266 JOHN LEDYARD. 



It does not clearly appear whether his abandonment 

 of this scheme was the result of his own caprice 

 and inconstancy, or whether it arose from the op- 

 position which others may have raised against him 

 by placing difficulties in his way ; all that is now 

 known is that Ledyard's aspirations to the ministry, 

 like his devotion to the life of a missionary among 

 the Indians, ended in nothing. It is most probable 

 that his own eccentricities of conduct and character 

 were so great as to render the prudent and pious 

 very doubtful as to the propriety of his admission to 

 the ministry, and that hence they were induced to 

 oppose it. 



Thus was the future destiny of Ledyard still un- 

 certain and obscure. Having abandoned all his pre- 

 vious schemes, he was now open for whatever fate, 

 either accident or providence, might assign him ; and 

 he next appeared in a character entirely different 

 from any which he had previously assumed. As he 

 loitered with his relations at Hartford, he fell in with 

 Captain Deshon, who was then about to sail from 

 the port of New London to Gibraltar. He engaged 

 himself on board his vessel as a common sailor, and 

 thus commenced his long-continued and most re- 

 markable wanderings over the face of the earth. 

 This cruise to the Mediterranean occupied a year ; 

 but during its progress nothing of special interest 



