Epstein, Mordecai: The English Levant Company: its foundation and its history to 1640 (London: George Routledge & Sons Ltd, 1908)

THE LEVANT COMPANY 17
dominions of the Grand Signior. The Com-
pany was bound to send out shipping yearly,
and the customs on their exports and imports
were to be not less than £500 per annum
during six out of the seven years. Further-
more, they were to give notice to the Lord
High Admiral of England or to the other
principal officers of the Admiralty of the
number of the ships they were sending out
and also of the number of men in them,
Now although the Company was limited
to yearly shipping it was sometimes found
necessary to send goods to Turkey on occa-
sions other than those allowed by the charter,
It would then have to obtain special per-
mission ; we find, for example, on one
occasion that the merchants asked for per-
mission to send a sseet into Turkish waters
because there was a prospect of brisk trade.2
The ambassador, they say in their letter to
Walsingham, had assured the Viceroy that
the English would fully furnish the country
with commodities, and the factors had bound
2 Cf. S. P. D. Eliz. vol. 165, No. 56. Cf. also Appen-
dix V. p. 221, No. 5.

c