Page:History of India Vol 4.djvu/82

66 lowed by the arrival in the Moghul empire of European travellers, and the publication of their experiences. Two sea-captains, Hawkins and Herbert; Sir Thomas Roe, the ambassador; two clergymen, Terry and Ovington; Dr. Fryer, and Hedges, the Company's Agent and Governor, form a tolerably representative group of Englishmen, and there were many more, as may be seen in the recently edited correspondence of the East India Company's factors. France sent Pyrard, who did not get beyond the Portuguese settlements in India; but the travels of Tavernier, Thevenot, and Bernier are among our best authorities. Pietro della Valle was "a noble Roman," Mandelslo a gentleman of the court of the Duke of Holstein, Gemelli Careri a Neapolitan doctor, and Manucci a Venetian. In such a cloud of witnesses of varied ranks, professions, and nationalities, truth, divested of insular or continental prejudice, may surely be found. The body of information furnished by their journals, letters, and travels, is indeed of priceless value to the historian of India.

The visit of William Hawkins to the court of the Groat Moghul at Agra was a memorable event in the history of British intercourse with India. He was the first Englishman ever received by the Emperor of Hindustan as the official representative of the King of England, and he obtained from the Great Moghul the first distinct acknowledgment of the rights of British commerce in India. Hawkins sailed with Sir Francis Drake on his voyage to the South Seas in 1577. Thirty years later, in 1607, he commanded the "Hector" for