al times together, upon a trencher fixed
on a rope which is no thicker than a common packthread in England. My
friend Reldresal, principal secretary for private affairs, is, in my
opinion, if I am not partial, the second after the treasurer; the rest of
the great officers are much upon a par.

These diversions are often attended with fatal accidents, whereof great
numbers are on record. I myself have seen two or three candidates break
a limb. But the danger is much greater, when the ministers themselves
are commanded to show their dexterity; for, by contending to excel
themselves and their fellows, they strain so far that there is hardly one
of them who has not received a fall, and some of them two or three. I
was assured that, a year or two before my arrival, Flimnap would
infallibly have 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 likewise another diversion, which is only shown before the
emperor and empress, and first minister, upon particular occasions. The
emperor lays on the table three fine silken threads of six inches long;
one is blue, the other red, and the third green. These threads are
proposed as prizes for those persons whom the emperor has 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 candidates are to
undergo a trial of dexterity very different from the former, and such as
I have not observed the least resemblance of in any other country of the
new or old world. The emperor holds a stick in his hands, both ends
parallel to the horizon, while the candidates advancing, one by one,
sometimes leap over the stick, sometimes creep under it, backward and
forward, several times, according as the stick is advanced or depressed.
Sometimes the emperor holds one end of the stick, and his first minister
the other; sometimes the minister has it entirely to himself. Whoever
performs his part with most 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 see few great persons about this court
who are not adorned with one of these girdles.

The horses of the army, and those of the royal stables, having been daily
led before me, were no longer shy, but would come up to my