Very seldom is the real reason, "because I like it," given; and all these excuses and reasons must be regarded as implying some lingering sense of shame at the act, and as forming part of "the homage that vice always pays to virtue."-- ED.
{22} The sailors call those waves "Spanish" which, coming from the west, distinguish themselves by their size.
{23} These islands form a rocky group, only one of which is inhabited, lying about fifteen miles from the coast.

They are said to derive their name from some natives of Ireland, called West-men, who visited Iceland shortly after its discovery by the Norwegians.

In this there is nothing improbable, for we know that during the ninth and tenth centuries the Danes and Normans, called Easterlings, made many descents on the Irish coast; and one Norwegian chief is reported to have assumed sovereign power in Ireland about the year 866, though he was afterwards deposed, and flung into a lough, where he was drowned: rather an ignominious death for a "sea-king."-- ED.
{24} This work, which Madame Pfeiffer does not praise too highly, was first published in 1810.

After passing through two editions, it was reprinted in 1841, at a cheap price, in the valuable people's editions of standard works, published by Messrs.

Chambers of Edinburgh.
{25} It is related of Ingold that he carried with him on his voyage the door of his former house in Ireland, and that when he approached the coast he cast it into the sea, watching the point of land which it touched; and on that land he fixed his future home.