and many other particulars.  Every one answered according to his fancy; but, liking none of their expositions, he reserved his own opinion to himself, and commanding that all these notions should be concealed from me, he ordered the interpreter to ask me what it meant.  I answered, that it was an invention of the painter, to shew his art, and that it represented some poetical fable, which was all I could say, having never seen it before.  He then called upon Mr Terry to give his opinion, who could not; on which the king asked him, why he brought up with him an invention in which he was ignorant?  On this I interposed, saying Mr Terry was a preacher, and did not meddle with such matters, neither had he any charge of them, having only come along with them.

I have related this anecdote of the picture for the instruction of the gentlemen of the East India Company, and for him who may succeed me, to be very careful that what they send into this country may not be susceptible of an evil interpretation; for the king and people are pregnant with, and full of, scrupulosity and jealousy.  For, though the king concealed his opinion, yet I had ground, from what he did say, to believe he thought the picture was meant in derision of the Asiatics, whom he conceived to be represented by the satyr, as being of their complexion; and that Venus leading him by the nose denoted the great influence exercised by the women of that country over the men.  He was satisfied that I had never seen the picture, and therefore pressed me no farther about its explanation; yet he shewed no discontent, but rolled up the pictures, saying he would accept even the satyr as a present from me.  As for the saddle, and some other trifles, he said he would have them sent to his son, for whom they were fit, as a present from me, to whom he would write so effectually, pursuant to his promise, that I should stand in no need of a solicitor near him in any of my affairs.  He added many compliments, excuses, professions, and protestations, such as might proceed either from a very noble or very base mind.

He then enquired what was meant by the figures of the beasts, and whether they had been sent for me to give him?  I had understood that they were very mean and ill-shaped images, from which the varnish had come off, and were ill-formed lumps of wood.  I was really ashamed of them, and told him this was no fault of mine, those who had seized them being guilty of the affront, in conveying them to his majesty, for whom they were not intended, having only been sent to shew the forms of certain animals in our country.  He quickly replied, “Did you think in England that a horse or a bull were strange to me?” I answered, that I thought not upon such mean matters, the sender being an ordinary man, who had sent these things out of good-will to me, and that I could not know what might have been his thoughts.  The king then said he would keep them all; but that he desired I would procure for him a horse of the largest size,