Description
The publication of a Memoir of the Life and Correspondence of the late Lord Teignmouth will not excite the surprise of those who appreciate alike the merit of his public conduct in the service of the East- India Company, or as President of the British and Foreign Bible Society, and the excellence of his private character. The author, whilst satisfied that the subject matter of such a work furnishes sufficient justification of its being undertaken, is bound to state the motives which have induced him to enter upon it , notwithstanding certain disadvantages which may possibly arise from his relationship to the individual to whom it refers. The value of Biography depends much on the author's interest in the history and character of its subject. Of Lord Teignmouth's contemporaries, who enjoyed the opportunities which friendship afforded of estimating his character, few survived him ; and none to whom the task of doing justice to his memory, in a manner worthy of their own personal feelings or of the expectation of others, could have been proposed. Of the able writers of a younger generation , none were qualified for it by habitual intimate acquaintance.