a private residence for himself.
It is not to be wondered at that he did so; for Master Gyfford, after
twenty-seven years' residence in Madras and more than twenty-seven
years in the East, was in poor health, and lately he had been taken
ill with a 'a violent fitt of the Stone and Wind Collick.' The
gardenless 'Factory' in the Fort was a gloomy apology for a
'Governor's House,' and the crowd of employees that were accommodated
there must have been a serious infliction upon the invalid Governor;
and he found the Garden House an agreeable retreat. In his new
quarters he got better of his illness; and he dwelt there a
considerable time, till in the following year he left Madras for
England for good. The story is interesting, for it records the first
occasion on which a Governor of Madras lived in a separate house
outside the Fort.

On various occasions the Company's 'Garden House,' with its extensive
grounds, was used for public purposes, justifying the plea for its
construction. For example, when the Company received the news of the
accession of King James II, the event was celebrated with brilliant
proceedings at the Garden House. Similarly, at the accession of Queen
Anne 'all Europeans of fashion in the City' were invited to the Garden
House, where they 'drank the Queen's Health, and Prosperity to old
England.' In an earlier chapter we have related how a young Nawab of
Arcot who had just succeeded to his murdered father's throne was
entertained at the Garden House with great doings. Governor Pitt made
great developments in the Gardens, and was another Governor who liked
the Garden House as a residence. An Englishman who was living in
Madras in 1704, when Pitt was Governor, has left an interesting
account of the Garden House as he saw it:--

'The Governor, during the hot Winds, retires to the
Company's new Garden for refreshment, which he has made a
very delightful Place of a barren one. Its costly Gates,
lovely Bowling-Green, spacious Walks, Teal-pond, and
Curiosities preserved in several Divisions are worthy to be
Admired. Lemons and Grapes grow there, but five Shillings
worth of Water and attendance will scarcely mature one of
them.'

Before long it had come to be an unwritten regulation that Governors
at Fort St. George might reside at their choice either in the Fort or
at the Garden House. There came a time, however, when the Governor had
of necessity to betake himself t