Duncannon, by whom he had six sons
and two daughters.

The Earl was a man of accomplished tastes; he had travelled, adopted
_dilettante_ habits, and expended more money in the decoration of his
mansion and demesne than his fortune could well bear. But he would have
been eminent if he had been compelled to make music his profession; his
glee of "Here, in cool grot and mossy cell," has no rival in English
composition for the exquisite feeling of the music, the fine adaptation
of its harmony to the language, and the general beauty, elegance, and
power of expression. He died on the 22d of May 1781.

Richard Colley Wellesley, afterwards the Marquess Wellesley, was born on
the 20th of June 1760, in Ireland. At the age of eleven he was sent to
Eton, under the care of the Rev. Jonathan Davis, afterwards head-master
and provost of Eton. He soon distinguished himself by the facility and
elegance of his Latin versification. He was sent to Oxford, and
matriculated as a nobleman at Christ Church, in December 1778. In his
second year at the college, he gained the Latin verse prize on the death
of Captain Cook. His tutor was Dr William Jackson, afterwards Bishop of
Oxford. In 1781, on the death of his father the Earl of Mornington, the
young lord was called away to superintend the family affairs in Ireland,
without taking his degree. On his coming of age, which was in the
ensuing year, his first act was to take upon himself the debts of his
father, who had left the family estates much embarrassed. His mother,
Lady Mornington, survived, and was a woman of remarkable intelligence
and force of understanding. To her care chiefly was entrusted the
education of her children; and from the ability of the mother, as has
been often remarked in the instance of eminent men, was probably derived
the talent which has distinguished her memorable family. At the period
of their father's death, the brothers and sisters of the young Earl
were, William Wellesley Pole, (afterwards Lord Maryborough,) aged
eighteen; Anne, (afterwards married to Henry, son of Lord Southampton,)
aged thirteen; Arthur, (the Duke of Wellington,) aged twelve; Gerald
Valerian, (prebendary of Durham,) aged ten; Mary Elizabeth, (Lady
Culling Smith,) aged nine; and Henry, (Lord Cowley,) eight years old.

The period at which the young Earl took his seat in the Irish House of
Lords was one of remarkable anxiety. The success of the American revolt
had filled the popular mind with dr