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. This same narrow policy runs through everything. I
shall have occasion further to animadvert on it.
Though my host amused me with an account of himself, which gave me
aim idea of the manners of the people I was about to visit, I was
eager to climb the rocks to view the country, and see whether the
honest tars had regained their ship. With the help of the
lieutenant's telescope, I saw the vessel under way with a fair
though gentle gale.
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