Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 5.djvu/354

346 catholicks, deprived of all their possessions, governed with a rod of iron, and in utter despair of ever seeing the monarchy restored, for the preservation of which they had suffered so much, were to be blamed for calling in a foreign prince of their own religion, who had a considerable army to support them, rather than submit to so infamous a usurper as Cromwell, or such a bloody and ignominious conventicle as the rump. And I have often heard not only our friends the dissenters, but even our common enemies the conformists, who are conversant in the history of those times, freely confess, that considering the miserable situation the Irish were then in, they could not have thought of a braver, or more virtuous attempt; by which they might have been instruments of restoring the lawful monarch, at least to the recovery of England and Scotland, from those betrayers, and sellers, and murderers of his royal father.

To conclude, whereas the last quoted author complains very heavily and frequently of a brand that lies upon them, it is a great mistake: for the first original brand has been long taken of; only we confess the scar will probably remain, and be visible for ever to those who know the principles by which they acted, and until those principles shall be openly renounced; else it must continue to all generations, like the mark set upon Cain, which some authors say descended to all his posterity; or like the Roman nose and Austrian lip, or like the long bag of flesh hanging down from the gills of the people in Piedmont. But as for any brands fixed on schismaticks for several years past, they have been all made with cold iron; like thieves, who by the benefit of the clergy are condemned to be only burned in the