INTRODUCTION. 
In 1909, the Rev. Father A. Van de Mergel, S.J., submitted for my inspection 
an old MS. volume, the title of which ran thus: — 
Antonxi, Monserrati, Sacerdotis, E, Societate, Jesv: 
MongoliccB Legationis Commentarius. 
11 A commentary of the Embassy to the Mongol, by Anthony Monserrate, Priest 
of the Society of Jesus;” in other words, Monserrate’ s account of the first Jesuit 
Mission to Emperor Akbar, under Blessed Rudolf Aquaviva (1580-1583). 1 
In 1907, I pointed to the existence of an anonymous account referring to this 
subject, and fathered it on Monserrate; 2 but, of all places, I little expected that what 
turns out to be the original of a much more valuable document than I had anticipated 
would have been discovered in Calcutta. 
With its faded red cloth over the cardboard covers, its grey leather round 
corners and back, the binding looks quite modern. On the back near the top, appears 
in gold : MONSERRATI | SACERDOTISE I covering a similar inscription older in date and 
now scarcely traceable. 
fC Monserrati Sacerdotise.” — It is not the binder who was responsible for this 
Latin, but the Librarian, as the brackets in blue pencil on the title-page testify to 
this day. 
Below: xvi E 27, in black, on a strip of paper pasted to the back. These figures 
recur in blue pencil on the recto of the fly-leaf between the title and the cover, 
and I find them a third time stamped in printer’s ink almost right in the centre of 
the title-page. This is the press-mark of the Metcalfe Hall Collection or Calcutta 
Public Library, as appears from the Catalogue of that Library, Edn. 1898, p. 9. 
In the centre of the title-page have been drawn with a pair of compasses sets 
of concentric rings: three sets of two, the outer one of three. Within the smallest 
circle: the monogram of the Society of Jesus, its, with three nails below. Be- 
tween the second and third set of circles we read : Jesus pars hcereditatis niece, Ps. 15, 
1 Monserrate was born at Vic de Ozona (Catalonia) in 1536. His father, who had known St. Ignatius of Loyola at 
the Universities of Spain, related such marvellous things about him that, from early childhood, young Anthony felt an 
attraction towards the Society of Jesus. Admitted in January 1558 at Barcelona, he professed the Humaniora, and 
became Prefect of Studies at Lisbon. During the “ great plague” of 1569, he devoted himself with uncommon zeal to 
the care of the sick, and, when the scourge had abated, he begged help for waifs and orphans, and founded the famous 
convent of St. Martha. In 1574, he embarked for India with the glorious baud of 39 Missionaries headed by Fr. Alex- 
ander Valignani. Cf. C. Sommervoged, S.J., Biblioth. dela C. de J ; E. de GuidhERMY, S J., MCnol. de la C. de J., 
Assistance d' Espagne, vol. I. 384. A full account of his life is to be found in Fr. Anth. Franco’s (S.J.) Imagem da 
Virtude em 0 Noviciado . . de Lisboa, Coimbra, M.DCC.XVII, pp. 278-301. 
2 Cf. my brochure: Jesuit Missionaries in North India and inscriptions on their tombs at Agva (1580-1803). Calcutta, 
Catholic Orphan Press. 3 and 4, Portuguese Church Street, 1907, p. 7. 
