No. 44.— 1893.] 



KNOX'S "CEYLON." 



NOTES ON KNOX'S " CEYLON " IN ITS 

 LITERARY ASPECT. 



By H. White, cc.s. 



[An Historical Relation of the Island Ceylon in the East-Indies, 

 together with an Account of the Detaining in Captivity the Author and 

 divers other Englishmen now Living there, and of the Author's Mira- 

 culous Escape. Illustrated with Figures and a Map of the Island. By 

 Robert Knox, a Captive there near Twenty Years. London, Printed by 

 Richard Chisivell, Printer to the Royal Society, at the Rose and Crown 

 in St. PauVs Churchyard, 1681.] 



This fascinating book, which has won well-earned praise 

 for the accuracy of its descriptions, simple but vigorous 

 style, and fairness and moderation of its tone, is surpassed, I 

 venture to say, by no work in the English language in pathos 

 and dramatic interest. But I wish here to consider the book 

 not so much as a pathetic drama, a romantic narrative^ 

 a vigorous account of an unknown country, but as a piece of 

 literary workmanship. I cannot call to mind having ever 

 met with any notes on what I may call the purely literary- 

 aspect of Knox's book, though it is well known and 

 appreciated as a rare storehouse of information on the then 

 condition of the Kandyan kingdom. 



At the outset we must bear in mind that this book was 

 written by a sailor who had been a captive among the 

 Kandyans for twenty years. Knox was only seventeen years 

 of age, a mere boy, when on January 21, 1657, his father's 

 ship, the frigate Ann, set sail from London to trade from port 

 to port in India. In November, 1659, when Knox, as he 

 himself tells us, was nineteen years old, the ship put in to 

 Cottiar bay. The crew were made captives and carried off 

 into the Kandyan country. Knox remained a captive for 

 twenty years, escaped to Mannar in 1679, and reached England 

 in 1680. He lost no time in the preparation of his book. He 

 even wrote part of it on the voyage home, as he mentions in 

 his letter of March 18, 1681, to the Committee of the East 

 India Company, when he presented his manuscript work 



