1864-65.] SECOND VISIT HOME. 357 



" Took leave at Foreign Office. Mr. Layard very kind in his 

 expressions at parting, and so was Mr. Wylde. 



"12th August. — Went down to Wimbledon to dine with Mr. Murray, 

 and take leave. Mr. and Mrs. Oswell came up to say farewell. He 

 offers to go over to Paris at any time to bring Agnes" [who was going 

 to school there] "home, or do anything that a father would. [" I love 

 him," Livingstone writes to Mr. Webb, " with true affection, and I 

 believe he does the same to me ; and yet we never show it."] 



" We have been with Dr. and Mrs. Hamilton for some time — good, 

 gracious people. The Lord bless them and their household ! Dr. 

 Kirk and Mr. Waller go down to Folkestone to-morrow, and take 

 leave of us there. This is very kind. The Lord puts it into their 

 hearts to show kindness, and blessed be His name." 



Dr. Livingstone's last weeks in England were passed 

 under the roof of the late Rev. Dr. Hamilton, author of 

 Life in Earnest, and could hardly have been passed in a 

 more congenial home. Natives of the same part of 

 Scotland, nearly of an age, and resembling each other 

 much in taste and character, the two men drew greatly 

 to each other. The same Puritan faith lay at the basis 

 of their religious character, with all its stability and 

 firmness. But above all, they had put on charity, which 

 is the bond of perfectness. In Natural History, too, they 

 had an equal enthusiasm. In Dr. Hamilton, Livingstone 

 found what he missed in many orthodox men. On the 

 evening of his last Sunday, he was prevailed on to give 

 an address in Dr, Hamilton's church, after having in the 

 morning received the Communion with the congregation. 

 In his address he vindicated his character as a missionary, 

 and declared that it was as much as ever his great object 

 to proclaim the love of Christ, which they had been com- 

 memorating that day. His prayers made a deep impres- 

 sion ; they were like the communings of a child with his 

 father. At the railway station, the last Scotch hands 

 grasped by him were those of Dr. and Mrs. Hamilton. 

 The news of Dr. Hamilton's death was received by Living- 

 stone a few years after, in the heart of Africa, with no small 

 emotion. Their next meeting was in the better land. 



