Forbes, James, 1749-1819, James Forbes letter, Surat, 1772 January 9, copied between 1794 and 1800
- Call Number:
- Folio A 2023 69
- Holdings:
- [Request]
- Creator:
- Forbes, James, 1749-1819
- Title(s):
- James Forbes letter, Surat, 1772 January 9
- 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 141-159
- 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:
- Forbes’s seventeenth letter depicts his visit to Surat, a city which he describes as “more replete with true Asiatic manners and customs than any place I have yet seen.” After a very brief narration of his voyage—and a quick comment on the utility of Indian teak, rather than oak, for ship construction—Forbes details the approach to the city. It is, he says, a city that benefits from distance; as one approaches, the ruin and decay of the city become apparent: “on landing we discovered many of its buildings to be ruinous, the walls and fortifications much out of repair, and the streets dirty, narrow, and irregular,” and the city itself crowded “with people of almost every cast and denomination under the canopy of Heaven.” Forbes turns to the Hebrew Bible as a descriptive source, and quotes Ezekiel’s portrayal of Tyre at length. The public buildings of Surat are, to Forbes, lacking, though the fortress is an object of some fascination. He recounts the history by which it came into the possession of the East India Company, and how the current legal situation operates: seized after a series of disputes over revenues, the fortress now participates in a dual system of Mughal and Company rule. Forbes sees this system as beneficial, as the “mildness of the British laws, in the hands of the strongest party, is the means of shedding a softening influence, on the acts of a Mahomedan despot, too-generally arbitrary and oppressive on the subject.” Forbes offers observations on various structures and lifestyles in the city. He begins with the Dutch and the English—noting their impressive burial grounds and tombs—and various “Serai,” an establishment “for the reception of strangers.” The latter description he embellishes with a quotation from “Solima, an Arabian Eclogue,” a work loosely translated—or perhaps composed—by William Jones. Forbes then turns to the native inhabitants of the city, specifically the garden and palace belonging to the Nabob (nawab). The building and vegetation strike Forbes as marvelous: he describes each in detail, and suggests that, “in elegant refinements, luxury and taste, they [Moguls] far surpass the Hindoos. The former enjoy life, and seem to love money for the pleasure it affords them: the latter, particularly the Mahrattas, are narrow-minded, avaricious, and capable of enjoying nothing but politics, plunder and conquest.” He acknowledges there are numerous exceptions—but not among the Marathas. He finishes his portion of the letter with a lengthy quotation from Laurence Sterne’s (1713-1768) A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy, beginning, “Every nation have their refinements and grossiertes, in which they take the lead.” Returning to the palace of the Nabob, Forbes leads the reader through galleries, verandas, and, at last, a winding entrance, meant “either [for] preventing or executing those assassinations too common in the Eastern Courts.” He discusses the Haram (harem) as well, describing it as full of “charms, which my fair country-women would think a poor compensation for liberty,” but to which indigenous women have grown accustomed. Despite Forbes’s frequent delight in the palaces and gardens, however, he concludes that there is a “flatness and formality” which “reigns in the best of these oriental gardens,” which cannot compare to the “meandering walks in the English shrubberies.” From the gardens, Forbes moves to the baths, his last comment on the structures and customs of Surat. He describes his own visit to a bath, an experience “which caused a sensible & voluptuous refreshment; and the effects for a long time after were very pleasing.” Forbes even ventures a few comments on the history of bathing, saying he is “not surprised” at the high esteem and numerous structures devoted to bathing by the ancient Romans. Forbes closes his letter with an anecdote. It’s a romance, as experienced by one of Forbes’s English friends. This man, skilled in Persian, found himself assisting an old Muslim family who, through the mistranslation of several documents by a corrupt accountant, were at risk of losing their fortune. Having averted the crisis, the man learned that the widow of the family desired to thank him for his services, though she “was of too high a rank to be seen unveiled.” The man was led to a ruined palace in a deserted part of the city, but upon entering realized it was a luxurious residence within. There, he met the widow and, after she removed her veil, fell in love. The widow, declaring her loyalty to her family, asked that he return the next evening. Which he did, and, after removing the veil of his host for a second time found, instead of the widow, a far younger woman. The elder widow had traveled to the country and left another in her place to entertain the young man. And so “those hours flew to fast for the youth’s felicity; he was told the necessity of departing; and was never able to learn the name, or place of abode, of his lovely incognita.” Forbes asks that the reader not apply Christian standards of conduct to the characters in this story, nor see it as judgmental: “I have rather inserted it to shew the difference of education and custom in their influence on the human mind.” The letter ends with an excerpt from Alexander Pope’s An Essay on Man, beginning “Better for us, perhaps, it might appear, were there all harmony, all virtue here.” Portions of this text appear in <title>Oriental Memoirs</title>, volume 1, pp. 243-268.
- Physical Description:
- 19 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/3199518
- Metadata Cloud URL:
- https://metadata-api.library.yale.edu/metadatacloud/api/aspace/repositories/3/archival_objects/3199518?mediaType=json&include-notes=1&include-all-subjects=1