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CHA P. III.

The Author diverts the Emperor and his Nobility of both Sexes in a very uncommon Manner. The Diverfions of the Court of LILLIPUT defcribed. The Author bath his Liberty granted him upon certain Conditions.

M

Y Gentleness and good Behaviour had gained fo far on the Emperor and his Court, and indeed upon the Army and People in general, that I began to conceive Hopes of getting my Liberty in a fhort Time. I took all poffible Methods to cultivate this favourable Difpofition. The Natives came by Degrees to be lefs apprehenfive of any Danger from me. I would fometimes lie down, and let five or fix of them dance on my Hand. And at last the Boys and Girls would venture to come and play at Hide and Seek in my Hair. I had now made a good Progress in understanding and fpeaking their Language. The Emperor had a mind one Day to entertain me with feveral of the Country Shows; wherein they exceed all Nations I have known, both for Dexterity and Magnificence. I was diverted with none fo much

much as that of the Rope-Dancers, performed upon a flender white Thread, extended about two Foot, and twelve Inches from the Ground. Upon which I fhall defire Liberty, with the Reader's Patience, to enlarge a little.

THIS Diverfion is only practifed by thofe Perfons who are Candidates for great Employments, and high Favour, at Court. They are trained in this Art from their Youth, and are not always of noble Birth, or liberal Education. When a great Office is vacant, either by Death or Difgrace, (which often happens) five or fix of those Candidates petition the Emperor to entertain his Majefty and the Court with a Dance on the Rope; and whoever jumps the highest without falling, fucceeds in the Office. Very often the chief Minifters themselves are commanded to fhew their Skill, and to convince the Emperor that they have not loft their Faculty. Flimnap, the Treasurer, is allowed to cut a Caper on the ftrait Rope, at leaft an Inch higher than any other Lord in the whole Empire. I have seen him do the Summerfet feveral Times together, upon a Trencher fixed on the Rope, which is no thicker than a common Packthread in England. My Friend Reldrefal, principal Secretary for private Affairs, is, in my Opinion, if I am not partial, the fecond after the Treasurer; the reft of the great Officers are much upon a Par.

THESE Diverfions are often attended with fatal Accidents, whereof great Numbers are on Record. I my self have feen two or three Candidates break a Limb. But the Danger is much greater, when the Minifters themfelves are commanded to fhew their Dexterity: For, by contending to excel themfelves and their Fellows, they ftrain fo far, that there is hardly one of them who hath not received

a Fall;

a Fall; and fome of them two or three. I was affured, that a Year or two before my Arrival, Flimnap would have infallibly broke his Neck, if one of the King's Cushions, that accidentally lay on the Ground, had not weakned the Force of his Fall.

The

THERE is likewise another Diverfion, which is only fhewn before the Emperor and Emprefs, and first Minister, upon particular Occasions. Emperor lays on a Table three fine filken Threads, of fix Inches long. One is Blue, the other Red, and the third Green. These threads are proposed as Prizes, for those Perfons whom the Emperor hath a mind to diftinguish by a particular Mark of his Favour. The Ceremony is performed in his Majefty's great Chamber of State; where the Candidates are to undergo a Tryal of Dexterity very different from the former, and fuch as I have not obferved the leaft Refemblance of in any other Country of the old or the new World. The Emperor holds a Stick in his Hands, both Ends parallel to the Horrifon, while the Candidates advancing one by one, fometimes leap over the Stick, fometimes creep under it backwards and forwards feveral Times, according as the Stick is advanced or depreffed. Sometimes the Emperor holds one End of the Stick, and his first Minifter the other; fometimes the Minifter hath it entirely to himself. Whoever performs his Part with moft Agility, and holds out the longest in leaping and creeping, is rewarded with the Blue-coloured Silk; the Red is given to the next, and the Green to the third, which they all wear girt twice round about the Middle; and you fee few great Perfons about this Court, who are not adorned with one of these Girdles.

THE

THE Horfes of the Army, and thofe of the Royal Stables, having been daily led before me, were no longer fhy, but would come up to my very Feet, without ftarting. The Riders would leap them over my Hand as I held it on the Ground; and one of the Emperor's Huntfmen, upon a large Courfer, took my Foot, Shoe and all; which was indeed a prodigious Leap. I had the good Fortune to divert the Emperor one Day, after a very extraordinary Manner. I defired he would order feveral Sticks of two Foot high, and the Thickness of an ordinary Cane, to be brought me ; whereupon his Majefty commanded the Mafter of his Woods to give Directions accordingly; and the next Morning, fix Wood-men arrived with as many Carriages, drawn by eight Horfes to each. I took nine of these Sticks, and fixing them firmly in the Ground in a Quadrangular Figure, two Foot and a half fquare; I took four other Sticks, and tied them parallel at each Corner, about two Foot from the Ground; then I faftened my Handkerchief to the nine Sticks that ftood erected; and extended it on all Sides, until it was as tight as the Top of a Drum; and the four parallel Sticks rifing about five Inches higher than the Handkerchief, ferved as Ledges on each Side. When I had finished my Work, I defired the Emperor to let a Troop of his best Horse, twenty four in Number, come and exercise upon this Plain. His Majefty approved of the Propofal, and I took them up one by one in my Hands, ready mounted and armed, with the proper Officers to exercise them. As foon as they got into Order, they divided into two Parties, performed mock Skirmishes, discharged blunt Arrows, drew their Swords, fled and purfued, attacked and retired; and in fhort difcovered the beft military Difcipline

I eyer

I ever beheld. The parallel Sticks fecured them and their Horses from falling over the Stage; and the Emperor was fo much delighted, that he ordered this Entertainment to be repeated feveral Days; and once was pleased to be lifted up, and give the Word of Command; and, with great Difficulty, perfuaded even the Empress her felf to let me hold her in her close Chair, within two Yards of the Stage, from whence fhe was able to take a full View of the whole Performance. It was my good Fortune that no ill Accident happened in these Entertainments; only once a fiery Horse that belonged to one of the Captains, pawing with his Hoof, ftruck a hole in my Handkerchief, and his Foot flipping, he overthrew his Rider and himself; but I immediately relieved them both: For, covering the Hole with one Hand, I fet down the Troop with the other, in the fame Manner as I took them up. The Horfe that fell was ftrained in the left Shoulder, but the Rider got no Hurt; and I repaired my Handkerchief as well as I could: However I would not truft to the Strength of it any more in fuch dangerous Enterprizes.

ABOUT two or three Days before I was fet at Liberty, as I was entertaining the Court with these Kinds of Feats, there arrived an Exprefs to inform his Majefty, that fome of his Subjects riding near the Place where I was firft taken up, had feen a great black Substance lying on the Ground, very oddly fhaped, extending its Edges round as wide as his Majefty's Bed-chamber, and rifing up in the Middle as high as a Man: That it was no living Creature, as they at first apprehended; for it lay on the Grafs without Motion, and fome of them had walked round it feveral Times: That by mounting upon each others Shoulders, they had got to the

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