On May 10th he held a meeting at the Free Church, Ballater; on the 12th preached at Crathie Free Church, near Balmoral Castle; and after he had held three other services at Crathie, we went by stage coach to Bræmar, where he preached once at the National, and once at the Free Church. On our return to Crathie, two more meetings were also held there. Whilst at this village, we became acquainted with a Christian housekeeper living at Balmoral Castle, who kindly conducted us one afternoon through the Queen's residence in Scotland; and, a short time before we left Crathie, Her Majesty arrived at the Castle, whom we saw driving out occasionally, accompanied by the Princess Beatrice.
After our departure from Crathie we went to Inverness, where Mr. Müller preached many times, and remained there until May 31st, when we set off for Wick, about 15 miles from John O'Groat's House, in the extreme North of Scotland. During our short stay at Wick, on the morning of June 1st we took a drive to Canisbury, the parish in which John O'Groat's House is situated, and walked upon the sea-shore, from which the Orkney Islands can be seen. At 2 in the afternoon Mr. Müller preached at Canisbury Free Church, where the country people flocked in great numbers from their little farms and cottages, three, four, and five miles off to hear him; and after the service, at 4 o'clock we returned to Wick, where he held a meeting in the evening.
On June 3rd we went back to Inverness, and here he resumed his labours until the 8th, when, in consequence of the death of an aged lady residing at Reading, Berkshire, who had made him her executor, we were obliged rather suddenly to leave; but during our two visits to this town, including the services at Wick and Canisbury, he preached 24 times altogether.
From Inverness we went—viâ Edinburgh and London, to Reading, where he preached 13 times, and thence proceeded to London. There, during the 10 days we remained, he spoke ten times in public. These services brought his second preaching tour to a close, and, on July 5th, we returned to Bristol.
THIRD TOUR.
CONTINENT OF EUROPE.[A]
From August 16th, 1876, to June 25th, 1877.
[A] In the following Narrative, passages which describe cities and places in Europe and America (marked as being quotations by inverted commas) have been taken either from "Appleton's Handbook of American Travel," from "Bradshaw's Continental Guide," or from one of "Murray's European Handbooks."
After being occupied daily for a few weeks at the Orphan Houses on Ashley Down, and attending to business connected with the other branches of the Scriptural Knowledge Institution, besides ministering regularly at the three chapels in Bristol with which he is connected, as Mr. Müller had it particularly laid upon his heart to visit Switzerland and Germany, that he might labour in the gospel in those countries, on Aug. 16th, 1876, we went to Dover, crossed over to Calais the next morning, and proceeding to Boulogne, where we stayed one night, continued our journey afterwards to Paris, where we arrived on the 18th. During our stay in Paris he preached five times at the Congregational Chapel, Rue Royale, in English. Before our departure we visited Versailles and Charenton-le-Pont, and availed ourselves of every suitable opportunity upon these occasions of giving away little gospel books in French to the numerous Roman Catholics we met with. On the 28th we started for Dijon, remained there one night, and went on to Neuchâtel, Switzerland, on the 29th. There, during our short visit of one day, we took a drive to Chaumont, on the Jura, 3845 feet above the level of the sea, whence a magnificent general view of the Alps can be obtained, and reached Berne on the 31st.