being an impostor roused his indignation to such a
pitch that he abruptly left the house and resolved never to go near it
again. It is said that this merchant, on further inquiry, was satisfied
of the truth of the connexion, and sent for Ledyard, who declined the
invitation in no very gracious manner; that, notwithstanding all this,
the merchant afterwards, on hearing of his distressed situation, sent
him money; and that the money was also rejected with disdain by the
American, who desired the bearer to carry it back, and tell his master
that he belonged not to the race of the Ledyards.

The next capacity in which we find Ledyard is that of a corporal of
marines, on board the ship of Captain Cook, then preparing for his third
and last voyage round the world. Of this voyage Ledyard is said to have
kept a minute journal, which, as in all cases of voyages of discovery,
went among the rest to the Admiralty, and was never restored. Two years
afterwards, Ledyard, with the assistance of a brief outline of the
voyage published in London, and from his own recollection, brought out,
in a small duodecimo, his narrative of the principal transactions of the
voyage, in which, we hear (for we have never seen it) he blames the
officers, and Captain Cook in particular, for several instances of
precipitate and incautious conduct, not to say severity, towards the
various natives with whom they were brought in contact. It was to this
want of caution, and a due consideration for the habits and feelings of
the Sandwich Islanders, that he imputed the death of this celebrated
navigator. The late Admiral Burney, who served as a lieutenant on the
voyage, says that, "with an ardent disposition, Ledyard had a passion
for lofty sentiment and description." He adds that, after Cook's death,
Ledyard proffered his services to Captain Clarke, to undertake the
office of historiographer of the expedition, and presented a specimen
descriptive of the manners of the Society Islanders; "but," says this
author, "his ideas were thought too sentimental, and his language too
florid."

_(To be concluded in our next.)_

* * * * *

THE GATHERER.

"A snapper up of unconsidered trifles."
SHAKSPEARE.

* * * * *

POLSTEAD.

_(For the Mirror.)_

The village of Polstead, though obscurely situate, is not entirely
destitute of celebrity, chiefly derived from an abundance of the small,
s