his comrades. When the boys of the village assembled in the evening, to plan an expedition in search of birds' nests, or devise some other project for amusement. Cook might be seen in the midst of them, proposing his plan, and insisting on its superiority to any other; and even when the current of opinion was in favour of another scheme, he would still pertinaciously adhere to his own, and proceed in the direction chosen by himself, at the risk of being almost deserted by his companions. In such juvenile transactions, we may trace the germ of that unshaken perseverance, that inflexible firmness, with which, in mature life, he pursued the objects of his research.
During the intervals of his attendance at Ayton school, and for two or three years after he had left it, young Cook was employed along with his father, in agricultural labours on Mr. Skottowe's farm; and he is said to have been a stable-boy for a short period. His turn of mind, however, being suited to some better employment, he was placed, at the age of sixteen or seventeen, with Mr. William Sanderson, shopkeeper, in Staiths, a considerable fishing town, ten miles north-west from Whitby; with a view to learn the business of haberdasher, or country shopkeeper. Here, besides the concerns of the shop, a fresh set of objects engaged the youth's attention. His new residence was close to the German ocean, on the bosom of which crowds of vessels were seen passing and repassing; his new companions were young fishermen and sailors, ever ready to rehearse the adventures of a seafaring life; his leisure hours were often spent in making short excursions in fishing cobles; and thus, by degrees, he became so attached to a seafaring pro-
