Storia do Mogor 13.3.p2

13.3.p2

Although 1742, the date of Saverini's appointment as superior (Penny, 'Church in Madras,' p. 240), is rather late for administration to the estate of a man dying in 1717, it is almost impossible of belief that there could have been in that part of the world, in the first half of the eighteenth century, any other 'Mr. Nicholas Manook' than Nicolao Manucci, the author of the 'Storia do Mogor.' The only possible argument against this identification is the fact that twice Manucci made himself out a poor man. Once was when the fine on the renewal of his lease was remitted by the Madras Council; the other instance was the non-payment in 1706 of a death-bed bequest by his wife of two hundred pagodas to the Bishop of San Thome. Father Michael Angelo, the Madras chaplain, urged him to pay it. Manucci said he had no money; the Father suggested borrowing, and to that Manucci replied that his debts were already too heavy for him to wish to add to them (V., f. 279).
A search at the India Office in the copies of the Madras Records up to 1719, which are there preserved, has produced nothing bearing upon the question of our author's death or his estate. The reason of this is probably the fact, communicated to me by the Rev. Frank Penny, that for many years the estates of Roman Catholics were left in the hands of the priests for administration, and were not dealt with by the English officials.