Page:Narrative of the Discoveries on the North Coast of America.djvu/14

 per, and a steady attention to his studies; and, as is the case with most boys in his sphere of life in Scotland who manifest such dispositions, it was early determined to educate him with a view to his becoming a clergyman of the Scotch Church.

In his boyhood he was rather of a weakly constitution, having at one time shewn a strong tendency to consumption. He was then considered by his companions as being of a timid disposition; and, so far from taking a lead in the games common among boys, he was remarked for an unwillingness to join in their rougher sports, and for a hesitation in entering upon any exercises that could in the least expose him to personal danger.

In these respects we find a remarkable similitude to the early years of another traveller of much repute — Abyssinian Bruce; and, indeed, in every matter belonging to their early lives, and some belonging to their after career, there is much resemblance between these explorers of two very different portions of the globe. Both were mild and timid in their boyhood: both daring and impetuous in their after-life: both, from an early age, excited much interest and sanguine expectations of future success in everyone connected with them: both profited in-