PART IV - MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS

Summary

The original of the following document, which I print as the first of these miscellaneous papers, reached my hands after a great part of the preceding matter, including the biographical notice of Sir Streynsham Master, was in type. The original, which was kindly put at my disposal by the owner, the Rev. G. S. Master–to whom I have already been so much indebted–is a draft in the unquestionable handwriting of Sir Streynsham Master aforesaid. Though bearing no signature and no address, abounding as it does in corrections and interpolations in the same handwriting, it must have necessarily been his own composition: whilst some expressions seem to intimate that the person addressed was a member of the Court in Leadenhall Street. As Streynsham Master returned to England, after his early sojourn in Western India, in the summer of 1672, the date of the letter (Jany. 1671, i.e. N. S. 1672) implies that it must have been written when he was on the eve of departure for Europe.

The letter is creditable, both in knowledge and composition, to one who had left England when under sixteen years of age; though I confess to have been a little disappointed in its contents. Any narrative that should bring before us in lively detail the real life and occupations of the Company's servants in India during the reign of Charles II would be very interesting.