ABSTRACT
While the Letter to Shopkeepers was finding its audience, the Lord Lieutenant was covering himself with ignominy. Before February 1724, Dubliners heard that he would soon be removed; 1 and early in March came reports that some of his horses and furniture were being embarked for England. 2 Grafton himself remained less fortunate. He had prorogued the Irish Parliament in December, but then he went on fumbling with his difficulties week after week while waiting for relief.
