any hesitation, and told him, I would be as complaisant to him if ever
occasion offered."

His schemes for a north-west voyage, either for trade or discovery,
being now wholly abandoned, he set about planning, as the only remaining
expedient, a journey by land through the northern regions of Europe and
Asia, then to cross Behring's Straits to the continent of America, to
proceed down the coast to a more southern latitude, and to cross the
whole of that continent from the western to the eastern shore. The
empress of Russia was applied to for her permission and protection, but
while waiting for her answer Ledyard received an invitation to London
from his eccentric friend, Sir James Hall. He found, on his arrival
there, that an English ship was in complete readiness to sail for the
Pacific Ocean, in which Sir James had procured him a free passage, and
to be put on shore at any spot he might choose on the north-west coast.
The amiable baronet, moreover, presented him with twenty guineas, as
Ledyard says, _pro bono publico_, and with which he tells us, "he bought
two great dogs, an Indian pipe, and a hatchet." In a few days the vessel
went down the Thames from Deptford, and Ledyard thought it the happiest
moment of his life; but such is the uncertainty of human expectations,
while he was indulging in day-dreams of the fame and honour which
awaited him, he was once more doomed to suffer the agonies of a
disappointment to his hopes, the more severe, as being so near their
consummation--the vessel was seized by a custom-house officer, brought
back, and exchequered.

This was undoubtedly the most severe blow he had yet received; but
Ledyard never desponded--no sooner was one of his castles demolished,
than he set about building another. "I shall make the tour of the
globe," he says, "from London eastward, on foot." To aid him in this