I had now made a good progress in understanding and speaking
their language.
The emperor had a mind, one day, to entertain me with one of the country
shows, wherein they exceed all nations I have known, both for dexterity
and magnificence. I was diverted with none so much as that of the
rope-dancers, performed upon a slender white thread, extended about two
feet, and twelve inches from the ground. Upon which I shall desire
liberty, with the reader's patience, to enlarge a little.
[Illustration]
This diversion is only practised by those persons who are candidates for
great employments and high favor at court. They are trained in this art
from their youth, and are not always of noble birth or liberal
education. When a great office is vacant, either by death or disgrace
(which often happens) five or six of those candidates petition the
emperor to entertain his majesty, and the court, with a dance on the
rope, and whoever jumps the highest, without falling, succeeds in the
office. Very often the chief ministers themselves are commanded to show
their skill, and to convince the emperor that they have not lost their
faculty. Flimnap, the treasurer, is allowed to cut a caper on the
straight rope, at least an inch higher than any lord in the whole
empire.
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