FAREWELL FESTIVAL. 263 



indeed that I am to be accompanied by my guardian angel. (Loud cheering.) 

 Allow me, in conclusion, to say one word in reference to our excellent chair- 

 man. In packing up my things a few days ago, I found the identical address 

 which he delivered to the Geographical Society in 1852, and which he had 

 the impudence to send out to me in the heart of Africa, where it lay upon an 

 island a whole year before I got it. In that address my distinguished friend 

 actually foreshadowed a great portion of my discoveries ;. and all I can now 

 say is, that I hope he will not do the same again. (Laughter and long 

 continued applause.)" 



The company then gave " Three times three for Mrs. Livingstone," and 

 that lady, from the gallery, bowed in acknowledgment of the compliment. 



The Duke of Argyle, in returning thanks for the House of Lords, said : — 



" I deem it a great honour, gentlemen, to any Government and to any 

 Parliament to be able to assist in that noble enterprise to which Dr. Living- 

 stone has devoted his best energies, and to which he is now willing to devote 

 his life. Perhaps no enterprise of modern times has attracted so large an 

 amount of public attention ; and this because it includes within itself almost 

 every variety and degree of interest. First and foremost there is the interest 

 which attaches to the character of the man ; and it is right, gentlemen, that 

 this should be the first and foremost interest of all. The progress of the 

 world depends upon its great men ; and happy is that people which knows 

 them when they appear. (Cheers.) 



" Dr. Livingstone has to-night told us, with that moderation and sobriety 

 of expectation which is one of the most remarkable characteristics of his mind, 

 that he looks for no great immediate results ; but he hopes, he says, to be 

 able to serve as the ' small end of the wedge.' Now, gentlemen, I say that 

 at all times and in all successful movements for the improvement of the human 

 race, ' the small ends of the wedge ' have been individual men of great 

 endowments for their special work. (Loud cheers.) 



" I will not dwell on some of those features in the character of Dr. 

 Livingstone which have been referred to with so much feeling by our chair- 

 man ; but I think I cannot go far wrong when I say that one thing at least 

 for which he is admired by his countrymen is for that lofty and enduring 

 courage — that true British pluck — for there is no better word — of which we 

 have lately seen many noble examples, but which has never been exhibited in 

 a nobler form than that which — not under the strong incitement of a desire to 

 preserve the lives of those nearest and dearest to him, or of the pride, the 

 just pride of national dominion, but for objects hid in the far distant future — 

 has sustained Dr. Livingstone for years through the deserts and the swamps 

 of Africa. Then, as another great source of public interest, there is the love 

 of natural science. I recognise around me the faces of many who are devoted 

 to that science in its various branches : nor is there one of them who may not 



