Page:Madras in the olden time Volume 1.djvu/28

2 any merchant firms of modern date; when all took their meals together, attended daily prayers, and lived like a little brotherhood, who were all kept under by a strict discipline, and who, but for the attractions of burnt wine, punch, native beauty, and occasional quarrels, may be said to have lived as sober and God fearmg lives in this Presidency, as were led by their brethren in Leadenhall Street or Cheapside. Whether we shall continue our task in future issues, and bring our familiar sketches of Madras down to the days of our grandfathers, will depend very much upon the degree of success which may attend our early efforts. For the present we shall content ourselves with endeavouring to paint a picture of the little Presidency, with all its hopes, joys, and fears, as it was about the time of Charles LI. and his immediate successors. In a word, to furnish a few gossipping chapters upon our early Colonial life, during the first century of our settlement m Madras; a period which is full of interest, but which at present is almost a blank page in the annals of India.

Before however we begin to depict the little world within, we must endeavour to describe the ereat world without. Our readers need not be alarmed. Our history shall not be very formidable. We shall follow the true Macaulay method of only dwelling on what is interesting, and then striding with the speed of seven leagued boots over all that is dry and dull.

From time immemorial the rich productions of India had been eagerly desired by the civilised world. Iler cottons, spices, jewels, and perfumes