Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 10.djvu/401

Rh at the window, but half clothed as he was, than to expose his life to the fury of such, whose very mercies might be cruel. Thus he saved his life, and made his escape to the English side, with only four dollars in his pocket; leaving his goods, house, and parish, as plunder, to those saints; who, doubtless, looked on such as he was, as no other than a usurper of what, of right, pertained to them; pursuant to the maxim, "That dominion is founded in grace."

And here I beg leave to relate the treatment which another episcopal clergyman received from that tribe, about the same time: his name was Kirkwood, whom I likewise knew, before the Revolution, minister of a parish in Galloway, in Scotland, and afterward rector in the county of Fermanagh, in Ireland. Among other good qualities, this gentleman was a very facetious person; and by his presence of mind, in making use of this talent, he had the good fortune to save both his life and goods, from the fury of those godly men, who then thought all things their own. When they broke into the house, he was in bed; and sitting up in his shirt, desired leave to speak a few words before he died; which (I cannot tell how it happened) they granted, and he spoke to this effect; "That he had always prayed to God, he might die in his bed; adding that he had in his house as good ale and brandy as was in all Scotland; and therefore hoped the worthy gentlemen would do him the honour to drink with him, before they did any thing rashly."

This facetious speech, which they little expected from him in the article of so much danger as then threatened him, had the luck to divert them from their bloody purpose, and to make them comply with