive the deputation in person.  He, however, dictated the following reply: 

“GENTLEMEN,

“I receive, with great thankfulness, these many kind expressions of your concern for my safety, as well as your declared resolution to defend me (as far as the laws of God and man will allow) against all murderers and ruffians, who shall attempt to enter into the liberty with any bloody or wicked designs upon my life, my limbs, my house, or my goods.  Gentlemen, my life is in the hand of God, and whether it may be cut off by treachery or open violence, or by the common way of other men; as long as it continueth, I shall ever bear a grateful memory for this favour you have shewn, beyond my expectation, and almost exceeding my wishes.

“The inhabitants of the liberty, as well as those of the neighbourhood, have lived with me in great amity for near twenty years; which I am confident will never diminish during my life.  I am chiefly sorry, that by two cruel disorders of deafness and giddiness, which have pursued me for four months, I am not in condition either to hear, or to receive you, much less to return my most sincere acknowledgements, which in justice and gratitude I ought to do.  May God bless you and your families in this world, and make you for ever happy in the next.”

The poem itself to which Bettesworth took exception is herewith reprinted, as well as three others occasioned by the Bettesworth action.

ON THE WORDS

BROTHER PROTESTANTS AND FELLOW CHRISTIANS,

SO FAMILIARLY USED BY THE ADVOCATES FOR THE REPEAL OF THE TEST-ACT IN IRELAND. 1733.

  “An inundation, says the fable,
  Overflow’d a farmer’s barn and stable;
  Whole ricks of hay and sacks of corn
  Were down the sudden current borne;
  While things of heterogeneous kind
  Together float with tide and wind. 
  The generous wheat forgot its pride,
  And sail’d with litter side by side;
  Uniting all, to shew their amity,
  As in a general calamity. 
  A ball of new-dropp’d horse’s dung,
  Mingling with apples in the throng,
  Said to the pippin plump and prim,
  ‘See brother, how we apples swim.’