surprisingly too.

PRIOR. And pray what Law is it? For I am ready, like some good Patriots
(who get others to think for them) to vote for it, right or wrong; nay,
before I know what it is, since so good a Friend proposes it.

SWIFT. Why, my Act of Parliament is enough to frighten all good
Protestants, and is to impower every Landlord, notwithstanding
Settlements, to set Leases for ever, of ten or twenty Acres, even to
Papists, at the full reserved Rent, who wou'd build good Houses of
Stone and Lime, of such and such Dimensions, and inclose and plant an
Orchard and Garden of at least one Acre, and keep them in Repair, on
pain of voiding the Tenure. This wou'd, in a few Years, increase the
Number of our Houses and Orchards prodigiously; and the more as our
Natives are very fond of having Lands and Tenements in their own
Country, and are willing to give this Pledge of their Allegiance, which
so many of them, for Want of such Ties, sit too loose in. I am sensible
what an Outcry, many honest Gentlemen wou'd make to this Law; but I am
sure it wou'd improve our Country to an high Degree; nor do I see what
shou'd hinder us to allow Papists to purchase Lands, (and especially
the old forfeited Lands) to a limited Value, and without allowing them
a Vote, provided they built and inclosed them in proportion to the
Estate: But who can bear to throw away their Thoughts on a Nation, that
mind their own Dreams and Habits of Thinking more than the Reasonings
of others; who cannot be prevailed on to set up new Manufactures, at
the Instances and Exhortations of a Lord Lieutenant, nay, not at the
Advice, and, shall I add, even the Entreaties of that illustrious
Patriot and Friend to _Ireland_, my Lord _Ch----d_.

PRIOR. You mean the making Paper here, which that Nobleman, with a Zeal
equal to his Understanding, honoured me with so many Letters about; and
took so much Pains, with many useful Friends of our Country, to get
effectually established in _Ireland_.

SWIFT. I do; and I want to vent my Spleen, in abusing my Countrymen,
for the inconsiderable Progress which has been made in so excellent a
Design. Certainly, though we have made some Advances that Way, if we
had carried them on with the least Share of that Nobleman's Spirit, we
shou'd have brought it to much greater Perfection than we have done.
Even with what little Care and Encouragement we have bestowed on it, if
we continue to cultivate it, we may expect in some Years to improv