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REGNARD’S JOURNEY ‘TO LAPLAND. 201
telling them that fhe had only one fault, that of making every thing too falt, and that fhe
fhewed by this conduct the regard fhe had for prudence, of which falt is the fymbol,
and her little regard for the things of this world, which fhe threw away in profufion.
You may fee by this, Sir, that there are few people who may not give occafion toa
funeral {peech, and furnifh an orator with a wide field for the difplay of his eloquence.
But our prefent fubject had a more noble career. John Tornzeus was a learned man:
he had travelled, and had even vifited France, as tutor to Count Charles Oxenttiern.
When the funeral oration was ended, they came up to us and paid us a compliment in
Latin, defiring us to ftay to the banquet. Although we underftood no more of this
compliment than we had done of the firft, we had no difficulty in guefling what they
wifhed to fay : our ftomachs informed us very intelligibly what it was; and they com-
plained fo loudly that it was near three o’clock, and that they had not yet eaten, that
it was no more difficult for thefe people to underftand our language, than for us to un-
derftand theirs. They conducted us into a large hall, in which were three long tables ;
and this was the mofl honourable place. There were befides thefe five or fix other
tables, {till better covered, for the entertainment of all the people who were prefent.
‘The preludes to the repaft were {pirituous liquors, beer, and another liquor which they
call calchat, compofed of beer, wine, and fugar ; two of the moft execrable liquids which
could enter the human body. The tables were at length ferved; and they placed us
at the upper end of the firft table, with the priefts of the higheft rank, fuch as the chief
preacher and others. ‘They commenced their meal in filence, as is the general cuftom,
and as the feafon demanded; which led Plantin to remark, who was at my fide,
that they called the guefts Nelli. N fignifies Neque vox, nec fermo egreditur ex ore eorum ;
foquebantur variis linguis ; in omnem terram exivit fonus eorum. All thefe words are
taken from {cripture ; andI do not believe that it is poflible to apply them better than on
this occafion ; for one can fcarcely figure a more exact reprefentation of the marriage
at Cana, than the picture in which it was now reprefented to us, more beautiful and
more natural than that of Paul Veronefe. ‘The tables were covered with ftrange, and,
if I may ufe the expreflion, antique difhes ; for it had been at leaft eight days fince they
were drefled. Large pots of different kinds, made for the moft part like thofe which
were uled at the facrifices of the ancients, covered this table, and produced by their
number a confufion fimilar to that which took place at the banquets of the ancients.
But what gave the finifhing {troke to this picture, was the venerable air of all the prielts,
clothed in their beards, and the Finland drefs of all the guefts, which are as becoming
as can well be imagined. There was among others a little old man, with fhort hair, a
thick beard, and a bald forehead: I do not believe that a more exa& reprefentation of
the figure of Saint Peter could poffibly be produced by the imagination of any painter.
‘This man wore a green robe, turned up with yellow, without any fhape, and producing
the effect of a drapery tied with a fafh. I could not ceafe contemplating this man, who
was the brother of the deceafed. Whilft I was engaged in looking at this man, the
re{t were employed in more important occupations, and were drinking to the honour
of the defunét, and the profperity of his family, in an aftonifhing manner. ‘The priefts,
like the beft friends, drank the moft copioufly ; and after having toafted feveral healths,
they came at length to kings and great men. hey began firft by drinking to the health
of handfome girls, which is the cuftom throughout all Sweden, and from thence they
rofe to kings.. Thefe healths are drank out of veflels, the fize of which is proportioned
to the rank of thefe royal perfonages ; and to induce me to drink they propofed the
health of the King of France, in a veflel as much larger than the reft, as this monarch
furpafles the other kings in power. It would nave been a crime to refufe this toaft; I
VOL. I. DD drank
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