Chap. I.] HAWKINS AT THE MOGUL COURT. 249
ordering the vessel to proceed for Bantam, resolved to remain for the purpose of a.d. leoo. establishing a factory. He had brought a letter from the King of England to the Great Mogul, and believed he could not do better than proceed to Agra and deliver it in person. The character in which he proceeded was somewhat ambiguous ; for though he speaks of himself as an ambassador, he does not seem to have been furnished with his powers. His credentials, however, were deemed sufficient ; and his reception at court was so gracious that he was soon regarded as one of its leadiny; favourites The reijxninrj Mo(;ul at this time was Selim, the eldest son of the great Akber, who.se latter days had been so embittered by his misconduct that he had made an ineffectual attempt to disinherit him. On mounting the throne in 1605, Selim had assumed the pompous title of Jehangir, or Conqueror of the World, but did nothing to ju.stify it. He was, in fact, a capricious tyrant, of low, dissolute habits, who owed his continued possession of the crown, not to any talent or virtue in himself, but to the re.spect entertained for his father's memory, and the good order which, during his long reign, had been established in every part of the empire.
Hawkins, who must have had some previous knowledge of the Mogul's "wkins
_ becomes
cliaraeter, and could not have been long at court withoiit obtaining a thorough nsi.ieut
, at the
insight into it, ought to have been upon his guard ; but, elated with the fami- Mogul
court.
liarity to which he was admitted, he deluded himself with the idea that he was about to make his fortune. Not long after his arrival, which took place 16th April, 1609, Jehangir, after promising to grant all the privileges of trade which he asked for the Company, proposed that he should remain permanently with him, as the Englisii representative, at a salary which was to begin at £3200 and increa.se yearly. The bait was tempting, and Hawkins at once swallowed it. His motives are best explained by himself in a letter addres.sed to his employers. " I, trusting upon his promise, an«l seeing it Wivs beneficiall both to my nation and myselfe, being dispossessed of the benefit which I should have reaped, if I had gone to Bantam, and that after halfe a doozen of yeeres, your wor.sliij)s would send another man of sort in my place, in the meane time I should feather my neast and do you service; and further, perceiving great injuries offered us, by reason the king is so farre from the ports, for all which causes above specified, I did not think it ami.ss to yield unto his request"
When lie had thus yielded, he began to feel some of the inconveniences of court favour. Being regarded as a mere upstart, his elevation gave umbrage to many of the nobility, while several Portuguese Jesuits, who pos.sessed consi- derable influence at Agra, intrigued with the greatest zeal and perseverance for the purpose of defeating the gi'eat object of his mi.ssion. In these intrigues they were so unscrupulous that Hawkins thought he had .sufficient proof of a conspiracy to poison him. Being still high in favour, he stated his fears to Jehangir, who proposed a rather curious remedy. "The king," he says, "was .xcceptsa
■ •1 1. 1 r ^ • 111 ••jii ^'^"^ from
very earnest with me to take a white mayden out of Ins palace, promising that the MoguL Vol. T. 32
