Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 12 — page 3: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

gold, adorned with ep and a plume on the crest. e héld his sword drawn in his hand to defend him- self, if I should ao to break loose; it was almost three inehes long; the hilt and seabbard were gold enriched with diamonds. His voice was shrill, but very clear and articulate, and I could distinctly hear it when I stood up. The ladies. and courtiers were all most magnificently clad; so that the spot they stood upon seemed to reseuble a petticoat spread on the ground, embroidered with figures of gold and silver. His imperial majesty spoke often to me, and I returned answers, but neither of us could understand a syllable. There were several of his riests and lawyers present (as Iconjectured by their it me ning aidvest t bits), who were commanded to s themselves to me; and I spoke to them in as many as had the least smattering of, which were High and Low Dutch, Latin, French, Spanish, Italian, and Lingua Franca—but all to no purpose. After about two hours the court retired, and I was left with a strong guard, to prevent the impertinence and probably the malice of the rabble, who were very impatient to crowd about me as near as they durst; and some of them had the impudence to shoot their arrows at me, as I sat on the ground by the door of my house, whereof one very narrowly missed my left te But the colonel ordered six of the ringleaders to be seized, and thought no pun- ishment so proper as to deliver them bound into m hands, which some of his soldiers accordingly did, pushing them forward with the butt-ends of their ikes into my reach. I took them all in my right d, put five of them into my coat-pocket, and as to the sixth, I made a countenance as if I would eat him alive. The poor man squalled terribly, and the colonel and his officers were in much pain, especially when they saw me take out my penknife; but I soon put them out of fear, for, looking mildly, and immediately cutting the strings he was bound with I set him gently on the ground, and away he ran. treated the rest in the same manner, taking them one by one out of my pocket; and I observed both the soldiers and people were highly delighted at this mark of my clemency, which was represented very much to my advantage at court. Toward night, I got with some difficulty into my ' | house, where I lay on the ground, and continued to | do so about a fortnight, during which time the em- ror gave orders to have a bed prepared for me. Six hundred beds of the common measure were brought in carriages, and worked up in my house; a hundred and fifty of their beds sewn together, made up the breadth and length, and these were four double, which, however, kept me but very in- erently from the hardness of the floor, that was of smooth stone. By the same computation, they oe me with sheets, blankets, and coverlets, lerable enough for one who had been so long inured to hardship. As the news of my arrival spread through the king- dom, it brought prodigious numbers of rich, idle, and curious people to see me, so that the villages were almost emptied; and exes neglect of tillage and household affairs must have ensued, if his im- perial majesty bad not prwsees, by several pro- clamations and orders of state, against this incon- veniency. He directed that those who had already beheld me should return home, and not presume to come within fifty yards of my house, without license from the court, whereby the secretaries of state got eonsiderable fees. In the meantime, the emperor held frequent coun- om to debate what course should be taken with me; and I was afterward assured, by a particular friend, @ person of great quality, who was as much in the secret as any, that the court was under great diffi- culties concerning me. They apprehended my break- 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 dis- patch me; but again they considered, that the stench of so large a carcase might produce a plague in the metropolis, and probably eam through the whole kingdom. In the midst of these consultations, sever- al officers of the army went to the door of the great council-chamber, and two of them being admitted, gave an account of my behavior to the six criminals above mentioned, which made so favorable an impres- sion on 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; to- gether with a proportionable quantity of bread, and wine, and other liquors, for the due payment of which his majesty gave assignments upon his trea- sury; for this prince lives chiefly upon his own | ' a = Ss ng demesnes, seldom, except upon great occasions, rais- | ing any subsidies upen his subjects, who are bound to attend him in his wars at their own expenses. An establishment was also made of six hundred per- sons to be my domestics, who had board-wages al- lowed 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 mea 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 o the nobility and troops of guards, should be fre. qhently exercised in my sight, to accustom them- selvesto me. All these orders were duly put in exe- cution; and in about three weeks I made a great progress in learning their language, during which time the emperor frequently honored me with his visits, and was pleased to assist my masters in teach- ing me. We began already to converse together in some sort; and the first words I learnt were to ex press my desire, that he would please to give me my | did anything without consultin | oracle, and said it pointed out t Gulliver’s Travels. «<™ 5 3 day repeated on my knees. apprehend it, was, that this ht on with- liberty, which I eve His answer, as I ould must be a work of time, not to be tho out the advice of his council, and that first I must lumos kelmin pesso desmar lon emposo ;: is, Swear a peace with him and his kingdom; however, that I should be used with all kindness. And he advised me to acquire, by m tience and discreet behavior, the good opinion o himan If and his subjects: He desired I would not take it ill, if he gave orders to certain proper officers to search me; for ae pn I might carry about me several weapons, which must needs be dangerous things, if they answered the bulk of so woes a person. I said, his majesty should be sat for I was ready to ne myself, and turn up my pockets before . This I delivered, —_ in words, and oe in si He replied, that, y the laws of the kingdom, I must be searched by two of his officers; that he knew this could not be done without my consent and assistance; and he had so good an opinion of my generosity and jus- tice, as to trust their persons in my hands: that whatever they took from me should be returned when I left the country, or paid for at the rate which I would set upon them. I took up the two officers in my hands, put them first into my coat-pockets, and then into every other pocket about me, except my two fobs, and another secret pocket, which I had no mind should be searched, wherein I had some lit- tle necessaries that were of no consequence to any but myself. In one of my fobs there was a silver watch, and in the other a small quantity of gold in apurse. These gentlemen, having pen, ink, and pa- ~— about them, made an exact inventory of every- hing they saw; and when they had done, desired I | would set them down, that they might deliver it to | the emperor. This inventory I afterward translated into English, and is word for word as follows:— ** Imprimis * In the ee coat-pocket of the great man-mountain (for so I interpret the words guindus Jlestrin), after the strictest search, we found only one great piece of coarse cloth, _—_ enough to be a foot-cloth for your majesty’s chief room of state. In the left ket we saw a huge silver chest, with a cover of the same metal, which we, the searchers, were not able to lift. We desired it should be open- ed, and one of us stepping into it, found him up to the mid-leg in a sort of dust, some part whereof flying up to our faces, set us both a-sneezing for several timestogether. In his right waistcoat-pocket we found a Ob ea a bundle of white thin sub- stances folded one over another, about the bigness of three men, tied with a strong cable, and marked with black figures, which we humbly conceive to ‘be writings, every letter almost as large as the palms of our hands. In the left there was a sort of engine, from the back of which were extended twenty long les, resembling the gee before your ma- jesty’s court, wherewith we conjecture the man- mountain combs his head; for we did not always trouble him with questions, because we found it a reat difficulty to make him understand us. In the e pocket, on the right side of his middle cover (so I translated the word ranfu-lo, by which they meant my breeches), we saw a hollow pillow of iron, about the length of a man, fastened to a strong piece of timber larger than the pillar; and upon one side of the pillar were huge pieces of iron sticking out, cut into ae figures, which we know not what to make of. In the left pocket, another engine of the same kind. In the smaller pocket, on the right side, were several round flat pieces of white and red metal, of different bulk; some of the white, which seemed to be silver, were so large and heavy, that wf comrade and I could hardly lift them. left pocket were two black pillars irregularly shaped; we could not, without di culty, reach the top of them, as we stood at the bottom of his pocket. One of them was covered, and seemed all of a piece; but at the upper end of the other there appea a white round substance, about twice the bigness of our heads. Within each of these was inclosed a prodigious plate of steel, which, by our orders, we obliged him to show us, because we apprehend- ed they might be dangerous engines. He took them out of their cases, and told us, that in his own coun- a his practice was to shave his beard with one of these, and cut his meat with the other. There were two pockets which we could not enter: these be called his fobs; they were two large slits cut into the top of his middle cover, but squeezed close by the pressure of his belly. Out of the right fob hung a great silver chain, with a wonderful kind of engine at the bottom. e directed him to draw out what- ever was at the end of that chain, which appeared to be a globe, half silver, and half of some trans- parent metal; for, on the transparent side, we saw certain strange figures circularly drawn, and thought we could touch them, till we found our fingers stop- ped by that lucid substance. He put this engine to our ears, which made an incessant noise like that of a water-mill; and we conjecture it is either some unknown animal, or the god that he worships; but we are more inclined to the latter opinion, because he assured us (if we understood him right, for he ex- oressed himself very imperfectly,) that he seldom it. He called it his nd | e time for every ac- tion of his life. From the left fob he took out a net almost large enough for a fisherman, but contrived to open and shut like a purse, and served him for the same use; we found therein several massy pieces of yellow metal, which, if they be real gold, must be | of immense value. ‘Having thus, in obedience to your majesty’s com- mands, diligently searched all his pockets, we ob- served a girdle about his waist made of the hide of some prodigious animal, from which, on the left side, hung a sword of the orp es of five men; and on the right, a bag or pouch divided into two cells, In the | | | | | | | | | | | | | Fe of our heads, and required a strong hand to ble of holding three of your jesty’s one of these cells were aaveudl ailice each cell subjects. or balls, of a most ponderous metal, about the big- them: ‘the other cell contained a heap of certain black ins, but of no great bulk or weight, for we could hold about fifty of them in the of our hands, “This isan exact inventory of what we found about the body of the man-mountein, who used us with great civili , and due respect to your majesty’s commission. Signed and sealed on the fourth a of the eighty-ninth moon of your majesty’s auspi- cious reign, “CLEFRIN FRELOCK, MARsI FRELOcCK.” When this inventory was read over to the emperor, he directed me, although in very gentle terms, to de- liver up the several patton e first ed for my cimeter, which I took out, scabbard and all, In the meantime, he ordered three thousand of the choicest troops (who then attended him) to surround me ata distance, with their bows and arrows just ready to discharge; but I did not observe it, for mine eyes were wholly fixed upon his majesty. He then desired me to draw my cimeter, which, although it had got some rust by the sea-water, was, in most parts, exceeding bright. I did so, and immediately all the troops gave a shout between terror and sur- — for the sun shone clear, and the reflection azzled their eyes as I waved the cimeter to and fro in my hand. , His majesty, who isa most magnani- EN shee was less daunted than I could expect; he ordered me to return it into the scabbard, and cast it on the ground as gently as I could, about six feet from the end of my chain. The next thing he demanded, was one of the iron hollow pillars, b which he meant my pocket pistols. I drew it on and at his desire, as well asI could, expressed to him the use of it; and charging it only with powder, which, by the closeness of my pouch, happened to escape wetting in the sea (an inconvenience against which all prudent mariners take special care to pro- vide), I first cautioned the emperor not to be afraid, and then I let it off in the air. The astonishment here was much greater than at the sight of the cim- eter. Hundreds fell down as if they had been struck dead; and even the emperor, although he stood his a could not recover himself for sometime. I elivered up both my pistols in the same manner as I had done my cimeter, and then my pouch of pow- der and bullets: begging him that the former might be kept from fire, for it would kindle with the small- est spark, and blow up his imperial palace inte the air. 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 draymen in England do abarrel of ale. He was amazed at the continual noise it made, and the motion of the minute-hand, which he could easily discern, for their sight is much more acute than ours; he asked the opinions of his learned men about it, which were various and re- mote, as the reader may well imagine without my repeating; although, indeed, I could not very per- fectly understand them. I then gave up my and copper money, my purse, with nine large pieces of gold, and some smaller ones; my knife and razor my comb and silver snuff-box, my handkerchief and journal book. My cimeter, pistols, and pouch were conveyed inca es to his majesty’s stores, but the rest of my goods were returned me. I had, as fore observed, one private pocket, which escaped their search, wherein there was a pair of spectacles (which I sometimes use for the weakness of mine eyes), a pocket pe ive, and some other little conveniences, which being of no consequence to the emperor, I did not thihk myself bound in honor to discover; and I apprehended they might be lost or spoiled, if I ventured them out of my possession. CHAPTER IT. My gentleness and good behavior had 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 short time. I took all possible methods to cultivate this fa- vorable disposition. The natives came by d es to be less apprehensive of any danger from me; I would sometimes lie down, and let five or six of them dance upon my head; and at last the boys and girls would venture to come and play at hide-and-seek in my hair. Ihad now made a good progress in under- standing and speaking the language. The emperor had a mind, one day, to entertain me with several of the country shows, wherein they exceeded all na- tions I have known, both for dexterity and magnifi- cence. I was diverted with none s0 much as that of the rope-dancers, performed upon a slender white thread, extended about two feet and twelve inches from the ground; upon which I shall desire liberty, with the reader’s = ience, to enlarge a little. This diversion is only practiced by those persons who are candidates for great employments, and high favor at court. They are trained in this art from ee and are not always of noble birth, or libe education. When a great office is vacant, either tee or disgrace (which often happens), five or six of those candidates petition the emperor to entertain his majesty and the court with a dance on the rope, and whoever jumps the highest, with- out falling, succeeds in the office. Very often the chief ministers themselves are commanded to show 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 straight rope, at least eee 80 an ae higher than any other lord in the whole em- ate aare seen sored rat eee a several es er, upon a trencher on a rope which is no er than a common pac in England. Eomicbooks