Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 9.djvu/131

Rh knew nothing of the matter. I then turned over all the statutes of both kingdoms, without the least information, farther than an Irish act, that I quoted, of the 33d of Henry VIII, uniting Ireland to England under one king. I cannot say, I was sorry to be disappointed in my search, because it is certain, I could be contented to depend only upon God and my prince, and the laws of my own country, after the manner of other nations. But since my betters are of a different opinion, and desire farther dependencies, I shall outwardly submit; yet still insisting, in my own heart, upon the exception I made of M. B. drapier. Indeed that hint was borrowed from an idle story I had heard in England, which perhaps may be common and beaten; but because it insinuates neither treason nor sedition, I will just barely relate it.

Some hundred years ago, when the peers were so great that the commons were looked upon as little better than their dependents, a bill was brought in for making some new additions to the power and privileges of the peerage. After it was read, one Mr. Drue, a member of the house, stood up, and said, he very much approved the bill, and would give his vote to have it pass; but however, for some reasons best known to himself, he desired that a clause might be inserted for excepting the family of the Drues. The oddness of the proposition taught others to reflect a little; and the bill was thrown out.

Whether I were mistaken, or went too far in examining the dependency, must be left to the impartial judgment of the world, as well as to the courts of judicature; although indeed not in so effectual and decisive