1S36-40.] MISSIONARY PREPARATION. 27 



neighbourhood, among them the country churchyard which was the 

 burial-place of John Locke. In a place so quiet, and a life so ordinary 

 as that of a student, there did not occur many events worthy of 

 recital. I will, however, mention one or two things, because they 

 give an insight — a kind of prophetic glance — into Livingstone's after 

 career. 



" One foggy November morning, at three o'clock, he set out from 

 Ongar to walk to London to see a relative of his father's. 1 It was 

 about twenty-seven miles to the house he sought. After spending a 

 few hours with his relation, he set out to return on foot to Ongar. 

 Just out of London, near Edmonton, a lady had been thrown out of a 

 gig. She lay stunned on the road. Livingstone immediately went to 

 her, helped to carry her into a house close by, and having examined 

 her and found no bones broken, and recommending a doctor to be 

 called, he resumed his weary tramp. Weary and footsore, when 

 he reached Stanford Rivers he missed his way, and finding after some 

 time that he was wrong, he felt so dead-beat that he was inclined 

 to lie down and sleep ; but finding a directing post he climbed it, and 

 by the light of the stars deciphered enough to know his whereabouts. 

 About twelve that Saturday night he reached Ongar, white as a sheet, 

 and so tired he could hardly utter a word. I gave him a basin 

 of bread and milk, and I am not exaggerating when I say I put him 

 to bed. He fell at once asleep, and did not awake till noon-day had 

 passed on Sunday. 



" Total abstinence at that time began to be spoken of, and Living- 

 stone and I, and a Mr. Taylor, who went to India, took a pledge 

 together to abstain. 2 Of that trio, two, I am sorry to say (heu me 

 miserum !), enfeebled health, after many years, compelled to take a 

 little wine for our stomachs' sake. Livingstone was one of the two. 



" One part of our duties was to prepare sermons, which were 

 submitted to Mr. Cecil, and, when corrected, were committed to 

 memory, and then repeated to our village congregations. Livingstone 

 prepared one, and one Sunday the minister of Stanford Rivers, where 

 the celebrated Isaac Taylor resided, having fallen sick after the 

 morning service, Livingstone was sent for to preach in the evening. 

 He took his text, read it out very deliberately, and then — then — his 

 sermon had fled ! Midnight darkness came upon him, and he abruptly 

 said : ' Friends, I have forgotten all I had to say,' and hurrying out of 

 the pulpit, he left the chapel. 



1 We learn from the family that the precise object of the visit was to transact 

 some business for his eldest brother, who had begun to deal in lace. In the 

 darkness of the morning Livingstone fell into a ditch, smearing his clothes, and 

 not improving his appearance for smart business purposes. The day was spent in 

 going about in London from shop to shop, greatly increasing Livingstone's fatigue. 



2 Livingstone had always practised total abstinence, according to the invariable 

 custom of his father's house. The third of the trio was the Rev. Joseph v. S. 

 Taylor, now of the Irish Presbyterian Mission, Gujerat, Bombay. 



