THE SPEECH OF Henry Dowdall, Esq Recorder of DROGHEDA To His MAJESTY, at His Entry into the Town of DROGHEDA, On the seventh of April, 1689.  

Imprimatur.  
PATRICK CLOGHER.   

Most Sacred SIR,  
AMong the many Miracles which adorn almost every step and passage of Your Most Sacred Majesty's Life, we think none more Conspicuous, taken in all its Circumstances, and Providential Accidents, than Your Majesty's late, more than Miraculous. Landing in this Your Ancient, Loyal, and long-suffering Kingdom: A Blessing, by so much the more surprising, by how much the less expected! A Blessing, of which our Ancestors ne'er could dream, when their thoughts were proudest! A Blessing, for which we ourselves ne'er could hope, when our Misfortunes allowed no other Consolation but what we were forced to seek in dubious Prophecies, or in our almost worn and tired Devotion! A Blessing, in fine, which late Posterity will scarcely believe, be it ne'er so credulous.  
For our shares, (Great Sir) we are f●●ced to confess, that the novelty of our present Happiness is still so surprising, that Joy of the one side, and Wonder of the other, have so divided our Souls, that we scarcely find leisure for a single thought. And yet, we can't but perceive, as the descending of a God was formerly requisite to the reinstating of lapsed Man, that e'neso the coming of a Godlike KING was absolutely requisite to the redeeming of a Loyal Distressed People from a Captivity, in its Cause, Duration and Severity, not to be paralleled in Story.  
In Effect (Great Sir) a faint Beam shot from a distant Sun thorough so many thick intervening Clouds, was scarce able to dissipate the envenomed Fogs, for almost forty years so predominant in this Isle; and nothing less could do it, than the more powerful warmth of that Sunshine, which on Your Majesty's first Landing, overspread our Hemisphere.  
And tho' we ca●t utterly abhor and detest the first moving Cause of this Your Most Grac●●●● Visit, yet can't we but Praise and Bless Providence, for having raised to 〈◊〉 the Perjury, Treachery, and Perfidiousness of others, a fair opportunity 〈◊〉 exerting those truly loyal Principles which our slaughtered Ancestors signed ●ith their Blood, and avowed with their dying Groans.  
Yes (Sacred Sir) it must make for the Credit of long wronged Ireland, that She still suffered for, and with her Royal Master: And if now there be found in Her any Distemper or peccant Humour, it proceeds from the too great fullness of pampered Traitors, who Gorged with the Fat of Loyal Sufferers, must at length have broke out in the old Sores and Ulcers of Rebellion.  
But since it pleased God, and You (Great Sir) to have preserved the Head and Heart still sound, the malignancy of the Distemper being now cast into the Extremity of one Limb, and the Sore being brought to maturity, Your Majesty may with safety apply a Discretionary Medicine.  
What remains to me, (Great Sir) is humbly to Implore Your Majesty's Acceptance of a Sacrifice, which this day I am Commission'd to offer. It is (Great Sir) the Hearts and Hands of this Adoring Crowd, the Lives and Fortunes of all these the Ancient Inhabitants of Your Majesty's most Ancient, and most Loyal Town of Drogheda. That their Blood is sincere, and proof against the Scurvy of Rebellion; Witness those Walls; Witness these Pavements Consecrated by the Gore of their Ever-faithful Progenitors.  
We will conclude (Great Sir) with a short Prayer, and it is not that Your Majesty either Protect us in, or Restore us to our lost Property, our Churches, or our Benefices: No. Our Loyalty is so Seraphic, that it rejects all those drossy Allays of Self-Interest; but it is (Sacred Sir) that Heaven, whose Darling we are sure you are, may grant to Your Most Sacred Majesty, after having dashed to pieces all Treasonable and Traitorous Associations and Conspiracies, after having sored like a Sun in its full Meridian o'er the Heads of all Your Enemies, and unnaturally Rebellious Subjects, after having dismembered Rebellion itself, that Infernal Hydra, and driven it into its Hellish Mansions, where we are sure it took its first Breath, a Happy, a Speedy, a Safe, and a Glorious Return to Your Ancient Imperial Throne; in Success, a Caesar; in Conquest, an Alexander; and a Constantine in Religion.  
FINIS.