- I am, &c. EDMOND SAYER.
No. 5. Letter from Richard Cocks to Captain John Saris, dated Firando,
15th February, 1617.[62]
[Footnote 62: Perhaps the date of this letter, according to modern
computation, ought to have been 1618, as in those days the year did not
begin till Lady-day, the 25th March. - E.]
My last letter to you was dated 5th January, 1616, and sent by way of
Bantam in the ship Thomas, which went from hence that year along with
another small ship called the Advice. In that letter I wrote you at
large of all things that had then occurred, and mentioned having
received two of your letters from London; one dated 4th November, 1614,
and the other 15th August, 1615. The Advice has since returned to
Japan, and arrived at Firando on the 2d of August last, and by her I had
a letter from the honourable company, dated 30th January, 1616.
You will perhaps have heard that Captain Barkeley, while on his
death-bed, narrowly escaped losing 6000 dollars, paid out for custom on
pepper; for, if he had died before it was found out, perhaps some other
man might have taken credit for paying that sum. It is a common saying,
that it is easy for those who live at Bantam to grow rich, as no man
dies without an heir.
