Personal life of David Livingstone, chiefly from his unpublished journals and correspondance in the possession of his family / by William Garden Blaikie.

Blaikie, William Garden, 1820-1899.

Date:: 1880

Credit: Personal life of David Livingstone, chiefly from his unpublished journals and correspondance in the possession of his family / by William Garden Blaikie. Source: Wellcome Collection.

248/564 (page 218)

$our cause, which, I think, is the cause of Christ in Africa. Lord Kadstock is much interested in it, and seems willing and anxious to promote it. He was converted out at the Crimea, Avhither he had gone as an amateur. His lady is a beautiful woman, and I think, what is far better, a good, pious one. The Archbishop’s daughters asked me if they could be of any use in sending out needles, thread, etc., to your school. I, of course, said Yes. His daughters are de- votedly missionary, and work hard in ragged schools, etc. One of them nearly remained in Jerusalem as a missionary, and is the same in spirit here. It is well to be servants of Christ everywhere, at home or abroad, wherever He may send us or take us. . ^ . I hope I may be enabled to say a word for Him on Monday. There is to be a grand j dinner and soiree at the Lord-Lieutenant’s on Monday, and I have got i an invitation in my pocket, but will have to meet Admiral Trotter on Tuesday. I go off as soon as my lecture is over Sir Duncan Macgregor is the author of The Burning of the ‘Kent East Indiaman. His son, the only infant saved, is now a devoted Christian, a barrister.” In September we find him in Manchester, where the Chamber of Commerce gave him a hearty welcome, and entered cordially into his schemes for the commercial development of Africa. He was subjected to a close cross-examination regarding the products of the country, and the materials it contained for commerce ; but here, too, the missionary was equal to -the occasion. He had brought home five or six and twenty different kinds of fruit; he told them of oils they had never heard of—dyes that were kept secret by the natives—fibres that might be used for the manufacture of paper—sheep that had hair instead of wool—^honey, sugar-cane, wheat, millet, cotton, and iron, all abounding in the country. That aU these should abound in what used to be deemed a sandy desert appeared very strange. A very cordial resolution was unanimously agreed to, and a strong desire expressed * Dr. Li\'ingstone always liked tkat style of earnest Christianity which he notices in this letter. In November of the same year, after he had resigned his connection with the London Missionary Society, and was preparing to return to Africa as H. M. Consul and head of the Zambesi Expedition, he writes thus to his friend Mr. James Young :—“I read the life of Hedley Vicars for the first time through, when down at Rugby. It is really excellent, and makes me ashamed of the coldness of my services in comparison. That was his sister you saw me walking with in Dublin at the Gardens (Lady Rayleigh). If you have not read it, the sooner you dip into it the better. You wiU thank me for it.” I I$