The banquet in Freemason’s Tavern, which it had been intended to limit to 250 guests, overflowed the allotted bounds, and was attended by upward of 350, including the Ministers of Sweden and Norway, and of Denmark; Dukes of Argyll and Wellington; Earl of Shaftesbury and Earl Grey; Bishops of Oxford and St. David’s; and hosts of other celebrities in almost every department of public life.  The feeling was singularly cordial.  Sir Roderick rehearsed the services of Livingstone, crowning them, as was his wont, with that memorable act—­his keeping his promise to his black servants by returning with them from Loanda to the heart of Africa, in spite of all the perils of the way, and all the attractions of England, thereby “leaving for himself in that country a glorious name, and proving to the people of Africa what an English Christian is.”  Still more, perhaps, did Sir Roderick touch the heart of the audience when he said of Livingstone “that notwithstanding eighteen months of laudation, so justly bestowed on him by all classes of his countrymen, and after receiving all the honors which the Universities and cities of our country could shower upon him, he is still the same honest, true-hearted David Livingstone as when he issued from the wilds of Africa.”  It was natural for the Duke of Argyll to recall the fact that Livingstone’s family was an Argyllshire one, and it was a happy thought that as Ulva was close to Iona—­“that illustrious island,” as Dr. Samuel Johnson called it, “whence roving tribes and rude barbarians derived the benefits of knowledge and the blessings of religion,”—­so might the son of Ulva carry the same blessings to Africa, and be remembered, perhaps, by millions of the human race as the first pioneer of civilization, and the first harbinger of the gospel.  It was graceful in the Bishop of Oxford (Samuel Wilberforce) to advert to the debt of unparalleled magnitude which England, founder of the accursed slave-trade, owed to Africa, and to urge the immediate prosecution of Livingstone’s plans, inasmuch as the spots in Africa, where the so-called Christian trader had come, were marked, more than any other, by crime and distrust, and insecurity of life and property.  It was a good opportunity for Professor Owen to tell the story of the spiral tusk, to rehearse some remarkable instances of Livingstone’s accurate observations and happy conjectures on the habits of animals, to rate him for destroying the moral character of the lion, and to claim credit for having discovered, in the bone caves of England, the remains of an animal of greater bulk than any living species, that may have possessed all the qualities which the most ardent admirer of the British lion could desire[58]!

[Footnote 58:  Livingstone purposed to bequeath to Professor Owen a somewhat extraordinary legacy.  Writing afterward to his friend Mr. Young, he said:  “If I die at home I would lie beside you.  My left arm goes to Professor Owen, mind.  That is the will of David Livingstone.”]