VII.] HOSPITABLE PREPARATIONS. 81 



plum-pudding, whose dimensions should do himself and 

 England credit. A long table having been erected within 

 the tent, Sigurdr started on a plundering expedition to the 

 neighbouring farm, Fitzgerald undertook the ordering of the 

 feast, while I rode on my pony across the morass, in hopes 

 of being able to shoot a few additional plover. In a couple 

 of hours afterwards, just as I was stalking a duck that lay 

 innocently basking on the bosom of the river, a cloud of 

 horsemen swept round the base of the distant mountain, 

 and returning home, I found the encampment I had left so 

 deserted — alive and populous with as merry a group of 

 Frenchmen as it might ever be one's fortune to fall in with. 

 Of course they were dressed in every variety of costumes, 

 long boots, picturesque brigand-looking hats, with here and 

 there a sprinkling of Scotch caps from Aberdeen ; but — 

 whatever might be the head-dress, underneath you might be 

 sure to find a kindly, cheery face. My old friend Count 

 Trampe, who had accompanied the expedition, at once pre- 

 sented me to the Prince, who was engaged in sounding the 

 depth of the pipe of the Great Geysir, — and encouraged by 

 the gracious reception which His Imperial Highness ac- 

 corded me, 1 ventured to inform him that " there was a poor 

 banquet toward," of which I trusted he — and as many of 

 his officers as the table could hold — would condescend to 

 partake. After a littlehesitation, — caused, I presume, by fear 

 of our being put to inconvenience, — he was kind enough to 

 signify his acceptance of my proposal, and in a few minutes 

 afterwards with a cordial frankness I fully appreciated, 

 allowed me to have the satisfaction of receiving him as a 

 guest within my tent. 



Although I never had the pleasure of seeing Prince Napo- 

 leon before, I should have known him among a thousand, 

 from his remarkable likeness to his uncle, the first Emperor. 

 A stronger resemblance, I conceive, could scarcely exist 

 between two persons. The same delicate, sharply cut fea- 

 tures, thin refined mouth, and firm determined jaw. The 

 Prince's frame, however, is built altogether on a larger scale, 



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