 the highest without falling,
succeeds in the Office. Very often the chief Ministers themselves are commanded
to shew 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 strait Rope,
at least an Inch higher than any other Lord in the whole Empire. I have seen him
do the Summerset several times together, upon a Trencher fixed on the Rope,
which is no thicker than a common Packthread in England. My Friend Reldresal,
principal Secretary for private Affairs, is, in my Opinion, if I am not partial,
the second after the Treasurer; the rest of the great Officers are much upon a
Par.
    These Diversions are often attended with fatal Accidents, whereof great
Numbers are on Record. I my self have seen two or three Candidates break a Limb.
But the Danger is much greater, when the Ministers themselves are commanded to
shew their Dexterity: For, by contending to excel themselves and their Fellows,
they strain so far, that there is hardly one of them who hath not received a
Fall; and some of them two or three. I was assured, that a Year or two before my
Arrival, Flimnap would have infallibly broke his Neck, if one of the King's
Cushions, that accidentally lay on the Ground, had not weakened the Force of his
Fall.
    There is likewise another Diversion, which is only shewn before the Emperor
and Empress, and first Minister, upon particular Occasions. The Emperor lays on
a Table three fine silken Threads of six Inches long. One is Blue, the other
Red, and the third Green. These Threads are proposed as Prizes, for those
Persons whom the Emperor hath a mind to distinguish by a peculiar Mark of his
Favour. The Ceremony is performed in his Majesty's great Chamber of State; where
the Candidates are to undergo a Tryal of Dexterity very different from the
former; and such as I have not observed the least Resemblance of in any other
Country of the old or the new World. The Emperor holds a Stick in his Hands,
both Ends parallel to the Horizon, while the Candidates advancing one by one,
sometimes leap over the Stick, sometimes creep under it backwards and forwards
several times, according as the Stick is advanced or depressed. Sometimes the
Emperor holds one End of the Stick, and his first Minister the other; sometimes
the Minister has it entirely to himself. Whoever performs his Part with most
Agility, and holds out the longest in leaping and creeping, is rewarded with the
Blue-coloured Silk;
