ate ability in expression, into which he imparted the fullest
value of the intended meaning. His thought lost nothing in its
statement. Writing as he did from the point of view of a tradesman, to
the shopkeepers, farmers, and common people of Ireland, his business was
to speak with them as if he were one of them. He had already laid bare
their grievances caused by the selfish legislation of the English
Parliament, which had ruined Irish manufactures; he had written grimly
of the iniquitous laws which had destroyed the woollen trade of the
country; he had not forgotten the condition of the people as he saw it
on his journeys from Dublin to Cork--a condition which he was later to
reveal in the most terrible of his satirical tracts--and he realized
with almost personal anguish the degradation of the people brought about
by the rapacity and selfishness of a class which governed with no
thought of ultimate consequences, and with no apparent understanding of
what justice implied. It was left for him to precipitate his private
opinion and public spirit in such form as would arouse the nation to a
sense of self-respect, if not to a pitch of resentment. The "Drapier's
Letters" was the reagent that accomplished both.

* * * * *

The editor takes this opportunity to express his thanks and obligations
to Mr. G.R. Dennis, to Mr. W. Spencer Jackson, to the late Colonel F.R.
Grant, to Mr. C. Litton Falkiner of Killiney, and to Mr. O'Donoghue of
Dublin. His acknowledgment is here also made to Mr. Strickland, of the
National Gallery of Ireland, to whose kindness and learning he is
greatly indebted.

TEMPLE SCOTT.

NEW YORK, _March_, 1903.

CONTENTS

LETTER I. TO THE SHOPKEEPERS, TRADESMEN, FARMERS, AND COMMON-PEOPLE OF
IRELAND

LETTER II. TO MR. HARDING THE PRINTER

THE REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF THE LORDS OF HIS MAJESTY'S MOST
HONOURABLE PRIVY-COUNCIL, IN RELATION TO MR. WOOD'S HALFPENCE AND
FARTHINGS, ETC.

LETTER III. TO THE NOBILITY AND GENTRY OF THE KINGDOM OF IRELAND

LETTER IV. TO THE WHOLE PEOPLE OF IRELAND

SEASONABLE ADVICE TO THE GRAND JURY, CONCERNING THE BILL PREPARING
AGAINST THE PRINTER OF THE DRAPIER'S FOURTH LETTER

LETTER V. TO THE LORD CHANCELLOR MIDDLETON

LETTER VI. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORD VISCOUNT MOLESWORTH

LETTER VII. AN HUMBLE ADDRESS TO BOTH HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT

APPENDIXES

I. ADDRESSES TO THE KING

II. REPORT OF THE ASSAY ON WOOD'S COINAGE,