Forbes, James, 1749–1819, James Forbes letter, Fort Victoria, 1771 May 1, copied between 1794 and 1800
- Call Number:
- Folio A 2023 69
- Holdings:
- [Request]
- Creator:
- Forbes, James, 1749–1819
- Title(s):
- James Forbes letter, Fort Victoria, 1771 May 1
- Date:
- copied between 1794 and 1800
- Classification:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Series:
- Series I: A voyage from England to Bombay with descriptions in Asia, Africa, and South America
- Part of Collection:
- volume 4, page 7-11
- Provenance:
- Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
- Conditions Governing Access:
- The materials are open for research.
- Conditions Governing Use:
- The collection is the physical property of the Yale Center for British Art. Literary rights, including copyright, belong to the authors or their legal heirs and assigns. For further information, consult the Curator of Rare Books and Manuscripts.
- Scope and Content:
- At the onset of letter fourteen, Forbes is at Fort Victoria, slowly recovering his health. He takes the time to write, however, after hearing “that my juvenile epistles afford so much pleasure to my English friends.” He proceeds to give a brief description of Fort Victoria, an installation not far from Bombay, formerly “a fortress belonging to the Mharattas, named Hymut-Gur.” According to Forbes, Robert Clive—[description]—had seized a different settlement, well suited to trade and fortification, but decided to exchange it, “for reasons I am unacquainted with,” for the current location, “which then received the pompous appellation of Fort Victoria.” The Fort itself is small, and, Forbes thinks, of questionable strategic value. Perched on a “lofty hill,” it has a healthy location, yet a force that, “tho’ capable of making a tolerable defence against the Mharattas, it must soon yield to a European force.” Forbes emphasis on rival European forces underlines how, through the eighteenth century, India remained a battleground both for the East India Company and its indigenous adversaries, and for vast European empires, most notably the British and French. The surroundings, however, are quite beautiful. Inland, Forbes finds mountains and valleys, filled with large trees, numerous springs, and refreshing breezes. The “pagodas, generally erected in deep-glens, and gloomy shades, have a pleasing solemnity in their appearance.” Forbes takes delight in the monkeys, which “in their wild state, jumping from tree to tree, and performing a variety of antic tricks, with surprizing agility, yield us a fund of entertainment.” Forbes ends with a description of the nearby inhabitants and town. He comments on local women—“those of the high casts especially are extremely graceful in their persons”—and reimagines the country as a scene out of Homer or the Hebrew Bible: “The pastoral lives of Rebecca and Rachel presented themselves to my imagination, while I contemplated these eastern nymphs engaged in their rural occupations; tho’ many of them were daughters of the most respectable and wealthy Brahmins.” He concludes with an extract from the Odyssey (Alexander Pope’s translation), beginning, “They seek the cisterns, where Pheacian dames wash their fair garments in the limpid streams.” Portions of this text appear in <title>Oriental Memoirs</title>, volume 1, pp. 189-191. Bibliography: Jasanoff, Maya. <title>Edge of Empire: Lives, Culture, and Conquest in the East, 1750-1850</title>. New York: Vintage, 2005.
- Physical Description:
- 5 pages
- Genre:
- Correspondence , Botanical illustrations, Ornithological illustrations, Travel sketches, Maps, Watercolors (paintings), Drawings (visual works), Engravings (prints), and Portraits
- Subject Terms:
- Forbes, James, 1749-1819. Descriptive letters and drawingsForbes, James, 1749-1819. Oriental memoirs
- Associated Places:
- EnglandItalyScotlandWales
- Associated People/Groups:
- East India CompanyForbes, James, 1749-1819
- Finding Aid Title:
- James Forbes archive
- Collection PDF:
- https://ead-pdfs.library.yale.edu/11734.pdf
- Archival Object:
- https://archives.yale.edu/repositories/3/archival_objects/3199490
- Metadata Cloud URL:
- https://metadata-api.library.yale.edu/metadatacloud/api/aspace/repositories/3/archival_objects/3199490?mediaType=json&include-notes=1&include-all-subjects=1