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about twelve inches from the ground. This diversion is only practised by the nobility and men of liberal education, who are candidates for the high employments of the state—When any great office becomes vacant, five, or six of these candidates pettition the King to entertain his Majesty, with a dance on the rope, and whoever jumps highest is to succeed.
These diversions, however, are often attended with fatal accidents; Mr. Gulliver himself saw two or three people break their limbs; and when the Ministers themselves are commanded to perform, they frequently strain so far, that there is hardly any of them who have not received a fall, and some of them two or three
There is another diversion, which is pecnliar to the Liliputians; it is as follows: The Emperor lays on a table three silken threads, one blue, the other red, and the third green These threads are intended for such noblemen as are to be distinguished by a particular favor. The Emperor holds stick in his hand and the ccandidates leap over or creep under it, backwards and for-
