the cathedral was said formerly to possess,
unless, indeed, an altar-cloth, with sorne
robes, and a mitre richly worked in gold,
but now very much tarnished, may be conwise,
to be seen the coffin of St. Thorlak, who was made
bishop of Iceland, in 1178, and died in 1193. His Saga
is said to be full of miracles, and he found worshippers,
according to Von Troil, not only in Iceland, but also in
Denmark, Norway, England, Scotland, the Orkney Isles,
and Greenland, and even had a church dedicated to
him at Constantinople. On the thirteenth of August,
1198, his bones were dug up and deposited in a coffin,
plated with gold and silver, and it was resolved that this
day, as well as that on which he was elected bishop, and
that on which he died, should be annually celebrated.
Gysserus Einarsson, who was made bishop in 1540, and
was a violent enemy to popery, caused the ornaments to
be broken off, and the coffin covered with copper g ilt :
in such state it was exhibited in the cathedral at the
time Sir Joseph Banks was there (1772). The relique
that was shewn for a portion of his skull was ascertained
to be only a piece of a large cocoa-nut-shell!—While
preparing this part of my-little work for the press, I
have been enabled, through the kindness of Sir Joseph
Banks, to have before me, amongst many other drawings
made by his artists, two, which represent views in
different directions of the cathedral of Skalholt: from
these it appears to have been built entirely of boards, in
the form of a cross, and, but for a little wooden spire,
would have been so like an English barn, that I do not
know any thing with which I cap so well compare it,
sidered as laying claim to be so regarded:
unfortunately my memory, at this time,
will not,enable me to recollect what I was
informed concerning them. The pulpit in
the church is extremely well made, and
some small, but not ill.executed, figures, are
painted upon it. A very tolerable Danish
painting, also, of the late bishop of the
place, who had, if I mistake not, married
a sister of Madame Joneson, is hanging up.
against the wall; and, underneath the floor,
which affords a protection to it from injury,
and of which a part lifts,up, like a trapdoor,
to exhibit it, is laid a handsome tablet,
richly inscribed in gilt letters, in commemo-
The numerous small buildings that were then situated close
by the cathedral, and formed the town, were occupied,
as Sir Joseph Banks informs me, entirely by the bishop’s
dependants and twenty-eight boys who were at the
school, and were maintained at the expence of the King
of Denmark. Among the whole cluster, I can now only
recognise the house at present occupied by Madame
Joneson ; so much is the place altered within these
forty years.—Sir Joseph also possesses the drawing of
an ancient weapon, seven feet long, which he saw in
the cathedral of Skalholt, in shape much like a halberd,
and said to have belonged to a famous hero named
Skarphedip^ who died in the year 1004.