Page:Early English adventurers in the East (1917).djvu/280

 trade. But the operations were seriously hampered by Portuguese and Dutch hostility, and in a few years the Hariharapur factory was closed and the Balasor establishment was reduced to the smallest proportions.

Then came a new stage in the history of the Company's relations with Bengal. They had an important friend at the Mogul Court in the person of Gabriel Boughton, who was at one time surgeon of the Company's ship Hopewell. A romantic story was long current as to the circumstances which brought Boughton into relationship with the Imperial house. It was stated that he was sent for in consequence of an accident to a Royal princess, the favourite daughter of Shah Jehan, who returning one night from visiting her father to her own apartments in the harem set fire to her clothing by brushing unwittingly against a lamp. As she was in close proximity to men her modesty forbade her to call out and by the time she reached the women's quarters she was dreadfully burned. In despair of her life, Shah Jehan dispatched a messenger post haste to Surat for an English doctor, and Boughton was sent in response. He rendered such good service that he was permanently retained by the emperor.

It is unfortunate that in the interests of truth this pretty romance must be set aside. Boughton, it is known, did not reach Agra until 1645, a year after the accident, and there is evidence, moreover, that the princess was attended by a famous physician who was brought express from Lahore to treat the case. Boughton, however, for some cause undoubtedly occupied a position of great favour at the Mogul Court, and in such circumstances had the means materially to assist his old masters. His aid appears to have been invoked not in vain in reference to the Bengal affairs