; and as no Money given by any
People, can be productive, of so much and so general a Good to all, as
this 4000 _l._ _per Ann._; as it will be manag'd by such clean Hands,
and such clear Heads and faithful Hearts, as it will be directed by an
Industry that never slackens, and by a Society which by the King's
Goodness to us, can never die, I am sure we shall not be denied it.
This is really the truest and noblest Use of Riches, for to give and
relieve Thousands, is the best View on which we can either gather or
disperse them, and above all when the Charity begins at home, and helps
and makes happy our wanting Brethren. This Design must give the highest
Joy to the Parliament, which supports and enforces it, for it is
certainly a vast Pleasure to a Patriot any way to assist in alleviating
and assisting the Wants of his indigent Countrymen; but how much must
his Joy be encreas'd, and what must he feel, who bestows Knowledge,
Virtue and Industry, to Millions of his Fellow-Citizens? To give to
such noble Ends, seems to be transcending the Limits of Humanity, and
wou'd look like usurping on the Power of Heaven, if the Creator had not
transform'd it, to a Kind of Homage to himself.

PRIOR. Dear _Dean_, I forgive you any Trifle that offended me in our
Dialogue, and I thank you from my Soul for this happy Expedient to
serve our Country so evidently and effectually. If once our
Representatives will let us feel and know, that Industry in _Ireland_,
shall never be unrewarded, nor Arts neglected, we shall soon learn that
in so fertile a Country, no Man who has Hands and will use them, can
ever want either the Necessaries or Conveniences of Life. This Help
from our Parliament wou'd turn in a little Time our Desarts into
Gardens, our Famines into Plenty, our Herdsmen into Farmers, our
Beggars into Labourers, our Villages of starving Cottagers, into Towns
swarming with Artists, and our Beasts into Men; nay every Hill wou'd be
cultivated, every Valley ornamented, and our Lands as much improv'd as
our Roads.

SWIFT. What hindered our former Parliaments from taking such Measures,
I will not pretend to Guess, but why they in the Days of our Ancestors,
shou'd Vote such Funds to our Civil and Military Establishments, and
such Pittances, such Nothings, to the Ease, the Well-being, the
Happiness and Honour of the Nation, is hard to say, and parhaps, _Tom_,
if we were living in those Days not very safe. It is a Comfort our
People are in no suc