quadrangles, crowded with guards and officials, they stopped before a
bronze gate of great height. Over it was written, in vast characters of
living flame, this inscription:

TO
THE WISEST AND THE BEST,
THE RICHEST AND THE MIGHTIEST,
THE GLORY AND THE ADMIRATION,
THE DEFENCE AND THE CONSTERNATION.

On reading this mysterious inscription his Excellency experienced a
sudden and awful shudder. Lord Moustache, however, who was more used to
mysteries, taking up a silver trumpet, which was fixed to the portal by
a crimson cord, gave a loud blast. The gates flew open with the sound
of a whirlwind, and Popanilla found himself in what at first appeared an
illimitable hall. It was crowded, but perfect order was preserved. The
Ambassador was conducted with great pomp to the upper end of the
apartment, where, after an hour's walk, his Excellency arrived. At the
extremity of the hall was a colossal and metallic Statue of
extraordinary appearance. It represented an armed monarch. The head
and bust were of gold, and the curling hair was crowned with an imperial
diadem; the body and arms were of silver, worked in the semblance of a
complete suit of enamelled armour of the feudal ages; and the thighs and
legs were of iron, which the artist had clothed in the bandaged hose of
the old Saxons. The figure bore the appearance of great antiquity, but
had evidently been often repaired and renovated since its first
formation. The workmanship was clearly of different eras, and the
reparations, either from ignorance or intention, had often been effected
with little deference to the original design. Part of the shoulders had
been supplied by the other, though less precious, metal, and the Roman