Page 18 - History of Portuguese in the Gulf_Neat

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XXVIII INTRODUCTION.
from Lisbon to the Viceroy of India (D. Duarte do
Menezes):—
And the said Viceroy1 also wrote to me, that Mathias de
Albuquerque,2 captain of the fortress of Ormuz,3 had sent him
four Englishmen,4 who had arrived at that fortress by way of
Baqora ; and that it was presumed that they carried some letters
from Pom Antonio, Prior of Crato, although none were found on
them,* and they came in the garb of merchants and with goods :
who had been imprisoned pending such confirmation as he should
think right to advise me of. Wherefore I enjoin on you, that
if these Englishmen are still prisoners, and you have not punished
them, you do so according to the offences of which they shall
have been found guilty, of which you shall order a private inquiry
to be made: and you shall take great heed that neither these
people nor other similar ones be allowed in those parts, the
] which you shall order to be specially guarded against at the
fortress of Ormuz, which is the gateway by which they arc chiefly
likely to enter. And of what you shall do in this matter you
shall advise me.
As I have mentioned, a few weeks after the above was
written, and just two months after the arrival at Goa of the
Viceroy to whom the letter was addressed, three of the
four Englishmen had escaped from Portuguese jurisdiction.
What King Philip thought of this occurrence is shown by
the following extract6 from a letter written by him to the
Viceroy from Lisbon on February 13th, 1587 :—
I am displeased at the escape of the four Englishmen whom
you wrote me that Mathias Dalbuquerque sent as prisoners from
Ormuz to that city of Goa in the time of the Count Dom
Francisco Mascarenhas, and that they have gone to different parts,
and that you had information that two of them were dead, and
the other two living.' And since it is necessary to learn the
1 D. Francisco Mascarenhas (sec Ralph Fitch, pp. 56, S5).
2 Afterwards (1591-1597) Viceroy of India (see supra, p. xv).
3 From 15S3 to 1586.
4 Linschoten gives a curious (and certainly erroneous) reason for
their being sent to the Viceroy {op. tit., vol. ii, p. 160).
6 Cf. Ralph Fitch, pp. 62, 75, 77.
6 I translate from Archivo Portugucz-Oriental, fasc. iii, p. 95.
7 One of those known to be living was, of course, Story, who had
settled in Goa as a painter (see infra, p. xxix), and the other was
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INTRODUCTION X X! X
cause of their going to those parts, I enjoin upon you to curlca-
vour to lay hoid of them, and that they be kept well guarded ;
and that you order an examination of the persons incriminated
in their escape, and take proceedings against them ; and of what
you shall do in this matter you shall inform me.
Two years later, on February 2nd, 15S9, the King writes1
thus to the Viceroy :—
And regarding what you write me of the advice that you have
had respecting Dom Antonio, the former Prior of Crato, 1 have
ordered a private letter- to be written to you on this matter.
You also tell me that, by way of !.)yo and other parts, you
have sent to spy the strait of Meca in order that before the
winter sets in you may learn if any galleys set out and what they
do, which was prudent, and so will it be of you to manage by
all ways to be ever advised of the affairs of this strait. And
regarding the four Englishmen who in the time of the Count
Dom Francisco Mascarenhas went to India, of whom you gave
me an account that they were merchants, and went out to those
parts solely with that intention, and that three of them are dead,3
and that the one that remained was a painter and was married
there,4 nevertheless in addition to this information that you give
me I again enjoin upon you that you make further efforts to
find out the intent of their going, and of those inculpated in the
escape of the three, ns I ordered to be written to you by the
fleet of the past year/' in which you will already have taken pro­
ceedings.
The last reference to this matter of Fitch and his corn-
possibly Leedes, who had taken service under Akbar (see st/finP.
The information regarding Newbcry’s death may have been correct,
but with respect to Fitch it was happily false. (Cf. the incorrect
statements regarding the four in Hunter’s History of British' /rutin,
vol. i, p. 232.)
1 I translate from Archivo Portugucz-Oriental, fasc. iii, p. 175.
2 The letter referred to, dated January 24th, 15S9, and nearly all in
cypher, is printed in Archivo Portugucz-Oricnt<it, fasc. iii, pp. 1 (\>6-
167. It appears from it that a report had reached the Viceroy that
Dom Antonio had left England intending to go by Venice to Constan­
tinople ; whereupon the Viceroy had secretly sent a Venetian named
Miser Antonio to Bagdad and Aleppo to find out the truth. This
action the King commends, but warns him to be chary of receiving
news through Venetians, as it is understood that as regards Turkish
affairs they never report them correctly.
3 Possibly Leedes may have died meanwhile.
4 To a mesti^a, according to Linschotcn (vol. ii, p. 166).
5 I have found no letter of 15S9 referring to this matter.