nown to many, being _a porter at the East India
House_), had the character of a downright honest man, without any
appearance of fraud or imposture. He was known to a friend of mine (now
living), who frequently called upon him at his house in Lincoln's Inn
Fields, which were not then enclosed. He tells me he has often seen him
throw a javelin there, and strike a small mark at a surprising distance. It
is a pity," he adds, "that this work of Drury's is not better known, and a
new edition published[1] (it having been long out of print); as it contains
much more particular and authentic accounts of that large and barbarous
island, than any yet given; and, though it is true, it is in many respects
as entertaining as Gulliver or Crusoe."

It may farther be mentioned that the French, who have a good acquaintance
with Madagascar, "have found Drury's statement of the geography, the
natural history, the manners of the people, and the conspicuous men of the
time, in Madagascar, remarkably accurate." (_Bib. Gen. des Voyages_, Paris,
1808.) Archdeacon Wrangham says: "Duncombe (?) calls Drury's _Madagascar_
the best and most genuine account ever given of the island;" and the
missionary Ellis quoted Drury without the slightest suspicion that any
doubt hangs over the genuineness of his narrative. Drury's account of
himself runs thus:--"I, Robert Drury," he says, when commencing his book,
"was born on July 24, 1687, in Crutched Friars, London, where my father
then lived; but soon after removed to the Old Jury, near Cheapside, where
he was well known, and esteemed for keeping that noted house called 'The
King's Head,' or otherwise distinguished by the name of the Beef-stake
House; and to which there was all my father's time a great resort of
merchants, and gentlemen of the best rank and character." To this famous
resort of the Revolutionary and Augustan ages I lately betook myself for
_my stake_, in the hope that _mine host_ might be found redolent of the
traditional glory of his house. But alas! that worthy, although firmly
believing in the antiquity of the King's Head, and of there being _some
book_ in existence that would prove it, could not say of his own knowledge
whether the king originally complimented by his predecessor was Harry the
Eighth or George the Fourth!

In conclusion, I would just add, is not the circumstance of our subject
holding the humble post of porter at the East India House confirmatory of
that part of his story