"26th Sept.--Agnes and I go to-day to Newstead Abbey, Notts. Reach it about 9 P.M., and find Mr. and Mrs. Webb all I anticipated and more. A splendid old mansion with a wonderful number of curiosities in it, and magnificent scenery around. It was the residence of Lord Byron, and his furniture is kept" [in his private rooms] "just as he left it. His character does not shine. It appears to have been horrid.... He made a drinking cup of a monk's skull found under the high altar, with profane verses on the silver setting, and kept his wine in the stone coffin. These Mrs. Webb buried, and all the bones she could find that had been desecrated by the poet."
In a letter to Sir Thomas Maclear he speaks of the poet as one of those who, like many others--some of them travelers who abused missionaries,--considered it a fine thing to be thought awfully bad fellows.
"27th.--Went through the whole house with our kind hosts, and saw all the wonders, which would require many days properly to examine....
"2d October.--Took Communion in the chapel of the Abbey. God grant me to be and always to act as a true Christian.
"3d.--Mr. and Mrs. Webb kindness itself personified. A blessing be on them and their children from the Almighty!"
When first invited to reside at Newstead Abbey, Dr. Livingstone declined, on the ground that he was to be busy writing a book, and that he wished to have some of his children with him, and in the case of Agnes, to let her have music lessons. His kind friends, however, were resolved that these reasons should not stand in the way, and arrangements were made by them accordingly. Dr. Livingstone continued to be their guest for eight months, and received from them all manner of assistance. Sometimes Mr. and Mrs. Webb, Mrs. Goodlake (Mrs. Webb's mother), and his daughter Agnes would all be busy copying his journals. The "Livingstone room," as it is called, in the Sussex tower, is likely to be associated with his name while the building lasts. It was his habit to rise early and work at his book, to return to his task after breakfast and continue till luncheon and in the afternoon have a long walk with Mr. Webb. It is only when the book is approaching its close that we find him working "till two in the morning." One of his chief recreations was in the field of natural history, watching experiments with the spawning of trout. He endeared himself to all, high and low; was a special favorite with the children, and did not lose opportunities to commend, in the way he thought best, those high views of life and duty which had been so signally exemplified in his own career. The playfulness of his nature found full and constant scope at Newstead; he regained an almost boyish flow of animal spirits, reveled in fun and frolic in his short notes to friends like Mr. Young, or Mr. Webb when he happened to be absent; wrote in the style of Mr. Punch, and called his opponents by ludicrous names; yet never forgot the stern duty that loomed before him, or allowed the enjoyment and abandon of the moment to divert him from the death-struggle on behalf of Africa in which he had yet to engage.
The book was at first to be a little one,--a blast of the trumpet against the monstrous slave-trade of the Portuguese; but it swelled to a goodly octavo, and embraced the history of the Zambesi Expedition. Charles Livingstone had written a full diary, and in order that his name might be on the title-page, and he might have the profits of the American edition, his journal was made use of in the writing of the book; but the arrangement was awkward; sometimes Livingstone forgot the understanding of joint-authorship, and he found that he could more easily have written the whole from the foundation, At first it was designed that the book should appear early in the summer of 1865, but when the printing was finished the map was not ready; and the publication had to be delayed till the usual season in autumn.
The entries in his Journal are brief, and of little general interest during the time the book was getting ready. Most of them have reference to the affairs of other people. As he finds that Dr. Kirk is unable to undertake a work on the botany and natural history of the Expedition, unless he should hold some permanent situation, he exerts himself to procure a Government appointment for him, recommending him strongly to Sir R. Murchison and others, and is particularly gratified by a reply to his application from the Earl of Dalhousie, who wrote that he regarded his request as a command. He is pleased to learn that, through the kind efforts of Sir Roderick, his brother Charles has been appointed Consul at Fernando Po. He sees the American Minister, who promises to do all he can for Robert, but almost immediately after, the report comes that poor Robert has died in a hospital in Salisbury, North Carolina. He delivers a lecture at the Mechanics' Institute at Mansfield, but the very idea of a speech always makes him ill, and in this case it brings on an attack of Hæmorrhoids, with which he had not been troubled for long. He goes to London to a meeting of the Geographical Society, and hears a paper of Burton's--a gentleman from whose geographical views he dissents, as he does from his views on subjects more important. In regard to his book he says very little; four days, he tells us, were spent in writing the description of the Victoria Falls; and on the 15th April, 1865, he summons his daughter Agnes to take his pen and write FINIS at the end of his manuscript. On leaving Newstead on the 25th, he writes, "Parted with our good friends the Webbs. And may God Almighty bless and reward them and their family!"
Some time before this, a proposal was made to him by Sir Roderick Murchison which in the end gave a new direction to the remaining part of his life. It was brought before him in the following letter:
"Jan. 5, 1865.
"MY DEAR LIVINGSTONE:--As to your future, I am anxious to know what your own wish is as respects a renewal of African exploration.
"Quite irrespective of missionaries or political affairs, there is at this moment a question of intense geographical interest to be settled: namely, the watershed, or watersheds, of South Africa.
"How, if you would really like to be the person to finish off your remarkable career by completing such a survey, unshackled by other avocations than those of the geographical explorer, I should be delighted to consult my friends of the Society, and take the best steps to promote such an enterprise.
"For example, you might take your little steamer to the Rovuma, and, getting up by water as far as possible in the rainy season, then try to reach the south end of the Tanganyika. Thither you might transport a light boat, or build one there, and so get to the end of that sheet of water.
"Various questions might be decided by the way, and if you could get to the west, and come out on that coast, or should be able to reach the White Nile (!), you would bring back an unrivaled reputation, and would have settled all the great disputes now pending.
"If you do not like to undertake the purely geographical work, I am of opinion that no one, after yourself, is so fitted to carry it out as Dr. Kirk. I know that he thinks of settling down now at home. But if he could delay this home-settlement for a couple of years, he would not only make a large sum of money by his book of travels, but would have a renown that would give him an excellent introduction as a medical man.
"I have heard you so often talk of the enjoyment you feel when in Africa, that I cannot believe you now think of anchoring for the rest of your life on the mud and sand-banks of England.
"Let me know your mind on the subject. When is the book to appear? Kind love to your daughter.--Yours sincerely,
"ROD'CK I. MURCHISON."
Livingstone begins his answer by assuring Sir Roderick that he never contemplated settling down quietly in England; it would be time enough for that when he was in his dotage. "I should like the exploration you propose very much, and had already made up my mind to go up the Rovuma, pass by the head of Lake Nyassa, and away west or northwest as might be found practicable." He would have been at this ere now, but his book chained him, and he feared that he could not take back the "Lady Nyassa" to Africa, with the monsoon against him, so that be must get a boat to explore the Rovuma.
"What my inclination leads me to prefer is to have intercourse with the people, and do what I can by talking, to enlighten them on the slave-trade, and give them some idea of our religion. It may not be much that I can do, but I feel when doing that I am not living in vain. You remember that when, to prevent our coming to a standstill, I had to turn skipper myself, the task was endurable only because I was determined that no fellow should prove himself indispensable to our further progress. To be debarred from spending most of my time in traveling, in exploration, and continual intercourse with the natives, I always felt to be a severe privation, and if I can get a few hearty native companions, I shall enjoy myself, and feel that I am doing my duty. As soon as my book is out, I shall start."