Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 9.djvu/253

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CONSIDERATIONS

UPON

TWO BILLS

SENT DOWN FROM THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE HOUSE OF LORDS TO THE HONOURABLE THE HOUSE OF COMMONS IN IRELAND RELATING TO THF CLERGY.


WRITTEN IN THE YEAR 1731.





I HAVE often, for above a month past, desired some few clergymen, who are pleased to visit me, that they would procure an extract of two bills, brought into the council by some of the bishops, and both of them since passed in the house of lords: but I could never obtain what I desired, whether by the forgetfulness or negligence of those whom I employed, or the difficulty of the thing itself. Therefore, if I shall happen to mistake in any fact of consequence, I desire my remarks upon it may pass for nothing; for my information is no better than what I received in words from several divines, who seemed to agree with each other. I have not the honour to be acquainted with any one single prelate of the kingdom; and am a stranger to their characters, farther than as common fame reports them, which is

R 2
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