I likewiſe delivered up my Watch, which the Emperor was very curious to ſee, and commanded two of his talleſt Yeomen of the Guards to bear it on a Pole upon their Shoulders, as Dray-Men in England do a Barrel of Ale.
1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “The Emperor of Lilliput, Attended by Several of the Nobility, Come to See the Author in His Confinement. […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume I, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], part I (A Voyage to Lilliput), page 45