In the year 1717, in a very mean and humble cottage at Littleton Wells, a hamlet of West Lavington, dwells a man of lowly occupation, a shepherd, DAVID SAUNDERS. Beneath this roof an immortal being commences his career; an event which, when viewed aright, is calculated to awaken thoughts of deep import even when unconnected with any remarkable circumstances, how much more so when results of infinite moment follow. No portentous predictions foreshadow his future course; the probability is that the paternal lot will be his, and peasant toil with poverty’s hard crust his only heritage. Infancy and youth in their common every-day occurrences are past, and to him the barest modicum of instruction is afforded probably at the dame school of the village. He learned to read and write, beyond those rudimentary aids he does not advance; the situation his father fills requires his early assistance and help; he becomes an under-shepherd, and mid the variations of heat and cold, rain and snow, wind and sunshine, his frame becomes nerved to life’s rough path. He rises to man’s estate, and quitting the subordinate situation takes the head; whether this was before his father’s death or after, is not quite certain; it is, however, an authenticated fact he did succeed his father, and remained on the same farm upwards of thirty years, although during that time the property more than once changed hands; it was the same as is now occupied by Mr. Hooper. He married Lydia Bishop, and reared a family of sixteen children. His wife died in the year 1789.