316 FAREWELL BANQUET. 



know how to our knowledge, sparkles like a jewel over the heart 

 of the man we have already learned to love not less than we 

 honor hira. 



Having appointed him as its ambassador, the government 

 also appropriated <£5000 for the fitting out of an expedition to 

 explore the Zambesi and the neighboring country, to be headed 

 by Dr. Livingstone. And her Majesty honored the man who 

 had become the central object of the time, with a personal in- 

 terview. The Royal Geographical Society took a deep interest 

 in the new expedition, and one of the most interesting events of 

 Dr. Livingstone's sojourn in England was the farewell banquet 

 with which the distinguished members of this great society hon- 

 ored him on the 13th of February, 1868. The banquet was 

 presided over by Sir Roderick Murchison, and there were 

 more than three hundred gentlemen, many of them well known 

 and of illustrious rank. Science and ai*t were there to do honor 

 to a noble man. The church and the state came to bid god- 

 speed to the most faithful servant of both. The ambassadors of 

 Denmark, Sweden and Norway were there, and many nobles 

 and ladies filled the galleries, delighted to witness the proceed- 

 ings and hear the speeches. There were many of these during 

 the evening. The ever-ardent president delivered a character- 

 istic address, in the midst of which, after referring to the ser- 

 vice which their honored guest had rendered to those interests 

 which are more conspicuous in human attention, he. said: 

 " These are great claims upon the admiration of men of science; 

 but, great as they are, they fall far short of others which attach 

 to the name of the missionary who, by his fidelity to his word, 

 by his conscientious regard for his engagements, won the affec- 

 tion of the natives of Africa by the example which he set before 

 them in his treatment of the poor people who followed him in 

 his arduous researches through that great continent." 



The speech of Dr. Livingstone on this occasion is particu- 

 larly interesting, as giving a complete account of the great 

 traveller's plans. He arose and said : 



" When I was in Africa I could not but look forward with 

 joyous anticipation to my arrival in my native land ; but when 

 I remember how I have been received, and when I reflect that 

 I am now again returning to the scene of my former labors, I 



