第17章 LETTER VI(8)

Then the Rector,in English,proposed my health,under the circumstances a cruel mockery,--but to which,ill as I was,I responded very gallantly by drinking to the beaux yeux of the Countess.Then somebody else drank success to Great Britain,and I see it was followed by really a very learned discourse by Lord D.,in honour of the ancient Icelanders;during which he alluded to their discovery of America,and Columbus'visit.Then came a couple of speeches in Icelandic,after which the Bishop,in a magnificent Latin oration of some twenty minutes,a second time proposes my health;to which,utterly at my wits'end,I had the audacity to reply in the same language.As it is fit so great an effort of oratory should not perish,I send you some of its choicest specimens:--"Viri illustres,"I began,"insolitus ut sum ad publicum loquendum,ego propero respondere ad complimentum quod recte reverendus prelaticus mihi fecit,in proponendo meam salutem:et supplico vos credere quod multum gratificatus et flattificatus sum honore tam distincto.

"Bibere,viri illustres,res est,quae in omnibus terris,'domum venit ad hominum negotia et pectora:'

[Footnote:As the happiness of these quotations seemed to produce a very pleasing effect on my auditors,Isubjoin a translation of them for the benefit of the unlearned:--1."Comes home to men's business and bosoms."--Paterfamilias,Times.

2."A long pull,a strong pull,and a pull all together."--Nelson at the Nile.

3."One touch of nature makes the whole world kin."--Jeremy Bentham.

4.Apothegm by the late Lord Mountcoffeehouse.

5."Love rules the court,the camp,the grove."--Venerable Bede.]

(1)requirit 'haustum longum,haustum fortem,et haustum omnes simul:'(2)ut canit Poeta,'unum tactum Naturae totum orben facit consanguineum,'(3)et hominis Natura est--bibere (4).

"Viri illustres,alterum est sentimentum equaliter universale:terra communis super quam septentrionales et meridionales,eadem enthusiasma convenire possunt:

est necesse quod id nominarem?Ad pulchrum sexum devotio!

"Amor regit palatium,castra,lucum:(5)Dubito sub quo capite vestram jucundam civitatem numerare debeam.

Palatium?non Regem!Castra?non milites!lucum?non ullam arborem habetis!Tamen Cupido vos dominat haud aliter quam alios,--et virginum Islandarum pulchritudo,per omnes regiones cognita est.

"Bibamus salutem earum,et confusionem ad omnes bacularios:

speramus quod eae carae et benedictae creaturae invenient tot maritos quot velint,--quod geminos quottanis habeant,et quod earum filiae,maternum exemplum sequentes,gentem Islandicam perpetuent in saecula saeculorum."The last words mechanically rolled out,in the same "ore rotundo"with which the poor old Dean of Christchurch used to finish his Gloria,etc.in the Cathedral.

Then followed more speeches,--a great chinking of glasses,--a Babel of conversation,--a kind of dance round the table,where we successively gave each alternate hand,as in the last figure of the Lancers,--a hearty embrace from the Governor,--and finally,--silence,daylight,and fresh air,as we stumbled forth into the street.

Now what was to be done?To go to bed was impossible.

It was eleven o'clock by our watches,and as bright as noon.Fitz said it was twenty-two o'clock;but by this time he had reached that point of enlargement of the mind,and development of the visual organs,which is expressed by the term "seeing double,"--though he now pretends he was only reckoning time in the Venetian manner.We were in the position of three fast young men about Reykjavik,determined to make a night of it,but without the wherewithal.There were neither knockers to steal,nor watchmen to bonnet.At last we remembered that the apothecary's wife had a conversazione,to which she had kindly invited us;and accordingly,off we went to her house.Here we found a number of French officers,a piano,and a young lady;in consequence of which the drum soon became a ball.Finally,it was proposed we should dance a reel;the second lieutenant of the "Artemise"had once seen one when his ship was riding out a gale in the Clyde;--the little lady had frequently studied a picture of the Highland fling on the outside of a copy of Scotch music;--I could dance a jig--the set was complete,all we wanted was the music.Luckily the lady of the house knew the song of "Annie Laurie,"--played fast it made an excellent reel tune.As you may suppose,all succeeded admirably;we nearly died of laughing,and I only wish Lord Breadalbane had been by to see.

At one in the morning,our danseuse retiring to rest,the ball necessarily terminated;but the Governor's dinner still forbidding bed,we determined on a sail in the cutter to some islands about three-quarters of a mile out to sea;and I do not think I shall ever forget the delicious sensation of lying down lazily in the stern-sheets,and listening to the rippling of the water against the bows of the boat,as she glided away towards them.The dreamy,misty landscape,--each headland silently sleeping in the unearthly light,--Snoefell,from whose far-off peaks the midnight sun,though lost to us,had never faded,--the Plutonic crags that stood around,so gaunt and weird,--the quaint fresh life I had been lately leading,--all combined to promise such an existence of novelty and excitement in that strange Arctic region on the threshold of which we were now pausing,that I could not sufficiently congratulate myself on our good fortune.