LIFE

OF

LORD TEIGNMOUTH.

CHAPTER I.

BIRTH, PARENTAGE, EDUCATION-APPOINTMENT TO A WRITERSHIP IN THE EAST-INDIA COMPANY'S SERVICE-SAILS FOR INDIA.

LORD TEIGNMOUTH's ancestors were of Derbyshire. The Family of SHORE, says Lyson, is of considerable antiquity in that county. Thomas Shore represented the borough of Derby in Parliament in the reigns of Richard II. and Henry IV., and Ralph Shore in that of Henry V.; and two of the same name are returned by the Commissioners, in the reign of Henry VI., as amongst the Gentry of the County of Derby.

Lord Teignmouth's immediate progenitor and namesake, John Shore, was of Snitterton, in the parish of Darley, near Matlock. The farm-houses and cottages of this hamlet are sprinkled over the sloping sides of Oker Hill, conspicuous from its

elevation, and from the position of two weatherbeaten trees on its summit, still known by the name of the Shore Trees*. John Shore purchased of the Sacheverells, in the commencement of the reign of Elizabeth, "the manor of Snitterton, and several premises and lands in Snitterton, Wensley, and Darley;" and probably resided at Snitterton Hall, a venerable and once moat-girt mansion, at the foot of Oker, now tenanted by a farmer. His possessions were inherited, and afterwards sold, by his only son John.

* These trees have been celebrated by Mr. Wordsworth, in the following beautiful sonnet. The poet's authority for the affecting incident, which forms its subject, was the information of a fellowtraveller in a stage-coach. It is traditionally, and probably more accurately, reported in the neighbourhood, that they were planted by one William Shore, to represent himself and his wife; and to signify that the surrounding lands, as far as they could see, belonged to their forefathers:

"Tis said, that to the brow of yon fair hill

Two Brothers clomb, and, turning face from face,
Nor one look more exchanging, grief to still

Or feed, each planted on that lofty place

A chosen tree: then, eager to fulfil

Their courses, like two new-born rivers, they

In opposite directions urged their way

Down from the far-seen mount. No blast might kill

Or blight that fond memorial: the trees grew,

And now entwine their arms: but ne'er again

Embraced these Brothers upon earth's wide plain;

Nor aught of mutual joy or sorrow knew,

Until their spirits mingled in the sea
That to itself takes all Eternity.

WORDSWORTH, Son. XLV.

Sir John Shore, eldest son of the latter, a physician of Derby, was knighted by Charles II. soon after the Restoration; and probably received from that monarch a more durable testimony to his loyalty a miniature portrait of His Majesty, set in gold; which has been transmitted to his descendants, as the gift of Charles II. to one of their ancestors, in recognition of aid afforded him in effecting his escape. Sir John Shore's family and connections were Royalists. Sir John Harpur, brother, and Sir John Fitzherbert, former husband of his first wife, were two of the five gentlemen of Derbyshire who led the loyal forces of that county during the Civil Wars. The Shores are said to have lost their property in the Royal cause. Woolley's MSS. contain an account of Thomas Shore of Ashover, whose family is connected with that of Snitterton, and whose last male representative, a retired merchant, lately died at that place, having been fed by his wife in a cave in which he had taken refuge; whilst she, a very stout woman, armed with a short staff, opposed, on a bridge, a party of Cromwell's horse who were searching for him. The husband, stripped of the greater part of a good estate, took what was left, and lived at Snitterton; where, not long ago, the staff wielded by the heroine still hung from the roof of a cottage occupied by one of her descendants.

Sir J. Shore's second marriage with the daughter of Mr. John Chambers, a merchant of Derby, appears to have opened to his family their subsequent connection with India: for his wife's brother* being a merchant in London, his son John settled also there in a mercantile capacity, and became Ship's-husband or owner to the East-India Company; retaining, the only yet remaining link of the family with the county from which they sprung, a small estate near Burton-upon-Trent.

His three elder sons dying young-the eldest, John, in India-the fourth, Thomas, inherited his property. He enjoyed the lucrative situation of Supercargo to the East-India Company. He was twice married; first to a lady of respectable fortune, widow of John Edgell, Esq., and mother of Richard Wyatt, Esq., of Milton Place, in Surrey, whose name occurs frequently in the following pages; and secondly, to the daughter of Captain

* THOMAS CHAMBERS.-This gentleman had two daughters; the elder of whom, Hannah Sophia, was married to Brownlow, eighth Earl of Exeter, and inherited her father's house in Full Street, Derby. This mansion is mentioned by Horace Walpole, as Lord Exeter's house, and as having been burnt by the Rebels in 1745. It is however still standing; and is pointed out as that which the Pretender occupied, and where the Council sat which determined on his retreat. Monuments to the memory of John and Thomas Chambers, and also of Sir J. Shore, are erected in All-Saints' Church, Derby.

Shepherd, of the East-India Company's Naval Service. By his first marriage he had no issue; but by his second, two sons-John, the subject of this Memoir, and Thomas.

John, the elder, was born in London, on the 8th Oct. 1751, at a lodging in St. James's street, temporarily occupied by his parents: their ordinary residence being Melton Place, near Romford in Essex, where he passed his infancy. His earliest recollection was, being sent daily to a neighbouring school, mounted on one of the carriage-horses, in front of the coachman. In his seventh In his seventh year he was removed to a seminary at Tottenham. In the next he lost his father; whose death resulted from a paralytic affection, occasioned by his having partaken, at the Isle of Ascension, whilst on his homeward voyage from China, of some turtle boiled in a copper vessel. His son never lost the impression produced on his infant mind by his father's pale and emaciated countenance, or forgot the only words he ever recollected to have heard uttered by him: "Johnny, my dear, make way for me, for I am very feeble." Mr. Shore was much respected by his friends; and so affectionately beloved by his wife, that, though surviving him many years, she never effectually recovered from the shock of her bereavement. Of his character and habits little is now known.

That he was fond of reading,