Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 9.djvu/361

 MY LORD, HE corporation of weavers in the woollen manufacture, who have so often attended your grace, and called upon me with their schemes and proposals, were with me on Thursday last; when he who spoke for the rest, and in the name of his absent brethren, said, "It was the opinion of the whole body, that if somewhat were written at this time, by an able hand, to persuade the people of this kingdom to wear their own woollen manufactures, it might be of good use to the nation in general, and preserve many hundreds of their trade from starving." To which I answered, "That it was hard for any man of common spirit, to turn his thoughts to such speculations, without discovering a resentment, which people are too delicate to " bear."