Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 9.djvu/285

Rh door, to entertain his guests; which however to my knowledge is not true in fact; not one of those birds being a proper companion for a Christian, as to aiding and assisting in making the punch. For, as they are drawn upon the sign, they are much more likely to mute, or shed their feathers into the liquor. Then as to the bear, he is too terrible, awkward, and slovenly a companion to converse with; neither are any of them all handy enough to fill liquor to the company: I do therefore vehemently suspect a plot intended against the government by these devices. For, although the spread eagle be the arms of Germany, upon which account it may possibly be a lawful protestant sign, yet I, who am very suspicious of fair outsides, in a matter which so nearly concerns our welfare, cannot but call to mind, that the pretender's wife is said to be of German birth; and that many popish princes, in so vast an extent of land, are reported to excel both at making and drinking punch: besides, it is plain that the spread eagle exhibits to us the perfect figure of a cross, which is a badge of popery. Then as to the cock, he is well known to represent the French nation, our old and dangerous enemy. The swan, who must of necessity cover the entire bowl with his wings, can be no other than the Spaniard, who endeavours to engross all the treasures of the Indies to himself. The lion is indeed the common emblem of royal power, as well as the arms of England; but to paint him black is perfect jacobitism, and a manifest type of those who blacken the actions of the best princes. It is not easy to distinguish, whether that other fowl painted over the punch bowl, be a crow or a raven. It is true they have both been Rh