The following letter is supposed by some judicious persons to be of the same author, and, if their conjectures be right, it will be of no disadvantage to him to have it revived, considering the time when it was writ, the persons then at the helm, and the designs in agitation, against which this paper so boldly appeared.  I have been assured that the suspicion which the supposed author lay under for writing this letter, absolutely ruined him with the late ministry.  I have taken leave to omit about a page which was purely personal, and of no use to the subject.

Dublin, Dec. 4, 1708.

Sir,

I received your letter, wherein you tell me of the strange representations made of us on your side of the water.  The instance you are pleased to mention is that of the Presbyterian missionary, who, according to your phrase, hath been lately persecuted at Drogheda for his religion:  But it is easy to observe, how mighty industrious some people have been for three or four years past, to hand about stories of the hardships, the merits, the number, and the power of the Presbyterians in Ireland, to raise formidable ideas of the dangers of Popery there, and to transmit all for England, improved by great additions, and with special care to have them inserted with comments in those infamous weekly papers that infest your coffee-houses.  So, when the clause enacting a Sacramental Test was put in execution, it was given out in England, that half the justices of peace through this kingdom had laid down their commissions; whereas upon examination, the whole number was found to amount only to a dozen or thirteen, and those generally of the lowest rate in fortune and understanding, and some of them superannuated.  So, when the Earl of Pembroke was in Ireland and the Parliament sitting, a formal story was very gravely carried to his Excellency by some zealous members, of a priest newly arrived from abroad to the north-west parts of Ireland, who had publicly preached to his people, to fall a-murdering the Protestants; which, though invented to serve an end they were then upon, and are still driving at, it was presently handed over, and printed with shrewd remarks by your worthy scribblers.  In like manner, the account of that person who was lately expelled our university for reflecting on the memory of King William, what a dust it raised, and how foully it was related, is fresh enough in memory.[2] Neither would people be convinced till the university was at the pains of publishing a Latin paper to justify themselves.  And, to mention no more, this story of the persecution at Drogheda, how it hath been spread and aggravated, what consequences have been drawn from it, and what reproaches fixed on those who have least deserved them, we are already informed.  Now if the end of all this proceeding were a secret and mystery, I should not undertake to give it an interpretation, but sufficient care hath been taken to give it sufficient explanation.[3]