toward the Pretender.

I have not observed the wit and fancy of this town, so much employed in
any one article, as that of contriving variety of signs to hang over
houses, where punch is to be sold. The bowl is represented full of
punch, the ladle stands erect in the middle, supported sometimes by one,
and sometimes by two animals, whose feet rest upon the edge of the bowl.
These animals are sometimes one black lion, and sometimes a couple;
sometimes a single eagle, and sometimes a spread one, and we often meet
a crow, a swan, a bear, or a cock, in the same posture.

Now, I cannot find how any of these animals, either separate, or in
conjunction, are properly speaking, either fit emblems or
embellishments, to advance the sale of punch. Besides, it is agreed
among naturalists, that no brute can endure the taste of strong liquor,
except where he hath been used to it from his infancy: And,
consequently, it is against all the rules of hieroglyph, to assign those
animals as patrons, or protectors of punch. For, in that case, we ought
to suppose, that the host keeps always ready the real bird, or beast,
whereof the picture hangs over his door, to entertain his guest; which,
however, to my knowledge, is not true in fact. For not one of those
birds is a proper companion for a Christian, as to aiding and assisting
in making the punch. For the birds, as they are drawn upon the sign, 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 at 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
Sp