The Personal Life Of David Livingstone

1856-

ting 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 grea

or 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 unh

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an 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

her life had been published, we are convinced that it would have been a notable one in missionary biography. Hea

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

ply 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

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 po

lation to his son-in-l

nd 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, yo

en 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 countr

ceived 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

rt 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

dial 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 est

able 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 i

rica,--gratitude for the unbounded kindness and hospitality that Dr. and Mrs. Livingstone had shown to South African trave

reception from the London Missionary Society in F

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 m

xplanation 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

of this meeting, in honor of Mrs. Li

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

, to consider the propriety of presenting a testimonial to Dr. Livingstone

ther 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

h, 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 necessa

ily 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, pains

entific powers of Livingstone came the testi

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

rade 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. Rutherfo

ile director, did ever man sustain so many characters at once? Or did ever man

m. "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, Davi

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,

n 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 un

s 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 simp

e eve of his beginning his book (21st January,

d 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

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 frivo

by the notes of some of the friends with whom he stayed. For

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

ho 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 s

ter 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-p

of Highbury New Park, with whom also the Livingstones spent pa

t 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 ke

nxious 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 caugh

in a church at Bath during the meetin

ing he always gave us a text for the day. His prayers were very direc

ne it was the same. They thought that this was fitted to secure respect for themselves, and that it was for t

oncealed 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 Lo

tea or coffee, and then he set to work with his Writ

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 o

e success of the book was quite remarkable. Writing to Mr. Mac

ernor, 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 ag

n earth seemed to be included in his list. He tried to remember every one

e 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, f

t 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

s his book. At Carlisle, a lady wrote to him in this strain. A copy of his reply is before us. After

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

"I never felt a single pang at having left the Missionary Society. I acted for my Master, and believe that all ought to devot