THE mission of Sir Thomas Roe to the court of Jahangir was not only a remarkable episode in the life of a remarkable man, but an event of high importance in the history both of England and of India; for the footing which was then obtained, largely through his energy and wisdom, by the despised traders from the West, proved to be but the first step in a march of conquest which has only of late years reached its limits, and the scarlet liveries which escorted the ambassador through Rajputana were prophetic of a time when a descendant of King James should rule over an Indian empire vaster and infinitely more prosperous than ever owned the sway of a Mogul.
Considerations of this nature would not, it is true, entitle an account of the embassy to a place among the publications of the Hakluyt'Society. But it happens that the ambassador kept, for the information of his employers, a minute and careful record of the events of his mission, besides writing from time to time full accounts of his proceedings to his many friends in England; and,
being in a land so little known to his fellow-countrymen, his diary and letters are naturally full not only of what he did but also of what he saw.