Expedition, but he was
sanguine as to its ultimate benefit. He thought they would get in the
thin end of the wedge, and that it would be driven home by English
energy and spirit. For himself, with all eyes resting upon him, he felt
under an obligation to do better than he had ever done. And as to Mrs.
Livingstone:

"It is scarcely fair to ask a man to praise his own wife, but
I can only say that when I parted from her at the Cape,
telling her that I should return in two years, and when it
happened that I was absent four years and a half, I supposed
that I should appear before her with a damaged character. I
was, however, forgiven. My wife, who has always been the main
spoke in my wheel, will accompany me in this expedition, and
will be most useful to me. She is familiar with the languages
of South Africa. She is able to work. She is willing to
endure, and she well knows that in that country one must put
one's hand to everything. In the country to which I am about
to proceed she knows that at the missionary's station the
wife must be the maid-of-all-work within, while the husband
must be the jack-of-all-trades without, and glad am I indeed
that I am to be accompanied by my guardian angel."

Of the many letters of adieu he received before setting out we have
space for only two. The first came from the venerable Professor
Sedgwick, of Cambridge, in the form of an apology for inability to
attend the farewell banquet. It is a beautiful unfolding of the head and
heart of the Christian philosopher, and must have been singularly
welcome to Livingstone, whose views on some of the greatest subjects of
thought were in thorough harmony with those of his friend:

"_Cambridge, February_ 10, 1858.--MY DEAR SIR,--Your kind and
very welcome letter came to me yesterday; and I take the
first moment of leisure to thank you for it, and to send you
a few more words of good-will, along with my prayers that God
may, for many years, prolong your life and the lives of those
who are most near and dear to you, and that he may support
you in all coming trials, and crown with a success, far
transcending your own hopes, your endeavors for the good of
our poor humble fellow-creatures in Africa,

"There is but one God, the God who created all worlds and the
natural laws whereby they are governed; and the God of
re