236 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xi. 



manifested the greatest interest in him, and showed great 

 kindness to his family, when the rumour came of his 

 death. 



The banquet in Freemasons' Tavern, which it had 

 been intended to limit to 250 guests, overflowed the 

 allotted bounds, and was attended by upwards of 350, 

 including the Ministers of Sweden and Norway, and of 

 Denmark ; Dukes of Argyll and Wellington ; Earl of 

 Shaftesbury and Earl Grey ; Bishops of Oxford and St. 

 David's ; and hosts of other celebrities in almost every 

 department of public life. The feeling was singularly 

 cordial. Sir Roderick rehearsed the services of Living- 

 stone, crowning them, as was his wont r with that memor- 

 able act — his keeping his promise to his black servants by 

 returning with them from Loanda to the heart of Africa, 

 in spite of all the perils of the way, and all the attractions 

 of England, thereby "leaving for himself in that country 

 a glorious name, and proving to the people of Africa 

 what an English Christian is." Still more, perhaps, did 

 Sir Roderick touch the heart of the audience when he 

 said of Livingstone " that notwithstanding eighteen 

 months of laudation, so justly bestowed on him by all 

 classes of his countrymen, and after receiving all the 

 honours which the Universities and cities of our country 

 could shower upon him, he is still the same honest, true- 

 hearted David Livingstone as when he issued from the 

 wilds of Africa." It was natural for the Duke of Argyll 

 to recall the fact that Livingstone's family was an 

 Argyllshire one, and it was a happy thought that as 

 Ulva was close to Iona— " that illustrious island," as Dr. 

 Samuel Johnson called it, " whence roving tribes and 

 rude barbarians derived the benefits of knowledge and 

 the blessings of religion," — so might the son of Ulva 

 carry the same blessings to Africa, and be remembered, 

 perhaps, by millions of the human race as the first 

 pioneer of civilisation, and the first harbinger of the 



