Wednesday, November 09, 2016
The American Eagle
Charles Dickens (1812-1870), Martin Chuzzlewit, ed. Margaret Cardwell (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1982), pp. 545-546 (Chapter XXXIV):
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"Why Cook! what are you thinking of so steadily?" said Martin.Hat tip: Lee Pratsch.
"Why I was a thinking, sir," returned Mark, "that if I was a painter and was called upon to paint the American Eagle, how should I do it?"
"Paint it as like an Eagle as you could, I suppose."
"No," said Mark. "That wouldn't do for me, sir. I should want to draw it like a Bat, for its short-sightedness; like a Bantam, for its bragging; like a Magpie, for its honesty; like a Peacock, for its vanity; like a Ostrich, for its putting its head in the mud, and thinking nobody sees it—"
"And like a Phoenix, for its power of springing from the ashes of its faults and vices, and soaring up anew into the sky!" said Martin. "Well, Mark. Let us hope so."
