A JOEGENSEN LETTER 347 



No doubt you know the history of his taking possession 

 of the Island of Iceland, whither, though at the time a 

 prisoner of war in England, on parole, he went, with a letter 

 of marque ship, to get a cargo of tallow for a London firm, 

 but which cargo he could not obtain because Denmark was 

 at war with England. My father tells the story of his being 

 taken prisoner by a British ship of war and brought home to 

 England ; but not of his subsequent rascality that brought 

 him at last to the scaffold. 



The British Museum has all his correspondence with my 

 father when in Newgate, written on gilt-edged paper ! and 

 the sermon he preached to his condemned brethren ; and 

 his life : (all were in the British Museum). The enclosed 

 letter is half romance ; he did not give the dress (there was 

 only one) to my father, who bought it, nor did my father 

 give it to the Miss Smiths. It is now in S. Kensington 

 Museum. 



When I went to Tasmania in 1840, J. J. called on me in 

 a half tipsy state and in rags, and begged for half a crown. 

 On my return I found that he was dead, having been picked 

 up in a ditch a few weeks before. 



Kindly let me know in what book you are reading about 

 him. 1 



1 The above-mentioned letter of Jorgensen's is dated Watchorn Street 

 (Hobarton), Oct. 26, 1839. The occasion he seized for addressing Franklin 

 was ' the utmost satisfaction ' with which ' I learned the other day that your 

 Excellency's merit has attracted the attention of the Royal Antiquarian Society 

 of Copenhagen.' Thereupon he discourses of the character of Iceland, the 

 discovery of America by Scandinavian adventurers, and of the visits to Iceland 

 first of Sir Joseph Banks, and then of Sir W. Hooker and himself. 



On this occasion he continues : 



' I also purchased two uncommonly costly Female dresses, the only two which 

 were left in Iceland of the ancient fashion. Maids wear distinct dresses from 

 married women, and when a female is wedded her maiden dress is put by for 

 the use of her first daughter when arrived at the age of maturity. The dresses 

 are made of the finest cloth trimmed with Gold and Silver, and a large massive 

 chain is placed round the neck with a precious medal appended thereto. 



' The two dresses, the price upwards of One hundred pounds, I gave to Pro- 

 fessor Hooker (Sir William), who again presented them to the two daughters of 

 Mr. William Smith, then M.P. for Norwich. [My father purchased them him- 

 self ; one he kept, and it is now in the S. Kensington Museum. J. D. Hooker.] 

 The two young ladies [no, Mrs. Smith's Frederick aged 14 and Octavius 16. 

 J. D. Hooker.] attired themselves in the dresses one evening when going to 

 Vauxhall, and every one believed that the Lady of the Icelandic Ambassador 

 was in the Garden. The newspapers echoed this next morning. [True : my 

 father went with them to Vauxhall, and informed me that they were discovered 

 and mobbed. J. D. H.] 



