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 trous. First his little son of six years old was taken; then a cousin named Weekes Popham died, and was buried in the cemetery on the island; he had come out to collect the estate of Captain John Popham, commander of one of the Company's ships. A few months later Mrs. Popham followed. With a courage worthy of a better cause Popham stayed on for eight years after his wife's death, and was killed at Conjeeveram by a fall from his curricle. Mrs. Fay, a lady who visited Madras in 1780, has left a vivid picture of Blacktown. She says:

'We are at present with Mr. and Mrs. Popham, from whom we have received every possible civility. He is a brother lawyer and a countryman of my husband, and she is a lively woman ; her spirits have in some measure restored mine. . . . Mr. Popham is one of the most eccentric of beings I have ever met with. Poor man ! He is a perpetual projector, a race whose exertions have frequently benefited society, but seldom, I believe, been productive of much advantage to themselves or their families. He is at present laying plans for building what is called the Black Town to a great extent, and confidently expects to realise an immense fortune; but others foresee such difficulties in the way that they fear he may be ruined by the undertaking. The pleasure that he takes in his visionary schemes should not be omitted in the account as of some value, for it really seems to be an uncommon source of enjoyment. The Black Town is that part of Madras which was formerly inhabited wholly by natives, but of late many Europeans have taken houses there, the rents being considerably lower than in Fort St. George.'

It was with the rise of the new Blacktown that the merchant houses came into prominence. During the last half of the eighteenth century, when the Company's revenues were augmented by their territorial acquisitions,