I treated the rest in the same manner, taking them one by one out
of my pocket; and I observed both the soldiers and people were highly
delighted at this mark of my clemency, which was represented very much
to my advantage at court.
[Illustration]
Towards night, I got with some difficulty into my house, where I lay on
the ground, and continued to do so about a fortnight, during which time
the emperor gave orders to have a bed prepared for me. Six hundred beds,
of the common measure, were brought in carriages and worked up in my
house; an hundred and fifty of their beds, sewn together, made up the
breadth and length; and these were four double, which, however, kept me
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.
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