An invitation to dine with Lord Palmerston on the 29th detained him for a few days from going down to Scotland.
"Monday, 25th July.--Went to Foreign Office.... Got a dress suit at Nicol & Co.'s, and dined with Lord and Lady Dunmore. Very clever and intelligent man, and lady very sprightly. Thence to Duchess of Wellington's reception. A grand company--magnificent rooms. Met Lord and Lady Colchester, Mrs. F. Peel, Lady Emily Peel, Lady de Redcliffe, Lord Broughton, Lord Houghton, and many more whose names escaped me. Ladies wonderfully beautiful--rich and rare were the gems they wore.
"26th July.--Go to Wimbledon with Mr. Murray, and see Sir Bartle Frere's children.... See Lord Russell--his manner is very cold, as all the Russells are. Saw Mr. Layard too; he is warm and frank. Received an invitation from the Lord Mayor to dine with Her Majesty's Ministers.
"27th July.--Hear the sad news that Robert is In the American army.... Went to Lord Mayor Lawrence's to dinner...."
With reference to the "sad news" of Robert, which made his father very heavy-hearted during the first part of his visit home, it is right to state a few particulars, as the painful subject found its way into print, and was not always recorded accurately. Robert had some promising qualities, and those who knew and understood him had good hopes of his turning out well. But he was extremely restless, as if, to use Livingstone's phrase, he had got "a deal of the vagabond nature from his father;" and school-life was very irksome to him. With the view of joining his father, he was sent to Natal, but he found no opportunity of getting thence to the Zambesi. Leaving Natal, he found his way to America, and at Boston he enlisted in the Federal army. The service was as hot as could be. In one battle, two men were killed close to him by shrapnel shell, a rifle bullet passed close to his head, and killed a man behind him; other two were wounded close by him. His letters to his sister expressed his regret at the course of his life, and confessed that his troubles were due to his disobedience. So far was he from desiring to trade on his father's name, that in enlisting he assumed another, nor did any one in the army know whose son it was that was fighting for the freedom of the slave. Meeting the risks of battle with dauntless courage, he purposely abstained, even in the heat of a charge, from destroying life. Not long after, Dr. Livingstone learned that in one of his battles he was wounded and taken prisoner; then came a letter from a hospital, in which he again expressed his intense desire to travel. But his career had come to its close. He died in his nineteenth year. His body lies in the great national cemetery of Gettysburg, in Pennsylvania, in opening which Lincoln uttered one of those speeches that made his name dear to Livingstone. Whatever degree of comfort or hope his father might derive from Robert's last letters, he felt saddened by his unsatisfactory career. Writing to his friend Moore (5th August) he says: "I hope your eldest son will do well in the distant land to which he has gone. My son is in the Federal army in America, and no comfort. The secret ballast is often applied by a kind hand above, when to outsiders we appear to be sailing gloriously with the wind."
"29th July.--Called on Mr. Gladstone; he was very affable--spoke about the Mission, and asked if I had told Lord Russell about it.... Visited Lady Franklin and Miss Cracroft, her niece.... Dined with Lord and Lady Palmerston, Lady Shaftesbury, and Lady Victoria Ashley, the Portuguese Minister, Count d'Azeglio (Sardinian Minister), Mr. Calcraft--a very agreeable party. Mr. Calcraft and I walked home after retiring. He is cousin to Colonel Steele; the colonel has gone abroad with his daughter, who is delicate."
"Saturday, 31st July, 1864.--Came down by the morning train to Harburn, and met my old friend Mr. Young, who took me to Limefield, and introduced me to a nice family."
Dr. Livingstone's relation to Mr. Young's family was very close and cordial. Hardly one of the many notes and letters he wrote to his friend fails to send greetings to "Ma-James," as he liked to call Mrs. Young, after the African fashion. It is not only the playful ease of his letters that shows how much he felt at home with Mr. Young,--the same thing appears from the frequency with which he sought his counsel in matters of business, and the value which he set upon it.
"Sunday, 1st August.--Went-to the U.P. church, and heard excellent sermons. Was colder this time than on my former visit to Scotland.
"2d August.--Reached Hamilton. Mother did not know me at first. Anna Mary, a nice sprightly child, told me that she preferred Garibaldi buttons on her dress, as I walked down to Dr. Loudon to thank him for his kindness to my mother.
"3d August.--Agnes, Oswell, and Thomas came. I did not recognize Tom, he has grown so much. Has been poorly a long while; congestion of the kidney, it is said. Agnes quite tall, and Anna Mary a nice little girl."
The next few days were spent with his family, and in visits to the neighborhood. He had a consultation with Professor Syme as to a surgical operation recommended for an ailment that had troubled him ever since his first great journey; he was strongly urged to have the operation performed, and probably it would have been better if he had; but he finally declined, partly because an old medical friend was against it, but chiefly, as he told Sir* Roderick, because the matter would get into the newspapers, and he did not like the public to be speaking of his infirmities. On the 17th he went to Inveraray to visit the Duke of Argyll. He was greatly pleased with his reception, and his Journal records the most trifling details. What especially charmed him was the considerate forethought in making him feel at his ease. "On Monday morning I had the honor of planting two trees beside those planted by Sir John Lawrence and the Marquis of Lansdowne, and by the Princess of Prussia and the Crown Prince. The coach came at twelve o'clock, and I finished the most delightful visit I ever made."
Next day he went to Oban, and the day after by steamer to Iona and Staffa, and thereafter to Aros, in Mull. Next day Captain Greenhill took him in his yacht to Ulva.