tolerable enough for one who had been so long inured to hardships.

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 inconveniency. 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 considerable fees.

In the mean time 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 carcass 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 behaviour to
the six criminals above-mentioned; which made so favourable an
impression in 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