THOMAS CORIATE traveler for the English Wits: Greeting. From the Court of the Great MOGUL, Resident at the Town of ASMERE, in Eastern INDIA. Printed by W. jaggard, and Henry Fetherston. To the Reader. THree years (poor Countrymen that have not travailed) And some odd days; in Odde-combs grace & yours, I have enriched my feet (though something gravaild) With measuring millicents of Towns and Towers. And yet I swear, my head is nothing full, But rather empty of such things as fit One that makes nothing of the Great Mogul, But far beyond, or wide, as far as it Is from my Od-combe. Mean to travail still, Till I have equalled in some seven years more The Wise Ulysses; for of him, my will Wants nought in wit, but seven years and some score Of foolish days; of which, I hope to spend Ten millions more: For all my life shall be Endear to that most loved; most fortunate end, And to bring honour, to my Land and Ye. But do not long for me too soon; or doubt, As doth my mother; who doth wish, I hear, To have me there, though in a shitten clout; Though I not tread out my Vlyssian years. For who can purchase wisdom? Ten years? No. Before I get it, I will go, and go. His Parallel with Erasmus. Erasmus did in praise of folly write; And Coryate doth, in his self-praise indite. Lo here the wooden Image of our wits; Borne, in first travail, on the backs of Nits; But now on Elephants, &c: O, what will he ride, when his years expire? The world must ride him; or he all will tyre. To THE RIGHT Honourable, Sir Edward Phillips, Knight, and Master of the Rolls, at his house in Chancery-Lane, or Wanstead. From the Court of the most mighty Monarch, the Great Mogul, resident in the Town of Asmere, in the Eastern India, Anno 1615. Right Honourable, I Am persuaded, that if ever any accident worthy of admiration ever happened unto your honour in all your life time, it will be the receiving of this present Letter, from me out of the Eastern India: yet perhaps it will seem unto you so wondrous, that I believe you will doubt whether this be the true hand-writing of your once Odcombiam neighbour, Thomas Coryate. But your Honour may soon very infallibly and apparently perceive it to be true; partly by the form of the style, which is just answerable to that manner of speech that you have heard and observed in me, sometimes in my Linsey-wolsey Orations; and sometimes in my extravagant discourses: and partly by the testimony of the bearer hereof, M. Peter Rogers, Minister at the time of his being in India, to the English Merchants resident at the Court of the most puissant Monarch the great Mogul, at a town called Asmere; whose comfortable and sweet company I enjoyed at the same Court, about the space of four Months. Now, though there hath itched a very burning desire in me, within these few years, to survey and contemplate some of the chiefest parts of this goodly Fabric of the World, besides mine own native Country: yet never did I think it would have broken out to such an ambitious vent, as to travel all on foot from jerusalem, so far as the place where I wrote this Letter. Howbeit since Fortune, or rather (to speak more properly, in using a Christian word) the providence of the Almighty, (for Fatuus est, S. Augustine saith, qui faro credit) hath so ordained, that I should securely pass so far into the Oriental world, with all humility upon the bended knees of my heart, I thank my Creator & merciful redeemer, jesus Christ; (whose Sacrosanct Sepulchre I have visited & kissed, terque quaterque in jerusalem) & do very much congratulate mine own happiness, that he hath hitherto endued me with health, (for in all my travels since I came out of England, I have enjoyed as sound a constitution of body, & firm health, as ever I did since I first drew this vital air) liberty, strength of limbs, agility of foot-manship, etc. Neither do I doubt, but that your Honour itself will likewise congratulate the felicity of our Sommersetshire, that in breeding me, hath produced such a traveler, as doth for the diversity of the Countries he hath seen, and the multiplicity of his observations, far (I believe) outstrip any other whatsoever, that hath been bred therein since the blessed Incarnation of our Saviour. Yea, I hope my general country of England, shall one day say, that Odde-combe, for one part of the word, may truly be so called: (for Odde-combe consisteth of two words, odd, & comb, which latter word in the old Saxon tongue signifieth beside the vertical point of a cock's head, the side of a Hill, because the east side of the hill whereon Od-combe standeth, is very conspicuous, and seen afar off in the Country Eastward) for breeding an odd man, one that hath not his peer in the whole kingdom to match him. Three years and some few odd days I have spent already, in this second peregrination, and I hope with as much profit (unpartially will I speak it of myself, without any overweening opinion, to which most men are subject) both for learning four Languages more, than I had when I left my Country: viz. Italian, Arabian, Turkish, and Persian; and exact viewing of divers of the most remarkable matters of the Universe; together with the accurate description thereof, as most of my Countrymen that are now abroad. Yet such is my insatiable greediness of seeing strange countries: which exercise is indeed the very Queen of all the pleasures in the world, that I have determined (if God shall say Amen) to spend full seven years more, to the end to make my voyage answerable for the time to the travels of Ulysses; & then with unspeakable joy to revisit my Country; which I will ever entitle (notwithstanding all the goodly Regions that I have seen in my two perambulations) with the style of the true Canaan of the world, that flows with Milk and honey. Only wish me good success, I beseech your Honour, as I will from my heart, to you and all your family; hoping to salute you after the final catastrophe of my exotic wander; when you shall be in the great climacterical year of your age; you being about fifty three, if my conjecture doth not fail me, when I took my leave of you: a thing very likely by the merciful goodness of God. For your Father, that was my godfather, who imposed upon me the name of Thomas, lived more than eighty years. Honourable Sir, take it not, I beseech you, for a discourtesy, in that I write nothing in this Letter of my past travels. I am certain, that a Letter which I have written to M. Whitaker, your learned and elegant Secretary, wherein I have compendiously discoursed of some of my observations in Asia, will quickly come to your hands, at least if he remaineth still in your service: therefore it would be superfluous to have repeated the same things. Duty joined with the recordation of the manifold benefits, and singular favours I have received from you, hath enjoined me to send this Letter to your Honour, from this glorious Court of the Mogul; wherein seeing I relate not the singularities I have seen in those Oriental Regions, I will desist to be farther tedious; humbly recommending your Honour, and virtuous Lady, your well-beloved Son & Heire-apparant, Sir Robert, (to whom I have written a few times also) & his sweet Lady; M. Martin also, M. Christopher Brooke, whom I thank still for his no less elegant than serious verses: M. Equinoctial Pasticrust of the middle Temple, M. William Hackwell, and the rest of the worthy gentlemen frequenting your Honourable table, that favour virtue, and the sacred Muses, to the most Heavenly Clientele of the eternal jehovah. Your honours most obsequious Beadsman, Thomas Coryate. From the Court of the great Mogul, resident in the Town of Asmere in the Eastern India, on Michaelmas day, Anno 1615. I beseech your Honour, to speak courteously to this kind Minister M. Rogers for my sake: for he ever showed himself very loving unto me. Most dear and beloved Friend, Master L. W. animae dimidium meae. From the Court of the most Mighty Monarch, called the Great Mogul, resident in the Town of Asmere, in the Oriental India. Anno 1615. Cordial salutations in the Author of Salvation, jesus Christ: where I writ unto you last, I remember well; even from Zobah, as the Prophet Samuel calleth it (2 Book 8. chap. ver. 3) that is, Aleppo, the principal Emporium of all Syria, or rather of the Orient world; but when, in truth I have forgotten, for I keep not copies of my Letters, as I see most of my Countrymen do, in whatsoever place of the world I find them: Howbeit, if my conjecture do not much fail me, I may affirm that it was about xv. months since, about a month after I returned unto Aleppo from jerusalem, after which time, I remained there three months longer, and then departed there-hence in a Caravan into Persia, passing the noble river Euphrates (the chiefest of all that irrigated Paradise, Gen. 2, 10. wherehence, as from their original, the three other rivers were derived) about four days journey beyond Aleppo: on the farther side of which, I entered Mesapotamia, alias Chaldea, for the Euphrates in that place disterminateth Syria & Mesopotamia. Therehence I had two days journey to Vr of the Chaldeans, where Abraham was born, Gen. 11.28. a very delicate and pleasant City. There I remained four days, but I I could see no part of the ruins of the house, where that faithful servant of God was borne, though I much desired it. from thence, I had four days journey to the River Tigris, which I passed also; but in the same place where I crossed it, I found it so shallow, that it reached no higher than the calf of my leg: for I waded over it afoot. Now I well perceive by mine ocular experience, that Chaldea is named Mesopotamia, for that it is enclosed with the foresaid rivers. Traiecto Tigride, I entered Armenia the greater: After that, Media the lower, & resided six days in the Metropolis thereof, heretofore called Ecbarana, the summer seat of Cyrus his Court, a City eftsoon mentioned in the Scripture, now called Tauris, more woeful ruins of a City (saving that of Troy & Cyzicum in Anatolia) never did mine eyes behold: when I seriously contemplated those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the doleful testimonies of the Turkish devastations, I called to mind Ovid's verse. Ludio in humanis divina potentia rebus. Now I am at the Moguls Court, I think you would be glad to receive some narration thereof from me, though succinctly handled: for I mean to be very compendious, lest I should otherwise preoccupate that pleasure which you may here after this reap by my personal relation thereof. This present Prince is a very worthy person, by name Selim, of which name I never read or heard of any more than one Mahometan King, which was Suliam Selim of Constantinople, that lived about 80. years since; the same that conquered jerusalem, Damascus, Aleppo, Caico, &c: adding the same to the Turkish Empire. He is 53. years of age, his nativity day having been celebrated with wonderful pomp since my arrival here: for that day he weighed himself in a pair of golden Scales, which by great chance I saw the same day (a custom that he observeth most invioablie every year) laying so much gold in the other scale as counteruaileth the weight of his body, and the same he afterward distributed to the poor. He is of complexion neither white nor black, but of a middle betwixt them: I know not how to express it with a more expressive & significant epitheton than Olive: an Olive colour his face presenteth: he is of a seemly composition of body, of a stature little unequal (as I guess not without grounds of probability) to mine, but much more corpulent than myself. The extent of his Dominion is very spacious, being in circuit, little less than 4000 English miles, which very near answereth the compass of the Turks territories: or if any thing be wanting in geometrical dimension of ground, it is with a great pleonasme supplied by the fertility of his soil: and in these two things he exceedeth the Turks, in the fatness (as I have said) of his Land, no part of the world yielding a more fruitful vein of ground, than all that which lieth in his Empire, saving that part of Babylonia, where the terrestrial Paradise once stood: whereas a great part of the Turks Land is extreme barren and sterile, as I have observed in my peregrination thereof, especially in Syria, Mesopotamia and Armenia; many large portions thereof being so wonderful fruitless, that it beareth no good thing at all, or if any thing, there Infelix lolium et steriles dominantur avenae. Secondly, in the conjunction and union of all his Territories, together in one & the same goodly continent of India, no Prince having a foot of land within him. But many parcels of the Turks Countries are by a large distance of seas & otherwise divided asunder. Again, in his Revenue he exceedeth the Turk & the Persian his Neighbour by just half: for his Revenues are 40. millions of Crowns of six shillings value, by the year: but the Turks are no more than fifteen millions, as I was certainly informed in Constantinople; and the Persians five millions plus minus, as I heard in Spahan. It is said that he is uncircumcised, wherein he differeth from all the Mahometan Princes that ever were in the world. Your assured loving Friend till death, Tho: Coryate. From the Court of the Great Mogul, resident at the Town of Asmere in the Eastern India, on Michaelmas day. Anno 1615. I Do enjoy at this time as pancratical and athletical a health as ever I did in my life: & so have done ever since I came out of England, saving for three days in Constantinople, where I had an Ague, which with a little letting blood was clean banished, the Lord be humbly thanked for his gracious blessing of health that he hath given unto me. I was robbed of my money both gold and silver (but not all, by reason of certain clandestine corners where it was placed) in a City called Diarbeck in Mesopotamia, the Turks country, by a Spaheê as they call him, that is, one of the horsemen of the great Turk; but the occasion and circumstance of that misfortune, would be too tedious to relate. Notwithstanding that loss, I am not destitute of money I thank God. Since my arrival here, there was sent unto this King one of the richest presents that I have heard to be sent to any Prince in all my life time: it consisted of divers parcels; one being Elephants, whereof there were 31. and of those, two so gloriously adorned, as I never saw the like, nor shall see the like again while I live. For they wore four chains about their bodies all of beaten gold: two chains about their legs of the same; furniture for their buttocks of pure gold: two Lions upon their heads of the like gold: the ornaments of each, amounting to the value of almost eight thousand pound sterling: and the whole Present was worth ten of their Leaks, as they call them; a Leak being ten thousand pound sterling: the whole, a hundred thousand pounds sterling. Pray commend me to M. Protoplast, and all the sireniacal gentlemen, to whom I wrote one Letter from Aleppo, after my being at jerusalem; and another I intent to write before my going out of Asia. Their most elegant and incomparable safe-conduct that they have graciously bestowed upon me, I have left at Aleppo, not having made any use of it as yet, neither shall I in all my peregrination of Asia: but when I shall one day arrive in Christendom, it will be very available to me. I have here sent unto you the copy of certain facetious verses, that were lately sent to me to this Court, from one of my Countrymen, one M. john Browne, a Londoner borne, now resident with divers other English Merchants, at a City in India, five hundred miles from the place where I abide, called Amadavers, about six days journey from the Sea: who understanding of my arrival at this Court, and of my tedious pedestriall peregrination all the way from jerusalem hither; understanding it I say, by Latin and Italian Epistles, that upon a certain occasion I wrote to some of that company, made these pretty verses, and sent them me. You may read them to your friends if you think fit, and especially to the sireniacal gentlemen; for they are alicant and delectable. The superscription of his Letter was this: to the painful gentleman, M. Thomas Coryate: The title within prefixed before the verses, this; To the Odeombian wonder, our laborious Countryman, the generous Coryate. The Verses. What though thy Cruder travels were attended With bastinadoes, lice, and vile disgraces? Have not thy glorious acts thereby ascended Great Britain's stage, even to Prince's places, Led on in triumph by the noblest spirits That ever deigned to write of any's merits? If then for that they did advance thy fame, How will they strive to add unto thy glory, When thou to them so wondrously shalt name Thy weary footsteps and thy Asian story? No doubt more ripe (as nearer to the Sun) Then was that first that in the cold begun. Then rest a while, and to thy task again, Till thou hast thoroughly trod this Asian round, Which yet so many Kingdoms doth contain As Dackon, where the Diamond is found; And Bisnagar, Narsinga: and if you be Not weary yet, in Zeilan seek the Ruby. Then could I wish you saw the China Nation, Whose policy and art doth far exceed Our Northern climes: and here your observation Would Novelists and curious Artists feed With admiration. Oh, had I now my wishes, Sure you should learn to make their China dishes But by the way forget not * A goodly Province in India, three hundred miles from hence Gugurat, The Lady of this mighty King's Dominion: visit Baroch, Cambaia, and Surat, And Amdavar; all which in my opinion Yield much content: & then more to glad ye, we'll have a health to all our friends in * A kind of wine used in that part of India. Tadee Then cross to Arab, * He meaneth Arabia foelix. happiest in division; But have a care (at Mecca is some danger) lest you incur the pain of circumcision, Or Peter-like, to Christ do seem a stranger. From thence to Egypt, where the famous Nile And Memphis will detain your eyes a while. This done, at Alexandria seek your passage For England's happy shores, where How & Mundy Will strive to make your travels outlast age, So long as stand their Annals of our Country. For Mandevill will come of thee far short, Either of travel, or a large report. YEt one Postscript more by way of a Corollary, and so with the same, being the fourth and the last, I will add the final umbilicke to this tedious English-Indian Epistle. I have written out two several copies of these verses, and included them within the Letters, which I have entreated you to distribute for me, but so that the Letters are not sealed upon them; only they lie loose within the Letters, therefore they are subject to losing, except you have an extraordinary care of them. Wherefore I entreat you to deliver that to mine Uncle with your own hands, if he be in London, or to convey it to him by such a one as will not lose that loose paper of verses. The like care I desire you to have of that to my mother, and to send it unto her by some other man then a Carrier, if you can jet with such an opportunity: for in truth I am afraid the carrier will lose the enclosed paper. Pray take advice of some of the M. of the Rolls his people that are to ride to Evil. Pray remember my commendations with all respect to M. William's the goldsmith and his wife; and to Benjamin johnson, and to read this letter to them both: likewise to mistress Elizabeth Balch, if she continueth with your Lady. One appendix more and so an end. There happened betwixt the day of the writing of this Letter, and the day of the sealing of it up, a memorable occurrent not to be omitted. We received news at this Court the ninth day after the writing of this Letter (for nine days it was unsealed) being the eight of October, of the arrival of four goodly English ships, at the haven of Su●at in India, and in the same, of a very generous and worthy English Knight, a dear friend of mine, Sir Thomas row, to come to the Court with some mature expedition, as an Ambassador from the right worshipful company of London Merchants that trade for India: he cometh with Letters from our King, and certain selected presents of good worth from the company, amongst the rest, a gallant Caroche, of 150. pounds' price. Also there came with him 15. servants, all Englishmen. Forty days hence at the farthest we expect (〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉) his arrival at this Court. This news doth refocillate (I will use my old phrase so well known to you) my spirits: for I hope he will use me graciously, for old acquaintance sake. TO THE HIGH Seneschal of the right Worshipful Fraternity of Sireniacal Gentlemen, that meet the first friday of every month, at the sign of the Mermaid in Bread street in London, give these: From the Court of the great Mogul resident at the Town of Asmere, in the Eastern India. RIght Generous, jovial, and Mercurial Sirenaicks; I have often read this greek Proverb, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is, one hand washeth another, & in Latin, Mulus mulum scabi●, one Mule scratcheth another; by which the Ancients signified, that courtesies done unto friends, aught to be requited with reciprocal offices of friendship. The serious consideration hereof, doth make me to call to mind that incomparable elegant safe-conduct, which a little before my departure from England, your Fraternity with a general suffrage gave me for the security of my future peregrination, concinnated by the pleasant wit of that inimitable artisan of sweet elegancy, the moiety of my heart, and the quondam Seneschal of the noblest society, M. L.W. Therefore since it is requsite that I should repay somewhat for the same, according to the laws of humanity: Such a poor retribution as I sent unto you from Aleppo, the Metropolitan City of Syria, by one M. Henry Allare of Kent, my fellow-pilgrime therehence to jerusalem; I mean a plain Epistle, which I hope, long since came unto your hands. I have sent unto you by a man no less dear unto me then the former, one M. Peter Rogers, a Kentish man also, from the most famigerated Region of all the East, the ample and large India: assuring myself, that because I am not able to requite your love with any essential gratulations, other then verbal and scriptall, you will as lovingly entertain my poor Letters, being the certain manifestation of an ingenious mind, as if I should send unto you the mineral riches or drugs of the noble Country. Think it no wonder I pray you, that I have made no use in all this space since I left my native Country, of the superexcellent Commeate; for I have spent all my time hitherto in the Mahometan Countries, and am like to spend three years more in these Musselman (as they call them) Regions of Asia, after of Europe, before I shall arrive in Christendom. For this cause I left it in Aleppo, with my Countrymen, there to receive it from them again, after that I shall have ended my Indian and Persian perambulation: and therehence to carry it once more to Constantinople, and that by the way at Iconium, Nicaea, Nicomedia, & in the country of Anatolia, a journey of forty days. From that finally through the heart of Greece, by the Cities of Athens, Thebes, Corinth, Lacedaemon, Thessalonica, and to the City of Ragouze, heretofore Epidaurus, so sacred for the image of Aesculapius in the country of Sclavonia, once called Illyricum; from thence I have three days journey to the inestimable Diamond set in the Ring of the Adriatic gulf, (as once I said in the first harangue that ever I made to Prince Henry of blessed memory, translated since my departure from London, from the terrestial Tabarnacles, to the celestial habitations) venereous Venice, the sovereign Queen of the Mare superum: if the great jehovah shall be so propitious unto me, as to grant me a prosperous arrival in that noble City, I will there begin to show your safe conduct, and to decantate, yea and blazon your praises for the same: and after in every other place of note, until I shall arrive in glorious London, communicate it to the most polite, with that the Cities will yield, through which my laborious feet shall carry me, it would be superuacaneous to commemorate unto you the almost incredible extent of Land I traversed from jerusalem to the Court of the great Mogul in India, where I now reside; with the variable Regions and Provinces interjacent betwixt them, and the manifold occurrences and observations of special work in this vast tract: for it would be such a fastidious discourse, that it could not be well comprehended in a large sheet of paper: but M. W. I hope will not fail to import unto you in a few compendious Relations, which I have acquainted him with, in a particular Letter to himself: of which, if I should have written again to you, it would have proved Crambe his Cocta. The Gentleman that bringeth this Letter unto you, was preacher to the English Merchants conversant at the Court of the aforesaid mighty Monarch in the Town of Asmere in this Eastern India: and in divers loving offices hath been so kind unto me, that I entreat your generosities to entertain him friendly for my sake, to exhilarate him with the purest quintessence of the Spanish, French and Rhenish Grape, which the Mermaid yieldeth; & either one in the name of you all, or else the total universality of the one after another, to thank him heartily, according to the quality of his merits. Farewell noble Sirenaicks. Your generosities most obliged Countryman, ever to be commanded by you, the Hierosolymitan-Syrian-Mesopotamian-Armenian-Median-Parthian-Persian-Indian Legge-stretcher of Odcomb in Somerset, THOMAS CORYATE. PRay remember the recommendations of my dutiful respect to all those whose names I have here expressed, being the lovers of virtue, and literature; and so consequently the well-willers (I hope) of a prosperous issue of my designments, in my laborious pedestriall perambulations of Asia, Africa, and Europe. Written with mine own hand, at the Court of the Great Mogul Shaugh Selim, resident in the town of Asmere, in the umbilicke of the oriental India, the eight day of November, being wednesday. Anno Dom. 1615. IMprimis, to the two Ladies Varney, the Mother & the Daughter, at Boswell house without Temple Bar. 2. Item, to that famous Antiquary, Sir Robert Cotten, at his house in the Black Friars. Pray tell him that I have a very curious white marble head of an ancient Heros or Giantlike Champion, found out very casually by my diligent pervestigation amongst the ruins of the once renowned City of Cyzicum, mentioned by Cicero in his second Oration (if my memory doth not fail me) against Verres, situate in a peninsula of Bythinia, in the goodly country of Anatolia, near the Sea Propontis: to this head will his best antiquities whatsoever veil bonnet. 3. Item, to that courteous, sweet, and elegant-natured and nurtured gentleman. M. William Ford, Preacher to our Nation at Constantinople, if you happen to meet him in any part of England; one that deserveth better of me then any man in all this Catalogue: for of him I have learned whatsoever superficial skill I have gotten in the Italian tongue: pray reduplicate my commendations unto him. 4. Item to M. George Speak my generous & ingenuous countryman, the Son and heir apparent of Sir George Speak in Sommersetshire: him you are like to find in any Term, either at the middle Temple, or in some Barber's house near to the temple. 5. Item, to M. john Donne, the author of two most elegant Latin Books, Pseudo martyr, and Ignatij Conclave: of his abode either in the Strand, or elsewhere in London: I think you shall be easily informed by the means of my friend, M. L. W. 6. Item, to M. Richard Martin, Counsellor, at his chamber in the middle Temple, but in the Term time, scarce else. 7. Item, to M. Christopher Brooke of the city of York, Councillor, at his chamber in Lincoln's Inn, or near it. 8. Item, to M. john Hoskins, alias Acquinoctial Pastitrust, of the city of Hereford, Councillor, at his chamber in the middle Temple. 9 Item, to M. George Garret; of whose being you shall understand by Master Donne aforesaid. 10 Item, to M. William Hackwell, at his chamber in Lincoln's Inn. 11 Item, to Master Benjamin johnson the Poet, at his chamber at the Black Friars. 12. Item to Maist. john Bond my countryman, chief Secretary unto my Lord Chancellor. 13 Item, to M. Doctor Mocket, resident perhaps in my Lord of Canterbury's house at Lambeth, where I left him. 14 Item, to M. Samuel Purkas, the great collector of the Lucubrations of sundry classical authors, for the description of Asia, Africa, and America. Pray commend me unto him and his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Master Cook, by the same token, that he gave me a description of Constantinople, and the Thracius Bosphorus, written in Latin by a Frenchman called Petrus Gillius: which Book, when I carried once in an afternoon under mine arm, in walking betwixt our English Ambassadors house in Pera, on the opposite side to Constantinople, and the Flemish Ambassadors house, I lost it very unfortunately to my great grief, & never found it again. 15 Item, to M. Inigo jones, there where Master Martin shall direct you. 16 Item, to M. john Williams the Kings Goldat his house in Cheapside. 17 Item to M. Hugh Holland, at his lodging, where M. Martin shall direct you. 18 Item, to M. Robert Bing at Young's ordinary, near the Exchange. 19 Item, to M. William Stansby, the Printer of my Crudities and Crambe, at his house in Thames street: also to his childless wife. 20 Item, to all the Stationers in Paul's Churchyard; but especially those by name, Mast. Norton, Mast. Waterson, M. Matthew Lownes, M. Edward Blount, and M. Barrat, etc. God bless thenall, & me too, that I may one day after the final consummation of my fastidious peregrinations in the world, see and salute them all in health and welfare. Per me Thomam Coryatum Odcombiensem. PRay remember my very humble duty to my Lord Bishop of bath and Welles, generous M. Doctor Montacute; and tell his Lordship, that before I return towards the Persian court out of this Oriental India, I resolve (by God's permission) to write such a Letter unto him (after I have thoroughly surueighed so much of this country as I mean to do) as shall not be unworthy to be read to the Kings most excellent Majesty. You are like to hear news of his Lordship's abode in King's street, near Westminster. A Distich to the traveler. All our choice wits, all, see, thou hast engrossed: The doubt yet rests, if they or thou have most. FINIS. To his Loving Mother. BY this present Letter, I am like to minister unto you the occasion of two contrary matters; the one of comfort, the other of discomfort: of comfort, because I have by the propitious assistance of the omnipotent jehovah, performed such a notable voyage of Asia the greater, with purchase of great riches of experience, as I doubt whether any English man this hundred years have done the like; having seen and very particularly observed all the chiefest things in the Holy-land, called in times past Palaestina; as jerusalem, Samaria, Nazareth, Bethlehem, jericho, Emaus, Bethania, the Dead Sea, called by the Ancients Lacus Asphaltities, where Sodom and Gomorrha once stood; since that, many famous and renowned Cities and countries; Mesopotamia, in the which I entered by the passage of the river Euphrates, that watered Paradise; in which the City of Vr where Abraham was borne; both the Mediaes, the higher and the lower. Parthia, Armenia, Persia, through all which I have travailed into the Eastern India, being now at the Court of the great Mogul, at a Town called Asmere, the which from jerusalem is the distance of two thousand and seven hundred miles; and have traced all this tedious way afoot, with no small toil of body and discomfort, because that being so exceeding far from my sweet and most delicious Native soil of England, you will doubt perhaps, how it is possible for me to return home again: but I hope I shall quickly remove from you that opinion of discomfort, (if at the least you shall conceive any such) because I would have you know, that I always go safely in the company of Caravans from place to place. A Caravan is a word much used in all Asia: by which is understood a great multitude of people traveling together upon the way with Camels, Horses, Mules, Asses, etc. on which they carry Merchandizes from one country to another, and Tents and Pavilions; under which instead of houses they shelter themselves in open fields, being furnished also with all necessary provision, and convenient implements to dress the same: in which Caravans I have ever most securely passed betwixt jerusalem and this Town, a journey of fifteen months and odd days: whereof four wanting a Week, spent in Aleppo, and two and five & odd days spent in Spahan the Metropolitan City of Persia, where the Persian King most commonly keepeth his Court: & the occasion of my spending of six months of the foresaid fifteen, in those two Cities, was to wait for an opportunity of Caravans to Travail withal; which a traveler is not sure to find presently, when he is ready to take his journey, but must with patience expect a convenient time; and the Caravan in which I traveled betwixt Spahan and India, contained 2000 Camels, 1500. horses, 1000 and odd Mules, 800. Asses, and six thousand people. Let this therefore (dear Mother) minister unto you a strong hope of my happy return into England. Notwithstand all these lines for provision for your Funeral, I hope for to see you alive and sound in body & mind, about four years hence; & to kneel before you with effusion of tears, for joy. Sweet mother, pray let not this wound your heart, that I say four years hence, & not before; I humbly beseech you even upon the knees of my heart, with all submissive, supplications to pardon me for my long absence; for verily, I have resolved by the favour of the supernal powers, to spend 4. entire years more before my return, and so to make it a Pilgrimage of 7. years, to the end I may very effectually and profitably contemplate a great part of this worldly fabric, determining by Gods special help, to go from India into the country of Scythia, now called Tartary, to the City Samarkand, to see the Sepulchre of the greatest Conqueror that ever was in the world. Tamburlaine the Great: thither it is a journey of two months from the place I now remain: from that I mean to return into Persia; and therehence by the way of Babylon & Ninivy, and the Mountain Ararat, where Noah's Ark rested, to Aleppo, to my Countrymen. From that, by the way of Damascus, and once again to Gaza in the Land of the Philistims unto Cairo in Egypt: From that down the Nilus to Alexandria: and therehence finally, I hope to be embarked for some part of Christendom, as either Venice, or etc. After mine arrival in Christendom, I shall desire to travel two years in Italy, and both high & low Germany, and then with all expedition into England, and to see you (I hope) with as great joy as ever did any travailer his Father or Mother, going in that manner as I do like a poor Pilgrim. I am like to pass with undoubted security, and very small charge: for in my ten months' travails betwixt Aleppo and this Moguls Court, I spent but three pounds sterling, and yet had sustenance enough to maintain nature, living reasonably well, oftentimes a whole day, for so much of their money, as doth countervail two pence sterling. But lest I be over tedious unto you, I will here make an end. etc. I will now commend you to the most blessed protection of our Saviour jesus Christ; before whose holy Sepulchre at jerusalem, I have poured forth mine ardent Orisons for you, to the most sacrosanct Trinity, beseeching it with all humility of heart, to bless and preserve you in a solid health, etc. Your loving Son, Tho: Coryate. To his loving Friend, Thomas Coryate. TOm Coryates Shoes hang by the Bells At Odcomb, where that Beldame dwells who first produced that monster: Monster of men I may him call, In that he is admired of all, else mought he me misconstrue. His head doth run the wild-goose chase, Swifter than horse of hunting race, or Hare that Hound runs after: He picks up wit, as Pigeons pease, And utters it when God doth please: O who can hold from Laughter? To see him in a Morning Sun, In his rough Lambskin and bare gown the Scuttle hole ascending: Would make a horse his halter break, To hear him vomit forth his Greek, with all the Ship contending. On Christmas day he drunk in jest, Conjured a storm out of the East, in clambering up the cradle: Before, the wind was wondrous fair, Now forced to ride in Gebraltar, withouten horse or saddle. But Asses there a hideous band, Thomas discovered from the Land, His Book is not without them: At Tom's return there will be sport, In Country, City, Town, and Court, Those Asses round about them. Who lives his Leaves for to unfold, At his return, I dare be bold, will wonders find far stranger, Then was his conflict with the jews, Or entertainment at the Stews; or lying in the Manger Amongst the horse at Bergamo, Or begging of the poor, I trow; these were but toys and babbles: Of Drums, Guns, Trumpets, he will tell, Of haling Ships, of Pirates fell; of Tacklings, Masts, and Cables. With Starboard, Larboorde, Helm Alee, Full, Come no near: 'tis done quoth he, who at the Helm doth stand. War-no-more, cries an angry Mate; Oh Odcombe, these be terms of state, Not usual on the Land. Oh learn this Tongue I thee beseech, For it is not beyond the reach of * Because my Brother C●●riate called the Sailors Leaden pated Fellows. I say, it is not beyond their reach to learn this Language: not that I call him Leaden pated, for the world knows he is capable of far worth or Languages: being now adding Italian, to his excellent Greek and Latin. Leaden pated fools: A Marine Language made, I say, Among ourselves, which till this day was never taught in schools. Confront your Academies all, Of Brazen-nose and Pembroke Hall, of learned not the least: Challenge the chief in our behoof, And make the proudest spring his loof, or send him South Southeast. There let us leave them for a time: Now to the subject of my rhyme, Tom Tel-troth simply witty: Neither Tom Dingell, nor Tom Drum, Tom Fool, Tom Piper, nor Tom Thum, the scorn of Town and City. But Tom of Toms, admired most; More than a Goblin, or a Ghost, A Phairy, or an Elf; Whilst he amongst his Friends abides, Your Gizards at your Whitsontides, Gizzard is in Scotch a merry Mummer. no merrier than the himself. Friar Tuck, Maid Marian, and the rest, You Bagpipes loud that loodle best, making the valleys ring: You and all country clowns give place, To Odcomb of esteemed grace, even vice-toy to a King. Who for his mirth and merry glee, Is raised to higher dignity, then ere was English wight; So honoured since his coming out, He must no more be earmed a Lout, Termed a Lout, having a reference unto the Prince's verses, who held all men guts & Louts that were not travelers. but styled a Trojan knight. Where he hath writ of Toombs, of Stones Of Marble Pillars, dead men's bones, with Palaces of pleasure: Of Gates, of Turrets, Churches, Towers, Of Princes, Peasants, Knaves, and Whores; alas for time and leisure. For to repeat what he hath writ, Whilst I am in this rhyming fit, plain, simple, unrefinde: Of this no longer must I stay, Be merry Mates, and le's away, whilst weather serves, and wind. FINIS.