THE AUTHOR'S LETTERS TO THE BISHOP OF CLOYNE,
&c. &c. &c.

NEW-YORK:

PRINTED BY SAMUEL WALKER,

FOR D. SULLIVAN, 148, CHERRY-STREET.

TO THE

DIGNITARIES AND BRETHREN

OF THE ILLUSTRIOUS ORDER OF

THE MONKS OF ST. PATRICK.*

Rev. Fathers, and illustrious Brethren,

THE purport of the work which I have the honour to dedicate to your order, is to cement the bands of society; to secure the safety of our country, by union and mutual confidence; to render the subject's allegiance firm, and at the same time reasonable, by establishing it on its proper grounds; to dispel the mists of long reigning prejudice; after disarming infidelity, which strikes at the foundation of religion, and the dignity of our nature, to induce the Christians of every denomination to lay aside the destructive weapons which frenzy has so often put into their hands; and, under their peculiar modes of worship, to inspire them with that benevolence and charity enforced by the first principles of the Law of Nature, and confirmed by the sacred oracles which they all revere.

In my fugitive pieces, to which the circumstances of the times have given rise, you discovered the sincerity of my

* A society of nobles and gentlemen, composed of the greatest orators and writers in Ireland; who, unsolicited, have done the author the honour of adopting him as one of their members.