sententious, dogmatical a rogue, that there is no enduring him; the
_Observator_[5] is much the brisker of the two, and I think farther gone
of late in lies and impudence, than his Presbyterian brother. The reason
why I mention him, is to have an occasion of letting you know, that you
have not dealt so gallantly with us, as we did with you in a parallel
case: Last year, a paper was brought here from England, called, "A
Dialogue between the Archbishop of Canterbury and Mr. Higgins," which we
ordered to be burnt by the common hangman, as it well deserved; though
we have no more to do with his Grace of Canterbury[6] than you have with
the Archbishop of Dublin[7]; nor can you love and reverence your prelate
more than we do ours, whom you tamely suffer to be abused openly, and by
name, by that paltry rascal of an _Observator_; and lately upon an
affair wherein he had no concern; I mean the business of the missionary
at Drogheda, wherein our excellent primate was engaged, and did nothing
but according to law and discretion. But because the Lord Archbishop of
Dublin hath been upon several occasions of late years, misrepresented in
England, I would willingly set you right in his character. For his great
sufferings and eminent services he was by the late King promoted to the
see of Derry. About the same time, he wrote a book to justify the
Revolution, wherein was an account of King James's proceedings in
Ireland, and the late Archbishop Tillotson recommended it to the King as
the most serviceable treatise that could have been published at such a
juncture.[8] And as his Grace set out upon those principles, he has
proceeded so ever since, as a loyal subject to the Queen, entirely for
the succession in the Protestant line, and for ever excluding the
Pretender; and though a firm friend to the Church, yet with indulgence
toward dissenters, as appears from his conduct at Derry, where he was
settled for many years among the most virulent of the sect; yet upon his
removal to Dublin, they parted from him with tears in their eyes, and
universal acknowledgments of his wisdom and goodness. For the rest, it