Forbes, James, 1749-1819, James Forbes letter, Goa, 1772 February 5, copied between 1794 and 1800
- CallNumber:
- Folio A 2023 69
- Creator:
- Forbes, James, 1749-1819
- Title(s):
- James Forbes letter, Goa, 1772 February 5
- 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
- ContainerGrouping:
- volume 5, page 21-35
- Provenance:
- Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
- AccessRestrict:
- The materials are open for research.
- UseRestrict:
- 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.
- ScopeContent:
- Still en route to Anjengo (now Anchuthengu), Forbes describes his stop at Goa, a city he describes as once having been the most impressive European settlement in Asia, but which has now decayed into a collection of ruins. Forbes depicts the city from afar: “the city of Goa suddenly opens with a grand surprise: like imperial Rome, it is founded on many hills; the churches, palaces, and convents, on the summits of these lofty eminences, appear with double splendor, especially at the distance we first saw them.” The actual state of the city is quite different, and Forbes relates his disappointment upon finding a town almost uninhabited, save for some starving soldiers and a collection of priests and nuns. Forbes encounter with the clergy of Goa occupies much of his reflection on the city. He and his travelling companions are taken to the church containing the tomb of St. Francis Xavier (1506-1552), a Jesuit who played a critical role in Catholic evangelization of India. Forbes describes the tomb and its enclosure as “deservedly esteemed a master-piece of art,” before recounting—with some irony, it seems—the miracles and history of St. Xavier. He begins: “it was impossible to suppress a smile at their legends of St. Xavier, who has been dead upwards of two centuries.” Foremost among these legends is the incorruptibility of the saint’s body—when Forbes requests to see the body, however, he is denied. Forbes relates other miracles he views as dubious, before relating that, according to the priests, when the body of St. Xavier is exposed “the arm then bleeds afresh! No pious Roman Catholic ever resists the evidence of his senses; he sees this astonishing miracle performed in his presence, and no longer doubts.” Though Forbes offends the priests with his questioning, they then enjoy a meal together and part ways on good terms. Forbes briefly describes the liturgy of the cathedral’s services, and then expresses his sympathy for the nuns confined in the convents there, where “an unsocial melancholy for ever reigns within the cloistered walls.” He quotes Edward Jerningham’s (1737-1812) “The Nun: An Elegy,” and relates the tale of an English woman (“Miss C.”) whose confinement in a convent at Goa had almost come to an end, via the aid of her brother and two sympathetic priests. The plot was foiled, the woman monitored closely, and the priests conveyed to the Inquisition. The Inquisition is, for Forbes, an object of fascination and horror: “you know the history of those prisons in Spain and Portugal; and I can assure you this dreadful tribunal at Goa has not fallen short of either, in cruelty and bloodshed!” He describes in great detail the suffering of “the harmless Hindoo” under the tortures of the inquisition, itself staffed by judges “cloathed in the vestments of religious pride & ostentation.” He quotes James Thomson’s (1700-1748) poem, “Liberty,” and decries the “empty forms and ostentatious ceremonies” of the “Romish-church.” Execution is, in Forbes’s telling, invariably the outcome of any investigation. The section closes with a short quotation from The Merchant of Venice, beginning, “Mercy is as the gentle dew from Heaven, shed on the earth beneath.” While Forbes’s account is undoubtedly colored by his own anti-Catholicism and biases, Goa was, throughout its history, a site of contestation between Hindu and Catholic practices, with the Portuguese at times pursuing total conversion of the populace. Forbes quickly shifts to a more prosaic account of Goa and its surroundings, detailing the abundance of the ocean and fields, and the delicious flavor of the mango. He’s particularly fond of the latter, suggesting, “The Mango would be a valuable addition to the English gardens, could it be brought to perfection; it at least deserves the trial.” Goan commerce, however, has declined to the point of insignificance. Forbes blames the despotism of the Portuguese government, claiming that “the sudden flow of immense wealth seemed to change their very nature, and venality and corruption soon succeeded the noble patriotism of the first adventurers to India.” He quotes George Lyttleton’s (1709-1773) “An Epistle to Mr. Pope,” and includes brief praise of Don Juan de Castro, one of the earlier Portuguese governors. Forbes concludes with a very brief description of the lives of the city’s wealthier inhabitants. They live along the river, and travel by barges, “constructed in the manner of the Venetian Gondolas, and made as elegant and commodious as possible; and…rowed by Negro slaves in handsome dresses.” Portions of the text appear in <title>Oriental Memoirs</title>, volume 1, pp. 295-9. Bibliography: Axelrod, Paul, and Michelle A. Fuerch. “Flight of the Dieties: Hindu Resistance in Portuguese Goa.” <title>Modern Asian Studies</title> vol. 30 no. 2 (1996): 387-421.
- PhysicalDescription:
- 15 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
- FindingAidTitle:
- James Forbes archive
- Archival Object:
- https://archives.yale.edu/repositories/3/archival_objects/3199554
- Metadata Cloud URL:
- https://metadata-api.library.yale.edu/metadatacloud/api/aspace/repositories/3/archival_objects/3199554?mediaType=json&include-notes=1&include-all-subjects=1