CAPTAIN SPEKE'S DEATH. 



399 



unaccountable accident, an explorer of whom 

 England had reason to be prond, and whose 

 memory will not readily pass away. His sudden 

 decease recalls to mind that of James Bruce of 

 the Blue Biver, who, after a life of hazard and of 

 dangerous enterprise, perished by the slipping of 

 his foot : unlike the Abyssinian explorer, how- 

 ever, Capt. Speke was not fated to extend his 

 sphere of usefulness or to enjoy the fruits of his 

 labours. With the active and intrepid energy, 

 with the unusual temper, patience, and single- 

 mindedness, with the earnest and indomitable 

 pertinacity, and with the almost heroic determina- 

 tion, which he brought to bear upon everything 

 that he attempted, the achievements of Capt. 

 Speke' s later life would doubtless, had his career 

 run out its time, have thrown into the shade 

 the exploits of his youth. 



^!c- * * * * 



I will end this chapter — and volume — with a 

 few stanzas written by my wife, who shall be 

 allowed to tell her own tale. 



' The following lines were suggested to me in 

 the studio of the late Mr Edgar George Pap worth, 

 of 36, Milton Street, Dorset Square, during the 

 winter of 1864-5. 



' Captain Burton had recently returned from 



