IN SOUTHEEN INDIA. 189 
having slept in the indurated soil, under every appearance 
of hopeless barrenness, a few vernal days seem to awaken 
it at once into full blossom." Her foi-mation in 1554 of 
the Baltic and Eussia Companies, her incorporation in 1566 
of the " Fellowship of English merchants for the discovery 
of new trades," the institution in 1581 of the Turkey Com- 
pany and such like measures formed the germ, whence 
sprang the vast mercantile power of England. It was not, 
however, till in the closing years of her reign that Elizabeth 
first turned her attention to the introduction of a direct trade 
with India. With this aim in view, and urged on by the 
destruction on the English coast of a Venetian vessel laden 
with East-Indian produce of enormous value, she despatched 
an envoy to the Court of the Moghal Emperor at Delhi to 
obtain permission to trade in his possessions. This was 
followed two years later (A.D. 1599) by the institution and 
incorporation of the first East India Company under the 
Earl of Cumberland. Under the terms of their charter they 
enjoyed the exclusive right of trading with the Indies for 
fifteen years, coupled with a distinct stipulation that, at the 
termination of that period a further extension of fifteen 
years should be granted if applied for. Accordingly on the 
22nd April 1603 the first expedition, consisting of four ships 
under the command of Captain Lancaster, a mariner, who 
had already proved his skill and daring as a navigator, 
started for the East. To follow, however, at all in detail the 
history of this and the numerous other companies that fol- 
lowed finds no place in a paper devoted to a consideration of 
their coins, and, moreover, were I to attempt to touch on the 
vacillating policy of James and his successors at home or of 
the constant intrigues and counter-intrigues of the native 
princes of India, in their dealings with the Company abroad, 
— of the hidden antagonism at one time and the overt 
hostility of Dutch and French at another, — all these would 
take up far more space than I have at my disposal now, 
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