ing his tumble; and the Udaller, who saw his advantage, although he was not aware of the cause, pursued it with the high and stern tone proper to one who had all his life been unaccustomed to meet with, and unapt to endure opposition.

"By the blood of Saint Magnus the Martyr,” he said, "but you are a fine fellow, Mr Factor Yellowley! You come to us from a strange land, understanding neither our laws, nor our manners, nor our language, and you propose to become governor of the country, and that we should all be your slaves!"

"My pupils, worthy sir, my pupils!" said Yellowley," and that only for your own proper advantage."

"We are too old to go to school," said the Zetlander. "I tell you once more, we will sow and reap our grain as our fathers did-we will eat what God sends us, with our doors open to the stranger, even as theirs were open. If there is aught imperfect in our practice, we will amend it in time and season; but the blessed Baptist's holiday was made for light hearts and quick heels.

He that speaks a word more of reason, as you call it, or any thing looks like it, shall swallow a pint of sea-water-he shall, by this hand !—and so fill up the good ship, the Jolly Mariner of Canton, once more, for the benefit of those that will stick by her; and let the rest have a fling with the fiddlers, who have been summoning us this hour. I will warrant every wench is on tiptoe by this time. Come, Mr Yellowley, no unkindness, man-why, man, thou feelest the rolling of the Jolly Mariner still―(for, in truth, honest Triptolemus shewed a little unsteadiness of motion, as he rose to attend his host)-but never mind, we shall have thee find thy land-legs to reel it with yonder bonnie belles. Come along, Triptolemus-let me grapple thee fast, lest thou trip, old Triptolemus-ha, ha, ha!"

So saying, the portly though weather-beaten hulk of the Udaller sailed off like a man of war that had braved a hundred gales, having his guest in tow like a recent prize. The greater part of the revellers followed their leader with loud ju bilee, although there were several staunch topers, who, taking the option left them by the Udaller,

remained behind to relieve the Jolly Mariner of a fresh cargo, amidst many a pledge to the health of their absent landlord, and to the prosperity of his roof-tree, with whatsoever other wishes of kindness could be devised, as an apology for another pint-bumper of noble punch.

The rest soon thronged the dancing-room, an apartment which partook of the simplicity of the time and of the country. Drawing-rooms and saloons were then unknown in Scotland, save in the houses of the nobility, and of course absolutely so in Zetland; but a long, low, anomalous store-room, sometimes used for the depositation of merchandize, sometimes for putting aside lumber, and a thousand other purposes, was well known to all the youth of Dunrossness, and many a department besides, as the scene of the merry dance, which was sustained with so much glee when Magnus Troil gave his frequent feasts.

The first appearance of this ball-room might have shocked a fashionable party, assembled for the quadrille or the waltz. Low as we have stated the apartment to be, it was but imperfectly illuminated by lamps, candles, ship-lanterns, and a

variety of other candelabra, which served to throw a dusky light upon the floor, and upon the heaps of merchandize and miscellaneous articles which were heaped around; some of them stores for the winter; some, goods destined for exportation; some the tribute of Neptune, paid at the expence of ship-wrecked vessels, whose owners were unknown; some, articles of barter received by the proprietor, who, like most others at the period, was somewhat of a merchant as well as a landholder, in exchange for the fish, and other articles, the produce of his estate. All these, with the chests, boxes, and bales, which contained them, had been drawn aside, and piled one above the other, in order to give room for the dancers, who, light and lively as if they had occupied the most splendid saloon in the parish of St James's, executed their national dances with equal grace and activity.

The groupe of old men who looked on, bore no inconsiderable resemblance to a party of aged tritons, engaged in beholding the sports of the sea-nymphs; such a hard look had most of them acquired by contending with the elements, and

so much did the shaggy hair and beards, which many of them cultivated after the ancient Norwegian fashion, give their heads the character of these supposed natives of the deep. The young people, on the other hand, were uncommonly handsome, tall, well-made, and shapely; the men with long fair hair, and, until broken by the weather, a fresh ruddy complexion, which, in the females, was softened into a bloom of infinite delicacy. Their natural good ear for music qualified them to second to the utmost the exertions of a band, whose strains were by no means contemptible; while the elders, who stood around or sat quiet upon the old sea-chests, which served for chairs, criticised the dancers, as they compared their execution with their own exertions in former days; or, warmed by the cup and flagon, which continued to circulate among them, snapped their fingers, and beat time with their feet to the music.

Mordaunt looked upon this scene of universal mirth with the painful recollection, that he, thrust aside from his pre-eminence, no longer exercised the important duties of chief of the dancers, or office of leader of the revels, which had been as