Page 310 - Early English Adventurers in the Middle East_Neat

310 ; EARLY ENGLISH ADVENTURERS IN THE
EAST

struments of a settled order for the execution of its de
crees
on lines which were fairly fixed. Romantic
as their
lives were in many respects they were a class apart from
the merchant adventurers whose careers are traced in the
preceding pages.
Not the least interesting feature of the century of which
we have treated was the gradual growth of these English
communities in the East which in some cases formed the
germs of the great ports and cities of our own time.
Established in the first instance by a mere handful of the
Company’s servants—occasionally by not more than a
half dozen—the factories, if well placed, grew in importance
until the staff was a complete organization, including the
various grades of functionaries into which the cove­
nanted body was divided, the whole representing a fairly
large colony. They lived together in the factory, which
was usually a roomy building with sleeping apartments
grouped about a common room, The latter served the
double purpose of a dining hall and a council chamber, and
it was also made to do duty as a chapel until the tune
arrived when the community became large enough to
justify the provision of a special room or building for devo­
tional purposes. An appendage of some of the factories
and notably of that at Surat, was a beautiful garden in a
pleasant situation where in the cool of the evening the
exiles might pass a congenial hour or two amid the fruit
and the flowers, before partaking of the evening meal.
Religious observances were strictly enjoined upon their
servants by the directors, who made special provision for
the due execution of their orders in this respect by sending
out chaplains to the principal establishments and in I
arranging for the service of lay readers in cases where