VI.] AN ICELANDIC LADY'S DRESS. 25 



Dumas, by whom I have been treated with the greatest 

 kindness and civility. 



On Saturday we went to Vedey, a beautiful little green 

 island where the eider ducks breed, and build nests with the 

 soft under-down plucked from their own bosoms. After the 

 little ones are hatched, and their birthplaces deserted, the 

 nests are gathered, cleaned, and stuffed into pillow-cases, for 

 pretty ladies in Europe to lay their soft, warm cheeks upon, 

 and sleep the sleep of the innocent ; while long-legged, 

 broad-shouldered Englishmen protrude from between them 

 at German inns, like the ham from a sandwich, and cannot 

 sleep, however innocent. 



The next day, being Sunday, I read prayers on board, 

 and then went for a short time to the cathedral church, — 

 the only stone building in Reykjavik. It is a moderate- 

 sized, unpretending place, capable of holding three or four 

 hundred persons, erected in very ancient times, but lately 

 restored. The Icelanders are of the Lutheran religion ; 

 and a Lutheran clergyman, in a black gown, etc., with a ruff 

 round his neck, such as our bishops are painted in about 

 the time of James the First, was preaching a. sermon. It 

 was the first time I had heard Icelandic spoken continuously, 

 and it struck me as a singularly sweet caressing language, 

 although I disliked the particular cadence, amounting almost 

 to a chant, with which each sentence ended. 



As in every church where prayers have been offered up 

 since the world began, the majority of the congregation 

 were women, some few dressed in bonnets, and the rest in 

 the national black silk skull-cap, set jauntily on one side of 

 the head, with a long black tassel hanging down to the 

 shoulder, or else in a quaint mitre of white linen, of which 

 a drawing alone could give you an idea ; the remainder of 

 an Icelandic lady's costume, when not superseded by Paris 

 fashions, consists of a black bodice fastened in front with 

 silver clasps, over which is drawn a cloth jacket, ornamented 

 with a multitude of silver buttons ; round the neck goes a 

 stiff ruff of velvet, figured with silver lace, and a silver belt. 



