F10195_0012

2.
of other British statesmen & soldiers in India,
all must acknowledge this, that it was he
who laid the foundation of our Indian
Empire.

His descent.

Wellesley was of Irish birth. His family
was of ancient origin, but of little or no
distinction. His grandfather, Richard
Colley Wesley (for such was the form of
the name with[crossed out] ^ [hle?] the Marquess himself
altered it in his schooldays) received an
Irish peerage in return for seventeen years
of service to his party in Parliament, &
became in 1746 1st Baron Mornington. His
son, Garret Wesley, was in 1759 raised to the
rank of Earl, also for his political services,
though his fame rests chiefly on his skill
as a musician. He married in the same
year Anne, the daughter of Arthur Hill,
who afterwards became Viscount Dungannow;
& in the following year was born
their eldest son Richard Colley. Everyone
has heard of the achievements of his three
younger brothers, William - afterwards
Lord Maryborough, Arthur - the great
Duke of Wellington, & Henry the diplomatist -
1st Baron Cowley. What is harder to
discover is the origin of such sudden genius
in a family otherwise[d crossed out] untouched
by the hand of fame.*