eagh_,
to the Sea, in Hopes they wou'd turn that vast Drain of Money, when we
cou'd stop it, to better Purposes at home. Accordingly great Funds were
assigned it, and an infinite Number of Hands and Heads (or People that
wore Heads) employed on it for a long Space of Time; and yet after vast
Sputter, erring and re-erring, correcting and re-correcting, and
expending near 60000 _l._ the Work is far from being compleated; nor
can we yet say we are secure of our Canal or our Coal. Much has been
promis'd, and yet by Mismanagements or Misfortunes, and different
Obstacles, little has been done to answer the Expectations that were
raised; and tho' we were assured we shou'd in a few Years have at least
20000 Ton of Coals brought every Year to _Dublin_, to help our Poor, we
have not yet got 500.

PRIOR. I cannot account for the Disappointment, and it well deserves
the Nation's Enquiry. If, as I heard good Judges say, the Work could
have been finish'd in five Years Time, what have we lost, who for the
last fifteen Years, have paid such vast Sums to _Whitehaven_, that we
might have saved? And how much better had we managed, had we laid out
double what it has cost us at the first, and cut short both our Loss
and our Trouble?

SWIFT. Very true; but instead of this, they have, with true _Irish_
Policy, contrived to give large Sallaries to some Favourites to carry
on the Work, and thus, in Effect, brib'd them to delay the Undertaking
they were hired to finish. Thus these Plotters against themselves sink
this noble, generous Design, into a low, miserable Job, and instead of
assisting the Kingdom, they provide for five or six Families, that live
comfortably on protracting the Execution. If the Colliery Company,
whose Interest it is to finish the Canal, wou'd undertake the
completing it, and fix the Terms with the Navigation-Board, we shou'd
soon see the Matters well mended; but till that is done, we shall get
nothing but half-work for double Time, and treble Charges.

PRIOR. The Board will take Care of it; but though they shou'd exert
themselves ever so warmly, in finishing the Canal, we can never hope
for the Coal, unless the Nation makes a Waggon-Way of about 5000 Yards
to the River; and as this will cost as many thousand Pounds, we must
wait at least a Summer or two for that, in case the Parliament shou'd
generously add this small Sum to all their former Bounties. When I
consider, that this Kingdom loses so immensely every Year, th