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of vigilance influenced by their aunt, the good old Lady Glourourum, met and requited the’ attempts which Mordaunt made to be lively and entertaining; and they were soon engaged in a gay conversation, to which, as usual on such occasions, the gentleman contributed wit, or what passes for such, and the ladies their prompt laughter and liberal applause. But, amidst this seeming mirth, Mordaunt failed not, from time to time, as covertly as he might, to observe the conduct of the two daughters of Magnus; and still it appeared as if the elder, wrapt up in the conversation of Cleveland, did not cast away a thought on the rest of the company; and as if Brenda, more openly as she conceived his attention withdrawn from her,looked with an expression both anxious and melancholy towards the groupe of which be himself formed a part. He was much moved by the diffidence, as well as the trouble, which her looks seemed to convey, and tacitly formed the resolution of seeking a more full explanation with her in the course of the evening. Norna, he remembered, had stated that these two amiable young women were in danger, the nature of which she left unexplained, but which he suspected to arise out of their mistaking the character of this daring and all-engrossing stranger; and he secretly resolved, that, if possible, he would be the means of detecting Cleveland, and of saving his early friends.
As he revolved these thoughts, his attention to the Miss Groatsettars gradually diminished, and perhaps he might altogether have forgotten the necessity of his appearing an uninterested spectator of what was passing, had not the signal been given for the ladies retiring from table. Minna, with a native grace, and somewhat of stateliness in her manner, bent her head to the company in general, with a kinder and more particular expression as her eye reached Cleveland. Brenda, with the blusli which attended her slightest personal exertion when exposed to the eyes of others, hurried through the same departing salutation with an embarrassment which almost amounted to awkwardness, but which her youth and timidity rendered at once natural and interesting. Again Mordaunt thought that her eye distinguished him amidst the numerous company. For the first time he ventured to encounter and to return the glance; and the consciousness that he had done so, doubled the glow of Brenda’s countenance, while something resembling displeasure was blended with her emotion.
When the ladies had retired, the men betook themselves to the deep and serious drinking, which, according to the fashion of the times, preceded the evening exercise of the dance. Old Magnus himself, by precept and example, exhorted them “ to make the best use of their time, since the ladies would soon summon them to shake their feet.” At the same time giving the signal to a greyheaded domestic, who stood behind him in the dress of a Dantzic skipper, and who added to many other occupations that of butler, “ Eric Scambester,” he said, “ has the good ship the Jolly Mariner of Canton, got her cargo on board?”
“Choke-full loaded,” answered the Ganymede of Burgh Westra, “ with good Nantz, Jamaica sugar, Portugal lemons, not to mention nutmeg and toast and water, taken in from the Shellicoat spring.”
Loud and long laughed the guests at this stated and regular jest betwixt the Udaller and his butler, which always served as a preface to the introduction of a punch-bowl of uncommon size, the gift of the captain of one of the Honourable East India Company’s vessels, which, bound from China homeward, had been driven north about by stress of weather into Lerwick-bay, and had there contrived to get rid of part of the cargo, without very scrupulously reckoning for the King’s duties.
Magnus Troil, having been a large customer, besides otherwise obliging Captain Coolie, had been remunerated, on the departure of the ship, with this splendid vehicle of conviviality, at the very sight of which, as old Eric Scambester bent under its weight, a murmur of applause ran through the company.
Those nearest this capacious Mediterranean of punch, were accommodated by the Udaller with their portions, dispensed in huge rummer glasses by his own hospitable hand, whilst they who sat at a greater distance replenished their cups by means of a rich silver flagon, facetiously called the Pinnace; which, filled occasionally at the bowl, served to dispense its liquid treasures to the more remote parts of the table, and occasioned many facetious jests on its frequent voyages. The commerce of the Zetlanders with foreign vessels, and homeward bound West Indiamen, had early served to introduce among them the general use of the generous beverage, with which the Joly Mariner of Canton was. loaded; nor was there a man in the Archipelago of Thule more skilled in combining its rich ingredients, than old Eric Scambester, who indeed was known far and wide through the isles by the name of the Punch-
maker, after the fashion of the ancient Norwegians, who conferred oh Rollo the Walker, and other heroes of their strain, epithets expressive of the feats of strength or dexterity in which they excelled all other men.
The good liquor was not slow in performing its office of exhilaration, and, as the revel advanced, some ancient Norse drinking songs were sung with great effect by the guests, tending to shew, that if from want of exercise the martial virtues of their ancestors had decayed among the Zedanders, they could still actively and intensely enjoy so much of the pleasures of Valhalla as consisted in quaffing the oceans of mead and brown ale, which were promised by Odin to those who should “share his Scandinavian paradise. At length, excited by the cup and song, the diffident grew bold, and the modest loquacious — all became desirous of talking, and none were willing to listen — each man mounted his own special hobbyhorse, and began eagerly to call on his neighbours to witness his agility. Amongst others, the little bard, who had now got next to our friend Mordaunt Mertoun, evin ced a positive determination to commence and conclude, in all its longitude and latitude, the story of his introduction, to glorious John Dryden; and Triptolemus Yellowley,’ as his spirits arose, shaking off a feeling of involuntary awe, with which he was impressed by the opulence indicated in all he saw around him, as well as by the respect paid to Magnus Troil by the assembled guests, began to broach, to the. astonished and somewhat offended Udaller, some of those projects for ameliorating the islands, which he had boasted of to his fellow-travellers upon their journey of the. morning.
But the innovations which he suggested, and the reception which they met with at the hand of Magnus Troil, must be told in the next Chapter.
Chapter XIV
We’ll keep our customs — what is law itself,
But old establish’d custom? What religion!
(I mean, with onehalf of the men that use it).
Save the good use and wont that carries them
To worship how and where their fathers worshipp’d?
All things resolve in custom — we’ll keep ours,
Old Play
We left the company of Magnus Troil engaged in high wassai and revelry. Mordaunt, who, like his father, shunned the festive cup, did not partake in the cheerfulness which the ship diffused among the guests as they unloaded it, and the pinnace, as it circumnavigated the table. But, in low spirit as he seemed, he was the more meet prey for the story-telling, Halcro, who had fixed upon him, as in a favourable state to play the part of listener, with something of the same instinct that directs the hooded crow to the sick sheep among th flock, which will most patiently suffer itself to be made y prey of. Joyfully did the poet avail himself of the advantag afforded by Mordaunt’s absence of mind, and unwillingness to exert himself in measures of active defence. With the unfailing iexterity peculiar to prosers, he contrived to dribble out his:ale to double its usual length, by the exercise of the privilege of unlimited digressions; so that the story, like a horse on the errand pas, seemed to be advancing with rapidity, while, in eality, it scarce was progressive at the rate of a yard in the quarter of an hour. At length, however, he had discussed, in ill its various bearings and relations, the history of his friendly andlord, the master fashioner in Russel Street, including a;hort sketch of five of his relations, and anecdotes of three of lis principal rivals, together with some general observations upon the dress and fashion of the period; and having marched hus far through the environs and outworks of his story, he arrived at the body of the place, for so the Wits’ Coffeehouse night be termed. He paused on the threshold, however, to explain the nature of his landlord’s right