Of the governaunce of the countrey of the great Caane.
NOW haue I tolde you why he is called the great Caane, now shall I tell you of the governinge of his courte when they make great feastes, and he kepeth foure principall feastes in the yeare, the fyrste of his byrth, the seconde when he is borne to the Temple to be circumcised, the third is of his ydoles when they begin to speake, and the fourth when the ydole beginneth fyrst to do myracles, & at those tymes he hath men well arayed by thousands and by hundreds and eche one wote well what he shal do. For there is fyrst ordeined 4000 rich barons and mighty for to ordeine the feast & to serve the Emperour & all these barons haue crowns of gold well dight with precious stones and pearles, and they are clad in clothes of golde & camathas1 as richly as they may bee made & they may well have suche clothes for they are there of lesse pryce than wollen cloth is here. And these foure thousande barons are departed in foure parties, & eche company is clad in diverse colour ryght richely, and when the first thousand is passed and hath shewed them, then come the seconde thousande, and then the thirde thousande & then the fourth, and none of them speketh a word. And on the one side of the Emperours table sitteth many phylosophers of many sciences, some of Astronomie, Nygromancie2, Geometry, Pyromacy,3 & many other sciences, and some haue before them Astrolabes4 of golde or of precious stones full of sande or of coles brenning, some haue horologes5 well dight and richly, and many other instruments after their sciences. And at a certaine houre when they see time, they say to men that stand before them, make peace, and then saye those men with a loude voyce to all the hall, now be styll awhile, and then saith one of the philosophers, eche man make reverence and encline to the Emperour, that is Gods sonne, and lorde of the worlde, for now is time and houre, and then all men enclyne to him, and knele on the earth, and then the Phylosopher biddeth them rise up againe. And at another houre another philosopher biddeth them put their fingers in theyr eares and they do so, and at another houre another philosopher biddeth that all men shall laye their hande on their heads, and they do so, and then he biddeth them take them away and they doe so, and thus from houre to houre they bid divers thinges. And I asked privily what it shoulde meane and one of the masters said that the enclining and the kneling on the earth at that time hath this token, that all those men that kneled so shall evermore be true to the Emperour, that for no gift nor thretning they shal never be traitours nor false to him and the putting of the finger in the eare hath this token, that none of those shall here any yll spoken of the Emperour or his counsayll. And ye shall understande that men dight nothing, as clothes, bread, drinke nor no such things to the Emperour but at certaine hours that the Philosophers tell, and if any man reyse war against the Emperour in what countrey so ever it bee these Philosophers know it sone, & tell ye Emperour or his counsail and he sendeth men thether, for he hath many men. Also he hath many men that kepeth birdes, as gerfaukons6, sperhaukes,7 faucons,8 gentils,9 lavers, sacres,10 popyniaye11 that can speake, and many other, ten thousande olyphants, baboynes, marmosets and other and he hath ever aboute him many Physicions more than two hundred that are Christen men & xx sarasyns, but yet he trusteth more to Christen men than in Sarasyns. And there is in that countrey many Sarasins and other Servaunts that are Christen and converted to the faith, through preching of good Christen men that dwel there, but there are many that will not that men12 wete that they are Christen.
