210
NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s. iv. AUG., im.
O Lmdw enop qid ixpwr pi kia Lwmplwn
Lit bid eomm Rip hwp op bhot bdnw qid
Imdw Imu wridzl ix Amp Dorkwrp.* I rest
Your reall Loving freind
JOHN SMITH
4 ps. fine Adatiest 32.-.-
2 ps. Cossaf 22.-.-
Charges 6.-
54.6.-
Tnmq nwawaswn pi sdq plw pei Zhmbbwb naru bwru sq Xonbp. qidn pnidp Oilr Baopl.*
LETTER LXXXVI.
John Vickers to Richard Edwards.
(O.C. 3748.)
Fort St. George January the 28th 1672/3 Dear Brother
At my Arrivall to Metchlepatara According to your Remembrance, I de- manded of Mr Freeman 8 r: but received it not of him, and for the bale of goodes you are concernd in, it is in A cocheen Chest, as they say, and Mr Mohun has the key at Madapollam, soe that could not dispose of your share as you ordered, though indeed more might have been done had I been well, for ever since my Coming upon this Coast have been soe ill that have not been able to mind any thing, soe that dear Brother must beg you to excuse this breif account, being
- This cipher (worked out by Miss L. M.
Anstey), which is employed by Smith in several of his letters to Edwards, is as follows :
m = a
a = b
k = c
u = d
w = e
x = f
z = K
1 = h
k
1
m n o
P
q
n = r
b = a
p = t
d = u, v
e = w
f = x
q = y
g = z
But Smith does not always write his cipher
correctly, as in the sentence above, where
" eomm " should read " eohh."
The rendering is : I have writ you often to com heather, hop you will not let it slip, sure you have had enough of Mat Vincent.
t See Letters VI. and XXXIII.
J Pray remember to buy the two Glasses and send by First, your [?] John Smith. Here, again, "pnidp" seems to be an error for "pndbpq," trusty, or " pndw," true.
Cabinet work from Cochin has always been famous. Vide MB. travels of Peter Mundy (1637), Rawlinspr MS. A., 315 (Bodleian), fol. 126b; A. Hamilton, ' A New Account of the East Indies, ed. 1744, vol. i. p. 331. Sandal-wood chests of large size, made there and in the neighbourhood, are still used for preserving clothing.
soe faint that am not able to sit longer to
inlarge then with my most hearty wishes for
thy health and prosperity to subscribe
Thy Reall and most affectionately Loving.
Brother JNO: VICKEBS
Respects and service to all freinds Remember my Account with J: S:* [Endorsed] To Mr Richard Edwards
Merchant in Cassumbazar
Fort St. George the 10th Feb. 1672/3 per
your servant T:
LETTER LXXXVII.
Edward Littleton to Richard Edwards.
(O.C. 3750.)
[The early career of Edward Littleton in India deserves a detailed notice, since he eventually became the first President in Bengal of the New or English East India Company. He was the son of Sir Timothy Littleton, Kt., was elected factor at 251. per annum on Oct. 25, 1670, and he " being well skilled in silk," the Court ordered him to be sent to Kasimbazar the centre of their silk trade in Bengal. On reaching Fort St. George, therefore, he was at once dispatched to Balasor, where he arrived in August or September of 1671 and presum- ably proceeded to his appointed station, as in August, 1672, it is stated that he is "to- instruct the silk winders." However, on the death of William Bagnold at the end of that year he went to Hugll, and since there was " little of business at Cassumbazar," he was permitted to remain, and Edmund Bugden was ordered to " admit him to the knowledge of the Company's business." In March, 1674, appar- ently owing to a remonstrance from Fort St. George, Littleton was sent back to Kasim- bazar as Third of that factory, becoming Second in 1676, and Chief in 1677. His sug- gestion that " an English Silk Weaver might prove of some advantage " to the silk invest- ments at Kasimbazar was taken into considera- tion by the Fort St. George Council, who promised to select one " of that craft " from amongst the " Souldiery." The Court received good reports of Littleton's conduct, and in December, 1676, they ordered him to be continued at Kasimbazar and " encouraged." In February, 1679, Jacob Verburg, Chief of the Dutch at Hugll, arrived on a visit to Kasim- bazar, but Littleton omitted the " usual ceremony " of meeting him, because it was " the Sabbath day, which he had always been instructed and brought up in a Strick ob- servance of."
In 1675 he married his first wife Elizabeth- Her maiden name does not appear, but she may have come out to India with Littleton's brother Eobert, a freeman, and his sister Ann, who later became Mrs. Fytch Nedham. George
- John Smith.
t Timothy Wilkes, factor at Fort St. George, became Second of Council there in 1681. and resigned the service in 1683.
