24 



JOURNAL, R.A.S. (CEYLON). [VOL. XIII. 



to them, and in August, 1681, the book was published with 

 illustrations and a map ; or, as Knox expresses it :— 



What I formerly Presented you in Writing having in pursuance 

 of your Commands now somewhat dress'd by the help of the Printer 

 and Graver, I a second time humbly tender to you. 



This was almost exactly twenty-four years after the author 

 first set sail with his father as a boy of seventeen, and less 

 than twelve months after he reached England. The book is 

 truly a marvellous production as a piece of literary work when 

 we consider the above circumstances, but still more when 

 we consider, what is hard to realise, that for twenty years 

 its author had no books save three (which will be mentioned 

 hereafter), no writing materials, and no society except that of 

 one or two of his fellow captives and of course his Kandyan 

 captors. To use his own words to a chief who came to sound 

 him with a view to his employment at the Kandyan court : — 



When I came ashore I was but young, and that which then I knew 

 now I had forgot for want of practice, having had neither ink nor 

 paper since I came ashore. 



The marvel is that he even remembered his own language. 



There are two things which charm us in Knox's book — and 

 here I am thinking mostly of the personal narrative, for the. 

 book is in two parts — the descriptive portion and the personal 

 narrative. There is the charm of the subject and the charm 

 of the style. 



The secret of the charm of Knox's style is that his English 

 is the English of the Bible, which with two other books was 

 his sole reading during his long captivity. He says : — 



We had with us a Practice of Piety and Mr. Rogers' seven Treatises 

 called the Practice of Christianity.* With which companions we did 

 frequently discourse ; and in the cool of the Evening walk abroad 

 in the Fields for a refreshing, tyred with being all day in our House 

 or Prison. 



And again : — 



I had read my two Books so often over that I had them almost 

 by heart. 



* A copy of this book is in the Society's Library. — B., Hon. See. 



