court at that period was celebrated alike for its hospitality, its
magnificence, and its dissipation. The princely display of the lords
lieutenant of those days entailed a heavy expenditure upon the numerous
attachés of the court, and too frequently plunged young men of high
family and limited fortunes into very distressing embarrassments.
Captain Wellesley's patrimony was small, his staff appointment more
fashionable than lucrative, and it is not surprising that soon after he
had come of age he found himself involved in pecuniary difficulties. At
the time he lodged in the house of an opulent bootmaker, who resided on
Lower Ormand Quay. The worthy tradesman discovered, accidently, that his
young inmate was suffering annoyance from his inability to discharge a
pressing demand. He waited on Lieutenant Wellesley, told him that he was
apprised of his embarrassments, mentioned that he had money unemployed,
and offered a loan, which was accepted. The obligation was soon
afterwards duly repaid; and the young aid-de-camp was enabled in a few
years to present his humble friend to an honourable and lucrative
situation. Nor did death cancel the obligation; the Duke's patronage,
after his parent's death, was extended to the son of his early friend,
for whom he obtained a valuable appointment."

To enter into any detailed account of the military career of the Duke of
Wellington, would be wholly beyond the scope of a work devoted more
especially to his Grace's character and services as a civilian; but were
it not so, it would be unnecessary, after the many able biographies
which have appeared since the publication of the dispatches by
Lieut.-Colonel Gurwood. The following is, therefore only a short summary
of the Duke's proceedings from 1794, when he first entered on active
service, to 1815, when his functions as a military commander in the
field finally ceased.