Montgomery died and it is far from clear whether Drennan was appalled or amused by how the burial of the deceased was conducted. He told Martha:
I attended Mr. Montgomery’s public funeral and walked before the rest in a very disagreeable procession, preceded only by a ragged beggar-looking fellow who kept jingling a little bell in his hand as if to appraise the whole town that the deceased and the doctor were just a coming. This is a constant ceremonial in funeral solemnities in this place, and not satisfied with this, there is always one of these bell ringers informing everyone by their papistical bell, who had died and what hour and when he is to be interred. I observe that these fellows always pull off their hats most respectfully on meeting me in the street, as if certain of my being a future friend of theirs, and looking upon themselves as acting pretty much in the same vocation.7
About this time, William Bruce informed Drennan that Dr Priestley’s dissenting academy at Warrington had closed for want of pupils. Drennan suggested to Bruce that this provided an opportunity to draw up a plan to open such an academy in Belfast. Nothing came of this at the time but obviously the idea stayed with Drennan for a very long time. Over thirty years later, Drennan succeeded in opening the Belfast Academical Institution and ironically, one of the most vehement opponents of the project would be William Bruce.
Martha was ambitious for her brother and often urged him to resume his political writings with a view to enhancing his public reputation. Her aspiration was that one day he might be a Member of Parliament and she looked forward to him being referred to as ‘Sir W[illiam] D[rennan]’. He considered a writing comeback in 1783 when he witnessed a massive increase in emigration, which apparently resulted from the end of the war in America, coupled with the effects of a major economic downturn. He considered writing a series of open letters to Lord Charlemont, ‘on the questions of emigration, Volunteering etc’. He was preoccupied with his medical duties at this point and suggested that if he was to resume political writing, he would confine himself to short pieces. He felt that, ‘a natural interruption of letters might give relief to the reader who has not even the patience to finish a sixpenny pamphlet and assist the writer when he became tired of his subject or his subject tired of him’.8
He sent a draft paper to Martha but she was not impressed. She felt it lacked design and it was not clear in its conclusions and she felt that Drennan was arguing against his own feelings. Nor did Martha feel it was a ‘fit’ subject for a patriot and suggested he should find another topic. If, and when, he should find such a suitable subject, he should attach a flattering introduction to Lord Charlemont. She strongly advised him not to claim authorship at first. Rather, he should wait till the work gained recognition and then claim it. The heavy workload in his medical practice prevented him from acting on her suggestions at the time.
An unforeseen circumstance not only delayed his return to writing but nearly terminated his writing career and his life. He was suddenly stricken with a serious illness which he was fortunate to survive. It would be more than a year later, when he had fully recovered his health, that he had found his ‘fit’ subject to resume his writing. He then employed his ‘natural interruption of letters’ formula and Martha’s concealed authorship stratagem, for the new work. He sent seven relatively short letters anonymously to the Belfast Newsletter, which he later published as a pamphlet under his own name. The title of the pamphlet was Letters of Orellana, an Irish Helot, the work that was to establish his national reputation.9
Although Will and Martha both often expressed worry about their respective poor health, it was Martha’s ongoing illness which caused them both the most concern. In May 1783, Martha and Nancy stopped at Newry on their way to Bristol via Dublin. They hoped the change of air and the spa waters of Bristol might be beneficial to them. After a pleasant stopover at Drennan’s lodgings, the sisters endured a most unpleasant coach journey on the road to Dublin. They arrived, ‘sick, sore, crammed and sorry at the Man of War Inn’, fifteen miles north of Dublin city. They both felt so miserable that they quit the coach and spent the night at the Man o’War. The following day they made their way to Dublin where they were warmly received by William Bruce’s family. They were frustrated by having to delay in Dublin awaiting the departure of their ship but enjoyed their time with the Bruces. When they finally embarked on 2 June, they were accompanied by William Bruce’s brother, Sam.10
In Belfast three days later, on Thursday 5 June, Anne Drennan received a letter from Newry pressing her to come immediately, as her son was dangerously ill with a fever. At three o’clock, within an hour of receiving the summons, she and Sam McTier set out on the road, reaching Newry after midnight. The next morning, they found Will in a terrible condition in the seventh day of his fever. They greatly feared for his life. They nursed him through several nights as his condition continued to worsen. Sam described to Martha how very ill her brother was, on the Sunday following their arrival:
What a melancholy object poor Will is this day, shouting with pain and trembling so that in the drawing room I hear his teeth gnashing together. We have a nurse keeper to assist us, George [Will’s man servant] and I can do no longer without one, and your mother is so affected she is of little use. He purges greatly without being sensible to it. We have terrible work watching and cleaning him, not the smallest trifle can he do for himself, even when we lift him to the close stool George or I were obliged to wipe for him.11
Eventually the crisis passed and Drennan began a slow recovery and to regain his strength. Dr Haliday had warned Sam that the patient would continue to rave a little until he was fully recovered. Will at first proved troublesome and cross, accusing Sam of trying to starve him when he discouraged him from eating solid food before he was ready. Sam and Mrs Drennan stayed in Newry until early July. Just before they set off for Belfast, Mrs Drennan wrote to Martha enclosing a short note she had encouraged Will to write. He told his sister:
My mother has asked me to add a few lines if I am able. I am just newly arisen from the dead after an interment (for such surely is a gloomy bed surrounded by three physicians, a surgeon, an apothecary and two nurses) which has lasted no less than five weeks on Saturday. I am gathering strength daily and my head is grown more clear and serene.12
Sam and Dr Haliday could see some silver lining in the cloud of Drennan’s suffering. Sam had no doubt that ‘the attack would add vigour to his constitution that before it was a stranger to’ and that he would possibly be stronger than ever. Dr Haliday observed that ‘it was worth Will’s while to have fever for the sake of those unaffected testimonies of regard his situation drew from the good people both in Newry and Belfast’.13
When Mrs Drennan and Sam were leaving Newry, there was heavy election canvassing going on in relation to filling two seats in the House for County Down. The mobs were gathering each night but the quarrelling and breaking of heads (which Sam liked), was yet to begin.14 The contest was a three-cornered fight, involving Edward Ward, son of Lord Bangor, and the two sitting MPs, Robert Stewart of Mount Stewart, supported by the Whigs and dissenters, and Lord Kilwarlin, son of the Earl of Hillsborough, supported by the High Church interest and the Tories.15
When fully recovered from his illness, Drennan wrote some squibs and letters to the freeholders of County Down in support of Stewart. As well as his political commitment to the independent interest, Sam was hoping for employment through the patronage of Stewart. He arranged to have Drennan’s letters printed in Belfast and worked hard in Downpatrick as Stewart’s election agent.
To preserve anonymity, Drennan signed himself ‘Sidney’, after Algernon Sidney the republican theorist and Whig martyr. Martha reported that Sidney’s letters were much admired in Belfast but many thought William Bruce was the author.16 Others were touting the names of Crombie and Haliday as Sidney’s identity. The dilemma Drennan now found himself in was one which was to dog him throughout his writing career. He felt he needed to balance his desire for literary fame as a radical propagandist with his anxiety not to alienate and lose the custom of his more conservative patients. He told Martha, ‘it might perhaps be of service to me to be known as the author