Some stanzas, composed by Mr. Shore at this time, were inserted in a Note to the "Memoirs of Sir W. Jones," and have appeared in divers Collections:

PHILEMON—AN ELEGY.

Where shade yon yews the churchyard's lonely bourn,
With faltering step, absorb'd in thought profound,
Philemon wends, in solitude to mourn,

While Evening pours her deep'ning glooms around.

Loud shrieks the blast, the sleety torrent drives,
Wide spreads the tempest's desolating power;
To grief alone Philemon reckless lives;

No rolling peal he heeds, cold blast, nor shower.

For this the date that stampt his partner's doom,
His trembling lips received her latest breath:
"Ah! wilt thou drop one tear on Emma's tomb?"
She cried ; and clos'd each wistful eye in death.

No sighs he breath'd, for anguish rived his breast;
Her clay-cold hand he grasp'd; no tears he shed;
Till fainting Nature sunk, by grief oppress'd;
And ere distraction came, all sense was fled.

Now time has calm'd, not cur'd, Philemon's woe;

For grief like his, life-woven, never dies;
And still each year's collected sorrows flow,

As drooping o'er his Emma's tomb he sighs.

CHAPTER VIII.

RETURN TO ENGLAND-EXAMINATION ON MR. HASTINGS'S TRIAL-LIVES

IN RETIREMENT APPOINTED GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF INDIA CREATED A BARONET HIS NOMINATION OPPOSED BY MR. BURKE

SAILS FOR INDIA.

MR. Shore having completed the preparation of the Permanent Settlement of the Revenues, embarked for England in Dec. 1789; and reached his native shore with health much improved by his

voyage.

MY LORD

66 TO EARL CORNWALLIS.

66

London, May 5, 1790.

"I had the honour to address you from St. Helena, acquainting you of my arrival at that place in the beginning of March. The remainder of our passage was prosperous. I landed at Portsmouth on the 24th of April; and the next day had the happiness to find Mrs. Shore and my daughter in health.

"I have been in town since the 30th of April,

It

and have been employed in ceremonial visits. Mr. Pitt has been so much occupied with the Parliamentary business, and the Indian Budget, brought on again yesterday by Mr. Dundas, that I have not yet seen him; but am appointed to wait upon him to-morrow. Mr. Dundas I found in good health and spirits, and all parties satisfied with the peaceful exertions of your Lordship. I was also particularly happy to learn that a successor had been appointed*; and that General Meadows, for whom you entertain so high an esteem, was the person; as I am certain that he will promote the reform which you have so happily established. was not without some dissatisfaction I observed a doubt generally to prevail of the abilities of General Meadows, and I sincerely hope that his conduct will remove it. The reliance is upon his known probity, and high sense of honour; but of his talents for business there is a general suspicion prevailing. I can give you little information as to public events, which you will learn better from others who are more acquainted with them. The trial of Mr. Hastings is still going on, but the progress is slow. Objections are continually made by his Counsel to the evidence adduced; and in discussing them, and in reference to the Judges, days are lost. The

*To the Government of Madras.

prevailing idea is, that the prosecution, if continued under a new Parliament, will not be terminated for some years. I have not yet seen him; but I hear his spirits are unaffected.

"My principal motive in addressing your Lordship is, to return you my acknowledgments for the testimony you have so repeatedly borne to my public conduct. In the retired line of life I mean to pursue, and which my fortune as well as inclination dictates, I shall scarcely have the honour of seeing you again; but I shall ever reflect with pleasure on the chance which first made me acquainted with you, and introduced me to a knowledge of those virtues which your Lordship is allowed by all to possess.

"I sincerely hope that you may leave the country you now inhabit with a constitution unimpaired; and that you may return in safety to your friends in this.

"I have the honour to be

"Your Lordship's very faithful

obedient humble servant."

Mr. Shore met with a flattering reception from all parties in England. It was proposed to confer on him a Baronetcy, in reward of his services; but he declined the proffered honour, alleging privately

as his motive, "the incompatibility of poverty and titles." Soon after his arrival, he appeared in Westminster Hall as a witness on Mr. Hastings's trial. The questions put to him related chiefly to the transactions of the Board of Revenue. He denied having aided Mr. Hastings in his defence, except by supplying him with some Revenue Minutes and being asked whether he would continue the friend of Mr. Hastings, if he believed him to be corrupt and mercenary, he replied emphatically, but temperately, "I hope I should not."

Mr. Shore fixed his residence, during a year, at Egham in Surrey, attracted by old and cherished associations, and by the neighbourhood of his connections, the Wyatts of Milton Place. The income on which he now settled, as he proposed for life, was 9007. per annum. His services during the entire period of his holding a seat in the Supreme Council had added to it only 1007. per annum ; nearly the half of which sum he owed to the considerate kindness of Lord Cornwallis, at whose solicitation he had received the grant already mentioned. Inattention to economy, and generosity ever ready to assist the distressed, account for the little permanent advantage he had derived from a salary amounting to 10,000l. per annum.