[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Dark Ages](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages) › [Travellers (1500–1858)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel) › [Storia do Mogor](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.manucci) › [Storia do Mogor (Irvine)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.manucci~en-irvine) › 8 # Storia do Mogor 8: III. THE BERLIN MS., PHILLIPPS No. 1945. Storia do Mogor (Irvine) 8 - **Language:** English ### III. THE BERLIN MS., PHILLIPPS No. 1945. ### [8.1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.manucci~en-irvine.8.1) Many writers have lamented the disappearance of the manuscript from which Catrou drew his 'Histoire,' beginning with Robert Orme in 1782, and ending with Mr. S. Lane-Poole in 1893. It was in this latter year I first heard that it had found its way to Berlin, and through the intervention of the late Dr. Rost, librarian, was then temporarily at the India Office in London, for the use of Mr. A. Constable, who at that time purposed an edition. During this long period of a century or more the manuscript had never really disappeared; a little search could have found it, and for sixty years or so it was even lying in England, had anybody cared to look for it. Orme himself had a pretty accurate knowledge of where it was when he was writing between 1763 and 1782. Nor was Catrou's text a mere short, mutilated abstract, as J. Bernouilli was led to surmise from the discrepancies between the 'Histoire' and the Venice Codex (see 'Recherches sur l'Inde,' Berlin, 1787, vol. ii., note b to p. 284). The mistake was, under the circumstances, very excusable. We know from Catrou's preface (p. 2) that M. Deslandes handed him the manuscript on which he founded his book; while Manucci in various places states that he made over the text of his 'Storia' to that gentleman for conveyance to Europe. Evidently his hope was that it would be published at the expense of Louis XIV. This M. ### [8.2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.manucci~en-irvine.8.2) Deslandes must not be confounded with another gentleman of the same name, André Daulier Deslandes, who went to Persia with Tavernier in 1664, and in 1673 published a book called 'Les Beautés de la Perse.' In 1704 or 1705, according to Catrou (Preface, p. 6), this Daulier Deslandes was still living, but was not the Deslandes who lent him Manucci's manuscript. As to the latter M. Deslandes, known as Boureau Deslandes, he was in the service of the French East India Company at Surat as early as 1673; in 1679 he was sent to Siam, where he remained for some time (Jules Sottas, 'Histoire de la Compagnie des Indes,' Paris, 1903, p. 136). He was thus mixed up with the French transactions in Siam during 1680-1683, in which he and Governor François Martin were interested. They were supporters of the Greek adventurer Constantin Phalkon, who rose to be Prime Minister of Siam. There is also a 'Histoire de Constance, Premier Ministre du Roi de Siam' (12mo., 1756), by the younger Deslandes, founded on his father's and the Chevalier Martin's memoirs and letters, the object being to refute Père P. J. d'Orléans' Life of the same man (1690). I have seen the copy of Deslandes' book in the Bibliothèque Nationale (55 pages, small 8vo). A fact or a name might be gleaned from it here and there, but on the whole it adds little to our knowledge of Siam politics, and yields nothing new about the elder Deslandes himself. The most pungent and characteristic passage is on p. ### [8.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.manucci~en-irvine.8.3) 12, where Père Tachard, S.J., and Mr. l'Abbé de Choisy (both of whom went to Siam and published books on it) are described as 'deux des plus insignes charlatans qu'on puisse lire.' Deslandes married one of Martin's daughters, and was sent to Bengal in charge of the French comptoir of Chandernagore, where he remained until 1701. In 1689 he had a son, André François Boureau-Deslandes (just referred to), who became notorious as a sceptical writer, was the author of many books and pamphlets, and died in 1757 ('Biog. Univ.' (Michaud), ii. 195, and 'N. Biog. Gén.'). In 1731 the son brought out a book entitled 'Remarques Historiques d'un Cosmopolite,' of which the authorship is attributed to his father. ### [8.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.manucci~en-irvine.8.4) The elder Deslandes left India in February, 1701, and on his reaching Paris lent Catrou the MS. Memoirs of Manucci for perusal. Shortly afterwards, on December 28, 1703, Boureau-Deslandes was appointed Commissaire de la Marine in the West Indies, and left France without obtaining a return of Manucci's manuscript. After doing good work for the State, he died at Laogane, in St. Domingo, on February 13, 1706 (Adrien Desalles, ' Histoire Generale des Antilles,' 5 vols., Paris, 1847-1848, vol. ii., pp. 320, 333, 346). Manucci's manuscript remained with Catrou, and when he had done with it he deposited it in the library of the college of his society at Clermont in Paris (now the Lycee Louis-le-Grand, in the Rue St. Jacques, near the Sorbonne). There it remained till the expulsion of the Jesuits from France, and there, in 1763, Anquetil Duperron saw the three volumes. In 1763 the Jesuits were expelled from France, and their property sequestrated. Mr. Henri Omont, in his ' Documents sur la Vente des Manuscrits du College de Clermont a Paris, 1764' (Extrait du ' Bulletin de la Societe de l'Histoire de Paris et de l'Isle de France,' 1891, I., xviii., pp. 7-18), gives the arret by the Parliament of July 5, 1763, decreeing the sale of the MSS. Dom Clement, author of ' L'Art de verifier les Dates,' aided for the Oriental MSS. by de Guignes and Bernard, for the Greek and Latin by Brequigny, produced a catalogue, of which the title-page is : ' Catalogus | manuscriptorum codicum | ### [8.5](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.manucci~en-irvine.8.5) Collegii Claromontani | quern | excipit Catalogio Mssm | Domes Professae | Parisienses | . . . . | Parisiis in Palatio | apud Sugrain subsigno Bonae Fidei coronatse Leclerc subsigno Prudentise | M DCC LXIV.' In it Manucci's ' Storia ' appears on p. 324 as No. DCCCLVI. Orme is wrong in asserting it does not appear there, perhaps because he only looked at the catalogue of printed books, which is a separate work. The manuscript is described as written in Portuguese, with several portions of it in French; three volumes in folio, the first of 142, the second of 151, and the third of 132 folios. A notice is inserted that the contents were to be sold on ... next (1764) unless bought in bulk, and offers were invited. The king's librarian, Bignon, refused to buy. Baron Gerard Meerman, of the Hague, began negotiations, and a price of 15,000 livres was agreed on for 856 manuscripts, among them being included the three volumes of Manucci. Omont gives an amusing account of the after-attempts to cancel this transaction, and the difficulties surmounted by the purchaser in removing acquisitions from France. His boxes were stopped at ... and forty-two volumes relating to the history of France were claimed. He gave up thirty-seven works (thirty-nine volumes). The remainder reached the Hague in April, 1765. As a reward for this concession, Louis XV. conferred on Meerman the Order of St. Michael (see 'Histoire generale du Cabinet des MSS. ### [8.6](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.manucci~en-irvine.8.6) de la Bibliotheque Imperiale,' by Leopold Deslisle — folio, Paris, 1868 — section xix., pp. 434, 435). This learned Dutchman, Baron Gerard Meerman, was born at Leiden in 1722, and died at Aix-la-Chapelle on December 15, 1771, leaving an only son, Comte Jean Meerman, who was born at the Hague on November 1, 1753, and died there on August 19, 1815 ('Nouvelle Biog. Generale,' Didot, 1861, xxxiv., p. 74). Some years after the son's death the family library was disposed of. The printed catalogue appeared at the Hague in 1824 in four volumes, 8vo.: 'Bibliotheca Meermanniana, sive Catalogus . . . morte dereliquet Joannes Meerman . . . Dominus in Dalem et Vuren, etc. . . .' There were nineteen sale days fixed, between June 8 and July 3, 1824. I have a copy of vols. i. and ii., but have not been able to procure vols. iii. and iv.; and, so far as I can find, the work is not in the British Museum. The 'Storia do Mogor' must have occurred in vol. iv., 'MSS. François, Italiens, Espagnols, Hollandois et Allemands, livres Chinois, etc.,' Nos. 832-1100, pp. 143-182, of which the sale day was Saturday, July 3, 1824. ### [8.7](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.manucci~en-irvine.8.7) At this sale Sir Thomas Phillipps, the well-known collector of Middle Hill, co. Worcester, was a large buyer. Among other purchases were the three volumes of Manucci's manuscript 'Storia.' They appear thus in his 'Catalogus Librorum Manuscriptorum in Bibliotheca Medio Montanis Dom Thomae Phillipps ab anno 1824 ad 1837,' under 'Codices MSS. ex Bibliotheca Meerman Hagae Comitis olim ex Bibliotheca Collegii Societatis Jesu Claromontanis Parisiis nunc ante D. Bibliotheca Phillippicae,' p. 21, viz.: Codices MSS. Italianici, etca. General number, 1945. Number of this collection, 917. Historia de Mogol. In 1887 the Königliche Bibliothek at Berlin bought the Meerman manuscripts from the heirs of Sir Thomas Phillipps for a sum of 375,000 marks ('Bibliothèque de l'école des Chartes,' 1888, vol. xlix., p. 694). In the twelfth volume of the Berlin catalogues, 'Verzeichniss der Lateinischen Handschriften,' vol. i., 1893, by Valentin Rose ('Die Meerman Handschriften des Sir Thomas Phillipps'), we are informed that, whereas Baron Meerman secured 349 of the Clermont MSS., there were only 250 left at the sale in 1824, and of these 190 were bought by Sir Thomas Phillipps, and transferred in 1887 to Berlin. Between 1765 and 1824, 159 of the MSS. bought by Meerman had been lost. ### [8.8](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.manucci~en-irvine.8.8) The description of the Manucci 'Storia do Mogor,' acquired by the Royal Library in Berlin, appears in 'Die Romanische Meerman Handschriften des Sir Thomas Phillipps in der Königliche Bibliothek zu Berlin' beschrieben von Alfred Schulze Berlin 1892, 4to., p. 24, in the following terms as translated by me from the German original: Codices Phillipici. Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese Manuscripts, 39 Phill. 1945. Paper, three folio volumes, of 144, 155, and 135 folios respectively (size 33 to 35 mm. by 21 to 23 mm.) of the eighteenth century. Leather binding, Meerman No. 917, Coll. Paris. Soc. Jesu, No. 856. The Portuguese text shows the following gaps, which were afterwards filled up in French: Vol. I., leaves 1 to 6; Vol. III., leaves 1 to 34 and 47 to 49. In Vol. II., on leaves 23 to 43, is a French text, giving a translation of the Portuguese on the preceding leaves 1 to 22. Vol. II., leaf 44, and Vol. III., leaves 44 to 46, 70 to 73, 80 to 84, 94, and 125 are blank. Nicolao Manuchi, 'History of the Mogul Kingdom.' Vol. I., folio 1a: 'Voyage et histoire du Mogol divise en trois parties par M. Nicholas Manuchi, Venitien. Premiere Partie, contenant le voyage de Nicholas Manuchi, son arrivee au Mogol, etc. L'histoire des rois Mogols, depuis Tamerlang jusque a l'evenement d'Aurangzeb au trone.' ### [8.9](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.manucci~en-irvine.8.9) Vol. II., folio 1a: 'Parte seguida da istoria' \[correction into 'historia' (sic)\] 'do Mogol de Nicolao Manuchi Veneziano: do reinado de Orangzeb, guerras de Golconda e Vizapur com varios successos athe a era de 1699' \[figure struck out, and inserted beneath in another handwriting, '1700'\]. Vol. III., folio 1a: 'Troisiesme partie de l'histoire du Mogol par Nicolas Manouchy Venisien premier medicin du Chaalam fils aisne d'Aurangzeb, dans laquelle on donne un compte' \[struck through and replaced by 'conte'\] 'exact des richesses et du grandeur des Mogols et de celles des princes gentils ses voisins, avec plusieurs particularitez curieuses et evenemens remarquables.' ### [8.10](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.manucci~en-irvine.8.10) The work of Manouchi has never been printed. On the other hand, founding himself on this production, the Jesuit Father François Catrou published 'Histoire generale de l'Empire du Mogol depuis sa fondation jusqu'a present sur memoires portugais de M. Manouchi, Venitien.' The first two parts appeared in Paris in 1705 in small octavo, the last two parts much later. As to the different editions, see Backer, 'Biblioth. des Ecriv. de la Comp. de Jesus,' tome i., pp. 1135 et seq.; and refer also to J. Talboys Wheeler, 'The History of India from the Earliest Ages' (London, 1867), vol. iv., part i., Preface, pp. xii.-xiv. Since the English translations of 1709 and 1826 were both prepared from the re-impression of the French issue published at the Hague in 1708, and end with the accession of Aurangzeb, Wheeler was misled into the statement on his p. xiii that Catrou's work was never completed. Phillipps 1945 is with very little doubt the manuscript mentioned by Catrou in his preface (not paged). ### [8.11](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.manucci~en-irvine.8.11) On the above the only remark I have to make is, that I doubt if the French passages are subsequent additions. Manucci, in one of his letters reproduced further on, ascribes the changes from Portuguese to French, or vice versa, to the necessity of using a language understood by his amanuensis of the moment. Certainly, as Herr Schulze points out, there is a long passage in vol. ii. where we have two versions, one Portuguese and one French, of exactly the same matter. I may add from a note by my copyist, Herr August Otto, that vol. i. is in four handwritings : (a) pp. 1 to 10, (b) 11-160, (c) 161-208, and (d) 209-280. On the margin of folio 2 in all three volumes are the words : 'Paraphe au devis de l'arrest du 5 Juillet, 1763, Mesnil.' For the present (translated) edition of Manucci, Parts I., II., and III., I have used the text of the Berlin MS., Phillipps No. 1945, in addition to pp. 417 to 477 of the Venice Codex, XLIV. (Zanetti), as at that point the two texts appear to diverge somewhat widely. I saw and made notes from the original at Berlin in June, 1901, and my transcript was made by Herr August Otto, whose services were kindly procured for me by Direktor-Professor Dr. L. Stern, of the Manuscript Department of the Royal Library. --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.manucci~en-irvine.8](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.manucci~en-irvine.8) · Pramāṇa