| At the place where the carriage
stopped, there stood an ancient temple, esteemed to
be the largest in the whole kingdom, which having
been polluted some years before by an unnatural murder,
was, according to the zeal of those people, looked
on as profane, and therefore had been applied to common
uses, and all the ornaments and furniture carried
away. In this edifice it was determined I should lodge.
The great gate fronting to the north was about four
foot high, and almost two foot wide through which
I could easily creep. On each side of the gate was
a small window not above six inches from the ground:
into that on the left side, the King's smiths conveyed
fourscore and eleven chains, like those that hang
to a lady's watch in Europe, and almost as large,
which were licked to my left leg with six and thirty
padlocks, Over against this temple, on the other side
of the great highway, at twenty foot distant, there
was a turret at leas five foot high. Here the Emperor
ascended with many principal lords of his court, to
have an opportunity of viewing me, as I was told,
for I could not see them. It was reckoned that above
an hundred thousand habitants came out to the town
upon the same errand, and in spite of my guards, I
believe there could not be fewer that ten thousand,
at several times, who mounted upon my body by the
help of ladders. But a proclamation was soon issued
to forbid it upon pain of death. When the workmen
found it was impossible for me to break loose, they
cut all the strings that bound me, whereupon I rose
up with as melancholy a disposition as ever I had
in my life. |
