THOMAS CORIATE Traueller for the English VVits: Greeting.
From the Court of the Great MOGVL, Resident at the Towne of ASMERE, in Easterne INDIA.
Printed by W. Iaggard, and Henry Fetherston.
To the Reader.
His Parallel with Erasmus.
To THE RIGHT Honourable, Sir Edward Phillips, Knight, and Maister of the Rolles, at his house in Chancery-Lane, or VVanstead. From the Court of the most mighty Monarch, the Great Mogul, resident in the Towne of Asmere, in the Easterne India, Anno 1615.
I Am perswaded, that if euer any accident worthy of admiration euer happened vnto your honor in al your life time, it will be the receiuing of this present Letter, from me out of the Easterne India: yet perhaps it will seeme vnto you so wondrous, that I beleeue you will doubt whether this bee the true hand-writing of your once Odcombiam Neighbor, Thomas Coryate. But your Honour may soone very infallibly and apparantly perceiue it to be true; partly by the forme of the style, which is [Page 3] iust answerable to that manner of speech that you haue heard and obserued in me, sometimes in my Linsie-woolsie Orations; and somtimes in my extrauagant discourses: and partly by the testimony of the bearer heereof, M. Peter Rogers, Minister at the time of his being in India, to the English Merchants resident at the Court of the most puissant Monarch the great Mogul, at a town called Asmere; whose comfortable and sweet company I enioyed at the same Court, about the space of foure Moneths.
Now, though there hath itched a very burning desire in mee, within these few yeares, to suruay and contemplate some of the chiefest parts of this goodly Fabricke of the VVorld, besides mine owne natiue Country: yet neuer did I thinke it would haue broken out to such an ambitious vent, as to trauell all on [Page 4] foote from Ierusalem, so farre as the place where I wrote this Letter.
Howbeit since Fortune, or rather (to speake more properly, in vsing a Christian word) the prouidence of the Almighty, (for Fatuus est, S. Augustine saith, qui faro credit) hath so ordained, that I should securely passe so far into the Orientall world, with al humilitie vpō the bended knees of my hart, I thank my Creator & merciful redeemer, Iesus Christ; (whose Sacrosanct Sepulcher I haue visited & kissed, terque quaterque in Ierusalem) & do very much congratulate mine owne happines, that he hath hitherto endued mee with health, (for in all my trauels since I came out of England, I haue enioyed as sound a constitutiō of body, & firme health, as euer I did since I first drew this vitall ayre) libertie, strength of limbs, agilitie of foot-manship, &c.
Neither do I doubt, but that your Honour it selfe will likewise congratulate [Page 5] the felicitie of our Sommersetshire, that in breeding me, hath produced such a traueller, as dooth for the diuersitie of the Countries he hath seene, and the multiplicitie of his obseruations, farre (I beleeue) out-strippe anie other whatsoeuer, that hath beene bred therein since the blessed Incarnation of our Sauior. Yea, I hope my generall countrie of England, shall one day say, that Odde-combe, for one part of the word, may truelie be so called: (for Odde-combe consisteth of two words, odde, & combe, which latter word in the olde Saxon tongue signifieth besides the vertical point of a cocks head, the side of a Hill, because the east side of the hill wheron Od-combe standeth, is very conspicuous, and seene afar off in the Country Eastward) for breeding an odde man, one that hath not his peere in the whole kingdome to match him.
[Page 6]Three yeares and some few odde dayes I haue spent already, in this second peregrination, and I hope with as much profite (vnpartially will I speake it of my selfe, without any ouer-weening opiniō, to which most men are subiect) both for learning foure Languages more, then I had when I left my Country: viz. Italian, Arabian, Turkish, and Persian; and exact viewing of diuers of the most remarkeable matters of the Vniuerse; together with the accurate description thereof, as most of my Countri-men that are now abroad. Yet such is my insatiable greedinesse of seeing strange countries: which exercise is indeede the very Queene of all the pleasures in the world, that I haue determined (if God shall say Amen) to spend full seauen yeares more, to the ende to make my voyage answerable for the time to the trauels of Vlysses; & [Page 7] then with vnspeakable ioy to reuisite my Country; which I will euer entitle (notwith-standing all the goodly Regions that I haue seene in my two perambulations) with the stile of the true Canaan of the world, that flowes with Milke and Hony. Onely wish me good successe, I beseech your Honour, as I will from my heart, to you and all your familie; hoping to salute you after the finall catastrophe of my exoticke wanderings; when you shall bee in the great climacterical year of your age; you being about fifty three, if my coniecture doth not faile mee, when I tooke my leaue of you: a thing verie likely by the mercifull goodnesse of God. For your Father, that was my god-father, who imposed vpon me the name of Thomas, liued more then eightie yeares.
Honourable Sir, take it not, I beseech you, for a discourtesie, in that [Page 8] I write nothing in this Letter of my past trauels. I am certaine, that a Letter which I haue written to M. VVhitaker, your learned and elegant Secretary, wherein I haue compendiouslie discoursed of some of my obseruations in Asia, will quicklie come to your hands, at least if hee remaineth still in your seruice: therfore it would be superfluous to haue repeated the same things. Dutie ioyned with the recordation of the manifold benefits, and singular fauours I haue receiued from you, hath inioyned mee to send this Letter to your Honour, from this glorious Court of the Mogul; wherein seeing I relate not the singularities I haue seene in those Orientall Regions, I will desist to be farther tedious; humbly recommending your Honour, and vertuous Lady, your well-beloued Sonne & Heire-apparant, Sir Robert, (to whom I [Page 9] haue written a few times also) & his sweet Lady; M. Martin also, M. Christopher Brooke, whom I thanke still for his no lesse elegant then serious verses: M. Equinoctiall Pasticrust of the middle Temple, M. VVilliam Hackwell, and the rest of the worthy gentlemen frequenting your Honourable table, that fauour vertue, and the sacred Muses, to the most Heauenly Clientele of the eternall Iehouah.
I beseech your Honour, to speake courteously to this kind Minister M. Rogers for my sake: for he euer shewed himselfe very louing vnto me.
Most deare and beloued Friend, Maister L. W. animae dimidium meae.
From the Court of the most Mighty Monarch, called the Great Mogul, resident in the Towne of Asmere, in the Orientall India. Anno 1615.
COrdiall salutations in the Author of Saluation, Iesus Christ: where I writ vnto you last, I remember wel; euen from Zobah, as the Prophet Samuel calleth it (2 Booke 8. chap. ver. 3) that is, Aleppo, the principall Emporium of all Syria, or rather of the Orient world; but when, in trueth I haue forgotten, for I keepe not coppies [Page 11] of my Letters, as I see most of my Countrey-men doe, in whatsoeuer place of the worlde I finde them: Howbeit, if my coniecture doe not much faile me, I may affirme that it was about xv. moneths since, about a month after I returned vnto Aleppo from Ierusalem, after which time, I remained there three months longer, and then departed there-hence in a Carauan into Persia, passing the noble riuer Euphrates (the cheefest of all that irrigated Paradise,Gen. 2, 10. wherehence, as frō their original, the three other riuers were deriued) about foure dayes iourney beyond Aleppo: on the farther side of which, I entered Mesapotamia, alias Chaldea, for the Euphrates in that place disterminateth Syria & Mesopotamia. Therehence I had two dayes iourney to Vr of the Chaldeans, where Abraham was born,Gen. 11.28. a very delicate and pleasant Cittie. There I remained foure dayes, but I [Page 12] I could see no part of the ruines of the house, wher that faithful seruant of God was borne, though I much desired it. from thence, I had foure dayes iourney to the Riuer Tigris, which I passed also; but in the same place where I crossed it, I found it so shallow, that it reached no higher then the calfe of my legge: for I waded ouer it afoot. Now I wel perceiue by mine occular experience, that Chaldea is named Mesopotamia, for that it is inclosed with the foresaid riuers. Traiecto Tigride, I entred Armenia the greater: After that, Media the lower, & resided six dayes in the Metropolis therof, heretofore called Ecbarana, the sommer seate of Cyrus his Court, a City eftsoone mentioned in the Scripture, now called Tauris, more wofull ruines of a City (sauing that of Troy & Cyzicū in Natolia) neuer did mine eies beholde: whē I seriously contemplated those [...], the doleful testimonies of the [Page 13] Turkish deuastations, I called to minde Ouids verse.
And that of Hesiod,
From that, I had two daies iourney to a Citty that in Strabos time was called Arsacia in Media the higher, now Casbin, once the royall seate of the Tartarian Princes, [...] daies iourney from the Caspian sea. From Casbin, I had [...] daies to Spahan in Parthia, the place of residence of the Persian K. But at my being there, he was in the Countrey of Gurgistan, ransacking the poor Christians ther with great hostility, with fire & sword. There I remained months, & so with a Carauan trauelled into the Easterne India, passing [...] months & odde daies, in my trauell betwixt that (through part of the true Persia, & a large tract of the noble & renownd India) and the goodly city of labore in India, one of the largest Cities of the whole vniuerse. For it containe that the least xvi. miles in compasse, & exceedeth [Page 14] Constantinople it selfe in greatnesse: but a dozen dayes before I came to Lahore, I passed the famous Riuer Indus, which is as broad againe as our Thames at London, and hath his originall out of the Mountaine Caucasus, so much ennobled by the ancient both Poets and Historiographers, Greeke & Latine; which Plato for curiosity sake, in his trauelles of these parts, went to see. It lyeth not farre from that vppon the Confines of Scythia, now called Tartaria: My selfe also conceiuing some hope of seeing it before my finall farewel of India. I had almost forgotten one memorable matter to impart vnto you: About the middle of the way, betwixt Spahan and Lahore, iust about the Frontiers of Persia & India, I met Sir Robert Sherley, and his Lady, trauailing from the court of the Mogul, (where they had beene verie graciously receiued, and enriched with [Page 15] presents of great value) to the King of Persia's Court; so gallantly furnished with all necessaries for their trauailes, that it was a great comfort vnto me to see them in such a florishing estate. There did he shew mee to my singular contentment, both my Bookes neatly kept; and hath promised me to shew them, especialy mine Itinerarie, to the Persian King; and to interpret vnto him some of the principall Matters in the Turkish tongue, to the end, I may haue the more gracious accesse vnto him after my returne thither. For through Persia I haue determined (by Gods helpe) to returne to Aleppo. Besides, other rarities that they carried with them out of India; they had two Elephants, and eight Antlops, which were the first that euer I saw: but afterwards, when I came to the Moguls Court, J sawe great store of them. These they
meant to present to the Persiā King. Both he and his Lady vsed me with singular respect, especially his Lady, who bestowed forty shillings vpon me in Persian mony; and they seemed to exult for ioy to see mee, hauing promised me to bring mee in good grace with the Persian king, [Page 17] and that they will enduce him to bestow some Princely benefit vpon me: this I hope will be partly occasioned by my booke, for he is such a iocond Prince, that he will not be meanlie delighted with diuers of my factious Hieroglyphicks, if they are truelie and genuously expounded vnto him. From the famous Citie of Lahore, I had twentie daies iourney to another goodly Citie called Agra, through such a delicate and eeuen tract of ground, as I neuer saw before; and doubt whither the like bee to be found within the whole circumference of the habitable world. Another thing also in this way, being no lesse memorable then the plainenesse of the ground; a row of Trees on each side of this way where people doe trauell, extending it selfe from the townes end of Lahore, to the townes end of Agra; the most incomparable [Page 18] shew of that kinde, that euer my eies suruaied. Likewise wheras ther is a Mountaine some ten daies iourney betwixt Lahore and Agra, but verie neere ten miles out of the way on the left hand: the people that inhabite that Mountaine, obserue a custome very strange, that all the brothers of any familie, haue but one and the selfe-same wife; so that one woman sometimes doth serue 6 or 7 men: the like whereof I remember I haue read in Strabo, concerning the Arabians that inhabited Arabia felix. Agra is a verie great Citie, and the place where the Mogul did alwaies (sauing within these two yeares) keepe his Court; but in euerie respect much inferior to Lahore. From thence to the Moguls Court I had ten daies iourney, at a Towne called Asmere, where I found a Cape Merchant of our English men, with nine more of my Countrimen, resident [Page 19] there vpon termes of Negotiations, for the right worshipfull Company of Merchants in Londō that trade for East India. I spent in my iourney betwixt Ierusalem & this Moguls Court, 15. moneths and odde daies: all which way I trauersed afoot, but with diuers paire of shooes, hauing beene such a Propateticke, (I will not cal my selfe Peripatetick, because you know it signifieth one that maketh a perambulation about a place, [...], signifying to walk about) that is, a walker forward on foote, as I doubt whether you euer heard of the like in your life: for the totall way betwixt Ierusalem and the Moguls court, containeth two thousand and seauen hundred English miles. My whole perambulation of this Asia the greater, is like to bee a passage of almost sixe thousande miles, by that time that in my returne backe thorough Persia, [Page 20] afterward also by Babylon and Niniuie, I shall come to Caico in Egypt, and from that downe the Nylus to Alexandria, there to be one daie (by Gods helpe) imbarqued for Christendome; a verie immense dimension of ground.
Now I am at the Moguls Court, I think you would be glad to receiue some narration thereof from mee, though succinctly handled: for I meane to be very compendious, lest I shold otherwise preoccupate that pleasure which you may here after this reape by my personall relation thereof. This present Prince is a verie worthy person, by name Selim, of which name I neuer read or heard of any more then one Mahometan King, which was Suliam Selim of Constantinople, that liued about 80. years since; the same that conquered Ierusalem, Damascus, Aleppo, Caico, &c: adding the same to the Turkish Empire. [Page 21] He is 53. yeares of age, his natiuitie daie hauing beene celebrated with wonderfull pompe since my arriuall here: for that daie he weighed himselffe in a paire of golden Scales, which by great chance I saw the same day (a custome that he obserueth most inuioablie euery year) laying so much golde in the other scale as coūteruaileth the weight of his body, and the same he afterward distributed to the poore. Hee is of complection neither white nor blacke, but of a middle betwixt thē: I know not how to expresse it with a more expressiue & significant epitheton then Oliue: an Oliue colour his face presenteth: hee is of a seemelie composition of bodie, of a stature little vnequall (as I guesse not without grounds of probabilitie) to mine, but much more corpulent then my selfe. The extent of his Dominion is verie spacious, beeing [Page 22] in circuite, little lesse then 4000. English miles, which verie neere answereth the compas of the Turks territories: or if any thing be wanting in geometricall dimension of ground, it is with a great pleonasme supplied by the fertility of his soyle: and in these two thinges hee exceedeth the Turks, in the fatnesse (as I haue said) of his Land, no part of the world yeelding a more fruitfull veine of ground, then all that which lieth in his Empire, sauing that part of Babylonia, where the terrestriall Paradise once stoode: whereas a great part of the Turkes Land is extreme barren and sterill, as I haue obserued in my peregrination thereof, especially in Syria, Mesopotamia and Armenia; many large portions thereof beeing so wonderfull fruitelesse, that it beareth no good thing at all, or if any thing, there Infelix lolium et steriles dominantur auenae.
[Page 23]Secondly, in the coniunction and vnion of all his Territories, together in one & the same goodly continent of India, no Prince hauing a foote of land within him. But many parcels of the Turkes Countries are by a large distance of seas & otherwise diuided asunder. Again, in his Reuenue he exceedeth the Turk & the Persian his Neighbour by iust halfe: for his Reuenues are 40. millions of Crownes of sixe shillings value, by the yeare: but the Turkes are no more then fifteene millions, as I was certainly informed in Constantinople; and the Persians fiue millions plus minus, as I heard in Spahan. It is saide that he is vncircumcised, wherein he differeth from all the Mahometan Princes that euer were in the world.
Hee speaketh very reuerently of our Sauiour, calling him in the Indian tongue, Ifazaret Eesa, that is, [Page 24] the great Prophet, Iesus: and all Christians, especiallie vs English, he vseth so beneuolently, as no Mahometan Prince the like Hee keepeth abundance of wilde Beasts, & that of diuers sorts, as Lyons, Elephants Loepards, Beares, Antlops, Vnicornes; whereof two I haue seene
[Page 25] at his Court, the strangest beasts of the world: they were brought hither out of the Countrie of Bengala, which is a kingdome of most singular fertilitie within the compasse of his Dominion, about foure moneths iourney from this, the midland parts therof being watered by diuers channels of the famous Ganges, which I haue not as yet seene, but (God willing) I meane to visite it before my departure out of this Countrie, the neerest part of it beeing not aboue twelue daies iourny from this Court. The King presenteth himselfe thrice euery daie without faile to his Nobles, at the rising of the Sunne, which he adoreth by the eleuation of his hands; at noone, and at fiue of the clocke in the euening: but he standeth in a roome aloft, alone by him selfe, and looketh vppon them from a window that hath an embroidered sumptuous couerture, supported with two siluer pillasters to yeeld shaddowe vnto him. Twice euery week, Elephants fight before him, the brauest spectacle in the worlde: many of them are thirteene [Page 26] foot and a halfe high; and they seeme to iustle together like two little Mountaines, and were they not parted in the middest of their fighting by certaine fire-workes, they would exceedingly gore and cruentate one another by their murdering teeth. Of Elephants the King keepeth 30000. in his whole Kingdome at an vnmeasurable charge; in feeding of whom, and his Lyons, and other Beasts, he spendeth an incredible masse of money, at the least ten thousand pounds sterling a day. I haue rid vpon an elephant since I came to this Court, determining one day (by Gods leaue) to haue my picture expressed in my next Booke, sitting vpon an Elephant. The King keepeth a thousand women for his own body, whereof the chiefest (which is his Queene) is called Normal. I thinke I shall here after this, send another Letter vnto you, before my departure out of this Countrey, by a worthy man, which is the Minister & Preacher of our Nation in this place, one M. Peter Rogers, a man to whom I [Page 27]
am exceedingly obliged for his singular offices of humanity exhibited vnto me. Pray vse him kindly for my sake; hee vnderstanding, that there is a certaine yong Gentleman, called Maister Charles Lancaster, that serueth the M. of the Rolles, intreated me to desire you to recommēd him very kindly vnto him. [Page 28] Our Cape-Merchants name is M. VVilliam Edwards, an honest gentleman, that vseth me with verie louing respect. Dear M. L. VV. conueigh these twoe letters that I haue sent to you, to the parties to whom they are directed: my poore mother & mine vnckle VVilliams. You may do me a kinde office to desire him (with such conuenient termes and patheticall perswasions as your discretion shall dictate and suggest vnto you) to remember me as his poore industrious peregrinating kinseman, nearest vnto him in blood of all the people in the world; to remember me I say, with some competent gratuitie, if God should call him out of the world before my returne into my natiue Countrie. I praie you if hee be liuing, and doth vse to come to London as he was wont to doo, that you would deliuer my Letter to him with your owne hands, and not send it vnto him. You may remember to relate this vnto your friends, that I will now mention as a matter verie memorable; I spent in my ten moneths trauels betwixt [Page 29] Aleppo and the Moguls Court, but three pounds sterling, yet fared reasonable well euerie daie; victuals beeing so cheape in some Countries where I trauelled, that I oftentimes liued competentlie for a pennie sterling a day: yet of that three pound I was cousened of no lesse then ten shillings sterling, by certaine lewde Christians of the Armenian Nation: so that indeed I spent but fiftie shillings in my ten moneths trauailes. I haue beene in a Citie in this Countrie, called Detee, where Alexander the Great ioyned battell with Porus, K. of India, and conquered him; and in token of his victorie, erected a brasse pillar, which remaineth there to this day. Pray remember my humblest seruice to the right Honourable, your Maister of the Rolles. Si superat (que) et vescitur aura aetherea, nee adhuc crudelibus occubat vmbris. And to Sir Robert Phillips, once my Mecaenas, but how affected to me at this time I know not: pray tell them that I meane to write to each of them before my departure out of India: remember [Page 30] my duty also to their right vertuous Ladies. About foure yeares hence looke for me, but not before. For if God grant me life and health, I meane to make it a voyage of full seauen yeares before I come home, whereof three are already spent. Commend me also I pray you to M. Martin, though at a mans house in woodstreet, he vsed mee one night verie peruersly before I came away: but you see that my being at Ierusalem dooth make me forget many iniuries. Commend mee likewise to Maister H. Holland, and Inigo Iones: at this time I haue many Irons in the fire; for J learne the Persian, Turkish, & Arabian tongues, hauing already gotten the Italian (I thank God) I haue bene at the Moguls Court three moneths already, and am to tarry heere (by Gods holy permission) fiue moneths longer, till I haue gotten the foresaide three tongues, and then depart herehence to the Ganges, and after that, directly to the Persian Court.
From the Court of the Great Mogul, resident at the Towne of Asmere in the Eastern India, on Michaelmas day. Anno 1615.
I Do enioy at this time as pancraticall and athleticall a health as euer I did in my life: & so haue done euer since I came out of England, sauing for three dayes in Constantinople, where I had an Ague, which with a little letting blood was clean banished, the Lord be humbly thanked for his gracious blessing of health that hee hath giuen vnto mee. I was robbed of my money both golde and siluer (but not all, by reason of certaine clandestine corners where it was placed) in a Cittie called Diarbeck in Mesopotamia, the Turks countrey, by a Spaheê as they call him, that is, one of the horsemen of the great Turke; but the occasion and circumstance of that misfortune, would be too tedious to relate. Notwithstanding that losse, I am not destitute of money I thanke God. Since my arriuall heere, there was sent vnto this King one of the richest presents that I haue heard to be sent to any Prince in al my life time: it consisted of diuers parcels; one beeing Elephants, whereof there were 31. and of those, two so gloriously adorned, as I neuer sawe the like, nor shal see the like again while I liue. For they wore foure chaines about their bodies all of beaten gold: two chains about their legges of the same; [Page 32] furniture for their buttocks of pure gold: twoe Lyons vpon their heads of the like gold: the ornaments of each, amounting to the value of almost eight thousand pound sterling: and the whole Present was worth ten of their Leakes, as they call them; a Leak being ten thousand pound sterling: the whole, a hundred thousand pounds sterling. Pray commend me to M. Protoplast, and all the Sireniacall gentlemen, to whom I wrote one Letter from Aleppo, after my being at Ierusalem; and another I intend to write before my going out of Asia. Their most elegant and incomparable safe-conduct that they haue graciously bestowed vpon me, I haue left at Aleppo, not hauing made any vse of it as yet, neither shall I in all my peregrination of Asia: but when I shall one day arriue in Christendome, it will be very auaileable to me. I haue heere sent vnto you the coppy of certaine facetious verses, that were lately sent to me to this Court, from one of my Countrimen, one M. Iohn Browne, a Londoner borne, now resident with diuers other English Merchants, at a Citie in India, fiue hundred miles from the place where I abide, called Amadauers, about sixe dayes iourney from the Sea: who vnderstanding of my arriuall at this Court, and of my tedious pedestriall peregrination all the way from Ierusalem hither; vnderstanding it I say, by Latine and Italian Epistles, that vpon a certaine occasion I wrote to some of that company, made these pretty verses, and sent them me. You may reade them to your friends if you thinke fit, and especially to the Sireniacall gentlemen; for they are alegant and delectable. [Page 33] The superscription of his Letter was this: to the painefull gentleman, M. Thomas Coryate: The title within prefixed before the verses, this;
YEt one Post-script more by way of a Corollary, and so with the same, beeing the fourth and the last, I will adde the final vmbilicke to this tedious English-Indian Epistle. I haue written out two seuerall coppies of these verses, and included them within the Letters, which I haue intreated you to distribute for me, but so that the Letters are not sealed vpon them; onely they lie loose within the Letters, therefore they are subiect [Page 35] to losing, except you haue an extraordinary care of them. Wherefore I intreate you to deliuer that to mine Vnkle with your owne hands, if he be in London, or to conueigh it to him by such a one as will not lose that loose paper of verses. The like care I desire you to haue of that to my mother, and to send it vnto her by some other man then a Carrier, if you can iet with such an opportunity: for in truth I am afraide the carrier wil lose the inclosed paper. Pray take aduice of some of the M. of the Rolles his people that are to ride to Euill. Pray remember my commendations with all respect to M. Williams the goldsmith and his wife; and to Beniamin Iohnson, and to reade this letter to them both: likewise to mistris Elizabeth Balch, if shee continueth with your Lady.
One appendix more and so an end. There happened betwixt the day of the writing of this Letter, and the day of the sealing of it vp, a memorable occurrent not to bee omitted. VVee receiued newes at this Court the ninth day after the writing of this Letter (for nine daies it was vnsealed) being the eight of October, of the arriuall of foure goodly English ships, at the hauen of Su [...]at in India, and in the same, of a very generous and worthy English Knight, a deare friend of mine, Sir Thomas Rowe, to come to the Court with some mature expedition, as an Ambassadour from the right worshipfull company of London Merchants that trade for India: he cometh with Letters from our King, and certaine selected presents of good worth from the company, amongst the rest, a gallant Caroch, of 150. pounds price. Also there came with him 15. seruants, al Englishmen. Forty daies hence at the farthest we expect ( [...]) his arriual at this Court. This newes doth refocillate (I will vse my olde phrase so well knowne to you) my spirits: for I hope he will vse me graciously, for old acquaintance sake.
TO THE HIGH Seneschall of the right Worshipfull Fraternitie of Sireniacal Gentlemen, that meet the first Fridaie of euery Moneth, at the signe of the Mere-Maide in Bread streete in London, giue these: From the Court of the great Mogul resident at the Towne of Asmere, in the Easterne India.
RIght Generous, Iouiall, and Mercuriall Sirenaicks; I haue often read this greeke Prouerb, [...] that is, one hand washeth another, & in Latine, Mulus mulum scabi [...], one Mule scratcheth another; by which the Ancients signified, that courtesies done vnto friends, ought to bee requited with reciprocall offices of friendship. The serious consideration heereof, dooth [Page 38] make me to call to mind that incomparable elegant safe-conduct, which a little before my departure from England, your Fraternity with a general suffrage gaue me for the security of my future peregrination, concinnated by the pleasant wit of that inimitable artizan of sweet elegancy, the moytie of my heart, and the quondam Seneschall of the noblest society, M. L.VV.
Therefore since it is requsite that I should repay some-what for the same, according to the lawes of humanity: Such a poore retribution as I sent vnto you from Aleppo, the Metropolitan City of Syria, by one M. Henry Allare of Kent, my fellow-pilgrime therehence to Ierusalem; I meane a plaine Epistle, which I hope, long since came vnto your hands. I haue sent vnto you by a man no lesse deare vnto mee then the former, one M. Peter Rogers, a Kentish man also, from the most famigerated Region of all the East, the ample and large [Page 39] India: assuring my selfe, that because I am not able to requite your loue with any essentiall gratulations, other then verball and scriptall, you wil as louingly entertaine my poore Letters, beeing the certaine manifestation of an ingenious minde, as if J should send vnto you the minerall riches or drugges of the noble Country.
Thinke it no wonder I pray you, that I haue made no vse in all this space since I left my natiue Country, of the superexcellent Commeate; for I haue spent all my time hitherto in the Mahometan Countries, and am like to spend three yeares more in these Musselman (as they call them) Regions of Asia, after of Europe, before J shal ariue in Christendome. For this cause I left it in Aleppo, with my Countrimen, there to receiue it from them againe, after that I shall haue ended my Indian and Persian perambulation: and therehence to carrie it once more [Page 40] to Constantinople, and that by the way at Iconium, Nicaea, Nicomedia, & in the countrie of Natolia, a iournie of forty daies. From that finally through the heart of Greece, by the Cities of Athens, Thebes, Corinth, Lacedemon, Thessalonica, and to the Citie of Ragouze, heretofore Epidaurus, so sacred for the image of Aesculapius in the countrie of Sclauonia, once called Illyricum; from thence J haue three daies iourney to the inestimable Diamond set in the Ring of the Adriatique gulfe, (as once I said in the first harangue that euer I made to Prince Henry of blessed memory, translated since my departure from London, from the terrestiall Tabarnacles, to the coelestial habitations) venereous Venice, the soueraign Queen of the Mare superum: if the great Iehouah shall be so propitious vnto mee, as to grant mee a prosperous arriuall in that noble Cittie, I will there beginne to shew your safe conduct, and to decantate, yea and blazon your praises for the same: and after in euery other place of note, vntill I shall arriue in glorious [Page 41] London, communicate it to the most polite, with that the Cities will yeeld, thorough which my laborious feete shall carry mee, it would be superuacaneous to commemorate vnto you the almost incredible extent of Land I trauersed from Ierusalem to the Court of the great Mogul in India, where I now reside; with the variable Regions and Prouinces interiacent betwixt them, and the manifold occurrences and obseruations of speciall worke in this vaste tract: for it wold be such a fastidious discourse, that it could not be wel comprehended in a large sheete of paper: but M. VV. I hope will not faile to import vnto you in a few compendious Relations, which I haue acquainted him with, in a particular Letter to himselfe: of which, if I should haue written againe to you, it would haue proued Crambe his Cocta. The Gentleman that bringeth this Letter vnto you, was preacher to the English Merchants conuersant at the Court of the aforesaide mighty Monarch in the Towne of Asmere in this Easterne India: [Page 42] and in diuers louing offices hath bene so kind vnto me, that I intreat your generosities to entertaine him friendly for my sake, to exhilarate him with the purest quintessence of the Spanish, French and Rhenish Grape, which the Mermaid yeeldeth; & either one in the name of you all, or else the totall vniuersalitie of the one after another, to thanke him heartily, according to the quality of his merits. Farewell noble Sirenaicks.
PRay remember the recommendations of my dutifull respect to al those whose names I haue here expressed, being the louers of vertue, and literature; and so consequently the well-willers (I hope) of a prosperous issue of my designements, in my laborious pedestriall perambulations of Asia, Africa, and Europe.
VVritten with mine owne hand, at the Court of the Great Mogul Shaugh Selim, resident in the towne of Asmere, in the vmbilicke of the orientall India, the eight day of Nouember, being wednesdaie. Anno Dom. 1615.
[Page 44]IMprimis, to the two Ladies Varney, the Mother & the Daughter, at Boswell house without Temple Barre.
2. Item, to that famous Antiquarie, Sir Robert Cotten, at his house in the Blacke Friers. Pray tell him that I haue a very curious white marble head of an ancient Heros or Gyant-like Champion, found out very casually by my diligent peruestigatiō amongst the ruines of the once renowned City of Cyzicum, mentioned by Cicero in his second Oration (if my memory doth not faile me) against Verres, situate in a peninsula of Bythinia, in the goodly country of Natolia, neere the Sea Propontis: to this head wil his best antiquities whatsoeuer veyle bonnet.
3. Item, to that courteous, sweet, and elegant-natured and nurtured gentleman. M. William Forde, Preacher to our Nation at Constantinople, if you happen to meete him in any part of England; one that deserueth better of me then any man in all this Catalogue: for of him I haue learned whatsoeuer superficiall skill I haue gotten in the Italian tongue: pray reduplicate my commendations vnto him.
4. Item to M. George Speake my generous & ingenuous countriman, the Sonne and heyre apparant of Sir George Speake in Sommersetshire: him you are like to finde in any Terme, eyther at the middle Temple, or in some Barbers [Page 45] house neere to the temple.
5. Item, to M. Iohn Donne, the author of two most elegant Latine Bookes, Pseudo martyr, and Ignatij Conclaue: of his abode either in the Strād, or elsewhere in London: I thinke you shall bee easily informed by the meanes of my friend, M. L. W.
6. Item, to M. Richard Martin, Counsellor, at his chamber in the middle Temple, but in the Terme time, scarce else.
7. Item, to M. Christopher Brooke of the city of Yorke, Councellor, at his chamber in Lincolnes Inne, or neere it.
8. Item, to M. Iohn Hoskins, alias Acquinoctial Pastitrust, of the citie of Hereford, Councellor, at his chamber in the middle Temple.
9. Item, to M. George Garrat; of whose beeing you shal vnderstand by Master Donne aforesaide.
10 Item, to M. VVilliam Hackwell, at his chamber in Lincolnes Inne.
11 Item, to Master Beniamin Iohnson the Poet, at his chamber at the Blacke Friars.
12. Item to Maist. Iohn Bond my countreyman, chiefe Secretarie vnto my Lorde Chancellour.
13 Item, to M. Doctor Mocket, resident perhappes in my Lord of Canterburies house at Lambeth, where I left him.
14 Item, to M. Samuel Purkas, the great collector [Page 46] of the Lucubrations of sundry classical authors, for the description of Asia, Africa, and America. Pray commend mee vnto him and his [...] Maister Cooke, by the same token, that he gaue me a description of Constantinople, and the Thracius Bosphorus, written in Latine by a Frenchman called Petrus Gillius: which Booke, when I carried once in an afternoone vnder mine arme, in walking betwixt our English Ambassadors house in Pera, on the opposite side to Constantinople, and the Flemish Ambassadors house, I lost it very vnfortunately to my great griefe, & neuer found it againe.
15 Item, to M. Inigo Iones, there where Maister Martin shall direct you.
16 Item, to M. Iohn Williams the Kings Goldat his house in Cheapside.
17 Item to M. Hugh Holland, at his lodging, where M. Martin shall direct you.
18 Item, to M. Robert Bing at Yongs ordinarie, neere the Exchange.
19 Item, to M. William Stansby, the Printer of my Crudities and Crambe, at his house in Thames street: also to his childlesse wife.
20 Item, to all the Stationers in Paules Churchyard; but especially those by name, Mast. Norton, Mast. Waterson, M. Mathew Lownes, M. Edward Blount, and M. Barrat, &c.
God bless thēall, & me too, that I may one day after the finall consummation of my fastidious peregrinations [Page 47] in the world, see and salute them all in health and welfare.
Per me Thomam Coryatum Odcombiensem.
PRay remember my verie humble dutie to my Lord Byshop of Bathe and Welles, generous M. Doctor Montacute; and tell his Lordship, that before I returne towards the Persian court out of this Orientall India, I resolue (by Gods permission) to write such a Letter vnto him (after I haue throughly surueighed so much of this country as I meane to do) as shall not bee vnworthy to bee read to the Kings most excellent Maiesty. You are like to heare newes of his Lordships abode in Kings street, neere VVestminster.
A Distich to the Traueller.
BY this present Letter, I am like to minister vnto you the occasion of two contrary matters; the one of comfort, the other of discomfort: of comfort, because I haue by the propitious assistance of the omnipotent Iehouah, performed such a notable voyage of Asia the greater, with purchase of great riches of experience, as I doubt whether any English man this hundred yeares haue done the like; hauing seene and very particularly obserued all the cheefest things in the Holy-land, called in times past Palaestina; as Ierusalem, Samaria, Nazareth, Bethlehem, Iericho, Emaus, Bethania, the Dead Sea, called by the Ancients Lacus Asphaltities, where Sodome and Gomorrha once stood; since that, many famous and renowned Cities and countries; Mesopotamia, in the which I entred by the passage of the riuer Euphrates, that watered Paradise; in which the Citty of Vr where Abraham was borne; both the Mediaes, the higher and the lower. Parthia, Armenia, Persia, through al which I haue trauailed into the Eastern India, being now at the Court of the great Mogull, at a Towne called Asmere, the which from Ierusalem is the distance of two thousand and seauen hundred miles; and haue traced all this tedious way afoote, with no small toile of bodye and discomfort, because that beeing so exceeding [Page 50] farre from my sweet and most delicious Natiue soyle of England, you will doubt perhaps, how it is possible for me to returne home againe: but I hope I shall quickly remoue from you that opinion of discomfort, (if at the least you shall conceiue any such) because I would haue you know, that I alwayes go safely in the company of Carauans from place to place. A Carauan is a word much vsed in all Asia: by which is vnderstood a great multitude of people trauelling together vpon the way with Camels, Horses, Mules, Asses, &c. on which they carry Merchandizes from one country to another, and Tents and Pauillions; vnder which instead of houses they shelter themselues in open fields, being furnished also with all necessary prouision, and conuenient implements to dresse the same: in which Carauans I haue euer most securely passed betwixt Ierusalem and this Towne, a iourney of fifteene months and odde dayes: whereof foure wanting a VVeeke, spent in Aleppo, and two and fiue & od dayes spent in Spahan the Metropolitan Citty of Persia, where the Persian King most commonly keepeth his Court: & the occasion of my spending of sixe moneths of the foresaide fifteene, in those two Citties, was to waite for an opportunity of Carauans to Trauaile withall; which a traueller is not sure to finde presently, when he is ready to take his iourney, but must with patience expect a conuenient time; and the Carauan in which I trauelled betwixt Spahan and India, contained 2000. Camels, 1500. horses, 1000. and odde Mules, 800. Asses, and sixe thousand people. Let this therefore (deer Mother) minister vnto you a strong hope of my happy returne into England.
Notwithstand all these lines for prouision for your [Page 51] Funerall, I hope for to see you aliue and sound in body & minde, about foure yeares hence; & to kneele before you with effusion of teares, for ioy. Sweet mother, pray let not this wound your heart, that I say four yeares hence, & not before; I humbly beseech you euen vpon the knees of my heart, with all submissiue, supplications to pardon me for my long absence; for verily, I haue resolued by the fauour of the supernal powers, to spend 4. entire yeares more before my returne, and so to make it a Pilgrimage of 7. yeares, to the end I may very effectually and profitably contemplate a great part of this worldly fabricke, determining by Gods special help, to go from India into the countrey of Scythia, now called Tartaria, to the Cittie Samarcanda, to see the Sepulcher of the greatest Conqueror that euer was in the worlde. Tamberlaine the Great: thither it is a iourney of two months from the place I now remaine: from that I meane to return into Persia; and therehence by the way of Babylon & Niniuy, and the Mountaine Ararat, where Noahs Arke rested, to Aleppo, to my Countrymen. From that, by the way of Damascus, and once againe to Gaza in the Land of the Philistims vnto Cairo in Egypt: From that downe the Nilus to Alexandria: and therehence finally, I hope to be imbarked for some part of Christendome, as either Venice, or &c. After mine arriuall in Christendome, I shall desire to trauell two yeares in Italy, and both high & low Germany, and then with all expedition into England, and to see you (I hope) with as great ioy as euer did any Trauailer his Father or Mother, going in that manner as I do like a poore Pilgrim. I am like to passe with vndoubted securitie, and [Page 52] very small charge: for in my tenne months trauailes betwixt Aleppo and this Moguls Court, I spent but three pounds sterling, and yet had sustenance enough to maintaine nature, liuing reasonably well, oftentimes a whole day, for so much of their money, as doeth counteruaile two pence sterling. But least I be ouer tedious vnto you, I will heere make an end. &c.
I will now commend you to the most blessed protection of our Sauiour Iesus Christ; before whose holy Sepulcher at Ierusalem, I haue poured foorth mine ardent Orisons for you, to the most sacrosanct Trinity, beseeching it with all humilitie of heart, to blesse and preserue you in a solid health, &c.