No bed was to
be had, or even a quiet corner to retire to for a moment; all was
lost in noise, riot, and confusion.
After some debating they promised me horses, which were to go on to
Uddervalla, two stages. I requested something to eat first, not
having dined; and the hostess, whom I have mentioned to you before
as knowing how to take care of herself, brought me a plate of fish,
for which she charged a rix-dollar and a half. This was making hay
whilst the sun shone. I was glad to get out of the uproar, though
not disposed to travel in an incommodious open carriage all night,
had I thought that there was any chance of getting horses.
Quitting Quistram I met a number of joyous groups, and though the
evening was fresh many were stretched on the grass like weary
cattle; and drunken men had fallen by the road-side. On a rock,
under the shade of lofty trees, a large party of men and women had
lighted a fire, cutting down fuel around to keep it alive all night.
They were drinking, smoking, and laughing with all their might and
main. I felt for the trees whose torn branches strewed the ground.
Hapless nymphs! your haunts, I fear, were polluted by many an
unhallowed flame, the casual burst of the moment!
The horses went on very well; but when we drew near the post-house
the postillion stopped short and neither threats nor promises could
prevail on him to go forward. He even began to howl and weep when I
insisted on his keeping his word. Nothing, indeed, can equal the
stupid obstinacy of some of these half-alive beings, who seem to
have been made by Prometheus when the fire he stole from Heaven was
so exhausted that he could only spare a spark to give life, not
animation, to the inert clay.
It was some time before we could rouse anybody; and, as I expected,
horses, we were told, could not be had in less than four or five
hours. I again attempted to bribe the churlish brute who brought us
there, but I discovered that, in spite of the courteous hostess's
promises, he had received orders not to go any father.
As there was no remedy I entered, and was almost driven back by the
stench - a softer phrase would not have conveyed an idea of the hot
vapour that issued from an apartment in which some eight or ten
people were sleeping, not to reckon the cats and dogs stretched on
the floor. Two or three of the men or women were on the benches,
others on old chests; and one figure started half out of a trunk to
look at me, whom might have taken for a ghost, had the chemise been
white, to contrast with the sallow visage. But the costume of
apparitions not being preserved I passed, nothing dreading,
excepting the effluvia, warily amongst the pots, pans, milk-pails,
and washing-tubs.
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