LAST VOYAGE OF CAPT. ROSS, 
495 
lo tell his tale of hair-breadth escapes, by flood and field, nor to 
et the hair of Sir Andrew Agnew on an end, with his recital 
of the indecent, and scandalous manner, in which the Esquimaux 
observe the Sabbath. 
To return to the narrative. The 25th being Christmas-day, it 
was celebrated with the usual festivities. To each mess of the 
crew were allotted 4 pounds of ox cheek soup, 3 pounds and a 
half of flour, one pound of raisins, and 6 pounds of carrots, and 
a glass of grog, independently of their usual allowance. In 
the cabin, the fare was sumptuous; and if it were possible for 
a Paul Pry to have popped in, great would have been his sur¬ 
prise, to see the table of a ship, in the very heart of barren¬ 
ness and desolation, smoking with viands, which would not 
have been disdained by the epicures of any of the Club Houses 
of the Metropolis. Before the commander, smoked the tureen of 
hare soup, in the manufacture of which, the cook had exhausted 
his utmost skill—game of different kinds—beef, fresh and salt— 
fish, dried and pickled—with vegetables and preserved meats, 
the former, perhaps grown at Battersea—the latter, in North¬ 
amptonshire ; a large plum-pudding smoked under the nostrils of 
Commander Ross, whilst Mr. Mc'Diarmid assisted in excavating 
a Stilton cheese, as recommendatory of promoting the digestion. 
The Christmas dinner of the Victory may, in some respects, be 
compared to that which, according to Milton, the devil gave in 
hell on a particular occasion, but certainly not on a Christ¬ 
mas-day; and which is thus described : — 
A table richly spread, in royal mode, 
With dishes piled, and meats of noblest sorts 
And savour, beasts of chase, or fowl, or game, 
In pastry built, or from the spit, or boil’d, 
Grisamber steam'd , all fish from sea andl shore, 
Freshet, or purling brook, of shell or fin, 
And exquisites! name.- 
The dinners of the devil, and of Capt. Ross, bore, in one 
respect, a strong resemblance to each other, as their viands 
