but very indifferently from the hardness of the floor, which was of
smooth stone. By the same computation, they provided me with sheets,
blankets, and coverlets, which were tolerable enough for one who had
been so long inured to hardships as I.

As the news of my arrival spread through the kingdom, it brought
prodigious numbers of rich, idle, and curious people to see me; so that
the villages were almost emptied; and great neglect of tillage and
household affairs must have ensued, if his imperial majesty had not
provided, by several proclamations and orders of state, against this
inconvenience. 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 court; whereby the secretaries of state got
considerable fees.

In the meantime, the emperor held frequent councils, to debate what
course should be taken with me; and I was afterwards assured by a
particular friend, 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 carcase 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 behavior to the six criminals
above-mentioned, which made so favorable an impression in the breast of