end, a person of great quality, who was as much in the
secret as any, that the court was under many difficulties concerning me.
They apprehended my breaking loose; that my diet would be very expensive,
and might cause a famine. Sometimes they determined to starve me; or at
least to shoot me in the face and hands with poisoned arrows, which would
soon despatch me; but again they considered, that the stench of so large
a carcass might produce a plague in the metropolis, and probably spread
through the whole kingdom. In the midst of these consultations, several
officers of the army went to the door of the great council-chamber, and
two of them being admitted, gave an account of my behaviour to the six
criminals above-mentioned; which made so favourable an impression in the
breast of his majesty and the whole board, in my behalf, that an imperial
commission was issued out, obliging all the villages, nine hundred yards
round the city, to deliver in every morning six beeves, forty sheep, and
other victuals for my sustenance; together with a proportionable quantity
of bread, and wine, and other liquors; for the due payment of which, his
majesty gave assignments upon his treasury:--for this prince lives
chiefly upon his own demesnes; seldom, except upon great occasions,
raising any subsidies upon his subjects, who are bound to attend him in
his wars at their own expense. An establishment was also made of six
hundred persons to be my domestics, who had board-wages allowed for their
maintenance, and tents built for them very conveniently on each side of
my door. It was likewise ordered, that three hundred tailors should make
me a suit of clothes, after the fashion of the country; that six of his
majesty's greatest scholars should be employed to instruct me in their
language; and lastly, that the emperor's horses, and those of the
nobility and troops of guards, should be frequently exercised in my
sight, to accustom themselves to me. All these orders were duly put in
execution; and in about three weeks I made a great progress in learning
their language; during which time the emperor frequently honoured me with
his visits, and was pleased to assist my masters in teaching me. We
began already to converse together in some sort; and the first words I
learnt, were to express my desire "that he would please give me my
liberty;" which I every day repeated on my knees. His answer, as I could
comprehend it, was, "that this must be a wo