Page 136 - Child's own book

three hundred cooks to dress my victuals, in little convenient
liufs built about my house, where they and their families lived,
and prepared me two dishes a piccc- I took up twenty waiters
in my hand, and placed them on the table; a hundred more
attended below on the ground, some with dishes of meat, and
some with barrels of lvijie and other liquors, slung on their
shoulders ; all which the waiters above drew up, as I wanted*
in a very ingenious manner by certain cords, as we draw the
bucket up a well in Kurope. A dish of their meat was a good
mouthful, and a barrel of (heir Jirjuor a reasonable draught. I
have had a sirloin so very large that I have been forced to make
three bites of f t; but this is rare. Their geese and turkeys I
usually at*: at a mouthful, and I confess they far exceed ours.
Of tfefefT smaller fjwls, I could lake up twenty or thirty of
them at the end of my knife.
One day, his Imperial Majesty., being informed of my way
ofliving, desired that himself and his royal consort, with the
young princrs of (he blood of both sexrs, miiiht have the
happiness, as be was pleased to call it, of dining with met. They
came accordingly, and I placcd them in chairs of state, upon
my table, just over against me, with their guards about them.
Him nap. the Lord High Treasurer^ also attended there with
his white staff: and [ observed he often looked on me with
;i sour countenance, which I did not seem to regard, but ate
more than usual, in honour to my dearcouutry* as well as to
fill the court with admiration.
One morning the Emperor's principal secretary came to me
and desired a private audience. I offered to lie down that he
might the more conveniently reach my ear, but he chose to
let me hnld him in my hand during our conference. “ The
Emperor," he said, “ expects an important service from you,
for we are threatened with an invasion from the island of