Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.2007, Page 227

7-1 Jon Eggertsson group
197
Eggert Olason 1942: 228). After this time Por3ur held no position,
but managed some royal property at Lon in Eastern Iceland and lived
otherwise by teaching and working as a doctor. He was an industrious
doctor and highly respected as such. He also wrote scientific works, in-
cluding one on glaciers which was translated from Latin into German
and published in Hamburgisches Magazin, vol. 13,1754.129 Besides this
he wrote poetry, especially in Latin. Alcohol may have contributed to
his departure from Skålholt, and this problem seems to have dogged
him throughout his life. Nevertheless, he lived to a ripe old age and
died at the home of magistrate (logmadur) Magnus Gislason in 1742.
His last wish is said to have been a shot of liquor, but when this was
not forthcoming he chose to take his leave there and then:
Hann beiddi um brennivin i banalegunni, his verbis usus: Gut-
tam per dominum nostrum Jesum Christum, en fekk ekki og
do.13°
(He asked for liquor on this deathbed, using these words: a drop
in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, but he did not get it, and
died.)
Hannes Porsteinsson refers to some documents bearing Pordur Vf-
dalin’s signature or containing text in his hånd. I have examined an
invoice from his time in Skålholt for his teaching work there.131 The
document also contains a receipt and signature; everything seems to be
in the same hånd, signed by Por3ur himself. The handwriting is very
like what we find in 18(1) and37(1). We find both of the styles of script
in 18(1), for here too he writes the headings in fraktur style and the rest
129 There is a facsimile edition from 1965 with Icelandic translation, with an introduc-
tion by Sigurdur Porarinsson.
130 Hannes borsteinsson, “Ævir lærSra manna” s. n. p. 14, quoting Lbs. 936410 (a col-
lection of verses in Fr. Eggerz’ hånd), p. 174.
131 The invoice, which is dated 4.5.1689, is found in Bishop t>or3ur borlåksson’s copy-
book, pp. 653—654. This book is preserved in the National Archives of Iceland.