Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 9.djvu/288

278 And thus the Romans, when they sacrificed an ox, used this kind of prayer; "As I knock down this ox, so may'st thou, O Jupiter! knock down our enemies." In like manner, after king William's death, whenever a jacobite squeezed an orange, he had a mental curse upon the glorious memory, and a hearty wish for power to squeeze all his majesty's friends to death as he squeezed that orange, which bore one of his titles, as he was prince of Orange. This I do affirm for truth, many of that faction having confessed it to me under an oath of secrecy, which however I thought it my duty not to keep when I saw my dear country in danger. But what better can be expected from an impious set of men, who never scruple to drink confusion to all true protestants under the name of whigs? A most unchristian and inhuman practice; which to our great honour and comfort was never charged upon us, even by our most malicious detractors.

The sign of two angels hovering in the air, and with their right hands supporting a crown, is met with in several parts of this city, and has often given me great offence: for, whether by the unskilfulness or dangerous principles of the painters (although I have good reasons to suspect the latter) those angels are usually drawn with such horrid, or indeed rather diabolical countenances, that they give great offence to every loyal eye, and equal cause of triumph to the jacobite, being a most infamous reflection upon our able and excellent ministry.

I now return to that great enormity of our city cries; most of which we have borrowed from London. I shall consider them only in a political view, as they nearly affect the peace and safety of both kingdoms; and