Read the excerpt from "A Modest Proposal. " Then as to the females, it would, I think, with humble submission, be a loss to the publick, because they soon would become breeders themselves: And besides, it is not improbable that some scrupulous people might be apt to censure such a practice, (although indeed very unjustly) as a little bordering upon cruelty, which, I confess, hath always been with me the strongest objection against any project, how well soever intended. Which phrase from the excerpt is an example of verbal irony? a loss to the publick some scrupulous people indeed very unjustly strongest objection against.