66 DA VID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. iv. 



Something led him in his letter to Mr. Watt to talk 

 of the old monks, and the spots they selected for their 

 establishments. He goes on to write lovingly of what 

 was good in some of the old fathers of the mediaeval 

 Church, despite the strong feeling of many to the 

 contrary ; indicating thus early the working of that 

 catholic spirit which was constantly expanding in later 

 years, which could separate the good in any man from 

 all its evil surroundings, and think of it thankfully and 

 admiringly. In the following extract we get a glimpse 

 of a range of reading much wider than most would 

 probably have supposed likely : — 



" Who can read the sermons of St. Bernard, the meditations of St. 

 Augustine, etc., without saying, whatever other faults they had : They 

 thirsted, and now they are filled. That hymn of St. Bernard, on the 

 name of Christ, although in what might he termed dog-Latin, pleases 

 me so ; it rings in my ears as I wander across the wide, wide wilder- 

 ness, and makes me wish I was more like them — 



" Jesu, dulcis memoria, Jesu, spes poenitentibus, 



Dans cordi vera gaudia ; Quam pius es petentibus ! 



Sed super rnel et omnia, Quarn bonus es queerentibus ! 



Ejus dulcis prsesentia. Sed quid invenientibus ! 



Nil canitur suavius, Jesu, dulcedo cordium, 



Nil auditur jucundius, Fons, rivus, lumen mentium, 



Nil cogitatur dulcius, Excedens omne gaudium, 



Quam Jesus Dei filius. Et omne desiderium." 



Livingstone was in the habit of fastening inside the 

 boards of his journals, or writing on the fly-leaf, verses 

 that interested him specially. In one of these volumes 

 this hymn is copied at full length. In another we find 

 a very yellow newspaper clipping of the " Song of the 

 Shirt." In the same volume a clipping containing " The 

 Bridge of Sighs," beginning 



" One more unfortunate, 

 Weary of breath, 

 Rashly importunate, 

 Gone to her death." 



