On his return to his native country, his active spirit found various opportunities of employment. He obtained a seat in Parliament, he was confidentially employed in some important offices by government, and having retained his situation in the army, refused to resign it, when he might, without the smallest imputation on his honour, or his courage, have retired. He accordingly joined his regiment in the Peninsula, and distinguished himself as well by his personal exertions, as by testimonies of diplomatic skill and acuteness.
But his constitution had long been shaken; he had never entirely recovered his wonted energy, after his second expedition to the court of Ava. He was engaged in the unfortunate expedition of Sir John Moore, and though he survived the battle of Corunna, and got safe back to England, he died very shortly afterwards, really exhausted by debility and fatigue. He certainly was one of those personages, of whom some memorial should be preserved, and as none have preceded the present, imperfect and inadequate as this may be, it will be far, it is hoped, from rendering him dishonour.
Ite nunc fortes ubi celsa magni
Ducit exempli via.
CHAPTER XIII.
With no less degree of familiarity, and with an equal portion of esteem, is represented the name and character of the Ambassador from the East India Company, to the court of the Teesho Lama, in Tibet. Materials for biographical sketches, are in general easily collected, and when used with skill, importantly contribute both to information and amusement. But it rarely happens, that the writer or compiler of such sketches has the advantage which our Sexagenarian possessed, of a personal intimacy with so many individuals, of such various talents, pursuits, and employments.
With this last traveller the intercourse appears to have been frequent and familiar, and it should seem that he had been consulted on the subject of one of the most curious and interesting works in our language.
What had been vaguely and imperfectly represented of Bootan, Tibet, and its Lama, had, till this work appeared, rather the character of Oriental fiction, than of grave, sober, and accurate narrative. Fiction itself, indeed, can hardly proceed further than is exemplified in the Tibetian idea of their Lama, who though he never ceases to exist, withdraws himself from the world, when the body, which he has vouchsafed to inhabit, decays from age or disease, and at a proper interval, again makes his appearance, by animating an infant; his presence in whom is unequivocally ascertained by certain well-known and characteristic symbols.