Yet, In Spite Of Their Good
Humour, I Could Not Help Growing Uneasy When The Shore, Receding, As
It Were,
As we advanced, seemed to promise no end to their toil.
This anxiety increased when, turning into the most picturesque
Bay I
ever saw, my eyes sought in vain for the vestige of a human
habitation. Before I could determine what step to take in such a
dilemma (for I could not bear to think of returning to the ship),
the sight of a barge relieved me, and we hastened towards it for
information. We were immediately directed to pass some jutting
rocks, when we should see a pilot's hut.
There was a solemn silence in this scene which made itself be felt.
The sunbeams that played on the ocean, scarcely ruffled by the
lightest breeze, contrasted with the huge dark rocks, that looked
like the rude materials of creation forming the barrier of unwrought
space, forcibly struck me, but I should not have been sorry if the
cottage had not appeared equally tranquil. Approaching a retreat
where strangers, especially women, so seldom appeared, I wondered
that curiosity did not bring the beings who inhabited it to the
windows or door. I did not immediately recollect that men who
remain so near the brute creation, as only to exert themselves to
find the food necessary to sustain life, have little or no
imagination to call forth the curiosity necessary to fructify the
faint glimmerings of mind which entitle them to rank as lords of the
creation. Had they either they could not contentedly remain rooted
in the clods they so indolently cultivate.
Whilst the sailors went to seek for the sluggish inhabitants, these
conclusions occurred to me; and, recollecting the extreme fondness
which the Parisians ever testify for novelty, their very curiosity
appeared to me a proof of the progress they had made in refinement.
Yes, in the art of living - in the art of escaping from the cares
which embarrass the first steps towards the attainment of the
pleasures of social life.
The pilots informed the sailors that they were under the direction
of a lieutenant retired from the service, who spoke English; adding
that they could do nothing without his orders, and even the offer of
money could hardly conquer their laziness and prevail on them to
accompany us to his dwelling. They would not go with me alone,
which I wanted them to have done, because I wished to dismiss the
sailors as soon as possible. Once more we rowed off, they following
tardily, till, turning round another bold protuberance of the rocks,
we saw a boat making towards us, and soon learnt that it was the
lieutenant himself, coming with some earnestness to see who we were.
To save the sailors any further toil, I had my baggage instantly
removed into his boat; for, as he could speak English, a previous
parley was not necessary, though Marguerite's respect for me could
hardly keep her from expressing the fear, strongly marked on her
countenance, which my putting ourselves into the power of a strange
man excited. He pointed out his cottage; and, drawing near to it, I
was not sorry to see a female figure, though I had not, like
Marguerite, been thinking of robberies, murders, or the other evil
which instantly, as the sailors would have said, runs foul of a
woman's imagination.
On entering I was still better pleased to find a clean house, with
some degree of rural elegance. The beds were of muslin, coarse it
is true, but dazzlingly white; and the floor was strewed over with
little sprigs of juniper (the custom, as I afterwards found, of the
country), which formed a contrast with the curtains, and produced an
agreeable sensation of freshness, to soften the ardour of noon.
Still nothing was so pleasing as the alacrity of hospitality - all
that the house afforded was quickly spread on the whitest linen.
Remember, I had just left the vessel, where, without being
fastidious, I had continually been disgusted. Fish, milk, butter,
and cheese, and, I am sorry to add, brandy, the bane of this
country, were spread on the board. After we had dined hospitality
made them, with some degree of mystery, bring us some excellent
coffee. I did not then know that it was prohibited.
The good man of the house apologised for coming in continually, but
declared that he was so glad to speak English he could not stay out.
He need not have apologised; I was equally glad of his company.
With the wife I could only exchange smiles, and she was employed
observing the make of our clothes. My hands, I found, had first led
her to discover that I was the lady. I had, of course, my quantum
of reverences; for the politeness of the north seems to partake of
the coldness of the climate and the rigidity of its iron-sinewed
rocks. Amongst the peasantry there is, however, so much of the
simplicity of the golden age in this land of flint - so much
overflowing of heart and fellow-feeling, that only benevolence and
the honest sympathy of nature diffused smiles over my countenance
when they kept me standing, regardless of my fatigue, whilst they
dropped courtesy after courtesy.
The situation of this house was beautiful, though chosen for
convenience. The master being the officer who commanded all the
pilots on the coast, and the person appointed to guard wrecks, it
was necessary for him to fix on a spot that would overlook the whole
bay. As he had seen some service, he wore, not without a pride I
thought becoming, a badge to prove that he had merited well of his
country. It was happy, I thought, that he had been paid in honour,
for the stipend he received was little more than twelve pounds a
year. I do not trouble myself or you with the calculation of
Swedish ducats. Thus, my friend, you perceive the necessity of
perquisites.
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