SCENE 1.2: 
THE PUBLIC STY. 
THE B0ARS IN FULL ASSEMBLY. 
ENTER PUEGANAX.

PURGANAX: 
Grant me your patience, Gentlemen and Boars,
Ye, by whose patience under public burthens
The glorious constitution of these sties
Subsists, and shall subsist.  The Lean-Pig rates
Grow with the growing populace of Swine, 5
The taxes, that true source of Piggishness
(How can I find a more appropriate term
To include religion, morals, peace, and plenty,
And all that fit Boeotia as a nation
To teach the other nations how to live?), 10
Increase with Piggishness itself; and still
Does the revenue, that great spring of all
The patronage, and pensions, and by-payments,
Which free-born Pigs regard with jealous eyes,
Diminish, till at length, by glorious steps, 15
All the land’s produce will be merged in taxes,
And the revenue will amount to—­nothing! 
The failure of a foreign market for
Sausages, bristles, and blood-puddings,
And such home manufactures, is but partial; 20
And, that the population of the Pigs,
Instead of hog-wash, has been fed on straw
And water, is a fact which is—­you know—­
That is—­it is a state-necessity—­
Temporary, of course.  Those impious Pigs, 25
Who, by frequent squeaks, have dared impugn
The settled Swellfoot system, or to make
Irreverent mockery of the genuflexions
Inculcated by the arch-priest, have been whipped
Into a loyal and an orthodox whine. 30
Things being in this happy state, the Queen
Iona—­

NOTE: 
16 land’s]lands edition 1820.

A LOUD CRY FROM THE PIGS: 
She is innocent! most innocent!

PURGANAX: 
That is the very thing that I was saying,
Gentlemen Swine; the Queen Iona being
Most innocent, no doubt, returns to Thebes, 35
And the lean Sows and Bears collect about her,
Wishing to make her think that WE believe
(I mean those more substantial Pigs, who swill
Rich hog-wash, while the others mouth damp straw)
That she is guilty; thus, the Lean-Pig faction 40
Seeks to obtain that hog-wash, which has been
Your immemorial right, and which I will
Maintain you in to the last drop of—­

A BOAR (INTERRUPTING HIM): 
What
Does any one accuse her of?

PURGANAX: 
Why, no one
Makes ANY positive accusation;—­but 45
There were hints dropped, and so the privy wizards
Conceived that it became them to advise
His Majesty to investigate their truth;—­
Not for his own sake; he could be content
To let his wife play any pranks she pleased, 50
If, by that sufferance, HE could please the Pigs;
But then he fears the morals of the Swine,
The Sows especially, and what effect
It might produce upon the purity and
Religion of the rising generation 55
Of Sucking-Pigs, if it could be suspected
That Queen Iona—­