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Journeys Through Bookland — Volume 5 by Charles Herbert Sylvester
page 23 of 462 (04%)
four-and-one-half-inch horses spent almost a day and a half in covering
the distance.]

At the place where the carriage stopped there stood an ancient temple,
esteemed to be the largest in the whole kingdom; which, having been
polluted some years before by an unnatural murder, was, according to the
zeal of those people, looked on as profane, and therefore had been
applied to common use, and all the ornaments and furniture carried away.
In this edifice it was determined I should lodge. The great gate
fronting to the north was about four foot high, and about two foot wide,
through which I could easily creep. On each side of the gate was a small
window, not above six inches from the ground: into that on the left side
the king's smiths conveyed fourscore and eleven chains, like those that
hang to a lady's watch in Europe, and almost as large, which were locked
to my left leg with thirty-six padlocks.

Over against this temple, on t'other side of the great highway, at
twenty foot distance, there was a turret at least five foot high. Here
the emperor ascended, with many principal lords of his court, to have an
opportunity of viewing me, as I was told, for I could not see them. It
was reckoned that above an hundred thousand inhabitants came out of the
town upon the same errand; and, in spite of my guards, I believe there
could not be fewer than ten thousand at several times, who mounted upon
my body by the help of ladders. But a proclamation was soon issued to
forbid it upon pain of death.

When the workmen found it was impossible for me to break loose they cut
all the strings that bound me; whereupon I rose up, with as melancholy a
disposition as ever I had in my life. But the noise and astonishment of
the people, at seeing me rise and walk, are not to be expressed. The
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