as a servant,
taught him to render salt water fresh by distillation. Some time
after, when engaged in a northern expedition, he made good use of this
knowledge, and furnished the crew with water they could drink.

His sympathies were, very naturally, given to the weak and the despised,
wherever he found them. He deplores the fate of modern Greeks, nearly as
much degraded by the Turks as the negroes are by their white brethren.
In 1789, Vasa presented a petition to the British parliament, for the
suppression of the slave-trade. His son, named Sancho, was assistant
librarian to Sir Joseph Banks, and Secretary to the Committee for
Vaccination.

Another negro, named _Ignatius Sancho_, was born on board a Guinea ship,
where his parents were both captives, destined for the South American
slave market. Change of climate killed his mother, and his father
committed suicide. At two years old the orphan was carried to England,
and presented to some ladies residing at Greenwich. Something in
his character reminded them of Don Quixote's squire, and they added
Sancho to his original name of Ignatius. The Duke of Montague saw him
frequently and thought he had a mind worthy of cultivation. He often
sent him books, and advised the ladies to give him a chance for
education; but they had less liberal views, and often threatened to send
the poor boy again into slavery. After the death of his friends, he went
into the service of the Duchess of Montague, who at her death left him
an annuity of thirty pounds; beside which he had saved seventy pounds
out of his earnings.

Something of dissipation mixed with his love of reading, and sullied the
better part of his character. He spent his last shilling at Drury Lane,
to see Garrick, who was extremely friendly to him. At one time he
thought of performing African characters on the stage, but was prevented
by a bad articulation.

He afterward became very regular in his habits, and married a worthy
West Indian girl. After his death, two volumes of his letters were
printed, of which a second edition was soon published, with a portrait
of the author, designed by Gainsborough, and engraved by Bartolozzi.

Sterne formed an acquaintance with Ignatius Sancho; and in the third
volume of his letters, there is an epistle addressed to this African,
in which he tells him that varieties in nature do not sunder the bands
of brotherhood; and expresses his indignation that certain men wish to
class their equa