Sir John Finch, as usual, praised God that the trouble was over, and took to himself credit for keeping it off himself and the Consul of Smyrna and for saving the Company 20,000 dollars by his non-interference. Things, he believed, might have been much worse but for his masterly inactivity: “so high did the Sea’s run, which God be thanked, are now brought to a Calm.” But how long would the calm last?—“the being in Turky under this Goverment,” he says, “is like the being in a ship, where though Wee are this houre under a fair wind and a serene skye, the Next hour may bring us a cloudy Heaven, and a fierce Storm. And I protest to you, it takes my whole thoughts to become a Good Pilot.”[229]
FOOTNOTES:
[221] Life of Dudley North, pp. 84-5; Finch to the Levant Company, Jan. 19-29, 1677-78, Coventry Papers.
[222] Finch to Coventry, Feb. 17-27, 1678-79.
[223] See Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, 1672-73, p. 114: “Thomas Bankes to the King. Petition for the needful order to Sir John Finch, now going ambassador to Constantinople, to call to account Samuel Pentlow, John Folio [Foley], and other merchants of Smyrna, to whom he sent a large estate 13 years ago, which they enjoy at their pleasure, that they may give satisfaction for the same.”
[224] Register, S.P. Levant Company, 145. See also [Appendix XIV].
[225] Life of Dudley North, p. 86.
[226] Finch to Coventry, loc. cit.
[227] Life of Dudley North, p. 87.
[228] Finch to Coventry, Feb. 17-27, 1678-79.