66 



EARLY EXPLORERS OF AFRICA. 



" I exceedingly approve the epi- 

 taph in its present shape. Even 

 what I best liked before is altered 

 for the better. The various read- 

 ings I do not mind, only, perhaps, 

 I should read the 2nd line : 



Grace that -with tenderness and sense 



combined, 

 To form, <fcc. 



for I hate ' sentiment' in verse. I 

 mil say nothing to 'taste' and 

 'truth,' for perhaps the Archbishop 

 may fancy they are fine things ; 

 but, to my palate, they are worm- 

 wood. All the rest is just as it 

 should be, and what he ought to 

 admire." 



After this knocking about and 

 Tatter digestion of words, the Epi- 

 taph assumes the shape in which 

 we now know it: 



Here sleeps what once was beauty, once 

 was grace. 



Grace that with tenderness and sense 



combined, 



To form that harmony of soul and face, 

 Where beauty shines the mirror of 



the mind. 

 Such was the maid, that, in the morn 



of youth, 



In virgin innocence, in nature's pride, 

 Blest with each art that ovyes its charm 



to truth, 

 Sunk in her father's fond embrace, 



and died. 



He weeps. O ! venerate the holy tear ! 

 Faith lends her aid to ease affliction's 



load: 

 The parent mourns his child upon its 



bier, 



The Christian yields an angel to his 

 God. 



A young poet may read an in- 

 structive lesson in the changes 

 which took place in twelve lines 

 ere they took their present appear- 

 ance. (Athenaeum, review of Cor- 

 respondence of Thomas Gray and 

 William Mason.) 



EAELT EXPLOEEES OF AEEICA, 



LEDYARD AND LUCAS. 



In 1788 a society of English gen- 

 tlemen, among whom were the then 

 Bishop of Llandaff and Sir Joseph 

 Banks, was instituted for the pur- 

 pose of having the interior districts 

 of Africa explored by agents of the 

 society. Fortune instantly helped 

 the promoters of the scheme to a 

 couple of men than whom it is 

 hardly possible to conceive better 

 geographical missionaries. One of 

 these was Ledyard, a name not yet 

 forgotten. This daring American, 

 whose earlier life had been partially 

 spent in the wigwams of the In- 

 dians, who had made the voyage 

 of the world with Captain Cook, 

 and who had gone through the 

 most terrible privations and dan- 

 gers in a gallant effort of his own 

 to traverse the continent of Ame- 

 rica from the Pacific to the Atlantic, 



offered himself to Sir Joseph Banks 

 j for the African expedition. Being 

 asked when he would set out, he 

 replied, " To-morrow morning." 

 ; That was the sort of man for the 

 [ purpose, and Ledyard started, arriv- 

 i ing at Cairo on the 19th of August, 

 i 1788, the journey, which can now 

 : be performed in fifteen days, having 

 ; occupied him about fifty. He wrote 

 home to his employers that his 

 | next letter would be dated from 

 Sennar, but he fell a victim, as was 

 generally supposed, to the climate, 

 and his restless heart was quieted 

 for ever. The other emissary of 

 the society was Lucas, whose name 

 is less familiar to readers of the pre- 

 sent day than that of Ledyard, 

 whose affectionate tribute to the 

 character of woman, and whose 

 untimely end, have, thanks to ver- 

 | sification, been kept in the remem- 

 ! brance of young students of geo- 



