CHAPTER II.
'Tis not alone the scene--the man, Anselmo, The man finds sympathies in these wild wastes, And roughly tumbling seas, which fairer views And smoother waves deny him.
_Ancient Arama._
The few inhabitants of the township of Jarlshof had at first heard withalarm, that a person of rank superior to their own was come to reside inthe ruinous tenement, which they still called the Castle. In those days(for the present times are greatly altered for the better) the presenceof a superior, in such a situation, was almost certain to be attendedwith additional burdens and exactions, for which, under one pretext oranother, feudal customs furnished a thousand apologies. By each ofthese, a part of the tenants' hard-won and precarious profits wasdiverted for the use of their powerful neighbour and superior, thetacksman, as he was called. But the sub-tenants speedily found that nooppression of this kind was to be apprehended at the hands of BasilMertoun. His own means, whether large or small, were at least fullyadequate to his expenses, which, so far as regarded his habits of life,were of the most frugal description. The luxuries of a few books, andsome philosophical instruments, with which he was supplied from Londonas occasion offered, seemed to indicate a degree of wealth unusual inthose islands; but, on the other hand, the table and the accommodationsat Jarlshof, did not exceed what was maintained by a Zetland proprietorof the most inferior description.
The tenants of the hamlet troubled themselves very little about thequality of their superior, as soon as they found that their situationwas rather to be mended than rendered worse by his presence; and, oncerelieved from the apprehension of his tyrannizing over them, they laidtheir heads together to make the most of him by various petty tricks ofovercharge and extortion, which for a while the stranger submitted towith the most philosophic indifference. An incident, however, occurred,which put his character in a new light, and effectually checked allfuture efforts at extravagant imposition.
A dispute arose in the kitchen of the Castle betwixt an old governante,who acted as housekeeper to Mr. Mertoun, and Sweyn Erickson, as good aZetlander as ever rowed a boat to the _haaf_ fishing;[11] which dispute,as is usual in such cases, was maintained with such increasing heat andvociferation as to reach the ears of the master, (as he was called,)who, secluded in a solitary turret, was deeply employed in examining thecontents of a new package of books from London, which, after longexpectation, had found its way to Hull, from thence by a whaling vesselto Lerwick, and so to Jarlshof. With more than the usual thrill ofindignation which indolent people always feel when roused into action onsome unpleasant occasion, Mertoun descended to the scene of contest, andso suddenly, peremptorily, and strictly, enquired into the cause ofdispute, that the parties, notwithstanding every evasion which theyattempted, became unable to disguise from him, that their differencerespected the several interests to which the honest governante, and noless honest fisherman, were respectively entitled, in an overcharge ofabout one hundred per cent on a bargain of rock-cod, purchased by theformer from the latter, for the use of the family at Jarlshof.
When this was fairly ascertained and confessed, Mr. Mertoun stoodlooking upon the culprits with eyes in which the utmost scorn seemed tocontend with awakening passion. "Hark you, ye old hag," said he atlength to the housekeeper, "avoid my house this instant! and know that Idismiss you, not for being a liar, a thief, and an ungratefulquean,--for these are qualities as proper to you as your name ofwoman,--but for daring, in my house, to scold above your breath.--Andfor you, you rascal, who suppose you may cheat a stranger as you would_flinch_[12] a whale, know that I am well acquainted with the rightswhich, by delegation from your master, Magnus Troil, I can exercise overyou, if I will. Provoke me to a certain pitch, and you shall learn, toyour cost, I can break your rest as easily as you can interrupt myleisure. I know the meaning of _scat_, and _wattle_, and _hawkhen_, and_hagalef_,(_b_) and every other exaction, by which your lords, inancient and modern days, have wrung your withers; nor is there one ofyou that shall not rue the day that you could not be content withrobbing me of my money, but must also break in on my leisure with youratrocious northern clamour, that rivals in discord the screaming of aflight of Arctic gulls."
Nothing better occurred to Sweyn, in answer to this objurgation, thanthe preferring a humble request that his honour would be pleased tokeep the cod-fish without payment, and say no more about the matter; butby this time Mr. Mertoun had worked up his passions into an ungovernablerage, and with one hand he threw the money at the fisherman's head,while with the other he pelted him out of the apartment with his ownfish, which he finally flung out of doors after him.
There was so much of appalling and tyrannic fury in the stranger'smanner on this occasion, that Sweyn neither stopped to collect the moneynor take back his commodity, but fled at a precipitate rate to the smallhamlet, to tell his comrades that if they provoked Master Mertoun anyfarther, he would turn an absolute Pate Stewart[13] on their hand, andhead and hang without either judgment or mercy.
Hither also came the discarded housekeeper, to consult with herneighbours and kindred (for she too was a native of the village) whatshe should do to regain the desirable situation from which she had beenso suddenly expelled. The old Ranzellaar of the village, who had thevoice most potential in the deliberations of the township, after hearingwhat had happened, pronounced that Sweyn Erickson had gone too far inraising the market upon Mr. Mertoun; and that whatever pretext thetacksman might assume for thus giving way to his anger, the realgrievance must have been the charging the rock cod-fish at a pennyinstead of a half-penny a-pound; he therefore exhorted all the communitynever to raise their exactions in future beyond the proportion ofthreepence upon the shilling, at which rate their master at the Castlecould not reasonably be expected to grumble, since, as he was disposedto do them no harm, it was reasonable to think that, in a moderate way,he had no objection to do them good. "And three upon twelve," said theexperienced Ranzellaar, "is a decent and moderate profit, and will bringwith it God's blessing and Saint Ronald's."
Proceeding upon the tariff thus judiciously recommended to them, theinhabitants of Jarlshof cheated Mertoun in future only to the moderateextent of twenty-five per cent; a rate to which all nabobs,army-contractors, speculators in the funds, and others, whom recent andrapid success has enabled to settle in the country upon a great scale,ought to submit, as very reasonable treatment at the hand of theirrustic neighbours. Mertoun at least seemed of that opinion, for he gavehimself no farther trouble upon the subject of his household expenses.
The conscript fathers of Jarlshof, having settled their own matters,took next under their consideration the case of Swertha, the banishedmatron who had been expelled from the Castle, whom, as an experiencedand useful ally, they were highly desirous to restore to her office ofhousekeeper, should that be found possible. But as their wisdom herefailed them, Swertha, in despair, had recourse to the good offices ofMordaunt Mertoun, with whom she had acquired some favour by herknowledge in old Norwegian ballads, and dismal tales concerning theTrows or Drows, (the dwarfs of the Scalds,) with whom superstitious eldhad peopled many a lonely cavern and brown dale in Dunrossness, as inevery other district of Zetland. "Swertha," said the youth, "I can dobut little for you, but you may do something for yourself. My father'spassion resembles the fury of those ancient champions, those Berserkars,you sing songs about."
"Ay, ay, fish of my heart," replied the old woman, with a patheticwhine; "the Berserkars(_c_) were champions who lived before the blesseddays of Saint Olave, and who used to run like madmen on swords, andspears, and harpoons, and muskets, and snap them all into pieces, as afinner[14] would go through a herring-net, and then, when the fury wentoff, they were as weak and unstable as water."[15]
"That's the very thing, Swertha," said Mordaunt. "Now, my father neverlikes to think of his passion after it is over, and is so much of aBerserkar, that, let him be desperate as he will to-day, he will notcare about it to-morrow. Therefore, he has not fil
led up your place inthe household at the Castle, and not a mouthful of warm food has beendressed there since you went away, and not a morsel of bread baked, butwe have lived just upon whatever cold thing came to hand. Now, Swertha,I will be your warrant, that if you go boldly up to the Castle, andenter upon the discharge of your duties as usual, you will never hear asingle word from him."
Swertha hesitated at first to obey this bold counsel. She said, "to herthinking, Mr. Mertoun, when he was angry, looked more like a fiend thanany Berserkar of them all; that the fire flashed from his eyes, and thefoam flew from his lips; and that it would be a plain tempting ofProvidence to put herself again in such a venture."
But, on the encouragement which she received from the son, shedetermined at length once more to face the parent; and, dressing herselfin her ordinary household attire, for so Mordaunt particularlyrecommended, she slipped into the Castle, and presently resuming thevarious and numerous occupations which devolved on her, seemed as deeplyengaged in household cares as if she had never been out of office.
The first day of her return to her duty, Swertha made no appearance inpresence of her master, but trusted that after his three days' diet oncold meat, a hot dish, dressed with the best of her simple skill, mightintroduce her favourably to his recollection. When Mordaunt had reportedthat his father had taken no notice of this change of diet, and when sheherself observed that in passing and repassing him occasionally, herappearance produced no effect upon her singular master, she began toimagine that the whole affair had escaped Mr. Mertoun's memory, and wasactive in her duty as usual. Neither was she convinced of the contraryuntil one day, when, happening somewhat to elevate her tone in a disputewith the other maid-servant, her master, who at that time passed theplace of contest, eyed her with a strong glance, and pronounced thesingle word, _Remember!_ in a tone which taught Swertha the governmentof her tongue for many weeks after.
If Mertoun was whimsical in his mode of governing his household, heseemed no less so in his plan of educating his son. He showed the youthbut few symptoms of parental affection yet, in his ordinary state ofmind, the improvement of Mordaunt's education seemed to be the utmostobject of his life. He had both books and information sufficient todischarge the task of tutor in the ordinary branches of knowledge; andin this capacity was regular, calm, and strict, not to say severe, inexacting from his pupil the attention necessary for his profiting. Butin the perusal of history, to which their attention was frequentlyturned, as well as in the study of classic authors, there often occurredfacts or sentiments which produced an instant effect upon Mertoun'smind, and brought on him suddenly what Swertha, Sweyn, and evenMordaunt, came to distinguish by the name of his dark hour. He wasaware, in the usual case, of its approach, and retreated to an innerapartment, into which he never permitted even Mordaunt to enter. Here hewould abide in seclusion for days, and even weeks, only coming out atuncertain times, to take such food as they had taken care to leavewithin his reach, which he used in wonderfully small quantities. Atother times, and especially during the winter solstice, when almostevery person spends the gloomy time within doors in feasting andmerriment, this unhappy man would wrap himself in a dark-colouredsea-cloak, and wander out along the stormy beach, or upon the desolateheath, indulging his own gloomy and wayward reveries under the inclementsky, the rather that he was then most sure to wander unencountered andunobserved.
As Mordaunt grew older, he learned to note the particular signs whichpreceded these fits of gloomy despondency, and to direct suchprecautions as might ensure his unfortunate parent from ill-timedinterruption, (which had always the effect of driving him to fury,)while, at the same time, full provision was made for his subsistence.Mordaunt perceived that at such periods the melancholy fit of his fatherwas greatly prolonged, if he chanced to present himself to his eyeswhile the dark hour was upon him. Out of respect, therefore, to hisparent, as well as to indulge the love of active exercise and ofamusement natural to his period of life, Mordaunt used often to absenthimself altogether from the mansion of Jarlshof, and even from thedistrict, secure that his father, if the dark hour passed away in hisabsence, would be little inclined to enquire how his son had disposed ofhis leisure, so that he was sure he had not watched his own weakmoments; that being the subject on which he entertained the utmostjealousy.
At such times, therefore, all the sources of amusement which the countryafforded, were open to the younger Mertoun, who, in these intervals ofhis education, had an opportunity to give full scope to the energies ofa bold, active, and daring character. He was often engaged with theyouth of the hamlet in those desperate sports, to which the "dreadfultrade of the samphire-gatherer" is like a walk upon level ground--oftenjoined those midnight excursions upon the face of the giddy cliffs, tosecure the eggs or the young of the sea-fowl; and in these daringadventures displayed an address, presence of mind, and activity, which,in one so young, and not a native of the country, astonished the oldestfowlers.[16]
At other times, Mordaunt accompanied Sweyn and other fishermen in theirlong and perilous expeditions to the distant and deep sea, learningunder their direction the management of the boat, in which they equal,or exceed, perhaps, any natives of the British empire. This exercise hadcharms for Mordaunt, independently of the fishing alone.
At this time, the old Norwegian sagas were much remembered, and oftenrehearsed, by the fishermen, who still preserved among themselves theancient Norse tongue, which was the speech of their forefathers. In thedark romance of those Scandinavian tales, lay much that was captivatingto a youthful ear; and the classic fables of antiquity were rivalled atleast, if not excelled, in Mordaunt's opinion, by the strange legends ofBerserkars, of Sea-kings, of dwarfs, giants, and sorcerers, which heheard from the native Zetlanders. Often the scenes around him wereassigned as the localities of the wild poems, which, half recited, halfchanted by voices as hoarse, if not so loud, as the waves over whichthey floated, pointed out the very bay on which they sailed as the sceneof a bloody sea-fight; the scarce-seen heap of stones that bristled overthe projecting cape, as the dun, or castle, of some potent earl or notedpirate; the distant and solitary grey stone on the lonely moor, asmarking the grave of a hero; the wild cavern, up which the sea rolled inheavy, broad, and unbroken billows, as the dwelling of some notedsorceress.[17]
The ocean also had its mysteries, the effect of which was aided by thedim twilight, through which it was imperfectly seen for more than halfthe year. Its bottomless depths and secret caves contained, according tothe account of Sweyn and others, skilled in legendary lore, such wondersas modern navigators reject with disdain. In the quiet moonlight bay,where the waves came rippling to the shore, upon a bed of smooth sandintermingled with shells, the mermaid was still seen to glide along thewaters, and, mingling her voice with the sighing breeze, was often heardto sing of subterranean wonders, or to chant prophecies of futureevents. The kraken, that hugest of living things, was still supposed tocumber the recesses of the Northern Ocean; and often, when some fog-bankcovered the sea at a distance, the eye of the experienced boatman sawthe horns of the monstrous leviathan welking and waving amidst thewreaths of mist, and bore away with all press of oar and sail, lest thesudden suction, occasioned by the sinking of the monstrous mass to thebottom, should drag within the grasp of its multifarious feelers his ownfrail skiff. The sea-snake was also known, which, arising out of thedepths of ocean, stretches to the skies his enormous neck, covered witha mane like that of a war-horse, and with its broad glittering eyes,raised mast-head high, looks out, as it seems, for plunder or forvictims.
Many prodigious stories of these marine monsters, and of many othersless known, were then universally received among the Zetlanders, whosedescendants have not as yet by any means abandoned faith in them.[18]
Such legends are, indeed, everywhere current amongst the vulgar; butthe imagination is far more powerfully affected by them on the deep anddangerous seas of the north, amidst precipices and headlands, manyhundred feet in height,--amid perilous straits, and currents, an
deddies,--long sunken reefs of rock, over which the vivid ocean foams andboils,--dark caverns, to whose extremities neither man nor skiff hasever ventured,--lonely, and often uninhabited isles,--and occasionallythe ruins of ancient northern fastnesses, dimly seen by the feeble lightof the Arctic winter. To Mordaunt, who had much of romance in hisdisposition, these superstitions formed a pleasing and interestingexercise of the imagination, while, half doubting, half inclined tobelieve, he listened to the tales chanted concerning these wonders ofnature, and creatures of credulous belief, told in the rude butenergetic language of the ancient Scalds.
But there wanted not softer and lighter amusement, that might seembetter suited to Mordaunt's age, than the wild tales and rude exerciseswhich we have already mentioned. The season of winter, when, from theshortness of the daylight, labour becomes impossible, is in Zetland thetime of revel, feasting, and merriment. Whatever the fisherman has beenable to acquire during summer, was expended, and often wasted, inmaintaining the mirth and hospitality of his hearth during this period;while the landholders and gentlemen of the island gave double loose totheir convivial and hospitable dispositions, thronged their houses withguests, and drove away the rigour of the season with jest, glee, andsong, the dance, and the wine-cup.
Amid the revels of this merry, though rigorous season, no youth addedmore spirit to the dance, or glee to the revel, than the young stranger,Mordaunt Mertoun. When his father's state of mind permitted, or indeedrequired, his absence, he wandered from house to house a welcome guestwhereever he came, and lent his willing voice to the song, and his footto the dance. A boat, or, if the weather, as was often the case,permitted not that convenience, one of the numerous ponies, which,straying in hordes about the extensive moors, may be said to be at anyman's command who can catch them, conveyed him from the mansion of onehospitable Zetlander to that of another. None excelled him in performingthe warlike sword-dance, a species of amusement which had been derivedfrom the habits of the ancient Norsemen. He could play upon the _gue_,and upon the common violin, the melancholy and pathetic tunes peculiarto the country; and with great spirit and execution could relieve theirmonotony with the livelier airs of the North of Scotland. When a partyset forth as maskers, or, as they are called in Scotland, _guizards_, tovisit some neighbouring Laird, or rich Udaller, it augured well of theexpedition if Mordaunt Mertoun could be prevailed upon to undertake theoffice of _skudler_, or leader of the band. Upon these occasions, fullof fun and frolic, he led his retinue from house to house, bringingmirth where he went, and leaving regret when he departed. Mordauntbecame thus generally known and beloved as generally, through most ofthe houses composing the patriarchal community of the Main Isle; but hisvisits were most frequently and most willingly paid at the mansion ofhis father's landlord and protector, Magnus Troil.
It was not entirely the hearty and sincere welcome of the worthy oldMagnate, nor the sense that he was in effect his father's patron, whichoccasioned these frequent visits. The hand of welcome was indeedreceived as eagerly as it was sincerely given, while the ancientUdaller, raising himself in his huge chair, whereof the inside was linedwith well-dressed sealskins, and the outside composed of massive oak,carved by the rude graving-tool of some Hamburgh carpenter, shoutedforth his welcome in a tone, which might, in ancient times, have hailedthe return of _Ioul_, the highest festival of the Goths. There was metalyet more attractive, and younger hearts, whose welcome, if less loud,was as sincere as that of the jolly Udaller. But this is matter whichought not to be discussed at the conclusion of a chapter.
FOOTNOTES:
[11] _i. e._ The deep-sea fishing, in distinction to that which ispractised along shore.
[12] The operation of slicing the blubber from the bones of the whale,is called, technically, _flinching_.
[13] Meaning, probably, Patrick Stewart, Earl of Orkney, executed fortyranny and oppression practised on the inhabitants of those remoteislands, in the beginning of the seventeenth century.
[14] _Finner_, small whale.
[15] The sagas of the Scalds are full of descriptions of thesechampions, and do not permit us to doubt that the Berserkars, so calledfrom fighting without armour, used some physical means of workingthemselves into a frenzy, during which they possessed the strength andenergy of madness. The Indian warriors are well known to do the same bydint of opium and bang.
[16] Fatal accidents, however, sometimes occur. When I visited the FairIsle in 1814, a poor lad of fourteen had been killed by a fall from therocks about a fortnight before our arrival. The accident happened almostwithin sight of his mother, who was casting peats at no great distance.The body fell into the sea, and was seen no more. But the islandersaccount this an honourable mode of death; and as the children begin thepractice of climbing very early, fewer accidents occur than might beexpected.
[17] Note I.--Norse Fragments.
[18] Note II.--Monsters of the Northern Seas.