The Personal Life of David Livingstone/CHAPTER X

CHAPTER X.

FIRST VISIT HOME.

A.D. 1856-1857.

Mrs. Livingstone--Her intense anxieties--Her poetical welcome--Congratulatory letters from Mrs. and Dr, Moffat--Meeting of welcome of Royal Geographical Society--of London Missionary Society--Meeting in Mansion House--Enthusiastic public meeting at Cape Town--Livingstone visits Hamilton--Returns to London to write his book--Letter to Mr. Maclear--Dr. Risdon Bennett's reminiscences of this period--Mr. Frederick Fitch's--Interview with Prince Consort--Honors--Publication and great success of _Missionary Travels_--Character and design of the book--Why it was not more of a missionary record--Handsome conduct of publisher--Generous use of the profits--Letter to a lady in Carlisle vindicating the character of his speeches.

The years that had elapsed since Dr. Livingstone bade his wife farewell at Cape Town had been to her years of deep and often terrible anxiety. Letters, as we have seen, were often lost, and none seem more frequently to have gone missing than those between him and her. A stranger in England, without a home, broken in health, with a family of four to care for, often without tidings of her husband for great stretches of time, and harassed with anxieties and apprehensions that sometimes proved too much for her faith, the strain on her was very great. Those who knew her in Africa, when, "queen of the wagon," and full of life, she directed the arrangements and sustained the spirits of a whole party, would hardly have thought her the same person in England. When Livingstone had been longest unheard of, her heart sank altogether; but through prayer, tranquillity of mind returned, even before the arrival of any letter announcing his safety. She had been waiting for him at Southampton, and, owing to the casualty in the Bay of Tunis, he arrived at Dover, but as soon as possible he was with her, reading the poetical welcome which she had prepared in the hope that they would never part again:

"A hundred thousand welcomes, and it's time for you to come    From the far land of the foreigner, to your country and your home.     O long as we were parted, ever since you went away,     I never passed a dreamless night, or knew an easy day.

So you think I would reproach you with the sorrows that I bore? Since the sorrow is all over, now I have you here once more, And there's nothing but the gladness, and the love within my heart, And the hope so sweet and certain that again we'll never part.

*      *       *       *       *

A hundred thousand welcomes! how my heart is gushing o'er    With the love and joy and wonder thus to see your face once more. How did I live without you these long long years of woe? It seems as if 'twould kill me to be parted from you now.

You'll never part me, darling, there's a promise in your eye; I may tend you while I'm living, you may watch me when I die; And if death but kindly lead me to the blessed home on high, What a hundred thousand welcomes will await you in the sky!

"MARY."

Having for once lifted the domestic veil, we cannot resist the temptation to look into another corner of the home circle. Among the letters of congratulation that poured in at this time, none was more sincere or touching than that which Mrs. Livingstone received from her mother, Mrs. Moffat[48]. In the fullnes of her congratulations she does not forget the dark shadow that falls on the missionary's wife when the time comes for her to go back with her husband to their foreign home, and requires her to part with her children; tears and smiles mingle in Mrs. Moffat's letter as she reminds her daughter that they that rejoice need to be as though they rejoiced not:

[Footnote 48: We have been greatly impressed by Mrs. Moffat's letters. She was evidently a woman of remarkable power. If her life had been published, we are convinced that it would have been a notable one in missionary biography. Heart and head were evidently of no common calibre. Perhaps it is not yet too late for some friend to think of this.]

"_Kuruman, December_ 4, 1856.--MY DEAREST MARY,--In    proportion to the anxiety I have experienced about you and     your dear husband for some years past, so now is my joy and     satisfaction; even though we have not yet heard the glad     tidings of your having really met, but this for the present     we take for granted. Having from the first been in a subdued     and chastened state of mind on the subject, I endeavor still     to be moderate in my joy. With regard to you both ofttimes     has the sentence of death been passed in my mind, and at such     seasons I dared not, desired not, to rebel, submissively     leaving all to the Divine disposal; but I now feel that this     has been a suitable preparation for what is before me, having     to contemplate a complete separation from you till that day     when we meet with the spirits of just men made perfect in the     kingdom of our Father. Yes, I do feel solemn at death, but there is no melancholy about it, for what is our life, so    short and so transient? And seeing it is so, we should be    happy to do or to suffer as much as we can for him who bought us with his blood. Should you go to those wilds which God has enabled your husband, through numerous dangers and deaths, to    penetrate, there to spend the remainder of your life, and as     a consequence there to suffer manifold privations, in     addition to those trials through which you have already passed--and they have not been few (for you had a hard life    in this interior)--you will not think all _too much_, when you stand with that multitude who have washed their robes in    the blood of the Lamb!

"Yet, my dear Mary, while we are yet in the flesh my heart    will yearn over you. You are my own dear child, my     first-born, and recent circumstances have had a tendency to     make me feel still more tenderly toward you, and deeply as I     have sympathized with you for the last few years, I shall not     cease to do so for the future. Already is my imagination busy     picturing the various scenes through which you must pass,     from the first transport of joy on meeting till that painful     anxious hour when you must bid adieu to your darlings, with     faint hopes of ever seeing them again in this life; and then,     what you may both have to pass through in those inhospitable     regions....

"From what I saw in Mr. Livingston's letter to Robert, I was    shocked to think that that poor head, in the prime of     manhood, was so like my own, who am literally worn out. The     symptoms he describes are so like my own. Now, with a little     rest and relaxation, having youth on his side, he might     regain all, but I cannot help fearing for him if he dashes     at once into hardships again. He is certainly the wonder of     his age, and with a little prudence as regards his health,     the stores of information he now possesses might be turned to     a mighty account for poor wretched Africa.... We do not yet     see how Mr. L. will get on--the case seems so complex. I     feel, as I have often done, that as regards ourselves it is a     subject more for prayer than for deliberation, separated as     we are by such distances, and such a tardy and eccentric     post. I used to imagine that when he was once got out safely from this dark continent we should only have to praise God for all his mercies to him and to us all, and for what He had effected by him; but now I see we must go on seeking the guidance and direction of his providential hand, and sustaining and preventing mercy. We cannot cease to remember you daily, and thus our sympathy will be kept alive with you...."

Dr. Moffatt's congratulation to his son-in-law was calm and hearty:

"Your explorations have created immense interest, and    especially in England, and that man must be made of     bend-leather who can remain unmoved at the rehearsal even of     a tithe of your daring enterprises. The honors awaiting you     at home would be enough to make a score of light heads dizzy,     but I have no fear of their affecting your upper story,     beyond showing you that your labors to lay open the recesses     of the fast interior have been appreciated. It will be almost     too much for dear Mary to hear that you are verily unscathed.     She has had many to sympathize with her, and I daresay many     have called you a very naughty man for thus having exposed     your life a thousand times. Be that as it may, you have     succeeded beyond the most sanguine expectations in laying     open a world of immortal beings, all needing the gospel, and     at a time, now that war is over, when people may exert their exergies on an object compared with which that which has occupied the master minds of Europe, and expended so much money, and shed so much blood, is but a phantom."

On the 9th of December, as we have seen, Livingstone arrived at London. He went first to Southampton, where his wife was waiting for him, and on his return to London was quickly in communication with Sir Roderick Murchison. On the 15th December the Royal Geographic Society held a special meeting to welcome him. Sir Roderick was in the chair; the attendance was numerous and distinguished, and included some of Livingstone's previous fellow-travelers, Colonel Steele, Captain Vardon, and Mr. Oswell. The President referred to the meeting of May, 1855, when the Victoria or Patron's medal had been awarded to Livingstone for his journey from the Cape to Linyanti and Loanda. Now Livingstone had added to that feat the journey from the Atlantic Ocean at Loanda to the Indian Ocean at Quilimane, and during his several journeys had traveled over not less than eleven thousand miles of African ground. Surpassing the French missionary travelers, Hue and Gabet, he had determined, by astronomical observations, the site of numerous places, hills, rivers, and lakes, previously unknown. He had seized every opportunity of describing the physical structure, geology, and climatology of the countries traversed, and making known their natural products and capabilities. He had ascertained by experience, what had been only conjectured previously, that the interior of Africa was a plateau intersected by various lakes and rivers, the waters of which escaped to the Eastern and Western oceans by deep rents in the flanking hills. Great though these achievements were, the most honorable' of all Livingstone's acts had yet to be mentioned--the fidelity that kept his promise to the natives, who, having accompanied him to St. Paul de Loanda, were reconducted by him from that city to their homes.

"Bare fortitude and virtue must our medalist have possessed,    when, having struggled at the imminent risk of his life     through such obstacles, and when, escaping from the interior,     he had been received with true kindness by our old allies,     the Portuguese at Angola, he nobly resolved to redeem his     promise and retrace his steps to the interior of the vast     continent! How much indeed must the influence of the British     name be enhanced throughout Africa, when it has been     promulgated that our missionary has thus kept his plighted     word to the poor natives who faithfully stood by him!"

On receiving the medal, Livingstone apologized for his rustiness in the use of his native tongue; said that he had only done his duty as a Christian missionary in opening up a part of Africa to the sympathy of Christendom: that Steele, Vardon, or Oswell might have done all that he had done; that as yet he was only buckling on his armor, and therefore in no condition to speak boastfully; and that the enterprise would never be complete till the slave-trade was abolished, and the whole country opened up to commerce and Christianity.

Among the distinguished men who took part in the conversation that followed was Professor Owen. He bore testimony to the value of Livingstone's contributions to zoology and palæontology, not less cordial than Sir Roderick Murchison had borne to his service to geography. He had listened with very intense interest to the sketches of these magnificent scenes of animal life that his old and most esteemed friend had given them. He cordially hoped that many more such contributions would follow, and expressed his admiration of the moral qualities of the man who had taken such pains to keep his word.

In the recognition by other gentlemen of Dr. Livingstone's labors, much stress was laid on the scientific accuracy with which he had laid down every point over which he had traveled. Thanks were given to the Portuguese authorities in Africa for the remarkable kindness which they had invariably shown him. Mr. Consul Brand reported tidings from Mr. Gabriel at Loanda, to the effect that a company of Sekelétu's people had arrived at Loanda, with a cargo of ivory, and though they had not been very successful in business, they had shown the practicability of the route. He added, that Dr. Livingstone, at Loanda, had written some letters to a newspaper, which had given such an impetus to literary taste there, that a new journal had been started--the _Loanda Aurora_.

On one other point there was a most cordial expression of feeling, especially by those who had themselves been in South Africa,--gratitude for the unbounded kindness and hospitality that Dr. and Mrs. Livingstone had shown to South African travelers in the neighborhood of their home. Happily Mrs. Livingstone was present, and heard this acknowledgment of her kindness.

Next day, 16th December, Dr. Livingstone had his reception from the London Missionary Society in Freemason's Hall. Lord Shaftesbury was in the chair:

"What better thing can we do," asked the noble Earl, "than to    welcome such a man to the shores of our country? What better     than to receive him with thanksgiving and rejoicings that he     is spared to refresh us with his presence, and give his     strength to future exertions? What season more appropriate     than this, when at every hearth, and in every congregation of     worshipers, the name of Christ will be honored with more than     ordinary devotion, to receive a man whose life and labors     have been in humble, hearty, and willing obedience to the     angels' song, 'Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace,     good-will toward men.'"

In reply, Livingstone acknowledged the kindness of the Directors, with whom, for sixteen years, he had never had a word of difference. He referred to the slowness of the African tribes, in explanation of the comparatively small progress of the gospel among them. He cordially acknowledged the great services of the British squadron on the West Coast in the repressing of the slave-trade. He had been told that to make such explorations as he was engaged in was only a tempting of Providence, but such ridiculous assertions were only the utterances of the weaker brethren.

Lord Shaftesbury's words at the close of this meeting, in honor of Mrs. Livingstone, deserve to be perpetuated:

"That lady," he said, "was born with one distinguished name,    which she had changed for another. She was born a Moffat, and     she became a Livingstone. She cheered the early part of our     friend's earner by her spirit, her counsel, and her society.     Afterward, when she reached this country, she passed many     years with her children in solitude and anxiety, suffering     the greatest fears for the welfare of her husband, and yet     enduring all with patience and resignation, and even joy,     because she had surrendered her best feelings, and sacrificed     her own private interests, to the advancement of civilization     and the great interests of Christianity."

A more general meeting was held in the Mansion House on the 5th of January, to consider the propriety of presenting a testimonial to Dr. Livingstone. It was addressed by the Bishop of London, Mr. Raikes Currie, and others.

Meanwhile, a sensible impulse was given to the _scientific_ enthusiasm for Livingstone by the arrival of the report of a great meeting held in Africa itself in honor of the missionary explorer. At Cape Town, on 12th November, 1856, His Excellency the Governor, Sir George Grey, the Colonial Secretary, the Astronomer-Royal, the Attorney-General, Mr. Rutherfoord, the Bishop, the Rev. Mr. Thompson, and others, vied with each other in expressing their sense of Livingstone's character and work. The testimony of the Astronomer-Royal to Livingstone's eminence as an astronomical observer was even more emphatic than Murchison's and Owen's to his attainments in geography and natural history. Going over his whole career, Mr. Maclear showed his unexampled achievements in accurate lunar observation. "I never knew a man," he said, "who, knowing scarcely anything of the method of making geographical observations, or laying down positions, became so soon an adept, that he could take the complete lunar observation, and altitudes for time, within fifteen minutes." His observations of the course of the Zambesi, from Seshéke to its confluence with the Lonta, were considered by the Astronomer-Royal to be "the finest specimens of sound geographical observation he ever met with."

"To give an idea of the laboriousness of this branch of his    work," he adds, "on an average each lunar distance consists     of five partial observations, and there are 148 sets of     distances, being 740 contacts,--and there are two altitudes     of each object before, and two after, which, together with     altitudes for time, amount to 2812 partial observations. But     that is not the whole of his observations. Some of them     intrusted to an Arab have not been received, and in reference     to those transmitted he says, 'I have taken others which I do     not think it necessary to send.' How completely all this     stamps the impress of Livingstone on the interior of South     Africa!... I say, what that man has done is unprecedented....     You could go to any point across the entire continent, along     Livingstone's track, and feel certain of your position[49]."

[Footnote 49: It seems unaccountable that in the face of such unrivaled testimonies, reflections should continue to be cast on Livingstone's scientific accuracy, even so late as the meeting of the British Association at Sheffield in 1879. The family of the late Sir Thomas Maclear have sent home his collection of Livingstone's papers. They fill a box which one man could with difficulty carry. And their mass is far from their most striking quality. The evidence of laborious, painstaking care to be accurate is almost unprecedented. Folio volumes of pages covered with figures show how much time and labor must have been spent in these computations. Explanatory remarks often indicate the particulars of the observation.]

Following this unrivaled eulogium on the scientific powers of Livingstone came the testimony of Mr. Thompson to his missionary ardor:

'I am in a position to express my earnest conviction, formed in long, intimate, unreserved communications with him, personally and by letter, that in the privations, sufferings, and dangers he has passed through, during the last eight years, he has not been actuated by mere curiosity; or the love of adventure, or the thirst for applause, or by any other object, however laudable in itself, less than his avowed one as a messenger of Christian love from the Churches. If ever there was a man who, by realizing the obligations of his sacred calling as a Christian missionary, and intelligently comprehending its object, sought to pursue it to a successful issue, such a man is Dr. Livingstone. The spirit in which he engages in his work may be seen in the following extract from one of his letters: 'You kindly say you fear for the result of my going in alone. I hope I am in    the way of duty; my own conviction that such is the case has never wavered. I am doing something for God. I have preached the gospel in many a spot where the name of Christ has never been heard, and I would wish to do still more in the way of    reducing the Barotse language, if I had not suffered so     severely from fever. Exhaustion produced vertigo, causing me, if I looked suddenly up, almost to lose consciousness; this made me give up sedentary work; but I hope God will accept of what I can do.'

A third gentleman at this meeting, Mr. Rutherfoord, who had known Livingstone for many years, besides describing him as "one of the most honorable, benevolent, conscientious men I ever met with," bore testimony to his capacity in mercantile affairs; not exercised in his own interest, but in that of others. It was Mr. Rutherfoord who, when Livingstone was at the Cape in 1852, entered into his plans for supplanting the slave-trade by lawful traffic, and at his suggestion engaged George Fleming to go north with him as a trader, and try the experiment. The project was not very successful, owing to innumerable unforeseen worries, and especially the rascality of Fleming's men. Livingstone found it impossible to take Fleming to the coast, and had therefore to send him back, but he did his utmost to prevent loss to his friend; and thus, as Mr. Rutherfoord said, "at the very time that he was engaged in such important duties, and exposed to such difficulties, he found time to fulfill his promise to do what he could to save me from loss, to attend to a matter quite foreign to his usual avocations, and in which he had no personal interest; and by his energy and good sense, and self-denying exertions, to render the plan, if not perfectly successful, yet by no means a failure."

Traveler, geographer, zoologist, astronomer, missionary, physician, and mercantile director, did ever man sustain so many characters at once? Or did ever man perform the duties of each with such painstaking accuracy and so great success?

As soon as he could tear himself from his first engagements, he ran down to Hamilton to see his mother, children, and other relatives. His father's empty chair deeply affected him. "The first evening," writes one of his sisters, "he asked all about his illness and death. One of us remarking that after he knew he was dying his spirits seemed to rise, David burst into tears. At family worship that evening he said with deep feeling--'We bless thee, O Lord, for our parents; we give thee thanks for the dead who has died in the Lord.'"

At first Livingstone thought that his stay in this country could be only for three or four months, as he was eager to be at Quilimane before the unhealthy season set in, and thus fulfill his promise to return to his Makololo at Tette. But on receiving an assurance from the Portuguese Government (which, however, was never fulfilled _by them_) that his men would be looked after, he made up his mind for a somewhat longer stay. But it could not be called rest. As soon as he could settle down he had to set to work with a book. So long before as May, 1856, Sir Roderick Murchison had written to him that "Mr. John Murray, the great publisher, is most anxious to induce you to put together all your data, and to make a good book," adding his own strong advice to comply with the request. If he ever doubted the propriety of writing the book, the doubt must have vanished, not only in view of the unequaled interest excited by the subject, but also of the readiness of unprincipled adventurers, and even some respectable publishers, to circulate narratives often mythical and quite unauthorized.

The early part of the year 1857 was mainly occupied with the labor of writing. For this he had materials in the Journals which he had kept so carefully; but the business of selection and supplementing was laborious, and the task of arrangement and transcription very irksome. In fact, this task tried the patience of Livingstone more than any which he had yet undertaken, and he used to say that he would rather cross Africa than write another book. His experience of book-making increased his respect for authors and authoresses a hundred-fold!

We are not, however, inclined to think that this trial was due to the cause which Livingstone assigned,--his want of experience, and want of command over the English tongue. He was by no means an inexperienced writer. He had written large volumes of Journals, memoirs for the Geographical Society, articles on African Missions, letters for the Missionary Society, and private letters without end, each usually as long as a pamphlet. He was master of a clear, simple, idiomatic style, well fitted to record the incidents of a journey--sometimes poetical in its vivid pictures, often brightening into humor, and sometimes deepening into pathos. Viewing it page by page, the style of the _Missionary Travels_ is admirable, the chief defect being want of perspective; the book is more a collection of pieces than an organized whole: a fault inevitable, perhaps, in some measure, from its nature, but aggravated, as we believe, by the haste and pressure under which it had to be written. In his earlier private letters, Livingstone, in his single-hearted desire to rouse the world on the subject of Africa, used to regret that he could not write in such a way as to command general attention: had he been master of the flowing periods of the _Edinburgh Review,_ he thought he could have done much more good. In point of fact, if he had had the pen of Samuel Johnson, or the tongue of Edmund Burke, he would not have made the impression he did. His simple style and plain speech were eminently in harmony with his truthful, unexaggerating nature, and showed that he neither wrote nor spoke for effect, but simply to utter truth. What made his work of composition irksome was, on the one hand, the fear that he was not doing it well, and on the other, the necessity of doing it quickly. He had always a dread that his English was not up to the critical mark, and yet he was obliged to hurry on, and leave the English as it dropped from his pen. He had no time to plan, to shape, to organize; the architectural talent could not be brought into play. Add to this that he had been so accustomed to open-air life and physical exercise, that the close air and sedentary attitude of the study must have been exceedingly irksome; so that it is hardly less wonderful that his health stood the confinement of book-making in England, than that it survived the tear and wear, labor and sorrow, of all his journeys in Africa.

An extract from a letter to Mr. Maclear, on the eve of his beginning his book (21st January, 1857), will show how his thoughts were running:

"I begin to-morrow to write my book, and as I have a large    party of men (110) waiting for me at Tette, and I promised to     join them in April next, you will see I shall have enough to     do to get over my work here before the end of the month....     Many thanks for all the kind things you said at the Cape Town     meeting. Here they laud me till I shut my eyes, for only     trying to do my duty. They ought to vote thanks to the Boers     who set me free to discover the fine new country. They were     determined to shut the country, and I was determined to open     it. They boasted to the Portuguese that they had expelled two     missionaries, and outwitted themselves rather. I got the gold     medal, as you predicted, and the freedom of the town of     Hamilton, which insures me protection from the payment of     jail fees if put in prison!"

In writing his book, he sometimes worked in the house of a friend, but generally in a London or suburban lodging, often with his children about him, and all their noise; for, as in the Blantyre mill, he could abstract his attention from sounds of whatever kind, and go on calmly with his work. Busy though he was, this must have been one of the happiest times in his life. Some of his children still remember his walks and romps with them in the Barnet woods, near which they lived part of the time--how he would suddenly plunge into the ferny thicket, and set them looking for him, as people looked for him afterward when he disappeared in Africa, coming out all at once at some unexpected corner of the thicket. One of his greatest troubles was the penny post. People used to ask him the most frivolous questions. At first he struggled to answer them, but in a few weeks he had to give this up in despair. The simplicity of his heart is seen in the childlike joy with which he welcomes the early products of the spring. He writes to Mr. Maclear that, one day at Professor Owen's, they had "seen daisies, primroses, hawthorns, and robin-redbreasts. Does not Mrs. Maclear envy us? It was so pleasant."

But a better idea of his mode of life at home will be conveyed by the notes of some of the friends with whom he stayed. For that purpose, we resume the recollections of Dr. Risdon Bennett:

"On returning to England, after his first great journey of    discovery, he and Mrs. Livingstone stayed in my house for     some time, and I had frequent conversations with him on     subjects connected with his African life, especially on such     as related to natural history and medicine, on which he had     gathered a fund of information. His observation of malarious     diseases, and the methods of treatment adopted by both the     natives and Europeans, had led him to form very definite and     decided views, especially in reference to the use of     purgatives, preliminary to, and in conjunction with, quinine     and other acknowledged febrifuge medicines. He had, while     staying with me, one of those febrile attacks to which     persons who have once suffered from malarious disease are so     liable, and I could not fail to remark his sensible     observations thereon, and his judicious management of his sickness. He had a great natural predilection for medical science, and always took great interest in all that related to the profession. I endeavored to persuade him to commit to    writing the results of his medical observations and experience among the natives of Africa, but he was too much occupied with the preparation of his Journal for the press to    enable him to do this. Moreover, as he often said, writing was a great drudgery to him. He, however, attended with me    the meetings of some of the medical societies, and gave some verbal accounts of his medical experience which greatly interested his audience. His remarks on climates, food, and customs of the natives, in reference to the origin and spread of disease, evinced the same acuteness of observation which characterized all the records of his life. He specially commented on the absence of consumption and all forms of    tubercular disease among the natives, and connected this with their constant exposure and out-of-door life.

"After leaving my house he had lodgings in Chelsea, and used    frequently to come and spend the Sunday afternoon with my     family, often bringing his sister, who was staying with him,     and his two elder children. It was beautiful to observe how     thoroughly he enjoyed domestic life and the society of     children, how strong was his attachment to his own family     after his long and frequent separations from them, and how     entirely he had retained his simplicity of character.

"Like so many of his countrymen, he had a keen sense of    humor, which frequently came into play when relating his many     adventures and hardships. On the latter he never dilated in     the way of complaint, and he had little sympathy with, or     respect for, those travelers who did so. Nor was he apt to     say much on direct religious topics, or on the results of his     missionary efforts as a Christian teacher. He had unbounded     confidence in the influence of Christian character and     principles, and gave many illustrations of the effect     produced on the minds and conduct of the benighted and savage     tribes with whom he was brought into contact by his own     unvarying uprightness of conduct and self-denying labor. The     fatherly character of God, his never-failing goodness and     mercy, and the infinite love of the Lord Jesus Christ, and     efficacy of his atoning sacrifice, appeared to be the topics on which he loved chiefly to dwell. The all-pervading deadly evils of slavery, and the atrocities of the slave-trade, never failed to excite his righteous indignation. If ever he    was betrayed into unmeasured language, it was when referring to these topics, or when speaking of the injurious influence exerted on the native mind by the cruel and unprincipled conduct of wicked and selfish traders. His love for Africa, and confidence in the steady dawn of brighter days for its oppressed races, were unbounded."

From a member of another family, that of Mr. Frederick Fitch, of Highbury New Park, with whom also the Livingstones spent part of their time, we have some homely but graphic reminiscences:

"Dr. Livingstone was very simple and unpretending, and used    to be annoyed when he was made a lion of. Once a well-known     gentleman, who was advertised to deliver a lecture next day,     called on him to pump him for material. The Doctor sat rather     quiet, and, without being rude, treated the gentleman to     monosyllabic answers. He could do that--could keep people at     a distance when they wanted to make capital out of him. When     the stranger had left, turning to my mother, he would say,     'I'll tell _you_ anything you like to ask.'

"He never liked to walk in the streets for fear of being    mobbed. Once he was mobbed in Regent street, and did not know     how he was to escape, till he saw a cab, and took refuge in     it. For the same reason it was painful for him to go to     church. Once, being anxious to go with us, my father     persuaded him that, as the seat at the top of our pew was     under the gallery, he would not be seen. As soon as he     entered, he held down his head, and kept it covered with his     hands all the time, but the preacher somehow caught sight of     him, and rather unwisely, in his last prayer, adverted to     him. This gave the people the knowledge that he was in the     chapel, and after the service they came trooping toward him,     even over the pews, in their anxiety to see him and shake     hands[50].

[Footnote 50: A similar occurrence took place in a church at    Bath during the meetings of the British Association in 1864]

"Dr. Livingstone usually conducted our family worship. On    Sunday morning he always gave us a text for the day. His     prayers were very direct and simple, just like a child asking     his Father for what he needed.

"He was always careful as to dress and appearance. This was    his habit in Africa, too, and with Mrs. Livingstone it was     the same. They thought that this was fitted to secure respect     for themselves, and that it was for the good of the natives     too, as it was so difficult to impress them with proper ideas     on the subject of dress.

"Dr. and Mrs. Livingstone were much attached, and thoroughly    understood each other. The doctor was sportive and fond of a     joke, and Mrs. Livingstone entered into his humor. Mrs.     Livingstone was terribly anxious about her husband when he     was in Africa, but before others she concealed her emotion.     In society both were reserved and quiet. Neither of them     cared for grandeur; it was a great trial to Dr. Livingstone     to go to a grand dinner. Yet in his quiet way he would     exercise an influence at the dinner-table. He told us that     once at a dinner at Lord 's, every one was running down     London tradesmen. Dr. Livingstone quietly remarked that     though he was a stranger in London, he knew one tradesman of     whose honesty he was thoroughly assured; and if there was one     such in his little circle, surely there must be many more.

"He used to rise early: about seven he had a cup of tea or    coffee, and then he set to work with his Writing. He had not     the appearance of a very strong man."

In spite of his literary work, the stream of public honors and public engagements began to flow very strongly. The Prince Consort granted him an interview, soon after his arrival, in presence of some of the younger members of the Royal Family. In March it was agreed to present him with the freedom of the City of London, in a box of the value of fifty guineas, and in May the presentation took place. Most of his public honors, however, were reserved till the autumn.

The _Missionary Travels_ was published in November, 1857, and the success of the book was quite remarkable. Writing to Mr. Maclear, 10th November, 1857, he says, after an apology for delay:

"You must ascribe my culpable silence to 'aberration.' I am    out of my orbit, rather, and you must have patience till I     come in again. The book is out to-day, and I am going to     Captain Washington to see about copies to yourself, the     Governor, the Bishop, Fairbairn, Thompson, Rutherfoord, and     Saul Solomon[51]. Ten thousand were taken by the London trade     alone. Thirteen thousand eight hundred have been ordered from     an edition of twelve thousand, so the printers are again at     work to supply the demand. Sir Roderick gave it a glowing     character last night at the Royal Geographical Society, and     the _Athenæum_ has come out strongly on the same side. This     is considered a successful launch for a guinea book."

[Footnote 51: Livingstone was quite lavish with presentation copies; every friend on earth seemed to be included in his list. He tried to remember every one who had shown kindness to himself and particularly to his wife and children.]

It has sometimes been a complaint that so much of the book is occupied with matters of science, geographical inquiries, descriptions of plants and animals, accounts of rivers and mountains, and so little with what directly concerns the work of the missionary. In reply to this, it may be stated, in the first place, that if the information given and the views expressed on missionary topics were all put together, they would constitute no insignificant contribution to missionary literature. But there was another consideration. Livingstone regarded himself as but a pioneer in missionary enterprise. During sixteen years he had done much to bring the knowledge of Christ to tribes that had never heard of Him--probably no missionary in Africa had ever preached to so many blacks. In some instances he had been successful in the highest sense--he had been the instrument of turning men from darkness to light; but he did not think it right to dwell on these cases, because the converts were often inconsistent, and did not exemplify a high moral tone. In most cases, however, he had been a sower of seed, and not a reaper of harvests. He had no triumphs to record, like those which had gladdened the hearts of some of his missionary brethren in the South Sea Islands. He wished his book to be a record of facts, not a mere register of hopes. The missionary work was yet to be done. It belonged to the future, not to the past. By showing what vast fields there were in Africa ripe for the harvest, he sought to stimulate the Christian enterprise of the Churches, and lead them to take possession of Africa for Christ. He would diligently record facts which he had ascertained about Africa, facts that he saw had some bearing on its future welfare, but whose full significance in that connection no one might yet be able to perceive. In a sense, the book was a work of faith. He wished to interest men of science, men of commerce, men of philanthropy, ministers of the Crown, men of all sorts, in the welfare of Africa. Where he had so varied a constituency to deal with, and where the precise method by which Africa would be civilized was yet so indefinite, he would faithfully record what he had come to know, and let others build as they might with his materials. Certainly, in all that Livingstone has written, he has left us in no doubt as to the consummation to which he ever looked. His whole writings and his whole life are a commentary on his own words--"The end of the geographical feat is only the beginning of the enterprise."

Through the great success of the volume and the handsome conduct of the publishers, the book yielded him a little fortune. We shall see what generous use he made of it--how large a portion of the profits went to forward directly the great object to which his heart and his life were so cordially given. More than half went to a single object connected with the Zambesi Expedition, and of the remainder he was ready to devote a half to another favorite project. All that he thought it his duty to reserve for his children was enough to educate them, and prepare them for their part in life. Nothing would have seemed less desirable or less for their good than to found a rich family to live in idleness. It was and is a common impression that Livingstone received large sums from friends to aid him in his work. For the most part these impressions were unfounded; but his own hard-earned money was bestowed freely and cheerfully wherever it seemed likely to do good.

The complaint that he was not sufficiently a missionary was sometimes made of his speeches as well as his book. At Carlisle, a lady wrote to him in this strain. A copy of his reply is before us. After explaining that reporters were more ready to report his geography than his missionary views, he says:

"Nowhere have I ever appeared as anything else but a servant    of God, who has simply followed the leadings of his hand. My     views of what is _missionary_ duty are not so contracted as     those whose ideal is a dumpy sort of man with a Bible under     his arm. I have labored in bricks and mortar, at the forge     and carpenter's bench, as well as in preaching and medical     practice. I feel that I am 'not my own.' I am serving Christ     when shooting a buffalo for my men, or taking an astronomical     observation, or writing to one of his children who forget,     during the little moment of penning a note, that charity     which is eulogized as 'thinking no evil'; and after having by     his help got information, which I hope will lead to more     abundant blessing being bestowed on Africa than heretofore,     am I to hide the light under a bushel, merely because some     will consider it not sufficiently, or even at all, _missionary_? Knowing that some persons do believe that opening up a new country to the sympathies of Christendom was not a proper work for an agent of a missionary society to    engage in, I now refrain from taking any salary from the Society with which I was connected; so no pecuniary loss is    sustained by any one."

Subsequently, when detained in Manyuema, and when his immediate object was to determine the water-shed, Dr. Livingstone wrote: "I never felt a single pang at having left the Missionary Society. I acted for my Master, and believe that all ought to devote their special faculties to Him. I regretted that unconscientious men took occasion to prevent many from sympathizing with me."