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.

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