28 LETTERS FROM HIGH LATITUDES. [VI. 



immemorial elms, — the scene before us looked inexpressibly 

 desolate. In front rose a cluster of weather-beaten wooden 

 buildings, and huts like ice-houses, surrounded by a scanty 

 plot of grass, reclaimed from the craggy plain of broken 

 lava that stretched — the home of ravens and foxes — on 

 either side to the horizon. Beyond, lay alow black breadth 

 of moorland, intersected by patches of what was neither 

 land nor water, and last, the sullen sea ; while above our 

 heads a wind, saturated with the damps of the Atlantic, 

 went moaning over the landscape. Yet this was Bessestad, 

 the ancient home of Snorro Sturleson ! 



On dismounting from our horses and entering the house 

 things began to look more cheery; a dear old lady, to whom 

 we were successively presented by the Rector, received us, 

 with the air of a princess, ushered us into her best room, 

 made us sit down on the sofa — the place of honour — and 

 assisted by her niece, a pale lily-like maiden, named after 

 Jarl Hakon's Thora, proceeded to serve us with hot coffee, 

 rusks, and sweetmeats. At first it used to give me a very 

 disagreeable feeling to be waited upon by the woman-kind 

 of the household, and I was always starting up, and 

 attempting to take the dishes out of their hands, to their 

 infinite surprise ; but now I have succeeded in learning to 

 accept their ministrations with the same unembarrassed 

 dignity as my neighbours. In the end, indeed, I have 

 rather got to like it, especially when they are as pretty as 

 Miss Thora. To add, moreover, to our content, it appeared 

 that that young lady spoke a little French ; so that we had 

 no longer any need to pay our court by proxy, which many 

 persons besides ourselves have found to be unsatisfactory. 

 Our hostess lives quite alone. Her son, whom I have the 

 pleasure of knowing, is far away, pursuing a career of 

 honour and usefulness at Copenhagen, and it seems quite 

 enough for his mother to know that he is holding his head 

 high among the princes of literature, and the statesmen of 

 Europe, provided only news of his success and advancing 

 reputation shall occasionally reach her across the ocean. 



