CHA P. III. The author diverts the Emperor and his nobility of both fexes in a very uncommon manner. The diverfions of the court of Lilliput defcribed. The author hath his liberty granted him upon certain conditions. MY 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 difpofiti on. : The natives came by degrees to be lefs apprehensive 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 feek in my hair. I had now made a good progrefs in understanding and fpeaking their language The Emperor had a mind one day to entertain me with feveral of the country fhows, wherein they exceed all nations I have known, both for dexterity and magnificence. I was diverted with none fo much, as that of the rope-dancers, performed upon a flender white thread, extended about two feet and twelve inches from the ground. Upon which I shall 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 thofe candidates petition the Emperor to entertain his Majefty and the court with a dance on the rope, and whoever jumps the higheft without falling, fucceeds in the office. Very often the chief minifters themselves are cominanded to fhew their skill, and to convince the Emperor, that they have not lost their faculty. Flimnap, the treasurer, is allowed to cut a caper on the ftrait rope at least an inch higher, than any other lord in the whole empire. I have feen him do the fummerfet * feveral times together upon a trencher, fixed on a rope, which is no thicker than a common packt read in England. My friend Reldrefal, principal fecretary for private affairs, is in my opinion, if I am not partial, the fecond after the treasurer; the rest of the great officers are much upon a par. Thefe diverfions are often attended with fatal accidents, whereof great numbers are on record. I myself have feen two or three canditates break a limb. But the danger is much greater, when the minifters themselves are commanded to fhew their dexterity; for, by contending to excel themselves and their fellows, they strain so far, that there is hardly one of them, who hath not received 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 weakened the force of his fall. There is likewife another diverfion, which is only fhewn before the Emperor and Empress, and first minister upon particular occafions. The Emperor lays on the table three fine filken threads of fix inches long; one is blue, the other red, and the third green. These threads are propofed as prizes for those perfons, whom the Emperor hath a mind to distinguish by a peculiar mark of his Favour. The ceremony is performed in his Majesty's great chamber of state, where the canditates are to undergo a trial of dexterity very different from the former, and fuch as I have not observed the least resemblance of in any other country of the old or new world. The Emperor holds a stick in his hands, both ends parallel to the horizon, while the candidates advancing, one by one, fometimes leap over the ftick, fometimes creep under it, backwards and forwards feveral times, according as the ftick is advanced or depreffed. Sometimes the Emperor holds one end of the flick, and his first minifter the other; fometimes the minister has it entirely to himself. Whoever performs his part with most agility, and holds out * Summerfet, or fummerfault, a gambol of a tumbler, in which he fprings up, turns heels over head in the air, and comes down upon his feet. Hawkes the the longest in leaping and creeping is rewarded with the blue-coloured filk; 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 horses of the army, and those of the royal ftables, having been daily led before me, were no longer fhy, but would come up to my very feet without starting. The riders would leap them over my hand, as I held it on the ground; and one of the Emperor's huntsmen upon a large courfer took my foot, fhoe 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 several sticks of two feet high, and the thickness of an ordinary cane, to be brought me; whereupon his Majefty commanded the master of his woods to give directions accordingly, and the next morning fix woodmen 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 feet and a half square, I took four other flicks, and tied them parallel at each corner about two feet from the = ground; then I faftened my handkerchief to the nine sticks that stood erect; and extended it on all fides, till it was tight as the top of a drum: and the four parallel fticks, rifing about five inches higher than the handkerchief, serv ed as ledges on each fide. When I had fmished 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 Majesty approved of the proposal, 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, difcharged blunt arrows, drew their fwords, fled and purfued, attacked and retired, and in fhort discovered the best military difcipline I ever beheld. The parallel sticks fecured them and their horfes from falling over the ftage; 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 Emprefs herself to let me hold her in her close chair within two yards of the ftage, from whence he 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, and covering the hole with one hand, I fet down the troop with the other, in the fame manner as I took them up. The horse 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 trust 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 this kind of feats, there arrived an exprefs to inform his Majefty, that fome of his subjects, riding near the place where I was first taken up, had feen a great black fubftance 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 some of them had walked round it feveral times; that, by mounting upon each other's fhoulders, they had got to the top, which was flat and even, and stamping upon it, they found it was hollow within; that they humbly conceived it might be fomething belonging to the man-mountain; and if his Majefty pleafed, they would undertake to bring it with only five horses, Ppresently knew what they meant, and was glad at heart to receive this intelligence. It seems, upon my first reaching the fhore after our fhipwreck I was in fuch confufion, that, before I came to the place where I went to fleep, my hat, which I had fastened with a string to my head while I was rowing, and had stuck on all the time I was fwimming, fell off after I came to land; the ftring, as I conjecture, breaking by some accident, which I never obferved, but thought my hat had been loft at fea. I intreated his Imperial Majefty to give orders, it might be brought to me as foon as poffible, defcribing to him the ufe and the nature of it; and the next day the waggoners arrived 3 arrived with it, but not in a very good condition; they had bored two holes in the brim within an inch and half of the edge, and fastened two hooks in the holes; these hooks were tied by a long cord to the harness, and thus my hat was dragged along for above half an English mile; but, the ground in that country being extremely smooth and level, it received lefs damage than I expected. Two days after this adventure, the Emperor having ordered that part of his army, which quarters in and about his metropolis, to be in a readiness, took a fancy of diverting himself in a very fingular manner. He defired I would ftand like a coloffus, with my legs as far afunder as I conveniently could. He then commanded his general (who was an old experienced leader, and a great patron of mine) to draw up the troops in close order, and march them under me; the foot by twenty-four in a breaft, and the horse by fixteen, with drums beating, colours flying, and pikes advanced. This body confifted of three thou fand foot, and a thoufand horfe. His Majefty gave orders, upon pain of death, that every foldier in his march should obferve the strictest decency, with regard to my perfon; which, however, could not prevent fome of the younger officers from turning up their eyes, as they paffed under me: and, to confefs the truth, my breeches were at that time in fo ill a condition, that they afforded fome opportunities for laughter and admiration. I had fent fo many memorials and petitions for my liberty, that his Majesty at length mentioned the matter first in the cabinet, and then in a full council; where it was oppofed by none, except Skyresh Bolgolam, who was pleafed, without any provocation, to be my mortal enemy. But it was carried against him by the whole board, and confirmed by the Emperor. That minister was galbet, or admiral of the realm, very much in his master's confidence, and a perfon well verfed in affairs, but of a morofe and four complexion. However, he was at length perfuaded to comply; but prevailed that the articles and conditions upon which I fhould be fet free, and to which I must swear, fhould be drawn up by himself. Thefe articles were brought to me by Skyresh Bolgolam in perfon, attended by two under-fecretaries, and feveral perfons of distinction. After they were read, I was demanded to fwear |