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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Incidents of Travel in Greece, Turkey,
+Russia, and Poland, 7th ed. Vol. 2 of 2, by John Lloyd Stephens
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Incidents of Travel in Greece, Turkey, Russia, and Poland, 7th ed. Vol. 2 of 2
+
+Author: John Lloyd Stephens
+
+Release Date: November 9, 2011 [EBook #37947]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL IN ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Julia Miller, Eleni Christofaki and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
+book was produced from scanned images of public domain
+material from the Google Print project.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Notes:
+
+Punctuation and hyphenation have been normalised. Variable, archaic or
+unusual spelling has been retained. A list of the few corrections made
+can found at the end of the book. Italics indicated by _underscores_.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: GREECE, TURKEY, _PART OF_ RUSSIA & POLAND.]
+
+
+
+
+  INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL IN GREECE, TURKEY, RUSSIA AND POLAND.
+
+  BY THE AUTHOR OF
+
+  "INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL IN EGYPT, ARABIA PETRÆA, AND THE HOLY LAND."
+
+
+  WITH A MAP AND ENGRAVINGS.
+
+
+  IN TWO VOLUMES.
+
+  VOL. II.
+
+
+  SEVENTH EDITION.
+
+
+  NEW YORK:
+  HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS,
+  329 & 331 PEARL STREET,
+  FRANKLIN SQUARE.
+  1853.
+
+
+
+
+  Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1838, by HARPER &
+  BROTHERS, in the Clerk's Office of the Southern District of New York.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS OF THE SECOND VOLUME.
+
+
+    CHAPTER I.                                                      Page
+
+    Choice of a Conveyance.--Hiring a Servant.--Another
+      American.--Beginning of Troubles.--A Bivouac.--Russian Jews.--The
+      Steppes of Russia.--A _Traveller's_ Story.--Approach to
+      Chioff.--How to get rid of a Servant.--History of Chioff.        7
+
+    CHAPTER II.
+
+    A lucky Encounter.--Church of the Catacombs.--A Visit to the
+      Saints.--A tender Parting.--Pilgrims.--Rough Treatment.--A Scene
+      of Starvation.--Russian Serfs.--Devotion of the Serfs.--Approach
+      to Moscow.                                                      28
+
+    CHAPTER III.
+
+    Moscow.--A severe Operation.--An Exile by Accident.--Meeting with an
+      Emigré.--A civil Stranger.--A Spy.--The Kremlin.--Sepulchres of
+      the Czars.--The great Bell.--The great Gun.--Precious Relics.   45
+
+    CHAPTER IV.
+
+    The Drosky.--Salle des Nobles.--Russian
+      Gaming.--Gastronomy.--Pedroski.--A Sunday in Moscow.--A Gipsy
+      Belle.--Tea drinking.--The Emperor's Garden.--Retrospective.    67
+
+    CHAPTER V.
+
+    Getting a Passport.--Parting with the Marquis.--The Language of
+      Signs.--A loquacious Traveller.--From Moscow to St.
+      Petersburgh.--The Wolga.--Novogorod.--Newski Perspective.--An
+      unfortunate Mistake.--Northern Twilight.                        85
+
+    CHAPTER VI.
+
+    Police Requisites.--The Russian Capital.--Equestrian Statue of Peter
+      the Great.--The Alexandrian Column.--Architectural Wonders.--The
+      Summer Islands.--A perilous Achievement.--Origin of St.
+      Petersburgh.--Tombs of dead Monarchs.--Origin of the Russian Navy.
+                                                                      97
+
+    CHAPTER VII.
+
+    A Carroty Pole.--The Winter Palace.--Importance of a Hat.--An
+      artificial Mine.--Remains of a huge Monster.--Peter the Great's
+      Workshop.--The Greek Religion.--Tomb of a Hero.--A Saint
+      Militant.--Another Love Affair.--The Hermitage.--The Winter and
+      Summer Gardens.                                                118
+
+    CHAPTER VIII.
+
+    An Imperial Fête.--Nicolas of Russia.--Varied Splendours.--A
+      Soliloquy.--House of Peter the Great.--A
+      Boatrace.--Czarskoselo.--The Amber Chamber.--Catharine II.--The
+      Emperor Alexander.                                             140
+
+    CHAPTER IX.
+
+    The Soldier's Reward.--Review of the Russian Army.--American
+      Cannibals.--Palace of Potemkin.--Palace of the Grand-duke
+      Michael.--Equipments for Travelling.--Rough
+      Riding.--Poland.--Vitepsk.--Napoleon in Poland.--The Disastrous
+      Retreat.--Passage of the Berezina.                             154
+
+    CHAPTER X.
+
+    Travel by Night.--A Rencounter.--A Traveller's
+      Message.--Lithuania.--Poverty of the Country.--Agricultural
+      Implements.--Minsk.--Polish Jews.--A Coin of Freedom.--Riding in a
+      Basket.--Brezc.--The Bug.--A searching Operation.--Women
+      Labourers.--Warsaw.                                            181
+
+    CHAPTER XI.
+
+    Warsaw.--A Polish Doctor.--Battle of Grokow.--The Outbreak.--The
+      fatal Issue.--Present Condition of Poland.--Polish Exiles.--Aspect
+      of Warsaw.--Traits of the Poles.                               199
+
+    CHAPTER XII.
+
+    Religion of Poland.--Sunday in Warsaw.--Baptized Jews.--Palaces of
+      the Polish Kings.--Sobieski.--Field of Vola.--Wreck of a
+      Warrior.--The Poles in America.--A Polish Lady.--Troubles of a
+      Passport.--Departure from Warsaw.--An official Rachel.--A
+      mysterious Visiter.                                            215
+
+    CHAPTER XIII.
+
+    Friendly Solicitude.--Raddom.--Symptoms of a Difficulty.--A Court of
+      Inquisition.--Showing a proper Spirit.--Troubles
+      thickening.--Approaching the Climax.--Woman's Influence.--The
+      Finale.--Utility of the Classics.--Another Latinist.--A Lucky
+      Accident.--Arrival at Cracow.                                  235
+
+    CHAPTER XIV.
+
+    Cracow.--Casimir the Great.--Kosciusko.--Tombs of the Polish
+      Kings.--A Polish Heroine.--Last Words of a King.--A Hero in
+      Decay.--The Salt-mines of Cracow.--The Descent.--The
+      Mines.--Underground Meditations.--The Farewell.                254
+
+
+
+
+INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL IN GREECE, TURKEY, RUSSIA, AND POLAND.
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+    Choice of a Conveyance.--Hiring a Servant.--Another
+      American.--Beginning of Troubles.--A Bivouac.--Russian Jews.--The
+      Steppes of Russia.--A _Traveller's_ Story.--Approach to Chioff.--How
+      to get rid of a Servant.--History of Chioff.
+
+
+I HAD before me a journey of nearly two thousand miles, through a
+country more than half barbarous, and entirely destitute of all
+accommodation for travellers. Southern Russia was the Scythia of Darius,
+"savage from the remotest time." "All the way," says an old traveller,
+"I never came in a house, but lodged in the wilderness by the river
+side, and carried provisions by the way, for there be small succour in
+those parts;" and we were advised that a century had made but little
+change in the interior of the empire. There were no public conveyances,
+and we had our choice of three modes of travelling; first, by a Jew's
+wagon, in which the traveller stretches out his bed, and is trundled
+along like a bale of goods, always with the same horses, and therefore,
+of necessity, making slow progress; secondly, the char de poste, a mere
+box of wood on four wheels, with straw in the bottom; very fast, but to
+be changed always with the posthorses; and, thirdly, posting with our
+own carriage. We did not hesitate long in choosing the last, and bought
+a carriage, fortunately a good one, a large calêche which an Italian
+nobleman had had made for his own use in travelling on the Continent,
+and which he now sold, not because he did not want it, but because he
+wanted money more. Next we procured a podoroshni, under which, "By order
+of his Majesty Nicolas the First, autocrat of all the Russias, from
+Odessa to Moscow and Petersburgh, all the postoffices were commanded to
+give ---- and ----, with their servant, four horses with their drivers,
+at the price fixed by law." Besides this, it was necessary to give
+security that we left no debts behind us; and if Mr. Ralli undertakes
+for all Americans the same obligation he did for me, it may happen that
+his office of consul will be no sinecure. Next, and this was no trifling
+matter, we got our passports arranged; the Russian ambassador at
+Constantinople, by-the-way, had given me a new passport in Russian, and
+my companion, that he might travel with the advantages of rank and
+title, got himself made "noble" by an extra stroke of his consul's pen.
+
+The last thing was to engage a servant. We had plenty of applications,
+but, as very few talked any language we understood, we had not much
+choice, one, a German, a capital fellow, was exactly the man we wanted,
+only he could not speak a word of Russian, which was the principal
+qualification we required in a servant. At length came a Frenchman, with
+an unusual proportion of whiskers and mustaches, and one of the worst of
+the desperate emigrés whom the French Revolution, or, rather, the
+Restoration, sent roaming in foreign lands. He had naturally a most
+unprepossessing physiognomy, and this was heightened by a sabre-cut
+which had knocked out several of his teeth, and left a huge gash in his
+cheek and lip, and, moreover, made him speak very unintelligibly. When I
+asked him if he was a Frenchman, he drew himself up with great dignity,
+and replied, "Monsieur je suis _Parisien_." His appearance was a gross
+libel upon the Parisians; but, as we could get no one else, we took him
+upon little recommendation the day before our departure, and, during the
+same day, threatened half a dozen times to discharge him. The police
+regulation, obliging him to pay his debts before leaving Odessa, he
+seemed to consider peculiarly hard; and, all the time he was with us,
+kept referring to his having been obliged to fritter away thirty or
+forty rubles before he could leave. We ought to have furnished ourselves
+with provisions for the whole road to Moscow, and even cooking utensils;
+but we neglected it, and carried with us only tea and sugar, a tin
+teapot, two tin cups, two tin plates, two knives and forks, and some
+Bologna sausages, trusting, like Napoleon when he invaded Russia, to
+make up the rest by foraging.
+
+Before beginning our journey we had a foretaste of the difficulty of
+travelling in Russia. We had ordered posthorses three times, and had
+sent for them morning and evening, and received for answer that there
+were none in. At the third disappointment, our own consul being out of
+town, my friend the Spanish consul went with me to the director of the
+post, and found that during the time in which they had told us they had
+no horses, they had sent out more than a hundred. Instead of taxing them
+with their rascality, he talked the matter over very politely, paid the
+price of the horses, gave them a bonus of ten rubles, and obtained a
+promise by all the saints in the Russian calendar for daylight the next
+morning.
+
+The next morning at eight o'clock the horses came; four shaggy,
+wild-looking little animals, which no comb or brush had ever touched,
+harnessed with a collar and rope lines. They were tied in with rope
+traces, all abreast, two on each side the pole, and a postillion with a
+low wool cap, sheepskin coat and trousers, the woolly side next the
+skin, who would make an English whip stare, mounted the box. Henri
+followed, and my companion and myself took our seats within. The day
+before we had a positive quarrel upon a point unnecessary here to
+mention, in which I thought and still think he acted wrong, and the
+dispute had run so high that I told him I regretted exceedingly having
+made arrangements for travelling with him, and proposed even then to
+part company; he objected, and as we had purchased a carriage jointly,
+and particularly as our passports were prepared, our podoroshni made
+out, and servant hired in our joint names, I was fain to go on; and in
+this inauspicious humour toward each other we set out for a journey of
+nearly two thousand miles, through a wild and desolate country, among a
+half-civilized people, whose language we could not understand, and with
+a servant whom we distrusted and disliked.
+
+In spite of all this, however, I felt a high degree of excitement in
+starting for the capital of Russia; and I will do my companion the
+justice to say that he had been always ready to receive my advances, and
+to do more than meet me half way, which I afterward learned was from an
+apprehension of the taunts of his companions, who, not satisfied with
+getting rid of him, had constantly told him that it was impossible for
+an Englishman and an American to travel together, and that we would
+quarrel and fight the first day. I believe that I am enough of an
+American in my feelings, but such an idea had never entered my head; I
+met many Englishmen, and with some formed a friendship which, I trust,
+will last through life; and among all I met, these two were the only
+_young_ men so far behind the spirit of the age as to harbour such a
+thought. I did meet one _old_ gentleman, who, though showing me
+personally the greatest kindness, could not forget the old grudge. But
+men cannot be driving their elbows into each other's ribs, comparing
+money accounts, and consulting upon the hundred little things that
+present themselves on such a journey, without getting upon at least
+sociable terms; and before night of the first day the feelings of my
+companion and myself had undergone a decided change.
+
+But to go back to Odessa. At the barrier we found a large
+travelling-carriage stopping the way, in which was my friend Mr. Ralli,
+with his lady, on his way to Nicolaif; part of his business there was to
+erect a monument to the memory of a deceased countryman. Mr. Munroe, son
+of a former postmaster in Washington, is another instance of the success
+of American adventurers in Russia. He went out to St. Petersburgh with
+letters from the Russian ambassador and others, and entered the army,
+the only road to distinction in Russia. He accompanied the Grand-duke
+Constantine to Poland, and was made one of his aiddecamps, and on the
+death of Constantine was transferred to the staff of the Emperor
+Nicolas. At the time of the invasion of Turkey by the Egyptians under
+Ibrahim Pacha, Mr. Munroe held the rank of colonel in the army sent to
+the aid of the sultan. While the Russians were encamped at the foot of
+the Giant's Mountain, he visited Constantinople, and became acquainted
+with the American missionaries, who all spoke of him in the highest
+terms. He was a tall, well-made man, carried himself with a military
+air, and looked admirably well in the Russian uniform. On the
+withdrawal of the Russians from the Black Sea, Mr. Munroe was left in
+some important charge at Nicolaif, where he died in the opening of a
+brilliant career. I heard of him all over Russia, particularly from
+officers of the army; and being often asked if I knew him, regretted to
+be obliged to answer no. But, though personally unacquainted, as an
+American I was gratified with the name he had left behind him.
+
+To return again to our journey: a few rubles satisfied the officer at
+the barrier that we were carrying nothing prohibited out of the "free
+port" of Odessa, and we started on a full run, to the great peril of our
+necks, and, to use the climax of a Dutch proclamation, "what's more, of
+breaking our carriage." In less than an hour we brought up before the
+door of a posthouse. Our wheels were smoking when we stopped. On our
+hind axle we carried a bucket of grease; half a dozen bipeds in
+sheepskin whipped off the wheels and greased them; four quadrupeds were
+tied into the carriage, another bête mounted the box, and we were off
+again at a full run. My companion undertook to keep a memorandum of
+expenses, and we put a certain sum in a purse and paid out of it till
+all was gone. This was a glorious beginning for a journey of two
+thousand miles. The country possessed little interest, being mostly
+level, and having but few villages. On the way we saw a natural
+phenomenon that is common enough in Egypt and the East, where the
+country is level, and known by the name of _mirage_. At a distance it
+seemed a mere pond or lake, and a drove of cattle passing over it looked
+as if they were walking in the water. We rolled on rapidly all day,
+passed through Balgarha, Kodurseve, and Pakra, timing every post and
+noting every village with a particularity which it would be tedious
+here to repeat, and at about eight in the evening dashed into the little
+town of Vosnezeuski, one hundred and thirty versts from Odessa. Here we
+came to a dead stand. We had begun to entertain some apprehensions from
+the conduct of Monsieur Henri, who complained of the hardness of his
+seat, and asked if we did not intend to stop at night, recommending
+Vosnezeuski as a place where we could sleep in the posthouse; we told
+him that we had no idea of stopping but to change horses, and should go
+on immediately.
+
+Vosnezeuski lies on the river Bog, and is the chief town of the Cossacks
+of the Bog. This river is navigable for large vessels one hundred and
+fifty versts; beyond this for three or four hundred versts it is full of
+cataracts. The Cossacks of the Bog are a warlike tribe, numbering from
+six to seven thousand, and living under the same military system with
+the Cossacks of the Don. But we fell into worse hands than the Cossacks.
+The postmaster was a Jew, and at first told us that he had no horses;
+then that he had no postillion, but would hire one if we would pay him a
+certain sum, about four times the amount fixed by law. We had been
+obliged before to pay a few extra rubles, but this was our first serious
+difficulty with the postmasters; and, in pursuance of the advice
+received at Odessa, we talked loud, demanded the book which is nailed to
+the table in every posthouse for travellers to enter complaints in, and
+threatened the vengeance of Count Woronzow and every one else, up to the
+emperor; but the Jew laughed in our faces; looked in our podoroshni,
+where we were described as simple travellers, without any of the
+formidable array of titles which procure respect in Russia; told us we
+were no grand seigneurs, and that we must either pay the price or wait,
+as our betters had done before us. We found too soon, as we had been
+advised at Odessa, that these fellows do not know such a character in
+society as a private gentleman; and if a man is not described in his
+podoroshni as a count, duke, or lord of some kind, or by some
+high-sounding military title, they think he is a merchant or
+manufacturer, or some other common fellow, and pay no regard to him. I
+relied somewhat upon my companion's having been made "noble," but now
+found that his consul had been rather chary of his honours, and, by the
+Russian word used, had not put him up high enough to be of any use. We
+had a long wrangle with the Jew, the result of which was, that we told
+him, probably in no very gentle phrase, that we would wait a month
+rather than submit to his extortion; and, drawing up the window of our
+carriage, prepared to pass the night at the door of the posthouse.
+
+One of our party was evidently well satisfied with this arrangement, and
+he was Monsieur Henri. We had hired him by the day to Moscow, and, if we
+wanted him, to St. Petersburgh, and very soon saw that he was perfectly
+content with the terms, and in no hurry to bring our journey to a close.
+From the moment of our arrival we suspected him of encouraging the
+postmaster in his efforts to detain us, and were so much fortified in
+this opinion by after circumstances, that, when he was about moving
+toward the house to pass the night within, we peremptorily ordered him
+to mount the box and sleep there; he refused, we insisted; and as this
+was the first day out and the first moment of actual collision, and it
+was all important to decide who should be master, we told him that, if
+he did not obey, we would discharge him on the spot, at the risk of
+being obliged to work our way back to Odessa alone. And as he felt
+that, in that case, his debts would have been paid to no purpose, with a
+string of suppressed sacrés he took his place on the box. Our carriage
+was very comfortable, well lined and stuffed, furnished with pockets and
+everything necessary for the road, and we expected to sleep in it; but,
+to tell the truth, we felt rather cheap as we woke during the night, and
+looked at the shut door of the posthouse, and thought of the Jew
+sleeping away in utter contempt of us, and our only satisfaction was in
+hearing an occasional groan from Henri.
+
+That worthy individual did not oversleep himself, nor did he suffer the
+Jew to do so either. Early in the morning, without a word on our part,
+the horses were brought out and harnessed to our vehicle, and the same
+man whom he professed to have hired expressly for us, and who, no doubt,
+was the regular postillion, mounted the box. The Jew maintained his
+impudence to the last, coming round to my window, and then asking a few
+rubles as a douceur. Good English would have been thrown away upon him,
+so I resented it by drawing up the window of the carriage and scowling
+at him through the glass.
+
+Many of the postmasters along this road were Jews; and I am compelled to
+say that they were always the greatest scoundrels we had to deal with;
+and this is placing them on very high ground, for their inferiors in
+rascality would be accounted masters in any other country. No men can
+bear a worse character than the Russian Jews, and I can truly say that I
+found them all they were represented to be. They are not allowed to come
+within the territory of old Russia. Peter the Great refused their
+application to be permitted to approach nearer, smoothing his refusal by
+telling them that his Russian subjects were greater Jews than they were
+themselves. The sagacious old monarch, however, was wrong; for all the
+money business along the road is in their hands. They keep little
+taverns, where they sell vodka, a species of brandy, and wring from the
+peasant all his earnings, lending the money again to the seigneurs at
+exorbitant interest. Many of them are rich, and though alike despised by
+rich and poor, by the seigneur and the serf, they are proud of
+exhibiting their wealth, particularly in the jewels and ornaments of
+their women. At Savonka, a little village on the confines of old Poland,
+where we were detained waiting for horses, I saw a young girl about
+sixteen, a Polonese, sitting on the steps of a miserable little tavern,
+sewing together some ribands, with a headdress of brown cloth,
+ornamented with gold chains and pearls worth six hundred rubles, diamond
+earrings worth a hundred, and a necklace of ducats and other Dutch gold
+pieces worth four hundred rubles; altogether, in our currency, worth
+perhaps two hundred and fifty dollars.
+
+Here, too, while sitting with Henri on the steps of the posthouse, I
+asked him in a friendly way how he could be such a rascal as to league
+with the postmaster to detain us at Vosnezeuski, whereupon he went at
+once into French heroics, exclaiming, "Monsieur, je suis vieux
+militaire--j'etais chasseur de Napoleon--mon honneur," &c.; that he had
+never travelled before except with grand seigneurs, and then _in_ the
+carriage, more as compagnon de voyage than as a servant, and intimated
+that it was a great condescension to travel with us at all.
+
+We passed through several villages, so much alike and so uninteresting
+in appearance that I did not note even their names. As night approached
+we had great apprehensions that Henri would contrive to make us stop
+again; but the recollection of his bed on the box served as a lesson,
+and we rolled on without interruption. At daylight we awoke, and found
+ourselves upon the wild steppes of Russia, forming part of the immense
+plain which, beginning in northern Germany, extends for hundreds of
+miles, having its surface occasionally diversified by ancient tumuli,
+and terminates at the long chain of the Urals, which, rising like a
+wall, separates them from the equally vast plains of Siberia. The whole
+of this immense plain was covered with a luxuriant pasture, but bare of
+trees like our prairie lands, mostly uncultivated, yet everywhere
+capable of producing the same wheat which now draws to the Black Sea the
+vessels of Turkey, Egypt, and Italy, making Russia the granary of the
+Levant; and which, within the last year, we have seen brought six
+thousand miles to our own doors. Our road over these steppes was in its
+natural state; that is to say, a mere track worn by caravans of wagons;
+there were no fences, and sometimes the route was marked at intervals by
+heaps of stones, intended as guides when the ground should be covered
+with snow. I had some anxiety about our carriage; the spokes of the
+wheels were all strengthened and secured by cords wound tightly around
+them, and interlaced so as to make a network; but the postillions were
+so perfectly reckless as to the fate of the carriage, that every crack
+went through me like a shot. The breaking of a wheel would have left us
+perfectly helpless in a desolate country, perhaps more than a hundred
+miles from any place where we could get it repaired. Indeed, on the
+whole road to Chioff there was not a single place where we could have
+any material injury repaired; and the remark of the old traveller is yet
+emphatically true, that "there be small succour in these parts."
+
+[Illustration: Tumuli on the Steppes.]
+
+At about nine o'clock we whirled furiously into a little village, and
+stopped at the door of the posthouse. Our wheels were smoking with the
+rapidity of their revolutions; Henri dashed a bucket of water over them
+to keep them from burning, and half a dozen men whipped them off and
+greased them. Indeed, greasing the wheels is necessary at every post, as
+otherwise the hubs become dry, so that there is actual danger of their
+taking fire; and there is a _traveller's_ story told (but I do not vouch
+for its truth) of a postillion, wagon, and passengers being all burned
+up on the road to Moscow by the ignition of the wheels.
+
+The village, like all the others, was built of wood, plastered and
+whitewashed, with roofs of thatched straw, and the houses were much
+cleaner than I expected to find them. We got plenty of fresh milk; the
+bread, which to the traveller in those countries is emphatically the
+staff of life, we found good everywhere in Russia, and at Moscow the
+whitest I ever saw. Henri was an enormous feeder, and, wherever we
+stopped, he disappeared for a moment, and came out with a loaf of bread
+in his hand and his mustache covered with the froth of quass, a Russian
+small beer. He said he was not always so voracious, but his seat was so
+hard, and he was so roughly shaken, that eating did him no good.
+
+Resuming our journey, we met no travellers. Occasionally we passed
+large droves of cattle, but all the way from Odessa the principal
+objects were long trains of wagons, fifty or sixty together, drawn by
+oxen, and transporting merchandise toward Moscow or grain to the Black
+Sea. Their approach was indicated at a great distance by immense clouds
+of dust, which gave us timely notice to let down our curtains and raise
+our glasses. The wagoners were short, ugly-looking fellows, with huge
+sandy mustaches and beards, black woolly caps, and sheepskin jackets,
+the wool side next the skin; perhaps, in many cases, transferred warm
+from the back of one animal to that of the other, where they remained
+till worn out or eaten up by vermin. They had among them blacksmiths and
+wheelwrights, and spare wheels, and hammer, and tools, and everything
+necessary for a journey of several hundred miles. Half of them were
+generally asleep on the top of their loads, and they encamped at night
+in caravan style, arranging the wagons in a square, building a large
+fire, and sleeping around it. About midday we saw clouds gathering afar
+off in the horizon, and soon after the rain began to fall, and we could
+see it advancing rapidly over the immense level till it broke over our
+heads, and in a few moments passed off, leaving the ground smoking with
+exhalations.
+
+Late in the afternoon we met the travelling equipage of a seigneur
+returning from Moscow to his estate in the country. It consisted of four
+carriages, with six or eight horses each. The first was a large,
+stately, and cumbrous vehicle, padded and cushioned, in which, as we
+passed rapidly by, we caught a glimpse of a corpulent Russian on the
+back seat, with his feet on the front, bolstered all around with
+pillows and cushions, almost burying every part of him but his face, and
+looking the very personification of luxurious indulgence; and yet
+probably, that man had been a soldier, and slept many a night on the
+bare ground, with no covering but his military cloak. Next came another
+carriage, fitted out in the same luxurious style, with the seigneur's
+lady and a little girl; then another with nurses and children; then
+beds, baggage, cooking utensils, and servants, the latter hanging on
+everywhere about the vehicle, much in the same way with the pots and
+kettles. Altogether, it was an equipment in caravan style, somewhat the
+same as for a journey in the desert, the traveller carrying with him
+provision and everything necessary for his comfort, as not expecting to
+procure anything on the road, nor to sleep under a roof during the whole
+journey. He stops when he pleases, and his servants prepare his meals,
+sometimes in the open air, but generally at the posthouse. We had
+constant difficulties with Henri and the postmasters, but, except when
+detained for an hour or two by these petty tyrants, we rolled on all
+night, and in the morning again woke upon the same boundless plain.
+
+The posthouse was usually in a village, but sometimes stood alone, the
+only object to be seen on the great plain. Before it was always a high
+square post, with black and white stripes, marking the number of versts
+from station to station; opposite to this Henri dismounted, and
+presented the podoroshni or imperial order for horses. But the
+postmasters were high above the laws; every one of them seemed a little
+autocrat in his own right, holding his appointment rather to prey upon
+than to serve travellers; and the emperor's government would be but
+badly administered if his ukases and other high-sounding orders did not
+carry with them more weight than his podoroshni. The postmasters obeyed
+it when they pleased, and when they did not, made a new bargain. They
+always had an excuse; as, for instance, that they had no horses, or were
+keeping them in reserve for a courier or grand seigneur; but they
+listened to reason when enforced by rubles, and, as soon as a new
+bargain was made, half a dozen animals in sheepskin went out on the
+plain and drove up fifteen or twenty horses, small, rugged, and tough,
+with long and shaggy manes and tails, which no comb or brush had ever
+touched, and, diving among them promiscuously, caught four, put on rope
+headstalls, and tied them to our rope traces. The postillion mounted the
+box, and shouting and whipping his horses, and sometimes shutting his
+eyes, started from the post on a full gallop, carried us like the wind,
+ventre à terre, over the immense plain, sometimes without a rut or any
+visible mark to guide him, and brought us up all standing in front of
+the next post. A long delay and a short post, and this was the same over
+and over again during the whole journey. The time actually consumed in
+making progress was incredibly short, and I do not know a more beautiful
+way of getting over the ground than posting in Russia with a man of high
+military rank, who can make the postmasters give him horses immediately
+on his arrival. As for us, after an infinite deal of vexation and at a
+ruinous expense, on the morning of the fourth day we were within one
+post of Chioff. Here we heard with great satisfaction that a diligence
+was advertised for Moscow, and we determined at once to get rid of
+carriage, posting, and Henri. We took our seats for the last time in the
+_calêche_ gave the postillion a double allowance of kopeks, and in half
+an hour saw at a great distance the venerable city of Chioff, the
+ancient capital of Russia. It stands at a great height, on the crest of
+an amphitheatre of hills, which rise abruptly in the middle of an
+immense plain, apparently thrown up by some wild freak of nature, at
+once curious, unique, and beautiful. The style of its architecture is
+admirably calculated to give effect to its peculiar position; and, after
+a dreary journey over the wild plains of the Ukraine, it breaks upon the
+traveller with all the glittering and gorgeous splendour of an Asiatic
+city. For many centuries it has been regarded as the Jerusalem of the
+North, the sacred and holy city of the Russians; and, long before
+reaching it, its numerous convents and churches, crowning the summit and
+hanging on the sides of the hill, with their quadrupled domes, and
+spires, and chains, and crosses, gilded with ducat gold and glittering
+in the sun, gave the whole city the appearance of golden splendour. The
+churches and monasteries have one large dome in the centre, with a spire
+surmounted by a cross, and several smaller domes around it, also with
+spires and crosses connected by pendant chains, and all gilded so purely
+that they never tarnish. We drove rapidly to the foot of the hill, and
+ascended by a long wooden paved road to the heart of the city.
+
+During the whole of our last post our interest had been divided between
+the venerable city and the rogue Henri. My companion, who, by-the-way,
+spoke but little French disliked him from the first. We had long
+considered him in league with all the Jews and postmasters on the road,
+and had determined under no circumstances to take him farther than
+Chioff; but as we had hired him to Moscow, the difficulty was how to
+get rid of him. He might take it into his head that, if we did not know
+when we had a good servant, he knew when he had good masters; but he was
+constantly grumbling about his seat, and calculated upon three or four
+days' rest at Chioff. So, as soon as we drove up to the door of the
+hotel, we told him to order breakfast and posthorses. He turned round as
+if he had not fully comprehended us. We repeated the order, and for the
+first time since he had been with us he showed something like agility in
+dismounting; fairly threw himself from the box, swore he would not ride
+another verst that day for a thousand rubles, and discharged us on the
+spot. We afterward paid him to his entire satisfaction, indemnifying him
+for the money he had squandered in paying his debts at Odessa, and found
+him more useful at Chioff than he had been at any time on the road.
+Indeed, we afterward learned what was rather ludicrous, viz., that he,
+our pilot and interpreter through the wilderness of Russia, knew but
+little more of Russian than we did ourselves. He could ask for
+posthorses and the ordinary necessaries of life, count money, &c., but
+could not support a connected conversation, nor speak nor understand a
+long sentence. This changed our suspicions of his honesty into
+admiration of his impudence; but, in the mean time, when he discharged
+us, we should have been rather destitute if it had not been for the
+servant of a Russian traveller, who spoke French, and, taking our
+direction from him, we mounted a drosky and rode to the office of the
+diligence, which was situated in the Podolsk or lower town, and at which
+we found ourselves particularly well received by the proprietor. He said
+that the attempt to run a diligence was discouraging; that he had
+advertised two weeks, and had not booked a single passenger; but, if he
+could get two, he was determined to try the experiment. We examined the
+vehicle, which was very large and convenient, and, satisfied that there
+was no danger of all the places being taken, we left him until we could
+make an effort to dispose of our carriage. Relieved from all anxiety as
+to our future movements, we again mounted our drosky. Ascending the
+hill, we passed the fountain where St. Vladimir baptized the first
+Russian converts; the spring is held sacred by the Christians now, and a
+column bearing a cross is erected over it, to commemorate the pious act
+and the ancient sovereignty of Chioff.
+
+The early history of this city is involved in some obscurity. Its name
+is supposed to be derived from Kiovi or Kii, a Sarmatian word signifying
+heights or mountains; and its inhabitants, a Sarmatian tribe, were
+denominated Kivi or mountaineers. It is known to have been a place of
+consequence in the fifth century, when the Suevi, driven from their
+settlements on the Danube, established themselves here and at Novogorod.
+In the beginning of the tenth century it was the capital and most
+celebrated and opulent city in Russia, or in that part of Europe.
+Boleslaus the Terrible notched upon its "golden gate" his "miraculous
+sword," called by the monks "the sword of God," and the Poles entered
+and plundered it of its riches. In the latter part of the same century
+the capital of Russia again fell before the conquering arms of the
+Poles. Kiev was at that time the foster-child of Constantinople and the
+Eastern empire. The voluptuous Greeks had stored it with all the
+luxuries of Asia; the noble architecture of Athens was festooned with
+the gaudy tapestry of Lydia, and the rough metal of Russian swords
+embossed with the polished gold of Ophir and Persia. Boleslaus II., shut
+up within the "golden gate" of this city of voluptuousness, quaffed the
+bowl of pleasure till its intoxicating draught degraded all the nobler
+energies of his nature. His army of warriors followed his example, and
+slept away month after month on the soft couches of Kiev; and in the
+language of the historian, as if they had eaten of the fabled fruit of
+the lotos-tree, at length forgot that their houses were without masters,
+their wives without husbands, and their children without parents.
+
+But these tender relations were not in like manner oblivious; and, after
+seven years of absence, the Poles were roused from their trance of
+pleasure by the tidings of a revolt among the women at home, who, tired
+of waiting their return, in revenge gave themselves up to the embraces
+of their slaves. Burning under the disgrace, the Poles hurried home to
+wreak their vengeance on wives and paramours; but they met at Warsaw a
+bloody resistance; the women, maddened by despair, urged on their
+lovers, many of them fighting in person, and seeking out on the
+battle-field their faithless husbands: an awful warning to married men!
+
+For a long time Kiev was the prey alternately of the Poles, the
+Lithuanians, and the Tartars, until in 1686 it was finally ceded by the
+Poles to Russia. The city is composed of three distinct quarters; the
+old, with its Polish fortifications, containing the palace of the
+emperor, and being the court end; the Petcherk fortress, built by Peter
+the Great, with ditches and high ramparts, and an arsenal capable of
+containing eighty or a hundred thousand stand of arms; and the Podolsk,
+or business part, situated at the foot of the hill on the banks of the
+Dnieper. It contains thirty thousand inhabitants besides a large
+military garrison, partly of Cossack troops, and one pretty good hotel;
+but no beds, and none of those soft couches which made the hardy Poles
+sleep away their senses; and though a welcome resting-place for a
+traveller through the wild plains of Russia, it does not now possess any
+such attraction as to put in peril the faith and duties of husbands. By
+its position secluded from intercourse with strangers, Kiev is still
+thoroughly a Russian city, retaining in full force its Asiatic style of
+architecture; and the old Russian, wedded to the manners and customs of
+his fathers, clings to it as a place which the hand of improvement has
+not yet reached; among other relics of the olden time, the long beard
+still flourishes with the same solemn dignity as in the days of Peter
+the Great. Lying a hundred miles away from the direct road between
+Moscow and the Black Sea, few European travellers visit it; and though
+several of them have done so since, perhaps I was the first American who
+ever passed through it.
+
+We passed the morning in riding round to the numerous convents and
+churches, among which is the church of St. Sophia, the oldest in Russia,
+and, if not an exact model of the great St. Sophia of Constantinople, at
+least of Byzantine design; and toward evening went to the emperor's
+garden. This garden is more than a mile in length, bounded on one side
+by the high precipitous bank of the hill, undulating in its surface, and
+laid out like an English park, with lawn, gravel-walks, and trees; it
+contains houses of refreshment, arbours or summer-houses, and a summer
+theatre. At the foot of the hill flows the Dnieper, the ancient
+Borysthenes, on which, in former days the descendants of Odin and Ruric
+descended to plunder Constantinople. Two or three sloops were lying, as
+it were, asleep in the lower town, telling of a still interior country,
+and beyond was a boundless plain covered with a thick forest of trees.
+The view from this bank was unique and extraordinary, entirely different
+from anything I ever saw in natural scenery, and resembling more than
+anything else a boundless marine prospect.
+
+At the entrance of the garden is an open square or table of land
+overlooking the plain, where, every evening at seven o'clock, the
+military band plays. The garden is the fashionable promenade, the higher
+classes resorting to it in carriages and on horseback, and the common
+people on foot; the display of equipages was not very striking, although
+there is something stylish in the Russian manner of driving four horses,
+the leaders with very long traces and a postillion; and soldiers and
+officers, with their splendid uniforms, caps, and plumes, added a
+brilliant effect.
+
+Before the music began, all returned from the promenade or drive in the
+garden, and gathered in the square. It was a beautiful afternoon in
+June, and the assemblage was unusually large and brilliant; the
+carriages drew up in a line, the ladies let down the glasses, and the
+cavaliers dismounted, and talked and flirted with them just as in
+civilized countries. All Chioff was there, and the peasant in his dirty
+sheepskin jacket, the shopkeeper with his long surtout and beard, the
+postillion on his horse, the coachman on his box, the dashing soldier,
+the haughty noble and supercilious lady, touched by the same chord,
+forgot their temporal distinctions, and listened to the swelling strains
+of the music till the last notes died away. The whole mass was then in
+motion, and in a few moments, except by a few stragglers, of whom I was
+one, the garden was deserted. At about ten o'clock I returned to my
+hotel. We had no beds, and slept in our cloaks on settees stuffed with
+straw and covered with leather. We had no coverlets; still, after four
+days and nights in a carriage, it was a luxury to have plenty of kicking
+room.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+    A lucky Encounter.--Church of the Catacombs.--A Visit to the
+      Saints.--A tender Parting.--Pilgrims.--Rough Treatment.--A Scene
+      of Starvation.--Russian Serfs.--Devotion of the Serfs.--Approach
+      to Moscow.
+
+
+EARLY in the morning, while I was standing in the yard of the hotel,
+chaffering with some Jews about the sale of our carriage, an officer in
+a faded, threadbare uniform, with two or three ribands at his buttonhole
+and stars sparkling on his breast, came up, and, taking me by the hand,
+told me, in capital English, that he had just heard of the arrival of
+two English gentlemen, and had hurried down to see them; that he was a
+great admirer of the English, and happy to have an opportunity, in the
+interior of his own country, to show its hospitalities to the natives of
+the Island Queen. At the risk of losing the benefit of his attentions, I
+was obliged to disclaim my supposed English character, and to publish,
+in the heart of a grinding despotism, that I was a citizen of a free
+republic. Nor did I suffer for my candour; for, by one of those strange
+vagaries which sometimes happen, we cannot tell how or why, this officer
+in the service of Russia had long looked to America and her republican
+government as the perfection of an ideal system. He was in Chioff only
+by accident. Wounded in the last campaign against the Turks, he had
+taken up his abode at Ismail, where, upon his pension and a pittance of
+his own, he was able to live respectably as a poor officer. With no
+friends or connexions, and no society at Ismail, his head seemed to have
+run principally upon two things, apparently having no connexion with
+each other, but intimately connected in his mind, viz., the British
+possessions in India and the United States of America; and the cord that
+bound them together was the wide diffusion of the English language by
+means of these powerful agents. He told me more than I ever knew of the
+constitution and government of the East India Company, and their plan of
+operations; and, in regard to our own country, his knowledge was
+astonishing; he knew the names and character, and talked familiarly of
+all our principal men, from the time of Washington to the present day;
+had read all our standard works, and was far more familiar with those of
+Franklin, Irving, &c., than I was; in short, he told me that he had read
+every American book, pamphlet, or paper he could lay his hands on; and
+so intimate was his knowledge of detail, that he mentioned
+Chestnut-street by name as one of the principal streets in Philadelphia.
+It may be supposed that I was not sorry to meet such a man in the heart
+of Russia. He devoted himself to us, and seldom left us, except at
+night, until we left the city.
+
+After breakfast, accompanied by our new friend with as unpronounceable a
+name as the best in Russia, we visited the catacombs of the Petcherskoi
+monastery. I have before remarked that Chioff is the holy city of the
+Russians, and the crowds of pilgrims we met at every turn in the streets
+constantly reminded us that this was the great season of the pilgrimage.
+I was but imperfectly acquainted with the Russian character, but in no
+one particular had I been so ignorant as in regard to their religious
+impressions. I had seen Italian, Greek, and Turkish devotees, but the
+Russian surpassed them all; and, though deriving their religion from
+strangers, they exceed the punctilious Greeks themselves in the
+observance of its minutest forms. Censurable, indeed, would he be
+considered who should pass, in city or in highway, the figure of the
+cross, the image of the Virgin, or any of the numerous family of saints,
+without taking off his hat and making on his breast the sacred sign of
+the cross; and in a city like Chioff, where every turn presents some new
+object claiming their worship, the eyes of our drosky boy were rapidly
+turning from one side to the other, and his hand was almost constantly
+in a quick mechanical motion.
+
+The Church of the Catacombs, or the Cathedral of the Assumption,
+attached to the monastery, stands a little out of the city, on the banks
+of the Dnieper. It was founded in ten hundred and seventy-three, and has
+seven golden domes with golden spires, and chains connecting them. The
+dome of the belfry, which rises above the hill to the height of about
+three hundred feet, and above the Dnieper to that of five hundred and
+eighty-six, is considered by the Russians a chef d'oeuvre of
+architecture. It is adorned with Doric and Ionic columns and Corinthian
+pilasters; the whole interior bears the venerable garb of antiquity, and
+is richly ornamented with gold, silver, and precious stones and
+paintings; indeed, it is altogether very far superior to any Greek
+church I had then seen.
+
+In the immense catacombs under the monastery lie the unburied bodies of
+the Russian saints, and year after year thousands and tens of thousands
+come from the wilds of Siberia and the confines of Tartary to kneel at
+their feet and pray. In one of the porches of the church we bought wax
+tapers, and, with a long procession of pilgrims, bareheaded and with
+lighted tapers in our hands, descended a long wooden staircase to the
+mouth of the catacomb. On each side along the staircase was ranged a
+line of kneeling devotees, of the same miserable description I had so
+often seen about the churches in Italy and Greece. Entering the
+excavated passages of the catacombs, the roof of which was black from
+the smoke of candles, we saw on each side, in niches in the walls, and
+in open coffins, enveloped in wrappers of cloth and silk, ornamented
+with gold and silver, the bodies of the Russian saints. These saints are
+persons who have led particularly pure and holy lives, and by reason
+thereof have ascended into heaven, where they are supposed to exercise
+an influence with the Father and Son; and their bodies are left unburied
+that their brethren may come to them for intercession, and, seeing their
+honours after death, study to imitate them in the purity of their lives.
+The bodies are laid in open coffins, with the stiffened hands so placed
+as to receive the kisses of pilgrims, and on their breasts are written
+their names, and sometimes a history of their virtuous actions. But we
+saw there other and worse things than these, monuments of wild and
+desperate fanaticism; for besides the bodies of saints who had died at
+God's appointed time, in one passage is a range of small windows, where
+men had with their own hands built themselves in with stones against
+the wall, leaving open only a small hole by which to receive their food;
+and died with the impious thought that they were doing their Maker good
+service. These little windows close their dwelling and their tomb; and
+the devoted Russian, while he kneels before them, believes that their
+unnatural death has purchased for them everlasting life, and place and
+power among the spirits of the blessed.
+
+We wandered a long time in this extraordinary burial-place, everywhere
+strewed with the kneeling figures of praying pilgrims. At every turn we
+saw hundreds from the farthest parts of the immense empire of Russia;
+perhaps at that time more than three thousand were wandering in these
+sepulchral chambers.
+
+The last scene I shall never forget. More than a hundred were assembled
+in a little chapel, around which were arranged the bodies of men who had
+died in peculiar sanctity. All were kneeling on the rocky floor, an old
+priest, with a long white beard streaming down his breast, was in the
+midst of them, and all there, even to the little children, were
+listening with rapt attention, as if he were preaching to them matters
+of eternal moment. There was no hypocrisy or want of faith in that vast
+sepulchre; surrounded by their sainted dead, they were searching their
+way to everlasting life, and in all honesty believed that they saw the
+way before them. We ascended once more to the regions of upper air, and
+stopped a few moments in the courtyard of the monastery, where the
+beggar pilgrims were eating the hard bread distributed to them by the
+monks from the bounty of government. No man seemed more relieved than
+the major. He was a liberal in religion as well as in politics, but he
+crossed himself everywhere most devoutly, to avoid, as he said,
+offending the prejudices of his countrymen, though once he rather
+scandalized a group of pilgrims by cross-questioning a monk about a new
+saint, who seemed to be receiving more than a usual share of veneration,
+and who, he said, had been canonized since he was there last.
+
+But there is a time for all things, and nothing is more absolutely fixed
+by Nature's laws than a time for dinner. Almost at the first moment of
+our acquaintance the major had told me of an engraving representing a
+scene in _New-York_, which was to be found at a second or third rate
+hotel, and I proposed to him, in compliment to the honest publican who
+had the good taste to have such a picture in his house, to go there and
+dine. We went, and in a large room, something like a barroom in our
+hotels, saw on one of the walls, in a black wooden frame, a gaudy and
+flaring engraving representing the pulling down of the statue of George
+the Second in the Bowling Green. The Bowling Green was associated with
+my earliest recollections. It had been my playground when a boy;
+hundreds of times I had climbed over its fence for my ball, and I was
+one of a band of boys who held on to it long after the corporation
+invaded our rights. Captain Cook mentions the effect produced upon his
+crew by finding at one of the savage islands he visited a silver spoon
+marked "London;" my feelings were, in a small way, of the same nature.
+The grouping of the picture was rude and grotesque, the ringleader being
+a long negro stripped to his trousers, and straining with all his might
+upon a rope, one end of which was fastened to the head of the statue,
+and the other tied around his own waist, his white teeth and the whites
+of his eyes being particularly conspicuous on a heavy ground of black.
+It was a poor specimen of art, but it was a home scene; we drew up our
+table opposite the picture, and here, in the very headquarters of
+despotism, I found a liberal spirit in an officer wearing the uniform of
+the autocrat, who pledged me in the toast, "Success to liberty
+throughout the world."
+
+I had another occupation, which savoured more of home, and served to
+keep my faculties from rusting; and that was the sale of our carriage.
+We had made a calculation, and found that it would be cheaper, to say
+nothing of other advantages, to give it away, and take the diligence to
+Moscow, than go on posting. We accordingly offered it for sale, and
+every time we returned to the house found a group of Jews examining it.
+The poor thing found no favour in their eyes; they told us that we had
+been riding in it at peril of our lives; that we might be thankful it
+had not broken down on the road; and, in short, that it was worth
+nothing except for old iron, and for that it was worth forty-five
+rubles, or about _nine dollars_. We could not stand this. It had cost us
+one hundred and forty less than a week before, was cheap at that, and as
+good now as when we bought it. On the eve of departure, therefore, we
+offered it to our landlord for three days' board; but the old Turk (he
+was a Jew turned Christian, and in his regenerated worse than his
+natural state) refused our offer, thinking that we would go away and
+leave it on his hands. But we resolved to burn it first; and while
+hesitating about offering it to our friend the major, he relieved us
+from all delicacy by telling us that he did not want it, and had no
+horses to put to it; to save us from imposition, he would willingly give
+us the full value, but he was not worth the money. He had, however, a
+piece of fifty rubles, or about ten dollars, in his pocket, and, if we
+would take that, he would keep the carriage as a souvenir. We gladly
+accepted his offer, and had the satisfaction of finding that we had
+grievously disappointed both the Jews and our landlord.
+
+In the morning the proprietor of the diligence, learning that we had
+sold our vehicle, raised the price of places fifty rubles apiece; the
+major heard of it, and insisted upon our taking back the carriage, when
+the proprietor took another tone, talked of the expense of sending his
+huge vehicle with only two passengers, and we listened and assented. We
+started to accompany him, and just at the door of the hotel saw two
+runaway horses coming furiously down the street with a drosky, and an
+officer entangled and dragging on the ground. We picked him up and
+carried him into the hotel. He was a noble-looking man, who but a few
+minutes before had attracted my attention by his proud and manly
+bearing, now a miserable mangled object, his clothes torn, his plume
+soiled with mud, and his face covered with dust and blood, and, when we
+left, it was uncertain whether he would live or die.
+
+The major accompanied us to the office of the diligence, and our parting
+was rather tender; he rubbed his mustache on both my cheeks, wrote his
+name in my memorandum-book, and I gave him my address; he said that our
+visit had been an interlude relieving the dull monotony of his life;
+that we were going to new scenes, and would soon forget him, but he
+would not forget us. Nor shall I forget him, although it is not probable
+that he and I will ever meet again.
+
+We took our seats in the diligence for Moscow, and set off with an
+uncommon degree of satisfaction at having got rid of posting and of
+Henri, and, with them, of all our troubles. We had nothing to do, no
+wrangling with postmasters, no cheating to undergo from Jews, and were
+in that happy state which made the honest Hibernian indifferent to an
+upset or a breakdown; that is to say, we were merely passengers. With
+great pomp and circumstance we drove through the principal streets, to
+advise the Knickerbockers of Chioff of the actual departure of the
+long-talked-of diligence, the conducteur sounding his trumpet, and the
+people stopping in the streets and running to the doors to see the
+extraordinary spectacle.
+
+We descended the long wooden road to the river, and crossed the Dnieper
+on a bridge about half a mile long. On the opposite bank I turned for
+the last time to the sacred city, and I never saw anything more unique
+and strikingly beautiful than the high, commanding position of "this
+city on a hill," crowned with its golden cupolas and domes, that
+reflected the sun with dazzling brightness.
+
+For a short distance the country was rather undulating, but soon settled
+into the regular steppe. We rolled on all day without anything to annoy
+us or even to interest us, except processions of pilgrims on their way
+to Chioff. They travelled on foot in bands of one or two hundred, men,
+women, and children, headed by a white-bearded monk, barefooted, and
+leaning on a staff. During the night I was roused by a loud chant, and,
+looking out, saw a group of more than a hundred pilgrims gathered round
+a fire, with an old monk in the midst of them, breaking the stillness of
+night with songs of devotion; and all the night long, as we rode swiftly
+by, I saw by the bright moonlight groups of forty, fifty, or a hundred
+lying by the roadside asleep under the trees. More than fifty thousand
+pilgrims that year visited the catacombs of Kiev, coming from every part
+of the immense empire of Russia, and many from Kamschatka and the most
+distant region of Siberia, performing the whole journey on foot, seldom
+sleeping under a roof, and living upon the precarious charity of the
+miserable peasants on the road. I have since seen the gathering of
+pilgrims at Jerusalem, and the whole body moving together from the gates
+of the city to bathe in the Jordan, and I have seen the great caravan of
+forty thousand true believers tracking their desolate way through the
+deserts of Arabia to the tomb of the Prophet at Mecca; but I remember,
+as if they were before me now, the groups of Russian pilgrims strewed
+along the road and sleeping under the pale moonlight, the bare earth
+their bed, the heavens their only covering.
+
+In the morning we stopped at a little town, where the posthouse had in
+front four Corinthian columns supporting a balcony. Inside, mats were
+placed against the broken windows, the walls were rough logs, the floor
+of mud, with pigs and children disputing its possession, and the master
+and mistress stood in special need of the purifying influence of a
+Russian bath. We brought the teaurn out on the balcony, and had a cow
+brought up and milked in our presence. After breakfast we lighted our
+pipes and strolled up the street. At the upper end, an old man in a
+civil uniform hailed us from the opposite side, and crossed over to meet
+us; supposing him to be some dignitary disposed to show us the
+civilities of the town, we waited to receive him with all becoming
+respect; but, as he approached, were rather startled by the loud tone
+of his voice and the angry expression of his face, and more so when, as
+soon as within reach, he gave my pipe-stick a severe rap with his cane,
+which knocked it out of my mouth, broke the bowl, and scattered the
+contents on the ground. I picked up the stick, and should, perhaps, have
+laid it over his head but for his gray hairs; and my companion, seeing
+him tread out the sparks of fire, recollected that there was a severe
+penalty in Russia against smoking in the streets. The houses are all of
+wood; whole villages and towns are often burned down at once, and
+probably the old man had begun by a civil intimation to that effect;
+but, indignant at my quietly smoking in his face, had used more summary
+measures. He was in a perfect fury; and calling at the top of his voice
+to a man up the street, the latter went off with such a suspicious
+looking-for-a-police-officer movement, that we hurried back to the
+diligence, which happened to be ready and waiting for us, and started
+from the town on a full run.
+
+That night, in a miserable posthouse in a miserable village, we found an
+old billiard-table. It seemed strangely out of place, and I had a great
+curiosity to know how it had found its way there; but it was twelve
+o'clock, and all were asleep but the postillion. I can give no account
+of the rest of the night's work. I had a large cushioned seat of the
+diligence to myself, certainly the softest bed I had yet had in Russia;
+and when I put my feet out of the window, it was so comfortable that I
+felt myself in some danger of falling into luxurious habits.
+
+At daylight we arrived in a large village, the inhabitants of which were
+not yet stirring, and the streets were strewed with peasants, grim,
+yellow-bearded fellows, in sheepskin dresses and caps, lying on their
+backs asleep, each of them with a log of wood under his head for a
+pillow. I descended from the diligence, and found that the whole village
+consisted of a single street, with log-houses on each side, having their
+gable ends in front; the doors were all open, and I looked in and saw
+men and women with all their clothes on, pigs, sheep, and children
+strewed about the floor.
+
+[Illustration: Russian Village.]
+
+In every house was the image of the Panagia, or all holy Virgin, or the
+picture of some tutelary saint, the face only visible, the rest covered
+with a tin frame, with a lamp or taper burning before it; and regularly
+as the serf rose he prostrated himself and made his orisons at this
+domestic shrine.
+
+About noon we passed the chateau and grounds of a seigneur; belonging to
+the chateau was a large church standing in a conspicuous situation, with
+a green dome, surmounted by the Greek cross; and round it were the
+miserable and filthy habitations of his slaves. Entering the village, we
+saw a spectacle of wretchedness and misery seldom surpassed even on the
+banks of the Nile. The whole population was gathered in the streets, in
+a state of absolute starvation. The miserable serfs had not raised
+enough to supply themselves with food, and men of all ages, half-grown
+boys, and little children were prowling the streets or sitting in the
+doorways, ravenous with hunger, and waiting for the agent to come down
+from the chateau and distribute among them bread.
+
+I had found in Russia many interesting subjects of comparison between
+that country and my own, but it was with deep humiliation I felt that
+the most odious feature in that despotic government found a parallel in
+ours. At this day, with the exception of Russia, some of the West India
+Islands, and the republic of the United States, every country in the
+civilized world can respond to the proud boast of the English common
+law, that the moment a slave sets foot on her soil he is free. I respect
+the feelings of others and their vested rights, and would be the last to
+suffer those feelings or those rights to be wantonly violated; but I do
+not hesitate to say that, abroad, slavery stands as a dark blot upon our
+national character. There it will not admit of any palliation; it stands
+in glaring contrast with the spirit of our free institutions; it belies
+our words and our hearts; and the American who would be most prompt to
+repel any calumny upon his country withers under this reproach, and
+writhes with mortification when the taunt is hurled at the otherwise
+stainless flag of the free republic. I was forcibly struck with a
+parallel between the white serfs of the north of Europe and African
+bondsmen at home. The Russian boor, generally wanting the comforts which
+are supplied to the negro on our best-ordered plantations, appeared to
+me to be not less degraded in intellect, character, and personal
+bearing. Indeed, the marks of physical and personal degradation were so
+strong, that I was insensibly compelled to abandon certain theories not
+uncommon among my countrymen at home, in regard to the intrinsic
+superiority of the white race over all others. Perhaps, too, this
+impression was aided by my having previously met with Africans of
+intelligence and capacity, standing upon a footing of perfect equality
+as soldiers and officers in the Greek army and the sultan's.
+
+The serfs of Russia differ from slaves with us in the important
+particular that they belong to the soil, and cannot be sold except with
+the estate; they may change masters, but cannot be torn from their
+connexions or their birthplace. One sixth of the whole peasantry of
+Russia, amounting to six or seven millions, belong to the crown, and
+inhabit the imperial demesne, and pay an annual tax. In particular
+districts, many have been enfranchised, and become burghers and
+merchants; and the liberal and enlightened policy of the present emperor
+is diffusing a more general system of melioration among these subjects
+of his vast empire. The rest of the serfs belong to the nobles, and are
+the absolute property and subject to the absolute control of their
+masters, as much as the cattle on their estates. Some of the seigneurs
+possess from seventy to more than a hundred thousand; and their wealth
+depends upon the skill and management with which the labour of these
+serfs is employed. Sometimes the seigneur sends the most intelligent to
+Petersburgh or Moscow to learn some handicraft, and then employs them on
+his own estates, hires them out, or allows them to exercise their trade
+on their own account on payment of an annual sum. And sometimes, too, he
+gives the serf a passport, under which he is protected all over Russia,
+settles in a city, and engages in trade, and very often accumulates
+enough to ransom himself and his family. Indeed, there are many
+instances of a serf's acquiring a large property, and even rising to
+eminence. But he is always subject to the control of his master; and I
+saw at Moscow an old mongik who had acquired a very large fortune, but
+was still a slave. His master's price for his freedom had advanced with
+his growing wealth, and the poor serf, unable to bring himself to part
+with his hard earnings, was then rolling in wealth with a collar round
+his neck; struggling with the inborn spirit of freedom, and hesitating
+whether to die a beggar or a slave.
+
+The Russian serf is obliged to work for his master but three days in the
+week; the other three he may work for himself on a portion of land
+assigned to him by law on his master's estate. He is never obliged to
+work on Sunday, and every saint's day or fête day of the church is a
+holyday. This might be supposed to give him an opportunity of elevating
+his character and condition; but, wanting the spirit of a free agent,
+and feeling himself the absolute property of another, he labours
+grudgingly for his master, and for himself barely enough to supply the
+rudest necessaries of life and pay his tax to the seigneur. A few rise
+above their condition, but millions labour like beasts of burden,
+content with bread to put in their mouths, and never even thinking of
+freedom. A Russian nobleman told me that he believed, if the serfs were
+all free, he could cultivate his estate to better advantage by hired
+labour; and I have no doubt a dozen Connecticut men would cultivate more
+ground than a hundred Russian serfs, allowing their usual non-working
+days and holydays. They have no interest in the soil, and the desolate
+and uncultivated wastes of Russia show the truth of the judicious
+reflection of Catharine II., "that agriculture can never flourish in
+that nation where the husbandman possesses no property."
+
+It is from this great body of peasantry that Russia recruits her immense
+standing army, or, in case of invasion, raises in a moment a vast body
+of soldiers. Every person in Russia entitled to hold land is known to
+the government, as well as the number of peasants on his estate; and,
+upon receiving notice of an imperial order to that effect, the numbers
+required by the levy are marched forthwith from every part of the empire
+to the places of rendezvous appointed. It might be asked, What have
+these men to fight for? They have no country, and are brought up on
+immense levels, wanting the rocks, rivers, and mountains that inspire
+local attachments. It is a singular fact, that, with the Russian serf,
+there is always an unbounded love for him who stands at the head of the
+system of oppression under which they groan, the emperor, whom they
+regard as their protector against the oppression of their immediate
+masters; but to whatever cause it may be ascribed, whether inability to
+estimate the value of any change in their condition, or a feeling of
+actual love for the soil on which they were born, during the invasion of
+Napoleon the serfs of Russia presented a noble spectacle; and the spirit
+of devotion which animated the corps of ten thousand in the north
+extended to the utmost bounds of the empire. They received orders to
+march from St. Petersburgh to meet the advance of the French army; the
+emperor reviewed them, and is said to have shed tears at their
+departure. Arrived at the place appointed, Witgenstein ordered them to
+fall back to a certain point, but they answered "No; the last promise we
+made the emperor our father was, that we would never fly before the
+enemy, and we keep our word." Eight thousand of their number died on the
+spot; and the spirit which animated them fired the serfs throughout the
+whole empire. The scholar may sneer, but I defy him to point to a nobler
+page in Grecian or Roman history.
+
+I shall make amends for this long discussion by hurrying on to Moscow.
+We rode hundreds of miles without meeting a hill; the country was bare
+of trees, and almost everywhere presenting the same appearance. We saw
+the first disk of the sun peeping out of the earth, watched it while
+soaring on its daily round, and, without a bush to obstruct the view,
+saw it sink below the horizon; and woke up at all times of night and saw
+the stars,
+
+    "Rolling like living cars of light
+    For gods to journey by."
+
+The principal and only large towns on our road were Orel and Toula, the
+former containing a population of four or five thousand, and presenting
+an imposing display of churches and monasteries gaudily painted and with
+gilded domes; the houses were principally of wood, painted yellow. Toula
+is the largest manufacturing town, and is called the Sheffield of
+Russia, being particularly celebrated for its cutlery. Everywhere the
+diligence created a great sensation; the knowing ones said it would
+never do; but at Orel one spirited individual said if we would wait
+three days for him he would go on with us. It can hardly seem credible,
+in our steamboat and railroad community, that a public conveyance could
+roll on for seven days and nights, through many villages and towns,
+toward the capital of an immense empire, and not take in a single
+way-passenger; but such was the fact; and on the morning of the seventh
+day, alone, as we started from Chioff, we were approaching the burned
+and rebuilt capital of the Czars, Moscow with gilded cupolas, the holy
+Moscow, the sanctified city, the Jerusalem of Russia, beloved of God,
+and dear to men.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+    Moscow.--A severe Operation.--An Exile by Accident.--Meeting with an
+      Emigré.--A civil Stranger.--A Spy.--The Kremlin.--Sepulchres of
+      the Czars.--The great Bell.--The great Gun.--Precious Relics.
+
+
+AT daylight we arrived at the last post; and here, for the first time,
+we saw evidences of our approach to a great city. Four or five
+travelling-carriages were waiting for horses, some of which had been
+waiting all night; but our diligence being a "public accommodation," we
+were preferred, and had the first that came in. We took our places for
+the last time in the diligence, and passed two or three fine chateaux,
+our curiosity and interest increasing as we approached, until, at about
+five versts from Moscow, as we reached the summit of a gentle eminence,
+the whole city broke upon us at one view, situated in the midst of a
+great plain, and covering an extent of more than thirty versts. Moscow
+is emphatically the city of churches, containing more than six hundred,
+many of which have five or six domes, with steeples, and spires, and
+crosses, gilded and connected together with golden chains like those of
+Chioff. Its convents, too, are almost innumerable, rivalling the
+churches in size and magnificence, and even to us, coming directly from
+the capital of the Eastern empire, presenting a most striking and
+extraordinary appearance. As we passed the barrier, two of the most
+conspicuous objects on each side were the large Greek convents, enclosed
+by high walls, with noble trees growing above them; and as we rode
+through the wide and showy streets, the first thing that struck me as
+strange, and, in this inhospitable climate (always associated in my mind
+with rude and wintry scenes), as singularly beautiful, was the profusion
+of plants and flowers, with the remarkable degree of taste and attention
+given to their cultivation. In Greece and Turkey I had seen the rarest
+plants and flowers literally "wasting their sweetness on the desert
+air;" while here, in the heart of an inhospitable country, every house
+had a courtyard or garden, and in front a light open portico or veranda,
+ornamented with plants, and shrubs, and flowers, forced into a glowing
+though unnatural beauty. The whole appearance of the city is Asiatic;
+and as the exhibition of flowers in front of the better class of houses
+was almost universal, Moscow seemed basking in the mild climate of
+Southern Asia, rioting in its brief period of vernal existence, and
+forgetting that, in a few weeks, a frost would come and cover their
+beauty with the dreary drapery of winter.
+
+At the office of the diligence my companion and myself separated. He
+went to a hotel kept by an English woman, with English company, and I
+believe, too, with English comfort, and I rode to the Hotel Germanica,
+an old and favourite stopping-place with the Russian seigneurs when they
+come up from their estates in the country. Having secured my room, I
+mounted a drosky and hurried to a bath. Riding out to the suburbs, the
+drosky boy stopped at a large wooden building, pouring forth steam from
+every chink and crevice. At the entrance stood several half-naked men,
+one of whom led me to an apartment to undress, and then conducted me to
+another, in one end of which were a furnace and apparatus for generating
+steam. I was then familiar with the Turkish bath, but the worst I had
+known was like the breath of the gentle south wind compared with the
+heat of this apartment. The operator stood me in the middle of the
+floor, opened the upper door of the stove, and dashed into it a
+bucketful of water, which sent forth volumes of steam like a thick fog
+into every part of the room, and then laid me down on a platform about
+three feet high and rubbed my body with a mop dipped in soap and hot
+water; then he raised me up, and deluged me with hot water, pouring
+several tubfuls on my head; then laid me down again, and scrubbed me
+with soap and water from my head to my heels, long enough, if the thing
+were possible, to make a blackamoor white; then gave me another sousing
+with hot water, and another scrubbing with pure water, and then
+conducted me up a flight of steps to a high platform, stretched me out
+on a bench within a few feet of the ceiling, and commenced whipping me
+with twigs of birch, with the leaves on them, dipped in hot water. It
+was hot as an oven where he laid me down on the bench; the vapour, which
+almost suffocated me below, ascended to the ceiling, and, finding no
+avenue of escape, gathered round my devoted body, fairly scalding and
+blistering me; and when I removed my hands from my face, I felt as if I
+had carried away my whole profile. I tried to hold out to the end, but I
+was burning, scorching, and consuming. In agony I cried out to my
+tormentor to let me up, but he did not understand me, or was loath to
+let me go, and kept thrashing me with the bunch of twigs until,
+perfectly desperate, I sprang off the bench, tumbled him over, and
+descended to the floor. Snow, snow, a region of eternal snow seemed
+paradise; but my tormentor had not done with me; and, as I was hurrying
+to the door, he dashed over me a tub of cold water. I was so hot that
+it seemed to hiss as it touched me; he came at me with another, and at
+that moment I could imagine, what had always seemed a traveller's story,
+the high satisfaction and perfect safety with which the Russian in mid
+winter rushes from his hot bath and rolls himself in the snow. The grim
+features of my tormentor relaxed as he saw the change that came over me.
+I withdrew to my dressing-room, dozed an hour on the settee, and went
+out a new man. In half an hour I stood in the palace of the Czars,
+within the walls of the Kremlin.
+
+Toward evening I returned to my hotel. In all the large hotels in Russia
+it is the custom for every man to dine in his own apartment. Travelling
+alone, I always avoided this when I could, as, besides my dislike of the
+thing itself, it prevented my making acquaintances and acquiring such
+information as I needed in a strange city; and I was particularly averse
+to dine alone the first day of my arrival at Moscow; but it was the
+etiquette of the house to do so, and as I had a letter of introduction
+which I intended to deliver, from Count Woronzow to Prince Galitzin, the
+governor of Moscow, I was bound to make some sacrifice for the credit of
+my acquaintance. After the table was spread, however, finding it too
+severe a trial, I went down stairs and invited myself to dine with my
+landlord. He was a German of about fifty-five or sixty, tall, stout,
+with gray hair, a frank, manly expression, and great respectability of
+appearance and manners; and before the dinner was over I regarded him
+emphatically as what a Frenchman would call _un brave homme_. He had
+been in Russia during the whole of the French invasion, and, among the
+other incidents of a stirring life, had been sent in exile to Siberia;
+and the curious part of it was, that he was sent there by mistake.
+Rather an awkward mistake, though, as he said, not so bad as being
+knouted or hanged by mistake; and in his case it turned out a rather
+interesting adventure. He was taken by the French as a Russian spy, and
+retaken by the Russians as a French spy, when, as he said, he did not
+care a fig for either of them. He was hurried off to Siberia, but on the
+journey succeeded in convincing the officer who escorted the prisoners
+that there was error in the case, and on his arrival was merely detained
+in exile, without being put to hard labour, until, through the medium of
+friends, he had the matter brought before the proper tribunal, and the
+mistake corrected, when he came back post, in company with a Russian
+officer, smoking his pipe all the way, at the expense of the government.
+He gave me many interesting particulars in regard to that celebrated
+country, its mines, the sufferings of the noble exiles; and much also,
+that was new to me, touching its populousness and wealth, and the
+comfort and luxury of a residence there. He spoke of Tobolsk as a large,
+gay, and populous city, containing hotels, theatres, and all kinds of
+places of amusement. The exiles, being many of them of rank, have
+introduced there all the luxuries of the capital, and life at Tobolsk is
+much the same as life at Moscow.
+
+As the rage for travelling is excited by hearing from the lips of a
+traveller stories of the countries he has visited, before dinner was
+over I found myself infected with a strong disposition for a journey to
+Siberia. Small matters, however, produce great changes in the current of
+a man's feelings, and in a few moments I had entirely forgotten Siberia,
+and was carried directly home. While we were smoking our pipes, an old
+gentleman entered, of singularly aristocratic appearance, whom my host
+received with the greatest consideration and respect, addressing him as
+the Marquis de P----. He was a Frenchman, an old militaire, and a noble
+specimen of a race almost extinct; tall, thin, and gray-headed, wearing
+a double-breasted blue frockcoat, buttoned up to the throat, with a cane
+in his hand and a red riband in his buttonhole, the decoration of the
+Knights of Malta; and when my host introduced me as an American
+traveller arrived that day in Moscow, he welcomed me with more than the
+usual forms of courtesy, and told me that, far off as it was, and little
+as he knew of it, he almost regarded America as his own country; that,
+on the downfall of "the emperor," and in a season of universal
+scattering, some of his nearest relatives, particularly a sister married
+to a fellow-soldier and his dearest friend, had taken refuge on the
+other side of the Atlantic; that, eighteen years before, he had met an
+American secretary of legation who knew them, but since that time he had
+not heard from them, and did not know whether they were living or dead.
+I asked him the name, with very little expectation of being able to give
+him any information about them; and it was with no small degree of
+pleasure that I found I was particularly acquainted with the condition
+of his relatives. His brother-in-law and old comrade was dead, but I
+brought him a satisfaction to which he had long been a stranger, by
+telling him that his sister was still living, occupying a large property
+in a neighbouring state, surrounded by a family of children, in
+character and standing ranking among the first in our country. They were
+intimately connected with the family of one of my most intimate friends,
+letters to and from different members of which had very often passed
+through my hands; I knew the names of all his nieces, and personally one
+of his nephews, a lieutenant, and one of the most promising officers in
+our navy; and about a year before I had accompanied the friends to whom
+I refer on a visit to these relatives. At Philadelphia I left them under
+the charge of the lieutenant; and on my return from Washington,
+according to agreement, the lieutenant came down to an intersecting
+point on the railroad to take me home with him; but circumstances
+prevented my going, and much as I regretted my disappointment then, I
+regretted it far more now, as otherwise I might have gladdened the old
+man's heart by telling him that within a year I had seen his sister. His
+own history was brief. Born to the possession of rank and fortune, and
+having won honours and decorations by long service in the field, and
+risen to the rank of inspector-general in the army of Napoleon, he was
+taken in the campaign against Russia in eighteen hundred and thirteen,
+and sent a prisoner of war to Moscow, where he had remained ever since.
+Immediately on their arrival, his brother-in-law and sister had written
+to him from America, telling him that, with the wreck of their fortune,
+they had purchased a large landed estate, and begging him to come over
+and share their abundance; but, as he told me, he scorned to eat the
+bread of idleness and dependance; manfully turned to account the
+advantages of an accomplished education; and now, at the advanced age of
+seventy-eight, sustained himself by his pencil, an honoured guest at
+every table, and respected by the most distinguished inhabitants of
+Moscow. He had accidentally given up his rooms a few days before, and
+was residing temporarily at the same hotel with myself. He was much
+agitated by this unexpected intelligence from friends he never expected
+to hear of more, and left me with a promise to call upon me early in the
+morning.
+
+Too much interested myself to go back to Siberia with my host, I went to
+the French theatre. The play was some little every-day thing, and the
+house but thinly attended. I took my seat in the pit, which was on a
+dead level, instead of ascending from the stage, containing large
+cushioned seats, and sprinkled with officers talking with ladies in the
+boxes above. At the end of the first act, as whole benches were empty
+above me, I moved up to put myself nearer a pair of bright eyes that
+were beaming from the box upon a pair of epaulettes below. I was hardly
+seated before one of the understrappers came up and whispered, or rather
+muttered, something in my ear. As I did not understand a word he said,
+and his manner was exceedingly rude and ungracious, I turned my back
+upon him and looked at the lady with the bright eyes. The fellow
+continued muttering in my ear, and I began to be seriously annoyed and
+indignant, when a Frenchman sitting two or three benches behind me came
+up, and, in an imperious tone, ordered him away. He then cursed the
+Russians as a set of canaille, from the greatest seigneurs to the lowest
+serf; remarked that he saw I was a stranger, and, with the easy freedom
+of a man of the world, took a seat by my side. He was above six feet
+high, about thirty-three or thirty-four years of age, in robust health,
+with a large pair of whiskers, rather overdressed, and of manners good,
+though somewhat imperious and bordering on the swagger. He seemed
+perfectly at home in the theatre; knew all the actors and, before the
+evening was over, offered to introduce me to all the actresses. I was
+under obligations to him, if not for the last offer, at least for
+relieving me from the impertinent doorkeeper; and, when the curtain
+fell, accepted his invitation to go to a restaurant and take a petit
+souper. I accompanied him to the Restaurant au coin du pont des
+Mareschaux, which I afterward ascertained to be the first in Moscow. He
+was perfectly at home with the carte, knew exactly what to order, and,
+in fact, he was a man of great general information, perfectly familiar
+with all continental Europe, geographically and politically, and
+particularly at home in Moscow; and he offered his services in showing
+me all that was curious and interesting. We sat together more than two
+hours, and in our rambling and discursive conversation I could not help
+remarking that he seemed particularly fond of railing at the government,
+its tyranny and despotism, and appealing to me, as an American and a
+liberal, to sustain him. I did not think anything of it then, though in
+a soldier under Charles the Tenth, driven out, as he said, by the
+revolution of July, it was rather strange; but, at any rate, either from
+a spirit of contradiction or because I had really a good feeling toward
+everything in Russia, I disagreed with him throughout; he took upon
+himself the whole honours of the entertainment, scolded the servants,
+called in the landlord, and, as I observed, after a few words with him,
+went out without paying. I saw that the landlord knew him, and that
+there was something constrained and peculiar in his behaviour. I must
+confess, however, that I did not notice these things at the time so
+clearly as when I was induced to recur to them by after circumstances,
+for we went out of the house the best friends in the world; and, as it
+was then raining, we took a drosky and rode home together, with our arms
+around each other's neck, and my cloak thrown over us both. About two
+o'clock, in a heavy rain, I stopped at my hotel, bade him good-night,
+and lent him my cloak to go home with.
+
+The reader, perhaps, smiles at my simplicity, but he is wrong in his
+conjecture; my cloak came home the next morning, and was my companion
+and only covering many a night afterward. My friend followed it, sat
+with me a few minutes, and was taking his departure, having made an
+appointment to call for me at twelve o'clock, when there was a knock at
+the door, and my friend the marquis entered. I presented them to each
+other, and the latter was in the act of bending his body with the
+formality of a gentleman of the old school, when he caught a full view
+of my friend of the theatre, and, breaking off his unfinished bow,
+recovered his erect position, and staring from him to me, and from me to
+him, seemed to demand an explanation. I had no explanation to give, nor
+had my friend, who, cocking his hat on one side, and brushing by the
+marquis with more than his usual swagger, stamped down stairs. The
+marquis looked after him till he was at the foot of the stairs, and then
+turning to me, asked how, in the name of wonder, I had already contrived
+to pick up such an acquaintance. I told him the history of our meeting
+at the theatre, our supper at the restaurant, and our loving ride home,
+to which he listened with breathless attention; and after making me tax
+my memory for the particulars of the conversation at the restaurant,
+told me that my friend was a disgrace to his country; that he had, no
+doubt, been obliged to leave France for some rascality, and was now
+entertained by the Emperor of Russia as a _spy_, particularly upon his
+own countrymen; that he was well fed and clothed, and had the entrée of
+all the theatres and public houses without paying. With the earnestness
+of a man long used to a despotic government, and to seeing slight
+offences visited with terrible punishments, the marquis congratulated me
+upon not having fallen into what he called the snare laid for me.
+
+It is almost impossible for an American to believe that even in Russia
+he incurs any risk in speaking what he thinks; he is apt to regard the
+stories of summary punishment for freedom of speech as bugbears or
+bygone things. In my own case, even when men looked cautiously around
+the room and then spoke in whispers, I could not believe that there was
+any danger. Still I had become prudent enough not to talk with any
+unnecessary indiscretion of the constituted authorities, and, even in
+writing home to my friends, not to say anything that could prejudice me
+if the letter should fall into wrong hands; and now, although I did not
+consider that I had run any great risk, I was rather pleased that I had
+said nothing exceptionable; and though I had no apprehension,
+particularly since I had been put on my guard, I determined to drop my
+new acquaintance, and did not consider myself bound to observe any great
+courtesy in the mode of doing it. I had had a supper, which it was my
+original intention to return with a dinner; but I did not consider
+myself under any obligation to him for civilities shown in the exercise
+of his despicable calling. The first time I met him I made no apology
+for having been out when he called according to appointment, and did not
+ask him to come again. I continued to meet him in the streets and at
+every public place, but our greetings became colder and colder, and the
+day before I left Moscow we brushed against each other without speaking
+at all. So much for acquaintances who, after an intimacy of three or
+four hours, had ridden home under the same cloak, with their arms around
+each other's neck.
+
+But to return: as soon as the marquis left me I again went to the
+Kremlin, to me the great, I had almost said the only, object of interest
+in Moscow. I always detested a cicerone; his bowing, fawning, and
+prating annoyed me; and all through Italy, with my map and guide-book
+under my arm, I was in the habit of rambling about alone. I did the same
+at Moscow, and again walked to the Kremlin unaccompanied. Unlike many of
+the places I had visited, all the interest I had felt in looking forward
+to the Kremlin was increased when I stood within its walls. I had
+thought of it as the rude and barbarous palace of the Czars; but I found
+it one of the most extraordinary, beautiful, and magnificent objects I
+ever beheld. I rambled over it several times with admiration, without
+attempting to comprehend it all. Its commanding situation on the banks
+of the Moskwa river; its high and venerable walls; its numerous
+battlements, towers, and steeples; its magnificent and gorgeous palaces;
+its cathedrals, churches, monasteries, and belfries, with their gilded,
+coppered, and tin-plated domes; its mixture of barbarism and decay,
+magnificence and ruins; its strong contrast of architecture, including
+the Tartarian, Hindoo, Chinese, and Gothic; and, rising above all, the
+lofty tower of Ivan Veliki, with its golden ball reflecting the sun with
+dazzling brilliancy, all together exhibited a beauty, grandeur, and
+magnificence strange and indescribable.
+
+[Illustration: The Kremlin.]
+
+The Kremlin is "the heart" and "sacred place" of Moscow, once the old
+fortress of the Tartars, and now the centre of the modern city. It is
+nearly triangular in form, enclosed by a high brick wall painted white,
+and nearly two miles in extent, and is in itself a city. It has five
+gates, at four of which there are high watch-towers. The fifth is "our
+Saviour's," or the Holy Gate, through whose awe-commanding portals no
+male, not even the emperor and autocrat of all the Russias, can pass
+except with uncovered head and bended body. Bareheaded, I entered by
+this gate, and passed on to a noble esplanade, commanding one of the
+most interesting views of Moscow, and having in front the range of
+palaces of the Czars. I shall not attempt to describe these palaces.
+They are a combination of every variety of taste and every order of
+architecture, Grecian, Gothic, Italian, Tartar, and Hindoo, rude,
+fanciful, grotesque, gorgeous, magnificent, and beautiful. The churches,
+monasteries, arsenals, museum, and public buildings are erected with no
+attempt at regularity of design, and in the same wild confusion of
+architecture. There are no regular streets, but three open places or
+squares, and abundance of room for carriages and foot passengers, with
+which, in summer afternoons, it is always thronged.
+
+Having strolled for some time about the Kremlin, I entered the Cathedral
+of the Assumption, the most splendid church in Moscow. It was founded in
+1325, and rebuilt in 1472. It is loaded with gorgeous and extravagant
+ornaments. The iconastos or screen which divides the sanctuary from the
+body of the church is in many parts covered with plates of solid silver
+and gold, richly and finely wrought. On the walls are painted the images
+of more than two thousand three hundred saints, some at full length and
+some of a colossal size, and the whole interior seems illuminated with
+gold, of which more than two hundred and ten thousand leaves have been
+employed in embellishing it. From the centre of the roof is suspended a
+crown of massive silver, with forty-eight chandeliers, all in a single
+piece, and weighing nearly three thousand pounds. Besides the portraits
+of saints and martyrs, there are portraits of the old historians, whose
+names, to prevent confusion, are attached to their resemblances, as
+Aristotle, Anarcharsis, Thucydides, Plutarch, &c. Some of the paintings
+on wood could not fail to delight an antiquary, inasmuch as every
+vestige of paint being obliterated, there is abundance of room for
+speculation as to their age and character. There is also an image of the
+Virgin, painted by St. Luke's own hand!!! The face dark, almost black,
+the head encircled with a glory of precious stones, and the hands and
+the body gilded. It is reverenced for its miraculous powers, guarded
+with great care, and enclosed within a large silver covering, which is
+never removed but on great religious festivals, or on payment of a ruble
+to the verger. Here, too, is a nail from the cross, a robe of our
+Saviour's, and part of one of the Virgin's!!! And here, too, are the
+tombs of the church patriarchs, one of whom, St. Phillippe, honoured by
+a silver monument, dared to say to John the Terrible, "We respect you as
+an image of the Divinity, but as a man you partake of the dust of the
+earth."
+
+The Cathedral of the Assumption is honoured as the place where the
+sovereigns of Russia are crowned, and there is but a step from their
+throne to their grave, for near it is the Cathedral of the archangel
+Michael, the ancient burial-place where, in raised sepulchres, lie the
+bodies of the Czars, from the time when Moscow became the seat of empire
+until the close of the seventeenth century. The bodies rest in raised
+tombs or sepulchres, each covered with a velvet pall, and having on it a
+silver plate, bearing the name of the occupant and the date of his
+decease. Close by is an odd-looking church, constantly thronged with
+devotees; a humble structure, said to be the oldest Christian church in
+Moscow. It was built in the desert, before Moscow was thought of, and
+its walls are strong enough to last till the gorgeous city shall become
+a desert again.
+
+After strolling through the churches I ascended the tower of Ivan
+Veliki, or John the Great, the first of the Czars. It is about two
+hundred and seventy feet high, and contains thirty-three bells, the
+smallest weighing seven thousand, and the largest more than one hundred
+and twenty-four thousand pounds English. On festivals they are all
+tolled together, the Muscovites being extremely fond of Ivan Veliki's
+music. This celebrated tower rises above every other object in the
+Kremlin, and its large gilded dome and cross are conspicuous from every
+part of the city. From its top I had the finest view of Moscow and the
+surrounding country, and, perhaps, the finest panoramic view in the
+world. Hundreds of churches were in sight, with their almost innumerable
+domes, and spires, and crosses glittering with gold, Tartaric
+battlements, terraces, balconies, and ramparts. Gothic steeples, Grecian
+columns, the star, the crescent, and the cross, palaces, mosques, and
+Tartar temples, pagodas, pavilions, and verandas, monasteries peeping
+out over high walls and among noble trees, the stream of the Moskwa
+winding prettily below, and in the distance the Sparrow Hills, on which
+the French army first made its appearance on the invasion of Moscow. It
+may seem strange, but I did not feel myself a stranger on the top of
+that tower. Thousands of miles away I had read its history. I knew that
+the magnificent city at my feet had been a sheet of fire, and that, when
+Napoleon fled by the light of its conflagration, a dreadful explosion
+shook to their foundation the sacred precincts of the Kremlin, and rent
+from its base to its top the lofty tower of Ivan.
+
+I descended, and the custode conducted me to another well-known object,
+the great bell, the largest, and the wonder of the world. It is only a
+short distance from the foot of the tower, in an excavation under
+ground, accessible by a trapdoor, like the covered mouth of a well. I
+descended by a broken ladder, and can hardly explain to myself the
+curiosity and interest with which I examined this monstrous piece of
+metal. I have no knowledge of or taste for mechanics, and no particular
+penchant for bells, even when spelled with an additional e; but I knew
+all about this one, and it added wonderfully to the interest with which
+I strolled through the Kremlin, that, from accidental circumstances, I
+was familiar with every object within its walls. I impeach, no doubt,
+my classical taste, but, before seeing either, I had dwelt with more
+interest upon the Kremlin, and knew more of it, than of the Acropolis at
+Athens; and I stood at the foot of the great bell almost with a feeling
+of reverence. Its perpendicular height is twenty-one feet four inches,
+and the extreme thickness of the metal twenty-three inches; the length
+of the clapper is fourteen feet, the greatest circumference sixty-seven
+feet four inches, its weight upward of four hundred thousand pounds
+English, and its cost has been estimated at more than three hundred and
+sixty-five thousand pounds sterling. There is some question whether this
+immense bell was ever hung, but it is supposed that it was suspended by
+a great number of beams and crossbeams; that it was rung by forty or
+fifty men, one half on either side, who pulled the clapper by means of
+ropes, and that the sound amazed and deafened the inhabitants. On one
+side is a crack large enough to admit the figure of a man. I went inside
+and called aloud, and received an echo like the reverberations of
+thunder.
+
+[Illustration: The Great Bell.]
+
+Besides the great bell, there is another noisy musical instrument,
+namely, the great gun, like the bell, the largest in the world, being a
+four thousand three hundred and twenty pounder. It is sixteen feet long,
+and the diameter of its calibre nearly three feet. I jumped in and
+turned round in its mouth, and sat upright, my head not reaching the
+top. All around were planted cannon taken from the French in their
+unhappy expedition against the capital of Russia; immense fieldpieces,
+whose throats once poured their iron hail against the walls within which
+they now repose as trophies. I was attracted by a crowd at the door of
+one of the principal buildings, which I found to be the treasury,
+containing what a Russian prizes as his birthright, the repository of
+sacred heirlooms; the doorkeeper demanded a permit, and I answered him
+with rubles and entered the treasury. On the first floor are the ancient
+imperial carriages; large, heavy, and extraordinary vehicles, covered
+with carving and gilding, and having large plate glass windows; among
+them was an enormous sleigh, carved and profusely gilded, and containing
+a long table with cushioned seats on each side; all together, these
+vehicles were most primitive and Asiatic in appearance, and each one had
+some long and interesting story connected with it.
+
+I ascended by a noble staircase to the _belle etage_, a gallery composed
+of five parts, in the first of which are the portraits of all the
+emperors and Czars and their wives, in the exact costume of the times in
+which they lived; in another is a model of a palace projected by the
+Empress Catharine to unite the whole Kremlin under one roof, having a
+circumference of two miles, and make of it one magnificent palace; if it
+had been completed according to the plan, this palace would probably
+have surpassed the Temple of Solomon or any of the seven wonders of the
+world. In another is a collection of precious relics, such as the crowns
+worn by the different emperors and Czars, loaded with precious stones;
+the dresses worn at their marriages; the canopies under which the
+emperors are married, surmounted by magnificent plumes; two canopies of
+red velvet, studded with gold, and a throne with two seats. The crown of
+Prince Vladimir is surmounted by a golden cross, and ornamented with
+pearls and precious stones, and, until the time of Peter the Great, was
+used to crown the Czars; the crown of the conquered kingdom of Cazan was
+placed there by the victorious hands of John Vassilivitch. Besides these
+were the crowns of the conquered countries of Astrachan and Siberia.
+That of John Alexius has eight hundred and eighty-one diamonds, and
+under the cross which surmounts it is an immense ruby. There were also
+the crown of Peter the Great, containing eight hundred and forty-seven
+diamonds; that of Catharine the First, his widow, containing two
+thousand five hundred and thirty-six fine diamonds, to which the Empress
+Anne added a ruby of enormous size, bought by the Russian ambassador at
+Pekin; and, lastly, the crown of unhappy Poland! It is of polished gold,
+surmounted by a cross, but no other ornament. And there were other
+emblems of royalty: a throne or Greek fauteuil of ivory, in arabesque,
+presented to John the Great by the ambassadors who accompanied from Rome
+to Moscow the Princess Sophia, whom he had demanded in marriage. She was
+the daughter of Thomas Paleologus Porphrygenitus brother of Constantine
+Paleologus, who died in fourteen hundred and fifty-three, after seeing
+his empire fall into the hands of the Turks. By this marriage John
+considered himself the heir of Constantine, and took the title of Czar,
+meaning Cæsar (this is one of the derivations of the name), and thus the
+emperor and autocrat of all the Russias has the fairest claim to the
+throne of the Cæsars, and, consequently, has always had an eye upon
+Constantinople; then there are the throne of Boris, adorned with two
+thousand seven hundred and sixty turquoises and other precious stones;
+that of Michel, containing eight thousand eight hundred and twenty-four
+precious stones; that of Alexius, containing eight hundred and
+seventy-six diamonds, one thousand two hundred and twenty-four other
+jewels, and many pearls, bought of a company of merchants trafficking to
+Ispahan; the throne of the Czars John and Peter, made of massive silver,
+separated in the middle, the back a cloth of gold, concealing a hole
+through which the Czarina used to dictate answers to the foreign
+ambassadors; and, lastly, the throne of Poland!
+
+In the armory are specimens of ancient armour, the workmanship of every
+age and nation; coats of mail, sabres adorned with jewels, swords,
+batons, crosses in armour, imperial robes, ermines in abundance, and,
+finally, the clothes in which Peter the Great worked at Saardam,
+including his old boots, from which it appears that he had considerable
+of a foot. These memorials were all interesting, and I wandered through
+the apartments till ordered out by the footman, when I returned to my
+hotel to meet my old friend the marquis, who was engaged to dine with
+me. At his suggestion we went to a new restaurant, patronized by a
+different set of people from those who frequented the Restaurant au coin
+du pont des Mareschaux, being chiefly Frenchmen, manufacturers, and
+small merchants of various kinds, who, while they detested the country,
+found it a profitable business to introduce Parisian luxuries and
+refinements among the barbarous Russians. A party of about twenty sat at
+a long table, and relieved the severity of exile by talking of their
+beautiful and beloved France; many of them were old militaires; and my
+octogenarian friend, as a soldier distinguished under the empire, and
+identified with the glory of the French arms, was treated with a
+consideration and respect honourable to them and flattering to himself.
+At another table was another circle of strangers, composed almost
+exclusively of Swiss, forming here, as elsewhere, one of the most
+valuable parts of the foreign population; keeping alive by intercourse
+with each other the recollections of home, and looking to the time when,
+with the profits of successful industry, they might return to their wild
+and beloved native mountains.
+
+    "Dear is that hill to which his soul conforms,
+    And dear that cliff which lifts him to the storms."
+
+Before we rose from table my friend of the theatre came in and took his
+seat at one end; he talked and laughed louder than any one else, and was
+received generally with an outward appearance of cordiality; but the old
+marquis could not endure his presence. He said he had become too old to
+learn, and it was too late in life to temporize with dishonour; that he
+did not blame his countrymen; fair words cost nothing, and it was not
+worth their while wilfully to make an enemy who would always be on their
+haunches; but as to himself, he had but a few years to live, and he
+would not sully the last moments of his life by tolerating a man whom he
+regarded as a disgrace to his country. We rose from the table, the old
+marquis leaning on my arm, and pouring in my ears his honest indignation
+at the disgraceful character of his countryman, and proceeded to the
+Kitaigorod, or Chinese Town, the division immediately encircling the
+Kremlin. It is enclosed by a wall with battlements, towers, and gates;
+is handsomely and compactly built, with wide, clean, and regular
+streets, and thronged with every variety of people, Greeks, Turks,
+Tartars, Cossacks, Chinese, Muscovites, French, Italians, Poles, and
+Germans, in the costumes of their respective nations. The quarter is
+entirely Russian, and I did not find in the shops a single person who
+could speak any language but Russian. In one of them, where I was
+conducted by the marquis, I found the old mongik to whom I before
+referred, who could not agree with his master for the price of his
+ransom. The principal shops resemble the bazars in the East, though they
+are far superior even to those in Constantinople, being built of stone,
+and generally in the form of arcades. They are well filled with every
+description of Asiatic goods; and some of them, particularly their tea,
+and tobacco, and pipe shops, are models of propriety and cleanliness.
+The façade of the great bazar or market is very imposing, resting the
+whole length on Corinthian columns. It fronts on a noble square, bounded
+on the opposite side by the white walls of the Kremlin, and contains six
+thousand "bargaining shops." The merchants live at a distance, and, on
+leaving their shops at sundown, each of them winds a piece of cord round
+the padlock of his door, and seals it with soft wax; a seal being with
+the Russians more sacred than a lock.
+
+In another section of the Kitaigorod is the finest part of the city,
+containing the hotels and residences of the nobles, many of which are
+truly magnificent. The hotel at which I put up would in Italy be called
+a palace. As we moved slowly along the street by the Pont des
+Mareschaux, we discoursed of the terrible inroads at this moment making
+by the French in the capital of the north, almost every shop having an
+inviting sign of nouveautés from Paris. Foiled in their attempt with the
+bayonet, they are now advancing with apparently more feeble but far more
+insidious and fatal weapons; and the rugged Russian, whom French arms
+could not conquer, bows to the supremacy of the French modistes and
+artistes, and quietly wears the livery of the great mistress of fashion.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+    The Drosky.--Salle des Nobles.--Russian
+      Gaming.--Gastronomy.--Pedroski.--A Sunday in Moscow.--A Gipsy
+      Belle.--Tea drinking.--The Emperor's Garden.--Retrospective.
+
+
+EARLY the next morning I mounted a drosky and rode to a celebrated
+garden or springs, furnished with every description of mineral water. I
+have several times spoken of the drosky. This may be called the Russian
+national vehicle, for it is found all over Russia, and nowhere else that
+I know of, except at Warsaw, where it was introduced by its Russian
+conquerors. It is on four wheels, with a long cushioned seat running
+lengthwise, on which the rider sits astride as on horseback, and so low
+that he can mount from the street. It is drawn by two horses; one in
+shafts, with a high arched bow over the neck called the douga, and the
+other, called "le furieux," in traces alongside, this last being trained
+to curb his neck and canter while the shaft-horse trots. The seat is
+long enough for two besides the driver, the riders sitting with their
+feet on different sides; or sometimes there is a cross-seat behind, on
+which the riders sit, with their faces to the horses, and the drosky
+boy, always dressed in a long surtout, with a bell-crowned hat turned up
+at the sides, sits on the end. But to return to the springs. The waters
+are prepared under the direction of medical men, who have the chymical
+analysis of all the principal mineral waters known, and manufacture them
+to order. As is universally the case in Russia, where there is any
+attempt at style, the establishment is upon a magnificent scale. The
+building contains a room perhaps one hundred and fifty feet long, with a
+clean and highly-polished floor, large looking-glasses, elegant sofas,
+and mahogany chairs and tables. The windows open upon a balcony
+extending along the whole front, which is furnished with tables and
+rustic chairs, and opens upon a large garden ornamented with
+gravel-walks, trees, and the most rare and valuable plants and flowers,
+at the time of my visit in full bloom. Every morning, from sunrise till
+noon, crowds of people, and particularly the nobility and higher
+classes, frequent this establishment, and that morning there was a
+larger collection than usual. Russian hospitality is conspicuous at a
+place like this. A stranger, instead of being avoided, is sought out;
+and after one or two promenades I was accosted by more than one
+gentleman, ready to show me every civility. In the long room and on the
+balconies, scattered about at the different tables, I saw the gourmand
+who had distended his stomach almost to bursting, and near him the gaunt
+and bilious dyspeptic, drinking their favourite waters; the dashing
+officer and the blooming girl, the lover and coquette, and, in short,
+all the style and fashion of Moscow, their eyes occasionally turning to
+the long mirrors, and then singly, in pairs and in groups, strolling
+gently through the gardens, enjoying the music that was poured forth
+from hidden arbours.
+
+Returning through a street not far from my hotel, I saw a line of
+carriages, and gentlemen and ladies passing under a light arcade, which
+formed the entrance to a large building. I joined the throng, and was
+put back by the doorkeeper because I was not in a dresscoat. I ran to my
+hotel and changed my frockcoat, but now I had no biglietto of entrance.
+A few rubles obviated this difficulty and admitted me to the _Salle des
+Nobles_, a magnificent apartment surrounded by a colonnade, capable of
+containing more than three thousand persons, and said to be the finest
+ballroom in Europe. It belongs to a club of the nobility, and none are
+admitted as members but nobles. All games of hazard are forbidden; but,
+nevertheless, all games of hazard are played. Indeed, among the "on
+dits" which a traveller picks up, gambling is said to be the great vice
+of Russia. Young men who have not two rubles to rub together will bet
+thousands; and, when all other resources fail, the dishonourable will
+cheat, but the delicate-minded will kill themselves. It is not uncommon
+for a young man to say at the cardtable over night, "I must shoot myself
+to-morrow;" and he is as good as his word. The Salle was open for a few
+days, as a sort of fair, for the exhibition of specimens of Russian
+manufacture; and, besides tables, workboxes, &c., there were some of the
+finest living specimens of genuine Russian men and women that I had yet
+seen, though not to be compared, as a Russian officer said, to whom I
+made the remark, with the exhibition of the same specimens in the waltz
+and mazourka, when the Salle was lighted up and decorated for a ball.
+
+I returned to my hotel, where I found my old friend the marquis waiting,
+according to appointment, to dine with me. He would have accompanied me
+everywhere, but I saw that he suffered from the exertion, and would not
+allow it. Meeting with me had struck a chord that had not been touched
+for years, and he was never tired of talking of his friends in America.
+Every morning he breakfasted in my room, and we dined together every
+day. We went to the restaurant where I had supped with my friend of the
+theatre. The saloon was crowded, and at a table next us sat a seigneur,
+who was dining upon a delicacy that will surprise the reader, viz., one
+of his own female slaves, a very pretty girl, whom he had hired to the
+keeper of the restaurant for her maintenance and a dinner a volonté per
+annum for himself. This was the second time he had dined on her account,
+and she was then waiting upon him; a pretty, modest, delicate-looking
+girl, and the old noble seemed never to know when he had enough of her.
+We left him gloating over still untasted dishes, and apparently mourning
+that human ability could hold out no longer. In going out my old friend,
+in homely but pithy phrase, said the only difference between a Russian
+seigneur and a Russian serf is, that the one wears his shirt inside his
+trousers and the other outside; but my friend spoke with the prejudices
+of a soldier of France aggravated by more than twenty years of exile. So
+far as my observation extended, the higher classes are rather
+extraordinary for talent and acquirements. Their government is
+unfortunate for the development and exercise of abilities. They have
+none of the learned profession; merchandise is disgraceful, and the army
+is the only field. With an ardent love of country and an ambition to
+distinguish himself, every nobleman becomes a soldier, and there is
+hardly an old or middle-aged individual of this class who was not in
+arms to repel the invasion of Napoleon, and hardly a young man who did
+not serve lately in a less noble cause, the campaign in Poland. The
+consequence of service in the army seems to have been generally a
+passion for display and expensive living, which sent them back to their
+estates, after their terms of service expired, over head and ears in
+debt. Unable to come often to the cities, and obliged to live at their
+chateaux, deprived of all society, surrounded only by slaves, and
+feeling the want of the excitement incident to a military life, many of
+them become great gourmands, or rather, as my French friend said,
+gluttons. They do not eat, said he, they swallow; and the manner in
+which, with the true spirit of a Frenchman who still remembered the
+cuisine of the Palais Royal, he commented upon their eating entremets,
+hors d'oeuvres, rotis, and desserts all pellmell, would have formed a
+proper episode to Major Hamilton's chapter upon Americans eating eggs
+out of wineglasses. The old marquis, although he retained all his French
+prejudices against the Russians, and always asserted, as the Russians
+themselves admit, that, but for the early setting in of winter, Napoleon
+would have conquered Russia, allowed them the virtue of unbounded
+hospitality, and enumerated several principal families at whose tables
+he could at any time take a seat without any express invitation, and
+with whom he was always sure of being a welcome guest; and he mentioned
+the case of a compatriot who for years had a place regularly reserved
+for him at the table of a seigneur, which he took whenever he pleased
+without any questions being asked, until, having stayed away longer than
+usual, the seigneur sent to inquire for him, and learned that he was
+dead.
+
+But to return. Toward evening I parted with the marquis, mounted a
+drosky, and rode to the country theatre at Pedroski. Pedroski is a place
+dear to the heart of every Russian, having been the favourite residence
+of Peter the Great, to whom Russia owes its existence among civilized
+nations. It is about three versts from the barrier, on the St.
+Petersburgh road. The St. Petersburgh Gate is a very imposing piece of
+architecture. Six spirited horses rest lightly upon the top, like the
+brazen horses at St. Mark's in Venice. A wide road, divided into avenues
+for carriages and pedestrians, gravelled and lined with trees, leads
+from the gate. The chateau is an old and singular, but interesting
+building of red brick, with a green dome and white cornices, and
+enclosed by a circular wall flanked with turrets. In the plain in front
+two regiments of Cossack cavalry were going through their exercises. The
+grounds around the chateau are very extensive, handsomely laid out for
+carriages and promenades, public and retired, to suit every taste. The
+principal promenade is about a mile in length, through a forest of
+majestic old trees. On each side is a handsome footpath of continual
+shade; and sometimes almost completely hidden by the luxuriant foliage
+are beautiful little summer-houses, abundantly supplied with all kinds
+of refreshments.
+
+The theatre is at a little distance from the extreme end of the great
+promenade, a plain and unpretending building; and this and the grand
+operahouse are the only theatres I have seen built like ours, merely
+with continued rows of seats, and not partitioned off into private
+boxes. The opera was some little Russian piece, and was followed by the
+grand ballet, the Revolt of the Seraglio. He who goes to Russia
+expecting to see a people just emerging from a state of barbarism, will
+often be astonished to find himself suddenly in a scene of Parisian
+elegance and refinement; and in no place will he feel this wonder more
+than in an operahouse at Moscow. The house was rather full, and
+contained more of the Russian nobility than I had yet seen at any one
+time. They were well dressed, adorned with stars and ribands, and, as a
+class of men, the "biggest in the round" I ever saw. Orders and titles
+of nobility, by-the-way, are given with a liberality which makes them of
+no value; and all over Russia princes are as plenty as pickpockets in
+London.
+
+The seigneurs of Russia have jumped over all intermediate grades of
+civilization, and plunged at once into the luxuries of metropolitan
+life. The ballet was, of course, inferior to that of Paris or London,
+but it is speaking in no mean praise of it to say that at this country
+theatre it might be made a subject of comparison. The dancers were the
+prettiest, the most interesting, and, what I was particularly struck
+with, the most modest looking I ever saw on the stage. It was
+melancholy to look at those beautiful girls, who, amid the glare and
+glitter of the stage, and in the graceful movements of the dance, were
+perfectly captivating and entrancing, and who, in the shades of domestic
+life, might fill the measure of man's happiness on earth, and know them
+to be slaves. The whole troop belongs to the emperor. They are selected
+when young with reference to their beauty and talents, and are brought
+up with great care and expense for the stage. With light fairy figures,
+seeming rather spirits than corporeal substances, and trained to inspire
+admiration and love, they can never give way to these feelings
+themselves, for their affections and marriages are regulated entirely by
+the manager's convenience. What though they are taken from the very
+poorest class of life, leaving their parents, their brothers and
+sisters, the tenants of miserable cabins, oppressed and vilified, and
+cold and hungry, while they are rolling in luxuries. A chain does not
+gall the less because it is gilded. Raised from the lot to which they
+were born, taught ideas they would never have known, they but feel more
+sensibly the weight of their bonds; and the veriest sylph, whose
+graceful movements have brought down the loudest thunders of applause,
+and whose little heart flutters with the admiration she has excited,
+would probably give all her shortlived triumph for the privilege of
+bestowing that little flutterer where it would be loved and cherished.
+There was one among them whom I long remembered. I followed her with my
+eyes till the curtain fell and left a blank around me. I saw her go out,
+and afterward she passed me in one of a long train of dark blue
+carriages belonging to the direction, in which they are carried about
+like merchandise from theatre to theatre, but, like many other bright
+visions that broke upon me for a moment, I never saw her again.
+
+At about eleven I left the steps of the theatre to return home. It was a
+most magnificent night, or, rather, it is almost profanation to call it
+by so black a name, for in that bright northern climate the day seemed
+to linger, unwilling to give place before the shades of night. I
+strolled on alone, wrapped in lonely but not melancholy meditations; the
+carriages rolled rapidly by me, and I was almost the last of the throng
+that entered the gate of Moscow.
+
+A Sunday at Moscow. To one who had for a long time been a stranger to
+the sound of the church-going bell, few things could be more interesting
+than a Sunday at Moscow. Any one who has rambled along the Maritime
+Alps, and has heard from some lofty eminence the convent bell ringing
+for matins, vespers, and midnight prayers, will long remember the sweet
+yet melancholy sounds. To me there is always something touching in the
+sound of the church-going bell; touching in its own notes, but far more
+so in its associations. And these feelings were exceedingly fresh when I
+awoke on Sunday in the holy city of Moscow. In Greece and Turkey there
+are no bells; in Russia they are almost innumerable, but this was the
+first time I had happened to pass the Sabbath in a city. I lay and
+listened, almost fearing to move lest I should hush the sounds; thoughts
+of home came over me; of the day of rest, of the gathering for church,
+and the greeting of friends at the church door. But he who has never
+heard the ringing of bells at Moscow does not know its music. Imagine a
+city containing more than six hundred churches and innumerable
+convents, all with bells, and these all sounding together, from the
+sharp, quick hammer-note, to the loudest, deepest peals that ever broke
+and lingered on the ear, struck at long intervals, and swelling on the
+air as if unwilling to die away. I rose and threw open my window,
+dressed myself, and after breakfast, joining the throng called to their
+respective churches by their well-known bells, I went to what is called
+the English chapel, where, for the first time in many months, I joined
+in a regular church service, and listened to an orthodox sermon. I was
+surprised to see so large a congregation, though I remarked among them
+many English governesses with children, the English language being at
+that moment the rage among the Russians, and multitudes of cast-off
+chambermaids adventuring thither to teach the rising Russian nobility
+the beauties of the English tongue.
+
+All over the Continent Sunday is the great day for observing national
+manners and customs. I dined at an early hour with my friend the
+marquis, and, under his escort, mounting a drosky, rode to a great
+promenade of the people called _L'Allée des Peuples_. It lies outside
+the barrier, and beyond the state prisons, where the exiles for Siberia
+are confined, on the land of Count Schremetow, the richest nobleman in
+Russia, having one hundred and thirty thousand slaves on his estate; the
+chateau is about eight versts from the city, and a noble road through
+his own land leads from the barrier to his door.
+
+This promenade is the great rendezvous of the people; that is, of the
+merchants and shopkeepers of Moscow. The promenade is simply a large
+piece of ground ornamented with noble trees, and provided with
+everything necessary for the enjoyment of all the national amusements,
+among which the Russian mountain is the favourite; and refreshments were
+distributed in great abundance. Soldiers were stationed at different
+points to preserve order, and the people seemed all cheerful and happy;
+but the life and soul of the place were the Bohemian or gipsy girls.
+Wherever they moved, a crowd gathered round them. They were the first I
+had seen of this extraordinary people. Coming no one knows whence, and
+living no one knows how, wanderers from their birth, and with a history
+enveloped in doubt, it was impossible to mistake the dark complexion and
+piercing coal-black eyes of the gipsy women. The men were nowhere to be
+seen, nor were there any old women with them; and these young girls,
+well dressed, though, in general, with nothing peculiar in their
+costume, moved about in parties of five or six, singing, playing, and
+dancing to admiring crowds. One of them, with a red silk cloak trimmed
+with gold, and a gold band round her hair, struck me as the very _beau
+ideal_ of a gipsy queen. Recognising me as a stranger, she stopped just
+in front of me, struck her castanets and danced, at the same time
+directing the movements of her companions, who formed a circle around
+me. There was a beauty in her face, combined with intelligence and
+spirit, that riveted my attention, and when she spoke her eyes seemed to
+read me through. I ought, perhaps, to be ashamed of it, but in all my
+wanderings I never regretted so much my ignorance of the language as
+when it denied me the pleasure of conversing with that gipsy girl. I
+would fain have known whether her soul did not soar above the scene and
+the employment in which I found her; whether she was not formed for
+better things than to display her beautiful person before crowds of
+boors; but I am sorry to add, that the character of my queen was not
+above reproach; and, as I had nothing but my character to stand upon in
+Moscow, I was obliged to withdraw from the observation which her
+attention fixed upon me.
+
+Leaving my swarthy princess with this melancholy reflection, and leaving
+the scene of humbler enjoyment, I mounted a drosky, and, depositing my
+old friend in the suburbs of the city, in half an hour was in another
+world, in the great promenade of Pedroski, the gathering-place of the
+nobility, where all the rank and fashion of Moscow were vying with each
+other in style and magnificence. The extensive grounds around the old
+chateau are handsomely disposed and ornamented with trees, but the great
+carriage promenade is equal to anything I ever saw. It is a straight
+road, more than a mile in length, through a thick forest of noble trees.
+For two hours before dark all the equipages in Moscow paraded up and
+down this promenade. These equipages were striking and showy without
+being handsome, and the Russian manner of driving four horses makes a
+very dashing appearance, the leaders being harnessed with long traces,
+perhaps twenty feet from the wheel horses, and guided by a lad riding
+the near leader, the coachman sitting as if nailed to the box, and
+merely holding the reins. All the rules of good taste, as understood in
+the capitals of Southern Europe, were set at defiance; and many a
+seigneur, who thought he was doing the thing in the very best style, had
+no idea how much his turnout would have shocked an English whip. But all
+this extravagance, in my eyes, added much to the effect of the scene;
+and the star-spangled Muscovite who dashed up and down the promenade on
+horseback, with two Calmuc Tartars at his heels, attracted more of my
+attention than the plain gentleman who paced along with his English
+jockey and quiet elegance of equipment. The stars and decorations of the
+seigneurs set them off to great advantage; and scores of officers, with
+their showy uniforms, added brilliancy to the scene, while the footmen
+made as good an appearance as their masters.
+
+On either side of the grand promenade is a walk for foot passengers, and
+behind this, almost hidden from view by the thick shade of trees, are
+little cottages, arbours, and tents, furnished with ices and all kinds
+of refreshments suited to the season. I should have mentioned long since
+that tea, the very pabulum of all domestic virtues, is the Russian's
+favourite beverage. They say that they have better tea than can be
+obtained in Europe, which they ascribe to the circumstance of its being
+brought by caravans over land, and saved the exposure of a sea voyage.
+Whether this be the cause or not, if I am any judge they are right as to
+the superiority of their article; and it was one of the most striking
+features in the animating scene at Pedroski to see family groups
+distributed about, all over the grounds, under the shade of noble trees,
+with their large brass urn hissing before them, and taking their tea
+under the passing gaze of thousands of people with as much unconcern as
+if by their own firesides.
+
+Leaving for a moment the thronged promenade, I turned into a thick
+forest and entered the old chateau of the great Peter. There all was
+solitude; the footman and I had the palace to ourselves. I followed him
+through the whole range of apartments, in which there was an appearance
+of staid respectability that quite won my heart, neither of them being
+any better furnished than one of our oldfashioned country houses. The
+pomp and show that I saw glittering through the openings in the trees
+were unknown in the days of the good old Peter; the chateau was silent
+and deserted; the hand that built it was stiff and cold, and the heart
+that loved it had ceased to beat; old Peter was in his grave, and his
+descendants loved better their splendid palaces on the banks of the
+Neva.
+
+When Moscow was burning, Napoleon fled to this chateau for refuge. I
+stopped for a moment in the chamber where, by the blaze of the burning
+city, he dictated his despatches for the capital of France; gave the
+attendant a ruble, and again mixed with the throng, with whom I rambled
+up and down the principal promenade, and at eleven o'clock was at my
+hotel. I ought not to forget the Russian ladies; but, after the gay
+scene at Pedroski, it is no disparagement to them if I say that, in my
+quiet walk home, the dark-eyed gipsy girl was uppermost in my thoughts.
+
+The reader may perhaps ask if such is indeed what the traveller finds in
+Russia; "Where are the eternal snows that cover the steppes and the
+immense wastes of that Northern empire? that chill the sources of
+enjoyment, and congeal the very fountains of life?" I answer, they have
+but just passed by, and they will soon come again; the present is the
+season of enjoyment; the Russians know it to be brief and fleeting, and,
+like butterflies, unfold themselves to the sun and flutter among the
+flowers.
+
+Like them, I made the most of it at Moscow. Mounted in a drosky, I
+hurried from church to church, from convent to convent, and from quarter
+to quarter. But although it is the duty of a traveller to see
+everything that is to be seen, and although there is a kind of
+excitement in hurrying from place to place, which he is apt to mistake
+for pleasure, it is not in this that his real enjoyment is found. His
+true pleasure is in turning quietly to those things which are
+interesting to the imagination as well as to the eyes, and so I found
+myself often turning from the churches and palaces, specimens of
+architecture and art, to the sainted walls of the Kremlin. Here were the
+first and last of my visits; and whenever I sauntered forth without any
+specific object, perhaps to the neglect of many other places I ought to
+have seen, my footsteps involuntarily turned thitherward.
+
+Outside and beneath the walls of the Kremlin, and running almost the
+whole extent of its circumference, are boulevards and a public garden,
+called the Emperor's, made within a few years, and the handsomest thing
+of the kind in Moscow; I am not sure but that I may add anywhere else. I
+have compared it in my mind to the Gardens of the Luxembourg and
+Tuileries, and in many respects hold it to be more beautiful. It is more
+agreeably irregular and undulating in its surface, and has a more rural
+aspect, and the groves and plants are better arranged, although it has
+not the statues, lakes, and fountains of the pride of Paris. I loved to
+stroll through this garden, having on one side of me the magnificent
+buildings of the great Russian princes, seigneurs, and merchants, among
+the finest and most conspicuous of which is the former residence of the
+unhappy Queen of Georgia; and on the other side, visible through the
+foliage of the trees, the white walls of the Kremlin, and, towering
+above them, the domes of the palaces and churches within, and the lofty
+tower of Ivan Veliki. Thence I loved to stroll to the Holy Gate of the
+Kremlin. It is a vaulted portal, and over the entrance is a picture,
+with a lamp constantly burning; and a sentinel is always posted at the
+gate. I loved to stand by it and see the haughty seigneurs and the
+degraded serf alike humble themselves on crossing the sacred threshold,
+and then, with my hat in my hand, follow the footsteps of the venerating
+Russian. Once I attempted to brave the interdict, and go in with my head
+covered; but the soldier at the gate stopped me, and forbade my
+violating the sacred prohibition. Within the walls I wandered about,
+without any definite object, sometimes entering the great church and
+beholding for a moment the prostrate Russian praying before the image of
+some saint, or descending to look once more at the great bell, or at
+other times mounting the tower and gazing at the beautiful panorama of
+the city.
+
+On the last day of my stay in Moscow a great crowd drew me to the door
+of the church, where some fête was in course of celebration, in honour
+of the birth, marriage, or some other incident in the life of the
+emperor or empress. The archbishop, a venerable-looking old man, was
+officiating, and when he came out a double line of men, women, and
+children was drawn up from the door of the church to his carriage, all
+pressing forward and struggling to kiss his hands. The crowd dispersed,
+and I strolled once more through the repository of heirlooms, and
+imperial reliques and trophies; but, passing by the crowns loaded with
+jewels, the canopies and thrones adorned with velvet and gold, I paused
+before the throne of unhappy Poland! I have seen great cities desolate
+and in ruins, magnificent temples buried in the sands of the African
+desert, and places once teeming with fertility now lying waste and
+silent; but no monument of fallen greatness ever affected me more than
+this. It was covered with blue velvet and studded with golden stars. It
+had been the seat of Casimir, and Sobieski, and Stanislaus Augustus.
+Brave men had gathered round it and sworn to defend it, and died in
+redeeming their pledge. Their oaths are registered in heaven, their
+bodies rest in bloody graves; Poland is blotted from the list of
+nations, and her throne, unspotted with dishonour, brilliant as the
+stars which glitter on its surface, is exhibited as a Russian trophy,
+before which the stoutest manhood need not blush to drop a tear.
+
+Toward evening I returned to my favourite place, the porch of the palace
+of the Czars. I seated myself on the step, took out my tablets, and
+commenced a letter to my friends at home. What should I write? Above me
+was the lofty tower of Ivan Veliki; below, a solitary soldier, in his
+gray overcoat, was retiring to a sentry-box to avoid a drizzling rain.
+His eyes were fixed upon me, and I closed my book. I am not given to
+musing, but I could not help it. Here was the theatre of one of the most
+extraordinary events in the history of the world. After sixty battles
+and a march of more than two thousand miles, the grand army of Napoleon
+entered Moscow, and found no smoke issuing from a single chimney, nor a
+Muscovite even to gaze upon them from the battlements or walls. Moscow
+was deserted, her magnificent palaces forsaken by their owners, her
+three hundred thousand inhabitants vanished as if they had never been.
+Silent and amazed, the grand army filed through its desolate streets.
+Approaching the Kremlin, a few miserable, ferocious, and intoxicated
+wretches, left behind as a savage token of the national hatred, poured a
+volley of musketry from the battlements. At midnight the flames broke
+out in the city; Napoleon, driven from his quarters in the suburbs,
+hurried to the Kremlin, ascended the steps, and entered the door at
+which I sat. For two days the French soldiers laboured to repress the
+fierce attempts to burn the city. Russian police-officers were seen
+stirring up the fire with tarred lances; hideous-looking men and women,
+covered with rags, were wandering like demons amid the flames, armed
+with torches, and striving to spread the conflagration. At midnight
+again the whole city was in a blaze; and while the roof of the Kremlin
+was on fire, and the panes of the window against which he leaned were
+burning to the touch, Napoleon watched the course of the flames and
+exclaimed, "What a tremendous spectacle! These are Scythians indeed."
+Amid volumes of smoke and fire, his eyes blinded by the intense heat,
+and his hands burned in shielding his face from its fury, and traversing
+streets arched with fire, he escaped from the burning city.
+
+Russia is not classic ground. It does not stand before us covered with
+the shadow of great men's deeds. A few centuries ago it was overrun by
+wandering tribes of barbarians; but what is there in those lands which
+stand forth on the pages of history, crowned with the glory of their
+ancient deeds, that, for extraordinary daring, for terrible sublimity,
+and undaunted patriotism, exceeds the burning of Moscow. Neither
+Marathon, nor Thermopylæ, nor the battle of the Horatii, nor the defence
+of Cocles, nor the devotion of the Decii, can equal it; and when time
+shall cover with its dim and quiet glories that bold and extraordinary
+deed, the burning of Moscow will be regarded as outstripping all that we
+read of Grecian or Roman patriotism, and the name of the Russian
+governor (Rostopchin), if it be not too tough a name to hand down to
+posterity, will never be forgotten.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+    Getting a Passport.--Parting with the Marquis.--The Language of
+      Signs.--A Loquacious Traveller.--From Moscow to St.
+      Petersburgh.--The Wolga.--Novogorod.--Newski Perspective.--An
+      unfortunate Mistake.--Northern Twilight.
+
+
+UNABLE to remain longer in Moscow, I prepared for my journey for St.
+Petersburgh. Several diligences run regularly between these two great
+cities; one of which, the Velocifère, is superior to any public
+conveyance on the Continent of Europe. I took my place in that, and two
+days beforehand sent my passport to be _viséd_. I sent for it the next
+day, and it was not ready. I went myself, and could not get it. I knew
+that nothing could be done at the Russian offices without paying for it,
+and was ready and willing to do so, and time after time I called the
+attention of the officer to my passport. He replied coolly, "_Dans un
+instant_," and, turning to something else, kept me waiting two hours;
+and when at length he took it up and arranged it, he led me down stairs
+out of sight to receive the expected _douceur_. He was a well-dressed
+man, with the large government button on his coat, and rather distingué
+in his appearance and manners. I took the passport, folded it up, and
+put it in my pocket with a coolness equal to his own, and with
+malicious pleasure put into his hand a single ruble, equal to twenty
+cents of our money; he expected at least twenty-five rubles, or about
+five dollars, and his look of rage and disappointment amply repaid me
+for all the vexation he had caused by his delay. I bade him farewell
+with a smile that almost drove him mad.
+
+Bribery is said to be almost universal among the inferior officers of
+government, and there is a story of a Frenchman in Russia which
+illustrates the system. He had an office, of which the salary was so
+small that he could not live upon it. At first he would not take bribes,
+but stern necessity drove him to it, and while he was about it he did
+the thing handsomely. Having overreached the mark, and been guilty of
+being detected, he was brought before the proper tribunal; and when
+asked, "Why did you take a bribe?" his answer was original and
+conclusive, "I take, thou takest, he takes, we take, you take, they
+take!"
+
+I told the marquis the story of my parting interview at the
+police-office, which he said was capital, but startled me by suggesting
+that, if there should happen to be any irregularity, I would have great
+trouble in getting it rectified; even this, however, did not disturb my
+immediate satisfaction, and, fortunately, all was right.
+
+The morning of my departure, before I was out of bed, the marquis was in
+my room. Meeting with me had revived in him feelings long since dead;
+and at the moment of parting he told me, what his pride had till that
+moment concealed, that his heart yearned once more to his kindred; and
+that, if he had the means, old as he was, he would go to America. And
+yet, though his frame trembled and his voice was broken, and his lamp
+was almost burned out, his spirit was as high as when he fought the
+battles of the empire; and he told me to say to them that he would not
+come to be a dependant upon their bounty; that he could repay all they
+should do for him by teaching their children. He gave me his last
+painting, which he regarded with the pride of an artist, as a souvenir
+for his sister; but having no means of carrying it safely, I was obliged
+to return it to him. He remained with me till the moment of my
+departure, clung to my hand after I had taken my place in the drosky,
+and when we had started I looked back and saw him still standing in the
+road. It seemed as if the last link that bound him to earth was broken.
+He gave me a letter, which I forwarded to his friends at home; his
+sister was still living, and had not forgotten her long-lost brother;
+she had not heard from him in twenty years, and had long believed him
+dead. Pecuniary assistance was immediately sent to him, and, unhappily,
+since my return home, intelligence has been received that it arrived
+only at the last moment when human aid could avail him; in time to
+smooth the pillow of death by the assurance that his friends had not
+forgotten him. And perhaps, in his dying moments, he remembered me. At
+all events, it is some satisfaction, amid the recollections of an
+unprofitable life, to think that, when his checkered career was drawing
+to its close, I had been the means of gladdening for a moment the old
+exile's heart.
+
+I must not forget my host, the quondam exile to Siberia. In his old days
+his spirit too was chafed at living under despotism, and, like the
+marquis, he also hoped, before he died, to visit America. I gave him my
+address, with the hope, but with very little expectation, of seeing him
+again. A travelling companion once remarked, that if every vagabond to
+whom I gave my address should find his way to America, I would have a
+precious set to present to my friends. Be it so; there is not a vagabond
+among them whom I would not be glad to see.
+
+My English companion and myself had seen but little of each other at
+Moscow. He intended to remain longer than I did, but changed his mind,
+and took a place in the same diligence for St. Petersburgh. This
+diligence was the best I ever rode in; and, for a journey of nearly five
+hundred miles, we could not have been more comfortably arranged. It
+started at the hour punctually, as from the Messagere in Paris. We
+rolled for the last time through the streets of Moscow, and in a few
+minutes passed out at the St. Petersburgh Gate. Our companions were a
+man about thirty-five, a cattle-driver, with his trousers torn, and his
+linen hanging out ostentatiously in different places, and an old man
+about sixty-five, just so far civilized as to have cut off the long
+beard and put on broadcloth clothes. It was the first time the old man
+had ever been on a journey from home; everything was new to him, and he
+seemed puzzled to know what to make of us; he could not comprehend how
+we could look, and walk, and eat like Russians, and not talk like them.
+My place was directly opposite his, and, as soon as we were seated, he
+began to talk to me. I looked at him and made no answer; he began again,
+and went on in an uninterrupted strain for several minutes, more and
+more surprised that I did not answer, or answered only in unintelligible
+sounds. After a while he seemed to come to the conclusion that I was
+deaf and dumb and turned to my companion as to my keeper for an
+explanation. Finding he could do nothing there, he appeared alarmed, and
+it was some time before he could get a clear idea of the matter. When he
+did, however, he pulled off an amazingly white glove, took my hand and
+shook it, pointed to his head, shook it, and touched my head, then put
+his hand to his heart, then to my heart; all which was to say, that
+though our heads did not understand each other, our hearts did. But
+though he saw we did not understand him, he did not on that account stop
+talking; indeed, he talked incessantly, and the only way of stopping him
+was to look directly in his face and talk back again; and I read him
+long lectures, particularly upon the snares and temptations of the world
+into which he was about to plunge, and wound up with stanzas of poetry
+and scraps of Greek and Latin, all which the old man listened to without
+ever interrupting me, bending his ear as if he expected every moment to
+catch something he understood; and when I had finished, after a moment's
+blank expression he whipped off his white glove, took my hand, and
+touched significantly his head and heart. Indeed, a dozen times a day he
+did this; and particularly whenever we got out, on resuming our seats,
+as a sort of renewal of the compact of good fellowship, the glove
+invariably came off, and the significant movement between the hand,
+head, and heart was repeated. The second day a young seigneur named
+Chickoff, who spoke French, joined the diligence, and through him we had
+full explanations with the old Russian. He always called me the American
+graff or noble, and said that, after being presented to the emperor, I
+should go down with him into the country.
+
+My worthy comrade appeared at first to be not a little bored by the old
+man's garrulous humour; but at length, seized by a sudden whim, began,
+as he said, to teach him English. But such English! He taught him, after
+a fashion peculiarly his own, the manner of addressing a lady and
+gentleman in English; and very soon, with the remarkable facility of the
+Russians in acquiring languages, the old man, utterly unconscious of
+their meaning, repeated the words with extraordinary distinctness; and
+regularly, when he took his place in the diligence, he accompanied the
+significant movements of his hand, head, and heart to me with the not
+very elegant address taught him by my companion. Though compelled to
+smile inwardly at the absurdity of the thing, I could not but feel the
+inherent impropriety of the conduct of my eccentric fellow-traveller;
+and ventured to suggest to him that, though he had an undoubted right to
+do as he pleased in matters that could not implicate me, yet,
+independent of the very questionable character of the joke itself (for
+the words savoured more of Wapping than of St. James's), as we were known
+to have travelled together, a portion of the credit of having taught the
+old Russian English might fall upon me--an honour of which I was not
+covetous, and, therefore, should tell the old man never to repeat the
+words he had been taught, which I did without assigning any reason for
+it, and before we arrived at St. Petersburgh he had forgotten them.
+
+The road from Moscow to St. Petersburgh is now one of the best in
+Europe. It is Macadamized nearly the whole way, and a great part is
+bordered with trees; the posthouses are generally large and handsome,
+under the direction of government, where soup, cutlets, &c., are always
+ready at a moment's notice, at prices regulated by a tariff hanging up
+in the room, which, however, being written in Russian, was of no
+particular use to us. The country is comparatively thickly settled, and
+villages are numerous. Even on this road, however, the villages are
+forlorn things, being generally the property and occupied by the serfs
+of the seigneurs, and consisting of a single long street, with houses on
+both sides built of logs, the better sort squared, with the gable end to
+the street, the roofs projecting two or three feet from the houses, and
+sometimes ornamented with rude carving and small holes for windows. We
+passed several chateaux, large, imposing buildings, with parks and
+gardens, and a large church, painted white, with a green dome surmounted
+by a cross.
+
+In many places on the road are chapels with figures of the Panagia, or
+all holy Virgin, or some of the saints; and our old Russian, constantly
+on the lookout for them, never passed one without taking off his hat and
+going through the whole formula of crosses; sometimes, in entering a
+town, they came upon us in such quick succession, first on one side,
+then on the other, that, if he had not been engaged in, to him, a sacred
+ceremony, his hurry and perplexity would have been ludicrous. During the
+night we saw fires ahead, and a little off the road were the bivouacs of
+teamsters or wayfarers, who could not pay for lodging in a miserable
+Russian hut. All the way we met the great caravan teams carrying tallow,
+hides, hemp, and other merchandise to the cities, and bringing back
+wrought fabrics, groceries, &c., into the interior. They were generally
+thirty or forty together, one man or woman attending to three or four
+carts, or, rather, neglecting them, as the driver was generally asleep
+on the top of his load. The horses, however, seemed to know what they
+were about; for as the diligence came rolling toward them, before the
+postillion could reach them with his whip, they intuitively hurried out
+of the way. The bridges over the streams and rivers are strong,
+substantial structures, built of heavy hewn granite, with iron
+balustrades, and ornamented in the centre with the double-headed eagle,
+the arms of Russia.
+
+At Tver we passed the Wolga on a bridge of boats. This noble river, the
+longest in Europe, navigable almost from its source for an extent of
+four thousand versts, dividing, for a great part of its course, Europe
+and Asia, runs majestically through the city, and rolls on, bathing the
+walls of the city of Astrachan, till it reaches the distant Caspian; its
+banks still inhabited by the same tribes of warlike Cossacks who hovered
+on the skirts of the French army during their invasion of Russia. By its
+junction with the Tverza, a communication is made between the Wolga and
+Neva, or, in other words, between the Caspian and Baltic. The impetus of
+internal improvements has extended even to the north of Europe, and the
+Emperor Nicolas is now actively engaged in directing surveys of the
+great rivers of Russia for the purpose of connecting them by canals and
+railroads, and opening steam communications throughout the whole
+interior of his empire. A great number of boats of all sizes, for
+carrying grain to the capital, were lying off the city. These boats are
+generally provided with one mast, which, in the largest, may equal a
+frigate's mainmast. "The weight of the matsail," an English officer
+remarks, "must be prodigious, having no fewer than one hundred breadths
+in it; yet the facility with which it is managed bears comparison with
+that of the Yankees with their boom mainsail in their fore-and-aft
+clippers." The rudder is a ponderous machine, being a broad piece of
+timber floating astern twelve or fifteen feet, and fastened to the
+tiller by a pole, which descends perpendicularly into the water; the
+tiller is from thirty to forty feet long, and the pilot who turns it
+stands upon a scaffold at that distance from the stern. Down the stream
+a group of Cossacks were bathing, and I could not resist the temptation
+to throw myself for a moment into this king of rivers. The diligence
+hurried me, and, as it came along, I gathered up my clothes and dressed
+myself inside.
+
+About eighty versts from St. Petersburgh we came to the ancient city of
+Novogorod. In the words of an old traveller, "Next unto Moscow, the city
+of Novogorod is reputed the chiefest in Russia; for although it be in
+majestie inferior to it, yet in greatness it goeth beyond it. It is the
+chiefest and greatest mart-town of all Muscovy; and albeit the emperor's
+seat is not there, but at Moscow, yet the commodiousness of the river,
+falling into that gulf which is called Sinus Finnicus, whereby it is
+well frequented by merchants, makes it more famous than Moscow itself."
+Few of the ruined cities of the Old World present so striking an
+appearance of fallen greatness as this comparatively unknown place.
+There is an ancient saying, "Who can resist the gods and Novogorod the
+Great?" Three centuries ago it covered an area of sixty-three versts in
+circumference, and contained a population of more than four hundred
+thousand inhabitants. Some parts of it are still in good condition, but
+the larger portion has fallen to decay. Its streets present marks of
+desolation, mouldering walls, and ruined churches, and its population
+has dwindled to little more than seven thousand inhabitants. The
+steeples in this ancient city bear the cross, unaccompanied by the
+crescent, the proud token showing that the Tartars, in all their
+invasions, never conquered it, while in the reconquered cities the
+steeples all exhibit the crescent surmounted by the cross.
+
+Late in the afternoon of the fourth day we were approaching St.
+Petersburgh. The ground is low and flat, and I was disappointed in the
+first view of the capital of Russia; but passing the barrier, and riding
+up the Newski Perspective, the most magnificent street in that
+magnificent city, I felt that the stories of its splendour were not
+exaggerated, and that this was, indeed, entitled to the proud
+appellation of the "Palmyra of the North." My English companion again
+stopped at a house kept by an Englishwoman and frequented by his
+countrymen, and I took an apartment at a hotel in a broad street with an
+unpronounceable Russian name, a little off the Newski Perspective. I was
+worn and fatigued with my journey, but I could not resist the
+inclination to take a gentle promenade along the Newski Perspective.
+While in the coffee-room refreshing myself with a cup of the best
+Russian tea, I heard some one outside the door giving directions to a
+tailor, and presently a man entered, whom, without looking at him, I
+told he was just the person I wanted to see, as I had a pair of
+pantaloons to be mended. He made no answer, and, without being able to
+see distinctly, I told him to wait till I could go up stairs and change
+them, and that he must mend them strongly and bring them back in the
+morning. In all probability, the next moment I should have been
+sprawling on the floor; but the landlady, a clever Frenchwoman, who saw
+my error stepped up, and crying out, "Ah, Monsieur Colonel, attendez,
+attendez," explained my mistake as clearly as I could have done myself,
+and I followed closely with an apology, adding that my remark could not
+be intended as disrespectful to him, inasmuch as even then, with the
+windows closed, I could scarcely distinguish his person. He understood
+the thing at once, accepted my apology with great frankness, and,
+instead of knocking me down, or challenging me to fight with sabre or
+some other diabolical thing, finding I was a stranger just arrived from
+Moscow, sat down at the table, and before we rose offered to accompany
+me in my walk.
+
+There could be no mistake as to the caste of my new friend. The landlady
+had called him colonel, and, in repelling the imputation of his being a
+tailor, had spoken of him as a rich seigneur, who for ten years had
+occupied the front apartments _au premier_ in her hotel. We walked out
+into the Newski Perspective, and strolled along that magnificent street
+down to the Admiralty, and along the noble quays of the Neva. I had
+reached the terminus of my journey; for many months I had been moving
+farther and farther away, and the next step I took would carry me toward
+home. It was the eve of the fourth of July; and as I strolled through
+the broad streets and looked up at the long ranges of magnificent
+buildings, I poured into the ear of my companion the recollections
+connected with this moment at home: in boyhood, crackers and fireworks
+in readiness for the great jubilee of the morrow; and, latterly, the
+excursion into the country to avoid the bustle and confusion of "the
+glorious fourth."
+
+At Moscow and during the journey I had admired the exceeding beauty of
+the twilight in these northern latitudes but this night in St.
+Petersburgh it was magnificent. I cannot describe the peculiar shades of
+this northern twilight. It is as if the glare and brilliancy of the sun
+were softened by the mellowing influence of the moon, and the city, with
+its superb ranges of palaces, its statues, its bridges, and its clear
+and rapid river, seemed, under the reflection of that northern light, of
+a brilliant and almost unearthly beauty. I felt like rambling all night.
+Even though worn with three days' travel, it was with me as with a young
+lady at her first ball; the night was too short. I could not bear to
+throw it away in sleep. My companion was tough, and by no means
+sentimental, and the scene was familiar to him; but he told me that,
+even in his eyes, it never lost its interest. Moonlight is something,
+but this glorious twilight is a thing to enjoy and to remember; and, as
+the colonel remarked when we sat down in his apartment to a comfortable
+supper, it always gave him such an appetite. After supper I walked
+through a long corridor to my apartment, threw myself upon my bed and
+tried to sleep, but the mellow twilight poured through my window and
+reproached me with the base attempt. I was not restless, but I could not
+sleep; lest, however, the reader should find himself of a different
+humour, I will consider myself asleep the first night in St.
+Petersburgh.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+    Police Requisites.--The Russian Capital.--Equestrian Statue of Peter
+      the Great.--The Alexandrine Column.--Architectural Wonders.--The
+      Summer Islands.--A perilous Achievement.--Origin of St.
+      Petersburgh.--Tombs of dead Monarchs.--Origin of the Russian Navy.
+
+
+JULY FOURTH. I had intended to pass this day at Moscow, and to
+commemorate it in Napoleon style by issuing a bulletin from the Kremlin,
+but it was a long time since I had heard from home. At Constantinople I
+had written to Paris, directing my letters to be sent to Petersburgh,
+and, notwithstanding my late hours the night before, I was at the
+postoffice before the door was open. I had never been so long without
+hearing from home, and my lips quivered when I asked for letters, my
+hand shook when I received them, and I hardly drew breath until I had
+finished the last postscript.
+
+My next business was at the bureau of general police for a _carte de
+sejour_, without which no stranger can remain in St. Petersburgh. As
+usual, I was questioned as to my reasons for coming into Russia; age,
+time of sojourn, destination, &c.; and, satisfied that I had no
+intention of preaching democratic doctrines or subverting the government
+of the autocrat, I received permission to remain two weeks, which,
+according to direction, I gave to my landlord to be entered at the
+police-office of his district. As no stranger can stay in Petersburgh
+without permission, neither can he leave without it; and, to obtain
+this, he must advertise three times in the Government Gazette, stating
+his name, address, and intention of leaving the empire; and as the
+Gazette is only published twice a week, this formality occupies eight
+days. One of the objects of this is to apprize his creditors, and give
+them an opportunity of securing their debts; and few things show the
+barbarity and imperfect civilization of the Russians more clearly than
+this; making it utterly impossible for a gentleman to spend a winter in
+St. Petersburgh and go away without paying his landlord. This must
+prevent many a soaring spirit from wending its way hither, and keep the
+residents from being enlivened by the flight of those birds of passage
+which dazzle the eyes of the denizens of other cities. As there was no
+other way of getting out of the dominions of the Czar, I caused my name
+and intention to be advertised. It did not create much of a sensation;
+and though it was proclaimed in three different languages, no one except
+my landlord seemed to feel any interest in it. After all, to get in debt
+is the true way to make friends; a man's creditors always feel an
+interest in him; hope no misfortune may happen to him, and always wish
+him prosperity and success.
+
+These formalities over, I turned to other things. Different from every
+other principal city I had visited, St. Petersburgh had no storied
+associations to interest the traveller. There is no Colosseum, as at
+Rome; no Acropolis, as at Athens; no Rialto, as at Venice; and no
+Kremlin, as at Moscow; nothing identified with the men and scenes
+hallowed in our eyes, and nothing that can touch the heart. It depends
+entirely upon itself for the interest it creates in the mind of the
+traveller.
+
+St. Petersburgh is situated at the mouth of the Neva, at the eastern
+extremity of the Gulf of Finland. It is built partly on islands formed
+by the Neva, and partly on both sides of that river. But little more
+than a century ago, the ground now covered with stately palaces
+consisted of wild morasses and primeval forests, and a few huts tenanted
+by savage natives, who lived upon the fish of the sea. In seventeen
+hundred and three Peter the Great appeared as a captain of grenadiers
+under the orders of one of his own generals, on the wild and dreary
+banks of the Neva, drove the Swedes from their fortress at its mouth,
+cut down the forests on the rude islands of the river, and laid the
+foundations of a city which now surpasses in architectural magnificence
+every other in the world. I do not believe that Rome, when Adrian reared
+the mighty Colosseum, and the Palace of the Cæsars covered the
+Capitoline Hill, exhibited such a range of noble structures as now
+exists in the Admiralty Quarter. The Admiralty itself is the central
+point, on one side fronting the Neva, and on the other a large open
+square, and has a façade of marble, with ranges of columns, a quarter of
+a mile in length. A beautiful golden spire shoots up from the centre,
+towering above every other object, and seen from every part of the city
+glittering in the sun; and three principal streets, each two miles in
+length, radiate from this point. In front is a range of boulevards,
+ornamented with trees, and an open square, at one extremity of which
+stands the great church of St. Isaac, of marble, jasper, and porphyry,
+upon a foundation of granite; it has been once destroyed, and reared
+again with increased splendour, enormous columns of a single block of
+red granite already lifting their capitals in the air.
+
+On the right of the façade, and near the Isaac Bridge, itself a
+magnificent structure, a thousand and fifty feet long and sixty feet
+wide, with two drawbridges, stands the well-known equestrian statue of
+Peter the Great. The huge block of granite forming the pedestal is
+fifteen hundred tons in weight. The height of the figure of the emperor
+is eleven feet, that of the horse seventeen feet, and the weight of the
+metal in the group nearly thirty-seven thousand pounds. Both the idea
+and the execution of this superb monument are regarded as masterpieces
+of genius. To immortalize the enterprise and personal courage with which
+that extraordinary man conquered all difficulties and converted a few
+fishermen's huts into palaces, Peter is represented on a fiery steed,
+rushing up a steep and precipitous rock to the very brink of a
+precipice; the horse rears with his fore feet in the air, and seems to
+be impatient of restraint, while the imperial rider, in an attitude of
+triumph, extends the hand of protection over his capital rising out of
+the waters. To aid the inspiration of the artist, a Russian officer, the
+boldest rider of his time, daily rode the wildest Arabian of Count
+Orloff's stud to the summit of a steep mound, where he halted him
+suddenly, with his forelegs raised pawing the air over the brink of the
+precipice. The monument is surrounded by an iron railing, and the
+pedestal bears the simple inscription, Petro Primo, Catharina Secunda,
+MDCCLXXXII.
+
+On the other side of the square, and in front of the Winter Palace,
+raised within the last two years, and the most gigantic work of modern
+days, rivalling those magnificent monuments in the Old World whose ruins
+now startle the wondering traveller, and towering to the heavens, as if
+to proclaim that the days of architectural greatness are not gone by for
+ever, is the great Alexandrine Column, a single shaft of red granite,
+exclusive of pedestal and capital, eighty-four feet high. On the summit
+stands an angel holding a cross with the left hand, and pointing to
+heaven with the right. The pedestal contains the simple inscription, "To
+Alexander I. Grateful Russia."
+
+[Illustration: Column of Alexander I.]
+
+Surrounding this is a crescent of lofty buildings, denominated the Etat
+Major, its central portion having before it a majestic colonnade of the
+Corinthian order, placed on a high rustic basement, with a balustrade of
+solid bronze gilt between the columns. In the middle is a triumphal
+arch, which, with its frieze, reaches nearly to the upper part of the
+lofty building, having a span of seventy feet, the entablature
+sculptured with military trophies, allegorical figures, and groups in
+alto relievo. Next on a line with the Admiralty, and fronting the quay,
+stands the first of a long range of imperial palaces, extending in the
+form of a crescent for more than a mile along the Neva. The Winter
+Palace is a gigantic and princely structure, built of marble, with a
+façade of seven hundred and forty feet. Next are the two palaces of the
+Hermitage, connected with it and with each other by covered galleries on
+bold arches; the beautiful and tasteful fronts of these palaces are
+strangely in contrast with their simple and unpretending name. Next is
+the stately Grecian theatre of the Hermitage. Beyond this are the
+barracks of the guards, then the palace of the French ambassador, then
+the marble palace built by Catharine II. for her favourite, Prince
+Orloff, with a basement of granite and superstructure of bluish marble,
+ornamented with marble columns and pillars. In this palace died
+Stanislaus Poniatowsky, the last of the Polish sovereigns. This
+magnificent range, presenting an uninterrupted front of marble palaces
+upward of a mile in length, unequalled in any city in the world, is
+terminated by an open square, in which stands a colossal statue of
+Suwarrow; beyond this, still on the Neva, is the beautiful summer garden
+fronting the palace of Paul II.; and near it, and at the upper end of
+the square, is the palace of the Grand-duke Michael.
+
+Opposite is the citadel, with its low bastions of solid granite, washed
+all around by the Neva; beautiful in its structure, and beautifully
+decorated by the tall, slender, and richly gilded spire of its church.
+On the one side of the Admiralty is the senatorial palace, and beyond
+opens the English Quay, with a range of buildings that might well be
+called the residence of "merchant princes;" while the opposite bank is
+crowded with public buildings, among which the most conspicuous are the
+palace of the Academy of the Fine Arts; the Obelisk, rising in the
+centre of a wide square, recording the glory of some long-named Russian
+hero; the building of the Naval Cadet Corps, with its handsome front,
+and the barracks of the Guard of Finland; finally, the great pile of
+palace-like buildings belonging to the Military Cadet Corps, reaching
+nearly to the palace of the Academy of Sciences, and terminating with
+the magnificent Grecian front of the Exchange. I know that a verbal
+description can give but a faint idea of the character of this scene,
+nor would it help the understanding of it to say that it exhibits all
+that wealth and architectural skill can do, for few in our country know
+what even these powerful engines can effect; as for myself, hardly
+noting the details, it was my greatest delight to walk daily to the
+bridge across the Neva, at the summer gardens, the view from which more
+than realized all the crude and imperfect notions of architectural
+magnificence that had ever floated through my mind; a result that I had
+never found in any other city I had yet seen, not excepting Venice the
+Rich or Genoa the Proud, although the latter is designated in
+guide-books the city of palaces.
+
+Next to the palaces in solidity and beauty of structure are the bridges
+crossing the Neva, and the magnificent quays along its course, these
+last being embankments of solid granite, lining the stream on either
+side the whole length of its winding course through the city.
+
+I was always at a loss whether to ride or walk in St. Petersburgh;
+sometimes I mounted a drosky and rode up and down the Newski
+Perspective, merely for the sake of rolling over the wooden pavement.
+This street is perhaps more than twice as wide as Broadway; the gutter
+is in the middle, and on each side are wooden pavements wide enough for
+vehicles to pass each other freely. The experiment of wooden pavements
+was first made in this street, and found to answer so well that it has
+since been introduced into many others; and as the frost is more severe
+than with us, and it has stood the test of a Russian winter, if rightly
+constructed it will, no doubt, prove equally successful in our own city.
+The road is first covered with broken stone, or Macadamized; then logs
+are laid across it, the interstices being filled up with sand and stone,
+and upon this are placed hexagonal blocks of pine about eighteen inches
+long, fitted like joiner's work, fastened with long pegs, and covered
+with a preparation of melted lead.
+
+When I left Paris I had no expectation of travelling in Russia, and,
+consequently, had no letter of introduction to Mr. Wilkins, our
+minister; but, long before reaching St. Petersburgh, I had made it a
+rule, immediately on my arrival in a strange place, to call upon our
+representative, whatever he might be, from a minister plenipotentiary
+down to a little Greek consul. I did so here, and was probably as well
+received upon my own introduction as if I had been recommended by
+letter; for I got from Mr. Wilkins the invitation to dinner usually
+consequent upon a letter, and besides much interesting information from
+home, and, more than all, a budget of New-York newspapers. It was a long
+time since I had seen a New-York paper, and I hailed all the well-known
+names, informed myself of every house to let, every vessel to sail, all
+the cotton in market, and a new kind of shaving-soap for sale at Hart's
+Bazar; read with particular interest the sales of real estate by James
+Bleecker and Sons; wondered at the rapid increase of the city in
+creating a demand for building lots in one hundred and twenty-seventh
+street, and reflected that some of my old friends had probably grown so
+rich that they would not recognise me on my return.
+
+Having made arrangements for the afternoon to visit the Summer Islands,
+I dined with my friend the colonel, in company with Prince ---- (I have
+his name in my pocketbook, written by himself, and could give a
+facsimile of it, but I could not spell it). The prince was about
+forty-five, a high-toned gentleman, a nobleman in his feelings, and
+courtly in his manners, though, for a prince, rather out at elbows in
+fortune. The colonel and he had been fellow-soldiers, had served in the
+guards during the whole of the French invasion, and entered Paris with
+the allied armies as officers in the same regiment. Like most of the
+Russian seigneurs, they had run through their fortunes in their military
+career. The colonel, however, had been set up again by an inheritance
+from a deceased relative, but the prince remained ruined. He was now
+living upon a fragment saved from the wreck of his estate, a pension for
+his military services, and the bitter experience acquired by a course of
+youthful extravagance. Like many of the reduced Russian seigneurs, he
+was disaffected toward the government, and liberal in politics; he was a
+warm admirer of liberal institutions, had speculated upon and studied
+them both in France and America, and analyzed understandingly the spirit
+of liberty as developed by the American and French revolutions; when he
+talked of Washington, he folded his hands and looked up to heaven, as if
+utterly unable to express the fulness of his emotions. With us, the
+story of our revolution is a hackneyed theme, and even the sacred name
+of Washington has become almost commonplace; but the freshness of
+feeling with which the prince spoke of him invested him in my eyes with
+a new and holy character. After dinner, and while on our way to the
+Summer Islands, we stopped at his apartments, when he showed me the
+picture of Washington conspicuous on the wall; under it, by way of
+contrast, was that of Napoleon; and he summed up the characters of both
+in few words, by saying that the one was all for himself, the other all
+for his country.
+
+The Summer Islands on Sundays and fête days are the great promenade of
+the residents of the capital, and the approach to them is either by land
+or water. We preferred the latter, and at the Admiralty took a boat on
+the Neva. All along the quay are flights of steps cut in the granite,
+and descending to a granite platform, where boats are constantly in
+attendance for passengers. These boats are fantastically painted, and
+have the stern raised some three or four feet; sometimes they are
+covered with an awning. The oar is of disproportionate thickness toward
+the handle, the blade very broad, always feathered in rowing, and the
+boatman, in his calico or linen shirt and pantaloons, his long yellowish
+beard and mustaches, looks like anything but the gondolier of Venice. In
+passing down the Neva I noticed, about half way between low-water mark
+and the top of the quay, a ring which serves to fasten vessels, and is
+the mark, to which if the water rises, an inundation may be expected.
+The police are always on the watch, and the fearful moment is announced
+by the firing of cannon, by the display of white flags from the
+Admiralty steeple by day, and by lanterns and the tolling of the bells
+at night. In the last dreadful inundation of eighteen hundred and
+twenty-four, bridges were swept away, boats floated in some parts of the
+town above the tops of the houses, and many villages were entirely
+destroyed. At Cronstadt, a vessel of one hundred tons was left in the
+middle of one of the principal streets; eight thousand dead bodies were
+found and buried, and probably many thousands more were hurried on to
+the waters of the Gulf of Finland.
+
+It was a fête day in honour of some church festival, and a great portion
+of the population of St. Petersburgh was bending its way toward the
+Summer Islands. The emperor and empress were expected to honour the
+promenade with their presence, and all along the quay boats were
+shooting out loaded with gay parties, and, as they approached the
+islands, they formed into a fleet, almost covering the surface of the
+river. We were obliged to wait till perhaps a dozen boats had discharged
+their passengers before we could land.
+
+These islands are formed by the branches of the Neva, at about three
+versts from St. Petersburgh. They are beautifully laid out in grass and
+gravel-walks, ornamented with trees, lakes, shrubs, and flowers,
+connected together by light and elegant bridges, and adorned with
+beautiful little summer-houses. These summer-houses are perfectly
+captivating; light and airy in their construction, and completely buried
+among the trees. As we walked along we heard music or gentle voices, and
+now and then came upon a charming cottage, with a beautiful lawn or
+garden, just enough exposed to let the passer-by imagine what he
+pleased; and on the lawn was a light fanciful tent, or an arbour hung
+with foliage, under which the occupants, with perhaps a party of friends
+from the city, were taking tea, and groups of rosy children were romping
+around them, while thousands were passing by and looking on, with as
+perfect an appearance of domestic _abandon_ as if in the privacy of the
+fireside. I have sometimes reproached myself that my humour changed with
+every passing scene; but, inasmuch as it generally tended toward at
+least a momentary satisfaction, I did not seek to check it; and though,
+from habit and education, I would have shrunk from such a family
+exhibition, here it was perfectly delightful. It seemed like going back
+to a simpler and purer age. The gay and smiling faces seemed to indicate
+happy hearts; and when I saw a mother playing on the green with a little
+cherub daughter, I felt how I hung upon the community, a loose and
+disjointed member, and would fain have added myself to some cheerful
+family group. A little farther on, however, I saw a papa flogging a
+chubby urchin, who drowned with his bellowing the music from a
+neighbouring arbour, which somewhat broke the charm of this public
+exhibition of scenes of domestic life.
+
+Besides these little retiring-places or summer residences of citizens,
+restaurants and houses of refreshments were distributed in great
+abundance, and numerous groups were sitting under the shade of trees or
+arbours, taking ices or refreshments; and the grounds for promenade were
+so large and beautifully disposed, that, although thousands were walking
+through them, there was no crowd, except before the door of a principal
+refectory, where a rope-dancer was flourishing in the air among the
+tops of the trees.
+
+In addition to the many enchanting retreats and summer residences
+created by the taste, luxury, and wealth of private individuals, there
+are summer theatres and imperial villas. But the gem of the islands is
+the little imperial palace at Cammenoi. I have walked through royal
+palaces, and admired their state and magnificence without one wish to
+possess them, but I felt a strong yearning toward this imperial villa.
+It is not so grand and stately as to freeze and chill one, but a thing
+of extraordinary simplicity and elegance, in a beautifully picturesque
+situation, heightened by a charming disposition of lawn and trees, so
+elegant, and, if I may add such an unpoetical word in the description of
+this imperial residence, so comfortable, that I told the prince if I
+were a Rasselas escaped from the happy valley, I would look no farther
+for a resting-place. The prince replied that in the good old days of
+Russian barbarism, when a queen swayed the sceptre, Russia had been a
+great field for enterprising and adventurous young men, and in more than
+one instance a palace had been the reward of a favourite. We gave a sigh
+to the memory of those good old days, and at eleven o'clock returned to
+the city on the top of an omnibus. The whole road from the Summer
+Islands and the great street leading to the Admiralty were lighted with
+little glass lamps, arranged on the sidewalks about six feet apart, but
+they almost realized the conceit of illuminating the sun by hanging
+candles around it, seeming ashamed of their own sickly glare and
+struggling vainly with the glorious twilight.
+
+The next morning the valet who had taken me as his master, and who told
+others in the house that he could not attend to them, as he was in my
+service, informed me that a traveller arrived from Warsaw the night
+before had taken apartments in the same hotel, and could give me all
+necessary information in regard to that route; and, after breakfast, I
+sent him, with my compliments, to ask the traveller if he would admit
+me, and shortly after called myself. He was a young man, under thirty,
+above the middle size, strong and robust of frame, with good features,
+light complexion, but very much freckled, a head of extraordinary red
+hair, and a mustache of the same brilliant colour; and he was dressed in
+a coloured stuff morning-gown, and smoking a pipe with an air of no
+small dignity and importance. I explained the purpose of my visit, and
+he gave me as precise information as could possibly be had; and the most
+gratifying part of the interview was, that before we separated he told
+me that he intended returning to Warsaw in about ten days, and would be
+happy to have me bear him company. I gladly embraced his offer, and left
+him, better pleased with the result of my interview than I had expected
+from his rather unprepossessing appearance. He was a Frenchman by
+descent, born in Belgium, and educated and resident in Poland, and
+possessed in a striking degree the compounded amor patriæ incident to
+the relationship in which he stood to these three countries. But, as I
+shall be obliged to speak of him frequently hereafter, I will leave him
+for the present to his morning-gown and pipe.
+
+Well pleased with having my plans arranged, I went out without any
+specific object, and found myself on the banks of the Neva. Directly
+opposite the Winter Palace, and one of the most conspicuous objects on
+the whole line of the Neva, is the citadel or old fortress, and, in
+reality, the foundation of the city. I looked long and intently on the
+golden spire of its church, shooting toward the sky and glittering in
+the sun. This spire, which rises tapering till it seems almost to fade
+away into nothing, is surmounted by a large globe, on which stands an
+angel supporting a cross. This angel, being made of corruptible stuff,
+once manifested symptoms of decay, and fears were entertained that he
+would soon be numbered with the fallen. Government became perplexed how
+to repair it, for to raise a scaffolding to such a height would cost
+more than the angel was worth. Among the crowd which daily assembled to
+gaze at it from below was a roofer of houses, who, after a long and
+silent examination, went to the government and offered to repair it
+without any scaffolding or assistance of any kind. His offer was
+accepted; and on the day appointed for the attempt, provided with
+nothing but a coil of cords, he ascended inside to the highest window,
+and, looking for a moment at the crowd below and at the spire tapering
+away above him, stood up on the outer ledge of the window. The spire was
+covered with sheets of gilded copper, which, to beholders from below,
+presented only a smooth surface of burnished gold; but the sheets were
+roughly laid, and fastened by large nails, which projected from the
+sides of the spire. He cut two pieces of cord, and tied loops at each
+end of both, fastened the upper loops over two projecting nails, and
+stood with his feet in the lower; then, clinching the fingers of one
+hand over the rough edges of the sheets of copper, raised himself till
+he could hitch one of the loops on a higher nail with the other hand; he
+did the same for the other loop, and so he raised one leg after the
+other, and at length ascended, nail by nail, and stirrup by stirrup,
+till he clasped his arms around the spire directly under the ball. Here
+it seemed impossible to go any farther, for the ball was ten or twelve
+feet in circumference, with a smooth and glittering surface, and no
+projecting nails, and the angel was above the ball, as completely out of
+sight as if it were in the habitation of its prototypes. But the daring
+roofer was not disheartened. Raising himself in his stirrups, he
+encircled the spire with a cord, which he tied round his waist; and, so
+supported, leaned gradually back until the soles of his feet were braced
+against the spire, and his body fixed almost horizontally in the air. In
+this position he threw a cord over the top of the ball, and threw it so
+coolly and skilfully that at the first attempt it fell down on the other
+side, just as he wanted it; then he drew himself up to his original
+position, and, by means of his cord, climbed over the smooth sides of
+the globe, and in a few moments, amid thunders of applause from the
+crowd below, which at that great height sounded only like a faint
+murmur, he stood by the side of the angel. After attaching a cord to it
+he descended, and the next day carried up with him a ladder of ropes,
+and effected the necessary repairs.
+
+But to return. With my eyes fixed upon the spire, I crossed the bridge
+and entered the gate of the fortress. It is built on a small island,
+fortified by five bastions, which, on the land side, are mere ramparts
+connected with St. Petersburgh quarter by drawbridges, and on the river
+side it is surrounded by walls cased with granite, in the centre of
+which is a large gate or sallyport. As a fortress, it is now useless;
+but it is a striking object of embellishment to the river, and an
+interesting monument in the history of the city. Peter himself selected
+this spot for his citadel and the foundation of his city. At that time
+it contained two fishing-huts in ruins, the only original habitations on
+the island. It was necessary to cut down the trees, and elevate the
+surface of the island with dirt and stone brought from other places
+before he commenced building the fortress; and the labour of the work
+was immense, no less than forty thousand workmen being employed at one
+time. Soldiers, Swedish prisoners, Ingrians, Carelians, and Cossacks,
+Tartars and Calmucs, were brought from their distant solitudes to lay
+the foundation of the imperial city, labouring entirely destitute of all
+the comforts of life, sleeping on the damp ground and in the open air,
+often without being able, in that wilderness, to procure their daily
+meal; and, moreover, without pickaxes, spades, or other instruments of
+labour, and using only their bare hands for digging; but, in spite of
+all this, the work advanced with amazing rapidity, and in four months
+the fortress was completed. The principal objects of interest it now
+contains are the Imperial Mint and the Cathedral of St. Peter and St.
+Paul. Brought up in a community where "making money" is the great
+business of life, I ought, perhaps, to have entered the former, but I
+turned away from the ingots of gold and silver, and entered the old
+church, the burial-place of Peter the Great, and nearly all the Czars
+and Czarinas, emperors and empresses, since his time. Around the walls
+were arranged flags and banners, trophies taken in war, principally from
+the Turks, waving mournfully over the tombs of the dead. A sombre light
+broke through the lofty windows, and I moved directly to the tomb of
+Peter. It is near the great altar, of plain marble, in the shape of a
+square coffin, without any ornament but a gold plate, on one end of
+which are engraved his name and title; and at the moment of my entrance
+an old Russian was dusting it with a brush. It was with a mingled
+feeling of veneration and awe that I stood by the tomb of Peter. I had
+always felt a profound admiration for this extraordinary man, one of
+those prodigies of nature which appear on the earth only once in many
+centuries; a combination of greatness and cruelty, the sternness of
+whose temper spared neither age nor sex, nor the dearest ties of
+kindred; whose single mind changed the face of an immense empire and the
+character of millions, and yet who often remarked with bitter
+compunction, "I can reform my people, but I cannot reform myself."
+
+By his side lies the body of his wife, Catharine I., the beautiful
+Livonian, the daughter of a peasant girl, and the wife of a common
+soldier, who, by a wonderful train of events, was raised to wield the
+sceptre of a gigantic empire. Her fascination soothed the savage Peter
+in his moodiest hours. She was the mediatrix between the stern monarch
+and his subjects; mercy was ever on her lips, and one who knew her well
+writes what might be inscribed in letters of gold upon her tomb: "She
+was a pretty, well-looked woman, but not of that sublimity of wit, or,
+rather, that quickness of imagination which some people have supposed.
+The great reason why the Czar was so fond of her was her exceeding good
+temper; she never was seen peevish or out of humour; obliging and civil
+to all, and never forgetful of her former condition, and withal mighty
+grateful."
+
+Near their imperial parents lie the bodies of their two daughters, Anne
+of Holstein and the Empress Elizabeth. Peter, on his deathbed, in an
+interval of delirium, called to him his daughter Anne, as it was
+supposed, with the intention of settling upon her the crown, but
+suddenly relapsed into insensibility; and Anne, brought up in the
+expectation of two crowns, died in exile, leaving one son, the
+unfortunate Peter III.
+
+Elizabeth died on the throne, a motley character of goodness, indolence,
+and voluptuousness, and extremely admired for her great personal
+attractions. She was never married, but, as she frequently owned to her
+confidants, never happy but when in love. She was so tender of heart
+that she made a vow to inflict no capital punishment during her reign;
+shed tears upon the news of every victory gained by her troops, from the
+reflection that it could not have been gained without bloodshed, and
+would never give her consent for the execution of a felon, however
+deserving; and yet she condemned two noble ladies, one of them the most
+beautiful woman in Russia, to receive fifty strokes of the knout in the
+open square of St. Petersburgh.
+
+I strolled for a few moments among the other imperial sepulchres, and
+returned to the tombs of Peter's family. Separate monuments are erected
+over their bodies, all in the shape of large oblong tombstones,
+ornamented with gold, and enclosed by high iron railings. As I leaned
+against the railing of Peter's tomb, I missed one member of his imperial
+family. It was an awful chasm. Where was his firstborn child and only
+son? the presumptive heir of his throne and empire? Early the object of
+his unnatural prejudice, excluded from the throne, imprisoned, tortured,
+tried, condemned, sentenced to death by the stern decree of his offended
+father!
+
+The ill-starred Alexius lies in the vaults of the church, in the
+imperial sepulchre, but without any tomb or inscription to perpetuate
+the recollection of his unhappy existence. And there is something awful
+in the juxtaposition of the dead; he lies by the side of his unhappy
+consort, the amiable Princess Charlotte, who died the victim of his
+brutal neglect; so subdued by affliction that, in a most affecting
+farewell to Peter, unwilling to disturb the tranquillity of her last
+hour, she never mentioned his name, and welcomed death as a release from
+her sufferings.
+
+Leaving the church, I went to a detached building within the fortress,
+where is preserved, in a separate building, a four-oared boat, as a
+memorial of the origin of the Russian navy. Its history is interesting.
+About the year 1691 Peter saw this boat at a village near Moscow; and
+inquiring the cause of its being built differently from those he was in
+the habit of seeing, learned that it was contrived to go against the
+wind. Under the direction of Brandt, the Dutch shipwright who built it,
+he acquired the art of managing it. He afterward had a large
+pleasure-yacht constructed after the same model, and from this beginning
+went on till he surprised all Europe by a large fleet on the Baltic and
+the Black Sea. Twenty years afterward he had it brought up from Moscow,
+and gave a grand public entertainment, which he called the consecration
+of the "little grandsire." The fleet, consisting of twenty-seven
+men-of-war, was arranged at Cronstadt in the shape of a half moon. Peter
+embarked in the little grandsire, himself steering, and three admirals
+and Prince Mendzikoff rowing, and made a circuit in the gulf, passing by
+the fleet, the ships striking their flags and saluting it with their
+guns, while the little grandsire returned each salute by a discharge of
+three small pieces. It was then towed up to St. Petersburgh, where its
+arrival was celebrated by a masquerade upon the waters, and, Peter again
+steering, the boat proceeded to the fortress, and under a discharge of
+all the artillery it was deposited where it now lies.
+
+Returning, I took a bath in the Neva. In bathing, as in everything else,
+the Russians profit by the short breath of summer, and large public
+bathing-houses are stationed at intervals along the quay of the river,
+besides several smaller ones, tasteful and ornamental in appearance,
+being the private property of rich seigneurs. I went into one of the
+former, where a swimming-master was teaching a school of boys the art of
+swimming. The water of the Neva was the first thing I had found
+regularly Russian, that is, excessively cold; and though I bathed in it
+several times afterward, I always found it the same.
+
+At five o'clock I went to dine with Mr. Wilkins. He had broken up his
+establishment and taken apartments at the house of an English lady,
+where he lived much in the same style as at home. He had been at St.
+Petersburgh but a short time, and, I believe, was not particularly well
+pleased with it, and was then making arrangements to return. I had never
+met with Mr. Wilkins in our own country, and I consider myself under
+obligations to him; for, not bringing him any letter, I stood an entire
+stranger in St. Petersburgh, with nothing but my passport to show that I
+was an American citizen, and he might have even avoided the dinner, or
+have given me the dinner and troubled himself no more about me. But the
+politeness which he had shown me as a stranger increased to kindness;
+and I was in the habit of calling upon him at all times, and certainly
+without any expectation of ever putting him in print. We had at table a
+parti quarré, consisting of Mr. Wilkins, Mr. Gibson, who has been our
+consul, I believe, for twenty years, if, he being still a bachelor, it
+be not unfriendly to carry him back so far, and Mr. Clay, the secretary
+of legation, who had been twice left as chargé d'affaires at the
+imperial court, and was then lately married to an English lady in St.
+Petersburgh. After dinner, three or four American merchants came in; and
+at eleven o'clock, having made an appointment to go with Mr. Wilkins and
+see a boatrace on the Neva, Mr. Clay and I walked home along the quay,
+under that enchanting twilight which I have already so often thrust upon
+the reader, and which I only regret that I cannot make him realize and
+enjoy.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+    A New Friend.--The Winter Palace.--Importance of a Hat.--An
+      artificial Mine.--Remains of a huge Monster.--Peter the Great's
+      Workshop.--The Greek Religion.--Tomb of a Hero.--A Saint
+      Militant.--Another Love Affair.--The Hermitage.--The Winter and
+      Summer Gardens.
+
+
+EARLY in the morning, while at breakfast, I heard a loud knock at my
+door, which was opened without waiting for an answer, and in stalked a
+tall, stout, dashing-looking young man, with a blue frock, white
+pantaloons, and a vest of many colours, a heavy gold chain around his
+neck, an enormous Indian cane in his hand, and a broad-brimmed hat
+brought down on one side, over his right eye in particular. He had a
+terrible scowl on his face, which seemed to be put on to sustain the
+dignity of his amazing costume, and he bowed on his entrance with as
+much _hauteur_ as if he meant to turn me out of my own room. I stared at
+him in unfeigned astonishment, when, putting his cane under his arm, and
+pulling off his hat, his intensely red head broke upon me with a blaze
+of beauty, and I recognised my friend and intended fellow-traveller, the
+French Belgian Pole, whom I had seen in an old morning-gown and
+slippers. I saw through my man at once; and speedily knocking in the
+head his overwhelming formality, came upon him with the old college
+salutation, asking him to pull off his clothes and stay a week; and he
+complied almost literally, for in less than ten minutes he had off his
+coat and waistcoat, cravat and boots, and was kicking up his heels on my
+bed. I soon discovered that he was a capital fellow, a great beau in his
+little town on the frontiers of Poland, and one of a class by no means
+uncommon, that of the very ugly men who imagine themselves very
+handsome. While he was kicking his heels over the footboard, he asked me
+what we thought of red hair in America; and I told him that I could not
+undertake to speak the public voice, but that, for myself, I did not
+admire it as much as some people did, though, as to his, there was
+something striking about it, which was strictly true, for it was such an
+enormous mop that, as his head lay on the pillow, it looked like a bust
+set in a large red frame. All the time he held in his hand a pocket
+looking-glass and a small brush, with which he kept brushing his
+mustaches, giving them a peculiar twirl toward the ears. I told him that
+he was wrong about the mustache; and, taking the brush, brought them out
+of their twist, and gave them an inclination à la Turque, recommending
+my own as a model; but he soon got them back to their place, and,
+rising, shook his gory locks and began to dress himself, or, as he said,
+to put himself in parchment for a walk.
+
+My new friend was for no small game, and proposed visiting some of the
+palaces. On the way he confided to me a conquest he had already made
+since his arrival; a beautiful young lady, of course, the daughter of an
+Italian music-master, who resided directly opposite our hotel. He said
+he had applied for an apartment next to mine, which commanded a view of
+the window at which she sat, and asked me, as a friend, whether it would
+be interfering with me. Having received my assurance that I had no
+intentions in that quarter, he said he would order his effects to be
+removed the same day.
+
+By this time we had arrived at the Winter Palace, presenting, as I have
+before remarked, a marble front on the Neva of more than seven hundred
+feet, or as long as the side of Washington Square, and larger and more
+imposing than that of the Tuileries or any other royal palace in Europe.
+We approached the large door of entrance to this stately pile, and,
+notwithstanding my modest application, backed by my companion's dashing
+exterior, we were turned away by the imperial footman because we had not
+on dresscoats. We went home and soon returned equipped as the law of
+etiquette requires, and were admitted to the imperial residence. We
+ascended the principal story by the great marble staircase, remarkable
+for its magnificence and the grandeur of its architecture. There are
+nearly a hundred principal rooms on the first floor, occupying an area
+of four hundred thousand square feet, and forming almost a labyrinth of
+splendour. The great banqueting-hall is one hundred and eighty-nine feet
+by one hundred and ten, incrusted with the finest marble, with a row of
+columns at each end, and the side decorated with attached columns, rich
+gilding, and splendid mirrors. The great Hall of St. George is one of
+the richest and most superb rooms on the Continent, not excepting the
+pride of the Tuileries or Versailles. It is a parallelogram of one
+hundred and forty feet by sixty, decorated with forty fluted Corinthian
+columns of porphyritic marble, with capitals and bases of bronze richly
+gilded, and supporting a gallery with a gilded bronze balustrade of
+exquisite workmanship. At one end, on a platform, is the throne,
+approached by a flight of eight steps, covered with the richest Genoa
+velvet, embroidered with gold, with the double-headed eagle expanding
+his wings above it. The large windows on both sides are hung with the
+richest drapery, and the room is embellished by magnificent mirrors and
+colossal candelabra profusely gilded.
+
+We passed on to the _salle blanche_, which is nearly of the same
+dimensions, and beautifully chaste in design and finish. Its elevation
+is greater, and the sides are decorated with pilasters, columns, and
+bas-reliefs of a soft white tint, without the least admixture of gaudy
+colours. The space between the Hall of St. George and the _salle
+blanche_ is occupied as a gallery of national portraits, where the
+Russians who distinguished themselves during the French invasion are
+exhibited in half-length portraits as rewards for their military
+services. The three field-marshals, Kutuzow, Barclay de Tolly, and the
+Duke of Wellington, are represented at full length. The symbol which
+accompanies the hero of Waterloo is that of imperishable strength, the
+British oak, "the triumpher of many storms."
+
+I will not carry the reader through all the magnificent apartments, but
+I cannot help mentioning the Diamond Room, containing the crowns and
+jewels of the imperial family. Diamonds, rubies, and emeralds are
+arranged round the room in small cases, of such dazzling beauty that it
+is almost bewildering to look at them. I had already acquired almost a
+passion for gazing at precious stones. At Constantinople I had wandered
+through the bazars, under the guidance of a Jew, and seen all the
+diamonds collected and for sale in the capital of the East, but I was
+astonished at the brilliancy of this little chamber, and, in my
+strongly-awakened admiration, looked upon the miser who, before the
+degrading days of bonds and mortgages, converted his wealth into jewels
+and precious stones, as a man of elegant and refined taste. The crown of
+the emperor is adorned with a chaplet of oak-leaves made of diamonds of
+an extraordinary size, and the imperial sceptre contains one supposed to
+be the largest in the world, being the celebrated stone purchased by the
+Empress Catharine II. from a Greek slave for four hundred and fifty
+thousand rubles and a large pension for life. Eighty thousand persons
+were employed in the construction of this palace; upward of two thousand
+habitually reside in it, and even a larger number when the emperor is in
+St. Petersburgh. The imperial flag was then floating from the top of the
+palace, as an indication to his subjects of his majesty's presence in
+the capital; and about the time that his majesty sat down to his royal
+dinner we were working upon a cotelette de mouton, and drinking in vin
+ordinaire health and long life to Nicolas the First; and afterward, in
+talking of the splendour of the imperial palace and the courtesy of the
+imperial footmen, we added health and long life to the Lady Autocrat and
+all the little autocrats.[1]
+
+After dinner we took our coffee at the Café Chinois, on the Newski
+Perspective, equal, if not superior, in style and decoration to anything
+in Paris. Even the rules of etiquette in France are not orthodox all
+over the world. In Paris it is not necessary to take off the hat on
+entering a café or restaurant, and in the south of France a Frenchman
+will sit down to dinner next a lady with his head covered; but in
+Russia, even on entering an apartment where there are only gentlemen, it
+is necessary to uncover the head. I neglected this rule from ignorance
+and want of attention, and was treated with rudeness by the proprietor,
+and afterward learned the cause, with the suggestion that it was
+fortunate that I had not been insulted. This is a small matter, but a
+man's character in a strange place is often affected by a trifling
+circumstance; and Americans, at least I know it to be the case with
+myself, are, perhaps, too much in the habit of neglecting the minor
+rules of etiquette.
+
+That night my new friend had his effects removed to a room adjoining
+mine, and the next morning I found him sitting in his window with a book
+in his hand, watching the young lady opposite. He was so pleased with
+his occupation that I could not get him away, and went off without him.
+Mr. Wilkins having offered to accompany me to some of the public
+institutions, I called for him; and, finding him disengaged, we took a
+boat on the Neva, and went first to the Academy of Arts, standing
+conspicuously on the right bank opposite the English Quay, and, perhaps,
+the chastest and most classical structure in St. Petersburgh. In the
+court are two noble Egyptian Sphynxes. A magnificent staircase, with a
+double flight of granite steps, leads to a grand landing-place with
+broad galleries around it, supporting, by means of Ionic columns, the
+cupola, which crowns the whole. The Rotunda is a fine apartment of
+exquisite proportions, decorated with statues and busts; and at the
+upper end of the Conference-room stands a large table, at the head of
+which is a full-length portrait of Nicolas under a rich canopy. In one
+room are a collection of models from the antique, and another of the
+paintings of native artists, some of which are considered as indicating
+extraordinary talent.
+
+From hence we went to the _Hotel des Mines_, where the name of the
+American minister procured us admission without the usual permit. The
+_Hotel des Mines_ was instituted by the great Peter for the purpose of
+training a mining engineer corps, to explore scientifically the vast
+mineral resources of the empire, and also engineers for the army. Like
+all the other public edifices, the building is grand and imposing, and
+the arrangement of the different rooms and galleries is admirable. In
+one room is a large collection of medals, and in another of coins.
+Besides specimens of general mineralogy of extraordinary beauty, there
+are native iron from the Lake Olonetz, silver ore from Tobolsk and gold
+sand from the Oural Mountains; and in iron-bound cases, beautifully
+ornamented, there is a rich collection of native gold, found either in
+the mines belonging to government or in those of individuals, one piece
+of which was discovered at the depth of three and a half feet in the
+sand, weighing more than twenty-four pounds. The largest piece of
+platinum in existence, from the mines of Demidoff, weighing ten pounds,
+is here also; and, above all, a colossal specimen of amalachite weighing
+three thousand four hundred and fifty-six pounds, and, at the common
+average price of this combination of copper and carbonic acid, worth
+three thousand seven hundred and fifty pounds sterling.
+
+But the most curious part of this valuable repository is under ground,
+being a model of a mine in Siberia. Furnished with lighted tapers, we
+followed our guides through winding passages cut into the bowels of the
+earth, the sides of which represented, by the aggregation of real
+specimens, the various stratifications, with all the different ores, and
+minerals, and different species of earth, as they were found in the
+natural state; the coal formation, veins of copper, and in one place of
+gold, being particularly well represented, forming an admirable
+practical school for the study of geology, though under a chillness of
+atmosphere which would be likely very soon to put an end to studies of
+all kinds.
+
+From here we passed to the imperial Academy of Sciences, by far the most
+interesting part of our day's visiting. This, too, was founded by the
+Great Peter. I hardly know why, but I had already acquired a warm
+admiration for the stout old Czar. There was nothing high or chivalric
+about him, but every step in Russia, from the Black Sea to the Baltic,
+showed me what he had done to advance the condition of his people. I
+knew all this as matter of history, but here I felt it as fact. We
+strolled through the mineralogical and zoological repositories, and
+stopped before the skeleton of that stupendous inhabitant of a former
+world, denominated the mammoth, whose fame had been carried over the
+waste of waters even to our distant country, and beside which even the
+skeletons of elephants looked insignificant. What was he? where did he
+live, and is his race extinct? It gave rise to a long train of
+interesting speculation, to endow him with life, and see him striding
+with gigantic steps, the living tenant of a former world; and more
+interesting still to question, as others had done, whether he was not,
+after all, one of a race of animals not yet extinct, and perhaps
+wandering even now within a short distance of the Polar Sea.
+
+There is also in this part of the museum a collection of anatomical
+specimens and of human monsters; an unpleasing exhibition, though, no
+doubt, useful to medical science; among them was a child with two heads
+from America. More interesting to me was a large collection of insects,
+of medals, and particularly of the different objects in gold found in
+the tumuli of Siberia, consisting of bracelets, vases, crowns, bucklers,
+rings, sabres with golden hilts, Tartar idols, &c., many of them of
+great value and of very elegant workmanship, which have given rise to
+much interesting speculation in regard to the character of the people
+who formerly inhabited that country. The Asiatic museum contains a
+library of Chinese, Japanese, Mongolese, and Tibetan books and
+manuscripts; Mohammedan, Chinese, and Japanese coins; an interesting
+assemblage of Mongolese idols cut in bronze and gilded, and illustrating
+the religion of Buddha. There is also an Egyptian museum, containing
+about a thousand articles. The cabinet of curiosities contains figures
+of all the different people conquered under the government of Russia,
+habited in their national costumes; also of Chinese, Persians, Aleutans,
+Carelians, and the inhabitants of many of the Eastern, Pacific, or
+Northern Islands discovered or visited by Russian travellers and
+navigators, as well as of the different nations inhabiting Siberia.
+
+But by far the most interesting part of the museum is the cabinet of
+Peter himself, consisting of a suite of apartments, in which the old
+Czar was in the habit of passing his leisure hours engaged in some
+mechanical employment. In one room are several brass cylinders turned by
+his own hands, and covered with battle-scenes of his own engraving. Also
+an iron bar forged by him; bas-reliefs executed in copper, representing
+his desperate battles in Livonia; an ivory chandelier of curious and
+highly-wrought workmanship, and a group in ivory representing Abraham
+offering up his son Isaac, the ram and the angel Gabriel cut out entire.
+In another room is his workshop, containing a variety of vessels and
+models etched in copper, and a copperplate with an unfinished
+battle-scene. His tools and implements are strewed about the room
+precisely in the state in which he left them the last time he was there.
+In another chamber were the distended skin of his French body-servant,
+seven feet high; the Arabian horse which he rode at the bloody battle of
+Pultowa, and the two favourite dogs which always accompanied him; and in
+another the figure of the old Czar himself in wax, as large as life; the
+features, beyond doubt, bearing the exact resemblance to the original,
+being taken from a cast applied to his face when dead, and shaded in
+imitation of his real complexion. The eyebrows and hair are black, the
+eyes dark, the complexion swarthy, and aspect stern. This figure is
+surrounded by the portraits of his predecessors, in their barbarian
+costumes, himself seated in an armchair in the same splendid dress which
+he wore when with his own hands he placed the imperial crown on the head
+of his beloved Catharine. Here, also, are his uniform of the guards,
+gorget, scarf, and sword, and hat shot through at the battle of Pultowa;
+and the last thing which the guide put into my hands was a long stick
+measuring his exact height, and showing him literally a great man, being
+six Russian feet. I must not forget a pair of shoes made by his own
+hands; but the old Czar was no shoemaker. Nevertheless, these memorials
+were all deeply interesting; and though I had seen the fruits of his
+labours from the Black Sea to the Baltic, I never felt such a strong
+personal attraction to him as I did here.
+
+I was obliged to decline dining with Mr. Wilkins in consequence of an
+engagement with my friend the Pole; and, returning, I found him at the
+window with a book in his hand, precisely in the same position in which
+I had left him. After dinner a servant came in and delivered a message,
+and he proposed a walk on the Admiralty Boulevards. It was the
+fashionable hour for promenade, and, after a turn or two, he discovered
+his fair enslaver, accompanied by her father and several ladies and
+gentlemen, one of whom seemed particularly devoted to her. She was a
+pretty little girl, and seemed to me a mere child, certainly not more
+than fifteen. His admiration had commenced on the Boulevards the first
+afternoon of his arrival, and had increased violently during the whole
+day, while he was sitting at the window. He paraded me up and down the
+walk once or twice, and, when they had seated themselves on a bench,
+took a seat opposite. He was sure she was pleased with his admiration,
+but I could not see that her look indicated any very flattering
+acknowledgment. In fact, I could but remark that the eyes of the
+gentlemen were turned toward us quite as often as those of the lady, and
+suggested that, if he persisted, he would involve us in some difficulty
+with them; but he said there could not be any difficulty about it, for,
+if he offended them, he would give them satisfaction. As this view of
+the case did not hit my humour, I told him that, as I had come out with
+him, I would remain, but if he made any farther demonstrations, I should
+leave him, and, at all events, after that he must excuse me from joining
+his evening promenades. Soon after they left the Boulevards, and we
+returned to our hotel, where he entertained me with a history of his
+love adventures at home, and felicitations upon his good fortune in
+finding himself already engaged in one here.
+
+Sunday. Until the early part of the tenth century the religion of Russia
+was a gross idolatry. In nine hundred and thirty-five, Olga, the widow
+of Igor the son of Runic, sailed down the Dnieper from Kief, was
+baptized at Constantinople, and introduced Christianity into Russia,
+though her family and nation adhered for a long time to the idolatry of
+their fathers. The great schism between the Eastern and Western churches
+had already taken place, and the Christianity derived from
+Constantinople was of course of the Greek persuasion. The Greek Church
+believes in the doctrines of the Trinity, but differs from the Catholic
+in some refined and subtle distinction in regard to what is called the
+procession of the Holy Ghost. It enjoins the invocation of saints as
+mediators, and permits the use of pictures as a means of inspiring and
+strengthening devotion. The well-informed understand the use for which
+they are intended, but these form a very small portion of the community,
+and probably the great bulk of the people worship the pictures
+themselves. The clergy are, in general, very poor and very ignorant. The
+priests are not received at the tables of the upper classes, but they
+exercise an almost controlling influence over the lower, and they
+exhibited this influence in rousing the serfs against the French, which
+may be ascribed partly, perhaps, to feelings of patriotism, and partly
+to the certainty that Napoleon would strip their churches of their
+treasures, tear down their monasteries, and turn themselves out of
+doors. But of the population of fifty-five millions, fifteen are divided
+into Roman Catholics, Armenians, Protestants, Jews, and Mohammedans, and
+among the Caucasians, Georgians, Circassians, and Mongol tribes nearly
+two millions are pagans or idolaters, Brahmins, Lamists, and worshippers
+of the sun.
+
+For a people so devout as the Russians, the utmost toleration prevails
+throughout the whole empire, and particularly in St. Petersburgh.
+Churches of every denomination stand but a short distance apart on the
+Newski Perspective. The Russian cathedral is nearly opposite the great
+Catholic chapel; near them is the Armenian, then the Lutheran, two
+churches for Dissenters, and a mosque for the Mohammedans! and on Sunday
+thousands are seen bending their steps to their separate churches, to
+worship according to the faith handed down to them by their fathers.
+
+Early in the morning, taking with me a valet and joining the crowd that
+was already hurrying with devout and serious air along the Newski
+Perspective, I entered the Cathedral of our Lady of Cazan, a splendid
+monument of architecture, and more remarkable as the work of a native
+artist, with a semicircular colonnade in front, consisting of one
+hundred and thirty-two Corinthian columns thirty-five feet high,
+somewhat after the style of the great circular colonnade of St. Peter's
+at Rome, and surmounted by a dome crowned with a cross of exquisite
+workmanship, supported on a large gilded ball. Within, fifty noble
+columns, each of one piece of solid granite from Finland, forty-eight
+feet high and four feet in diameter, surmounted by a rich capital of
+bronze, and resting on a massive bronze base, support an arched roof
+richly ornamented with flowers in bas-relief. The jewels and decorations
+of the altar are rich and splendid, the doors leading to the sanctum
+sanctorum, with the railing in front, being of silver. As in the
+Catholic churches, there are no pews, chairs, or benches, and all over
+the floor were the praying figures of the Russians. Around the walls
+were arranged military trophies, flags, banners, and the keys of
+fortresses wrested from the enemies of Russia; but far more interesting
+than her columns, and colossal statues, and military trophies, is the
+tomb of the warrior Kutuzow; simple, and remarkable for the appropriate
+warlike trophy over it, formed of French flags and the eagles of
+Napoleon. Admiration for heroism owns no geographical or territorial
+limits, and I pity the man who could stand by the grave of Kutuzow
+without feeling it a sacred spot. The Emperor Alexander with his own
+hands took the most precious jewel from his crown and sent it to the
+warrior, with a letter announcing to him his elevation to the rank of
+Prince of Smolensko; but richer than jewels or principalities is the
+tribute which his countrymen pay at his tomb.
+
+The church of our Lady of Cazan contains another monument of barbarian
+patriotism. The celebrated leader of the Cossacks during the period of
+the French invasion, having intercepted a great part of the booty which
+the French were carrying from Moscow, sent it to the metropolitan or
+head of the church, with a characteristic letter, directing it to be
+"made into an image of the four Evangelists, and adorn the church of the
+Mother of God of Cazan." The concluding paragraph is, "Hasten to erect
+in the temple of God this monument of battle and victory; and while you
+erect it, say with thankfulness to Providence, the enemies of Russia are
+no more; the vengeance of God has overtaken them on the soil of Russia;
+and the road they have gone has been strewed with their bones, to the
+utter confusion of their frantic and proud ambition."
+
+    (Signed) "PLATOFF."
+
+From the church of our Lady of Cazan I went to the Protestant church,
+where I again joined in an orthodox service. The interior of the church
+is elegant, though externally it can scarcely be distinguished from a
+private building. The seats are free, the men sitting on one side and
+the women on the other. Mr. Law, the clergyman, has been there many
+years, and is respected and loved by his congregation. After church I
+walked to the convent of Alexander Newski, the burial-place of Prince
+Alexander, who obtained in the thirteenth century a splendid victory
+over the allied forces of Sweden, Denmark, and Livonia; afterward became
+a monk, and for his pure and holy life was canonized, and now ranks
+among the principal saints in the Russian calendar. The warrior was
+first buried at Moscow, but Peter the Great had his remains transported
+with great ceremony to this place, a procession of a thousand priests
+walking barefoot all the way. The monastery stands at the extreme end of
+the Newski Perspective, and within its precincts are several churches
+and a large cemetery. It is the residence of the distinguished prelates
+of the Greek Church and a large fraternity of monks. The dress of the
+monks is a loose black cloak and round black cap, and no one can be
+admitted a member until the age of thirty. We entered a grand portal,
+walked up a long avenue, and, crossing a bridge over a stream, worked
+our way between lines of the carriages of nobles and ladies, and crowds
+of the people in their best bell-crowned hats; and, amid a throng of
+miserable beggars, penetrated to the door of the principal church, a
+large and beautiful specimen of modern Corinthian architecture. I
+remarked the great entrance, the lofty dome, the fresco paintings on the
+ceilings, and the arabesque decorations on the walls; the altar-piece of
+white Carrara marble, paintings by Rubens and Vandyck, the holy door in
+the iconastos, raised on a flight of steps of rich gilded bronze, and
+surmounted by the representation of a dazzling aureola of different
+colored metals, and in the centre the initials of that awful name which
+none in Israel save the initiated were permitted to pronounce. I walked
+around and paused before the tomb of the warrior saint.
+
+A sarcophagus or coffin of massive silver, standing on an elevated
+platform, ornamented in bas-relief, representing scenes of battles with
+the Swedes, contains his relics; a rich ermine lies upon the coffin, and
+above is a silver canopy. On each side is a warrior clothed in armour,
+with his helmet, breastplate, shield, and spear also of massive silver.
+The altar rises thirty feet in height, of solid silver, with groups of
+military figures and trophies of warriors, also of silver, as large as
+life; and over it hangs a golden lamp, with a magnificent candelabrum of
+silver, together with a vessel of curious workmanship holding the bones
+of several holy men, the whole of extraordinary magnificence and
+costliness of material, upward of four thousand pounds weight of silver
+having been used in the construction of the chapel and shrine. The dead
+sleep the same whether in silver coffins or in the bare earth, but the
+stately character of the church, dimly lighted, and the splendour and
+richness of the material, gave a peculiar solemnity to the tomb of the
+warrior saint.
+
+Leaving the churches, I strolled through the cloisters of the monastery
+and entered the great cemetery. There, as in the great cemetery of Père
+la Chaise at Paris, all that respect, and love, and affection can do to
+honour the memory of the dead, and all that vanity and folly can do to
+ridicule it, have been accomplished. There are seen epitaphs of
+affecting brevity and elaborate amplification; every design, every
+device, figure, emblem, and decoration; every species of material, from
+native granite to Carrara marble and pure gold. Among the simpler tombs
+of poets, warriors, and statesmen, a monument of the most gigantic
+proportions is erected to snatch from oblivion the name of a rich
+Russian merchant. The base is a solid cubic block of the most superb
+marble, on which is a solid pedestal of black marble ten feet square,
+bearing a sarcophagus fourteen feet high, and of most elegant
+proportions, surmounted by a gold cross twenty feet in height. At each
+of the four corners is a colossal candelabrum of cast iron, with
+entwining serpents of bronze gilded. The ground alone cost a thousand
+pounds, and the whole monument about twenty thousand dollars. Near the
+centre of this asylum of the dead, a tetrastyle Ionic temple of the
+purest white marble records the virtues of an interesting lady, the
+Countess of Potemkin, and alto relievos of the most exquisite execution
+on three sides of the temple tell the melancholy story of a mother
+snatched from three lovely children. The countess, prophetically
+conscious of her approaching fate, is looking up calmly and majestically
+to the figure of religion, and resting with confidence her left hand on
+the symbol of Christianity. In front are the inscription and arms of the
+family in solid gold.
+
+But what are the Russian dead to me? The granite and marble monument of
+the merchant is a conglomeration of hides, hemp, and tallow; a man may
+be excused if he linger a moment at the tomb of an interesting woman, a
+mother cut off in her prime; but melancholy is infectious, and induces
+drowsiness and closing of the book.
+
+In consideration for my valet, at the grand portal I took a drosky,
+rolled over the wooden pavement of the Newski Perspective, and, with
+hardly motion enough to disturb my revery, was set down at the door of
+my hotel. My Pole was waiting to dine with me, and roused me from my
+dreams of the dead to recount his dreams of the living. All day he had
+sat at his window, and a few straggling glances from the lady opposite
+had abundantly rewarded him, and given him great spirits for his
+evening's promenade on the Boulevards. I declined accompanying him, and
+he went alone, and returned in the evening almost in raptures. We
+strolled an hour by the twilight, and retired early.
+
+It will hardly be believed, but early the next morning he came to my
+room with a letter on fine pink paper addressed to his fair enslaver.
+The reader may remember that this was not the first time I had been made
+a confidant in an affaire du coeur. To be sure, the missionary at Smyrna
+turned out to be crazy; and on this point, at least, my Pole was a
+little touched; nevertheless, I listened to his epistle. It was the
+regular oldfashioned document, full of hanging, shooting, drowning, and
+other extravagances. He sealed it with an amatory device, and, calling
+up a servant in his confidence, told him to carry it over, and then took
+his place in my window to watch the result. In the mean time, finding it
+impossible to dislodge him, and that I could not count upon him to
+accompany me on my visits to the palaces as he had promised, I went to
+the Hermitage alone. The Great and Little Hermitages are connected with
+the Winter Palace and with each other by covered galleries, and the
+theatre is connected with the two Hermitages by means of another great
+arch thrown over a canal, so that the whole present a continued line of
+imperial palaces, unequalled in extent in any part of Europe, measuring
+one thousand five hundred and ninety-six feet, or one third of an
+English mile. If I were to select a building designed to realize the
+most extravagant notions of grandeur and luxury, it would be the
+gorgeous palace known under the modest name of the Hermitage. I shall
+not attempt any description of the interior of this splendid edifice,
+but confine myself to a brief enumeration of its contents. I ascended by
+a spacious staircase to the anteroom, where I gave, or, rather, where
+my cane was demanded by the footman, and proceeded through a suite of
+magnificent rooms, every one surpassing the last, and richer in objects
+of the fine arts, science, and literature; embellished throughout by a
+profusion of the most splendid ornaments and furniture, and remarkable
+for beauty of proportion and variety of design. In rooms and galleries
+appropriated to the separate schools and masters are upward of thirteen
+hundred paintings by Raphael, Titian, Guido, Andrea del Sarto, Luca
+Giordano, the Caracci, Perugino, Corregio, and Leonardi da Vinci; here
+is also the best collection in existence, of pictures by Wouvermans and
+Teniers, with some of the masterpieces of Rubens and Vandyck, of the
+French Claude, Poussin, and Vernet. The celebrated Houghton collection
+is here, with a gallery of paintings of the Spanish schools, many of
+them Murillos. In one room is a superb vase of Siberian jasper, of a
+lilac colour, five feet high, and of exquisite form and polish; in
+another are two magnificent candelabras, said to be valued at two
+hundred and twenty thousand rubles, or about fifty thousand dollars; I
+must mention also the great musical clock, representing an antique
+Grecian temple, and containing within a combination of instruments,
+having the power of two orchestras, which accompany each other; two
+golden tripods, seven feet high, supporting the gold salvers on which
+salt and bread were exhibited to the Emperor Alexander on his triumphal
+return from Paris, as emblems of wisdom and plenty, a large musical and
+magical secretary, which opens spontaneously in a hundred directions at
+the sound of music, purchased by the late emperor for eight hundred
+guineas; a room surrounded with books, some of which were originals,
+placed there by Catharine for the use of the domestics, as she said, to
+keep the devil out of their heads; a saloon containing the largest
+collection of engravings and books of engravings in Europe, amounting to
+upward of thirty thousand; a library of upward of one hundred and ten
+thousand volumes; an extensive cabinet of medals, and another of gems
+and pastes; a jewel-cabinet, containing the rich ornaments which have
+served for the toilettes of succeeding empresses, innumerable precious
+stones and pearls, many of extraordinary magnitude; a superb collection
+of antiques and cameos, amounting to upward of fifteen thousand, the
+cameos alone affording employment for days. In one room are curious
+works in ivory and fishbones, by the inhabitants of Archangel, who are
+skilled in that species of workmanship; and in another is the celebrated
+clock, known by the name of L'Horloge du Paon. It is enclosed in a large
+glass case ten feet high, being the trunk of a golden tree, with its
+branches and leaves all of gold. On the top of the trunk sits a peacock,
+which, when the chimes begin, expands its brilliant tail, while an owl
+rolls its eyes with its own peculiar stare, and, instead of a bell
+striking the hours, a golden cock flaps his wings and crows. The clock
+is now out of order, and the machinery is so complicated that no artist
+has hitherto been able to repair it.
+
+But perhaps the most extraordinary and interesting of the wonders of the
+Hermitage are the Winter and Summer Gardens. As I strolled through the
+suites of apartments, and looked out through the windows of a long
+gallery, it was hardly possible to believe that the flourishing trees,
+shrubs, and flowers stood upon an artificial soil, raised nearly fifty
+feet above the surface of the earth. The Winter Garden is a large
+quadrangular conservatory, planted with laurels and orange trees, in
+which linnets and Canary birds formerly flew about enjoying the freedom
+of nature; but the feathered tribe have disappeared. The Summer Garden
+connected with it is four hundred feet long; and here, suspended, as it
+were, in the air, near the top of the palace, I strolled along
+gravel-walks, and among parterres of shrubs and flowers growing in rich
+luxuriance, and under a thick foliage inhaled their delightful
+fragrance. It is idle to attempt a description of this scene.
+
+I returned to my Pole, whom I found at his window with a melancholy and
+sentimental visage, his beautiful epistle returned upon his
+hands--having, in sportsman's phrase, entirely missed fire--and then
+lying with a most reproving look on his table. My friend had come up to
+St. Petersburgh in consequence of a lawsuit, and as this occupied but a
+small portion of his time, he had involved himself in a lovesuit, and,
+so far as I could see, with about an equal chance of success in both.
+L'amour was the great business of his life, and he could not be content
+unless he had on hand what he called une affaire du coeur.
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[1] The Winter Palace has since been destroyed by fire. The author has
+not seen any account of the particulars, but has heard that the contents
+of the Diamond Chamber were saved.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+    An Imperial Fête.--Nicolas of Russia.--Varied Splendours.--A
+      Soliloquy.--House of Peter the Great.--A
+      Boatrace.--Czarskoselo.--The Amber Chamber.--Catharine II.--The
+      Emperor Alexander.
+
+
+THE next day was that appointed for the great fête at Peterhoff. In
+spite of the confining nature of his two suits, my Pole had determined
+to accompany me thither, being prompted somewhat by the expectation of
+seeing his damsel; and, no way disheartened by the fate of his first
+letter, he had manufactured another, by comparison with which the first
+was an icicle. I admitted it to be a masterpiece, though when he gave it
+to a servant to carry over, as we were on the point of setting off,
+suggested that it might be worth while to wait and pick it up when she
+threw it out of the window. But he had great confidence, and thought
+much better of her spirit for sending back his first letter.
+
+The whole population of Petersburgh was already in motion and on the way
+to Peterhoff. It was expected that the fête would be more than usually
+splendid, on account of the presence of the Queen of Holland, then on a
+visit to her sister the empress; and at an early hour the splendid
+equipages of the nobility, carriages, droskys, telegas, and carts, were
+hurrying along the banks of the Neva, while steamboats, sailboats,
+rowboats, and craft of every description were gliding on the bosom of
+the river.
+
+As the least trouble, we chose a steamboat, and at twelve o'clock
+embarked at the English Quay. The boat was crowded with passengers, and
+among them was an old English gentleman, a merchant of thirty years'
+standing in St. Petersburgh. I soon became acquainted with him, how I do
+not know, and his lady told me that the first time I passed them she
+remarked to her husband that I was an American. The reader may remember
+that a lady made the same remark at Smyrna; without knowing exactly how
+to understand it, I mention it as a fact showing the nice discrimination
+acquired by persons in the habit of seeing travellers from different
+countries. Before landing, the old gentleman told me that his boys had
+gone down in a pleasure-boat, abundantly provided with materials, and
+asked me to go on board and lunch with them, which, upon the invitation
+being extended to my friend, I accepted.
+
+Peterhoff is about twenty-five versts from St. Petersburgh, and the
+whole bank of the Neva on that side is adorned with palaces and
+beautiful summer residences of the Russian seigneurs. It stands at the
+mouth of the Neva, on the borders of the Gulf of Finland. Opposite is
+the city of Cronstadt, the seaport of St. Petersburgh and the anchorage
+of the Russian fleet. It was then crowded with merchant ships of every
+nation, with flags of every colour streaming from their spars in honour
+of the day. On landing, we accompanied our new friends, and found "the
+boys," three fine young fellows just growing up to manhood, in a
+handsome little pleasure-boat, with a sail arranged as an awning,
+waiting for their parents. We were introduced and received with open
+arms, and sat down to a cold collation in good old English style, at
+which, for the first time since I left home, I fastened upon an
+oldfashioned sirloin of roastbeef. It was a delightful meeting for me.
+The old people talked to me about my travels; and the old lady
+particularly, with almost a motherly interest in a straggling young man,
+inquired about my parents, brothers, and sisters, &c.; and I made my way
+with the frankhearted "boys" by talking "boat." Altogether, it was a
+regular home family scene; and, after the lunch, we left the old people
+under the awning, promising to return at nine o'clock for tea, and with
+"the boys" set off to view the fête.
+
+From the time when we entered the grounds until we left at three o'clock
+the next morning, the whole was a fairy scene. The grounds extended some
+distance along the shore, and the palace stands on an embankment perhaps
+a hundred and fifty feet high, commanding a full view of the Neva,
+Cronstadt with its shipping, and the Gulf of Finland. We followed along
+the banks of a canal five hundred yards long, bordered by noble trees.
+On each side of the canal were large wooden frames about sixty feet
+high, filled with glass lamps for the illumination; and at the foot of
+each was another high framework with lamps, forming, among other things,
+the arms of Russia, the double-headed eagle, and under it a gigantic
+star thirty or forty feet in diameter. At the head of the canal was a
+large basin of water, and in the centre of the basin stood a colossal
+group in brass, of a man tearing open the jaws of a rampant lion; and
+out of the mouth of the lion rushed a jet d'eau perhaps a hundred and
+fifty feet high. On each side of this basin, at a distance of about
+three hundred feet, was a smaller basin, with a jet d'eau in each about
+half its height, and all around were jets d'eau of various kinds,
+throwing water vertically and horizontally; among them I remember a
+figure larger than life, leaning forward in the attitude of a man
+throwing the discus, with a powerful stream of water rushing from his
+clinched fist. These basins were at the foot of the embankment on which
+stands the palace. In the centre was a broad flight of steps leading to
+the palace, and on each side was a continuous range of marble slabs to
+the top of the hill, over which poured down a sheet of water, the slabs
+being placed so high and far apart as to allow lamps to be arranged
+behind the water. All over, along the public walks and in retired
+alcoves, were frames hung with lamps; and everywhere, under the trees
+and on the open lawn, were tents of every size and fashion, beautifully
+decorated; many of them, oriental in style and elegance, were fitted up
+as places of refreshment. Thousands of people, dressed in their best
+attire, were promenading the grounds, but no vehicles were to be seen,
+until, in turning a point, we espied at some distance up an avenue, and
+coming quietly toward us, a plain open carriage, with two horses and two
+English jockey outriders, in which were a gentleman and lady, whom,
+without the universal taking off of hats around us, I recognised at once
+as the emperor and empress. I am not apt to be carried away by any
+profound admiration for royalty, but, without consideration of their
+rank, I never saw a finer specimen of true gentility; in fact, he looked
+every inch a king, and she was my beau ideal of a queen in appearance
+and manners. They bowed as they passed, and, as I thought, being outside
+of the line of Russians and easily recognised as a stranger, their
+courtesy was directed particularly to me; but I found that my companion
+took it very much to himself, and no doubt every long-bearded Russian
+near us did the same. In justice to myself, however, I may almost say
+that I had a conversation with the emperor; for although his imperial
+highness did not speak to me, he spoke in a language which none but I
+(and the queen and his jockey outriders) understood; for, waving his
+hand to them, I heard him say in English, "To the right." After this
+_interview_ with his majesty we walked up to the palace. The splendid
+regiments of cavalier guards were drawn up around it, every private
+carrying himself like a prince; and I did not admire all his palaces,
+nor hardly his queen, so much as this splendid body of armed followers.
+Behind the palace is a large plain cut up into gravel-walks, having in
+one place a basin of water, with waterworks of various kinds, among
+which were some of peculiar beauty falling in the form of a semiglobe.
+
+A little before dark we retired to a refectory under a tent until the
+garden was completely lighted up, that we might have the full effect of
+the illumination at one coup d'oeil, and, when we went out, the dazzling
+brilliancy of the scene within the semicircular illumination around the
+waterworks was beyond description. This semicircular framework enclosed
+in a large sweep the three basins, and terminated at the embankment on
+which the palace stands, presenting all around an immense fiery scroll
+in the air, sixty or eighty feet high, and filled with all manner of
+devices; and for its background a broad sheet of water falling over a
+range of steps, with lighted lamps behind it, forming an illuminated
+cascade, while the basins were blazing with the light thrown upon them
+from myriads of lamps, and the colossal figures of a reddened and
+unearthly hue were spouting columns of water into the air. More than two
+hundred thousand people were supposed to be assembled in the garden, in
+every variety of gay, brilliant, and extraordinary costume. St.
+Petersburgh was half depopulated, and thousands of peasants were
+assembled from the neighbouring provinces. I was accidentally separated
+from all my companions; and, alone among thousands, sat down on the
+grass, and for an hour watched the throng passing through the
+illuminated circle, and ascending the broad steps leading toward the
+palace. Among all this immense crowd there was no rabble; not a dress
+that could offend the eye; but intermingled with the ordinary costumes
+of Europeans were the Russian shopkeeper, with his long surtout, his
+bell-crowned hat, and solemn beard; Cossacks, and Circassian soldiers,
+and Calmuc Tartars, and cavalier guards, hussars, with the sleeves of
+their rich jackets dangling loose over their shoulders, tossing plumes,
+and helmets glittering with steel, intermingled throughout with the gay
+dresses of ladies; while near me, and, like me, carelessly stretched on
+the grass, under the light of thousands of lamps, was a group of
+peasants from Finland fiddling and dancing; the women with light hair,
+bands around their heads, and long jackets enwrapping their square
+forms, and the men with long greatcoats, broad-brimmed hats, and a bunch
+of shells in front.
+
+Leaving this brilliant scene, I joined the throng on the steps, and by
+the side of a splendid hussar, stooping his manly figure to whisper in
+the ears of a lovely young girl, I ascended to the palace and presented
+my ticket of admission to the bal masqué, so called from their being no
+masks there. I had not been presented at court, and, consequently, had
+only admission to the outer apartments with the people. I had, however,
+the range of a succession of splendid rooms, richly decorated with vases
+and tazzas of precious stones, candelabra, couches, ottomans, superb
+mirrors, and inlaid floors; and the centre room, extending several
+hundred feet in length, had its lofty walls covered to the very ceilings
+with portraits of all the female beauties in Russia about eighty years
+ago. I was about being tired of gazing at these pictures of
+long-sleeping beauties, when the great doors at one end were thrown
+open, and the emperor and empress, attended by the whole court, passed
+through on their way to the banqueting-hall. Although I had been in
+company with the emperor before in the garden, and though I had taken
+off my hat to the empress, both passed without recognising me. The court
+at St. Petersburgh is admitted to be the most brilliant in Europe; the
+dresses of the members of the diplomatic corps and the uniforms of the
+general and staff-officers being really magnificent, while those of the
+ladies sparkled with jewels. Besides the emperor and empress, the only
+acquaintance I recognised in that constellation of brilliantly-dressed
+people were Mr. Wilkins and Mr. Clay, who, for republicans, made a very
+fair blaze. I saw them enter the banqueting-hall, painted in oriental
+style to represent a tent, and might have had the pleasure of seeing the
+emperor and empress and all that brilliant collection eat; but, turning
+away from a noise that destroyed much of the illusion, viz., the clatter
+of knives and forks, and a little piqued at the cavalier treatment I had
+received from the court circles, I went out on the balcony and
+soliloquized, "Fine feathers make fine birds; but look back a little, ye
+dashing cavaliers and supercilious ladies. In the latter part of the
+seventeenth century, a French traveller in Russia wrote that 'most men
+treat their wives as a necessary evil, regarding them with a proud and
+stern eye, and even beating them after.' Dr. Collins, physician to the
+Czar in 1670, as an evidence of the progress of civilization in Russia,
+says that the custom of tying up wives by the hair of the head and
+flogging them 'begins to be left off;' accounting for it, however, by
+the prudence of parents, who made a stipulative provision in the
+marriage contract that their daughters were not to be whipped, struck,
+kicked, &c. But, even in this improved state of society, one man 'put
+upon his wife a shirt dipped in ardent spirits, and burned her to
+death,' and was not punished, there being, according to the doctor, 'no
+punishment in Russia for killing a wife or a slave.' When no provision
+was made in the marriage contract, he says they were accustomed to
+discipline their wives very severely. At the marriage the bridegroom had
+a whip in one boot and a jewel in the other, and this poor girl tried
+her fortune by choosing. 'If she happens upon the jewel,' says another
+traveller, 'she is lucky; but if on the whip, she gets it.' The
+bridegroom rarely saw his companion's face till after the marriage,
+when, it is said, 'If she be ugly she pays for it soundly, maybe the
+first time he sees her.' Ugliness being punished with the whip, the
+women painted to great excess; and a traveller in sixteen hundred and
+thirty-six saw the grand duchess and her ladies on horseback astride,
+'most wickedly bepainted.' The day after a lady had been at an
+entertainment, the hostess was accustomed to ask how she got home; and
+the polite answer was, 'Your ladyship's hospitality made me so tipsy
+that I don't know how I got home;' and for the climax of their barbarity
+it can scarcely be believed, but it is recorded as a fact, that the
+women did not begin to wear stays till the beginning of the present
+century!"
+
+Soothed by these rather ill-natured reflections, I turned to the
+illuminated scene and the thronging thousands below, descended once more
+to the garden, passed down the steps, worked my way through the crowd,
+and fell into a long avenue, like all the rest of the garden,
+brilliantly lighted, but entirely deserted. At the end of the avenue I
+came to an artificial lake, opposite which was a small square two-story
+cottage, being the old residence of Peter the Great, the founder of all
+the magnificence of Peterhoff. It was exactly in the style of our
+ordinary country houses, and the furniture was of a simplicity that
+contrasted strangely with the surrounding luxury and splendour. The door
+opened into a little hall, in which were two oldfashioned Dutch mahogany
+tables, with oval leaves, legs tapering and enlarging at the feet into
+something like a horseshoe; just such a table as every one may remember
+in his grandfather's house, and recalling to mind the simple style of
+our own country some thirty or forty years ago. In a room on one side
+was the old Czar's bed, a low, broad wooden bedstead, with a sort of
+canopy over it, the covering of the canopy and the coverlet being of
+striped calico; the whole house, inside and out, was hung with lamps,
+illumining with a glare that was almost distressing the simplicity of
+Peter's residence; and, as if to give greater contrast to this
+simplicity, while I was standing in the door of the hall, I saw roll by
+me in splendid equipages, the emperor and empress, with the whole of the
+brilliant court which I had left in the banqueting-hall, now making a
+tour of the gardens. The carriages were all of one pattern, long, hung
+low, without any tops, and somewhat like our omnibuses, except that,
+instead of the seats being on one side, there was a partition in the
+middle not higher than the back of a sofa, with large seats like sofas
+on each side, on which the company sat in a row, with their backs to
+each other; in front was a high and large box for the coachmen, and a
+footman behind. It was so light that I could distinguish the face of
+every gentleman and lady as they passed; and there was something so
+unique in the exhibition, that, with the splendour of the court dresses,
+it seemed the climax of the brilliant scenes at Peterhoff. I followed
+them with my eyes till they were out of sight, gave one more look to the
+modest pillow on which old Peter reposed his careworn head, and at about
+one o'clock in the morning left the garden. A frigate brilliantly
+illuminated was firing a salute, the flash of her guns lighting up the
+dark surface of the water as I embarked on board the steamboat. At two
+o'clock the morning twilight was like that of day; at three o'clock I
+was at my hotel, and, probably, at ten minutes past, asleep.
+
+About eight o'clock the next morning my Pole came into my room. He had
+returned from Peterhoff before me, and found waiting for him his second
+epistle, with a note from the mother of the young lady, which he read to
+me as I lay in bed. Though more than half asleep, I was rather roused by
+the strange effect this letter had upon him, for he was now encouraged
+to go on with his suit, since he found that the backwardness of the
+young lady was to be ascribed to the influence of the mother, and not to
+any indifference on her part.
+
+In the afternoon I went to a boatrace between English amateurs that had
+excited some interest among the English residents. The boats were badly
+matched; a six-oared boat thirty-two feet long, and weighing two hundred
+and thirty pounds, being pitted against three pairs of sculls, with a
+boat twenty-eight feet long and weighing only one hundred and eight
+pounds. One belonged to the English legation and the other to some
+English merchants. The race was from the English Quay to the bridge
+opposite the Suwarrow monument at the foot of the Summer Garden, and
+back, a little more than two miles each way. The rapidity of the current
+was between two and three miles an hour, though its full strength was
+avoided by both boats keeping in the eddies along shore. It was a
+beautiful place for a boatrace; the banks of the Neva were lined with
+spectators, and the six-oared boat beat easily, performing the distance
+in thirty-one minutes.
+
+The next morning, in company with a Frenchman lately arrived at our
+hotel, I set out for the imperial palace of Czarskoselo, about seventeen
+versts from St. Petersburgh. About seven versts from the city we passed
+the imperial seat of Zechenne, built by the Empress Catharine to
+commemorate the victory obtained by Orloff over the Turks on the coast
+of Anatolia. The edifice is in the form of a Turkish pavilion, with a
+central rotunda containing the full-length portraits of the sovereigns
+cotemporary with Catharine. Since her death this palace has been
+deserted. In eighteen hundred and twenty-five, Alexander and the empress
+passed it on their way to the south of Russia, and about eight months
+after their mortal remains found shelter in it for a night, on their way
+to the imperial sepulchre. There was no other object of interest on the
+road until we approached Czarskoselo. Opposite the "Caprice Gate" is a
+cluster of white houses, in two rows, of different sizes, diminishing as
+they recede from the road, and converging at the farthest extremity;
+altogether a bizarre arrangement, and showing the magnificence of
+Russian gallantry. The Empress Catharine at the theatre one night
+happened to express her pleasure at the perspective view of a small
+town, and the next time she visited Czarskoselo she saw the scene
+realized in a town erected by Count Orloff at immense expense before the
+gate of the palace. The façade of the palace is unequalled by any royal
+residence in the world, being twelve hundred feet in length. Originally,
+every statue, pedestal, and capital of the numerous columns; the vases,
+carvings, and other ornaments in front, were covered with gold leaf, the
+gold used for that purpose amounting to more than a million of ducats.
+In a few years the gilding wore off, and the contractors engaged in
+repairing it offered the empress nearly half a million of rubles
+(silver) for the fragments of gold; but the empress scornfully refused,
+saying, "Je ne suis pas dans l'usage de vendre mes vielles hardes." I
+shall not attempt to carry the reader through the magnificent apartments
+of this palace. But I must not forget the famed amber chamber, the whole
+walls and ceilings being of amber, some of the pieces of great size,
+neatly fitted together, and even the frames of the pictures an elaborate
+workmanship of the same precious material. But even this did not strike
+me so forcibly as when, conducted through a magnificent apartment, the
+walls covered with black paper shining like ebony, and ornamented with
+gold and immense looking-glasses, the footman opened a window at the
+other end, and we looked down into the chapel, an Asiatic structure,
+presenting an _ensemble_ of rich gilding of surpassing beauty, every
+part of it, the groups of columns, the iconastos, and the gallery for
+the imperial family, resplendent with gold. In one of the staterooms
+where the empress's mother resides, the floor consists of a parquet of
+fine wood inlaid with wreaths of mother-of-pearl, and the panels of the
+room were incrusted with lapis lazuli.
+
+But to me all these magnificent chambers were as nothing compared with
+those which were associated with the memory of the late occupant.
+"Uneasy rests the head that wears a crown;" and perhaps it is for this
+reason that I like to look upon the pillow of a king, far more on that
+of a queen. The bedchamber of Catharine II. is adorned with walls of
+porcelain and pillars of purple glass; the bedclothes are those under
+which she slept the last time she was at the palace, and in one place
+was a concealed door, by which, as the unmannerly footman, without any
+respect to her memory, told us, her imperial highness admitted her
+six-feet paramours. In the bedchamber of Alexander were his cap, gloves,
+boots, and other articles of dress, lying precisely as he left them
+previous to his departure for the southern part of his empire. His bed
+was of leather, stuffed with straw, and his boots were patched over and
+over worse than mine, which I had worn all the way from Paris. I tried
+on his cap and gloves, and moralized over his patched boots. I
+remembered Alexander as the head of a gigantic empire, the friend and
+ally, and then the deadly foe of Napoleon; the companion of kings and
+princes; the arbiter of thrones and empires, and playing with crowns and
+sceptres. I sat with the patched boots in my hand. Like old Peter, he
+had considerable of a foot, and I respected him for it. I saw him, as
+it were, in an undress, simple and unostentatious in his habits; and
+there was a domestic air in his whole suite of apartments that
+interested me more than when I considered him on his throne. His
+sitting-room showed quiet and gentlemanly as well as domestic habits,
+for along the wall was a border of earth, with shrubs and flowers
+growing out of it, a delicate vine trailed around and almost covering a
+little mahogany railing. The grounds around the palace are eighteen
+miles in circumference, abounding in picturesque and beautiful scenery,
+improved by taste and an unbounded expenditure of money, and at this
+time they were in the fulness of summer beauty. We may talk simplicity
+and republicanism, but, after all, it must be a pleasant thing to be an
+emperor. I always felt this, particularly when strolling through
+imperial parks or pleasure-grounds, and sometimes I almost came to the
+unsentimental conclusion that, to be rural, a man must be rich.
+
+We wandered through the grounds without any plan, taking any path that
+offered, and at every step some new beauty broke upon us: a theatre;
+Turkish kiosk or Chinese pagoda; splendid bridges, arches, and columns;
+and an Egyptian gate; a summer-house in the form of an Ionic colonnade,
+a masterpiece of taste and elegance, supporting an aerial garden crowded
+with flowers; and a Gothic building called the Admiralty, on the borders
+of an extensive lake, on which lay several boats--rigged as frigates,
+elegant barges and pleasure-boats, and beautiful white swans floating
+majestically upon its surface; on the islands and the shores of the lake
+were little summer-houses; at the other end was a magnificent stone
+landing, and in full view a marble bridge, with Corinthian columns of
+polished marble; an arsenal, with many curious and interesting objects,
+antique suits of armour, and two splendid sets of horse trappings,
+holsters, pistols, and bridles, all studded with diamonds, presented by
+the sultan on occasion of the peace of Adrianople. Nor must I forget the
+dairy, and a superb collection of goats and lamas from Siberia. Amid
+this congregation of beauties one thing offended me; a Gothic tower
+built as a ruin for the sake of the picturesque, which, wanting the
+associations connected with monuments ruined by time, struck me as a
+downright mockery. We had intended to visit the palace of Paulowsky, but
+time slipped away, and it was six o'clock before we started to return to
+St. Petersburgh.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+    The Soldier's Reward.--Review of the Russian Army.--American
+      Cannibals.--Palace of Potemkin.--Palace of the Grand-duke
+      Michael.--Equipments for Travelling.--Rough
+      Riding.--Poland.--Vitepsk.--Napoleon in Poland.--The Disastrous
+      Retreat.--Passage of the Berezina.
+
+
+EARLY the next morning I went out about twelve versts from the city to
+attend a grand military review by the emperor in person. The government
+of Russia is a military despotism, and her immense army, nominally
+amounting to a million, even on the peace establishment numbers actually
+six hundred thousand, of which sixty thousand follow the person of the
+emperor, and were at that time under arms at St. Petersburgh. When I
+rode on the parade-ground, the spectacle of this great army, combining
+the élite of barbaric chivalry with soldiers trained in the best
+schools of European discipline, drawn up in battle's stern array, and
+glittering with steel, was brilliant and almost sublime; in numbers and
+military bearing, in costliness of armour and equipment, far surpassing
+any martial parade that I had seen, not excepting a grand review of
+French troops at Paris, or even a _fourth of July parade at home_. I
+once had the honour to be a paymaster in the valiant one hundred and
+ninety-seventh regiment of New-York State Militia; and I can say what,
+perhaps, no other man who ever served in our _army_ can say, that I
+served out my whole term without being once promoted. Men came in below
+and went out above me; ensigns became colonels and lieutenants generals,
+but I remained the same; it was hard work to escape promotion, but I was
+resolute. Associated with me was a friend as quartermaster, with as
+little of the spirit of a soldier in him as myself, for which we were
+rather looked down upon by the warriors of our day; and when, at the end
+of our term, in company with several other officers, we resigned, the
+next regimental orders were filled with military panegyrics, such as,
+"the colonel has received, with the greatest regret, the resignation of
+Lieutenant A.;" "the country has reason to deplore the loss of the
+services of Captain B.;" and wound up with, "Quartermaster G. and
+Paymaster S. have tendered their resignations, _both of which are hereby
+accepted_." But when strains of martial music burst from a hundred
+bands, and companies, and regiments, and brigades wheeled and manoeuvred
+before me, and the emperor rode by, escorted by general and field
+officers, and the most magnificent staff in Europe, and the earth shook
+under the charge of cavalry, I felt a strong martial spirit roused
+within me, perhaps I was excited by the reflection that these soldiers
+had been in battles, and that the stars and medals glittering on their
+breasts were not mere holyday ornaments, but the tokens of desperate
+service on bloody battle-fields.
+
+In a body, the Russian soldiers present an exceedingly fine appearance.
+When the serf is enrolled, his hair and beard are cut off, except on the
+upper lip, his uniform is simple and graceful, a belt is worn tightly
+round the waist, and the breast of the coat is thickly padded,
+increasing the manliness of the figure, though sometimes at the expense
+of health. In evolutions they move like a great machine, as if all the
+arms and legs were governed by a single impulse.
+
+The army under review was composed of representatives from all the
+nations under the sway of Russia; Cossacks of the Don, and the Wolga,
+and the Black Sea, in jackets and wide pantaloons of blue cloth, riding
+on small horses, with high-peaked saddles, and carrying spears eight or
+ten feet in length. One regiment had the privilege of wearing a ragged
+flag and caps full of holes, as proofs of their gallant service, being
+the only regiment that fought at Pultowa. And there were Calmucs in
+their extraordinary war-dress; a helmet with a gilded crest, or a chain
+cap with a network of iron rings falling over the head and shoulders,
+and hanging as low as the eyebrows in front; a shirt of mail, composed
+of steel rings matted together and yielding to the body, the arms
+protected by plates, and the back of the hand by steel network fastened
+to the plates on each side; their offensive weapons were bows and
+arrows, silver-mounted pistols peeping out of their holsters,
+cartridge-boxes on each side of the breast, and a dagger, sword, and
+gun.
+
+The Kirguish, a noble-looking race, come from the steppes of Siberia.
+Their uniform is magnificent, consisting of a blue frockcoat and
+pantaloons covered with silver lace, a Grecian helmet, and a great
+variety of splendid arms, the yataghan alone costing a thousand rubles.
+They are all noble, and have no regular duty, except to attend the
+imperial family on extraordinary occasions. At home they are always at
+war among themselves. They are Mohammedans; and one of them said to an
+American friend who had a long conversation with him, that he had four
+wives at home; that some had more, but it was not considered becoming to
+exceed that number. A bearded Russian came up and said that these
+Kirguish eat dogs and cats against which the Kirguish protested. The
+same Russian afterward observed that the Americans were worse than the
+Kirguish, for that a patriarch of the church had written, and therefore
+it must be true, that the number of human beings eaten by Americans
+could not be counted; adding, with emphasis, "Sir, you were created in
+the likeness of your Maker, and you should endeavour to keep yourself
+so." He continued that the Russians were the first Christians, and he
+felt much disposed to send missionaries among the Americans to meliorate
+their condition.
+
+The Imperial Guards are the finest-looking set of men I ever saw. The
+standard is six feet, and none are admitted below that height. Their
+uniform is a white cloth coat, with buckskin breeches, boots reaching
+up to the hips, and swords that Wallace himself would not have been
+ashamed to wield. But perhaps the most striking in that brilliant army
+was the emperor himself; seeming its natural head, towering even above
+his gigantic guards, and looking, as Mr. Wilkins once said of him, like
+one who, among savages, would have been chosen for a chief. In the midst
+of this martial spectacle, the thought came over me of militia musters
+at home; and though smiling at the insignificance of our military array
+as I rode back in my drosky, I could but think of the happiness of our
+isolated position, which spares us the necessity of keeping a large
+portion of our countrymen constantly in arms to preserve the rest in the
+enjoyment of life and fortune.
+
+The next morning my Polish friend, hopeless of success either in his
+lawsuit or his lovesuit, fixed a day for our departure; and, with the
+suggestion that I am about leaving St. Petersburgh, I turn once more,
+and for the last time, to the imperial palaces. Not far from the
+Hermitage is the marble palace; a colossal pile, built by the Empress
+Catharine for her favourite, Count Orloff, presenting one of its fronts
+to the Neva. All the decorations are of marble and gilded bronze, and
+the capitals and bases of the columns and pilasters, and the
+window-frames and balustrades of the balconies, of cast bronze richly
+gilded. The effect is heightened by the unusually large dimensions of
+the squares of fine plate glass. A traveller in seventeen hundred and
+fifty-nine says "that the prodigies of enchantment which we read of in
+the tales of the genii are here called forth into reality; and the
+temples reared by the luxuriant fancy of our poets may be considered as
+a picture of the marble palace, which Jupiter, when the burden of cares
+drives him from heaven, might make his delightful abode." At present,
+however, there are but few remains of this Olympian magnificence, and I
+think Jupiter at the same expense would prefer the Winter Palace or the
+Hermitage.
+
+The Taurida Palace, erected by Catharine II. for her lover, Potemkin, in
+general effect realizes the exaggerated accounts of travellers. The
+entrance is into a spacious hall, which leads to a circular vestibule of
+extraordinary magnitude, decorated with busts and statues in marble,
+with a dome supported by white columns. From thence you pass between the
+columns into an immense hall or ballroom, two hundred and eighty feet
+long and eighty wide, with double colonnades of lofty Ionic pillars
+decorated with gold and silver festoons, thirty-five feet high and ten
+feet in circumference. From the colonnade, running the whole length of
+the ballroom, you enter the Winter Garden, which concealed flues and
+stoves keep always at the temperature of summer; and here, upon great
+occasions, under the light of magnificent lustres and the reflection of
+numerous mirrors, during the fierceness of the Russian winter, when the
+whole earth is covered with snow, and "water tossed in the air drops
+down in ice," the imperial visiter may stroll through gravel-walks
+bordered with the choicest plants and flowers, blooming hedges and
+groves of orange, and inhale the fragrance of an Arabian garden. Paul,
+in one of his "darkened hours," converted this palace into barracks and
+a riding-school; but it has since been restored, in some degree, to its
+ancient splendour.
+
+The palace of Paul, in which he was assassinated, has been uninhabited
+since his death. But the triumph of modern architecture in St.
+Petersburgh is the palace of the Grand-duke Michael. I shall not attempt
+any description of this palace; but, to give some notion of its
+splendours to my calculating countrymen, I shall merely remark that it
+cost upward of seventeen millions of rubles. But I am weary of palaces;
+of wandering through magnificent apartments, where scene after scene
+bursts upon my eyes, and, before I begin to feel at home in them, I find
+myself ordered out by the footman. Will the reader believe me? On the
+opposite side of the river is a little wooden house, more interesting in
+my eyes than all the palaces in St. Petersburgh. It is the humble
+residence of Peter the Great. I visited it for the last time after
+rambling through the gorgeous palace of the Grand-duke Michael. It is
+one story high, low roofed, with a little piazza around it, and contains
+a sitting-room, bedroom, and dining-parlours; and Peter himself, with
+his own axe, assisted in its construction. The rooms are only eight feet
+in height, the sitting-room is fifteen feet square, the dining-room
+fifteen feet by twelve, and the bedchamber ten feet square. In the first
+there is a chapel and shrine, where the Russian visiter performs his
+orisons and prays for the soul of Peter. Around the cottage is a neat
+garden, and a boat made by Peter himself is suspended to one of the
+walls. I walked around the cottage, inside and out; listened
+attentively, without understanding a word he said, to the garrulous
+Russian cicerone, and sat down on the step of the front piazza. Opposite
+was that long range of imperial palaces extending for more than a mile
+on the Neva, and surpassing all other royal residences in Europe or the
+world. When Peter sat in the door of this humble cottage, the ground
+where they stood was all morass and forest. Where I saw the lofty spires
+of magnificent churches, he looked out upon fishermen's huts. My eyes
+fell upon the golden spire of the church of the citadel glittering in
+the sunbeams, and reminding me that in its dismal charnelhouse slept the
+tenant of the humble cottage, the master-spirit which had almost created
+out of nothing all this splendour. I saw at the same time the beginning
+and the end of greatness. The humble dwelling is preserved with
+religious reverence, and even now is the most interesting monument which
+the imperial city can show.
+
+And here, at this starting-point in her career, I take my leave of the
+Palmyra of the North. I am compelled to omit many things which he who
+speaks of St. Petersburgh at all ought not to omit: her magnificent
+churches; her gigantic and splendid theatres; her literary, scientific,
+and eleemosynary institutions, and that which might form the subject of
+a chapter in her capital, her government and laws. I might have seen
+something of Russian society, as my friend Luoff had arrived in St.
+Petersburgh; but, with my limited time, the interchange of these
+civilities interfered with my seeing the curiosities of the capital.
+
+My intimacy with the colonel had fallen off, though we still were on
+good terms. The fact is, I believe I fell into rather queer company in
+St. Petersburgh, and very soon found the colonel to be the most thorough
+roué I ever met. He seemed to think that travelling meant dissipating;
+he had never travelled but once, and that was with the army to Paris;
+and, except when on duty, his whole time had been spent in riot and
+dissipation; and though sometimes he referred to hard fighting, he
+talked more of the pleasures of that terrible campaign than of its toils
+and dangers. In consideration of my being a stranger and a young man, he
+constituted himself my Mentor, and the advice which, in all soberness,
+he gave me as the fruits of his experience, was a beautiful guide for
+the road to ruin. I have no doubt that, if I had given myself up
+entirely to him, he would have fêted me all the time I was in St.
+Petersburgh; but this did not suit me, and I afterward fell in with the
+Pole, who had his own vagaries too, and who, being the proprietor of a
+cloth manufactory, did not suit the aristocratic notions of the colonel,
+and so our friendship cooled. My intimacy with his friend the prince,
+however, increased. I called upon him frequently, and he offered to
+accompany me everywhere; but as in sightseeing I love to be alone, I
+seldom asked him, except for a twilight walk. Old associations were all
+that now bound together him and the colonel; their feelings, their
+fortunes, and their habits of life were entirely different; and the
+colonel, instead of being displeased with my seeking the prince in
+preference to himself, was rather gratified. Altogether, the colonel
+told me, he was much mistaken in me, but he believed I was a good fellow
+after all; excused my regular habits somewhat on the ground of my
+health; and the day before that fixed for my departure, asked me to pass
+the evening with him, and to bring my friend the Pole. In the evening we
+went to the colonel's apartments. The prince was there, and, after an
+elegant little supper, happening to speak of a Frenchman and a Prussian
+living in the hotel, with whom I had become acquainted, he sent down for
+them to come up and join us. The table was cleared, pipes and tobacco
+were brought on, and Champagne was the only wine. We had a long and
+interesting conversation on the subject of the road to Warsaw, and
+particularly in regard to the bloody passage of the Berezina, at which
+both the colonel and the prince were present. The servant, a favourite
+serf (who the next day robbed the colonel of every valuable article in
+his apartment), being clumsy in opening a new bottle of Champagne, the
+colonel said he must return to army practice, and reaching down his
+sabre, with a scientific blow took off the neck without materially
+injuring the bottle or disturbing the contents. This military way of
+decanting Champagne aided its circulation, and head after head fell
+rapidly before the naked sabre. I had for some time avoided emptying my
+glass, which, in the general hurry of business, was not noticed; but, as
+soon as the colonel discovered it, he cried out, "Treason, treason
+against good fellowship. America is a traitor." I pleaded ill health,
+but he would not listen to me; upbraided me that the friend and old ally
+of Russia should fail him; turned up his glass on the table, and swore
+he would not touch it again unless I did him justice. All followed his
+example; all decided that America was disturbing the peace of nations;
+the glasses were turned up all around, and a dead stop was put to the
+merriment. I appealed, begged, and protested; and the colonel became
+positive, dogged, and outrageous. The prince came to my aid, and
+proposed that the difficulty between Russia and America should be
+submitted to the arbitration of France and Prussia. He had observed
+these powers rather backing out. The eyes of France were already in a
+fine phrensy rolling, and Prussia's tongue had long been wandering; and
+in apprehension of their own fate, these mighty powers leaned to mercy.
+It was necessary, however, to propitiate the colonel, and they decided
+that, to prevent the effusion of blood, I should start once more the
+flow of wine; that we should begin again with a bumper all around; and,
+after that, every man should do as he pleased. The colonel was obliged
+to be content; and swearing that he would drink for us all, started
+anew.
+
+The Prussian was from Berlin, and this led the colonel to speak of the
+stirring scenes that had taken place in that capital on the return of
+the Russian army from Paris; and, after a while, the Prussian,
+personally unknown to the colonel, told him that his name was still
+remembered in Berlin as a leader in Russian riot and dissipation, and
+particularly as having carried off, in a most daring manner, a lady of
+distinguished family; and--"go on," said the colonel--"killed her
+husband." "He refused my challenge," said the colonel, "but sought my
+life, and I shot him like a dog." The whole party now became uproarious;
+the colonel begged me, by all the friendly relations between Russia and
+America, to hold on till breakfast-time; but, being the coolest man
+present, and not knowing what farther developments might take place, I
+broke up the party.
+
+In the morning my passport was not ready. I went off to the
+police-office for it, and when I returned the horses had not come, and
+the valet brought me the usual answer, that there were none. My Pole was
+glad to linger another day for the sake of his flirtation with the
+little girl opposite, and so we lounged through the day, part of the
+time in the bazar of a Persian, where I came near ruining myself by an
+offer I made for a beautiful emerald; and after one more and the last
+twilight stroll on the banks of the Neva and up the Newski Perspective,
+we returned at an early hour, and for the last time in Russia, slept in
+a bed.
+
+At nine o'clock the next morning a kibitka drove up to the door of our
+hotel, demanding an American and a Pole for Warsaw. All the servants of
+the hotel were gathered around, arranging the luggage, and making a
+great parade of getting off the distinguished travellers. The travellers
+themselves seemed equipped for a long journey. One wore a blue
+roundabout jacket, military cap and cloak, with whiskers and a mustache
+tending to red; the other, a tall, stout, Herculean fellow, was habited
+in the most outré costume of a Russian traveller; a cotton dressing-gown
+of every variety of colours, red and yellow predominating; coarse gray
+trousers; boots coming above his knees; a cap _tout a fait farouche_,
+and there was no mistake about the colour of his hair and mustaches; he
+was moving slowly around the kibitka in his travelling dress, and
+looking up to the window opposite, to give his dulcinea the melancholy
+intelligence that he was going away, and perhaps to catch one farewell
+smile at parting. The carriage of these distinguished travellers was the
+kibitka, one of the national vehicles of Russia, being a long,
+round-bottomed box or cradle on four wheels, probably the old Scythian
+wagon, resting, in proud contempt of the effeminacy of springs, on the
+oaken axles; the hubs of the wheels were two feet long, the linchpins of
+wood, the body of the carriage fastened to the wheels by wooden pins,
+ropes, and sticks; and, except the tires of the wheels, there was not a
+nail or piece of iron about it. The hinder part was covered with
+matting, open in front somewhat like an oldfashioned bonnet, and
+supported by an arched stick, which served as a linchpin for the hind
+wheels; a bucket of grease hung under the hind axle, and the bottom of
+the kibitka was filled with straw; whole cost of outfit, thirteen
+dollars. Before it were three horses, one in shafts and one on each
+side, the centre one having a high bow over his neck, painted yellow and
+red, to which a rein was tied for holding up his head, and also a bell,
+to a Russian postillion more necessary than harness. The travellers took
+their places in the bottom of the kibitka, and the postillion, a rough,
+brutal-looking fellow, in gray coat and hat turned up at the sides,
+mounted in front, catching a seat where he could on the rim of the
+wagon, about three inches wide; and in this dashing equipage we started
+for a journey of a thousand miles to the capital of another kingdom. We
+rolled for the last time through the streets of St. Petersburgh, gazed
+at the domes, and spires, and magnificent palaces, and in a few moments
+passed the barrier.
+
+I left St. Petersburgh, as I did every other city, with a certain
+feeling of regret that, in all probability, I should never see it more;
+still the cracking of the postillion's whip and the galloping of the
+horses created in me that high excitement which I always felt in setting
+out for a new region. Our first stage was to Czarskoselo, our second to
+Cazena, where there was another palace. It was dark when we reached the
+third, a small village, of which I did not even note the name. I shall
+not linger on this road, for it was barren of interest and incident, and
+through a continued succession of swamps and forests. For two hundred
+miles it tried the tenure of adhesion between soul and body, being made
+of the trunks of trees laid transversely, bound down by long poles or
+beams fastened into the ground with wooden pegs covered with layers of
+boughs, and the whole strewed over with sand and earth; the trunks in
+general were decayed and sunken, and the sand worn or washed away,
+reminding me of the worst of our western corduroy roads. Our wagon being
+without springs, and our seats a full-length extension on straw on the
+bottom, without the bed, pillows, and cushions which the Russians
+usually have, I found this ride one of the severest trials of physical
+endurance I ever experienced. My companion groaned and brushed his
+mustaches, and talked of the little girl at St. Petersburgh. In my
+previous journey in Russia I had found the refreshment of tea, and on
+this, often when almost exhausted, I was revived by that precious
+beverage. I stood it three days and nights, but on the fourth completely
+broke down. I insensibly slipped down at full length in the bottom of
+the wagon; the night was cold and rainy; my companion covered me up to
+the eyes with straw, and I slept from the early part of the evening like
+a dead man. The horses were changed three times; the wagon was lifted up
+under me, and the wheels greased; and three times my companion
+quarrelled with the postmaster over my body without waking me. About six
+o'clock in the morning he roused me. I could not stir hand or foot; my
+mouth was full of dust and straw, and I felt a sense of suffocation. In
+a few moments I crawled out, staggered a few steps, and threw myself
+down on the floor of a wretched posthouse. My companion put my
+carpet-bag under my head, wrapped cloaks and greatcoats around me, and
+prepared me some tea; but I loathed everything. I was in that miserable
+condition which every traveller has some time experienced; my head
+ringing, every bone aching, and perfectly reckless as to what became of
+me. While my companion stood over me I fell asleep, and believe I should
+have been sleeping there yet if he had not waked me. He said we must go
+on at all risks until we found a place where we could remain with some
+degree of comfort. I begged and entreated to be left to myself, but he
+was inexorable. He lifted me up, hauled me out to the kibitka, which was
+filled with fresh straw, and seated me within, supporting me on his
+shoulder.
+
+It was a beautiful day. We moved moderately, and toward evening came to
+a posthouse kept by a Jew, or, rather, a Jewess, who was so kind and
+attentive that we determined to stay there all night. She brought in
+some clean straw and spread it on the floor, where I slept gloriously.
+My companion was tougher than I, but he could not stand the fleas and
+bugs, and about midnight went out and slept in the kibitka. In the
+morning we found that he had been too late; that the kibitka had been
+stripped of every article except himself and the straw. Fortunately, my
+carpet-bag had been brought in; but I received a severe blow in the loss
+of a cane, an old friend and travelling companion, which had been with
+me in every variety of scene, and which I had intended to carry home
+with me, and retain as a companion through life. It is almost
+inconceivable how much this little incident distressed me. It was a
+hundred times worse than the loss of my carpet-bag. I felt the want of
+it every moment; I had rattled it on the Boulevards of Paris, in the
+eternal city, the Colosseum, and the places thereabout; had carried it
+up the burning mountain, and poked it into the red-hot lava; had borne
+it in the Acropolis, on the field of Marathon, and among the ruins of
+Ephesus; had flourished it under the beard of the sultan, and the eyes
+and nose of the emperor and autocrat of all the Russias; in deserts and
+in cities it had been my companion and friend. Unsparing Nemesis, let
+loose your vengeance upon the thief who stole it! The rascals had even
+carried off the rope traces, and every loose article about the kibitka.
+
+Notwithstanding this, however, I ought not to omit remarking the general
+security of travelling in Russia and Poland. The immense plains; the
+distance of habitations; the number of forests; the custom of travelling
+by night as well as by day; the negligence of all measures to ensure the
+safety of the roads, all contribute to favour robbery and murders; and
+yet an instance of either is scarcely known in years. It was difficult
+on those immense levels, which seemed independent of either general or
+individual proprietors, to recognise even the bounds of empires. The
+Dwina, however, a natural boundary, rolls between Russia and Poland; and
+at Vitepsk we entered the territories of what was once another kingdom.
+The surface of Poland forms part of that immense and unvaried plain
+which constitutes the northern portion of all the central European
+countries. A great portion of this plain is overspread with a deep layer
+of sand, alternating however, with large clayey tracts and extensive
+marshes; a winter nearly as severe as that of Sweden, and violent winds
+blowing uninterruptedly over this wide open region, are consequences of
+its physical structure and position. The Roman arms never penetrated any
+part of this great level tract, the whole of which was called by them
+Sarmatia; and Sarmatia and Scythia were in their descriptions always
+named together as the abode of nomadic and savage tribes. From the
+earliest era it appears to have been peopled by the Sclavonic tribes; a
+race widely diffused, and distinguished by a peculiar language, by a
+strong national feeling, and by a particular train of superstitious
+ideas. Though shepherds, they did not partake of the migratory character
+of the Teutonic or Tartar nations; and were long held in the most cruel
+bondage by the Huns, the Goths, and other nations of Asia, for whom
+their country was a path to the conquest of the west of Europe.
+
+In the tenth century the Poles were a powerful and warlike nation. In
+the fourteenth Lithuania was incorporated with it, and Poland became one
+of the most powerful monarchies in Europe. For two centuries it was the
+bulwark of Christendom against the alarming invasions of the Turks; the
+reigns of Sigismund and Sobieski hold a high place in military history;
+and, until the beginning of the last century, its martial character gave
+it a commanding influence in Europe.
+
+It is unnecessary to trace the rapid and irrecoverable fall of Poland.
+On the second partition, Kosciusko, animated by his recent struggle for
+liberty in America, roused his countrymen to arms. But the feet of three
+giants were upon her breast; and Suwarrow, marching upon the capital,
+storming the fortress of Praga, and butchering in cold blood thirty
+thousand inhabitants, extinguished, apparently for ever, the rights and
+the glories of Poland. Living as we do apart from the rest of the world,
+with no national animosities transmitted by our fathers, it is
+impossible to realize the feeling of deadly hatred existing between
+neighbouring nations from the disputes of ancestors centuries ago. The
+history of Russia and Poland presents a continued series of
+bloodstained pages. Battle after battle has nourished their mutual hate,
+and for a long time it had been the settled feeling of both that Russia
+or Poland must fall. It is perhaps fortunate for the rest of Europe that
+this feeling has always existed; for, if they were united in heart, the
+whole south of Europe would lie at the mercy of their invading armies.
+Napoleon committed a fatal error in tampering with the brave and
+patriotic Poles; for he might have rallied around him a nation of
+soldiers who, in gratitude, would have stood by him until they were
+exterminated.
+
+But to return to Vitepsk. Here, for the first time, we fell into the
+memorable road traversed by Napoleon on his way to Moscow. The town
+stands on the banks of the Dwina, built on both sides of the river, and
+contains a population of about fifteen thousand, a great portion of whom
+are Jews. In itself, it has but little to engage the attention of the
+traveller; but I strolled through its streets with extraordinary
+interest, remembering it as the place where Napoleon decided on his
+fatal march to Moscow. It was at the same season and on the very same
+day of the year that the "grand army," having traversed the gloomy
+forests of Lithuania in pursuit of an invincible and intangible enemy,
+with the loss of more than a hundred thousand men, emerged from the last
+range of woods and halted at the presence of the hostile fires that
+covered the plain before the city. Napoleon slept in his tent on an
+eminence at the left of the main road, and before sunrise appeared at
+the advanced posts, and by its first rays saw the Russian army, eighty
+thousand strong, encamped on a high plain commanding all the avenues of
+the city. Ten thousand horsemen made a show of defending its passes; and
+at about ten o'clock, Murat le Beau Sabreur, intoxicated by the
+admiration his presence excited, at the head of a single regiment of
+chasseurs charged the whole Russian cavalry. He was repulsed, and driven
+back to the foot of the hillock on which Napoleon stood. The chasseurs
+of the French guards formed a circle around him, drove off the assailant
+lancers, and the emperor ordered the attack to cease; and, pointing to
+the city, his parting words to Murat were, "To-morrow at five o'clock
+the sun of Austerlitz."
+
+At daylight the camp of Barclay de Tolly was deserted; not a weapon, not
+a single valuable left behind; and a Russian soldier asleep under a bush
+was the sole result of the day expected to be so decisive. Vitepsk,
+except by a few miserable Jews and Jesuits, like the Russian camp, was
+also abandoned. The emperor mounted his horse and rode through the
+deserted camp and desolate streets of the city. Chagrined and mortified,
+he pitched his tents in an open courtyard; but, after a council of war
+with Murat, Eugene, and others of his principal officers, laid his sword
+upon the table, and resolved to finish in Vitepsk the campaign of that
+year. Well had it been for him had he never changed that determination.
+He traced his line of defence on the map, and explored Vitepsk and its
+environs as a place where he was likely to make a long residence; formed
+establishments of all kinds; erected large ovens capable of baking at
+once thirty thousand loaves of bread; pulled down a range of stone
+houses which injured the appearance of the square of the palace, and
+made arrangements for opening the theatre with Parisian actors. But in a
+few days he was observed to grow restless; the members of his household
+recollected his expression at the first view of the deserted Vitepsk,
+"Do you think I have come so far to conquer these miserable huts?"
+Segur says that he was observed to wander about his apartments as if
+pursued by some dangerous temptation. Nothing could rivet his attention.
+Every moment he began, stopped, and resumed his labour. At length,
+overwhelmed with the importance of the considerations that agitated him,
+"he threw himself on the floor of his apartment; his frame, exhausted by
+the heat and the struggles of his mind, could only bear a covering of
+the slightest texture. He rose from his sleepless pillow possessed once
+more with the genius of war; his voice deepens, his eyes flash fire, and
+his countenance darkens. His attendants retreat from his presence,
+struck with mingled awe and respect. His plan is fixed, his
+determination taken, his order of march traced out."
+
+The last council occupied eight hours. Berthier by a melancholy
+countenance, by lamentations, and even by tears; Lobau by the cold and
+haughty frankness of a warrior; Caulaincourt with obstinacy and
+impetuosity amounting to violence; Duroc by a chilling silence, and
+afterward by stern replies; and Daru straightforward and with firmness
+immoveable, opposed his going; but, as if driven on by that fate he
+almost defied, he broke up the council with the fatal determination.
+"Blood has not been shed, and Russia is too great to yield without
+fighting. Alexander can only negotiate after a great battle. I will
+proceed to the holy city in search of that battle, and I will gain it.
+Peace waits me at the gates of Moscow." From that hour commenced that
+train of terrible disasters which finally drove him from the throne of
+France, and sent him to die an exile on a small island in the Indian
+Ocean. I walked out on the Moscow road, by which the grand army, with
+pomp and martial music, with Murat, and Ney, and Duroc, and Daru,
+inspired by the great names of Smolensk and Moscow, plunged into a
+region of almost pathless forest, where most of them were destined to
+find a grave. I was at first surprised at the utter ignorance of the
+inhabitants of Vitepsk, in regard to the circumstances attending the
+occupation of the city by Napoleon. A Jew was my cicerone, who talked of
+the great scenes of which this little city had in his own day been the
+theatre almost as matter of tradition, and without half the interest
+with which, even now, the Greek points the stranger to the ruins of
+Argos or the field of Marathon; and this ignorance in regard to the only
+matters that give an interest to this dreary road I remarked during the
+whole journey. I was so unsuccessful in my questions, and the answers
+were so unsatisfactory, that my companion soon became tired of acting as
+my interpreter. Indeed, as he said, he himself knew more than any one I
+met, for he had travelled it before in company with an uncle, of the
+Polish legion; but even he was by no means familiar with the ground.
+
+We left Vitepsk with a set of miserable horses, rode all night, and at
+noon of the next day were approaching the banks of the Berezina,
+memorable for the dreadful passage which almost annihilated the wretched
+remnant of Napoleon's army. It was impossible, in passing over the same
+ground, not to recur to the events of which it had been the scene. The
+"invincible legions," which left Vitepsk two hundred thousand strong,
+were now fighting their dreadful retreat from Moscow through regulars
+and Cossacks, reduced to less than twelve thousand men marching in
+column, with a train of thirty thousand undisciplined followers, sick,
+wounded, and marauders of every description. The cavalry which crossed
+the Niemen thirty-seven thousand in number was reduced to one hundred
+and fifty men on horseback. Napoleon collected all the officers who
+remained mounted, and formed them into a body, in all about five
+hundred, which he called his sacred squadron; officers served as
+privates, and generals of divisions as captains. He ordered the
+carriages of the officers, many of the wagons, and even the eagles
+belonging to the different corps, to be burned in his presence; and
+drawing his sword, with the stern remark that he had sufficiently acted
+the emperor, and must once more play the general, marched on foot at the
+head of his old guard. He had hardly reorganized before the immense pine
+forests which border the Berezina echoed with the thunder of the Russian
+artillery; in a moment all remains of discipline were lost. In the last
+stage of weakness and confusion they were roused by loud cries before
+them, and, to their great surprise and joy, recognised the armies of
+Victor and Oudinot. The latter knew nothing of the terrible disasters of
+the army of Moscow, and they were thrown into consternation and then
+melted to tears when they saw behind Napoleon, instead of the invincible
+legions which had left them in splendid equipments, a train of gaunt and
+spectral figures, their faces black with dirt, and long bristly beards,
+covered with rags, female pelisses, pieces of carpet, with bare and
+bleeding feet, or bundled with rags, and colonels and generals marching
+pellmell with soldiers, unarmed and shameless, without any order or
+discipline, kept together and sleeping round the same fires only by the
+instinct of self-preservation.
+
+About noon we drove into the town of Borizoff. It stands on the banks
+of the Berezina, and is an old, irregular-looking place, with a heavy
+wooden church in the centre of an open square. As usual, at the door of
+the posthouse a group of Jews gathered around us. When Napoleon took
+possession of Borizoff the Jews were the only inhabitants who remained;
+and they, a scattered, wandering, and migratory people, without any
+attachment of soil or country, were ready to serve either the French or
+Russians, according to the inducements held out to them. A few noble
+instances are recorded where this persecuted and degraded people
+exhibited a devotion to the land that sheltered them honourable to their
+race and to the character of man; but in general they were false and
+faithless. Those who gathered around us in Borizoff looked as though
+they might be the very people who betrayed the Russians. One of them
+told us that a great battle had been fought there, but we could not find
+any who had been present at the fatal passage of the river. We dined at
+the posthouse, probably with less anxiety than was felt by Napoleon or
+any of the flying Frenchmen; but even we were not permitted to eat in
+peace; for, before we had finished, our vehicle was ready, with worse
+horses than usual, and a surlier postillion. We sent the postillion on
+ahead, and walked down to the bank of the river. On the night preceding
+the passage, Napoleon himself had command of Borizoff, with six thousand
+guards prepared for a desperate contest. He passed the whole night on
+his feet; and while waiting for the approach of daylight in one of the
+houses on the border of the river, so impracticable seemed the chance of
+crossing with the army that Murat proposed to him to put himself under
+the escort of some brave and determined Poles, and save himself while
+there was yet time; but the emperor indignantly rejected the proposition
+as a cowardly flight. The river is here very broad, and divided into
+branches. On the opposite side are the remains of an embankment that
+formed part of the Russian fortifications. When the Russians were driven
+out of Borizoff by Oudinot, they crossed the river, burned the bridge,
+and erected these embankments.
+
+Besides the sanguinary contest of the French and Russians, this river is
+also memorable for a great battle between my companion and our
+postillion. In the middle of the bridge the postillion stopped and
+waited till we came up; he grumbled loudly at being detained, to which
+my companion replied in his usual conciliatory and insinuating manner,
+by laying his cane over the fellow's shoulders; but on the bridge of
+Borizoff the blood of the Lithuanian was roused; and, perhaps, urged on
+by the memory of the deeds done there by his fathers, he sprang out of
+the wagon, and with a warcry that would not have disgraced a Cossack of
+the Don, rushed furiously upon my friend. Oh for a Homer to celebrate
+that fight on the bridge of Borizoff! The warriors met, not like Grecian
+heroes, with spear and shield, and clad in steel, but with their naked
+fists and faces bare to take the blows. My friend was a sublime
+spectacle. Like a rock, firm and immoveable, he stood and met the charge
+of the postillion; in short, in the twinkling of an eye he knocked the
+postillion down. Those who know say that it is more trying to walk over
+a field of battle after all is over than to be in the fight; and I
+believe it from my experience in our trying passage of the Berezina;
+for, when I picked up the discomfited postillion, whose face was
+covered with blood, I believe that I had the worst of it. All great
+victories are tested by their results, and nothing could be more
+decisive than that over the postillion. He arose a wiser and much more
+tractable man. At first he looked very stupid when he saw me leaning
+over him, and very startled when he rubbed his hand over his face and
+saw it stained with blood; but, raising himself, he caught sight of his
+victor, and without a word got into the wagon, walked the horses over
+the bridge, and at the other end got out and threw himself on the
+ground.
+
+It was a beautiful afternoon, and we lingered on the bridge. Crossing
+it, we walked up the bank on the opposite side toward the place where
+Napoleon erected his bridges for the passage of his army. All night the
+French worked at the bridges by the light of the enemy's fires on the
+opposite side. At daylight the fires were abandoned, and the Russians,
+supposing the attempt here to be a feint, were seen in full retreat. The
+emperor, impatient to get possession of the opposite bank, pointed it
+out to the bravest. A French aiddecamp and Lithuanian count threw
+themselves into the river, and, in spite of the ice, which cut their
+horses' breasts, reached the opposite bank in safety. About one o'clock
+the bank on which we stood was entirely cleared of Cossacks, and the
+bridge for the infantry was finished. The first division crossed it
+rapidly with its cannon, the men shouting "_Vive l'empereur!_" The
+passage occupied three days. The number of stragglers and the quantity
+of baggage were immense. On the night of the twenty-seventh the
+stragglers left the bridge, tore down the whole village, and made fires
+with the materials, around which they crouched their shivering figures,
+and from which it was impossible to tear themselves away. At daylight
+they were roused by the report of Witgenstein's cannon thundering over
+their heads, and again all rushed tumultuously to the bridges. The
+Russians, with Platow and his Cossacks, were now in full communication
+on both sides of the river. On the left bank, Napoleon's own presence of
+mind and the bravery of his soldiers gave him a decided superiority;
+but, in the language of Scott, the scene on the right bank had become
+the wildest and most horrible which war can exhibit.
+
+"Victor, with eight or ten thousand men, covered the retreat over the
+bridges, while behind his line thousands of stragglers, old men, women,
+and children, were wandering by the side of this river like the fabled
+spectres which throng the banks of the infernal Styx, seeking in vain
+for passage. The balls of the Russians began to fall among the
+disordered mass, and the whole body rushed like distracted beings toward
+the bridges, every feeling of prudence or humanity swallowed up by the
+animal instinct of self-preservation. The weak and helpless either
+shrunk from the fray and sat down to wait their fate at a distance, or,
+mixing in it, were thrust over the bridges, crushed under carriages, cut
+down with sabres, or trampled to death under the feet of their
+countrymen. All this while the action continued with fury; and, as if
+the heavens meant to match their wrath with that of man, a hurricane
+arose and added terrors to a scene which was already of a character so
+dreadful. About midday the larger bridge, constructed for artillery and
+heavy carriages, broke down, and multitudes were forced into the water.
+The scream of the despairing multitude became at this crisis for a
+moment so universal, that it rose shrilly above the wild whistling of
+the tempest and the sustained and redoubled hourras of the Cossacks. The
+dreadful scene continued till dark. As the obscurity came on, Victor
+abandoned the station he had defended so bravely, and led the remnant of
+his troops in their turn across. All night the miscellaneous multitude
+continued to throng across the bridge under the fire of the Russian
+artillery. At daybreak the French engineers finally set fire to the
+bridge, and all that remained on the other side, including many
+prisoners, and a great quantity of guns and baggage, became the property
+of the Russians. The amount of the French loss was never exactly known;
+but the Russian report concerning the bodies of the invaders, which were
+collected and burned as soon as the thaw permitted, states that upward
+of thirty-six thousand were found in the Berezina."
+
+The whole of this scene was familiar to me as matter of history; the
+passage of the Berezina had in some way fastened itself upon my mind as
+one of the most fearful scenes in the annals of war; and, besides this,
+at St. Petersburgh the colonel and prince had given me a detailed
+account of the horrors of that dreadful night, for they were both with
+Witgenstein's army, by the light of the snow, the course of the river,
+and the noise, directing a murderous fire of artillery against the dark
+mass moving over the bridge; and nearer still, my companion had visited
+the place in company with his uncle, of the Polish legion, and repeated
+to me the circumstances of individual horror which he had heard from his
+relative, surpassing human belief. The reader will excuse me if I have
+lingered too long on the banks of that river; and perhaps, too, he will
+excuse me when I tell him that, before leaving it, I walked down to its
+brink and bathed my face in its waters. Others have done so at the
+classic streams of Italy and Greece; but I rolled over the Arno and the
+Tiber in a vetturino without stopping, and the reader will remember that
+I jumped over the Ilissus.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+    Travel by Night.--A Rencounter.--A Traveller's
+      Message.--Lithuania.--Poverty of the Country.--Agricultural
+      Implements.--Minsk.--Polish Jews.--A Coin of Freedom.--Riding in a
+      Basket.--Brezc.--The Bug.--A searching Operation.--Women
+      Labourers.--Warsaw.
+
+
+IT was after dark when we returned to our wagon, still standing at the
+end of the bridge opposite Borizoff. Our postillion, like a sensible
+man, had lain down to sleep at the head of his horses, so they could not
+move without treading on him and waking him; and, when we roused him,
+the pain of his beating was over, and with it all sense of the
+indignity; and, in fact, we made him very grateful for the flogging by
+promising him a few additional kopeks.
+
+We hauled up the straw and seated ourselves in the bottom of our
+kibitka. Night closed upon us amid the gloomy forests bordering the
+banks of the Berezina. We talked for a little while, and by degrees
+drawing our cloaks around us, each fell into a revery. The continued
+tinkling of the bell, which, on my first entering Russia, grated on my
+ear, had become agreeable to me, and in a dark night particularly was a
+pleasing sound. The song of the postillion, too, harmonized with the
+repose of spirit at that moment most grateful to us; that too died
+away, the bell almost ceased its tinkling, and, in spite of the alarum
+of war which we had all day been ringing in our own ears, we should
+probably soon have fallen into a sleep as sound, for a little while at
+least, as that of them who slept under the waters of the Berezina, but
+we were suddenly roused by a shock as alarming to quiet travellers as
+the hourra of the Cossack in the ears of the flying Frenchmen. Our
+horses sprang out of the road, but not in time to avoid a concussion
+with another wagon going toward Borizoff. Both postillions were thrown
+off their seats; and the stranger, picking himself up, came at us with a
+stream of Lithuanian Russian almost harsh enough to frighten the horses.
+I will not suggest what its effect was upon us, but only that, as to
+myself, it seemed at first equal to the voice of at least a dozen
+freebooters and marauders; and if the English of it had been "stand and
+deliver," I should probably have given up my carpet-bag without asking
+to reserve a change of linen. But I was restored by the return fire of
+our postillion, who drowned completely the attack of his adversary by
+his outrageous clamour; and when he stopped to take breath my companion
+followed up the defence, and this brought out a fourth voice from the
+bottom of the opposite wagon. A truce was called, and waiving the
+question on which side the fault lay, we all got out to ascertain the
+damage. Our antagonist passenger was a German merchant, used to roughing
+it twice every year between Berlin, Warsaw, Petersburgh, and Moscow, and
+took our smashing together at night in this desolate forest as coolly as
+a rub of the shoulders in the streets; and, when satisfied that his
+wagon was not injured, kindly asked us if we had any bones broken. We
+returned his kind inquiries; and, after farther interchanges of
+politeness, he said that he was happy to make our acquaintance, and
+invited us to come and see him at Berlin. We wanted him to go back and
+let us have a look at him by torchlight, but he declined; and, after
+feeling him stretched out in his bed in the bottom of his wagon, we
+started him on his way.
+
+We resumed our own places, and, without dozing again, arrived at the
+posthouse, where first of all we made ourselves agreeable to the
+postmaster by delivering our German friend's message to him, that he
+ought to be whipped and condemned to live where he was till he was a
+hundred years old for putting the neck of a traveller at the mercy of a
+sleepy postillion; but the postmaster was a Jew, and thought the vile
+place where he lived equal to any on earth. He was a miserable,
+squalid-looking object, with a pine torch in his hand lighting up the
+poverty and filthiness of his wretched habitation, and confessed that he
+should be too happy to enjoy the fortune which the German would have
+entailed upon him as a curse. He offered to make us a bed of some dirty
+straw which had often been slept on before; but we shrank from it; and,
+as soon as we could get horses, returned to our kibitka and resumed our
+journey.
+
+The whole province of Lithuania is much the same in appearance. We lost
+nothing by travelling through it at night; indeed, every step that we
+advanced was a decided gain, as it brought us so much nearer its
+farthermost border. The vast provinces of Lithuania, formerly a part of
+the kingdom of Poland, and, since the partition of that unhappy country,
+subject to the throne of Russia, until the fourteenth century were
+independent of either. The Lithuanians and Samogitians are supposed to
+be of a different race from the Poles, and spoke a language widely
+dissimilar to the Polish or Russian. Their religion was a strange
+idolatry; they worshipped the god of thunder, and paid homage to a god
+of the harvest; they maintained priests, who were constantly feeding a
+sacred fire in honour of the god of the seasons; they worshipped trees,
+fountains, and plants; had sacred serpents, and believed in guardian
+spirits of trees, cattle, &c. Their government, like that of all other
+barbarous nations, was despotic, and the nobles were less numerous and
+more tyrannical than in Poland. In the latter part of the fourteenth
+century, on the death of Louis, successor to Casimir the Great, Hedwiga
+was called to the throne of Poland, under a stipulation, however, that
+she should follow the will of the Poles in the choice of her husband.
+Many candidates offered themselves for the hand dowered with a kingdom;
+but the offers of Jagellon, duke of Lithuania, were most tempting; he
+promised to unite his extensive dominions to the territory of Poland,
+and pledged himself for the conversion to Christianity of his Lithuanian
+subjects. But queens are not free from the infirmities of human nature;
+and Hedwiga had fixed her affections upon her cousin, William of
+Austria, whom she had invited into Poland; and when Jagellon came to
+take possession of his wife and crown, she refused to see him. The
+nobles, however, sent William back to his papa, and locked her up as if
+she had been a boarding-school miss. And again, queens are not free from
+the infirmities of human nature: Hedwiga was inconstant; the handsome
+Lithuanian made her forget her first love, and Poland and Lithuania
+were united under one crown. Jagellon was baptized, but the inhabitants
+of Lithuania did not so readily embrace the Christian religion; in one
+of the provinces they clung for a long time to their own strange and
+wild superstitions; and even in modern times, it is said, the peasants
+long obstinately refused to use ploughs or other agricultural
+instruments furnished with iron, for fear of wounding the bosom of
+mother earth.
+
+All the way from Borizoff the road passes through a country but little
+cultivated, dreary, and covered with forests. When Napoleon entered the
+province of Lithuania his first bulletins proclaimed, "Here, then, is
+that Russia so formidable at a distance! It is a desert for which its
+scattered population is wholly insufficient. They will be vanquished by
+the very extent of territory which ought to defend them;" and, before I
+had travelled in it a day, I could appreciate the feeling of the soldier
+from La Belle France, who, hearing his Polish comrades boast of their
+country, exclaimed, "Et ces gueux la appellent cette pays une patrie!"
+
+The villages are a miserable collection of straggling huts, without plan
+or arrangement, and separated from each other by large spaces of ground.
+They are about ten or twelve feet square, made of the misshapen trunks
+of trees heaped on each other, with the ends projecting over; the roof
+of large shapeless boards, and the window a small hole in the wall,
+answering the double purpose of admitting light and letting out smoke.
+The tenants of these wretched hovels exhibit the same miserable
+appearance both in person and manners. They are hard-boned and
+sallow-complexioned; the men wear coarse white woollen frocks, and a
+round felt cap lined with wool, and shoes made of the bark of trees,
+and their uncombed hair hangs low over their heads, generally of a
+flaxen colour. Their agricultural implements are of the rudest kind. The
+plough and harrow are made from the branches of the fir tree, without
+either iron or ropes; their carts are put together without iron,
+consisting of four small wheels, each of a single piece of wood; the
+sides are made of the bark of a tree bent round, and the shafts are a
+couple of fir branches; their bridles and traces platted from the bark
+of trees, or composed merely of twisted branches. Their only instrument
+to construct their huts and make their carts is a hatchet. They were
+servile and cringing in their expressions of respect, bowing down to the
+ground and stopping their carts as soon as we came near them, and stood
+with their caps in their hands till we were out of sight. The whole
+country, except in some open places around villages, is one immense
+forest of firs, perhaps sixty feet in height, compact and thick, but
+very slender. As we approached Minsk the road was sandy, and we entered
+by a wooden bridge over a small stream and along an avenue of trees.
+
+Minsk is one of the better class of Lithuanian towns, being the chief
+town of the government of Minsk, but very dirty and irregular. The
+principal street terminates in a large open square of grass and mean
+wooden huts. From this another street goes off at right angles,
+containing large houses, and joining with a second square, where some of
+the principal buildings are of brick. From this square several streets
+branch off, and enter a crowd of wooden hovels irregularly huddled
+together, and covering a large space of ground. The churches are heavily
+constructed, and in a style peculiar to Lithuania, their gable ends
+fronting the street, and terminated at each corner by a square spire,
+with a low dome between them. The population is half Catholic and half
+Jewish, and the Jews are of the most filthy and abject class.
+
+A few words with regard to the Jews in Poland. From the moment of
+crossing the borders of Lithuania, I had remarked in every town and
+village swarms of people differing entirely from the other inhabitants
+in physical appearance and costume, and in whose sharply-drawn features,
+long beards, and flowing dresses, with the coal-black eyes and oriental
+costumes of the women, I at once recognised the dispersed and wandering
+children of Israel. On the second destruction of Jerusalem, when the
+Roman general drove a plough over the site of the Temple of Solomon, the
+political existence of the Jewish nation was annihilated, their land was
+portioned out among strangers, and the descendants of Abraham were
+forbidden to pollute with their presence the holy city of their fathers.
+In the Roman territories, their petition for the reduction of taxation
+received the stern answer of the Roman, "Ye demand exemption from
+tribute for your soil; I will lay it on the air you breathe;" and, in
+the words of the historian, "Dispersed and vagabond, exiled from their
+native soil and air, they wander over the face of the earth without a
+king, either human or divine, and even as strangers they are not
+permitted to salute with their footsteps their native land." History
+furnishes no precise records of the emigration or of the first
+settlement of the Israelites in the different countries of Europe; but
+for centuries they have been found dispersed, as it was foretold they
+would be, over the whole habitable world, a strange, unsocial, and
+isolated people, a living and continued miracle. At this day they are
+found in all the civilized countries of Europe and America, in the
+wildest regions of Asia and Africa, and even within the walls of China;
+but, after Palestine, Poland is regarded as their Land of Promise; and
+there they present a more extraordinary spectacle than in any country
+where their race is known. Centuries have rolled on, revolutions have
+convulsed the globe, new and strange opinions have disturbed the human
+race, but the Polish Jew remains unchanged: the same as the dark
+superstition of the middle ages made him; the same in his outward
+appearance and internal dispositions, in his physical and moral
+condition, as when he fled thither for refuge from the swords of the
+crusaders.
+
+As early as the fourteenth century, great privileges were secured to the
+Jews by Casimir the Great, who styled them his "faithful and able
+subjects," induced, according to the chronicles of the times, like
+Ahasuerus of old, by the love of a beautiful Esther. While in Germany,
+Italy, Spain, Portugal, and even in England and France, their whole
+history is that of one continued persecution, oppressed by the nobles,
+anathematized by the clergy, despised and abhorred by the populace,
+flying from city to city, arrested, and tortured, and burned alive, and
+sometimes destroying themselves by thousands to escape horrors worse
+than death; while all orders were arrayed in fierce and implacable
+hatred against them, in Poland the race of Israel found rest; and there
+they remain at this day, after centuries of residence, still a distinct
+people, strangers and sojourners in the land, mingling with their
+neighbours in the every-day business of life, but never mingling their
+blood; the direct descendants of the Israelites who, three thousand
+years ago, went out from the land of Egypt; speaking the same language,
+and practising the laws delivered to Moses on the mountain of Sinai;
+mourning over their fallen temple, and still looking for the Messiah who
+shall bring together their scattered nation and restore their temporal
+kingdom.
+
+But notwithstanding the interest of their history and position, the
+Polish Jews are far from being an interesting people; they swarm about
+the villages and towns, intent on gain, and monopolizing all the petty
+traffic of the country. Outward degradation has worked inward upon their
+minds; confined to base and sordid occupations, their thoughts and
+feelings are contracted to their stations, and the despised have become
+despicable. It was principally in his capacity of innkeeper that I
+became acquainted with the Polish Jew. The inn is generally a miserable
+hovel communicating with, or a room partitioned off in one corner of, a
+large shed serving as a stable and yard for vehicles; the entrance is
+under a low porch of timber; the floor is of dirt; the furniture
+consists of a long table, or two or three small ones, and in one corner
+a bunch of straw, or sometimes a few raised boards formed into a
+platform, with straw spread over it, for beds; at one end a narrow door
+leads into a sort of hole filled with dirty beds, old women, half-grown
+boys and girls, and children not overburdened with garments, and so
+filthy that, however fatigued, I never felt disposed to venture among
+them for rest. Here the Jew, assisted by a dirty-faced Rachel, with a
+keen and anxious look, passes his whole day in serving out to the
+meanest customers beer, and hay, and corn; wrangling with and extorting
+money from intoxicated peasants; and, it is said, sometimes, after the
+day's drudgery is over, retires at night to his miserable hole to pore
+over the ponderous volumes filled with rabbinical lore; or sometimes his
+mind takes a higher flight, meditating upon the nature of the human
+soul; its relation to the Divinity; the connexion between the spirit and
+the body; and indulging in the visionary hope of gaining, by means of
+cabalistic formula, command over the spirits of the air, the fire, the
+flood, and the earth.
+
+Though the days of bitter persecution and hatred have gone by, the Jews
+are still objects of contempt and loathing. Once I remember pointing out
+to my postillion a beautiful Jewish girl, and, with the fanatic spirit
+of the middle ages, himself one of the most degraded serfs in Poland, he
+scorned the idea of marrying the fair daughter of Israel. But this the
+Jew does not regard; all he asks is to be secured from the active enmity
+of mankind. "Like the haughty Roman banished from the world, the
+Israelite throws back the sentence of banishment, and still retreats to
+the lofty conviction that his race is not excluded as an unworthy, but
+kept apart as a sacred, people; humiliated, indeed, but still hallowed,
+and reserved for the sure though tardy fulfilment of the Divine
+promises."
+
+The Jews in Poland are still excluded from all offices and honours, and
+from all the privileges and distinctions of social life. Until the
+accession of Nicolas, they were exempted from military service on
+payment of a tax; but since his time they have been subject to the
+regular conscription. They regard this as an alarming act of oppression,
+for the boys are taken from their families at twelve or thirteen, and
+sent to the army or the common military school, where they imbibe
+notions utterly at variance with the principles taught them by their
+fathers; and, probably, if the system continues, another generation will
+work a great change in the character of the Jews of Poland.
+
+But to return to the Jews at Minsk. As usual, they gathered around us
+before we were out of our kibitka, laid hold of our baggage, and in
+Hebrew, Lithuanian, and Polish, were clamorous in offers of service.
+They were spare in figure, dressed in high fur caps and long black
+muslin gowns, shining and glossy from long use and tied around the waist
+with a sash; and here I remarked what has often been remarked by other
+travellers, when the features were at rest, a style of face and
+expression resembling the pictures of the Saviour in the galleries in
+Italy. While my companion was arranging for posthorses and dinner, I
+strolled through the town alone, that is, with a dozen Israelites at my
+heels and on my return I found an accession of the stiff-necked and
+unbelieving race, one of whom arrested my attention by thrusting before
+me a silver coin. It was not an antique, but it had in my eyes a greater
+value than if it had been dug from the ruins of a buried city, and bore
+the image of Julius Cæsar. On the breaking out of the late revolution,
+one of the first acts of sovereignty exercised by the provincial
+government was to issue a national coin stamped with the arms of the old
+kingdom of Poland, the white eagle and the armed cavalier, with an
+inscription around the rim, "God protect Poland." When the revolution
+was crushed, with the view of destroying in the minds of the Poles every
+memento of their brief but glorious moment of liberty, this coin was
+called in and suppressed, and another substituted in its place, with
+the Polish eagle, by way of insult, stamped in a small character near
+the tip end of the wing of the double-headed eagle of Russia. The coin
+offered me by the Jew was one of the emission of the revolution, and my
+companion told me it was a rare thing to find one. I bought it at the
+Jew's price, and put it in my pocket as a memorial of a brave and fallen
+people.
+
+I will not inflict upon the reader the particulars of our journey
+through this dreary and uninteresting country. We travelled constantly,
+except when we were detained for horses. We never stopped at night, for
+there seldom was any shelter on the road better than the Jews' inns, and
+even in our kibitka we were better than there. But, unluckily, on the
+seventh day, our kibitka broke down; the off hind wheel snapped in
+pieces, and let us down rather suddenly in one of the autocrat's
+forests. Our first impulse was to congratulate ourselves that this
+accident happened in daylight; and we had a narrow escape, for the sun
+had hardly begun to find its way into the dark forest. Fortunately, too,
+we were but two or three versts from a posthouse. I had met with such
+accidents at home, and rigged a small tree (there being no such things
+as rails, property there not being divided by rail fences) under the
+hind axle, supporting it on the front. We lighted our pipes and escorted
+our crippled vehicle to the posthouse, where we bought a wheel off
+another wagon, much better than the old one, only about two inches
+lower. This, however, was not so bad as might be supposed, at least for
+me, who sat on the upper side, and had the stout figure of my companion
+as a leaning-post.
+
+At Sloghan, about two hundred versts from Brezc the frontier town of
+Poland, we sold our kibitka for a breakfast, and took the _char de
+pôste_, or regular troika. This is the postboy's favourite vehicle; the
+body being made of twigs interlaced like a long basket, without a
+particle of iron, and so light that a man can lift up either end with
+one hand. Our speed was increased wonderfully by the change; the horses
+fairly played with the little car at their heels; the drivers vied with
+each other, and several posts in succession we made nearly twenty versts
+in an hour. It will probably be difficult to throw the charm of romance
+around the troika driver; but he comes from the flower of the peasantry;
+his life, passed on the wild highways, is not without its vicissitudes,
+and he is made the hero of the Russian's favourite popular ballads:
+
+    "Away, away, along the road
+      The gallant troika bounds;
+    While 'neath the douga, sadly sweet,
+      Their Valdai bell resounds."[2]
+
+We passed the house of a _very respectable_ seigneur who had married his
+own sister. We stopped at his village and talked of him with the
+postmaster, by whom he was considered a model of the domestic virtues.
+The same day we passed the chateau of a nobleman who wrote himself
+cousin to the Emperors of Russia and Austria, confiscated for the part
+he took in the late Polish revolution, a melancholy-looking object,
+deserted and falling to ruins, its owner wandering in exile with a price
+upon his head. It rained hard during the day, for the first time since
+we left Petersburgh; at night the rain ceased, but the sky was still
+overcast. For a long distance, and, in fact, a great part of the way
+from Petersburgh, the road was bordered with trees. At eleven o'clock we
+stopped at a wretched posthouse, boiled water, and refreshed ourselves
+with deep potations of hot tea. We mounted our troika, the postillion
+shouted, and set off on a run. Heavy clouds were hanging in the sky; it
+was so dark that we could not see the horses, and there was some little
+danger of a breakdown; but there was a high and wild excitement in
+hurrying swiftly through the darkness on a run, hearing the quick
+tinkling of the bell and the regular fall of the horses' hoofs, and
+seeing only the dark outline of the trees. We continued this way all
+night, and toward morning we were rattling on a full gallop through the
+streets of Brezc. We drove into a large stable-yard filled with
+kibitkas, troikas, and all kinds of Russian vehicles, at one end of
+which was a long low building kept by a Jew. We dismounted, and so ended
+nearly three thousand miles of posting in Russia. The Jew, roused by our
+noise, was already at the door with a lighted taper in his hand, and
+gave us a room with a leather-covered sofa and a leather cushion for a
+pillow, where we slept till eleven o'clock the next day.
+
+We breakfasted, and in the midst of a violent rain crossed the Bug, and
+entered the territory of Poland Proper. For many centuries the banks of
+the Bug have been the battle-ground of the Russians and Poles. In the
+time of Boleslaus the Terrible, the Russians were defeated there with
+great slaughter, and the river was so stained with blood that it has
+retained ever since the name of the _Horrid_. Before crossing we were
+obliged to exchange our Russian money for Polish, rubles for florins,
+losing, of course, heavily by the operation, besides being subjected to
+the bore of studying a new currency; and the moment we planted our feet
+on the conquered territory, though now nominally under the same
+government, we were obliged to submit to a most vexatious process. The
+custom-house stood at the end of the bridge, and, as matter of course,
+our postillion stopped there. Our luggage was taken off the wagon,
+carried inside, every article taken out and laid on the floor, and a
+Russian soldier stood over, comparing them with a list of prohibited
+articles as long as my arm. Fortunately for me, the Russian government
+had not prohibited travellers from wearing pantaloons and shirts in
+Poland, though it came near faring hard with a morning-gown. My
+companion, however, suffered terribly; his wearing apparel was all laid
+out on one side, while a large collection of curious and pretty
+nothings, which he had got together with great affection at the capital,
+as memorials for his friends at home, were laid out separately, boxes
+opened, papers unrolled, and, with provoking deliberation, examined
+according to the list of prohibited things. It was a new and despotic
+regulation unknown to him, and he looked on in agony, every condemned
+article being just the one above all others which he would have saved;
+and when they had finished, a large pile was retained for the
+examination of another officer, to be sent on to Warsaw in case of their
+being allowed to pass at all. I had frequently regretted having allowed
+the trouble and inconvenience to prevent my picking up curiosities; but
+when I saw the treasures of my friend taken from him, or, at least,
+detained for an uncertain time, I congratulated myself upon my good
+fortune. My friend was a man not easily disheartened; he had even got
+over the loss of his love at St. Petersburgh; but he would rather have
+been turned adrift in Poland without his pantaloons than be stripped of
+his precious bawbles. I had seen him roused several times on the road,
+quarrelling with postmasters and thumping postillions, but I had never
+before seen the full development of that extraordinary head of hair. He
+ground his teeth and cursed the whole Russian nation, from the Emperor
+Nicolas down to the soldier at the custom-house. He was ripe for
+revolution, and, if a new standard of rebellion had been set up in
+Poland, he would have hurried to range himself under its folds. I
+soothed him by striking the key-note of his heart. All the way from
+Petersburgh he had sat mechanically, with his pocket-glass and brush,
+dressing his mustaches; but his heart was not in the work, until, as we
+approached the borders of Poland, he began to recover from his
+Petersburgh affair, and to talk of the beauty of the Polish women. I
+turned him to this now.
+
+It is a fact that, while for ages a deadly hatred has existed between
+the Russians and the Poles, and while the Russians are at this day
+lording it over the Poles with the most arbitrary insolence and tyranny,
+beauty still asserts its lawful supremacy, and the Polish women bring to
+their feet the conquerors of their fathers, and husbands, and brothers.
+The first posthouse at which we stopped confirmed all that my companion
+had said; for the postmaster's daughter was brilliantly beautiful,
+particularly in the melting wildness of a dark eye, indicating an
+Asiatic or Tartar origin; and her gentle influence was exerted in
+soothing the savage humour of my friend, for she sympathized in his
+misfortunes, and the more sincerely when she heard of the combs, and
+rings, and slippers, and other pretty little ornaments for sisters and
+female friends at home; and my Pole could not resist the sympathy of a
+pretty woman.
+
+We had scarcely left the postmaster's daughter, on the threshold of
+Poland, almost throwing a romance about the Polish women, before I saw
+the most degrading spectacle I ever beheld in Europe, or even in the
+barbarous countries of the East. Forty or fifty women were at work in
+the fields, and a large, well-dressed man, with a pipe in his mouth and
+a long stick in his hand, was walking among them as overseer. In our
+country the most common labouring man would revolt at the idea of his
+wife or daughter working in the open fields. I had seen it, however, in
+gallant France and beautiful Italy; but I never saw, even in the
+barbarous countries of the East, so degrading a spectacle as this; and I
+could have borne it almost anywhere better than in chivalric Poland.
+
+We were now in the territory called Poland Proper, that is, in that part
+which, after the other provinces had been wrested away and attached to
+the dominions of the colossal powers around, until the revolution and
+conquest of 1830 had retained the cherished name of the kingdom of
+Poland. The whole road is Macadamized, smooth and level as a floor, from
+the banks of the Bug to Warsaw; the posthouses and postmasters are much
+better, and posting is better regulated, though more expensive. The road
+lay through that rich agricultural district which had for ages made
+Poland celebrated as the granary of Europe; and though the face of the
+country was perfectly flat, and the scenery tame and uninteresting, the
+soil was rich, and, at that time, in many places teeming with heavy
+crops. As yet, it had not recovered from the desolating effects of the
+war of the revolution. The whole road has been a battle-ground, over
+which the Poles had chased the Russians to the frontier, and been driven
+back to Warsaw; time after time it had been drenched with Russian and
+Polish blood, the houses and villages sacked and burned, and their
+blackened ruins still cumbered the ground, nursing in the conquered but
+unsubdued Pole his deep, undying hatred of the Russians.
+
+On this road Diebitsch, the crosser of the Balkan, at the head of eighty
+thousand men, advanced to Warsaw. His right and left wings manoeuvred to
+join him at Siedler, the principal town, through which we passed. We
+changed horses three times, and rolled on all night without stopping. In
+the morning my companion pointed out an old oak, where a distinguished
+colonel of the revolution, drawing up the fourth Polish regiment against
+the Imperial Guards, with a feeling of mortal hate commanded them to
+throw away their primings, and charge with the bayonet, "Coeur à coeur."
+In another place five hundred gentlemen, dressed in black, with pumps,
+silk stockings, and small swords, in a perfect wantonness of pleasure at
+fighting with the Russians, and, as they said, in the same spirit with
+which they would go to a ball, threw themselves upon a body of the
+guards, and, after the most desperate fighting, were cut to pieces to a
+man. Farther on, a little off from the road, on the borders of the field
+of Grokow, was a large mound covered with black crosses, thrown up over
+the graves of the Poles who had fallen there. About eleven o'clock we
+approached the banks of the Vistula. We passed the suburbs of Praga, the
+last battle-ground of Kosciusko, where the bloodstained Suwarrow
+butchered in cold blood thirty thousand Poles. Warsaw lay spread out on
+the opposite bank of the river, the heroic but fallen capital of Poland,
+the city of brave men and beautiful women; of Stanislaus, and Sobieski,
+and Poniatowsky, and Kosciusko, and, I will not withhold it, possessing
+in my eyes, a romantic interest from its associations with the hero of
+my schoolboy days, Thaddeus of Warsaw. On the right is the chateau of
+the old Kings of Poland, now occupied by a Russian viceroy, with the
+banner of Russia waving over its walls. We rode over the bridge and
+entered the city. Martial music was sounding, and Russian soldiers,
+Cossacks, and Circassians were filing through its streets. We held up to
+let them pass, and they moved like the keepers of a conquered city, with
+bent brows and stern faces, while the citizens looked at them in gloomy
+silence. We drove up to the Hotel de Leipsic (which, however, I do not
+recommend), where I took a bath and a doctor.
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[2] The douga is the bow over the neck of the middle horse, to which the
+bell is attached; and Valdai the place on the Moscow road where the best
+bells are made.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+    Warsaw.--A Polish Doctor.--Battle of Grokow.--The Outbreak.--The
+      fatal Issue.--Present Condition of Poland.--Polish Exiles.--Aspect
+      of Warsaw.--Traits of the Poles.
+
+
+A LETTER dated at Warsaw to my friends at home begins thus: "I have
+reached this place to be put on my back by a Polish doctor. How long he
+will keep me here I do not know. He promises to set me going again in a
+week; and, as he has plenty of patients without keeping me down, I have
+great confidence in him. Besides, having weathered a Greek, an Armenian,
+and a Russian, I think I shall be too much for a Pole." There was not a
+servant in the house who understood any language I spoke, and my friend
+kindly proposed my taking a room with him; and, as he had many
+acquaintances in Warsaw, who thronged to see him, he had to tell them
+all the history of the American in the bed in one corner. All the next
+day I lay in the room alone on a low bedstead, looking up at the ceiling
+and counting the cracks in the wall. I was saved from a fit of the blues
+by falling into a passion, and throwing my boots at the servant because
+he could not understand me. Late in the evening my friend returned from
+the theatre with three or four companions, and we made a night of it, I
+taking medicine and they smoking pipes. They were all excellent fellows,
+and, as soon as they heard me moving, came over to me, and, when I fell
+back on my pillow, covered me up, and went back, and talked till I
+wanted them again. Toward daylight I fell asleep, and, when the doctor
+came in the morning, felt myself a new man. My doctor, by-the-way, was
+not a Pole, but a German, physician to the court, and the first in
+Warsaw; he occupied a little country-seat a few miles from Warsaw,
+belonging to Count Niemcewicz, the poet and patriot, who accompanied
+Kosciusko to this country, and married a lady of New-Jersey; returned
+with him to Poland, was with him on his last battle-field, and almost
+cut to pieces by his side.
+
+In the afternoon one of my companions of the night before came to see
+me. He had been in Warsaw during the revolution, and talked with
+enthusiasm of their brief but gallant struggle; and, as it was a
+beautiful afternoon, proposed strolling to a little eminence near at
+hand, commanding a view of the first battle-ground. I went with him and
+he pointed out on the other side of the Vistula the field of Grokow.
+Below it was the bridge over which General Romarino carried his little
+army during the night, having covered the bridge, the horses' hoofs, and
+the wheels of the carriages with straw. This general is now in France
+under sentence of death, with a price set upon his head.
+
+The battle of Grokow, the greatest in Europe since that of Waterloo, was
+fought on the twenty-fifth of February, 1831, and the place where I
+stood commanded a view of the whole ground. The Russian army was under
+the command of Diebitsch, and consisted of one hundred and forty-two
+thousand infantry, forty thousand cavalry, and three hundred and twelve
+pieces of cannon. This enormous force was arranged in two lines of
+combatants, and a third of reserve. Its left wing, between Wavre and the
+marshes of the Vistula, consisted of four divisions of infantry of
+forty-seven thousand men, three of cavalry of ten thousand five hundred,
+and one hundred and eight pieces of cannon; the right consisted of three
+and a half divisions of infantry of thirty-one thousand men, four
+divisions of cavalry of fifteen thousand seven hundred and fifty men,
+and fifty-two pieces of cannon. Upon the borders of the great forest
+opposite the Forest of Elders, conspicuous from where I stood, was
+placed the reserve, commanded by the Grand-duke Constantine. Against
+this immense army the Poles opposed less than fifty thousand men and a
+hundred pieces of cannon, under the command of General Skrzynecki.
+
+At break of day the whole force of the Russian right wing, with a
+terrible fire of fifty pieces of artillery and columns of infantry,
+charged the Polish left with the determination of carrying it by a
+single and overpowering effort. The Poles, with six thousand five
+hundred men and twelve pieces of artillery, not yielding a foot of
+ground, and knowing they could hope for no succour, resisted this attack
+for several hours, until the Russians slackened their fire. About ten
+o'clock the plain was suddenly covered with the Russian forces issuing
+from the cover of the forest, seeming one undivided mass of troops. Two
+hundred pieces of cannon, posted on a single line, commenced a fire
+which made the earth tremble, and was more terrible than the oldest
+officers, many of whom had fought at Marengo and Austerlitz, had ever
+beheld. The Russians now made an attack upon the right wing; but foiled
+in this as upon the left, Diebitsch directed the strength of his army
+against the Forest of Elders, hoping to divide the Poles into two parts.
+One hundred and twenty pieces of cannon were brought to bear on this one
+point, and fifty battalions, incessantly pushed to the attack, kept up a
+scene of massacre unheard of in the annals of war. A Polish officer who
+was in the battle told me that the small streams which intersected the
+forest were so choked with dead that the infantry marched directly over
+their bodies. The heroic Poles, with twelve battalions, for four hours
+defended the forest against the tremendous attack. Nine times they were
+driven out, and nine times, by a series of admirably-executed
+manoeuvres, they repulsed the Russians with immense loss. Batteries, now
+concentrated in one point, were in a moment hurried to another, and the
+artillery advanced to the charge like cavalry, sometimes within a
+hundred feet of the enemy's columns, and there opened a murderous fire
+of grape.
+
+At three o'clock the generals, many of whom were wounded, and most of
+whom had their horses shot under them, and fought on foot at the head of
+their divisions, resolved upon a retrograde movement, so as to draw the
+Russians on the open plain. Diebitsch, supposing it to be a flight,
+looked over to the city and exclaimed, "Well, then, it appears that,
+after this bloody day, I shall take tea in the Belvidere Palace." The
+Russian troops debouched from the forest. A cloud of Russian cavalry,
+with several regiments of heavy cuirassiers at their head, advanced to
+the attack. Colonel Pientka, who had kept up an unremitting fire from
+his battery for five hours, seated with perfect sang-froid upon a
+disabled piece of cannon, remained to give another effective fire, then
+left at full gallop a post which he had so long occupied under the
+terrible fire of the enemy's artillery. This rapid movement of his
+battery animated the Russian forces. The cavalry advanced on a trot upon
+the line of a battery of rockets. A terrible discharge was poured into
+their ranks, and the horses, galled to madness by the flakes of fire,
+became wholly ungovernable, and broke away, spreading disorder in every
+direction; the whole body swept helplessly along the fire of the Polish
+infantry, and in a few minutes was so completely annihilated that, of a
+regiment of cuirassiers who bore inscribed on their helmets the
+"Invincibles," not a man escaped. The wreck of the routed cavalry,
+pursued by the lancers, carried along in its flight the columns of
+infantry; a general retreat commenced, and the cry of "Poland for ever"
+reached the walls of Warsaw to cheer the hearts of its anxious
+inhabitants. So terrible was the fire of that day, that in the Polish
+army there was not a single general or staff officer who had not his
+horse killed or wounded under him; two thirds of the officers, and,
+perhaps, of the soldiers, had their clothes pierced with balls, and more
+than a tenth part of the army were wounded. Thirty thousand Russians and
+ten thousand Poles were left on the field of battle; rank upon rank lay
+prostrate on the earth, and the Forest of Elders was so strewed with
+bodies that it received from that day the name of the "Forest of the
+Dead." The Czar heard with dismay, and all Europe with astonishment,
+that the crosser of the Balkan had been foiled under the walls of
+Warsaw.
+
+All day, my companion said, the cannonading was terrible. Crowds of
+citizens, of both sexes and all ages, were assembled on the spot where
+we stood, earnestly watching the progress of the battle, sharing in all
+its vicissitudes, in the highest state of excitement as the clearing up
+of the columns of smoke showed when the Russians or the Poles had fled;
+and he described the entry of the remnant of the Polish army into Warsaw
+as sublime and terrible; their hair and faces were begrimed with powder
+and blood; their armour shattered and broken, and all, even dying men,
+were singing patriotic songs; and when the fourth regiment, among whom
+was a brother of my companion, and who had particularly distinguished
+themselves in the battle, crossed the bridge and filed slowly through
+the streets, their lances shivered against the cuirasses of the guards,
+their helmets broken, their faces black and spotted with blood, some
+erect, some tottering, and some barely able to sustain themselves in the
+saddle, above the stern chorus of patriotic songs rose the distracted
+cries of mothers, wives, daughters, and lovers, seeking among this
+broken band for forms dearer than life, many of whom were then sleeping
+on the battle-field. My companion told me that he was then a lad of
+seventeen, and had begged with tears to be allowed to accompany his
+brother; but his widowed mother extorted from him a promise that he
+would not attempt it. All day he had stood with his mother on the very
+spot where we did, his hand in hers, which she grasped convulsively, as
+every peal of cannon seemed the knell of her son; and when the lancers
+passed, she sprang from his side as she recognised in the drooping
+figure of an officer, with his spear broken in his hand, the figure of
+her gallant boy. He was then reeling in his saddle, his eye was glazed
+and vacant, and he died that night in their arms.
+
+The tyranny of the Grand-duke Constantine, the imperial viceroy, added
+to the hatred of the Russians, which is the birthright of every Pole,
+induced the unhappy revolution of eighteen hundred and thirty. Although,
+on the death of Alexander, Constantine waived in favour of his brother
+Nicolas his claim to the throne of Russia, his rule in Poland shows that
+it was not from any aversion to the exercise of power.
+
+When Constantine was appointed its commander-in-chief, the Polish army
+ranked with the bravest in Europe. The Polish legions under Dombrowski
+and Poniatowski had kept alive the recollections of the military glory
+of their fallen nation. Almost annihilated by the bloody battles in
+Italy, where they met their old enemies under Suwarrow, the butcher of
+Praga, the proud remnants reorganized and formed the fifth corps of the
+"grande armée," distinguished themselves at Smolensk, Borodino, Kalouga,
+and the passage of the Berezina, took the field with the wreck of the
+army in Saxony, fought at Dresden and Leipsic, and, when Napoleon told
+them, brave as they were, that they were free to go home if they
+pleased, they scorned to desert him in his waning fortunes, and
+accompanied him to Paris. Alexander promised an amnesty, and they
+marched with him to Warsaw. Within the first six months many officers of
+this army had been grossly insulted; an eyewitness told me that he had
+seen, on the great square of Warsaw, the high sheriff tear off the
+epaulettes from the shoulders of an officer, and, in the presence of the
+whole troops, strike him on the cheek with his hand.
+
+It would, perhaps, be unjust to enumerate, as I heard them, the many
+causes of oppression that roused to revolt the slumbering spirit of the
+Poles; in the midst of which the French revolution threw all Poland into
+commotion. The three days of July were hailed with rapture by every
+patriotic heart; the new revolutionary movements in Belgium cheered them
+on; and eighty young men, torn from the altars while praying for the
+souls of their murdered countrymen on the anniversary of the butchery at
+Praga, thrilled every heart and hurried the hour of retribution. The
+enthusiasm of youth struck the first blow. A band of ardent young men of
+the first families attended the meetings of secret patriotic
+associations; and six of them, belonging to the military school,
+suspecting they were betrayed, early in the evening went to their
+barracks, and proposed to their comrades a plan for liberating their
+country. The whole corps, not excepting one sick in bed, amounting in
+all to about a hundred and fifty, took up arms, and, under a lieutenant
+of nineteen, attacked the palace of Constantine, and almost secured his
+person. The grand-duke was then asleep on a couch in a room opening upon
+a corridor of the Belvidere Palace, and, roused by a faithful valet,
+had barely time to throw a robe over him and fly. The insurgents, with
+cries of vengeance, rushed into the interior of the palace, driving
+before them the chief of the city police and the aiddecamp of the
+grand-duke. The latter had the presence of mind to close the door of the
+grand-duke's apartment before he was pierced through with a dozen
+bayonets. The wife of the grand-duke, the beautiful and interesting
+princess for whom he had sacrificed a crown, hearing the struggle, was
+found on her knees offering up prayers to Heaven for the safety of her
+husband. Constantine escaped by a window; and the young soldiers, foiled
+in their attempt, marched into the city, and, passing the barracks of
+the Russian guards, daringly fired a volley to give notice of their
+coming. Entering the city, they broke open the prisons and liberated the
+state prisoners, burst into the theatres, crying out, "Women, home; men,
+to arms," forced the arsenal, and in two hours forty thousand men were
+under arms. Very soon the fourth Polish regiment joined them; and before
+midnight the remainder of the Polish troops in Warsaw, declaring that
+their children were too deeply implicated to be abandoned, espoused the
+popular cause. Some excesses were committed; and General Stanislaus
+Potocki, distinguished in the revolution of Kosciusko, for hesitating
+was killed, exclaiming with his last breath that it was dreadful to die
+by the hands of his countrymen.
+
+Chlopicki, the comrade of Kosciusko, was proclaimed dictator by an
+immense multitude in the Champ de Mars. For some time the inhabitants of
+Warsaw were in a delirium; the members of the patriotic association,
+and citizens of all classes, assembled every day, carrying arms, and
+with glasses in their hands, in the saloon of the theatre and at a
+celebrated coffee-house, discussing politics and singing patriotic
+songs. In the theatres the least allusion brought down thunders of
+applause, and at the end of the piece heralds appeared on the stage
+waving the banners of the dismembered provinces. In the pit they sang in
+chorus national hymns; the boxes answered them; and sometimes the
+spectators finished by scaling the stage and dancing the Mazurka and the
+Cracoviak.
+
+The fatal issue of this revolution is well known. The Polish nation
+exerted and exhausted its utmost strength, and the whole force of the
+colossal empire was brought against it, and, in spite of prodigies of
+valour, crushed it. The moment, the only moment when gallant, chivalric,
+and heroic Poland could have been saved and restored to its rank among
+nations, was suffered to pass by, and no one came to her aid. The
+minister of France threw out the bold boast that a hundred thousand men
+stood ready to march to her assistance; but France and all Europe looked
+on and saw her fall. Her expiring diet ordered a levy in mass, and made
+a last appeal, "In the name of God; in the name of liberty; of a nation
+placed between life and death; in the name of kings and heroes who have
+fought for religion and humanity; in the name of future generations; in
+the name of justice and the deliverance of Europe;" but her dying appeal
+was unheard. Her last battle was under the walls of Warsaw; and then she
+would not have fallen, but even in Poland there were traitors. The
+governor of Warsaw blasted the laurels won in the early battles of the
+revolution by the blackest treason. He ordered General Romarino to
+withdraw eight thousand soldiers and chase the Russians beyond the
+frontier at Brezc. While he was gone the Russians pressed Warsaw; he
+could have returned in time to save it, but was stopped with directions
+not to advance until farther orders. In the mean time Warsaw fell, with
+the curse of every Pole upon the head of its governor. The traitor now
+lives ingloriously in Russia, disgraced and despised, while the young
+lieutenant is in unhappy but not unhonoured exile in Siberia.
+
+So ended the last heroic struggle of Poland. It is dreadful to think so,
+but it is greatly to be feared that Poland is blotted for ever from the
+list of nations. Indeed, by a late imperial ukase, Poland is expunged
+from the map of Europe; her old and noble families are murdered,
+imprisoned, or in exile; her own language is excluded from the offices
+of government, and even from the public schools; her national character
+destroyed; her national dress proscribed; her national colours trampled
+under foot; her national banner, the white eagle of Poland, is in the
+dust. Warsaw is abandoned, and become a Russian city; her best citizens
+are wandering in exile in foreign lands, while Cossack and Circassian
+soldiers are filing through her streets, and the banner of Russia is
+waving over her walls.
+
+Perhaps it is not relevant, but I cannot help saying that there is no
+exaggeration in the stories which reach us at our own doors of the
+misfortunes and sufferings of Polish exiles. I have met them wandering
+in many different countries, and particularly I remember one at Cairo.
+He had fought during the whole Polish revolution, and made his escape
+when Warsaw fell. He was a man of about thirty-five years of age,
+dressed in a worn military frockcoat, and carrying himself with a manly
+and martial air. He had left a wife and two children at Warsaw. At
+Constantinople he had written to the emperor requesting permission to
+return, and even promising never again to take up arms against Russia,
+but had received for answer that the amnesty was over and the day of
+grace was past; and the unfortunate Pole was then wandering about the
+world like a cavalier of fortune or a knight of romance, with nothing to
+depend upon but his sword. He had offered his services to the sultan and
+to the Pacha of Egypt; he was then poor, and, with the bearing of a
+gentleman and the pride of a soldier, was literally begging his bread. I
+could sympathize in the misfortunes of an exiled Pole, and felt that his
+distress must indeed be great, that he who had perilled life and ties
+dearer than life in the cause of an oppressed country, should offer his
+untarnished sword to the greatest despot that ever lived.
+
+The general appearance of Warsaw is imposing. It stands on a hill of
+considerable elevation on the left bank of the Vistula; the Zamech or
+Chateau of the Kings of Poland spreads its wings midway between the
+river and the summit of the hill, and churches and towering spires
+checker at different heights the distant horizon. Most of the houses are
+built of stone, or brick stuccoed; they are numbered in one continued
+series throughout the city, beginning from the royal palace (occupied by
+Paskiewitch), which is numbered _one_, and rising above number five
+thousand. The churches are numerous and magnificent; the palaces,
+public buildings, and many of the mansions of noblemen, are on a large
+scale, very showy, and, in general, striking for their architectural
+designs. One great street runs irregularly through the whole city, of
+which Miodowa, or Honey-street, and the Novoy Swiat, or New World, are
+the principal and most modern portions. As in all aristocratic cities,
+the streets are badly paved, and have no trottoirs for the
+foot passengers. The Russian drosky is in common use; the public
+carriages are like those in Western Europe, though of a low form; the
+linings generally painted red; the horses large and handsome, with large
+collars of red or green, covered with small brass rings, which sound
+like tinkling bells; and the carts are like those in our own city, only
+longer and lower, and more like our brewer's dray. The hotels are
+numerous, generally kept in some of the old palaces, and at the entrance
+of each stands a large porter, with a cocked hat and silver-headed cane,
+to show travellers to their apartments and receive the names of
+visiters. There are two principal kukiernia, something like the French
+cafés, where many of the Varsovians breakfast and lounge in the
+mornings.
+
+[Illustration: Royal Palace at Warsaw.]
+
+The Poles, in their features, looks, customs, and manners, resemble
+Asiatics rather than Europeans; and they are, no doubt, descended from
+Tartar ancestors. Though belonging to the Sclavonic race, which occupies
+nearly the whole extent of the vast plains of Western Europe, they have
+advanced more than the others from the rude and barbarous state which
+characterizes this race; and this is particularly manifest at Warsaw. An
+eyewitness, describing the appearance of the Polish deputies at Paris
+sent to announce the election of Henry of Anjou as successor of
+Sigismund, says, "It is impossible to describe the general astonishment
+when we saw these ambassadors in long robes, fur caps, sabres, arrows,
+and quivers; but our admiration was excessive when we saw the
+sumptuousness of their equipages; the scabbards of their swords adorned
+with jewels; their bridles, saddles, and horse-cloths decked in the same
+way," &c.
+
+But none of this barbaric display is now seen in the streets of Warsaw.
+Indeed, immediately on entering it I was struck with the European aspect
+of things. It seemed almost, though not quite, like a city of Western
+Europe, which may, perhaps, be ascribed, in a great measure, to the
+entire absence of the semi-Asiatic costumes so prevalent in all the
+cities of Russia, and even at St. Petersburgh; and the only thing I
+remarked peculiar in the dress of the inhabitants was the remnant of a
+barbarous taste for show, exhibiting itself in large breastpins,
+shirt-buttons, and gold chains over the vest; the mustache is
+universally worn. During the war of the revolution immediately
+succeeding our own, Warsaw stood the heaviest brunt; and when Kosciusko
+fell fighting before it, its population was reduced to seventy five
+thousand. Since that time it has increased, and is supposed now to be
+one hundred and forty thousand, thirty thousand of whom are Jews.
+Calamity after calamity has befallen Warsaw; still its appearance is
+that of a gay city. Society consists altogether of two distinct and
+distant orders, the nobles and the peasantry, without any intermediate
+degrees. I except, of course, the Jews, who form a large item in her
+population, and whose long beards, thin and anxious faces, and piercing
+eyes met me at every corner of Warsaw. The peasants are in the lowest
+stage of mental degradation. The nobles, who are more numerous than in
+any other country in Europe, have always, in the eyes of the public,
+formed the people of Poland. They are brave, prompt, frank, hospitable,
+and gay, and have long been called the French of the North, being French
+in their habits, fond of amusements, and living in the open air, like
+the lounger in the Palais Royal, the Tuileries, the Boulevards, and
+Luxembourgh, and particularly French in their political feelings, the
+surges of a revolution in Paris being always felt at Warsaw. They regard
+the Germans with mingled contempt and aversion, calling them "dumb" in
+contrast with their own fluency and loquacity; and before their fall
+were called by their neighbours the "proud Poles." They consider it the
+deepest disgrace to practise any profession, even law or medicine, and,
+in case of utmost necessity, prefer the plough. A Sicilian, a
+fellow-passenger from Palermo to Naples, who one moment was groaning in
+the agony of seasickness and the next playing on his violin, said to me,
+"Canta il, signore?" "Do you sing?" I answered "No;" and he continued,
+"Suonate?" "Do you play?" I again answered "No;" and he asked me, with
+great simplicity, "Cosa fatte? Niente?" "What do you do? Nothing?" and I
+might have addressed the same question to every Pole in Warsaw.
+
+The whole business of the country is in the hands of the Jews, and all
+the useful and mechanical arts are practised by strangers. I did not
+find a Pole in a single shop in Warsaw; the proprietors of the hotels
+and coffee-houses are strangers, principally Germans; my tailor was a
+German; my shoemaker a Frenchman, and the man who put a new crystal in
+my watch an Italian from Milan. But though this entire absence of all
+useful employment is, on grounds of public policy, a blot on their
+national character, as a matter of feeling it rather added to the
+interest with which I regarded the "proud Poles;" and perhaps it was
+imaginary, but I felt all the time I was in Warsaw that, though the
+shops and coffee-houses were open, and crowds thronged the streets, a
+sombre air hung over the whole city; and if for a moment this impression
+left me, a company of Cossacks, with their wild music, moving to another
+station, or a single Russian officer riding by in a drosky, wrapped in
+his military cloak, reminded me that the foot of a conqueror was upon
+the necks of the inhabitants of Warsaw. This was my feeling after a long
+summer day's stroll through the streets; and in the evening I went to
+the theatre, which was a neat building, well filled, and brilliantly
+lighted; but the idea of a pervading and gloomy spirit so haunted me
+that in a few moments I left what seemed a heartless mockery of
+pleasure. I ought to add that I did not understand a word of the piece;
+the _triste_ air which touched me may have been induced by the
+misfortunes of the stage hero; and, in all probability, I should have
+astonished a melancholy-looking neighbour if, acting under my
+interpretation of his visage, I had expressed to him my sympathy in the
+sufferings of his country.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+    Religion of Poland.--Sunday in Warsaw.--Baptized Jews.--Palaces of
+      the Polish Kings.--Sobieski.--Field of Vola.--Wreck of a
+      Warrior.--The Poles in America.--A Polish Lady.--Troubles of a
+      Passport.--Departure from Warsaw.--An official Rachel.--A
+      mysterious Visiter.
+
+
+SUNDAY at WARSHAW. Poland is distinguished above the other nations of
+Europe as a land of religious toleration. So late as the latter part of
+the tenth century, the religion of Poland was a gross idolatry; and,
+mingled with the rites of their own country, they worshipped, under
+other names, Jupiter, Pluto, Mars, Venus, Diana, and others of the pagan
+deities. During the reign of Mieczylaus I. of the Piast dynasty, the
+monks introduced Christianity. The prince himself was proof against the
+monks, but received from woman's lips the principles of the Christian
+religion. Enamoured of Dombrowska, the daughter of the Duke of Bohemia,
+a country which had then lately embraced Christianity, who refused to
+accept his suit unless he was baptized, Mieczylaus sacrificed the
+superstitions and prejudices of his fathers on the altar of love. But
+the religion which he embraced for the sake of Dombrowska he afterward
+propagated for its own; became an ardent champion of the cross; broke
+down with his own hands the idols of his country; built Christian
+churches on the ruins of pagan temples; and, in the ardour of his new
+faith, issued an edict that, when any portion of the Gospel was read,
+the hearers should half draw their swords to testify their readiness to
+defend its truth.
+
+In the reign of the "famous" John Sobieski, the annals of Poland, till
+that time free from this disgrace, were stained by one of the most
+atrocious acts of barbarity recorded in the history of religious
+persecution. A Lithuanian nobleman, a religious and benevolent man, but
+sufficiently intelligent to ridicule some of the current superstitions,
+and very rich, on account of a note made in the margin of a book,
+written by a stupid German, was tried for atheism by a council of
+bigoted Catholic bishops, and found guilty, not only of "having denied
+the existence of a God, but the doctrine of the Trinity and the Divine
+maternity of the Virgin Mary." Zaluski, one of the villains concerned in
+the torment, writes, "The convict was led to the scaffold, where the
+executioner, with a red-hot iron, tore his tongue and his mouth, _with
+which he had been cruel toward God_; then they burned his hands,
+instruments of the abominable production, at a slow fire. The
+sacrilegious paper was thrown into the flame; himself last; that monster
+of the age, that deicide, was cast into the flames of expiation, if such
+a crime could be atoned."
+
+In seventeen hundred and twenty-six the Jesuits, making a public
+procession with the Host in the streets of Thorn, the young scholars of
+the order insisted that some Lutheran children should kneel; and on
+their refusal a scuffle ensued between the Jesuits and townspeople, most
+of whom were Lutherans, in which the enraged townspeople broke open the
+Jesuits' college, profaned all the objects of worship, and, among others
+an image of the Virgin. The Catholics of Poland, assembled in the diet,
+almost infuriated with fanatic zeal, condemned to death the magistrates
+of Thorn for not exercising their authority. Seven of the principal
+citizens were also condemned to death; many were imprisoned or banished;
+three persons, accused of throwing the Virgin's image into the fire,
+lost their right arms, and the whole city was deprived of the freedom of
+public worship.
+
+This was the last act of religious persecution in Poland; but even yet
+the spirit of the reformation has made but little progress, and the
+great bulk of the people are still groping in the darkness of
+Catholicism. On every public road and in all the streets of Warsaw stand
+crosses, sometimes thirty feet high, with a figure of the Saviour large
+as life, sometimes adorned with flowers and sometimes covered with rags.
+
+As in all Catholic cities, a Sunday in Warsaw is a fête day. I passed
+the morning in strolling through the churches, which are very numerous,
+and some of them, particularly the Cathedral Church of St. John and that
+of the Holy Cross, of colossal dimensions. The scene was the same as in
+the Catholic churches in Italy; at every door crowds were entering and
+passing out, nobles, peasants, shopmen, drosky boys, and beggars; the
+highborn lady descended from her carriage, dipped her fingers in the
+same consecrated water, and kneeled on the same pavement side by side
+with the beggar; alike equal in God's house, and outside the door again
+an immeasurable distance between them.
+
+At twelve o'clock, by appointment, I met my travelling companion and
+another of his friends in the Jardin de Saxe, the principal public
+garden in Warsaw. It stands in the very heart of the city, in the rear
+of the Palais de Saxe, built by the Elector of Saxony when called to the
+throne of Poland. It is enclosed all around by high brick walls,
+screened by shrubs, and vines, and trees rising above, so as to exclude
+the view of the houses facing it. It is handsomely laid out with lawns
+and gravel-walks, and adorned with trees; and as the grounds are
+exceedingly rural and picturesque, and the high walls and trees
+completely shut out the view of all surrounding objects, I could hardly
+realize that I was in the centre of a populous city. It was then the
+fashionable hour for promenade, and all the élite of Warsaw society was
+there. I had heard of this Sunday promenade, and, after making one or
+two turns on the principal walk, I remarked to my companions that I was
+disappointed in not seeing, as I had expected, a collection of the
+highborn and aristocratic Poles; but they told me that, changed as
+Warsaw was in every particular, in nothing was this change more manifest
+than in the character of this favourite resort. From boyhood, one of
+them had been in the habit of walking there regularly on the same day
+and at the same hour; and he told me that, before the revolution, it had
+always been thronged by a gay and brilliant collection of the nobility
+of Warsaw; and he enumerated several families whose names were
+identified with the history of Poland, who were in the habit of being
+there at a certain time, as regularly as the trees which then shaded our
+walk; but since the revolution these families were broken up and
+dispersed, and their principal members dead or in exile, or else lived
+retired, too proud in their fallen state to exhibit themselves in public
+places, where they were liable to be insulted by the presence of their
+Russian conquerors; and I could well appreciate the feeling which kept
+them away, for Russian officers, with their rattling swords and nodding
+plumes, and carrying themselves with a proud and lordly air, were the
+most conspicuous persons present. I had noticed one party, a dark, pale,
+and interesting-looking man, with an elegant lady and several children
+and servants, as possessing, altogether, a singularly melancholy and
+aristocratic appearance; but the interest I was disposed to take in them
+was speedily dispelled by hearing that he was a baptized Jew, a money
+broker, who had accumulated a fortune by taking advantage of the
+necessities of the distressed nobles. Indeed, next to the Russian
+officers, the baptized Jews were the most prominent persons on the
+promenade. These persons form a peculiar class in Warsaw, occupying a
+position between the Israelites and Christians, and amalgamating with
+neither. Many of them are rich, well educated, and accomplished, and
+possess great elegance of appearance and manner. They hate most
+cordially their unregenerated brethren, and it is unnecessary to say
+that this hate is abundantly reciprocated. It was with a feeling of
+painful interest that I strolled through this once favourite resort of
+the nobility of Warsaw; and my companions added to this melancholy
+feeling by talking in a low tone, almost in whispers, and telling me
+that now the promenade was always _triste_ and dull; and in going out
+they led me through a private walk, where an old noble, unable to tear
+himself from a place consecrated by the recollections of his whole life,
+still continued to take his daily walk apart from the crowd, wearing out
+the evening of his days in bitter reflections on the fallen condition
+of his kindred and country.
+
+We dined, as usual, at a restaurant, where at one table was a party of
+Swiss, here, as at Moscow, exercising that talent, skill, and industry
+which they exhibit all over the world, and consoling themselves for the
+privations of exile with the hope of one day being able to return to
+their native mountains, never to leave them again.
+
+After dinner we took an open carriage, and at the barrier entered one of
+the numerous avenues of the Ujazdow, leading to Belvidere, the country
+residence of the late Grand-duke Constantine. The avenue is divided by
+rows of old and stately trees, terminating in a large circular octagon,
+from which branch off eight other avenues, each at a short distance
+crossed by others, and forming a sort of labyrinth, said to be one of
+the finest drives and promenades in Europe, and on Sundays the
+rendezvous of nearly the entire population of Warsaw. It was a beautiful
+afternoon, and the throng of carriages, and horsemen, and thousands of
+pedestrians, and the sun, occasionally obscured and then breaking
+through the thick foliage, darkening and again lighting up the vista
+through the trees, gave a beauty to the landscape, and a variety and
+animation to the scene, that I had not yet found in Warsaw. Passing the
+Belvidere Palace, my companions described the manner in which the
+students had made their attack upon it, and pointed out the window by
+which Constantine escaped. Turning from one of the splendid avenues of
+the Ujazdow, we crossed a stone bridge, on which stands the equestrian
+statue of John Sobieski, his horse rearing over the body of a prostrate
+Turk; it was erected to him as the saviour of Christendom after he had
+driven the Turks from the walls of Vienna. Beyond this we entered the
+grounds and park of Lazienki, formerly the country residence of
+Stanislaus Augustus, situated in a most delightful spot on the banks of
+the Vistula.
+
+The royal villa stands in the midst of an extensive park of stately old
+trees, and the walks lead to a succession of delightful and romantic
+spots, adorned with appropriate and tasteful buildings. Among them, on
+an island reached by crossing a rustic bridge, are a winter and a summer
+theatre, the latter constructed so as to resemble, in a great measure,
+an ancient amphitheatre in ruins; in it performances used formerly to
+take place in the open air. I am not given to dreaming, and there was
+enough in the scenes passing under my eyes to employ my thoughts; but,
+as I wandered through the beautiful walks, and crossed romantic bridges,
+composed of the trunks and bended branches of trees, I could not help
+recurring to the hand that had planned these beauties, the good King
+Stanislaus.
+
+               "Dread Pultowa's day,
+    When fortune left the royal Swede,"
+
+hurled Stanislaus from his throne; and as I stood under the portico of
+his palace, I could but remember that its royal builder had fled from it
+in disguise, become a prisoner to the Turks, and died an exile in a
+foreign land.
+
+From here we rode to the chateau of Villanow, another and one of the
+most interesting of the residences of the kings of Poland, constructed
+by John Sobieski and perhaps the only royal structure in Europe which,
+like some of the great edifices of Egypt and Rome, was erected by
+prisoners taken in war, being constructed entirely by the hands of
+Turkish captives. It was the favourite residence of Sobieski, where he
+passed most of his time when not in arms, and where he closed his days.
+Until lately, the chamber and bed on which he died might still be seen.
+The grounds extend for a great distance along the banks of the Vistula,
+and many of the noble trees which now shade the walks were planted by
+Sobieski's own hands. The reign of Sobieski is the most splendid era in
+the history of Poland. The great statue I had just passed presented him
+as the conqueror of the Turks, the deliverer of Christendom, the
+redoubtable warrior, riding over the body of a prostrate Mussulman; and
+every stone in the palace is a memorial of his warlike triumphs; but if
+its inner chambers could tell the scenes of which they had been the
+witness, loud and far as the trumpet of glory has sounded his name, no
+man would envy John Sobieski. The last time he unsheathed his sword, in
+bitterness of heart he said, "It will be easier to get the better of the
+enemies I am in quest of than my own sons." He returned broken with
+vexation and shattered with wounds, more than sixty years old, and two
+thirds of his life spent in the tented field; his queen drove his
+friends from his side, destroyed that domestic peace which he valued
+above all things, and filled the palace with her plots and intrigues. He
+had promised to Zaluski an office which the queen wished to give to
+another. "My friend," said the dying monarch, "you know the rights of
+marriage, and you know if I can resist the prayers of the queen; it
+depends, then, on you that I live tranquil or that I be constantly
+miserable. She has already promised to another this vacant office, and
+if I do not consent to it I am obliged to fly my house. I know not
+where I shall go to die in peace. You pity me; you will not expose me to
+public ridicule." Old and infirm, with gray hairs and withered laurels,
+a prey to lingering disease, the deathbed of the dying warrior was
+disturbed by a noise worse than the din of battle; and before the breath
+had left him, an intriguing wife and unnatural children were wrangling
+over his body for the possession of his crown. A disgraceful struggle
+was continued a short time after his death. One by one his children
+died, and there is not now any living of the name of Sobieski.
+
+The next day I visited the field of Vola, celebrated as the place of
+election of the Kings of Poland. It is about five miles from Warsaw, and
+was formerly surrounded by a ditch with three gates, one for great
+Poland, one for little Poland, and one for Lithuania. In the middle were
+two enclosures, one of an oblong shape, surrounded by a kind of rampart
+or ditch, in the centre of which was erected, at the time of election, a
+vast temporary building of wood, covered at the top and open at the
+sides, which was called the zopa, and occupied by the senate; and the
+other of a circular shape, called the kola, in which the nuncios
+assembled in the open air. The nobles, from a hundred and fifty thousand
+to two hundred thousand in number, encamped on the plain in separate
+bodies under the banners of their respective palatinates, with their
+principal officers in front on horseback. The primate, having declared
+the names of the candidates, kneeled down and chanted a hymn; and then,
+mounting on horseback, went round the plain and collected the votes, the
+nobles not voting individually, but each palatinate in a body. It was
+necessary that the election should be unanimous, and a single nobleman
+peremptorily stopped the election of Ladislaus VII. Being asked what
+objection he had to him, he answered, "None at all; but I will not
+suffer him to be king." After being by some means brought over, he gave
+the king as the reason for his opposition, "I had a mind to see whether
+our liberty was still in being or not. I am satisfied that it is, and
+your majesty shall not have a better subject than myself." If the
+palatinates agreed, the primate asked again, and yet a third time if all
+were satisfied; and, after a general approbation, three times proclaimed
+the king; and the grand marshal of the crown repeated the proclamation
+three times at the gates of the camp. It was the exercise of this high
+privilege of electing their own king which created and sustained the
+lofty bearing of the Polish nobles, inducing the proud boast which, in a
+moment of extremity, an intrepid band made to their king, "What hast
+thou to fear with twenty thousand lances? If the sky should fall, we
+would keep it up with their points." But, unhappily, although the
+exercise of this privilege was confined only to the nobles, the election
+of a king often exhibited a worse picture than all the evils of
+universal suffrage with us. The throne was open to the whole world; the
+nobles were split into contending factions; foreign gold found its way
+among them, and sometimes they deliberated under the bayonets of foreign
+troops. Warsaw and its environs were a scene of violence and confusion,
+and sometimes the field of Vola was stained with blood. Still no man can
+ride over that plain without recurring to the glorious hour when
+Sobieski, covered with laurels won in fighting the battles of his
+country, amid the roar of cannon and the loud acclamations of the
+senate, the nobles, and the army, was hailed the chosen king of a free
+people.
+
+I had enough of travelling post, and was looking out for some quiet
+conveyance to Cracow. A Jew applied to me, and I went with him to look
+at his carriage, which I found at a sort of "Bull's-head" stopping-place,
+an enormous vehicle without either bottom or top, being a species of
+framework like our hay-wagons, filled with straw to prevent goods and
+passengers from spilling out. He showed me a couple of rough-looking
+fellows, who would be my _compagnons de voyage_, and who said that we
+could all three lie very comfortably in the bottom of the vehicle. Their
+appearance did not add to the recommendation of the wagon; nevertheless,
+if I had understood the language and been strong enough for the rough
+work, I should perhaps have taken that conveyance, as, besides the
+probable incidents of the journey, it would give me more insight into
+the character of the people than a year's residence in the capital.
+Returning to my hotel, I found that a Polish officer had left his
+address, with a request for me to call upon him. I went, and found a man
+of about forty, middle sized, pale and emaciated, wounded and an
+invalid, wearing the Polish revolutionary uniform. It was the only
+instance in which I had seen this dress. After the revolution it had
+been absolutely proscribed; but the country being completely subdued,
+and the government in this particular case not caring to exercise any
+unnecessary harshness, he was permitted to wear it unmolested. It was,
+however, almost in mockery that he still wore the garb of a soldier; for
+if Poland had again burst her chains, and the unsheathed sword were put
+in his hands, he could not have struck a blow to help her. Unfortunately,
+he could not speak French, or, rather, I may say fortunately, for in
+consequence of this I saw his lady, a pensive, melancholy, and
+deeply-interesting woman, dressed in black, in mourning for two gallant
+brothers who died in battle under the walls of Warsaw.
+
+Their business with me was of a most commonplace nature. They had lately
+returned from a visit to some friends at Cracow, in a calêche hired at
+the frontier; and hearing from the peasant who drove them that a
+stranger was looking for a conveyance to that place, out of good-will to
+him desired to recommend him to me. The lady had hardly finished a sort
+of apologizing commencement before I had resolved to assent to almost
+anything she proposed; and when she stated the whole case, it was so
+exactly what I wanted, that I expressed myself under great obligations
+for the favour done me. I suggested, however, my doubts as to the
+propriety of undertaking the journey alone, without any interpreter;
+but, after a few words with the major, she replied that she would give
+full directions to the peasant as to the route. As the carriage could
+not go beyond the frontier, her husband would give me a letter to the
+commissaire at Michoof, who spoke French, and also to the postmaster;
+and, finally, she would herself make out for me a vocabulary of the
+words likely to be most necessary, so as to enable me to ask for bread,
+milk, eggs, &c.; and with this, and the Polish for "how much," I would
+get along without any difficulty. While she was writing, another officer
+came in, old and infirm, and also dressed in the Polish uniform. She
+rose from the table, met him almost at the door, kissed him
+affectionately, led him to a seat, and barely mentioning him to me as
+"_mon beau père_," resumed her work. While she was writing I watched
+attentively the whole three, and the expression of face with which the
+two officers regarded her was unspeakably interesting. They were
+probably unconscious of it, and perhaps it was only my fancy, but if the
+transient lighting of their sunken eyes meant anything, it meant that
+they who sat there in the garb and equipment of soldiers, who had stood
+in all the pride and vigour of manhood on bloody battle-fields, now
+looked to a feeble and lovely woman as their only staff and support in
+life. I would have told them how deeply I sympathized in the misfortunes
+of their suffering country, but their sadness seemed too deep and
+sacred. I knew that I could strike a responsive chord by telling them
+that I was an American, but I would not open their still bleeding
+wounds; at parting, however, I told them that I should remember in my
+own country and to their countrymen the kindness shown me here; and as
+soon as I mentioned that I was an American, the lady asked me the fate
+of her unhappy countrymen who had been landed as exiles on our shores,
+and I felt proud in telling them that they had found among our citizens
+that sympathy which brave men in misfortune deserve, and that our
+government had made a provision in land for the exiled compatriots of
+Kosciusko. She inquired particularly about the details of their
+occupation, and expressed the fear that their habits of life, most of
+them having been brought up as soldiers, unfitted them for usefulness
+among us. I did not then know how prophetic were her forebodings, and
+was saved the necessity of telling her, what I afterward read in a
+newspaper, that an unhappy portion of that band of exiles, discontented
+with their mode of life, in attempting to cross the Rocky Mountains
+were cut to pieces by a party of Indians. Under the pressure of their
+immediate misfortunes they had not heard the fate of the exiles, and a
+ray of satisfaction played for a moment over their melancholy features
+in hearing that they had met with friends in America; and they told me
+to say to the Poles wherever I found them, that they need never again
+turn their eyes toward home. She added that the time had been when she
+and her friends would have extended the hand of welcome to a stranger in
+Poland; that, when a child, she had heard her father and brothers talk
+of liberty and the pressure of a foreign yoke, but, living in affluence,
+surrounded by friends and connexions, she could not sympathize with
+them, and thought it a feeling existing only in men, which women could
+not know; but actual occurrences had opened her eyes; her family had
+been crushed to the earth, her friends imprisoned, killed, or driven
+into exile, and yet, she added, turning to her husband and father, she
+ought not to mourn, for those dearest to her on earth were spared. But I
+could read in her face, as she bent her eyes upon their pallid features,
+that she felt they were spared only for a season.
+
+Reluctantly I bade them farewell. A servant waited to go with me and
+show me the calêche, but I told him it was not worth while. I was in no
+humour for examining the spokes of carriage-wheels; and, if I had been
+obliged to ride on the tongue, I believe I should have taken it. I went
+to my hotel, and told my friend of my interview with the major and his
+lady. He knew them by reputation, and confirmed and strengthened all the
+interest I took in them, adding that both father and son had been among
+the first to take up arms during the revolution, and at its unhappy
+termination were so beloved by the people of Warsaw that, in their
+wounded and crippled state, the Russian government had not proceeded to
+extremities with them.
+
+I spent my last evening in Warsaw with my Pole and several of his
+friends at a herbata, that is, a sort of confectioner's shop, like a
+_café_ in the south of Europe, where, as in Russia, tea is the popular
+drink. The next morning, as usual, my passport was not ready. My valet
+had been for it several times, and could not get it. I had been myself
+to the police-office, and waited until dark, when I was directed to call
+the next morning. I went at a little after eight, but I will not obtrude
+upon the reader the details of my vexation, nor the amiable feelings
+that passed my mind in waiting till twelve o'clock in a large anteroom.
+In my after wanderings I sometimes sat down upon a stump or on the sands
+of the desert, and meditated upon my folly in undergoing all manner of
+hardships when I might be sitting quietly at home; but when I thought of
+passports in Russia and Poland, I shook myself with the freedom of a son
+of the desert, and with the thought that I could turn my dromedary's
+head which way I pleased, other difficulties seemed light. Ancient
+philosophers extolled uniformity as a great virtue in a young man's
+character; and, if so, I was entitled to the highest praise, for in the
+matter of arranging my passport I was always in a passion. I do not know
+a single exception to the contrary. And if there was one thing more
+vexatious than another, it was in the case at Warsaw, where, after
+having been bandied from office to office, I received my passport, still
+requiring the signature of the governor, and walked up to the palace,
+nursing my indignation, and expecting an accumulation, I was ushered in
+by guards and soldiers, and at once disarmed of all animosity by the
+politeness and civility of the principal officers of government. I was
+almost sorry to be obliged to withhold my intended malediction. I
+hurried back to my hotel. My friend, with three or four of his Warsaw
+acquaintances, was waiting to see the last of me; my calêche was at the
+door, and I was already late for a start. I took my seat and bade them
+farewell. I promised to write to him on my arrival in Paris, and to
+continue a correspondence on my return home. Most unfortunately, I lost
+his address. He lived in some town in Poland, near the frontiers of
+Prussia, and probably at this moment thinks of me unkindly for my
+apparent neglect. Possibly we may meet again, though probably never; but
+if we do, though it do not happen till our heads are gray, we will have
+a rich fund of satisfaction in the recollections of our long journey to
+Warsaw.
+
+I was again setting out alone. My guide or _conducteur_ was a Polish
+peasant. Without having seen him, I had calculated upon making ordinary
+human intelligence, to some extent, a medium of communication; but I
+found that I had been too soaring in my ideas of the divinity of human
+nature. When I returned to the hotel I found him lying on the sidewalk
+asleep; a servant kicked him up and pointed me out as his master for the
+journey. He ran up and kissed my hand, and, before I was aware of his
+intention, stooped down and repeated the same salutation on my boot. An
+American, perhaps, more than any other, scorns the idea of man's
+debasing himself to his fellow-man; and so powerful was this feeling in
+me, that before I went abroad I almost despised a white man whom I saw
+engaged in a menial office. I had outlived this feeling; but when I saw
+a tall, strong, athletic white man kneel down and kiss my foot, I could
+almost have spurned him from me. His whole dress was a long shirt coming
+down to his feet, supported by a broad leathern belt eight inches wide,
+which he used as a pocket, and a low, broad-brimmed hat, turned up all
+round, particularly at the sides, and not unlike the headgear of the
+Lebanon Shakers.
+
+Before putting myself out of the reach of aid, I held a conversation
+with him through an interpreter. The lady of the major had made out a
+chart for me, specifying each day's journey, which he promised to
+observe, and added that he would be my slave if I would give him plenty
+to drink. With such a companion, then, I may say most emphatically that
+I was again setting out alone; but my calêche was even better than the
+Polish officer represented it, abundantly provided with pockets for
+provisions, books, &c., and altogether so much more comfortable than
+anything I was used to, that I threw myself back in it with a feeling of
+great satisfaction. I rolled for the last time through the streets of
+Warsaw; looked out upon the busy throng; and though, in the perfectly
+indifferent air with which they turned to me, I felt how small a space I
+occupied in the world, I lighted my pipe and smoked in their faces, and,
+with a perfect feeling of independence toward all the world, at one
+o'clock I arrived at the barrier.
+
+Here I found, to my great vexation, that I was an object of special
+consideration to the Emperor of Russia. A soldier came out for my
+passport, with which he went inside the guardhouse, and in a few minutes
+returned with the paper in his hands to ask me some question. I could
+not answer him. He talked at me a little while, and again went within
+doors. After sitting for a few moments, vexed at the detention, but
+congratulating myself that if there was any irregularity it had been
+discovered before I had advanced far on my journey, I dismounted and
+went inside, where, after detaining me long enough to make me feel very
+uncomfortable, they endorsed the visé and let me go. I again lighted my
+pipe, and in the mildness and beauty of the day, the comfort of my
+calêche, and the docility and accommodating spirit of my peasant, forgot
+my past, and even the chance of future difficulties. There was nothing
+particularly attractive in the road; the country was generally fertile,
+though tame and uninteresting. Late in the afternoon we stopped at a
+little town, of which I cannot make out the name. Like all the other
+towns on this side of Warsaw, in the centre was a square, with a range
+of wooden houses built all around fronting on the square, and the
+inhabitants were principally Jews. My peasant took off his horses and
+fed them in the square, and I went into a little kukernia, much cleaner
+and better than the town promised, where I had a cup of coffee and a
+roll of bread, and then strolled around the town, which, at this moment,
+presented a singular spectacle. The women and children were driving into
+the square herds of cows from the pasture-grounds in the unenclosed
+plains around; and, when all were brought in, each proprietor picked out
+his own cow and drove her home, and in a few moments opposite almost
+every house stood the family cow, with a woman or child milking her.
+After this the cows strolled back into the square to sleep till morning.
+
+A little before dark we started, and, after a fine moonlight ride, at
+about ten o'clock drove into a sort of caravanserai, being simply a
+large shed or covered place for wagons and horses, with a room
+partitioned off in one corner for eating and sleeping. There were,
+perhaps, fifteen or twenty wagons under the shed, and their wagoners
+were all assembled in this room, some standing up and eating off a board
+stretched along the wall, some drinking, some smoking, and some already
+asleep on the floor. In one corner was a party of Jews, with the
+contents of a purse emptied before them, which they were dividing into
+separate parcels. The place was kept by a Jew, who, with his wife, or
+some woman belonging to the establishment, old and weatherbeaten, was
+running about serving and apparently quarrelling with all the wagoners.
+She seemed particularly disposed to quarrel with me, I believe because I
+could not talk to her, this being, in her eyes, an unpardonable sin. I
+could understand, however, that she wanted to prepare me a supper; but
+my appetite was not tempted by what I saw around me, and I lighted my
+pipe and smoked. I believe she afterward saw something in me which made
+her like me better; for while the wagoners were strewing themselves
+about the floor for sleep, she went out, and returning with a tolerably
+clean sheaf of straw under each arm, called me to her, and shaking them
+out in the middle of the floor, pointed me to my bed. My pipe was ended,
+and putting my carpet-bag under my head, I lay down upon the straw; and
+the old woman climbed up to a sort of platform in one corner, where, a
+moment after, I saw her sitting up with her arms above her head, with
+the utmost nonchalance changing her innermost garment.
+
+I was almost asleep, when I noticed a strapping big man, muffled up to
+the eyes, standing at my feet and looking in my face. I raised my head,
+and he walked round, keeping his eyes fixed upon me, and went away.
+Shortly after he returned, and again walking round, stopped and
+addressed me, "Spreechen sie Deutsch?" I answered by asking him if he
+could speak French; and not being able, he went away. He returned again,
+and again walked round as before, looking steadily in my face. I rose on
+my elbow, and followed him with my eyes till I had turned completely
+round with him, when he stopped as if satisfied with his observations,
+and in his broadest vernacular opened bluntly, "Hadn't we better speak
+English?" I need not say that I entirely agreed with him. I sprang up,
+and catching his hand, asked him what possessed him to begin upon me in
+Dutch; he replied by asking why I had answered in French, adding that
+his stout English figure ought to have made me know better; and after
+mutual good-natured recriminations, we kicked my straw bed about the
+floor, and agreed to make a night of it. He was the proprietor of a
+large iron manufactory, distant about three days' journey, and was then
+on his way to Warsaw. He went out to his carriage, and one of his
+servants produced a stock of provisions like the larder of a
+well-furnished hotel; and as I had gone to bed supperless, he seemed a
+good, stout, broad-shouldered guardian angel sent to comfort me. We sat
+on the back seat of the carriage, making a table of the front; and when
+we had finished, and the fragments were cleared away, we stretched our
+legs on the table, lighted our pipes, and talked till we fell asleep on
+each other's shoulder. Notwithstanding our intimacy so far, we should
+not have known each other by daylight, and at break of day we went
+outside to examine each other. It was, however, perhaps hardly worth
+while to retain a recollection of features; for, unless by some such
+accident as that which brought us together, we never shall meet again.
+We wrote our names in each other's pocketbook as a memorial of our
+meeting, and at the same moment started on our opposite roads.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+    Friendly Solicitude.--Raddom.--Symptoms of a Difficulty.--A Court of
+      Inquisition.--Showing a proper Spirit.--Troubles
+      thickening.--Approaching the Climax.--Woman's Influence.--The
+      Finale.--Utility of the Classics.--Another Latinist.--A Lucky
+      Accident.--Arrival at Cracow.
+
+
+AT about eight o'clock we stopped to feed, and at the feeding-place met
+a German wagoner, who had lived in Hamburgh, and spoke English. He
+seemed much distressed at my not understanding the language of the
+country. He was a stout, burly fellow, eating and drinking all the time,
+and his great anxiety was lest I should starve on the road. He insisted
+upon my providing against such a fatality, and had a couple of fowls
+roasted for me, and wrapped in a piece of coarse brown paper; and, at
+parting, backed by a group of friends, to whom he had told my story, he
+drank schnaps (at my expense) to my safe arrival at Cracow.
+
+At eleven o'clock we reached Raddom. There was a large swinging gate at
+the barrier of the town, and the soldier opening it demanded my passport
+to be _viséd_ by the police; he got into the calêche with me, and we
+drove into the town, stopped in the public square, and went to the
+bureau together. He left me in an antechamber, and went within,
+promising, by his manner, to expedite the business, and intimating an
+expectation of schnaps on his return. In a few minutes he returned, and
+barely opening the door for me to enter, hurried off, apparently with
+some misgivings about his schnaps. I entered, and found three or four
+men, who took no notice of me. I waited a few moments, and seeing my
+passport on a table before one of them, went up, and, certainly without
+intending anything offensive, took up the passport with a view of
+calling his attention to it; he jerked it out of my hand, and looking at
+me with an imperious and impertinent air, at the same time saying
+something I have no doubt in character with the expression of his face,
+he slapped it down on the table. Two or three officers coming in, looked
+at it, and laid it down again, until at length one man, the head of that
+department, I suppose, took it up, wrote a note, and giving the note and
+the passport to a soldier, directed me to follow him. The soldier
+conducted me to the bureau of the government, the largest building, and
+occupying a central position in the town, and left me in an antechamber
+with the usual retinue of soldiers and officers. In about a quarter of
+an hour he came out without the passport, and pulled me by the sleeve to
+follow him. I shook my head, asked for the passport, and, in fact, moved
+toward the door he had left. He seemed a good-hearted fellow, and,
+anxious to save me from any imprudence, pulled me back, held up his
+fingers, and pointing to the clock, told me to return at one; and
+touching his hat respectfully, with probably the only French words he
+knew, "Adieu, seigneur," and a look of real interest, hurried away.
+
+I strolled about the town, dropped in at a kukiernia, went to the
+square, and saw my peasant friend feeding his horses, apparently in some
+trouble and perplexity. I went back at one, and was ordered to come
+again at four. I would have remonstrated, but, besides that I could not
+make myself understood, when I attempted to speak they turned rudely
+away from me. I was vexed by the loss of the day, as I had agreed to pay
+a high price for the sake of going through a day sooner, and this might
+spoil my plan; and I was particularly vexed by the rough manner in which
+I was treated. I returned at four, and was conducted into a large
+chamber, in which were perhaps twenty or thirty clerks and inferior
+officers in the uniform of the government. As soon as I entered there
+was a general commotion. They had sent for a young man who spoke a
+little French to act as interpreter. The passport was put into his
+hands, and the first question he asked me was how I, an American,
+happened to be travelling under a Russian passport. I answered that it
+was not from any wish of mine, but in obedience to their own laws, and
+added the fact that this passport had been made out by the Russian
+ambassador at Constantinople; that under it I had been admitted into
+Russia, and travelled from the Black Sea to St. Petersburgh, and from
+there down to Warsaw, as he might see from the paper itself, the _visés_
+of the proper authorities, down to that of the Governor of Warsaw, being
+regularly endorsed.
+
+He then asked what my business was in Poland, and what had induced me
+to come there. I answered, the same that had carried me into Russia,
+merely the curiosity of a traveller; and he then inquired what in
+particular I wanted to see in Poland. If I had consulted merely my
+feelings, I should have told him that, besides being attracted by the
+interest of her heroic history, I wished to see with my own eyes the
+pressure of a colossal foot upon the necks of a conquered people; that
+this very system of inquisition and _espionage_ was one of the things I
+expected to see; but I, of course, forbore this, and answered only in
+general terms, and my answer was not satisfactory. He then began a more
+particular examination; asked my age, my height, the colour of my eyes,
+&c. At first I did not see the absurdity of this examination, and
+answered honestly according to the fact, as I believed it; but, all at
+once, it struck me that, as I did not remember the particulars of the
+description of my person in the passport, my own impromptu might very
+easily differ from it, and, catching an insulting expression on his
+face, I told him that he had the passport in his hands, and might
+himself compare my person with the description there given of me. He
+then read aloud the entire description; height, so many feet; eyes, such
+a colour, &c., &c.; scanned me from head to foot; peered into my eyes,
+stopping after each article to look at me and compare me with the
+description. By this time every man in the room had left his business
+and gathered round looking at me, and, after the reading of each article
+and the subsequent examination, there was a general shaking of heads and
+a contemptuous smile.
+
+At the time I remembered, what had before suggested itself to me rather
+as a good thing, that, before embarking for Europe, I had written on to
+the department of state for a passport, with a description of my person
+made out at the moment by a friend, not very flattering, and, perhaps,
+not very true, but good enough for the Continent, which I expected to be
+the extent of my tour; and I felt conscious that, on a severe
+examination, my nose might be longer, or my eyes grayer, or in some
+other point different from the description. This, added to their close
+and critical examination, at first embarrassed me considerably, but the
+supercilious and insulting manner in which the examination was conducted
+roused my indignation and restored my self-possession. I saw, from the
+informal way in which the thing was done, that this was a mere
+preliminary inquisition, and not the court to sit in judgment; and I had
+noticed from the beginning that most of these men were Poles, who had
+sold themselves to Russia for petty place and pay in her offices,
+traitors in their hearts and lives, apostates from every honourable
+feeling, and breathing a more infernal spirit against their enslaved
+country than the Russians themselves; and I told the interpreter, as
+coolly as the nature of the case would admit, to accept for himself, and
+to convey to his associates, the assurance that I should remember their
+little town as long as I lived; that I had then travelled from England
+through France, Italy, Greece, Turkey, and Russia, and had nowhere met
+such wanton rudeness and insult as from them; that I did not think it
+possible that in any European government twenty of its officers would
+laugh and sneer at the embarrassment of a stranger without a single one
+stepping forward to assist him; that I deeply regretted the occurrence
+of such a circumstance in Poland; that I felt convinced that there was
+not a truehearted Pole among them, or my character as an American would
+have saved me from insult.
+
+The interpreter seemed a little abashed, but I could see in the
+vindictive faces of the rest that they were greatly irritated. The
+examination was cut short, and I was directed to come again at half past
+five, when the commandant, who had been sent for, would be there. By
+this time there was some excitement in the streets, and, as I afterward
+learned, it was noised through the little town that an American was
+detained on suspicion of travelling under a false passport. My calêche
+had been standing in the public square all day. I had been noticed going
+to and from the offices with a soldier at my heels, and my poor Pole had
+been wandering up and down the streets, telling everybody his fears and
+interest in me, and particularly his anxiety about ten rubles I had
+promised him. As I passed along, people turned round and looked at me. I
+went to a kukiernia, where the dame had been very smiling and attentive,
+and could not get even a look from her. I went to another; several men
+were earnestly talking, who became silent the moment I entered. A small
+matter created an excitement in that little place. It was a rare thing
+for a traveller to pass through it; the Russian government threw every
+impediment in the way, and had made the road so vexatious that it was
+almost broken up. The French or the citizens of a free country like
+America were always suspected of being political emissaries to stir up
+the Poles to revolution, and it seemed as if, under that despotic
+government, to be suspected was to be guilty. The Poles were in the
+habit of seeing slight offences visited with terrible punishments, and
+probably half the little town looked on me as a doomed man. I went back
+to the square and took a seat on my calêche; my poor Pole sat on the box
+looking at me; he had followed me all over, and, like the rest, seemed
+to regard me as lost. I had probably treated him with more kindness than
+he was accustomed to receive, though, for every new kindness, he vexed
+me anew by stooping down and kissing my foot.
+
+At half past five o'clock I was again at the door of the palace. On the
+staircase I met the young man who had acted as interpreter; he would
+have avoided me, but I stopped him and asked him to return with me. I
+held on to him, asking him if the commandant spoke French; begged him,
+as he would hope himself to find kindness in a strange country, to go
+back and act as a medium of explanation; but he tore rudely away, and
+hurried down stairs. A soldier opened the door and led me into the same
+apartment as before. The clerks were all at their desks writing; all
+looked up as I entered, but not one offered me a seat, nor any the
+slightest act of civility. I waited a moment, and they seemed studiously
+to take no notice of me. I felt outrageous at their rudeness. I had no
+apprehensions of any serious consequences beyond, perhaps, that of a
+detention until I could write to Mr. Wilkins, our ambassador at St.
+Petersburgh, and resolved not to be trampled upon by the understrappers.
+I walked up to the door of the commandant's chamber, when one man, who
+had been particularly insulting during the reading of the passport,
+rudely intercepted me, and leaning his back against the door, flourished
+his hands before him to keep me from entering. Fortunately, I fell back
+in time to prevent even the tip end of his fingers touching me. My blood
+flashed through me like lightning, and even now I consider myself a
+miracle of forbearance that I did not strike him.
+
+In a few moments the door opened, and a soldier beckoned me to enter.
+Directly in front, at the other end of the room, behind a table, sat the
+commandant, a grim, gaunt-looking figure about fifty, his military coat
+buttoned tight up in his throat, his cap and sword on the table by his
+side, and in his hands my unlucky passport. As I walked toward him he
+looked from the passport to me, and from me to the passport; and when I
+stopped at the table he read over again the whole description, at every
+clause looking at me; shook his head with a grim smile of incredulity,
+and laid it down, as if perfectly satisfied. I felt that my face was
+flushed with indignation, and, perhaps, to a certain extent, so
+distorted with passion that it would have been difficult to recognise me
+as the person described. I suggested to him that the rude treatment I
+had met with in the other room had no doubt altered the whole character
+of my face, but he waved his hand for me to be silent; and, taking up a
+sheet of paper, wrote a letter or order, or something which I did not
+understand, and gave it to a soldier, who took it off to one corner and
+stamped it. The commandant then folded up the passport, enclosed it in
+the letter, and handed it again to the soldier, who carried it off and
+affixed to it an enormous wax seal, which looked very ominous and
+Siberian-like. I was determined not to suffer from the want of any
+effort on my part, and pulled out my old American passport, under which
+I had travelled in France and Italy, and also a new one which Commodore
+Porter had given me in Constantinople. He looked at them without any
+comment and without understanding them; and, when the soldier returned
+with the paper and the big seal, he rose, and, without moving a muscle,
+waved with his hand for me to follow the soldier. I would have resisted
+if I had dared. I was indignant enough to do some rash thing, but at
+every step was a soldier; I saw the folly of it, and, grinding my teeth
+with vexation and rage, I did as I was ordered.
+
+At the door of the palace we found a large crowd, who, knowing my
+appointment for this hour, were waiting to hear the result. A line of
+people was formed along the walk, who, seeing me under the charge of a
+soldier, turned round and looked at me with ominous silence. We passed
+under the walls of the prison, and the prisoners thrust their arms
+through the bars and hailed me, and seemed to claim me as a companion,
+and to promise me a welcome among them. For a moment I was infected with
+some apprehensions. In my utter ignorance as to what it all meant, I ran
+over in my mind the stories I had heard of the exercise of despotic
+authority, and for one moment thought of my German host at Moscow and a
+journey to Siberia by mistake. I did not know where the soldier was
+taking me, but felt relieved when we had got out of the reach of the
+voices of the prisoners, and more so when we stopped before a large
+house, which I remarked at once as a private dwelling, though a guard of
+honour before the door indicated it as the residence of an officer of
+high rank. We entered, and were ushered into the presence of the
+governor and commander-in-chief. He was, of course, a Russian, a man
+about sixty, in the uniform of a general officer, and attended by an
+aiddecamp about thirty. I waited till the soldier had delivered his
+message; and, before the governor had broken the seal, I carried the war
+into the enemy's country by complaining of the rude treatment I had
+received, interrupted in my journey under a passport which had carried
+me all over Russia, and laughed at and insulted by the officers of the
+government, at the same time congratulating myself that I had at last
+met those who could at least tell me why I was detained, and would give
+me an opportunity of explaining anything apparently wrong. I found the
+governor, as everywhere else in Russia where I could get access to the
+principal man, a gentleman in his bearing and feelings. He requested me
+to be seated, while he retired into another apartment to examine the
+passport. The aiddecamp remained, and I entertained him with my chapter
+of grievances; he put the whole burden of the incivility upon the Poles,
+who, as he said, filled all the inferior offices of government, but told
+me, too, that the country was in such an unsettled state that it was
+necessary to be very particular in examining all strangers; and
+particularly as at that time several French emissaries were suspected to
+be secretly wandering in Poland, trying to stir up revolution. The
+governor stayed so long that I began to fear there was some technical
+irregularity which might subject me to detention, and I was in no small
+degree relieved when he sent for me, and telling me that he regretted
+the necessity for giving such annoyance and vexation to travellers,
+handed me back the passport, with a direction to the proper officer to
+make the necessary _visé_ and let me go. I was so pleased with the
+result that I did not stop to ask any questions, and to this day I do
+not know particularly why I was detained.
+
+By this time it was nine o'clock, and when we returned the bureau was
+closed. The soldier stated the case to the loungers about the door, and
+now all, including some of the scoundrels who had been so rude to me in
+the morning, were anxious to serve me. One of them conducted me to an
+apartment near, where I was ushered into the presence of an elderly lady
+and her two daughters, both of whom spoke French. I apologized for my
+intrusion; told them my extreme anxiety to go on that night, and begged
+them to procure some one to take the governor's order to the commandant;
+in fact, I had become nervous, and did not consider myself safe till out
+of the place. They called in a younger brother, who started with
+alacrity on the errand, and I sat down to wait his return. There must be
+a witchery about Polish ladies. I was almost savage against all mankind;
+I had been kept up to the extremest point of indignation without any
+opportunity of exploding all day, and it would have been a great favour
+for some one to knock me down; but in a few minutes all my bitterness
+and malevolence melted away, and before tea was over I forgot that I had
+been bandied all day from pillar to post, and even forgave the boors who
+had mocked me, in consideration of their being the countrymen of the
+ladies who were showing me such kindness. Even with them I began with
+the chafed spirit that had been goading me on all day; but when I
+listened to the calm and sad manner in which they replied; that it was
+annoying, but it was light, very light, compared with the scenes through
+which they and all their friends had passed, I was ashamed of my
+petulance. A few words convinced me that they were the Poles of my
+imagination and heart. A widowed mother and orphan children, their staff
+and protector had died in battle, and a gallant brother was then
+wandering an exile in France. I believe it is my recollection of Polish
+ladies that gives me a leaning toward rebels. I never met a Polish lady
+who was not a rebel, and I could but think, as long as the startling
+notes of revolution continue to fall like music from their pretty lips,
+so long the Russian will sleep on an unquiet pillow in Poland.
+
+It was more than an hour before the brother returned, and I was sorry
+when he came; for, after my professions of haste, I had no excuse for
+remaining longer. I was the first American they had ever seen; and if
+they do not remember me for anything else, I am happy to have disabused
+them of one prejudice against my country, for they believed the
+Americans were all black. At parting, and at my request, the eldest
+daughter wrote her name in my memorandum-book, and I bade them farewell.
+
+It was eleven o'clock when I left the house, and at the first transition
+from their presence the night seemed of pitchy darkness. I groped my way
+into the square, and found my calêche gone. I stood for a moment on the
+spot where I had left it, ruminating what I should do. Perhaps my poor
+Pole had given me up as lost, and taken out letters of administration
+upon my carpet-bag. Directly before me, intersecting the range of houses
+on the opposite side of the square, was a street leading out of the
+town. I knew that he was a man to go straight ahead, turning neither to
+the right hand nor the left. I walked on to the opening, followed it a
+little way, and saw on the right a gate opening to a shed for stabling.
+I went in, and found him with his horses unharnessed, feeding them,
+whipping them, and talking at them in furious Polish. As soon as he saw
+me he left them and came at me in the same tone, throwing up both his
+hands, and almost flourishing them in my face; then went back to his
+horses, began pitching on the harness, and, snatching up the meal-bag,
+came back again toward me, all the time talking and gesticulating like a
+Bedlamite. I was almost in despair. What have I done now? Even my poor
+peasant turns against me; this morning he kissed my foot, now he is
+ready to brain me with a meal-bag. Roused by the uproar, the old woman,
+proprietor of the shed, came out, accompanied by her daughter, a pretty
+little girl about twelve years old, carrying a lantern. I looked at them
+without expecting any help. My peasant moved between them and me and the
+horses, flourishing his meal-bag, and seeming every moment to become
+more and more enraged with me. I looked on in dismay, when the little
+girl came up, and dropping a courtesy before me, in the prettiest French
+I ever heard, asked me, "Que voulez vous, monsieur?" I could have taken
+her up in my arms and kissed her. I have had a fair share of the
+perplexity which befalls every man from the sex, but I hold many old
+accounts cancelled by the relief twice afforded me this day. Before
+coming to a parley with my Pole, I took her by the hand, and, sitting
+down on the tongue of a wagon, learned from her that she had been taken
+into the house of a rich seigneur to be educated as a companion for his
+daughter, and was then at home on a visit to her mother; after which she
+explained the meaning of my postillion's outcry. Besides his
+apprehensions for me personally, he had been tormented with the no less
+powerful one of losing the promised ten rubles upon his arrival at a
+fixed time at Michoof, and all his earnestness was to hurry me off at
+once, in order to give him a chance of still arriving within the time.
+This was exactly the humour in which I wanted to find him, for I had
+expected great difficulty in making him go on that night; so I told him
+to hitch on his horses, and at parting did give the little girl a kiss,
+and the only other thing I could give her without impoverishing myself
+was a silk purse as a memento. I lighted my pipe, and, worn out with the
+perplexities of the day, in a short time forgot police and passports,
+rude Russians and dastardly Poles, and even the Polish ladies and the
+little girl.
+
+I woke the next morning under a shed, horses harnessed, postillion on
+the box whipping, and a Jew at their head holding them, and the two
+bipeds quarrelling furiously about the stabling. I threw the Jew a
+florin, and he let go his hold, though my peasant shook his whip, and
+roared back at him long after we were out of sight and hearing. At a few
+miles' distance we came to a stopping-place, where we found a large
+calêche with four handsome horses, and the postillion in the costume of
+a peasant of Cracow, a little square red cap with a red feather, a long
+white frock somewhat like a shooting-jacket, bordered with red, a belt
+covered with pieces of brass like scales lapping over each other, and a
+horn slung over his right shoulder. It belonged to a Polish seigneur,
+who, though disaffected toward government, had succeeded in retaining
+his property, and was the proprietor of many villages. He was
+accompanied by a young man about thirty, who spoke a very little French;
+less than any man whom I ever heard attempt to speak it at all. They had
+with them their own servants and cooking apparatus, and abundance of
+provisions. The seigneur superintended the cooking, and I did them the
+honour to breakfast with them. While we were breakfasting a troop of
+wagoners or vagabonds were under the shed dancing the mazurka. The
+better class of Poles are noble, high-spirited men, warm and social in
+their feelings, and to them, living on their estates in the interior of
+their almost untrodden country, a stranger is a curiosity and a
+treasure. The old seigneur was exceedingly kind and hospitable, and the
+young man and I soon became on excellent terms. I was anxious to have a
+friend in case of a new passport difficulty, and at starting gladly
+embraced his offer to ride with me. As soon as we took our seats in the
+calêche we lighted our pipes and shook hands as a bargain of
+good fellowship. Our perfect flow of confidence, however, was much
+broken by the up-hill work of making ourselves understood. I was no
+great scholar myself, but his French was execrable; he had studied it
+when a boy, but for more than ten years had not spoken a word. At one
+time, finding it impossible to express himself, he said, "Parlatis
+Latinum?" "Can you speak Latin?" I at first thought it was some dialect
+of the country, and could not believe that he meant the veritable stuff
+that had been whipped into me at school, and which, to me, was most
+emphatically a dead language; but necessity develops all that a man has,
+and for three hours we kept up an uninterrupted stream of talk in bad
+Latin and worse French.
+
+Like every Pole whom I met, except the employés in the public offices,
+from the bottom of his heart he detested a Russian. He had been a
+soldier during the revolution, and lay on his back crippled with wounds
+when it was crushed by the capture of Warsaw. I showed him the coin
+which had accidentally come into my hands, and when we came to the point
+where our roads separated, he said that he was ashamed to do so, but
+could not help begging from me that coin; to me it was merely a
+curiosity, to him it was a trophy of the brilliant but shortlived
+independence of his country. I was loath to part with it, and would
+rather have given him every button on my coat; but I appreciated his
+patriotic feeling, and could not refuse. I got out, and he threw his
+arms around me, kissed me on both cheeks, called me his friend and
+brother, and mounted the kibitka with the old seigneur. The latter
+invited me to go with him to his château, about a day's journey distant,
+and if I had expected to write a book I should certainly have done so.
+
+I went on again alone. At about twelve o'clock we arrived at the town of
+Kielse. I felt nervous as we approached the barrier. I threw myself back
+in the calêche, and drew my cap over my eyes in grand seigneur style,
+the soldier touched his hat as he opened the gate, and we drove into the
+public square unmolested. I breathed more freely, but almost hesitated
+to leave the calêche while the horses fed. I smiled, however, at
+thinking that any effort to avoid observation was the very way to
+attract it, and went to a kukernia, where I drank coffee, ate bread
+encrusted with sugar, and smoked a pipe until my Pole came in and kissed
+my foot as an intimation that the horses were ready.
+
+No questions were asked at the barrier; and we rode on quietly till nine
+o'clock, when we drove under the shed of a caravanserai. Fifteen or
+twenty wagoners were eating off a bench, and, as they finished,
+stretched themselves on the floor for sleep. It was a beautiful
+moonlight night, and I strolled out for a walk. The whole country was an
+immense plain. I could see for a great distance, and the old shed was
+the only roof in sight. It was the last night of a long journey through
+wild and unsettled countries. I went back to the time when, on a night
+like that, I had embarked on the Adriatic for Greece; thought of the
+many scenes I had passed through since, and bidding farewell to the
+plains of Poland, returned to my calêche, drew my cloak around me, and
+was soon asleep.
+
+At nine o'clock we stopped at a feeding-place, where a horde of dirty
+Jews were at a long table eating. I brushed off one corner, and sat down
+to some bread and milk. Opposite me was a beggar woman dividing with a
+child about ten years old a small piece of dry black bread. I gave them
+some bread and a jar of milk, and I thought, from the lighting up of the
+boy's face, that it was long since he had had such a meal.
+
+At twelve o'clock we reached Michoof, the end of my journey with the
+calêche. I considered my difficulties all ended, and showed at the
+posthouse my letter from the Polish captain to the commissario. To my
+great annoyance, he was not in the place. I had to procure a conveyance
+to Cracow; and having parted with my poor Pole overwhelmed with
+gratitude for my treatment on the road and my trifling gratuity at
+parting, I stood at the door of the posthouse with my carpet-bag in my
+hand, utterly at a loss what to do. A crowd of people gathered round,
+all willing to assist me, but I could not tell them what I wanted. One
+young man in particular seemed bent upon serving me; he accosted me in
+Russian, Polish, and German. I answered him in English, French, and
+Italian, and then both stopped. As a desperate resource, and almost
+trembling at my own temerity, I asked him the question I had learned
+from my yesterday's companion "Parlates Latinum?" and he answered me
+with a fluency and volubility that again threw me into another
+perplexity, caught my hand, congratulated me upon having found a
+language both understood, praised the good old classic tongues, offered
+his services to procure anything I wanted, &c., and all with such
+rapidity of utterance that I was obliged to cry out with something like
+the sailor's "vast heaving," and tell him that, if he went on at that
+rate, it was all Russian to me. He stopped, and went on more moderately,
+and with great help from him I gave him to understand that I wanted to
+hire a wagon to take me to Cracow. "Venite cum me," said my friend, and
+conducted me round the town until we found one. I then told him I wanted
+my passport _viséd_ for passing the frontier. "Venite cum me," again
+said my friend, and took me with him and procured the _visé_; then that
+I wanted a dinner; still he answered "Venite cum me," and took me to a
+trattoria, and dined with me. At dinner my classical friend did a rather
+unclassical thing. An enormous cucumber was swimming in a tureen of
+vinegar. He asked me whether I did not want it; and, taking it up in his
+fingers, ate it as a dessert, and drinking the vinegar out of the
+tureen, smacked his lips, wiped his mustaches with the tablecloth, and
+pronounced it "optimum." For three hours we talked constantly, and
+talked nothing but Latin. It was easy enough for him, for, as he told
+me, at school it had been the language of conversation. To me it was
+like breaking myself into the treadmill; but, once fairly started, my
+early preceptors would have been proud of my talk. At parting he kissed
+me on both cheeks, rubbed me affectionately with his mustaches and,
+after I had taken my seat, his last words were, "Semper me servate in
+vestra memoria."
+
+We had four and a half German, or about eighteen English, miles to
+Cracow. We had a pair of miserable, ragged little horses, but I promised
+my postillion two florins extra if he took me there in three hours, and
+he started off so furiously that in less than an hour the horses broke
+down, and we had to get out and walk. After breathing them a little they
+began to recover, and we arrived on a gentle trot at the frontier town,
+about half way to Cracow. My passport was all right, but here I had a
+new difficulty in that I had no passport for my postillion. I had not
+thought of this, and my classical friend had not suggested it. It was
+exceedingly provoking, as to return would prevent my reaching Cracow
+that night. After a parley with the commanding officer, a gentlemanly
+man, who spoke French very well, he finally said that my postillion
+might go on under charge of a soldier to the next posthouse, about a
+mile beyond, where I could get another conveyance and send him back.
+Just as I had thanked him for his courtesy, a young gentleman from
+Cracow, in a barouche with four horses, drove up, and, hearing my
+difficulty, politely offered to take me in with him. I gladly accepted
+his offer, and arrived at Cracow at about dark, where, upon his
+recommendation, I went to the Hotel de la Rose Blanche, and cannot well
+describe the satisfaction with which I once more found myself on the
+borders of civilized Europe, within reach of the ordinary public
+conveyances, and among people whose language I could understand. "Shall
+I not take mine ease in mine own inn?" Often, after a hard day's
+journey, I have asked myself this question, but seldom with the same
+self-complacency and the same determination to have mine ease as at
+Cracow. I inquired about the means of getting to Vienna, which, at that
+moment, I thought no more of than a journey to Boston. Though there was
+no particular need of it, I had a fire built in my room for the
+associations connected with a cheerful blaze. I put on my morning-gown
+and slippers, and hauling up before the fire an old chintz-covered sofa,
+sent for my landlord to come up and talk with me. My host was an
+Italian, and an excellent fellow. Attached to his hotel was a large
+restaurant, frequented by the first people at Cracow. During the evening
+an old countess came there to sup; he mentioned to her the arrival of an
+American, and I supped with her and her niece; neither of them, however,
+so interesting as to have any effect upon my slumber.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+    Cracow.--Casimir the Great.--Kosciusko.--Tombs of the Polish
+      Kings.--A Polish Heroine.--Last Words of a King.--A Hero in
+      Decay.--The Salt-mines of Cracow.--The Descent.--The
+      Mines.--Underground Meditations.--The Farewell.
+
+
+CRACOW is an old, curious, and interesting city, situated in a valley on
+the banks of the Vistula; and approaching it as I did, toward the sunset
+of a summer's day, the old churches and towers, the lofty castles and
+the large houses spread out on the immense plains, gave it an appearance
+of actual splendour. This faded away as I entered, but still the city
+inspired a feeling of respect, for it bore the impress of better days.
+It contains numerous churches, some of them very large, and remarkable
+for their style and architecture, and more than a hundred monasteries
+and convents. In the centre is a large square, on which stands the
+church of Notre Dame, an immense Gothic structure, and also the old
+palace of Sobieski, now cut down into shops, and many large private
+residences, uninhabited and falling to ruins. The principal streets
+terminate in this square. Almost every building bears striking marks of
+ruined grandeur. On the last partition of Poland in eighteen hundred and
+fifteen by the Holy Alliance, Cracow, with a territory of five hundred
+square miles and a population of a hundred and eight thousand, including
+about thirty thousand Jews, was erected into a republic; and at this day
+it exists nominally as a _free city_, under the protection of the three
+great powers; emphatically, such protection as vultures give to lambs;
+three masters instead of one, Russia, Prussia, and Austria, all claiming
+the right to interfere in its government.
+
+But even in its fallen state Cracow is dear to the Pole's heart, for it
+was the capital of his country when Poland ranked high among nations,
+and down to him who last sat upon her throne, was the place of
+coronation and of burial for her kings. It is the residence of many of
+the old Polish nobility, who, with reduced fortunes, prefer this little
+foothold in their country, where liberty nominally lingers, to exile in
+foreign lands. It now contains a population of about thirty thousand,
+including Jews. Occasionally the seigneur is still seen, in his short
+cassock of blue cloth, with a red sash and a white square-topped cap; a
+costume admirably adapted to the tall and noble figure of the proud
+Pole, and the costume of the peasant of Cracow is still a striking
+feature in her streets.
+
+After a stroll through the churches, I walked on the old ramparts of
+Cracow. The city was formerly surrounded with regular fortifications,
+but, as in almost all the cities of Europe, her ancient walls have been
+transformed into Boulevards; and now handsome avenues of trees encircle
+it, destroying altogether its Gothic military aspect, and on Sundays and
+fête days the whole population gathers in gay dresses, seeking pleasure
+where their fathers stood clad in armour and arrayed for battle.
+
+The Boulevards command an extensive view of all the surrounding country.
+"All the sites of my country," says a national poet, "are dear to me;
+but, above all, I love the environs of Cracow; there at every step I
+meet the recollections of our ancient glory and our once imposing
+grandeur."
+
+On the opposite bank of the river is a large tumulus of earth, marking
+the grave of Cracus, the founder of the city. A little higher up is
+another mound, reverenced as the sepulchre of his daughter Wenda, who
+was so enamoured of war that she promised to give her hand only to the
+lover who should conquer her in battle. Beyond this is the field of
+Zechino, where the brave Kosciusko, after his return from America, with
+a band of peasants, again struck the first blow of revolution, and, by a
+victory over the Russians, roused all Poland to arms.
+
+About a mile from Cracow are the ruins of the palace of Lobzow, built by
+Casimir the Great, for a long time the favourite royal residence, and
+identified with a crowd of national recollections; and, until lately, a
+large mound of earth in the garden was reverenced as the grave of
+Esther, the beautiful Jewess, the idol of Casimir the Great. Poetry has
+embellished the tradition, and the national muse has hallowed the palace
+of Lobzow and the grave of Esther.
+
+"Passer-by, if you are a stranger, tremble in thinking of human
+destruction; but if you are a Pole, shed bitter tears; heroes have
+inhabited this palace.... Who can equal them?...
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Casimir erected this palace: centuries have hailed him with the name of
+the great....
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Near his Esther, in the delightful groves of Lobzow, he thought himself
+happy in ceasing to be a king to become a lover.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"But fate is unpitiable for kings as for us, and even beauty is subject
+to the common law. Esther died, and Casimir erected a tomb in the place
+she had loved.
+
+"Oh! if you are sensible to the grief caused by love, drop a tear at
+this tomb and adorn it with a crown. If Casimir was tied to humanity by
+some weaknesses, they are the appendage of heroes! In presence of this
+chateau, in finding again noble remains, sing the glory of Casimir the
+Great."
+
+I was not a sentimental traveller, nor sensible to the grief that is
+caused by love, and I could neither drop a tear at the tomb of Esther
+nor sing the glory of Casimir the Great; but my heart beat high as I
+turned to another monument in the environs of Cracow; an immense mound
+of earth, standing on an eminence visible from every quarter, towering
+almost into a mountain, and sacred to the memory of Kosciusko! I saw it
+from the palace of the kings and from the ramparts of the fallen city,
+and, with my eyes constantly fixed upon it, descended to the Vistula,
+followed its bank to a large convent, and then turned to the right,
+direct for the mound. I walked to the foot of the hill, and ascended to
+a broad table of land. From this table the mound rises in a conical
+form, from a base three hundred feet in diameter, to the height of one
+hundred and seventy-five feet. At the four corners formerly stood small
+houses, which were occupied by revolutionary soldiers who had served
+under Kosciusko. On the farther side, enclosed by a railing, was a small
+chapel, and within it a marble tomb covering Kosciusko's heart! A
+circular path winds round the mound; I ascended by this path to the top.
+It is built of earth sodded, and was then covered with a thick carpet of
+grass, and reminded me of the tumuli of the Grecian heroes on the plains
+of Troy; and perhaps, when thousands of years shall have rolled by, and
+all connected with our age be forgotten, and time and exposure to the
+elements shall have changed its form, another stranger will stand where
+I did, and wonder why and for what it was raised. It was erected in 1819
+by the voluntary labour of the Polish people; and so great was the
+enthusiasm, that, as an eyewitness told me, wounded soldiers brought
+earth in their helmets, and women in their slippers; and I remembered,
+with a swelling heart, that on this consecrated spot a nation of brave
+men had turned to my country as the star of liberty, and that here a
+banner had been unfurled and hailed with acclamations by assembled
+thousands, bearing aloft the sacred inscription, "Kosciusko, the friend
+of Washington!"
+
+The morning was cold and dreary, the sky was overcast with clouds, and
+the sun, occasionally breaking through lighted up for a moment with
+dazzling brilliancy the domes and steeples of Cracow, and the palace and
+burial-place of her kings, emblematic of the fitful gleams of her
+liberty flashing and dazzling, and then dying away. I drew my cloak
+around me, and remained there till I was almost drenched with rain. The
+wind blew violently, and I descended and sheltered myself at the foot of
+the mound, by the grave of Kosciusko's heart!
+
+I returned to the city and entered the Cathedral Church. It stands by
+the side of the old palace, on the summit of the rock of Wauvel, in the
+centre of and commanding the city, enclosed with walls and towers, and
+allied in its history with the most memorable annals of Poland; the
+witness of the ancient glory of her kings, and their sepulchre. The rain
+was pattering against the windows of the old church as I strolled
+through the silent cloisters and among the tombs of the kings. A verger
+in a large cocked hat, and a group of peasants, moved, like myself, with
+noiseless steps, as if afraid to disturb the repose of the royal dead.
+Many of the kings of Poland fill but a corner of the page of history.
+Some of their names I had forgotten, or, perhaps, never knew until I saw
+them inscribed on their tombs; but every monument covered a head that
+had worn a crown, and some whose bones were mouldering under my feet
+will live till the last records of heroism perish.
+
+The oldest monument is that of Wladislaus le Bref, built of stone,
+without any inscription, but adorned with figures in bas-relief, which
+are very much injured. He died in thirteen hundred and thirty-three, and
+chose himself the place of his eternal rest. Charles the Twelfth of
+Sweden, on his invasion of Poland, visited the Cathedral Church, and
+stopped before this tomb. A distinguished canon who attended him, in
+allusion to the position of John Casimir, who was then at war with the
+King of Sweden, remarked, "And that king was also driven from his
+throne, but he returned and reigned until his death." The Swede answered
+with bitterness, "But your John Casimir will never return." The canon
+replied respectfully, "God is great and fortune is fickle;" and the
+canon was right, for John Casimir regained his throne.
+
+I approached with a feeling of veneration the tomb of Casimir the Great.
+It is of red marble; four columns support a canopy, and the figure of
+the king, with a crown on his head, rests on a coffin of stone. An iron
+railing encloses the monument. It is nearly five hundred years since the
+palatins and nobles of Poland, with all the insignia of barbaric
+magnificence, laid him in the place where his ashes now repose. The
+historian writes, "Poland is indebted to Casimir for the greatest part
+of her churches, palaces, fortresses, and towns," adding that "he found
+Poland of wood and left her of marble." He patronized letters, and
+founded the University of Cracow; promoted industry and encouraged
+trade; digested the unwritten laws and usages into a regular code;
+established courts of justice; repressed the tyranny of the nobles, and
+died with the honourable title of King of the Peasants; and I did not
+forget, while standing over his grave, that beneath me slept the spirit
+that loved the groves of Lobzow and the heart that beat for Esther the
+Jewess.
+
+The tomb of Sigismund I. is of red marble, with a figure as large as
+life reclining upon it. It is adorned with bas-reliefs and the arms of
+the republic, the white eagle and the armed cavalier of Lithuania. He
+died in fifteen hundred and forty-one, and his monument bears the
+following inscription in Latin: "Sigismund Jagellon, King of Poland,
+Grand-duke of Lithuania, Conqueror of the Tartars, of the Wallachians,
+of the Russians and Prussians, reposes under this stone, which he
+prepared for himself." Forty years ago Thaddeus Czacki, the Polish
+historian, opened the tombs of the kings, and found the head of
+Sigismund resting upon a plate of silver bearing a long Latin
+inscription; the body measured six feet and two inches in height, and
+was covered with three rich ermines; on the feet were golden spurs, a
+chain of gold around the neck, and a gold ring on one finger of the left
+hand. At his feet was a small pewter coffin enclosing the body of his
+son by Bone Sforza.
+
+By his side lies the body of his son Sigismund II., the last of the
+Jagellons, at whose death began the cabals and convulsions of an
+elective monarchy, by which Poland lost her influence among foreign
+powers. His memory is rendered interesting by his romantic love for
+Barbe Radzewill. She appeared at his father's court, the daughter of a
+private citizen, celebrated in Polish history and romance as uniting to
+all a woman's beauty a mingled force and tenderness, energy and
+goodness. The prince had outlived all the ardour of youth; disappointed
+and listless amid pleasures, his energy of mind destroyed by his
+excesses, inconstant in his love, and at the summit of human prosperity,
+living without a wish or a hope; but he saw Barbe, and his heart beat
+anew with the pulsations of life. In the language of his biographer he
+proved, in all its fulness, that sentiment which draws to earth by its
+sorrows and raises to heaven by its delights. He married her privately,
+and on his father's death proclaimed her queen. The whole body of nobles
+refused to acknowledge the marriage, and one of the nuncios, in the name
+of the representatives of the nation, supplicated him for himself, his
+country, his blood, and his children, to extinguish his passion; but the
+king swore on his sword that neither the diet, nor the nation, nor the
+whole universe should make him break his vows to Barbe; that he would a
+thousand times rather live with her out of the kingdom than keep a
+throne which she could not share; and was on the point of abdicating,
+when his opponents offered to do homage to the queen. When Czacki opened
+the coffin of this prince, he found the body perfectly preserved, and
+the head, as before, resting on a silver plate containing a long Latin
+inscription.
+
+At the foot of his coffin is that of his sister and successor, Anne; and
+in a separate chapel is the tomb of Stephen Battory, one of the greatest
+of the kings of Poland, raised to the throne by his marriage with Anne.
+
+I became more and more interested in this asylum of royal dead. I read
+there almost the entire history of the Polish republic, and again I felt
+that it was but a step from the throne to the grave, for near me was the
+great chair in which the kings of Poland were crowned. I paused before
+the tomb of John Casimir; and there was something strangely interesting
+in the juxtaposition of these royal dead. John Casimir lies by the side
+of the brother whom he endeavoured to supplant in his election to the
+throne. His reign was a continued succession of troubles and
+misfortunes. Once he was obliged to fly from Poland. He predicted what
+has since been so fearfully verified, that his country, enfeebled by the
+anarchy of its government and the licentiousness of the nobles, would be
+dismembered among the neighbouring powers; and, worn out with the cares
+of royalty, abdicated the throne, and died in a convent in France. I
+read at his tomb his pathetic farewell to his people.
+
+     "People of Poland,
+
+     "It is now two hundred and eighty years that you have been governed
+     by my family. The reign of my ancestors is past, and mine is going
+     to expire. Fatigued by the labours of war, the cares of the
+     cabinet, and the weight of age; oppressed with the burdens and
+     vicissitudes of a reign of more than twenty-one years, I, your king
+     and father, return into your hands what the world esteems above all
+     things, a crown, and choose for my throne six feet of earth, where
+     I shall sleep with my fathers. When you show my tomb to your
+     children, tell them that I was the foremost in battle and the last
+     in retreat; that I renounced regal grandeur for the good of my
+     country, and restored my sceptre to those who gave it me."
+
+By his side, and under a monument of black marble, lies the body of his
+successor, Michel Wisniowecki, an obscure and unambitious citizen, who
+was literally dragged to the throne, and wept when the crown was placed
+upon his head, and of whom Casimir remarked, when informed of his late
+subjects' choice, "What, have they put the crown on the head of that
+poor fellow?" And again I was almost startled by the strange and
+unnatural mingling of human ashes. By the side of that "poor fellow"
+lies the "famous" John Sobieski, the greatest of the long line of kings
+of a noble and valorous nation;
+
+    "One of the few, the immortal names,
+    That were not born to die."
+
+On the lower floor of the church, by the side of Poniatowski, the
+Polish Bayard, is the tomb of one nobler in my eyes than all the kings
+of Poland or of the world. It is of red marble, ornamented with the cap
+and plume of the peasant of Cracow, and bears the simple inscription "T.
+Kosciusko." All over the church I had read elaborate panegyrics upon the
+tenants of the royal sepulchres, and I was struck with this simple
+inscription, and remembered that the white marble column reared amid the
+magnificent scenery of the Hudson, which I had often gazed at from the
+deck of a steamboat, and at whose base I had often stood, bore also in
+majestic simplicity the name of "Kosciusko." It was late in the
+afternoon, and the group of peasants, two Poles from the interior, and a
+party of the citizens of Cracow, among whom were several ladies, joined
+me at the tomb. We could not speak each other's language; we were born
+and lived thousands of miles apart, and we were strangers in our
+thoughts and feelings, in all our hopes and prospects, but we had a bond
+of sympathy at the grave of Kosciusko. One of the ladies spoke French,
+and I told them that, in my far distant country, the name of their
+nation's idol was hallowed; that schoolboys had erected a monument to
+his memory. They knew that he had fought by the side of Washington, but
+they did not know that the recollection of his services was still so
+dearly cherished in America; and we all agreed that it was the proudest
+tribute that could be paid to his memory, to write merely his name on
+his monument. It meant that it was needless to add an epitaph, for no
+man would ask, Who was Kosciusko?
+
+It was nearly dark when I returned to my hotel. In the restaurant, at a
+small table directly opposite me, sat the celebrated Chlopicki, to whom,
+on the breaking out of the last revolution, Poland turned as to another
+Kosciusko, and who, until he faltered during the trying scenes of that
+revolution, would have been deemed worthy to lie by Kosciusko's side.
+Born of a noble family, a soldier from his birth, he served in the
+memorable campaigns of the great patriot, distinguished himself in the
+Polish legions in Italy under Dombrowski, and, as colonel of a regiment
+of the army of the Vistula, behaved gloriously in Prussia. In Spain he
+fought at Saragossa and Sagunta, and was called by Suchet _le brave des
+braves_; as general of brigade in the army of Russia, he was wounded at
+Valentina, near Smolensk, and was general of a division in eighteen
+hundred and fourteen, when Poland fell under the dominion of the
+autocrat. The Grand-duke Constantine censured him on parade, saying that
+his division was not in order; and Chlopicki, with the proud boast, "I
+did not gain my rank on the parade-ground, nor did I win my decorations
+there," asked his discharge the next day, and could never after be
+induced to return to the service. The day after the revolutionary blow
+was struck, all Poland turned to Chlopicki as the only man capable of
+standing at the head of the nation. The command of the army, with
+absolute powers, was conferred upon him by acclamation, and one of the
+patriot leaders concluded his address to him with these words: "Brother,
+take the sword of your ancestors and predecessors, Czarnecki,
+Dombrowski, and Kosciusko. Guide the nation that has placed its trust
+in you in the path of honour. Save this unhappy country." Chlopicki,
+with his silver head grown white in the service of Poland, was hailed by
+a hundred thousand people on the Champ de Mars with shouts of "our
+country and its brave defender, Chlopicki, for ever." He promised never
+to abuse their confidence, and swore that he would defend the liberty of
+Poland to the last moment. The whole nation was enthusiastic in his
+favour; but in less than three months, at a stormy session of the diet,
+he threw up his high office of dictator, and refused peremptorily to
+accept command of the army. This brave army, enthusiastically attached
+to him, was struck with profound grief at his estrangement; but, with
+all the faults imputed to him, it never was charged that he attempted to
+take advantage of his great popularity for any ambitious purposes of his
+own.
+
+At the battle of Grokow he fought nominally as a private soldier, though
+Skryznecki and Radziwill being both deficient in military experience,
+the whole army looked to him for guidance. Once, when the battle was
+setting strong against the Poles, in a moment of desperation he put
+himself at the head of some disposable battalions, and turning away from
+an aiddecamp who came to him for orders, said, "Go and ask Radziwill;
+for me, I seek only death." Grievously wounded, his wounds were dressed
+in presence of the enemy; but at two o'clock he was borne off the field,
+the hopes of the soldiers died, and the army remained without any actual
+head. Throughout the revolution his conduct was cold, indifferent, and
+inexplicable; private letters from the Emperor of Russia were talked of,
+and even _treason_ was whispered in connexion with his name. The Poles
+speak of him more in sorrow than in anger; they say that it was not
+enough that he exposed his person on the field of battle; that he should
+have given them the whole weight of his great military talents, and the
+influence of his powerful name; that, standing alone, without children
+or relations to be compromised by his acts, he should have consummated
+the glory of his life by giving its few remaining years for the liberty
+of his country. He appeared about sixty-five, with hair perfectly white,
+a high florid complexion, a firm and determined expression, and in still
+unbroken health, carrying himself with the proud bearing of a
+distinguished veteran soldier. I could not believe that he had bartered
+the precious satisfaction of a long and glorious career for a few years
+of ignoble existence; and, though a stranger, could but regret that, in
+the wane of life, circumstances, whether justly or not, had sullied an
+honoured name. It spoke loudly against him that I saw him sitting in a
+public restaurant at Cracow, unmolested by the Russian government.
+
+The next day I visited the celebrated salt-mines at Wielitska. They lie
+about, twelve miles from Cracow, in the province of Galicia, a part of
+the kingdom of Poland, which, on the unrighteous partition of that
+country, fell to the share of Austria. Although at so short a distance,
+it was necessary to go through all the passport formalities requisite on
+a departure for a foreign country. I took a fiacre and rode to the
+different bureaux of the city police, and, having procured the
+permission of the municipal authorities to leave the little territory of
+Cracow, rode next to the Austrian consul, who thereupon, and in
+consideration of one dollar to him in hand paid, was graciously pleased
+to permit me to enter the dominions of his master the Emperor of
+Austria. It was also necessary to have an order from the director of the
+mines to the superintendent; and furnished with this I again mounted my
+fiacre, rattled through the principal street, and in a few minutes
+crossed the Vistula. At the end of the bridge an Austrian soldier
+stopped me for my passport, a _douanier_ examined my carriage for
+articles subject to duty, and, these functionaries being satisfied, in
+about two hours from the time at which I began my preparations I was
+fairly on my way.
+
+Leaving the Vistula, I entered a pretty, undulating, and well-cultivated
+country, and saw at a distance a high dark line, marking the range of
+the Carpathian mountains. It was a long time since I had seen anything
+that looked like a mountain. From the Black Sea the whole of my journey
+had been over an immense plain, and I hailed the wild range of the
+Carpathian as I would the spire of a church, as an evidence of the
+approach to regions of civilization.
+
+In an hour and a half I arrived at the town of Wielitska, containing
+about three thousand inhabitants, and standing, as it were, on the roof
+of the immense subterraneous excavations. The houses are built of wood,
+and the first thing that struck me was the almost entire absence of men
+in the streets, the whole male population being employed in the mines,
+and then at work below. I rode to the office of the superintendent, and
+presented my letter, and was received with great civility of manner but
+his _Polish_ was perfectly unintelligible. A smutty-faced operative,
+just out of the mines, accosted me in Latin, and I exchanged a few shots
+with him, but hauled off on the appearance of a man whom the
+superintendent had sent for to act as my guide; an old soldier who had
+served in the campaigns of Napoleon, and, as he said, become an amateur
+and proficient in fighting and French. He was dressed in miner's
+costume, fanciful, and embroidered with gold, holding in his hand a
+steel axe; and, having arrayed me in a long white frock, conducted me to
+a wooden building covering the shaft which forms the principal entrance
+to the mine. This shaft is ten feet square, and descends perpendicularly
+more than two hundred feet into the bowels of the earth. We arranged
+ourselves in canvass seats, and several of the miners, who were waiting
+to descend, attached themselves to seats at the end of the ropes, with
+lamps in their hands, about eight or ten feet below us.
+
+When my feet left the brink of the shaft I felt, for a moment, as if
+suspended over the portal of a bottomless pit; and as my head descended
+below the surface, the rope, winding and tapering to a thread, seemed
+letting me down to the realms of Pluto. But in a few moments we touched
+bottom. From within a short distance of the surface, the shaft is cut
+through a solid rock of salt, and from the bottom passages almost
+innumerable are cut in every direction through the same bed. We were
+furnished with guides, who went before us bearing torches, and I
+followed through the whole labyrinth of passages, forming the largest
+excavations in Europe, peopled with upward of two thousand souls, and
+giving a complete idea of a subterraneous world. These mines are known
+to have been worked upward of six hundred years, being mentioned in the
+Polish annals as early as twelve hundred and thirty-seven, under
+Boleslaus the Chaste, and then not as a new discovery, but how much
+earlier they had existed cannot now be ascertained. The tradition is,
+that a sister of St. Casimir, having lost a gold ring, prayed to St.
+Anthony, the patron saint of Cracow, and was advised in a dream that, by
+digging in such a place, she would find a treasure far greater than that
+she had lost, and within the place indicated these mines were
+discovered.
+
+[Illustration: Salt-mines of Wielitska.]
+
+There are four different stories or ranges of apartments; the whole
+length of the excavations is more than six thousand feet, or three
+quarters of an hour's walk, and the greatest breadth more than two
+thousand feet; and there are so many turnings and windings that my guide
+told me, though I hardly think it possible, that the whole length of all
+the passages cut through this bed of salt amounts to more than three
+hundred miles. Many of the chambers are of immense size. Some are
+supported by timber, others by vast pillars of salt; several are without
+any support in the middle, and of vast dimensions, perhaps eighty feet
+high, and so long and broad as almost to appear a boundless
+subterraneous cavern. In one of the largest is a lake covering nearly
+the whole area. When the King of Saxony visited this place in eighteen
+hundred and ten, after taking possession of his moiety of the mines as
+Duke of Warsaw, this portion of them was brilliantly illuminated; and a
+band of music, floating on the lake, made the roof echo with patriotic
+airs. We crossed the lake in a flatboat by a rope, the dim light of
+torches, and the hollow sound of our voices, giving a lively idea of a
+passage across the Styx; and we had a scene which might have entitled us
+to a welcome from the prince of the infernals, for our torch-bearers
+quarrelled, and in a scuffle that came near carrying us all with them,
+one was tumbled into the lake. Our Charon caught him, and, without
+stopping to take him in, hurried across, and as soon as we landed beat
+them both unmercifully.
+
+From this we entered an immense cavern, in which several hundred men
+were working with pickaxes and hatchets, cutting out large blocks of
+salt, and trimming them to suit the size of barrels. With their black
+faces begrimed with dust and smoke, they looked by the light of the
+scattered torches like the journeymen of Beelzebub, the prince of
+darkness, preparing for some great blow-up, or like the spirits of the
+damned condemned to toil without end. My guide called up a party, who
+disengaged with their pickaxes a large block of salt from its native
+bed, and in a few minutes cut and trimmed it to fit the barrels in which
+they are packed. All doubts as to their being creatures of our upper
+world were removed by the eagerness with which they accepted the money I
+gave them; and it will be satisfactory to the advocates of that currency
+to know that paper money passes readily in these lower regions.
+
+There are more than a thousand chambers or halls, most of which have
+been abandoned and shut up. In one is a collection of fanciful things,
+such as rings, books, crosses, &c., cut in the rock-salt. Most of the
+principal chambers had some name printed over them, as the "Archduke,"
+"Carolina," &c. Whenever it was necessary, my guides went ahead and
+stationed themselves in some conspicuous place, lighting up the dark
+caverns with the blaze of their torches, and, after allowing me a
+sufficient time, struck their flambeaux against the wall, and millions
+of sparks flashed and floated around and filled the chamber. In one
+place, at the end of a long, dark passage, a door was thrown open, and I
+was ushered suddenly into a spacious ballroom lighted with torches; and
+directly in front, at the head of the room, was a transparency with
+coloured lights, in the centre of which were the words "Excelso
+hospiti," "To the illustrious guest," which I took to myself, though I
+believe the greeting was intended for the same royal person for whom the
+lake chamber was illuminated. Lights were ingeniously arranged around
+the room, and at the foot, about twenty feet above my head, was a large
+orchestra. On the occasion referred to a splendid ball was given in this
+room; the roof echoed with the sound of music; and nobles and princely
+ladies flirted and coquetted the same as above ground; and it is said
+that the splendid dresses of a numerous company, and the blaze of light
+from the chandeliers reflected upon the surface of the rock-salt,
+produced an effect of inconceivable brilliancy. My chandeliers were
+worse than Allan M'Aulay's strapping Highlanders with their pine
+torches, being dirty, ragged, smutty-faced rascals, who threw the light
+in streaks across the hall. I am always willing to believe fanciful
+stories; and if my guide had thrown in a handsome young princess as part
+of the welcome to the "Excelso hospiti," I would have subscribed to
+anything he said; but, in the absence of a consideration, I refused to
+tax my imagination up to the point he wished. Perhaps the most
+interesting chamber of all is the chapel dedicated to that Saint Anthony
+who brought about the discovery of these mines. It is supposed to be
+more than four hundred years old. The columns, with their ornamented
+capitals, the arches, the images of the Saviour, the Virgin and saints,
+the altar and the pulpit, with all their decorations, and the figures of
+two priests represented at prayers before the shrine of the patron
+saint, are all carved out of the rock-salt, and to this day grand mass
+is regularly celebrated in the chapel once every year.
+
+Following my guide through all the different passages and chambers, and
+constantly meeting miners and seeing squads of men at work, I descended
+by regular stairs cut in the salt, but in some places worn away and
+replaced by wood or stone, to the lowest gallery, which is nearly a
+thousand feet below the surface of the earth. I was then a rather
+veteran traveller, but up to this time it had been my business to move
+quietly on the surface of the earth, or, when infected with the soaring
+spirit of other travellers, to climb to the top of some lofty tower or
+loftier cathedral; and I had fulfilled one of the duties of a visiter to
+the eternal city by perching myself within the great ball of St.
+Peter's; but here I was far deeper under the earth than I had ever been
+above it; and at the greatest depth from which the human voice ever
+rose, I sat down on a lump of salt and soliloquized,
+
+    "Through what varieties of untried being,
+    Through what new scenes and changes must we pass!"
+
+I have since stood upon the top of the Pyramids, and admired the daring
+genius and the industry of man, and at the same time smiled at his
+feebleness when, from the mighty pile, I saw in the dark ranges of
+mountains, the sandy desert, the rich valley of the Nile and the river
+of Egypt, the hand of the world's great Architect; but I never felt
+man's feebleness more than here; for all these immense excavations, the
+work of more than six hundred years, were but as the work of ants by the
+roadside. The whole of the immense mass above me, and around and below,
+to an unknown extent, was of salt; a wonderful phenomenon in the natural
+history of the globe. All the different strata have been carefully
+examined by scientific men. The uppermost bed at the surface is sand;
+the second clay occasionally mixed with sand and gravel, and containing
+petrifactions of marine bodies; the third is calcareous stone; and from
+these circumstances it has been conjectured that this spot was formerly
+covered by the sea, and that the salt is a gradual deposite formed by
+the evaporation of its waters. I was disappointed in some of the
+particulars which had fastened themselves upon my imagination. I had
+heard and read glowing accounts of the brilliancy and luminous splendour
+of the passages and chambers, compared by some to the lustre of precious
+stones; but the salt is of a dark gray colour, almost black, and
+although sometimes glittering when the light was thrown upon it, I do
+not believe it could ever be lighted up to shine with any extraordinary
+or dazzling brightness. Early travellers, too, had reported that these
+mines contained several villages inhabited by colonies of miners, who
+lived constantly below, and that many were born and died there, who
+never saw the light of day; but all this is entirely untrue. The miners
+descend every morning and return every night, and live in the village
+above. None of them ever sleep below. There are, however, two horses
+which were foaled in the mines, and have never been on the surface of
+the earth. I looked at these horses with great interest. They were
+growing old before their time; other horses had perhaps gone down and
+told them stories of a world above which they would never know.
+
+It was late in the afternoon when I was hoisted up the shaft. These
+mines do not need the embellishment of fiction. They are, indeed, a
+wonderful spectacle, and I am satisfied that no traveller ever visited
+them without recurring to it as a day of extraordinary interest. I wrote
+my name in the book of visiters, where I saw those of two American
+friends who had preceded me about a month, mounted my barouche, and
+about an hour after dark reached the bank of the Vistula. My passport
+was again examined by a soldier and my carriage searched by a
+custom-house officer; I crossed the bridge, dined with my worthy host of
+the Hotel de la Rose Blanche, and, while listening to a touching story
+of the Polish revolution, fell asleep in my chair.
+
+And here, on the banks of the Vistula, I take my leave of the reader. I
+have carried him over seas and rivers, mountains and plains, through
+royal palaces and peasants' huts, and in return for his kindness in
+accompanying me to the end, I promise that I will not again burden him
+with my Incidents of Travel.
+
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+A NEW Classified and Descriptive Catalogue of HARPER & BROTHERS'
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+  _New York, January, 1847._
+
+
+
+
+List of Corrections:
+
+  p. 13: "Voznezeuski" was changed to "Vosnezeuski."
+
+  p. 21: "the last time in the _calèche_" was changed to "the last time
+  in the _calêche_."
+
+  p. 71: "merchandize" was changed to "merchandise" as elsewhere in
+  the book.
+
+  p. 77: "The men where nowhere" was changed to "The men were
+  nowhere."
+
+  p. 129: "sailed down the Dneiper from Kief" was changed to "sailed down
+  the Dnieper from Kief."
+
+  p. 137: "of a lilach colour" was changed to "of a lilac colour."
+
+  p. 202: "Diebisch directed the strength" was changed to "Diebitsch
+  directed the strength."
+
+
+Errata:
+
+The summary in the table of contents is not always consistent with the
+summary at the beginning of each chapter. The original has been
+retained.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Incidents of Travel in Greece, Turkey,
+Russia, and Poland, 7th ed. Vol. 2 of 2, by John Lloyd Stephens
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+      The Project Gutenberg eBook of Incidents of Travel in Greece, Turkey,
+   Russia, and Poland Vol. II, by John Lloyd Stephens.
+    </title>
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+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Incidents of Travel in Greece, Turkey,
+Russia, and Poland, 7th ed. Vol. 2 of 2, by John Lloyd Stephens
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Incidents of Travel in Greece, Turkey, Russia, and Poland, 7th ed. Vol. 2 of 2
+
+Author: John Lloyd Stephens
+
+Release Date: November 9, 2011 [EBook #37947]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL IN ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Julia Miller, Eleni Christofaki and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
+book was produced from scanned images of public domain
+material from the Google Print project.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<div class='tnote'>
+<h3>Transcriber's notes:</h3>
+
+<p>Punctuation and hyphenation have been normalised. Variable, archaic or
+unusual spelling has been retained. A list of the few corrections made can found at the end of the book.
+In the text, corrections are indicated with red dotted underlining;
+hover the mouse over the <span class="err" title="like this">underlined text</span> to see a Transcriber's Note.</p></div>
+<hr class="l65" />
+<div class="figcenter" >
+<img src="images/full_map.jpg" width="80%" alt="map" title="map" />
+</div>
+
+<hr class="l65" />
+
+<h1>INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL <br /><br />
+
+<span class="small">IN</span><br /><br />
+
+GREECE, TURKEY, RUSSIA,<br /><br />
+
+<span class="small">AND</span><br /><br />
+
+POLAND.</h1>
+
+<h2>BY THE AUTHOR OF<br />
+
+"INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL IN EGYPT, ARABIA PETRÆA, AND THE
+HOLY LAND."</h2>
+<p><br /><br /></p>
+<p class="center"><span class="smallb">WITH A MAP AND ENGRAVINGS.</span></p>
+<p><br /><br /></p>
+<p class="center"><span class="smallb">IN TWO VOLUMES.</span></p>
+<p><br /></p>
+<p class="center">VOL. II.</p>
+
+<p class="center">SEVENTH EDITION.</p>
+<p><br /></p>
+<p class="center">NEW YORK:</p>
+
+<p class="center">HARPER &amp; BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS.</p>
+
+<p class="center">329 &amp; 331 PEARL STREET,</p>
+
+<p class="center">FRANKLIN SQUARE.</p>
+
+<p class="center">1853.</p>
+
+<hr class="l65" />
+
+<p class="center">
+Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1838, by<br />
+<span class="smcap">Harper &amp; Brothers,</span><br />
+in the Clerk's Office of the Southern District of New York.</p>
+
+<hr class="l65" />
+<h2>CONTENTS<br />
+
+<span class="small">OF</span><br />
+
+THE SECOND VOLUME</h2>
+
+<p class="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I.</a></p>
+<p class="right">Page</p>
+<div class="blockquot">
+<p>Choice of a Conveyance.&mdash;Hiring a Servant.&mdash;Another American.&mdash;Beginning
+of Troubles.&mdash;A Bivouac.&mdash;Russian Jews.&mdash;The Steppes of
+Russia.&mdash;A <i>Traveller's</i> Story.&mdash;Approach to Chioff.&mdash;How to get rid of a
+Servant.&mdash;History of Chioff.</p></div><p class="right">7</p>
+
+<p class="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II.</a></p>
+<div class="blockquot">
+<p>A lucky Encounter.&mdash;Church of the Catacombs.&mdash;A Visit to the Saints.&mdash;A
+tender Parting.&mdash;Pilgrims.&mdash;Rough Treatment.&mdash;A Scene of Starvation.&mdash;Russian
+Serfs.&mdash;Devotion of the Serfs.&mdash;Approach to Moscow.</p></div><p class="right"> 28</p>
+
+<p class="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III.</a></p>
+<div class="blockquot">
+<p>Moscow.&mdash;A severe Operation.&mdash;An Exile by Accident.&mdash;Meeting with an
+Emigré.&mdash;A civil Stranger.&mdash;A Spy.&mdash;The Kremlin.&mdash;Sepulchres of the
+Czars.&mdash;The great Bell.&mdash;The great Gun.&mdash;Precious Relics.</p></div><p class="right"> 45</p>
+
+<p class="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV.</a></p>
+<div class="blockquot">
+<p>The Drosky.&mdash;Salle des Nobles.&mdash;Russian Gaming.&mdash;Gastronomy.&mdash;Pedroski.&mdash;A
+Sunday in Moscow.&mdash;A Gipsy Belle.&mdash;Tea drinking.&mdash;The
+Emperor's Garden.&mdash;Retrospective.</p></div><p class="right"> 67</p>
+
+<p class="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V.</a></p>
+<div class="blockquot">
+<p>Getting a Passport.&mdash;Parting with the Marquis.&mdash;The Language of Signs.&mdash;A
+loquacious Traveller.&mdash;From Moscow to St. Petersburgh.&mdash;The
+Wolga.&mdash;Novogorod.&mdash;Newski Perspective.&mdash;An unfortunate Mistake.&mdash;Northern
+Twilight.</p></div><p class="right"> 85</p>
+
+<p class="center"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_iv" id="Page_iv">iv</a></span><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI.</a></p>
+<div class="blockquot">
+<p>Police Requisites.&mdash;The Russian Capital.&mdash;Equestrian Statue of Peter
+the Great.&mdash;The Alexandrian Column.&mdash;Architectural Wonders.&mdash;The
+Summer Islands.&mdash;A perilous Achievement.&mdash;Origin of St. Petersburgh.&mdash;Tombs
+of dead Monarchs.&mdash;Origin of the Russian Navy.</p></div><p class="right"> 97</p>
+
+<p class="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII.</a></p>
+<div class="blockquot">
+<p>A Carroty Pole.&mdash;The Winter Palace.&mdash;Importance of a Hat.&mdash;An artificial
+Mine.&mdash;Remains of a huge Monster.&mdash;Peter the Great's Workshop.&mdash;The
+Greek Religion.&mdash;Tomb of a Hero.&mdash;A Saint Militant.&mdash;Another
+Love Affair.&mdash;The Hermitage.&mdash;The Winter and Summer Gardens.</p></div><p class="right"> 118</p>
+
+<p class="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII.</a></p>
+<div class="blockquot">
+<p>An Imperial Fête.&mdash;Nicolas of Russia.&mdash;Varied Splendours.&mdash;A Soliloquy.&mdash;House
+of Peter the Great.&mdash;A Boatrace.&mdash;Czarskoselo.&mdash;The
+Amber Chamber.&mdash;Catharine II.&mdash;The Emperor Alexander.</p></div><p class="right"> 140</p>
+
+<p class="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX.</a></p>
+<div class="blockquot">
+<p>The Soldier's Reward.&mdash;Review of the Russian Army.&mdash;American Cannibals.&mdash;Palace
+of Potemkin.&mdash;Palace of the Grand-duke Michael.&mdash;Equipments
+for Travelling.&mdash;Rough Riding.&mdash;Poland.&mdash;Vitepsk.&mdash;Napoleon
+in Poland.&mdash;The Disastrous Retreat.&mdash;Passage of the Berezina.</p></div><p class="right"> 154</p>
+
+<p class="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X.</a></p>
+<div class="blockquot">
+<p>Travel by Night.&mdash;A Rencounter.&mdash;A Traveller's Message.&mdash;Lithuania.&mdash;Poverty
+of the Country.&mdash;Agricultural Implements.&mdash;Minsk.&mdash;Polish
+Jews.&mdash;A Coin of Freedom.&mdash;Riding in a Basket.&mdash;Brezc.&mdash;The Bug.&mdash;A
+searching Operation.&mdash;Women Labourers.&mdash;Warsaw.</p></div><p class="right"> 181</p>
+
+<p class="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI.</a></p>
+<div class="blockquot">
+<p>Warsaw.&mdash;A Polish Doctor.&mdash;Battle of Grokow.&mdash;The Outbreak.&mdash;The
+fatal Issue.&mdash;Present Condition of Poland.&mdash;Polish Exiles.&mdash;Aspect of
+Warsaw.&mdash;Traits of the Poles.</p></div><p class="right"> 199</p>
+
+<p class="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII.</a></p>
+<div class="blockquot">
+<p>Religion of Poland.&mdash;Sunday in Warsaw.&mdash;Baptized Jews.&mdash;Palaces of
+the Polish Kings.&mdash;Sobieski.&mdash;Field of Vola.&mdash;Wreck of a Warrior.&mdash;The
+Poles in America.&mdash;A Polish Lady.&mdash;Troubles of a Passport.&mdash;Departure
+from Warsaw.&mdash;An official Rachel.&mdash;A mysterious Visiter.</p></div><p class="right"> 215</p>
+
+<p class="center"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">v</a></span><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII</a></p>
+<div class="blockquot">
+<p>Friendly Solicitude.&mdash;Raddom.&mdash;Symptoms of a Difficulty.&mdash;A Court of
+Inquisition.&mdash;Showing a proper Spirit.&mdash;Troubles thickening.&mdash;Approaching
+the Climax.&mdash;Woman's Influence.&mdash;The Finale.&mdash;Utility of the
+Classics.&mdash;Another Latinist.&mdash;A Lucky Accident.&mdash;Arrival at Cracow.</p></div><p class="right"> 235</p>
+
+<p class="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV.</a></p>
+<div class="blockquot">
+<p>Cracow.&mdash;Casimir the Great.&mdash;Kosciusko.&mdash;Tombs of the Polish Kings.&mdash;A
+Polish Heroine.&mdash;Last Words of a King.&mdash;A Hero in Decay.&mdash;The
+Salt-mines of Cracow.&mdash;The Descent.&mdash;The Mines.&mdash;Underground Meditations.&mdash;The
+Farewell. </p></div><p class="right">254</p>
+
+<hr class="l65" />
+<p class="title">INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL<br /><br />
+
+<span class="small">IN</span><br /><br />
+
+<span class="big">GREECE, TURKEY, RUSSIA, AND POLAND.</span></p>
+
+<hr class="full" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.</h2>
+
+<div class="chapblock"><p>Choice of a Conveyance.&mdash;Hiring a Servant.&mdash;Another American.&mdash;Beginning
+of Troubles.&mdash;A Bivouac.&mdash;Russian Jews.&mdash;The Steppes of
+Russia.&mdash;A <i>Traveller's</i> Story.&mdash;Approach to Chioff.&mdash;How to get rid of a
+Servant.&mdash;History of Chioff.</p></div>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">I had</span> before me a journey of nearly two thousand
+miles, through a country more than half barbarous, and
+entirely destitute of all accommodation for travellers.
+Southern Russia was the Scythia of Darius, "savage
+from the remotest time." "All the way," says an old
+traveller, "I never came in a house, but lodged in the
+wilderness by the river side, and carried provisions by
+the way, for there be small succour in those parts;" and
+we were advised that a century had made but little
+change in the interior of the empire. There were no
+public conveyances, and we had our choice of three
+modes of travelling; first, by a Jew's wagon, in which
+the traveller stretches out his bed, and is trundled along
+like a bale of goods, always with the same horses, and
+therefore, of necessity, making slow progress; secondly,
+the char de poste, a mere box of wood on four wheels,
+with straw in the bottom; very fast, but to be changed
+always with the posthorses; and, thirdly, posting with
+our own carriage. We did not hesitate long in choosing
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">8</a></span>the last, and bought a carriage, fortunately a good
+one, a large calêche which an Italian nobleman
+had had
+made for his own use in travelling on the Continent,
+and which he now sold, not because he did not want it,
+but because he wanted money more. Next we procured
+a podoroshni, under which, "By order of his
+Majesty Nicolas the First, autocrat of all the Russias,
+from Odessa to Moscow and Petersburgh, all the postoffices
+were commanded to give &mdash;&mdash; and &mdash;&mdash;, with
+their servant, four horses with their drivers, at the price
+fixed by law." Besides this, it was necessary to give
+security that we left no debts behind us; and if Mr.
+Ralli undertakes for all Americans the same obligation
+he did for me, it may happen that his office of consul
+will be no sinecure. Next, and this was no trifling matter,
+we got our passports arranged; the Russian ambassador
+at Constantinople, by-the-way, had given me
+a new passport in Russian, and my companion, that
+he might travel with the advantages of rank and title,
+got himself made "noble" by an extra stroke of his
+consul's pen.</p>
+
+<p>The last thing was to engage a servant. We had
+plenty of applications, but, as very few talked any
+language we understood, we had not much choice,
+one, a German, a capital fellow, was exactly the man
+we wanted, only he could not speak a word of Russian,
+which was the principal qualification we required
+in a servant. At length came a Frenchman, with an
+unusual proportion of whiskers and mustaches, and
+one of the worst of the desperate emigrés whom the
+French Revolution, or, rather, the Restoration, sent
+roaming in foreign lands. He had naturally a most
+unprepossessing physiognomy, and this was heightened
+by a sabre-cut which had knocked out several of his
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">9</a></span>teeth, and left a huge gash in his cheek and lip, and,
+moreover, made him speak very unintelligibly. When
+I asked him if he was a Frenchman, he drew himself
+up with great dignity, and replied, "Monsieur je suis
+<i>Parisien</i>." His appearance was a gross libel upon the
+Parisians; but, as we could get no one else, we took
+him upon little recommendation the day before our departure,
+and, during the same day, threatened half a
+dozen times to discharge him. The police regulation,
+obliging him to pay his debts before leaving Odessa,
+he seemed to consider peculiarly hard; and, all the time
+he was with us, kept referring to his having been obliged
+to fritter away thirty or forty rubles before he could
+leave. We ought to have furnished ourselves with
+provisions for the whole road to Moscow, and even
+cooking utensils; but we neglected it, and carried with
+us only tea and sugar, a tin teapot, two tin cups, two
+tin plates, two knives and forks, and some Bologna sausages,
+trusting, like Napoleon when he invaded Russia,
+to make up the rest by foraging.</p>
+
+<p>Before beginning our journey we had a foretaste of the
+difficulty of travelling in Russia. We had ordered posthorses
+three times, and had sent for them morning and
+evening, and received for answer that there were none in.
+At the third disappointment, our own consul being out
+of town, my friend the Spanish consul went with me to
+the director of the post, and found that during the time
+in which they had told us they had no horses, they had
+sent out more than a hundred. Instead of taxing them
+with their rascality, he talked the matter over very politely,
+paid the price of the horses, gave them a bonus
+of ten rubles, and obtained a promise by all the saints
+in the Russian calendar for daylight the next morning.</p>
+
+<p>The next morning at eight o'clock the horses came;
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">10</a></span>four shaggy, wild-looking little animals, which no comb
+or brush had ever touched, harnessed with a collar and
+rope lines. They were tied in with rope traces, all
+abreast, two on each side the pole, and a postillion with
+a low wool cap, sheepskin coat and trousers, the woolly
+side next the skin, who would make an English whip
+stare, mounted the box. Henri followed, and my companion
+and myself took our seats within. The day before
+we had a positive quarrel upon a point unnecessary
+here to mention, in which I thought and still think he
+acted wrong, and the dispute had run so high that I told
+him I regretted exceedingly having made arrangements
+for travelling with him, and proposed even then to part
+company; he objected, and as we had purchased a carriage
+jointly, and particularly as our passports were prepared,
+our podoroshni made out, and servant hired in our
+joint names, I was fain to go on; and in this inauspicious
+humour toward each other we set out for
+a journey of nearly two thousand miles, through a wild
+and desolate country, among a half-civilized people,
+whose language we could not understand, and with a
+servant whom we distrusted and disliked.</p>
+
+<p>In spite of all this, however, I felt a high degree
+of excitement in starting for the capital of Russia;
+and I will do my companion the justice to say that
+he had been always ready to receive my advances, and
+to do more than meet me half way, which I afterward
+learned was from an apprehension of the taunts of his
+companions, who, not satisfied with getting rid of him,
+had constantly told him that it was impossible for an
+Englishman and an American to travel together, and
+that we would quarrel and fight the first day. I believe
+that I am enough of an American in my feelings, but
+such an idea had never entered my head; I met many
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">11</a></span>Englishmen, and with some formed a friendship which,
+I trust, will last through life; and among all I met,
+these two were the only <i>young</i> men so far behind the
+spirit of the age as to harbour such a thought. I did meet
+one <i>old</i> gentleman, who, though showing me personally
+the greatest kindness, could not forget the old grudge.
+But men cannot be driving their elbows into each other's
+ribs, comparing money accounts, and consulting upon
+the hundred little things that present themselves on such
+a journey, without getting upon at least sociable terms;
+and before night of the first day the feelings of my companion
+and myself had undergone a decided change.</p>
+
+<p>But to go back to Odessa. At the barrier we found
+a large travelling-carriage stopping the way, in which
+was my friend Mr. Ralli, with his lady, on his way to
+Nicolaif; part of his business there was to erect a monument
+to the memory of a deceased countryman. Mr.
+Munroe, son of a former postmaster in Washington, is
+another instance of the success of American adventurers
+in Russia. He went out to St. Petersburgh with letters
+from the Russian ambassador and others, and entered
+the army, the only road to distinction in Russia. He
+accompanied the Grand-duke Constantine to Poland,
+and was made one of his aiddecamps, and on the
+death of Constantine was transferred to the staff of
+the Emperor Nicolas. At the time of the invasion of
+Turkey by the Egyptians under Ibrahim Pacha, Mr.
+Munroe held the rank of colonel in the army sent to
+the aid of the sultan. While the Russians were encamped
+at the foot of the Giant's Mountain, he visited
+Constantinople, and became acquainted with the American
+missionaries, who all spoke of him in the highest
+terms. He was a tall, well-made man, carried himself
+with a military air, and looked admirably well in the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">12</a></span>Russian uniform. On the withdrawal of the Russians
+from the Black Sea, Mr. Munroe was left in some important
+charge at Nicolaif, where he died in the opening
+of a brilliant career. I heard of him all over Russia,
+particularly from officers of the army; and being
+often asked if I knew him, regretted to be obliged to
+answer no. But, though personally unacquainted, as an
+American I was gratified with the name he had left
+behind him.</p>
+
+<p>To return again to our journey: a few rubles satisfied
+the officer at the barrier that we were carrying nothing
+prohibited out of the "free port" of Odessa, and we started
+on a full run, to the great peril of our necks, and, to
+use the climax of a Dutch proclamation, "what's more,
+of breaking our carriage." In less than an hour we
+brought up before the door of a posthouse. Our wheels
+were smoking when we stopped. On our hind axle we
+carried a bucket of grease; half a dozen bipeds in sheepskin
+whipped off the wheels and greased them; four
+quadrupeds were tied into the carriage, another bête
+mounted the box, and we were off again at a full run.
+My companion undertook to keep a memorandum of expenses,
+and we put a certain sum in a purse and paid
+out of it till all was gone. This was a glorious beginning
+for a journey of two thousand miles. The country
+possessed little interest, being mostly level, and having
+but few villages. On the way we saw a natural phenomenon
+that is common enough in Egypt and the East,
+where the country is level, and known by the name of
+<i>mirage</i>. At a distance it seemed a mere pond or lake,
+and a drove of cattle passing over it looked as if they
+were walking in the water. We rolled on rapidly all day,
+passed through Balgarha, Kodurseve, and Pakra, timing
+every post and noting every village with a particularity
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">13</a></span>which it would be tedious here to repeat, and at about
+eight in the evening dashed into the little town of
+<span class="err" title="original: Voznezeuski">Vosnezeuski</span>,
+one hundred and thirty versts from Odessa.
+Here we came to a dead stand. We had begun to entertain
+some apprehensions from the conduct of Monsieur
+Henri, who complained of the hardness of his
+seat, and asked if we did not intend to stop at night,
+recommending Vosnezeuski as a place where we could
+sleep in the posthouse; we told him that we had no idea
+of stopping but to change horses, and should go on immediately.</p>
+
+<p>Vosnezeuski lies on the river Bog, and is the chief
+town of the Cossacks of the Bog. This river is navigable
+for large vessels one hundred and fifty versts;
+beyond this for three or four hundred versts it is full of
+cataracts. The Cossacks of the Bog are a warlike tribe,
+numbering from six to seven thousand, and living under
+the same military system with the Cossacks of the
+Don. But we fell into worse hands than the Cossacks.
+The postmaster was a Jew, and at first told us that he
+had no horses; then that he had no postillion, but would
+hire one if we would pay him a certain sum, about four
+times the amount fixed by law. We had been obliged
+before to pay a few extra rubles, but this was our first
+serious difficulty with the postmasters; and, in pursuance
+of the advice received at Odessa, we talked loud,
+demanded the book which is nailed to the table in every
+posthouse for travellers to enter complaints in, and
+threatened the vengeance of Count Woronzow and every
+one else, up to the emperor; but the Jew laughed in
+our faces; looked in our podoroshni, where we were
+described as simple travellers, without any of the formidable
+array of titles which procure respect in Russia;
+told us we were no grand seigneurs, and that we must
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">14</a></span>either pay the price or wait, as our betters had done
+before us. We found too soon, as we had been advised
+at Odessa, that these fellows do not know such a character
+in society as a private gentleman; and if a man is
+not described in his podoroshni as a count, duke, or lord
+of some kind, or by some high-sounding military title,
+they think he is a merchant or manufacturer, or some
+other common fellow, and pay no regard to him. I
+relied somewhat upon my companion's having been
+made "noble," but now found that his consul had been
+rather chary of his honours, and, by the Russian word
+used, had not put him up high enough to be of any use.
+We had a long wrangle with the Jew, the result of
+which was, that we told him, probably in no very gentle
+phrase, that we would wait a month rather than submit
+to his extortion; and, drawing up the window of
+our carriage, prepared to pass the night at the door of
+the posthouse.</p>
+
+<p>One of our party was evidently well satisfied with
+this arrangement, and he was Monsieur Henri. We
+had hired him by the day to Moscow, and, if we wanted
+him, to St. Petersburgh, and very soon saw that he was
+perfectly content with the terms, and in no hurry to
+bring our journey to a close. From the moment of our
+arrival we suspected him of encouraging the postmaster
+in his efforts to detain us, and were so much fortified
+in this opinion by after circumstances, that, when he
+was about moving toward the house to pass the night
+within, we peremptorily ordered him to mount the box
+and sleep there; he refused, we insisted; and as this
+was the first day out and the first moment of actual collision,
+and it was all important to decide who should be
+master, we told him that, if he did not obey, we would
+discharge him on the spot, at the risk of being obliged
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">15</a></span>to work our way back to Odessa alone. And as he felt
+that, in that case, his debts would have been paid to no
+purpose, with a string of suppressed sacrés he took his
+place on the box. Our carriage was very comfortable,
+well lined and stuffed, furnished with pockets and everything
+necessary for the road, and we expected to sleep
+in it; but, to tell the truth, we felt rather cheap as we
+woke during the night, and looked at the shut door of
+the posthouse, and thought of the Jew sleeping away in
+utter contempt of us, and our only satisfaction was in
+hearing an occasional groan from Henri.</p>
+
+<p>That worthy individual did not oversleep himself,
+nor did he suffer the Jew to do so either. Early in the
+morning, without a word on our part, the horses were
+brought out and harnessed to our vehicle, and the same
+man whom he professed to have hired expressly for us,
+and who, no doubt, was the regular postillion, mounted
+the box. The Jew maintained his impudence to the
+last, coming round to my window, and then asking a
+few rubles as a douceur. Good English would have
+been thrown away upon him, so I resented it by drawing
+up the window of the carriage and scowling at him
+through the glass.</p>
+
+<p>Many of the postmasters along this road were Jews;
+and I am compelled to say that they were always the
+greatest scoundrels we had to deal with; and this is
+placing them on very high ground, for their inferiors
+in rascality would be accounted masters in any other
+country. No men can bear a worse character than the
+Russian Jews, and I can truly say that I found them all
+they were represented to be. They are not allowed to
+come within the territory of old Russia. Peter the
+Great refused their application to be permitted to approach
+nearer, smoothing his refusal by telling them
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">16</a></span>that his Russian subjects were greater Jews than they
+were themselves. The sagacious old monarch, however,
+was wrong; for all the money business along the
+road is in their hands. They keep little taverns, where
+they sell vodka, a species of brandy, and wring from
+the peasant all his earnings, lending the money again to
+the seigneurs at exorbitant interest. Many of them
+are rich, and though alike despised by rich and poor,
+by the seigneur and the serf, they are proud of exhibiting
+their wealth, particularly in the jewels and ornaments
+of their women. At Savonka, a little village on
+the confines of old Poland, where we were detained
+waiting for horses, I saw a young girl about sixteen, a
+Polonese, sitting on the steps of a miserable little tavern,
+sewing together some ribands, with a headdress of
+brown cloth, ornamented with gold chains and pearls
+worth six hundred rubles, diamond earrings worth a
+hundred, and a necklace of ducats and other Dutch gold
+pieces worth four hundred rubles; altogether, in our
+currency, worth perhaps two hundred and fifty dollars.</p>
+
+<p>Here, too, while sitting with Henri on the steps of the
+posthouse, I asked him in a friendly way how he could
+be such a rascal as to league with the postmaster to detain
+us at Vosnezeuski, whereupon he went at once into
+French heroics, exclaiming, "Monsieur, je suis vieux
+militaire&mdash;j'etais chasseur de Napoleon&mdash;mon honneur,"
+&amp;c.; that he had never travelled before except with
+grand seigneurs, and then <i>in</i> the carriage, more as
+compagnon de voyage than as a servant, and intimated
+that it was a great condescension to travel with us at all.</p>
+
+<p>We passed through several villages, so much alike
+and so uninteresting in appearance that I did not note
+even their names. As night approached we had great
+apprehensions that Henri would contrive to make us
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">17</a></span>stop again; but the recollection of his bed on the box
+served as a lesson, and we rolled on without interruption.
+At daylight we awoke, and found ourselves upon
+the wild steppes of Russia, forming part of the immense
+plain which, beginning in northern Germany, extends
+for hundreds of miles, having its surface occasionally
+diversified by ancient tumuli, and terminates at the long
+chain of the Urals, which, rising like a wall, separates
+them from the equally vast plains of Siberia. The
+whole of this immense plain was covered with a
+luxuriant pasture, but bare of trees like our prairie
+lands, mostly uncultivated, yet everywhere capable of
+producing the same wheat which now draws to the
+Black Sea the vessels of Turkey, Egypt, and Italy,
+making Russia the granary of the Levant; and which,
+within the last year, we have seen brought six thousand
+miles to our own doors. Our road over these steppes
+was in its natural state; that is to say, a mere track
+worn by caravans of wagons; there were no fences,
+and sometimes the route was marked at intervals by
+heaps of stones, intended as guides when the ground
+should be covered with snow. I had some anxiety
+about our carriage; the spokes of the wheels were all
+strengthened and secured by cords wound tightly around
+them, and interlaced so as to make a network; but the
+postillions were so perfectly reckless as to the fate of
+the carriage, that every crack went through me like a
+shot. The breaking of a wheel would have left us perfectly
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">18</a></span>helpless in a desolate country, perhaps more than
+a hundred miles from any place where we could get it
+repaired. Indeed, on the whole road to Chioff there
+was not a single place where we could have any material
+injury repaired; and the remark of the old traveller
+is yet emphatically true, that "there be small succour in
+these parts."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" >
+<img src="images/i_v2_p017.jpg" width="80%" alt="Tumuli on the Steppes." title="Tumuli on the Steppes" />
+<p class="caption">Tumuli on the Steppes.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>At about nine o'clock we whirled furiously into a little
+village, and stopped at the door of the posthouse.
+Our wheels were smoking with the rapidity of their
+revolutions; Henri dashed a bucket of water over them
+to keep them from burning, and half a dozen men
+whipped them off and greased them. Indeed, greasing
+the wheels is necessary at every post, as otherwise the
+hubs become dry, so that there is actual danger of their
+taking fire; and there is a <i>traveller's</i> story told (but I
+do not vouch for its truth) of a postillion, wagon, and
+passengers being all burned up on the road to Moscow
+by the ignition of the wheels.</p>
+
+<p>The village, like all the others, was built of wood,
+plastered and whitewashed, with roofs of thatched
+straw, and the houses were much cleaner than I expected
+to find them. We got plenty of fresh milk; the
+bread, which to the traveller in those countries is emphatically
+the staff of life, we found good everywhere
+in Russia, and at Moscow the whitest I ever saw.
+Henri was an enormous feeder, and, wherever we stopped,
+he disappeared for a moment, and came out with
+a loaf of bread in his hand and his mustache covered
+with the froth of quass, a Russian small beer. He said
+he was not always so voracious, but his seat was so
+hard, and he was so roughly shaken, that eating did him
+no good.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">19</a></span>Resuming our journey, we met no travellers. Occasionally
+we passed large droves of cattle, but all the
+way from Odessa the principal objects were long trains
+of wagons, fifty or sixty together, drawn by oxen, and
+transporting merchandise toward Moscow or grain to
+the Black Sea. Their approach was indicated at a
+great distance by immense clouds of dust, which gave
+us timely notice to let down our curtains and raise our
+glasses. The wagoners were short, ugly-looking fellows,
+with huge sandy mustaches and beards, black
+woolly caps, and sheepskin jackets, the wool side next
+the skin; perhaps, in many cases, transferred warm from
+the back of one animal to that of the other, where they
+remained till worn out or eaten up by vermin. They had
+among them blacksmiths and wheelwrights, and spare
+wheels, and hammer, and tools, and everything necessary
+for a journey of several hundred miles. Half of
+them were generally asleep on the top of their loads,
+and they encamped at night in caravan style, arranging
+the wagons in a square, building a large fire, and sleeping
+around it. About midday we saw clouds gathering
+afar off in the horizon, and soon after the rain began to
+fall, and we could see it advancing rapidly over the immense
+level till it broke over our heads, and in a few
+moments passed off, leaving the ground smoking with
+exhalations.</p>
+
+<p>Late in the afternoon we met the travelling equipage
+of a seigneur returning from Moscow to his estate in
+the country. It consisted of four carriages, with six or
+eight horses each. The first was a large, stately, and
+cumbrous vehicle, padded and cushioned, in which, as
+we passed rapidly by, we caught a glimpse of a corpulent
+Russian on the back seat, with his feet on the front,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">20</a></span>bolstered all around with pillows and cushions, almost
+burying every part of him but his face, and looking the
+very personification of luxurious indulgence; and yet
+probably, that man had been a soldier, and slept many a
+night on the bare ground, with no covering but his military
+cloak. Next came another carriage, fitted out in
+the same luxurious style, with the seigneur's lady and a
+little girl; then another with nurses and children; then
+beds, baggage, cooking utensils, and servants, the latter
+hanging on everywhere about the vehicle, much in the
+same way with the pots and kettles. Altogether, it was
+an equipment in caravan style, somewhat the same as
+for a journey in the desert, the traveller carrying with
+him provision and everything necessary for his comfort,
+as not expecting to procure anything on the road, nor
+to sleep under a roof during the whole journey. He
+stops when he pleases, and his servants prepare his
+meals, sometimes in the open air, but generally at the
+posthouse. We had constant difficulties with Henri
+and the postmasters, but, except when detained for an
+hour or two by these petty tyrants, we rolled on all
+night, and in the morning again woke upon the same
+boundless plain.</p>
+
+<p>The posthouse was usually in a village, but sometimes
+stood alone, the only object to be seen on the
+great plain. Before it was always a high square post,
+with black and white stripes, marking the number of
+versts from station to station; opposite to this Henri
+dismounted, and presented the podoroshni or imperial
+order for horses. But the postmasters were high above
+the laws; every one of them seemed a little autocrat in
+his own right, holding his appointment rather to prey
+upon than to serve travellers; and the emperor's government
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">21</a></span>would be but badly administered if his ukases
+and other high-sounding orders did not carry with them
+more weight than his podoroshni. The postmasters
+obeyed it when they pleased, and when they did not,
+made a new bargain. They always had an excuse; as,
+for instance, that they had no horses, or were keeping
+them in reserve for a courier or grand seigneur; but
+they listened to reason when enforced by rubles, and, as
+soon as a new bargain was made, half a dozen animals
+in sheepskin went out on the plain and drove up fifteen
+or twenty horses, small, rugged, and tough, with long
+and shaggy manes and tails, which no comb or brush had
+ever touched, and, diving among them promiscuously,
+caught four, put on rope headstalls, and tied them to our
+rope traces. The postillion mounted the box, and shouting
+and whipping his horses, and sometimes shutting his
+eyes, started from the post on a full gallop, carried us
+like the wind, ventre à terre, over the immense plain,
+sometimes without a rut or any visible mark to guide
+him, and brought us up all standing in front of the next
+post. A long delay and a short post, and this was the
+same over and over again during the whole journey.
+The time actually consumed in making progress was
+incredibly short, and I do not know a more beautiful way
+of getting over the ground than posting in Russia with
+a man of high military rank, who can make the postmasters
+give him horses immediately on his arrival. As
+for us, after an infinite deal of vexation and at a ruinous
+expense, on the morning of the fourth day we were within
+one post of Chioff. Here we heard with great satisfaction
+that a diligence was advertised for Moscow, and
+we determined at once to get rid of carriage, posting,
+and Henri. We took our seats for the last time in the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">22</a></span>
+<span class="err" title="original: calèche"><i>calêche</i></span> gave the postillion a double allowance of kopeks,
+and in half an hour saw at a great distance the
+venerable city of Chioff, the ancient capital of Russia.
+It stands at a great height, on the crest of an amphitheatre
+of hills, which rise abruptly in the middle of an immense
+plain, apparently thrown up by some wild freak
+of nature, at once curious, unique, and beautiful. The
+style of its architecture is admirably calculated to give
+effect to its peculiar position; and, after a dreary journey
+over the wild plains of the Ukraine, it breaks upon the
+traveller with all the glittering and gorgeous splendour of
+an Asiatic city. For many centuries it has been regarded
+as the Jerusalem of the North, the sacred and holy city of
+the Russians; and, long before reaching it, its numerous
+convents and churches, crowning the summit and hanging
+on the sides of the hill, with their quadrupled domes,
+and spires, and chains, and crosses, gilded with ducat
+gold and glittering in the sun, gave the whole city the appearance
+of golden splendour. The churches and monasteries
+have one large dome in the centre, with a spire
+surmounted by a cross, and several smaller domes around
+it, also with spires and crosses connected by pendant
+chains, and all gilded so purely that they never tarnish.
+We drove rapidly to the foot of the hill, and ascended
+by a long wooden paved road to the heart of the city.</p>
+
+<p>During the whole of our last post our interest had
+been divided between the venerable city and the rogue
+Henri. My companion, who, by-the-way, spoke but
+little French disliked him from the first. We had
+long considered him in league with all the Jews and
+postmasters on the road, and had determined under no
+circumstances to take him farther than Chioff; but as
+we had hired him to Moscow, the difficulty was how to
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">23</a></span>get rid of him. He might take it into his head that, if
+we did not know when we had a good servant, he knew
+when he had good masters; but he was constantly
+grumbling about his seat, and calculated upon three or
+four days' rest at Chioff. So, as soon as we drove up
+to the door of the hotel, we told him to order breakfast
+and posthorses. He turned round as if he had not fully
+comprehended us. We repeated the order, and for the
+first time since he had been with us he showed something
+like agility in dismounting; fairly threw himself
+from the box, swore he would not ride another verst that
+day for a thousand rubles, and discharged us on the
+spot. We afterward paid him to his entire satisfaction,
+indemnifying him for the money he had squandered in
+paying his debts at Odessa, and found him more useful
+at Chioff than he had been at any time on the road.
+Indeed, we afterward learned what was rather ludicrous,
+viz., that he, our pilot and interpreter through the wilderness
+of Russia, knew but little more of Russian than we
+did ourselves. He could ask for posthorses and the
+ordinary necessaries of life, count money, &amp;c., but could
+not support a connected conversation, nor speak nor
+understand a long sentence. This changed our suspicions
+of his honesty into admiration of his impudence;
+but, in the mean time, when he discharged us,
+we should have been rather destitute if it had not been
+for the servant of a Russian traveller, who spoke French,
+and, taking our direction from him, we mounted a drosky
+and rode to the office of the diligence, which was
+situated in the Podolsk or lower town, and at which we
+found ourselves particularly well received by the proprietor.
+He said that the attempt to run a diligence
+was discouraging; that he had advertised two weeks,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">24</a></span>and had not booked a single passenger; but, if he could
+get two, he was determined to try the experiment. We
+examined the vehicle, which was very large and convenient,
+and, satisfied that there was no danger of all
+the places being taken, we left him until we could make
+an effort to dispose of our carriage. Relieved from all
+anxiety as to our future movements, we again mounted
+our drosky. Ascending the hill, we passed the fountain
+where St. Vladimir baptized the first Russian converts;
+the spring is held sacred by the Christians now, and
+a column bearing a cross is erected over it, to commemorate
+the pious act and the ancient sovereignty of
+Chioff.</p>
+
+<p>The early history of this city is involved in some
+obscurity. Its name is supposed to be derived from
+Kiovi or Kii, a Sarmatian word signifying heights or
+mountains; and its inhabitants, a Sarmatian tribe, were
+denominated Kivi or mountaineers. It is known to
+have been a place of consequence in the fifth century,
+when the Suevi, driven from their settlements on the
+Danube, established themselves here and at Novogorod.
+In the beginning of the tenth century it was the capital
+and most celebrated and opulent city in Russia, or in
+that part of Europe. Boleslaus the Terrible notched
+upon its "golden gate" his "miraculous sword," called
+by the monks "the sword of God," and the Poles entered
+and plundered it of its riches. In the latter part
+of the same century the capital of Russia again fell before
+the conquering arms of the Poles. Kiev was at that
+time the foster-child of Constantinople and the Eastern
+empire. The voluptuous Greeks had stored it with all
+the luxuries of Asia; the noble architecture of Athens
+was festooned with the gaudy tapestry of Lydia, and the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">25</a></span>rough metal of Russian swords embossed with the polished
+gold of Ophir and Persia. Boleslaus II., shut up
+within the "golden gate" of this city of voluptuousness,
+quaffed the bowl of pleasure till its intoxicating draught
+degraded all the nobler energies of his nature. His
+army of warriors followed his example, and slept away
+month after month on the soft couches of Kiev; and in
+the language of the historian, as if they had eaten of the
+fabled fruit of the lotos-tree, at length forgot that their
+houses were without masters, their wives without husbands,
+and their children without parents.</p>
+
+<p>But these tender relations were not in like manner
+oblivious; and, after seven years of absence, the Poles
+were roused from their trance of pleasure by the tidings
+of a revolt among the women at home, who, tired of
+waiting their return, in revenge gave themselves up to
+the embraces of their slaves. Burning under the disgrace,
+the Poles hurried home to wreak their vengeance
+on wives and paramours; but they met at Warsaw a
+bloody resistance; the women, maddened by despair,
+urged on their lovers, many of them fighting in person,
+and seeking out on the battle-field their faithless husbands:
+an awful warning to married men!</p>
+
+<p>For a long time Kiev was the prey alternately of the
+Poles, the Lithuanians, and the Tartars, until in 1686
+it was finally ceded by the Poles to Russia. The city
+is composed of three distinct quarters; the old, with its
+Polish fortifications, containing the palace of the emperor,
+and being the court end; the Petcherk fortress,
+built by Peter the Great, with ditches and high ramparts,
+and an arsenal capable of containing eighty or a
+hundred thousand stand of arms; and the Podolsk, or
+business part, situated at the foot of the hill on the banks
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">26</a></span>of the Dnieper. It contains thirty thousand inhabitants
+besides a large military garrison, partly of Cossack
+troops, and one pretty good hotel; but no beds, and none
+of those soft couches which made the hardy Poles
+sleep away their senses; and though a welcome resting-place
+for a traveller through the wild plains of Russia,
+it does not now possess any such attraction as to put in
+peril the faith and duties of husbands. By its position
+secluded from intercourse with strangers, Kiev is still
+thoroughly a Russian city, retaining in full force its
+Asiatic style of architecture; and the old Russian, wedded
+to the manners and customs of his fathers, clings to
+it as a place which the hand of improvement has not
+yet reached; among other relics of the olden time, the
+long beard still flourishes with the same solemn dignity
+as in the days of Peter the Great. Lying a hundred
+miles away from the direct road between Moscow and
+the Black Sea, few European travellers visit it; and
+though several of them have done so since, perhaps
+I was the first American who ever passed through it.</p>
+
+<p>We passed the morning in riding round to the numerous
+convents and churches, among which is the church
+of St. Sophia, the oldest in Russia, and, if not an exact
+model of the great St. Sophia of Constantinople, at least
+of Byzantine design; and toward evening went to the
+emperor's garden. This garden is more than a mile in
+length, bounded on one side by the high precipitous
+bank of the hill, undulating in its surface, and laid out
+like an English park, with lawn, gravel-walks, and trees;
+it contains houses of refreshment, arbours or summer-houses,
+and a summer theatre. At the foot of the hill
+flows the Dnieper, the ancient Borysthenes, on which,
+in former days the descendants of Odin and Ruric descended
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">27</a></span>to plunder Constantinople. Two or three sloops
+were lying, as it were, asleep in the lower town, telling
+of a still interior country, and beyond was a boundless
+plain covered with a thick forest of trees. The view
+from this bank was unique and extraordinary, entirely
+different from anything I ever saw in natural scenery,
+and resembling more than anything else a boundless
+marine prospect.</p>
+
+<p>At the entrance of the garden is an open square or
+table of land overlooking the plain, where, every evening
+at seven o'clock, the military band plays. The
+garden is the fashionable promenade, the higher classes
+resorting to it in carriages and on horseback, and the
+common people on foot; the display of equipages was
+not very striking, although there is something stylish
+in the Russian manner of driving four horses, the leaders
+with very long traces and a postillion; and soldiers
+and officers, with their splendid uniforms, caps,
+and plumes, added a brilliant effect.</p>
+
+<p>Before the music began, all returned from the promenade
+or drive in the garden, and gathered in the square.
+It was a beautiful afternoon in June, and the assemblage
+was unusually large and brilliant; the carriages
+drew up in a line, the ladies let down the glasses, and
+the cavaliers dismounted, and talked and flirted with
+them just as in civilized countries. All Chioff was
+there, and the peasant in his dirty sheepskin jacket, the
+shopkeeper with his long surtout and beard, the postillion
+on his horse, the coachman on his box, the dashing
+soldier, the haughty noble and supercilious lady, touched
+by the same chord, forgot their temporal distinctions,
+and listened to the swelling strains of the music till the
+last notes died away. The whole mass was then in
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">28</a></span>motion, and in a few moments, except by a few stragglers,
+of whom I was one, the garden was deserted.
+At about ten o'clock I returned to my hotel. We had
+no beds, and slept in our cloaks on settees stuffed with
+straw and covered with leather. We had no coverlets;
+still, after four days and nights in a carriage, it was a
+luxury to have plenty of kicking room.</p>
+
+<hr class="l65" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.</h2>
+
+<div class="chapblock"><p>A lucky Encounter.&mdash;Church of the Catacombs.&mdash;A Visit to the Saints.&mdash;A
+tender Parting.&mdash;Pilgrims.&mdash;Rough Treatment.&mdash;A Scene of Starvation.&mdash;Russian
+Serfs.&mdash;Devotion of the Serfs.&mdash;Approach to Moscow.</p></div>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Early</span> in the morning, while I was standing in the
+yard of the hotel, chaffering with some Jews about the
+sale of our carriage, an officer in a faded, threadbare
+uniform, with two or three ribands at his buttonhole
+and stars sparkling on his breast, came up, and, taking
+me by the hand, told me, in capital English, that he had
+just heard of the arrival of two English gentlemen, and
+had hurried down to see them; that he was a great admirer
+of the English, and happy to have an opportunity,
+in the interior of his own country, to show its hospitalities
+to the natives of the Island Queen. At the
+risk of losing the benefit of his attentions, I was obliged
+to disclaim my supposed English character, and to publish,
+in the heart of a grinding despotism, that I was a
+citizen of a free republic. Nor did I suffer for my candour;
+for, by one of those strange vagaries which sometimes
+happen, we cannot tell how or why, this officer
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">29</a></span>in the service of Russia had long looked to America
+and her republican government as the perfection of an
+ideal system. He was in Chioff only by accident.
+Wounded in the last campaign against the Turks, he
+had taken up his abode at Ismail, where, upon his pension
+and a pittance of his own, he was able to live respectably
+as a poor officer. With no friends or connexions,
+and no society at Ismail, his head seemed to
+have run principally upon two things, apparently having
+no connexion with each other, but intimately connected
+in his mind, viz., the British possessions in India and the
+United States of America; and the cord that bound them
+together was the wide diffusion of the English language
+by means of these powerful agents. He told me more
+than I ever knew of the constitution and government of
+the East India Company, and their plan of operations;
+and, in regard to our own country, his knowledge was
+astonishing; he knew the names and character, and
+talked familiarly of all our principal men, from the time
+of Washington to the present day; had read all our
+standard works, and was far more familiar with those
+of Franklin, Irving, &amp;c., than I was; in short, he told
+me that he had read every American book, pamphlet,
+or paper he could lay his hands on; and so intimate
+was his knowledge of detail, that he mentioned Chestnut-street
+by name as one of the principal streets in
+Philadelphia. It may be supposed that I was not sorry
+to meet such a man in the heart of Russia. He devoted
+himself to us, and seldom left us, except at night,
+until we left the city.</p>
+
+<p>After breakfast, accompanied by our new friend with
+as unpronounceable a name as the best in Russia, we
+visited the catacombs of the Petcherskoi monastery.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">30</a></span>I have before remarked that Chioff is the holy city of
+the Russians, and the crowds of pilgrims we met at
+every turn in the streets constantly reminded us that
+this was the great season of the pilgrimage. I was
+but imperfectly acquainted with the Russian character,
+but in no one particular had I been so ignorant as in
+regard to their religious impressions. I had seen Italian,
+Greek, and Turkish devotees, but the Russian surpassed
+them all; and, though deriving their religion from
+strangers, they exceed the punctilious Greeks themselves
+in the observance of its minutest forms. Censurable,
+indeed, would he be considered who should
+pass, in city or in highway, the figure of the cross, the
+image of the Virgin, or any of the numerous family of
+saints, without taking off his hat and making on his
+breast the sacred sign of the cross; and in a city like
+Chioff, where every turn presents some new object
+claiming their worship, the eyes of our drosky boy were
+rapidly turning from one side to the other, and his hand
+was almost constantly in a quick mechanical motion.</p>
+
+<p>The Church of the Catacombs, or the Cathedral of
+the Assumption, attached to the monastery, stands a little
+out of the city, on the banks of the Dnieper. It was
+founded in ten hundred and seventy-three, and has seven
+golden domes with golden spires, and chains connecting
+them. The dome of the belfry, which rises above the
+hill to the height of about three hundred feet, and above
+the Dnieper to that of five hundred and eighty-six, is
+considered by the Russians a chef d'&#339;uvre of architecture.
+It is adorned with Doric and Ionic columns and
+Corinthian pilasters; the whole interior bears the venerable
+garb of antiquity, and is richly ornamented with
+gold, silver, and precious stones and paintings; indeed,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">31</a></span>it is altogether very far superior to any Greek
+church I had then seen.</p>
+
+<p>In the immense catacombs under the monastery lie
+the unburied bodies of the Russian saints, and year after
+year thousands and tens of thousands come from
+the wilds of Siberia and the confines of Tartary to kneel
+at their feet and pray. In one of the porches of the
+church we bought wax tapers, and, with a long procession
+of pilgrims, bareheaded and with lighted tapers in
+our hands, descended a long wooden staircase to the
+mouth of the catacomb. On each side along the staircase
+was ranged a line of kneeling devotees, of the same
+miserable description I had so often seen about the
+churches in Italy and Greece. Entering the excavated
+passages of the catacombs, the roof of which was black
+from the smoke of candles, we saw on each side, in
+niches in the walls, and in open coffins, enveloped in
+wrappers of cloth and silk, ornamented with gold and silver,
+the bodies of the Russian saints. These saints are
+persons who have led particularly pure and holy lives,
+and by reason thereof have ascended into heaven, where
+they are supposed to exercise an influence with the
+Father and Son; and their bodies are left unburied that
+their brethren may come to them for intercession, and,
+seeing their honours after death, study to imitate them in
+the purity of their lives. The bodies are laid in open coffins,
+with the stiffened hands so placed as to receive the
+kisses of pilgrims, and on their breasts are written their
+names, and sometimes a history of their virtuous actions.
+But we saw there other and worse things than these,
+monuments of wild and desperate fanaticism; for besides
+the bodies of saints who had died at God's appointed
+time, in one passage is a range of small windows, where
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">32</a></span>men had with their own hands built themselves in with
+stones against the wall, leaving open only a small hole
+by which to receive their food; and died with the impious
+thought that they were doing their Maker good
+service. These little windows close their dwelling and
+their tomb; and the devoted Russian, while he kneels
+before them, believes that their unnatural death has purchased
+for them everlasting life, and place and power
+among the spirits of the blessed.</p>
+
+<p>We wandered a long time in this extraordinary burial-place,
+everywhere strewed with the kneeling figures
+of praying pilgrims. At every turn we saw hundreds
+from the farthest parts of the immense empire of Russia;
+perhaps at that time more than three thousand were wandering
+in these sepulchral chambers.</p>
+
+<p>The last scene I shall never forget. More than a
+hundred were assembled in a little chapel, around which
+were arranged the bodies of men who had died in peculiar
+sanctity. All were kneeling on the rocky floor,
+an old priest, with a long white beard streaming down
+his breast, was in the midst of them, and all there, even
+to the little children, were listening with rapt attention,
+as if he were preaching to them matters of eternal
+moment. There was no hypocrisy or want of faith in
+that vast sepulchre; surrounded by their sainted dead,
+they were searching their way to everlasting life, and
+in all honesty believed that they saw the way before
+them. We ascended once more to the regions of upper
+air, and stopped a few moments in the courtyard of the
+monastery, where the beggar pilgrims were eating the
+hard bread distributed to them by the monks from the
+bounty of government. No man seemed more relieved
+than the major. He was a liberal in religion as well as
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">33</a></span>in politics, but he crossed himself everywhere most
+devoutly, to avoid, as he said, offending the prejudices
+of his countrymen, though once he rather scandalized a
+group of pilgrims by cross-questioning a monk about a
+new saint, who seemed to be receiving more than a
+usual share of veneration, and who, he said, had been
+canonized since he was there last.</p>
+
+<p>But there is a time for all things, and nothing is more
+absolutely fixed by Nature's laws than a time for dinner.
+Almost at the first moment of our acquaintance the
+major had told me of an engraving representing a scene
+in <i>New-York</i>, which was to be found at a second or
+third rate hotel, and I proposed to him, in compliment
+to the honest publican who had the good taste to have
+such a picture in his house, to go there and dine. We
+went, and in a large room, something like a barroom in
+our hotels, saw on one of the walls, in a black wooden
+frame, a gaudy and flaring engraving representing the
+pulling down of the statue of George the Second in the
+Bowling Green. The Bowling Green was associated
+with my earliest recollections. It had been my playground
+when a boy; hundreds of times I had climbed
+over its fence for my ball, and I was one of a band of
+boys who held on to it long after the corporation invaded
+our rights. Captain Cook mentions the effect produced
+upon his crew by finding at one of the savage islands he
+visited a silver spoon marked "London;" my feelings
+were, in a small way, of the same nature. The grouping
+of the picture was rude and grotesque, the ringleader
+being a long negro stripped to his trousers, and straining
+with all his might upon a rope, one end of which
+was fastened to the head of the statue, and the other
+tied around his own waist, his white teeth and the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">34</a></span>whites of his eyes being particularly conspicuous on a
+heavy ground of black. It was a poor specimen of art,
+but it was a home scene; we drew up our table opposite
+the picture, and here, in the very headquarters of
+despotism, I found a liberal spirit in an officer wearing
+the uniform of the autocrat, who pledged me in the
+toast, "Success to liberty throughout the world."</p>
+
+<p>I had another occupation, which savoured more of
+home, and served to keep my faculties from rusting;
+and that was the sale of our carriage. We had made
+a calculation, and found that it would be cheaper, to say
+nothing of other advantages, to give it away, and take
+the diligence to Moscow, than go on posting. We
+accordingly offered it for sale, and every time we returned
+to the house found a group of Jews examining it.
+The poor thing found no favour in their eyes; they told
+us that we had been riding in it at peril of our lives;
+that we might be thankful it had not broken down on the
+road; and, in short, that it was worth nothing except
+for old iron, and for that it was worth forty-five rubles,
+or about <i>nine dollars</i>. We could not stand this. It
+had cost us one hundred and forty less than a week before,
+was cheap at that, and as good now as when we
+bought it. On the eve of departure, therefore, we offered
+it to our landlord for three days' board; but the
+old Turk (he was a Jew turned Christian, and in his
+regenerated worse than his natural state) refused our
+offer, thinking that we would go away and leave it on
+his hands. But we resolved to burn it first; and while
+hesitating about offering it to our friend the major, he
+relieved us from all delicacy by telling us that he did
+not want it, and had no horses to put to it; to save us
+from imposition, he would willingly give us the full
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">35</a></span>value, but he was not worth the money. He had, however,
+a piece of fifty rubles, or about ten dollars, in his
+pocket, and, if we would take that, he would keep the
+carriage as a souvenir. We gladly accepted his offer,
+and had the satisfaction of finding that we had grievously
+disappointed both the Jews and our landlord.</p>
+
+<p>In the morning the proprietor of the diligence, learning
+that we had sold our vehicle, raised the price of
+places fifty rubles apiece; the major heard of it, and
+insisted upon our taking back the carriage, when the
+proprietor took another tone, talked of the expense of
+sending his huge vehicle with only two passengers, and
+we listened and assented. We started to accompany
+him, and just at the door of the hotel saw two runaway
+horses coming furiously down the street with a drosky,
+and an officer entangled and dragging on the ground.
+We picked him up and carried him into the hotel. He
+was a noble-looking man, who but a few minutes before
+had attracted my attention by his proud and manly bearing,
+now a miserable mangled object, his clothes torn,
+his plume soiled with mud, and his face covered with
+dust and blood, and, when we left, it was uncertain
+whether he would live or die.</p>
+
+<p>The major accompanied us to the office of the diligence,
+and our parting was rather tender; he rubbed his
+mustache on both my cheeks, wrote his name in my
+memorandum-book, and I gave him my address; he
+said that our visit had been an interlude relieving the
+dull monotony of his life; that we were going to new
+scenes, and would soon forget him, but he would not
+forget us. Nor shall I forget him, although it is not
+probable that he and I will ever meet again.</p>
+
+<p>We took our seats in the diligence for Moscow, and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">36</a></span>set off with an uncommon degree of satisfaction at having
+got rid of posting and of Henri, and, with them, of
+all our troubles. We had nothing to do, no wrangling
+with postmasters, no cheating to undergo from Jews,
+and were in that happy state which made the honest
+Hibernian indifferent to an upset or a breakdown; that
+is to say, we were merely passengers. With great
+pomp and circumstance we drove through the principal
+streets, to advise the Knickerbockers of Chioff of the
+actual departure of the long-talked-of diligence, the conducteur
+sounding his trumpet, and the people stopping
+in the streets and running to the doors to see the extraordinary
+spectacle.</p>
+
+<p>We descended the long wooden road to the river, and
+crossed the Dnieper on a bridge about half a mile long.
+On the opposite bank I turned for the last time to the
+sacred city, and I never saw anything more unique and
+strikingly beautiful than the high, commanding position
+of "this city on a hill," crowned with its golden cupolas
+and domes, that reflected the sun with dazzling
+brightness.</p>
+
+<p>For a short distance the country was rather undulating,
+but soon settled into the regular steppe. We rolled on
+all day without anything to annoy us or even to interest
+us, except processions of pilgrims on their way to Chioff.
+They travelled on foot in bands of one or two hundred,
+men, women, and children, headed by a white-bearded
+monk, barefooted, and leaning on a staff. During the
+night I was roused by a loud chant, and, looking out,
+saw a group of more than a hundred pilgrims gathered
+round a fire, with an old monk in the midst of them,
+breaking the stillness of night with songs of devotion;
+and all the night long, as we rode swiftly by, I saw by
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">37</a></span>the bright moonlight groups of forty, fifty, or a hundred
+lying by the roadside asleep under the trees. More than
+fifty thousand pilgrims that year visited the catacombs
+of Kiev, coming from every part of the immense empire
+of Russia, and many from Kamschatka and the most
+distant region of Siberia, performing the whole journey
+on foot, seldom sleeping under a roof, and living upon
+the precarious charity of the miserable peasants on the
+road. I have since seen the gathering of pilgrims at
+Jerusalem, and the whole body moving together from
+the gates of the city to bathe in the Jordan, and I have
+seen the great caravan of forty thousand true believers
+tracking their desolate way through the deserts of Arabia
+to the tomb of the Prophet at Mecca; but I remember,
+as if they were before me now, the groups of Russian
+pilgrims strewed along the road and sleeping under
+the pale moonlight, the bare earth their bed, the heavens
+their only covering.</p>
+
+<p>In the morning we stopped at a little town, where the
+posthouse had in front four Corinthian columns supporting
+a balcony. Inside, mats were placed against the
+broken windows, the walls were rough logs, the floor
+of mud, with pigs and children disputing its possession,
+and the master and mistress stood in special need of the
+purifying influence of a Russian bath. We brought the
+teaurn out on the balcony, and had a cow brought up
+and milked in our presence. After breakfast we lighted
+our pipes and strolled up the street. At the upper end,
+an old man in a civil uniform hailed us from the opposite
+side, and crossed over to meet us; supposing him to be
+some dignitary disposed to show us the civilities of the
+town, we waited to receive him with all becoming respect;
+but, as he approached, were rather startled by
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">38</a></span>the loud tone of his voice and the angry expression of
+his face, and more so when, as soon as within reach, he
+gave my pipe-stick a severe rap with his cane, which
+knocked it out of my mouth, broke the bowl, and scattered
+the contents on the ground. I picked up the
+stick, and should, perhaps, have laid it over his head
+but for his gray hairs; and my companion, seeing him
+tread out the sparks of fire, recollected that there was a
+severe penalty in Russia against smoking in the streets.
+The houses are all of wood; whole villages and towns
+are often burned down at once, and probably the old
+man had begun by a civil intimation to that effect; but,
+indignant at my quietly smoking in his face, had used
+more summary measures. He was in a perfect fury;
+and calling at the top of his voice to a man up the street,
+the latter went off with such a suspicious looking-for-a-police-officer
+movement, that we hurried back to the
+diligence, which happened to be ready and waiting for
+us, and started from the town on a full run.</p>
+
+<p>That night, in a miserable posthouse in a miserable
+village, we found an old billiard-table. It seemed
+strangely out of place, and I had a great curiosity to
+know how it had found its way there; but it was twelve
+o'clock, and all were asleep but the postillion. I can
+give no account of the rest of the night's work. I had
+a large cushioned seat of the diligence to myself, certainly
+the softest bed I had yet had in Russia; and
+when I put my feet out of the window, it was so comfortable
+that I felt myself in some danger of falling into
+luxurious habits.</p>
+
+<p>At daylight we arrived in a large village, the inhabitants
+of which were not yet stirring, and the streets were
+strewed with peasants, grim, yellow-bearded fellows, in
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">39</a></span>sheepskin dresses and caps, lying on their backs asleep,
+each of them with a log of wood under his head for a
+pillow. I descended from the diligence, and found that
+the whole village consisted of a single street, with log-houses
+on each side, having their gable ends in front;
+the doors were all open, and I looked in and saw men
+and women with all their clothes on, pigs, sheep, and
+children strewed about the floor.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" >
+<img src="images/i_v2_p039.jpg" width="80%" alt="Russian Village." title="Russian Village" />
+<p class="caption">Russian Village.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>In every house was the image of the Panagia, or all
+holy Virgin, or the picture of some tutelary saint, the face
+only visible, the rest covered with a tin frame, with a
+lamp or taper burning before it; and regularly as the
+serf rose he prostrated himself and made his orisons at
+this domestic shrine.</p>
+
+<p>About noon we passed the chateau and grounds of a
+seigneur; belonging to the chateau was a large church
+standing in a conspicuous situation, with a green dome,
+surmounted by the Greek cross; and round it were the
+miserable and filthy habitations of his slaves. Entering
+the village, we saw a spectacle of wretchedness and
+misery seldom surpassed even on the banks of the Nile.
+The whole population was gathered in the streets, in a
+state of absolute starvation. The miserable serfs had
+not raised enough to supply themselves with food, and
+men of all ages, half-grown boys, and little children
+were prowling the streets or sitting in the doorways,
+ravenous with hunger, and waiting for the agent to come
+down from the chateau and distribute among them bread.</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">40</a></span>I had found in Russia many interesting subjects of
+comparison between that country and my own, but it
+was with deep humiliation I felt that the most odious
+feature in that despotic government found a parallel in
+ours. At this day, with the exception of Russia, some
+of the West India Islands, and the republic of the United
+States, every country in the civilized world can respond
+to the proud boast of the English common law,
+that the moment a slave sets foot on her soil he is free.
+I respect the feelings of others and their vested rights,
+and would be the last to suffer those feelings or those
+rights to be wantonly violated; but I do not hesitate to
+say that, abroad, slavery stands as a dark blot upon our
+national character. There it will not admit of any palliation;
+it stands in glaring contrast with the spirit of
+our free institutions; it belies our words and our hearts;
+and the American who would be most prompt to repel
+any calumny upon his country withers under this reproach,
+and writhes with mortification when the taunt is
+hurled at the otherwise stainless flag of the free republic.
+I was forcibly struck with a parallel between the white
+serfs of the north of Europe and African bondsmen at
+home. The Russian boor, generally wanting the comforts
+which are supplied to the negro on our best-ordered
+plantations, appeared to me to be not less degraded in
+intellect, character, and personal bearing. Indeed, the
+marks of physical and personal degradation were so
+strong, that I was insensibly compelled to abandon certain
+theories not uncommon among my countrymen at
+home, in regard to the intrinsic superiority of the white
+race over all others. Perhaps, too, this impression was
+aided by my having previously met with Africans of intelligence
+and capacity, standing upon a footing of perfect
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">41</a></span>equality as soldiers and officers in the Greek army
+and the sultan's.</p>
+
+<p>The serfs of Russia differ from slaves with us in the
+important particular that they belong to the soil, and
+cannot be sold except with the estate; they may change
+masters, but cannot be torn from their connexions or
+their birthplace. One sixth of the whole peasantry of
+Russia, amounting to six or seven millions, belong to
+the crown, and inhabit the imperial demesne, and pay
+an annual tax. In particular districts, many have been
+enfranchised, and become burghers and merchants; and
+the liberal and enlightened policy of the present emperor
+is diffusing a more general system of melioration
+among these subjects of his vast empire. The rest of
+the serfs belong to the nobles, and are the absolute
+property and subject to the absolute control of their
+masters, as much as the cattle on their estates. Some
+of the seigneurs possess from seventy to more than a
+hundred thousand; and their wealth depends upon the
+skill and management with which the labour of these
+serfs is employed. Sometimes the seigneur sends the
+most intelligent to Petersburgh or Moscow to learn some
+handicraft, and then employs them on his own estates,
+hires them out, or allows them to exercise their trade on
+their own account on payment of an annual sum. And
+sometimes, too, he gives the serf a passport, under which
+he is protected all over Russia, settles in a city, and engages
+in trade, and very often accumulates enough to
+ransom himself and his family. Indeed, there are many
+instances of a serf's acquiring a large property, and even
+rising to eminence. But he is always subject to the
+control of his master; and I saw at Moscow an old
+mongik who had acquired a very large fortune, but was
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">42</a></span>still a slave. His master's price for his freedom had
+advanced with his growing wealth, and the poor serf,
+unable to bring himself to part with his hard earnings,
+was then rolling in wealth with a collar round his neck;
+struggling with the inborn spirit of freedom, and hesitating
+whether to die a beggar or a slave.</p>
+
+<p>The Russian serf is obliged to work for his master
+but three days in the week; the other three he may
+work for himself on a portion of land assigned to him
+by law on his master's estate. He is never obliged to
+work on Sunday, and every saint's day or fête day of
+the church is a holyday. This might be supposed to
+give him an opportunity of elevating his character and
+condition; but, wanting the spirit of a free agent, and
+feeling himself the absolute property of another, he
+labours grudgingly for his master, and for himself barely
+enough to supply the rudest necessaries of life and pay
+his tax to the seigneur. A few rise above their condition,
+but millions labour like beasts of burden, content
+with bread to put in their mouths, and never even thinking
+of freedom. A Russian nobleman told me that
+he believed, if the serfs were all free, he could cultivate
+his estate to better advantage by hired labour;
+and I have no doubt a dozen Connecticut men would
+cultivate more ground than a hundred Russian serfs,
+allowing their usual non-working days and holydays.
+They have no interest in the soil, and the desolate and
+uncultivated wastes of Russia show the truth of the
+judicious reflection of Catharine II., "that agriculture
+can never flourish in that nation where the husbandman
+possesses no property."</p>
+
+<p>It is from this great body of peasantry that Russia
+recruits her immense standing army, or, in case of invasion,
+raises in a moment a vast body of soldiers.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">43</a></span>Every person in Russia entitled to hold land is known
+to the government, as well as the number of peasants
+on his estate; and, upon receiving notice of an imperial
+order to that effect, the numbers required by the levy
+are marched forthwith from every part of the empire to
+the places of rendezvous appointed. It might be asked,
+What have these men to fight for? They have no country,
+and are brought up on immense levels, wanting the
+rocks, rivers, and mountains that inspire local attachments.
+It is a singular fact, that, with the Russian
+serf, there is always an unbounded love for him who
+stands at the head of the system of oppression under
+which they groan, the emperor, whom they regard
+as their protector against the oppression of their immediate
+masters; but to whatever cause it may be
+ascribed, whether inability to estimate the value of any
+change in their condition, or a feeling of actual love for
+the soil on which they were born, during the invasion
+of Napoleon the serfs of Russia presented a noble
+spectacle; and the spirit of devotion which animated
+the corps of ten thousand in the north extended to the
+utmost bounds of the empire. They received orders to
+march from St. Petersburgh to meet the advance of the
+French army; the emperor reviewed them, and is said
+to have shed tears at their departure. Arrived at the
+place appointed, Witgenstein ordered them to fall back
+to a certain point, but they answered "No; the last
+promise we made the emperor our father was, that we
+would never fly before the enemy, and we keep our
+word." Eight thousand of their number died on the
+spot; and the spirit which animated them fired the
+serfs throughout the whole empire. The scholar may
+sneer, but I defy him to point to a nobler page in
+Grecian or Roman history.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">44</a></span>I shall make amends for this long discussion by hurrying
+on to Moscow. We rode hundreds of miles without
+meeting a hill; the country was bare of trees, and
+almost everywhere presenting the same appearance.
+We saw the first disk of the sun peeping out of the
+earth, watched it while soaring on its daily round, and,
+without a bush to obstruct the view, saw it sink below
+the horizon; and woke up at all times of night and saw
+the stars,</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Rolling like living cars of light<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">For gods to journey by."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>The principal and only large towns on our road
+were Orel and Toula, the former containing a population
+of four or five thousand, and presenting an imposing
+display of churches and monasteries gaudily painted
+and with gilded domes; the houses were principally of
+wood, painted yellow. Toula is the largest manufacturing
+town, and is called the Sheffield of Russia, being
+particularly celebrated for its cutlery. Everywhere the
+diligence created a great sensation; the knowing ones
+said it would never do; but at Orel one spirited individual
+said if we would wait three days for him he
+would go on with us. It can hardly seem credible, in
+our steamboat and railroad community, that a public
+conveyance could roll on for seven days and nights,
+through many villages and towns, toward the capital of
+an immense empire, and not take in a single way-passenger;
+but such was the fact; and on the morning of
+the seventh day, alone, as we started from Chioff, we
+were approaching the burned and rebuilt capital of the
+Czars, Moscow with gilded cupolas, the holy Moscow,
+the sanctified city, the Jerusalem of Russia, beloved of
+God, and dear to men.</p>
+
+<hr class="l65" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">45</a></span></h2>
+
+<div class="chapblock"><p>Moscow.&mdash;A severe Operation.&mdash;An Exile by Accident.&mdash;Meeting with an
+Emigré.&mdash;A civil Stranger.&mdash;A Spy.&mdash;The Kremlin.&mdash;Sepulchres of the
+Czars.&mdash;The great Bell.&mdash;The great Gun.&mdash;Precious Relics.</p></div>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">At</span> daylight we arrived at the last post; and here,
+for the first time, we saw evidences of our approach to
+a great city. Four or five travelling-carriages were
+waiting for horses, some of which had been waiting all
+night; but our diligence being a "public accommodation,"
+we were preferred, and had the first that came
+in. We took our places for the last time in the diligence,
+and passed two or three fine chateaux, our curiosity
+and interest increasing as we approached, until,
+at about five versts from Moscow, as we reached the
+summit of a gentle eminence, the whole city broke upon
+us at one view, situated in the midst of a great plain,
+and covering an extent of more than thirty versts.
+Moscow is emphatically the city of churches, containing
+more than six hundred, many of which have five
+or six domes, with steeples, and spires, and crosses,
+gilded and connected together with golden chains like
+those of Chioff. Its convents, too, are almost innumerable,
+rivalling the churches in size and magnificence,
+and even to us, coming directly from the capital
+of the Eastern empire, presenting a most striking and
+extraordinary appearance. As we passed the barrier,
+two of the most conspicuous objects on each side were
+the large Greek convents, enclosed by high walls, with
+noble trees growing above them; and as we rode
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">46</a></span>through the wide and showy streets, the first thing that
+struck me as strange, and, in this inhospitable climate
+(always associated in my mind with rude and wintry
+scenes), as singularly beautiful, was the profusion of
+plants and flowers, with the remarkable degree of taste
+and attention given to their cultivation. In Greece and
+Turkey I had seen the rarest plants and flowers literally
+"wasting their sweetness on the desert air;" while
+here, in the heart of an inhospitable country, every
+house had a courtyard or garden, and in front a light
+open portico or veranda, ornamented with plants, and
+shrubs, and flowers, forced into a glowing though unnatural
+beauty. The whole appearance of the city is
+Asiatic; and as the exhibition of flowers in front of the
+better class of houses was almost universal, Moscow
+seemed basking in the mild climate of Southern Asia,
+rioting in its brief period of vernal existence, and forgetting
+that, in a few weeks, a frost would come and
+cover their beauty with the dreary drapery of winter.</p>
+
+<p>At the office of the diligence my companion and myself
+separated. He went to a hotel kept by an English
+woman, with English company, and I believe, too, with
+English comfort, and I rode to the Hotel Germanica, an
+old and favourite stopping-place with the Russian seigneurs
+when they come up from their estates in the country.
+Having secured my room, I mounted a drosky
+and hurried to a bath. Riding out to the suburbs, the
+drosky boy stopped at a large wooden building, pouring
+forth steam from every chink and crevice. At the entrance
+stood several half-naked men, one of whom led
+me to an apartment to undress, and then conducted me
+to another, in one end of which were a furnace and apparatus
+for generating steam. I was then familiar with
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">47</a></span>the Turkish bath, but the worst I had known was like
+the breath of the gentle south wind compared with the
+heat of this apartment. The operator stood me in the
+middle of the floor, opened the upper door of the stove,
+and dashed into it a bucketful of water, which sent forth
+volumes of steam like a thick fog into every part of
+the room, and then laid me down on a platform about
+three feet high and rubbed my body with a mop dipped
+in soap and hot water; then he raised me up, and deluged
+me with hot water, pouring several tubfuls on my
+head; then laid me down again, and scrubbed me with
+soap and water from my head to my heels, long enough,
+if the thing were possible, to make a blackamoor white;
+then gave me another sousing with hot water, and another
+scrubbing with pure water, and then conducted
+me up a flight of steps to a high platform, stretched me
+out on a bench within a few feet of the ceiling, and commenced
+whipping me with twigs of birch, with the leaves
+on them, dipped in hot water. It was hot as an oven
+where he laid me down on the bench; the vapour, which
+almost suffocated me below, ascended to the ceiling,
+and, finding no avenue of escape, gathered round my
+devoted body, fairly scalding and blistering me; and
+when I removed my hands from my face, I felt as if I
+had carried away my whole profile. I tried to hold out
+to the end, but I was burning, scorching, and consuming.
+In agony I cried out to my tormentor to let me
+up, but he did not understand me, or was loath to let me
+go, and kept thrashing me with the bunch of twigs until,
+perfectly desperate, I sprang off the bench, tumbled him
+over, and descended to the floor. Snow, snow, a region
+of eternal snow seemed paradise; but my tormentor
+had not done with me; and, as I was hurrying to the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">48</a></span>door, he dashed over me a tub of cold water. I was so
+hot that it seemed to hiss as it touched me; he came at
+me with another, and at that moment I could imagine,
+what had always seemed a traveller's story, the high
+satisfaction and perfect safety with which the Russian
+in mid winter rushes from his hot bath and rolls himself
+in the snow. The grim features of my tormentor relaxed
+as he saw the change that came over me. I withdrew
+to my dressing-room, dozed an hour on the settee,
+and went out a new man. In half an hour I stood in
+the palace of the Czars, within the walls of the Kremlin.</p>
+
+<p>Toward evening I returned to my hotel. In all the
+large hotels in Russia it is the custom for every man to
+dine in his own apartment. Travelling alone, I always
+avoided this when I could, as, besides my dislike of the
+thing itself, it prevented my making acquaintances and
+acquiring such information as I needed in a strange city;
+and I was particularly averse to dine alone the first day
+of my arrival at Moscow; but it was the etiquette of the
+house to do so, and as I had a letter of introduction which
+I intended to deliver, from Count Woronzow to Prince
+Galitzin, the governor of Moscow, I was bound to make
+some sacrifice for the credit of my acquaintance. After
+the table was spread, however, finding it too severe a
+trial, I went down stairs and invited myself to dine with
+my landlord. He was a German of about fifty-five or
+sixty, tall, stout, with gray hair, a frank, manly expression,
+and great respectability of appearance and manners;
+and before the dinner was over I regarded him
+emphatically as what a Frenchman would call <i>un brave
+homme</i>. He had been in Russia during the whole of
+the French invasion, and, among the other incidents of a
+stirring life, had been sent in exile to Siberia; and the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">49</a></span>curious part of it was, that he was sent there by mistake.
+Rather an awkward mistake, though, as he said, not so
+bad as being knouted or hanged by mistake; and in
+his case it turned out a rather interesting adventure.
+He was taken by the French as a Russian spy, and retaken
+by the Russians as a French spy, when, as he
+said, he did not care a fig for either of them. He was
+hurried off to Siberia, but on the journey succeeded in
+convincing the officer who escorted the prisoners that
+there was error in the case, and on his arrival was
+merely detained in exile, without being put to hard labour,
+until, through the medium of friends, he had the
+matter brought before the proper tribunal, and the mistake
+corrected, when he came back post, in company
+with a Russian officer, smoking his pipe all the way, at
+the expense of the government. He gave me many interesting
+particulars in regard to that celebrated country,
+its mines, the sufferings of the noble exiles; and much
+also, that was new to me, touching its populousness and
+wealth, and the comfort and luxury of a residence there.
+He spoke of Tobolsk as a large, gay, and populous city,
+containing hotels, theatres, and all kinds of places of
+amusement. The exiles, being many of them of rank,
+have introduced there all the luxuries of the capital, and
+life at Tobolsk is much the same as life at Moscow.</p>
+
+<p>As the rage for travelling is excited by hearing from
+the lips of a traveller stories of the countries he has
+visited, before dinner was over I found myself infected
+with a strong disposition for a journey to Siberia.
+Small matters, however, produce great changes in the
+current of a man's feelings, and in a few moments I
+had entirely forgotten Siberia, and was carried directly
+home. While we were smoking our pipes, an old gentleman
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">50</a></span>entered, of singularly aristocratic appearance,
+whom my host received with the greatest consideration
+and respect, addressing him as the Marquis de P&mdash;&mdash;.
+He was a Frenchman, an old militaire, and a noble
+specimen of a race almost extinct; tall, thin, and gray-headed,
+wearing a double-breasted blue frockcoat, buttoned
+up to the throat, with a cane in his hand and a
+red riband in his buttonhole, the decoration of the
+Knights of Malta; and when my host introduced me as
+an American traveller arrived that day in Moscow, he
+welcomed me with more than the usual forms of courtesy,
+and told me that, far off as it was, and little as he
+knew of it, he almost regarded America as his own
+country; that, on the downfall of "the emperor," and
+in a season of universal scattering, some of his nearest
+relatives, particularly a sister married to a fellow-soldier
+and his dearest friend, had taken refuge on the other
+side of the Atlantic; that, eighteen years before, he had
+met an American secretary of legation who knew them,
+but since that time he had not heard from them, and
+did not know whether they were living or dead. I
+asked him the name, with very little expectation of
+being able to give him any information about them; and
+it was with no small degree of pleasure that I found I
+was particularly acquainted with the condition of his
+relatives. His brother-in-law and old comrade was
+dead, but I brought him a satisfaction to which he had
+long been a stranger, by telling him that his sister was
+still living, occupying a large property in a neighbouring
+state, surrounded by a family of children, in character
+and standing ranking among the first in our country.
+They were intimately connected with the family of one
+of my most intimate friends, letters to and from different
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">51</a></span>members of which had very often passed through
+my hands; I knew the names of all his nieces, and
+personally one of his nephews, a lieutenant, and one of
+the most promising officers in our navy; and about
+a year before I had accompanied the friends to whom
+I refer on a visit to these relatives. At Philadelphia I
+left them under the charge of the lieutenant; and on my
+return from Washington, according to agreement, the
+lieutenant came down to an intersecting point on the railroad
+to take me home with him; but circumstances
+prevented my going, and much as I regretted my disappointment
+then, I regretted it far more now, as otherwise
+I might have gladdened the old man's heart by
+telling him that within a year I had seen his sister.
+His own history was brief. Born to the possession of
+rank and fortune, and having won honours and decorations
+by long service in the field, and risen to the rank
+of inspector-general in the army of Napoleon, he was
+taken in the campaign against Russia in eighteen hundred
+and thirteen, and sent a prisoner of war to Moscow,
+where he had remained ever since. Immediately on
+their arrival, his brother-in-law and sister had written to
+him from America, telling him that, with the wreck of
+their fortune, they had purchased a large landed estate,
+and begging him to come over and share their abundance;
+but, as he told me, he scorned to eat the bread
+of idleness and dependance; manfully turned to account
+the advantages of an accomplished education;
+and now, at the advanced age of seventy-eight, sustained
+himself by his pencil, an honoured guest at every table,
+and respected by the most distinguished inhabitants of
+Moscow. He had accidentally given up his rooms a
+few days before, and was residing temporarily at the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">52</a></span>same hotel with myself. He was much agitated by this
+unexpected intelligence from friends he never expected
+to hear of more, and left me with a promise to call upon
+me early in the morning.</p>
+
+<p>Too much interested myself to go back to Siberia
+with my host, I went to the French theatre. The play
+was some little every-day thing, and the house but
+thinly attended. I took my seat in the pit, which was
+on a dead level, instead of ascending from the stage,
+containing large cushioned seats, and sprinkled with
+officers talking with ladies in the boxes above. At the
+end of the first act, as whole benches were empty above
+me, I moved up to put myself nearer a pair of bright
+eyes that were beaming from the box upon a pair of
+epaulettes below. I was hardly seated before one of
+the understrappers came up and whispered, or rather
+muttered, something in my ear. As I did not understand
+a word he said, and his manner was exceedingly
+rude and ungracious, I turned my back upon him and
+looked at the lady with the bright eyes. The fellow
+continued muttering in my ear, and I began to be seriously
+annoyed and indignant, when a Frenchman sitting
+two or three benches behind me came up, and, in
+an imperious tone, ordered him away. He then cursed
+the Russians as a set of canaille, from the greatest
+seigneurs to the lowest serf; remarked that he saw I
+was a stranger, and, with the easy freedom of a man
+of the world, took a seat by my side. He was above
+six feet high, about thirty-three or thirty-four years of
+age, in robust health, with a large pair of whiskers, rather
+overdressed, and of manners good, though somewhat
+imperious and bordering on the swagger. He seemed
+perfectly at home in the theatre; knew all the actors
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">53</a></span>and, before the evening was over, offered to introduce
+me to all the actresses. I was under obligations to him,
+if not for the last offer, at least for relieving me from
+the impertinent doorkeeper; and, when the curtain fell,
+accepted his invitation to go to a restaurant and take a
+petit souper. I accompanied him to the Restaurant au
+coin du pont des Mareschaux, which I afterward ascertained
+to be the first in Moscow. He was perfectly at
+home with the carte, knew exactly what to order, and,
+in fact, he was a man of great general information, perfectly
+familiar with all continental Europe, geographically
+and politically, and particularly at home in Moscow;
+and he offered his services in showing me all that
+was curious and interesting. We sat together more
+than two hours, and in our rambling and discursive conversation
+I could not help remarking that he seemed particularly
+fond of railing at the government, its tyranny
+and despotism, and appealing to me, as an American
+and a liberal, to sustain him. I did not think anything
+of it then, though in a soldier under Charles the Tenth,
+driven out, as he said, by the revolution of July, it was
+rather strange; but, at any rate, either from a spirit of
+contradiction or because I had really a good feeling
+toward everything in Russia, I disagreed with him
+throughout; he took upon himself the whole honours of
+the entertainment, scolded the servants, called in the
+landlord, and, as I observed, after a few words with
+him, went out without paying. I saw that the landlord
+knew him, and that there was something constrained
+and peculiar in his behaviour. I must confess, however,
+that I did not notice these things at the time so
+clearly as when I was induced to recur to them by
+after circumstances, for we went out of the house the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">54</a></span>best friends in the world; and, as it was then raining,
+we took a drosky and rode home together, with our
+arms around each other's neck, and my cloak thrown
+over us both. About two o'clock, in a heavy rain, I
+stopped at my hotel, bade him good-night, and lent him
+my cloak to go home with.</p>
+
+<p>The reader, perhaps, smiles at my simplicity, but he
+is wrong in his conjecture; my cloak came home the
+next morning, and was my companion and only covering
+many a night afterward. My friend followed it, sat
+with me a few minutes, and was taking his departure,
+having made an appointment to call for me at twelve
+o'clock, when there was a knock at the door, and my
+friend the marquis entered. I presented them to each
+other, and the latter was in the act of bending his body
+with the formality of a gentleman of the old school, when
+he caught a full view of my friend of the theatre, and,
+breaking off his unfinished bow, recovered his erect position,
+and staring from him to me, and from me to him,
+seemed to demand an explanation. I had no explanation
+to give, nor had my friend, who, cocking his hat on one
+side, and brushing by the marquis with more than his
+usual swagger, stamped down stairs. The marquis
+looked after him till he was at the foot of the stairs,
+and then turning to me, asked how, in the name of wonder,
+I had already contrived to pick up such an acquaintance.
+I told him the history of our meeting at the theatre,
+our supper at the restaurant, and our loving ride
+home, to which he listened with breathless attention;
+and after making me tax my memory for the particulars
+of the conversation at the restaurant, told me that my
+friend was a disgrace to his country; that he had, no
+doubt, been obliged to leave France for some rascality,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">55</a></span>and was now entertained by the Emperor of Russia as
+a <i>spy</i>, particularly upon his own countrymen; that he
+was well fed and clothed, and had the entrée of all the
+theatres and public houses without paying. With the
+earnestness of a man long used to a despotic government,
+and to seeing slight offences visited with terrible punishments,
+the marquis congratulated me upon not having
+fallen into what he called the snare laid for me.</p>
+
+<p>It is almost impossible for an American to believe
+that even in Russia he incurs any risk in speaking what
+he thinks; he is apt to regard the stories of summary
+punishment for freedom of speech as bugbears or bygone
+things. In my own case, even when men looked
+cautiously around the room and then spoke in whispers,
+I could not believe that there was any danger. Still I
+had become prudent enough not to talk with any unnecessary
+indiscretion of the constituted authorities, and,
+even in writing home to my friends, not to say anything
+that could prejudice me if the letter should fall into
+wrong hands; and now, although I did not consider that
+I had run any great risk, I was rather pleased that I
+had said nothing exceptionable; and though I had no
+apprehension, particularly since I had been put on my
+guard, I determined to drop my new acquaintance, and
+did not consider myself bound to observe any great
+courtesy in the mode of doing it. I had had a supper,
+which it was my original intention to return with a dinner;
+but I did not consider myself under any obligation
+to him for civilities shown in the exercise of his despicable
+calling. The first time I met him I made no
+apology for having been out when he called according
+to appointment, and did not ask him to come again. I
+continued to meet him in the streets and at every public
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">56</a></span>place, but our greetings became colder and colder, and
+the day before I left Moscow we brushed against each
+other without speaking at all. So much for acquaintances
+who, after an intimacy of three or four hours, had
+ridden home under the same cloak, with their arms
+around each other's neck.</p>
+
+<p>But to return: as soon as the marquis left me I
+again went to the Kremlin, to me the great, I had almost
+said the only, object of interest in Moscow. I always
+detested a cicerone; his bowing, fawning, and prating
+annoyed me; and all through Italy, with my map and
+guide-book under my arm, I was in the habit of rambling
+about alone. I did the same at Moscow, and
+again walked to the Kremlin unaccompanied. Unlike
+many of the places I had visited, all the interest I had
+felt in looking forward to the Kremlin was increased
+when I stood within its walls. I had thought of it as
+the rude and barbarous palace of the Czars; but I found
+it one of the most extraordinary, beautiful, and magnificent
+objects I ever beheld. I rambled over it several
+times with admiration, without attempting to comprehend
+it all. Its commanding situation on the banks of
+the Moskwa river; its high and venerable walls; its numerous
+battlements, towers, and steeples; its magnificent
+and gorgeous palaces; its cathedrals, churches,
+monasteries, and belfries, with their gilded, coppered,
+and tin-plated domes; its mixture of barbarism and decay,
+magnificence and ruins; its strong contrast of architecture,
+including the Tartarian, Hindoo, Chinese,
+and Gothic; and, rising above all, the lofty tower of
+Ivan Veliki, with its golden ball reflecting the sun with
+dazzling brilliancy, all together exhibited a beauty, grandeur,
+and magnificence strange and indescribable.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" >
+<img src="images/i_v2_p057.jpg" width="80%" alt="The Kremlin." title="The Kremlin" />
+<p class="caption">The Kremlin.</p></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">57</a></span>The Kremlin is "the heart" and "sacred place" of
+Moscow, once the old fortress of the Tartars, and now
+the centre of the modern city. It is nearly triangular
+in form, enclosed by a high brick wall painted white,
+and nearly two miles in extent, and is in itself a city.
+It has five gates, at four of which there are high watch-towers.
+The fifth is "our Saviour's," or the Holy Gate,
+through whose awe-commanding portals no male, not
+even the emperor and autocrat of all the Russias, can
+pass except with uncovered head and bended body.
+Bareheaded, I entered by this gate, and passed on to a
+noble esplanade, commanding one of the most interesting
+views of Moscow, and having in front the range of
+palaces of the Czars. I shall not attempt to describe
+these palaces. They are a combination of every variety
+of taste and every order of architecture, Grecian, Gothic,
+Italian, Tartar, and Hindoo, rude, fanciful, grotesque,
+gorgeous, magnificent, and beautiful. The churches,
+monasteries, arsenals, museum, and public buildings are
+erected with no attempt at regularity of design, and in
+the same wild confusion of architecture. There are no
+regular streets, but three open places or squares, and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">58</a></span>abundance of room for carriages and foot passengers,
+with which, in summer afternoons, it is always thronged.</p>
+
+<p>Having strolled for some time about the Kremlin, I
+entered the Cathedral of the Assumption, the most splendid
+church in Moscow. It was founded in 1325, and
+rebuilt in 1472. It is loaded with gorgeous and extravagant
+ornaments. The iconastos or screen which divides
+the sanctuary from the body of the church is in many
+parts covered with plates of solid silver and gold, richly
+and finely wrought. On the walls are painted the images
+of more than two thousand three hundred saints,
+some at full length and some of a colossal size, and the
+whole interior seems illuminated with gold, of which
+more than two hundred and ten thousand leaves have
+been employed in embellishing it. From the centre of
+the roof is suspended a crown of massive silver, with
+forty-eight chandeliers, all in a single piece, and weighing
+nearly three thousand pounds. Besides the portraits
+of saints and martyrs, there are portraits of the old historians,
+whose names, to prevent confusion, are attached
+to their resemblances, as Aristotle, Anarcharsis, Thucydides,
+Plutarch, &amp;c. Some of the paintings on wood
+could not fail to delight an antiquary, inasmuch as every
+vestige of paint being obliterated, there is abundance of
+room for speculation as to their age and character.
+There is also an image of the Virgin, painted by St.
+Luke's own hand!!! The face dark, almost black, the
+head encircled with a glory of precious stones, and the
+hands and the body gilded. It is reverenced for its miraculous
+powers, guarded with great care, and enclosed
+within a large silver covering, which is never removed
+but on great religious festivals, or on payment of a ruble
+to the verger. Here, too, is a nail from the cross,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">59</a></span>a robe of our Saviour's, and part of one of the Virgin's!!!
+And here, too, are the tombs of the church
+patriarchs, one of whom, St. Phillippe, honoured by a
+silver monument, dared to say to John the Terrible,
+"We respect you as an image of the Divinity, but as a
+man you partake of the dust of the earth."</p>
+
+<p>The Cathedral of the Assumption is honoured as the
+place where the sovereigns of Russia are crowned, and
+there is but a step from their throne to their grave, for
+near it is the Cathedral of the archangel Michael, the
+ancient burial-place where, in raised sepulchres, lie the
+bodies of the Czars, from the time when Moscow became
+the seat of empire until the close of the seventeenth
+century. The bodies rest in raised tombs or
+sepulchres, each covered with a velvet pall, and having
+on it a silver plate, bearing the name of the occupant
+and the date of his decease. Close by is an odd-looking
+church, constantly thronged with devotees; a humble
+structure, said to be the oldest Christian church in
+Moscow. It was built in the desert, before Moscow was
+thought of, and its walls are strong enough to last till the
+gorgeous city shall become a desert again.</p>
+
+<p>After strolling through the churches I ascended the
+tower of Ivan Veliki, or John the Great, the first of the
+Czars. It is about two hundred and seventy feet high,
+and contains thirty-three bells, the smallest weighing
+seven thousand, and the largest more than one hundred
+and twenty-four thousand pounds English. On festivals
+they are all tolled together, the Muscovites being extremely
+fond of Ivan Veliki's music. This celebrated
+tower rises above every other object in the Kremlin, and
+its large gilded dome and cross are conspicuous from
+every part of the city. From its top I had the finest view
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">60</a></span>of Moscow and the surrounding country, and, perhaps,
+the finest panoramic view in the world. Hundreds of
+churches were in sight, with their almost innumerable
+domes, and spires, and crosses glittering with gold, Tartaric
+battlements, terraces, balconies, and ramparts.
+Gothic steeples, Grecian columns, the star, the crescent,
+and the cross, palaces, mosques, and Tartar temples,
+pagodas, pavilions, and verandas, monasteries peeping
+out over high walls and among noble trees, the stream
+of the Moskwa winding prettily below, and in the distance
+the Sparrow Hills, on which the French army first made
+its appearance on the invasion of Moscow. It may seem
+strange, but I did not feel myself a stranger on the top of
+that tower. Thousands of miles away I had read its history.
+I knew that the magnificent city at my feet had
+been a sheet of fire, and that, when Napoleon fled by the
+light of its conflagration, a dreadful explosion shook to
+their foundation the sacred precincts of the Kremlin, and
+rent from its base to its top the lofty tower of Ivan.</p>
+
+<p>I descended, and the custode conducted me to another
+well-known object, the great bell, the largest, and
+the wonder of the world. It is only a short distance
+from the foot of the tower, in an excavation under
+ground, accessible by a trapdoor, like the covered mouth
+of a well. I descended by a broken ladder, and can
+hardly explain to myself the curiosity and interest with
+which I examined this monstrous piece of metal. I
+have no knowledge of or taste for mechanics, and no
+particular penchant for bells, even when spelled with
+an additional e; but I knew all about this one, and it
+added wonderfully to the interest with which I strolled
+through the Kremlin, that, from accidental circumstances,
+I was familiar with every object within its
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">61</a></span>walls. I impeach, no doubt, my classical taste, but, before
+seeing either, I had dwelt with more interest upon
+the Kremlin, and knew more of it, than of the Acropolis
+at Athens; and I stood at the foot of the great bell
+almost with a feeling of reverence. Its perpendicular
+height is twenty-one feet four inches, and the extreme
+thickness of the metal twenty-three inches; the length
+of the clapper is fourteen feet, the greatest circumference
+sixty-seven feet four inches, its weight upward of
+four hundred thousand pounds English, and its cost has
+been estimated at more than three hundred and sixty-five
+thousand pounds sterling. There is some question
+whether this immense bell was ever hung, but it is supposed
+that it was suspended by a great number of
+beams and crossbeams; that it was rung by forty or
+fifty men, one half on either side, who pulled the clapper
+by means of ropes, and that the sound amazed and
+deafened the inhabitants. On one side is a crack large
+enough to admit the figure of a man. I went inside
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">62</a></span>and called aloud, and received an echo like the reverberations
+of thunder.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" >
+<img src="images/i_v2_p061.jpg" width="50%" alt="The Great Bell." title="The Great Bell" />
+<p class="caption">The Great Bell.</p></div>
+
+<p>Besides the great bell, there is another noisy musical
+instrument, namely, the great gun, like the bell, the
+largest in the world, being a four thousand three hundred
+and twenty pounder. It is sixteen feet long, and
+the diameter of its calibre nearly three feet. I jumped
+in and turned round in its mouth, and sat upright, my
+head not reaching the top. All around were planted
+cannon taken from the French in their unhappy expedition
+against the capital of Russia; immense fieldpieces,
+whose throats once poured their iron hail against the
+walls within which they now repose as trophies. I was
+attracted by a crowd at the door of one of the principal
+buildings, which I found to be the treasury, containing
+what a Russian prizes as his birthright, the repository of
+sacred heirlooms; the doorkeeper demanded a permit,
+and I answered him with rubles and entered the treasury.
+On the first floor are the ancient imperial carriages;
+large, heavy, and extraordinary vehicles, covered
+with carving and gilding, and having large plate
+glass windows; among them was an enormous sleigh,
+carved and profusely gilded, and containing a long table
+with cushioned seats on each side; all together,
+these vehicles were most primitive and Asiatic in appearance,
+and each one had some long and interesting
+story connected with it.</p>
+
+<p>I ascended by a noble staircase to the <i>belle etage</i>,
+a gallery composed of five parts, in the first of which
+are the portraits of all the emperors and Czars and their
+wives, in the exact costume of the times in which they
+lived; in another is a model of a palace projected by
+the Empress Catharine to unite the whole Kremlin
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">63</a></span>under one roof, having a circumference of two miles, and
+make of it one magnificent palace; if it had been completed
+according to the plan, this palace would probably
+have surpassed the Temple of Solomon or any of the
+seven wonders of the world. In another is a collection
+of precious relics, such as the crowns worn by the different
+emperors and Czars, loaded with precious stones;
+the dresses worn at their marriages; the canopies under
+which the emperors are married, surmounted by
+magnificent plumes; two canopies of red velvet, studded
+with gold, and a throne with two seats. The crown
+of Prince Vladimir is surmounted by a golden cross,
+and ornamented with pearls and precious stones, and,
+until the time of Peter the Great, was used to crown
+the Czars; the crown of the conquered kingdom of
+Cazan was placed there by the victorious hands of John
+Vassilivitch. Besides these were the crowns of the
+conquered countries of Astrachan and Siberia. That of
+John Alexius has eight hundred and eighty-one diamonds,
+and under the cross which surmounts it is an
+immense ruby. There were also the crown of Peter
+the Great, containing eight hundred and forty-seven
+diamonds; that of Catharine the First, his widow, containing
+two thousand five hundred and thirty-six fine
+diamonds, to which the Empress Anne added a ruby of
+enormous size, bought by the Russian ambassador at
+Pekin; and, lastly, the crown of unhappy Poland! It
+is of polished gold, surmounted by a cross, but no other
+ornament. And there were other emblems of royalty:
+a throne or Greek fauteuil of ivory, in arabesque, presented
+to John the Great by the ambassadors who
+accompanied from Rome to Moscow the Princess
+Sophia, whom he had demanded in marriage. She was
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">64</a></span>the daughter of Thomas Paleologus Porphrygenitus
+brother of Constantine Paleologus, who died in fourteen
+hundred and fifty-three, after seeing his empire fall into
+the hands of the Turks. By this marriage John considered
+himself the heir of Constantine, and took the
+title of Czar, meaning Cæsar (this is one of the derivations
+of the name), and thus the emperor and autocrat
+of all the Russias has the fairest claim to the throne
+of the Cæsars, and, consequently, has always had an
+eye upon Constantinople; then there are the throne of
+Boris, adorned with two thousand seven hundred and
+sixty turquoises and other precious stones; that of
+Michel, containing eight thousand eight hundred and
+twenty-four precious stones; that of Alexius, containing
+eight hundred and seventy-six diamonds, one thousand
+two hundred and twenty-four other jewels, and many
+pearls, bought of a company of merchants trafficking to
+Ispahan; the throne of the Czars John and Peter, made
+of massive silver, separated in the middle, the back a
+cloth of gold, concealing a hole through which the
+Czarina used to dictate answers to the foreign ambassadors;
+and, lastly, the throne of Poland!</p>
+
+<p>In the armory are specimens of ancient armour, the
+workmanship of every age and nation; coats of mail,
+sabres adorned with jewels, swords, batons, crosses in
+armour, imperial robes, ermines in abundance, and,
+finally, the clothes in which Peter the Great worked at
+Saardam, including his old boots, from which it appears
+that he had considerable of a foot. These memorials
+were all interesting, and I wandered through
+the apartments till ordered out by the footman, when I
+returned to my hotel to meet my old friend the marquis,
+who was engaged to dine with me. At his suggestion
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">65</a></span>we went to a new restaurant, patronized by a different
+set of people from those who frequented the Restaurant
+au coin du pont des Mareschaux, being chiefly Frenchmen,
+manufacturers, and small merchants of various
+kinds, who, while they detested the country, found it a
+profitable business to introduce Parisian luxuries and
+refinements among the barbarous Russians. A party
+of about twenty sat at a long table, and relieved the severity
+of exile by talking of their beautiful and beloved
+France; many of them were old militaires; and my octogenarian
+friend, as a soldier distinguished under the
+empire, and identified with the glory of the French
+arms, was treated with a consideration and respect honourable
+to them and flattering to himself. At another
+table was another circle of strangers, composed almost
+exclusively of Swiss, forming here, as elsewhere, one of
+the most valuable parts of the foreign population; keeping
+alive by intercourse with each other the recollections
+of home, and looking to the time when, with the profits
+of successful industry, they might return to their wild
+and beloved native mountains.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Dear is that hill to which his soul conforms,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And dear that cliff which lifts him to the storms."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Before we rose from table my friend of the theatre
+came in and took his seat at one end; he talked and
+laughed louder than any one else, and was received generally
+with an outward appearance of cordiality; but the
+old marquis could not endure his presence. He said he
+had become too old to learn, and it was too late in life
+to temporize with dishonour; that he did not blame his
+countrymen; fair words cost nothing, and it was not
+worth their while wilfully to make an enemy who would
+always be on their haunches; but as to himself, he had
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">66</a></span>but a few years to live, and he would not sully the last
+moments of his life by tolerating a man whom he regarded
+as a disgrace to his country. We rose from the
+table, the old marquis leaning on my arm, and pouring
+in my ears his honest indignation at the disgraceful
+character of his countryman, and proceeded to the Kitaigorod,
+or Chinese Town, the division immediately
+encircling the Kremlin. It is enclosed by a wall with
+battlements, towers, and gates; is handsomely and
+compactly built, with wide, clean, and regular streets,
+and thronged with every variety of people, Greeks,
+Turks, Tartars, Cossacks, Chinese, Muscovites, French,
+Italians, Poles, and Germans, in the costumes of their
+respective nations. The quarter is entirely Russian,
+and I did not find in the shops a single person who
+could speak any language but Russian. In one of them,
+where I was conducted by the marquis, I found the old
+mongik to whom I before referred, who could not agree
+with his master for the price of his ransom. The principal
+shops resemble the bazars in the East, though
+they are far superior even to those in Constantinople,
+being built of stone, and generally in the form of arcades.
+They are well filled with every description of Asiatic
+goods; and some of them, particularly their tea, and tobacco,
+and pipe shops, are models of propriety and
+cleanliness. The façade of the great bazar or market
+is very imposing, resting the whole length on Corinthian
+columns. It fronts on a noble square, bounded on
+the opposite side by the white walls of the Kremlin,
+and contains six thousand "bargaining shops." The
+merchants live at a distance, and, on leaving their shops
+at sundown, each of them winds a piece of cord round
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">67</a></span>the padlock of his door, and seals it with soft wax; a
+seal being with the Russians more sacred than a lock.</p>
+
+<p>In another section of the Kitaigorod is the finest part
+of the city, containing the hotels and residences of the
+nobles, many of which are truly magnificent. The hotel
+at which I put up would in Italy be called a palace.
+As we moved slowly along the street by the Pont des
+Mareschaux, we discoursed of the terrible inroads at
+this moment making by the French in the capital of the
+north, almost every shop having an inviting sign of
+nouveautés from Paris. Foiled in their attempt with
+the bayonet, they are now advancing with apparently
+more feeble but far more insidious and fatal weapons;
+and the rugged Russian, whom French arms could not
+conquer, bows to the supremacy of the French modistes
+and artistes, and quietly wears the livery of the great
+mistress of fashion.</p>
+
+<hr class="l65" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2>
+
+<div class="chapblock"><p>The Drosky.&mdash;Salle des Nobles.&mdash;Russian Gaming.&mdash;Gastronomy.&mdash;Pedroski.&mdash;A
+Sunday in Moscow.&mdash;A Gipsy Belle.&mdash;Tea drinking.&mdash;The
+Emperor's Garden.&mdash;Retrospective.</p></div>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Early</span> the next morning I mounted a drosky and rode
+to a celebrated garden or springs, furnished with every
+description of mineral water. I have several times
+spoken of the drosky. This may be called the Russian
+national vehicle, for it is found all over Russia, and nowhere
+else that I know of, except at Warsaw, where it
+was introduced by its Russian conquerors. It is on
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">68</a></span>four wheels, with a long cushioned seat running lengthwise,
+on which the rider sits astride as on horseback,
+and so low that he can mount from the street. It is
+drawn by two horses; one in shafts, with a high arched
+bow over the neck called the douga, and the other, called
+"le furieux," in traces alongside, this last being trained
+to curb his neck and canter while the shaft-horse trots.
+The seat is long enough for two besides the driver, the
+riders sitting with their feet on different sides; or sometimes
+there is a cross-seat behind, on which the riders
+sit, with their faces to the horses, and the drosky boy,
+always dressed in a long surtout, with a bell-crowned
+hat turned up at the sides, sits on the end. But to return
+to the springs. The waters are prepared under
+the direction of medical men, who have the chymical
+analysis of all the principal mineral waters known, and
+manufacture them to order. As is universally the case
+in Russia, where there is any attempt at style, the establishment
+is upon a magnificent scale. The building
+contains a room perhaps one hundred and fifty feet long,
+with a clean and highly-polished floor, large looking-glasses,
+elegant sofas, and mahogany chairs and tables.
+The windows open upon a balcony extending along
+the whole front, which is furnished with tables and rustic
+chairs, and opens upon a large garden ornamented
+with gravel-walks, trees, and the most rare and valuable
+plants and flowers, at the time of my visit in full bloom.
+Every morning, from sunrise till noon, crowds of people,
+and particularly the nobility and higher classes, frequent
+this establishment, and that morning there was a larger
+collection than usual. Russian hospitality is conspicuous
+at a place like this. A stranger, instead of being
+avoided, is sought out; and after one or two promenades
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">69</a></span>I was accosted by more than one gentleman, ready to
+show me every civility. In the long room and on the
+balconies, scattered about at the different tables, I saw
+the gourmand who had distended his stomach almost
+to bursting, and near him the gaunt and bilious dyspeptic,
+drinking their favourite waters; the dashing officer
+and the blooming girl, the lover and coquette, and, in
+short, all the style and fashion of Moscow, their eyes
+occasionally turning to the long mirrors, and then singly,
+in pairs and in groups, strolling gently through the gardens,
+enjoying the music that was poured forth from
+hidden arbours.</p>
+
+<p>Returning through a street not far from my hotel, I
+saw a line of carriages, and gentlemen and ladies passing
+under a light arcade, which formed the entrance to
+a large building. I joined the throng, and was put back
+by the doorkeeper because I was not in a dresscoat.
+I ran to my hotel and changed my frockcoat, but now I
+had no biglietto of entrance. A few rubles obviated this
+difficulty and admitted me to the <i>Salle des Nobles</i>, a
+magnificent apartment surrounded by a colonnade, capable
+of containing more than three thousand persons,
+and said to be the finest ballroom in Europe. It belongs
+to a club of the nobility, and none are admitted as members
+but nobles. All games of hazard are forbidden;
+but, nevertheless, all games of hazard are played. Indeed,
+among the "on dits" which a traveller picks up,
+gambling is said to be the great vice of Russia. Young
+men who have not two rubles to rub together will bet
+thousands; and, when all other resources fail, the dishonourable
+will cheat, but the delicate-minded will kill
+themselves. It is not uncommon for a young man to
+say at the cardtable over night, "I must shoot myself
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">70</a></span>to-morrow;" and he is as good as his word. The Salle
+was open for a few days, as a sort of fair, for the exhibition
+of specimens of Russian manufacture; and, besides
+tables, workboxes, &amp;c., there were some of the
+finest living specimens of genuine Russian men and
+women that I had yet seen, though not to be compared,
+as a Russian officer said, to whom I made the remark,
+with the exhibition of the same specimens in the waltz
+and mazourka, when the Salle was lighted up and decorated
+for a ball.</p>
+
+<p>I returned to my hotel, where I found my old friend
+the marquis waiting, according to appointment, to dine
+with me. He would have accompanied me everywhere,
+but I saw that he suffered from the exertion,
+and would not allow it. Meeting with me had struck
+a chord that had not been touched for years, and he
+was never tired of talking of his friends in America.
+Every morning he breakfasted in my room, and we
+dined together every day. We went to the restaurant
+where I had supped with my friend of the theatre.
+The saloon was crowded, and at a table next us sat a
+seigneur, who was dining upon a delicacy that will surprise
+the reader, viz., one of his own female slaves, a
+very pretty girl, whom he had hired to the keeper of the
+restaurant for her maintenance and a dinner a volonté
+per annum for himself. This was the second time he
+had dined on her account, and she was then waiting
+upon him; a pretty, modest, delicate-looking girl, and
+the old noble seemed never to know when he had
+enough of her. We left him gloating over still untasted
+dishes, and apparently mourning that human ability
+could hold out no longer. In going out my old friend,
+in homely but pithy phrase, said the only difference between
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">71</a></span>a Russian seigneur and a Russian serf is, that
+the one wears his shirt inside his trousers and the other
+outside; but my friend spoke with the prejudices of a
+soldier of France aggravated by more than twenty years
+of exile. So far as my observation extended, the higher
+classes are rather extraordinary for talent and acquirements.
+Their government is unfortunate for the development
+and exercise of abilities. They have none
+of the learned profession;
+<span class="err" title="original: merchandize">merchandise</span> is disgraceful,
+and the army is the only field. With an ardent love
+of country and an ambition to distinguish himself, every
+nobleman becomes a soldier, and there is hardly an old
+or middle-aged individual of this class who was not in
+arms to repel the invasion of Napoleon, and hardly a
+young man who did not serve lately in a less noble
+cause, the campaign in Poland. The consequence of
+service in the army seems to have been generally a
+passion for display and expensive living, which sent
+them back to their estates, after their terms of service
+expired, over head and ears in debt. Unable to come
+often to the cities, and obliged to live at their chateaux,
+deprived of all society, surrounded only by slaves, and
+feeling the want of the excitement incident to a military
+life, many of them become great gourmands, or rather,
+as my French friend said, gluttons. They do not eat,
+said he, they swallow; and the manner in which, with
+the true spirit of a Frenchman who still remembered
+the cuisine of the Palais Royal, he commented upon
+their eating entremets, hors d'&#339;uvres, rotis, and desserts
+all pellmell, would have formed a proper episode
+to Major Hamilton's chapter upon Americans eating
+eggs out of wineglasses. The old marquis, although
+he retained all his French prejudices against the Russians,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">72</a></span>and always asserted, as the Russians themselves
+admit, that, but for the early setting in of winter, Napoleon
+would have conquered Russia, allowed them the
+virtue of unbounded hospitality, and enumerated several
+principal families at whose tables he could at any time
+take a seat without any express invitation, and with
+whom he was always sure of being a welcome guest;
+and he mentioned the case of a compatriot who for
+years had a place regularly reserved for him at the table
+of a seigneur, which he took whenever he pleased
+without any questions being asked, until, having stayed
+away longer than usual, the seigneur sent to inquire for
+him, and learned that he was dead.</p>
+
+<p>But to return. Toward evening I parted with the
+marquis, mounted a drosky, and rode to the country
+theatre at Pedroski. Pedroski is a place dear to the
+heart of every Russian, having been the favourite residence
+of Peter the Great, to whom Russia owes its
+existence among civilized nations. It is about three
+versts from the barrier, on the St. Petersburgh road.
+The St. Petersburgh Gate is a very imposing piece of
+architecture. Six spirited horses rest lightly upon the
+top, like the brazen horses at St. Mark's in Venice. A
+wide road, divided into avenues for carriages and pedestrians,
+gravelled and lined with trees, leads from the
+gate. The chateau is an old and singular, but interesting
+building of red brick, with a green dome and white
+cornices, and enclosed by a circular wall flanked with
+turrets. In the plain in front two regiments of Cossack
+cavalry were going through their exercises. The grounds
+around the chateau are very extensive, handsomely laid
+out for carriages and promenades, public and retired, to
+suit every taste. The principal promenade is about a
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">73</a></span>mile in length, through a forest of majestic old trees.
+On each side is a handsome footpath of continual shade;
+and sometimes almost completely hidden by the luxuriant
+foliage are beautiful little summer-houses, abundantly
+supplied with all kinds of refreshments.</p>
+
+<p>The theatre is at a little distance from the extreme
+end of the great promenade, a plain and unpretending
+building; and this and the grand operahouse are the
+only theatres I have seen built like ours, merely with
+continued rows of seats, and not partitioned off into private
+boxes. The opera was some little Russian piece,
+and was followed by the grand ballet, the Revolt of the
+Seraglio. He who goes to Russia expecting to see a
+people just emerging from a state of barbarism, will
+often be astonished to find himself suddenly in a scene
+of Parisian elegance and refinement; and in no place
+will he feel this wonder more than in an operahouse at
+Moscow. The house was rather full, and contained
+more of the Russian nobility than I had yet seen at any
+one time. They were well dressed, adorned with stars
+and ribands, and, as a class of men, the "biggest in the
+round" I ever saw. Orders and titles of nobility, by-the-way,
+are given with a liberality which makes them
+of no value; and all over Russia princes are as plenty
+as pickpockets in London.</p>
+
+<p>The seigneurs of Russia have jumped over all intermediate
+grades of civilization, and plunged at once into
+the luxuries of metropolitan life. The ballet was, of
+course, inferior to that of Paris or London, but it is
+speaking in no mean praise of it to say that at this country
+theatre it might be made a subject of comparison.
+The dancers were the prettiest, the most interesting,
+and, what I was particularly struck with, the most
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">74</a></span>modest looking I ever saw on the stage. It was melancholy
+to look at those beautiful girls, who, amid the
+glare and glitter of the stage, and in the graceful movements
+of the dance, were perfectly captivating and entrancing,
+and who, in the shades of domestic life, might
+fill the measure of man's happiness on earth, and know
+them to be slaves. The whole troop belongs to the
+emperor. They are selected when young with reference
+to their beauty and talents, and are brought up with
+great care and expense for the stage. With light fairy
+figures, seeming rather spirits than corporeal substances,
+and trained to inspire admiration and love, they can
+never give way to these feelings themselves, for their
+affections and marriages are regulated entirely by the
+manager's convenience. What though they are taken
+from the very poorest class of life, leaving their parents,
+their brothers and sisters, the tenants of miserable cabins,
+oppressed and vilified, and cold and hungry, while
+they are rolling in luxuries. A chain does not gall the
+less because it is gilded. Raised from the lot to which
+they were born, taught ideas they would never have
+known, they but feel more sensibly the weight of their
+bonds; and the veriest sylph, whose graceful movements
+have brought down the loudest thunders of applause,
+and whose little heart flutters with the admiration
+she has excited, would probably give all her
+shortlived triumph for the privilege of bestowing that
+little flutterer where it would be loved and cherished.
+There was one among them whom I long remembered.
+I followed her with my eyes till the curtain fell and left
+a blank around me. I saw her go out, and afterward
+she passed me in one of a long train of dark blue carriages
+belonging to the direction, in which they are carried
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">75</a></span>about like merchandise from theatre to theatre,
+but, like many other bright visions that broke upon me
+for a moment, I never saw her again.</p>
+
+<p>At about eleven I left the steps of the theatre to return
+home. It was a most magnificent night, or, rather,
+it is almost profanation to call it by so black a name,
+for in that bright northern climate the day seemed to
+linger, unwilling to give place before the shades of night.
+I strolled on alone, wrapped in lonely but not melancholy
+meditations; the carriages rolled rapidly by me,
+and I was almost the last of the throng that entered the
+gate of Moscow.</p>
+
+<p>A Sunday at Moscow. To one who had for a long
+time been a stranger to the sound of the church-going
+bell, few things could be more interesting than a Sunday
+at Moscow. Any one who has rambled along the Maritime
+Alps, and has heard from some lofty eminence
+the convent bell ringing for matins, vespers, and midnight
+prayers, will long remember the sweet yet melancholy
+sounds. To me there is always something
+touching in the sound of the church-going bell; touching
+in its own notes, but far more so in its associations.
+And these feelings were exceedingly fresh when I awoke
+on Sunday in the holy city of Moscow. In Greece and
+Turkey there are no bells; in Russia they are almost
+innumerable, but this was the first time I had happened
+to pass the Sabbath in a city. I lay and listened, almost
+fearing to move lest I should hush the sounds;
+thoughts of home came over me; of the day of rest, of
+the gathering for church, and the greeting of friends at
+the church door. But he who has never heard the
+ringing of bells at Moscow does not know its music.
+Imagine a city containing more than six hundred churches
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">76</a></span>and innumerable convents, all with bells, and these
+all sounding together, from the sharp, quick hammer-note,
+to the loudest, deepest peals that ever broke and
+lingered on the ear, struck at long intervals, and swelling
+on the air as if unwilling to die away. I rose and
+threw open my window, dressed myself, and after
+breakfast, joining the throng called to their respective
+churches by their well-known bells, I went to what is
+called the English chapel, where, for the first time in
+many months, I joined in a regular church service, and
+listened to an orthodox sermon. I was surprised to see
+so large a congregation, though I remarked among them
+many English governesses with children, the English
+language being at that moment the rage among the
+Russians, and multitudes of cast-off chambermaids adventuring
+thither to teach the rising Russian nobility the
+beauties of the English tongue.</p>
+
+<p>All over the Continent Sunday is the great day for observing
+national manners and customs. I dined at an
+early hour with my friend the marquis, and, under his
+escort, mounting a drosky, rode to a great promenade
+of the people called <i>L'Allée des Peuples</i>. It lies outside
+the barrier, and beyond the state prisons, where the
+exiles for Siberia are confined, on the land of Count
+Schremetow, the richest nobleman in Russia, having
+one hundred and thirty thousand slaves on his estate;
+the chateau is about eight versts from the city, and a
+noble road through his own land leads from the barrier
+to his door.</p>
+
+<p>This promenade is the great rendezvous of the people;
+that is, of the merchants and shopkeepers of Moscow.
+The promenade is simply a large piece of ground
+ornamented with noble trees, and provided with everything
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">77</a></span>necessary for the enjoyment of all the national
+amusements, among which the Russian mountain is the
+favourite; and refreshments were distributed in great
+abundance. Soldiers were stationed at different points
+to preserve order, and the people seemed all cheerful
+and happy; but the life and soul of the place were the
+Bohemian or gipsy girls. Wherever they moved, a
+crowd gathered round them. They were the first I
+had seen of this extraordinary people. Coming no one
+knows whence, and living no one knows how, wanderers
+from their birth, and with a history enveloped in
+doubt, it was impossible to mistake the dark complexion
+and piercing coal-black eyes of the gipsy women.
+The men <span class="err" title="original: where">were</span> nowhere to be seen, nor were
+there any old women with them; and these young
+girls, well dressed, though, in general, with nothing
+peculiar in their costume, moved about in parties of
+five or six, singing, playing, and dancing to admiring
+crowds. One of them, with a red silk cloak trimmed
+with gold, and a gold band round her hair, struck me as
+the very <i>beau ideal</i> of a gipsy queen. Recognising
+me as a stranger, she stopped just in front of me, struck
+her castanets and danced, at the same time directing the
+movements of her companions, who formed a circle
+around me. There was a beauty in her face, combined
+with intelligence and spirit, that riveted my attention,
+and when she spoke her eyes seemed to read me
+through. I ought, perhaps, to be ashamed of it, but in
+all my wanderings I never regretted so much my ignorance
+of the language as when it denied me the pleasure
+of conversing with that gipsy girl. I would fain have
+known whether her soul did not soar above the scene
+and the employment in which I found her; whether
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">78</a></span>she was not formed for better things than to display
+her beautiful person before crowds of boors; but I am
+sorry to add, that the character of my queen was not
+above reproach; and, as I had nothing but my character
+to stand upon in Moscow, I was obliged to withdraw
+from the observation which her attention fixed upon me.</p>
+
+<p>Leaving my swarthy princess with this melancholy
+reflection, and leaving the scene of humbler enjoyment,
+I mounted a drosky, and, depositing my old friend in
+the suburbs of the city, in half an hour was in another
+world, in the great promenade of Pedroski, the gathering-place
+of the nobility, where all the rank and fashion
+of Moscow were vying with each other in style and
+magnificence. The extensive grounds around the old
+chateau are handsomely disposed and ornamented with
+trees, but the great carriage promenade is equal to anything
+I ever saw. It is a straight road, more than a
+mile in length, through a thick forest of noble trees. For
+two hours before dark all the equipages in Moscow paraded
+up and down this promenade. These equipages
+were striking and showy without being handsome, and
+the Russian manner of driving four horses makes a very
+dashing appearance, the leaders being harnessed with
+long traces, perhaps twenty feet from the wheel horses,
+and guided by a lad riding the near leader, the coachman
+sitting as if nailed to the box, and merely holding the
+reins. All the rules of good taste, as understood in the
+capitals of Southern Europe, were set at defiance; and
+many a seigneur, who thought he was doing the thing
+in the very best style, had no idea how much his turnout
+would have shocked an English whip. But all this
+extravagance, in my eyes, added much to the effect of
+the scene; and the star-spangled Muscovite who dashed
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">79</a></span>up and down the promenade on horseback, with two
+Calmuc Tartars at his heels, attracted more of my attention
+than the plain gentleman who paced along with
+his English jockey and quiet elegance of equipment.
+The stars and decorations of the seigneurs set them off
+to great advantage; and scores of officers, with their
+showy uniforms, added brilliancy to the scene, while the
+footmen made as good an appearance as their masters.</p>
+
+<p>On either side of the grand promenade is a walk for
+foot passengers, and behind this, almost hidden from
+view by the thick shade of trees, are little cottages,
+arbours, and tents, furnished with ices and all kinds of
+refreshments suited to the season. I should have mentioned
+long since that tea, the very pabulum of all domestic
+virtues, is the Russian's favourite beverage.
+They say that they have better tea than can be obtained
+in Europe, which they ascribe to the circumstance of its
+being brought by caravans over land, and saved the exposure
+of a sea voyage. Whether this be the cause
+or not, if I am any judge they are right as to the superiority
+of their article; and it was one of the most striking
+features in the animating scene at Pedroski to see
+family groups distributed about, all over the grounds,
+under the shade of noble trees, with their large brass
+urn hissing before them, and taking their tea under the
+passing gaze of thousands of people with as much unconcern
+as if by their own firesides.</p>
+
+<p>Leaving for a moment the thronged promenade, I
+turned into a thick forest and entered the old chateau of
+the great Peter. There all was solitude; the footman
+and I had the palace to ourselves. I followed him
+through the whole range of apartments, in which there
+was an appearance of staid respectability that quite won
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">80</a></span>my heart, neither of them being any better furnished
+than one of our oldfashioned country houses. The pomp
+and show that I saw glittering through the openings in
+the trees were unknown in the days of the good old
+Peter; the chateau was silent and deserted; the hand
+that built it was stiff and cold, and the heart that loved
+it had ceased to beat; old Peter was in his grave, and
+his descendants loved better their splendid palaces on
+the banks of the Neva.</p>
+
+<p>When Moscow was burning, Napoleon fled to this
+chateau for refuge. I stopped for a moment in the
+chamber where, by the blaze of the burning city, he
+dictated his despatches for the capital of France;
+gave the attendant a ruble, and again mixed with the
+throng, with whom I rambled up and down the principal
+promenade, and at eleven o'clock was at my hotel.
+I ought not to forget the Russian ladies; but, after the
+gay scene at Pedroski, it is no disparagement to them
+if I say that, in my quiet walk home, the dark-eyed
+gipsy girl was uppermost in my thoughts.</p>
+
+<p>The reader may perhaps ask if such is indeed what
+the traveller finds in Russia; "Where are the eternal
+snows that cover the steppes and the immense
+wastes of that Northern empire? that chill the sources
+of enjoyment, and congeal the very fountains of life?"
+I answer, they have but just passed by, and they will
+soon come again; the present is the season of enjoyment;
+the Russians know it to be brief and fleeting,
+and, like butterflies, unfold themselves to the sun and
+flutter among the flowers.</p>
+
+<p>Like them, I made the most of it at Moscow. Mounted
+in a drosky, I hurried from church to church, from
+convent to convent, and from quarter to quarter. But
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">81</a></span>although it is the duty of a traveller to see everything
+that is to be seen, and although there is a kind of excitement
+in hurrying from place to place, which he is
+apt to mistake for pleasure, it is not in this that his
+real enjoyment is found. His true pleasure is in turning
+quietly to those things which are interesting to the
+imagination as well as to the eyes, and so I found myself
+often turning from the churches and palaces, specimens
+of architecture and art, to the sainted walls of the
+Kremlin. Here were the first and last of my visits;
+and whenever I sauntered forth without any specific object,
+perhaps to the neglect of many other places I
+ought to have seen, my footsteps involuntarily turned
+thitherward.</p>
+
+<p>Outside and beneath the walls of the Kremlin, and
+running almost the whole extent of its circumference,
+are boulevards and a public garden, called the Emperor's,
+made within a few years, and the handsomest thing
+of the kind in Moscow; I am not sure but that I may
+add anywhere else. I have compared it in my mind
+to the Gardens of the Luxembourg and Tuileries, and
+in many respects hold it to be more beautiful. It is
+more agreeably irregular and undulating in its surface,
+and has a more rural aspect, and the groves and plants
+are better arranged, although it has not the statues,
+lakes, and fountains of the pride of Paris. I loved to
+stroll through this garden, having on one side of me the
+magnificent buildings of the great Russian princes,
+seigneurs, and merchants, among the finest and most
+conspicuous of which is the former residence of the
+unhappy Queen of Georgia; and on the other side,
+visible through the foliage of the trees, the white walls
+of the Kremlin, and, towering above them, the domes
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">82</a></span>of the palaces and churches within, and the lofty tower
+of Ivan Veliki. Thence I loved to stroll to the Holy
+Gate of the Kremlin. It is a vaulted portal, and over
+the entrance is a picture, with a lamp constantly burning;
+and a sentinel is always posted at the gate. I
+loved to stand by it and see the haughty seigneurs and
+the degraded serf alike humble themselves on crossing
+the sacred threshold, and then, with my hat in my hand,
+follow the footsteps of the venerating Russian. Once
+I attempted to brave the interdict, and go in with
+my head covered; but the soldier at the gate stopped
+me, and forbade my violating the sacred prohibition.
+Within the walls I wandered about, without any definite
+object, sometimes entering the great church and
+beholding for a moment the prostrate Russian praying
+before the image of some saint, or descending to look
+once more at the great bell, or at other times mounting
+the tower and gazing at the beautiful panorama of
+the city.</p>
+
+<p>On the last day of my stay in Moscow a great crowd
+drew me to the door of the church, where some fête
+was in course of celebration, in honour of the birth,
+marriage, or some other incident in the life of the
+emperor or empress. The archbishop, a venerable-looking
+old man, was officiating, and when he came
+out a double line of men, women, and children was
+drawn up from the door of the church to his carriage,
+all pressing forward and struggling to kiss his hands.
+The crowd dispersed, and I strolled once more through
+the repository of heirlooms, and imperial reliques and
+trophies; but, passing by the crowns loaded with jewels,
+the canopies and thrones adorned with velvet and
+gold, I paused before the throne of unhappy Poland!
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">83</a></span>I have seen great cities desolate and in ruins, magnificent
+temples buried in the sands of the African desert,
+and places once teeming with fertility now lying waste
+and silent; but no monument of fallen greatness ever
+affected me more than this. It was covered with blue
+velvet and studded with golden stars. It had been the
+seat of Casimir, and Sobieski, and Stanislaus Augustus.
+Brave men had gathered round it and sworn to defend
+it, and died in redeeming their pledge. Their oaths are
+registered in heaven, their bodies rest in bloody graves;
+Poland is blotted from the list of nations, and her throne,
+unspotted with dishonour, brilliant as the stars which
+glitter on its surface, is exhibited as a Russian trophy,
+before which the stoutest manhood need not blush to
+drop a tear.</p>
+
+<p>Toward evening I returned to my favourite place,
+the porch of the palace of the Czars. I seated myself
+on the step, took out my tablets, and commenced a letter
+to my friends at home. What should I write? Above
+me was the lofty tower of Ivan Veliki; below, a solitary
+soldier, in his gray overcoat, was retiring to a sentry-box
+to avoid a drizzling rain. His eyes were fixed upon
+me, and I closed my book. I am not given to musing,
+but I could not help it. Here was the theatre of one
+of the most extraordinary events in the history of the
+world. After sixty battles and a march of more than
+two thousand miles, the grand army of Napoleon entered
+Moscow, and found no smoke issuing from a single
+chimney, nor a Muscovite even to gaze upon them from
+the battlements or walls. Moscow was deserted, her
+magnificent palaces forsaken by their owners, her three
+hundred thousand inhabitants vanished as if they had
+never been. Silent and amazed, the grand army filed
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">84</a></span>through its desolate streets. Approaching the Kremlin,
+a few miserable, ferocious, and intoxicated wretches,
+left behind as a savage token of the national hatred,
+poured a volley of musketry from the battlements. At
+midnight the flames broke out in the city; Napoleon,
+driven from his quarters in the suburbs, hurried to the
+Kremlin, ascended the steps, and entered the door at
+which I sat. For two days the French soldiers laboured
+to repress the fierce attempts to burn the city. Russian
+police-officers were seen stirring up the fire with tarred
+lances; hideous-looking men and women, covered with
+rags, were wandering like demons amid the flames,
+armed with torches, and striving to spread the conflagration.
+At midnight again the whole city was in a
+blaze; and while the roof of the Kremlin was on fire,
+and the panes of the window against which he leaned
+were burning to the touch, Napoleon watched the course
+of the flames and exclaimed, "What a tremendous
+spectacle! These are Scythians indeed." Amid volumes
+of smoke and fire, his eyes blinded by the intense
+heat, and his hands burned in shielding his face from
+its fury, and traversing streets arched with fire, he escaped
+from the burning city.</p>
+
+<p>Russia is not classic ground. It does not stand before
+us covered with the shadow of great men's deeds. A
+few centuries ago it was overrun by wandering tribes
+of barbarians; but what is there in those lands which
+stand forth on the pages of history, crowned with the
+glory of their ancient deeds, that, for extraordinary daring,
+for terrible sublimity, and undaunted patriotism,
+exceeds the burning of Moscow. Neither Marathon,
+nor Thermopylæ, nor the battle of the Horatii, nor the
+defence of Cocles, nor the devotion of the Decii, can
+equal it; and when time shall cover with its dim and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">85</a></span>quiet glories that bold and extraordinary deed, the burning
+of Moscow will be regarded as outstripping all that
+we read of Grecian or Roman patriotism, and the name
+of the Russian governor (Rostopchin), if it be not too
+tough a name to hand down to posterity, will never be
+forgotten.</p>
+
+<hr class="l65" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.</h2>
+
+<div class="chapblock"><p>Getting a Passport.&mdash;Parting with the Marquis.&mdash;The Language of Signs.&mdash;A
+Loquacious Traveller.&mdash;From Moscow to St. Petersburgh.&mdash;The
+Wolga.&mdash;Novogorod.&mdash;Newski Perspective.&mdash;An unfortunate Mistake.&mdash;Northern
+Twilight.</p></div>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Unable</span> to remain longer in Moscow, I prepared for
+my journey for St. Petersburgh. Several diligences
+run regularly between these two great cities; one of
+which, the Velocifère, is superior to any public conveyance
+on the Continent of Europe. I took my place in
+that, and two days beforehand sent my passport to be
+<i>viséd</i>. I sent for it the next day, and it was not ready. I
+went myself, and could not get it. I knew that nothing
+could be done at the Russian offices without paying for
+it, and was ready and willing to do so, and time after
+time I called the attention of the officer to my passport.
+He replied coolly, "<i>Dans un instant</i>," and, turning to
+something else, kept me waiting two hours; and when
+at length he took it up and arranged it, he led me down
+stairs out of sight to receive the expected <i>douceur</i>. He
+was a well-dressed man, with the large government button
+on his coat, and rather distingué in his appearance
+and manners. I took the passport, folded it up, and put
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">86</a></span>it in my pocket with a coolness equal to his own, and
+with malicious pleasure put into his hand a single ruble,
+equal to twenty cents of our money; he expected
+at least twenty-five rubles, or about five dollars, and his
+look of rage and disappointment amply repaid me for all
+the vexation he had caused by his delay. I bade him
+farewell with a smile that almost drove him mad.</p>
+
+<p>Bribery is said to be almost universal among the inferior
+officers of government, and there is a story of a
+Frenchman in Russia which illustrates the system.
+He had an office, of which the salary was so small that
+he could not live upon it. At first he would not take
+bribes, but stern necessity drove him to it, and while
+he was about it he did the thing handsomely. Having
+overreached the mark, and been guilty of being detected,
+he was brought before the proper tribunal; and
+when asked, "Why did you take a bribe?" his answer
+was original and conclusive, "I take, thou takest, he
+takes, we take, you take, they take!"</p>
+
+<p>I told the marquis the story of my parting interview
+at the police-office, which he said was capital, but startled
+me by suggesting that, if there should happen to be
+any irregularity, I would have great trouble in getting it
+rectified; even this, however, did not disturb my immediate
+satisfaction, and, fortunately, all was right.</p>
+
+<p>The morning of my departure, before I was out of
+bed, the marquis was in my room. Meeting with me
+had revived in him feelings long since dead; and at the
+moment of parting he told me, what his pride had till
+that moment concealed, that his heart yearned once
+more to his kindred; and that, if he had the means, old
+as he was, he would go to America. And yet, though
+his frame trembled and his voice was broken, and his
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">87</a></span>lamp was almost burned out, his spirit was as high as
+when he fought the battles of the empire; and he told
+me to say to them that he would not come to be a dependant
+upon their bounty; that he could repay all they
+should do for him by teaching their children. He gave
+me his last painting, which he regarded with the pride
+of an artist, as a souvenir for his sister; but having no
+means of carrying it safely, I was obliged to return it
+to him. He remained with me till the moment of my
+departure, clung to my hand after I had taken my place
+in the drosky, and when we had started I looked back
+and saw him still standing in the road. It seemed as
+if the last link that bound him to earth was broken.
+He gave me a letter, which I forwarded to his friends at
+home; his sister was still living, and had not forgotten
+her long-lost brother; she had not heard from him in
+twenty years, and had long believed him dead. Pecuniary
+assistance was immediately sent to him, and, unhappily,
+since my return home, intelligence has been
+received that it arrived only at the last moment when
+human aid could avail him; in time to smooth the pillow
+of death by the assurance that his friends had not
+forgotten him. And perhaps, in his dying moments, he
+remembered me. At all events, it is some satisfaction,
+amid the recollections of an unprofitable life, to think
+that, when his checkered career was drawing to its close,
+I had been the means of gladdening for a moment the
+old exile's heart.</p>
+
+<p>I must not forget my host, the quondam exile to Siberia.
+In his old days his spirit too was chafed at living
+under despotism, and, like the marquis, he also
+hoped, before he died, to visit America. I gave him
+my address, with the hope, but with very little expectation,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">88</a></span>of seeing him again. A travelling companion once
+remarked, that if every vagabond to whom I gave my
+address should find his way to America, I would have
+a precious set to present to my friends. Be it so; there
+is not a vagabond among them whom I would not be
+glad to see.</p>
+
+<p>My English companion and myself had seen but little
+of each other at Moscow. He intended to remain longer
+than I did, but changed his mind, and took a place
+in the same diligence for St. Petersburgh. This diligence
+was the best I ever rode in; and, for a journey of
+nearly five hundred miles, we could not have been more
+comfortably arranged. It started at the hour punctually,
+as from the Messagere in Paris. We rolled for the last
+time through the streets of Moscow, and in a few minutes
+passed out at the St. Petersburgh Gate. Our companions
+were a man about thirty-five, a cattle-driver,
+with his trousers torn, and his linen hanging out ostentatiously
+in different places, and an old man about sixty-five,
+just so far civilized as to have cut off the long
+beard and put on broadcloth clothes. It was the first
+time the old man had ever been on a journey from home;
+everything was new to him, and he seemed puzzled to
+know what to make of us; he could not comprehend
+how we could look, and walk, and eat like Russians,
+and not talk like them. My place was directly opposite
+his, and, as soon as we were seated, he began to talk
+to me. I looked at him and made no answer; he began
+again, and went on in an uninterrupted strain for several
+minutes, more and more surprised that I did not answer,
+or answered only in unintelligible sounds. After a while
+he seemed to come to the conclusion that I was deaf
+and dumb and turned to my companion as to my keeper
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">89</a></span>for an explanation. Finding he could do nothing
+there, he appeared alarmed, and it was some time before
+he could get a clear idea of the matter. When
+he did, however, he pulled off an amazingly white
+glove, took my hand and shook it, pointed to his head,
+shook it, and touched my head, then put his hand to
+his heart, then to my heart; all which was to say, that
+though our heads did not understand each other, our
+hearts did. But though he saw we did not understand
+him, he did not on that account stop talking; indeed,
+he talked incessantly, and the only way of stopping him
+was to look directly in his face and talk back again;
+and I read him long lectures, particularly upon the
+snares and temptations of the world into which he was
+about to plunge, and wound up with stanzas of poetry
+and scraps of Greek and Latin, all which the old man
+listened to without ever interrupting me, bending his
+ear as if he expected every moment to catch something
+he understood; and when I had finished, after a moment's
+blank expression he whipped off his white glove,
+took my hand, and touched significantly his head and
+heart. Indeed, a dozen times a day he did this; and
+particularly whenever we got out, on resuming our seats,
+as a sort of renewal of the compact of good fellowship,
+the glove invariably came off, and the significant movement
+between the hand, head, and heart was repeated.
+The second day a young seigneur named Chickoff, who
+spoke French, joined the diligence, and through him
+we had full explanations with the old Russian. He always
+called me the American graff or noble, and said
+that, after being presented to the emperor, I should go
+down with him into the country.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">90</a></span>My worthy comrade appeared at first to be not a little
+bored by the old man's garrulous humour; but at length,
+seized by a sudden whim, began, as he said, to teach him
+English. But such English! He taught him, after a
+fashion peculiarly his own, the manner of addressing a
+lady and gentleman in English; and very soon, with the
+remarkable facility of the Russians in acquiring languages,
+the old man, utterly unconscious of their meaning,
+repeated the words with extraordinary distinctness;
+and regularly, when he took his place in the diligence,
+he accompanied the significant movements of his hand,
+head, and heart to me with the not very elegant address
+taught him by my companion. Though compelled to
+smile inwardly at the absurdity of the thing, I could
+not but feel the inherent impropriety of the conduct of
+my eccentric fellow-traveller; and ventured to suggest
+to him that, though he had an undoubted right to do as
+he pleased in matters that could not implicate me, yet,
+independent of the very questionable character of the
+joke itself (for the words savoured more of Wapping
+than of St. James's), as we were known to have travelled
+together, a portion of the credit of having taught the
+old Russian English might fall upon me&mdash;an honour of
+which I was not covetous, and, therefore, should tell the
+old man never to repeat the words he had been taught,
+which I did without assigning any reason for it, and before
+we arrived at St. Petersburgh he had forgotten
+them.</p>
+
+<p>The road from Moscow to St. Petersburgh is now
+one of the best in Europe. It is Macadamized nearly
+the whole way, and a great part is bordered with trees;
+the posthouses are generally large and handsome, under
+the direction of government, where soup, cutlets,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">91</a></span>&amp;c., are always ready at a moment's notice, at prices
+regulated by a tariff hanging up in the room, which,
+however, being written in Russian, was of no particular
+use to us. The country is comparatively thickly settled,
+and villages are numerous. Even on this road,
+however, the villages are forlorn things, being generally
+the property and occupied by the serfs of the seigneurs,
+and consisting of a single long street, with houses on
+both sides built of logs, the better sort squared, with the
+gable end to the street, the roofs projecting two or three
+feet from the houses, and sometimes ornamented with
+rude carving and small holes for windows. We passed
+several chateaux, large, imposing buildings, with parks
+and gardens, and a large church, painted white, with a
+green dome surmounted by a cross.</p>
+
+<p>In many places on the road are chapels with figures
+of the Panagia, or all holy Virgin, or some of the saints;
+and our old Russian, constantly on the lookout for
+them, never passed one without taking off his hat and
+going through the whole formula of crosses; sometimes,
+in entering a town, they came upon us in such
+quick succession, first on one side, then on the other,
+that, if he had not been engaged in, to him, a sacred
+ceremony, his hurry and perplexity would have been
+ludicrous. During the night we saw fires ahead, and
+a little off the road were the bivouacs of teamsters or
+wayfarers, who could not pay for lodging in a miserable
+Russian hut. All the way we met the great caravan
+teams carrying tallow, hides, hemp, and other merchandise
+to the cities, and bringing back wrought fabrics,
+groceries, &amp;c., into the interior. They were generally
+thirty or forty together, one man or woman attending
+to three or four carts, or, rather, neglecting
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">92</a></span>them, as the driver was generally asleep on the top of
+his load. The horses, however, seemed to know what
+they were about; for as the diligence came rolling toward
+them, before the postillion could reach them with
+his whip, they intuitively hurried out of the way. The
+bridges over the streams and rivers are strong, substantial
+structures, built of heavy hewn granite, with iron
+balustrades, and ornamented in the centre with the
+double-headed eagle, the arms of Russia.</p>
+
+<p>At Tver we passed the Wolga on a bridge of boats.
+This noble river, the longest in Europe, navigable almost
+from its source for an extent of four thousand versts,
+dividing, for a great part of its course, Europe and Asia,
+runs majestically through the city, and rolls on, bathing
+the walls of the city of Astrachan, till it reaches the distant
+Caspian; its banks still inhabited by the same tribes
+of warlike Cossacks who hovered on the skirts of the
+French army during their invasion of Russia. By its
+junction with the Tverza, a communication is made between
+the Wolga and Neva, or, in other words, between
+the Caspian and Baltic. The impetus of internal improvements
+has extended even to the north of Europe,
+and the Emperor Nicolas is now actively engaged in
+directing surveys of the great rivers of Russia for the
+purpose of connecting them by canals and railroads, and
+opening steam communications throughout the whole
+interior of his empire. A great number of boats of all
+sizes, for carrying grain to the capital, were lying off the
+city. These boats are generally provided with one mast,
+which, in the largest, may equal a frigate's mainmast.
+"The weight of the matsail," an English officer remarks,
+"must be prodigious, having no fewer than one hundred
+breadths in it; yet the facility with which it is managed
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">93</a></span>bears comparison with that of the Yankees with their
+boom mainsail in their fore-and-aft clippers." The rudder
+is a ponderous machine, being a broad piece of
+timber floating astern twelve or fifteen feet, and fastened
+to the tiller by a pole, which descends perpendicularly
+into the water; the tiller is from thirty to forty feet long,
+and the pilot who turns it stands upon a scaffold at that
+distance from the stern. Down the stream a group of
+Cossacks were bathing, and I could not resist the temptation
+to throw myself for a moment into this king of
+rivers. The diligence hurried me, and, as it came along,
+I gathered up my clothes and dressed myself inside.</p>
+
+<p>About eighty versts from St. Petersburgh we came
+to the ancient city of Novogorod. In the words of an
+old traveller, "Next unto Moscow, the city of Novogorod
+is reputed the chiefest in Russia; for although it
+be in majestie inferior to it, yet in greatness it goeth beyond
+it. It is the chiefest and greatest mart-town of
+all Muscovy; and albeit the emperor's seat is not there,
+but at Moscow, yet the commodiousness of the river,
+falling into that gulf which is called Sinus Finnicus,
+whereby it is well frequented by merchants, makes it
+more famous than Moscow itself." Few of the ruined
+cities of the Old World present so striking an appearance
+of fallen greatness as this comparatively unknown
+place. There is an ancient saying, "Who can resist
+the gods and Novogorod the Great?" Three centuries
+ago it covered an area of sixty-three versts in circumference,
+and contained a population of more than four
+hundred thousand inhabitants. Some parts of it are
+still in good condition, but the larger portion has fallen
+to decay. Its streets present marks of desolation, mouldering
+walls, and ruined churches, and its population
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">94</a></span>has dwindled to little more than seven thousand inhabitants.
+The steeples in this ancient city bear the cross,
+unaccompanied by the crescent, the proud token showing
+that the Tartars, in all their invasions, never conquered
+it, while in the reconquered cities the steeples
+all exhibit the crescent surmounted by the cross.</p>
+
+<p>Late in the afternoon of the fourth day we were approaching
+St. Petersburgh. The ground is low and
+flat, and I was disappointed in the first view of the
+capital of Russia; but passing the barrier, and riding
+up the Newski Perspective, the most magnificent street
+in that magnificent city, I felt that the stories of its
+splendour were not exaggerated, and that this was, indeed,
+entitled to the proud appellation of the "Palmyra
+of the North." My English companion again stopped
+at a house kept by an Englishwoman and frequented by
+his countrymen, and I took an apartment at a hotel in a
+broad street with an unpronounceable Russian name,
+a little off the Newski Perspective. I was worn and
+fatigued with my journey, but I could not resist the inclination
+to take a gentle promenade along the Newski
+Perspective. While in the coffee-room refreshing myself
+with a cup of the best Russian tea, I heard some
+one outside the door giving directions to a tailor, and
+presently a man entered, whom, without looking at him,
+I told he was just the person I wanted to see, as I had
+a pair of pantaloons to be mended. He made no answer,
+and, without being able to see distinctly, I told
+him to wait till I could go up stairs and change them,
+and that he must mend them strongly and bring them
+back in the morning. In all probability, the next moment
+I should have been sprawling on the floor; but the
+landlady, a clever Frenchwoman, who saw my error
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">95</a></span>stepped up, and crying out, "Ah, Monsieur Colonel,
+attendez, attendez," explained my mistake as clearly as
+I could have done myself, and I followed closely with
+an apology, adding that my remark could not be intended
+as disrespectful to him, inasmuch as even then,
+with the windows closed, I could scarcely distinguish
+his person. He understood the thing at once, accepted
+my apology with great frankness, and, instead of knocking
+me down, or challenging me to fight with sabre or
+some other diabolical thing, finding I was a stranger
+just arrived from Moscow, sat down at the table, and
+before we rose offered to accompany me in my walk.</p>
+
+<p>There could be no mistake as to the caste of my
+new friend. The landlady had called him colonel, and,
+in repelling the imputation of his being a tailor, had
+spoken of him as a rich seigneur, who for ten years
+had occupied the front apartments <i>au premier</i> in her
+hotel. We walked out into the Newski Perspective,
+and strolled along that magnificent street down to the
+Admiralty, and along the noble quays of the Neva. I
+had reached the terminus of my journey; for many
+months I had been moving farther and farther away, and
+the next step I took would carry me toward home. It
+was the eve of the fourth of July; and as I strolled
+through the broad streets and looked up at the long
+ranges of magnificent buildings, I poured into the ear
+of my companion the recollections connected with this
+moment at home: in boyhood, crackers and fireworks
+in readiness for the great jubilee of the morrow; and,
+latterly, the excursion into the country to avoid the bustle
+and confusion of "the glorious fourth."</p>
+
+<p>At Moscow and during the journey I had admired
+the exceeding beauty of the twilight in these northern
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">96</a></span>latitudes but this night in St. Petersburgh it was magnificent.
+I cannot describe the peculiar shades of this
+northern twilight. It is as if the glare and brilliancy of
+the sun were softened by the mellowing influence of
+the moon, and the city, with its superb ranges of palaces,
+its statues, its bridges, and its clear and rapid
+river, seemed, under the reflection of that northern
+light, of a brilliant and almost unearthly beauty. I felt
+like rambling all night. Even though worn with three
+days' travel, it was with me as with a young lady at her
+first ball; the night was too short. I could not bear to
+throw it away in sleep. My companion was tough,
+and by no means sentimental, and the scene was familiar
+to him; but he told me that, even in his eyes, it
+never lost its interest. Moonlight is something, but
+this glorious twilight is a thing to enjoy and to remember;
+and, as the colonel remarked when we sat down in
+his apartment to a comfortable supper, it always gave
+him such an appetite. After supper I walked through
+a long corridor to my apartment, threw myself upon my
+bed and tried to sleep, but the mellow twilight poured
+through my window and reproached me with the base
+attempt. I was not restless, but I could not sleep;
+lest, however, the reader should find himself of a different
+humour, I will consider myself asleep the first night
+in St. Petersburgh.</p>
+
+<hr class="l65" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">97</a></span></h2>
+
+<div class="chapblock"><p>Police Requisites.&mdash;The Russian Capital.&mdash;Equestrian Statue of Peter
+the Great.&mdash;The Alexandrine Column.&mdash;Architectural Wonders.&mdash;The
+Summer Islands.&mdash;A perilous Achievement.&mdash;Origin of St. Petersburgh.&mdash;Tombs
+of dead Monarchs.&mdash;Origin of the Russian Navy.</p></div>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">July Fourth</span>. I had intended to pass this day at
+Moscow, and to commemorate it in Napoleon style by
+issuing a bulletin from the Kremlin, but it was a long
+time since I had heard from home. At Constantinople
+I had written to Paris, directing my letters to be sent
+to Petersburgh, and, notwithstanding my late hours the
+night before, I was at the postoffice before the door
+was open. I had never been so long without hearing
+from home, and my lips quivered when I asked for letters,
+my hand shook when I received them, and I hardly
+drew breath until I had finished the last postscript.</p>
+
+<p>My next business was at the bureau of general police
+for a <i>carte de sejour</i>, without which no stranger
+can remain in St. Petersburgh. As usual, I was questioned
+as to my reasons for coming into Russia; age,
+time of sojourn, destination, &amp;c.; and, satisfied that I
+had no intention of preaching democratic doctrines or
+subverting the government of the autocrat, I received
+permission to remain two weeks, which, according to
+direction, I gave to my landlord to be entered at the
+police-office of his district. As no stranger can stay in
+Petersburgh without permission, neither can he leave
+without it; and, to obtain this, he must advertise three
+times in the Government Gazette, stating his name, address,
+and intention of leaving the empire; and as the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">98</a></span>Gazette is only published twice a week, this formality
+occupies eight days. One of the objects of this is to
+apprize his creditors, and give them an opportunity of
+securing their debts; and few things show the barbarity
+and imperfect civilization of the Russians more clearly
+than this; making it utterly impossible for a gentleman
+to spend a winter in St. Petersburgh and go away without
+paying his landlord. This must prevent many a
+soaring spirit from wending its way hither, and keep
+the residents from being enlivened by the flight of those
+birds of passage which dazzle the eyes of the denizens
+of other cities. As there was no other way of getting
+out of the dominions of the Czar, I caused my name and
+intention to be advertised. It did not create much of a
+sensation; and though it was proclaimed in three different
+languages, no one except my landlord seemed to
+feel any interest in it. After all, to get in debt is the
+true way to make friends; a man's creditors always
+feel an interest in him; hope no misfortune may happen
+to him, and always wish him prosperity and success.</p>
+
+<p>These formalities over, I turned to other things.
+Different from every other principal city I had visited,
+St. Petersburgh had no storied associations to interest
+the traveller. There is no Colosseum, as at Rome;
+no Acropolis, as at Athens; no Rialto, as at Venice;
+and no Kremlin, as at Moscow; nothing identified with
+the men and scenes hallowed in our eyes, and nothing
+that can touch the heart. It depends entirely upon itself
+for the interest it creates in the mind of the traveller.</p>
+
+<p>St. Petersburgh is situated at the mouth of the Neva,
+at the eastern extremity of the Gulf of Finland. It is
+built partly on islands formed by the Neva, and partly
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">99</a></span>on both sides of that river. But little more than a century
+ago, the ground now covered with stately palaces
+consisted of wild morasses and primeval forests, and a
+few huts tenanted by savage natives, who lived upon
+the fish of the sea. In seventeen hundred and three
+Peter the Great appeared as a captain of grenadiers
+under the orders of one of his own generals, on the
+wild and dreary banks of the Neva, drove the Swedes
+from their fortress at its mouth, cut down the forests
+on the rude islands of the river, and laid the foundations
+of a city which now surpasses in architectural magnificence
+every other in the world. I do not believe that
+Rome, when Adrian reared the mighty Colosseum, and
+the Palace of the Cæsars covered the Capitoline Hill,
+exhibited such a range of noble structures as now exists
+in the Admiralty Quarter. The Admiralty itself
+is the central point, on one side fronting the Neva, and
+on the other a large open square, and has a façade of
+marble, with ranges of columns, a quarter of a mile in
+length. A beautiful golden spire shoots up from the
+centre, towering above every other object, and seen
+from every part of the city glittering in the sun; and
+three principal streets, each two miles in length, radiate
+from this point. In front is a range of boulevards, ornamented
+with trees, and an open square, at one extremity
+of which stands the great church of St. Isaac,
+of marble, jasper, and porphyry, upon a foundation of
+granite; it has been once destroyed, and reared again
+with increased splendour, enormous columns of a single
+block of red granite already lifting their capitals in the
+air.</p>
+
+<p>On the right of the façade, and near the Isaac Bridge,
+itself a magnificent structure, a thousand and fifty feet
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">100</a></span>long and sixty feet wide, with two drawbridges, stands
+the well-known equestrian statue of Peter the Great.
+The huge block of granite forming the pedestal is fifteen
+hundred tons in weight. The height of the figure of
+the emperor is eleven feet, that of the horse seventeen
+feet, and the weight of the metal in the group nearly
+thirty-seven thousand pounds. Both the idea and the
+execution of this superb monument are regarded as
+masterpieces of genius. To immortalize the enterprise
+and personal courage with which that extraordinary
+man conquered all difficulties and converted a few fishermen's
+huts into palaces, Peter is represented on a
+fiery steed, rushing up a steep and precipitous rock to
+the very brink of a precipice; the horse rears with his
+fore feet in the air, and seems to be impatient of restraint,
+while the imperial rider, in an attitude of triumph,
+extends the hand of protection over his capital rising
+out of the waters. To aid the inspiration of the artist,
+a Russian officer, the boldest rider of his time, daily
+rode the wildest Arabian of Count Orloff's stud to the
+summit of a steep mound, where he halted him suddenly,
+with his forelegs raised pawing the air over the brink of
+the precipice. The monument is surrounded by an iron
+railing, and the pedestal bears the simple inscription,
+Petro Primo, Catharina Secunda, MDCCLXXXII.</p>
+
+<p>On the other side of the square, and in front of the
+Winter Palace, raised within the last two years, and the
+most gigantic work of modern days, rivalling those magnificent
+monuments in the Old World whose ruins now
+startle the wondering traveller, and towering to the
+heavens, as if to proclaim that the days of architectural
+greatness are not gone by for ever, is the great Alexandrine
+Column, a single shaft of red granite, exclusive
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">101</a></span>of pedestal and capital, eighty-four feet high. On the
+summit stands an angel holding a cross with the left
+hand, and pointing to heaven with the right. The pedestal
+contains the simple inscription, "To Alexander
+I. Grateful Russia."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" >
+<img src="images/i_v2_p101.jpg" width="50%" alt="Column of Alexander I." title="Column of Alexander I." />
+<p class="caption">Column of Alexander I.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Surrounding this is a crescent of lofty buildings,
+denominated the Etat Major, its central portion having
+before it a majestic colonnade of the Corinthian order,
+placed on a high rustic basement, with a balustrade
+of solid bronze gilt between the columns. In
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">102</a></span>the middle is a triumphal arch, which, with its frieze,
+reaches nearly to the upper part of the lofty building,
+having a span of seventy feet, the entablature sculptured
+with military trophies, allegorical figures, and
+groups in alto relievo. Next on a line with the Admiralty,
+and fronting the quay, stands the first of a
+long range of imperial palaces, extending in the form of
+a crescent for more than a mile along the Neva. The
+Winter Palace is a gigantic and princely structure, built
+of marble, with a façade of seven hundred and forty
+feet. Next are the two palaces of the Hermitage, connected
+with it and with each other by covered galleries
+on bold arches; the beautiful and tasteful fronts of
+these palaces are strangely in contrast with their simple
+and unpretending name. Next is the stately Grecian
+theatre of the Hermitage. Beyond this are the barracks
+of the guards, then the palace of the French ambassador,
+then the marble palace built by Catharine II. for
+her favourite, Prince Orloff, with a basement of granite
+and superstructure of bluish marble, ornamented with
+marble columns and pillars. In this palace died Stanislaus
+Poniatowsky, the last of the Polish sovereigns.
+This magnificent range, presenting an uninterrupted
+front of marble palaces upward of a mile in length, unequalled
+in any city in the world, is terminated by an
+open square, in which stands a colossal statue of Suwarrow;
+beyond this, still on the Neva, is the beautiful
+summer garden fronting the palace of Paul II.; and
+near it, and at the upper end of the square, is the palace
+of the Grand-duke Michael.</p>
+
+<p>Opposite is the citadel, with its low bastions of
+solid granite, washed all around by the Neva; beautiful
+in its structure, and beautifully decorated by the tall,
+slender, and richly gilded spire of its church. On the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">103</a></span>one side of the Admiralty is the senatorial palace, and
+beyond opens the English Quay, with a range of buildings
+that might well be called the residence of "merchant
+princes;" while the opposite bank is crowded
+with public buildings, among which the most conspicuous
+are the palace of the Academy of the Fine Arts;
+the Obelisk, rising in the centre of a wide square, recording
+the glory of some long-named Russian hero;
+the building of the Naval Cadet Corps, with its handsome
+front, and the barracks of the Guard of Finland;
+finally, the great pile of palace-like buildings belonging
+to the Military Cadet Corps, reaching nearly to the
+palace of the Academy of Sciences, and terminating
+with the magnificent Grecian front of the Exchange. I
+know that a verbal description can give but a faint
+idea of the character of this scene, nor would it help
+the understanding of it to say that it exhibits all that
+wealth and architectural skill can do, for few in our
+country know what even these powerful engines can
+effect; as for myself, hardly noting the details, it was
+my greatest delight to walk daily to the bridge across
+the Neva, at the summer gardens, the view from which
+more than realized all the crude and imperfect notions
+of architectural magnificence that had ever floated
+through my mind; a result that I had never found in
+any other city I had yet seen, not excepting Venice the
+Rich or Genoa the Proud, although the latter is designated
+in guide-books the city of palaces.</p>
+
+<p>Next to the palaces in solidity and beauty of structure
+are the bridges crossing the Neva, and the magnificent
+quays along its course, these last being embankments
+of solid granite, lining the stream on either side the
+whole length of its winding course through the city.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">104</a></span>I was always at a loss whether to ride or walk in St.
+Petersburgh; sometimes I mounted a drosky and rode
+up and down the Newski Perspective, merely for the
+sake of rolling over the wooden pavement. This street
+is perhaps more than twice as wide as Broadway; the
+gutter is in the middle, and on each side are wooden
+pavements wide enough for vehicles to pass each other
+freely. The experiment of wooden pavements was first
+made in this street, and found to answer so well that it
+has since been introduced into many others; and as
+the frost is more severe than with us, and it has stood
+the test of a Russian winter, if rightly constructed it
+will, no doubt, prove equally successful in our own city.
+The road is first covered with broken stone, or Macadamized;
+then logs are laid across it, the interstices being
+filled up with sand and stone, and upon this are placed
+hexagonal blocks of pine about eighteen inches long,
+fitted like joiner's work, fastened with long pegs, and
+covered with a preparation of melted lead.</p>
+
+<p>When I left Paris I had no expectation of travelling
+in Russia, and, consequently, had no letter of introduction
+to Mr. Wilkins, our minister; but, long before reaching
+St. Petersburgh, I had made it a rule, immediately
+on my arrival in a strange place, to call upon our representative,
+whatever he might be, from a minister plenipotentiary
+down to a little Greek consul. I did so here,
+and was probably as well received upon my own introduction
+as if I had been recommended by letter; for I
+got from Mr. Wilkins the invitation to dinner usually
+consequent upon a letter, and besides much interesting
+information from home, and, more than all, a budget of
+New-York newspapers. It was a long time since I had
+seen a New-York paper, and I hailed all the well-known
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">105</a></span>names, informed myself of every house to let, every vessel
+to sail, all the cotton in market, and a new kind of
+shaving-soap for sale at Hart's Bazar; read with particular
+interest the sales of real estate by James
+Bleecker and Sons; wondered at the rapid increase of
+the city in creating a demand for building lots in one
+hundred and twenty-seventh street, and reflected that
+some of my old friends had probably grown so rich that
+they would not recognise me on my return.</p>
+
+<p>Having made arrangements for the afternoon to visit
+the Summer Islands, I dined with my friend the colonel,
+in company with Prince &mdash;&mdash; (I have his name in
+my pocketbook, written by himself, and could give a
+facsimile of it, but I could not spell it). The prince
+was about forty-five, a high-toned gentleman, a nobleman
+in his feelings, and courtly in his manners, though,
+for a prince, rather out at elbows in fortune. The colonel
+and he had been fellow-soldiers, had served in the
+guards during the whole of the French invasion, and
+entered Paris with the allied armies as officers in the
+same regiment. Like most of the Russian seigneurs,
+they had run through their fortunes in their military career.
+The colonel, however, had been set up again by
+an inheritance from a deceased relative, but the prince
+remained ruined. He was now living upon a fragment
+saved from the wreck of his estate, a pension for his
+military services, and the bitter experience acquired
+by a course of youthful extravagance. Like many of
+the reduced Russian seigneurs, he was disaffected toward
+the government, and liberal in politics; he was a
+warm admirer of liberal institutions, had speculated upon
+and studied them both in France and America, and
+analyzed understandingly the spirit of liberty as developed
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">106</a></span>by the American and French revolutions; when
+he talked of Washington, he folded his hands and looked
+up to heaven, as if utterly unable to express the fulness
+of his emotions. With us, the story of our revolution
+is a hackneyed theme, and even the sacred name of
+Washington has become almost commonplace; but the
+freshness of feeling with which the prince spoke of him
+invested him in my eyes with a new and holy character.
+After dinner, and while on our way to the Summer Islands,
+we stopped at his apartments, when he showed
+me the picture of Washington conspicuous on the wall;
+under it, by way of contrast, was that of Napoleon; and
+he summed up the characters of both in few words, by
+saying that the one was all for himself, the other all for
+his country.</p>
+
+<p>The Summer Islands on Sundays and fête days are
+the great promenade of the residents of the capital, and
+the approach to them is either by land or water. We
+preferred the latter, and at the Admiralty took a boat on
+the Neva. All along the quay are flights of steps cut in
+the granite, and descending to a granite platform, where
+boats are constantly in attendance for passengers.
+These boats are fantastically painted, and have the stern
+raised some three or four feet; sometimes they are covered
+with an awning. The oar is of disproportionate
+thickness toward the handle, the blade very broad, always
+feathered in rowing, and the boatman, in his calico
+or linen shirt and pantaloons, his long yellowish beard
+and mustaches, looks like anything but the gondolier of
+Venice. In passing down the Neva I noticed, about half
+way between low-water mark and the top of the quay,
+a ring which serves to fasten vessels, and is the mark,
+to which if the water rises, an inundation may be expected.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">107</a></span>The police are always on the watch, and the
+fearful moment is announced by the firing of cannon, by
+the display of white flags from the Admiralty steeple by
+day, and by lanterns and the tolling of the bells at night.
+In the last dreadful inundation of eighteen hundred and
+twenty-four, bridges were swept away, boats floated in
+some parts of the town above the tops of the houses,
+and many villages were entirely destroyed. At Cronstadt,
+a vessel of one hundred tons was left in the middle
+of one of the principal streets; eight thousand dead
+bodies were found and buried, and probably many thousands
+more were hurried on to the waters of the Gulf
+of Finland.</p>
+
+<p>It was a fête day in honour of some church festival,
+and a great portion of the population of St. Petersburgh
+was bending its way toward the Summer Islands. The
+emperor and empress were expected to honour the
+promenade with their presence, and all along the quay
+boats were shooting out loaded with gay parties, and, as
+they approached the islands, they formed into a fleet,
+almost covering the surface of the river. We were
+obliged to wait till perhaps a dozen boats had discharged
+their passengers before we could land.</p>
+
+<p>These islands are formed by the branches of the
+Neva, at about three versts from St. Petersburgh.
+They are beautifully laid out in grass and gravel-walks,
+ornamented with trees, lakes, shrubs, and flowers, connected
+together by light and elegant bridges, and adorned
+with beautiful little summer-houses. These summer-houses
+are perfectly captivating; light and airy in their
+construction, and completely buried among the trees.
+As we walked along we heard music or gentle voices,
+and now and then came upon a charming cottage, with
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">108</a></span>a beautiful lawn or garden, just enough exposed to let
+the passer-by imagine what he pleased; and on the
+lawn was a light fanciful tent, or an arbour hung with
+foliage, under which the occupants, with perhaps a
+party of friends from the city, were taking tea, and
+groups of rosy children were romping around them,
+while thousands were passing by and looking on, with
+as perfect an appearance of domestic <i>abandon</i> as if in
+the privacy of the fireside. I have sometimes reproached
+myself that my humour changed with every passing
+scene; but, inasmuch as it generally tended toward at
+least a momentary satisfaction, I did not seek to check
+it; and though, from habit and education, I would have
+shrunk from such a family exhibition, here it was perfectly
+delightful. It seemed like going back to a simpler
+and purer age. The gay and smiling faces seemed
+to indicate happy hearts; and when I saw a mother
+playing on the green with a little cherub daughter, I
+felt how I hung upon the community, a loose and disjointed
+member, and would fain have added myself to
+some cheerful family group. A little farther on, however,
+I saw a papa flogging a chubby urchin, who
+drowned with his bellowing the music from a neighbouring
+arbour, which somewhat broke the charm of
+this public exhibition of scenes of domestic life.</p>
+
+<p>Besides these little retiring-places or summer residences
+of citizens, restaurants and houses of refreshments
+were distributed in great abundance, and numerous
+groups were sitting under the shade of trees or
+arbours, taking ices or refreshments; and the grounds
+for promenade were so large and beautifully disposed,
+that, although thousands were walking through them,
+there was no crowd, except before the door of a principal
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">109</a></span>refectory, where a rope-dancer was flourishing in
+the air among the tops of the trees.</p>
+
+<p>In addition to the many enchanting retreats and summer
+residences created by the taste, luxury, and wealth
+of private individuals, there are summer theatres and
+imperial villas. But the gem of the islands is the little
+imperial palace at Cammenoi. I have walked through
+royal palaces, and admired their state and magnificence
+without one wish to possess them, but I felt a strong
+yearning toward this imperial villa. It is not so grand
+and stately as to freeze and chill one, but a thing of extraordinary
+simplicity and elegance, in a beautifully
+picturesque situation, heightened by a charming disposition
+of lawn and trees, so elegant, and, if I may add
+such an unpoetical word in the description of this imperial
+residence, so comfortable, that I told the prince
+if I were a Rasselas escaped from the happy valley, I
+would look no farther for a resting-place. The prince
+replied that in the good old days of Russian barbarism,
+when a queen swayed the sceptre, Russia had been a
+great field for enterprising and adventurous young men,
+and in more than one instance a palace had been the
+reward of a favourite. We gave a sigh to the memory
+of those good old days, and at eleven o'clock returned
+to the city on the top of an omnibus. The whole road
+from the Summer Islands and the great street leading
+to the Admiralty were lighted with little glass lamps,
+arranged on the sidewalks about six feet apart, but
+they almost realized the conceit of illuminating the sun
+by hanging candles around it, seeming ashamed of their
+own sickly glare and struggling vainly with the glorious
+twilight.</p>
+
+<p>The next morning the valet who had taken me as his
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">110</a></span>master, and who told others in the house that he could
+not attend to them, as he was in my service, informed
+me that a traveller arrived from Warsaw the night before
+had taken apartments in the same hotel, and could
+give me all necessary information in regard to that route;
+and, after breakfast, I sent him, with my compliments,
+to ask the traveller if he would admit me, and shortly
+after called myself. He was a young man, under thirty,
+above the middle size, strong and robust of frame, with
+good features, light complexion, but very much freckled,
+a head of extraordinary red hair, and a mustache of the
+same brilliant colour; and he was dressed in a coloured
+stuff morning-gown, and smoking a pipe with an air of no
+small dignity and importance. I explained the purpose
+of my visit, and he gave me as precise information as
+could possibly be had; and the most gratifying part of
+the interview was, that before we separated he told
+me that he intended returning to Warsaw in about ten
+days, and would be happy to have me bear him company.
+I gladly embraced his offer, and left him, better pleased
+with the result of my interview than I had expected
+from his rather unprepossessing appearance. He was
+a Frenchman by descent, born in Belgium, and educated
+and resident in Poland, and possessed in a striking degree
+the compounded amor patriæ incident to the relationship
+in which he stood to these three countries.
+But, as I shall be obliged to speak of him frequently
+hereafter, I will leave him for the present to his morning-gown
+and pipe.</p>
+
+<p>Well pleased with having my plans arranged, I went
+out without any specific object, and found myself on the
+banks of the Neva. Directly opposite the Winter Palace,
+and one of the most conspicuous objects on the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">111</a></span>whole line of the Neva, is the citadel or old fortress,
+and, in reality, the foundation of the city. I looked
+long and intently on the golden spire of its church,
+shooting toward the sky and glittering in the sun.
+This spire, which rises tapering till it seems almost to
+fade away into nothing, is surmounted by a large globe,
+on which stands an angel supporting a cross. This
+angel, being made of corruptible stuff, once manifested
+symptoms of decay, and fears were entertained that
+he would soon be numbered with the fallen. Government
+became perplexed how to repair it, for to raise a
+scaffolding to such a height would cost more than the
+angel was worth. Among the crowd which daily assembled
+to gaze at it from below was a roofer of houses,
+who, after a long and silent examination, went to the
+government and offered to repair it without any scaffolding
+or assistance of any kind. His offer was accepted;
+and on the day appointed for the attempt, provided
+with nothing but a coil of cords, he ascended inside
+to the highest window, and, looking for a moment
+at the crowd below and at the spire tapering away above
+him, stood up on the outer ledge of the window. The
+spire was covered with sheets of gilded copper, which,
+to beholders from below, presented only a smooth surface
+of burnished gold; but the sheets were roughly laid, and
+fastened by large nails, which projected from the sides
+of the spire. He cut two pieces of cord, and tied loops
+at each end of both, fastened the upper loops over two
+projecting nails, and stood with his feet in the lower;
+then, clinching the fingers of one hand over the rough
+edges of the sheets of copper, raised himself till he
+could hitch one of the loops on a higher nail with the
+other hand; he did the same for the other loop, and so
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">112</a></span>he raised one leg after the other, and at length ascended,
+nail by nail, and stirrup by stirrup, till he clasped his
+arms around the spire directly under the ball. Here it
+seemed impossible to go any farther, for the ball was
+ten or twelve feet in circumference, with a smooth and
+glittering surface, and no projecting nails, and the angel
+was above the ball, as completely out of sight as if it
+were in the habitation of its prototypes. But the
+daring roofer was not disheartened. Raising himself
+in his stirrups, he encircled the spire with a cord, which
+he tied round his waist; and, so supported, leaned gradually
+back until the soles of his feet were braced against
+the spire, and his body fixed almost horizontally in the
+air. In this position he threw a cord over the top of the
+ball, and threw it so coolly and skilfully that at the first
+attempt it fell down on the other side, just as he wanted
+it; then he drew himself up to his original position, and,
+by means of his cord, climbed over the smooth sides of
+the globe, and in a few moments, amid thunders of
+applause from the crowd below, which at that great
+height sounded only like a faint murmur, he stood by
+the side of the angel. After attaching a cord to it he
+descended, and the next day carried up with him a ladder
+of ropes, and effected the necessary repairs.</p>
+
+<p>But to return. With my eyes fixed upon the spire,
+I crossed the bridge and entered the gate of the fortress.
+It is built on a small island, fortified by five bastions,
+which, on the land side, are mere ramparts connected
+with St. Petersburgh quarter by drawbridges, and on
+the river side it is surrounded by walls cased with granite,
+in the centre of which is a large gate or sallyport.
+As a fortress, it is now useless; but it is a striking object
+of embellishment to the river, and an interesting
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">113</a></span>monument in the history of the city. Peter himself
+selected this spot for his citadel and the foundation of
+his city. At that time it contained two fishing-huts in
+ruins, the only original habitations on the island. It
+was necessary to cut down the trees, and elevate the
+surface of the island with dirt and stone brought from
+other places before he commenced building the fortress;
+and the labour of the work was immense, no
+less than forty thousand workmen being employed at
+one time. Soldiers, Swedish prisoners, Ingrians, Carelians,
+and Cossacks, Tartars and Calmucs, were
+brought from their distant solitudes to lay the foundation
+of the imperial city, labouring entirely destitute of
+all the comforts of life, sleeping on the damp ground
+and in the open air, often without being able, in that
+wilderness, to procure their daily meal; and, moreover,
+without pickaxes, spades, or other instruments of labour,
+and using only their bare hands for digging; but,
+in spite of all this, the work advanced with amazing
+rapidity, and in four months the fortress was completed.
+The principal objects of interest it now contains are the
+Imperial Mint and the Cathedral of St. Peter and St.
+Paul. Brought up in a community where "making
+money" is the great business of life, I ought, perhaps,
+to have entered the former, but I turned away from the
+ingots of gold and silver, and entered the old church,
+the burial-place of Peter the Great, and nearly all the
+Czars and Czarinas, emperors and empresses, since his
+time. Around the walls were arranged flags and banners,
+trophies taken in war, principally from the Turks,
+waving mournfully over the tombs of the dead. A
+sombre light broke through the lofty windows, and I
+moved directly to the tomb of Peter. It is near the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">114</a></span>great altar, of plain marble, in the shape of a square
+coffin, without any ornament but a gold plate, on one
+end of which are engraved his name and title; and at
+the moment of my entrance an old Russian was dusting
+it with a brush. It was with a mingled feeling of veneration
+and awe that I stood by the tomb of Peter. I
+had always felt a profound admiration for this extraordinary
+man, one of those prodigies of nature which appear
+on the earth only once in many centuries; a combination
+of greatness and cruelty, the sternness of whose
+temper spared neither age nor sex, nor the dearest ties
+of kindred; whose single mind changed the face of an
+immense empire and the character of millions, and yet
+who often remarked with bitter compunction, "I can
+reform my people, but I cannot reform myself."</p>
+
+<p>By his side lies the body of his wife, Catharine I.,
+the beautiful Livonian, the daughter of a peasant girl,
+and the wife of a common soldier, who, by a wonderful
+train of events, was raised to wield the sceptre of a
+gigantic empire. Her fascination soothed the savage
+Peter in his moodiest hours. She was the mediatrix
+between the stern monarch and his subjects; mercy
+was ever on her lips, and one who knew her well
+writes what might be inscribed in letters of gold upon
+her tomb: "She was a pretty, well-looked woman, but
+not of that sublimity of wit, or, rather, that quickness
+of imagination which some people have supposed. The
+great reason why the Czar was so fond of her was her
+exceeding good temper; she never was seen peevish
+or out of humour; obliging and civil to all, and never
+forgetful of her former condition, and withal mighty
+grateful."</p>
+
+<p>Near their imperial parents lie the bodies of their
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">115</a></span>two daughters, Anne of Holstein and the Empress
+Elizabeth. Peter, on his deathbed, in an interval of
+delirium, called to him his daughter Anne, as it was
+supposed, with the intention of settling upon her the
+crown, but suddenly relapsed into insensibility; and
+Anne, brought up in the expectation of two crowns,
+died in exile, leaving one son, the unfortunate Peter III.</p>
+
+<p>Elizabeth died on the throne, a motley character of
+goodness, indolence, and voluptuousness, and extremely
+admired for her great personal attractions. She was
+never married, but, as she frequently owned to her confidants,
+never happy but when in love. She was so tender
+of heart that she made a vow to inflict no capital
+punishment during her reign; shed tears upon the news
+of every victory gained by her troops, from the reflection
+that it could not have been gained without bloodshed,
+and would never give her consent for the execution of a
+felon, however deserving; and yet she condemned two
+noble ladies, one of them the most beautiful woman in
+Russia, to receive fifty strokes of the knout in the open
+square of St. Petersburgh.</p>
+
+<p>I strolled for a few moments among the other imperial
+sepulchres, and returned to the tombs of Peter's
+family. Separate monuments are erected over their
+bodies, all in the shape of large oblong tombstones, ornamented
+with gold, and enclosed by high iron railings.
+As I leaned against the railing of Peter's tomb, I missed
+one member of his imperial family. It was an awful
+chasm. Where was his firstborn child and only son?
+the presumptive heir of his throne and empire? Early
+the object of his unnatural prejudice, excluded from the
+throne, imprisoned, tortured, tried, condemned, sentenced
+to death by the stern decree of his offended father!</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">116</a></span>The ill-starred Alexius lies in the vaults of the church,
+in the imperial sepulchre, but without any tomb or inscription
+to perpetuate the recollection of his unhappy
+existence. And there is something awful in the juxtaposition
+of the dead; he lies by the side of his unhappy
+consort, the amiable Princess Charlotte, who died the
+victim of his brutal neglect; so subdued by affliction
+that, in a most affecting farewell to Peter, unwilling to
+disturb the tranquillity of her last hour, she never mentioned
+his name, and welcomed death as a release from
+her sufferings.</p>
+
+<p>Leaving the church, I went to a detached building
+within the fortress, where is preserved, in a separate
+building, a four-oared boat, as a memorial of the origin
+of the Russian navy. Its history is interesting. About
+the year 1691 Peter saw this boat at a village near
+Moscow; and inquiring the cause of its being built differently
+from those he was in the habit of seeing, learned
+that it was contrived to go against the wind. Under
+the direction of Brandt, the Dutch shipwright who built
+it, he acquired the art of managing it. He afterward
+had a large pleasure-yacht constructed after the same
+model, and from this beginning went on till he surprised
+all Europe by a large fleet on the Baltic and the Black
+Sea. Twenty years afterward he had it brought up
+from Moscow, and gave a grand public entertainment,
+which he called the consecration of the "little grandsire."
+The fleet, consisting of twenty-seven men-of-war,
+was arranged at Cronstadt in the shape of a half
+moon. Peter embarked in the little grandsire, himself
+steering, and three admirals and Prince Mendzikoff rowing,
+and made a circuit in the gulf, passing by the fleet,
+the ships striking their flags and saluting it with their
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">117</a></span>guns, while the little grandsire returned each salute by a
+discharge of three small pieces. It was then towed up
+to St. Petersburgh, where its arrival was celebrated by
+a masquerade upon the waters, and, Peter again steering,
+the boat proceeded to the fortress, and under a discharge
+of all the artillery it was deposited where it
+now lies.</p>
+
+<p>Returning, I took a bath in the Neva. In bathing, as
+in everything else, the Russians profit by the short
+breath of summer, and large public bathing-houses are
+stationed at intervals along the quay of the river, besides
+several smaller ones, tasteful and ornamental in appearance,
+being the private property of rich seigneurs. I
+went into one of the former, where a swimming-master
+was teaching a school of boys the art of swimming.
+The water of the Neva was the first thing I had found
+regularly Russian, that is, excessively cold; and though
+I bathed in it several times afterward, I always found it
+the same.</p>
+
+<p>At five o'clock I went to dine with Mr. Wilkins. He
+had broken up his establishment and taken apartments
+at the house of an English lady, where he lived much
+in the same style as at home. He had been at St. Petersburgh
+but a short time, and, I believe, was not particularly
+well pleased with it, and was then making arrangements
+to return. I had never met with Mr. Wilkins
+in our own country, and I consider myself under
+obligations to him; for, not bringing him any letter, I
+stood an entire stranger in St. Petersburgh, with nothing
+but my passport to show that I was an American citizen,
+and he might have even avoided the dinner, or have given
+me the dinner and troubled himself no more about me.
+But the politeness which he had shown me as a stranger
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">118</a></span>increased to kindness; and I was in the habit of calling
+upon him at all times, and certainly without any expectation
+of ever putting him in print. We had at table a
+parti quarré, consisting of Mr. Wilkins, Mr. Gibson,
+who has been our consul, I believe, for twenty years,
+if, he being still a bachelor, it be not unfriendly to carry
+him back so far, and Mr. Clay, the secretary of legation,
+who had been twice left as chargé d'affaires at the imperial
+court, and was then lately married to an English
+lady in St. Petersburgh. After dinner, three or four
+American merchants came in; and at eleven o'clock,
+having made an appointment to go with Mr. Wilkins
+and see a boatrace on the Neva, Mr. Clay and I walked
+home along the quay, under that enchanting twilight
+which I have already so often thrust upon the reader,
+and which I only regret that I cannot make him realize
+and enjoy.</p>
+
+<hr class="l65" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2>
+
+<div class="chapblock"><p>A New Friend.&mdash;The Winter Palace.&mdash;Importance of a Hat.&mdash;An artificial
+Mine.&mdash;Remains of a huge Monster.&mdash;Peter the Great's Workshop.&mdash;The
+Greek Religion.&mdash;Tomb of a Hero.&mdash;A Saint Militant.&mdash;Another
+Love Affair.&mdash;The Hermitage.&mdash;The Winter and Summer Gardens.</p></div>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Early</span> in the morning, while at breakfast, I heard a
+loud knock at my door, which was opened without waiting
+for an answer, and in stalked a tall, stout, dashing-looking
+young man, with a blue frock, white pantaloons,
+and a vest of many colours, a heavy gold chain around his
+neck, an enormous Indian cane in his hand, and a broad-brimmed
+hat brought down on one side, over his right
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">119</a></span>eye in particular. He had a terrible scowl on his face,
+which seemed to be put on to sustain the dignity of his
+amazing costume, and he bowed on his entrance with as
+much <i>hauteur</i> as if he meant to turn me out of my own
+room. I stared at him in unfeigned astonishment, when,
+putting his cane under his arm, and pulling off his hat,
+his intensely red head broke upon me with a blaze of
+beauty, and I recognised my friend and intended fellow-traveller,
+the French Belgian Pole, whom I had seen
+in an old morning-gown and slippers. I saw through
+my man at once; and speedily knocking in the head his
+overwhelming formality, came upon him with the old college
+salutation, asking him to pull off his clothes and
+stay a week; and he complied almost literally, for in less
+than ten minutes he had off his coat and waistcoat, cravat
+and boots, and was kicking up his heels on my bed.
+I soon discovered that he was a capital fellow, a great
+beau in his little town on the frontiers of Poland, and
+one of a class by no means uncommon, that of the very
+ugly men who imagine themselves very handsome.
+While he was kicking his heels over the footboard, he
+asked me what we thought of red hair in America; and
+I told him that I could not undertake to speak the public
+voice, but that, for myself, I did not admire it as
+much as some people did, though, as to his, there was
+something striking about it, which was strictly true,
+for it was such an enormous mop that, as his head lay
+on the pillow, it looked like a bust set in a large red
+frame. All the time he held in his hand a pocket looking-glass
+and a small brush, with which he kept brushing
+his mustaches, giving them a peculiar twirl toward the
+ears. I told him that he was wrong about the mustache;
+and, taking the brush, brought them out of their
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">120</a></span>twist, and gave them an inclination à la Turque, recommending
+my own as a model; but he soon got them back
+to their place, and, rising, shook his gory locks and began
+to dress himself, or, as he said, to put himself in
+parchment for a walk.</p>
+
+<p>My new friend was for no small game, and proposed
+visiting some of the palaces. On the way he confided
+to me a conquest he had already made since his arrival;
+a beautiful young lady, of course, the daughter of
+an Italian music-master, who resided directly opposite
+our hotel. He said he had applied for an apartment
+next to mine, which commanded a view of the window
+at which she sat, and asked me, as a friend, whether it
+would be interfering with me. Having received my
+assurance that I had no intentions in that quarter, he
+said he would order his effects to be removed the same
+day.</p>
+
+<p>By this time we had arrived at the Winter Palace,
+presenting, as I have before remarked, a marble front
+on the Neva of more than seven hundred feet, or as
+long as the side of Washington Square, and larger and
+more imposing than that of the Tuileries or any other
+royal palace in Europe. We approached the large
+door of entrance to this stately pile, and, notwithstanding
+my modest application, backed by my companion's
+dashing exterior, we were turned away by the imperial
+footman because we had not on dresscoats. We went
+home and soon returned equipped as the law of etiquette
+requires, and were admitted to the imperial residence.
+We ascended the principal story by the great
+marble staircase, remarkable for its magnificence and
+the grandeur of its architecture. There are nearly a
+hundred principal rooms on the first floor, occupying an
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">121</a></span>area of four hundred thousand square feet, and forming
+almost a labyrinth of splendour. The great banqueting-hall
+is one hundred and eighty-nine feet by one
+hundred and ten, incrusted with the finest marble, with
+a row of columns at each end, and the side decorated
+with attached columns, rich gilding, and splendid mirrors.
+The great Hall of St. George is one of the richest
+and most superb rooms on the Continent, not excepting
+the pride of the Tuileries or Versailles. It is a parallelogram
+of one hundred and forty feet by sixty, decorated
+with forty fluted Corinthian columns of porphyritic
+marble, with capitals and bases of bronze richly
+gilded, and supporting a gallery with a gilded bronze
+balustrade of exquisite workmanship. At one end, on
+a platform, is the throne, approached by a flight of eight
+steps, covered with the richest Genoa velvet, embroidered
+with gold, with the double-headed eagle expanding
+his wings above it. The large windows on both
+sides are hung with the richest drapery, and the room
+is embellished by magnificent mirrors and colossal candelabra
+profusely gilded.</p>
+
+<p>We passed on to the <i>salle blanche</i>, which is nearly
+of the same dimensions, and beautifully chaste in design
+and finish. Its elevation is greater, and the sides
+are decorated with pilasters, columns, and bas-reliefs
+of a soft white tint, without the least admixture of
+gaudy colours. The space between the Hall of St.
+George and the <i>salle blanche</i> is occupied as a gallery
+of national portraits, where the Russians who distinguished
+themselves during the French invasion are exhibited
+in half-length portraits as rewards for their military
+services. The three field-marshals, Kutuzow, Barclay
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">122</a></span>de Tolly, and the Duke of Wellington, are represented
+at full length. The symbol which accompanies
+the hero of Waterloo is that of imperishable strength,
+the British oak, "the triumpher of many storms."</p>
+
+<p>I will not carry the reader through all the magnificent
+apartments, but I cannot help mentioning the Diamond
+Room, containing the crowns and jewels of the imperial
+family. Diamonds, rubies, and emeralds are arranged
+round the room in small cases, of such dazzling
+beauty that it is almost bewildering to look at them. I
+had already acquired almost a passion for gazing at
+precious stones. At Constantinople I had wandered
+through the bazars, under the guidance of a Jew, and
+seen all the diamonds collected and for sale in the capital
+of the East, but I was astonished at the brilliancy
+of this little chamber, and, in my strongly-awakened
+admiration, looked upon the miser who, before the degrading
+days of bonds and mortgages, converted his
+wealth into jewels and precious stones, as a man of elegant
+and refined taste. The crown of the emperor is
+adorned with a chaplet of oak-leaves made of diamonds
+of an extraordinary size, and the imperial sceptre contains
+one supposed to be the largest in the world, being
+the celebrated stone purchased by the Empress Catharine
+II. from a Greek slave for four hundred and fifty
+thousand rubles and a large pension for life. Eighty
+thousand persons were employed in the construction of
+this palace; upward of two thousand habitually reside
+in it, and even a larger number when the emperor is in
+St. Petersburgh. The imperial flag was then floating
+from the top of the palace, as an indication to his subjects
+of his majesty's presence in the capital; and about
+the time that his majesty sat down to his royal dinner
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">123</a></span>we were working upon a cotelette de mouton, and drinking
+in vin ordinaire health and long life to Nicolas the
+First; and afterward, in talking of the splendour of the
+imperial palace and the courtesy of the imperial footmen,
+we added health and long life to the Lady Autocrat
+and all the little autocrats.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p>
+
+<p>After dinner we took our coffee at the Café Chinois, on
+the Newski Perspective, equal, if not superior, in style
+and decoration to anything in Paris. Even the rules of
+etiquette in France are not orthodox all over the world.
+In Paris it is not necessary to take off the hat on entering
+a café or restaurant, and in the south of France a
+Frenchman will sit down to dinner next a lady with his
+head covered; but in Russia, even on entering an apartment
+where there are only gentlemen, it is necessary to
+uncover the head. I neglected this rule from ignorance
+and want of attention, and was treated with rudeness
+by the proprietor, and afterward learned the cause, with
+the suggestion that it was fortunate that I had not been
+insulted. This is a small matter, but a man's character
+in a strange place is often affected by a trifling circumstance;
+and Americans, at least I know it to be the
+case with myself, are, perhaps, too much in the habit
+of neglecting the minor rules of etiquette.</p>
+
+<p>That night my new friend had his effects removed to
+a room adjoining mine, and the next morning I found
+him sitting in his window with a book in his hand,
+watching the young lady opposite. He was so pleased
+with his occupation that I could not get him away, and
+went off without him. Mr. Wilkins having offered to
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">124</a></span>accompany me to some of the public institutions, I
+called for him; and, finding him disengaged, we took a
+boat on the Neva, and went first to the Academy of
+Arts, standing conspicuously on the right bank opposite
+the English Quay, and, perhaps, the chastest and most
+classical structure in St. Petersburgh. In the court are
+two noble Egyptian Sphynxes. A magnificent staircase,
+with a double flight of granite steps, leads to a
+grand landing-place with broad galleries around it, supporting,
+by means of Ionic columns, the cupola, which
+crowns the whole. The Rotunda is a fine apartment
+of exquisite proportions, decorated with statues and
+busts; and at the upper end of the Conference-room
+stands a large table, at the head of which is a full-length
+portrait of Nicolas under a rich canopy. In one room
+are a collection of models from the antique, and another
+of the paintings of native artists, some of which are
+considered as indicating extraordinary talent.</p>
+
+<p>From hence we went to the <i>Hotel des Mines</i>, where
+the name of the American minister procured us admission
+without the usual permit. The <i>Hotel des
+Mines</i> was instituted by the great Peter for the purpose
+of training a mining engineer corps, to explore
+scientifically the vast mineral resources of the empire,
+and also engineers for the army. Like all the other
+public edifices, the building is grand and imposing, and
+the arrangement of the different rooms and galleries is
+admirable. In one room is a large collection of medals,
+and in another of coins. Besides specimens of general
+mineralogy of extraordinary beauty, there are native
+iron from the Lake Olonetz, silver ore from Tobolsk
+and gold sand from the Oural Mountains; and in iron-bound
+cases, beautifully ornamented, there is a rich collection
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">125</a></span>of native gold, found either in the mines belonging
+to government or in those of individuals, one piece
+of which was discovered at the depth of three and a
+half feet in the sand, weighing more than twenty-four
+pounds. The largest piece of platinum in existence,
+from the mines of Demidoff, weighing ten pounds, is
+here also; and, above all, a colossal specimen of amalachite
+weighing three thousand four hundred and fifty-six
+pounds, and, at the common average price of this combination
+of copper and carbonic acid, worth three thousand
+seven hundred and fifty pounds sterling.</p>
+
+<p>But the most curious part of this valuable repository
+is under ground, being a model of a mine in Siberia.
+Furnished with lighted tapers, we followed our guides
+through winding passages cut into the bowels of the
+earth, the sides of which represented, by the aggregation
+of real specimens, the various stratifications, with all
+the different ores, and minerals, and different species of
+earth, as they were found in the natural state; the coal
+formation, veins of copper, and in one place of gold,
+being particularly well represented, forming an admirable
+practical school for the study of geology, though
+under a chillness of atmosphere which would be likely
+very soon to put an end to studies of all kinds.</p>
+
+<p>From here we passed to the imperial Academy of
+Sciences, by far the most interesting part of our day's
+visiting. This, too, was founded by the Great Peter.
+I hardly know why, but I had already acquired a warm
+admiration for the stout old Czar. There was nothing
+high or chivalric about him, but every step in Russia,
+from the Black Sea to the Baltic, showed me what he
+had done to advance the condition of his people. I
+knew all this as matter of history, but here I felt it as
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">126</a></span>fact. We strolled through the mineralogical and zoological
+repositories, and stopped before the skeleton of
+that stupendous inhabitant of a former world, denominated
+the mammoth, whose fame had been carried over
+the waste of waters even to our distant country, and
+beside which even the skeletons of elephants looked insignificant.
+What was he? where did he live, and is
+his race extinct? It gave rise to a long train of interesting
+speculation, to endow him with life, and see him
+striding with gigantic steps, the living tenant of a
+former world; and more interesting still to question, as
+others had done, whether he was not, after all, one of a
+race of animals not yet extinct, and perhaps wandering
+even now within a short distance of the Polar Sea.</p>
+
+<p>There is also in this part of the museum a collection
+of anatomical specimens and of human monsters; an
+unpleasing exhibition, though, no doubt, useful to medical
+science; among them was a child with two heads
+from America. More interesting to me was a large
+collection of insects, of medals, and particularly of the
+different objects in gold found in the tumuli of Siberia,
+consisting of bracelets, vases, crowns, bucklers, rings,
+sabres with golden hilts, Tartar idols, &amp;c., many of
+them of great value and of very elegant workmanship,
+which have given rise to much interesting speculation
+in regard to the character of the people who formerly
+inhabited that country. The Asiatic museum contains
+a library of Chinese, Japanese, Mongolese, and Tibetan
+books and manuscripts; Mohammedan, Chinese, and
+Japanese coins; an interesting assemblage of Mongolese
+idols cut in bronze and gilded, and illustrating the religion
+of Buddha. There is also an Egyptian museum, containing
+about a thousand articles. The cabinet of curiosities
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">127</a></span>contains figures of all the different people conquered
+under the government of Russia, habited in their
+national costumes; also of Chinese, Persians, Aleutans,
+Carelians, and the inhabitants of many of the Eastern,
+Pacific, or Northern Islands discovered or visited by
+Russian travellers and navigators, as well as of the different
+nations inhabiting Siberia.</p>
+
+<p>But by far the most interesting part of the museum
+is the cabinet of Peter himself, consisting of a suite of
+apartments, in which the old Czar was in the habit of
+passing his leisure hours engaged in some mechanical
+employment. In one room are several brass cylinders
+turned by his own hands, and covered with battle-scenes
+of his own engraving. Also an iron bar forged by him;
+bas-reliefs executed in copper, representing his desperate
+battles in Livonia; an ivory chandelier of curious
+and highly-wrought workmanship, and a group in ivory
+representing Abraham offering up his son Isaac, the
+ram and the angel Gabriel cut out entire. In another
+room is his workshop, containing a variety of vessels
+and models etched in copper, and a copperplate with an
+unfinished battle-scene. His tools and implements are
+strewed about the room precisely in the state in which
+he left them the last time he was there. In another
+chamber were the distended skin of his French body-servant,
+seven feet high; the Arabian horse which he rode
+at the bloody battle of Pultowa, and the two favourite
+dogs which always accompanied him; and in another the
+figure of the old Czar himself in wax, as large as life;
+the features, beyond doubt, bearing the exact resemblance
+to the original, being taken from a cast applied
+to his face when dead, and shaded in imitation of his
+real complexion. The eyebrows and hair are black, the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">128</a></span>eyes dark, the complexion swarthy, and aspect stern.
+This figure is surrounded by the portraits of his predecessors,
+in their barbarian costumes, himself seated in
+an armchair in the same splendid dress which he wore
+when with his own hands he placed the imperial crown
+on the head of his beloved Catharine. Here, also, are
+his uniform of the guards, gorget, scarf, and sword, and
+hat shot through at the battle of Pultowa; and the last
+thing which the guide put into my hands was a long
+stick measuring his exact height, and showing him literally
+a great man, being six Russian feet. I must not
+forget a pair of shoes made by his own hands; but the
+old Czar was no shoemaker. Nevertheless, these memorials
+were all deeply interesting; and though I had
+seen the fruits of his labours from the Black Sea to
+the Baltic, I never felt such a strong personal attraction
+to him as I did here.</p>
+
+<p>I was obliged to decline dining with Mr. Wilkins in
+consequence of an engagement with my friend the Pole;
+and, returning, I found him at the window with a book
+in his hand, precisely in the same position in which I
+had left him. After dinner a servant came in and delivered
+a message, and he proposed a walk on the Admiralty
+Boulevards. It was the fashionable hour for
+promenade, and, after a turn or two, he discovered his
+fair enslaver, accompanied by her father and several ladies
+and gentlemen, one of whom seemed particularly devoted
+to her. She was a pretty little girl, and seemed to
+me a mere child, certainly not more than fifteen. His
+admiration had commenced on the Boulevards the first
+afternoon of his arrival, and had increased violently during
+the whole day, while he was sitting at the window.
+He paraded me up and down the walk once or twice,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">129</a></span>and, when they had seated themselves on a bench, took
+a seat opposite. He was sure she was pleased with
+his admiration, but I could not see that her look indicated
+any very flattering acknowledgment. In fact, I
+could but remark that the eyes of the gentlemen were
+turned toward us quite as often as those of the lady, and
+suggested that, if he persisted, he would involve us in
+some difficulty with them; but he said there could not
+be any difficulty about it, for, if he offended them, he
+would give them satisfaction. As this view of the case
+did not hit my humour, I told him that, as I had come
+out with him, I would remain, but if he made any farther
+demonstrations, I should leave him, and, at all
+events, after that he must excuse me from joining his
+evening promenades. Soon after they left the Boulevards,
+and we returned to our hotel, where he entertained
+me with a history of his love adventures at home,
+and felicitations upon his good fortune in finding himself
+already engaged in one here.</p>
+
+<p>Sunday. Until the early part of the tenth century
+the religion of Russia was a gross idolatry. In nine
+hundred and thirty-five, Olga, the widow of Igor the
+son of Runic, sailed down the <span class="err" title="original: Dneiper">Dnieper</span> from Kief, was
+baptized at Constantinople, and introduced Christianity
+into Russia, though her family and nation adhered for
+a long time to the idolatry of their fathers. The great
+schism between the Eastern and Western churches
+had already taken place, and the Christianity derived
+from Constantinople was of course of the Greek persuasion.
+The Greek Church believes in the doctrines
+of the Trinity, but differs from the Catholic in some
+refined and subtle distinction in regard to what is called
+the procession of the Holy Ghost. It enjoins the invocation
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">130</a></span>of saints as mediators, and permits the use of
+pictures as a means of inspiring and strengthening devotion.
+The well-informed understand the use for which
+they are intended, but these form a very small portion
+of the community, and probably the great bulk of the
+people worship the pictures themselves. The clergy
+are, in general, very poor and very ignorant. The priests
+are not received at the tables of the upper classes, but
+they exercise an almost controlling influence over the
+lower, and they exhibited this influence in rousing the
+serfs against the French, which may be ascribed partly,
+perhaps, to feelings of patriotism, and partly to the certainty
+that Napoleon would strip their churches of their
+treasures, tear down their monasteries, and turn themselves
+out of doors. But of the population of fifty-five
+millions, fifteen are divided into Roman Catholics,
+Armenians, Protestants, Jews, and Mohammedans, and
+among the Caucasians, Georgians, Circassians, and
+Mongol tribes nearly two millions are pagans or idolaters,
+Brahmins, Lamists, and worshippers of the sun.</p>
+
+<p>For a people so devout as the Russians, the utmost
+toleration prevails throughout the whole empire, and
+particularly in St. Petersburgh. Churches of every
+denomination stand but a short distance apart on the
+Newski Perspective. The Russian cathedral is nearly
+opposite the great Catholic chapel; near them is the Armenian,
+then the Lutheran, two churches for Dissenters,
+and a mosque for the Mohammedans! and on Sunday
+thousands are seen bending their steps to their separate
+churches, to worship according to the faith handed down
+to them by their fathers.</p>
+
+<p>Early in the morning, taking with me a valet and
+joining the crowd that was already hurrying with devout
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">131</a></span>and serious air along the Newski Perspective, I
+entered the Cathedral of our Lady of Cazan, a splendid
+monument of architecture, and more remarkable as the
+work of a native artist, with a semicircular colonnade in
+front, consisting of one hundred and thirty-two Corinthian
+columns thirty-five feet high, somewhat after the
+style of the great circular colonnade of St. Peter's at
+Rome, and surmounted by a dome crowned with a cross
+of exquisite workmanship, supported on a large gilded
+ball. Within, fifty noble columns, each of one piece
+of solid granite from Finland, forty-eight feet high and
+four feet in diameter, surmounted by a rich capital of
+bronze, and resting on a massive bronze base, support
+an arched roof richly ornamented with flowers in bas-relief.
+The jewels and decorations of the altar are rich
+and splendid, the doors leading to the sanctum sanctorum,
+with the railing in front, being of silver. As in
+the Catholic churches, there are no pews, chairs, or
+benches, and all over the floor were the praying figures
+of the Russians. Around the walls were arranged military
+trophies, flags, banners, and the keys of fortresses
+wrested from the enemies of Russia; but far more interesting
+than her columns, and colossal statues, and
+military trophies, is the tomb of the warrior Kutuzow;
+simple, and remarkable for the appropriate warlike trophy
+over it, formed of French flags and the eagles of
+Napoleon. Admiration for heroism owns no geographical
+or territorial limits, and I pity the man who could
+stand by the grave of Kutuzow without feeling it a sacred
+spot. The Emperor Alexander with his own hands
+took the most precious jewel from his crown and sent
+it to the warrior, with a letter announcing to him his
+elevation to the rank of Prince of Smolensko; but
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">132</a></span>richer than jewels or principalities is the tribute which
+his countrymen pay at his tomb.</p>
+
+<p>The church of our Lady of Cazan contains another
+monument of barbarian patriotism. The celebrated
+leader of the Cossacks during the period of the French
+invasion, having intercepted a great part of the booty
+which the French were carrying from Moscow, sent it
+to the metropolitan or head of the church, with a characteristic
+letter, directing it to be "made into an image of
+the four Evangelists, and adorn the church of the Mother
+of God of Cazan." The concluding paragraph is,
+"Hasten to erect in the temple of God this monument
+of battle and victory; and while you erect it, say with
+thankfulness to Providence, the enemies of Russia are
+no more; the vengeance of God has overtaken them on
+the soil of Russia; and the road they have gone has
+been strewed with their bones, to the utter confusion of
+their frantic and proud ambition."</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+(Signed) "<span class="smcap">Platoff.</span>"</p>
+
+<p>From the church of our Lady of Cazan I went to the
+Protestant church, where I again joined in an orthodox
+service. The interior of the church is elegant, though
+externally it can scarcely be distinguished from a private
+building. The seats are free, the men sitting on
+one side and the women on the other. Mr. Law, the
+clergyman, has been there many years, and is respected
+and loved by his congregation. After church I walked
+to the convent of Alexander Newski, the burial-place of
+Prince Alexander, who obtained in the thirteenth century
+a splendid victory over the allied forces of Sweden,
+Denmark, and Livonia; afterward became a monk, and
+for his pure and holy life was canonized, and now ranks
+among the principal saints in the Russian calendar.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">133</a></span>The warrior was first buried at Moscow, but Peter the
+Great had his remains transported with great ceremony
+to this place, a procession of a thousand priests walking
+barefoot all the way. The monastery stands at the extreme
+end of the Newski Perspective, and within its precincts
+are several churches and a large cemetery. It
+is the residence of the distinguished prelates of the
+Greek Church and a large fraternity of monks. The
+dress of the monks is a loose black cloak and round
+black cap, and no one can be admitted a member until
+the age of thirty. We entered a grand portal, walked
+up a long avenue, and, crossing a bridge over a stream,
+worked our way between lines of the carriages of nobles
+and ladies, and crowds of the people in their best bell-crowned
+hats; and, amid a throng of miserable beggars,
+penetrated to the door of the principal church, a large
+and beautiful specimen of modern Corinthian architecture.
+I remarked the great entrance, the lofty dome,
+the fresco paintings on the ceilings, and the arabesque
+decorations on the walls; the altar-piece of white Carrara
+marble, paintings by Rubens and Vandyck, the
+holy door in the iconastos, raised on a flight of steps of
+rich gilded bronze, and surmounted by the representation
+of a dazzling aureola of different colored metals,
+and in the centre the initials of that awful name which
+none in Israel save the initiated were permitted to pronounce.
+I walked around and paused before the tomb
+of the warrior saint.</p>
+
+<p>A sarcophagus or coffin of massive silver, standing
+on an elevated platform, ornamented in bas-relief, representing
+scenes of battles with the Swedes, contains
+his relics; a rich ermine lies upon the coffin, and above
+is a silver canopy. On each side is a warrior clothed
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">134</a></span>in armour, with his helmet, breastplate, shield, and spear
+also of massive silver. The altar rises thirty feet in
+height, of solid silver, with groups of military figures
+and trophies of warriors, also of silver, as large as life;
+and over it hangs a golden lamp, with a magnificent
+candelabrum of silver, together with a vessel of curious
+workmanship holding the bones of several holy men,
+the whole of extraordinary magnificence and costliness
+of material, upward of four thousand pounds weight of
+silver having been used in the construction of the chapel
+and shrine. The dead sleep the same whether in silver
+coffins or in the bare earth, but the stately character
+of the church, dimly lighted, and the splendour and
+richness of the material, gave a peculiar solemnity to
+the tomb of the warrior saint.</p>
+
+<p>Leaving the churches, I strolled through the cloisters
+of the monastery and entered the great cemetery.
+There, as in the great cemetery of Père la Chaise at
+Paris, all that respect, and love, and affection can do to
+honour the memory of the dead, and all that vanity and
+folly can do to ridicule it, have been accomplished.
+There are seen epitaphs of affecting brevity and elaborate
+amplification; every design, every device, figure,
+emblem, and decoration; every species of material, from
+native granite to Carrara marble and pure gold. Among
+the simpler tombs of poets, warriors, and statesmen, a
+monument of the most gigantic proportions is erected
+to snatch from oblivion the name of a rich Russian
+merchant. The base is a solid cubic block of the most
+superb marble, on which is a solid pedestal of black
+marble ten feet square, bearing a sarcophagus fourteen
+feet high, and of most elegant proportions, surmounted
+by a gold cross twenty feet in height. At each of the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">135</a></span>four corners is a colossal candelabrum of cast iron,
+with entwining serpents of bronze gilded. The ground
+alone cost a thousand pounds, and the whole monument
+about twenty thousand dollars. Near the centre
+of this asylum of the dead, a tetrastyle Ionic temple of
+the purest white marble records the virtues of an interesting
+lady, the Countess of Potemkin, and alto relievos
+of the most exquisite execution on three sides
+of the temple tell the melancholy story of a mother
+snatched from three lovely children. The countess,
+prophetically conscious of her approaching fate, is
+looking up calmly and majestically to the figure of religion,
+and resting with confidence her left hand on the
+symbol of Christianity. In front are the inscription
+and arms of the family in solid gold.</p>
+
+<p>But what are the Russian dead to me? The granite
+and marble monument of the merchant is a conglomeration
+of hides, hemp, and tallow; a man may
+be excused if he linger a moment at the tomb of an interesting
+woman, a mother cut off in her prime; but
+melancholy is infectious, and induces drowsiness and
+closing of the book.</p>
+
+<p>In consideration for my valet, at the grand portal I
+took a drosky, rolled over the wooden pavement of the
+Newski Perspective, and, with hardly motion enough
+to disturb my revery, was set down at the door of my
+hotel. My Pole was waiting to dine with me, and
+roused me from my dreams of the dead to recount his
+dreams of the living. All day he had sat at his window,
+and a few straggling glances from the lady opposite
+had abundantly rewarded him, and given him great
+spirits for his evening's promenade on the Boulevards.
+I declined accompanying him, and he went alone, and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">136</a></span>returned in the evening almost in raptures. We strolled
+an hour by the twilight, and retired early.</p>
+
+<p>It will hardly be believed, but early the next morning
+he came to my room with a letter on fine pink paper
+addressed to his fair enslaver. The reader may remember
+that this was not the first time I had been made
+a confidant in an affaire du c&#339;ur. To be sure, the missionary
+at Smyrna turned out to be crazy; and on this
+point, at least, my Pole was a little touched; nevertheless,
+I listened to his epistle. It was the regular oldfashioned
+document, full of hanging, shooting, drowning,
+and other extravagances. He sealed it with an amatory
+device, and, calling up a servant in his confidence, told
+him to carry it over, and then took his place in my
+window to watch the result. In the mean time, finding
+it impossible to dislodge him, and that I could not count
+upon him to accompany me on my visits to the palaces
+as he had promised, I went to the Hermitage alone.
+The Great and Little Hermitages are connected with
+the Winter Palace and with each other by covered
+galleries, and the theatre is connected with the two
+Hermitages by means of another great arch thrown
+over a canal, so that the whole present a continued line
+of imperial palaces, unequalled in extent in any part
+of Europe, measuring one thousand five hundred and
+ninety-six feet, or one third of an English mile. If I
+were to select a building designed to realize the most
+extravagant notions of grandeur and luxury, it would be
+the gorgeous palace known under the modest name of
+the Hermitage. I shall not attempt any description of
+the interior of this splendid edifice, but confine myself
+to a brief enumeration of its contents. I ascended by
+a spacious staircase to the anteroom, where I gave, or,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">137</a></span>rather, where my cane was demanded by the footman, and
+proceeded through a suite of magnificent rooms, every
+one surpassing the last, and richer in objects of the fine
+arts, science, and literature; embellished throughout by
+a profusion of the most splendid ornaments and furniture,
+and remarkable for beauty of proportion and variety of
+design. In rooms and galleries appropriated to the
+separate schools and masters are upward of thirteen
+hundred paintings by Raphael, Titian, Guido, Andrea
+del Sarto, Luca Giordano, the Caracci, Perugino, Corregio,
+and Leonardi da Vinci; here is also the best collection
+in existence, of pictures by Wouvermans and
+Teniers, with some of the masterpieces of Rubens and
+Vandyck, of the French Claude, Poussin, and Vernet.
+The celebrated Houghton collection is here, with a
+gallery of paintings of the Spanish schools, many of
+them Murillos. In one room is a superb vase of Siberian
+jasper, of a <span class="err" title="original: lilach">lilac</span> colour, five feet high, and of exquisite
+form and polish; in another are two magnificent
+candelabras, said to be valued at two hundred and
+twenty thousand rubles, or about fifty thousand dollars;
+I must mention also the great musical clock, representing
+an antique Grecian temple, and containing within a
+combination of instruments, having the power of two
+orchestras, which accompany each other; two golden
+tripods, seven feet high, supporting the gold salvers on
+which salt and bread were exhibited to the Emperor
+Alexander on his triumphal return from Paris, as emblems
+of wisdom and plenty, a large musical and magical
+secretary, which opens spontaneously in a hundred
+directions at the sound of music, purchased by the late
+emperor for eight hundred guineas; a room surrounded
+with books, some of which were originals, placed there
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">138</a></span>by Catharine for the use of the domestics, as she said,
+to keep the devil out of their heads; a saloon containing
+the largest collection of engravings and books of engravings
+in Europe, amounting to upward of thirty thousand;
+a library of upward of one hundred and ten thousand
+volumes; an extensive cabinet of medals, and
+another of gems and pastes; a jewel-cabinet, containing
+the rich ornaments which have served for the toilettes
+of succeeding empresses, innumerable precious stones
+and pearls, many of extraordinary magnitude; a superb
+collection of antiques and cameos, amounting to upward
+of fifteen thousand, the cameos alone affording employment
+for days. In one room are curious works in ivory
+and fishbones, by the inhabitants of Archangel, who
+are skilled in that species of workmanship; and in another
+is the celebrated clock, known by the name of
+L'Horloge du Paon. It is enclosed in a large glass
+case ten feet high, being the trunk of a golden tree, with
+its branches and leaves all of gold. On the top of the
+trunk sits a peacock, which, when the chimes begin,
+expands its brilliant tail, while an owl rolls its eyes
+with its own peculiar stare, and, instead of a bell striking
+the hours, a golden cock flaps his wings and crows.
+The clock is now out of order, and the machinery is so
+complicated that no artist has hitherto been able to repair
+it.</p>
+
+<p>But perhaps the most extraordinary and interesting of
+the wonders of the Hermitage are the Winter and Summer
+Gardens. As I strolled through the suites of apartments,
+and looked out through the windows of a long gallery,
+it was hardly possible to believe that the flourishing
+trees, shrubs, and flowers stood upon an artificial soil,
+raised nearly fifty feet above the surface of the earth.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">139</a></span>The Winter Garden is a large quadrangular conservatory,
+planted with laurels and orange trees, in which linnets
+and Canary birds formerly flew about enjoying the freedom
+of nature; but the feathered tribe have disappeared.
+The Summer Garden connected with it is four hundred
+feet long; and here, suspended, as it were, in the air, near
+the top of the palace, I strolled along gravel-walks, and
+among parterres of shrubs and flowers growing in rich
+luxuriance, and under a thick foliage inhaled their delightful
+fragrance. It is idle to attempt a description
+of this scene.</p>
+
+<p>I returned to my Pole, whom I found at his window
+with a melancholy and sentimental visage, his beautiful
+epistle returned upon his hands&mdash;having, in sportsman's
+phrase, entirely missed fire&mdash;and then lying with a most
+reproving look on his table. My friend had come up to
+St. Petersburgh in consequence of a lawsuit, and as this
+occupied but a small portion of his time, he had involved
+himself in a lovesuit, and, so far as I could see, with
+about an equal chance of success in both. L'amour
+was the great business of his life, and he could not be
+content unless he had on hand what he called une affaire
+du c&#339;ur.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTE:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> The Winter Palace has since been destroyed by fire. The author has
+not seen any account of the particulars, but has heard that the contents of
+the Diamond Chamber were saved.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="l65" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">140</a></span></h2>
+
+<div class="chapblock"><p>An Imperial Fête.&mdash;Nicolas of Russia.&mdash;Varied Splendours.&mdash;A Soliloquy.&mdash;House
+of Peter the Great.&mdash;A Boatrace.&mdash;Czarskoselo.&mdash;The
+Amber Chamber.&mdash;Catharine II.&mdash;The Emperor Alexander.</p></div>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The</span> next day was that appointed for the great fête
+at Peterhoff. In spite of the confining nature of his
+two suits, my Pole had determined to accompany me
+thither, being prompted somewhat by the expectation
+of seeing his damsel; and, no way disheartened by the
+fate of his first letter, he had manufactured another, by
+comparison with which the first was an icicle. I admitted
+it to be a masterpiece, though when he gave it
+to a servant to carry over, as we were on the point of
+setting off, suggested that it might be worth while to
+wait and pick it up when she threw it out of the window.
+But he had great confidence, and thought much better
+of her spirit for sending back his first letter.</p>
+
+<p>The whole population of Petersburgh was already in
+motion and on the way to Peterhoff. It was expected
+that the fête would be more than usually splendid, on account
+of the presence of the Queen of Holland, then on
+a visit to her sister the empress; and at an early hour
+the splendid equipages of the nobility, carriages, droskys,
+telegas, and carts, were hurrying along the banks
+of the Neva, while steamboats, sailboats, rowboats, and
+craft of every description were gliding on the bosom
+of the river.</p>
+
+<p>As the least trouble, we chose a steamboat, and at
+twelve o'clock embarked at the English Quay. The
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">141</a></span>boat was crowded with passengers, and among them
+was an old English gentleman, a merchant of thirty
+years' standing in St. Petersburgh. I soon became acquainted
+with him, how I do not know, and his lady told
+me that the first time I passed them she remarked to
+her husband that I was an American. The reader may
+remember that a lady made the same remark at Smyrna;
+without knowing exactly how to understand it, I
+mention it as a fact showing the nice discrimination acquired
+by persons in the habit of seeing travellers from
+different countries. Before landing, the old gentleman
+told me that his boys had gone down in a pleasure-boat,
+abundantly provided with materials, and asked
+me to go on board and lunch with them, which, upon
+the invitation being extended to my friend, I accepted.</p>
+
+<p>Peterhoff is about twenty-five versts from St. Petersburgh,
+and the whole bank of the Neva on that side is
+adorned with palaces and beautiful summer residences
+of the Russian seigneurs. It stands at the mouth of
+the Neva, on the borders of the Gulf of Finland. Opposite
+is the city of Cronstadt, the seaport of St. Petersburgh
+and the anchorage of the Russian fleet. It was
+then crowded with merchant ships of every nation, with
+flags of every colour streaming from their spars in honour
+of the day. On landing, we accompanied our new
+friends, and found "the boys," three fine young fellows
+just growing up to manhood, in a handsome little pleasure-boat,
+with a sail arranged as an awning, waiting
+for their parents. We were introduced and received
+with open arms, and sat down to a cold collation in good
+old English style, at which, for the first time since I
+left home, I fastened upon an oldfashioned sirloin of
+roastbeef. It was a delightful meeting for me. The
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">142</a></span>old people talked to me about my travels; and the old
+lady particularly, with almost a motherly interest in a
+straggling young man, inquired about my parents, brothers,
+and sisters, &amp;c.; and I made my way with the
+frankhearted "boys" by talking "boat." Altogether,
+it was a regular home family scene; and, after the
+lunch, we left the old people under the awning, promising
+to return at nine o'clock for tea, and with "the
+boys" set off to view the fête.</p>
+
+<p>From the time when we entered the grounds until
+we left at three o'clock the next morning, the whole was
+a fairy scene. The grounds extended some distance
+along the shore, and the palace stands on an embankment
+perhaps a hundred and fifty feet high, commanding
+a full view of the Neva, Cronstadt with its shipping,
+and the Gulf of Finland. We followed along the banks
+of a canal five hundred yards long, bordered by noble
+trees. On each side of the canal were large wooden
+frames about sixty feet high, filled with glass lamps for
+the illumination; and at the foot of each was another
+high framework with lamps, forming, among other
+things, the arms of Russia, the double-headed eagle, and
+under it a gigantic star thirty or forty feet in diameter.
+At the head of the canal was a large basin of water, and
+in the centre of the basin stood a colossal group in brass,
+of a man tearing open the jaws of a rampant lion; and
+out of the mouth of the lion rushed a jet d'eau perhaps
+a hundred and fifty feet high. On each side of this
+basin, at a distance of about three hundred feet, was a
+smaller basin, with a jet d'eau in each about half its
+height, and all around were jets d'eau of various kinds,
+throwing water vertically and horizontally; among them
+I remember a figure larger than life, leaning forward in
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">143</a></span>the attitude of a man throwing the discus, with a powerful
+stream of water rushing from his clinched fist.
+These basins were at the foot of the embankment on
+which stands the palace. In the centre was a broad
+flight of steps leading to the palace, and on each side
+was a continuous range of marble slabs to the top of the
+hill, over which poured down a sheet of water, the slabs
+being placed so high and far apart as to allow lamps to
+be arranged behind the water. All over, along the public
+walks and in retired alcoves, were frames hung with
+lamps; and everywhere, under the trees and on the
+open lawn, were tents of every size and fashion, beautifully
+decorated; many of them, oriental in style and
+elegance, were fitted up as places of refreshment.
+Thousands of people, dressed in their best attire, were
+promenading the grounds, but no vehicles were to be
+seen, until, in turning a point, we espied at some distance
+up an avenue, and coming quietly toward us, a
+plain open carriage, with two horses and two English
+jockey outriders, in which were a gentleman and lady,
+whom, without the universal taking off of hats around
+us, I recognised at once as the emperor and empress.
+I am not apt to be carried away by any profound admiration
+for royalty, but, without consideration of their
+rank, I never saw a finer specimen of true gentility;
+in fact, he looked every inch a king, and she was my
+beau ideal of a queen in appearance and manners.
+They bowed as they passed, and, as I thought, being
+outside of the line of Russians and easily recognised as
+a stranger, their courtesy was directed particularly to
+me; but I found that my companion took it very much
+to himself, and no doubt every long-bearded Russian
+near us did the same. In justice to myself, however,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">144</a></span>I may almost say that I had a conversation with the
+emperor; for although his imperial highness did not
+speak to me, he spoke in a language which none but I
+(and the queen and his jockey outriders) understood;
+for, waving his hand to them, I heard him say in English,
+"To the right." After this <i>interview</i> with his
+majesty we walked up to the palace. The splendid
+regiments of cavalier guards were drawn up around it,
+every private carrying himself like a prince; and I did
+not admire all his palaces, nor hardly his queen, so
+much as this splendid body of armed followers. Behind
+the palace is a large plain cut up into gravel-walks,
+having in one place a basin of water, with waterworks
+of various kinds, among which were some of peculiar
+beauty falling in the form of a semiglobe.</p>
+
+<p>A little before dark we retired to a refectory under a
+tent until the garden was completely lighted up, that
+we might have the full effect of the illumination at one
+coup d'&#339;il, and, when we went out, the dazzling brilliancy
+of the scene within the semicircular illumination
+around the waterworks was beyond description. This
+semicircular framework enclosed in a large sweep the
+three basins, and terminated at the embankment on
+which the palace stands, presenting all around an immense
+fiery scroll in the air, sixty or eighty feet high,
+and filled with all manner of devices; and for its background
+a broad sheet of water falling over a range of
+steps, with lighted lamps behind it, forming an illuminated
+cascade, while the basins were blazing with the light
+thrown upon them from myriads of lamps, and the colossal
+figures of a reddened and unearthly hue were
+spouting columns of water into the air. More than two
+hundred thousand people were supposed to be assembled
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">145</a></span>in the garden, in every variety of gay, brilliant,
+and extraordinary costume. St. Petersburgh was half
+depopulated, and thousands of peasants were assembled
+from the neighbouring provinces. I was accidentally
+separated from all my companions; and, alone among
+thousands, sat down on the grass, and for an hour
+watched the throng passing through the illuminated circle,
+and ascending the broad steps leading toward the
+palace. Among all this immense crowd there was no
+rabble; not a dress that could offend the eye; but intermingled
+with the ordinary costumes of Europeans were
+the Russian shopkeeper, with his long surtout, his bell-crowned
+hat, and solemn beard; Cossacks, and Circassian
+soldiers, and Calmuc Tartars, and cavalier guards,
+hussars, with the sleeves of their rich jackets dangling
+loose over their shoulders, tossing plumes, and helmets
+glittering with steel, intermingled throughout with the
+gay dresses of ladies; while near me, and, like me, carelessly
+stretched on the grass, under the light of thousands
+of lamps, was a group of peasants from Finland fiddling
+and dancing; the women with light hair, bands around
+their heads, and long jackets enwrapping their square
+forms, and the men with long greatcoats, broad-brimmed
+hats, and a bunch of shells in front.</p>
+
+<p>Leaving this brilliant scene, I joined the throng on the
+steps, and by the side of a splendid hussar, stooping
+his manly figure to whisper in the ears of a lovely young
+girl, I ascended to the palace and presented my ticket
+of admission to the bal masqué, so called from their
+being no masks there. I had not been presented at court,
+and, consequently, had only admission to the outer apartments
+with the people. I had, however, the range of a
+succession of splendid rooms, richly decorated with vases
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">146</a></span>and tazzas of precious stones, candelabra, couches, ottomans,
+superb mirrors, and inlaid floors; and the centre
+room, extending several hundred feet in length, had its
+lofty walls covered to the very ceilings with portraits of
+all the female beauties in Russia about eighty years ago.
+I was about being tired of gazing at these pictures of long-sleeping
+beauties, when the great doors at one end were
+thrown open, and the emperor and empress, attended by
+the whole court, passed through on their way to the banqueting-hall.
+Although I had been in company with the
+emperor before in the garden, and though I had taken off
+my hat to the empress, both passed without recognising
+me. The court at St. Petersburgh is admitted to be the
+most brilliant in Europe; the dresses of the members
+of the diplomatic corps and the uniforms of the general
+and staff-officers being really magnificent, while those of
+the ladies sparkled with jewels. Besides the emperor
+and empress, the only acquaintance I recognised in that
+constellation of brilliantly-dressed people were Mr. Wilkins
+and Mr. Clay, who, for republicans, made a very
+fair blaze. I saw them enter the banqueting-hall,
+painted in oriental style to represent a tent, and might
+have had the pleasure of seeing the emperor and empress
+and all that brilliant collection eat; but, turning
+away from a noise that destroyed much of the illusion,
+viz., the clatter of knives and forks, and a little piqued
+at the cavalier treatment I had received from the court
+circles, I went out on the balcony and soliloquized,
+"Fine feathers make fine birds; but look back a little,
+ye dashing cavaliers and supercilious ladies. In the latter
+part of the seventeenth century, a French traveller in
+Russia wrote that 'most men treat their wives as a
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">147</a></span>necessary evil, regarding them with a proud and stern
+eye, and even beating them after.' Dr. Collins, physician
+to the Czar in 1670, as an evidence of the progress
+of civilization in Russia, says that the custom
+of tying up wives by the hair of the head and flogging
+them 'begins to be left off;' accounting for it, however,
+by the prudence of parents, who made a stipulative provision
+in the marriage contract that their daughters
+were not to be whipped, struck, kicked, &amp;c. But, even
+in this improved state of society, one man 'put upon
+his wife a shirt dipped in ardent spirits, and burned her
+to death,' and was not punished, there being, according
+to the doctor, 'no punishment in Russia for killing a
+wife or a slave.' When no provision was made in the
+marriage contract, he says they were accustomed to
+discipline their wives very severely. At the marriage
+the bridegroom had a whip in one boot and a jewel in
+the other, and this poor girl tried her fortune by choosing.
+'If she happens upon the jewel,' says another
+traveller, 'she is lucky; but if on the whip, she gets it.'
+The bridegroom rarely saw his companion's face till
+after the marriage, when, it is said, 'If she be ugly she
+pays for it soundly, maybe the first time he sees her.'
+Ugliness being punished with the whip, the women
+painted to great excess; and a traveller in sixteen hundred
+and thirty-six saw the grand duchess and her ladies
+on horseback astride, 'most wickedly bepainted.' The
+day after a lady had been at an entertainment, the hostess
+was accustomed to ask how she got home; and the
+polite answer was, 'Your ladyship's hospitality made
+me so tipsy that I don't know how I got home;' and
+for the climax of their barbarity it can scarcely be believed,
+but it is recorded as a fact, that the women did
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">148</a></span>not begin to wear stays till the beginning of the present
+century!"</p>
+
+<p>Soothed by these rather ill-natured reflections, I
+turned to the illuminated scene and the thronging thousands
+below, descended once more to the garden, passed
+down the steps, worked my way through the crowd, and
+fell into a long avenue, like all the rest of the garden,
+brilliantly lighted, but entirely deserted. At the end of
+the avenue I came to an artificial lake, opposite which
+was a small square two-story cottage, being the old residence
+of Peter the Great, the founder of all the magnificence
+of Peterhoff. It was exactly in the style of
+our ordinary country houses, and the furniture was of a
+simplicity that contrasted strangely with the surrounding
+luxury and splendour. The door opened into a little
+hall, in which were two oldfashioned Dutch mahogany
+tables, with oval leaves, legs tapering and enlarging
+at the feet into something like a horseshoe; just
+such a table as every one may remember in his grandfather's
+house, and recalling to mind the simple style of
+our own country some thirty or forty years ago. In a
+room on one side was the old Czar's bed, a low, broad
+wooden bedstead, with a sort of canopy over it, the
+covering of the canopy and the coverlet being of striped
+calico; the whole house, inside and out, was hung
+with lamps, illumining with a glare that was almost
+distressing the simplicity of Peter's residence; and,
+as if to give greater contrast to this simplicity, while I
+was standing in the door of the hall, I saw roll by me
+in splendid equipages, the emperor and empress, with
+the whole of the brilliant court which I had left in the
+banqueting-hall, now making a tour of the gardens.
+The carriages were all of one pattern, long, hung low,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">149</a></span>without any tops, and somewhat like our omnibuses,
+except that, instead of the seats being on one side, there
+was a partition in the middle not higher than the back
+of a sofa, with large seats like sofas on each side, on
+which the company sat in a row, with their backs to each
+other; in front was a high and large box for the coachmen,
+and a footman behind. It was so light that I could
+distinguish the face of every gentleman and lady as
+they passed; and there was something so unique in the
+exhibition, that, with the splendour of the court dresses,
+it seemed the climax of the brilliant scenes at Peterhoff.
+I followed them with my eyes till they were out of sight,
+gave one more look to the modest pillow on which old
+Peter reposed his careworn head, and at about one
+o'clock in the morning left the garden. A frigate brilliantly
+illuminated was firing a salute, the flash of her
+guns lighting up the dark surface of the water as I embarked
+on board the steamboat. At two o'clock the
+morning twilight was like that of day; at three o'clock
+I was at my hotel, and, probably, at ten minutes past,
+asleep.</p>
+
+<p>About eight o'clock the next morning my Pole came
+into my room. He had returned from Peterhoff before
+me, and found waiting for him his second epistle, with
+a note from the mother of the young lady, which he
+read to me as I lay in bed. Though more than half
+asleep, I was rather roused by the strange effect this
+letter had upon him, for he was now encouraged to go
+on with his suit, since he found that the backwardness
+of the young lady was to be ascribed to the influence
+of the mother, and not to any indifference on her part.</p>
+
+<p>In the afternoon I went to a boatrace between English
+amateurs that had excited some interest among the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">150</a></span>English residents. The boats were badly matched; a
+six-oared boat thirty-two feet long, and weighing two
+hundred and thirty pounds, being pitted against three
+pairs of sculls, with a boat twenty-eight feet long and
+weighing only one hundred and eight pounds. One
+belonged to the English legation and the other to some
+English merchants. The race was from the English
+Quay to the bridge opposite the Suwarrow monument
+at the foot of the Summer Garden, and back, a little
+more than two miles each way. The rapidity of the current
+was between two and three miles an hour, though
+its full strength was avoided by both boats keeping in
+the eddies along shore. It was a beautiful place for a
+boatrace; the banks of the Neva were lined with spectators,
+and the six-oared boat beat easily, performing
+the distance in thirty-one minutes.</p>
+
+<p>The next morning, in company with a Frenchman
+lately arrived at our hotel, I set out for the imperial
+palace of Czarskoselo, about seventeen versts from St.
+Petersburgh. About seven versts from the city we
+passed the imperial seat of Zechenne, built by the Empress
+Catharine to commemorate the victory obtained
+by Orloff over the Turks on the coast of Anatolia. The
+edifice is in the form of a Turkish pavilion, with a central
+rotunda containing the full-length portraits of the sovereigns
+cotemporary with Catharine. Since her death
+this palace has been deserted. In eighteen hundred
+and twenty-five, Alexander and the empress passed it
+on their way to the south of Russia, and about eight
+months after their mortal remains found shelter in it for
+a night, on their way to the imperial sepulchre. There
+was no other object of interest on the road until we approached
+Czarskoselo. Opposite the "Caprice Gate"
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">151</a></span>is a cluster of white houses, in two rows, of different
+sizes, diminishing as they recede from the road, and
+converging at the farthest extremity; altogether a bizarre
+arrangement, and showing the magnificence of
+Russian gallantry. The Empress Catharine at the
+theatre one night happened to express her pleasure at
+the perspective view of a small town, and the next time
+she visited Czarskoselo she saw the scene realized in a
+town erected by Count Orloff at immense expense before
+the gate of the palace. The façade of the palace is unequalled
+by any royal residence in the world, being twelve
+hundred feet in length. Originally, every statue, pedestal,
+and capital of the numerous columns; the vases,
+carvings, and other ornaments in front, were covered
+with gold leaf, the gold used for that purpose amounting
+to more than a million of ducats. In a few years the
+gilding wore off, and the contractors engaged in repairing
+it offered the empress nearly half a million of rubles
+(silver) for the fragments of gold; but the empress
+scornfully refused, saying, "Je ne suis pas dans l'usage
+de vendre mes vielles hardes." I shall not attempt to
+carry the reader through the magnificent apartments of
+this palace. But I must not forget the famed amber
+chamber, the whole walls and ceilings being of amber,
+some of the pieces of great size, neatly fitted together,
+and even the frames of the pictures an elaborate workmanship
+of the same precious material. But even this
+did not strike me so forcibly as when, conducted through
+a magnificent apartment, the walls covered with black
+paper shining like ebony, and ornamented with gold and
+immense looking-glasses, the footman opened a window
+at the other end, and we looked down into the
+chapel, an Asiatic structure, presenting an <i>ensemble</i> of
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">152</a></span>rich gilding of surpassing beauty, every part of it, the
+groups of columns, the iconastos, and the gallery for
+the imperial family, resplendent with gold. In one of
+the staterooms where the empress's mother resides, the
+floor consists of a parquet of fine wood inlaid with
+wreaths of mother-of-pearl, and the panels of the room
+were incrusted with lapis lazuli.</p>
+
+<p>But to me all these magnificent chambers were as
+nothing compared with those which were associated
+with the memory of the late occupant. "Uneasy rests
+the head that wears a crown;" and perhaps it is for
+this reason that I like to look upon the pillow of a king,
+far more on that of a queen. The bedchamber of Catharine
+II. is adorned with walls of porcelain and pillars
+of purple glass; the bedclothes are those under which
+she slept the last time she was at the palace, and in
+one place was a concealed door, by which, as the unmannerly
+footman, without any respect to her memory,
+told us, her imperial highness admitted her six-feet paramours.
+In the bedchamber of Alexander were his cap,
+gloves, boots, and other articles of dress, lying precisely
+as he left them previous to his departure for the
+southern part of his empire. His bed was of leather,
+stuffed with straw, and his boots were patched over
+and over worse than mine, which I had worn all the
+way from Paris. I tried on his cap and gloves, and
+moralized over his patched boots. I remembered Alexander
+as the head of a gigantic empire, the friend and
+ally, and then the deadly foe of Napoleon; the companion
+of kings and princes; the arbiter of thrones and
+empires, and playing with crowns and sceptres. I sat
+with the patched boots in my hand. Like old Peter, he
+had considerable of a foot, and I respected him for it.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">153</a></span>I saw him, as it were, in an undress, simple and unostentatious
+in his habits; and there was a domestic air
+in his whole suite of apartments that interested me more
+than when I considered him on his throne. His sitting-room
+showed quiet and gentlemanly as well as domestic
+habits, for along the wall was a border of earth, with
+shrubs and flowers growing out of it, a delicate vine
+trailed around and almost covering a little mahogany
+railing. The grounds around the palace are eighteen
+miles in circumference, abounding in picturesque and
+beautiful scenery, improved by taste and an unbounded
+expenditure of money, and at this time they were in the
+fulness of summer beauty. We may talk simplicity
+and republicanism, but, after all, it must be a pleasant
+thing to be an emperor. I always felt this, particularly
+when strolling through imperial parks or pleasure-grounds,
+and sometimes I almost came to the unsentimental
+conclusion that, to be rural, a man must be rich.</p>
+
+<p>We wandered through the grounds without any plan,
+taking any path that offered, and at every step some
+new beauty broke upon us: a theatre; Turkish kiosk
+or Chinese pagoda; splendid bridges, arches, and columns;
+and an Egyptian gate; a summer-house in the
+form of an Ionic colonnade, a masterpiece of taste and
+elegance, supporting an aerial garden crowded with
+flowers; and a Gothic building called the Admiralty, on
+the borders of an extensive lake, on which lay several
+boats&mdash;rigged as frigates, elegant barges and pleasure-boats,
+and beautiful white swans floating majestically
+upon its surface; on the islands and the shores of the
+lake were little summer-houses; at the other end was
+a magnificent stone landing, and in full view a marble
+bridge, with Corinthian columns of polished marble; an
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">154</a></span>arsenal, with many curious and interesting objects, antique
+suits of armour, and two splendid sets of horse
+trappings, holsters, pistols, and bridles, all studded with
+diamonds, presented by the sultan on occasion of the
+peace of Adrianople. Nor must I forget the dairy, and
+a superb collection of goats and lamas from Siberia.
+Amid this congregation of beauties one thing offended
+me; a Gothic tower built as a ruin for the sake of the
+picturesque, which, wanting the associations connected
+with monuments ruined by time, struck me as a downright
+mockery. We had intended to visit the palace of
+Paulowsky, but time slipped away, and it was six o'clock
+before we started to return to St. Petersburgh.</p>
+
+<hr class="l65" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX.</h2>
+
+<div class="chapblock"><p>The Soldier's Reward.&mdash;Review of the Russian Army.&mdash;American Cannibals.&mdash;Palace
+of Potemkin.&mdash;Palace of the Grand-duke Michael.&mdash;Equipments
+for Travelling.&mdash;Rough Riding.&mdash;Poland.&mdash;Vitepsk.&mdash;Napoleon
+in Poland.&mdash;The Disastrous Retreat.&mdash;Passage of the Berezina.</p></div>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Early</span> the next morning I went out about twelve
+versts from the city to attend a grand military review
+by the emperor in person. The government of Russia
+is a military despotism, and her immense army,
+nominally amounting to a million, even on the peace
+establishment numbers actually six hundred thousand,
+of which sixty thousand follow the person of the emperor,
+and were at that time under arms at St. Petersburgh.
+When I rode on the parade-ground, the spectacle
+of this great army, combining the élite of barbaric
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">155</a></span>chivalry with soldiers trained in the best schools of European
+discipline, drawn up in battle's stern array, and
+glittering with steel, was brilliant and almost sublime;
+in numbers and military bearing, in costliness of armour
+and equipment, far surpassing any martial parade
+that I had seen, not excepting a grand review of French
+troops at Paris, or even a <i>fourth of July parade at
+home</i>. I once had the honour to be a paymaster in
+the valiant one hundred and ninety-seventh regiment
+of New-York State Militia; and I can say what, perhaps,
+no other man who ever served in our <i>army</i> can say,
+that I served out my whole term without being once promoted.
+Men came in below and went out above me;
+ensigns became colonels and lieutenants generals, but
+I remained the same; it was hard work to escape promotion,
+but I was resolute. Associated with me was a
+friend as quartermaster, with as little of the spirit of a
+soldier in him as myself, for which we were rather
+looked down upon by the warriors of our day; and
+when, at the end of our term, in company with several
+other officers, we resigned, the next regimental orders
+were filled with military panegyrics, such as, "the
+colonel has received, with the greatest regret, the resignation
+of Lieutenant A.;" "the country has reason to
+deplore the loss of the services of Captain B.;" and
+wound up with, "Quartermaster G. and Paymaster S.
+have tendered their resignations, <i>both of which are
+hereby accepted</i>." But when strains of martial music
+burst from a hundred bands, and companies, and regiments,
+and brigades wheeled and man&#339;uvred before
+me, and the emperor rode by, escorted by general
+and field officers, and the most magnificent staff in
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">156</a></span>Europe, and the earth shook under the charge of cavalry,
+I felt a strong martial spirit roused within me,
+perhaps I was excited by the reflection that these soldiers
+had been in battles, and that the stars and medals
+glittering on their breasts were not mere holyday ornaments,
+but the tokens of desperate service on bloody
+battle-fields.</p>
+
+<p>In a body, the Russian soldiers present an exceedingly
+fine appearance. When the serf is enrolled, his
+hair and beard are cut off, except on the upper lip, his
+uniform is simple and graceful, a belt is worn tightly
+round the waist, and the breast of the coat is thickly
+padded, increasing the manliness of the figure, though
+sometimes at the expense of health. In evolutions they
+move like a great machine, as if all the arms and legs
+were governed by a single impulse.</p>
+
+<p>The army under review was composed of representatives
+from all the nations under the sway of Russia;
+Cossacks of the Don, and the Wolga, and the Black
+Sea, in jackets and wide pantaloons of blue cloth, riding
+on small horses, with high-peaked saddles, and carrying
+spears eight or ten feet in length. One regiment had
+the privilege of wearing a ragged flag and caps full of
+holes, as proofs of their gallant service, being the only
+regiment that fought at Pultowa. And there were Calmucs
+in their extraordinary war-dress; a helmet with a
+gilded crest, or a chain cap with a network of iron rings
+falling over the head and shoulders, and hanging as
+low as the eyebrows in front; a shirt of mail, composed
+of steel rings matted together and yielding to the body,
+the arms protected by plates, and the back of the hand
+by steel network fastened to the plates on each side;
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">157</a></span>their offensive weapons were bows and arrows, silver-mounted
+pistols peeping out of their holsters, cartridge-boxes
+on each side of the breast, and a dagger, sword,
+and gun.</p>
+
+<p>The Kirguish, a noble-looking race, come from the
+steppes of Siberia. Their uniform is magnificent, consisting
+of a blue frockcoat and pantaloons covered with
+silver lace, a Grecian helmet, and a great variety of
+splendid arms, the yataghan alone costing a thousand
+rubles. They are all noble, and have no regular duty,
+except to attend the imperial family on extraordinary
+occasions. At home they are always at war among
+themselves. They are Mohammedans; and one of
+them said to an American friend who had a long conversation
+with him, that he had four wives at home;
+that some had more, but it was not considered becoming
+to exceed that number. A bearded Russian came
+up and said that these Kirguish eat dogs and cats
+against which the Kirguish protested. The same Russian
+afterward observed that the Americans were worse
+than the Kirguish, for that a patriarch of the church
+had written, and therefore it must be true, that the
+number of human beings eaten by Americans could not
+be counted; adding, with emphasis, "Sir, you were
+created in the likeness of your Maker, and you should
+endeavour to keep yourself so." He continued that
+the Russians were the first Christians, and he felt much
+disposed to send missionaries among the Americans to
+meliorate their condition.</p>
+
+<p>The Imperial Guards are the finest-looking set of
+men I ever saw. The standard is six feet, and none
+are admitted below that height. Their uniform is a
+white cloth coat, with buckskin breeches, boots reaching
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">158</a></span>up to the hips, and swords that Wallace himself would
+not have been ashamed to wield. But perhaps the most
+striking in that brilliant army was the emperor himself;
+seeming its natural head, towering even above
+his gigantic guards, and looking, as Mr. Wilkins once
+said of him, like one who, among savages, would have
+been chosen for a chief. In the midst of this martial
+spectacle, the thought came over me of militia musters
+at home; and though smiling at the insignificance of
+our military array as I rode back in my drosky, I could
+but think of the happiness of our isolated position, which
+spares us the necessity of keeping a large portion of our
+countrymen constantly in arms to preserve the rest in
+the enjoyment of life and fortune.</p>
+
+<p>The next morning my Polish friend, hopeless of success
+either in his lawsuit or his lovesuit, fixed a day
+for our departure; and, with the suggestion that I am
+about leaving St. Petersburgh, I turn once more, and
+for the last time, to the imperial palaces. Not far from
+the Hermitage is the marble palace; a colossal pile,
+built by the Empress Catharine for her favourite, Count
+Orloff, presenting one of its fronts to the Neva. All the
+decorations are of marble and gilded bronze, and the
+capitals and bases of the columns and pilasters, and the
+window-frames and balustrades of the balconies, of cast
+bronze richly gilded. The effect is heightened by the
+unusually large dimensions of the squares of fine plate
+glass. A traveller in seventeen hundred and fifty-nine
+says "that the prodigies of enchantment which we read
+of in the tales of the genii are here called forth into
+reality; and the temples reared by the luxuriant fancy
+of our poets may be considered as a picture of the marble
+palace, which Jupiter, when the burden of cares
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">159</a></span>drives him from heaven, might make his delightful
+abode." At present, however, there are but few remains
+of this Olympian magnificence, and I think Jupiter
+at the same expense would prefer the Winter Palace
+or the Hermitage.</p>
+
+<p>The Taurida Palace, erected by Catharine II. for her
+lover, Potemkin, in general effect realizes the exaggerated
+accounts of travellers. The entrance is into a spacious
+hall, which leads to a circular vestibule of extraordinary
+magnitude, decorated with busts and statues
+in marble, with a dome supported by white columns.
+From thence you pass between the columns into an
+immense hall or ballroom, two hundred and eighty
+feet long and eighty wide, with double colonnades of
+lofty Ionic pillars decorated with gold and silver festoons,
+thirty-five feet high and ten feet in circumference.
+From the colonnade, running the whole length
+of the ballroom, you enter the Winter Garden, which
+concealed flues and stoves keep always at the temperature
+of summer; and here, upon great occasions,
+under the light of magnificent lustres and the reflection
+of numerous mirrors, during the fierceness of the
+Russian winter, when the whole earth is covered with
+snow, and "water tossed in the air drops down in ice,"
+the imperial visiter may stroll through gravel-walks
+bordered with the choicest plants and flowers, blooming
+hedges and groves of orange, and inhale the fragrance
+of an Arabian garden. Paul, in one of his "darkened
+hours," converted this palace into barracks and a
+riding-school; but it has since been restored, in some
+degree, to its ancient splendour.</p>
+
+<p>The palace of Paul, in which he was assassinated,
+has been uninhabited since his death. But the triumph
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">160</a></span>of modern architecture in St. Petersburgh is
+the palace of the Grand-duke Michael. I shall not attempt
+any description of this palace; but, to give some
+notion of its splendours to my calculating countrymen,
+I shall merely remark that it cost upward of seventeen
+millions of rubles. But I am weary of palaces;
+of wandering through magnificent apartments, where
+scene after scene bursts upon my eyes, and, before I
+begin to feel at home in them, I find myself ordered
+out by the footman. Will the reader believe me? On
+the opposite side of the river is a little wooden house,
+more interesting in my eyes than all the palaces in St.
+Petersburgh. It is the humble residence of Peter the
+Great. I visited it for the last time after rambling
+through the gorgeous palace of the Grand-duke Michael.
+It is one story high, low roofed, with a little piazza
+around it, and contains a sitting-room, bedroom, and
+dining-parlours; and Peter himself, with his own axe,
+assisted in its construction. The rooms are only eight
+feet in height, the sitting-room is fifteen feet square, the
+dining-room fifteen feet by twelve, and the bedchamber
+ten feet square. In the first there is a chapel and
+shrine, where the Russian visiter performs his orisons
+and prays for the soul of Peter. Around the cottage
+is a neat garden, and a boat made by Peter himself is
+suspended to one of the walls. I walked around the
+cottage, inside and out; listened attentively, without
+understanding a word he said, to the garrulous Russian
+cicerone, and sat down on the step of the front piazza.
+Opposite was that long range of imperial palaces extending
+for more than a mile on the Neva, and surpassing
+all other royal residences in Europe or the world.
+When Peter sat in the door of this humble cottage, the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">161</a></span>ground where they stood was all morass and forest.
+Where I saw the lofty spires of magnificent churches,
+he looked out upon fishermen's huts. My eyes fell
+upon the golden spire of the church of the citadel glittering
+in the sunbeams, and reminding me that in its
+dismal charnelhouse slept the tenant of the humble
+cottage, the master-spirit which had almost created out
+of nothing all this splendour. I saw at the same time
+the beginning and the end of greatness. The humble
+dwelling is preserved with religious reverence, and even
+now is the most interesting monument which the imperial
+city can show.</p>
+
+<p>And here, at this starting-point in her career, I take
+my leave of the Palmyra of the North. I am compelled
+to omit many things which he who speaks of St. Petersburgh
+at all ought not to omit: her magnificent churches;
+her gigantic and splendid theatres; her literary,
+scientific, and eleemosynary institutions, and that which
+might form the subject of a chapter in her capital, her
+government and laws. I might have seen something
+of Russian society, as my friend Luoff had arrived in
+St. Petersburgh; but, with my limited time, the interchange
+of these civilities interfered with my seeing the
+curiosities of the capital.</p>
+
+<p>My intimacy with the colonel had fallen off, though
+we still were on good terms. The fact is, I believe I
+fell into rather queer company in St. Petersburgh, and
+very soon found the colonel to be the most thorough
+roué I ever met. He seemed to think that travelling
+meant dissipating; he had never travelled but once,
+and that was with the army to Paris; and, except
+when on duty, his whole time had been spent in riot
+and dissipation; and though sometimes he referred to
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">162</a></span>hard fighting, he talked more of the pleasures of that
+terrible campaign than of its toils and dangers. In
+consideration of my being a stranger and a young
+man, he constituted himself my Mentor, and the advice
+which, in all soberness, he gave me as the fruits
+of his experience, was a beautiful guide for the road to
+ruin. I have no doubt that, if I had given myself up
+entirely to him, he would have fêted me all the time
+I was in St. Petersburgh; but this did not suit me,
+and I afterward fell in with the Pole, who had his own
+vagaries too, and who, being the proprietor of a cloth
+manufactory, did not suit the aristocratic notions of the
+colonel, and so our friendship cooled. My intimacy
+with his friend the prince, however, increased. I called
+upon him frequently, and he offered to accompany me
+everywhere; but as in sightseeing I love to be alone, I
+seldom asked him, except for a twilight walk. Old associations
+were all that now bound together him and the
+colonel; their feelings, their fortunes, and their habits
+of life were entirely different; and the colonel, instead
+of being displeased with my seeking the prince in preference
+to himself, was rather gratified. Altogether, the
+colonel told me, he was much mistaken in me, but he
+believed I was a good fellow after all; excused my
+regular habits somewhat on the ground of my health;
+and the day before that fixed for my departure, asked
+me to pass the evening with him, and to bring my friend
+the Pole. In the evening we went to the colonel's apartments.
+The prince was there, and, after an elegant
+little supper, happening to speak of a Frenchman and a
+Prussian living in the hotel, with whom I had become
+acquainted, he sent down for them to come up and join
+us. The table was cleared, pipes and tobacco were
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">163</a></span>brought on, and Champagne was the only wine. We
+had a long and interesting conversation on the subject
+of the road to Warsaw, and particularly in regard to
+the bloody passage of the Berezina, at which both the
+colonel and the prince were present. The servant, a
+favourite serf (who the next day robbed the colonel of
+every valuable article in his apartment), being clumsy
+in opening a new bottle of Champagne, the colonel said
+he must return to army practice, and reaching down his
+sabre, with a scientific blow took off the neck without
+materially injuring the bottle or disturbing the contents.
+This military way of decanting Champagne aided its
+circulation, and head after head fell rapidly before the
+naked sabre. I had for some time avoided emptying
+my glass, which, in the general hurry of business, was
+not noticed; but, as soon as the colonel discovered it, he
+cried out, "Treason, treason against good fellowship.
+America is a traitor." I pleaded ill health, but he would
+not listen to me; upbraided me that the friend and old
+ally of Russia should fail him; turned up his glass on
+the table, and swore he would not touch it again unless
+I did him justice. All followed his example; all decided
+that America was disturbing the peace of nations;
+the glasses were turned up all around, and a dead stop
+was put to the merriment. I appealed, begged, and
+protested; and the colonel became positive, dogged,
+and outrageous. The prince came to my aid, and proposed
+that the difficulty between Russia and America
+should be submitted to the arbitration of France and
+Prussia. He had observed these powers rather backing
+out. The eyes of France were already in a fine
+phrensy rolling, and Prussia's tongue had long been
+wandering; and in apprehension of their own fate,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">164</a></span>these mighty powers leaned to mercy. It was necessary,
+however, to propitiate the colonel, and they decided
+that, to prevent the effusion of blood, I should
+start once more the flow of wine; that we should begin
+again with a bumper all around; and, after that, every
+man should do as he pleased. The colonel was obliged
+to be content; and swearing that he would drink for us
+all, started anew.</p>
+
+<p>The Prussian was from Berlin, and this led the colonel
+to speak of the stirring scenes that had taken place
+in that capital on the return of the Russian army from
+Paris; and, after a while, the Prussian, personally unknown
+to the colonel, told him that his name was still
+remembered in Berlin as a leader in Russian riot and
+dissipation, and particularly as having carried off, in a
+most daring manner, a lady of distinguished family;
+and&mdash;"go on," said the colonel&mdash;"killed her husband."
+"He refused my challenge," said the colonel, "but
+sought my life, and I shot him like a dog." The whole
+party now became uproarious; the colonel begged me,
+by all the friendly relations between Russia and America,
+to hold on till breakfast-time; but, being the coolest
+man present, and not knowing what farther developments
+might take place, I broke up the party.</p>
+
+<p>In the morning my passport was not ready. I went
+off to the police-office for it, and when I returned the
+horses had not come, and the valet brought me the usual
+answer, that there were none. My Pole was glad to
+linger another day for the sake of his flirtation with
+the little girl opposite, and so we lounged through the
+day, part of the time in the bazar of a Persian, where I
+came near ruining myself by an offer I made for a beautiful
+emerald; and after one more and the last twilight
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">165</a></span>stroll on the banks of the Neva and up the Newski Perspective,
+we returned at an early hour, and for the last
+time in Russia, slept in a bed.</p>
+
+<p>At nine o'clock the next morning a kibitka drove up
+to the door of our hotel, demanding an American and a
+Pole for Warsaw. All the servants of the hotel were
+gathered around, arranging the luggage, and making
+a great parade of getting off the distinguished travellers.
+The travellers themselves seemed equipped for a long
+journey. One wore a blue roundabout jacket, military
+cap and cloak, with whiskers and a mustache tending
+to red; the other, a tall, stout, Herculean fellow, was
+habited in the most outré costume of a Russian traveller;
+a cotton dressing-gown of every variety of colours,
+red and yellow predominating; coarse gray trousers;
+boots coming above his knees; a cap <i>tout a fait farouche</i>,
+and there was no mistake about the colour of
+his hair and mustaches; he was moving slowly around
+the kibitka in his travelling dress, and looking up to the
+window opposite, to give his dulcinea the melancholy
+intelligence that he was going away, and perhaps to
+catch one farewell smile at parting. The carriage of
+these distinguished travellers was the kibitka, one of the
+national vehicles of Russia, being a long, round-bottomed
+box or cradle on four wheels, probably the old
+Scythian wagon, resting, in proud contempt of the effeminacy
+of springs, on the oaken axles; the hubs of
+the wheels were two feet long, the linchpins of wood,
+the body of the carriage fastened to the wheels by
+wooden pins, ropes, and sticks; and, except the tires of
+the wheels, there was not a nail or piece of iron about it.
+The hinder part was covered with matting, open in front
+somewhat like an oldfashioned bonnet, and supported
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">166</a></span>by an arched stick, which served as a linchpin for the
+hind wheels; a bucket of grease hung under the hind
+axle, and the bottom of the kibitka was filled with
+straw; whole cost of outfit, thirteen dollars. Before
+it were three horses, one in shafts and one on each side,
+the centre one having a high bow over his neck, painted
+yellow and red, to which a rein was tied for holding up
+his head, and also a bell, to a Russian postillion more
+necessary than harness. The travellers took their
+places in the bottom of the kibitka, and the postillion,
+a rough, brutal-looking fellow, in gray coat and hat
+turned up at the sides, mounted in front, catching a
+seat where he could on the rim of the wagon, about
+three inches wide; and in this dashing equipage we
+started for a journey of a thousand miles to the capital
+of another kingdom. We rolled for the last time through
+the streets of St. Petersburgh, gazed at the domes, and
+spires, and magnificent palaces, and in a few moments
+passed the barrier.</p>
+
+<p>I left St. Petersburgh, as I did every other city, with
+a certain feeling of regret that, in all probability, I should
+never see it more; still the cracking of the postillion's
+whip and the galloping of the horses created in me that
+high excitement which I always felt in setting out for
+a new region. Our first stage was to Czarskoselo, our
+second to Cazena, where there was another palace. It
+was dark when we reached the third, a small village, of
+which I did not even note the name. I shall not linger
+on this road, for it was barren of interest and incident,
+and through a continued succession of swamps and forests.
+For two hundred miles it tried the tenure of adhesion
+between soul and body, being made of the trunks
+of trees laid transversely, bound down by long poles or
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">167</a></span>beams fastened into the ground with wooden pegs covered
+with layers of boughs, and the whole strewed over
+with sand and earth; the trunks in general were decayed
+and sunken, and the sand worn or washed away,
+reminding me of the worst of our western corduroy
+roads. Our wagon being without springs, and our seats
+a full-length extension on straw on the bottom, without
+the bed, pillows, and cushions which the Russians usually
+have, I found this ride one of the severest trials of
+physical endurance I ever experienced. My companion
+groaned and brushed his mustaches, and talked of the
+little girl at St. Petersburgh. In my previous journey
+in Russia I had found the refreshment of tea, and on
+this, often when almost exhausted, I was revived by that
+precious beverage. I stood it three days and nights,
+but on the fourth completely broke down. I insensibly
+slipped down at full length in the bottom of the wagon;
+the night was cold and rainy; my companion covered
+me up to the eyes with straw, and I slept from the early
+part of the evening like a dead man. The horses were
+changed three times; the wagon was lifted up under
+me, and the wheels greased; and three times my companion
+quarrelled with the postmaster over my body
+without waking me. About six o'clock in the morning
+he roused me. I could not stir hand or foot; my mouth
+was full of dust and straw, and I felt a sense of suffocation.
+In a few moments I crawled out, staggered a
+few steps, and threw myself down on the floor of a
+wretched posthouse. My companion put my carpet-bag
+under my head, wrapped cloaks and greatcoats around
+me, and prepared me some tea; but I loathed everything.
+I was in that miserable condition which every
+traveller has some time experienced; my head ringing,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">168</a></span>every bone aching, and perfectly reckless as to what
+became of me. While my companion stood over me I
+fell asleep, and believe I should have been sleeping
+there yet if he had not waked me. He said we must
+go on at all risks until we found a place where we could
+remain with some degree of comfort. I begged and entreated
+to be left to myself, but he was inexorable. He
+lifted me up, hauled me out to the kibitka, which was
+filled with fresh straw, and seated me within, supporting
+me on his shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>It was a beautiful day. We moved moderately, and
+toward evening came to a posthouse kept by a Jew, or,
+rather, a Jewess, who was so kind and attentive that
+we determined to stay there all night. She brought in
+some clean straw and spread it on the floor, where I
+slept gloriously. My companion was tougher than I,
+but he could not stand the fleas and bugs, and about
+midnight went out and slept in the kibitka. In the
+morning we found that he had been too late; that the
+kibitka had been stripped of every article except himself
+and the straw. Fortunately, my carpet-bag had
+been brought in; but I received a severe blow in the
+loss of a cane, an old friend and travelling companion,
+which had been with me in every variety of scene,
+and which I had intended to carry home with me, and
+retain as a companion through life. It is almost inconceivable
+how much this little incident distressed me.
+It was a hundred times worse than the loss of my carpet-bag.
+I felt the want of it every moment; I had
+rattled it on the Boulevards of Paris, in the eternal
+city, the Colosseum, and the places thereabout; had
+carried it up the burning mountain, and poked it into
+the red-hot lava; had borne it in the Acropolis, on the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">169</a></span>field of Marathon, and among the ruins of Ephesus;
+had flourished it under the beard of the sultan, and
+the eyes and nose of the emperor and autocrat of all
+the Russias; in deserts and in cities it had been my
+companion and friend. Unsparing Nemesis, let loose
+your vengeance upon the thief who stole it! The rascals
+had even carried off the rope traces, and every
+loose article about the kibitka.</p>
+
+<p>Notwithstanding this, however, I ought not to omit
+remarking the general security of travelling in Russia
+and Poland. The immense plains; the distance of
+habitations; the number of forests; the custom of travelling
+by night as well as by day; the negligence of all
+measures to ensure the safety of the roads, all contribute
+to favour robbery and murders; and yet an instance
+of either is scarcely known in years. It was
+difficult on those immense levels, which seemed independent
+of either general or individual proprietors, to
+recognise even the bounds of empires. The Dwina,
+however, a natural boundary, rolls between Russia and
+Poland; and at Vitepsk we entered the territories of
+what was once another kingdom. The surface of Poland
+forms part of that immense and unvaried plain
+which constitutes the northern portion of all the central
+European countries. A great portion of this plain
+is overspread with a deep layer of sand, alternating
+however, with large clayey tracts and extensive marshes;
+a winter nearly as severe as that of Sweden, and
+violent winds blowing uninterruptedly over this wide
+open region, are consequences of its physical structure
+and position. The Roman arms never penetrated any
+part of this great level tract, the whole of which was
+called by them Sarmatia; and Sarmatia and Scythia
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">170</a></span>were in their descriptions always named together as the
+abode of nomadic and savage tribes. From the earliest
+era it appears to have been peopled by the Sclavonic
+tribes; a race widely diffused, and distinguished by a
+peculiar language, by a strong national feeling, and by a
+particular train of superstitious ideas. Though shepherds,
+they did not partake of the migratory character
+of the Teutonic or Tartar nations; and were long held
+in the most cruel bondage by the Huns, the Goths, and
+other nations of Asia, for whom their country was a
+path to the conquest of the west of Europe.</p>
+
+<p>In the tenth century the Poles were a powerful and
+warlike nation. In the fourteenth Lithuania was incorporated
+with it, and Poland became one of the most
+powerful monarchies in Europe. For two centuries it
+was the bulwark of Christendom against the alarming
+invasions of the Turks; the reigns of Sigismund and
+Sobieski hold a high place in military history; and, until
+the beginning of the last century, its martial character
+gave it a commanding influence in Europe.</p>
+
+<p>It is unnecessary to trace the rapid and irrecoverable
+fall of Poland. On the second partition, Kosciusko,
+animated by his recent struggle for liberty in America,
+roused his countrymen to arms. But the feet of three
+giants were upon her breast; and Suwarrow, marching
+upon the capital, storming the fortress of Praga, and
+butchering in cold blood thirty thousand inhabitants,
+extinguished, apparently for ever, the rights and the
+glories of Poland. Living as we do apart from the rest
+of the world, with no national animosities transmitted
+by our fathers, it is impossible to realize the feeling of
+deadly hatred existing between neighbouring nations
+from the disputes of ancestors centuries ago. The history
+of Russia and Poland presents a continued series
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">171</a></span>of bloodstained pages. Battle after battle has nourished
+their mutual hate, and for a long time it had been
+the settled feeling of both that Russia or Poland must
+fall. It is perhaps fortunate for the rest of Europe that
+this feeling has always existed; for, if they were united
+in heart, the whole south of Europe would lie at the
+mercy of their invading armies. Napoleon committed a
+fatal error in tampering with the brave and patriotic
+Poles; for he might have rallied around him a nation of
+soldiers who, in gratitude, would have stood by him
+until they were exterminated.</p>
+
+<p>But to return to Vitepsk. Here, for the first time,
+we fell into the memorable road traversed by Napoleon
+on his way to Moscow. The town stands on the banks
+of the Dwina, built on both sides of the river, and contains
+a population of about fifteen thousand, a great
+portion of whom are Jews. In itself, it has but little
+to engage the attention of the traveller; but I strolled
+through its streets with extraordinary interest, remembering
+it as the place where Napoleon decided on his
+fatal march to Moscow. It was at the same season
+and on the very same day of the year that the "grand
+army," having traversed the gloomy forests of Lithuania
+in pursuit of an invincible and intangible enemy, with
+the loss of more than a hundred thousand men, emerged
+from the last range of woods and halted at the presence
+of the hostile fires that covered the plain before the city.
+Napoleon slept in his tent on an eminence at the left of
+the main road, and before sunrise appeared at the advanced
+posts, and by its first rays saw the Russian
+army, eighty thousand strong, encamped on a high plain
+commanding all the avenues of the city. Ten thousand
+horsemen made a show of defending its passes; and at
+about ten o'clock, Murat le Beau Sabreur, intoxicated
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">172</a></span>by the admiration his presence excited, at the head of
+a single regiment of chasseurs charged the whole Russian
+cavalry. He was repulsed, and driven back to the
+foot of the hillock on which Napoleon stood. The
+chasseurs of the French guards formed a circle around
+him, drove off the assailant lancers, and the emperor
+ordered the attack to cease; and, pointing to the city,
+his parting words to Murat were, "To-morrow at five
+o'clock the sun of Austerlitz."</p>
+
+<p>At daylight the camp of Barclay de Tolly was deserted;
+not a weapon, not a single valuable left behind;
+and a Russian soldier asleep under a bush was the
+sole result of the day expected to be so decisive. Vitepsk,
+except by a few miserable Jews and Jesuits, like
+the Russian camp, was also abandoned. The emperor
+mounted his horse and rode through the deserted camp
+and desolate streets of the city. Chagrined and mortified,
+he pitched his tents in an open courtyard; but,
+after a council of war with Murat, Eugene, and others
+of his principal officers, laid his sword upon the table,
+and resolved to finish in Vitepsk the campaign of that
+year. Well had it been for him had he never changed
+that determination. He traced his line of defence on
+the map, and explored Vitepsk and its environs as a
+place where he was likely to make a long residence;
+formed establishments of all kinds; erected large ovens
+capable of baking at once thirty thousand loaves of
+bread; pulled down a range of stone houses which injured
+the appearance of the square of the palace, and
+made arrangements for opening the theatre with Parisian
+actors. But in a few days he was observed to
+grow restless; the members of his household recollected
+his expression at the first view of the deserted Vitepsk,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">173</a></span>"Do you think I have come so far to conquer
+these miserable huts?" Segur says that he was observed
+to wander about his apartments as if pursued by
+some dangerous temptation. Nothing could rivet his
+attention. Every moment he began, stopped, and resumed
+his labour. At length, overwhelmed with the
+importance of the considerations that agitated him, "he
+threw himself on the floor of his apartment; his frame,
+exhausted by the heat and the struggles of his mind,
+could only bear a covering of the slightest texture.
+He rose from his sleepless pillow possessed once more
+with the genius of war; his voice deepens, his eyes
+flash fire, and his countenance darkens. His attendants
+retreat from his presence, struck with mingled
+awe and respect. His plan is fixed, his determination
+taken, his order of march traced out."</p>
+
+<p>The last council occupied eight hours. Berthier by
+a melancholy countenance, by lamentations, and even
+by tears; Lobau by the cold and haughty frankness
+of a warrior; Caulaincourt with obstinacy and impetuosity
+amounting to violence; Duroc by a chilling
+silence, and afterward by stern replies; and Daru
+straightforward and with firmness immoveable, opposed
+his going; but, as if driven on by that fate he almost
+defied, he broke up the council with the fatal determination.
+"Blood has not been shed, and Russia is too
+great to yield without fighting. Alexander can only
+negotiate after a great battle. I will proceed to the
+holy city in search of that battle, and I will gain it.
+Peace waits me at the gates of Moscow." From that
+hour commenced that train of terrible disasters which
+finally drove him from the throne of France, and sent
+him to die an exile on a small island in the Indian
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">174</a></span>Ocean. I walked out on the Moscow road, by which
+the grand army, with pomp and martial music, with
+Murat, and Ney, and Duroc, and Daru, inspired by
+the great names of Smolensk and Moscow, plunged
+into a region of almost pathless forest, where most of
+them were destined to find a grave. I was at first surprised
+at the utter ignorance of the inhabitants of Vitepsk,
+in regard to the circumstances attending the occupation
+of the city by Napoleon. A Jew was my
+cicerone, who talked of the great scenes of which this
+little city had in his own day been the theatre almost
+as matter of tradition, and without half the interest with
+which, even now, the Greek points the stranger to the
+ruins of Argos or the field of Marathon; and this ignorance
+in regard to the only matters that give an interest
+to this dreary road I remarked during the whole journey.
+I was so unsuccessful in my questions, and the
+answers were so unsatisfactory, that my companion
+soon became tired of acting as my interpreter. Indeed,
+as he said, he himself knew more than any one I met,
+for he had travelled it before in company with an uncle,
+of the Polish legion; but even he was by no means familiar
+with the ground.</p>
+
+<p>We left Vitepsk with a set of miserable horses, rode
+all night, and at noon of the next day were approaching
+the banks of the Berezina, memorable for the dreadful
+passage which almost annihilated the wretched remnant
+of Napoleon's army. It was impossible, in passing
+over the same ground, not to recur to the events of
+which it had been the scene. The "invincible legions,"
+which left Vitepsk two hundred thousand strong, were
+now fighting their dreadful retreat from Moscow through
+regulars and Cossacks, reduced to less than twelve
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">175</a></span>thousand men marching in column, with a train of thirty
+thousand undisciplined followers, sick, wounded, and
+marauders of every description. The cavalry which
+crossed the Niemen thirty-seven thousand in number
+was reduced to one hundred and fifty men on horseback.
+Napoleon collected all the officers who remained mounted,
+and formed them into a body, in all about five hundred,
+which he called his sacred squadron; officers
+served as privates, and generals of divisions as captains.
+He ordered the carriages of the officers, many of the
+wagons, and even the eagles belonging to the different
+corps, to be burned in his presence; and drawing his
+sword, with the stern remark that he had sufficiently
+acted the emperor, and must once more play the general,
+marched on foot at the head of his old guard. He had
+hardly reorganized before the immense pine forests
+which border the Berezina echoed with the thunder of
+the Russian artillery; in a moment all remains of discipline
+were lost. In the last stage of weakness and confusion
+they were roused by loud cries before them, and,
+to their great surprise and joy, recognised the armies
+of Victor and Oudinot. The latter knew nothing of the
+terrible disasters of the army of Moscow, and they were
+thrown into consternation and then melted to tears when
+they saw behind Napoleon, instead of the invincible legions
+which had left them in splendid equipments, a
+train of gaunt and spectral figures, their faces black
+with dirt, and long bristly beards, covered with rags,
+female pelisses, pieces of carpet, with bare and bleeding
+feet, or bundled with rags, and colonels and generals
+marching pellmell with soldiers, unarmed and shameless,
+without any order or discipline, kept together and
+sleeping round the same fires only by the instinct of
+self-preservation.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">176</a></span>About noon we drove into the town of Borizoff. It
+stands on the banks of the Berezina, and is an old, irregular-looking
+place, with a heavy wooden church in
+the centre of an open square. As usual, at the door of
+the posthouse a group of Jews gathered around us.
+When Napoleon took possession of Borizoff the Jews
+were the only inhabitants who remained; and they, a
+scattered, wandering, and migratory people, without any
+attachment of soil or country, were ready to serve either
+the French or Russians, according to the inducements
+held out to them. A few noble instances are recorded
+where this persecuted and degraded people exhibited a
+devotion to the land that sheltered them honourable to
+their race and to the character of man; but in general
+they were false and faithless. Those who gathered
+around us in Borizoff looked as though they might be
+the very people who betrayed the Russians. One of
+them told us that a great battle had been fought there,
+but we could not find any who had been present at the
+fatal passage of the river. We dined at the posthouse,
+probably with less anxiety than was felt by Napoleon
+or any of the flying Frenchmen; but even we were not
+permitted to eat in peace; for, before we had finished,
+our vehicle was ready, with worse horses than usual,
+and a surlier postillion. We sent the postillion on ahead,
+and walked down to the bank of the river. On the night
+preceding the passage, Napoleon himself had command
+of Borizoff, with six thousand guards prepared for a
+desperate contest. He passed the whole night on his
+feet; and while waiting for the approach of daylight in
+one of the houses on the border of the river, so impracticable
+seemed the chance of crossing with the army
+that Murat proposed to him to put himself under the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">177</a></span>escort of some brave and determined Poles, and save
+himself while there was yet time; but the emperor indignantly
+rejected the proposition as a cowardly flight.
+The river is here very broad, and divided into branches.
+On the opposite side are the remains of an embankment
+that formed part of the Russian fortifications. When
+the Russians were driven out of Borizoff by Oudinot,
+they crossed the river, burned the bridge, and erected
+these embankments.</p>
+
+<p>Besides the sanguinary contest of the French and
+Russians, this river is also memorable for a great battle
+between my companion and our postillion. In the middle
+of the bridge the postillion stopped and waited till
+we came up; he grumbled loudly at being detained, to
+which my companion replied in his usual conciliatory
+and insinuating manner, by laying his cane over the fellow's
+shoulders; but on the bridge of Borizoff the blood
+of the Lithuanian was roused; and, perhaps, urged on
+by the memory of the deeds done there by his fathers,
+he sprang out of the wagon, and with a warcry
+that would not have disgraced a Cossack of the Don,
+rushed furiously upon my friend. Oh for a Homer to
+celebrate that fight on the bridge of Borizoff! The warriors
+met, not like Grecian heroes, with spear and shield,
+and clad in steel, but with their naked fists and faces
+bare to take the blows. My friend was a sublime spectacle.
+Like a rock, firm and immoveable, he stood and
+met the charge of the postillion; in short, in the twinkling
+of an eye he knocked the postillion down. Those
+who know say that it is more trying to walk over a
+field of battle after all is over than to be in the fight;
+and I believe it from my experience in our trying passage
+of the Berezina; for, when I picked up the discomfited
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">178</a></span>postillion, whose face was covered with blood,
+I believe that I had the worst of it. All great victories
+are tested by their results, and nothing could be more
+decisive than that over the postillion. He arose a wiser
+and much more tractable man. At first he looked very
+stupid when he saw me leaning over him, and very
+startled when he rubbed his hand over his face and saw
+it stained with blood; but, raising himself, he caught
+sight of his victor, and without a word got into the
+wagon, walked the horses over the bridge, and at the
+other end got out and threw himself on the ground.</p>
+
+<p>It was a beautiful afternoon, and we lingered on the
+bridge. Crossing it, we walked up the bank on the opposite
+side toward the place where Napoleon erected
+his bridges for the passage of his army. All night the
+French worked at the bridges by the light of the enemy's
+fires on the opposite side. At daylight the fires
+were abandoned, and the Russians, supposing the attempt
+here to be a feint, were seen in full retreat. The
+emperor, impatient to get possession of the opposite
+bank, pointed it out to the bravest. A French aiddecamp
+and Lithuanian count threw themselves into the
+river, and, in spite of the ice, which cut their horses'
+breasts, reached the opposite bank in safety. About
+one o'clock the bank on which we stood was entirely
+cleared of Cossacks, and the bridge for the infantry was
+finished. The first division crossed it rapidly with its
+cannon, the men shouting "<i>Vive l'empereur!</i>" The
+passage occupied three days. The number of stragglers
+and the quantity of baggage were immense. On the
+night of the twenty-seventh the stragglers left the bridge,
+tore down the whole village, and made fires with the
+materials, around which they crouched their shivering
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">179</a></span>figures, and from which it was impossible to tear themselves
+away. At daylight they were roused by the
+report of Witgenstein's cannon thundering over their
+heads, and again all rushed tumultuously to the bridges.
+The Russians, with Platow and his Cossacks, were now
+in full communication on both sides of the river. On
+the left bank, Napoleon's own presence of mind and the
+bravery of his soldiers gave him a decided superiority;
+but, in the language of Scott, the scene on the right
+bank had become the wildest and most horrible which
+war can exhibit.</p>
+
+<p>"Victor, with eight or ten thousand men, covered the
+retreat over the bridges, while behind his line thousands
+of stragglers, old men, women, and children, were wandering
+by the side of this river like the fabled spectres
+which throng the banks of the infernal Styx, seeking in
+vain for passage. The balls of the Russians began to
+fall among the disordered mass, and the whole body
+rushed like distracted beings toward the bridges, every
+feeling of prudence or humanity swallowed up by the
+animal instinct of self-preservation. The weak and
+helpless either shrunk from the fray and sat down to
+wait their fate at a distance, or, mixing in it, were thrust
+over the bridges, crushed under carriages, cut down with
+sabres, or trampled to death under the feet of their countrymen.
+All this while the action continued with fury;
+and, as if the heavens meant to match their wrath with
+that of man, a hurricane arose and added terrors to a
+scene which was already of a character so dreadful.
+About midday the larger bridge, constructed for artillery
+and heavy carriages, broke down, and multitudes were
+forced into the water. The scream of the despairing
+multitude became at this crisis for a moment so universal,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">180</a></span>that it rose shrilly above the wild whistling of the
+tempest and the sustained and redoubled hourras of the
+Cossacks. The dreadful scene continued till dark. As
+the obscurity came on, Victor abandoned the station he
+had defended so bravely, and led the remnant of his
+troops in their turn across. All night the miscellaneous
+multitude continued to throng across the bridge
+under the fire of the Russian artillery. At daybreak
+the French engineers finally set fire to the bridge, and
+all that remained on the other side, including many
+prisoners, and a great quantity of guns and baggage, became
+the property of the Russians. The amount of
+the French loss was never exactly known; but the Russian
+report concerning the bodies of the invaders, which
+were collected and burned as soon as the thaw permitted,
+states that upward of thirty-six thousand were found in
+the Berezina."</p>
+
+<p>The whole of this scene was familiar to me as matter
+of history; the passage of the Berezina had in some
+way fastened itself upon my mind as one of the most
+fearful scenes in the annals of war; and, besides this,
+at St. Petersburgh the colonel and prince had given me
+a detailed account of the horrors of that dreadful night,
+for they were both with Witgenstein's army, by the light
+of the snow, the course of the river, and the noise, directing
+a murderous fire of artillery against the dark
+mass moving over the bridge; and nearer still, my companion
+had visited the place in company with his uncle,
+of the Polish legion, and repeated to me the circumstances
+of individual horror which he had heard from
+his relative, surpassing human belief. The reader will
+excuse me if I have lingered too long on the banks of
+that river; and perhaps, too, he will excuse me when I
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">181</a></span>tell him that, before leaving it, I walked down to its
+brink and bathed my face in its waters. Others have
+done so at the classic streams of Italy and Greece; but
+I rolled over the Arno and the Tiber in a vetturino
+without stopping, and the reader will remember that I
+jumped over the Ilissus.</p>
+
+<hr class="l65" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X.</h2>
+
+<div class="chapblock"><p>Travel by Night.&mdash;A Rencounter.&mdash;A Traveller's Message.&mdash;Lithuania.&mdash;Poverty
+of the Country.&mdash;Agricultural Implements.&mdash;Minsk.&mdash;Polish
+Jews.&mdash;A Coin of Freedom.&mdash;Riding in a Basket.&mdash;Brezc.&mdash;The Bug.&mdash;A
+searching Operation.&mdash;Women Labourers.&mdash;Warsaw.</p></div>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">It</span> was after dark when we returned to our wagon,
+still standing at the end of the bridge opposite Borizoff.
+Our postillion, like a sensible man, had lain down to
+sleep at the head of his horses, so they could not move
+without treading on him and waking him; and, when
+we roused him, the pain of his beating was over, and
+with it all sense of the indignity; and, in fact, we made
+him very grateful for the flogging by promising him a
+few additional kopeks.</p>
+
+<p>We hauled up the straw and seated ourselves in the
+bottom of our kibitka. Night closed upon us amid the
+gloomy forests bordering the banks of the Berezina.
+We talked for a little while, and by degrees drawing
+our cloaks around us, each fell into a revery. The continued
+tinkling of the bell, which, on my first entering
+Russia, grated on my ear, had become agreeable to me,
+and in a dark night particularly was a pleasing sound.
+The song of the postillion, too, harmonized with the
+repose of spirit at that moment most grateful to us; that
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">182</a></span>too died away, the bell almost ceased its tinkling, and,
+in spite of the alarum of war which we had all day
+been ringing in our own ears, we should probably soon
+have fallen into a sleep as sound, for a little while at
+least, as that of them who slept under the waters of the
+Berezina, but we were suddenly roused by a shock as
+alarming to quiet travellers as the hourra of the Cossack
+in the ears of the flying Frenchmen. Our horses sprang
+out of the road, but not in time to avoid a concussion
+with another wagon going toward Borizoff. Both postillions
+were thrown off their seats; and the stranger,
+picking himself up, came at us with a stream of Lithuanian
+Russian almost harsh enough to frighten the
+horses. I will not suggest what its effect was upon us,
+but only that, as to myself, it seemed at first equal to
+the voice of at least a dozen freebooters and marauders;
+and if the English of it had been "stand and deliver,"
+I should probably have given up my carpet-bag without
+asking to reserve a change of linen. But I was restored
+by the return fire of our postillion, who drowned completely
+the attack of his adversary by his outrageous
+clamour; and when he stopped to take breath my companion
+followed up the defence, and this brought out a
+fourth voice from the bottom of the opposite wagon. A
+truce was called, and waiving the question on which
+side the fault lay, we all got out to ascertain the damage.
+Our antagonist passenger was a German merchant,
+used to roughing it twice every year between
+Berlin, Warsaw, Petersburgh, and Moscow, and took
+our smashing together at night in this desolate forest
+as coolly as a rub of the shoulders in the streets; and,
+when satisfied that his wagon was not injured, kindly
+asked us if we had any bones broken. We returned
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">183</a></span>his kind inquiries; and, after farther interchanges of
+politeness, he said that he was happy to make our acquaintance,
+and invited us to come and see him at Berlin.
+We wanted him to go back and let us have a look
+at him by torchlight, but he declined; and, after feeling
+him stretched out in his bed in the bottom of his wagon,
+we started him on his way.</p>
+
+<p>We resumed our own places, and, without dozing
+again, arrived at the posthouse, where first of all we
+made ourselves agreeable to the postmaster by delivering
+our German friend's message to him, that he ought
+to be whipped and condemned to live where he was
+till he was a hundred years old for putting the neck of
+a traveller at the mercy of a sleepy postillion; but the
+postmaster was a Jew, and thought the vile place
+where he lived equal to any on earth. He was a miserable,
+squalid-looking object, with a pine torch in his
+hand lighting up the poverty and filthiness of his
+wretched habitation, and confessed that he should be
+too happy to enjoy the fortune which the German
+would have entailed upon him as a curse. He offered
+to make us a bed of some dirty straw which had often
+been slept on before; but we shrank from it; and, as
+soon as we could get horses, returned to our kibitka
+and resumed our journey.</p>
+
+<p>The whole province of Lithuania is much the same
+in appearance. We lost nothing by travelling through
+it at night; indeed, every step that we advanced was
+a decided gain, as it brought us so much nearer its
+farthermost border. The vast provinces of Lithuania,
+formerly a part of the kingdom of Poland, and, since
+the partition of that unhappy country, subject to the
+throne of Russia, until the fourteenth century were independent
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">184</a></span>of either. The Lithuanians and Samogitians
+are supposed to be of a different race from the Poles,
+and spoke a language widely dissimilar to the Polish
+or Russian. Their religion was a strange idolatry;
+they worshipped the god of thunder, and paid homage
+to a god of the harvest; they maintained priests, who
+were constantly feeding a sacred fire in honour of the
+god of the seasons; they worshipped trees, fountains,
+and plants; had sacred serpents, and believed in guardian
+spirits of trees, cattle, &amp;c. Their government,
+like that of all other barbarous nations, was despotic,
+and the nobles were less numerous and more tyrannical
+than in Poland. In the latter part of the fourteenth
+century, on the death of Louis, successor to Casimir
+the Great, Hedwiga was called to the throne of Poland,
+under a stipulation, however, that she should follow the
+will of the Poles in the choice of her husband. Many
+candidates offered themselves for the hand dowered
+with a kingdom; but the offers of Jagellon, duke of
+Lithuania, were most tempting; he promised to unite
+his extensive dominions to the territory of Poland,
+and pledged himself for the conversion to Christianity
+of his Lithuanian subjects. But queens are not free
+from the infirmities of human nature; and Hedwiga
+had fixed her affections upon her cousin, William of
+Austria, whom she had invited into Poland; and when
+Jagellon came to take possession of his wife and
+crown, she refused to see him. The nobles, however,
+sent William back to his papa, and locked her up as
+if she had been a boarding-school miss. And again,
+queens are not free from the infirmities of human nature:
+Hedwiga was inconstant; the handsome Lithuanian
+made her forget her first love, and Poland and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">185</a></span>Lithuania were united under one crown. Jagellon
+was baptized, but the inhabitants of Lithuania did not
+so readily embrace the Christian religion; in one of
+the provinces they clung for a long time to their own
+strange and wild superstitions; and even in modern
+times, it is said, the peasants long obstinately refused
+to use ploughs or other agricultural instruments furnished
+with iron, for fear of wounding the bosom of
+mother earth.</p>
+
+<p>All the way from Borizoff the road passes through a
+country but little cultivated, dreary, and covered with
+forests. When Napoleon entered the province of Lithuania
+his first bulletins proclaimed, "Here, then, is
+that Russia so formidable at a distance! It is a desert
+for which its scattered population is wholly insufficient.
+They will be vanquished by the very extent of territory
+which ought to defend them;" and, before I had travelled
+in it a day, I could appreciate the feeling of the
+soldier from La Belle France, who, hearing his Polish
+comrades boast of their country, exclaimed, "Et ces
+gueux la appellent cette pays une patrie!"</p>
+
+<p>The villages are a miserable collection of straggling
+huts, without plan or arrangement, and separated from
+each other by large spaces of ground. They are about
+ten or twelve feet square, made of the misshapen trunks
+of trees heaped on each other, with the ends projecting
+over; the roof of large shapeless boards, and the window
+a small hole in the wall, answering the double purpose
+of admitting light and letting out smoke. The tenants
+of these wretched hovels exhibit the same miserable
+appearance both in person and manners. They are
+hard-boned and sallow-complexioned; the men wear
+coarse white woollen frocks, and a round felt cap lined
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">186</a></span>with wool, and shoes made of the bark of trees, and
+their uncombed hair hangs low over their heads, generally
+of a flaxen colour. Their agricultural implements
+are of the rudest kind. The plough and harrow are
+made from the branches of the fir tree, without either
+iron or ropes; their carts are put together without iron,
+consisting of four small wheels, each of a single piece
+of wood; the sides are made of the bark of a tree bent
+round, and the shafts are a couple of fir branches; their
+bridles and traces platted from the bark of trees, or
+composed merely of twisted branches. Their only instrument
+to construct their huts and make their carts is
+a hatchet. They were servile and cringing in their expressions
+of respect, bowing down to the ground and
+stopping their carts as soon as we came near them, and
+stood with their caps in their hands till we were out of
+sight. The whole country, except in some open places
+around villages, is one immense forest of firs, perhaps
+sixty feet in height, compact and thick, but very slender.
+As we approached Minsk the road was sandy, and we
+entered by a wooden bridge over a small stream and
+along an avenue of trees.</p>
+
+<p>Minsk is one of the better class of Lithuanian towns,
+being the chief town of the government of Minsk, but
+very dirty and irregular. The principal street terminates
+in a large open square of grass and mean wooden
+huts. From this another street goes off at right angles,
+containing large houses, and joining with a second
+square, where some of the principal buildings are of
+brick. From this square several streets branch off, and
+enter a crowd of wooden hovels irregularly huddled together,
+and covering a large space of ground. The
+churches are heavily constructed, and in a style peculiar
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">187</a></span>to Lithuania, their gable ends fronting the street,
+and terminated at each corner by a square spire, with a
+low dome between them. The population is half Catholic
+and half Jewish, and the Jews are of the most filthy
+and abject class.</p>
+
+<p>A few words with regard to the Jews in Poland.
+From the moment of crossing the borders of Lithuania,
+I had remarked in every town and village swarms of
+people differing entirely from the other inhabitants in
+physical appearance and costume, and in whose sharply-drawn
+features, long beards, and flowing dresses,
+with the coal-black eyes and oriental costumes of the
+women, I at once recognised the dispersed and wandering
+children of Israel. On the second destruction
+of Jerusalem, when the Roman general drove a plough
+over the site of the Temple of Solomon, the political
+existence of the Jewish nation was annihilated, their
+land was portioned out among strangers, and the descendants
+of Abraham were forbidden to pollute with
+their presence the holy city of their fathers. In the
+Roman territories, their petition for the reduction of
+taxation received the stern answer of the Roman, "Ye
+demand exemption from tribute for your soil; I will
+lay it on the air you breathe;" and, in the words of
+the historian, "Dispersed and vagabond, exiled from
+their native soil and air, they wander over the face of
+the earth without a king, either human or divine, and
+even as strangers they are not permitted to salute with
+their footsteps their native land." History furnishes no
+precise records of the emigration or of the first settlement
+of the Israelites in the different countries of Europe;
+but for centuries they have been found dispersed, as it
+was foretold they would be, over the whole habitable
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">188</a></span>world, a strange, unsocial, and isolated people, a living
+and continued miracle. At this day they are found
+in all the civilized countries of Europe and America,
+in the wildest regions of Asia and Africa, and even
+within the walls of China; but, after Palestine, Poland
+is regarded as their Land of Promise; and there they
+present a more extraordinary spectacle than in any
+country where their race is known. Centuries have
+rolled on, revolutions have convulsed the globe, new
+and strange opinions have disturbed the human race,
+but the Polish Jew remains unchanged: the same as
+the dark superstition of the middle ages made him;
+the same in his outward appearance and internal dispositions,
+in his physical and moral condition, as when
+he fled thither for refuge from the swords of the crusaders.</p>
+
+<p>As early as the fourteenth century, great privileges
+were secured to the Jews by Casimir the Great, who
+styled them his "faithful and able subjects," induced,
+according to the chronicles of the times, like Ahasuerus
+of old, by the love of a beautiful Esther. While in
+Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and even in England
+and France, their whole history is that of one continued
+persecution, oppressed by the nobles, anathematized
+by the clergy, despised and abhorred by the populace,
+flying from city to city, arrested, and tortured, and
+burned alive, and sometimes destroying themselves by
+thousands to escape horrors worse than death; while
+all orders were arrayed in fierce and implacable hatred
+against them, in Poland the race of Israel found rest;
+and there they remain at this day, after centuries of residence,
+still a distinct people, strangers and sojourners
+in the land, mingling with their neighbours in the every-day
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">189</a></span>business of life, but never mingling their blood;
+the direct descendants of the Israelites who, three thousand
+years ago, went out from the land of Egypt; speaking
+the same language, and practising the laws delivered
+to Moses on the mountain of Sinai; mourning over their
+fallen temple, and still looking for the Messiah who
+shall bring together their scattered nation and restore
+their temporal kingdom.</p>
+
+<p>But notwithstanding the interest of their history and
+position, the Polish Jews are far from being an interesting
+people; they swarm about the villages and towns,
+intent on gain, and monopolizing all the petty traffic of
+the country. Outward degradation has worked inward
+upon their minds; confined to base and sordid occupations,
+their thoughts and feelings are contracted to their
+stations, and the despised have become despicable. It
+was principally in his capacity of innkeeper that I became
+acquainted with the Polish Jew. The inn is generally
+a miserable hovel communicating with, or a room
+partitioned off in one corner of, a large shed serving as
+a stable and yard for vehicles; the entrance is under a
+low porch of timber; the floor is of dirt; the furniture
+consists of a long table, or two or three small ones, and
+in one corner a bunch of straw, or sometimes a few
+raised boards formed into a platform, with straw spread
+over it, for beds; at one end a narrow door leads into a
+sort of hole filled with dirty beds, old women, half-grown
+boys and girls, and children not overburdened with garments,
+and so filthy that, however fatigued, I never felt
+disposed to venture among them for rest. Here the
+Jew, assisted by a dirty-faced Rachel, with a keen and
+anxious look, passes his whole day in serving out to
+the meanest customers beer, and hay, and corn; wran<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">190</a></span>gling
+with and extorting money from intoxicated peasants;
+and, it is said, sometimes, after the day's drudgery
+is over, retires at night to his miserable hole to pore
+over the ponderous volumes filled with rabbinical lore;
+or sometimes his mind takes a higher flight, meditating
+upon the nature of the human soul; its relation to the
+Divinity; the connexion between the spirit and the body;
+and indulging in the visionary hope of gaining, by means
+of cabalistic formula, command over the spirits of the
+air, the fire, the flood, and the earth.</p>
+
+<p>Though the days of bitter persecution and hatred
+have gone by, the Jews are still objects of contempt and
+loathing. Once I remember pointing out to my postillion
+a beautiful Jewish girl, and, with the fanatic spirit
+of the middle ages, himself one of the most degraded
+serfs in Poland, he scorned the idea of marrying the
+fair daughter of Israel. But this the Jew does not regard;
+all he asks is to be secured from the active enmity
+of mankind. "Like the haughty Roman banished
+from the world, the Israelite throws back the sentence
+of banishment, and still retreats to the lofty conviction
+that his race is not excluded as an unworthy, but kept
+apart as a sacred, people; humiliated, indeed, but still
+hallowed, and reserved for the sure though tardy fulfilment
+of the Divine promises."</p>
+
+<p>The Jews in Poland are still excluded from all offices
+and honours, and from all the privileges and distinctions
+of social life. Until the accession of Nicolas, they were
+exempted from military service on payment of a tax;
+but since his time they have been subject to the regular
+conscription. They regard this as an alarming act of
+oppression, for the boys are taken from their families
+at twelve or thirteen, and sent to the army or the com<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">191</a></span>mon
+military school, where they imbibe notions utterly
+at variance with the principles taught them by their fathers;
+and, probably, if the system continues, another
+generation will work a great change in the character of
+the Jews of Poland.</p>
+
+<p>But to return to the Jews at Minsk. As usual, they
+gathered around us before we were out of our kibitka,
+laid hold of our baggage, and in Hebrew, Lithuanian,
+and Polish, were clamorous in offers of service. They
+were spare in figure, dressed in high fur caps and long
+black muslin gowns, shining and glossy from long use
+and tied around the waist with a sash; and here I remarked
+what has often been remarked by other travellers,
+when the features were at rest, a style of face and
+expression resembling the pictures of the Saviour in
+the galleries in Italy. While my companion was arranging
+for posthorses and dinner, I strolled through the
+town alone, that is, with a dozen Israelites at my heels
+and on my return I found an accession of the stiff-necked
+and unbelieving race, one of whom arrested my attention
+by thrusting before me a silver coin. It was not
+an antique, but it had in my eyes a greater value than if
+it had been dug from the ruins of a buried city, and
+bore the image of Julius Cæsar. On the breaking out
+of the late revolution, one of the first acts of sovereignty
+exercised by the provincial government was to issue a
+national coin stamped with the arms of the old kingdom
+of Poland, the white eagle and the armed cavalier, with
+an inscription around the rim, "God protect Poland."
+When the revolution was crushed, with the view of
+destroying in the minds of the Poles every memento
+of their brief but glorious moment of liberty, this
+coin was called in and suppressed, and another sub<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">192</a></span>stituted
+in its place, with the Polish eagle, by way of
+insult, stamped in a small character near the tip end of
+the wing of the double-headed eagle of Russia. The
+coin offered me by the Jew was one of the emission of
+the revolution, and my companion told me it was a rare
+thing to find one. I bought it at the Jew's price, and
+put it in my pocket as a memorial of a brave and fallen
+people.</p>
+
+<p>I will not inflict upon the reader the particulars of
+our journey through this dreary and uninteresting country.
+We travelled constantly, except when we were detained
+for horses. We never stopped at night, for there
+seldom was any shelter on the road better than the Jews'
+inns, and even in our kibitka we were better than there.
+But, unluckily, on the seventh day, our kibitka broke
+down; the off hind wheel snapped in pieces, and let
+us down rather suddenly in one of the autocrat's forests.
+Our first impulse was to congratulate ourselves that this
+accident happened in daylight; and we had a narrow
+escape, for the sun had hardly begun to find its way into
+the dark forest. Fortunately, too, we were but two or
+three versts from a posthouse. I had met with such accidents
+at home, and rigged a small tree (there being no
+such things as rails, property there not being divided by
+rail fences) under the hind axle, supporting it on the
+front. We lighted our pipes and escorted our crippled
+vehicle to the posthouse, where we bought a wheel off
+another wagon, much better than the old one, only about
+two inches lower. This, however, was not so bad as
+might be supposed, at least for me, who sat on the upper
+side, and had the stout figure of my companion as
+a leaning-post.</p>
+
+<p>At Sloghan, about two hundred versts from Brezc<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">193</a></span>
+the frontier town of Poland, we sold our kibitka for a
+breakfast, and took the <i>char de pôste</i>, or regular troika.
+This is the postboy's favourite vehicle; the body being
+made of twigs interlaced like a long basket, without a
+particle of iron, and so light that a man can lift up either
+end with one hand. Our speed was increased wonderfully
+by the change; the horses fairly played with
+the little car at their heels; the drivers vied with each
+other, and several posts in succession we made nearly
+twenty versts in an hour. It will probably be difficult
+to throw the charm of romance around the troika driver;
+but he comes from the flower of the peasantry; his life,
+passed on the wild highways, is not without its vicissitudes,
+and he is made the hero of the Russian's favourite
+popular ballads:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Away, away, along the road<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The gallant troika bounds;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">While 'neath the douga, sadly sweet,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Their Valdai bell resounds."<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a><br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>We passed the house of a <i>very respectable</i> seigneur
+who had married his own sister. We stopped at his
+village and talked of him with the postmaster, by whom
+he was considered a model of the domestic virtues.
+The same day we passed the chateau of a nobleman
+who wrote himself cousin to the Emperors of Russia
+and Austria, confiscated for the part he took in the late
+Polish revolution, a melancholy-looking object, deserted
+and falling to ruins, its owner wandering in exile with a
+price upon his head. It rained hard during the day, for
+the first time since we left Petersburgh; at night the
+rain ceased, but the sky was still overcast. For a long
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">194</a></span>distance, and, in fact, a great part of the way from Petersburgh,
+the road was bordered with trees. At eleven
+o'clock we stopped at a wretched posthouse, boiled water,
+and refreshed ourselves with deep potations of hot tea.
+We mounted our troika, the postillion shouted, and set
+off on a run. Heavy clouds were hanging in the sky; it
+was so dark that we could not see the horses, and there
+was some little danger of a breakdown; but there was a
+high and wild excitement in hurrying swiftly through the
+darkness on a run, hearing the quick tinkling of the
+bell and the regular fall of the horses' hoofs, and seeing
+only the dark outline of the trees. We continued this
+way all night, and toward morning we were rattling on
+a full gallop through the streets of Brezc. We drove
+into a large stable-yard filled with kibitkas, troikas, and
+all kinds of Russian vehicles, at one end of which was
+a long low building kept by a Jew. We dismounted,
+and so ended nearly three thousand miles of posting in
+Russia. The Jew, roused by our noise, was already at
+the door with a lighted taper in his hand, and gave us a
+room with a leather-covered sofa and a leather cushion for
+a pillow, where we slept till eleven o'clock the next day.</p>
+<p>We breakfasted, and in the midst of a violent rain
+crossed the Bug, and entered the territory of Poland
+Proper. For many centuries the banks of the Bug
+have been the battle-ground of the Russians and Poles.
+In the time of Boleslaus the Terrible, the Russians were
+defeated there with great slaughter, and the river was
+so stained with blood that it has retained ever since the
+name of the <i>Horrid</i>. Before crossing we were obliged
+to exchange our Russian money for Polish, rubles for
+florins, losing, of course, heavily by the operation, besides
+being subjected to the bore of studying a new currency;
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">195</a></span>and the moment we planted our feet on the conquered
+territory, though now nominally under the same
+government, we were obliged to submit to a most vexatious
+process. The custom-house stood at the end of
+the bridge, and, as matter of course, our postillion
+stopped there. Our luggage was taken off the wagon,
+carried inside, every article taken out and laid on the
+floor, and a Russian soldier stood over, comparing them
+with a list of prohibited articles as long as my arm.
+Fortunately for me, the Russian government had not
+prohibited travellers from wearing pantaloons and shirts
+in Poland, though it came near faring hard with a morning-gown.
+My companion, however, suffered terribly;
+his wearing apparel was all laid out on one side, while
+a large collection of curious and pretty nothings, which
+he had got together with great affection at the capital,
+as memorials for his friends at home, were laid out
+separately, boxes opened, papers unrolled, and, with
+provoking deliberation, examined according to the list
+of prohibited things. It was a new and despotic regulation
+unknown to him, and he looked on in agony, every
+condemned article being just the one above all others
+which he would have saved; and when they had finished,
+a large pile was retained for the examination of
+another officer, to be sent on to Warsaw in case of their
+being allowed to pass at all. I had frequently regretted
+having allowed the trouble and inconvenience to prevent
+my picking up curiosities; but when I saw the treasures
+of my friend taken from him, or, at least, detained for
+an uncertain time, I congratulated myself upon my
+good fortune. My friend was a man not easily disheartened;
+he had even got over the loss of his love at
+St. Petersburgh; but he would rather have been turned
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">196</a></span>adrift in Poland without his pantaloons than be stripped
+of his precious bawbles. I had seen him roused several
+times on the road, quarrelling with postmasters and
+thumping postillions, but I had never before seen the
+full development of that extraordinary head of hair.
+He ground his teeth and cursed the whole Russian nation,
+from the Emperor Nicolas down to the soldier at
+the custom-house. He was ripe for revolution, and, if a
+new standard of rebellion had been set up in Poland, he
+would have hurried to range himself under its folds. I
+soothed him by striking the key-note of his heart. All
+the way from Petersburgh he had sat mechanically, with
+his pocket-glass and brush, dressing his mustaches;
+but his heart was not in the work, until, as we approached
+the borders of Poland, he began to recover
+from his Petersburgh affair, and to talk of the beauty
+of the Polish women. I turned him to this now.</p>
+
+<p>It is a fact that, while for ages a deadly hatred has
+existed between the Russians and the Poles, and while
+the Russians are at this day lording it over the Poles
+with the most arbitrary insolence and tyranny, beauty
+still asserts its lawful supremacy, and the Polish women
+bring to their feet the conquerors of their fathers, and
+husbands, and brothers. The first posthouse at which
+we stopped confirmed all that my companion had said;
+for the postmaster's daughter was brilliantly beautiful,
+particularly in the melting wildness of a dark eye, indicating
+an Asiatic or Tartar origin; and her gentle influence
+was exerted in soothing the savage humour of
+my friend, for she sympathized in his misfortunes, and
+the more sincerely when she heard of the combs, and
+rings, and slippers, and other pretty little ornaments for
+sisters and female friends at home; and my Pole could
+not resist the sympathy of a pretty woman.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">197</a></span>We had scarcely left the postmaster's daughter, on
+the threshold of Poland, almost throwing a romance
+about the Polish women, before I saw the most degrading
+spectacle I ever beheld in Europe, or even in the
+barbarous countries of the East. Forty or fifty women
+were at work in the fields, and a large, well-dressed
+man, with a pipe in his mouth and a long stick in his
+hand, was walking among them as overseer. In our
+country the most common labouring man would revolt
+at the idea of his wife or daughter working in the open
+fields. I had seen it, however, in gallant France and
+beautiful Italy; but I never saw, even in the barbarous
+countries of the East, so degrading a spectacle as this;
+and I could have borne it almost anywhere better than
+in chivalric Poland.</p>
+
+<p>We were now in the territory called Poland Proper,
+that is, in that part which, after the other provinces had
+been wrested away and attached to the dominions of the
+colossal powers around, until the revolution and conquest
+of 1830 had retained the cherished name of the kingdom
+of Poland. The whole road is Macadamized, smooth
+and level as a floor, from the banks of the Bug to Warsaw;
+the posthouses and postmasters are much better,
+and posting is better regulated, though more expensive.
+The road lay through that rich agricultural district which
+had for ages made Poland celebrated as the granary of
+Europe; and though the face of the country was perfectly
+flat, and the scenery tame and uninteresting, the soil
+was rich, and, at that time, in many places teeming with
+heavy crops. As yet, it had not recovered from the desolating
+effects of the war of the revolution. The whole
+road has been a battle-ground, over which the Poles had
+chased the Russians to the frontier, and been driven
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">198</a></span>back to Warsaw; time after time it had been drenched
+with Russian and Polish blood, the houses and villages
+sacked and burned, and their blackened ruins still cumbered
+the ground, nursing in the conquered but unsubdued
+Pole his deep, undying hatred of the Russians.</p>
+
+<p>On this road Diebitsch, the crosser of the Balkan, at
+the head of eighty thousand men, advanced to Warsaw.
+His right and left wings man&#339;uvred to join him at Siedler,
+the principal town, through which we passed.
+We changed horses three times, and rolled on all night
+without stopping. In the morning my companion pointed
+out an old oak, where a distinguished colonel of the
+revolution, drawing up the fourth Polish regiment
+against the Imperial Guards, with a feeling of mortal
+hate commanded them to throw away their primings,
+and charge with the bayonet, "C&#339;ur à c&#339;ur." In another
+place five hundred gentlemen, dressed in black,
+with pumps, silk stockings, and small swords, in a perfect
+wantonness of pleasure at fighting with the Russians,
+and, as they said, in the same spirit with which
+they would go to a ball, threw themselves upon a body
+of the guards, and, after the most desperate fighting,
+were cut to pieces to a man. Farther on, a little off
+from the road, on the borders of the field of Grokow,
+was a large mound covered with black crosses, thrown
+up over the graves of the Poles who had fallen there.
+About eleven o'clock we approached the banks of the
+Vistula. We passed the suburbs of Praga, the last battle-ground
+of Kosciusko, where the bloodstained Suwarrow
+butchered in cold blood thirty thousand Poles.
+Warsaw lay spread out on the opposite bank of the river,
+the heroic but fallen capital of Poland, the city of
+brave men and beautiful women; of Stanislaus, and Sobieski,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">199</a></span>and Poniatowsky, and Kosciusko, and, I will
+not withhold it, possessing in my eyes, a romantic interest
+from its associations with the hero of my schoolboy
+days, Thaddeus of Warsaw. On the right is the
+chateau of the old Kings of Poland, now occupied by a
+Russian viceroy, with the banner of Russia waving
+over its walls. We rode over the bridge and entered
+the city. Martial music was sounding, and Russian
+soldiers, Cossacks, and Circassians were filing through
+its streets. We held up to let them pass, and they
+moved like the keepers of a conquered city, with bent
+brows and stern faces, while the citizens looked at them
+in gloomy silence. We drove up to the Hotel de Leipsic
+(which, however, I do not recommend), where I took
+a bath and a doctor.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTE:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> The douga is the bow over the neck of the middle horse, to which the
+bell is attached; and Valdai the place on the Moscow road where the best
+bells are made.</p></div></div>
+
+<hr class="l65" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI.</h2>
+
+<div class="chapblock"><p>Warsaw.&mdash;A Polish Doctor.&mdash;Battle of Grokow.&mdash;The Outbreak.&mdash;The
+fatal Issue.&mdash;Present Condition of Poland.&mdash;Polish Exiles.&mdash;Aspect of
+Warsaw.&mdash;Traits of the Poles.</p></div>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">A letter</span> dated at Warsaw to my friends at home
+begins thus: "I have reached this place to be put on
+my back by a Polish doctor. How long he will keep
+me here I do not know. He promises to set me going
+again in a week; and, as he has plenty of patients without
+keeping me down, I have great confidence in him.
+Besides, having weathered a Greek, an Armenian, and
+a Russian, I think I shall be too much for a Pole."
+There was not a servant in the house who understood
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">200</a></span>any language I spoke, and my friend kindly proposed
+my taking a room with him; and, as he had many acquaintances
+in Warsaw, who thronged to see him, he
+had to tell them all the history of the American in the
+bed in one corner. All the next day I lay in the room
+alone on a low bedstead, looking up at the ceiling and
+counting the cracks in the wall. I was saved from a
+fit of the blues by falling into a passion, and throwing
+my boots at the servant because he could not understand
+me. Late in the evening my friend returned
+from the theatre with three or four companions, and we
+made a night of it, I taking medicine and they smoking
+pipes. They were all excellent fellows, and, as soon
+as they heard me moving, came over to me, and, when
+I fell back on my pillow, covered me up, and went back,
+and talked till I wanted them again. Toward daylight
+I fell asleep, and, when the doctor came in the
+morning, felt myself a new man. My doctor, by-the-way,
+was not a Pole, but a German, physician to the
+court, and the first in Warsaw; he occupied a little
+country-seat a few miles from Warsaw, belonging to
+Count Niemcewicz, the poet and patriot, who accompanied
+Kosciusko to this country, and married a lady
+of New-Jersey; returned with him to Poland, was with
+him on his last battle-field, and almost cut to pieces by
+his side.</p>
+
+<p>In the afternoon one of my companions of the night
+before came to see me. He had been in Warsaw during
+the revolution, and talked with enthusiasm of their
+brief but gallant struggle; and, as it was a beautiful afternoon,
+proposed strolling to a little eminence near at
+hand, commanding a view of the first battle-ground.
+I went with him and he pointed out on the other side
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">201</a></span>of the Vistula the field of Grokow. Below it was the
+bridge over which General Romarino carried his little
+army during the night, having covered the bridge, the
+horses' hoofs, and the wheels of the carriages with
+straw. This general is now in France under sentence
+of death, with a price set upon his head.</p>
+
+<p>The battle of Grokow, the greatest in Europe since
+that of Waterloo, was fought on the twenty-fifth of February,
+1831, and the place where I stood commanded
+a view of the whole ground. The Russian army
+was under the command of Diebitsch, and consisted
+of one hundred and forty-two thousand infantry, forty
+thousand cavalry, and three hundred and twelve pieces
+of cannon. This enormous force was arranged in two
+lines of combatants, and a third of reserve. Its left
+wing, between Wavre and the marshes of the Vistula,
+consisted of four divisions of infantry of forty-seven
+thousand men, three of cavalry of ten thousand five
+hundred, and one hundred and eight pieces of cannon;
+the right consisted of three and a half divisions of infantry
+of thirty-one thousand men, four divisions of cavalry
+of fifteen thousand seven hundred and fifty men,
+and fifty-two pieces of cannon. Upon the borders of
+the great forest opposite the Forest of Elders, conspicuous
+from where I stood, was placed the reserve, commanded
+by the Grand-duke Constantine. Against this
+immense army the Poles opposed less than fifty thousand
+men and a hundred pieces of cannon, under the
+command of General Skrzynecki.</p>
+
+<p>At break of day the whole force of the Russian right
+wing, with a terrible fire of fifty pieces of artillery and
+columns of infantry, charged the Polish left with the
+determination of carrying it by a single and overpowering
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">202</a></span>effort. The Poles, with six thousand five hundred
+men and twelve pieces of artillery, not yielding a foot
+of ground, and knowing they could hope for no succour,
+resisted this attack for several hours, until the Russians
+slackened their fire. About ten o'clock the plain was
+suddenly covered with the Russian forces issuing from
+the cover of the forest, seeming one undivided mass of
+troops. Two hundred pieces of cannon, posted on a
+single line, commenced a fire which made the earth
+tremble, and was more terrible than the oldest officers,
+many of whom had fought at Marengo and Austerlitz,
+had ever beheld. The Russians now made an attack
+upon the right wing; but foiled in this as upon the
+left, <span class="err" title="original: Diebisch">Diebitsch</span> directed the strength of his army against
+the Forest of Elders, hoping to divide the Poles into two
+parts. One hundred and twenty pieces of cannon were
+brought to bear on this one point, and fifty battalions,
+incessantly pushed to the attack, kept up a scene of
+massacre unheard of in the annals of war. A Polish
+officer who was in the battle told me that the small
+streams which intersected the forest were so choked
+with dead that the infantry marched directly over their
+bodies. The heroic Poles, with twelve battalions, for
+four hours defended the forest against the tremendous
+attack. Nine times they were driven out, and nine
+times, by a series of admirably-executed man&#339;uvres,
+they repulsed the Russians with immense loss. Batteries,
+now concentrated in one point, were in a moment
+hurried to another, and the artillery advanced to
+the charge like cavalry, sometimes within a hundred
+feet of the enemy's columns, and there opened a murderous
+fire of grape.</p>
+
+<p>At three o'clock the generals, many of whom were
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">203</a></span>wounded, and most of whom had their horses shot
+under them, and fought on foot at the head of their divisions,
+resolved upon a retrograde movement, so as to
+draw the Russians on the open plain. Diebitsch, supposing
+it to be a flight, looked over to the city and exclaimed,
+"Well, then, it appears that, after this bloody
+day, I shall take tea in the Belvidere Palace." The
+Russian troops debouched from the forest. A cloud of
+Russian cavalry, with several regiments of heavy cuirassiers
+at their head, advanced to the attack. Colonel
+Pientka, who had kept up an unremitting fire from
+his battery for five hours, seated with perfect sang-froid
+upon a disabled piece of cannon, remained to give
+another effective fire, then left at full gallop a post
+which he had so long occupied under the terrible fire
+of the enemy's artillery. This rapid movement of his
+battery animated the Russian forces. The cavalry advanced
+on a trot upon the line of a battery of rockets.
+A terrible discharge was poured into their ranks, and
+the horses, galled to madness by the flakes of fire, became
+wholly ungovernable, and broke away, spreading
+disorder in every direction; the whole body swept helplessly
+along the fire of the Polish infantry, and in a few
+minutes was so completely annihilated that, of a regiment
+of cuirassiers who bore inscribed on their helmets
+the "Invincibles," not a man escaped. The wreck of
+the routed cavalry, pursued by the lancers, carried
+along in its flight the columns of infantry; a general
+retreat commenced, and the cry of "Poland for ever"
+reached the walls of Warsaw to cheer the hearts of its
+anxious inhabitants. So terrible was the fire of that
+day, that in the Polish army there was not a single general
+or staff officer who had not his horse killed or
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">204</a></span>wounded under him; two thirds of the officers, and,
+perhaps, of the soldiers, had their clothes pierced with
+balls, and more than a tenth part of the army were
+wounded. Thirty thousand Russians and ten thousand
+Poles were left on the field of battle; rank upon rank
+lay prostrate on the earth, and the Forest of Elders
+was so strewed with bodies that it received from that
+day the name of the "Forest of the Dead." The Czar
+heard with dismay, and all Europe with astonishment,
+that the crosser of the Balkan had been foiled under the
+walls of Warsaw.</p>
+
+<p>All day, my companion said, the cannonading was
+terrible. Crowds of citizens, of both sexes and all ages,
+were assembled on the spot where we stood, earnestly
+watching the progress of the battle, sharing in all its
+vicissitudes, in the highest state of excitement as the
+clearing up of the columns of smoke showed when the
+Russians or the Poles had fled; and he described the
+entry of the remnant of the Polish army into Warsaw
+as sublime and terrible; their hair and faces were begrimed
+with powder and blood; their armour shattered
+and broken, and all, even dying men, were singing patriotic
+songs; and when the fourth regiment, among whom
+was a brother of my companion, and who had particularly
+distinguished themselves in the battle, crossed the
+bridge and filed slowly through the streets, their lances
+shivered against the cuirasses of the guards, their helmets
+broken, their faces black and spotted with blood,
+some erect, some tottering, and some barely able to
+sustain themselves in the saddle, above the stern chorus
+of patriotic songs rose the distracted cries of mothers,
+wives, daughters, and lovers, seeking among this broken
+band for forms dearer than life, many of whom were
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">205</a></span>then sleeping on the battle-field. My companion told
+me that he was then a lad of seventeen, and had begged
+with tears to be allowed to accompany his brother; but
+his widowed mother extorted from him a promise that
+he would not attempt it. All day he had stood with
+his mother on the very spot where we did, his hand in
+hers, which she grasped convulsively, as every peal of
+cannon seemed the knell of her son; and when the lancers
+passed, she sprang from his side as she recognised
+in the drooping figure of an officer, with his spear
+broken in his hand, the figure of her gallant boy. He
+was then reeling in his saddle, his eye was glazed and
+vacant, and he died that night in their arms.</p>
+
+<p>The tyranny of the Grand-duke Constantine, the
+imperial viceroy, added to the hatred of the Russians,
+which is the birthright of every Pole, induced the unhappy
+revolution of eighteen hundred and thirty. Although,
+on the death of Alexander, Constantine waived
+in favour of his brother Nicolas his claim to the throne
+of Russia, his rule in Poland shows that it was not from
+any aversion to the exercise of power.</p>
+
+<p>When Constantine was appointed its commander-in-chief,
+the Polish army ranked with the bravest in
+Europe. The Polish legions under Dombrowski and
+Poniatowski had kept alive the recollections of the military
+glory of their fallen nation. Almost annihilated by
+the bloody battles in Italy, where they met their old
+enemies under Suwarrow, the butcher of Praga, the
+proud remnants reorganized and formed the fifth corps
+of the "grande armée," distinguished themselves at
+Smolensk, Borodino, Kalouga, and the passage of the
+Berezina, took the field with the wreck of the army in
+Saxony, fought at Dresden and Leipsic, and, when Napoleon
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">206</a></span>told them, brave as they were, that they were free
+to go home if they pleased, they scorned to desert him
+in his waning fortunes, and accompanied him to Paris.
+Alexander promised an amnesty, and they marched with
+him to Warsaw. Within the first six months many officers
+of this army had been grossly insulted; an eyewitness
+told me that he had seen, on the great square
+of Warsaw, the high sheriff tear off the epaulettes from
+the shoulders of an officer, and, in the presence of the
+whole troops, strike him on the cheek with his hand.</p>
+
+<p>It would, perhaps, be unjust to enumerate, as I heard
+them, the many causes of oppression that roused to
+revolt the slumbering spirit of the Poles; in the midst
+of which the French revolution threw all Poland into
+commotion. The three days of July were hailed with
+rapture by every patriotic heart; the new revolutionary
+movements in Belgium cheered them on; and eighty
+young men, torn from the altars while praying for the
+souls of their murdered countrymen on the anniversary
+of the butchery at Praga, thrilled every heart and hurried
+the hour of retribution. The enthusiasm of youth
+struck the first blow. A band of ardent young men of
+the first families attended the meetings of secret patriotic
+associations; and six of them, belonging to the military
+school, suspecting they were betrayed, early in
+the evening went to their barracks, and proposed to their
+comrades a plan for liberating their country. The whole
+corps, not excepting one sick in bed, amounting in all to
+about a hundred and fifty, took up arms, and, under a
+lieutenant of nineteen, attacked the palace of Constantine,
+and almost secured his person. The grand-duke
+was then asleep on a couch in a room opening upon a
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">207</a></span>corridor of the Belvidere Palace, and, roused by a faithful
+valet, had barely time to throw a robe over him and
+fly. The insurgents, with cries of vengeance, rushed
+into the interior of the palace, driving before them the
+chief of the city police and the aiddecamp of the grand-duke.
+The latter had the presence of mind to close
+the door of the grand-duke's apartment before he was
+pierced through with a dozen bayonets. The wife of
+the grand-duke, the beautiful and interesting princess
+for whom he had sacrificed a crown, hearing the struggle,
+was found on her knees offering up prayers to
+Heaven for the safety of her husband. Constantine
+escaped by a window; and the young soldiers, foiled
+in their attempt, marched into the city, and, passing
+the barracks of the Russian guards, daringly fired a
+volley to give notice of their coming. Entering the
+city, they broke open the prisons and liberated the state
+prisoners, burst into the theatres, crying out, "Women,
+home; men, to arms," forced the arsenal, and in two
+hours forty thousand men were under arms. Very soon
+the fourth Polish regiment joined them; and before midnight
+the remainder of the Polish troops in Warsaw, declaring
+that their children were too deeply implicated to
+be abandoned, espoused the popular cause. Some excesses
+were committed; and General Stanislaus Potocki,
+distinguished in the revolution of Kosciusko, for hesitating
+was killed, exclaiming with his last breath that it
+was dreadful to die by the hands of his countrymen.</p>
+
+<p>Chlopicki, the comrade of Kosciusko, was proclaimed
+dictator by an immense multitude in the Champ de
+Mars. For some time the inhabitants of Warsaw were
+in a delirium; the members of the patriotic association,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">208</a></span>and citizens of all classes, assembled every day, carrying
+arms, and with glasses in their hands, in the saloon
+of the theatre and at a celebrated coffee-house, discussing
+politics and singing patriotic songs. In the theatres
+the least allusion brought down thunders of applause,
+and at the end of the piece heralds appeared on
+the stage waving the banners of the dismembered provinces.
+In the pit they sang in chorus national hymns;
+the boxes answered them; and sometimes the spectators
+finished by scaling the stage and dancing the Mazurka
+and the Cracoviak.</p>
+
+<p>The fatal issue of this revolution is well known. The
+Polish nation exerted and exhausted its utmost strength,
+and the whole force of the colossal empire was brought
+against it, and, in spite of prodigies of valour, crushed it.
+The moment, the only moment when gallant, chivalric,
+and heroic Poland could have been saved and restored
+to its rank among nations, was suffered to pass by, and
+no one came to her aid. The minister of France threw
+out the bold boast that a hundred thousand men stood
+ready to march to her assistance; but France and all
+Europe looked on and saw her fall. Her expiring diet
+ordered a levy in mass, and made a last appeal, "In the
+name of God; in the name of liberty; of a nation placed
+between life and death; in the name of kings and heroes
+who have fought for religion and humanity; in the name
+of future generations; in the name of justice and the deliverance
+of Europe;" but her dying appeal was unheard.
+Her last battle was under the walls of Warsaw; and
+then she would not have fallen, but even in Poland
+there were traitors. The governor of Warsaw blasted
+the laurels won in the early battles of the revolution by
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">209</a></span>the blackest treason. He ordered General Romarino to
+withdraw eight thousand soldiers and chase the Russians
+beyond the frontier at Brezc. While he was
+gone the Russians pressed Warsaw; he could have
+returned in time to save it, but was stopped with directions
+not to advance until farther orders. In the mean
+time Warsaw fell, with the curse of every Pole upon
+the head of its governor. The traitor now lives ingloriously
+in Russia, disgraced and despised, while the
+young lieutenant is in unhappy but not unhonoured exile
+in Siberia.</p>
+
+<p>So ended the last heroic struggle of Poland. It is
+dreadful to think so, but it is greatly to be feared that
+Poland is blotted for ever from the list of nations. Indeed,
+by a late imperial ukase, Poland is expunged from
+the map of Europe; her old and noble families are
+murdered, imprisoned, or in exile; her own language is
+excluded from the offices of government, and even from
+the public schools; her national character destroyed;
+her national dress proscribed; her national colours
+trampled under foot; her national banner, the white
+eagle of Poland, is in the dust. Warsaw is abandoned,
+and become a Russian city; her best citizens are wandering
+in exile in foreign lands, while Cossack and Circassian
+soldiers are filing through her streets, and the
+banner of Russia is waving over her walls.</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps it is not relevant, but I cannot help saying
+that there is no exaggeration in the stories which reach
+us at our own doors of the misfortunes and sufferings
+of Polish exiles. I have met them wandering in many
+different countries, and particularly I remember one at
+Cairo. He had fought during the whole Polish revolution,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">210</a></span>and made his escape when Warsaw fell. He
+was a man of about thirty-five years of age, dressed
+in a worn military frockcoat, and carrying himself
+with a manly and martial air. He had left a wife
+and two children at Warsaw. At Constantinople he
+had written to the emperor requesting permission to
+return, and even promising never again to take up arms
+against Russia, but had received for answer that the
+amnesty was over and the day of grace was past;
+and the unfortunate Pole was then wandering about
+the world like a cavalier of fortune or a knight of romance,
+with nothing to depend upon but his sword.
+He had offered his services to the sultan and to the
+Pacha of Egypt; he was then poor, and, with the
+bearing of a gentleman and the pride of a soldier, was
+literally begging his bread. I could sympathize in the
+misfortunes of an exiled Pole, and felt that his distress
+must indeed be great, that he who had perilled life and
+ties dearer than life in the cause of an oppressed country,
+should offer his untarnished sword to the greatest despot
+that ever lived.</p>
+
+<p>The general appearance of Warsaw is imposing. It
+stands on a hill of considerable elevation on the left bank
+of the Vistula; the Zamech or Chateau of the Kings of
+Poland spreads its wings midway between the river and
+the summit of the hill, and churches and towering spires
+checker at different heights the distant horizon. Most
+of the houses are built of stone, or brick stuccoed; they
+are numbered in one continued series throughout the
+city, beginning from the royal palace (occupied by Paskiewitch),
+which is numbered <i>one</i>, and rising above
+number five thousand. The churches are numerous and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">211</a></span>magnificent; the palaces, public buildings, and many of
+the mansions of noblemen, are on a large scale, very
+showy, and, in general, striking for their architectural
+designs. One great street runs irregularly through the
+whole city, of which Miodowa, or Honey-street, and the
+Novoy Swiat, or New World, are the principal and most
+modern portions. As in all aristocratic cities, the streets
+are badly paved, and have no trottoirs for the foot passengers.
+The Russian drosky is in common use; the
+public carriages are like those in Western Europe,
+though of a low form; the linings generally painted
+red; the horses large and handsome, with large collars
+of red or green, covered with small brass rings, which
+sound like tinkling bells; and the carts are like those in
+our own city, only longer and lower, and more like our
+brewer's dray. The hotels are numerous, generally
+kept in some of the old palaces, and at the entrance of
+each stands a large porter, with a cocked hat and silver-headed
+cane, to show travellers to their apartments and
+receive the names of visiters. There are two principal
+kukiernia, something like the French cafés, where
+many of the Varsovians breakfast and lounge in the
+mornings.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" >
+<img src="images/i_v2_p211.jpg" width="60%" alt="Royal Palace at Warsaw." title="Royal Palace at Warsaw." />
+<p class="caption">Royal Palace at Warsaw.</p></div>
+
+<p>The Poles, in their features, looks, customs, and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">212</a></span>manners, resemble Asiatics rather than Europeans; and
+they are, no doubt, descended from Tartar ancestors.
+Though belonging to the Sclavonic race, which occupies
+nearly the whole extent of the vast plains of Western
+Europe, they have advanced more than the others
+from the rude and barbarous state which characterizes
+this race; and this is particularly manifest at Warsaw.
+An eyewitness, describing the appearance of the Polish
+deputies at Paris sent to announce the election of Henry
+of Anjou as successor of Sigismund, says, "It is impossible
+to describe the general astonishment when we
+saw these ambassadors in long robes, fur caps, sabres,
+arrows, and quivers; but our admiration was excessive
+when we saw the sumptuousness of their equipages;
+the scabbards of their swords adorned with jewels;
+their bridles, saddles, and horse-cloths decked in the
+same way," &amp;c.</p>
+
+<p>But none of this barbaric display is now seen in the
+streets of Warsaw. Indeed, immediately on entering
+it I was struck with the European aspect of things. It
+seemed almost, though not quite, like a city of Western
+Europe, which may, perhaps, be ascribed, in a great
+measure, to the entire absence of the semi-Asiatic costumes
+so prevalent in all the cities of Russia, and even
+at St. Petersburgh; and the only thing I remarked peculiar
+in the dress of the inhabitants was the remnant
+of a barbarous taste for show, exhibiting itself in large
+breastpins, shirt-buttons, and gold chains over the vest;
+the mustache is universally worn. During the war of
+the revolution immediately succeeding our own, Warsaw
+stood the heaviest brunt; and when Kosciusko
+fell fighting before it, its population was reduced to seventy
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">213</a></span>five thousand. Since that time it has increased,
+and is supposed now to be one hundred and forty thousand,
+thirty thousand of whom are Jews. Calamity after
+calamity has befallen Warsaw; still its appearance
+is that of a gay city. Society consists altogether of two
+distinct and distant orders, the nobles and the peasantry,
+without any intermediate degrees. I except, of course,
+the Jews, who form a large item in her population, and
+whose long beards, thin and anxious faces, and piercing
+eyes met me at every corner of Warsaw. The peasants
+are in the lowest stage of mental degradation. The
+nobles, who are more numerous than in any other country
+in Europe, have always, in the eyes of the public,
+formed the people of Poland. They are brave, prompt,
+frank, hospitable, and gay, and have long been called
+the French of the North, being French in their habits,
+fond of amusements, and living in the open air, like the
+lounger in the Palais Royal, the Tuileries, the Boulevards,
+and Luxembourgh, and particularly French in
+their political feelings, the surges of a revolution in
+Paris being always felt at Warsaw. They regard the
+Germans with mingled contempt and aversion, calling
+them "dumb" in contrast with their own fluency and
+loquacity; and before their fall were called by their
+neighbours the "proud Poles." They consider it the
+deepest disgrace to practise any profession, even law
+or medicine, and, in case of utmost necessity, prefer
+the plough. A Sicilian, a fellow-passenger from Palermo
+to Naples, who one moment was groaning in the
+agony of seasickness and the next playing on his violin,
+said to me, "Canta il, signore?" "Do you sing?"
+I answered "No;" and he continued, "Suonate?"
+"Do you play?" I again answered "No;" and he
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">214</a></span>asked me, with great simplicity, "Cosa fatte? Niente?"
+"What do you do? Nothing?" and I might
+have addressed the same question to every Pole in
+Warsaw.</p>
+
+<p>The whole business of the country is in the hands of
+the Jews, and all the useful and mechanical arts are
+practised by strangers. I did not find a Pole in a single
+shop in Warsaw; the proprietors of the hotels and
+coffee-houses are strangers, principally Germans; my
+tailor was a German; my shoemaker a Frenchman, and
+the man who put a new crystal in my watch an Italian
+from Milan. But though this entire absence of all useful
+employment is, on grounds of public policy, a blot on
+their national character, as a matter of feeling it rather
+added to the interest with which I regarded the "proud
+Poles;" and perhaps it was imaginary, but I felt all the
+time I was in Warsaw that, though the shops and coffee-houses
+were open, and crowds thronged the streets,
+a sombre air hung over the whole city; and if for a
+moment this impression left me, a company of Cossacks,
+with their wild music, moving to another station,
+or a single Russian officer riding by in a drosky, wrapped
+in his military cloak, reminded me that the foot of
+a conqueror was upon the necks of the inhabitants of
+Warsaw. This was my feeling after a long summer
+day's stroll through the streets; and in the evening I
+went to the theatre, which was a neat building, well
+filled, and brilliantly lighted; but the idea of a pervading
+and gloomy spirit so haunted me that in a few moments
+I left what seemed a heartless mockery of pleasure. I
+ought to add that I did not understand a word of the
+piece; the <i>triste</i> air which touched me may have been
+induced by the misfortunes of the stage hero; and, in
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">215</a></span>all probability, I should have astonished a melancholy-looking
+neighbour if, acting under my interpretation of
+his visage, I had expressed to him my sympathy in the
+sufferings of his country.</p>
+
+<hr class="l65" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII.</h2>
+
+<div class="chapblock"><p>Religion of Poland.&mdash;Sunday in Warsaw.&mdash;Baptized Jews.&mdash;Palaces of
+the Polish Kings.&mdash;Sobieski.&mdash;Field of Vola.&mdash;Wreck of a Warrior.&mdash;The
+Poles in America.&mdash;A Polish Lady.&mdash;Troubles of a Passport.&mdash;Departure
+from Warsaw.&mdash;An official Rachel.&mdash;A mysterious Visiter.</p></div>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Sunday at Warsaw</span>. Poland is distinguished above
+the other nations of Europe as a land of religious toleration.
+So late as the latter part of the tenth century, the
+religion of Poland was a gross idolatry; and, mingled
+with the rites of their own country, they worshipped,
+under other names, Jupiter, Pluto, Mars, Venus, Diana,
+and others of the pagan deities. During the reign of
+Mieczylaus I. of the Piast dynasty, the monks introduced
+Christianity. The prince himself was proof against
+the monks, but received from woman's lips the principles
+of the Christian religion. Enamoured of Dombrowska,
+the daughter of the Duke of Bohemia, a country
+which had then lately embraced Christianity, who
+refused to accept his suit unless he was baptized, Mieczylaus
+sacrificed the superstitions and prejudices of
+his fathers on the altar of love. But the religion which
+he embraced for the sake of Dombrowska he afterward
+propagated for its own; became an ardent champion
+of the cross; broke down with his own hands the idols
+of his country; built Christian churches on the ruins
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">216</a></span>of pagan temples; and, in the ardour of his new faith,
+issued an edict that, when any portion of the Gospel
+was read, the hearers should half draw their swords to
+testify their readiness to defend its truth.</p>
+
+<p>In the reign of the "famous" John Sobieski, the annals
+of Poland, till that time free from this disgrace,
+were stained by one of the most atrocious acts of barbarity
+recorded in the history of religious persecution.
+A Lithuanian nobleman, a religious and benevolent man,
+but sufficiently intelligent to ridicule some of the current
+superstitions, and very rich, on account of a note made
+in the margin of a book, written by a stupid German,
+was tried for atheism by a council of bigoted Catholic
+bishops, and found guilty, not only of "having denied
+the existence of a God, but the doctrine of the Trinity
+and the Divine maternity of the Virgin Mary." Zaluski,
+one of the villains concerned in the torment, writes,
+"The convict was led to the scaffold, where the executioner,
+with a red-hot iron, tore his tongue and his mouth,
+<i>with which he had been cruel toward God</i>; then they
+burned his hands, instruments of the abominable production,
+at a slow fire. The sacrilegious paper was
+thrown into the flame; himself last; that monster of the
+age, that deicide, was cast into the flames of expiation,
+if such a crime could be atoned."</p>
+
+<p>In seventeen hundred and twenty-six the Jesuits,
+making a public procession with the Host in the streets
+of Thorn, the young scholars of the order insisted that
+some Lutheran children should kneel; and on their
+refusal a scuffle ensued between the Jesuits and townspeople,
+most of whom were Lutherans, in which the
+enraged townspeople broke open the Jesuits' college,
+profaned all the objects of worship, and, among others
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">217</a></span>an image of the Virgin. The Catholics of Poland, assembled
+in the diet, almost infuriated with fanatic zeal,
+condemned to death the magistrates of Thorn for not
+exercising their authority. Seven of the principal citizens
+were also condemned to death; many were imprisoned
+or banished; three persons, accused of throwing
+the Virgin's image into the fire, lost their right arms,
+and the whole city was deprived of the freedom of public
+worship.</p>
+
+<p>This was the last act of religious persecution in Poland;
+but even yet the spirit of the reformation has
+made but little progress, and the great bulk of the people
+are still groping in the darkness of Catholicism.
+On every public road and in all the streets of Warsaw
+stand crosses, sometimes thirty feet high, with a figure
+of the Saviour large as life, sometimes adorned with
+flowers and sometimes covered with rags.</p>
+
+<p>As in all Catholic cities, a Sunday in Warsaw is a
+fête day. I passed the morning in strolling through
+the churches, which are very numerous, and some of
+them, particularly the Cathedral Church of St. John
+and that of the Holy Cross, of colossal dimensions.
+The scene was the same as in the Catholic churches
+in Italy; at every door crowds were entering and passing
+out, nobles, peasants, shopmen, drosky boys, and
+beggars; the highborn lady descended from her carriage,
+dipped her fingers in the same consecrated water,
+and kneeled on the same pavement side by side
+with the beggar; alike equal in God's house, and outside
+the door again an immeasurable distance between
+them.</p>
+
+<p>At twelve o'clock, by appointment, I met my travelling
+companion and another of his friends in the Jardin
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">218</a></span>de Saxe, the principal public garden in Warsaw. It
+stands in the very heart of the city, in the rear of the
+Palais de Saxe, built by the Elector of Saxony when
+called to the throne of Poland. It is enclosed all
+around by high brick walls, screened by shrubs, and
+vines, and trees rising above, so as to exclude the view
+of the houses facing it. It is handsomely laid out with
+lawns and gravel-walks, and adorned with trees; and as
+the grounds are exceedingly rural and picturesque, and
+the high walls and trees completely shut out the view
+of all surrounding objects, I could hardly realize that
+I was in the centre of a populous city. It was then the
+fashionable hour for promenade, and all the élite of Warsaw
+society was there. I had heard of this Sunday
+promenade, and, after making one or two turns on the
+principal walk, I remarked to my companions that I
+was disappointed in not seeing, as I had expected, a
+collection of the highborn and aristocratic Poles; but
+they told me that, changed as Warsaw was in every
+particular, in nothing was this change more manifest
+than in the character of this favourite resort. From
+boyhood, one of them had been in the habit of walking
+there regularly on the same day and at the same hour;
+and he told me that, before the revolution, it had always
+been thronged by a gay and brilliant collection
+of the nobility of Warsaw; and he enumerated several
+families whose names were identified with the history
+of Poland, who were in the habit of being there at a
+certain time, as regularly as the trees which then
+shaded our walk; but since the revolution these families
+were broken up and dispersed, and their principal
+members dead or in exile, or else lived retired, too
+proud in their fallen state to exhibit themselves in public
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">219</a></span>places, where they were liable to be insulted by the
+presence of their Russian conquerors; and I could
+well appreciate the feeling which kept them away, for
+Russian officers, with their rattling swords and nodding
+plumes, and carrying themselves with a proud and
+lordly air, were the most conspicuous persons present.
+I had noticed one party, a dark, pale, and interesting-looking
+man, with an elegant lady and several children
+and servants, as possessing, altogether, a singularly
+melancholy and aristocratic appearance; but the interest
+I was disposed to take in them was speedily dispelled
+by hearing that he was a baptized Jew, a money
+broker, who had accumulated a fortune by taking advantage
+of the necessities of the distressed nobles. Indeed,
+next to the Russian officers, the baptized Jews
+were the most prominent persons on the promenade.
+These persons form a peculiar class in Warsaw, occupying
+a position between the Israelites and Christians,
+and amalgamating with neither. Many of them are
+rich, well educated, and accomplished, and possess
+great elegance of appearance and manner. They hate
+most cordially their unregenerated brethren, and it is
+unnecessary to say that this hate is abundantly reciprocated.
+It was with a feeling of painful interest that
+I strolled through this once favourite resort of the nobility
+of Warsaw; and my companions added to this
+melancholy feeling by talking in a low tone, almost in
+whispers, and telling me that now the promenade was
+always <i>triste</i> and dull; and in going out they led me
+through a private walk, where an old noble, unable to
+tear himself from a place consecrated by the recollections
+of his whole life, still continued to take his daily
+walk apart from the crowd, wearing out the evening of
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">220</a></span>his days in bitter reflections on the fallen condition of
+his kindred and country.</p>
+
+<p>We dined, as usual, at a restaurant, where at one
+table was a party of Swiss, here, as at Moscow, exercising
+that talent, skill, and industry which they exhibit
+all over the world, and consoling themselves for the
+privations of exile with the hope of one day being able
+to return to their native mountains, never to leave them
+again.</p>
+
+<p>After dinner we took an open carriage, and at the barrier
+entered one of the numerous avenues of the Ujazdow,
+leading to Belvidere, the country residence of the
+late Grand-duke Constantine. The avenue is divided
+by rows of old and stately trees, terminating in a large
+circular octagon, from which branch off eight other avenues,
+each at a short distance crossed by others, and
+forming a sort of labyrinth, said to be one of the finest
+drives and promenades in Europe, and on Sundays the
+rendezvous of nearly the entire population of Warsaw.
+It was a beautiful afternoon, and the throng of carriages,
+and horsemen, and thousands of pedestrians, and the
+sun, occasionally obscured and then breaking through
+the thick foliage, darkening and again lighting up the
+vista through the trees, gave a beauty to the landscape,
+and a variety and animation to the scene, that I had not
+yet found in Warsaw. Passing the Belvidere Palace,
+my companions described the manner in which the students
+had made their attack upon it, and pointed out
+the window by which Constantine escaped. Turning
+from one of the splendid avenues of the Ujazdow, we
+crossed a stone bridge, on which stands the equestrian
+statue of John Sobieski, his horse rearing over the body
+of a prostrate Turk; it was erected to him as the saviour
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">221</a></span>of Christendom after he had driven the Turks
+from the walls of Vienna. Beyond this we entered the
+grounds and park of Lazienki, formerly the country
+residence of Stanislaus Augustus, situated in a most delightful
+spot on the banks of the Vistula.</p>
+
+<p>The royal villa stands in the midst of an extensive
+park of stately old trees, and the walks lead to a succession
+of delightful and romantic spots, adorned with
+appropriate and tasteful buildings. Among them, on an
+island reached by crossing a rustic bridge, are a winter
+and a summer theatre, the latter constructed so as to
+resemble, in a great measure, an ancient amphitheatre
+in ruins; in it performances used formerly to take place
+in the open air. I am not given to dreaming, and there
+was enough in the scenes passing under my eyes to
+employ my thoughts; but, as I wandered through the
+beautiful walks, and crossed romantic bridges, composed
+of the trunks and bended branches of trees, I could not
+help recurring to the hand that had planned these beauties,
+the good King Stanislaus.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i4">"Dread Pultowa's day,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">When fortune left the royal Swede,"<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p class="noi">hurled Stanislaus from his throne; and as I stood
+under the portico of his palace, I could but remember
+that its royal builder had fled from it in disguise, become
+a prisoner to the Turks, and died an exile in a foreign
+land.</p>
+
+<p>From here we rode to the chateau of Villanow, another
+and one of the most interesting of the residences of the
+kings of Poland, constructed by John Sobieski and
+perhaps the only royal structure in Europe which, like
+some of the great edifices of Egypt and Rome, was
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">222</a></span>erected by prisoners taken in war, being constructed
+entirely by the hands of Turkish captives. It was the
+favourite residence of Sobieski, where he passed most
+of his time when not in arms, and where he closed his
+days. Until lately, the chamber and bed on which he
+died might still be seen. The grounds extend for a
+great distance along the banks of the Vistula, and many
+of the noble trees which now shade the walks were
+planted by Sobieski's own hands. The reign of Sobieski
+is the most splendid era in the history of Poland.
+The great statue I had just passed presented him as
+the conqueror of the Turks, the deliverer of Christendom,
+the redoubtable warrior, riding over the body of a
+prostrate Mussulman; and every stone in the palace is
+a memorial of his warlike triumphs; but if its inner
+chambers could tell the scenes of which they had been
+the witness, loud and far as the trumpet of glory has
+sounded his name, no man would envy John Sobieski.
+The last time he unsheathed his sword, in bitterness of
+heart he said, "It will be easier to get the better of the
+enemies I am in quest of than my own sons." He returned
+broken with vexation and shattered with wounds,
+more than sixty years old, and two thirds of his life
+spent in the tented field; his queen drove his friends
+from his side, destroyed that domestic peace which he
+valued above all things, and filled the palace with her
+plots and intrigues. He had promised to Zaluski an
+office which the queen wished to give to another. "My
+friend," said the dying monarch, "you know the rights
+of marriage, and you know if I can resist the prayers
+of the queen; it depends, then, on you that I live tranquil
+or that I be constantly miserable. She has already
+promised to another this vacant office, and if I
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">223</a></span>do not consent to it I am obliged to fly my house. I
+know not where I shall go to die in peace. You pity
+me; you will not expose me to public ridicule." Old
+and infirm, with gray hairs and withered laurels, a prey
+to lingering disease, the deathbed of the dying warrior
+was disturbed by a noise worse than the din of battle;
+and before the breath had left him, an intriguing wife
+and unnatural children were wrangling over his body
+for the possession of his crown. A disgraceful struggle
+was continued a short time after his death. One by one
+his children died, and there is not now any living of
+the name of Sobieski.</p>
+
+<p>The next day I visited the field of Vola, celebrated
+as the place of election of the Kings of Poland. It is
+about five miles from Warsaw, and was formerly surrounded
+by a ditch with three gates, one for great Poland,
+one for little Poland, and one for Lithuania. In
+the middle were two enclosures, one of an oblong
+shape, surrounded by a kind of rampart or ditch, in the
+centre of which was erected, at the time of election, a
+vast temporary building of wood, covered at the top
+and open at the sides, which was called the zopa, and
+occupied by the senate; and the other of a circular
+shape, called the kola, in which the nuncios assembled
+in the open air. The nobles, from a hundred
+and fifty thousand to two hundred thousand in number,
+encamped on the plain in separate bodies under the
+banners of their respective palatinates, with their principal
+officers in front on horseback. The primate, having
+declared the names of the candidates, kneeled down
+and chanted a hymn; and then, mounting on horseback,
+went round the plain and collected the votes, the nobles
+not voting individually, but each palatinate in a
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">224</a></span>body. It was necessary that the election should be
+unanimous, and a single nobleman peremptorily stopped
+the election of Ladislaus VII. Being asked what objection
+he had to him, he answered, "None at all; but
+I will not suffer him to be king." After being by some
+means brought over, he gave the king as the reason
+for his opposition, "I had a mind to see whether our
+liberty was still in being or not. I am satisfied that
+it is, and your majesty shall not have a better subject
+than myself." If the palatinates agreed, the primate
+asked again, and yet a third time if all were satisfied;
+and, after a general approbation, three times
+proclaimed the king; and the grand marshal of the
+crown repeated the proclamation three times at the
+gates of the camp. It was the exercise of this high
+privilege of electing their own king which created and
+sustained the lofty bearing of the Polish nobles, inducing
+the proud boast which, in a moment of extremity,
+an intrepid band made to their king, "What hast thou
+to fear with twenty thousand lances? If the sky
+should fall, we would keep it up with their points."
+But, unhappily, although the exercise of this privilege
+was confined only to the nobles, the election of a king
+often exhibited a worse picture than all the evils of universal
+suffrage with us. The throne was open to the
+whole world; the nobles were split into contending
+factions; foreign gold found its way among them, and
+sometimes they deliberated under the bayonets of foreign
+troops. Warsaw and its environs were a scene of
+violence and confusion, and sometimes the field of Vola
+was stained with blood. Still no man can ride over
+that plain without recurring to the glorious hour when
+Sobieski, covered with laurels won in fighting the battles
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">225</a></span>of his country, amid the roar of cannon and the
+loud acclamations of the senate, the nobles, and the
+army, was hailed the chosen king of a free people.</p>
+
+<p>I had enough of travelling post, and was looking
+out for some quiet conveyance to Cracow. A Jew applied
+to me, and I went with him to look at his carriage,
+which I found at a sort of "Bull's-head" stopping-place,
+an enormous vehicle without either bottom or top,
+being a species of framework like our hay-wagons, filled
+with straw to prevent goods and passengers from spilling
+out. He showed me a couple of rough-looking fellows,
+who would be my <i>compagnons de voyage</i>, and who
+said that we could all three lie very comfortably in the
+bottom of the vehicle. Their appearance did not add
+to the recommendation of the wagon; nevertheless, if
+I had understood the language and been strong enough
+for the rough work, I should perhaps have taken that
+conveyance, as, besides the probable incidents of the
+journey, it would give me more insight into the character
+of the people than a year's residence in the capital.
+Returning to my hotel, I found that a Polish officer had
+left his address, with a request for me to call upon him.
+I went, and found a man of about forty, middle sized,
+pale and emaciated, wounded and an invalid, wearing
+the Polish revolutionary uniform. It was the only instance
+in which I had seen this dress. After the revolution
+it had been absolutely proscribed; but the country
+being completely subdued, and the government in this
+particular case not caring to exercise any unnecessary
+harshness, he was permitted to wear it unmolested.
+It was, however, almost in mockery that he still wore
+the garb of a soldier; for if Poland had again burst her
+chains, and the unsheathed sword were put in his hands,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">226</a></span>he could not have struck a blow to help her. Unfortunately,
+he could not speak French, or, rather, I may
+say fortunately, for in consequence of this I saw his
+lady, a pensive, melancholy, and deeply-interesting
+woman, dressed in black, in mourning for two gallant
+brothers who died in battle under the walls of Warsaw.</p>
+
+<p>Their business with me was of a most commonplace
+nature. They had lately returned from a visit to some
+friends at Cracow, in a calêche hired at the frontier;
+and hearing from the peasant who drove them that a
+stranger was looking for a conveyance to that place,
+out of good-will to him desired to recommend him to
+me. The lady had hardly finished a sort of apologizing
+commencement before I had resolved to assent to
+almost anything she proposed; and when she stated
+the whole case, it was so exactly what I wanted, that
+I expressed myself under great obligations for the favour
+done me. I suggested, however, my doubts as to
+the propriety of undertaking the journey alone, without
+any interpreter; but, after a few words with the
+major, she replied that she would give full directions to
+the peasant as to the route. As the carriage could not
+go beyond the frontier, her husband would give me a
+letter to the commissaire at Michoof, who spoke French,
+and also to the postmaster; and, finally, she would herself
+make out for me a vocabulary of the words likely
+to be most necessary, so as to enable me to ask for
+bread, milk, eggs, &amp;c.; and with this, and the Polish for
+"how much," I would get along without any difficulty.
+While she was writing, another officer came in, old and
+infirm, and also dressed in the Polish uniform. She
+rose from the table, met him almost at the door, kissed
+him affectionately, led him to a seat, and barely mentioning
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">227</a></span>him to me as "<i>mon beau père</i>," resumed her
+work. While she was writing I watched attentively the
+whole three, and the expression of face with which the
+two officers regarded her was unspeakably interesting.
+They were probably unconscious of it, and perhaps it
+was only my fancy, but if the transient lighting of their
+sunken eyes meant anything, it meant that they who
+sat there in the garb and equipment of soldiers, who
+had stood in all the pride and vigour of manhood on
+bloody battle-fields, now looked to a feeble and lovely
+woman as their only staff and support in life. I would
+have told them how deeply I sympathized in the misfortunes
+of their suffering country, but their sadness
+seemed too deep and sacred. I knew that I could strike
+a responsive chord by telling them that I was an American,
+but I would not open their still bleeding wounds;
+at parting, however, I told them that I should remember
+in my own country and to their countrymen the
+kindness shown me here; and as soon as I mentioned
+that I was an American, the lady asked me the fate of
+her unhappy countrymen who had been landed as exiles
+on our shores, and I felt proud in telling them that they
+had found among our citizens that sympathy which
+brave men in misfortune deserve, and that our government
+had made a provision in land for the exiled compatriots
+of Kosciusko. She inquired particularly about
+the details of their occupation, and expressed the fear
+that their habits of life, most of them having been
+brought up as soldiers, unfitted them for usefulness
+among us. I did not then know how prophetic were
+her forebodings, and was saved the necessity of telling
+her, what I afterward read in a newspaper, that an unhappy
+portion of that band of exiles, discontented with
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">228</a></span>their mode of life, in attempting to cross the Rocky
+Mountains were cut to pieces by a party of Indians.
+Under the pressure of their immediate misfortunes they
+had not heard the fate of the exiles, and a ray of satisfaction
+played for a moment over their melancholy features
+in hearing that they had met with friends in
+America; and they told me to say to the Poles wherever
+I found them, that they need never again turn their
+eyes toward home. She added that the time had been
+when she and her friends would have extended the hand
+of welcome to a stranger in Poland; that, when a child,
+she had heard her father and brothers talk of liberty
+and the pressure of a foreign yoke, but, living in affluence,
+surrounded by friends and connexions, she could
+not sympathize with them, and thought it a feeling existing
+only in men, which women could not know; but
+actual occurrences had opened her eyes; her family
+had been crushed to the earth, her friends imprisoned,
+killed, or driven into exile, and yet, she added, turning
+to her husband and father, she ought not to mourn, for
+those dearest to her on earth were spared. But I could
+read in her face, as she bent her eyes upon their pallid
+features, that she felt they were spared only for a season.</p>
+
+<p>Reluctantly I bade them farewell. A servant waited
+to go with me and show me the calêche, but I told him
+it was not worth while. I was in no humour for examining
+the spokes of carriage-wheels; and, if I had
+been obliged to ride on the tongue, I believe I should
+have taken it. I went to my hotel, and told my friend
+of my interview with the major and his lady. He knew
+them by reputation, and confirmed and strengthened all
+the interest I took in them, adding that both father and
+son had been among the first to take up arms during
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">229</a></span>the revolution, and at its unhappy termination were so
+beloved by the people of Warsaw that, in their wounded
+and crippled state, the Russian government had not
+proceeded to extremities with them.</p>
+
+<p>I spent my last evening in Warsaw with my Pole
+and several of his friends at a herbata, that is, a sort of
+confectioner's shop, like a <i>café</i> in the south of Europe,
+where, as in Russia, tea is the popular drink. The next
+morning, as usual, my passport was not ready. My
+valet had been for it several times, and could not get it.
+I had been myself to the police-office, and waited until
+dark, when I was directed to call the next morning.
+I went at a little after eight, but I will not obtrude upon
+the reader the details of my vexation, nor the amiable
+feelings that passed my mind in waiting till twelve
+o'clock in a large anteroom. In my after wanderings I
+sometimes sat down upon a stump or on the sands of
+the desert, and meditated upon my folly in undergoing
+all manner of hardships when I might be sitting quietly
+at home; but when I thought of passports in Russia
+and Poland, I shook myself with the freedom of a son
+of the desert, and with the thought that I could turn my
+dromedary's head which way I pleased, other difficulties
+seemed light. Ancient philosophers extolled uniformity
+as a great virtue in a young man's character; and, if so,
+I was entitled to the highest praise, for in the matter of
+arranging my passport I was always in a passion. I do
+not know a single exception to the contrary. And if
+there was one thing more vexatious than another, it was
+in the case at Warsaw, where, after having been bandied
+from office to office, I received my passport, still
+requiring the signature of the governor, and walked up
+to the palace, nursing my indignation, and expecting an
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">230</a></span>accumulation, I was ushered in by guards and soldiers,
+and at once disarmed of all animosity by the politeness
+and civility of the principal officers of government.
+I was almost sorry to be obliged to withhold my
+intended malediction. I hurried back to my hotel. My
+friend, with three or four of his Warsaw acquaintances,
+was waiting to see the last of me; my calêche was at
+the door, and I was already late for a start. I took my
+seat and bade them farewell. I promised to write to
+him on my arrival in Paris, and to continue a correspondence
+on my return home. Most unfortunately, I
+lost his address. He lived in some town in Poland,
+near the frontiers of Prussia, and probably at this moment
+thinks of me unkindly for my apparent neglect.
+Possibly we may meet again, though probably never;
+but if we do, though it do not happen till our heads are
+gray, we will have a rich fund of satisfaction in the recollections
+of our long journey to Warsaw.</p>
+
+<p>I was again setting out alone. My guide or <i>conducteur</i>
+was a Polish peasant. Without having seen him,
+I had calculated upon making ordinary human intelligence,
+to some extent, a medium of communication; but
+I found that I had been too soaring in my ideas of the
+divinity of human nature. When I returned to the hotel
+I found him lying on the sidewalk asleep; a servant
+kicked him up and pointed me out as his master for the
+journey. He ran up and kissed my hand, and, before
+I was aware of his intention, stooped down and repeated
+the same salutation on my boot. An American, perhaps,
+more than any other, scorns the idea of man's
+debasing himself to his fellow-man; and so powerful
+was this feeling in me, that before I went abroad I almost
+despised a white man whom I saw engaged in a
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">231</a></span>menial office. I had outlived this feeling; but when I
+saw a tall, strong, athletic white man kneel down and
+kiss my foot, I could almost have spurned him from me.
+His whole dress was a long shirt coming down to his
+feet, supported by a broad leathern belt eight inches
+wide, which he used as a pocket, and a low, broad-brimmed
+hat, turned up all round, particularly at the
+sides, and not unlike the headgear of the Lebanon Shakers.</p>
+
+<p>Before putting myself out of the reach of aid, I held
+a conversation with him through an interpreter. The
+lady of the major had made out a chart for me, specifying
+each day's journey, which he promised to observe,
+and added that he would be my slave if I would give
+him plenty to drink. With such a companion, then, I
+may say most emphatically that I was again setting out
+alone; but my calêche was even better than the Polish
+officer represented it, abundantly provided with pockets
+for provisions, books, &amp;c., and altogether so much more
+comfortable than anything I was used to, that I threw
+myself back in it with a feeling of great satisfaction. I
+rolled for the last time through the streets of Warsaw;
+looked out upon the busy throng; and though, in the
+perfectly indifferent air with which they turned to me,
+I felt how small a space I occupied in the world, I
+lighted my pipe and smoked in their faces, and, with a
+perfect feeling of independence toward all the world, at
+one o'clock I arrived at the barrier.</p>
+
+<p>Here I found, to my great vexation, that I was an
+object of special consideration to the Emperor of Russia.
+A soldier came out for my passport, with which
+he went inside the guardhouse, and in a few minutes
+returned with the paper in his hands to ask me some
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">232</a></span>question. I could not answer him. He talked at me
+a little while, and again went within doors. After sitting
+for a few moments, vexed at the detention, but
+congratulating myself that if there was any irregularity
+it had been discovered before I had advanced far on my
+journey, I dismounted and went inside, where, after detaining
+me long enough to make me feel very uncomfortable,
+they endorsed the visé and let me go. I again
+lighted my pipe, and in the mildness and beauty of the
+day, the comfort of my calêche, and the docility and
+accommodating spirit of my peasant, forgot my past,
+and even the chance of future difficulties. There was
+nothing particularly attractive in the road; the country
+was generally fertile, though tame and uninteresting.
+Late in the afternoon we stopped at a little town, of
+which I cannot make out the name. Like all the other
+towns on this side of Warsaw, in the centre was a
+square, with a range of wooden houses built all around
+fronting on the square, and the inhabitants were principally
+Jews. My peasant took off his horses and fed
+them in the square, and I went into a little kukernia,
+much cleaner and better than the town promised, where
+I had a cup of coffee and a roll of bread, and then
+strolled around the town, which, at this moment, presented
+a singular spectacle. The women and children
+were driving into the square herds of cows from the
+pasture-grounds in the unenclosed plains around; and,
+when all were brought in, each proprietor picked out his
+own cow and drove her home, and in a few moments
+opposite almost every house stood the family cow, with
+a woman or child milking her. After this the cows
+strolled back into the square to sleep till morning.</p>
+
+<p>A little before dark we started, and, after a fine moonlight
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">233</a></span>ride, at about ten o'clock drove into a sort of caravanserai,
+being simply a large shed or covered place
+for wagons and horses, with a room partitioned off in
+one corner for eating and sleeping. There were, perhaps,
+fifteen or twenty wagons under the shed, and their
+wagoners were all assembled in this room, some standing
+up and eating off a board stretched along the wall,
+some drinking, some smoking, and some already asleep
+on the floor. In one corner was a party of Jews, with
+the contents of a purse emptied before them, which they
+were dividing into separate parcels. The place was
+kept by a Jew, who, with his wife, or some woman belonging
+to the establishment, old and weatherbeaten,
+was running about serving and apparently quarrelling
+with all the wagoners. She seemed particularly disposed
+to quarrel with me, I believe because I could not
+talk to her, this being, in her eyes, an unpardonable
+sin. I could understand, however, that she wanted to
+prepare me a supper; but my appetite was not tempted
+by what I saw around me, and I lighted my pipe and
+smoked. I believe she afterward saw something in me
+which made her like me better; for while the wagoners
+were strewing themselves about the floor for sleep, she
+went out, and returning with a tolerably clean sheaf of
+straw under each arm, called me to her, and shaking
+them out in the middle of the floor, pointed me to my bed.
+My pipe was ended, and putting my carpet-bag under
+my head, I lay down upon the straw; and the old woman
+climbed up to a sort of platform in one corner, where,
+a moment after, I saw her sitting up with her arms
+above her head, with the utmost nonchalance changing
+her innermost garment.</p>
+
+<p>I was almost asleep, when I noticed a strapping big
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">234</a></span>man, muffled up to the eyes, standing at my feet and
+looking in my face. I raised my head, and he walked
+round, keeping his eyes fixed upon me, and went away.
+Shortly after he returned, and again walking round,
+stopped and addressed me, "Spreechen sie Deutsch?"
+I answered by asking him if he could speak French;
+and not being able, he went away. He returned again,
+and again walked round as before, looking steadily in
+my face. I rose on my elbow, and followed him with
+my eyes till I had turned completely round with him,
+when he stopped as if satisfied with his observations,
+and in his broadest vernacular opened bluntly, "Hadn't
+we better speak English?" I need not say that I entirely
+agreed with him. I sprang up, and catching his
+hand, asked him what possessed him to begin upon me
+in Dutch; he replied by asking why I had answered
+in French, adding that his stout English figure ought to
+have made me know better; and after mutual good-natured
+recriminations, we kicked my straw bed about the
+floor, and agreed to make a night of it. He was the
+proprietor of a large iron manufactory, distant about
+three days' journey, and was then on his way to Warsaw.
+He went out to his carriage, and one of his servants
+produced a stock of provisions like the larder of a
+well-furnished hotel; and as I had gone to bed supperless,
+he seemed a good, stout, broad-shouldered guardian
+angel sent to comfort me. We sat on the back seat of
+the carriage, making a table of the front; and when we
+had finished, and the fragments were cleared away, we
+stretched our legs on the table, lighted our pipes, and
+talked till we fell asleep on each other's shoulder.
+Notwithstanding our intimacy so far, we should not
+have known each other by daylight, and at break of day
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">235</a></span>we went outside to examine each other. It was,
+however, perhaps hardly worth while to retain a recollection
+of features; for, unless by some such accident as that
+which brought us together, we never shall meet again.
+We wrote our names in each other's pocketbook as a
+memorial of our meeting, and at the same moment
+started on our opposite roads.</p>
+
+<hr class="l65" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII.</h2>
+
+<div class="chapblock"><p>Friendly Solicitude.&mdash;Raddom.&mdash;Symptoms of a Difficulty.&mdash;A Court of
+Inquisition.&mdash;Showing a proper Spirit.&mdash;Troubles thickening.&mdash;Approaching
+the Climax.&mdash;Woman's Influence.&mdash;The Finale.&mdash;Utility of the
+Classics.&mdash;Another Latinist.&mdash;A Lucky Accident.&mdash;Arrival at Cracow.</p></div>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">At</span> about eight o'clock we stopped to feed, and at
+the feeding-place met a German wagoner, who had
+lived in Hamburgh, and spoke English. He seemed
+much distressed at my not understanding the language
+of the country. He was a stout, burly fellow, eating
+and drinking all the time, and his great anxiety was
+lest I should starve on the road. He insisted upon
+my providing against such a fatality, and had a couple
+of fowls roasted for me, and wrapped in a piece of
+coarse brown paper; and, at parting, backed by a
+group of friends, to whom he had told my story, he
+drank schnaps (at my expense) to my safe arrival at
+Cracow.</p>
+
+<p>At eleven o'clock we reached Raddom. There was
+a large swinging gate at the barrier of the town, and
+the soldier opening it demanded my passport to be
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">236</a></span><i>viséd</i> by the police; he got into the calêche with me,
+and we drove into the town, stopped in the public
+square, and went to the bureau together. He left me
+in an antechamber, and went within, promising, by his
+manner, to expedite the business, and intimating an expectation
+of schnaps on his return. In a few minutes
+he returned, and barely opening the door for me to
+enter, hurried off, apparently with some misgivings
+about his schnaps. I entered, and found three or four
+men, who took no notice of me. I waited a few moments,
+and seeing my passport on a table before one of
+them, went up, and, certainly without intending anything
+offensive, took up the passport with a view of calling
+his attention to it; he jerked it out of my hand, and
+looking at me with an imperious and impertinent air,
+at the same time saying something I have no doubt
+in character with the expression of his face, he slapped
+it down on the table. Two or three officers coming
+in, looked at it, and laid it down again, until at
+length one man, the head of that department, I suppose,
+took it up, wrote a note, and giving the note and
+the passport to a soldier, directed me to follow him.
+The soldier conducted me to the bureau of the government,
+the largest building, and occupying a central
+position in the town, and left me in an antechamber
+with the usual retinue of soldiers and officers. In
+about a quarter of an hour he came out without the
+passport, and pulled me by the sleeve to follow him. I
+shook my head, asked for the passport, and, in fact,
+moved toward the door he had left. He seemed a
+good-hearted fellow, and, anxious to save me from any
+imprudence, pulled me back, held up his fingers, and
+pointing to the clock, told me to return at one; and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">237</a></span>touching his hat respectfully, with probably the only
+French words he knew, "Adieu, seigneur," and a look
+of real interest, hurried away.</p>
+
+<p>I strolled about the town, dropped in at a kukiernia,
+went to the square, and saw my peasant friend feeding
+his horses, apparently in some trouble and perplexity.
+I went back at one, and was ordered to come again at
+four. I would have remonstrated, but, besides that I
+could not make myself understood, when I attempted
+to speak they turned rudely away from me. I was
+vexed by the loss of the day, as I had agreed to pay a
+high price for the sake of going through a day sooner,
+and this might spoil my plan; and I was particularly
+vexed by the rough manner in which I was treated. I
+returned at four, and was conducted into a large chamber,
+in which were perhaps twenty or thirty clerks and
+inferior officers in the uniform of the government. As
+soon as I entered there was a general commotion.
+They had sent for a young man who spoke a little
+French to act as interpreter. The passport was put
+into his hands, and the first question he asked me was
+how I, an American, happened to be travelling under
+a Russian passport. I answered that it was not from
+any wish of mine, but in obedience to their own laws,
+and added the fact that this passport had been made
+out by the Russian ambassador at Constantinople;
+that under it I had been admitted into Russia, and
+travelled from the Black Sea to St. Petersburgh, and
+from there down to Warsaw, as he might see from the
+paper itself, the <i>visés</i> of the proper authorities, down
+to that of the Governor of Warsaw, being regularly
+endorsed.</p>
+
+<p>He then asked what my business was in Poland, and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">238</a></span>what had induced me to come there. I answered, the
+same that had carried me into Russia, merely the curiosity
+of a traveller; and he then inquired what in particular
+I wanted to see in Poland. If I had consulted
+merely my feelings, I should have told him that, besides
+being attracted by the interest of her heroic history, I
+wished to see with my own eyes the pressure of a colossal
+foot upon the necks of a conquered people; that
+this very system of inquisition and <i>espionage</i> was one
+of the things I expected to see; but I, of course, forbore
+this, and answered only in general terms, and my
+answer was not satisfactory. He then began a more
+particular examination; asked my age, my height, the
+colour of my eyes, &amp;c. At first I did not see the absurdity
+of this examination, and answered honestly according
+to the fact, as I believed it; but, all at once, it
+struck me that, as I did not remember the particulars
+of the description of my person in the passport, my own
+impromptu might very easily differ from it, and, catching
+an insulting expression on his face, I told him that
+he had the passport in his hands, and might himself
+compare my person with the description there given
+of me. He then read aloud the entire description;
+height, so many feet; eyes, such a colour, &amp;c., &amp;c.;
+scanned me from head to foot; peered into my eyes,
+stopping after each article to look at me and compare
+me with the description. By this time every man in
+the room had left his business and gathered round looking
+at me, and, after the reading of each article and the
+subsequent examination, there was a general shaking of
+heads and a contemptuous smile.</p>
+
+<p>At the time I remembered, what had before suggested
+itself to me rather as a good thing, that, before embarking
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">239</a></span>for Europe, I had written on to the department of
+state for a passport, with a description of my person
+made out at the moment by a friend, not very flattering,
+and, perhaps, not very true, but good enough for the
+Continent, which I expected to be the extent of my
+tour; and I felt conscious that, on a severe examination,
+my nose might be longer, or my eyes grayer, or in some
+other point different from the description. This, added
+to their close and critical examination, at first embarrassed
+me considerably, but the supercilious and insulting
+manner in which the examination was conducted
+roused my indignation and restored my self-possession.
+I saw, from the informal way in which the thing was
+done, that this was a mere preliminary inquisition, and
+not the court to sit in judgment; and I had noticed from
+the beginning that most of these men were Poles, who
+had sold themselves to Russia for petty place and pay
+in her offices, traitors in their hearts and lives, apostates
+from every honourable feeling, and breathing a more infernal
+spirit against their enslaved country than the Russians
+themselves; and I told the interpreter, as coolly
+as the nature of the case would admit, to accept for himself,
+and to convey to his associates, the assurance that
+I should remember their little town as long as I lived;
+that I had then travelled from England through France,
+Italy, Greece, Turkey, and Russia, and had nowhere
+met such wanton rudeness and insult as from them;
+that I did not think it possible that in any European
+government twenty of its officers would laugh and sneer
+at the embarrassment of a stranger without a single one
+stepping forward to assist him; that I deeply regretted
+the occurrence of such a circumstance in Poland; that
+I felt convinced that there was not a truehearted Pole
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">240</a></span>among them, or my character as an American would
+have saved me from insult.</p>
+
+<p>The interpreter seemed a little abashed, but I could
+see in the vindictive faces of the rest that they were
+greatly irritated. The examination was cut short, and
+I was directed to come again at half past five, when the
+commandant, who had been sent for, would be there.
+By this time there was some excitement in the streets,
+and, as I afterward learned, it was noised through the
+little town that an American was detained on suspicion
+of travelling under a false passport. My calêche had
+been standing in the public square all day. I had been
+noticed going to and from the offices with a soldier at
+my heels, and my poor Pole had been wandering up and
+down the streets, telling everybody his fears and interest
+in me, and particularly his anxiety about ten rubles I had
+promised him. As I passed along, people turned round
+and looked at me. I went to a kukiernia, where the
+dame had been very smiling and attentive, and could
+not get even a look from her. I went to another; several
+men were earnestly talking, who became silent the
+moment I entered. A small matter created an excitement
+in that little place. It was a rare thing for a traveller
+to pass through it; the Russian government threw
+every impediment in the way, and had made the road
+so vexatious that it was almost broken up. The French
+or the citizens of a free country like America were always
+suspected of being political emissaries to stir up
+the Poles to revolution, and it seemed as if, under that
+despotic government, to be suspected was to be guilty.
+The Poles were in the habit of seeing slight offences
+visited with terrible punishments, and probably half the
+little town looked on me as a doomed man. I went
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">241</a></span>back to the square and took a seat on my calêche; my
+poor Pole sat on the box looking at me; he had followed
+me all over, and, like the rest, seemed to regard me as
+lost. I had probably treated him with more kindness
+than he was accustomed to receive, though, for every
+new kindness, he vexed me anew by stooping down and
+kissing my foot.</p>
+
+<p>At half past five o'clock I was again at the door of
+the palace. On the staircase I met the young man who
+had acted as interpreter; he would have avoided me, but
+I stopped him and asked him to return with me. I held
+on to him, asking him if the commandant spoke French;
+begged him, as he would hope himself to find kindness
+in a strange country, to go back and act as a medium of
+explanation; but he tore rudely away, and hurried down
+stairs. A soldier opened the door and led me into the
+same apartment as before. The clerks were all at their
+desks writing; all looked up as I entered, but not one offered
+me a seat, nor any the slightest act of civility. I
+waited a moment, and they seemed studiously to take
+no notice of me. I felt outrageous at their rudeness.
+I had no apprehensions of any serious consequences beyond,
+perhaps, that of a detention until I could write to
+Mr. Wilkins, our ambassador at St. Petersburgh, and
+resolved not to be trampled upon by the understrappers.
+I walked up to the door of the commandant's chamber,
+when one man, who had been particularly insulting during
+the reading of the passport, rudely intercepted me,
+and leaning his back against the door, flourished his
+hands before him to keep me from entering. Fortunately,
+I fell back in time to prevent even the tip end of
+his fingers touching me. My blood flashed through me
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">242</a></span>like lightning, and even now I consider myself a miracle
+of forbearance that I did not strike him.</p>
+
+<p>In a few moments the door opened, and a soldier
+beckoned me to enter. Directly in front, at the other
+end of the room, behind a table, sat the commandant,
+a grim, gaunt-looking figure about fifty, his military
+coat buttoned tight up in his throat, his cap and sword
+on the table by his side, and in his hands my unlucky
+passport. As I walked toward him he looked from
+the passport to me, and from me to the passport; and
+when I stopped at the table he read over again the
+whole description, at every clause looking at me; shook
+his head with a grim smile of incredulity, and laid it
+down, as if perfectly satisfied. I felt that my face
+was flushed with indignation, and, perhaps, to a certain
+extent, so distorted with passion that it would have
+been difficult to recognise me as the person described.
+I suggested to him that the rude treatment I had met
+with in the other room had no doubt altered the whole
+character of my face, but he waved his hand for me to
+be silent; and, taking up a sheet of paper, wrote a letter
+or order, or something which I did not understand, and
+gave it to a soldier, who took it off to one corner and
+stamped it. The commandant then folded up the passport,
+enclosed it in the letter, and handed it again to the
+soldier, who carried it off and affixed to it an enormous
+wax seal, which looked very ominous and Siberian-like.
+I was determined not to suffer from the want of any
+effort on my part, and pulled out my old American
+passport, under which I had travelled in France and
+Italy, and also a new one which Commodore Porter
+had given me in Constantinople. He looked at them
+without any comment and without understanding them;
+and, when the soldier returned with the paper and the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">243</a></span>big seal, he rose, and, without moving a muscle, waved
+with his hand for me to follow the soldier. I would
+have resisted if I had dared. I was indignant enough
+to do some rash thing, but at every step was a soldier;
+I saw the folly of it, and, grinding my teeth with vexation
+and rage, I did as I was ordered.</p>
+
+<p>At the door of the palace we found a large crowd,
+who, knowing my appointment for this hour, were
+waiting to hear the result. A line of people was formed
+along the walk, who, seeing me under the charge of a
+soldier, turned round and looked at me with ominous
+silence. We passed under the walls of the prison, and
+the prisoners thrust their arms through the bars and
+hailed me, and seemed to claim me as a companion,
+and to promise me a welcome among them. For a
+moment I was infected with some apprehensions. In
+my utter ignorance as to what it all meant, I ran over
+in my mind the stories I had heard of the exercise
+of despotic authority, and for one moment thought of
+my German host at Moscow and a journey to Siberia
+by mistake. I did not know where the soldier was
+taking me, but felt relieved when we had got out of the
+reach of the voices of the prisoners, and more so when
+we stopped before a large house, which I remarked at
+once as a private dwelling, though a guard of honour
+before the door indicated it as the residence of an officer
+of high rank. We entered, and were ushered into
+the presence of the governor and commander-in-chief.
+He was, of course, a Russian, a man about sixty, in the
+uniform of a general officer, and attended by an aiddecamp
+about thirty. I waited till the soldier had delivered
+his message; and, before the governor had broken
+the seal, I carried the war into the enemy's country by
+complaining of the rude treatment I had received, interrupted
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">244</a></span>in my journey under a passport which had
+carried me all over Russia, and laughed at and insulted
+by the officers of the government, at the same time congratulating
+myself that I had at last met those who
+could at least tell me why I was detained, and would
+give me an opportunity of explaining anything apparently
+wrong. I found the governor, as everywhere
+else in Russia where I could get access to the principal
+man, a gentleman in his bearing and feelings. He
+requested me to be seated, while he retired into another
+apartment to examine the passport. The aiddecamp
+remained, and I entertained him with my chapter of
+grievances; he put the whole burden of the incivility
+upon the Poles, who, as he said, filled all the inferior
+offices of government, but told me, too, that the country
+was in such an unsettled state that it was necessary
+to be very particular in examining all strangers; and
+particularly as at that time several French emissaries
+were suspected to be secretly wandering in Poland,
+trying to stir up revolution. The governor stayed so
+long that I began to fear there was some technical irregularity
+which might subject me to detention, and I
+was in no small degree relieved when he sent for me,
+and telling me that he regretted the necessity for giving
+such annoyance and vexation to travellers, handed
+me back the passport, with a direction to the proper
+officer to make the necessary <i>visé</i> and let me go. I
+was so pleased with the result that I did not stop to ask
+any questions, and to this day I do not know particularly
+why I was detained.</p>
+
+<p>By this time it was nine o'clock, and when we returned
+the bureau was closed. The soldier stated the
+case to the loungers about the door, and now all, including
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">245</a></span>some of the scoundrels who had been so rude to
+me in the morning, were anxious to serve me. One of
+them conducted me to an apartment near, where I was
+ushered into the presence of an elderly lady and her two
+daughters, both of whom spoke French. I apologized
+for my intrusion; told them my extreme anxiety to go
+on that night, and begged them to procure some one to
+take the governor's order to the commandant; in fact, I
+had become nervous, and did not consider myself safe till
+out of the place. They called in a younger brother, who
+started with alacrity on the errand, and I sat down to wait
+his return. There must be a witchery about Polish ladies.
+I was almost savage against all mankind; I had
+been kept up to the extremest point of indignation without
+any opportunity of exploding all day, and it would have
+been a great favour for some one to knock me down;
+but in a few minutes all my bitterness and malevolence
+melted away, and before tea was over I forgot that I
+had been bandied all day from pillar to post, and even
+forgave the boors who had mocked me, in consideration
+of their being the countrymen of the ladies who were
+showing me such kindness. Even with them I began
+with the chafed spirit that had been goading me on all
+day; but when I listened to the calm and sad manner
+in which they replied; that it was annoying, but it was
+light, very light, compared with the scenes through
+which they and all their friends had passed, I was
+ashamed of my petulance. A few words convinced
+me that they were the Poles of my imagination and
+heart. A widowed mother and orphan children, their
+staff and protector had died in battle, and a gallant brother
+was then wandering an exile in France. I believe
+it is my recollection of Polish ladies that gives me a
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">246</a></span>leaning toward rebels. I never met a Polish lady who
+was not a rebel, and I could but think, as long as the
+startling notes of revolution continue to fall like music
+from their pretty lips, so long the Russian will sleep
+on an unquiet pillow in Poland.</p>
+
+<p>It was more than an hour before the brother returned,
+and I was sorry when he came; for, after my professions
+of haste, I had no excuse for remaining longer.
+I was the first American they had ever seen; and if
+they do not remember me for anything else, I am happy
+to have disabused them of one prejudice against my
+country, for they believed the Americans were all black.
+At parting, and at my request, the eldest daughter wrote
+her name in my memorandum-book, and I bade them
+farewell.</p>
+
+<p>It was eleven o'clock when I left the house, and at
+the first transition from their presence the night seemed
+of pitchy darkness. I groped my way into the square,
+and found my calêche gone. I stood for a moment on
+the spot where I had left it, ruminating what I should
+do. Perhaps my poor Pole had given me up as lost,
+and taken out letters of administration upon my carpet-bag.
+Directly before me, intersecting the range of
+houses on the opposite side of the square, was a street
+leading out of the town. I knew that he was a man to
+go straight ahead, turning neither to the right hand nor
+the left. I walked on to the opening, followed it a little
+way, and saw on the right a gate opening to a shed for
+stabling. I went in, and found him with his horses unharnessed,
+feeding them, whipping them, and talking at
+them in furious Polish. As soon as he saw me he left
+them and came at me in the same tone, throwing up
+both his hands, and almost flourishing them in my face;
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">247</a></span>then went back to his horses, began pitching on the harness,
+and, snatching up the meal-bag, came back again
+toward me, all the time talking and gesticulating like a
+Bedlamite. I was almost in despair. What have I
+done now? Even my poor peasant turns against me;
+this morning he kissed my foot, now he is ready to brain
+me with a meal-bag. Roused by the uproar, the old
+woman, proprietor of the shed, came out, accompanied
+by her daughter, a pretty little girl about twelve years
+old, carrying a lantern. I looked at them without expecting
+any help. My peasant moved between them
+and me and the horses, flourishing his meal-bag, and
+seeming every moment to become more and more enraged
+with me. I looked on in dismay, when the little
+girl came up, and dropping a courtesy before me, in
+the prettiest French I ever heard, asked me, "Que
+voulez vous, monsieur?" I could have taken her up in
+my arms and kissed her. I have had a fair share of the
+perplexity which befalls every man from the sex, but I
+hold many old accounts cancelled by the relief twice
+afforded me this day. Before coming to a parley with
+my Pole, I took her by the hand, and, sitting down on
+the tongue of a wagon, learned from her that she had
+been taken into the house of a rich seigneur to be educated
+as a companion for his daughter, and was then at
+home on a visit to her mother; after which she explained
+the meaning of my postillion's outcry. Besides his
+apprehensions for me personally, he had been tormented
+with the no less powerful one of losing the promised
+ten rubles upon his arrival at a fixed time at Michoof,
+and all his earnestness was to hurry me off at once,
+in order to give him a chance of still arriving within the
+time. This was exactly the humour in which I wanted
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">248</a></span>to find him, for I had expected great difficulty in making
+him go on that night; so I told him to hitch on his
+horses, and at parting did give the little girl a kiss, and
+the only other thing I could give her without impoverishing
+myself was a silk purse as a memento. I lighted
+my pipe, and, worn out with the perplexities of the day,
+in a short time forgot police and passports, rude Russians
+and dastardly Poles, and even the Polish ladies
+and the little girl.</p>
+
+<p>I woke the next morning under a shed, horses harnessed,
+postillion on the box whipping, and a Jew at
+their head holding them, and the two bipeds quarrelling
+furiously about the stabling. I threw the Jew a florin,
+and he let go his hold, though my peasant shook his
+whip, and roared back at him long after we were out of
+sight and hearing. At a few miles' distance we came
+to a stopping-place, where we found a large calêche
+with four handsome horses, and the postillion in the
+costume of a peasant of Cracow, a little square red
+cap with a red feather, a long white frock somewhat
+like a shooting-jacket, bordered with red, a belt covered
+with pieces of brass like scales lapping over each other,
+and a horn slung over his right shoulder. It belonged
+to a Polish seigneur, who, though disaffected toward
+government, had succeeded in retaining his property,
+and was the proprietor of many villages. He was accompanied
+by a young man about thirty, who spoke a
+very little French; less than any man whom I ever
+heard attempt to speak it at all. They had with them
+their own servants and cooking apparatus, and abundance
+of provisions. The seigneur superintended the
+cooking, and I did them the honour to breakfast with
+them. While we were breakfasting a troop of wagoners
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">249</a></span>or vagabonds were under the shed dancing the mazurka.
+The better class of Poles are noble, high-spirited
+men, warm and social in their feelings, and to
+them, living on their estates in the interior of their almost
+untrodden country, a stranger is a curiosity and a
+treasure. The old seigneur was exceedingly kind and
+hospitable, and the young man and I soon became on
+excellent terms. I was anxious to have a friend in case
+of a new passport difficulty, and at starting gladly embraced
+his offer to ride with me. As soon as we took
+our seats in the calêche we lighted our pipes and shook
+hands as a bargain of good fellowship. Our perfect
+flow of confidence, however, was much broken by the
+up-hill work of making ourselves understood. I was
+no great scholar myself, but his French was execrable;
+he had studied it when a boy, but for more than ten
+years had not spoken a word. At one time, finding it
+impossible to express himself, he said, "Parlatis Latinum?"
+"Can you speak Latin?" I at first thought it
+was some dialect of the country, and could not believe
+that he meant the veritable stuff that had been whipped
+into me at school, and which, to me, was most emphatically
+a dead language; but necessity develops all that
+a man has, and for three hours we kept up an uninterrupted
+stream of talk in bad Latin and worse French.</p>
+
+<p>Like every Pole whom I met, except the employés
+in the public offices, from the bottom of his heart he
+detested a Russian. He had been a soldier during the
+revolution, and lay on his back crippled with wounds
+when it was crushed by the capture of Warsaw. I
+showed him the coin which had accidentally come into
+my hands, and when we came to the point where our
+roads separated, he said that he was ashamed to do so,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">250</a></span>but could not help begging from me that coin; to me it
+was merely a curiosity, to him it was a trophy of the
+brilliant but shortlived independence of his country. I
+was loath to part with it, and would rather have given
+him every button on my coat; but I appreciated his
+patriotic feeling, and could not refuse. I got out, and
+he threw his arms around me, kissed me on both cheeks,
+called me his friend and brother, and mounted the kibitka
+with the old seigneur. The latter invited me to go
+with him to his château, about a day's journey distant,
+and if I had expected to write a book I should certainly
+have done so.</p>
+
+<p>I went on again alone. At about twelve o'clock we
+arrived at the town of Kielse. I felt nervous as we approached
+the barrier. I threw myself back in the calêche,
+and drew my cap over my eyes in grand seigneur
+style, the soldier touched his hat as he opened the gate,
+and we drove into the public square unmolested. I
+breathed more freely, but almost hesitated to leave the
+calêche while the horses fed. I smiled, however, at
+thinking that any effort to avoid observation was the
+very way to attract it, and went to a kukernia, where I
+drank coffee, ate bread encrusted with sugar, and smoked
+a pipe until my Pole came in and kissed my foot as an intimation
+that the horses were ready.</p>
+
+<p>No questions were asked at the barrier; and we rode
+on quietly till nine o'clock, when we drove under the
+shed of a caravanserai. Fifteen or twenty wagoners
+were eating off a bench, and, as they finished, stretched
+themselves on the floor for sleep. It was a beautiful
+moonlight night, and I strolled out for a walk. The
+whole country was an immense plain. I could see for
+a great distance, and the old shed was the only roof in
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">251</a></span>sight. It was the last night of a long journey through
+wild and unsettled countries. I went back to the time
+when, on a night like that, I had embarked on the Adriatic
+for Greece; thought of the many scenes I had
+passed through since, and bidding farewell to the plains
+of Poland, returned to my calêche, drew my cloak around
+me, and was soon asleep.</p>
+
+<p>At nine o'clock we stopped at a feeding-place, where
+a horde of dirty Jews were at a long table eating. I
+brushed off one corner, and sat down to some bread and
+milk. Opposite me was a beggar woman dividing with
+a child about ten years old a small piece of dry black
+bread. I gave them some bread and a jar of milk, and
+I thought, from the lighting up of the boy's face, that
+it was long since he had had such a meal.</p>
+
+<p>At twelve o'clock we reached Michoof, the end of my
+journey with the calêche. I considered my difficulties
+all ended, and showed at the posthouse my letter from
+the Polish captain to the commissario. To my great
+annoyance, he was not in the place. I had to procure
+a conveyance to Cracow; and having parted with my
+poor Pole overwhelmed with gratitude for my treatment
+on the road and my trifling gratuity at parting, I stood
+at the door of the posthouse with my carpet-bag in my
+hand, utterly at a loss what to do. A crowd of people
+gathered round, all willing to assist me, but I could not
+tell them what I wanted. One young man in particular
+seemed bent upon serving me; he accosted me in Russian,
+Polish, and German. I answered him in English,
+French, and Italian, and then both stopped. As a desperate
+resource, and almost trembling at my own temerity,
+I asked him the question I had learned from my
+yesterday's companion "Parlates Latinum?" and he
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">252</a></span>answered me with a fluency and volubility that again
+threw me into another perplexity, caught my hand,
+congratulated me upon having found a language both
+understood, praised the good old classic tongues, offered
+his services to procure anything I wanted, &amp;c.,
+and all with such rapidity of utterance that I was
+obliged to cry out with something like the sailor's "vast
+heaving," and tell him that, if he went on at that rate, it
+was all Russian to me. He stopped, and went on
+more moderately, and with great help from him I gave
+him to understand that I wanted to hire a wagon to
+take me to Cracow. "Venite cum me," said my
+friend, and conducted me round the town until we found
+one. I then told him I wanted my passport <i>viséd</i> for
+passing the frontier. "Venite cum me," again said
+my friend, and took me with him and procured the <i>visé</i>;
+then that I wanted a dinner; still he answered "Venite
+cum me," and took me to a trattoria, and dined with
+me. At dinner my classical friend did a rather unclassical
+thing. An enormous cucumber was swimming in
+a tureen of vinegar. He asked me whether I did not
+want it; and, taking it up in his fingers, ate it as a dessert,
+and drinking the vinegar out of the tureen,
+smacked his lips, wiped his mustaches with the tablecloth,
+and pronounced it "optimum." For three hours
+we talked constantly, and talked nothing but Latin. It
+was easy enough for him, for, as he told me, at school
+it had been the language of conversation. To me it
+was like breaking myself into the treadmill; but, once
+fairly started, my early preceptors would have been
+proud of my talk. At parting he kissed me on both
+cheeks, rubbed me affectionately with his mustaches
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">253</a></span>and, after I had taken my seat, his last words were,
+"Semper me servate in vestra memoria."</p>
+
+<p>We had four and a half German, or about eighteen
+English, miles to Cracow. We had a pair of miserable,
+ragged little horses, but I promised my postillion
+two florins extra if he took me there in three hours, and
+he started off so furiously that in less than an hour the
+horses broke down, and we had to get out and walk.
+After breathing them a little they began to recover, and
+we arrived on a gentle trot at the frontier town, about
+half way to Cracow. My passport was all right, but
+here I had a new difficulty in that I had no passport
+for my postillion. I had not thought of this, and my
+classical friend had not suggested it. It was exceedingly
+provoking, as to return would prevent my reaching
+Cracow that night. After a parley with the commanding
+officer, a gentlemanly man, who spoke French very
+well, he finally said that my postillion might go on under
+charge of a soldier to the next posthouse, about a mile
+beyond, where I could get another conveyance and send
+him back. Just as I had thanked him for his courtesy,
+a young gentleman from Cracow, in a barouche with
+four horses, drove up, and, hearing my difficulty, politely
+offered to take me in with him. I gladly accepted his
+offer, and arrived at Cracow at about dark, where, upon
+his recommendation, I went to the Hotel de la Rose
+Blanche, and cannot well describe the satisfaction with
+which I once more found myself on the borders of civilized
+Europe, within reach of the ordinary public conveyances,
+and among people whose language I could
+understand. "Shall I not take mine ease in mine own
+inn?" Often, after a hard day's journey, I have asked
+myself this question, but seldom with the same self-complacency
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">254</a></span>and the same determination to have mine
+ease as at Cracow. I inquired about the means of getting
+to Vienna, which, at that moment, I thought no more
+of than a journey to Boston. Though there was no particular
+need of it, I had a fire built in my room for the
+associations connected with a cheerful blaze. I put on
+my morning-gown and slippers, and hauling up before
+the fire an old chintz-covered sofa, sent for my landlord
+to come up and talk with me. My host was an Italian,
+and an excellent fellow. Attached to his hotel was a
+large restaurant, frequented by the first people at Cracow.
+During the evening an old countess came there
+to sup; he mentioned to her the arrival of an American,
+and I supped with her and her niece; neither of them,
+however, so interesting as to have any effect upon my
+slumber.</p>
+
+<hr class="l65" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV.</h2>
+
+<div class="chapblock"><p>Cracow.&mdash;Casimir the Great.&mdash;Kosciusko.&mdash;Tombs of the Polish Kings.&mdash;A
+Polish Heroine.&mdash;Last Words of a King.&mdash;A Hero in Decay.&mdash;The
+Salt-mines of Cracow.&mdash;The Descent.&mdash;The Mines.&mdash;Underground Meditations.&mdash;The
+Farewell.</p></div>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Cracow</span> is an old, curious, and interesting city, situated
+in a valley on the banks of the Vistula; and approaching
+it as I did, toward the sunset of a summer's
+day, the old churches and towers, the lofty castles and the
+large houses spread out on the immense plains, gave it an
+appearance of actual splendour. This faded away as I
+entered, but still the city inspired a feeling of respect,
+for it bore the impress of better days. It contains numerous
+churches, some of them very large, and remarkable
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">255</a></span>for their style and architecture, and more than a
+hundred monasteries and convents. In the centre is a
+large square, on which stands the church of Notre
+Dame, an immense Gothic structure, and also the old
+palace of Sobieski, now cut down into shops, and many
+large private residences, uninhabited and falling to ruins.
+The principal streets terminate in this square. Almost
+every building bears striking marks of ruined grandeur.
+On the last partition of Poland in eighteen hundred and
+fifteen by the Holy Alliance, Cracow, with a territory
+of five hundred square miles and a population of a hundred
+and eight thousand, including about thirty thousand
+Jews, was erected into a republic; and at this day
+it exists nominally as a <i>free city</i>, under the protection
+of the three great powers; emphatically, such protection
+as vultures give to lambs; three masters instead of one,
+Russia, Prussia, and Austria, all claiming the right to
+interfere in its government.</p>
+
+<p>But even in its fallen state Cracow is dear to the
+Pole's heart, for it was the capital of his country when
+Poland ranked high among nations, and down to him
+who last sat upon her throne, was the place of coronation
+and of burial for her kings. It is the residence
+of many of the old Polish nobility, who, with reduced
+fortunes, prefer this little foothold in their country, where
+liberty nominally lingers, to exile in foreign lands. It
+now contains a population of about thirty thousand, including
+Jews. Occasionally the seigneur is still seen,
+in his short cassock of blue cloth, with a red sash and
+a white square-topped cap; a costume admirably adapted
+to the tall and noble figure of the proud Pole, and
+the costume of the peasant of Cracow is still a striking
+feature in her streets.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">256</a></span>After a stroll through the churches, I walked on the
+old ramparts of Cracow. The city was formerly surrounded
+with regular fortifications, but, as in almost all
+the cities of Europe, her ancient walls have been transformed
+into Boulevards; and now handsome avenues of
+trees encircle it, destroying altogether its Gothic military
+aspect, and on Sundays and fête days the whole
+population gathers in gay dresses, seeking pleasure
+where their fathers stood clad in armour and arrayed for
+battle.</p>
+
+<p>The Boulevards command an extensive view of all
+the surrounding country. "All the sites of my country,"
+says a national poet, "are dear to me; but, above
+all, I love the environs of Cracow; there at every step
+I meet the recollections of our ancient glory and our
+once imposing grandeur."</p>
+
+<p>On the opposite bank of the river is a large tumulus
+of earth, marking the grave of Cracus, the founder of
+the city. A little higher up is another mound, reverenced
+as the sepulchre of his daughter Wenda, who
+was so enamoured of war that she promised to give
+her hand only to the lover who should conquer her in
+battle. Beyond this is the field of Zechino, where the
+brave Kosciusko, after his return from America, with a
+band of peasants, again struck the first blow of revolution,
+and, by a victory over the Russians, roused all
+Poland to arms.</p>
+
+<p>About a mile from Cracow are the ruins of the palace
+of Lobzow, built by Casimir the Great, for a long
+time the favourite royal residence, and identified with
+a crowd of national recollections; and, until lately, a
+large mound of earth in the garden was reverenced as
+the grave of Esther, the beautiful Jewess, the idol of
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">257</a></span>Casimir the Great. Poetry has embellished the tradition,
+and the national muse has hallowed the palace of
+Lobzow and the grave of Esther.</p>
+
+<p>"Passer-by, if you are a stranger, tremble in thinking
+of human destruction; but if you are a Pole, shed bitter
+tears; heroes have inhabited this palace.... Who
+can equal them?...</p>
+
+<hr class="l5" />
+
+<p>"Casimir erected this palace: centuries have hailed
+him with the name of the great....</p>
+
+<hr class="l5" />
+
+<p>"Near his Esther, in the delightful groves of Lobzow,
+he thought himself happy in ceasing to be a king to
+become a lover.</p>
+
+<hr class="l5" />
+
+<p>"But fate is unpitiable for kings as for us, and even
+beauty is subject to the common law. Esther died, and
+Casimir erected a tomb in the place she had loved.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! if you are sensible to the grief caused by love,
+drop a tear at this tomb and adorn it with a crown. If
+Casimir was tied to humanity by some weaknesses, they
+are the appendage of heroes! In presence of this chateau,
+in finding again noble remains, sing the glory of
+Casimir the Great."</p>
+
+<p>I was not a sentimental traveller, nor sensible to the
+grief that is caused by love, and I could neither drop a
+tear at the tomb of Esther nor sing the glory of Casimir
+the Great; but my heart beat high as I turned to
+another monument in the environs of Cracow; an
+immense mound of earth, standing on an eminence visible
+from every quarter, towering almost into a mountain,
+and sacred to the memory of Kosciusko! I saw
+it from the palace of the kings and from the ramparts
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">258</a></span>of the fallen city, and, with my eyes constantly
+fixed upon it, descended to the Vistula, followed its
+bank to a large convent, and then turned to the right,
+direct for the mound. I walked to the foot of the hill,
+and ascended to a broad table of land. From this table
+the mound rises in a conical form, from a base
+three hundred feet in diameter, to the height of one
+hundred and seventy-five feet. At the four corners
+formerly stood small houses, which were occupied by
+revolutionary soldiers who had served under Kosciusko.
+On the farther side, enclosed by a railing, was a
+small chapel, and within it a marble tomb covering
+Kosciusko's heart! A circular path winds round the
+mound; I ascended by this path to the top. It is built
+of earth sodded, and was then covered with a thick
+carpet of grass, and reminded me of the tumuli of the
+Grecian heroes on the plains of Troy; and perhaps,
+when thousands of years shall have rolled by, and all
+connected with our age be forgotten, and time and exposure
+to the elements shall have changed its form,
+another stranger will stand where I did, and wonder
+why and for what it was raised. It was erected in
+1819 by the voluntary labour of the Polish people;
+and so great was the enthusiasm, that, as an eyewitness
+told me, wounded soldiers brought earth in their helmets,
+and women in their slippers; and I remembered,
+with a swelling heart, that on this consecrated spot a
+nation of brave men had turned to my country as the
+star of liberty, and that here a banner had been unfurled
+and hailed with acclamations by assembled thousands,
+bearing aloft the sacred inscription, "Kosciusko, the
+friend of Washington!"</p>
+
+<p>The morning was cold and dreary, the sky was overcast
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">259</a></span>with clouds, and the sun, occasionally breaking
+through lighted up for a moment with dazzling brilliancy
+the domes and steeples of Cracow, and the palace
+and burial-place of her kings, emblematic of the
+fitful gleams of her liberty flashing and dazzling, and
+then dying away. I drew my cloak around me, and remained
+there till I was almost drenched with rain.
+The wind blew violently, and I descended and sheltered
+myself at the foot of the mound, by the grave of
+Kosciusko's heart!</p>
+
+<p>I returned to the city and entered the Cathedral
+Church. It stands by the side of the old palace, on
+the summit of the rock of Wauvel, in the centre of
+and commanding the city, enclosed with walls and
+towers, and allied in its history with the most memorable
+annals of Poland; the witness of the ancient
+glory of her kings, and their sepulchre. The rain
+was pattering against the windows of the old church
+as I strolled through the silent cloisters and among
+the tombs of the kings. A verger in a large cocked
+hat, and a group of peasants, moved, like myself, with
+noiseless steps, as if afraid to disturb the repose
+of the royal dead. Many of the kings of Poland fill
+but a corner of the page of history. Some of their
+names I had forgotten, or, perhaps, never knew until I
+saw them inscribed on their tombs; but every monument
+covered a head that had worn a crown, and some
+whose bones were mouldering under my feet will live
+till the last records of heroism perish.</p>
+
+<p>The oldest monument is that of Wladislaus le Bref,
+built of stone, without any inscription, but adorned with
+figures in bas-relief, which are very much injured. He
+died in thirteen hundred and thirty-three, and chose
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">260</a></span>himself the place of his eternal rest. Charles the
+Twelfth of Sweden, on his invasion of Poland, visited
+the Cathedral Church, and stopped before this tomb.
+A distinguished canon who attended him, in allusion
+to the position of John Casimir, who was then at war
+with the King of Sweden, remarked, "And that king
+was also driven from his throne, but he returned and
+reigned until his death." The Swede answered with
+bitterness, "But your John Casimir will never return."
+The canon replied respectfully, "God is great and fortune
+is fickle;" and the canon was right, for John Casimir
+regained his throne.</p>
+
+<p>I approached with a feeling of veneration the tomb
+of Casimir the Great. It is of red marble; four columns
+support a canopy, and the figure of the king, with a crown
+on his head, rests on a coffin of stone. An iron railing
+encloses the monument. It is nearly five hundred years
+since the palatins and nobles of Poland, with all the insignia
+of barbaric magnificence, laid him in the place
+where his ashes now repose. The historian writes,
+"Poland is indebted to Casimir for the greatest part of
+her churches, palaces, fortresses, and towns," adding
+that "he found Poland of wood and left her of marble."
+He patronized letters, and founded the University of Cracow;
+promoted industry and encouraged trade; digested
+the unwritten laws and usages into a regular code; established
+courts of justice; repressed the tyranny of the
+nobles, and died with the honourable title of King of the
+Peasants; and I did not forget, while standing over his
+grave, that beneath me slept the spirit that loved the
+groves of Lobzow and the heart that beat for Esther
+the Jewess.</p>
+
+<p>The tomb of Sigismund I. is of red marble, with a
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">261</a></span>figure as large as life reclining upon it. It is adorned
+with bas-reliefs and the arms of the republic, the white
+eagle and the armed cavalier of Lithuania. He died in
+fifteen hundred and forty-one, and his monument bears
+the following inscription in Latin: "Sigismund Jagellon,
+King of Poland, Grand-duke of Lithuania, Conqueror
+of the Tartars, of the Wallachians, of the Russians
+and Prussians, reposes under this stone, which
+he prepared for himself." Forty years ago Thaddeus
+Czacki, the Polish historian, opened the tombs of the
+kings, and found the head of Sigismund resting upon a
+plate of silver bearing a long Latin inscription; the
+body measured six feet and two inches in height, and
+was covered with three rich ermines; on the feet were
+golden spurs, a chain of gold around the neck, and a
+gold ring on one finger of the left hand. At his feet
+was a small pewter coffin enclosing the body of his son
+by Bone Sforza.</p>
+
+<p>By his side lies the body of his son Sigismund II.,
+the last of the Jagellons, at whose death began the cabals
+and convulsions of an elective monarchy, by which Poland
+lost her influence among foreign powers. His
+memory is rendered interesting by his romantic love for
+Barbe Radzewill. She appeared at his father's court,
+the daughter of a private citizen, celebrated in Polish
+history and romance as uniting to all a woman's beauty
+a mingled force and tenderness, energy and goodness.
+The prince had outlived all the ardour of youth; disappointed
+and listless amid pleasures, his energy of mind
+destroyed by his excesses, inconstant in his love, and at
+the summit of human prosperity, living without a wish or
+a hope; but he saw Barbe, and his heart beat anew with
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">262</a></span>the pulsations of life. In the language of his biographer
+he proved, in all its fulness, that sentiment which draws
+to earth by its sorrows and raises to heaven by its delights.
+He married her privately, and on his father's
+death proclaimed her queen. The whole body of nobles
+refused to acknowledge the marriage, and one of
+the nuncios, in the name of the representatives of the
+nation, supplicated him for himself, his country, his
+blood, and his children, to extinguish his passion; but
+the king swore on his sword that neither the diet, nor
+the nation, nor the whole universe should make him
+break his vows to Barbe; that he would a thousand
+times rather live with her out of the kingdom than keep
+a throne which she could not share; and was on the
+point of abdicating, when his opponents offered to do
+homage to the queen. When Czacki opened the coffin
+of this prince, he found the body perfectly preserved,
+and the head, as before, resting on a silver plate containing
+a long Latin inscription.</p>
+
+<p>At the foot of his coffin is that of his sister and successor,
+Anne; and in a separate chapel is the tomb of
+Stephen Battory, one of the greatest of the kings of Poland,
+raised to the throne by his marriage with Anne.</p>
+
+<p>I became more and more interested in this asylum of
+royal dead. I read there almost the entire history of
+the Polish republic, and again I felt that it was but a
+step from the throne to the grave, for near me was the
+great chair in which the kings of Poland were crowned.
+I paused before the tomb of John Casimir; and there
+was something strangely interesting in the juxtaposition
+of these royal dead. John Casimir lies by the side of
+the brother whom he endeavoured to supplant in his
+election to the throne. His reign was a continued succession
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">263</a></span>of troubles and misfortunes. Once he was
+obliged to fly from Poland. He predicted what has
+since been so fearfully verified, that his country, enfeebled
+by the anarchy of its government and the licentiousness
+of the nobles, would be dismembered among
+the neighbouring powers; and, worn out with the cares
+of royalty, abdicated the throne, and died in a convent in
+France. I read at his tomb his pathetic farewell to his
+people.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquotin"><p>"People of Poland,</p>
+
+<p>"It is now two hundred and eighty years that you
+have been governed by my family. The reign of my
+ancestors is past, and mine is going to expire. Fatigued
+by the labours of war, the cares of the cabinet, and the
+weight of age; oppressed with the burdens and vicissitudes
+of a reign of more than twenty-one years, I, your
+king and father, return into your hands what the world
+esteems above all things, a crown, and choose for my
+throne six feet of earth, where I shall sleep with my fathers.
+When you show my tomb to your children, tell
+them that I was the foremost in battle and the last in
+retreat; that I renounced regal grandeur for the good
+of my country, and restored my sceptre to those who
+gave it me."</p></div>
+
+<p>By his side, and under a monument of black marble,
+lies the body of his successor, Michel Wisniowecki, an
+obscure and unambitious citizen, who was literally
+dragged to the throne, and wept when the crown was
+placed upon his head, and of whom Casimir remarked,
+when informed of his late subjects' choice, "What,
+have they put the crown on the head of that poor fellow?"
+And again I was almost startled by the strange
+and unnatural mingling of human ashes. By the side
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">264</a></span>of that "poor fellow" lies the "famous" John Sobieski,
+the greatest of the long line of kings of a noble and
+valorous nation;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"One of the few, the immortal names,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">That were not born to die."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>On the lower floor of the church, by the side of Poniatowski,
+the Polish Bayard, is the tomb of one nobler
+in my eyes than all the kings of Poland or of the world.
+It is of red marble, ornamented with the cap and plume
+of the peasant of Cracow, and bears the simple inscription
+"T. Kosciusko." All over the church I had read
+elaborate panegyrics upon the tenants of the royal sepulchres,
+and I was struck with this simple inscription,
+and remembered that the white marble column reared
+amid the magnificent scenery of the Hudson, which I
+had often gazed at from the deck of a steamboat, and
+at whose base I had often stood, bore also in majestic
+simplicity the name of "Kosciusko." It was late in
+the afternoon, and the group of peasants, two Poles from
+the interior, and a party of the citizens of Cracow,
+among whom were several ladies, joined me at the tomb.
+We could not speak each other's language; we were
+born and lived thousands of miles apart, and we were
+strangers in our thoughts and feelings, in all our hopes
+and prospects, but we had a bond of sympathy at the
+grave of Kosciusko. One of the ladies spoke French,
+and I told them that, in my far distant country, the name
+of their nation's idol was hallowed; that schoolboys
+had erected a monument to his memory. They knew
+that he had fought by the side of Washington, but they
+did not know that the recollection of his services was
+still so dearly cherished in America; and we all agreed
+that it was the proudest tribute that could be paid to
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">265</a></span>his memory, to write merely his name on his monument.
+It meant that it was needless to add an epitaph, for no
+man would ask, Who was Kosciusko?</p>
+
+<p>It was nearly dark when I returned to my hotel. In
+the restaurant, at a small table directly opposite me,
+sat the celebrated Chlopicki, to whom, on the breaking
+out of the last revolution, Poland turned as to another
+Kosciusko, and who, until he faltered during the
+trying scenes of that revolution, would have been deemed
+worthy to lie by Kosciusko's side. Born of a noble
+family, a soldier from his birth, he served in the memorable
+campaigns of the great patriot, distinguished himself
+in the Polish legions in Italy under Dombrowski,
+and, as colonel of a regiment of the army of the Vistula,
+behaved gloriously in Prussia. In Spain he fought at
+Saragossa and Sagunta, and was called by Suchet <i>le
+brave des braves</i>; as general of brigade in the army of
+Russia, he was wounded at Valentina, near Smolensk,
+and was general of a division in eighteen hundred and
+fourteen, when Poland fell under the dominion of the autocrat.
+The Grand-duke Constantine censured him on
+parade, saying that his division was not in order; and
+Chlopicki, with the proud boast, "I did not gain my
+rank on the parade-ground, nor did I win my decorations
+there," asked his discharge the next day, and could
+never after be induced to return to the service. The
+day after the revolutionary blow was struck, all Poland
+turned to Chlopicki as the only man capable of standing
+at the head of the nation. The command of the army,
+with absolute powers, was conferred upon him by acclamation,
+and one of the patriot leaders concluded his
+address to him with these words: "Brother, take the
+sword of your ancestors and predecessors, Czarnecki,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">266</a></span>Dombrowski, and Kosciusko. Guide the nation that
+has placed its trust in you in the path of honour. Save
+this unhappy country." Chlopicki, with his silver head
+grown white in the service of Poland, was hailed by
+a hundred thousand people on the Champ de Mars with
+shouts of "our country and its brave defender, Chlopicki,
+for ever." He promised never to abuse their confidence,
+and swore that he would defend the liberty of Poland to
+the last moment. The whole nation was enthusiastic
+in his favour; but in less than three months, at a stormy
+session of the diet, he threw up his high office of dictator,
+and refused peremptorily to accept command of
+the army. This brave army, enthusiastically attached
+to him, was struck with profound grief at his estrangement;
+but, with all the faults imputed to him, it never
+was charged that he attempted to take advantage of his
+great popularity for any ambitious purposes of his own.</p>
+
+<p>At the battle of Grokow he fought nominally as a
+private soldier, though Skryznecki and Radziwill being
+both deficient in military experience, the whole army
+looked to him for guidance. Once, when the battle
+was setting strong against the Poles, in a moment of
+desperation he put himself at the head of some disposable
+battalions, and turning away from an aiddecamp
+who came to him for orders, said, "Go and ask Radziwill;
+for me, I seek only death." Grievously wounded,
+his wounds were dressed in presence of the enemy; but
+at two o'clock he was borne off the field, the hopes of the
+soldiers died, and the army remained without any actual
+head. Throughout the revolution his conduct was
+cold, indifferent, and inexplicable; private letters from
+the Emperor of Russia were talked of, and even <i>treason</i>
+was whispered in connexion with his name. The Poles
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">267</a></span>speak of him more in sorrow than in anger; they say
+that it was not enough that he exposed his person on
+the field of battle; that he should have given them the
+whole weight of his great military talents, and the influence
+of his powerful name; that, standing alone, without
+children or relations to be compromised by his acts,
+he should have consummated the glory of his life by
+giving its few remaining years for the liberty of his
+country. He appeared about sixty-five, with hair perfectly
+white, a high florid complexion, a firm and determined
+expression, and in still unbroken health, carrying
+himself with the proud bearing of a distinguished veteran
+soldier. I could not believe that he had bartered the
+precious satisfaction of a long and glorious career for a
+few years of ignoble existence; and, though a stranger,
+could but regret that, in the wane of life, circumstances,
+whether justly or not, had sullied an honoured name.
+It spoke loudly against him that I saw him sitting in a
+public restaurant at Cracow, unmolested by the Russian
+government.</p>
+
+<p>The next day I visited the celebrated salt-mines at
+Wielitska. They lie about, twelve miles from Cracow,
+in the province of Galicia, a part of the kingdom of
+Poland, which, on the unrighteous partition of that
+country, fell to the share of Austria. Although at so
+short a distance, it was necessary to go through all the
+passport formalities requisite on a departure for a foreign
+country. I took a fiacre and rode to the different bureaux
+of the city police, and, having procured the permission
+of the municipal authorities to leave the little
+territory of Cracow, rode next to the Austrian consul,
+who thereupon, and in consideration of one dollar to him
+in hand paid, was graciously pleased to permit me to
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">268</a></span>enter the dominions of his master the Emperor of Austria.
+It was also necessary to have an order from the director
+of the mines to the superintendent; and furnished
+with this I again mounted my fiacre, rattled through
+the principal street, and in a few minutes crossed the
+Vistula. At the end of the bridge an Austrian soldier
+stopped me for my passport, a <i>douanier</i> examined my
+carriage for articles subject to duty, and, these functionaries
+being satisfied, in about two hours from the time
+at which I began my preparations I was fairly on my
+way.</p>
+
+<p>Leaving the Vistula, I entered a pretty, undulating,
+and well-cultivated country, and saw at a distance a high
+dark line, marking the range of the Carpathian mountains.
+It was a long time since I had seen anything
+that looked like a mountain. From the Black Sea the
+whole of my journey had been over an immense plain,
+and I hailed the wild range of the Carpathian as I would
+the spire of a church, as an evidence of the approach to
+regions of civilization.</p>
+
+<p>In an hour and a half I arrived at the town of Wielitska,
+containing about three thousand inhabitants, and
+standing, as it were, on the roof of the immense subterraneous
+excavations. The houses are built of wood, and
+the first thing that struck me was the almost entire absence
+of men in the streets, the whole male population
+being employed in the mines, and then at work below.
+I rode to the office of the superintendent, and presented
+my letter, and was received with great civility of manner
+but his <i>Polish</i> was perfectly unintelligible. A
+smutty-faced operative, just out of the mines, accosted
+me in Latin, and I exchanged a few shots with him, but
+hauled off on the appearance of a man whom the superintendent
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">269</a></span>had sent for to act as my guide; an old
+soldier who had served in the campaigns of Napoleon,
+and, as he said, become an amateur and proficient in
+fighting and French. He was dressed in miner's costume,
+fanciful, and embroidered with gold, holding in
+his hand a steel axe; and, having arrayed me in a long
+white frock, conducted me to a wooden building covering
+the shaft which forms the principal entrance to the mine.
+This shaft is ten feet square, and descends perpendicularly
+more than two hundred feet into the bowels of the
+earth. We arranged ourselves in canvass seats, and
+several of the miners, who were waiting to descend, attached
+themselves to seats at the end of the ropes, with
+lamps in their hands, about eight or ten feet below us.</p>
+
+<p>When my feet left the brink of the shaft I felt, for a
+moment, as if suspended over the portal of a bottomless
+pit; and as my head descended below the surface, the
+rope, winding and tapering to a thread, seemed letting
+me down to the realms of Pluto. But in a few moments
+we touched bottom. From within a short distance
+of the surface, the shaft is cut through a solid
+rock of salt, and from the bottom passages almost innumerable
+are cut in every direction through the same
+bed. We were furnished with guides, who went before
+us bearing torches, and I followed through the whole
+labyrinth of passages, forming the largest excavations
+in Europe, peopled with upward of two thousand souls,
+and giving a complete idea of a subterraneous world.
+These mines are known to have been worked upward
+of six hundred years, being mentioned in the Polish annals
+as early as twelve hundred and thirty-seven, under
+Boleslaus the Chaste, and then not as a new discovery,
+but how much earlier they had existed cannot now be
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">270</a></span>ascertained. The tradition is, that a sister of St. Casimir,
+having lost a gold ring, prayed to St. Anthony, the
+patron saint of Cracow, and was advised in a dream
+that, by digging in such a place, she would find a treasure
+far greater than that she had lost, and within the
+place indicated these mines were discovered.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" >
+<img src="images/i_v2_p270.jpg" width="60%" alt="Salt-mines of Wielitska." title="Salt-mines of Wielitska" />
+<p class="caption">Salt-mines of Wielitska.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>There are four different stories or ranges of apartments;
+the whole length of the excavations is more
+than six thousand feet, or three quarters of an hour's
+walk, and the greatest breadth more than two thousand
+feet; and there are so many turnings and windings that
+my guide told me, though I hardly think it possible,
+that the whole length of all the passages cut through
+this bed of salt amounts to more than three hundred
+miles. Many of the chambers are of immense size.
+Some are supported by timber, others by vast pillars of
+salt; several are without any support in the middle, and
+of vast dimensions, perhaps eighty feet high, and so long
+and broad as almost to appear a boundless subterraneous
+cavern. In one of the largest is a lake covering nearly
+the whole area. When the King of Saxony visited this
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">271</a></span>place in eighteen hundred and ten, after taking possession
+of his moiety of the mines as Duke of Warsaw,
+this portion of them was brilliantly illuminated; and a
+band of music, floating on the lake, made the roof echo
+with patriotic airs. We crossed the lake in a flatboat
+by a rope, the dim light of torches, and the hollow sound
+of our voices, giving a lively idea of a passage across
+the Styx; and we had a scene which might have entitled
+us to a welcome from the prince of the infernals, for our
+torch-bearers quarrelled, and in a scuffle that came near
+carrying us all with them, one was tumbled into the
+lake. Our Charon caught him, and, without stopping
+to take him in, hurried across, and as soon as we landed
+beat them both unmercifully.</p>
+
+<p>From this we entered an immense cavern, in which
+several hundred men were working with pickaxes and
+hatchets, cutting out large blocks of salt, and trimming
+them to suit the size of barrels. With their black faces
+begrimed with dust and smoke, they looked by the light
+of the scattered torches like the journeymen of Beelzebub,
+the prince of darkness, preparing for some great
+blow-up, or like the spirits of the damned condemned
+to toil without end. My guide called up a party, who
+disengaged with their pickaxes a large block of salt from
+its native bed, and in a few minutes cut and trimmed it
+to fit the barrels in which they are packed. All doubts
+as to their being creatures of our upper world were removed
+by the eagerness with which they accepted the
+money I gave them; and it will be satisfactory to the
+advocates of that currency to know that paper money
+passes readily in these lower regions.</p>
+
+<p>There are more than a thousand chambers or halls,
+most of which have been abandoned and shut up. In
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">272</a></span>one is a collection of fanciful things, such as rings,
+books, crosses, &amp;c., cut in the rock-salt. Most of the
+principal chambers had some name printed over them,
+as the "Archduke," "Carolina," &amp;c. Whenever it
+was necessary, my guides went ahead and stationed
+themselves in some conspicuous place, lighting up the
+dark caverns with the blaze of their torches, and, after
+allowing me a sufficient time, struck their flambeaux
+against the wall, and millions of sparks flashed and
+floated around and filled the chamber. In one place, at
+the end of a long, dark passage, a door was thrown
+open, and I was ushered suddenly into a spacious ballroom
+lighted with torches; and directly in front, at the
+head of the room, was a transparency with coloured
+lights, in the centre of which were the words "Excelso
+hospiti," "To the illustrious guest," which I took to myself,
+though I believe the greeting was intended for the
+same royal person for whom the lake chamber was illuminated.
+Lights were ingeniously arranged around the
+room, and at the foot, about twenty feet above my head,
+was a large orchestra. On the occasion referred to a
+splendid ball was given in this room; the roof echoed
+with the sound of music; and nobles and princely ladies
+flirted and coquetted the same as above ground; and it
+is said that the splendid dresses of a numerous company,
+and the blaze of light from the chandeliers reflected
+upon the surface of the rock-salt, produced an effect of
+inconceivable brilliancy. My chandeliers were worse
+than Allan M'Aulay's strapping Highlanders with their
+pine torches, being dirty, ragged, smutty-faced rascals,
+who threw the light in streaks across the hall. I am always
+willing to believe fanciful stories; and if my guide
+had thrown in a handsome young princess as part of the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">273</a></span>welcome to the "Excelso hospiti," I would have subscribed
+to anything he said; but, in the absence of a
+consideration, I refused to tax my imagination up to the
+point he wished. Perhaps the most interesting chamber
+of all is the chapel dedicated to that Saint Anthony
+who brought about the discovery of these mines. It is
+supposed to be more than four hundred years old. The
+columns, with their ornamented capitals, the arches,
+the images of the Saviour, the Virgin and saints, the
+altar and the pulpit, with all their decorations, and the
+figures of two priests represented at prayers before the
+shrine of the patron saint, are all carved out of the rock-salt,
+and to this day grand mass is regularly celebrated
+in the chapel once every year.</p>
+
+<p>Following my guide through all the different passages
+and chambers, and constantly meeting miners
+and seeing squads of men at work, I descended by
+regular stairs cut in the salt, but in some places worn
+away and replaced by wood or stone, to the lowest
+gallery, which is nearly a thousand feet below the surface
+of the earth. I was then a rather veteran traveller,
+but up to this time it had been my business to
+move quietly on the surface of the earth, or, when infected
+with the soaring spirit of other travellers, to
+climb to the top of some lofty tower or loftier cathedral;
+and I had fulfilled one of the duties of a visiter
+to the eternal city by perching myself within the great
+ball of St. Peter's; but here I was far deeper under
+the earth than I had ever been above it; and at the
+greatest depth from which the human voice ever rose,
+I sat down on a lump of salt and soliloquized,</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Through what varieties of untried being,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Through what new scenes and changes must we pass!"<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">274</a></span>I have since stood upon the top of the Pyramids, and
+admired the daring genius and the industry of man,
+and at the same time smiled at his feebleness when,
+from the mighty pile, I saw in the dark ranges of
+mountains, the sandy desert, the rich valley of the Nile
+and the river of Egypt, the hand of the world's great
+Architect; but I never felt man's feebleness more than
+here; for all these immense excavations, the work of
+more than six hundred years, were but as the work
+of ants by the roadside. The whole of the immense
+mass above me, and around and below, to an unknown
+extent, was of salt; a wonderful phenomenon in the
+natural history of the globe. All the different strata
+have been carefully examined by scientific men. The
+uppermost bed at the surface is sand; the second clay
+occasionally mixed with sand and gravel, and containing
+petrifactions of marine bodies; the third is calcareous
+stone; and from these circumstances it has been
+conjectured that this spot was formerly covered by the
+sea, and that the salt is a gradual deposite formed by
+the evaporation of its waters. I was disappointed in
+some of the particulars which had fastened themselves
+upon my imagination. I had heard and read glowing
+accounts of the brilliancy and luminous splendour of
+the passages and chambers, compared by some to the
+lustre of precious stones; but the salt is of a dark gray
+colour, almost black, and although sometimes glittering
+when the light was thrown upon it, I do not believe it
+could ever be lighted up to shine with any extraordinary
+or dazzling brightness. Early travellers, too, had
+reported that these mines contained several villages inhabited
+by colonies of miners, who lived constantly below,
+and that many were born and died there, who
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">275</a></span>never saw the light of day; but all this is entirely untrue.
+The miners descend every morning and return
+every night, and live in the village above. None of
+them ever sleep below. There are, however, two horses
+which were foaled in the mines, and have never been
+on the surface of the earth. I looked at these horses
+with great interest. They were growing old before
+their time; other horses had perhaps gone down and
+told them stories of a world above which they would
+never know.</p>
+
+<p>It was late in the afternoon when I was hoisted up the
+shaft. These mines do not need the embellishment of
+fiction. They are, indeed, a wonderful spectacle, and
+I am satisfied that no traveller ever visited them without
+recurring to it as a day of extraordinary interest.
+I wrote my name in the book of visiters, where I saw
+those of two American friends who had preceded me
+about a month, mounted my barouche, and about an hour
+after dark reached the bank of the Vistula. My passport
+was again examined by a soldier and my carriage
+searched by a custom-house officer; I crossed the
+bridge, dined with my worthy host of the Hotel de la
+Rose Blanche, and, while listening to a touching story
+of the Polish revolution, fell asleep in my chair.</p>
+
+<p>And here, on the banks of the Vistula, I take my
+leave of the reader. I have carried him over seas and
+rivers, mountains and plains, through royal palaces and
+peasants' huts, and in return for his kindness in accompanying
+me to the end, I promise that I will not again
+burden him with my Incidents of Travel.</p>
+
+<hr class="full" />
+<p class="center">THE END.</p>
+
+<hr class="l65" />
+<p>A <span class="smcap">NEW</span> Classified and Descriptive Catalogue of <span class="smcap">Harper &amp;
+Brothers'</span> Publications has just been issued, comprising a very
+extensive range of Literature, in its several Departments of History,
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+The selection of works includes not only a large proportion
+of the most esteemed Literary Productions of our times,
+but also, in the majority of instances, the best existing authorities
+on given subjects. This new Catalogue has been constructed
+with a view to the especial use of persons forming or enriching
+their Literary Collections, as well as to aid Principals of
+District Schools and Seminaries of Learning, who may not possess
+any reliable means of forming a true estimate of any production;
+to all such it commends itself by its explanatory and
+critical notices. The valuable collection described in this Catalogue,
+consisting of about <i>two thousand volumes</i>, combines the
+two-fold advantages of great economy in price with neatness&mdash;often
+elegance of typographical execution, in many instances the
+rates of publication being scarcely one fifth of those of similar
+issues in Europe.</p>
+
+<p><sup>*</sup><sub>*</sub><sup>*</sup> Copies of this Catalogue may be obtained, free of expense,
+by application to the Publishers personally, or by letter,
+post-paid.</p>
+
+<p>To prevent disappointment, it is requested that, whenever
+books ordered through any bookseller or local agent can not be
+obtained, applications with remittance be addressed direct to the
+Publishers, which will be promptly attended to.</p>
+
+<p><i>New York, January, 1847.</i></p>
+
+<hr class="l65" />
+<div class='tnote'>
+<h3>List of Corrections:</h3>
+
+<p>p. <a href="#Page_13">13</a>: "Voznezeuski" was changed to "Vosnezeuski."</p>
+<p>p. <a href="#Page_21">21</a>: "the last time in the <i>calèche</i>" was changed to "the last time
+  in the <i>calêche</i>."</p>
+<p>p. <a href="#Page_71">71</a>: "merchandize" was changed to "merchandise" as elsewhere in the book.</p>
+<p>p. <a href="#Page_129">129</a>: "sailed down the Dneiper from Kief" was changed to "sailed down
+  the Dnieper from Kief."</p>
+<p>p. <a href="#Page_137">137</a>: "of a lilach colour" was changed to "of a lilac colour."</p>
+
+<p>p. <a href="#Page_202">202</a>: "Diebisch directed the strength" was changed to "Diebitsch
+  directed the strength."</p>
+<h3>Errata:</h3>
+<p>The summary in the table of contents is not always consistent with the
+summary at the beginning of each chapter. The original has been
+retained.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Incidents of Travel in Greece, Turkey,
+Russia, and Poland, 7th ed. Vol. 2 of 2, by John Lloyd Stephens
+
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+</pre>
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+</body>
+</html>
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@@ -0,0 +1,7820 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Incidents of Travel in Greece, Turkey,
+Russia, and Poland, 7th ed. Vol. 2 of 2, by John Lloyd Stephens
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Incidents of Travel in Greece, Turkey, Russia, and Poland, 7th ed. Vol. 2 of 2
+
+Author: John Lloyd Stephens
+
+Release Date: November 9, 2011 [EBook #37947]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL IN ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Julia Miller, Eleni Christofaki and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
+book was produced from scanned images of public domain
+material from the Google Print project.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Notes:
+
+Punctuation and hyphenation have been normalised. Variable, archaic or
+unusual spelling has been retained. A list of the few corrections made
+can found at the end of the book. Italics indicated by _underscores_.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: GREECE, TURKEY, _PART OF_ RUSSIA & POLAND.]
+
+
+
+
+  INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL IN GREECE, TURKEY, RUSSIA AND POLAND.
+
+  BY THE AUTHOR OF
+
+  "INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL IN EGYPT, ARABIA PETRAEA, AND THE HOLY LAND."
+
+
+  WITH A MAP AND ENGRAVINGS.
+
+
+  IN TWO VOLUMES.
+
+  VOL. II.
+
+
+  SEVENTH EDITION.
+
+
+  NEW YORK:
+  HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS,
+  329 & 331 PEARL STREET,
+  FRANKLIN SQUARE.
+  1853.
+
+
+
+
+  Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1838, by HARPER &
+  BROTHERS, in the Clerk's Office of the Southern District of New York.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS OF THE SECOND VOLUME.
+
+
+    CHAPTER I.                                                      Page
+
+    Choice of a Conveyance.--Hiring a Servant.--Another
+      American.--Beginning of Troubles.--A Bivouac.--Russian Jews.--The
+      Steppes of Russia.--A _Traveller's_ Story.--Approach to
+      Chioff.--How to get rid of a Servant.--History of Chioff.        7
+
+    CHAPTER II.
+
+    A lucky Encounter.--Church of the Catacombs.--A Visit to the
+      Saints.--A tender Parting.--Pilgrims.--Rough Treatment.--A Scene
+      of Starvation.--Russian Serfs.--Devotion of the Serfs.--Approach
+      to Moscow.                                                      28
+
+    CHAPTER III.
+
+    Moscow.--A severe Operation.--An Exile by Accident.--Meeting with an
+      Emigre.--A civil Stranger.--A Spy.--The Kremlin.--Sepulchres of
+      the Czars.--The great Bell.--The great Gun.--Precious Relics.   45
+
+    CHAPTER IV.
+
+    The Drosky.--Salle des Nobles.--Russian
+      Gaming.--Gastronomy.--Pedroski.--A Sunday in Moscow.--A Gipsy
+      Belle.--Tea drinking.--The Emperor's Garden.--Retrospective.    67
+
+    CHAPTER V.
+
+    Getting a Passport.--Parting with the Marquis.--The Language of
+      Signs.--A loquacious Traveller.--From Moscow to St.
+      Petersburgh.--The Wolga.--Novogorod.--Newski Perspective.--An
+      unfortunate Mistake.--Northern Twilight.                        85
+
+    CHAPTER VI.
+
+    Police Requisites.--The Russian Capital.--Equestrian Statue of Peter
+      the Great.--The Alexandrian Column.--Architectural Wonders.--The
+      Summer Islands.--A perilous Achievement.--Origin of St.
+      Petersburgh.--Tombs of dead Monarchs.--Origin of the Russian Navy.
+                                                                      97
+
+    CHAPTER VII.
+
+    A Carroty Pole.--The Winter Palace.--Importance of a Hat.--An
+      artificial Mine.--Remains of a huge Monster.--Peter the Great's
+      Workshop.--The Greek Religion.--Tomb of a Hero.--A Saint
+      Militant.--Another Love Affair.--The Hermitage.--The Winter and
+      Summer Gardens.                                                118
+
+    CHAPTER VIII.
+
+    An Imperial Fete.--Nicolas of Russia.--Varied Splendours.--A
+      Soliloquy.--House of Peter the Great.--A
+      Boatrace.--Czarskoselo.--The Amber Chamber.--Catharine II.--The
+      Emperor Alexander.                                             140
+
+    CHAPTER IX.
+
+    The Soldier's Reward.--Review of the Russian Army.--American
+      Cannibals.--Palace of Potemkin.--Palace of the Grand-duke
+      Michael.--Equipments for Travelling.--Rough
+      Riding.--Poland.--Vitepsk.--Napoleon in Poland.--The Disastrous
+      Retreat.--Passage of the Berezina.                             154
+
+    CHAPTER X.
+
+    Travel by Night.--A Rencounter.--A Traveller's
+      Message.--Lithuania.--Poverty of the Country.--Agricultural
+      Implements.--Minsk.--Polish Jews.--A Coin of Freedom.--Riding in a
+      Basket.--Brezc.--The Bug.--A searching Operation.--Women
+      Labourers.--Warsaw.                                            181
+
+    CHAPTER XI.
+
+    Warsaw.--A Polish Doctor.--Battle of Grokow.--The Outbreak.--The
+      fatal Issue.--Present Condition of Poland.--Polish Exiles.--Aspect
+      of Warsaw.--Traits of the Poles.                               199
+
+    CHAPTER XII.
+
+    Religion of Poland.--Sunday in Warsaw.--Baptized Jews.--Palaces of
+      the Polish Kings.--Sobieski.--Field of Vola.--Wreck of a
+      Warrior.--The Poles in America.--A Polish Lady.--Troubles of a
+      Passport.--Departure from Warsaw.--An official Rachel.--A
+      mysterious Visiter.                                            215
+
+    CHAPTER XIII.
+
+    Friendly Solicitude.--Raddom.--Symptoms of a Difficulty.--A Court of
+      Inquisition.--Showing a proper Spirit.--Troubles
+      thickening.--Approaching the Climax.--Woman's Influence.--The
+      Finale.--Utility of the Classics.--Another Latinist.--A Lucky
+      Accident.--Arrival at Cracow.                                  235
+
+    CHAPTER XIV.
+
+    Cracow.--Casimir the Great.--Kosciusko.--Tombs of the Polish
+      Kings.--A Polish Heroine.--Last Words of a King.--A Hero in
+      Decay.--The Salt-mines of Cracow.--The Descent.--The
+      Mines.--Underground Meditations.--The Farewell.                254
+
+
+
+
+INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL IN GREECE, TURKEY, RUSSIA, AND POLAND.
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+    Choice of a Conveyance.--Hiring a Servant.--Another
+      American.--Beginning of Troubles.--A Bivouac.--Russian Jews.--The
+      Steppes of Russia.--A _Traveller's_ Story.--Approach to Chioff.--How
+      to get rid of a Servant.--History of Chioff.
+
+
+I HAD before me a journey of nearly two thousand miles, through a
+country more than half barbarous, and entirely destitute of all
+accommodation for travellers. Southern Russia was the Scythia of Darius,
+"savage from the remotest time." "All the way," says an old traveller,
+"I never came in a house, but lodged in the wilderness by the river
+side, and carried provisions by the way, for there be small succour in
+those parts;" and we were advised that a century had made but little
+change in the interior of the empire. There were no public conveyances,
+and we had our choice of three modes of travelling; first, by a Jew's
+wagon, in which the traveller stretches out his bed, and is trundled
+along like a bale of goods, always with the same horses, and therefore,
+of necessity, making slow progress; secondly, the char de poste, a mere
+box of wood on four wheels, with straw in the bottom; very fast, but to
+be changed always with the posthorses; and, thirdly, posting with our
+own carriage. We did not hesitate long in choosing the last, and bought
+a carriage, fortunately a good one, a large caleche which an Italian
+nobleman had had made for his own use in travelling on the Continent,
+and which he now sold, not because he did not want it, but because he
+wanted money more. Next we procured a podoroshni, under which, "By order
+of his Majesty Nicolas the First, autocrat of all the Russias, from
+Odessa to Moscow and Petersburgh, all the postoffices were commanded to
+give ---- and ----, with their servant, four horses with their drivers,
+at the price fixed by law." Besides this, it was necessary to give
+security that we left no debts behind us; and if Mr. Ralli undertakes
+for all Americans the same obligation he did for me, it may happen that
+his office of consul will be no sinecure. Next, and this was no trifling
+matter, we got our passports arranged; the Russian ambassador at
+Constantinople, by-the-way, had given me a new passport in Russian, and
+my companion, that he might travel with the advantages of rank and
+title, got himself made "noble" by an extra stroke of his consul's pen.
+
+The last thing was to engage a servant. We had plenty of applications,
+but, as very few talked any language we understood, we had not much
+choice, one, a German, a capital fellow, was exactly the man we wanted,
+only he could not speak a word of Russian, which was the principal
+qualification we required in a servant. At length came a Frenchman, with
+an unusual proportion of whiskers and mustaches, and one of the worst of
+the desperate emigres whom the French Revolution, or, rather, the
+Restoration, sent roaming in foreign lands. He had naturally a most
+unprepossessing physiognomy, and this was heightened by a sabre-cut
+which had knocked out several of his teeth, and left a huge gash in his
+cheek and lip, and, moreover, made him speak very unintelligibly. When I
+asked him if he was a Frenchman, he drew himself up with great dignity,
+and replied, "Monsieur je suis _Parisien_." His appearance was a gross
+libel upon the Parisians; but, as we could get no one else, we took him
+upon little recommendation the day before our departure, and, during the
+same day, threatened half a dozen times to discharge him. The police
+regulation, obliging him to pay his debts before leaving Odessa, he
+seemed to consider peculiarly hard; and, all the time he was with us,
+kept referring to his having been obliged to fritter away thirty or
+forty rubles before he could leave. We ought to have furnished ourselves
+with provisions for the whole road to Moscow, and even cooking utensils;
+but we neglected it, and carried with us only tea and sugar, a tin
+teapot, two tin cups, two tin plates, two knives and forks, and some
+Bologna sausages, trusting, like Napoleon when he invaded Russia, to
+make up the rest by foraging.
+
+Before beginning our journey we had a foretaste of the difficulty of
+travelling in Russia. We had ordered posthorses three times, and had
+sent for them morning and evening, and received for answer that there
+were none in. At the third disappointment, our own consul being out of
+town, my friend the Spanish consul went with me to the director of the
+post, and found that during the time in which they had told us they had
+no horses, they had sent out more than a hundred. Instead of taxing them
+with their rascality, he talked the matter over very politely, paid the
+price of the horses, gave them a bonus of ten rubles, and obtained a
+promise by all the saints in the Russian calendar for daylight the next
+morning.
+
+The next morning at eight o'clock the horses came; four shaggy,
+wild-looking little animals, which no comb or brush had ever touched,
+harnessed with a collar and rope lines. They were tied in with rope
+traces, all abreast, two on each side the pole, and a postillion with a
+low wool cap, sheepskin coat and trousers, the woolly side next the
+skin, who would make an English whip stare, mounted the box. Henri
+followed, and my companion and myself took our seats within. The day
+before we had a positive quarrel upon a point unnecessary here to
+mention, in which I thought and still think he acted wrong, and the
+dispute had run so high that I told him I regretted exceedingly having
+made arrangements for travelling with him, and proposed even then to
+part company; he objected, and as we had purchased a carriage jointly,
+and particularly as our passports were prepared, our podoroshni made
+out, and servant hired in our joint names, I was fain to go on; and in
+this inauspicious humour toward each other we set out for a journey of
+nearly two thousand miles, through a wild and desolate country, among a
+half-civilized people, whose language we could not understand, and with
+a servant whom we distrusted and disliked.
+
+In spite of all this, however, I felt a high degree of excitement in
+starting for the capital of Russia; and I will do my companion the
+justice to say that he had been always ready to receive my advances, and
+to do more than meet me half way, which I afterward learned was from an
+apprehension of the taunts of his companions, who, not satisfied with
+getting rid of him, had constantly told him that it was impossible for
+an Englishman and an American to travel together, and that we would
+quarrel and fight the first day. I believe that I am enough of an
+American in my feelings, but such an idea had never entered my head; I
+met many Englishmen, and with some formed a friendship which, I trust,
+will last through life; and among all I met, these two were the only
+_young_ men so far behind the spirit of the age as to harbour such a
+thought. I did meet one _old_ gentleman, who, though showing me
+personally the greatest kindness, could not forget the old grudge. But
+men cannot be driving their elbows into each other's ribs, comparing
+money accounts, and consulting upon the hundred little things that
+present themselves on such a journey, without getting upon at least
+sociable terms; and before night of the first day the feelings of my
+companion and myself had undergone a decided change.
+
+But to go back to Odessa. At the barrier we found a large
+travelling-carriage stopping the way, in which was my friend Mr. Ralli,
+with his lady, on his way to Nicolaif; part of his business there was to
+erect a monument to the memory of a deceased countryman. Mr. Munroe, son
+of a former postmaster in Washington, is another instance of the success
+of American adventurers in Russia. He went out to St. Petersburgh with
+letters from the Russian ambassador and others, and entered the army,
+the only road to distinction in Russia. He accompanied the Grand-duke
+Constantine to Poland, and was made one of his aiddecamps, and on the
+death of Constantine was transferred to the staff of the Emperor
+Nicolas. At the time of the invasion of Turkey by the Egyptians under
+Ibrahim Pacha, Mr. Munroe held the rank of colonel in the army sent to
+the aid of the sultan. While the Russians were encamped at the foot of
+the Giant's Mountain, he visited Constantinople, and became acquainted
+with the American missionaries, who all spoke of him in the highest
+terms. He was a tall, well-made man, carried himself with a military
+air, and looked admirably well in the Russian uniform. On the
+withdrawal of the Russians from the Black Sea, Mr. Munroe was left in
+some important charge at Nicolaif, where he died in the opening of a
+brilliant career. I heard of him all over Russia, particularly from
+officers of the army; and being often asked if I knew him, regretted to
+be obliged to answer no. But, though personally unacquainted, as an
+American I was gratified with the name he had left behind him.
+
+To return again to our journey: a few rubles satisfied the officer at
+the barrier that we were carrying nothing prohibited out of the "free
+port" of Odessa, and we started on a full run, to the great peril of our
+necks, and, to use the climax of a Dutch proclamation, "what's more, of
+breaking our carriage." In less than an hour we brought up before the
+door of a posthouse. Our wheels were smoking when we stopped. On our
+hind axle we carried a bucket of grease; half a dozen bipeds in
+sheepskin whipped off the wheels and greased them; four quadrupeds were
+tied into the carriage, another bete mounted the box, and we were off
+again at a full run. My companion undertook to keep a memorandum of
+expenses, and we put a certain sum in a purse and paid out of it till
+all was gone. This was a glorious beginning for a journey of two
+thousand miles. The country possessed little interest, being mostly
+level, and having but few villages. On the way we saw a natural
+phenomenon that is common enough in Egypt and the East, where the
+country is level, and known by the name of _mirage_. At a distance it
+seemed a mere pond or lake, and a drove of cattle passing over it looked
+as if they were walking in the water. We rolled on rapidly all day,
+passed through Balgarha, Kodurseve, and Pakra, timing every post and
+noting every village with a particularity which it would be tedious
+here to repeat, and at about eight in the evening dashed into the little
+town of Vosnezeuski, one hundred and thirty versts from Odessa. Here we
+came to a dead stand. We had begun to entertain some apprehensions from
+the conduct of Monsieur Henri, who complained of the hardness of his
+seat, and asked if we did not intend to stop at night, recommending
+Vosnezeuski as a place where we could sleep in the posthouse; we told
+him that we had no idea of stopping but to change horses, and should go
+on immediately.
+
+Vosnezeuski lies on the river Bog, and is the chief town of the Cossacks
+of the Bog. This river is navigable for large vessels one hundred and
+fifty versts; beyond this for three or four hundred versts it is full of
+cataracts. The Cossacks of the Bog are a warlike tribe, numbering from
+six to seven thousand, and living under the same military system with
+the Cossacks of the Don. But we fell into worse hands than the Cossacks.
+The postmaster was a Jew, and at first told us that he had no horses;
+then that he had no postillion, but would hire one if we would pay him a
+certain sum, about four times the amount fixed by law. We had been
+obliged before to pay a few extra rubles, but this was our first serious
+difficulty with the postmasters; and, in pursuance of the advice
+received at Odessa, we talked loud, demanded the book which is nailed to
+the table in every posthouse for travellers to enter complaints in, and
+threatened the vengeance of Count Woronzow and every one else, up to the
+emperor; but the Jew laughed in our faces; looked in our podoroshni,
+where we were described as simple travellers, without any of the
+formidable array of titles which procure respect in Russia; told us we
+were no grand seigneurs, and that we must either pay the price or wait,
+as our betters had done before us. We found too soon, as we had been
+advised at Odessa, that these fellows do not know such a character in
+society as a private gentleman; and if a man is not described in his
+podoroshni as a count, duke, or lord of some kind, or by some
+high-sounding military title, they think he is a merchant or
+manufacturer, or some other common fellow, and pay no regard to him. I
+relied somewhat upon my companion's having been made "noble," but now
+found that his consul had been rather chary of his honours, and, by the
+Russian word used, had not put him up high enough to be of any use. We
+had a long wrangle with the Jew, the result of which was, that we told
+him, probably in no very gentle phrase, that we would wait a month
+rather than submit to his extortion; and, drawing up the window of our
+carriage, prepared to pass the night at the door of the posthouse.
+
+One of our party was evidently well satisfied with this arrangement, and
+he was Monsieur Henri. We had hired him by the day to Moscow, and, if we
+wanted him, to St. Petersburgh, and very soon saw that he was perfectly
+content with the terms, and in no hurry to bring our journey to a close.
+From the moment of our arrival we suspected him of encouraging the
+postmaster in his efforts to detain us, and were so much fortified in
+this opinion by after circumstances, that, when he was about moving
+toward the house to pass the night within, we peremptorily ordered him
+to mount the box and sleep there; he refused, we insisted; and as this
+was the first day out and the first moment of actual collision, and it
+was all important to decide who should be master, we told him that, if
+he did not obey, we would discharge him on the spot, at the risk of
+being obliged to work our way back to Odessa alone. And as he felt
+that, in that case, his debts would have been paid to no purpose, with a
+string of suppressed sacres he took his place on the box. Our carriage
+was very comfortable, well lined and stuffed, furnished with pockets and
+everything necessary for the road, and we expected to sleep in it; but,
+to tell the truth, we felt rather cheap as we woke during the night, and
+looked at the shut door of the posthouse, and thought of the Jew
+sleeping away in utter contempt of us, and our only satisfaction was in
+hearing an occasional groan from Henri.
+
+That worthy individual did not oversleep himself, nor did he suffer the
+Jew to do so either. Early in the morning, without a word on our part,
+the horses were brought out and harnessed to our vehicle, and the same
+man whom he professed to have hired expressly for us, and who, no doubt,
+was the regular postillion, mounted the box. The Jew maintained his
+impudence to the last, coming round to my window, and then asking a few
+rubles as a douceur. Good English would have been thrown away upon him,
+so I resented it by drawing up the window of the carriage and scowling
+at him through the glass.
+
+Many of the postmasters along this road were Jews; and I am compelled to
+say that they were always the greatest scoundrels we had to deal with;
+and this is placing them on very high ground, for their inferiors in
+rascality would be accounted masters in any other country. No men can
+bear a worse character than the Russian Jews, and I can truly say that I
+found them all they were represented to be. They are not allowed to come
+within the territory of old Russia. Peter the Great refused their
+application to be permitted to approach nearer, smoothing his refusal by
+telling them that his Russian subjects were greater Jews than they were
+themselves. The sagacious old monarch, however, was wrong; for all the
+money business along the road is in their hands. They keep little
+taverns, where they sell vodka, a species of brandy, and wring from the
+peasant all his earnings, lending the money again to the seigneurs at
+exorbitant interest. Many of them are rich, and though alike despised by
+rich and poor, by the seigneur and the serf, they are proud of
+exhibiting their wealth, particularly in the jewels and ornaments of
+their women. At Savonka, a little village on the confines of old Poland,
+where we were detained waiting for horses, I saw a young girl about
+sixteen, a Polonese, sitting on the steps of a miserable little tavern,
+sewing together some ribands, with a headdress of brown cloth,
+ornamented with gold chains and pearls worth six hundred rubles, diamond
+earrings worth a hundred, and a necklace of ducats and other Dutch gold
+pieces worth four hundred rubles; altogether, in our currency, worth
+perhaps two hundred and fifty dollars.
+
+Here, too, while sitting with Henri on the steps of the posthouse, I
+asked him in a friendly way how he could be such a rascal as to league
+with the postmaster to detain us at Vosnezeuski, whereupon he went at
+once into French heroics, exclaiming, "Monsieur, je suis vieux
+militaire--j'etais chasseur de Napoleon--mon honneur," &c.; that he had
+never travelled before except with grand seigneurs, and then _in_ the
+carriage, more as compagnon de voyage than as a servant, and intimated
+that it was a great condescension to travel with us at all.
+
+We passed through several villages, so much alike and so uninteresting
+in appearance that I did not note even their names. As night approached
+we had great apprehensions that Henri would contrive to make us stop
+again; but the recollection of his bed on the box served as a lesson,
+and we rolled on without interruption. At daylight we awoke, and found
+ourselves upon the wild steppes of Russia, forming part of the immense
+plain which, beginning in northern Germany, extends for hundreds of
+miles, having its surface occasionally diversified by ancient tumuli,
+and terminates at the long chain of the Urals, which, rising like a
+wall, separates them from the equally vast plains of Siberia. The whole
+of this immense plain was covered with a luxuriant pasture, but bare of
+trees like our prairie lands, mostly uncultivated, yet everywhere
+capable of producing the same wheat which now draws to the Black Sea the
+vessels of Turkey, Egypt, and Italy, making Russia the granary of the
+Levant; and which, within the last year, we have seen brought six
+thousand miles to our own doors. Our road over these steppes was in its
+natural state; that is to say, a mere track worn by caravans of wagons;
+there were no fences, and sometimes the route was marked at intervals by
+heaps of stones, intended as guides when the ground should be covered
+with snow. I had some anxiety about our carriage; the spokes of the
+wheels were all strengthened and secured by cords wound tightly around
+them, and interlaced so as to make a network; but the postillions were
+so perfectly reckless as to the fate of the carriage, that every crack
+went through me like a shot. The breaking of a wheel would have left us
+perfectly helpless in a desolate country, perhaps more than a hundred
+miles from any place where we could get it repaired. Indeed, on the
+whole road to Chioff there was not a single place where we could have
+any material injury repaired; and the remark of the old traveller is yet
+emphatically true, that "there be small succour in these parts."
+
+[Illustration: Tumuli on the Steppes.]
+
+At about nine o'clock we whirled furiously into a little village, and
+stopped at the door of the posthouse. Our wheels were smoking with the
+rapidity of their revolutions; Henri dashed a bucket of water over them
+to keep them from burning, and half a dozen men whipped them off and
+greased them. Indeed, greasing the wheels is necessary at every post, as
+otherwise the hubs become dry, so that there is actual danger of their
+taking fire; and there is a _traveller's_ story told (but I do not vouch
+for its truth) of a postillion, wagon, and passengers being all burned
+up on the road to Moscow by the ignition of the wheels.
+
+The village, like all the others, was built of wood, plastered and
+whitewashed, with roofs of thatched straw, and the houses were much
+cleaner than I expected to find them. We got plenty of fresh milk; the
+bread, which to the traveller in those countries is emphatically the
+staff of life, we found good everywhere in Russia, and at Moscow the
+whitest I ever saw. Henri was an enormous feeder, and, wherever we
+stopped, he disappeared for a moment, and came out with a loaf of bread
+in his hand and his mustache covered with the froth of quass, a Russian
+small beer. He said he was not always so voracious, but his seat was so
+hard, and he was so roughly shaken, that eating did him no good.
+
+Resuming our journey, we met no travellers. Occasionally we passed
+large droves of cattle, but all the way from Odessa the principal
+objects were long trains of wagons, fifty or sixty together, drawn by
+oxen, and transporting merchandise toward Moscow or grain to the Black
+Sea. Their approach was indicated at a great distance by immense clouds
+of dust, which gave us timely notice to let down our curtains and raise
+our glasses. The wagoners were short, ugly-looking fellows, with huge
+sandy mustaches and beards, black woolly caps, and sheepskin jackets,
+the wool side next the skin; perhaps, in many cases, transferred warm
+from the back of one animal to that of the other, where they remained
+till worn out or eaten up by vermin. They had among them blacksmiths and
+wheelwrights, and spare wheels, and hammer, and tools, and everything
+necessary for a journey of several hundred miles. Half of them were
+generally asleep on the top of their loads, and they encamped at night
+in caravan style, arranging the wagons in a square, building a large
+fire, and sleeping around it. About midday we saw clouds gathering afar
+off in the horizon, and soon after the rain began to fall, and we could
+see it advancing rapidly over the immense level till it broke over our
+heads, and in a few moments passed off, leaving the ground smoking with
+exhalations.
+
+Late in the afternoon we met the travelling equipage of a seigneur
+returning from Moscow to his estate in the country. It consisted of four
+carriages, with six or eight horses each. The first was a large,
+stately, and cumbrous vehicle, padded and cushioned, in which, as we
+passed rapidly by, we caught a glimpse of a corpulent Russian on the
+back seat, with his feet on the front, bolstered all around with
+pillows and cushions, almost burying every part of him but his face, and
+looking the very personification of luxurious indulgence; and yet
+probably, that man had been a soldier, and slept many a night on the
+bare ground, with no covering but his military cloak. Next came another
+carriage, fitted out in the same luxurious style, with the seigneur's
+lady and a little girl; then another with nurses and children; then
+beds, baggage, cooking utensils, and servants, the latter hanging on
+everywhere about the vehicle, much in the same way with the pots and
+kettles. Altogether, it was an equipment in caravan style, somewhat the
+same as for a journey in the desert, the traveller carrying with him
+provision and everything necessary for his comfort, as not expecting to
+procure anything on the road, nor to sleep under a roof during the whole
+journey. He stops when he pleases, and his servants prepare his meals,
+sometimes in the open air, but generally at the posthouse. We had
+constant difficulties with Henri and the postmasters, but, except when
+detained for an hour or two by these petty tyrants, we rolled on all
+night, and in the morning again woke upon the same boundless plain.
+
+The posthouse was usually in a village, but sometimes stood alone, the
+only object to be seen on the great plain. Before it was always a high
+square post, with black and white stripes, marking the number of versts
+from station to station; opposite to this Henri dismounted, and
+presented the podoroshni or imperial order for horses. But the
+postmasters were high above the laws; every one of them seemed a little
+autocrat in his own right, holding his appointment rather to prey upon
+than to serve travellers; and the emperor's government would be but
+badly administered if his ukases and other high-sounding orders did not
+carry with them more weight than his podoroshni. The postmasters obeyed
+it when they pleased, and when they did not, made a new bargain. They
+always had an excuse; as, for instance, that they had no horses, or were
+keeping them in reserve for a courier or grand seigneur; but they
+listened to reason when enforced by rubles, and, as soon as a new
+bargain was made, half a dozen animals in sheepskin went out on the
+plain and drove up fifteen or twenty horses, small, rugged, and tough,
+with long and shaggy manes and tails, which no comb or brush had ever
+touched, and, diving among them promiscuously, caught four, put on rope
+headstalls, and tied them to our rope traces. The postillion mounted the
+box, and shouting and whipping his horses, and sometimes shutting his
+eyes, started from the post on a full gallop, carried us like the wind,
+ventre a terre, over the immense plain, sometimes without a rut or any
+visible mark to guide him, and brought us up all standing in front of
+the next post. A long delay and a short post, and this was the same over
+and over again during the whole journey. The time actually consumed in
+making progress was incredibly short, and I do not know a more beautiful
+way of getting over the ground than posting in Russia with a man of high
+military rank, who can make the postmasters give him horses immediately
+on his arrival. As for us, after an infinite deal of vexation and at a
+ruinous expense, on the morning of the fourth day we were within one
+post of Chioff. Here we heard with great satisfaction that a diligence
+was advertised for Moscow, and we determined at once to get rid of
+carriage, posting, and Henri. We took our seats for the last time in the
+_caleche_ gave the postillion a double allowance of kopeks, and in half
+an hour saw at a great distance the venerable city of Chioff, the
+ancient capital of Russia. It stands at a great height, on the crest of
+an amphitheatre of hills, which rise abruptly in the middle of an
+immense plain, apparently thrown up by some wild freak of nature, at
+once curious, unique, and beautiful. The style of its architecture is
+admirably calculated to give effect to its peculiar position; and, after
+a dreary journey over the wild plains of the Ukraine, it breaks upon the
+traveller with all the glittering and gorgeous splendour of an Asiatic
+city. For many centuries it has been regarded as the Jerusalem of the
+North, the sacred and holy city of the Russians; and, long before
+reaching it, its numerous convents and churches, crowning the summit and
+hanging on the sides of the hill, with their quadrupled domes, and
+spires, and chains, and crosses, gilded with ducat gold and glittering
+in the sun, gave the whole city the appearance of golden splendour. The
+churches and monasteries have one large dome in the centre, with a spire
+surmounted by a cross, and several smaller domes around it, also with
+spires and crosses connected by pendant chains, and all gilded so purely
+that they never tarnish. We drove rapidly to the foot of the hill, and
+ascended by a long wooden paved road to the heart of the city.
+
+During the whole of our last post our interest had been divided between
+the venerable city and the rogue Henri. My companion, who, by-the-way,
+spoke but little French disliked him from the first. We had long
+considered him in league with all the Jews and postmasters on the road,
+and had determined under no circumstances to take him farther than
+Chioff; but as we had hired him to Moscow, the difficulty was how to
+get rid of him. He might take it into his head that, if we did not know
+when we had a good servant, he knew when he had good masters; but he was
+constantly grumbling about his seat, and calculated upon three or four
+days' rest at Chioff. So, as soon as we drove up to the door of the
+hotel, we told him to order breakfast and posthorses. He turned round as
+if he had not fully comprehended us. We repeated the order, and for the
+first time since he had been with us he showed something like agility in
+dismounting; fairly threw himself from the box, swore he would not ride
+another verst that day for a thousand rubles, and discharged us on the
+spot. We afterward paid him to his entire satisfaction, indemnifying him
+for the money he had squandered in paying his debts at Odessa, and found
+him more useful at Chioff than he had been at any time on the road.
+Indeed, we afterward learned what was rather ludicrous, viz., that he,
+our pilot and interpreter through the wilderness of Russia, knew but
+little more of Russian than we did ourselves. He could ask for
+posthorses and the ordinary necessaries of life, count money, &c., but
+could not support a connected conversation, nor speak nor understand a
+long sentence. This changed our suspicions of his honesty into
+admiration of his impudence; but, in the mean time, when he discharged
+us, we should have been rather destitute if it had not been for the
+servant of a Russian traveller, who spoke French, and, taking our
+direction from him, we mounted a drosky and rode to the office of the
+diligence, which was situated in the Podolsk or lower town, and at which
+we found ourselves particularly well received by the proprietor. He said
+that the attempt to run a diligence was discouraging; that he had
+advertised two weeks, and had not booked a single passenger; but, if he
+could get two, he was determined to try the experiment. We examined the
+vehicle, which was very large and convenient, and, satisfied that there
+was no danger of all the places being taken, we left him until we could
+make an effort to dispose of our carriage. Relieved from all anxiety as
+to our future movements, we again mounted our drosky. Ascending the
+hill, we passed the fountain where St. Vladimir baptized the first
+Russian converts; the spring is held sacred by the Christians now, and a
+column bearing a cross is erected over it, to commemorate the pious act
+and the ancient sovereignty of Chioff.
+
+The early history of this city is involved in some obscurity. Its name
+is supposed to be derived from Kiovi or Kii, a Sarmatian word signifying
+heights or mountains; and its inhabitants, a Sarmatian tribe, were
+denominated Kivi or mountaineers. It is known to have been a place of
+consequence in the fifth century, when the Suevi, driven from their
+settlements on the Danube, established themselves here and at Novogorod.
+In the beginning of the tenth century it was the capital and most
+celebrated and opulent city in Russia, or in that part of Europe.
+Boleslaus the Terrible notched upon its "golden gate" his "miraculous
+sword," called by the monks "the sword of God," and the Poles entered
+and plundered it of its riches. In the latter part of the same century
+the capital of Russia again fell before the conquering arms of the
+Poles. Kiev was at that time the foster-child of Constantinople and the
+Eastern empire. The voluptuous Greeks had stored it with all the
+luxuries of Asia; the noble architecture of Athens was festooned with
+the gaudy tapestry of Lydia, and the rough metal of Russian swords
+embossed with the polished gold of Ophir and Persia. Boleslaus II., shut
+up within the "golden gate" of this city of voluptuousness, quaffed the
+bowl of pleasure till its intoxicating draught degraded all the nobler
+energies of his nature. His army of warriors followed his example, and
+slept away month after month on the soft couches of Kiev; and in the
+language of the historian, as if they had eaten of the fabled fruit of
+the lotos-tree, at length forgot that their houses were without masters,
+their wives without husbands, and their children without parents.
+
+But these tender relations were not in like manner oblivious; and, after
+seven years of absence, the Poles were roused from their trance of
+pleasure by the tidings of a revolt among the women at home, who, tired
+of waiting their return, in revenge gave themselves up to the embraces
+of their slaves. Burning under the disgrace, the Poles hurried home to
+wreak their vengeance on wives and paramours; but they met at Warsaw a
+bloody resistance; the women, maddened by despair, urged on their
+lovers, many of them fighting in person, and seeking out on the
+battle-field their faithless husbands: an awful warning to married men!
+
+For a long time Kiev was the prey alternately of the Poles, the
+Lithuanians, and the Tartars, until in 1686 it was finally ceded by the
+Poles to Russia. The city is composed of three distinct quarters; the
+old, with its Polish fortifications, containing the palace of the
+emperor, and being the court end; the Petcherk fortress, built by Peter
+the Great, with ditches and high ramparts, and an arsenal capable of
+containing eighty or a hundred thousand stand of arms; and the Podolsk,
+or business part, situated at the foot of the hill on the banks of the
+Dnieper. It contains thirty thousand inhabitants besides a large
+military garrison, partly of Cossack troops, and one pretty good hotel;
+but no beds, and none of those soft couches which made the hardy Poles
+sleep away their senses; and though a welcome resting-place for a
+traveller through the wild plains of Russia, it does not now possess any
+such attraction as to put in peril the faith and duties of husbands. By
+its position secluded from intercourse with strangers, Kiev is still
+thoroughly a Russian city, retaining in full force its Asiatic style of
+architecture; and the old Russian, wedded to the manners and customs of
+his fathers, clings to it as a place which the hand of improvement has
+not yet reached; among other relics of the olden time, the long beard
+still flourishes with the same solemn dignity as in the days of Peter
+the Great. Lying a hundred miles away from the direct road between
+Moscow and the Black Sea, few European travellers visit it; and though
+several of them have done so since, perhaps I was the first American who
+ever passed through it.
+
+We passed the morning in riding round to the numerous convents and
+churches, among which is the church of St. Sophia, the oldest in Russia,
+and, if not an exact model of the great St. Sophia of Constantinople, at
+least of Byzantine design; and toward evening went to the emperor's
+garden. This garden is more than a mile in length, bounded on one side
+by the high precipitous bank of the hill, undulating in its surface, and
+laid out like an English park, with lawn, gravel-walks, and trees; it
+contains houses of refreshment, arbours or summer-houses, and a summer
+theatre. At the foot of the hill flows the Dnieper, the ancient
+Borysthenes, on which, in former days the descendants of Odin and Ruric
+descended to plunder Constantinople. Two or three sloops were lying, as
+it were, asleep in the lower town, telling of a still interior country,
+and beyond was a boundless plain covered with a thick forest of trees.
+The view from this bank was unique and extraordinary, entirely different
+from anything I ever saw in natural scenery, and resembling more than
+anything else a boundless marine prospect.
+
+At the entrance of the garden is an open square or table of land
+overlooking the plain, where, every evening at seven o'clock, the
+military band plays. The garden is the fashionable promenade, the higher
+classes resorting to it in carriages and on horseback, and the common
+people on foot; the display of equipages was not very striking, although
+there is something stylish in the Russian manner of driving four horses,
+the leaders with very long traces and a postillion; and soldiers and
+officers, with their splendid uniforms, caps, and plumes, added a
+brilliant effect.
+
+Before the music began, all returned from the promenade or drive in the
+garden, and gathered in the square. It was a beautiful afternoon in
+June, and the assemblage was unusually large and brilliant; the
+carriages drew up in a line, the ladies let down the glasses, and the
+cavaliers dismounted, and talked and flirted with them just as in
+civilized countries. All Chioff was there, and the peasant in his dirty
+sheepskin jacket, the shopkeeper with his long surtout and beard, the
+postillion on his horse, the coachman on his box, the dashing soldier,
+the haughty noble and supercilious lady, touched by the same chord,
+forgot their temporal distinctions, and listened to the swelling strains
+of the music till the last notes died away. The whole mass was then in
+motion, and in a few moments, except by a few stragglers, of whom I was
+one, the garden was deserted. At about ten o'clock I returned to my
+hotel. We had no beds, and slept in our cloaks on settees stuffed with
+straw and covered with leather. We had no coverlets; still, after four
+days and nights in a carriage, it was a luxury to have plenty of kicking
+room.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+    A lucky Encounter.--Church of the Catacombs.--A Visit to the
+      Saints.--A tender Parting.--Pilgrims.--Rough Treatment.--A Scene
+      of Starvation.--Russian Serfs.--Devotion of the Serfs.--Approach
+      to Moscow.
+
+
+EARLY in the morning, while I was standing in the yard of the hotel,
+chaffering with some Jews about the sale of our carriage, an officer in
+a faded, threadbare uniform, with two or three ribands at his buttonhole
+and stars sparkling on his breast, came up, and, taking me by the hand,
+told me, in capital English, that he had just heard of the arrival of
+two English gentlemen, and had hurried down to see them; that he was a
+great admirer of the English, and happy to have an opportunity, in the
+interior of his own country, to show its hospitalities to the natives of
+the Island Queen. At the risk of losing the benefit of his attentions, I
+was obliged to disclaim my supposed English character, and to publish,
+in the heart of a grinding despotism, that I was a citizen of a free
+republic. Nor did I suffer for my candour; for, by one of those strange
+vagaries which sometimes happen, we cannot tell how or why, this officer
+in the service of Russia had long looked to America and her republican
+government as the perfection of an ideal system. He was in Chioff only
+by accident. Wounded in the last campaign against the Turks, he had
+taken up his abode at Ismail, where, upon his pension and a pittance of
+his own, he was able to live respectably as a poor officer. With no
+friends or connexions, and no society at Ismail, his head seemed to have
+run principally upon two things, apparently having no connexion with
+each other, but intimately connected in his mind, viz., the British
+possessions in India and the United States of America; and the cord that
+bound them together was the wide diffusion of the English language by
+means of these powerful agents. He told me more than I ever knew of the
+constitution and government of the East India Company, and their plan of
+operations; and, in regard to our own country, his knowledge was
+astonishing; he knew the names and character, and talked familiarly of
+all our principal men, from the time of Washington to the present day;
+had read all our standard works, and was far more familiar with those of
+Franklin, Irving, &c., than I was; in short, he told me that he had read
+every American book, pamphlet, or paper he could lay his hands on; and
+so intimate was his knowledge of detail, that he mentioned
+Chestnut-street by name as one of the principal streets in Philadelphia.
+It may be supposed that I was not sorry to meet such a man in the heart
+of Russia. He devoted himself to us, and seldom left us, except at
+night, until we left the city.
+
+After breakfast, accompanied by our new friend with as unpronounceable a
+name as the best in Russia, we visited the catacombs of the Petcherskoi
+monastery. I have before remarked that Chioff is the holy city of the
+Russians, and the crowds of pilgrims we met at every turn in the streets
+constantly reminded us that this was the great season of the pilgrimage.
+I was but imperfectly acquainted with the Russian character, but in no
+one particular had I been so ignorant as in regard to their religious
+impressions. I had seen Italian, Greek, and Turkish devotees, but the
+Russian surpassed them all; and, though deriving their religion from
+strangers, they exceed the punctilious Greeks themselves in the
+observance of its minutest forms. Censurable, indeed, would he be
+considered who should pass, in city or in highway, the figure of the
+cross, the image of the Virgin, or any of the numerous family of saints,
+without taking off his hat and making on his breast the sacred sign of
+the cross; and in a city like Chioff, where every turn presents some new
+object claiming their worship, the eyes of our drosky boy were rapidly
+turning from one side to the other, and his hand was almost constantly
+in a quick mechanical motion.
+
+The Church of the Catacombs, or the Cathedral of the Assumption,
+attached to the monastery, stands a little out of the city, on the banks
+of the Dnieper. It was founded in ten hundred and seventy-three, and has
+seven golden domes with golden spires, and chains connecting them. The
+dome of the belfry, which rises above the hill to the height of about
+three hundred feet, and above the Dnieper to that of five hundred and
+eighty-six, is considered by the Russians a chef d'oeuvre of
+architecture. It is adorned with Doric and Ionic columns and Corinthian
+pilasters; the whole interior bears the venerable garb of antiquity, and
+is richly ornamented with gold, silver, and precious stones and
+paintings; indeed, it is altogether very far superior to any Greek
+church I had then seen.
+
+In the immense catacombs under the monastery lie the unburied bodies of
+the Russian saints, and year after year thousands and tens of thousands
+come from the wilds of Siberia and the confines of Tartary to kneel at
+their feet and pray. In one of the porches of the church we bought wax
+tapers, and, with a long procession of pilgrims, bareheaded and with
+lighted tapers in our hands, descended a long wooden staircase to the
+mouth of the catacomb. On each side along the staircase was ranged a
+line of kneeling devotees, of the same miserable description I had so
+often seen about the churches in Italy and Greece. Entering the
+excavated passages of the catacombs, the roof of which was black from
+the smoke of candles, we saw on each side, in niches in the walls, and
+in open coffins, enveloped in wrappers of cloth and silk, ornamented
+with gold and silver, the bodies of the Russian saints. These saints are
+persons who have led particularly pure and holy lives, and by reason
+thereof have ascended into heaven, where they are supposed to exercise
+an influence with the Father and Son; and their bodies are left unburied
+that their brethren may come to them for intercession, and, seeing their
+honours after death, study to imitate them in the purity of their lives.
+The bodies are laid in open coffins, with the stiffened hands so placed
+as to receive the kisses of pilgrims, and on their breasts are written
+their names, and sometimes a history of their virtuous actions. But we
+saw there other and worse things than these, monuments of wild and
+desperate fanaticism; for besides the bodies of saints who had died at
+God's appointed time, in one passage is a range of small windows, where
+men had with their own hands built themselves in with stones against
+the wall, leaving open only a small hole by which to receive their food;
+and died with the impious thought that they were doing their Maker good
+service. These little windows close their dwelling and their tomb; and
+the devoted Russian, while he kneels before them, believes that their
+unnatural death has purchased for them everlasting life, and place and
+power among the spirits of the blessed.
+
+We wandered a long time in this extraordinary burial-place, everywhere
+strewed with the kneeling figures of praying pilgrims. At every turn we
+saw hundreds from the farthest parts of the immense empire of Russia;
+perhaps at that time more than three thousand were wandering in these
+sepulchral chambers.
+
+The last scene I shall never forget. More than a hundred were assembled
+in a little chapel, around which were arranged the bodies of men who had
+died in peculiar sanctity. All were kneeling on the rocky floor, an old
+priest, with a long white beard streaming down his breast, was in the
+midst of them, and all there, even to the little children, were
+listening with rapt attention, as if he were preaching to them matters
+of eternal moment. There was no hypocrisy or want of faith in that vast
+sepulchre; surrounded by their sainted dead, they were searching their
+way to everlasting life, and in all honesty believed that they saw the
+way before them. We ascended once more to the regions of upper air, and
+stopped a few moments in the courtyard of the monastery, where the
+beggar pilgrims were eating the hard bread distributed to them by the
+monks from the bounty of government. No man seemed more relieved than
+the major. He was a liberal in religion as well as in politics, but he
+crossed himself everywhere most devoutly, to avoid, as he said,
+offending the prejudices of his countrymen, though once he rather
+scandalized a group of pilgrims by cross-questioning a monk about a new
+saint, who seemed to be receiving more than a usual share of veneration,
+and who, he said, had been canonized since he was there last.
+
+But there is a time for all things, and nothing is more absolutely fixed
+by Nature's laws than a time for dinner. Almost at the first moment of
+our acquaintance the major had told me of an engraving representing a
+scene in _New-York_, which was to be found at a second or third rate
+hotel, and I proposed to him, in compliment to the honest publican who
+had the good taste to have such a picture in his house, to go there and
+dine. We went, and in a large room, something like a barroom in our
+hotels, saw on one of the walls, in a black wooden frame, a gaudy and
+flaring engraving representing the pulling down of the statue of George
+the Second in the Bowling Green. The Bowling Green was associated with
+my earliest recollections. It had been my playground when a boy;
+hundreds of times I had climbed over its fence for my ball, and I was
+one of a band of boys who held on to it long after the corporation
+invaded our rights. Captain Cook mentions the effect produced upon his
+crew by finding at one of the savage islands he visited a silver spoon
+marked "London;" my feelings were, in a small way, of the same nature.
+The grouping of the picture was rude and grotesque, the ringleader being
+a long negro stripped to his trousers, and straining with all his might
+upon a rope, one end of which was fastened to the head of the statue,
+and the other tied around his own waist, his white teeth and the whites
+of his eyes being particularly conspicuous on a heavy ground of black.
+It was a poor specimen of art, but it was a home scene; we drew up our
+table opposite the picture, and here, in the very headquarters of
+despotism, I found a liberal spirit in an officer wearing the uniform of
+the autocrat, who pledged me in the toast, "Success to liberty
+throughout the world."
+
+I had another occupation, which savoured more of home, and served to
+keep my faculties from rusting; and that was the sale of our carriage.
+We had made a calculation, and found that it would be cheaper, to say
+nothing of other advantages, to give it away, and take the diligence to
+Moscow, than go on posting. We accordingly offered it for sale, and
+every time we returned to the house found a group of Jews examining it.
+The poor thing found no favour in their eyes; they told us that we had
+been riding in it at peril of our lives; that we might be thankful it
+had not broken down on the road; and, in short, that it was worth
+nothing except for old iron, and for that it was worth forty-five
+rubles, or about _nine dollars_. We could not stand this. It had cost us
+one hundred and forty less than a week before, was cheap at that, and as
+good now as when we bought it. On the eve of departure, therefore, we
+offered it to our landlord for three days' board; but the old Turk (he
+was a Jew turned Christian, and in his regenerated worse than his
+natural state) refused our offer, thinking that we would go away and
+leave it on his hands. But we resolved to burn it first; and while
+hesitating about offering it to our friend the major, he relieved us
+from all delicacy by telling us that he did not want it, and had no
+horses to put to it; to save us from imposition, he would willingly give
+us the full value, but he was not worth the money. He had, however, a
+piece of fifty rubles, or about ten dollars, in his pocket, and, if we
+would take that, he would keep the carriage as a souvenir. We gladly
+accepted his offer, and had the satisfaction of finding that we had
+grievously disappointed both the Jews and our landlord.
+
+In the morning the proprietor of the diligence, learning that we had
+sold our vehicle, raised the price of places fifty rubles apiece; the
+major heard of it, and insisted upon our taking back the carriage, when
+the proprietor took another tone, talked of the expense of sending his
+huge vehicle with only two passengers, and we listened and assented. We
+started to accompany him, and just at the door of the hotel saw two
+runaway horses coming furiously down the street with a drosky, and an
+officer entangled and dragging on the ground. We picked him up and
+carried him into the hotel. He was a noble-looking man, who but a few
+minutes before had attracted my attention by his proud and manly
+bearing, now a miserable mangled object, his clothes torn, his plume
+soiled with mud, and his face covered with dust and blood, and, when we
+left, it was uncertain whether he would live or die.
+
+The major accompanied us to the office of the diligence, and our parting
+was rather tender; he rubbed his mustache on both my cheeks, wrote his
+name in my memorandum-book, and I gave him my address; he said that our
+visit had been an interlude relieving the dull monotony of his life;
+that we were going to new scenes, and would soon forget him, but he
+would not forget us. Nor shall I forget him, although it is not probable
+that he and I will ever meet again.
+
+We took our seats in the diligence for Moscow, and set off with an
+uncommon degree of satisfaction at having got rid of posting and of
+Henri, and, with them, of all our troubles. We had nothing to do, no
+wrangling with postmasters, no cheating to undergo from Jews, and were
+in that happy state which made the honest Hibernian indifferent to an
+upset or a breakdown; that is to say, we were merely passengers. With
+great pomp and circumstance we drove through the principal streets, to
+advise the Knickerbockers of Chioff of the actual departure of the
+long-talked-of diligence, the conducteur sounding his trumpet, and the
+people stopping in the streets and running to the doors to see the
+extraordinary spectacle.
+
+We descended the long wooden road to the river, and crossed the Dnieper
+on a bridge about half a mile long. On the opposite bank I turned for
+the last time to the sacred city, and I never saw anything more unique
+and strikingly beautiful than the high, commanding position of "this
+city on a hill," crowned with its golden cupolas and domes, that
+reflected the sun with dazzling brightness.
+
+For a short distance the country was rather undulating, but soon settled
+into the regular steppe. We rolled on all day without anything to annoy
+us or even to interest us, except processions of pilgrims on their way
+to Chioff. They travelled on foot in bands of one or two hundred, men,
+women, and children, headed by a white-bearded monk, barefooted, and
+leaning on a staff. During the night I was roused by a loud chant, and,
+looking out, saw a group of more than a hundred pilgrims gathered round
+a fire, with an old monk in the midst of them, breaking the stillness of
+night with songs of devotion; and all the night long, as we rode swiftly
+by, I saw by the bright moonlight groups of forty, fifty, or a hundred
+lying by the roadside asleep under the trees. More than fifty thousand
+pilgrims that year visited the catacombs of Kiev, coming from every part
+of the immense empire of Russia, and many from Kamschatka and the most
+distant region of Siberia, performing the whole journey on foot, seldom
+sleeping under a roof, and living upon the precarious charity of the
+miserable peasants on the road. I have since seen the gathering of
+pilgrims at Jerusalem, and the whole body moving together from the gates
+of the city to bathe in the Jordan, and I have seen the great caravan of
+forty thousand true believers tracking their desolate way through the
+deserts of Arabia to the tomb of the Prophet at Mecca; but I remember,
+as if they were before me now, the groups of Russian pilgrims strewed
+along the road and sleeping under the pale moonlight, the bare earth
+their bed, the heavens their only covering.
+
+In the morning we stopped at a little town, where the posthouse had in
+front four Corinthian columns supporting a balcony. Inside, mats were
+placed against the broken windows, the walls were rough logs, the floor
+of mud, with pigs and children disputing its possession, and the master
+and mistress stood in special need of the purifying influence of a
+Russian bath. We brought the teaurn out on the balcony, and had a cow
+brought up and milked in our presence. After breakfast we lighted our
+pipes and strolled up the street. At the upper end, an old man in a
+civil uniform hailed us from the opposite side, and crossed over to meet
+us; supposing him to be some dignitary disposed to show us the
+civilities of the town, we waited to receive him with all becoming
+respect; but, as he approached, were rather startled by the loud tone
+of his voice and the angry expression of his face, and more so when, as
+soon as within reach, he gave my pipe-stick a severe rap with his cane,
+which knocked it out of my mouth, broke the bowl, and scattered the
+contents on the ground. I picked up the stick, and should, perhaps, have
+laid it over his head but for his gray hairs; and my companion, seeing
+him tread out the sparks of fire, recollected that there was a severe
+penalty in Russia against smoking in the streets. The houses are all of
+wood; whole villages and towns are often burned down at once, and
+probably the old man had begun by a civil intimation to that effect;
+but, indignant at my quietly smoking in his face, had used more summary
+measures. He was in a perfect fury; and calling at the top of his voice
+to a man up the street, the latter went off with such a suspicious
+looking-for-a-police-officer movement, that we hurried back to the
+diligence, which happened to be ready and waiting for us, and started
+from the town on a full run.
+
+That night, in a miserable posthouse in a miserable village, we found an
+old billiard-table. It seemed strangely out of place, and I had a great
+curiosity to know how it had found its way there; but it was twelve
+o'clock, and all were asleep but the postillion. I can give no account
+of the rest of the night's work. I had a large cushioned seat of the
+diligence to myself, certainly the softest bed I had yet had in Russia;
+and when I put my feet out of the window, it was so comfortable that I
+felt myself in some danger of falling into luxurious habits.
+
+At daylight we arrived in a large village, the inhabitants of which were
+not yet stirring, and the streets were strewed with peasants, grim,
+yellow-bearded fellows, in sheepskin dresses and caps, lying on their
+backs asleep, each of them with a log of wood under his head for a
+pillow. I descended from the diligence, and found that the whole village
+consisted of a single street, with log-houses on each side, having their
+gable ends in front; the doors were all open, and I looked in and saw
+men and women with all their clothes on, pigs, sheep, and children
+strewed about the floor.
+
+[Illustration: Russian Village.]
+
+In every house was the image of the Panagia, or all holy Virgin, or the
+picture of some tutelary saint, the face only visible, the rest covered
+with a tin frame, with a lamp or taper burning before it; and regularly
+as the serf rose he prostrated himself and made his orisons at this
+domestic shrine.
+
+About noon we passed the chateau and grounds of a seigneur; belonging to
+the chateau was a large church standing in a conspicuous situation, with
+a green dome, surmounted by the Greek cross; and round it were the
+miserable and filthy habitations of his slaves. Entering the village, we
+saw a spectacle of wretchedness and misery seldom surpassed even on the
+banks of the Nile. The whole population was gathered in the streets, in
+a state of absolute starvation. The miserable serfs had not raised
+enough to supply themselves with food, and men of all ages, half-grown
+boys, and little children were prowling the streets or sitting in the
+doorways, ravenous with hunger, and waiting for the agent to come down
+from the chateau and distribute among them bread.
+
+I had found in Russia many interesting subjects of comparison between
+that country and my own, but it was with deep humiliation I felt that
+the most odious feature in that despotic government found a parallel in
+ours. At this day, with the exception of Russia, some of the West India
+Islands, and the republic of the United States, every country in the
+civilized world can respond to the proud boast of the English common
+law, that the moment a slave sets foot on her soil he is free. I respect
+the feelings of others and their vested rights, and would be the last to
+suffer those feelings or those rights to be wantonly violated; but I do
+not hesitate to say that, abroad, slavery stands as a dark blot upon our
+national character. There it will not admit of any palliation; it stands
+in glaring contrast with the spirit of our free institutions; it belies
+our words and our hearts; and the American who would be most prompt to
+repel any calumny upon his country withers under this reproach, and
+writhes with mortification when the taunt is hurled at the otherwise
+stainless flag of the free republic. I was forcibly struck with a
+parallel between the white serfs of the north of Europe and African
+bondsmen at home. The Russian boor, generally wanting the comforts which
+are supplied to the negro on our best-ordered plantations, appeared to
+me to be not less degraded in intellect, character, and personal
+bearing. Indeed, the marks of physical and personal degradation were so
+strong, that I was insensibly compelled to abandon certain theories not
+uncommon among my countrymen at home, in regard to the intrinsic
+superiority of the white race over all others. Perhaps, too, this
+impression was aided by my having previously met with Africans of
+intelligence and capacity, standing upon a footing of perfect equality
+as soldiers and officers in the Greek army and the sultan's.
+
+The serfs of Russia differ from slaves with us in the important
+particular that they belong to the soil, and cannot be sold except with
+the estate; they may change masters, but cannot be torn from their
+connexions or their birthplace. One sixth of the whole peasantry of
+Russia, amounting to six or seven millions, belong to the crown, and
+inhabit the imperial demesne, and pay an annual tax. In particular
+districts, many have been enfranchised, and become burghers and
+merchants; and the liberal and enlightened policy of the present emperor
+is diffusing a more general system of melioration among these subjects
+of his vast empire. The rest of the serfs belong to the nobles, and are
+the absolute property and subject to the absolute control of their
+masters, as much as the cattle on their estates. Some of the seigneurs
+possess from seventy to more than a hundred thousand; and their wealth
+depends upon the skill and management with which the labour of these
+serfs is employed. Sometimes the seigneur sends the most intelligent to
+Petersburgh or Moscow to learn some handicraft, and then employs them on
+his own estates, hires them out, or allows them to exercise their trade
+on their own account on payment of an annual sum. And sometimes, too, he
+gives the serf a passport, under which he is protected all over Russia,
+settles in a city, and engages in trade, and very often accumulates
+enough to ransom himself and his family. Indeed, there are many
+instances of a serf's acquiring a large property, and even rising to
+eminence. But he is always subject to the control of his master; and I
+saw at Moscow an old mongik who had acquired a very large fortune, but
+was still a slave. His master's price for his freedom had advanced with
+his growing wealth, and the poor serf, unable to bring himself to part
+with his hard earnings, was then rolling in wealth with a collar round
+his neck; struggling with the inborn spirit of freedom, and hesitating
+whether to die a beggar or a slave.
+
+The Russian serf is obliged to work for his master but three days in the
+week; the other three he may work for himself on a portion of land
+assigned to him by law on his master's estate. He is never obliged to
+work on Sunday, and every saint's day or fete day of the church is a
+holyday. This might be supposed to give him an opportunity of elevating
+his character and condition; but, wanting the spirit of a free agent,
+and feeling himself the absolute property of another, he labours
+grudgingly for his master, and for himself barely enough to supply the
+rudest necessaries of life and pay his tax to the seigneur. A few rise
+above their condition, but millions labour like beasts of burden,
+content with bread to put in their mouths, and never even thinking of
+freedom. A Russian nobleman told me that he believed, if the serfs were
+all free, he could cultivate his estate to better advantage by hired
+labour; and I have no doubt a dozen Connecticut men would cultivate more
+ground than a hundred Russian serfs, allowing their usual non-working
+days and holydays. They have no interest in the soil, and the desolate
+and uncultivated wastes of Russia show the truth of the judicious
+reflection of Catharine II., "that agriculture can never flourish in
+that nation where the husbandman possesses no property."
+
+It is from this great body of peasantry that Russia recruits her immense
+standing army, or, in case of invasion, raises in a moment a vast body
+of soldiers. Every person in Russia entitled to hold land is known to
+the government, as well as the number of peasants on his estate; and,
+upon receiving notice of an imperial order to that effect, the numbers
+required by the levy are marched forthwith from every part of the empire
+to the places of rendezvous appointed. It might be asked, What have
+these men to fight for? They have no country, and are brought up on
+immense levels, wanting the rocks, rivers, and mountains that inspire
+local attachments. It is a singular fact, that, with the Russian serf,
+there is always an unbounded love for him who stands at the head of the
+system of oppression under which they groan, the emperor, whom they
+regard as their protector against the oppression of their immediate
+masters; but to whatever cause it may be ascribed, whether inability to
+estimate the value of any change in their condition, or a feeling of
+actual love for the soil on which they were born, during the invasion of
+Napoleon the serfs of Russia presented a noble spectacle; and the spirit
+of devotion which animated the corps of ten thousand in the north
+extended to the utmost bounds of the empire. They received orders to
+march from St. Petersburgh to meet the advance of the French army; the
+emperor reviewed them, and is said to have shed tears at their
+departure. Arrived at the place appointed, Witgenstein ordered them to
+fall back to a certain point, but they answered "No; the last promise we
+made the emperor our father was, that we would never fly before the
+enemy, and we keep our word." Eight thousand of their number died on the
+spot; and the spirit which animated them fired the serfs throughout the
+whole empire. The scholar may sneer, but I defy him to point to a nobler
+page in Grecian or Roman history.
+
+I shall make amends for this long discussion by hurrying on to Moscow.
+We rode hundreds of miles without meeting a hill; the country was bare
+of trees, and almost everywhere presenting the same appearance. We saw
+the first disk of the sun peeping out of the earth, watched it while
+soaring on its daily round, and, without a bush to obstruct the view,
+saw it sink below the horizon; and woke up at all times of night and saw
+the stars,
+
+    "Rolling like living cars of light
+    For gods to journey by."
+
+The principal and only large towns on our road were Orel and Toula, the
+former containing a population of four or five thousand, and presenting
+an imposing display of churches and monasteries gaudily painted and with
+gilded domes; the houses were principally of wood, painted yellow. Toula
+is the largest manufacturing town, and is called the Sheffield of
+Russia, being particularly celebrated for its cutlery. Everywhere the
+diligence created a great sensation; the knowing ones said it would
+never do; but at Orel one spirited individual said if we would wait
+three days for him he would go on with us. It can hardly seem credible,
+in our steamboat and railroad community, that a public conveyance could
+roll on for seven days and nights, through many villages and towns,
+toward the capital of an immense empire, and not take in a single
+way-passenger; but such was the fact; and on the morning of the seventh
+day, alone, as we started from Chioff, we were approaching the burned
+and rebuilt capital of the Czars, Moscow with gilded cupolas, the holy
+Moscow, the sanctified city, the Jerusalem of Russia, beloved of God,
+and dear to men.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+    Moscow.--A severe Operation.--An Exile by Accident.--Meeting with an
+      Emigre.--A civil Stranger.--A Spy.--The Kremlin.--Sepulchres of
+      the Czars.--The great Bell.--The great Gun.--Precious Relics.
+
+
+AT daylight we arrived at the last post; and here, for the first time,
+we saw evidences of our approach to a great city. Four or five
+travelling-carriages were waiting for horses, some of which had been
+waiting all night; but our diligence being a "public accommodation," we
+were preferred, and had the first that came in. We took our places for
+the last time in the diligence, and passed two or three fine chateaux,
+our curiosity and interest increasing as we approached, until, at about
+five versts from Moscow, as we reached the summit of a gentle eminence,
+the whole city broke upon us at one view, situated in the midst of a
+great plain, and covering an extent of more than thirty versts. Moscow
+is emphatically the city of churches, containing more than six hundred,
+many of which have five or six domes, with steeples, and spires, and
+crosses, gilded and connected together with golden chains like those of
+Chioff. Its convents, too, are almost innumerable, rivalling the
+churches in size and magnificence, and even to us, coming directly from
+the capital of the Eastern empire, presenting a most striking and
+extraordinary appearance. As we passed the barrier, two of the most
+conspicuous objects on each side were the large Greek convents, enclosed
+by high walls, with noble trees growing above them; and as we rode
+through the wide and showy streets, the first thing that struck me as
+strange, and, in this inhospitable climate (always associated in my mind
+with rude and wintry scenes), as singularly beautiful, was the profusion
+of plants and flowers, with the remarkable degree of taste and attention
+given to their cultivation. In Greece and Turkey I had seen the rarest
+plants and flowers literally "wasting their sweetness on the desert
+air;" while here, in the heart of an inhospitable country, every house
+had a courtyard or garden, and in front a light open portico or veranda,
+ornamented with plants, and shrubs, and flowers, forced into a glowing
+though unnatural beauty. The whole appearance of the city is Asiatic;
+and as the exhibition of flowers in front of the better class of houses
+was almost universal, Moscow seemed basking in the mild climate of
+Southern Asia, rioting in its brief period of vernal existence, and
+forgetting that, in a few weeks, a frost would come and cover their
+beauty with the dreary drapery of winter.
+
+At the office of the diligence my companion and myself separated. He
+went to a hotel kept by an English woman, with English company, and I
+believe, too, with English comfort, and I rode to the Hotel Germanica,
+an old and favourite stopping-place with the Russian seigneurs when they
+come up from their estates in the country. Having secured my room, I
+mounted a drosky and hurried to a bath. Riding out to the suburbs, the
+drosky boy stopped at a large wooden building, pouring forth steam from
+every chink and crevice. At the entrance stood several half-naked men,
+one of whom led me to an apartment to undress, and then conducted me to
+another, in one end of which were a furnace and apparatus for generating
+steam. I was then familiar with the Turkish bath, but the worst I had
+known was like the breath of the gentle south wind compared with the
+heat of this apartment. The operator stood me in the middle of the
+floor, opened the upper door of the stove, and dashed into it a
+bucketful of water, which sent forth volumes of steam like a thick fog
+into every part of the room, and then laid me down on a platform about
+three feet high and rubbed my body with a mop dipped in soap and hot
+water; then he raised me up, and deluged me with hot water, pouring
+several tubfuls on my head; then laid me down again, and scrubbed me
+with soap and water from my head to my heels, long enough, if the thing
+were possible, to make a blackamoor white; then gave me another sousing
+with hot water, and another scrubbing with pure water, and then
+conducted me up a flight of steps to a high platform, stretched me out
+on a bench within a few feet of the ceiling, and commenced whipping me
+with twigs of birch, with the leaves on them, dipped in hot water. It
+was hot as an oven where he laid me down on the bench; the vapour, which
+almost suffocated me below, ascended to the ceiling, and, finding no
+avenue of escape, gathered round my devoted body, fairly scalding and
+blistering me; and when I removed my hands from my face, I felt as if I
+had carried away my whole profile. I tried to hold out to the end, but I
+was burning, scorching, and consuming. In agony I cried out to my
+tormentor to let me up, but he did not understand me, or was loath to
+let me go, and kept thrashing me with the bunch of twigs until,
+perfectly desperate, I sprang off the bench, tumbled him over, and
+descended to the floor. Snow, snow, a region of eternal snow seemed
+paradise; but my tormentor had not done with me; and, as I was hurrying
+to the door, he dashed over me a tub of cold water. I was so hot that
+it seemed to hiss as it touched me; he came at me with another, and at
+that moment I could imagine, what had always seemed a traveller's story,
+the high satisfaction and perfect safety with which the Russian in mid
+winter rushes from his hot bath and rolls himself in the snow. The grim
+features of my tormentor relaxed as he saw the change that came over me.
+I withdrew to my dressing-room, dozed an hour on the settee, and went
+out a new man. In half an hour I stood in the palace of the Czars,
+within the walls of the Kremlin.
+
+Toward evening I returned to my hotel. In all the large hotels in Russia
+it is the custom for every man to dine in his own apartment. Travelling
+alone, I always avoided this when I could, as, besides my dislike of the
+thing itself, it prevented my making acquaintances and acquiring such
+information as I needed in a strange city; and I was particularly averse
+to dine alone the first day of my arrival at Moscow; but it was the
+etiquette of the house to do so, and as I had a letter of introduction
+which I intended to deliver, from Count Woronzow to Prince Galitzin, the
+governor of Moscow, I was bound to make some sacrifice for the credit of
+my acquaintance. After the table was spread, however, finding it too
+severe a trial, I went down stairs and invited myself to dine with my
+landlord. He was a German of about fifty-five or sixty, tall, stout,
+with gray hair, a frank, manly expression, and great respectability of
+appearance and manners; and before the dinner was over I regarded him
+emphatically as what a Frenchman would call _un brave homme_. He had
+been in Russia during the whole of the French invasion, and, among the
+other incidents of a stirring life, had been sent in exile to Siberia;
+and the curious part of it was, that he was sent there by mistake.
+Rather an awkward mistake, though, as he said, not so bad as being
+knouted or hanged by mistake; and in his case it turned out a rather
+interesting adventure. He was taken by the French as a Russian spy, and
+retaken by the Russians as a French spy, when, as he said, he did not
+care a fig for either of them. He was hurried off to Siberia, but on the
+journey succeeded in convincing the officer who escorted the prisoners
+that there was error in the case, and on his arrival was merely detained
+in exile, without being put to hard labour, until, through the medium of
+friends, he had the matter brought before the proper tribunal, and the
+mistake corrected, when he came back post, in company with a Russian
+officer, smoking his pipe all the way, at the expense of the government.
+He gave me many interesting particulars in regard to that celebrated
+country, its mines, the sufferings of the noble exiles; and much also,
+that was new to me, touching its populousness and wealth, and the
+comfort and luxury of a residence there. He spoke of Tobolsk as a large,
+gay, and populous city, containing hotels, theatres, and all kinds of
+places of amusement. The exiles, being many of them of rank, have
+introduced there all the luxuries of the capital, and life at Tobolsk is
+much the same as life at Moscow.
+
+As the rage for travelling is excited by hearing from the lips of a
+traveller stories of the countries he has visited, before dinner was
+over I found myself infected with a strong disposition for a journey to
+Siberia. Small matters, however, produce great changes in the current of
+a man's feelings, and in a few moments I had entirely forgotten Siberia,
+and was carried directly home. While we were smoking our pipes, an old
+gentleman entered, of singularly aristocratic appearance, whom my host
+received with the greatest consideration and respect, addressing him as
+the Marquis de P----. He was a Frenchman, an old militaire, and a noble
+specimen of a race almost extinct; tall, thin, and gray-headed, wearing
+a double-breasted blue frockcoat, buttoned up to the throat, with a cane
+in his hand and a red riband in his buttonhole, the decoration of the
+Knights of Malta; and when my host introduced me as an American
+traveller arrived that day in Moscow, he welcomed me with more than the
+usual forms of courtesy, and told me that, far off as it was, and little
+as he knew of it, he almost regarded America as his own country; that,
+on the downfall of "the emperor," and in a season of universal
+scattering, some of his nearest relatives, particularly a sister married
+to a fellow-soldier and his dearest friend, had taken refuge on the
+other side of the Atlantic; that, eighteen years before, he had met an
+American secretary of legation who knew them, but since that time he had
+not heard from them, and did not know whether they were living or dead.
+I asked him the name, with very little expectation of being able to give
+him any information about them; and it was with no small degree of
+pleasure that I found I was particularly acquainted with the condition
+of his relatives. His brother-in-law and old comrade was dead, but I
+brought him a satisfaction to which he had long been a stranger, by
+telling him that his sister was still living, occupying a large property
+in a neighbouring state, surrounded by a family of children, in
+character and standing ranking among the first in our country. They were
+intimately connected with the family of one of my most intimate friends,
+letters to and from different members of which had very often passed
+through my hands; I knew the names of all his nieces, and personally one
+of his nephews, a lieutenant, and one of the most promising officers in
+our navy; and about a year before I had accompanied the friends to whom
+I refer on a visit to these relatives. At Philadelphia I left them under
+the charge of the lieutenant; and on my return from Washington,
+according to agreement, the lieutenant came down to an intersecting
+point on the railroad to take me home with him; but circumstances
+prevented my going, and much as I regretted my disappointment then, I
+regretted it far more now, as otherwise I might have gladdened the old
+man's heart by telling him that within a year I had seen his sister. His
+own history was brief. Born to the possession of rank and fortune, and
+having won honours and decorations by long service in the field, and
+risen to the rank of inspector-general in the army of Napoleon, he was
+taken in the campaign against Russia in eighteen hundred and thirteen,
+and sent a prisoner of war to Moscow, where he had remained ever since.
+Immediately on their arrival, his brother-in-law and sister had written
+to him from America, telling him that, with the wreck of their fortune,
+they had purchased a large landed estate, and begging him to come over
+and share their abundance; but, as he told me, he scorned to eat the
+bread of idleness and dependance; manfully turned to account the
+advantages of an accomplished education; and now, at the advanced age of
+seventy-eight, sustained himself by his pencil, an honoured guest at
+every table, and respected by the most distinguished inhabitants of
+Moscow. He had accidentally given up his rooms a few days before, and
+was residing temporarily at the same hotel with myself. He was much
+agitated by this unexpected intelligence from friends he never expected
+to hear of more, and left me with a promise to call upon me early in the
+morning.
+
+Too much interested myself to go back to Siberia with my host, I went to
+the French theatre. The play was some little every-day thing, and the
+house but thinly attended. I took my seat in the pit, which was on a
+dead level, instead of ascending from the stage, containing large
+cushioned seats, and sprinkled with officers talking with ladies in the
+boxes above. At the end of the first act, as whole benches were empty
+above me, I moved up to put myself nearer a pair of bright eyes that
+were beaming from the box upon a pair of epaulettes below. I was hardly
+seated before one of the understrappers came up and whispered, or rather
+muttered, something in my ear. As I did not understand a word he said,
+and his manner was exceedingly rude and ungracious, I turned my back
+upon him and looked at the lady with the bright eyes. The fellow
+continued muttering in my ear, and I began to be seriously annoyed and
+indignant, when a Frenchman sitting two or three benches behind me came
+up, and, in an imperious tone, ordered him away. He then cursed the
+Russians as a set of canaille, from the greatest seigneurs to the lowest
+serf; remarked that he saw I was a stranger, and, with the easy freedom
+of a man of the world, took a seat by my side. He was above six feet
+high, about thirty-three or thirty-four years of age, in robust health,
+with a large pair of whiskers, rather overdressed, and of manners good,
+though somewhat imperious and bordering on the swagger. He seemed
+perfectly at home in the theatre; knew all the actors and, before the
+evening was over, offered to introduce me to all the actresses. I was
+under obligations to him, if not for the last offer, at least for
+relieving me from the impertinent doorkeeper; and, when the curtain
+fell, accepted his invitation to go to a restaurant and take a petit
+souper. I accompanied him to the Restaurant au coin du pont des
+Mareschaux, which I afterward ascertained to be the first in Moscow. He
+was perfectly at home with the carte, knew exactly what to order, and,
+in fact, he was a man of great general information, perfectly familiar
+with all continental Europe, geographically and politically, and
+particularly at home in Moscow; and he offered his services in showing
+me all that was curious and interesting. We sat together more than two
+hours, and in our rambling and discursive conversation I could not help
+remarking that he seemed particularly fond of railing at the government,
+its tyranny and despotism, and appealing to me, as an American and a
+liberal, to sustain him. I did not think anything of it then, though in
+a soldier under Charles the Tenth, driven out, as he said, by the
+revolution of July, it was rather strange; but, at any rate, either from
+a spirit of contradiction or because I had really a good feeling toward
+everything in Russia, I disagreed with him throughout; he took upon
+himself the whole honours of the entertainment, scolded the servants,
+called in the landlord, and, as I observed, after a few words with him,
+went out without paying. I saw that the landlord knew him, and that
+there was something constrained and peculiar in his behaviour. I must
+confess, however, that I did not notice these things at the time so
+clearly as when I was induced to recur to them by after circumstances,
+for we went out of the house the best friends in the world; and, as it
+was then raining, we took a drosky and rode home together, with our arms
+around each other's neck, and my cloak thrown over us both. About two
+o'clock, in a heavy rain, I stopped at my hotel, bade him good-night,
+and lent him my cloak to go home with.
+
+The reader, perhaps, smiles at my simplicity, but he is wrong in his
+conjecture; my cloak came home the next morning, and was my companion
+and only covering many a night afterward. My friend followed it, sat
+with me a few minutes, and was taking his departure, having made an
+appointment to call for me at twelve o'clock, when there was a knock at
+the door, and my friend the marquis entered. I presented them to each
+other, and the latter was in the act of bending his body with the
+formality of a gentleman of the old school, when he caught a full view
+of my friend of the theatre, and, breaking off his unfinished bow,
+recovered his erect position, and staring from him to me, and from me to
+him, seemed to demand an explanation. I had no explanation to give, nor
+had my friend, who, cocking his hat on one side, and brushing by the
+marquis with more than his usual swagger, stamped down stairs. The
+marquis looked after him till he was at the foot of the stairs, and then
+turning to me, asked how, in the name of wonder, I had already contrived
+to pick up such an acquaintance. I told him the history of our meeting
+at the theatre, our supper at the restaurant, and our loving ride home,
+to which he listened with breathless attention; and after making me tax
+my memory for the particulars of the conversation at the restaurant,
+told me that my friend was a disgrace to his country; that he had, no
+doubt, been obliged to leave France for some rascality, and was now
+entertained by the Emperor of Russia as a _spy_, particularly upon his
+own countrymen; that he was well fed and clothed, and had the entree of
+all the theatres and public houses without paying. With the earnestness
+of a man long used to a despotic government, and to seeing slight
+offences visited with terrible punishments, the marquis congratulated me
+upon not having fallen into what he called the snare laid for me.
+
+It is almost impossible for an American to believe that even in Russia
+he incurs any risk in speaking what he thinks; he is apt to regard the
+stories of summary punishment for freedom of speech as bugbears or
+bygone things. In my own case, even when men looked cautiously around
+the room and then spoke in whispers, I could not believe that there was
+any danger. Still I had become prudent enough not to talk with any
+unnecessary indiscretion of the constituted authorities, and, even in
+writing home to my friends, not to say anything that could prejudice me
+if the letter should fall into wrong hands; and now, although I did not
+consider that I had run any great risk, I was rather pleased that I had
+said nothing exceptionable; and though I had no apprehension,
+particularly since I had been put on my guard, I determined to drop my
+new acquaintance, and did not consider myself bound to observe any great
+courtesy in the mode of doing it. I had had a supper, which it was my
+original intention to return with a dinner; but I did not consider
+myself under any obligation to him for civilities shown in the exercise
+of his despicable calling. The first time I met him I made no apology
+for having been out when he called according to appointment, and did not
+ask him to come again. I continued to meet him in the streets and at
+every public place, but our greetings became colder and colder, and the
+day before I left Moscow we brushed against each other without speaking
+at all. So much for acquaintances who, after an intimacy of three or
+four hours, had ridden home under the same cloak, with their arms around
+each other's neck.
+
+But to return: as soon as the marquis left me I again went to the
+Kremlin, to me the great, I had almost said the only, object of interest
+in Moscow. I always detested a cicerone; his bowing, fawning, and
+prating annoyed me; and all through Italy, with my map and guide-book
+under my arm, I was in the habit of rambling about alone. I did the same
+at Moscow, and again walked to the Kremlin unaccompanied. Unlike many of
+the places I had visited, all the interest I had felt in looking forward
+to the Kremlin was increased when I stood within its walls. I had
+thought of it as the rude and barbarous palace of the Czars; but I found
+it one of the most extraordinary, beautiful, and magnificent objects I
+ever beheld. I rambled over it several times with admiration, without
+attempting to comprehend it all. Its commanding situation on the banks
+of the Moskwa river; its high and venerable walls; its numerous
+battlements, towers, and steeples; its magnificent and gorgeous palaces;
+its cathedrals, churches, monasteries, and belfries, with their gilded,
+coppered, and tin-plated domes; its mixture of barbarism and decay,
+magnificence and ruins; its strong contrast of architecture, including
+the Tartarian, Hindoo, Chinese, and Gothic; and, rising above all, the
+lofty tower of Ivan Veliki, with its golden ball reflecting the sun with
+dazzling brilliancy, all together exhibited a beauty, grandeur, and
+magnificence strange and indescribable.
+
+[Illustration: The Kremlin.]
+
+The Kremlin is "the heart" and "sacred place" of Moscow, once the old
+fortress of the Tartars, and now the centre of the modern city. It is
+nearly triangular in form, enclosed by a high brick wall painted white,
+and nearly two miles in extent, and is in itself a city. It has five
+gates, at four of which there are high watch-towers. The fifth is "our
+Saviour's," or the Holy Gate, through whose awe-commanding portals no
+male, not even the emperor and autocrat of all the Russias, can pass
+except with uncovered head and bended body. Bareheaded, I entered by
+this gate, and passed on to a noble esplanade, commanding one of the
+most interesting views of Moscow, and having in front the range of
+palaces of the Czars. I shall not attempt to describe these palaces.
+They are a combination of every variety of taste and every order of
+architecture, Grecian, Gothic, Italian, Tartar, and Hindoo, rude,
+fanciful, grotesque, gorgeous, magnificent, and beautiful. The churches,
+monasteries, arsenals, museum, and public buildings are erected with no
+attempt at regularity of design, and in the same wild confusion of
+architecture. There are no regular streets, but three open places or
+squares, and abundance of room for carriages and foot passengers, with
+which, in summer afternoons, it is always thronged.
+
+Having strolled for some time about the Kremlin, I entered the Cathedral
+of the Assumption, the most splendid church in Moscow. It was founded in
+1325, and rebuilt in 1472. It is loaded with gorgeous and extravagant
+ornaments. The iconastos or screen which divides the sanctuary from the
+body of the church is in many parts covered with plates of solid silver
+and gold, richly and finely wrought. On the walls are painted the images
+of more than two thousand three hundred saints, some at full length and
+some of a colossal size, and the whole interior seems illuminated with
+gold, of which more than two hundred and ten thousand leaves have been
+employed in embellishing it. From the centre of the roof is suspended a
+crown of massive silver, with forty-eight chandeliers, all in a single
+piece, and weighing nearly three thousand pounds. Besides the portraits
+of saints and martyrs, there are portraits of the old historians, whose
+names, to prevent confusion, are attached to their resemblances, as
+Aristotle, Anarcharsis, Thucydides, Plutarch, &c. Some of the paintings
+on wood could not fail to delight an antiquary, inasmuch as every
+vestige of paint being obliterated, there is abundance of room for
+speculation as to their age and character. There is also an image of the
+Virgin, painted by St. Luke's own hand!!! The face dark, almost black,
+the head encircled with a glory of precious stones, and the hands and
+the body gilded. It is reverenced for its miraculous powers, guarded
+with great care, and enclosed within a large silver covering, which is
+never removed but on great religious festivals, or on payment of a ruble
+to the verger. Here, too, is a nail from the cross, a robe of our
+Saviour's, and part of one of the Virgin's!!! And here, too, are the
+tombs of the church patriarchs, one of whom, St. Phillippe, honoured by
+a silver monument, dared to say to John the Terrible, "We respect you as
+an image of the Divinity, but as a man you partake of the dust of the
+earth."
+
+The Cathedral of the Assumption is honoured as the place where the
+sovereigns of Russia are crowned, and there is but a step from their
+throne to their grave, for near it is the Cathedral of the archangel
+Michael, the ancient burial-place where, in raised sepulchres, lie the
+bodies of the Czars, from the time when Moscow became the seat of empire
+until the close of the seventeenth century. The bodies rest in raised
+tombs or sepulchres, each covered with a velvet pall, and having on it a
+silver plate, bearing the name of the occupant and the date of his
+decease. Close by is an odd-looking church, constantly thronged with
+devotees; a humble structure, said to be the oldest Christian church in
+Moscow. It was built in the desert, before Moscow was thought of, and
+its walls are strong enough to last till the gorgeous city shall become
+a desert again.
+
+After strolling through the churches I ascended the tower of Ivan
+Veliki, or John the Great, the first of the Czars. It is about two
+hundred and seventy feet high, and contains thirty-three bells, the
+smallest weighing seven thousand, and the largest more than one hundred
+and twenty-four thousand pounds English. On festivals they are all
+tolled together, the Muscovites being extremely fond of Ivan Veliki's
+music. This celebrated tower rises above every other object in the
+Kremlin, and its large gilded dome and cross are conspicuous from every
+part of the city. From its top I had the finest view of Moscow and the
+surrounding country, and, perhaps, the finest panoramic view in the
+world. Hundreds of churches were in sight, with their almost innumerable
+domes, and spires, and crosses glittering with gold, Tartaric
+battlements, terraces, balconies, and ramparts. Gothic steeples, Grecian
+columns, the star, the crescent, and the cross, palaces, mosques, and
+Tartar temples, pagodas, pavilions, and verandas, monasteries peeping
+out over high walls and among noble trees, the stream of the Moskwa
+winding prettily below, and in the distance the Sparrow Hills, on which
+the French army first made its appearance on the invasion of Moscow. It
+may seem strange, but I did not feel myself a stranger on the top of
+that tower. Thousands of miles away I had read its history. I knew that
+the magnificent city at my feet had been a sheet of fire, and that, when
+Napoleon fled by the light of its conflagration, a dreadful explosion
+shook to their foundation the sacred precincts of the Kremlin, and rent
+from its base to its top the lofty tower of Ivan.
+
+I descended, and the custode conducted me to another well-known object,
+the great bell, the largest, and the wonder of the world. It is only a
+short distance from the foot of the tower, in an excavation under
+ground, accessible by a trapdoor, like the covered mouth of a well. I
+descended by a broken ladder, and can hardly explain to myself the
+curiosity and interest with which I examined this monstrous piece of
+metal. I have no knowledge of or taste for mechanics, and no particular
+penchant for bells, even when spelled with an additional e; but I knew
+all about this one, and it added wonderfully to the interest with which
+I strolled through the Kremlin, that, from accidental circumstances, I
+was familiar with every object within its walls. I impeach, no doubt,
+my classical taste, but, before seeing either, I had dwelt with more
+interest upon the Kremlin, and knew more of it, than of the Acropolis at
+Athens; and I stood at the foot of the great bell almost with a feeling
+of reverence. Its perpendicular height is twenty-one feet four inches,
+and the extreme thickness of the metal twenty-three inches; the length
+of the clapper is fourteen feet, the greatest circumference sixty-seven
+feet four inches, its weight upward of four hundred thousand pounds
+English, and its cost has been estimated at more than three hundred and
+sixty-five thousand pounds sterling. There is some question whether this
+immense bell was ever hung, but it is supposed that it was suspended by
+a great number of beams and crossbeams; that it was rung by forty or
+fifty men, one half on either side, who pulled the clapper by means of
+ropes, and that the sound amazed and deafened the inhabitants. On one
+side is a crack large enough to admit the figure of a man. I went inside
+and called aloud, and received an echo like the reverberations of
+thunder.
+
+[Illustration: The Great Bell.]
+
+Besides the great bell, there is another noisy musical instrument,
+namely, the great gun, like the bell, the largest in the world, being a
+four thousand three hundred and twenty pounder. It is sixteen feet long,
+and the diameter of its calibre nearly three feet. I jumped in and
+turned round in its mouth, and sat upright, my head not reaching the
+top. All around were planted cannon taken from the French in their
+unhappy expedition against the capital of Russia; immense fieldpieces,
+whose throats once poured their iron hail against the walls within which
+they now repose as trophies. I was attracted by a crowd at the door of
+one of the principal buildings, which I found to be the treasury,
+containing what a Russian prizes as his birthright, the repository of
+sacred heirlooms; the doorkeeper demanded a permit, and I answered him
+with rubles and entered the treasury. On the first floor are the ancient
+imperial carriages; large, heavy, and extraordinary vehicles, covered
+with carving and gilding, and having large plate glass windows; among
+them was an enormous sleigh, carved and profusely gilded, and containing
+a long table with cushioned seats on each side; all together, these
+vehicles were most primitive and Asiatic in appearance, and each one had
+some long and interesting story connected with it.
+
+I ascended by a noble staircase to the _belle etage_, a gallery composed
+of five parts, in the first of which are the portraits of all the
+emperors and Czars and their wives, in the exact costume of the times in
+which they lived; in another is a model of a palace projected by the
+Empress Catharine to unite the whole Kremlin under one roof, having a
+circumference of two miles, and make of it one magnificent palace; if it
+had been completed according to the plan, this palace would probably
+have surpassed the Temple of Solomon or any of the seven wonders of the
+world. In another is a collection of precious relics, such as the crowns
+worn by the different emperors and Czars, loaded with precious stones;
+the dresses worn at their marriages; the canopies under which the
+emperors are married, surmounted by magnificent plumes; two canopies of
+red velvet, studded with gold, and a throne with two seats. The crown of
+Prince Vladimir is surmounted by a golden cross, and ornamented with
+pearls and precious stones, and, until the time of Peter the Great, was
+used to crown the Czars; the crown of the conquered kingdom of Cazan was
+placed there by the victorious hands of John Vassilivitch. Besides these
+were the crowns of the conquered countries of Astrachan and Siberia.
+That of John Alexius has eight hundred and eighty-one diamonds, and
+under the cross which surmounts it is an immense ruby. There were also
+the crown of Peter the Great, containing eight hundred and forty-seven
+diamonds; that of Catharine the First, his widow, containing two
+thousand five hundred and thirty-six fine diamonds, to which the Empress
+Anne added a ruby of enormous size, bought by the Russian ambassador at
+Pekin; and, lastly, the crown of unhappy Poland! It is of polished gold,
+surmounted by a cross, but no other ornament. And there were other
+emblems of royalty: a throne or Greek fauteuil of ivory, in arabesque,
+presented to John the Great by the ambassadors who accompanied from Rome
+to Moscow the Princess Sophia, whom he had demanded in marriage. She was
+the daughter of Thomas Paleologus Porphrygenitus brother of Constantine
+Paleologus, who died in fourteen hundred and fifty-three, after seeing
+his empire fall into the hands of the Turks. By this marriage John
+considered himself the heir of Constantine, and took the title of Czar,
+meaning Caesar (this is one of the derivations of the name), and thus the
+emperor and autocrat of all the Russias has the fairest claim to the
+throne of the Caesars, and, consequently, has always had an eye upon
+Constantinople; then there are the throne of Boris, adorned with two
+thousand seven hundred and sixty turquoises and other precious stones;
+that of Michel, containing eight thousand eight hundred and twenty-four
+precious stones; that of Alexius, containing eight hundred and
+seventy-six diamonds, one thousand two hundred and twenty-four other
+jewels, and many pearls, bought of a company of merchants trafficking to
+Ispahan; the throne of the Czars John and Peter, made of massive silver,
+separated in the middle, the back a cloth of gold, concealing a hole
+through which the Czarina used to dictate answers to the foreign
+ambassadors; and, lastly, the throne of Poland!
+
+In the armory are specimens of ancient armour, the workmanship of every
+age and nation; coats of mail, sabres adorned with jewels, swords,
+batons, crosses in armour, imperial robes, ermines in abundance, and,
+finally, the clothes in which Peter the Great worked at Saardam,
+including his old boots, from which it appears that he had considerable
+of a foot. These memorials were all interesting, and I wandered through
+the apartments till ordered out by the footman, when I returned to my
+hotel to meet my old friend the marquis, who was engaged to dine with
+me. At his suggestion we went to a new restaurant, patronized by a
+different set of people from those who frequented the Restaurant au coin
+du pont des Mareschaux, being chiefly Frenchmen, manufacturers, and
+small merchants of various kinds, who, while they detested the country,
+found it a profitable business to introduce Parisian luxuries and
+refinements among the barbarous Russians. A party of about twenty sat at
+a long table, and relieved the severity of exile by talking of their
+beautiful and beloved France; many of them were old militaires; and my
+octogenarian friend, as a soldier distinguished under the empire, and
+identified with the glory of the French arms, was treated with a
+consideration and respect honourable to them and flattering to himself.
+At another table was another circle of strangers, composed almost
+exclusively of Swiss, forming here, as elsewhere, one of the most
+valuable parts of the foreign population; keeping alive by intercourse
+with each other the recollections of home, and looking to the time when,
+with the profits of successful industry, they might return to their wild
+and beloved native mountains.
+
+    "Dear is that hill to which his soul conforms,
+    And dear that cliff which lifts him to the storms."
+
+Before we rose from table my friend of the theatre came in and took his
+seat at one end; he talked and laughed louder than any one else, and was
+received generally with an outward appearance of cordiality; but the old
+marquis could not endure his presence. He said he had become too old to
+learn, and it was too late in life to temporize with dishonour; that he
+did not blame his countrymen; fair words cost nothing, and it was not
+worth their while wilfully to make an enemy who would always be on their
+haunches; but as to himself, he had but a few years to live, and he
+would not sully the last moments of his life by tolerating a man whom he
+regarded as a disgrace to his country. We rose from the table, the old
+marquis leaning on my arm, and pouring in my ears his honest indignation
+at the disgraceful character of his countryman, and proceeded to the
+Kitaigorod, or Chinese Town, the division immediately encircling the
+Kremlin. It is enclosed by a wall with battlements, towers, and gates;
+is handsomely and compactly built, with wide, clean, and regular
+streets, and thronged with every variety of people, Greeks, Turks,
+Tartars, Cossacks, Chinese, Muscovites, French, Italians, Poles, and
+Germans, in the costumes of their respective nations. The quarter is
+entirely Russian, and I did not find in the shops a single person who
+could speak any language but Russian. In one of them, where I was
+conducted by the marquis, I found the old mongik to whom I before
+referred, who could not agree with his master for the price of his
+ransom. The principal shops resemble the bazars in the East, though they
+are far superior even to those in Constantinople, being built of stone,
+and generally in the form of arcades. They are well filled with every
+description of Asiatic goods; and some of them, particularly their tea,
+and tobacco, and pipe shops, are models of propriety and cleanliness.
+The facade of the great bazar or market is very imposing, resting the
+whole length on Corinthian columns. It fronts on a noble square, bounded
+on the opposite side by the white walls of the Kremlin, and contains six
+thousand "bargaining shops." The merchants live at a distance, and, on
+leaving their shops at sundown, each of them winds a piece of cord round
+the padlock of his door, and seals it with soft wax; a seal being with
+the Russians more sacred than a lock.
+
+In another section of the Kitaigorod is the finest part of the city,
+containing the hotels and residences of the nobles, many of which are
+truly magnificent. The hotel at which I put up would in Italy be called
+a palace. As we moved slowly along the street by the Pont des
+Mareschaux, we discoursed of the terrible inroads at this moment making
+by the French in the capital of the north, almost every shop having an
+inviting sign of nouveautes from Paris. Foiled in their attempt with the
+bayonet, they are now advancing with apparently more feeble but far more
+insidious and fatal weapons; and the rugged Russian, whom French arms
+could not conquer, bows to the supremacy of the French modistes and
+artistes, and quietly wears the livery of the great mistress of fashion.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+    The Drosky.--Salle des Nobles.--Russian
+      Gaming.--Gastronomy.--Pedroski.--A Sunday in Moscow.--A Gipsy
+      Belle.--Tea drinking.--The Emperor's Garden.--Retrospective.
+
+
+EARLY the next morning I mounted a drosky and rode to a celebrated
+garden or springs, furnished with every description of mineral water. I
+have several times spoken of the drosky. This may be called the Russian
+national vehicle, for it is found all over Russia, and nowhere else that
+I know of, except at Warsaw, where it was introduced by its Russian
+conquerors. It is on four wheels, with a long cushioned seat running
+lengthwise, on which the rider sits astride as on horseback, and so low
+that he can mount from the street. It is drawn by two horses; one in
+shafts, with a high arched bow over the neck called the douga, and the
+other, called "le furieux," in traces alongside, this last being trained
+to curb his neck and canter while the shaft-horse trots. The seat is
+long enough for two besides the driver, the riders sitting with their
+feet on different sides; or sometimes there is a cross-seat behind, on
+which the riders sit, with their faces to the horses, and the drosky
+boy, always dressed in a long surtout, with a bell-crowned hat turned up
+at the sides, sits on the end. But to return to the springs. The waters
+are prepared under the direction of medical men, who have the chymical
+analysis of all the principal mineral waters known, and manufacture them
+to order. As is universally the case in Russia, where there is any
+attempt at style, the establishment is upon a magnificent scale. The
+building contains a room perhaps one hundred and fifty feet long, with a
+clean and highly-polished floor, large looking-glasses, elegant sofas,
+and mahogany chairs and tables. The windows open upon a balcony
+extending along the whole front, which is furnished with tables and
+rustic chairs, and opens upon a large garden ornamented with
+gravel-walks, trees, and the most rare and valuable plants and flowers,
+at the time of my visit in full bloom. Every morning, from sunrise till
+noon, crowds of people, and particularly the nobility and higher
+classes, frequent this establishment, and that morning there was a
+larger collection than usual. Russian hospitality is conspicuous at a
+place like this. A stranger, instead of being avoided, is sought out;
+and after one or two promenades I was accosted by more than one
+gentleman, ready to show me every civility. In the long room and on the
+balconies, scattered about at the different tables, I saw the gourmand
+who had distended his stomach almost to bursting, and near him the gaunt
+and bilious dyspeptic, drinking their favourite waters; the dashing
+officer and the blooming girl, the lover and coquette, and, in short,
+all the style and fashion of Moscow, their eyes occasionally turning to
+the long mirrors, and then singly, in pairs and in groups, strolling
+gently through the gardens, enjoying the music that was poured forth
+from hidden arbours.
+
+Returning through a street not far from my hotel, I saw a line of
+carriages, and gentlemen and ladies passing under a light arcade, which
+formed the entrance to a large building. I joined the throng, and was
+put back by the doorkeeper because I was not in a dresscoat. I ran to my
+hotel and changed my frockcoat, but now I had no biglietto of entrance.
+A few rubles obviated this difficulty and admitted me to the _Salle des
+Nobles_, a magnificent apartment surrounded by a colonnade, capable of
+containing more than three thousand persons, and said to be the finest
+ballroom in Europe. It belongs to a club of the nobility, and none are
+admitted as members but nobles. All games of hazard are forbidden; but,
+nevertheless, all games of hazard are played. Indeed, among the "on
+dits" which a traveller picks up, gambling is said to be the great vice
+of Russia. Young men who have not two rubles to rub together will bet
+thousands; and, when all other resources fail, the dishonourable will
+cheat, but the delicate-minded will kill themselves. It is not uncommon
+for a young man to say at the cardtable over night, "I must shoot myself
+to-morrow;" and he is as good as his word. The Salle was open for a few
+days, as a sort of fair, for the exhibition of specimens of Russian
+manufacture; and, besides tables, workboxes, &c., there were some of the
+finest living specimens of genuine Russian men and women that I had yet
+seen, though not to be compared, as a Russian officer said, to whom I
+made the remark, with the exhibition of the same specimens in the waltz
+and mazourka, when the Salle was lighted up and decorated for a ball.
+
+I returned to my hotel, where I found my old friend the marquis waiting,
+according to appointment, to dine with me. He would have accompanied me
+everywhere, but I saw that he suffered from the exertion, and would not
+allow it. Meeting with me had struck a chord that had not been touched
+for years, and he was never tired of talking of his friends in America.
+Every morning he breakfasted in my room, and we dined together every
+day. We went to the restaurant where I had supped with my friend of the
+theatre. The saloon was crowded, and at a table next us sat a seigneur,
+who was dining upon a delicacy that will surprise the reader, viz., one
+of his own female slaves, a very pretty girl, whom he had hired to the
+keeper of the restaurant for her maintenance and a dinner a volonte per
+annum for himself. This was the second time he had dined on her account,
+and she was then waiting upon him; a pretty, modest, delicate-looking
+girl, and the old noble seemed never to know when he had enough of her.
+We left him gloating over still untasted dishes, and apparently mourning
+that human ability could hold out no longer. In going out my old friend,
+in homely but pithy phrase, said the only difference between a Russian
+seigneur and a Russian serf is, that the one wears his shirt inside his
+trousers and the other outside; but my friend spoke with the prejudices
+of a soldier of France aggravated by more than twenty years of exile. So
+far as my observation extended, the higher classes are rather
+extraordinary for talent and acquirements. Their government is
+unfortunate for the development and exercise of abilities. They have
+none of the learned profession; merchandise is disgraceful, and the army
+is the only field. With an ardent love of country and an ambition to
+distinguish himself, every nobleman becomes a soldier, and there is
+hardly an old or middle-aged individual of this class who was not in
+arms to repel the invasion of Napoleon, and hardly a young man who did
+not serve lately in a less noble cause, the campaign in Poland. The
+consequence of service in the army seems to have been generally a
+passion for display and expensive living, which sent them back to their
+estates, after their terms of service expired, over head and ears in
+debt. Unable to come often to the cities, and obliged to live at their
+chateaux, deprived of all society, surrounded only by slaves, and
+feeling the want of the excitement incident to a military life, many of
+them become great gourmands, or rather, as my French friend said,
+gluttons. They do not eat, said he, they swallow; and the manner in
+which, with the true spirit of a Frenchman who still remembered the
+cuisine of the Palais Royal, he commented upon their eating entremets,
+hors d'oeuvres, rotis, and desserts all pellmell, would have formed a
+proper episode to Major Hamilton's chapter upon Americans eating eggs
+out of wineglasses. The old marquis, although he retained all his French
+prejudices against the Russians, and always asserted, as the Russians
+themselves admit, that, but for the early setting in of winter, Napoleon
+would have conquered Russia, allowed them the virtue of unbounded
+hospitality, and enumerated several principal families at whose tables
+he could at any time take a seat without any express invitation, and
+with whom he was always sure of being a welcome guest; and he mentioned
+the case of a compatriot who for years had a place regularly reserved
+for him at the table of a seigneur, which he took whenever he pleased
+without any questions being asked, until, having stayed away longer than
+usual, the seigneur sent to inquire for him, and learned that he was
+dead.
+
+But to return. Toward evening I parted with the marquis, mounted a
+drosky, and rode to the country theatre at Pedroski. Pedroski is a place
+dear to the heart of every Russian, having been the favourite residence
+of Peter the Great, to whom Russia owes its existence among civilized
+nations. It is about three versts from the barrier, on the St.
+Petersburgh road. The St. Petersburgh Gate is a very imposing piece of
+architecture. Six spirited horses rest lightly upon the top, like the
+brazen horses at St. Mark's in Venice. A wide road, divided into avenues
+for carriages and pedestrians, gravelled and lined with trees, leads
+from the gate. The chateau is an old and singular, but interesting
+building of red brick, with a green dome and white cornices, and
+enclosed by a circular wall flanked with turrets. In the plain in front
+two regiments of Cossack cavalry were going through their exercises. The
+grounds around the chateau are very extensive, handsomely laid out for
+carriages and promenades, public and retired, to suit every taste. The
+principal promenade is about a mile in length, through a forest of
+majestic old trees. On each side is a handsome footpath of continual
+shade; and sometimes almost completely hidden by the luxuriant foliage
+are beautiful little summer-houses, abundantly supplied with all kinds
+of refreshments.
+
+The theatre is at a little distance from the extreme end of the great
+promenade, a plain and unpretending building; and this and the grand
+operahouse are the only theatres I have seen built like ours, merely
+with continued rows of seats, and not partitioned off into private
+boxes. The opera was some little Russian piece, and was followed by the
+grand ballet, the Revolt of the Seraglio. He who goes to Russia
+expecting to see a people just emerging from a state of barbarism, will
+often be astonished to find himself suddenly in a scene of Parisian
+elegance and refinement; and in no place will he feel this wonder more
+than in an operahouse at Moscow. The house was rather full, and
+contained more of the Russian nobility than I had yet seen at any one
+time. They were well dressed, adorned with stars and ribands, and, as a
+class of men, the "biggest in the round" I ever saw. Orders and titles
+of nobility, by-the-way, are given with a liberality which makes them of
+no value; and all over Russia princes are as plenty as pickpockets in
+London.
+
+The seigneurs of Russia have jumped over all intermediate grades of
+civilization, and plunged at once into the luxuries of metropolitan
+life. The ballet was, of course, inferior to that of Paris or London,
+but it is speaking in no mean praise of it to say that at this country
+theatre it might be made a subject of comparison. The dancers were the
+prettiest, the most interesting, and, what I was particularly struck
+with, the most modest looking I ever saw on the stage. It was
+melancholy to look at those beautiful girls, who, amid the glare and
+glitter of the stage, and in the graceful movements of the dance, were
+perfectly captivating and entrancing, and who, in the shades of domestic
+life, might fill the measure of man's happiness on earth, and know them
+to be slaves. The whole troop belongs to the emperor. They are selected
+when young with reference to their beauty and talents, and are brought
+up with great care and expense for the stage. With light fairy figures,
+seeming rather spirits than corporeal substances, and trained to inspire
+admiration and love, they can never give way to these feelings
+themselves, for their affections and marriages are regulated entirely by
+the manager's convenience. What though they are taken from the very
+poorest class of life, leaving their parents, their brothers and
+sisters, the tenants of miserable cabins, oppressed and vilified, and
+cold and hungry, while they are rolling in luxuries. A chain does not
+gall the less because it is gilded. Raised from the lot to which they
+were born, taught ideas they would never have known, they but feel more
+sensibly the weight of their bonds; and the veriest sylph, whose
+graceful movements have brought down the loudest thunders of applause,
+and whose little heart flutters with the admiration she has excited,
+would probably give all her shortlived triumph for the privilege of
+bestowing that little flutterer where it would be loved and cherished.
+There was one among them whom I long remembered. I followed her with my
+eyes till the curtain fell and left a blank around me. I saw her go out,
+and afterward she passed me in one of a long train of dark blue
+carriages belonging to the direction, in which they are carried about
+like merchandise from theatre to theatre, but, like many other bright
+visions that broke upon me for a moment, I never saw her again.
+
+At about eleven I left the steps of the theatre to return home. It was a
+most magnificent night, or, rather, it is almost profanation to call it
+by so black a name, for in that bright northern climate the day seemed
+to linger, unwilling to give place before the shades of night. I
+strolled on alone, wrapped in lonely but not melancholy meditations; the
+carriages rolled rapidly by me, and I was almost the last of the throng
+that entered the gate of Moscow.
+
+A Sunday at Moscow. To one who had for a long time been a stranger to
+the sound of the church-going bell, few things could be more interesting
+than a Sunday at Moscow. Any one who has rambled along the Maritime
+Alps, and has heard from some lofty eminence the convent bell ringing
+for matins, vespers, and midnight prayers, will long remember the sweet
+yet melancholy sounds. To me there is always something touching in the
+sound of the church-going bell; touching in its own notes, but far more
+so in its associations. And these feelings were exceedingly fresh when I
+awoke on Sunday in the holy city of Moscow. In Greece and Turkey there
+are no bells; in Russia they are almost innumerable, but this was the
+first time I had happened to pass the Sabbath in a city. I lay and
+listened, almost fearing to move lest I should hush the sounds; thoughts
+of home came over me; of the day of rest, of the gathering for church,
+and the greeting of friends at the church door. But he who has never
+heard the ringing of bells at Moscow does not know its music. Imagine a
+city containing more than six hundred churches and innumerable
+convents, all with bells, and these all sounding together, from the
+sharp, quick hammer-note, to the loudest, deepest peals that ever broke
+and lingered on the ear, struck at long intervals, and swelling on the
+air as if unwilling to die away. I rose and threw open my window,
+dressed myself, and after breakfast, joining the throng called to their
+respective churches by their well-known bells, I went to what is called
+the English chapel, where, for the first time in many months, I joined
+in a regular church service, and listened to an orthodox sermon. I was
+surprised to see so large a congregation, though I remarked among them
+many English governesses with children, the English language being at
+that moment the rage among the Russians, and multitudes of cast-off
+chambermaids adventuring thither to teach the rising Russian nobility
+the beauties of the English tongue.
+
+All over the Continent Sunday is the great day for observing national
+manners and customs. I dined at an early hour with my friend the
+marquis, and, under his escort, mounting a drosky, rode to a great
+promenade of the people called _L'Allee des Peuples_. It lies outside
+the barrier, and beyond the state prisons, where the exiles for Siberia
+are confined, on the land of Count Schremetow, the richest nobleman in
+Russia, having one hundred and thirty thousand slaves on his estate; the
+chateau is about eight versts from the city, and a noble road through
+his own land leads from the barrier to his door.
+
+This promenade is the great rendezvous of the people; that is, of the
+merchants and shopkeepers of Moscow. The promenade is simply a large
+piece of ground ornamented with noble trees, and provided with
+everything necessary for the enjoyment of all the national amusements,
+among which the Russian mountain is the favourite; and refreshments were
+distributed in great abundance. Soldiers were stationed at different
+points to preserve order, and the people seemed all cheerful and happy;
+but the life and soul of the place were the Bohemian or gipsy girls.
+Wherever they moved, a crowd gathered round them. They were the first I
+had seen of this extraordinary people. Coming no one knows whence, and
+living no one knows how, wanderers from their birth, and with a history
+enveloped in doubt, it was impossible to mistake the dark complexion and
+piercing coal-black eyes of the gipsy women. The men were nowhere to be
+seen, nor were there any old women with them; and these young girls,
+well dressed, though, in general, with nothing peculiar in their
+costume, moved about in parties of five or six, singing, playing, and
+dancing to admiring crowds. One of them, with a red silk cloak trimmed
+with gold, and a gold band round her hair, struck me as the very _beau
+ideal_ of a gipsy queen. Recognising me as a stranger, she stopped just
+in front of me, struck her castanets and danced, at the same time
+directing the movements of her companions, who formed a circle around
+me. There was a beauty in her face, combined with intelligence and
+spirit, that riveted my attention, and when she spoke her eyes seemed to
+read me through. I ought, perhaps, to be ashamed of it, but in all my
+wanderings I never regretted so much my ignorance of the language as
+when it denied me the pleasure of conversing with that gipsy girl. I
+would fain have known whether her soul did not soar above the scene and
+the employment in which I found her; whether she was not formed for
+better things than to display her beautiful person before crowds of
+boors; but I am sorry to add, that the character of my queen was not
+above reproach; and, as I had nothing but my character to stand upon in
+Moscow, I was obliged to withdraw from the observation which her
+attention fixed upon me.
+
+Leaving my swarthy princess with this melancholy reflection, and leaving
+the scene of humbler enjoyment, I mounted a drosky, and, depositing my
+old friend in the suburbs of the city, in half an hour was in another
+world, in the great promenade of Pedroski, the gathering-place of the
+nobility, where all the rank and fashion of Moscow were vying with each
+other in style and magnificence. The extensive grounds around the old
+chateau are handsomely disposed and ornamented with trees, but the great
+carriage promenade is equal to anything I ever saw. It is a straight
+road, more than a mile in length, through a thick forest of noble trees.
+For two hours before dark all the equipages in Moscow paraded up and
+down this promenade. These equipages were striking and showy without
+being handsome, and the Russian manner of driving four horses makes a
+very dashing appearance, the leaders being harnessed with long traces,
+perhaps twenty feet from the wheel horses, and guided by a lad riding
+the near leader, the coachman sitting as if nailed to the box, and
+merely holding the reins. All the rules of good taste, as understood in
+the capitals of Southern Europe, were set at defiance; and many a
+seigneur, who thought he was doing the thing in the very best style, had
+no idea how much his turnout would have shocked an English whip. But all
+this extravagance, in my eyes, added much to the effect of the scene;
+and the star-spangled Muscovite who dashed up and down the promenade on
+horseback, with two Calmuc Tartars at his heels, attracted more of my
+attention than the plain gentleman who paced along with his English
+jockey and quiet elegance of equipment. The stars and decorations of the
+seigneurs set them off to great advantage; and scores of officers, with
+their showy uniforms, added brilliancy to the scene, while the footmen
+made as good an appearance as their masters.
+
+On either side of the grand promenade is a walk for foot passengers, and
+behind this, almost hidden from view by the thick shade of trees, are
+little cottages, arbours, and tents, furnished with ices and all kinds
+of refreshments suited to the season. I should have mentioned long since
+that tea, the very pabulum of all domestic virtues, is the Russian's
+favourite beverage. They say that they have better tea than can be
+obtained in Europe, which they ascribe to the circumstance of its being
+brought by caravans over land, and saved the exposure of a sea voyage.
+Whether this be the cause or not, if I am any judge they are right as to
+the superiority of their article; and it was one of the most striking
+features in the animating scene at Pedroski to see family groups
+distributed about, all over the grounds, under the shade of noble trees,
+with their large brass urn hissing before them, and taking their tea
+under the passing gaze of thousands of people with as much unconcern as
+if by their own firesides.
+
+Leaving for a moment the thronged promenade, I turned into a thick
+forest and entered the old chateau of the great Peter. There all was
+solitude; the footman and I had the palace to ourselves. I followed him
+through the whole range of apartments, in which there was an appearance
+of staid respectability that quite won my heart, neither of them being
+any better furnished than one of our oldfashioned country houses. The
+pomp and show that I saw glittering through the openings in the trees
+were unknown in the days of the good old Peter; the chateau was silent
+and deserted; the hand that built it was stiff and cold, and the heart
+that loved it had ceased to beat; old Peter was in his grave, and his
+descendants loved better their splendid palaces on the banks of the
+Neva.
+
+When Moscow was burning, Napoleon fled to this chateau for refuge. I
+stopped for a moment in the chamber where, by the blaze of the burning
+city, he dictated his despatches for the capital of France; gave the
+attendant a ruble, and again mixed with the throng, with whom I rambled
+up and down the principal promenade, and at eleven o'clock was at my
+hotel. I ought not to forget the Russian ladies; but, after the gay
+scene at Pedroski, it is no disparagement to them if I say that, in my
+quiet walk home, the dark-eyed gipsy girl was uppermost in my thoughts.
+
+The reader may perhaps ask if such is indeed what the traveller finds in
+Russia; "Where are the eternal snows that cover the steppes and the
+immense wastes of that Northern empire? that chill the sources of
+enjoyment, and congeal the very fountains of life?" I answer, they have
+but just passed by, and they will soon come again; the present is the
+season of enjoyment; the Russians know it to be brief and fleeting, and,
+like butterflies, unfold themselves to the sun and flutter among the
+flowers.
+
+Like them, I made the most of it at Moscow. Mounted in a drosky, I
+hurried from church to church, from convent to convent, and from quarter
+to quarter. But although it is the duty of a traveller to see
+everything that is to be seen, and although there is a kind of
+excitement in hurrying from place to place, which he is apt to mistake
+for pleasure, it is not in this that his real enjoyment is found. His
+true pleasure is in turning quietly to those things which are
+interesting to the imagination as well as to the eyes, and so I found
+myself often turning from the churches and palaces, specimens of
+architecture and art, to the sainted walls of the Kremlin. Here were the
+first and last of my visits; and whenever I sauntered forth without any
+specific object, perhaps to the neglect of many other places I ought to
+have seen, my footsteps involuntarily turned thitherward.
+
+Outside and beneath the walls of the Kremlin, and running almost the
+whole extent of its circumference, are boulevards and a public garden,
+called the Emperor's, made within a few years, and the handsomest thing
+of the kind in Moscow; I am not sure but that I may add anywhere else. I
+have compared it in my mind to the Gardens of the Luxembourg and
+Tuileries, and in many respects hold it to be more beautiful. It is more
+agreeably irregular and undulating in its surface, and has a more rural
+aspect, and the groves and plants are better arranged, although it has
+not the statues, lakes, and fountains of the pride of Paris. I loved to
+stroll through this garden, having on one side of me the magnificent
+buildings of the great Russian princes, seigneurs, and merchants, among
+the finest and most conspicuous of which is the former residence of the
+unhappy Queen of Georgia; and on the other side, visible through the
+foliage of the trees, the white walls of the Kremlin, and, towering
+above them, the domes of the palaces and churches within, and the lofty
+tower of Ivan Veliki. Thence I loved to stroll to the Holy Gate of the
+Kremlin. It is a vaulted portal, and over the entrance is a picture,
+with a lamp constantly burning; and a sentinel is always posted at the
+gate. I loved to stand by it and see the haughty seigneurs and the
+degraded serf alike humble themselves on crossing the sacred threshold,
+and then, with my hat in my hand, follow the footsteps of the venerating
+Russian. Once I attempted to brave the interdict, and go in with my head
+covered; but the soldier at the gate stopped me, and forbade my
+violating the sacred prohibition. Within the walls I wandered about,
+without any definite object, sometimes entering the great church and
+beholding for a moment the prostrate Russian praying before the image of
+some saint, or descending to look once more at the great bell, or at
+other times mounting the tower and gazing at the beautiful panorama of
+the city.
+
+On the last day of my stay in Moscow a great crowd drew me to the door
+of the church, where some fete was in course of celebration, in honour
+of the birth, marriage, or some other incident in the life of the
+emperor or empress. The archbishop, a venerable-looking old man, was
+officiating, and when he came out a double line of men, women, and
+children was drawn up from the door of the church to his carriage, all
+pressing forward and struggling to kiss his hands. The crowd dispersed,
+and I strolled once more through the repository of heirlooms, and
+imperial reliques and trophies; but, passing by the crowns loaded with
+jewels, the canopies and thrones adorned with velvet and gold, I paused
+before the throne of unhappy Poland! I have seen great cities desolate
+and in ruins, magnificent temples buried in the sands of the African
+desert, and places once teeming with fertility now lying waste and
+silent; but no monument of fallen greatness ever affected me more than
+this. It was covered with blue velvet and studded with golden stars. It
+had been the seat of Casimir, and Sobieski, and Stanislaus Augustus.
+Brave men had gathered round it and sworn to defend it, and died in
+redeeming their pledge. Their oaths are registered in heaven, their
+bodies rest in bloody graves; Poland is blotted from the list of
+nations, and her throne, unspotted with dishonour, brilliant as the
+stars which glitter on its surface, is exhibited as a Russian trophy,
+before which the stoutest manhood need not blush to drop a tear.
+
+Toward evening I returned to my favourite place, the porch of the palace
+of the Czars. I seated myself on the step, took out my tablets, and
+commenced a letter to my friends at home. What should I write? Above me
+was the lofty tower of Ivan Veliki; below, a solitary soldier, in his
+gray overcoat, was retiring to a sentry-box to avoid a drizzling rain.
+His eyes were fixed upon me, and I closed my book. I am not given to
+musing, but I could not help it. Here was the theatre of one of the most
+extraordinary events in the history of the world. After sixty battles
+and a march of more than two thousand miles, the grand army of Napoleon
+entered Moscow, and found no smoke issuing from a single chimney, nor a
+Muscovite even to gaze upon them from the battlements or walls. Moscow
+was deserted, her magnificent palaces forsaken by their owners, her
+three hundred thousand inhabitants vanished as if they had never been.
+Silent and amazed, the grand army filed through its desolate streets.
+Approaching the Kremlin, a few miserable, ferocious, and intoxicated
+wretches, left behind as a savage token of the national hatred, poured a
+volley of musketry from the battlements. At midnight the flames broke
+out in the city; Napoleon, driven from his quarters in the suburbs,
+hurried to the Kremlin, ascended the steps, and entered the door at
+which I sat. For two days the French soldiers laboured to repress the
+fierce attempts to burn the city. Russian police-officers were seen
+stirring up the fire with tarred lances; hideous-looking men and women,
+covered with rags, were wandering like demons amid the flames, armed
+with torches, and striving to spread the conflagration. At midnight
+again the whole city was in a blaze; and while the roof of the Kremlin
+was on fire, and the panes of the window against which he leaned were
+burning to the touch, Napoleon watched the course of the flames and
+exclaimed, "What a tremendous spectacle! These are Scythians indeed."
+Amid volumes of smoke and fire, his eyes blinded by the intense heat,
+and his hands burned in shielding his face from its fury, and traversing
+streets arched with fire, he escaped from the burning city.
+
+Russia is not classic ground. It does not stand before us covered with
+the shadow of great men's deeds. A few centuries ago it was overrun by
+wandering tribes of barbarians; but what is there in those lands which
+stand forth on the pages of history, crowned with the glory of their
+ancient deeds, that, for extraordinary daring, for terrible sublimity,
+and undaunted patriotism, exceeds the burning of Moscow. Neither
+Marathon, nor Thermopylae, nor the battle of the Horatii, nor the defence
+of Cocles, nor the devotion of the Decii, can equal it; and when time
+shall cover with its dim and quiet glories that bold and extraordinary
+deed, the burning of Moscow will be regarded as outstripping all that we
+read of Grecian or Roman patriotism, and the name of the Russian
+governor (Rostopchin), if it be not too tough a name to hand down to
+posterity, will never be forgotten.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+    Getting a Passport.--Parting with the Marquis.--The Language of
+      Signs.--A Loquacious Traveller.--From Moscow to St.
+      Petersburgh.--The Wolga.--Novogorod.--Newski Perspective.--An
+      unfortunate Mistake.--Northern Twilight.
+
+
+UNABLE to remain longer in Moscow, I prepared for my journey for St.
+Petersburgh. Several diligences run regularly between these two great
+cities; one of which, the Velocifere, is superior to any public
+conveyance on the Continent of Europe. I took my place in that, and two
+days beforehand sent my passport to be _vised_. I sent for it the next
+day, and it was not ready. I went myself, and could not get it. I knew
+that nothing could be done at the Russian offices without paying for it,
+and was ready and willing to do so, and time after time I called the
+attention of the officer to my passport. He replied coolly, "_Dans un
+instant_," and, turning to something else, kept me waiting two hours;
+and when at length he took it up and arranged it, he led me down stairs
+out of sight to receive the expected _douceur_. He was a well-dressed
+man, with the large government button on his coat, and rather distingue
+in his appearance and manners. I took the passport, folded it up, and
+put it in my pocket with a coolness equal to his own, and with
+malicious pleasure put into his hand a single ruble, equal to twenty
+cents of our money; he expected at least twenty-five rubles, or about
+five dollars, and his look of rage and disappointment amply repaid me
+for all the vexation he had caused by his delay. I bade him farewell
+with a smile that almost drove him mad.
+
+Bribery is said to be almost universal among the inferior officers of
+government, and there is a story of a Frenchman in Russia which
+illustrates the system. He had an office, of which the salary was so
+small that he could not live upon it. At first he would not take bribes,
+but stern necessity drove him to it, and while he was about it he did
+the thing handsomely. Having overreached the mark, and been guilty of
+being detected, he was brought before the proper tribunal; and when
+asked, "Why did you take a bribe?" his answer was original and
+conclusive, "I take, thou takest, he takes, we take, you take, they
+take!"
+
+I told the marquis the story of my parting interview at the
+police-office, which he said was capital, but startled me by suggesting
+that, if there should happen to be any irregularity, I would have great
+trouble in getting it rectified; even this, however, did not disturb my
+immediate satisfaction, and, fortunately, all was right.
+
+The morning of my departure, before I was out of bed, the marquis was in
+my room. Meeting with me had revived in him feelings long since dead;
+and at the moment of parting he told me, what his pride had till that
+moment concealed, that his heart yearned once more to his kindred; and
+that, if he had the means, old as he was, he would go to America. And
+yet, though his frame trembled and his voice was broken, and his lamp
+was almost burned out, his spirit was as high as when he fought the
+battles of the empire; and he told me to say to them that he would not
+come to be a dependant upon their bounty; that he could repay all they
+should do for him by teaching their children. He gave me his last
+painting, which he regarded with the pride of an artist, as a souvenir
+for his sister; but having no means of carrying it safely, I was obliged
+to return it to him. He remained with me till the moment of my
+departure, clung to my hand after I had taken my place in the drosky,
+and when we had started I looked back and saw him still standing in the
+road. It seemed as if the last link that bound him to earth was broken.
+He gave me a letter, which I forwarded to his friends at home; his
+sister was still living, and had not forgotten her long-lost brother;
+she had not heard from him in twenty years, and had long believed him
+dead. Pecuniary assistance was immediately sent to him, and, unhappily,
+since my return home, intelligence has been received that it arrived
+only at the last moment when human aid could avail him; in time to
+smooth the pillow of death by the assurance that his friends had not
+forgotten him. And perhaps, in his dying moments, he remembered me. At
+all events, it is some satisfaction, amid the recollections of an
+unprofitable life, to think that, when his checkered career was drawing
+to its close, I had been the means of gladdening for a moment the old
+exile's heart.
+
+I must not forget my host, the quondam exile to Siberia. In his old days
+his spirit too was chafed at living under despotism, and, like the
+marquis, he also hoped, before he died, to visit America. I gave him my
+address, with the hope, but with very little expectation, of seeing him
+again. A travelling companion once remarked, that if every vagabond to
+whom I gave my address should find his way to America, I would have a
+precious set to present to my friends. Be it so; there is not a vagabond
+among them whom I would not be glad to see.
+
+My English companion and myself had seen but little of each other at
+Moscow. He intended to remain longer than I did, but changed his mind,
+and took a place in the same diligence for St. Petersburgh. This
+diligence was the best I ever rode in; and, for a journey of nearly five
+hundred miles, we could not have been more comfortably arranged. It
+started at the hour punctually, as from the Messagere in Paris. We
+rolled for the last time through the streets of Moscow, and in a few
+minutes passed out at the St. Petersburgh Gate. Our companions were a
+man about thirty-five, a cattle-driver, with his trousers torn, and his
+linen hanging out ostentatiously in different places, and an old man
+about sixty-five, just so far civilized as to have cut off the long
+beard and put on broadcloth clothes. It was the first time the old man
+had ever been on a journey from home; everything was new to him, and he
+seemed puzzled to know what to make of us; he could not comprehend how
+we could look, and walk, and eat like Russians, and not talk like them.
+My place was directly opposite his, and, as soon as we were seated, he
+began to talk to me. I looked at him and made no answer; he began again,
+and went on in an uninterrupted strain for several minutes, more and
+more surprised that I did not answer, or answered only in unintelligible
+sounds. After a while he seemed to come to the conclusion that I was
+deaf and dumb and turned to my companion as to my keeper for an
+explanation. Finding he could do nothing there, he appeared alarmed, and
+it was some time before he could get a clear idea of the matter. When he
+did, however, he pulled off an amazingly white glove, took my hand and
+shook it, pointed to his head, shook it, and touched my head, then put
+his hand to his heart, then to my heart; all which was to say, that
+though our heads did not understand each other, our hearts did. But
+though he saw we did not understand him, he did not on that account stop
+talking; indeed, he talked incessantly, and the only way of stopping him
+was to look directly in his face and talk back again; and I read him
+long lectures, particularly upon the snares and temptations of the world
+into which he was about to plunge, and wound up with stanzas of poetry
+and scraps of Greek and Latin, all which the old man listened to without
+ever interrupting me, bending his ear as if he expected every moment to
+catch something he understood; and when I had finished, after a moment's
+blank expression he whipped off his white glove, took my hand, and
+touched significantly his head and heart. Indeed, a dozen times a day he
+did this; and particularly whenever we got out, on resuming our seats,
+as a sort of renewal of the compact of good fellowship, the glove
+invariably came off, and the significant movement between the hand,
+head, and heart was repeated. The second day a young seigneur named
+Chickoff, who spoke French, joined the diligence, and through him we had
+full explanations with the old Russian. He always called me the American
+graff or noble, and said that, after being presented to the emperor, I
+should go down with him into the country.
+
+My worthy comrade appeared at first to be not a little bored by the old
+man's garrulous humour; but at length, seized by a sudden whim, began,
+as he said, to teach him English. But such English! He taught him, after
+a fashion peculiarly his own, the manner of addressing a lady and
+gentleman in English; and very soon, with the remarkable facility of the
+Russians in acquiring languages, the old man, utterly unconscious of
+their meaning, repeated the words with extraordinary distinctness; and
+regularly, when he took his place in the diligence, he accompanied the
+significant movements of his hand, head, and heart to me with the not
+very elegant address taught him by my companion. Though compelled to
+smile inwardly at the absurdity of the thing, I could not but feel the
+inherent impropriety of the conduct of my eccentric fellow-traveller;
+and ventured to suggest to him that, though he had an undoubted right to
+do as he pleased in matters that could not implicate me, yet,
+independent of the very questionable character of the joke itself (for
+the words savoured more of Wapping than of St. James's), as we were known
+to have travelled together, a portion of the credit of having taught the
+old Russian English might fall upon me--an honour of which I was not
+covetous, and, therefore, should tell the old man never to repeat the
+words he had been taught, which I did without assigning any reason for
+it, and before we arrived at St. Petersburgh he had forgotten them.
+
+The road from Moscow to St. Petersburgh is now one of the best in
+Europe. It is Macadamized nearly the whole way, and a great part is
+bordered with trees; the posthouses are generally large and handsome,
+under the direction of government, where soup, cutlets, &c., are always
+ready at a moment's notice, at prices regulated by a tariff hanging up
+in the room, which, however, being written in Russian, was of no
+particular use to us. The country is comparatively thickly settled, and
+villages are numerous. Even on this road, however, the villages are
+forlorn things, being generally the property and occupied by the serfs
+of the seigneurs, and consisting of a single long street, with houses on
+both sides built of logs, the better sort squared, with the gable end to
+the street, the roofs projecting two or three feet from the houses, and
+sometimes ornamented with rude carving and small holes for windows. We
+passed several chateaux, large, imposing buildings, with parks and
+gardens, and a large church, painted white, with a green dome surmounted
+by a cross.
+
+In many places on the road are chapels with figures of the Panagia, or
+all holy Virgin, or some of the saints; and our old Russian, constantly
+on the lookout for them, never passed one without taking off his hat and
+going through the whole formula of crosses; sometimes, in entering a
+town, they came upon us in such quick succession, first on one side,
+then on the other, that, if he had not been engaged in, to him, a sacred
+ceremony, his hurry and perplexity would have been ludicrous. During the
+night we saw fires ahead, and a little off the road were the bivouacs of
+teamsters or wayfarers, who could not pay for lodging in a miserable
+Russian hut. All the way we met the great caravan teams carrying tallow,
+hides, hemp, and other merchandise to the cities, and bringing back
+wrought fabrics, groceries, &c., into the interior. They were generally
+thirty or forty together, one man or woman attending to three or four
+carts, or, rather, neglecting them, as the driver was generally asleep
+on the top of his load. The horses, however, seemed to know what they
+were about; for as the diligence came rolling toward them, before the
+postillion could reach them with his whip, they intuitively hurried out
+of the way. The bridges over the streams and rivers are strong,
+substantial structures, built of heavy hewn granite, with iron
+balustrades, and ornamented in the centre with the double-headed eagle,
+the arms of Russia.
+
+At Tver we passed the Wolga on a bridge of boats. This noble river, the
+longest in Europe, navigable almost from its source for an extent of
+four thousand versts, dividing, for a great part of its course, Europe
+and Asia, runs majestically through the city, and rolls on, bathing the
+walls of the city of Astrachan, till it reaches the distant Caspian; its
+banks still inhabited by the same tribes of warlike Cossacks who hovered
+on the skirts of the French army during their invasion of Russia. By its
+junction with the Tverza, a communication is made between the Wolga and
+Neva, or, in other words, between the Caspian and Baltic. The impetus of
+internal improvements has extended even to the north of Europe, and the
+Emperor Nicolas is now actively engaged in directing surveys of the
+great rivers of Russia for the purpose of connecting them by canals and
+railroads, and opening steam communications throughout the whole
+interior of his empire. A great number of boats of all sizes, for
+carrying grain to the capital, were lying off the city. These boats are
+generally provided with one mast, which, in the largest, may equal a
+frigate's mainmast. "The weight of the matsail," an English officer
+remarks, "must be prodigious, having no fewer than one hundred breadths
+in it; yet the facility with which it is managed bears comparison with
+that of the Yankees with their boom mainsail in their fore-and-aft
+clippers." The rudder is a ponderous machine, being a broad piece of
+timber floating astern twelve or fifteen feet, and fastened to the
+tiller by a pole, which descends perpendicularly into the water; the
+tiller is from thirty to forty feet long, and the pilot who turns it
+stands upon a scaffold at that distance from the stern. Down the stream
+a group of Cossacks were bathing, and I could not resist the temptation
+to throw myself for a moment into this king of rivers. The diligence
+hurried me, and, as it came along, I gathered up my clothes and dressed
+myself inside.
+
+About eighty versts from St. Petersburgh we came to the ancient city of
+Novogorod. In the words of an old traveller, "Next unto Moscow, the city
+of Novogorod is reputed the chiefest in Russia; for although it be in
+majestie inferior to it, yet in greatness it goeth beyond it. It is the
+chiefest and greatest mart-town of all Muscovy; and albeit the emperor's
+seat is not there, but at Moscow, yet the commodiousness of the river,
+falling into that gulf which is called Sinus Finnicus, whereby it is
+well frequented by merchants, makes it more famous than Moscow itself."
+Few of the ruined cities of the Old World present so striking an
+appearance of fallen greatness as this comparatively unknown place.
+There is an ancient saying, "Who can resist the gods and Novogorod the
+Great?" Three centuries ago it covered an area of sixty-three versts in
+circumference, and contained a population of more than four hundred
+thousand inhabitants. Some parts of it are still in good condition, but
+the larger portion has fallen to decay. Its streets present marks of
+desolation, mouldering walls, and ruined churches, and its population
+has dwindled to little more than seven thousand inhabitants. The
+steeples in this ancient city bear the cross, unaccompanied by the
+crescent, the proud token showing that the Tartars, in all their
+invasions, never conquered it, while in the reconquered cities the
+steeples all exhibit the crescent surmounted by the cross.
+
+Late in the afternoon of the fourth day we were approaching St.
+Petersburgh. The ground is low and flat, and I was disappointed in the
+first view of the capital of Russia; but passing the barrier, and riding
+up the Newski Perspective, the most magnificent street in that
+magnificent city, I felt that the stories of its splendour were not
+exaggerated, and that this was, indeed, entitled to the proud
+appellation of the "Palmyra of the North." My English companion again
+stopped at a house kept by an Englishwoman and frequented by his
+countrymen, and I took an apartment at a hotel in a broad street with an
+unpronounceable Russian name, a little off the Newski Perspective. I was
+worn and fatigued with my journey, but I could not resist the
+inclination to take a gentle promenade along the Newski Perspective.
+While in the coffee-room refreshing myself with a cup of the best
+Russian tea, I heard some one outside the door giving directions to a
+tailor, and presently a man entered, whom, without looking at him, I
+told he was just the person I wanted to see, as I had a pair of
+pantaloons to be mended. He made no answer, and, without being able to
+see distinctly, I told him to wait till I could go up stairs and change
+them, and that he must mend them strongly and bring them back in the
+morning. In all probability, the next moment I should have been
+sprawling on the floor; but the landlady, a clever Frenchwoman, who saw
+my error stepped up, and crying out, "Ah, Monsieur Colonel, attendez,
+attendez," explained my mistake as clearly as I could have done myself,
+and I followed closely with an apology, adding that my remark could not
+be intended as disrespectful to him, inasmuch as even then, with the
+windows closed, I could scarcely distinguish his person. He understood
+the thing at once, accepted my apology with great frankness, and,
+instead of knocking me down, or challenging me to fight with sabre or
+some other diabolical thing, finding I was a stranger just arrived from
+Moscow, sat down at the table, and before we rose offered to accompany
+me in my walk.
+
+There could be no mistake as to the caste of my new friend. The landlady
+had called him colonel, and, in repelling the imputation of his being a
+tailor, had spoken of him as a rich seigneur, who for ten years had
+occupied the front apartments _au premier_ in her hotel. We walked out
+into the Newski Perspective, and strolled along that magnificent street
+down to the Admiralty, and along the noble quays of the Neva. I had
+reached the terminus of my journey; for many months I had been moving
+farther and farther away, and the next step I took would carry me toward
+home. It was the eve of the fourth of July; and as I strolled through
+the broad streets and looked up at the long ranges of magnificent
+buildings, I poured into the ear of my companion the recollections
+connected with this moment at home: in boyhood, crackers and fireworks
+in readiness for the great jubilee of the morrow; and, latterly, the
+excursion into the country to avoid the bustle and confusion of "the
+glorious fourth."
+
+At Moscow and during the journey I had admired the exceeding beauty of
+the twilight in these northern latitudes but this night in St.
+Petersburgh it was magnificent. I cannot describe the peculiar shades of
+this northern twilight. It is as if the glare and brilliancy of the sun
+were softened by the mellowing influence of the moon, and the city, with
+its superb ranges of palaces, its statues, its bridges, and its clear
+and rapid river, seemed, under the reflection of that northern light, of
+a brilliant and almost unearthly beauty. I felt like rambling all night.
+Even though worn with three days' travel, it was with me as with a young
+lady at her first ball; the night was too short. I could not bear to
+throw it away in sleep. My companion was tough, and by no means
+sentimental, and the scene was familiar to him; but he told me that,
+even in his eyes, it never lost its interest. Moonlight is something,
+but this glorious twilight is a thing to enjoy and to remember; and, as
+the colonel remarked when we sat down in his apartment to a comfortable
+supper, it always gave him such an appetite. After supper I walked
+through a long corridor to my apartment, threw myself upon my bed and
+tried to sleep, but the mellow twilight poured through my window and
+reproached me with the base attempt. I was not restless, but I could not
+sleep; lest, however, the reader should find himself of a different
+humour, I will consider myself asleep the first night in St.
+Petersburgh.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+    Police Requisites.--The Russian Capital.--Equestrian Statue of Peter
+      the Great.--The Alexandrine Column.--Architectural Wonders.--The
+      Summer Islands.--A perilous Achievement.--Origin of St.
+      Petersburgh.--Tombs of dead Monarchs.--Origin of the Russian Navy.
+
+
+JULY FOURTH. I had intended to pass this day at Moscow, and to
+commemorate it in Napoleon style by issuing a bulletin from the Kremlin,
+but it was a long time since I had heard from home. At Constantinople I
+had written to Paris, directing my letters to be sent to Petersburgh,
+and, notwithstanding my late hours the night before, I was at the
+postoffice before the door was open. I had never been so long without
+hearing from home, and my lips quivered when I asked for letters, my
+hand shook when I received them, and I hardly drew breath until I had
+finished the last postscript.
+
+My next business was at the bureau of general police for a _carte de
+sejour_, without which no stranger can remain in St. Petersburgh. As
+usual, I was questioned as to my reasons for coming into Russia; age,
+time of sojourn, destination, &c.; and, satisfied that I had no
+intention of preaching democratic doctrines or subverting the government
+of the autocrat, I received permission to remain two weeks, which,
+according to direction, I gave to my landlord to be entered at the
+police-office of his district. As no stranger can stay in Petersburgh
+without permission, neither can he leave without it; and, to obtain
+this, he must advertise three times in the Government Gazette, stating
+his name, address, and intention of leaving the empire; and as the
+Gazette is only published twice a week, this formality occupies eight
+days. One of the objects of this is to apprize his creditors, and give
+them an opportunity of securing their debts; and few things show the
+barbarity and imperfect civilization of the Russians more clearly than
+this; making it utterly impossible for a gentleman to spend a winter in
+St. Petersburgh and go away without paying his landlord. This must
+prevent many a soaring spirit from wending its way hither, and keep the
+residents from being enlivened by the flight of those birds of passage
+which dazzle the eyes of the denizens of other cities. As there was no
+other way of getting out of the dominions of the Czar, I caused my name
+and intention to be advertised. It did not create much of a sensation;
+and though it was proclaimed in three different languages, no one except
+my landlord seemed to feel any interest in it. After all, to get in debt
+is the true way to make friends; a man's creditors always feel an
+interest in him; hope no misfortune may happen to him, and always wish
+him prosperity and success.
+
+These formalities over, I turned to other things. Different from every
+other principal city I had visited, St. Petersburgh had no storied
+associations to interest the traveller. There is no Colosseum, as at
+Rome; no Acropolis, as at Athens; no Rialto, as at Venice; and no
+Kremlin, as at Moscow; nothing identified with the men and scenes
+hallowed in our eyes, and nothing that can touch the heart. It depends
+entirely upon itself for the interest it creates in the mind of the
+traveller.
+
+St. Petersburgh is situated at the mouth of the Neva, at the eastern
+extremity of the Gulf of Finland. It is built partly on islands formed
+by the Neva, and partly on both sides of that river. But little more
+than a century ago, the ground now covered with stately palaces
+consisted of wild morasses and primeval forests, and a few huts tenanted
+by savage natives, who lived upon the fish of the sea. In seventeen
+hundred and three Peter the Great appeared as a captain of grenadiers
+under the orders of one of his own generals, on the wild and dreary
+banks of the Neva, drove the Swedes from their fortress at its mouth,
+cut down the forests on the rude islands of the river, and laid the
+foundations of a city which now surpasses in architectural magnificence
+every other in the world. I do not believe that Rome, when Adrian reared
+the mighty Colosseum, and the Palace of the Caesars covered the
+Capitoline Hill, exhibited such a range of noble structures as now
+exists in the Admiralty Quarter. The Admiralty itself is the central
+point, on one side fronting the Neva, and on the other a large open
+square, and has a facade of marble, with ranges of columns, a quarter of
+a mile in length. A beautiful golden spire shoots up from the centre,
+towering above every other object, and seen from every part of the city
+glittering in the sun; and three principal streets, each two miles in
+length, radiate from this point. In front is a range of boulevards,
+ornamented with trees, and an open square, at one extremity of which
+stands the great church of St. Isaac, of marble, jasper, and porphyry,
+upon a foundation of granite; it has been once destroyed, and reared
+again with increased splendour, enormous columns of a single block of
+red granite already lifting their capitals in the air.
+
+On the right of the facade, and near the Isaac Bridge, itself a
+magnificent structure, a thousand and fifty feet long and sixty feet
+wide, with two drawbridges, stands the well-known equestrian statue of
+Peter the Great. The huge block of granite forming the pedestal is
+fifteen hundred tons in weight. The height of the figure of the emperor
+is eleven feet, that of the horse seventeen feet, and the weight of the
+metal in the group nearly thirty-seven thousand pounds. Both the idea
+and the execution of this superb monument are regarded as masterpieces
+of genius. To immortalize the enterprise and personal courage with which
+that extraordinary man conquered all difficulties and converted a few
+fishermen's huts into palaces, Peter is represented on a fiery steed,
+rushing up a steep and precipitous rock to the very brink of a
+precipice; the horse rears with his fore feet in the air, and seems to
+be impatient of restraint, while the imperial rider, in an attitude of
+triumph, extends the hand of protection over his capital rising out of
+the waters. To aid the inspiration of the artist, a Russian officer, the
+boldest rider of his time, daily rode the wildest Arabian of Count
+Orloff's stud to the summit of a steep mound, where he halted him
+suddenly, with his forelegs raised pawing the air over the brink of the
+precipice. The monument is surrounded by an iron railing, and the
+pedestal bears the simple inscription, Petro Primo, Catharina Secunda,
+MDCCLXXXII.
+
+On the other side of the square, and in front of the Winter Palace,
+raised within the last two years, and the most gigantic work of modern
+days, rivalling those magnificent monuments in the Old World whose ruins
+now startle the wondering traveller, and towering to the heavens, as if
+to proclaim that the days of architectural greatness are not gone by for
+ever, is the great Alexandrine Column, a single shaft of red granite,
+exclusive of pedestal and capital, eighty-four feet high. On the summit
+stands an angel holding a cross with the left hand, and pointing to
+heaven with the right. The pedestal contains the simple inscription, "To
+Alexander I. Grateful Russia."
+
+[Illustration: Column of Alexander I.]
+
+Surrounding this is a crescent of lofty buildings, denominated the Etat
+Major, its central portion having before it a majestic colonnade of the
+Corinthian order, placed on a high rustic basement, with a balustrade of
+solid bronze gilt between the columns. In the middle is a triumphal
+arch, which, with its frieze, reaches nearly to the upper part of the
+lofty building, having a span of seventy feet, the entablature
+sculptured with military trophies, allegorical figures, and groups in
+alto relievo. Next on a line with the Admiralty, and fronting the quay,
+stands the first of a long range of imperial palaces, extending in the
+form of a crescent for more than a mile along the Neva. The Winter
+Palace is a gigantic and princely structure, built of marble, with a
+facade of seven hundred and forty feet. Next are the two palaces of the
+Hermitage, connected with it and with each other by covered galleries on
+bold arches; the beautiful and tasteful fronts of these palaces are
+strangely in contrast with their simple and unpretending name. Next is
+the stately Grecian theatre of the Hermitage. Beyond this are the
+barracks of the guards, then the palace of the French ambassador, then
+the marble palace built by Catharine II. for her favourite, Prince
+Orloff, with a basement of granite and superstructure of bluish marble,
+ornamented with marble columns and pillars. In this palace died
+Stanislaus Poniatowsky, the last of the Polish sovereigns. This
+magnificent range, presenting an uninterrupted front of marble palaces
+upward of a mile in length, unequalled in any city in the world, is
+terminated by an open square, in which stands a colossal statue of
+Suwarrow; beyond this, still on the Neva, is the beautiful summer garden
+fronting the palace of Paul II.; and near it, and at the upper end of
+the square, is the palace of the Grand-duke Michael.
+
+Opposite is the citadel, with its low bastions of solid granite, washed
+all around by the Neva; beautiful in its structure, and beautifully
+decorated by the tall, slender, and richly gilded spire of its church.
+On the one side of the Admiralty is the senatorial palace, and beyond
+opens the English Quay, with a range of buildings that might well be
+called the residence of "merchant princes;" while the opposite bank is
+crowded with public buildings, among which the most conspicuous are the
+palace of the Academy of the Fine Arts; the Obelisk, rising in the
+centre of a wide square, recording the glory of some long-named Russian
+hero; the building of the Naval Cadet Corps, with its handsome front,
+and the barracks of the Guard of Finland; finally, the great pile of
+palace-like buildings belonging to the Military Cadet Corps, reaching
+nearly to the palace of the Academy of Sciences, and terminating with
+the magnificent Grecian front of the Exchange. I know that a verbal
+description can give but a faint idea of the character of this scene,
+nor would it help the understanding of it to say that it exhibits all
+that wealth and architectural skill can do, for few in our country know
+what even these powerful engines can effect; as for myself, hardly
+noting the details, it was my greatest delight to walk daily to the
+bridge across the Neva, at the summer gardens, the view from which more
+than realized all the crude and imperfect notions of architectural
+magnificence that had ever floated through my mind; a result that I had
+never found in any other city I had yet seen, not excepting Venice the
+Rich or Genoa the Proud, although the latter is designated in
+guide-books the city of palaces.
+
+Next to the palaces in solidity and beauty of structure are the bridges
+crossing the Neva, and the magnificent quays along its course, these
+last being embankments of solid granite, lining the stream on either
+side the whole length of its winding course through the city.
+
+I was always at a loss whether to ride or walk in St. Petersburgh;
+sometimes I mounted a drosky and rode up and down the Newski
+Perspective, merely for the sake of rolling over the wooden pavement.
+This street is perhaps more than twice as wide as Broadway; the gutter
+is in the middle, and on each side are wooden pavements wide enough for
+vehicles to pass each other freely. The experiment of wooden pavements
+was first made in this street, and found to answer so well that it has
+since been introduced into many others; and as the frost is more severe
+than with us, and it has stood the test of a Russian winter, if rightly
+constructed it will, no doubt, prove equally successful in our own city.
+The road is first covered with broken stone, or Macadamized; then logs
+are laid across it, the interstices being filled up with sand and stone,
+and upon this are placed hexagonal blocks of pine about eighteen inches
+long, fitted like joiner's work, fastened with long pegs, and covered
+with a preparation of melted lead.
+
+When I left Paris I had no expectation of travelling in Russia, and,
+consequently, had no letter of introduction to Mr. Wilkins, our
+minister; but, long before reaching St. Petersburgh, I had made it a
+rule, immediately on my arrival in a strange place, to call upon our
+representative, whatever he might be, from a minister plenipotentiary
+down to a little Greek consul. I did so here, and was probably as well
+received upon my own introduction as if I had been recommended by
+letter; for I got from Mr. Wilkins the invitation to dinner usually
+consequent upon a letter, and besides much interesting information from
+home, and, more than all, a budget of New-York newspapers. It was a long
+time since I had seen a New-York paper, and I hailed all the well-known
+names, informed myself of every house to let, every vessel to sail, all
+the cotton in market, and a new kind of shaving-soap for sale at Hart's
+Bazar; read with particular interest the sales of real estate by James
+Bleecker and Sons; wondered at the rapid increase of the city in
+creating a demand for building lots in one hundred and twenty-seventh
+street, and reflected that some of my old friends had probably grown so
+rich that they would not recognise me on my return.
+
+Having made arrangements for the afternoon to visit the Summer Islands,
+I dined with my friend the colonel, in company with Prince ---- (I have
+his name in my pocketbook, written by himself, and could give a
+facsimile of it, but I could not spell it). The prince was about
+forty-five, a high-toned gentleman, a nobleman in his feelings, and
+courtly in his manners, though, for a prince, rather out at elbows in
+fortune. The colonel and he had been fellow-soldiers, had served in the
+guards during the whole of the French invasion, and entered Paris with
+the allied armies as officers in the same regiment. Like most of the
+Russian seigneurs, they had run through their fortunes in their military
+career. The colonel, however, had been set up again by an inheritance
+from a deceased relative, but the prince remained ruined. He was now
+living upon a fragment saved from the wreck of his estate, a pension for
+his military services, and the bitter experience acquired by a course of
+youthful extravagance. Like many of the reduced Russian seigneurs, he
+was disaffected toward the government, and liberal in politics; he was a
+warm admirer of liberal institutions, had speculated upon and studied
+them both in France and America, and analyzed understandingly the spirit
+of liberty as developed by the American and French revolutions; when he
+talked of Washington, he folded his hands and looked up to heaven, as if
+utterly unable to express the fulness of his emotions. With us, the
+story of our revolution is a hackneyed theme, and even the sacred name
+of Washington has become almost commonplace; but the freshness of
+feeling with which the prince spoke of him invested him in my eyes with
+a new and holy character. After dinner, and while on our way to the
+Summer Islands, we stopped at his apartments, when he showed me the
+picture of Washington conspicuous on the wall; under it, by way of
+contrast, was that of Napoleon; and he summed up the characters of both
+in few words, by saying that the one was all for himself, the other all
+for his country.
+
+The Summer Islands on Sundays and fete days are the great promenade of
+the residents of the capital, and the approach to them is either by land
+or water. We preferred the latter, and at the Admiralty took a boat on
+the Neva. All along the quay are flights of steps cut in the granite,
+and descending to a granite platform, where boats are constantly in
+attendance for passengers. These boats are fantastically painted, and
+have the stern raised some three or four feet; sometimes they are
+covered with an awning. The oar is of disproportionate thickness toward
+the handle, the blade very broad, always feathered in rowing, and the
+boatman, in his calico or linen shirt and pantaloons, his long yellowish
+beard and mustaches, looks like anything but the gondolier of Venice. In
+passing down the Neva I noticed, about half way between low-water mark
+and the top of the quay, a ring which serves to fasten vessels, and is
+the mark, to which if the water rises, an inundation may be expected.
+The police are always on the watch, and the fearful moment is announced
+by the firing of cannon, by the display of white flags from the
+Admiralty steeple by day, and by lanterns and the tolling of the bells
+at night. In the last dreadful inundation of eighteen hundred and
+twenty-four, bridges were swept away, boats floated in some parts of the
+town above the tops of the houses, and many villages were entirely
+destroyed. At Cronstadt, a vessel of one hundred tons was left in the
+middle of one of the principal streets; eight thousand dead bodies were
+found and buried, and probably many thousands more were hurried on to
+the waters of the Gulf of Finland.
+
+It was a fete day in honour of some church festival, and a great portion
+of the population of St. Petersburgh was bending its way toward the
+Summer Islands. The emperor and empress were expected to honour the
+promenade with their presence, and all along the quay boats were
+shooting out loaded with gay parties, and, as they approached the
+islands, they formed into a fleet, almost covering the surface of the
+river. We were obliged to wait till perhaps a dozen boats had discharged
+their passengers before we could land.
+
+These islands are formed by the branches of the Neva, at about three
+versts from St. Petersburgh. They are beautifully laid out in grass and
+gravel-walks, ornamented with trees, lakes, shrubs, and flowers,
+connected together by light and elegant bridges, and adorned with
+beautiful little summer-houses. These summer-houses are perfectly
+captivating; light and airy in their construction, and completely buried
+among the trees. As we walked along we heard music or gentle voices, and
+now and then came upon a charming cottage, with a beautiful lawn or
+garden, just enough exposed to let the passer-by imagine what he
+pleased; and on the lawn was a light fanciful tent, or an arbour hung
+with foliage, under which the occupants, with perhaps a party of friends
+from the city, were taking tea, and groups of rosy children were romping
+around them, while thousands were passing by and looking on, with as
+perfect an appearance of domestic _abandon_ as if in the privacy of the
+fireside. I have sometimes reproached myself that my humour changed with
+every passing scene; but, inasmuch as it generally tended toward at
+least a momentary satisfaction, I did not seek to check it; and though,
+from habit and education, I would have shrunk from such a family
+exhibition, here it was perfectly delightful. It seemed like going back
+to a simpler and purer age. The gay and smiling faces seemed to indicate
+happy hearts; and when I saw a mother playing on the green with a little
+cherub daughter, I felt how I hung upon the community, a loose and
+disjointed member, and would fain have added myself to some cheerful
+family group. A little farther on, however, I saw a papa flogging a
+chubby urchin, who drowned with his bellowing the music from a
+neighbouring arbour, which somewhat broke the charm of this public
+exhibition of scenes of domestic life.
+
+Besides these little retiring-places or summer residences of citizens,
+restaurants and houses of refreshments were distributed in great
+abundance, and numerous groups were sitting under the shade of trees or
+arbours, taking ices or refreshments; and the grounds for promenade were
+so large and beautifully disposed, that, although thousands were walking
+through them, there was no crowd, except before the door of a principal
+refectory, where a rope-dancer was flourishing in the air among the
+tops of the trees.
+
+In addition to the many enchanting retreats and summer residences
+created by the taste, luxury, and wealth of private individuals, there
+are summer theatres and imperial villas. But the gem of the islands is
+the little imperial palace at Cammenoi. I have walked through royal
+palaces, and admired their state and magnificence without one wish to
+possess them, but I felt a strong yearning toward this imperial villa.
+It is not so grand and stately as to freeze and chill one, but a thing
+of extraordinary simplicity and elegance, in a beautifully picturesque
+situation, heightened by a charming disposition of lawn and trees, so
+elegant, and, if I may add such an unpoetical word in the description of
+this imperial residence, so comfortable, that I told the prince if I
+were a Rasselas escaped from the happy valley, I would look no farther
+for a resting-place. The prince replied that in the good old days of
+Russian barbarism, when a queen swayed the sceptre, Russia had been a
+great field for enterprising and adventurous young men, and in more than
+one instance a palace had been the reward of a favourite. We gave a sigh
+to the memory of those good old days, and at eleven o'clock returned to
+the city on the top of an omnibus. The whole road from the Summer
+Islands and the great street leading to the Admiralty were lighted with
+little glass lamps, arranged on the sidewalks about six feet apart, but
+they almost realized the conceit of illuminating the sun by hanging
+candles around it, seeming ashamed of their own sickly glare and
+struggling vainly with the glorious twilight.
+
+The next morning the valet who had taken me as his master, and who told
+others in the house that he could not attend to them, as he was in my
+service, informed me that a traveller arrived from Warsaw the night
+before had taken apartments in the same hotel, and could give me all
+necessary information in regard to that route; and, after breakfast, I
+sent him, with my compliments, to ask the traveller if he would admit
+me, and shortly after called myself. He was a young man, under thirty,
+above the middle size, strong and robust of frame, with good features,
+light complexion, but very much freckled, a head of extraordinary red
+hair, and a mustache of the same brilliant colour; and he was dressed in
+a coloured stuff morning-gown, and smoking a pipe with an air of no
+small dignity and importance. I explained the purpose of my visit, and
+he gave me as precise information as could possibly be had; and the most
+gratifying part of the interview was, that before we separated he told
+me that he intended returning to Warsaw in about ten days, and would be
+happy to have me bear him company. I gladly embraced his offer, and left
+him, better pleased with the result of my interview than I had expected
+from his rather unprepossessing appearance. He was a Frenchman by
+descent, born in Belgium, and educated and resident in Poland, and
+possessed in a striking degree the compounded amor patriae incident to
+the relationship in which he stood to these three countries. But, as I
+shall be obliged to speak of him frequently hereafter, I will leave him
+for the present to his morning-gown and pipe.
+
+Well pleased with having my plans arranged, I went out without any
+specific object, and found myself on the banks of the Neva. Directly
+opposite the Winter Palace, and one of the most conspicuous objects on
+the whole line of the Neva, is the citadel or old fortress, and, in
+reality, the foundation of the city. I looked long and intently on the
+golden spire of its church, shooting toward the sky and glittering in
+the sun. This spire, which rises tapering till it seems almost to fade
+away into nothing, is surmounted by a large globe, on which stands an
+angel supporting a cross. This angel, being made of corruptible stuff,
+once manifested symptoms of decay, and fears were entertained that he
+would soon be numbered with the fallen. Government became perplexed how
+to repair it, for to raise a scaffolding to such a height would cost
+more than the angel was worth. Among the crowd which daily assembled to
+gaze at it from below was a roofer of houses, who, after a long and
+silent examination, went to the government and offered to repair it
+without any scaffolding or assistance of any kind. His offer was
+accepted; and on the day appointed for the attempt, provided with
+nothing but a coil of cords, he ascended inside to the highest window,
+and, looking for a moment at the crowd below and at the spire tapering
+away above him, stood up on the outer ledge of the window. The spire was
+covered with sheets of gilded copper, which, to beholders from below,
+presented only a smooth surface of burnished gold; but the sheets were
+roughly laid, and fastened by large nails, which projected from the
+sides of the spire. He cut two pieces of cord, and tied loops at each
+end of both, fastened the upper loops over two projecting nails, and
+stood with his feet in the lower; then, clinching the fingers of one
+hand over the rough edges of the sheets of copper, raised himself till
+he could hitch one of the loops on a higher nail with the other hand; he
+did the same for the other loop, and so he raised one leg after the
+other, and at length ascended, nail by nail, and stirrup by stirrup,
+till he clasped his arms around the spire directly under the ball. Here
+it seemed impossible to go any farther, for the ball was ten or twelve
+feet in circumference, with a smooth and glittering surface, and no
+projecting nails, and the angel was above the ball, as completely out of
+sight as if it were in the habitation of its prototypes. But the daring
+roofer was not disheartened. Raising himself in his stirrups, he
+encircled the spire with a cord, which he tied round his waist; and, so
+supported, leaned gradually back until the soles of his feet were braced
+against the spire, and his body fixed almost horizontally in the air. In
+this position he threw a cord over the top of the ball, and threw it so
+coolly and skilfully that at the first attempt it fell down on the other
+side, just as he wanted it; then he drew himself up to his original
+position, and, by means of his cord, climbed over the smooth sides of
+the globe, and in a few moments, amid thunders of applause from the
+crowd below, which at that great height sounded only like a faint
+murmur, he stood by the side of the angel. After attaching a cord to it
+he descended, and the next day carried up with him a ladder of ropes,
+and effected the necessary repairs.
+
+But to return. With my eyes fixed upon the spire, I crossed the bridge
+and entered the gate of the fortress. It is built on a small island,
+fortified by five bastions, which, on the land side, are mere ramparts
+connected with St. Petersburgh quarter by drawbridges, and on the river
+side it is surrounded by walls cased with granite, in the centre of
+which is a large gate or sallyport. As a fortress, it is now useless;
+but it is a striking object of embellishment to the river, and an
+interesting monument in the history of the city. Peter himself selected
+this spot for his citadel and the foundation of his city. At that time
+it contained two fishing-huts in ruins, the only original habitations on
+the island. It was necessary to cut down the trees, and elevate the
+surface of the island with dirt and stone brought from other places
+before he commenced building the fortress; and the labour of the work
+was immense, no less than forty thousand workmen being employed at one
+time. Soldiers, Swedish prisoners, Ingrians, Carelians, and Cossacks,
+Tartars and Calmucs, were brought from their distant solitudes to lay
+the foundation of the imperial city, labouring entirely destitute of all
+the comforts of life, sleeping on the damp ground and in the open air,
+often without being able, in that wilderness, to procure their daily
+meal; and, moreover, without pickaxes, spades, or other instruments of
+labour, and using only their bare hands for digging; but, in spite of
+all this, the work advanced with amazing rapidity, and in four months
+the fortress was completed. The principal objects of interest it now
+contains are the Imperial Mint and the Cathedral of St. Peter and St.
+Paul. Brought up in a community where "making money" is the great
+business of life, I ought, perhaps, to have entered the former, but I
+turned away from the ingots of gold and silver, and entered the old
+church, the burial-place of Peter the Great, and nearly all the Czars
+and Czarinas, emperors and empresses, since his time. Around the walls
+were arranged flags and banners, trophies taken in war, principally from
+the Turks, waving mournfully over the tombs of the dead. A sombre light
+broke through the lofty windows, and I moved directly to the tomb of
+Peter. It is near the great altar, of plain marble, in the shape of a
+square coffin, without any ornament but a gold plate, on one end of
+which are engraved his name and title; and at the moment of my entrance
+an old Russian was dusting it with a brush. It was with a mingled
+feeling of veneration and awe that I stood by the tomb of Peter. I had
+always felt a profound admiration for this extraordinary man, one of
+those prodigies of nature which appear on the earth only once in many
+centuries; a combination of greatness and cruelty, the sternness of
+whose temper spared neither age nor sex, nor the dearest ties of
+kindred; whose single mind changed the face of an immense empire and the
+character of millions, and yet who often remarked with bitter
+compunction, "I can reform my people, but I cannot reform myself."
+
+By his side lies the body of his wife, Catharine I., the beautiful
+Livonian, the daughter of a peasant girl, and the wife of a common
+soldier, who, by a wonderful train of events, was raised to wield the
+sceptre of a gigantic empire. Her fascination soothed the savage Peter
+in his moodiest hours. She was the mediatrix between the stern monarch
+and his subjects; mercy was ever on her lips, and one who knew her well
+writes what might be inscribed in letters of gold upon her tomb: "She
+was a pretty, well-looked woman, but not of that sublimity of wit, or,
+rather, that quickness of imagination which some people have supposed.
+The great reason why the Czar was so fond of her was her exceeding good
+temper; she never was seen peevish or out of humour; obliging and civil
+to all, and never forgetful of her former condition, and withal mighty
+grateful."
+
+Near their imperial parents lie the bodies of their two daughters, Anne
+of Holstein and the Empress Elizabeth. Peter, on his deathbed, in an
+interval of delirium, called to him his daughter Anne, as it was
+supposed, with the intention of settling upon her the crown, but
+suddenly relapsed into insensibility; and Anne, brought up in the
+expectation of two crowns, died in exile, leaving one son, the
+unfortunate Peter III.
+
+Elizabeth died on the throne, a motley character of goodness, indolence,
+and voluptuousness, and extremely admired for her great personal
+attractions. She was never married, but, as she frequently owned to her
+confidants, never happy but when in love. She was so tender of heart
+that she made a vow to inflict no capital punishment during her reign;
+shed tears upon the news of every victory gained by her troops, from the
+reflection that it could not have been gained without bloodshed, and
+would never give her consent for the execution of a felon, however
+deserving; and yet she condemned two noble ladies, one of them the most
+beautiful woman in Russia, to receive fifty strokes of the knout in the
+open square of St. Petersburgh.
+
+I strolled for a few moments among the other imperial sepulchres, and
+returned to the tombs of Peter's family. Separate monuments are erected
+over their bodies, all in the shape of large oblong tombstones,
+ornamented with gold, and enclosed by high iron railings. As I leaned
+against the railing of Peter's tomb, I missed one member of his imperial
+family. It was an awful chasm. Where was his firstborn child and only
+son? the presumptive heir of his throne and empire? Early the object of
+his unnatural prejudice, excluded from the throne, imprisoned, tortured,
+tried, condemned, sentenced to death by the stern decree of his offended
+father!
+
+The ill-starred Alexius lies in the vaults of the church, in the
+imperial sepulchre, but without any tomb or inscription to perpetuate
+the recollection of his unhappy existence. And there is something awful
+in the juxtaposition of the dead; he lies by the side of his unhappy
+consort, the amiable Princess Charlotte, who died the victim of his
+brutal neglect; so subdued by affliction that, in a most affecting
+farewell to Peter, unwilling to disturb the tranquillity of her last
+hour, she never mentioned his name, and welcomed death as a release from
+her sufferings.
+
+Leaving the church, I went to a detached building within the fortress,
+where is preserved, in a separate building, a four-oared boat, as a
+memorial of the origin of the Russian navy. Its history is interesting.
+About the year 1691 Peter saw this boat at a village near Moscow; and
+inquiring the cause of its being built differently from those he was in
+the habit of seeing, learned that it was contrived to go against the
+wind. Under the direction of Brandt, the Dutch shipwright who built it,
+he acquired the art of managing it. He afterward had a large
+pleasure-yacht constructed after the same model, and from this beginning
+went on till he surprised all Europe by a large fleet on the Baltic and
+the Black Sea. Twenty years afterward he had it brought up from Moscow,
+and gave a grand public entertainment, which he called the consecration
+of the "little grandsire." The fleet, consisting of twenty-seven
+men-of-war, was arranged at Cronstadt in the shape of a half moon. Peter
+embarked in the little grandsire, himself steering, and three admirals
+and Prince Mendzikoff rowing, and made a circuit in the gulf, passing by
+the fleet, the ships striking their flags and saluting it with their
+guns, while the little grandsire returned each salute by a discharge of
+three small pieces. It was then towed up to St. Petersburgh, where its
+arrival was celebrated by a masquerade upon the waters, and, Peter again
+steering, the boat proceeded to the fortress, and under a discharge of
+all the artillery it was deposited where it now lies.
+
+Returning, I took a bath in the Neva. In bathing, as in everything else,
+the Russians profit by the short breath of summer, and large public
+bathing-houses are stationed at intervals along the quay of the river,
+besides several smaller ones, tasteful and ornamental in appearance,
+being the private property of rich seigneurs. I went into one of the
+former, where a swimming-master was teaching a school of boys the art of
+swimming. The water of the Neva was the first thing I had found
+regularly Russian, that is, excessively cold; and though I bathed in it
+several times afterward, I always found it the same.
+
+At five o'clock I went to dine with Mr. Wilkins. He had broken up his
+establishment and taken apartments at the house of an English lady,
+where he lived much in the same style as at home. He had been at St.
+Petersburgh but a short time, and, I believe, was not particularly well
+pleased with it, and was then making arrangements to return. I had never
+met with Mr. Wilkins in our own country, and I consider myself under
+obligations to him; for, not bringing him any letter, I stood an entire
+stranger in St. Petersburgh, with nothing but my passport to show that I
+was an American citizen, and he might have even avoided the dinner, or
+have given me the dinner and troubled himself no more about me. But the
+politeness which he had shown me as a stranger increased to kindness;
+and I was in the habit of calling upon him at all times, and certainly
+without any expectation of ever putting him in print. We had at table a
+parti quarre, consisting of Mr. Wilkins, Mr. Gibson, who has been our
+consul, I believe, for twenty years, if, he being still a bachelor, it
+be not unfriendly to carry him back so far, and Mr. Clay, the secretary
+of legation, who had been twice left as charge d'affaires at the
+imperial court, and was then lately married to an English lady in St.
+Petersburgh. After dinner, three or four American merchants came in; and
+at eleven o'clock, having made an appointment to go with Mr. Wilkins and
+see a boatrace on the Neva, Mr. Clay and I walked home along the quay,
+under that enchanting twilight which I have already so often thrust upon
+the reader, and which I only regret that I cannot make him realize and
+enjoy.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+    A New Friend.--The Winter Palace.--Importance of a Hat.--An
+      artificial Mine.--Remains of a huge Monster.--Peter the Great's
+      Workshop.--The Greek Religion.--Tomb of a Hero.--A Saint
+      Militant.--Another Love Affair.--The Hermitage.--The Winter and
+      Summer Gardens.
+
+
+EARLY in the morning, while at breakfast, I heard a loud knock at my
+door, which was opened without waiting for an answer, and in stalked a
+tall, stout, dashing-looking young man, with a blue frock, white
+pantaloons, and a vest of many colours, a heavy gold chain around his
+neck, an enormous Indian cane in his hand, and a broad-brimmed hat
+brought down on one side, over his right eye in particular. He had a
+terrible scowl on his face, which seemed to be put on to sustain the
+dignity of his amazing costume, and he bowed on his entrance with as
+much _hauteur_ as if he meant to turn me out of my own room. I stared at
+him in unfeigned astonishment, when, putting his cane under his arm, and
+pulling off his hat, his intensely red head broke upon me with a blaze
+of beauty, and I recognised my friend and intended fellow-traveller, the
+French Belgian Pole, whom I had seen in an old morning-gown and
+slippers. I saw through my man at once; and speedily knocking in the
+head his overwhelming formality, came upon him with the old college
+salutation, asking him to pull off his clothes and stay a week; and he
+complied almost literally, for in less than ten minutes he had off his
+coat and waistcoat, cravat and boots, and was kicking up his heels on my
+bed. I soon discovered that he was a capital fellow, a great beau in his
+little town on the frontiers of Poland, and one of a class by no means
+uncommon, that of the very ugly men who imagine themselves very
+handsome. While he was kicking his heels over the footboard, he asked me
+what we thought of red hair in America; and I told him that I could not
+undertake to speak the public voice, but that, for myself, I did not
+admire it as much as some people did, though, as to his, there was
+something striking about it, which was strictly true, for it was such an
+enormous mop that, as his head lay on the pillow, it looked like a bust
+set in a large red frame. All the time he held in his hand a pocket
+looking-glass and a small brush, with which he kept brushing his
+mustaches, giving them a peculiar twirl toward the ears. I told him that
+he was wrong about the mustache; and, taking the brush, brought them out
+of their twist, and gave them an inclination a la Turque, recommending
+my own as a model; but he soon got them back to their place, and,
+rising, shook his gory locks and began to dress himself, or, as he said,
+to put himself in parchment for a walk.
+
+My new friend was for no small game, and proposed visiting some of the
+palaces. On the way he confided to me a conquest he had already made
+since his arrival; a beautiful young lady, of course, the daughter of an
+Italian music-master, who resided directly opposite our hotel. He said
+he had applied for an apartment next to mine, which commanded a view of
+the window at which she sat, and asked me, as a friend, whether it would
+be interfering with me. Having received my assurance that I had no
+intentions in that quarter, he said he would order his effects to be
+removed the same day.
+
+By this time we had arrived at the Winter Palace, presenting, as I have
+before remarked, a marble front on the Neva of more than seven hundred
+feet, or as long as the side of Washington Square, and larger and more
+imposing than that of the Tuileries or any other royal palace in Europe.
+We approached the large door of entrance to this stately pile, and,
+notwithstanding my modest application, backed by my companion's dashing
+exterior, we were turned away by the imperial footman because we had not
+on dresscoats. We went home and soon returned equipped as the law of
+etiquette requires, and were admitted to the imperial residence. We
+ascended the principal story by the great marble staircase, remarkable
+for its magnificence and the grandeur of its architecture. There are
+nearly a hundred principal rooms on the first floor, occupying an area
+of four hundred thousand square feet, and forming almost a labyrinth of
+splendour. The great banqueting-hall is one hundred and eighty-nine feet
+by one hundred and ten, incrusted with the finest marble, with a row of
+columns at each end, and the side decorated with attached columns, rich
+gilding, and splendid mirrors. The great Hall of St. George is one of
+the richest and most superb rooms on the Continent, not excepting the
+pride of the Tuileries or Versailles. It is a parallelogram of one
+hundred and forty feet by sixty, decorated with forty fluted Corinthian
+columns of porphyritic marble, with capitals and bases of bronze richly
+gilded, and supporting a gallery with a gilded bronze balustrade of
+exquisite workmanship. At one end, on a platform, is the throne,
+approached by a flight of eight steps, covered with the richest Genoa
+velvet, embroidered with gold, with the double-headed eagle expanding
+his wings above it. The large windows on both sides are hung with the
+richest drapery, and the room is embellished by magnificent mirrors and
+colossal candelabra profusely gilded.
+
+We passed on to the _salle blanche_, which is nearly of the same
+dimensions, and beautifully chaste in design and finish. Its elevation
+is greater, and the sides are decorated with pilasters, columns, and
+bas-reliefs of a soft white tint, without the least admixture of gaudy
+colours. The space between the Hall of St. George and the _salle
+blanche_ is occupied as a gallery of national portraits, where the
+Russians who distinguished themselves during the French invasion are
+exhibited in half-length portraits as rewards for their military
+services. The three field-marshals, Kutuzow, Barclay de Tolly, and the
+Duke of Wellington, are represented at full length. The symbol which
+accompanies the hero of Waterloo is that of imperishable strength, the
+British oak, "the triumpher of many storms."
+
+I will not carry the reader through all the magnificent apartments, but
+I cannot help mentioning the Diamond Room, containing the crowns and
+jewels of the imperial family. Diamonds, rubies, and emeralds are
+arranged round the room in small cases, of such dazzling beauty that it
+is almost bewildering to look at them. I had already acquired almost a
+passion for gazing at precious stones. At Constantinople I had wandered
+through the bazars, under the guidance of a Jew, and seen all the
+diamonds collected and for sale in the capital of the East, but I was
+astonished at the brilliancy of this little chamber, and, in my
+strongly-awakened admiration, looked upon the miser who, before the
+degrading days of bonds and mortgages, converted his wealth into jewels
+and precious stones, as a man of elegant and refined taste. The crown of
+the emperor is adorned with a chaplet of oak-leaves made of diamonds of
+an extraordinary size, and the imperial sceptre contains one supposed to
+be the largest in the world, being the celebrated stone purchased by the
+Empress Catharine II. from a Greek slave for four hundred and fifty
+thousand rubles and a large pension for life. Eighty thousand persons
+were employed in the construction of this palace; upward of two thousand
+habitually reside in it, and even a larger number when the emperor is in
+St. Petersburgh. The imperial flag was then floating from the top of the
+palace, as an indication to his subjects of his majesty's presence in
+the capital; and about the time that his majesty sat down to his royal
+dinner we were working upon a cotelette de mouton, and drinking in vin
+ordinaire health and long life to Nicolas the First; and afterward, in
+talking of the splendour of the imperial palace and the courtesy of the
+imperial footmen, we added health and long life to the Lady Autocrat and
+all the little autocrats.[1]
+
+After dinner we took our coffee at the Cafe Chinois, on the Newski
+Perspective, equal, if not superior, in style and decoration to anything
+in Paris. Even the rules of etiquette in France are not orthodox all
+over the world. In Paris it is not necessary to take off the hat on
+entering a cafe or restaurant, and in the south of France a Frenchman
+will sit down to dinner next a lady with his head covered; but in
+Russia, even on entering an apartment where there are only gentlemen, it
+is necessary to uncover the head. I neglected this rule from ignorance
+and want of attention, and was treated with rudeness by the proprietor,
+and afterward learned the cause, with the suggestion that it was
+fortunate that I had not been insulted. This is a small matter, but a
+man's character in a strange place is often affected by a trifling
+circumstance; and Americans, at least I know it to be the case with
+myself, are, perhaps, too much in the habit of neglecting the minor
+rules of etiquette.
+
+That night my new friend had his effects removed to a room adjoining
+mine, and the next morning I found him sitting in his window with a book
+in his hand, watching the young lady opposite. He was so pleased with
+his occupation that I could not get him away, and went off without him.
+Mr. Wilkins having offered to accompany me to some of the public
+institutions, I called for him; and, finding him disengaged, we took a
+boat on the Neva, and went first to the Academy of Arts, standing
+conspicuously on the right bank opposite the English Quay, and, perhaps,
+the chastest and most classical structure in St. Petersburgh. In the
+court are two noble Egyptian Sphynxes. A magnificent staircase, with a
+double flight of granite steps, leads to a grand landing-place with
+broad galleries around it, supporting, by means of Ionic columns, the
+cupola, which crowns the whole. The Rotunda is a fine apartment of
+exquisite proportions, decorated with statues and busts; and at the
+upper end of the Conference-room stands a large table, at the head of
+which is a full-length portrait of Nicolas under a rich canopy. In one
+room are a collection of models from the antique, and another of the
+paintings of native artists, some of which are considered as indicating
+extraordinary talent.
+
+From hence we went to the _Hotel des Mines_, where the name of the
+American minister procured us admission without the usual permit. The
+_Hotel des Mines_ was instituted by the great Peter for the purpose of
+training a mining engineer corps, to explore scientifically the vast
+mineral resources of the empire, and also engineers for the army. Like
+all the other public edifices, the building is grand and imposing, and
+the arrangement of the different rooms and galleries is admirable. In
+one room is a large collection of medals, and in another of coins.
+Besides specimens of general mineralogy of extraordinary beauty, there
+are native iron from the Lake Olonetz, silver ore from Tobolsk and gold
+sand from the Oural Mountains; and in iron-bound cases, beautifully
+ornamented, there is a rich collection of native gold, found either in
+the mines belonging to government or in those of individuals, one piece
+of which was discovered at the depth of three and a half feet in the
+sand, weighing more than twenty-four pounds. The largest piece of
+platinum in existence, from the mines of Demidoff, weighing ten pounds,
+is here also; and, above all, a colossal specimen of amalachite weighing
+three thousand four hundred and fifty-six pounds, and, at the common
+average price of this combination of copper and carbonic acid, worth
+three thousand seven hundred and fifty pounds sterling.
+
+But the most curious part of this valuable repository is under ground,
+being a model of a mine in Siberia. Furnished with lighted tapers, we
+followed our guides through winding passages cut into the bowels of the
+earth, the sides of which represented, by the aggregation of real
+specimens, the various stratifications, with all the different ores, and
+minerals, and different species of earth, as they were found in the
+natural state; the coal formation, veins of copper, and in one place of
+gold, being particularly well represented, forming an admirable
+practical school for the study of geology, though under a chillness of
+atmosphere which would be likely very soon to put an end to studies of
+all kinds.
+
+From here we passed to the imperial Academy of Sciences, by far the most
+interesting part of our day's visiting. This, too, was founded by the
+Great Peter. I hardly know why, but I had already acquired a warm
+admiration for the stout old Czar. There was nothing high or chivalric
+about him, but every step in Russia, from the Black Sea to the Baltic,
+showed me what he had done to advance the condition of his people. I
+knew all this as matter of history, but here I felt it as fact. We
+strolled through the mineralogical and zoological repositories, and
+stopped before the skeleton of that stupendous inhabitant of a former
+world, denominated the mammoth, whose fame had been carried over the
+waste of waters even to our distant country, and beside which even the
+skeletons of elephants looked insignificant. What was he? where did he
+live, and is his race extinct? It gave rise to a long train of
+interesting speculation, to endow him with life, and see him striding
+with gigantic steps, the living tenant of a former world; and more
+interesting still to question, as others had done, whether he was not,
+after all, one of a race of animals not yet extinct, and perhaps
+wandering even now within a short distance of the Polar Sea.
+
+There is also in this part of the museum a collection of anatomical
+specimens and of human monsters; an unpleasing exhibition, though, no
+doubt, useful to medical science; among them was a child with two heads
+from America. More interesting to me was a large collection of insects,
+of medals, and particularly of the different objects in gold found in
+the tumuli of Siberia, consisting of bracelets, vases, crowns, bucklers,
+rings, sabres with golden hilts, Tartar idols, &c., many of them of
+great value and of very elegant workmanship, which have given rise to
+much interesting speculation in regard to the character of the people
+who formerly inhabited that country. The Asiatic museum contains a
+library of Chinese, Japanese, Mongolese, and Tibetan books and
+manuscripts; Mohammedan, Chinese, and Japanese coins; an interesting
+assemblage of Mongolese idols cut in bronze and gilded, and illustrating
+the religion of Buddha. There is also an Egyptian museum, containing
+about a thousand articles. The cabinet of curiosities contains figures
+of all the different people conquered under the government of Russia,
+habited in their national costumes; also of Chinese, Persians, Aleutans,
+Carelians, and the inhabitants of many of the Eastern, Pacific, or
+Northern Islands discovered or visited by Russian travellers and
+navigators, as well as of the different nations inhabiting Siberia.
+
+But by far the most interesting part of the museum is the cabinet of
+Peter himself, consisting of a suite of apartments, in which the old
+Czar was in the habit of passing his leisure hours engaged in some
+mechanical employment. In one room are several brass cylinders turned by
+his own hands, and covered with battle-scenes of his own engraving. Also
+an iron bar forged by him; bas-reliefs executed in copper, representing
+his desperate battles in Livonia; an ivory chandelier of curious and
+highly-wrought workmanship, and a group in ivory representing Abraham
+offering up his son Isaac, the ram and the angel Gabriel cut out entire.
+In another room is his workshop, containing a variety of vessels and
+models etched in copper, and a copperplate with an unfinished
+battle-scene. His tools and implements are strewed about the room
+precisely in the state in which he left them the last time he was there.
+In another chamber were the distended skin of his French body-servant,
+seven feet high; the Arabian horse which he rode at the bloody battle of
+Pultowa, and the two favourite dogs which always accompanied him; and in
+another the figure of the old Czar himself in wax, as large as life; the
+features, beyond doubt, bearing the exact resemblance to the original,
+being taken from a cast applied to his face when dead, and shaded in
+imitation of his real complexion. The eyebrows and hair are black, the
+eyes dark, the complexion swarthy, and aspect stern. This figure is
+surrounded by the portraits of his predecessors, in their barbarian
+costumes, himself seated in an armchair in the same splendid dress which
+he wore when with his own hands he placed the imperial crown on the head
+of his beloved Catharine. Here, also, are his uniform of the guards,
+gorget, scarf, and sword, and hat shot through at the battle of Pultowa;
+and the last thing which the guide put into my hands was a long stick
+measuring his exact height, and showing him literally a great man, being
+six Russian feet. I must not forget a pair of shoes made by his own
+hands; but the old Czar was no shoemaker. Nevertheless, these memorials
+were all deeply interesting; and though I had seen the fruits of his
+labours from the Black Sea to the Baltic, I never felt such a strong
+personal attraction to him as I did here.
+
+I was obliged to decline dining with Mr. Wilkins in consequence of an
+engagement with my friend the Pole; and, returning, I found him at the
+window with a book in his hand, precisely in the same position in which
+I had left him. After dinner a servant came in and delivered a message,
+and he proposed a walk on the Admiralty Boulevards. It was the
+fashionable hour for promenade, and, after a turn or two, he discovered
+his fair enslaver, accompanied by her father and several ladies and
+gentlemen, one of whom seemed particularly devoted to her. She was a
+pretty little girl, and seemed to me a mere child, certainly not more
+than fifteen. His admiration had commenced on the Boulevards the first
+afternoon of his arrival, and had increased violently during the whole
+day, while he was sitting at the window. He paraded me up and down the
+walk once or twice, and, when they had seated themselves on a bench,
+took a seat opposite. He was sure she was pleased with his admiration,
+but I could not see that her look indicated any very flattering
+acknowledgment. In fact, I could but remark that the eyes of the
+gentlemen were turned toward us quite as often as those of the lady, and
+suggested that, if he persisted, he would involve us in some difficulty
+with them; but he said there could not be any difficulty about it, for,
+if he offended them, he would give them satisfaction. As this view of
+the case did not hit my humour, I told him that, as I had come out with
+him, I would remain, but if he made any farther demonstrations, I should
+leave him, and, at all events, after that he must excuse me from joining
+his evening promenades. Soon after they left the Boulevards, and we
+returned to our hotel, where he entertained me with a history of his
+love adventures at home, and felicitations upon his good fortune in
+finding himself already engaged in one here.
+
+Sunday. Until the early part of the tenth century the religion of Russia
+was a gross idolatry. In nine hundred and thirty-five, Olga, the widow
+of Igor the son of Runic, sailed down the Dnieper from Kief, was
+baptized at Constantinople, and introduced Christianity into Russia,
+though her family and nation adhered for a long time to the idolatry of
+their fathers. The great schism between the Eastern and Western churches
+had already taken place, and the Christianity derived from
+Constantinople was of course of the Greek persuasion. The Greek Church
+believes in the doctrines of the Trinity, but differs from the Catholic
+in some refined and subtle distinction in regard to what is called the
+procession of the Holy Ghost. It enjoins the invocation of saints as
+mediators, and permits the use of pictures as a means of inspiring and
+strengthening devotion. The well-informed understand the use for which
+they are intended, but these form a very small portion of the community,
+and probably the great bulk of the people worship the pictures
+themselves. The clergy are, in general, very poor and very ignorant. The
+priests are not received at the tables of the upper classes, but they
+exercise an almost controlling influence over the lower, and they
+exhibited this influence in rousing the serfs against the French, which
+may be ascribed partly, perhaps, to feelings of patriotism, and partly
+to the certainty that Napoleon would strip their churches of their
+treasures, tear down their monasteries, and turn themselves out of
+doors. But of the population of fifty-five millions, fifteen are divided
+into Roman Catholics, Armenians, Protestants, Jews, and Mohammedans, and
+among the Caucasians, Georgians, Circassians, and Mongol tribes nearly
+two millions are pagans or idolaters, Brahmins, Lamists, and worshippers
+of the sun.
+
+For a people so devout as the Russians, the utmost toleration prevails
+throughout the whole empire, and particularly in St. Petersburgh.
+Churches of every denomination stand but a short distance apart on the
+Newski Perspective. The Russian cathedral is nearly opposite the great
+Catholic chapel; near them is the Armenian, then the Lutheran, two
+churches for Dissenters, and a mosque for the Mohammedans! and on Sunday
+thousands are seen bending their steps to their separate churches, to
+worship according to the faith handed down to them by their fathers.
+
+Early in the morning, taking with me a valet and joining the crowd that
+was already hurrying with devout and serious air along the Newski
+Perspective, I entered the Cathedral of our Lady of Cazan, a splendid
+monument of architecture, and more remarkable as the work of a native
+artist, with a semicircular colonnade in front, consisting of one
+hundred and thirty-two Corinthian columns thirty-five feet high,
+somewhat after the style of the great circular colonnade of St. Peter's
+at Rome, and surmounted by a dome crowned with a cross of exquisite
+workmanship, supported on a large gilded ball. Within, fifty noble
+columns, each of one piece of solid granite from Finland, forty-eight
+feet high and four feet in diameter, surmounted by a rich capital of
+bronze, and resting on a massive bronze base, support an arched roof
+richly ornamented with flowers in bas-relief. The jewels and decorations
+of the altar are rich and splendid, the doors leading to the sanctum
+sanctorum, with the railing in front, being of silver. As in the
+Catholic churches, there are no pews, chairs, or benches, and all over
+the floor were the praying figures of the Russians. Around the walls
+were arranged military trophies, flags, banners, and the keys of
+fortresses wrested from the enemies of Russia; but far more interesting
+than her columns, and colossal statues, and military trophies, is the
+tomb of the warrior Kutuzow; simple, and remarkable for the appropriate
+warlike trophy over it, formed of French flags and the eagles of
+Napoleon. Admiration for heroism owns no geographical or territorial
+limits, and I pity the man who could stand by the grave of Kutuzow
+without feeling it a sacred spot. The Emperor Alexander with his own
+hands took the most precious jewel from his crown and sent it to the
+warrior, with a letter announcing to him his elevation to the rank of
+Prince of Smolensko; but richer than jewels or principalities is the
+tribute which his countrymen pay at his tomb.
+
+The church of our Lady of Cazan contains another monument of barbarian
+patriotism. The celebrated leader of the Cossacks during the period of
+the French invasion, having intercepted a great part of the booty which
+the French were carrying from Moscow, sent it to the metropolitan or
+head of the church, with a characteristic letter, directing it to be
+"made into an image of the four Evangelists, and adorn the church of the
+Mother of God of Cazan." The concluding paragraph is, "Hasten to erect
+in the temple of God this monument of battle and victory; and while you
+erect it, say with thankfulness to Providence, the enemies of Russia are
+no more; the vengeance of God has overtaken them on the soil of Russia;
+and the road they have gone has been strewed with their bones, to the
+utter confusion of their frantic and proud ambition."
+
+    (Signed) "PLATOFF."
+
+From the church of our Lady of Cazan I went to the Protestant church,
+where I again joined in an orthodox service. The interior of the church
+is elegant, though externally it can scarcely be distinguished from a
+private building. The seats are free, the men sitting on one side and
+the women on the other. Mr. Law, the clergyman, has been there many
+years, and is respected and loved by his congregation. After church I
+walked to the convent of Alexander Newski, the burial-place of Prince
+Alexander, who obtained in the thirteenth century a splendid victory
+over the allied forces of Sweden, Denmark, and Livonia; afterward became
+a monk, and for his pure and holy life was canonized, and now ranks
+among the principal saints in the Russian calendar. The warrior was
+first buried at Moscow, but Peter the Great had his remains transported
+with great ceremony to this place, a procession of a thousand priests
+walking barefoot all the way. The monastery stands at the extreme end of
+the Newski Perspective, and within its precincts are several churches
+and a large cemetery. It is the residence of the distinguished prelates
+of the Greek Church and a large fraternity of monks. The dress of the
+monks is a loose black cloak and round black cap, and no one can be
+admitted a member until the age of thirty. We entered a grand portal,
+walked up a long avenue, and, crossing a bridge over a stream, worked
+our way between lines of the carriages of nobles and ladies, and crowds
+of the people in their best bell-crowned hats; and, amid a throng of
+miserable beggars, penetrated to the door of the principal church, a
+large and beautiful specimen of modern Corinthian architecture. I
+remarked the great entrance, the lofty dome, the fresco paintings on the
+ceilings, and the arabesque decorations on the walls; the altar-piece of
+white Carrara marble, paintings by Rubens and Vandyck, the holy door in
+the iconastos, raised on a flight of steps of rich gilded bronze, and
+surmounted by the representation of a dazzling aureola of different
+colored metals, and in the centre the initials of that awful name which
+none in Israel save the initiated were permitted to pronounce. I walked
+around and paused before the tomb of the warrior saint.
+
+A sarcophagus or coffin of massive silver, standing on an elevated
+platform, ornamented in bas-relief, representing scenes of battles with
+the Swedes, contains his relics; a rich ermine lies upon the coffin, and
+above is a silver canopy. On each side is a warrior clothed in armour,
+with his helmet, breastplate, shield, and spear also of massive silver.
+The altar rises thirty feet in height, of solid silver, with groups of
+military figures and trophies of warriors, also of silver, as large as
+life; and over it hangs a golden lamp, with a magnificent candelabrum of
+silver, together with a vessel of curious workmanship holding the bones
+of several holy men, the whole of extraordinary magnificence and
+costliness of material, upward of four thousand pounds weight of silver
+having been used in the construction of the chapel and shrine. The dead
+sleep the same whether in silver coffins or in the bare earth, but the
+stately character of the church, dimly lighted, and the splendour and
+richness of the material, gave a peculiar solemnity to the tomb of the
+warrior saint.
+
+Leaving the churches, I strolled through the cloisters of the monastery
+and entered the great cemetery. There, as in the great cemetery of Pere
+la Chaise at Paris, all that respect, and love, and affection can do to
+honour the memory of the dead, and all that vanity and folly can do to
+ridicule it, have been accomplished. There are seen epitaphs of
+affecting brevity and elaborate amplification; every design, every
+device, figure, emblem, and decoration; every species of material, from
+native granite to Carrara marble and pure gold. Among the simpler tombs
+of poets, warriors, and statesmen, a monument of the most gigantic
+proportions is erected to snatch from oblivion the name of a rich
+Russian merchant. The base is a solid cubic block of the most superb
+marble, on which is a solid pedestal of black marble ten feet square,
+bearing a sarcophagus fourteen feet high, and of most elegant
+proportions, surmounted by a gold cross twenty feet in height. At each
+of the four corners is a colossal candelabrum of cast iron, with
+entwining serpents of bronze gilded. The ground alone cost a thousand
+pounds, and the whole monument about twenty thousand dollars. Near the
+centre of this asylum of the dead, a tetrastyle Ionic temple of the
+purest white marble records the virtues of an interesting lady, the
+Countess of Potemkin, and alto relievos of the most exquisite execution
+on three sides of the temple tell the melancholy story of a mother
+snatched from three lovely children. The countess, prophetically
+conscious of her approaching fate, is looking up calmly and majestically
+to the figure of religion, and resting with confidence her left hand on
+the symbol of Christianity. In front are the inscription and arms of the
+family in solid gold.
+
+But what are the Russian dead to me? The granite and marble monument of
+the merchant is a conglomeration of hides, hemp, and tallow; a man may
+be excused if he linger a moment at the tomb of an interesting woman, a
+mother cut off in her prime; but melancholy is infectious, and induces
+drowsiness and closing of the book.
+
+In consideration for my valet, at the grand portal I took a drosky,
+rolled over the wooden pavement of the Newski Perspective, and, with
+hardly motion enough to disturb my revery, was set down at the door of
+my hotel. My Pole was waiting to dine with me, and roused me from my
+dreams of the dead to recount his dreams of the living. All day he had
+sat at his window, and a few straggling glances from the lady opposite
+had abundantly rewarded him, and given him great spirits for his
+evening's promenade on the Boulevards. I declined accompanying him, and
+he went alone, and returned in the evening almost in raptures. We
+strolled an hour by the twilight, and retired early.
+
+It will hardly be believed, but early the next morning he came to my
+room with a letter on fine pink paper addressed to his fair enslaver.
+The reader may remember that this was not the first time I had been made
+a confidant in an affaire du coeur. To be sure, the missionary at Smyrna
+turned out to be crazy; and on this point, at least, my Pole was a
+little touched; nevertheless, I listened to his epistle. It was the
+regular oldfashioned document, full of hanging, shooting, drowning, and
+other extravagances. He sealed it with an amatory device, and, calling
+up a servant in his confidence, told him to carry it over, and then took
+his place in my window to watch the result. In the mean time, finding it
+impossible to dislodge him, and that I could not count upon him to
+accompany me on my visits to the palaces as he had promised, I went to
+the Hermitage alone. The Great and Little Hermitages are connected with
+the Winter Palace and with each other by covered galleries, and the
+theatre is connected with the two Hermitages by means of another great
+arch thrown over a canal, so that the whole present a continued line of
+imperial palaces, unequalled in extent in any part of Europe, measuring
+one thousand five hundred and ninety-six feet, or one third of an
+English mile. If I were to select a building designed to realize the
+most extravagant notions of grandeur and luxury, it would be the
+gorgeous palace known under the modest name of the Hermitage. I shall
+not attempt any description of the interior of this splendid edifice,
+but confine myself to a brief enumeration of its contents. I ascended by
+a spacious staircase to the anteroom, where I gave, or, rather, where
+my cane was demanded by the footman, and proceeded through a suite of
+magnificent rooms, every one surpassing the last, and richer in objects
+of the fine arts, science, and literature; embellished throughout by a
+profusion of the most splendid ornaments and furniture, and remarkable
+for beauty of proportion and variety of design. In rooms and galleries
+appropriated to the separate schools and masters are upward of thirteen
+hundred paintings by Raphael, Titian, Guido, Andrea del Sarto, Luca
+Giordano, the Caracci, Perugino, Corregio, and Leonardi da Vinci; here
+is also the best collection in existence, of pictures by Wouvermans and
+Teniers, with some of the masterpieces of Rubens and Vandyck, of the
+French Claude, Poussin, and Vernet. The celebrated Houghton collection
+is here, with a gallery of paintings of the Spanish schools, many of
+them Murillos. In one room is a superb vase of Siberian jasper, of a
+lilac colour, five feet high, and of exquisite form and polish; in
+another are two magnificent candelabras, said to be valued at two
+hundred and twenty thousand rubles, or about fifty thousand dollars; I
+must mention also the great musical clock, representing an antique
+Grecian temple, and containing within a combination of instruments,
+having the power of two orchestras, which accompany each other; two
+golden tripods, seven feet high, supporting the gold salvers on which
+salt and bread were exhibited to the Emperor Alexander on his triumphal
+return from Paris, as emblems of wisdom and plenty, a large musical and
+magical secretary, which opens spontaneously in a hundred directions at
+the sound of music, purchased by the late emperor for eight hundred
+guineas; a room surrounded with books, some of which were originals,
+placed there by Catharine for the use of the domestics, as she said, to
+keep the devil out of their heads; a saloon containing the largest
+collection of engravings and books of engravings in Europe, amounting to
+upward of thirty thousand; a library of upward of one hundred and ten
+thousand volumes; an extensive cabinet of medals, and another of gems
+and pastes; a jewel-cabinet, containing the rich ornaments which have
+served for the toilettes of succeeding empresses, innumerable precious
+stones and pearls, many of extraordinary magnitude; a superb collection
+of antiques and cameos, amounting to upward of fifteen thousand, the
+cameos alone affording employment for days. In one room are curious
+works in ivory and fishbones, by the inhabitants of Archangel, who are
+skilled in that species of workmanship; and in another is the celebrated
+clock, known by the name of L'Horloge du Paon. It is enclosed in a large
+glass case ten feet high, being the trunk of a golden tree, with its
+branches and leaves all of gold. On the top of the trunk sits a peacock,
+which, when the chimes begin, expands its brilliant tail, while an owl
+rolls its eyes with its own peculiar stare, and, instead of a bell
+striking the hours, a golden cock flaps his wings and crows. The clock
+is now out of order, and the machinery is so complicated that no artist
+has hitherto been able to repair it.
+
+But perhaps the most extraordinary and interesting of the wonders of the
+Hermitage are the Winter and Summer Gardens. As I strolled through the
+suites of apartments, and looked out through the windows of a long
+gallery, it was hardly possible to believe that the flourishing trees,
+shrubs, and flowers stood upon an artificial soil, raised nearly fifty
+feet above the surface of the earth. The Winter Garden is a large
+quadrangular conservatory, planted with laurels and orange trees, in
+which linnets and Canary birds formerly flew about enjoying the freedom
+of nature; but the feathered tribe have disappeared. The Summer Garden
+connected with it is four hundred feet long; and here, suspended, as it
+were, in the air, near the top of the palace, I strolled along
+gravel-walks, and among parterres of shrubs and flowers growing in rich
+luxuriance, and under a thick foliage inhaled their delightful
+fragrance. It is idle to attempt a description of this scene.
+
+I returned to my Pole, whom I found at his window with a melancholy and
+sentimental visage, his beautiful epistle returned upon his
+hands--having, in sportsman's phrase, entirely missed fire--and then
+lying with a most reproving look on his table. My friend had come up to
+St. Petersburgh in consequence of a lawsuit, and as this occupied but a
+small portion of his time, he had involved himself in a lovesuit, and,
+so far as I could see, with about an equal chance of success in both.
+L'amour was the great business of his life, and he could not be content
+unless he had on hand what he called une affaire du coeur.
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[1] The Winter Palace has since been destroyed by fire. The author has
+not seen any account of the particulars, but has heard that the contents
+of the Diamond Chamber were saved.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+    An Imperial Fete.--Nicolas of Russia.--Varied Splendours.--A
+      Soliloquy.--House of Peter the Great.--A
+      Boatrace.--Czarskoselo.--The Amber Chamber.--Catharine II.--The
+      Emperor Alexander.
+
+
+THE next day was that appointed for the great fete at Peterhoff. In
+spite of the confining nature of his two suits, my Pole had determined
+to accompany me thither, being prompted somewhat by the expectation of
+seeing his damsel; and, no way disheartened by the fate of his first
+letter, he had manufactured another, by comparison with which the first
+was an icicle. I admitted it to be a masterpiece, though when he gave it
+to a servant to carry over, as we were on the point of setting off,
+suggested that it might be worth while to wait and pick it up when she
+threw it out of the window. But he had great confidence, and thought
+much better of her spirit for sending back his first letter.
+
+The whole population of Petersburgh was already in motion and on the way
+to Peterhoff. It was expected that the fete would be more than usually
+splendid, on account of the presence of the Queen of Holland, then on a
+visit to her sister the empress; and at an early hour the splendid
+equipages of the nobility, carriages, droskys, telegas, and carts, were
+hurrying along the banks of the Neva, while steamboats, sailboats,
+rowboats, and craft of every description were gliding on the bosom of
+the river.
+
+As the least trouble, we chose a steamboat, and at twelve o'clock
+embarked at the English Quay. The boat was crowded with passengers, and
+among them was an old English gentleman, a merchant of thirty years'
+standing in St. Petersburgh. I soon became acquainted with him, how I do
+not know, and his lady told me that the first time I passed them she
+remarked to her husband that I was an American. The reader may remember
+that a lady made the same remark at Smyrna; without knowing exactly how
+to understand it, I mention it as a fact showing the nice discrimination
+acquired by persons in the habit of seeing travellers from different
+countries. Before landing, the old gentleman told me that his boys had
+gone down in a pleasure-boat, abundantly provided with materials, and
+asked me to go on board and lunch with them, which, upon the invitation
+being extended to my friend, I accepted.
+
+Peterhoff is about twenty-five versts from St. Petersburgh, and the
+whole bank of the Neva on that side is adorned with palaces and
+beautiful summer residences of the Russian seigneurs. It stands at the
+mouth of the Neva, on the borders of the Gulf of Finland. Opposite is
+the city of Cronstadt, the seaport of St. Petersburgh and the anchorage
+of the Russian fleet. It was then crowded with merchant ships of every
+nation, with flags of every colour streaming from their spars in honour
+of the day. On landing, we accompanied our new friends, and found "the
+boys," three fine young fellows just growing up to manhood, in a
+handsome little pleasure-boat, with a sail arranged as an awning,
+waiting for their parents. We were introduced and received with open
+arms, and sat down to a cold collation in good old English style, at
+which, for the first time since I left home, I fastened upon an
+oldfashioned sirloin of roastbeef. It was a delightful meeting for me.
+The old people talked to me about my travels; and the old lady
+particularly, with almost a motherly interest in a straggling young man,
+inquired about my parents, brothers, and sisters, &c.; and I made my way
+with the frankhearted "boys" by talking "boat." Altogether, it was a
+regular home family scene; and, after the lunch, we left the old people
+under the awning, promising to return at nine o'clock for tea, and with
+"the boys" set off to view the fete.
+
+From the time when we entered the grounds until we left at three o'clock
+the next morning, the whole was a fairy scene. The grounds extended some
+distance along the shore, and the palace stands on an embankment perhaps
+a hundred and fifty feet high, commanding a full view of the Neva,
+Cronstadt with its shipping, and the Gulf of Finland. We followed along
+the banks of a canal five hundred yards long, bordered by noble trees.
+On each side of the canal were large wooden frames about sixty feet
+high, filled with glass lamps for the illumination; and at the foot of
+each was another high framework with lamps, forming, among other things,
+the arms of Russia, the double-headed eagle, and under it a gigantic
+star thirty or forty feet in diameter. At the head of the canal was a
+large basin of water, and in the centre of the basin stood a colossal
+group in brass, of a man tearing open the jaws of a rampant lion; and
+out of the mouth of the lion rushed a jet d'eau perhaps a hundred and
+fifty feet high. On each side of this basin, at a distance of about
+three hundred feet, was a smaller basin, with a jet d'eau in each about
+half its height, and all around were jets d'eau of various kinds,
+throwing water vertically and horizontally; among them I remember a
+figure larger than life, leaning forward in the attitude of a man
+throwing the discus, with a powerful stream of water rushing from his
+clinched fist. These basins were at the foot of the embankment on which
+stands the palace. In the centre was a broad flight of steps leading to
+the palace, and on each side was a continuous range of marble slabs to
+the top of the hill, over which poured down a sheet of water, the slabs
+being placed so high and far apart as to allow lamps to be arranged
+behind the water. All over, along the public walks and in retired
+alcoves, were frames hung with lamps; and everywhere, under the trees
+and on the open lawn, were tents of every size and fashion, beautifully
+decorated; many of them, oriental in style and elegance, were fitted up
+as places of refreshment. Thousands of people, dressed in their best
+attire, were promenading the grounds, but no vehicles were to be seen,
+until, in turning a point, we espied at some distance up an avenue, and
+coming quietly toward us, a plain open carriage, with two horses and two
+English jockey outriders, in which were a gentleman and lady, whom,
+without the universal taking off of hats around us, I recognised at once
+as the emperor and empress. I am not apt to be carried away by any
+profound admiration for royalty, but, without consideration of their
+rank, I never saw a finer specimen of true gentility; in fact, he looked
+every inch a king, and she was my beau ideal of a queen in appearance
+and manners. They bowed as they passed, and, as I thought, being outside
+of the line of Russians and easily recognised as a stranger, their
+courtesy was directed particularly to me; but I found that my companion
+took it very much to himself, and no doubt every long-bearded Russian
+near us did the same. In justice to myself, however, I may almost say
+that I had a conversation with the emperor; for although his imperial
+highness did not speak to me, he spoke in a language which none but I
+(and the queen and his jockey outriders) understood; for, waving his
+hand to them, I heard him say in English, "To the right." After this
+_interview_ with his majesty we walked up to the palace. The splendid
+regiments of cavalier guards were drawn up around it, every private
+carrying himself like a prince; and I did not admire all his palaces,
+nor hardly his queen, so much as this splendid body of armed followers.
+Behind the palace is a large plain cut up into gravel-walks, having in
+one place a basin of water, with waterworks of various kinds, among
+which were some of peculiar beauty falling in the form of a semiglobe.
+
+A little before dark we retired to a refectory under a tent until the
+garden was completely lighted up, that we might have the full effect of
+the illumination at one coup d'oeil, and, when we went out, the dazzling
+brilliancy of the scene within the semicircular illumination around the
+waterworks was beyond description. This semicircular framework enclosed
+in a large sweep the three basins, and terminated at the embankment on
+which the palace stands, presenting all around an immense fiery scroll
+in the air, sixty or eighty feet high, and filled with all manner of
+devices; and for its background a broad sheet of water falling over a
+range of steps, with lighted lamps behind it, forming an illuminated
+cascade, while the basins were blazing with the light thrown upon them
+from myriads of lamps, and the colossal figures of a reddened and
+unearthly hue were spouting columns of water into the air. More than two
+hundred thousand people were supposed to be assembled in the garden, in
+every variety of gay, brilliant, and extraordinary costume. St.
+Petersburgh was half depopulated, and thousands of peasants were
+assembled from the neighbouring provinces. I was accidentally separated
+from all my companions; and, alone among thousands, sat down on the
+grass, and for an hour watched the throng passing through the
+illuminated circle, and ascending the broad steps leading toward the
+palace. Among all this immense crowd there was no rabble; not a dress
+that could offend the eye; but intermingled with the ordinary costumes
+of Europeans were the Russian shopkeeper, with his long surtout, his
+bell-crowned hat, and solemn beard; Cossacks, and Circassian soldiers,
+and Calmuc Tartars, and cavalier guards, hussars, with the sleeves of
+their rich jackets dangling loose over their shoulders, tossing plumes,
+and helmets glittering with steel, intermingled throughout with the gay
+dresses of ladies; while near me, and, like me, carelessly stretched on
+the grass, under the light of thousands of lamps, was a group of
+peasants from Finland fiddling and dancing; the women with light hair,
+bands around their heads, and long jackets enwrapping their square
+forms, and the men with long greatcoats, broad-brimmed hats, and a bunch
+of shells in front.
+
+Leaving this brilliant scene, I joined the throng on the steps, and by
+the side of a splendid hussar, stooping his manly figure to whisper in
+the ears of a lovely young girl, I ascended to the palace and presented
+my ticket of admission to the bal masque, so called from their being no
+masks there. I had not been presented at court, and, consequently, had
+only admission to the outer apartments with the people. I had, however,
+the range of a succession of splendid rooms, richly decorated with vases
+and tazzas of precious stones, candelabra, couches, ottomans, superb
+mirrors, and inlaid floors; and the centre room, extending several
+hundred feet in length, had its lofty walls covered to the very ceilings
+with portraits of all the female beauties in Russia about eighty years
+ago. I was about being tired of gazing at these pictures of
+long-sleeping beauties, when the great doors at one end were thrown
+open, and the emperor and empress, attended by the whole court, passed
+through on their way to the banqueting-hall. Although I had been in
+company with the emperor before in the garden, and though I had taken
+off my hat to the empress, both passed without recognising me. The court
+at St. Petersburgh is admitted to be the most brilliant in Europe; the
+dresses of the members of the diplomatic corps and the uniforms of the
+general and staff-officers being really magnificent, while those of the
+ladies sparkled with jewels. Besides the emperor and empress, the only
+acquaintance I recognised in that constellation of brilliantly-dressed
+people were Mr. Wilkins and Mr. Clay, who, for republicans, made a very
+fair blaze. I saw them enter the banqueting-hall, painted in oriental
+style to represent a tent, and might have had the pleasure of seeing the
+emperor and empress and all that brilliant collection eat; but, turning
+away from a noise that destroyed much of the illusion, viz., the clatter
+of knives and forks, and a little piqued at the cavalier treatment I had
+received from the court circles, I went out on the balcony and
+soliloquized, "Fine feathers make fine birds; but look back a little, ye
+dashing cavaliers and supercilious ladies. In the latter part of the
+seventeenth century, a French traveller in Russia wrote that 'most men
+treat their wives as a necessary evil, regarding them with a proud and
+stern eye, and even beating them after.' Dr. Collins, physician to the
+Czar in 1670, as an evidence of the progress of civilization in Russia,
+says that the custom of tying up wives by the hair of the head and
+flogging them 'begins to be left off;' accounting for it, however, by
+the prudence of parents, who made a stipulative provision in the
+marriage contract that their daughters were not to be whipped, struck,
+kicked, &c. But, even in this improved state of society, one man 'put
+upon his wife a shirt dipped in ardent spirits, and burned her to
+death,' and was not punished, there being, according to the doctor, 'no
+punishment in Russia for killing a wife or a slave.' When no provision
+was made in the marriage contract, he says they were accustomed to
+discipline their wives very severely. At the marriage the bridegroom had
+a whip in one boot and a jewel in the other, and this poor girl tried
+her fortune by choosing. 'If she happens upon the jewel,' says another
+traveller, 'she is lucky; but if on the whip, she gets it.' The
+bridegroom rarely saw his companion's face till after the marriage,
+when, it is said, 'If she be ugly she pays for it soundly, maybe the
+first time he sees her.' Ugliness being punished with the whip, the
+women painted to great excess; and a traveller in sixteen hundred and
+thirty-six saw the grand duchess and her ladies on horseback astride,
+'most wickedly bepainted.' The day after a lady had been at an
+entertainment, the hostess was accustomed to ask how she got home; and
+the polite answer was, 'Your ladyship's hospitality made me so tipsy
+that I don't know how I got home;' and for the climax of their barbarity
+it can scarcely be believed, but it is recorded as a fact, that the
+women did not begin to wear stays till the beginning of the present
+century!"
+
+Soothed by these rather ill-natured reflections, I turned to the
+illuminated scene and the thronging thousands below, descended once more
+to the garden, passed down the steps, worked my way through the crowd,
+and fell into a long avenue, like all the rest of the garden,
+brilliantly lighted, but entirely deserted. At the end of the avenue I
+came to an artificial lake, opposite which was a small square two-story
+cottage, being the old residence of Peter the Great, the founder of all
+the magnificence of Peterhoff. It was exactly in the style of our
+ordinary country houses, and the furniture was of a simplicity that
+contrasted strangely with the surrounding luxury and splendour. The door
+opened into a little hall, in which were two oldfashioned Dutch mahogany
+tables, with oval leaves, legs tapering and enlarging at the feet into
+something like a horseshoe; just such a table as every one may remember
+in his grandfather's house, and recalling to mind the simple style of
+our own country some thirty or forty years ago. In a room on one side
+was the old Czar's bed, a low, broad wooden bedstead, with a sort of
+canopy over it, the covering of the canopy and the coverlet being of
+striped calico; the whole house, inside and out, was hung with lamps,
+illumining with a glare that was almost distressing the simplicity of
+Peter's residence; and, as if to give greater contrast to this
+simplicity, while I was standing in the door of the hall, I saw roll by
+me in splendid equipages, the emperor and empress, with the whole of the
+brilliant court which I had left in the banqueting-hall, now making a
+tour of the gardens. The carriages were all of one pattern, long, hung
+low, without any tops, and somewhat like our omnibuses, except that,
+instead of the seats being on one side, there was a partition in the
+middle not higher than the back of a sofa, with large seats like sofas
+on each side, on which the company sat in a row, with their backs to
+each other; in front was a high and large box for the coachmen, and a
+footman behind. It was so light that I could distinguish the face of
+every gentleman and lady as they passed; and there was something so
+unique in the exhibition, that, with the splendour of the court dresses,
+it seemed the climax of the brilliant scenes at Peterhoff. I followed
+them with my eyes till they were out of sight, gave one more look to the
+modest pillow on which old Peter reposed his careworn head, and at about
+one o'clock in the morning left the garden. A frigate brilliantly
+illuminated was firing a salute, the flash of her guns lighting up the
+dark surface of the water as I embarked on board the steamboat. At two
+o'clock the morning twilight was like that of day; at three o'clock I
+was at my hotel, and, probably, at ten minutes past, asleep.
+
+About eight o'clock the next morning my Pole came into my room. He had
+returned from Peterhoff before me, and found waiting for him his second
+epistle, with a note from the mother of the young lady, which he read to
+me as I lay in bed. Though more than half asleep, I was rather roused by
+the strange effect this letter had upon him, for he was now encouraged
+to go on with his suit, since he found that the backwardness of the
+young lady was to be ascribed to the influence of the mother, and not to
+any indifference on her part.
+
+In the afternoon I went to a boatrace between English amateurs that had
+excited some interest among the English residents. The boats were badly
+matched; a six-oared boat thirty-two feet long, and weighing two hundred
+and thirty pounds, being pitted against three pairs of sculls, with a
+boat twenty-eight feet long and weighing only one hundred and eight
+pounds. One belonged to the English legation and the other to some
+English merchants. The race was from the English Quay to the bridge
+opposite the Suwarrow monument at the foot of the Summer Garden, and
+back, a little more than two miles each way. The rapidity of the current
+was between two and three miles an hour, though its full strength was
+avoided by both boats keeping in the eddies along shore. It was a
+beautiful place for a boatrace; the banks of the Neva were lined with
+spectators, and the six-oared boat beat easily, performing the distance
+in thirty-one minutes.
+
+The next morning, in company with a Frenchman lately arrived at our
+hotel, I set out for the imperial palace of Czarskoselo, about seventeen
+versts from St. Petersburgh. About seven versts from the city we passed
+the imperial seat of Zechenne, built by the Empress Catharine to
+commemorate the victory obtained by Orloff over the Turks on the coast
+of Anatolia. The edifice is in the form of a Turkish pavilion, with a
+central rotunda containing the full-length portraits of the sovereigns
+cotemporary with Catharine. Since her death this palace has been
+deserted. In eighteen hundred and twenty-five, Alexander and the empress
+passed it on their way to the south of Russia, and about eight months
+after their mortal remains found shelter in it for a night, on their way
+to the imperial sepulchre. There was no other object of interest on the
+road until we approached Czarskoselo. Opposite the "Caprice Gate" is a
+cluster of white houses, in two rows, of different sizes, diminishing as
+they recede from the road, and converging at the farthest extremity;
+altogether a bizarre arrangement, and showing the magnificence of
+Russian gallantry. The Empress Catharine at the theatre one night
+happened to express her pleasure at the perspective view of a small
+town, and the next time she visited Czarskoselo she saw the scene
+realized in a town erected by Count Orloff at immense expense before the
+gate of the palace. The facade of the palace is unequalled by any royal
+residence in the world, being twelve hundred feet in length. Originally,
+every statue, pedestal, and capital of the numerous columns; the vases,
+carvings, and other ornaments in front, were covered with gold leaf, the
+gold used for that purpose amounting to more than a million of ducats.
+In a few years the gilding wore off, and the contractors engaged in
+repairing it offered the empress nearly half a million of rubles
+(silver) for the fragments of gold; but the empress scornfully refused,
+saying, "Je ne suis pas dans l'usage de vendre mes vielles hardes." I
+shall not attempt to carry the reader through the magnificent apartments
+of this palace. But I must not forget the famed amber chamber, the whole
+walls and ceilings being of amber, some of the pieces of great size,
+neatly fitted together, and even the frames of the pictures an elaborate
+workmanship of the same precious material. But even this did not strike
+me so forcibly as when, conducted through a magnificent apartment, the
+walls covered with black paper shining like ebony, and ornamented with
+gold and immense looking-glasses, the footman opened a window at the
+other end, and we looked down into the chapel, an Asiatic structure,
+presenting an _ensemble_ of rich gilding of surpassing beauty, every
+part of it, the groups of columns, the iconastos, and the gallery for
+the imperial family, resplendent with gold. In one of the staterooms
+where the empress's mother resides, the floor consists of a parquet of
+fine wood inlaid with wreaths of mother-of-pearl, and the panels of the
+room were incrusted with lapis lazuli.
+
+But to me all these magnificent chambers were as nothing compared with
+those which were associated with the memory of the late occupant.
+"Uneasy rests the head that wears a crown;" and perhaps it is for this
+reason that I like to look upon the pillow of a king, far more on that
+of a queen. The bedchamber of Catharine II. is adorned with walls of
+porcelain and pillars of purple glass; the bedclothes are those under
+which she slept the last time she was at the palace, and in one place
+was a concealed door, by which, as the unmannerly footman, without any
+respect to her memory, told us, her imperial highness admitted her
+six-feet paramours. In the bedchamber of Alexander were his cap, gloves,
+boots, and other articles of dress, lying precisely as he left them
+previous to his departure for the southern part of his empire. His bed
+was of leather, stuffed with straw, and his boots were patched over and
+over worse than mine, which I had worn all the way from Paris. I tried
+on his cap and gloves, and moralized over his patched boots. I
+remembered Alexander as the head of a gigantic empire, the friend and
+ally, and then the deadly foe of Napoleon; the companion of kings and
+princes; the arbiter of thrones and empires, and playing with crowns and
+sceptres. I sat with the patched boots in my hand. Like old Peter, he
+had considerable of a foot, and I respected him for it. I saw him, as
+it were, in an undress, simple and unostentatious in his habits; and
+there was a domestic air in his whole suite of apartments that
+interested me more than when I considered him on his throne. His
+sitting-room showed quiet and gentlemanly as well as domestic habits,
+for along the wall was a border of earth, with shrubs and flowers
+growing out of it, a delicate vine trailed around and almost covering a
+little mahogany railing. The grounds around the palace are eighteen
+miles in circumference, abounding in picturesque and beautiful scenery,
+improved by taste and an unbounded expenditure of money, and at this
+time they were in the fulness of summer beauty. We may talk simplicity
+and republicanism, but, after all, it must be a pleasant thing to be an
+emperor. I always felt this, particularly when strolling through
+imperial parks or pleasure-grounds, and sometimes I almost came to the
+unsentimental conclusion that, to be rural, a man must be rich.
+
+We wandered through the grounds without any plan, taking any path that
+offered, and at every step some new beauty broke upon us: a theatre;
+Turkish kiosk or Chinese pagoda; splendid bridges, arches, and columns;
+and an Egyptian gate; a summer-house in the form of an Ionic colonnade,
+a masterpiece of taste and elegance, supporting an aerial garden crowded
+with flowers; and a Gothic building called the Admiralty, on the borders
+of an extensive lake, on which lay several boats--rigged as frigates,
+elegant barges and pleasure-boats, and beautiful white swans floating
+majestically upon its surface; on the islands and the shores of the lake
+were little summer-houses; at the other end was a magnificent stone
+landing, and in full view a marble bridge, with Corinthian columns of
+polished marble; an arsenal, with many curious and interesting objects,
+antique suits of armour, and two splendid sets of horse trappings,
+holsters, pistols, and bridles, all studded with diamonds, presented by
+the sultan on occasion of the peace of Adrianople. Nor must I forget the
+dairy, and a superb collection of goats and lamas from Siberia. Amid
+this congregation of beauties one thing offended me; a Gothic tower
+built as a ruin for the sake of the picturesque, which, wanting the
+associations connected with monuments ruined by time, struck me as a
+downright mockery. We had intended to visit the palace of Paulowsky, but
+time slipped away, and it was six o'clock before we started to return to
+St. Petersburgh.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+    The Soldier's Reward.--Review of the Russian Army.--American
+      Cannibals.--Palace of Potemkin.--Palace of the Grand-duke
+      Michael.--Equipments for Travelling.--Rough
+      Riding.--Poland.--Vitepsk.--Napoleon in Poland.--The Disastrous
+      Retreat.--Passage of the Berezina.
+
+
+EARLY the next morning I went out about twelve versts from the city to
+attend a grand military review by the emperor in person. The government
+of Russia is a military despotism, and her immense army, nominally
+amounting to a million, even on the peace establishment numbers actually
+six hundred thousand, of which sixty thousand follow the person of the
+emperor, and were at that time under arms at St. Petersburgh. When I
+rode on the parade-ground, the spectacle of this great army, combining
+the elite of barbaric chivalry with soldiers trained in the best
+schools of European discipline, drawn up in battle's stern array, and
+glittering with steel, was brilliant and almost sublime; in numbers and
+military bearing, in costliness of armour and equipment, far surpassing
+any martial parade that I had seen, not excepting a grand review of
+French troops at Paris, or even a _fourth of July parade at home_. I
+once had the honour to be a paymaster in the valiant one hundred and
+ninety-seventh regiment of New-York State Militia; and I can say what,
+perhaps, no other man who ever served in our _army_ can say, that I
+served out my whole term without being once promoted. Men came in below
+and went out above me; ensigns became colonels and lieutenants generals,
+but I remained the same; it was hard work to escape promotion, but I was
+resolute. Associated with me was a friend as quartermaster, with as
+little of the spirit of a soldier in him as myself, for which we were
+rather looked down upon by the warriors of our day; and when, at the end
+of our term, in company with several other officers, we resigned, the
+next regimental orders were filled with military panegyrics, such as,
+"the colonel has received, with the greatest regret, the resignation of
+Lieutenant A.;" "the country has reason to deplore the loss of the
+services of Captain B.;" and wound up with, "Quartermaster G. and
+Paymaster S. have tendered their resignations, _both of which are hereby
+accepted_." But when strains of martial music burst from a hundred
+bands, and companies, and regiments, and brigades wheeled and manoeuvred
+before me, and the emperor rode by, escorted by general and field
+officers, and the most magnificent staff in Europe, and the earth shook
+under the charge of cavalry, I felt a strong martial spirit roused
+within me, perhaps I was excited by the reflection that these soldiers
+had been in battles, and that the stars and medals glittering on their
+breasts were not mere holyday ornaments, but the tokens of desperate
+service on bloody battle-fields.
+
+In a body, the Russian soldiers present an exceedingly fine appearance.
+When the serf is enrolled, his hair and beard are cut off, except on the
+upper lip, his uniform is simple and graceful, a belt is worn tightly
+round the waist, and the breast of the coat is thickly padded,
+increasing the manliness of the figure, though sometimes at the expense
+of health. In evolutions they move like a great machine, as if all the
+arms and legs were governed by a single impulse.
+
+The army under review was composed of representatives from all the
+nations under the sway of Russia; Cossacks of the Don, and the Wolga,
+and the Black Sea, in jackets and wide pantaloons of blue cloth, riding
+on small horses, with high-peaked saddles, and carrying spears eight or
+ten feet in length. One regiment had the privilege of wearing a ragged
+flag and caps full of holes, as proofs of their gallant service, being
+the only regiment that fought at Pultowa. And there were Calmucs in
+their extraordinary war-dress; a helmet with a gilded crest, or a chain
+cap with a network of iron rings falling over the head and shoulders,
+and hanging as low as the eyebrows in front; a shirt of mail, composed
+of steel rings matted together and yielding to the body, the arms
+protected by plates, and the back of the hand by steel network fastened
+to the plates on each side; their offensive weapons were bows and
+arrows, silver-mounted pistols peeping out of their holsters,
+cartridge-boxes on each side of the breast, and a dagger, sword, and
+gun.
+
+The Kirguish, a noble-looking race, come from the steppes of Siberia.
+Their uniform is magnificent, consisting of a blue frockcoat and
+pantaloons covered with silver lace, a Grecian helmet, and a great
+variety of splendid arms, the yataghan alone costing a thousand rubles.
+They are all noble, and have no regular duty, except to attend the
+imperial family on extraordinary occasions. At home they are always at
+war among themselves. They are Mohammedans; and one of them said to an
+American friend who had a long conversation with him, that he had four
+wives at home; that some had more, but it was not considered becoming to
+exceed that number. A bearded Russian came up and said that these
+Kirguish eat dogs and cats against which the Kirguish protested. The
+same Russian afterward observed that the Americans were worse than the
+Kirguish, for that a patriarch of the church had written, and therefore
+it must be true, that the number of human beings eaten by Americans
+could not be counted; adding, with emphasis, "Sir, you were created in
+the likeness of your Maker, and you should endeavour to keep yourself
+so." He continued that the Russians were the first Christians, and he
+felt much disposed to send missionaries among the Americans to meliorate
+their condition.
+
+The Imperial Guards are the finest-looking set of men I ever saw. The
+standard is six feet, and none are admitted below that height. Their
+uniform is a white cloth coat, with buckskin breeches, boots reaching
+up to the hips, and swords that Wallace himself would not have been
+ashamed to wield. But perhaps the most striking in that brilliant army
+was the emperor himself; seeming its natural head, towering even above
+his gigantic guards, and looking, as Mr. Wilkins once said of him, like
+one who, among savages, would have been chosen for a chief. In the midst
+of this martial spectacle, the thought came over me of militia musters
+at home; and though smiling at the insignificance of our military array
+as I rode back in my drosky, I could but think of the happiness of our
+isolated position, which spares us the necessity of keeping a large
+portion of our countrymen constantly in arms to preserve the rest in the
+enjoyment of life and fortune.
+
+The next morning my Polish friend, hopeless of success either in his
+lawsuit or his lovesuit, fixed a day for our departure; and, with the
+suggestion that I am about leaving St. Petersburgh, I turn once more,
+and for the last time, to the imperial palaces. Not far from the
+Hermitage is the marble palace; a colossal pile, built by the Empress
+Catharine for her favourite, Count Orloff, presenting one of its fronts
+to the Neva. All the decorations are of marble and gilded bronze, and
+the capitals and bases of the columns and pilasters, and the
+window-frames and balustrades of the balconies, of cast bronze richly
+gilded. The effect is heightened by the unusually large dimensions of
+the squares of fine plate glass. A traveller in seventeen hundred and
+fifty-nine says "that the prodigies of enchantment which we read of in
+the tales of the genii are here called forth into reality; and the
+temples reared by the luxuriant fancy of our poets may be considered as
+a picture of the marble palace, which Jupiter, when the burden of cares
+drives him from heaven, might make his delightful abode." At present,
+however, there are but few remains of this Olympian magnificence, and I
+think Jupiter at the same expense would prefer the Winter Palace or the
+Hermitage.
+
+The Taurida Palace, erected by Catharine II. for her lover, Potemkin, in
+general effect realizes the exaggerated accounts of travellers. The
+entrance is into a spacious hall, which leads to a circular vestibule of
+extraordinary magnitude, decorated with busts and statues in marble,
+with a dome supported by white columns. From thence you pass between the
+columns into an immense hall or ballroom, two hundred and eighty feet
+long and eighty wide, with double colonnades of lofty Ionic pillars
+decorated with gold and silver festoons, thirty-five feet high and ten
+feet in circumference. From the colonnade, running the whole length of
+the ballroom, you enter the Winter Garden, which concealed flues and
+stoves keep always at the temperature of summer; and here, upon great
+occasions, under the light of magnificent lustres and the reflection of
+numerous mirrors, during the fierceness of the Russian winter, when the
+whole earth is covered with snow, and "water tossed in the air drops
+down in ice," the imperial visiter may stroll through gravel-walks
+bordered with the choicest plants and flowers, blooming hedges and
+groves of orange, and inhale the fragrance of an Arabian garden. Paul,
+in one of his "darkened hours," converted this palace into barracks and
+a riding-school; but it has since been restored, in some degree, to its
+ancient splendour.
+
+The palace of Paul, in which he was assassinated, has been uninhabited
+since his death. But the triumph of modern architecture in St.
+Petersburgh is the palace of the Grand-duke Michael. I shall not attempt
+any description of this palace; but, to give some notion of its
+splendours to my calculating countrymen, I shall merely remark that it
+cost upward of seventeen millions of rubles. But I am weary of palaces;
+of wandering through magnificent apartments, where scene after scene
+bursts upon my eyes, and, before I begin to feel at home in them, I find
+myself ordered out by the footman. Will the reader believe me? On the
+opposite side of the river is a little wooden house, more interesting in
+my eyes than all the palaces in St. Petersburgh. It is the humble
+residence of Peter the Great. I visited it for the last time after
+rambling through the gorgeous palace of the Grand-duke Michael. It is
+one story high, low roofed, with a little piazza around it, and contains
+a sitting-room, bedroom, and dining-parlours; and Peter himself, with
+his own axe, assisted in its construction. The rooms are only eight feet
+in height, the sitting-room is fifteen feet square, the dining-room
+fifteen feet by twelve, and the bedchamber ten feet square. In the first
+there is a chapel and shrine, where the Russian visiter performs his
+orisons and prays for the soul of Peter. Around the cottage is a neat
+garden, and a boat made by Peter himself is suspended to one of the
+walls. I walked around the cottage, inside and out; listened
+attentively, without understanding a word he said, to the garrulous
+Russian cicerone, and sat down on the step of the front piazza. Opposite
+was that long range of imperial palaces extending for more than a mile
+on the Neva, and surpassing all other royal residences in Europe or the
+world. When Peter sat in the door of this humble cottage, the ground
+where they stood was all morass and forest. Where I saw the lofty spires
+of magnificent churches, he looked out upon fishermen's huts. My eyes
+fell upon the golden spire of the church of the citadel glittering in
+the sunbeams, and reminding me that in its dismal charnelhouse slept the
+tenant of the humble cottage, the master-spirit which had almost created
+out of nothing all this splendour. I saw at the same time the beginning
+and the end of greatness. The humble dwelling is preserved with
+religious reverence, and even now is the most interesting monument which
+the imperial city can show.
+
+And here, at this starting-point in her career, I take my leave of the
+Palmyra of the North. I am compelled to omit many things which he who
+speaks of St. Petersburgh at all ought not to omit: her magnificent
+churches; her gigantic and splendid theatres; her literary, scientific,
+and eleemosynary institutions, and that which might form the subject of
+a chapter in her capital, her government and laws. I might have seen
+something of Russian society, as my friend Luoff had arrived in St.
+Petersburgh; but, with my limited time, the interchange of these
+civilities interfered with my seeing the curiosities of the capital.
+
+My intimacy with the colonel had fallen off, though we still were on
+good terms. The fact is, I believe I fell into rather queer company in
+St. Petersburgh, and very soon found the colonel to be the most thorough
+roue I ever met. He seemed to think that travelling meant dissipating;
+he had never travelled but once, and that was with the army to Paris;
+and, except when on duty, his whole time had been spent in riot and
+dissipation; and though sometimes he referred to hard fighting, he
+talked more of the pleasures of that terrible campaign than of its toils
+and dangers. In consideration of my being a stranger and a young man, he
+constituted himself my Mentor, and the advice which, in all soberness,
+he gave me as the fruits of his experience, was a beautiful guide for
+the road to ruin. I have no doubt that, if I had given myself up
+entirely to him, he would have feted me all the time I was in St.
+Petersburgh; but this did not suit me, and I afterward fell in with the
+Pole, who had his own vagaries too, and who, being the proprietor of a
+cloth manufactory, did not suit the aristocratic notions of the colonel,
+and so our friendship cooled. My intimacy with his friend the prince,
+however, increased. I called upon him frequently, and he offered to
+accompany me everywhere; but as in sightseeing I love to be alone, I
+seldom asked him, except for a twilight walk. Old associations were all
+that now bound together him and the colonel; their feelings, their
+fortunes, and their habits of life were entirely different; and the
+colonel, instead of being displeased with my seeking the prince in
+preference to himself, was rather gratified. Altogether, the colonel
+told me, he was much mistaken in me, but he believed I was a good fellow
+after all; excused my regular habits somewhat on the ground of my
+health; and the day before that fixed for my departure, asked me to pass
+the evening with him, and to bring my friend the Pole. In the evening we
+went to the colonel's apartments. The prince was there, and, after an
+elegant little supper, happening to speak of a Frenchman and a Prussian
+living in the hotel, with whom I had become acquainted, he sent down for
+them to come up and join us. The table was cleared, pipes and tobacco
+were brought on, and Champagne was the only wine. We had a long and
+interesting conversation on the subject of the road to Warsaw, and
+particularly in regard to the bloody passage of the Berezina, at which
+both the colonel and the prince were present. The servant, a favourite
+serf (who the next day robbed the colonel of every valuable article in
+his apartment), being clumsy in opening a new bottle of Champagne, the
+colonel said he must return to army practice, and reaching down his
+sabre, with a scientific blow took off the neck without materially
+injuring the bottle or disturbing the contents. This military way of
+decanting Champagne aided its circulation, and head after head fell
+rapidly before the naked sabre. I had for some time avoided emptying my
+glass, which, in the general hurry of business, was not noticed; but, as
+soon as the colonel discovered it, he cried out, "Treason, treason
+against good fellowship. America is a traitor." I pleaded ill health,
+but he would not listen to me; upbraided me that the friend and old ally
+of Russia should fail him; turned up his glass on the table, and swore
+he would not touch it again unless I did him justice. All followed his
+example; all decided that America was disturbing the peace of nations;
+the glasses were turned up all around, and a dead stop was put to the
+merriment. I appealed, begged, and protested; and the colonel became
+positive, dogged, and outrageous. The prince came to my aid, and
+proposed that the difficulty between Russia and America should be
+submitted to the arbitration of France and Prussia. He had observed
+these powers rather backing out. The eyes of France were already in a
+fine phrensy rolling, and Prussia's tongue had long been wandering; and
+in apprehension of their own fate, these mighty powers leaned to mercy.
+It was necessary, however, to propitiate the colonel, and they decided
+that, to prevent the effusion of blood, I should start once more the
+flow of wine; that we should begin again with a bumper all around; and,
+after that, every man should do as he pleased. The colonel was obliged
+to be content; and swearing that he would drink for us all, started
+anew.
+
+The Prussian was from Berlin, and this led the colonel to speak of the
+stirring scenes that had taken place in that capital on the return of
+the Russian army from Paris; and, after a while, the Prussian,
+personally unknown to the colonel, told him that his name was still
+remembered in Berlin as a leader in Russian riot and dissipation, and
+particularly as having carried off, in a most daring manner, a lady of
+distinguished family; and--"go on," said the colonel--"killed her
+husband." "He refused my challenge," said the colonel, "but sought my
+life, and I shot him like a dog." The whole party now became uproarious;
+the colonel begged me, by all the friendly relations between Russia and
+America, to hold on till breakfast-time; but, being the coolest man
+present, and not knowing what farther developments might take place, I
+broke up the party.
+
+In the morning my passport was not ready. I went off to the
+police-office for it, and when I returned the horses had not come, and
+the valet brought me the usual answer, that there were none. My Pole was
+glad to linger another day for the sake of his flirtation with the
+little girl opposite, and so we lounged through the day, part of the
+time in the bazar of a Persian, where I came near ruining myself by an
+offer I made for a beautiful emerald; and after one more and the last
+twilight stroll on the banks of the Neva and up the Newski Perspective,
+we returned at an early hour, and for the last time in Russia, slept in
+a bed.
+
+At nine o'clock the next morning a kibitka drove up to the door of our
+hotel, demanding an American and a Pole for Warsaw. All the servants of
+the hotel were gathered around, arranging the luggage, and making a
+great parade of getting off the distinguished travellers. The travellers
+themselves seemed equipped for a long journey. One wore a blue
+roundabout jacket, military cap and cloak, with whiskers and a mustache
+tending to red; the other, a tall, stout, Herculean fellow, was habited
+in the most outre costume of a Russian traveller; a cotton dressing-gown
+of every variety of colours, red and yellow predominating; coarse gray
+trousers; boots coming above his knees; a cap _tout a fait farouche_,
+and there was no mistake about the colour of his hair and mustaches; he
+was moving slowly around the kibitka in his travelling dress, and
+looking up to the window opposite, to give his dulcinea the melancholy
+intelligence that he was going away, and perhaps to catch one farewell
+smile at parting. The carriage of these distinguished travellers was the
+kibitka, one of the national vehicles of Russia, being a long,
+round-bottomed box or cradle on four wheels, probably the old Scythian
+wagon, resting, in proud contempt of the effeminacy of springs, on the
+oaken axles; the hubs of the wheels were two feet long, the linchpins of
+wood, the body of the carriage fastened to the wheels by wooden pins,
+ropes, and sticks; and, except the tires of the wheels, there was not a
+nail or piece of iron about it. The hinder part was covered with
+matting, open in front somewhat like an oldfashioned bonnet, and
+supported by an arched stick, which served as a linchpin for the hind
+wheels; a bucket of grease hung under the hind axle, and the bottom of
+the kibitka was filled with straw; whole cost of outfit, thirteen
+dollars. Before it were three horses, one in shafts and one on each
+side, the centre one having a high bow over his neck, painted yellow and
+red, to which a rein was tied for holding up his head, and also a bell,
+to a Russian postillion more necessary than harness. The travellers took
+their places in the bottom of the kibitka, and the postillion, a rough,
+brutal-looking fellow, in gray coat and hat turned up at the sides,
+mounted in front, catching a seat where he could on the rim of the
+wagon, about three inches wide; and in this dashing equipage we started
+for a journey of a thousand miles to the capital of another kingdom. We
+rolled for the last time through the streets of St. Petersburgh, gazed
+at the domes, and spires, and magnificent palaces, and in a few moments
+passed the barrier.
+
+I left St. Petersburgh, as I did every other city, with a certain
+feeling of regret that, in all probability, I should never see it more;
+still the cracking of the postillion's whip and the galloping of the
+horses created in me that high excitement which I always felt in setting
+out for a new region. Our first stage was to Czarskoselo, our second to
+Cazena, where there was another palace. It was dark when we reached the
+third, a small village, of which I did not even note the name. I shall
+not linger on this road, for it was barren of interest and incident, and
+through a continued succession of swamps and forests. For two hundred
+miles it tried the tenure of adhesion between soul and body, being made
+of the trunks of trees laid transversely, bound down by long poles or
+beams fastened into the ground with wooden pegs covered with layers of
+boughs, and the whole strewed over with sand and earth; the trunks in
+general were decayed and sunken, and the sand worn or washed away,
+reminding me of the worst of our western corduroy roads. Our wagon being
+without springs, and our seats a full-length extension on straw on the
+bottom, without the bed, pillows, and cushions which the Russians
+usually have, I found this ride one of the severest trials of physical
+endurance I ever experienced. My companion groaned and brushed his
+mustaches, and talked of the little girl at St. Petersburgh. In my
+previous journey in Russia I had found the refreshment of tea, and on
+this, often when almost exhausted, I was revived by that precious
+beverage. I stood it three days and nights, but on the fourth completely
+broke down. I insensibly slipped down at full length in the bottom of
+the wagon; the night was cold and rainy; my companion covered me up to
+the eyes with straw, and I slept from the early part of the evening like
+a dead man. The horses were changed three times; the wagon was lifted up
+under me, and the wheels greased; and three times my companion
+quarrelled with the postmaster over my body without waking me. About six
+o'clock in the morning he roused me. I could not stir hand or foot; my
+mouth was full of dust and straw, and I felt a sense of suffocation. In
+a few moments I crawled out, staggered a few steps, and threw myself
+down on the floor of a wretched posthouse. My companion put my
+carpet-bag under my head, wrapped cloaks and greatcoats around me, and
+prepared me some tea; but I loathed everything. I was in that miserable
+condition which every traveller has some time experienced; my head
+ringing, every bone aching, and perfectly reckless as to what became of
+me. While my companion stood over me I fell asleep, and believe I should
+have been sleeping there yet if he had not waked me. He said we must go
+on at all risks until we found a place where we could remain with some
+degree of comfort. I begged and entreated to be left to myself, but he
+was inexorable. He lifted me up, hauled me out to the kibitka, which was
+filled with fresh straw, and seated me within, supporting me on his
+shoulder.
+
+It was a beautiful day. We moved moderately, and toward evening came to
+a posthouse kept by a Jew, or, rather, a Jewess, who was so kind and
+attentive that we determined to stay there all night. She brought in
+some clean straw and spread it on the floor, where I slept gloriously.
+My companion was tougher than I, but he could not stand the fleas and
+bugs, and about midnight went out and slept in the kibitka. In the
+morning we found that he had been too late; that the kibitka had been
+stripped of every article except himself and the straw. Fortunately, my
+carpet-bag had been brought in; but I received a severe blow in the loss
+of a cane, an old friend and travelling companion, which had been with
+me in every variety of scene, and which I had intended to carry home
+with me, and retain as a companion through life. It is almost
+inconceivable how much this little incident distressed me. It was a
+hundred times worse than the loss of my carpet-bag. I felt the want of
+it every moment; I had rattled it on the Boulevards of Paris, in the
+eternal city, the Colosseum, and the places thereabout; had carried it
+up the burning mountain, and poked it into the red-hot lava; had borne
+it in the Acropolis, on the field of Marathon, and among the ruins of
+Ephesus; had flourished it under the beard of the sultan, and the eyes
+and nose of the emperor and autocrat of all the Russias; in deserts and
+in cities it had been my companion and friend. Unsparing Nemesis, let
+loose your vengeance upon the thief who stole it! The rascals had even
+carried off the rope traces, and every loose article about the kibitka.
+
+Notwithstanding this, however, I ought not to omit remarking the general
+security of travelling in Russia and Poland. The immense plains; the
+distance of habitations; the number of forests; the custom of travelling
+by night as well as by day; the negligence of all measures to ensure the
+safety of the roads, all contribute to favour robbery and murders; and
+yet an instance of either is scarcely known in years. It was difficult
+on those immense levels, which seemed independent of either general or
+individual proprietors, to recognise even the bounds of empires. The
+Dwina, however, a natural boundary, rolls between Russia and Poland; and
+at Vitepsk we entered the territories of what was once another kingdom.
+The surface of Poland forms part of that immense and unvaried plain
+which constitutes the northern portion of all the central European
+countries. A great portion of this plain is overspread with a deep layer
+of sand, alternating however, with large clayey tracts and extensive
+marshes; a winter nearly as severe as that of Sweden, and violent winds
+blowing uninterruptedly over this wide open region, are consequences of
+its physical structure and position. The Roman arms never penetrated any
+part of this great level tract, the whole of which was called by them
+Sarmatia; and Sarmatia and Scythia were in their descriptions always
+named together as the abode of nomadic and savage tribes. From the
+earliest era it appears to have been peopled by the Sclavonic tribes; a
+race widely diffused, and distinguished by a peculiar language, by a
+strong national feeling, and by a particular train of superstitious
+ideas. Though shepherds, they did not partake of the migratory character
+of the Teutonic or Tartar nations; and were long held in the most cruel
+bondage by the Huns, the Goths, and other nations of Asia, for whom
+their country was a path to the conquest of the west of Europe.
+
+In the tenth century the Poles were a powerful and warlike nation. In
+the fourteenth Lithuania was incorporated with it, and Poland became one
+of the most powerful monarchies in Europe. For two centuries it was the
+bulwark of Christendom against the alarming invasions of the Turks; the
+reigns of Sigismund and Sobieski hold a high place in military history;
+and, until the beginning of the last century, its martial character gave
+it a commanding influence in Europe.
+
+It is unnecessary to trace the rapid and irrecoverable fall of Poland.
+On the second partition, Kosciusko, animated by his recent struggle for
+liberty in America, roused his countrymen to arms. But the feet of three
+giants were upon her breast; and Suwarrow, marching upon the capital,
+storming the fortress of Praga, and butchering in cold blood thirty
+thousand inhabitants, extinguished, apparently for ever, the rights and
+the glories of Poland. Living as we do apart from the rest of the world,
+with no national animosities transmitted by our fathers, it is
+impossible to realize the feeling of deadly hatred existing between
+neighbouring nations from the disputes of ancestors centuries ago. The
+history of Russia and Poland presents a continued series of
+bloodstained pages. Battle after battle has nourished their mutual hate,
+and for a long time it had been the settled feeling of both that Russia
+or Poland must fall. It is perhaps fortunate for the rest of Europe that
+this feeling has always existed; for, if they were united in heart, the
+whole south of Europe would lie at the mercy of their invading armies.
+Napoleon committed a fatal error in tampering with the brave and
+patriotic Poles; for he might have rallied around him a nation of
+soldiers who, in gratitude, would have stood by him until they were
+exterminated.
+
+But to return to Vitepsk. Here, for the first time, we fell into the
+memorable road traversed by Napoleon on his way to Moscow. The town
+stands on the banks of the Dwina, built on both sides of the river, and
+contains a population of about fifteen thousand, a great portion of whom
+are Jews. In itself, it has but little to engage the attention of the
+traveller; but I strolled through its streets with extraordinary
+interest, remembering it as the place where Napoleon decided on his
+fatal march to Moscow. It was at the same season and on the very same
+day of the year that the "grand army," having traversed the gloomy
+forests of Lithuania in pursuit of an invincible and intangible enemy,
+with the loss of more than a hundred thousand men, emerged from the last
+range of woods and halted at the presence of the hostile fires that
+covered the plain before the city. Napoleon slept in his tent on an
+eminence at the left of the main road, and before sunrise appeared at
+the advanced posts, and by its first rays saw the Russian army, eighty
+thousand strong, encamped on a high plain commanding all the avenues of
+the city. Ten thousand horsemen made a show of defending its passes; and
+at about ten o'clock, Murat le Beau Sabreur, intoxicated by the
+admiration his presence excited, at the head of a single regiment of
+chasseurs charged the whole Russian cavalry. He was repulsed, and driven
+back to the foot of the hillock on which Napoleon stood. The chasseurs
+of the French guards formed a circle around him, drove off the assailant
+lancers, and the emperor ordered the attack to cease; and, pointing to
+the city, his parting words to Murat were, "To-morrow at five o'clock
+the sun of Austerlitz."
+
+At daylight the camp of Barclay de Tolly was deserted; not a weapon, not
+a single valuable left behind; and a Russian soldier asleep under a bush
+was the sole result of the day expected to be so decisive. Vitepsk,
+except by a few miserable Jews and Jesuits, like the Russian camp, was
+also abandoned. The emperor mounted his horse and rode through the
+deserted camp and desolate streets of the city. Chagrined and mortified,
+he pitched his tents in an open courtyard; but, after a council of war
+with Murat, Eugene, and others of his principal officers, laid his sword
+upon the table, and resolved to finish in Vitepsk the campaign of that
+year. Well had it been for him had he never changed that determination.
+He traced his line of defence on the map, and explored Vitepsk and its
+environs as a place where he was likely to make a long residence; formed
+establishments of all kinds; erected large ovens capable of baking at
+once thirty thousand loaves of bread; pulled down a range of stone
+houses which injured the appearance of the square of the palace, and
+made arrangements for opening the theatre with Parisian actors. But in a
+few days he was observed to grow restless; the members of his household
+recollected his expression at the first view of the deserted Vitepsk,
+"Do you think I have come so far to conquer these miserable huts?"
+Segur says that he was observed to wander about his apartments as if
+pursued by some dangerous temptation. Nothing could rivet his attention.
+Every moment he began, stopped, and resumed his labour. At length,
+overwhelmed with the importance of the considerations that agitated him,
+"he threw himself on the floor of his apartment; his frame, exhausted by
+the heat and the struggles of his mind, could only bear a covering of
+the slightest texture. He rose from his sleepless pillow possessed once
+more with the genius of war; his voice deepens, his eyes flash fire, and
+his countenance darkens. His attendants retreat from his presence,
+struck with mingled awe and respect. His plan is fixed, his
+determination taken, his order of march traced out."
+
+The last council occupied eight hours. Berthier by a melancholy
+countenance, by lamentations, and even by tears; Lobau by the cold and
+haughty frankness of a warrior; Caulaincourt with obstinacy and
+impetuosity amounting to violence; Duroc by a chilling silence, and
+afterward by stern replies; and Daru straightforward and with firmness
+immoveable, opposed his going; but, as if driven on by that fate he
+almost defied, he broke up the council with the fatal determination.
+"Blood has not been shed, and Russia is too great to yield without
+fighting. Alexander can only negotiate after a great battle. I will
+proceed to the holy city in search of that battle, and I will gain it.
+Peace waits me at the gates of Moscow." From that hour commenced that
+train of terrible disasters which finally drove him from the throne of
+France, and sent him to die an exile on a small island in the Indian
+Ocean. I walked out on the Moscow road, by which the grand army, with
+pomp and martial music, with Murat, and Ney, and Duroc, and Daru,
+inspired by the great names of Smolensk and Moscow, plunged into a
+region of almost pathless forest, where most of them were destined to
+find a grave. I was at first surprised at the utter ignorance of the
+inhabitants of Vitepsk, in regard to the circumstances attending the
+occupation of the city by Napoleon. A Jew was my cicerone, who talked of
+the great scenes of which this little city had in his own day been the
+theatre almost as matter of tradition, and without half the interest
+with which, even now, the Greek points the stranger to the ruins of
+Argos or the field of Marathon; and this ignorance in regard to the only
+matters that give an interest to this dreary road I remarked during the
+whole journey. I was so unsuccessful in my questions, and the answers
+were so unsatisfactory, that my companion soon became tired of acting as
+my interpreter. Indeed, as he said, he himself knew more than any one I
+met, for he had travelled it before in company with an uncle, of the
+Polish legion; but even he was by no means familiar with the ground.
+
+We left Vitepsk with a set of miserable horses, rode all night, and at
+noon of the next day were approaching the banks of the Berezina,
+memorable for the dreadful passage which almost annihilated the wretched
+remnant of Napoleon's army. It was impossible, in passing over the same
+ground, not to recur to the events of which it had been the scene. The
+"invincible legions," which left Vitepsk two hundred thousand strong,
+were now fighting their dreadful retreat from Moscow through regulars
+and Cossacks, reduced to less than twelve thousand men marching in
+column, with a train of thirty thousand undisciplined followers, sick,
+wounded, and marauders of every description. The cavalry which crossed
+the Niemen thirty-seven thousand in number was reduced to one hundred
+and fifty men on horseback. Napoleon collected all the officers who
+remained mounted, and formed them into a body, in all about five
+hundred, which he called his sacred squadron; officers served as
+privates, and generals of divisions as captains. He ordered the
+carriages of the officers, many of the wagons, and even the eagles
+belonging to the different corps, to be burned in his presence; and
+drawing his sword, with the stern remark that he had sufficiently acted
+the emperor, and must once more play the general, marched on foot at the
+head of his old guard. He had hardly reorganized before the immense pine
+forests which border the Berezina echoed with the thunder of the Russian
+artillery; in a moment all remains of discipline were lost. In the last
+stage of weakness and confusion they were roused by loud cries before
+them, and, to their great surprise and joy, recognised the armies of
+Victor and Oudinot. The latter knew nothing of the terrible disasters of
+the army of Moscow, and they were thrown into consternation and then
+melted to tears when they saw behind Napoleon, instead of the invincible
+legions which had left them in splendid equipments, a train of gaunt and
+spectral figures, their faces black with dirt, and long bristly beards,
+covered with rags, female pelisses, pieces of carpet, with bare and
+bleeding feet, or bundled with rags, and colonels and generals marching
+pellmell with soldiers, unarmed and shameless, without any order or
+discipline, kept together and sleeping round the same fires only by the
+instinct of self-preservation.
+
+About noon we drove into the town of Borizoff. It stands on the banks
+of the Berezina, and is an old, irregular-looking place, with a heavy
+wooden church in the centre of an open square. As usual, at the door of
+the posthouse a group of Jews gathered around us. When Napoleon took
+possession of Borizoff the Jews were the only inhabitants who remained;
+and they, a scattered, wandering, and migratory people, without any
+attachment of soil or country, were ready to serve either the French or
+Russians, according to the inducements held out to them. A few noble
+instances are recorded where this persecuted and degraded people
+exhibited a devotion to the land that sheltered them honourable to their
+race and to the character of man; but in general they were false and
+faithless. Those who gathered around us in Borizoff looked as though
+they might be the very people who betrayed the Russians. One of them
+told us that a great battle had been fought there, but we could not find
+any who had been present at the fatal passage of the river. We dined at
+the posthouse, probably with less anxiety than was felt by Napoleon or
+any of the flying Frenchmen; but even we were not permitted to eat in
+peace; for, before we had finished, our vehicle was ready, with worse
+horses than usual, and a surlier postillion. We sent the postillion on
+ahead, and walked down to the bank of the river. On the night preceding
+the passage, Napoleon himself had command of Borizoff, with six thousand
+guards prepared for a desperate contest. He passed the whole night on
+his feet; and while waiting for the approach of daylight in one of the
+houses on the border of the river, so impracticable seemed the chance of
+crossing with the army that Murat proposed to him to put himself under
+the escort of some brave and determined Poles, and save himself while
+there was yet time; but the emperor indignantly rejected the proposition
+as a cowardly flight. The river is here very broad, and divided into
+branches. On the opposite side are the remains of an embankment that
+formed part of the Russian fortifications. When the Russians were driven
+out of Borizoff by Oudinot, they crossed the river, burned the bridge,
+and erected these embankments.
+
+Besides the sanguinary contest of the French and Russians, this river is
+also memorable for a great battle between my companion and our
+postillion. In the middle of the bridge the postillion stopped and
+waited till we came up; he grumbled loudly at being detained, to which
+my companion replied in his usual conciliatory and insinuating manner,
+by laying his cane over the fellow's shoulders; but on the bridge of
+Borizoff the blood of the Lithuanian was roused; and, perhaps, urged on
+by the memory of the deeds done there by his fathers, he sprang out of
+the wagon, and with a warcry that would not have disgraced a Cossack of
+the Don, rushed furiously upon my friend. Oh for a Homer to celebrate
+that fight on the bridge of Borizoff! The warriors met, not like Grecian
+heroes, with spear and shield, and clad in steel, but with their naked
+fists and faces bare to take the blows. My friend was a sublime
+spectacle. Like a rock, firm and immoveable, he stood and met the charge
+of the postillion; in short, in the twinkling of an eye he knocked the
+postillion down. Those who know say that it is more trying to walk over
+a field of battle after all is over than to be in the fight; and I
+believe it from my experience in our trying passage of the Berezina;
+for, when I picked up the discomfited postillion, whose face was
+covered with blood, I believe that I had the worst of it. All great
+victories are tested by their results, and nothing could be more
+decisive than that over the postillion. He arose a wiser and much more
+tractable man. At first he looked very stupid when he saw me leaning
+over him, and very startled when he rubbed his hand over his face and
+saw it stained with blood; but, raising himself, he caught sight of his
+victor, and without a word got into the wagon, walked the horses over
+the bridge, and at the other end got out and threw himself on the
+ground.
+
+It was a beautiful afternoon, and we lingered on the bridge. Crossing
+it, we walked up the bank on the opposite side toward the place where
+Napoleon erected his bridges for the passage of his army. All night the
+French worked at the bridges by the light of the enemy's fires on the
+opposite side. At daylight the fires were abandoned, and the Russians,
+supposing the attempt here to be a feint, were seen in full retreat. The
+emperor, impatient to get possession of the opposite bank, pointed it
+out to the bravest. A French aiddecamp and Lithuanian count threw
+themselves into the river, and, in spite of the ice, which cut their
+horses' breasts, reached the opposite bank in safety. About one o'clock
+the bank on which we stood was entirely cleared of Cossacks, and the
+bridge for the infantry was finished. The first division crossed it
+rapidly with its cannon, the men shouting "_Vive l'empereur!_" The
+passage occupied three days. The number of stragglers and the quantity
+of baggage were immense. On the night of the twenty-seventh the
+stragglers left the bridge, tore down the whole village, and made fires
+with the materials, around which they crouched their shivering figures,
+and from which it was impossible to tear themselves away. At daylight
+they were roused by the report of Witgenstein's cannon thundering over
+their heads, and again all rushed tumultuously to the bridges. The
+Russians, with Platow and his Cossacks, were now in full communication
+on both sides of the river. On the left bank, Napoleon's own presence of
+mind and the bravery of his soldiers gave him a decided superiority;
+but, in the language of Scott, the scene on the right bank had become
+the wildest and most horrible which war can exhibit.
+
+"Victor, with eight or ten thousand men, covered the retreat over the
+bridges, while behind his line thousands of stragglers, old men, women,
+and children, were wandering by the side of this river like the fabled
+spectres which throng the banks of the infernal Styx, seeking in vain
+for passage. The balls of the Russians began to fall among the
+disordered mass, and the whole body rushed like distracted beings toward
+the bridges, every feeling of prudence or humanity swallowed up by the
+animal instinct of self-preservation. The weak and helpless either
+shrunk from the fray and sat down to wait their fate at a distance, or,
+mixing in it, were thrust over the bridges, crushed under carriages, cut
+down with sabres, or trampled to death under the feet of their
+countrymen. All this while the action continued with fury; and, as if
+the heavens meant to match their wrath with that of man, a hurricane
+arose and added terrors to a scene which was already of a character so
+dreadful. About midday the larger bridge, constructed for artillery and
+heavy carriages, broke down, and multitudes were forced into the water.
+The scream of the despairing multitude became at this crisis for a
+moment so universal, that it rose shrilly above the wild whistling of
+the tempest and the sustained and redoubled hourras of the Cossacks. The
+dreadful scene continued till dark. As the obscurity came on, Victor
+abandoned the station he had defended so bravely, and led the remnant of
+his troops in their turn across. All night the miscellaneous multitude
+continued to throng across the bridge under the fire of the Russian
+artillery. At daybreak the French engineers finally set fire to the
+bridge, and all that remained on the other side, including many
+prisoners, and a great quantity of guns and baggage, became the property
+of the Russians. The amount of the French loss was never exactly known;
+but the Russian report concerning the bodies of the invaders, which were
+collected and burned as soon as the thaw permitted, states that upward
+of thirty-six thousand were found in the Berezina."
+
+The whole of this scene was familiar to me as matter of history; the
+passage of the Berezina had in some way fastened itself upon my mind as
+one of the most fearful scenes in the annals of war; and, besides this,
+at St. Petersburgh the colonel and prince had given me a detailed
+account of the horrors of that dreadful night, for they were both with
+Witgenstein's army, by the light of the snow, the course of the river,
+and the noise, directing a murderous fire of artillery against the dark
+mass moving over the bridge; and nearer still, my companion had visited
+the place in company with his uncle, of the Polish legion, and repeated
+to me the circumstances of individual horror which he had heard from his
+relative, surpassing human belief. The reader will excuse me if I have
+lingered too long on the banks of that river; and perhaps, too, he will
+excuse me when I tell him that, before leaving it, I walked down to its
+brink and bathed my face in its waters. Others have done so at the
+classic streams of Italy and Greece; but I rolled over the Arno and the
+Tiber in a vetturino without stopping, and the reader will remember that
+I jumped over the Ilissus.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+    Travel by Night.--A Rencounter.--A Traveller's
+      Message.--Lithuania.--Poverty of the Country.--Agricultural
+      Implements.--Minsk.--Polish Jews.--A Coin of Freedom.--Riding in a
+      Basket.--Brezc.--The Bug.--A searching Operation.--Women
+      Labourers.--Warsaw.
+
+
+IT was after dark when we returned to our wagon, still standing at the
+end of the bridge opposite Borizoff. Our postillion, like a sensible
+man, had lain down to sleep at the head of his horses, so they could not
+move without treading on him and waking him; and, when we roused him,
+the pain of his beating was over, and with it all sense of the
+indignity; and, in fact, we made him very grateful for the flogging by
+promising him a few additional kopeks.
+
+We hauled up the straw and seated ourselves in the bottom of our
+kibitka. Night closed upon us amid the gloomy forests bordering the
+banks of the Berezina. We talked for a little while, and by degrees
+drawing our cloaks around us, each fell into a revery. The continued
+tinkling of the bell, which, on my first entering Russia, grated on my
+ear, had become agreeable to me, and in a dark night particularly was a
+pleasing sound. The song of the postillion, too, harmonized with the
+repose of spirit at that moment most grateful to us; that too died
+away, the bell almost ceased its tinkling, and, in spite of the alarum
+of war which we had all day been ringing in our own ears, we should
+probably soon have fallen into a sleep as sound, for a little while at
+least, as that of them who slept under the waters of the Berezina, but
+we were suddenly roused by a shock as alarming to quiet travellers as
+the hourra of the Cossack in the ears of the flying Frenchmen. Our
+horses sprang out of the road, but not in time to avoid a concussion
+with another wagon going toward Borizoff. Both postillions were thrown
+off their seats; and the stranger, picking himself up, came at us with a
+stream of Lithuanian Russian almost harsh enough to frighten the horses.
+I will not suggest what its effect was upon us, but only that, as to
+myself, it seemed at first equal to the voice of at least a dozen
+freebooters and marauders; and if the English of it had been "stand and
+deliver," I should probably have given up my carpet-bag without asking
+to reserve a change of linen. But I was restored by the return fire of
+our postillion, who drowned completely the attack of his adversary by
+his outrageous clamour; and when he stopped to take breath my companion
+followed up the defence, and this brought out a fourth voice from the
+bottom of the opposite wagon. A truce was called, and waiving the
+question on which side the fault lay, we all got out to ascertain the
+damage. Our antagonist passenger was a German merchant, used to roughing
+it twice every year between Berlin, Warsaw, Petersburgh, and Moscow, and
+took our smashing together at night in this desolate forest as coolly as
+a rub of the shoulders in the streets; and, when satisfied that his
+wagon was not injured, kindly asked us if we had any bones broken. We
+returned his kind inquiries; and, after farther interchanges of
+politeness, he said that he was happy to make our acquaintance, and
+invited us to come and see him at Berlin. We wanted him to go back and
+let us have a look at him by torchlight, but he declined; and, after
+feeling him stretched out in his bed in the bottom of his wagon, we
+started him on his way.
+
+We resumed our own places, and, without dozing again, arrived at the
+posthouse, where first of all we made ourselves agreeable to the
+postmaster by delivering our German friend's message to him, that he
+ought to be whipped and condemned to live where he was till he was a
+hundred years old for putting the neck of a traveller at the mercy of a
+sleepy postillion; but the postmaster was a Jew, and thought the vile
+place where he lived equal to any on earth. He was a miserable,
+squalid-looking object, with a pine torch in his hand lighting up the
+poverty and filthiness of his wretched habitation, and confessed that he
+should be too happy to enjoy the fortune which the German would have
+entailed upon him as a curse. He offered to make us a bed of some dirty
+straw which had often been slept on before; but we shrank from it; and,
+as soon as we could get horses, returned to our kibitka and resumed our
+journey.
+
+The whole province of Lithuania is much the same in appearance. We lost
+nothing by travelling through it at night; indeed, every step that we
+advanced was a decided gain, as it brought us so much nearer its
+farthermost border. The vast provinces of Lithuania, formerly a part of
+the kingdom of Poland, and, since the partition of that unhappy country,
+subject to the throne of Russia, until the fourteenth century were
+independent of either. The Lithuanians and Samogitians are supposed to
+be of a different race from the Poles, and spoke a language widely
+dissimilar to the Polish or Russian. Their religion was a strange
+idolatry; they worshipped the god of thunder, and paid homage to a god
+of the harvest; they maintained priests, who were constantly feeding a
+sacred fire in honour of the god of the seasons; they worshipped trees,
+fountains, and plants; had sacred serpents, and believed in guardian
+spirits of trees, cattle, &c. Their government, like that of all other
+barbarous nations, was despotic, and the nobles were less numerous and
+more tyrannical than in Poland. In the latter part of the fourteenth
+century, on the death of Louis, successor to Casimir the Great, Hedwiga
+was called to the throne of Poland, under a stipulation, however, that
+she should follow the will of the Poles in the choice of her husband.
+Many candidates offered themselves for the hand dowered with a kingdom;
+but the offers of Jagellon, duke of Lithuania, were most tempting; he
+promised to unite his extensive dominions to the territory of Poland,
+and pledged himself for the conversion to Christianity of his Lithuanian
+subjects. But queens are not free from the infirmities of human nature;
+and Hedwiga had fixed her affections upon her cousin, William of
+Austria, whom she had invited into Poland; and when Jagellon came to
+take possession of his wife and crown, she refused to see him. The
+nobles, however, sent William back to his papa, and locked her up as if
+she had been a boarding-school miss. And again, queens are not free from
+the infirmities of human nature: Hedwiga was inconstant; the handsome
+Lithuanian made her forget her first love, and Poland and Lithuania
+were united under one crown. Jagellon was baptized, but the inhabitants
+of Lithuania did not so readily embrace the Christian religion; in one
+of the provinces they clung for a long time to their own strange and
+wild superstitions; and even in modern times, it is said, the peasants
+long obstinately refused to use ploughs or other agricultural
+instruments furnished with iron, for fear of wounding the bosom of
+mother earth.
+
+All the way from Borizoff the road passes through a country but little
+cultivated, dreary, and covered with forests. When Napoleon entered the
+province of Lithuania his first bulletins proclaimed, "Here, then, is
+that Russia so formidable at a distance! It is a desert for which its
+scattered population is wholly insufficient. They will be vanquished by
+the very extent of territory which ought to defend them;" and, before I
+had travelled in it a day, I could appreciate the feeling of the soldier
+from La Belle France, who, hearing his Polish comrades boast of their
+country, exclaimed, "Et ces gueux la appellent cette pays une patrie!"
+
+The villages are a miserable collection of straggling huts, without plan
+or arrangement, and separated from each other by large spaces of ground.
+They are about ten or twelve feet square, made of the misshapen trunks
+of trees heaped on each other, with the ends projecting over; the roof
+of large shapeless boards, and the window a small hole in the wall,
+answering the double purpose of admitting light and letting out smoke.
+The tenants of these wretched hovels exhibit the same miserable
+appearance both in person and manners. They are hard-boned and
+sallow-complexioned; the men wear coarse white woollen frocks, and a
+round felt cap lined with wool, and shoes made of the bark of trees,
+and their uncombed hair hangs low over their heads, generally of a
+flaxen colour. Their agricultural implements are of the rudest kind. The
+plough and harrow are made from the branches of the fir tree, without
+either iron or ropes; their carts are put together without iron,
+consisting of four small wheels, each of a single piece of wood; the
+sides are made of the bark of a tree bent round, and the shafts are a
+couple of fir branches; their bridles and traces platted from the bark
+of trees, or composed merely of twisted branches. Their only instrument
+to construct their huts and make their carts is a hatchet. They were
+servile and cringing in their expressions of respect, bowing down to the
+ground and stopping their carts as soon as we came near them, and stood
+with their caps in their hands till we were out of sight. The whole
+country, except in some open places around villages, is one immense
+forest of firs, perhaps sixty feet in height, compact and thick, but
+very slender. As we approached Minsk the road was sandy, and we entered
+by a wooden bridge over a small stream and along an avenue of trees.
+
+Minsk is one of the better class of Lithuanian towns, being the chief
+town of the government of Minsk, but very dirty and irregular. The
+principal street terminates in a large open square of grass and mean
+wooden huts. From this another street goes off at right angles,
+containing large houses, and joining with a second square, where some of
+the principal buildings are of brick. From this square several streets
+branch off, and enter a crowd of wooden hovels irregularly huddled
+together, and covering a large space of ground. The churches are heavily
+constructed, and in a style peculiar to Lithuania, their gable ends
+fronting the street, and terminated at each corner by a square spire,
+with a low dome between them. The population is half Catholic and half
+Jewish, and the Jews are of the most filthy and abject class.
+
+A few words with regard to the Jews in Poland. From the moment of
+crossing the borders of Lithuania, I had remarked in every town and
+village swarms of people differing entirely from the other inhabitants
+in physical appearance and costume, and in whose sharply-drawn features,
+long beards, and flowing dresses, with the coal-black eyes and oriental
+costumes of the women, I at once recognised the dispersed and wandering
+children of Israel. On the second destruction of Jerusalem, when the
+Roman general drove a plough over the site of the Temple of Solomon, the
+political existence of the Jewish nation was annihilated, their land was
+portioned out among strangers, and the descendants of Abraham were
+forbidden to pollute with their presence the holy city of their fathers.
+In the Roman territories, their petition for the reduction of taxation
+received the stern answer of the Roman, "Ye demand exemption from
+tribute for your soil; I will lay it on the air you breathe;" and, in
+the words of the historian, "Dispersed and vagabond, exiled from their
+native soil and air, they wander over the face of the earth without a
+king, either human or divine, and even as strangers they are not
+permitted to salute with their footsteps their native land." History
+furnishes no precise records of the emigration or of the first
+settlement of the Israelites in the different countries of Europe; but
+for centuries they have been found dispersed, as it was foretold they
+would be, over the whole habitable world, a strange, unsocial, and
+isolated people, a living and continued miracle. At this day they are
+found in all the civilized countries of Europe and America, in the
+wildest regions of Asia and Africa, and even within the walls of China;
+but, after Palestine, Poland is regarded as their Land of Promise; and
+there they present a more extraordinary spectacle than in any country
+where their race is known. Centuries have rolled on, revolutions have
+convulsed the globe, new and strange opinions have disturbed the human
+race, but the Polish Jew remains unchanged: the same as the dark
+superstition of the middle ages made him; the same in his outward
+appearance and internal dispositions, in his physical and moral
+condition, as when he fled thither for refuge from the swords of the
+crusaders.
+
+As early as the fourteenth century, great privileges were secured to the
+Jews by Casimir the Great, who styled them his "faithful and able
+subjects," induced, according to the chronicles of the times, like
+Ahasuerus of old, by the love of a beautiful Esther. While in Germany,
+Italy, Spain, Portugal, and even in England and France, their whole
+history is that of one continued persecution, oppressed by the nobles,
+anathematized by the clergy, despised and abhorred by the populace,
+flying from city to city, arrested, and tortured, and burned alive, and
+sometimes destroying themselves by thousands to escape horrors worse
+than death; while all orders were arrayed in fierce and implacable
+hatred against them, in Poland the race of Israel found rest; and there
+they remain at this day, after centuries of residence, still a distinct
+people, strangers and sojourners in the land, mingling with their
+neighbours in the every-day business of life, but never mingling their
+blood; the direct descendants of the Israelites who, three thousand
+years ago, went out from the land of Egypt; speaking the same language,
+and practising the laws delivered to Moses on the mountain of Sinai;
+mourning over their fallen temple, and still looking for the Messiah who
+shall bring together their scattered nation and restore their temporal
+kingdom.
+
+But notwithstanding the interest of their history and position, the
+Polish Jews are far from being an interesting people; they swarm about
+the villages and towns, intent on gain, and monopolizing all the petty
+traffic of the country. Outward degradation has worked inward upon their
+minds; confined to base and sordid occupations, their thoughts and
+feelings are contracted to their stations, and the despised have become
+despicable. It was principally in his capacity of innkeeper that I
+became acquainted with the Polish Jew. The inn is generally a miserable
+hovel communicating with, or a room partitioned off in one corner of, a
+large shed serving as a stable and yard for vehicles; the entrance is
+under a low porch of timber; the floor is of dirt; the furniture
+consists of a long table, or two or three small ones, and in one corner
+a bunch of straw, or sometimes a few raised boards formed into a
+platform, with straw spread over it, for beds; at one end a narrow door
+leads into a sort of hole filled with dirty beds, old women, half-grown
+boys and girls, and children not overburdened with garments, and so
+filthy that, however fatigued, I never felt disposed to venture among
+them for rest. Here the Jew, assisted by a dirty-faced Rachel, with a
+keen and anxious look, passes his whole day in serving out to the
+meanest customers beer, and hay, and corn; wrangling with and extorting
+money from intoxicated peasants; and, it is said, sometimes, after the
+day's drudgery is over, retires at night to his miserable hole to pore
+over the ponderous volumes filled with rabbinical lore; or sometimes his
+mind takes a higher flight, meditating upon the nature of the human
+soul; its relation to the Divinity; the connexion between the spirit and
+the body; and indulging in the visionary hope of gaining, by means of
+cabalistic formula, command over the spirits of the air, the fire, the
+flood, and the earth.
+
+Though the days of bitter persecution and hatred have gone by, the Jews
+are still objects of contempt and loathing. Once I remember pointing out
+to my postillion a beautiful Jewish girl, and, with the fanatic spirit
+of the middle ages, himself one of the most degraded serfs in Poland, he
+scorned the idea of marrying the fair daughter of Israel. But this the
+Jew does not regard; all he asks is to be secured from the active enmity
+of mankind. "Like the haughty Roman banished from the world, the
+Israelite throws back the sentence of banishment, and still retreats to
+the lofty conviction that his race is not excluded as an unworthy, but
+kept apart as a sacred, people; humiliated, indeed, but still hallowed,
+and reserved for the sure though tardy fulfilment of the Divine
+promises."
+
+The Jews in Poland are still excluded from all offices and honours, and
+from all the privileges and distinctions of social life. Until the
+accession of Nicolas, they were exempted from military service on
+payment of a tax; but since his time they have been subject to the
+regular conscription. They regard this as an alarming act of oppression,
+for the boys are taken from their families at twelve or thirteen, and
+sent to the army or the common military school, where they imbibe
+notions utterly at variance with the principles taught them by their
+fathers; and, probably, if the system continues, another generation will
+work a great change in the character of the Jews of Poland.
+
+But to return to the Jews at Minsk. As usual, they gathered around us
+before we were out of our kibitka, laid hold of our baggage, and in
+Hebrew, Lithuanian, and Polish, were clamorous in offers of service.
+They were spare in figure, dressed in high fur caps and long black
+muslin gowns, shining and glossy from long use and tied around the waist
+with a sash; and here I remarked what has often been remarked by other
+travellers, when the features were at rest, a style of face and
+expression resembling the pictures of the Saviour in the galleries in
+Italy. While my companion was arranging for posthorses and dinner, I
+strolled through the town alone, that is, with a dozen Israelites at my
+heels and on my return I found an accession of the stiff-necked and
+unbelieving race, one of whom arrested my attention by thrusting before
+me a silver coin. It was not an antique, but it had in my eyes a greater
+value than if it had been dug from the ruins of a buried city, and bore
+the image of Julius Caesar. On the breaking out of the late revolution,
+one of the first acts of sovereignty exercised by the provincial
+government was to issue a national coin stamped with the arms of the old
+kingdom of Poland, the white eagle and the armed cavalier, with an
+inscription around the rim, "God protect Poland." When the revolution
+was crushed, with the view of destroying in the minds of the Poles every
+memento of their brief but glorious moment of liberty, this coin was
+called in and suppressed, and another substituted in its place, with
+the Polish eagle, by way of insult, stamped in a small character near
+the tip end of the wing of the double-headed eagle of Russia. The coin
+offered me by the Jew was one of the emission of the revolution, and my
+companion told me it was a rare thing to find one. I bought it at the
+Jew's price, and put it in my pocket as a memorial of a brave and fallen
+people.
+
+I will not inflict upon the reader the particulars of our journey
+through this dreary and uninteresting country. We travelled constantly,
+except when we were detained for horses. We never stopped at night, for
+there seldom was any shelter on the road better than the Jews' inns, and
+even in our kibitka we were better than there. But, unluckily, on the
+seventh day, our kibitka broke down; the off hind wheel snapped in
+pieces, and let us down rather suddenly in one of the autocrat's
+forests. Our first impulse was to congratulate ourselves that this
+accident happened in daylight; and we had a narrow escape, for the sun
+had hardly begun to find its way into the dark forest. Fortunately, too,
+we were but two or three versts from a posthouse. I had met with such
+accidents at home, and rigged a small tree (there being no such things
+as rails, property there not being divided by rail fences) under the
+hind axle, supporting it on the front. We lighted our pipes and escorted
+our crippled vehicle to the posthouse, where we bought a wheel off
+another wagon, much better than the old one, only about two inches
+lower. This, however, was not so bad as might be supposed, at least for
+me, who sat on the upper side, and had the stout figure of my companion
+as a leaning-post.
+
+At Sloghan, about two hundred versts from Brezc the frontier town of
+Poland, we sold our kibitka for a breakfast, and took the _char de
+poste_, or regular troika. This is the postboy's favourite vehicle; the
+body being made of twigs interlaced like a long basket, without a
+particle of iron, and so light that a man can lift up either end with
+one hand. Our speed was increased wonderfully by the change; the horses
+fairly played with the little car at their heels; the drivers vied with
+each other, and several posts in succession we made nearly twenty versts
+in an hour. It will probably be difficult to throw the charm of romance
+around the troika driver; but he comes from the flower of the peasantry;
+his life, passed on the wild highways, is not without its vicissitudes,
+and he is made the hero of the Russian's favourite popular ballads:
+
+    "Away, away, along the road
+      The gallant troika bounds;
+    While 'neath the douga, sadly sweet,
+      Their Valdai bell resounds."[2]
+
+We passed the house of a _very respectable_ seigneur who had married his
+own sister. We stopped at his village and talked of him with the
+postmaster, by whom he was considered a model of the domestic virtues.
+The same day we passed the chateau of a nobleman who wrote himself
+cousin to the Emperors of Russia and Austria, confiscated for the part
+he took in the late Polish revolution, a melancholy-looking object,
+deserted and falling to ruins, its owner wandering in exile with a price
+upon his head. It rained hard during the day, for the first time since
+we left Petersburgh; at night the rain ceased, but the sky was still
+overcast. For a long distance, and, in fact, a great part of the way
+from Petersburgh, the road was bordered with trees. At eleven o'clock we
+stopped at a wretched posthouse, boiled water, and refreshed ourselves
+with deep potations of hot tea. We mounted our troika, the postillion
+shouted, and set off on a run. Heavy clouds were hanging in the sky; it
+was so dark that we could not see the horses, and there was some little
+danger of a breakdown; but there was a high and wild excitement in
+hurrying swiftly through the darkness on a run, hearing the quick
+tinkling of the bell and the regular fall of the horses' hoofs, and
+seeing only the dark outline of the trees. We continued this way all
+night, and toward morning we were rattling on a full gallop through the
+streets of Brezc. We drove into a large stable-yard filled with
+kibitkas, troikas, and all kinds of Russian vehicles, at one end of
+which was a long low building kept by a Jew. We dismounted, and so ended
+nearly three thousand miles of posting in Russia. The Jew, roused by our
+noise, was already at the door with a lighted taper in his hand, and
+gave us a room with a leather-covered sofa and a leather cushion for a
+pillow, where we slept till eleven o'clock the next day.
+
+We breakfasted, and in the midst of a violent rain crossed the Bug, and
+entered the territory of Poland Proper. For many centuries the banks of
+the Bug have been the battle-ground of the Russians and Poles. In the
+time of Boleslaus the Terrible, the Russians were defeated there with
+great slaughter, and the river was so stained with blood that it has
+retained ever since the name of the _Horrid_. Before crossing we were
+obliged to exchange our Russian money for Polish, rubles for florins,
+losing, of course, heavily by the operation, besides being subjected to
+the bore of studying a new currency; and the moment we planted our feet
+on the conquered territory, though now nominally under the same
+government, we were obliged to submit to a most vexatious process. The
+custom-house stood at the end of the bridge, and, as matter of course,
+our postillion stopped there. Our luggage was taken off the wagon,
+carried inside, every article taken out and laid on the floor, and a
+Russian soldier stood over, comparing them with a list of prohibited
+articles as long as my arm. Fortunately for me, the Russian government
+had not prohibited travellers from wearing pantaloons and shirts in
+Poland, though it came near faring hard with a morning-gown. My
+companion, however, suffered terribly; his wearing apparel was all laid
+out on one side, while a large collection of curious and pretty
+nothings, which he had got together with great affection at the capital,
+as memorials for his friends at home, were laid out separately, boxes
+opened, papers unrolled, and, with provoking deliberation, examined
+according to the list of prohibited things. It was a new and despotic
+regulation unknown to him, and he looked on in agony, every condemned
+article being just the one above all others which he would have saved;
+and when they had finished, a large pile was retained for the
+examination of another officer, to be sent on to Warsaw in case of their
+being allowed to pass at all. I had frequently regretted having allowed
+the trouble and inconvenience to prevent my picking up curiosities; but
+when I saw the treasures of my friend taken from him, or, at least,
+detained for an uncertain time, I congratulated myself upon my good
+fortune. My friend was a man not easily disheartened; he had even got
+over the loss of his love at St. Petersburgh; but he would rather have
+been turned adrift in Poland without his pantaloons than be stripped of
+his precious bawbles. I had seen him roused several times on the road,
+quarrelling with postmasters and thumping postillions, but I had never
+before seen the full development of that extraordinary head of hair. He
+ground his teeth and cursed the whole Russian nation, from the Emperor
+Nicolas down to the soldier at the custom-house. He was ripe for
+revolution, and, if a new standard of rebellion had been set up in
+Poland, he would have hurried to range himself under its folds. I
+soothed him by striking the key-note of his heart. All the way from
+Petersburgh he had sat mechanically, with his pocket-glass and brush,
+dressing his mustaches; but his heart was not in the work, until, as we
+approached the borders of Poland, he began to recover from his
+Petersburgh affair, and to talk of the beauty of the Polish women. I
+turned him to this now.
+
+It is a fact that, while for ages a deadly hatred has existed between
+the Russians and the Poles, and while the Russians are at this day
+lording it over the Poles with the most arbitrary insolence and tyranny,
+beauty still asserts its lawful supremacy, and the Polish women bring to
+their feet the conquerors of their fathers, and husbands, and brothers.
+The first posthouse at which we stopped confirmed all that my companion
+had said; for the postmaster's daughter was brilliantly beautiful,
+particularly in the melting wildness of a dark eye, indicating an
+Asiatic or Tartar origin; and her gentle influence was exerted in
+soothing the savage humour of my friend, for she sympathized in his
+misfortunes, and the more sincerely when she heard of the combs, and
+rings, and slippers, and other pretty little ornaments for sisters and
+female friends at home; and my Pole could not resist the sympathy of a
+pretty woman.
+
+We had scarcely left the postmaster's daughter, on the threshold of
+Poland, almost throwing a romance about the Polish women, before I saw
+the most degrading spectacle I ever beheld in Europe, or even in the
+barbarous countries of the East. Forty or fifty women were at work in
+the fields, and a large, well-dressed man, with a pipe in his mouth and
+a long stick in his hand, was walking among them as overseer. In our
+country the most common labouring man would revolt at the idea of his
+wife or daughter working in the open fields. I had seen it, however, in
+gallant France and beautiful Italy; but I never saw, even in the
+barbarous countries of the East, so degrading a spectacle as this; and I
+could have borne it almost anywhere better than in chivalric Poland.
+
+We were now in the territory called Poland Proper, that is, in that part
+which, after the other provinces had been wrested away and attached to
+the dominions of the colossal powers around, until the revolution and
+conquest of 1830 had retained the cherished name of the kingdom of
+Poland. The whole road is Macadamized, smooth and level as a floor, from
+the banks of the Bug to Warsaw; the posthouses and postmasters are much
+better, and posting is better regulated, though more expensive. The road
+lay through that rich agricultural district which had for ages made
+Poland celebrated as the granary of Europe; and though the face of the
+country was perfectly flat, and the scenery tame and uninteresting, the
+soil was rich, and, at that time, in many places teeming with heavy
+crops. As yet, it had not recovered from the desolating effects of the
+war of the revolution. The whole road has been a battle-ground, over
+which the Poles had chased the Russians to the frontier, and been driven
+back to Warsaw; time after time it had been drenched with Russian and
+Polish blood, the houses and villages sacked and burned, and their
+blackened ruins still cumbered the ground, nursing in the conquered but
+unsubdued Pole his deep, undying hatred of the Russians.
+
+On this road Diebitsch, the crosser of the Balkan, at the head of eighty
+thousand men, advanced to Warsaw. His right and left wings manoeuvred to
+join him at Siedler, the principal town, through which we passed. We
+changed horses three times, and rolled on all night without stopping. In
+the morning my companion pointed out an old oak, where a distinguished
+colonel of the revolution, drawing up the fourth Polish regiment against
+the Imperial Guards, with a feeling of mortal hate commanded them to
+throw away their primings, and charge with the bayonet, "Coeur a coeur."
+In another place five hundred gentlemen, dressed in black, with pumps,
+silk stockings, and small swords, in a perfect wantonness of pleasure at
+fighting with the Russians, and, as they said, in the same spirit with
+which they would go to a ball, threw themselves upon a body of the
+guards, and, after the most desperate fighting, were cut to pieces to a
+man. Farther on, a little off from the road, on the borders of the field
+of Grokow, was a large mound covered with black crosses, thrown up over
+the graves of the Poles who had fallen there. About eleven o'clock we
+approached the banks of the Vistula. We passed the suburbs of Praga, the
+last battle-ground of Kosciusko, where the bloodstained Suwarrow
+butchered in cold blood thirty thousand Poles. Warsaw lay spread out on
+the opposite bank of the river, the heroic but fallen capital of Poland,
+the city of brave men and beautiful women; of Stanislaus, and Sobieski,
+and Poniatowsky, and Kosciusko, and, I will not withhold it, possessing
+in my eyes, a romantic interest from its associations with the hero of
+my schoolboy days, Thaddeus of Warsaw. On the right is the chateau of
+the old Kings of Poland, now occupied by a Russian viceroy, with the
+banner of Russia waving over its walls. We rode over the bridge and
+entered the city. Martial music was sounding, and Russian soldiers,
+Cossacks, and Circassians were filing through its streets. We held up to
+let them pass, and they moved like the keepers of a conquered city, with
+bent brows and stern faces, while the citizens looked at them in gloomy
+silence. We drove up to the Hotel de Leipsic (which, however, I do not
+recommend), where I took a bath and a doctor.
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[2] The douga is the bow over the neck of the middle horse, to which the
+bell is attached; and Valdai the place on the Moscow road where the best
+bells are made.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+    Warsaw.--A Polish Doctor.--Battle of Grokow.--The Outbreak.--The
+      fatal Issue.--Present Condition of Poland.--Polish Exiles.--Aspect
+      of Warsaw.--Traits of the Poles.
+
+
+A LETTER dated at Warsaw to my friends at home begins thus: "I have
+reached this place to be put on my back by a Polish doctor. How long he
+will keep me here I do not know. He promises to set me going again in a
+week; and, as he has plenty of patients without keeping me down, I have
+great confidence in him. Besides, having weathered a Greek, an Armenian,
+and a Russian, I think I shall be too much for a Pole." There was not a
+servant in the house who understood any language I spoke, and my friend
+kindly proposed my taking a room with him; and, as he had many
+acquaintances in Warsaw, who thronged to see him, he had to tell them
+all the history of the American in the bed in one corner. All the next
+day I lay in the room alone on a low bedstead, looking up at the ceiling
+and counting the cracks in the wall. I was saved from a fit of the blues
+by falling into a passion, and throwing my boots at the servant because
+he could not understand me. Late in the evening my friend returned from
+the theatre with three or four companions, and we made a night of it, I
+taking medicine and they smoking pipes. They were all excellent fellows,
+and, as soon as they heard me moving, came over to me, and, when I fell
+back on my pillow, covered me up, and went back, and talked till I
+wanted them again. Toward daylight I fell asleep, and, when the doctor
+came in the morning, felt myself a new man. My doctor, by-the-way, was
+not a Pole, but a German, physician to the court, and the first in
+Warsaw; he occupied a little country-seat a few miles from Warsaw,
+belonging to Count Niemcewicz, the poet and patriot, who accompanied
+Kosciusko to this country, and married a lady of New-Jersey; returned
+with him to Poland, was with him on his last battle-field, and almost
+cut to pieces by his side.
+
+In the afternoon one of my companions of the night before came to see
+me. He had been in Warsaw during the revolution, and talked with
+enthusiasm of their brief but gallant struggle; and, as it was a
+beautiful afternoon, proposed strolling to a little eminence near at
+hand, commanding a view of the first battle-ground. I went with him and
+he pointed out on the other side of the Vistula the field of Grokow.
+Below it was the bridge over which General Romarino carried his little
+army during the night, having covered the bridge, the horses' hoofs, and
+the wheels of the carriages with straw. This general is now in France
+under sentence of death, with a price set upon his head.
+
+The battle of Grokow, the greatest in Europe since that of Waterloo, was
+fought on the twenty-fifth of February, 1831, and the place where I
+stood commanded a view of the whole ground. The Russian army was under
+the command of Diebitsch, and consisted of one hundred and forty-two
+thousand infantry, forty thousand cavalry, and three hundred and twelve
+pieces of cannon. This enormous force was arranged in two lines of
+combatants, and a third of reserve. Its left wing, between Wavre and the
+marshes of the Vistula, consisted of four divisions of infantry of
+forty-seven thousand men, three of cavalry of ten thousand five hundred,
+and one hundred and eight pieces of cannon; the right consisted of three
+and a half divisions of infantry of thirty-one thousand men, four
+divisions of cavalry of fifteen thousand seven hundred and fifty men,
+and fifty-two pieces of cannon. Upon the borders of the great forest
+opposite the Forest of Elders, conspicuous from where I stood, was
+placed the reserve, commanded by the Grand-duke Constantine. Against
+this immense army the Poles opposed less than fifty thousand men and a
+hundred pieces of cannon, under the command of General Skrzynecki.
+
+At break of day the whole force of the Russian right wing, with a
+terrible fire of fifty pieces of artillery and columns of infantry,
+charged the Polish left with the determination of carrying it by a
+single and overpowering effort. The Poles, with six thousand five
+hundred men and twelve pieces of artillery, not yielding a foot of
+ground, and knowing they could hope for no succour, resisted this attack
+for several hours, until the Russians slackened their fire. About ten
+o'clock the plain was suddenly covered with the Russian forces issuing
+from the cover of the forest, seeming one undivided mass of troops. Two
+hundred pieces of cannon, posted on a single line, commenced a fire
+which made the earth tremble, and was more terrible than the oldest
+officers, many of whom had fought at Marengo and Austerlitz, had ever
+beheld. The Russians now made an attack upon the right wing; but foiled
+in this as upon the left, Diebitsch directed the strength of his army
+against the Forest of Elders, hoping to divide the Poles into two parts.
+One hundred and twenty pieces of cannon were brought to bear on this one
+point, and fifty battalions, incessantly pushed to the attack, kept up a
+scene of massacre unheard of in the annals of war. A Polish officer who
+was in the battle told me that the small streams which intersected the
+forest were so choked with dead that the infantry marched directly over
+their bodies. The heroic Poles, with twelve battalions, for four hours
+defended the forest against the tremendous attack. Nine times they were
+driven out, and nine times, by a series of admirably-executed
+manoeuvres, they repulsed the Russians with immense loss. Batteries, now
+concentrated in one point, were in a moment hurried to another, and the
+artillery advanced to the charge like cavalry, sometimes within a
+hundred feet of the enemy's columns, and there opened a murderous fire
+of grape.
+
+At three o'clock the generals, many of whom were wounded, and most of
+whom had their horses shot under them, and fought on foot at the head of
+their divisions, resolved upon a retrograde movement, so as to draw the
+Russians on the open plain. Diebitsch, supposing it to be a flight,
+looked over to the city and exclaimed, "Well, then, it appears that,
+after this bloody day, I shall take tea in the Belvidere Palace." The
+Russian troops debouched from the forest. A cloud of Russian cavalry,
+with several regiments of heavy cuirassiers at their head, advanced to
+the attack. Colonel Pientka, who had kept up an unremitting fire from
+his battery for five hours, seated with perfect sang-froid upon a
+disabled piece of cannon, remained to give another effective fire, then
+left at full gallop a post which he had so long occupied under the
+terrible fire of the enemy's artillery. This rapid movement of his
+battery animated the Russian forces. The cavalry advanced on a trot upon
+the line of a battery of rockets. A terrible discharge was poured into
+their ranks, and the horses, galled to madness by the flakes of fire,
+became wholly ungovernable, and broke away, spreading disorder in every
+direction; the whole body swept helplessly along the fire of the Polish
+infantry, and in a few minutes was so completely annihilated that, of a
+regiment of cuirassiers who bore inscribed on their helmets the
+"Invincibles," not a man escaped. The wreck of the routed cavalry,
+pursued by the lancers, carried along in its flight the columns of
+infantry; a general retreat commenced, and the cry of "Poland for ever"
+reached the walls of Warsaw to cheer the hearts of its anxious
+inhabitants. So terrible was the fire of that day, that in the Polish
+army there was not a single general or staff officer who had not his
+horse killed or wounded under him; two thirds of the officers, and,
+perhaps, of the soldiers, had their clothes pierced with balls, and more
+than a tenth part of the army were wounded. Thirty thousand Russians and
+ten thousand Poles were left on the field of battle; rank upon rank lay
+prostrate on the earth, and the Forest of Elders was so strewed with
+bodies that it received from that day the name of the "Forest of the
+Dead." The Czar heard with dismay, and all Europe with astonishment,
+that the crosser of the Balkan had been foiled under the walls of
+Warsaw.
+
+All day, my companion said, the cannonading was terrible. Crowds of
+citizens, of both sexes and all ages, were assembled on the spot where
+we stood, earnestly watching the progress of the battle, sharing in all
+its vicissitudes, in the highest state of excitement as the clearing up
+of the columns of smoke showed when the Russians or the Poles had fled;
+and he described the entry of the remnant of the Polish army into Warsaw
+as sublime and terrible; their hair and faces were begrimed with powder
+and blood; their armour shattered and broken, and all, even dying men,
+were singing patriotic songs; and when the fourth regiment, among whom
+was a brother of my companion, and who had particularly distinguished
+themselves in the battle, crossed the bridge and filed slowly through
+the streets, their lances shivered against the cuirasses of the guards,
+their helmets broken, their faces black and spotted with blood, some
+erect, some tottering, and some barely able to sustain themselves in the
+saddle, above the stern chorus of patriotic songs rose the distracted
+cries of mothers, wives, daughters, and lovers, seeking among this
+broken band for forms dearer than life, many of whom were then sleeping
+on the battle-field. My companion told me that he was then a lad of
+seventeen, and had begged with tears to be allowed to accompany his
+brother; but his widowed mother extorted from him a promise that he
+would not attempt it. All day he had stood with his mother on the very
+spot where we did, his hand in hers, which she grasped convulsively, as
+every peal of cannon seemed the knell of her son; and when the lancers
+passed, she sprang from his side as she recognised in the drooping
+figure of an officer, with his spear broken in his hand, the figure of
+her gallant boy. He was then reeling in his saddle, his eye was glazed
+and vacant, and he died that night in their arms.
+
+The tyranny of the Grand-duke Constantine, the imperial viceroy, added
+to the hatred of the Russians, which is the birthright of every Pole,
+induced the unhappy revolution of eighteen hundred and thirty. Although,
+on the death of Alexander, Constantine waived in favour of his brother
+Nicolas his claim to the throne of Russia, his rule in Poland shows that
+it was not from any aversion to the exercise of power.
+
+When Constantine was appointed its commander-in-chief, the Polish army
+ranked with the bravest in Europe. The Polish legions under Dombrowski
+and Poniatowski had kept alive the recollections of the military glory
+of their fallen nation. Almost annihilated by the bloody battles in
+Italy, where they met their old enemies under Suwarrow, the butcher of
+Praga, the proud remnants reorganized and formed the fifth corps of the
+"grande armee," distinguished themselves at Smolensk, Borodino, Kalouga,
+and the passage of the Berezina, took the field with the wreck of the
+army in Saxony, fought at Dresden and Leipsic, and, when Napoleon told
+them, brave as they were, that they were free to go home if they
+pleased, they scorned to desert him in his waning fortunes, and
+accompanied him to Paris. Alexander promised an amnesty, and they
+marched with him to Warsaw. Within the first six months many officers of
+this army had been grossly insulted; an eyewitness told me that he had
+seen, on the great square of Warsaw, the high sheriff tear off the
+epaulettes from the shoulders of an officer, and, in the presence of the
+whole troops, strike him on the cheek with his hand.
+
+It would, perhaps, be unjust to enumerate, as I heard them, the many
+causes of oppression that roused to revolt the slumbering spirit of the
+Poles; in the midst of which the French revolution threw all Poland into
+commotion. The three days of July were hailed with rapture by every
+patriotic heart; the new revolutionary movements in Belgium cheered them
+on; and eighty young men, torn from the altars while praying for the
+souls of their murdered countrymen on the anniversary of the butchery at
+Praga, thrilled every heart and hurried the hour of retribution. The
+enthusiasm of youth struck the first blow. A band of ardent young men of
+the first families attended the meetings of secret patriotic
+associations; and six of them, belonging to the military school,
+suspecting they were betrayed, early in the evening went to their
+barracks, and proposed to their comrades a plan for liberating their
+country. The whole corps, not excepting one sick in bed, amounting in
+all to about a hundred and fifty, took up arms, and, under a lieutenant
+of nineteen, attacked the palace of Constantine, and almost secured his
+person. The grand-duke was then asleep on a couch in a room opening upon
+a corridor of the Belvidere Palace, and, roused by a faithful valet,
+had barely time to throw a robe over him and fly. The insurgents, with
+cries of vengeance, rushed into the interior of the palace, driving
+before them the chief of the city police and the aiddecamp of the
+grand-duke. The latter had the presence of mind to close the door of the
+grand-duke's apartment before he was pierced through with a dozen
+bayonets. The wife of the grand-duke, the beautiful and interesting
+princess for whom he had sacrificed a crown, hearing the struggle, was
+found on her knees offering up prayers to Heaven for the safety of her
+husband. Constantine escaped by a window; and the young soldiers, foiled
+in their attempt, marched into the city, and, passing the barracks of
+the Russian guards, daringly fired a volley to give notice of their
+coming. Entering the city, they broke open the prisons and liberated the
+state prisoners, burst into the theatres, crying out, "Women, home; men,
+to arms," forced the arsenal, and in two hours forty thousand men were
+under arms. Very soon the fourth Polish regiment joined them; and before
+midnight the remainder of the Polish troops in Warsaw, declaring that
+their children were too deeply implicated to be abandoned, espoused the
+popular cause. Some excesses were committed; and General Stanislaus
+Potocki, distinguished in the revolution of Kosciusko, for hesitating
+was killed, exclaiming with his last breath that it was dreadful to die
+by the hands of his countrymen.
+
+Chlopicki, the comrade of Kosciusko, was proclaimed dictator by an
+immense multitude in the Champ de Mars. For some time the inhabitants of
+Warsaw were in a delirium; the members of the patriotic association,
+and citizens of all classes, assembled every day, carrying arms, and
+with glasses in their hands, in the saloon of the theatre and at a
+celebrated coffee-house, discussing politics and singing patriotic
+songs. In the theatres the least allusion brought down thunders of
+applause, and at the end of the piece heralds appeared on the stage
+waving the banners of the dismembered provinces. In the pit they sang in
+chorus national hymns; the boxes answered them; and sometimes the
+spectators finished by scaling the stage and dancing the Mazurka and the
+Cracoviak.
+
+The fatal issue of this revolution is well known. The Polish nation
+exerted and exhausted its utmost strength, and the whole force of the
+colossal empire was brought against it, and, in spite of prodigies of
+valour, crushed it. The moment, the only moment when gallant, chivalric,
+and heroic Poland could have been saved and restored to its rank among
+nations, was suffered to pass by, and no one came to her aid. The
+minister of France threw out the bold boast that a hundred thousand men
+stood ready to march to her assistance; but France and all Europe looked
+on and saw her fall. Her expiring diet ordered a levy in mass, and made
+a last appeal, "In the name of God; in the name of liberty; of a nation
+placed between life and death; in the name of kings and heroes who have
+fought for religion and humanity; in the name of future generations; in
+the name of justice and the deliverance of Europe;" but her dying appeal
+was unheard. Her last battle was under the walls of Warsaw; and then she
+would not have fallen, but even in Poland there were traitors. The
+governor of Warsaw blasted the laurels won in the early battles of the
+revolution by the blackest treason. He ordered General Romarino to
+withdraw eight thousand soldiers and chase the Russians beyond the
+frontier at Brezc. While he was gone the Russians pressed Warsaw; he
+could have returned in time to save it, but was stopped with directions
+not to advance until farther orders. In the mean time Warsaw fell, with
+the curse of every Pole upon the head of its governor. The traitor now
+lives ingloriously in Russia, disgraced and despised, while the young
+lieutenant is in unhappy but not unhonoured exile in Siberia.
+
+So ended the last heroic struggle of Poland. It is dreadful to think so,
+but it is greatly to be feared that Poland is blotted for ever from the
+list of nations. Indeed, by a late imperial ukase, Poland is expunged
+from the map of Europe; her old and noble families are murdered,
+imprisoned, or in exile; her own language is excluded from the offices
+of government, and even from the public schools; her national character
+destroyed; her national dress proscribed; her national colours trampled
+under foot; her national banner, the white eagle of Poland, is in the
+dust. Warsaw is abandoned, and become a Russian city; her best citizens
+are wandering in exile in foreign lands, while Cossack and Circassian
+soldiers are filing through her streets, and the banner of Russia is
+waving over her walls.
+
+Perhaps it is not relevant, but I cannot help saying that there is no
+exaggeration in the stories which reach us at our own doors of the
+misfortunes and sufferings of Polish exiles. I have met them wandering
+in many different countries, and particularly I remember one at Cairo.
+He had fought during the whole Polish revolution, and made his escape
+when Warsaw fell. He was a man of about thirty-five years of age,
+dressed in a worn military frockcoat, and carrying himself with a manly
+and martial air. He had left a wife and two children at Warsaw. At
+Constantinople he had written to the emperor requesting permission to
+return, and even promising never again to take up arms against Russia,
+but had received for answer that the amnesty was over and the day of
+grace was past; and the unfortunate Pole was then wandering about the
+world like a cavalier of fortune or a knight of romance, with nothing to
+depend upon but his sword. He had offered his services to the sultan and
+to the Pacha of Egypt; he was then poor, and, with the bearing of a
+gentleman and the pride of a soldier, was literally begging his bread. I
+could sympathize in the misfortunes of an exiled Pole, and felt that his
+distress must indeed be great, that he who had perilled life and ties
+dearer than life in the cause of an oppressed country, should offer his
+untarnished sword to the greatest despot that ever lived.
+
+The general appearance of Warsaw is imposing. It stands on a hill of
+considerable elevation on the left bank of the Vistula; the Zamech or
+Chateau of the Kings of Poland spreads its wings midway between the
+river and the summit of the hill, and churches and towering spires
+checker at different heights the distant horizon. Most of the houses are
+built of stone, or brick stuccoed; they are numbered in one continued
+series throughout the city, beginning from the royal palace (occupied by
+Paskiewitch), which is numbered _one_, and rising above number five
+thousand. The churches are numerous and magnificent; the palaces,
+public buildings, and many of the mansions of noblemen, are on a large
+scale, very showy, and, in general, striking for their architectural
+designs. One great street runs irregularly through the whole city, of
+which Miodowa, or Honey-street, and the Novoy Swiat, or New World, are
+the principal and most modern portions. As in all aristocratic cities,
+the streets are badly paved, and have no trottoirs for the
+foot passengers. The Russian drosky is in common use; the public
+carriages are like those in Western Europe, though of a low form; the
+linings generally painted red; the horses large and handsome, with large
+collars of red or green, covered with small brass rings, which sound
+like tinkling bells; and the carts are like those in our own city, only
+longer and lower, and more like our brewer's dray. The hotels are
+numerous, generally kept in some of the old palaces, and at the entrance
+of each stands a large porter, with a cocked hat and silver-headed cane,
+to show travellers to their apartments and receive the names of
+visiters. There are two principal kukiernia, something like the French
+cafes, where many of the Varsovians breakfast and lounge in the
+mornings.
+
+[Illustration: Royal Palace at Warsaw.]
+
+The Poles, in their features, looks, customs, and manners, resemble
+Asiatics rather than Europeans; and they are, no doubt, descended from
+Tartar ancestors. Though belonging to the Sclavonic race, which occupies
+nearly the whole extent of the vast plains of Western Europe, they have
+advanced more than the others from the rude and barbarous state which
+characterizes this race; and this is particularly manifest at Warsaw. An
+eyewitness, describing the appearance of the Polish deputies at Paris
+sent to announce the election of Henry of Anjou as successor of
+Sigismund, says, "It is impossible to describe the general astonishment
+when we saw these ambassadors in long robes, fur caps, sabres, arrows,
+and quivers; but our admiration was excessive when we saw the
+sumptuousness of their equipages; the scabbards of their swords adorned
+with jewels; their bridles, saddles, and horse-cloths decked in the same
+way," &c.
+
+But none of this barbaric display is now seen in the streets of Warsaw.
+Indeed, immediately on entering it I was struck with the European aspect
+of things. It seemed almost, though not quite, like a city of Western
+Europe, which may, perhaps, be ascribed, in a great measure, to the
+entire absence of the semi-Asiatic costumes so prevalent in all the
+cities of Russia, and even at St. Petersburgh; and the only thing I
+remarked peculiar in the dress of the inhabitants was the remnant of a
+barbarous taste for show, exhibiting itself in large breastpins,
+shirt-buttons, and gold chains over the vest; the mustache is
+universally worn. During the war of the revolution immediately
+succeeding our own, Warsaw stood the heaviest brunt; and when Kosciusko
+fell fighting before it, its population was reduced to seventy five
+thousand. Since that time it has increased, and is supposed now to be
+one hundred and forty thousand, thirty thousand of whom are Jews.
+Calamity after calamity has befallen Warsaw; still its appearance is
+that of a gay city. Society consists altogether of two distinct and
+distant orders, the nobles and the peasantry, without any intermediate
+degrees. I except, of course, the Jews, who form a large item in her
+population, and whose long beards, thin and anxious faces, and piercing
+eyes met me at every corner of Warsaw. The peasants are in the lowest
+stage of mental degradation. The nobles, who are more numerous than in
+any other country in Europe, have always, in the eyes of the public,
+formed the people of Poland. They are brave, prompt, frank, hospitable,
+and gay, and have long been called the French of the North, being French
+in their habits, fond of amusements, and living in the open air, like
+the lounger in the Palais Royal, the Tuileries, the Boulevards, and
+Luxembourgh, and particularly French in their political feelings, the
+surges of a revolution in Paris being always felt at Warsaw. They regard
+the Germans with mingled contempt and aversion, calling them "dumb" in
+contrast with their own fluency and loquacity; and before their fall
+were called by their neighbours the "proud Poles." They consider it the
+deepest disgrace to practise any profession, even law or medicine, and,
+in case of utmost necessity, prefer the plough. A Sicilian, a
+fellow-passenger from Palermo to Naples, who one moment was groaning in
+the agony of seasickness and the next playing on his violin, said to me,
+"Canta il, signore?" "Do you sing?" I answered "No;" and he continued,
+"Suonate?" "Do you play?" I again answered "No;" and he asked me, with
+great simplicity, "Cosa fatte? Niente?" "What do you do? Nothing?" and I
+might have addressed the same question to every Pole in Warsaw.
+
+The whole business of the country is in the hands of the Jews, and all
+the useful and mechanical arts are practised by strangers. I did not
+find a Pole in a single shop in Warsaw; the proprietors of the hotels
+and coffee-houses are strangers, principally Germans; my tailor was a
+German; my shoemaker a Frenchman, and the man who put a new crystal in
+my watch an Italian from Milan. But though this entire absence of all
+useful employment is, on grounds of public policy, a blot on their
+national character, as a matter of feeling it rather added to the
+interest with which I regarded the "proud Poles;" and perhaps it was
+imaginary, but I felt all the time I was in Warsaw that, though the
+shops and coffee-houses were open, and crowds thronged the streets, a
+sombre air hung over the whole city; and if for a moment this impression
+left me, a company of Cossacks, with their wild music, moving to another
+station, or a single Russian officer riding by in a drosky, wrapped in
+his military cloak, reminded me that the foot of a conqueror was upon
+the necks of the inhabitants of Warsaw. This was my feeling after a long
+summer day's stroll through the streets; and in the evening I went to
+the theatre, which was a neat building, well filled, and brilliantly
+lighted; but the idea of a pervading and gloomy spirit so haunted me
+that in a few moments I left what seemed a heartless mockery of
+pleasure. I ought to add that I did not understand a word of the piece;
+the _triste_ air which touched me may have been induced by the
+misfortunes of the stage hero; and, in all probability, I should have
+astonished a melancholy-looking neighbour if, acting under my
+interpretation of his visage, I had expressed to him my sympathy in the
+sufferings of his country.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+    Religion of Poland.--Sunday in Warsaw.--Baptized Jews.--Palaces of
+      the Polish Kings.--Sobieski.--Field of Vola.--Wreck of a
+      Warrior.--The Poles in America.--A Polish Lady.--Troubles of a
+      Passport.--Departure from Warsaw.--An official Rachel.--A
+      mysterious Visiter.
+
+
+SUNDAY at WARSHAW. Poland is distinguished above the other nations of
+Europe as a land of religious toleration. So late as the latter part of
+the tenth century, the religion of Poland was a gross idolatry; and,
+mingled with the rites of their own country, they worshipped, under
+other names, Jupiter, Pluto, Mars, Venus, Diana, and others of the pagan
+deities. During the reign of Mieczylaus I. of the Piast dynasty, the
+monks introduced Christianity. The prince himself was proof against the
+monks, but received from woman's lips the principles of the Christian
+religion. Enamoured of Dombrowska, the daughter of the Duke of Bohemia,
+a country which had then lately embraced Christianity, who refused to
+accept his suit unless he was baptized, Mieczylaus sacrificed the
+superstitions and prejudices of his fathers on the altar of love. But
+the religion which he embraced for the sake of Dombrowska he afterward
+propagated for its own; became an ardent champion of the cross; broke
+down with his own hands the idols of his country; built Christian
+churches on the ruins of pagan temples; and, in the ardour of his new
+faith, issued an edict that, when any portion of the Gospel was read,
+the hearers should half draw their swords to testify their readiness to
+defend its truth.
+
+In the reign of the "famous" John Sobieski, the annals of Poland, till
+that time free from this disgrace, were stained by one of the most
+atrocious acts of barbarity recorded in the history of religious
+persecution. A Lithuanian nobleman, a religious and benevolent man, but
+sufficiently intelligent to ridicule some of the current superstitions,
+and very rich, on account of a note made in the margin of a book,
+written by a stupid German, was tried for atheism by a council of
+bigoted Catholic bishops, and found guilty, not only of "having denied
+the existence of a God, but the doctrine of the Trinity and the Divine
+maternity of the Virgin Mary." Zaluski, one of the villains concerned in
+the torment, writes, "The convict was led to the scaffold, where the
+executioner, with a red-hot iron, tore his tongue and his mouth, _with
+which he had been cruel toward God_; then they burned his hands,
+instruments of the abominable production, at a slow fire. The
+sacrilegious paper was thrown into the flame; himself last; that monster
+of the age, that deicide, was cast into the flames of expiation, if such
+a crime could be atoned."
+
+In seventeen hundred and twenty-six the Jesuits, making a public
+procession with the Host in the streets of Thorn, the young scholars of
+the order insisted that some Lutheran children should kneel; and on
+their refusal a scuffle ensued between the Jesuits and townspeople, most
+of whom were Lutherans, in which the enraged townspeople broke open the
+Jesuits' college, profaned all the objects of worship, and, among others
+an image of the Virgin. The Catholics of Poland, assembled in the diet,
+almost infuriated with fanatic zeal, condemned to death the magistrates
+of Thorn for not exercising their authority. Seven of the principal
+citizens were also condemned to death; many were imprisoned or banished;
+three persons, accused of throwing the Virgin's image into the fire,
+lost their right arms, and the whole city was deprived of the freedom of
+public worship.
+
+This was the last act of religious persecution in Poland; but even yet
+the spirit of the reformation has made but little progress, and the
+great bulk of the people are still groping in the darkness of
+Catholicism. On every public road and in all the streets of Warsaw stand
+crosses, sometimes thirty feet high, with a figure of the Saviour large
+as life, sometimes adorned with flowers and sometimes covered with rags.
+
+As in all Catholic cities, a Sunday in Warsaw is a fete day. I passed
+the morning in strolling through the churches, which are very numerous,
+and some of them, particularly the Cathedral Church of St. John and that
+of the Holy Cross, of colossal dimensions. The scene was the same as in
+the Catholic churches in Italy; at every door crowds were entering and
+passing out, nobles, peasants, shopmen, drosky boys, and beggars; the
+highborn lady descended from her carriage, dipped her fingers in the
+same consecrated water, and kneeled on the same pavement side by side
+with the beggar; alike equal in God's house, and outside the door again
+an immeasurable distance between them.
+
+At twelve o'clock, by appointment, I met my travelling companion and
+another of his friends in the Jardin de Saxe, the principal public
+garden in Warsaw. It stands in the very heart of the city, in the rear
+of the Palais de Saxe, built by the Elector of Saxony when called to the
+throne of Poland. It is enclosed all around by high brick walls,
+screened by shrubs, and vines, and trees rising above, so as to exclude
+the view of the houses facing it. It is handsomely laid out with lawns
+and gravel-walks, and adorned with trees; and as the grounds are
+exceedingly rural and picturesque, and the high walls and trees
+completely shut out the view of all surrounding objects, I could hardly
+realize that I was in the centre of a populous city. It was then the
+fashionable hour for promenade, and all the elite of Warsaw society was
+there. I had heard of this Sunday promenade, and, after making one or
+two turns on the principal walk, I remarked to my companions that I was
+disappointed in not seeing, as I had expected, a collection of the
+highborn and aristocratic Poles; but they told me that, changed as
+Warsaw was in every particular, in nothing was this change more manifest
+than in the character of this favourite resort. From boyhood, one of
+them had been in the habit of walking there regularly on the same day
+and at the same hour; and he told me that, before the revolution, it had
+always been thronged by a gay and brilliant collection of the nobility
+of Warsaw; and he enumerated several families whose names were
+identified with the history of Poland, who were in the habit of being
+there at a certain time, as regularly as the trees which then shaded our
+walk; but since the revolution these families were broken up and
+dispersed, and their principal members dead or in exile, or else lived
+retired, too proud in their fallen state to exhibit themselves in public
+places, where they were liable to be insulted by the presence of their
+Russian conquerors; and I could well appreciate the feeling which kept
+them away, for Russian officers, with their rattling swords and nodding
+plumes, and carrying themselves with a proud and lordly air, were the
+most conspicuous persons present. I had noticed one party, a dark, pale,
+and interesting-looking man, with an elegant lady and several children
+and servants, as possessing, altogether, a singularly melancholy and
+aristocratic appearance; but the interest I was disposed to take in them
+was speedily dispelled by hearing that he was a baptized Jew, a money
+broker, who had accumulated a fortune by taking advantage of the
+necessities of the distressed nobles. Indeed, next to the Russian
+officers, the baptized Jews were the most prominent persons on the
+promenade. These persons form a peculiar class in Warsaw, occupying a
+position between the Israelites and Christians, and amalgamating with
+neither. Many of them are rich, well educated, and accomplished, and
+possess great elegance of appearance and manner. They hate most
+cordially their unregenerated brethren, and it is unnecessary to say
+that this hate is abundantly reciprocated. It was with a feeling of
+painful interest that I strolled through this once favourite resort of
+the nobility of Warsaw; and my companions added to this melancholy
+feeling by talking in a low tone, almost in whispers, and telling me
+that now the promenade was always _triste_ and dull; and in going out
+they led me through a private walk, where an old noble, unable to tear
+himself from a place consecrated by the recollections of his whole life,
+still continued to take his daily walk apart from the crowd, wearing out
+the evening of his days in bitter reflections on the fallen condition
+of his kindred and country.
+
+We dined, as usual, at a restaurant, where at one table was a party of
+Swiss, here, as at Moscow, exercising that talent, skill, and industry
+which they exhibit all over the world, and consoling themselves for the
+privations of exile with the hope of one day being able to return to
+their native mountains, never to leave them again.
+
+After dinner we took an open carriage, and at the barrier entered one of
+the numerous avenues of the Ujazdow, leading to Belvidere, the country
+residence of the late Grand-duke Constantine. The avenue is divided by
+rows of old and stately trees, terminating in a large circular octagon,
+from which branch off eight other avenues, each at a short distance
+crossed by others, and forming a sort of labyrinth, said to be one of
+the finest drives and promenades in Europe, and on Sundays the
+rendezvous of nearly the entire population of Warsaw. It was a beautiful
+afternoon, and the throng of carriages, and horsemen, and thousands of
+pedestrians, and the sun, occasionally obscured and then breaking
+through the thick foliage, darkening and again lighting up the vista
+through the trees, gave a beauty to the landscape, and a variety and
+animation to the scene, that I had not yet found in Warsaw. Passing the
+Belvidere Palace, my companions described the manner in which the
+students had made their attack upon it, and pointed out the window by
+which Constantine escaped. Turning from one of the splendid avenues of
+the Ujazdow, we crossed a stone bridge, on which stands the equestrian
+statue of John Sobieski, his horse rearing over the body of a prostrate
+Turk; it was erected to him as the saviour of Christendom after he had
+driven the Turks from the walls of Vienna. Beyond this we entered the
+grounds and park of Lazienki, formerly the country residence of
+Stanislaus Augustus, situated in a most delightful spot on the banks of
+the Vistula.
+
+The royal villa stands in the midst of an extensive park of stately old
+trees, and the walks lead to a succession of delightful and romantic
+spots, adorned with appropriate and tasteful buildings. Among them, on
+an island reached by crossing a rustic bridge, are a winter and a summer
+theatre, the latter constructed so as to resemble, in a great measure,
+an ancient amphitheatre in ruins; in it performances used formerly to
+take place in the open air. I am not given to dreaming, and there was
+enough in the scenes passing under my eyes to employ my thoughts; but,
+as I wandered through the beautiful walks, and crossed romantic bridges,
+composed of the trunks and bended branches of trees, I could not help
+recurring to the hand that had planned these beauties, the good King
+Stanislaus.
+
+               "Dread Pultowa's day,
+    When fortune left the royal Swede,"
+
+hurled Stanislaus from his throne; and as I stood under the portico of
+his palace, I could but remember that its royal builder had fled from it
+in disguise, become a prisoner to the Turks, and died an exile in a
+foreign land.
+
+From here we rode to the chateau of Villanow, another and one of the
+most interesting of the residences of the kings of Poland, constructed
+by John Sobieski and perhaps the only royal structure in Europe which,
+like some of the great edifices of Egypt and Rome, was erected by
+prisoners taken in war, being constructed entirely by the hands of
+Turkish captives. It was the favourite residence of Sobieski, where he
+passed most of his time when not in arms, and where he closed his days.
+Until lately, the chamber and bed on which he died might still be seen.
+The grounds extend for a great distance along the banks of the Vistula,
+and many of the noble trees which now shade the walks were planted by
+Sobieski's own hands. The reign of Sobieski is the most splendid era in
+the history of Poland. The great statue I had just passed presented him
+as the conqueror of the Turks, the deliverer of Christendom, the
+redoubtable warrior, riding over the body of a prostrate Mussulman; and
+every stone in the palace is a memorial of his warlike triumphs; but if
+its inner chambers could tell the scenes of which they had been the
+witness, loud and far as the trumpet of glory has sounded his name, no
+man would envy John Sobieski. The last time he unsheathed his sword, in
+bitterness of heart he said, "It will be easier to get the better of the
+enemies I am in quest of than my own sons." He returned broken with
+vexation and shattered with wounds, more than sixty years old, and two
+thirds of his life spent in the tented field; his queen drove his
+friends from his side, destroyed that domestic peace which he valued
+above all things, and filled the palace with her plots and intrigues. He
+had promised to Zaluski an office which the queen wished to give to
+another. "My friend," said the dying monarch, "you know the rights of
+marriage, and you know if I can resist the prayers of the queen; it
+depends, then, on you that I live tranquil or that I be constantly
+miserable. She has already promised to another this vacant office, and
+if I do not consent to it I am obliged to fly my house. I know not
+where I shall go to die in peace. You pity me; you will not expose me to
+public ridicule." Old and infirm, with gray hairs and withered laurels,
+a prey to lingering disease, the deathbed of the dying warrior was
+disturbed by a noise worse than the din of battle; and before the breath
+had left him, an intriguing wife and unnatural children were wrangling
+over his body for the possession of his crown. A disgraceful struggle
+was continued a short time after his death. One by one his children
+died, and there is not now any living of the name of Sobieski.
+
+The next day I visited the field of Vola, celebrated as the place of
+election of the Kings of Poland. It is about five miles from Warsaw, and
+was formerly surrounded by a ditch with three gates, one for great
+Poland, one for little Poland, and one for Lithuania. In the middle were
+two enclosures, one of an oblong shape, surrounded by a kind of rampart
+or ditch, in the centre of which was erected, at the time of election, a
+vast temporary building of wood, covered at the top and open at the
+sides, which was called the zopa, and occupied by the senate; and the
+other of a circular shape, called the kola, in which the nuncios
+assembled in the open air. The nobles, from a hundred and fifty thousand
+to two hundred thousand in number, encamped on the plain in separate
+bodies under the banners of their respective palatinates, with their
+principal officers in front on horseback. The primate, having declared
+the names of the candidates, kneeled down and chanted a hymn; and then,
+mounting on horseback, went round the plain and collected the votes, the
+nobles not voting individually, but each palatinate in a body. It was
+necessary that the election should be unanimous, and a single nobleman
+peremptorily stopped the election of Ladislaus VII. Being asked what
+objection he had to him, he answered, "None at all; but I will not
+suffer him to be king." After being by some means brought over, he gave
+the king as the reason for his opposition, "I had a mind to see whether
+our liberty was still in being or not. I am satisfied that it is, and
+your majesty shall not have a better subject than myself." If the
+palatinates agreed, the primate asked again, and yet a third time if all
+were satisfied; and, after a general approbation, three times proclaimed
+the king; and the grand marshal of the crown repeated the proclamation
+three times at the gates of the camp. It was the exercise of this high
+privilege of electing their own king which created and sustained the
+lofty bearing of the Polish nobles, inducing the proud boast which, in a
+moment of extremity, an intrepid band made to their king, "What hast
+thou to fear with twenty thousand lances? If the sky should fall, we
+would keep it up with their points." But, unhappily, although the
+exercise of this privilege was confined only to the nobles, the election
+of a king often exhibited a worse picture than all the evils of
+universal suffrage with us. The throne was open to the whole world; the
+nobles were split into contending factions; foreign gold found its way
+among them, and sometimes they deliberated under the bayonets of foreign
+troops. Warsaw and its environs were a scene of violence and confusion,
+and sometimes the field of Vola was stained with blood. Still no man can
+ride over that plain without recurring to the glorious hour when
+Sobieski, covered with laurels won in fighting the battles of his
+country, amid the roar of cannon and the loud acclamations of the
+senate, the nobles, and the army, was hailed the chosen king of a free
+people.
+
+I had enough of travelling post, and was looking out for some quiet
+conveyance to Cracow. A Jew applied to me, and I went with him to look
+at his carriage, which I found at a sort of "Bull's-head" stopping-place,
+an enormous vehicle without either bottom or top, being a species of
+framework like our hay-wagons, filled with straw to prevent goods and
+passengers from spilling out. He showed me a couple of rough-looking
+fellows, who would be my _compagnons de voyage_, and who said that we
+could all three lie very comfortably in the bottom of the vehicle. Their
+appearance did not add to the recommendation of the wagon; nevertheless,
+if I had understood the language and been strong enough for the rough
+work, I should perhaps have taken that conveyance, as, besides the
+probable incidents of the journey, it would give me more insight into
+the character of the people than a year's residence in the capital.
+Returning to my hotel, I found that a Polish officer had left his
+address, with a request for me to call upon him. I went, and found a man
+of about forty, middle sized, pale and emaciated, wounded and an
+invalid, wearing the Polish revolutionary uniform. It was the only
+instance in which I had seen this dress. After the revolution it had
+been absolutely proscribed; but the country being completely subdued,
+and the government in this particular case not caring to exercise any
+unnecessary harshness, he was permitted to wear it unmolested. It was,
+however, almost in mockery that he still wore the garb of a soldier; for
+if Poland had again burst her chains, and the unsheathed sword were put
+in his hands, he could not have struck a blow to help her. Unfortunately,
+he could not speak French, or, rather, I may say fortunately, for in
+consequence of this I saw his lady, a pensive, melancholy, and
+deeply-interesting woman, dressed in black, in mourning for two gallant
+brothers who died in battle under the walls of Warsaw.
+
+Their business with me was of a most commonplace nature. They had lately
+returned from a visit to some friends at Cracow, in a caleche hired at
+the frontier; and hearing from the peasant who drove them that a
+stranger was looking for a conveyance to that place, out of good-will to
+him desired to recommend him to me. The lady had hardly finished a sort
+of apologizing commencement before I had resolved to assent to almost
+anything she proposed; and when she stated the whole case, it was so
+exactly what I wanted, that I expressed myself under great obligations
+for the favour done me. I suggested, however, my doubts as to the
+propriety of undertaking the journey alone, without any interpreter;
+but, after a few words with the major, she replied that she would give
+full directions to the peasant as to the route. As the carriage could
+not go beyond the frontier, her husband would give me a letter to the
+commissaire at Michoof, who spoke French, and also to the postmaster;
+and, finally, she would herself make out for me a vocabulary of the
+words likely to be most necessary, so as to enable me to ask for bread,
+milk, eggs, &c.; and with this, and the Polish for "how much," I would
+get along without any difficulty. While she was writing, another officer
+came in, old and infirm, and also dressed in the Polish uniform. She
+rose from the table, met him almost at the door, kissed him
+affectionately, led him to a seat, and barely mentioning him to me as
+"_mon beau pere_," resumed her work. While she was writing I watched
+attentively the whole three, and the expression of face with which the
+two officers regarded her was unspeakably interesting. They were
+probably unconscious of it, and perhaps it was only my fancy, but if the
+transient lighting of their sunken eyes meant anything, it meant that
+they who sat there in the garb and equipment of soldiers, who had stood
+in all the pride and vigour of manhood on bloody battle-fields, now
+looked to a feeble and lovely woman as their only staff and support in
+life. I would have told them how deeply I sympathized in the misfortunes
+of their suffering country, but their sadness seemed too deep and
+sacred. I knew that I could strike a responsive chord by telling them
+that I was an American, but I would not open their still bleeding
+wounds; at parting, however, I told them that I should remember in my
+own country and to their countrymen the kindness shown me here; and as
+soon as I mentioned that I was an American, the lady asked me the fate
+of her unhappy countrymen who had been landed as exiles on our shores,
+and I felt proud in telling them that they had found among our citizens
+that sympathy which brave men in misfortune deserve, and that our
+government had made a provision in land for the exiled compatriots of
+Kosciusko. She inquired particularly about the details of their
+occupation, and expressed the fear that their habits of life, most of
+them having been brought up as soldiers, unfitted them for usefulness
+among us. I did not then know how prophetic were her forebodings, and
+was saved the necessity of telling her, what I afterward read in a
+newspaper, that an unhappy portion of that band of exiles, discontented
+with their mode of life, in attempting to cross the Rocky Mountains
+were cut to pieces by a party of Indians. Under the pressure of their
+immediate misfortunes they had not heard the fate of the exiles, and a
+ray of satisfaction played for a moment over their melancholy features
+in hearing that they had met with friends in America; and they told me
+to say to the Poles wherever I found them, that they need never again
+turn their eyes toward home. She added that the time had been when she
+and her friends would have extended the hand of welcome to a stranger in
+Poland; that, when a child, she had heard her father and brothers talk
+of liberty and the pressure of a foreign yoke, but, living in affluence,
+surrounded by friends and connexions, she could not sympathize with
+them, and thought it a feeling existing only in men, which women could
+not know; but actual occurrences had opened her eyes; her family had
+been crushed to the earth, her friends imprisoned, killed, or driven
+into exile, and yet, she added, turning to her husband and father, she
+ought not to mourn, for those dearest to her on earth were spared. But I
+could read in her face, as she bent her eyes upon their pallid features,
+that she felt they were spared only for a season.
+
+Reluctantly I bade them farewell. A servant waited to go with me and
+show me the caleche, but I told him it was not worth while. I was in no
+humour for examining the spokes of carriage-wheels; and, if I had been
+obliged to ride on the tongue, I believe I should have taken it. I went
+to my hotel, and told my friend of my interview with the major and his
+lady. He knew them by reputation, and confirmed and strengthened all the
+interest I took in them, adding that both father and son had been among
+the first to take up arms during the revolution, and at its unhappy
+termination were so beloved by the people of Warsaw that, in their
+wounded and crippled state, the Russian government had not proceeded to
+extremities with them.
+
+I spent my last evening in Warsaw with my Pole and several of his
+friends at a herbata, that is, a sort of confectioner's shop, like a
+_cafe_ in the south of Europe, where, as in Russia, tea is the popular
+drink. The next morning, as usual, my passport was not ready. My valet
+had been for it several times, and could not get it. I had been myself
+to the police-office, and waited until dark, when I was directed to call
+the next morning. I went at a little after eight, but I will not obtrude
+upon the reader the details of my vexation, nor the amiable feelings
+that passed my mind in waiting till twelve o'clock in a large anteroom.
+In my after wanderings I sometimes sat down upon a stump or on the sands
+of the desert, and meditated upon my folly in undergoing all manner of
+hardships when I might be sitting quietly at home; but when I thought of
+passports in Russia and Poland, I shook myself with the freedom of a son
+of the desert, and with the thought that I could turn my dromedary's
+head which way I pleased, other difficulties seemed light. Ancient
+philosophers extolled uniformity as a great virtue in a young man's
+character; and, if so, I was entitled to the highest praise, for in the
+matter of arranging my passport I was always in a passion. I do not know
+a single exception to the contrary. And if there was one thing more
+vexatious than another, it was in the case at Warsaw, where, after
+having been bandied from office to office, I received my passport, still
+requiring the signature of the governor, and walked up to the palace,
+nursing my indignation, and expecting an accumulation, I was ushered in
+by guards and soldiers, and at once disarmed of all animosity by the
+politeness and civility of the principal officers of government. I was
+almost sorry to be obliged to withhold my intended malediction. I
+hurried back to my hotel. My friend, with three or four of his Warsaw
+acquaintances, was waiting to see the last of me; my caleche was at the
+door, and I was already late for a start. I took my seat and bade them
+farewell. I promised to write to him on my arrival in Paris, and to
+continue a correspondence on my return home. Most unfortunately, I lost
+his address. He lived in some town in Poland, near the frontiers of
+Prussia, and probably at this moment thinks of me unkindly for my
+apparent neglect. Possibly we may meet again, though probably never; but
+if we do, though it do not happen till our heads are gray, we will have
+a rich fund of satisfaction in the recollections of our long journey to
+Warsaw.
+
+I was again setting out alone. My guide or _conducteur_ was a Polish
+peasant. Without having seen him, I had calculated upon making ordinary
+human intelligence, to some extent, a medium of communication; but I
+found that I had been too soaring in my ideas of the divinity of human
+nature. When I returned to the hotel I found him lying on the sidewalk
+asleep; a servant kicked him up and pointed me out as his master for the
+journey. He ran up and kissed my hand, and, before I was aware of his
+intention, stooped down and repeated the same salutation on my boot. An
+American, perhaps, more than any other, scorns the idea of man's
+debasing himself to his fellow-man; and so powerful was this feeling in
+me, that before I went abroad I almost despised a white man whom I saw
+engaged in a menial office. I had outlived this feeling; but when I saw
+a tall, strong, athletic white man kneel down and kiss my foot, I could
+almost have spurned him from me. His whole dress was a long shirt coming
+down to his feet, supported by a broad leathern belt eight inches wide,
+which he used as a pocket, and a low, broad-brimmed hat, turned up all
+round, particularly at the sides, and not unlike the headgear of the
+Lebanon Shakers.
+
+Before putting myself out of the reach of aid, I held a conversation
+with him through an interpreter. The lady of the major had made out a
+chart for me, specifying each day's journey, which he promised to
+observe, and added that he would be my slave if I would give him plenty
+to drink. With such a companion, then, I may say most emphatically that
+I was again setting out alone; but my caleche was even better than the
+Polish officer represented it, abundantly provided with pockets for
+provisions, books, &c., and altogether so much more comfortable than
+anything I was used to, that I threw myself back in it with a feeling of
+great satisfaction. I rolled for the last time through the streets of
+Warsaw; looked out upon the busy throng; and though, in the perfectly
+indifferent air with which they turned to me, I felt how small a space I
+occupied in the world, I lighted my pipe and smoked in their faces, and,
+with a perfect feeling of independence toward all the world, at one
+o'clock I arrived at the barrier.
+
+Here I found, to my great vexation, that I was an object of special
+consideration to the Emperor of Russia. A soldier came out for my
+passport, with which he went inside the guardhouse, and in a few minutes
+returned with the paper in his hands to ask me some question. I could
+not answer him. He talked at me a little while, and again went within
+doors. After sitting for a few moments, vexed at the detention, but
+congratulating myself that if there was any irregularity it had been
+discovered before I had advanced far on my journey, I dismounted and
+went inside, where, after detaining me long enough to make me feel very
+uncomfortable, they endorsed the vise and let me go. I again lighted my
+pipe, and in the mildness and beauty of the day, the comfort of my
+caleche, and the docility and accommodating spirit of my peasant, forgot
+my past, and even the chance of future difficulties. There was nothing
+particularly attractive in the road; the country was generally fertile,
+though tame and uninteresting. Late in the afternoon we stopped at a
+little town, of which I cannot make out the name. Like all the other
+towns on this side of Warsaw, in the centre was a square, with a range
+of wooden houses built all around fronting on the square, and the
+inhabitants were principally Jews. My peasant took off his horses and
+fed them in the square, and I went into a little kukernia, much cleaner
+and better than the town promised, where I had a cup of coffee and a
+roll of bread, and then strolled around the town, which, at this moment,
+presented a singular spectacle. The women and children were driving into
+the square herds of cows from the pasture-grounds in the unenclosed
+plains around; and, when all were brought in, each proprietor picked out
+his own cow and drove her home, and in a few moments opposite almost
+every house stood the family cow, with a woman or child milking her.
+After this the cows strolled back into the square to sleep till morning.
+
+A little before dark we started, and, after a fine moonlight ride, at
+about ten o'clock drove into a sort of caravanserai, being simply a
+large shed or covered place for wagons and horses, with a room
+partitioned off in one corner for eating and sleeping. There were,
+perhaps, fifteen or twenty wagons under the shed, and their wagoners
+were all assembled in this room, some standing up and eating off a board
+stretched along the wall, some drinking, some smoking, and some already
+asleep on the floor. In one corner was a party of Jews, with the
+contents of a purse emptied before them, which they were dividing into
+separate parcels. The place was kept by a Jew, who, with his wife, or
+some woman belonging to the establishment, old and weatherbeaten, was
+running about serving and apparently quarrelling with all the wagoners.
+She seemed particularly disposed to quarrel with me, I believe because I
+could not talk to her, this being, in her eyes, an unpardonable sin. I
+could understand, however, that she wanted to prepare me a supper; but
+my appetite was not tempted by what I saw around me, and I lighted my
+pipe and smoked. I believe she afterward saw something in me which made
+her like me better; for while the wagoners were strewing themselves
+about the floor for sleep, she went out, and returning with a tolerably
+clean sheaf of straw under each arm, called me to her, and shaking them
+out in the middle of the floor, pointed me to my bed. My pipe was ended,
+and putting my carpet-bag under my head, I lay down upon the straw; and
+the old woman climbed up to a sort of platform in one corner, where, a
+moment after, I saw her sitting up with her arms above her head, with
+the utmost nonchalance changing her innermost garment.
+
+I was almost asleep, when I noticed a strapping big man, muffled up to
+the eyes, standing at my feet and looking in my face. I raised my head,
+and he walked round, keeping his eyes fixed upon me, and went away.
+Shortly after he returned, and again walking round, stopped and
+addressed me, "Spreechen sie Deutsch?" I answered by asking him if he
+could speak French; and not being able, he went away. He returned again,
+and again walked round as before, looking steadily in my face. I rose on
+my elbow, and followed him with my eyes till I had turned completely
+round with him, when he stopped as if satisfied with his observations,
+and in his broadest vernacular opened bluntly, "Hadn't we better speak
+English?" I need not say that I entirely agreed with him. I sprang up,
+and catching his hand, asked him what possessed him to begin upon me in
+Dutch; he replied by asking why I had answered in French, adding that
+his stout English figure ought to have made me know better; and after
+mutual good-natured recriminations, we kicked my straw bed about the
+floor, and agreed to make a night of it. He was the proprietor of a
+large iron manufactory, distant about three days' journey, and was then
+on his way to Warsaw. He went out to his carriage, and one of his
+servants produced a stock of provisions like the larder of a
+well-furnished hotel; and as I had gone to bed supperless, he seemed a
+good, stout, broad-shouldered guardian angel sent to comfort me. We sat
+on the back seat of the carriage, making a table of the front; and when
+we had finished, and the fragments were cleared away, we stretched our
+legs on the table, lighted our pipes, and talked till we fell asleep on
+each other's shoulder. Notwithstanding our intimacy so far, we should
+not have known each other by daylight, and at break of day we went
+outside to examine each other. It was, however, perhaps hardly worth
+while to retain a recollection of features; for, unless by some such
+accident as that which brought us together, we never shall meet again.
+We wrote our names in each other's pocketbook as a memorial of our
+meeting, and at the same moment started on our opposite roads.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+    Friendly Solicitude.--Raddom.--Symptoms of a Difficulty.--A Court of
+      Inquisition.--Showing a proper Spirit.--Troubles
+      thickening.--Approaching the Climax.--Woman's Influence.--The
+      Finale.--Utility of the Classics.--Another Latinist.--A Lucky
+      Accident.--Arrival at Cracow.
+
+
+AT about eight o'clock we stopped to feed, and at the feeding-place met
+a German wagoner, who had lived in Hamburgh, and spoke English. He
+seemed much distressed at my not understanding the language of the
+country. He was a stout, burly fellow, eating and drinking all the time,
+and his great anxiety was lest I should starve on the road. He insisted
+upon my providing against such a fatality, and had a couple of fowls
+roasted for me, and wrapped in a piece of coarse brown paper; and, at
+parting, backed by a group of friends, to whom he had told my story, he
+drank schnaps (at my expense) to my safe arrival at Cracow.
+
+At eleven o'clock we reached Raddom. There was a large swinging gate at
+the barrier of the town, and the soldier opening it demanded my passport
+to be _vised_ by the police; he got into the caleche with me, and we
+drove into the town, stopped in the public square, and went to the
+bureau together. He left me in an antechamber, and went within,
+promising, by his manner, to expedite the business, and intimating an
+expectation of schnaps on his return. In a few minutes he returned, and
+barely opening the door for me to enter, hurried off, apparently with
+some misgivings about his schnaps. I entered, and found three or four
+men, who took no notice of me. I waited a few moments, and seeing my
+passport on a table before one of them, went up, and, certainly without
+intending anything offensive, took up the passport with a view of
+calling his attention to it; he jerked it out of my hand, and looking at
+me with an imperious and impertinent air, at the same time saying
+something I have no doubt in character with the expression of his face,
+he slapped it down on the table. Two or three officers coming in, looked
+at it, and laid it down again, until at length one man, the head of that
+department, I suppose, took it up, wrote a note, and giving the note and
+the passport to a soldier, directed me to follow him. The soldier
+conducted me to the bureau of the government, the largest building, and
+occupying a central position in the town, and left me in an antechamber
+with the usual retinue of soldiers and officers. In about a quarter of
+an hour he came out without the passport, and pulled me by the sleeve to
+follow him. I shook my head, asked for the passport, and, in fact, moved
+toward the door he had left. He seemed a good-hearted fellow, and,
+anxious to save me from any imprudence, pulled me back, held up his
+fingers, and pointing to the clock, told me to return at one; and
+touching his hat respectfully, with probably the only French words he
+knew, "Adieu, seigneur," and a look of real interest, hurried away.
+
+I strolled about the town, dropped in at a kukiernia, went to the
+square, and saw my peasant friend feeding his horses, apparently in some
+trouble and perplexity. I went back at one, and was ordered to come
+again at four. I would have remonstrated, but, besides that I could not
+make myself understood, when I attempted to speak they turned rudely
+away from me. I was vexed by the loss of the day, as I had agreed to pay
+a high price for the sake of going through a day sooner, and this might
+spoil my plan; and I was particularly vexed by the rough manner in which
+I was treated. I returned at four, and was conducted into a large
+chamber, in which were perhaps twenty or thirty clerks and inferior
+officers in the uniform of the government. As soon as I entered there
+was a general commotion. They had sent for a young man who spoke a
+little French to act as interpreter. The passport was put into his
+hands, and the first question he asked me was how I, an American,
+happened to be travelling under a Russian passport. I answered that it
+was not from any wish of mine, but in obedience to their own laws, and
+added the fact that this passport had been made out by the Russian
+ambassador at Constantinople; that under it I had been admitted into
+Russia, and travelled from the Black Sea to St. Petersburgh, and from
+there down to Warsaw, as he might see from the paper itself, the _vises_
+of the proper authorities, down to that of the Governor of Warsaw, being
+regularly endorsed.
+
+He then asked what my business was in Poland, and what had induced me
+to come there. I answered, the same that had carried me into Russia,
+merely the curiosity of a traveller; and he then inquired what in
+particular I wanted to see in Poland. If I had consulted merely my
+feelings, I should have told him that, besides being attracted by the
+interest of her heroic history, I wished to see with my own eyes the
+pressure of a colossal foot upon the necks of a conquered people; that
+this very system of inquisition and _espionage_ was one of the things I
+expected to see; but I, of course, forbore this, and answered only in
+general terms, and my answer was not satisfactory. He then began a more
+particular examination; asked my age, my height, the colour of my eyes,
+&c. At first I did not see the absurdity of this examination, and
+answered honestly according to the fact, as I believed it; but, all at
+once, it struck me that, as I did not remember the particulars of the
+description of my person in the passport, my own impromptu might very
+easily differ from it, and, catching an insulting expression on his
+face, I told him that he had the passport in his hands, and might
+himself compare my person with the description there given of me. He
+then read aloud the entire description; height, so many feet; eyes, such
+a colour, &c., &c.; scanned me from head to foot; peered into my eyes,
+stopping after each article to look at me and compare me with the
+description. By this time every man in the room had left his business
+and gathered round looking at me, and, after the reading of each article
+and the subsequent examination, there was a general shaking of heads and
+a contemptuous smile.
+
+At the time I remembered, what had before suggested itself to me rather
+as a good thing, that, before embarking for Europe, I had written on to
+the department of state for a passport, with a description of my person
+made out at the moment by a friend, not very flattering, and, perhaps,
+not very true, but good enough for the Continent, which I expected to be
+the extent of my tour; and I felt conscious that, on a severe
+examination, my nose might be longer, or my eyes grayer, or in some
+other point different from the description. This, added to their close
+and critical examination, at first embarrassed me considerably, but the
+supercilious and insulting manner in which the examination was conducted
+roused my indignation and restored my self-possession. I saw, from the
+informal way in which the thing was done, that this was a mere
+preliminary inquisition, and not the court to sit in judgment; and I had
+noticed from the beginning that most of these men were Poles, who had
+sold themselves to Russia for petty place and pay in her offices,
+traitors in their hearts and lives, apostates from every honourable
+feeling, and breathing a more infernal spirit against their enslaved
+country than the Russians themselves; and I told the interpreter, as
+coolly as the nature of the case would admit, to accept for himself, and
+to convey to his associates, the assurance that I should remember their
+little town as long as I lived; that I had then travelled from England
+through France, Italy, Greece, Turkey, and Russia, and had nowhere met
+such wanton rudeness and insult as from them; that I did not think it
+possible that in any European government twenty of its officers would
+laugh and sneer at the embarrassment of a stranger without a single one
+stepping forward to assist him; that I deeply regretted the occurrence
+of such a circumstance in Poland; that I felt convinced that there was
+not a truehearted Pole among them, or my character as an American would
+have saved me from insult.
+
+The interpreter seemed a little abashed, but I could see in the
+vindictive faces of the rest that they were greatly irritated. The
+examination was cut short, and I was directed to come again at half past
+five, when the commandant, who had been sent for, would be there. By
+this time there was some excitement in the streets, and, as I afterward
+learned, it was noised through the little town that an American was
+detained on suspicion of travelling under a false passport. My caleche
+had been standing in the public square all day. I had been noticed going
+to and from the offices with a soldier at my heels, and my poor Pole had
+been wandering up and down the streets, telling everybody his fears and
+interest in me, and particularly his anxiety about ten rubles I had
+promised him. As I passed along, people turned round and looked at me. I
+went to a kukiernia, where the dame had been very smiling and attentive,
+and could not get even a look from her. I went to another; several men
+were earnestly talking, who became silent the moment I entered. A small
+matter created an excitement in that little place. It was a rare thing
+for a traveller to pass through it; the Russian government threw every
+impediment in the way, and had made the road so vexatious that it was
+almost broken up. The French or the citizens of a free country like
+America were always suspected of being political emissaries to stir up
+the Poles to revolution, and it seemed as if, under that despotic
+government, to be suspected was to be guilty. The Poles were in the
+habit of seeing slight offences visited with terrible punishments, and
+probably half the little town looked on me as a doomed man. I went back
+to the square and took a seat on my caleche; my poor Pole sat on the box
+looking at me; he had followed me all over, and, like the rest, seemed
+to regard me as lost. I had probably treated him with more kindness than
+he was accustomed to receive, though, for every new kindness, he vexed
+me anew by stooping down and kissing my foot.
+
+At half past five o'clock I was again at the door of the palace. On the
+staircase I met the young man who had acted as interpreter; he would
+have avoided me, but I stopped him and asked him to return with me. I
+held on to him, asking him if the commandant spoke French; begged him,
+as he would hope himself to find kindness in a strange country, to go
+back and act as a medium of explanation; but he tore rudely away, and
+hurried down stairs. A soldier opened the door and led me into the same
+apartment as before. The clerks were all at their desks writing; all
+looked up as I entered, but not one offered me a seat, nor any the
+slightest act of civility. I waited a moment, and they seemed studiously
+to take no notice of me. I felt outrageous at their rudeness. I had no
+apprehensions of any serious consequences beyond, perhaps, that of a
+detention until I could write to Mr. Wilkins, our ambassador at St.
+Petersburgh, and resolved not to be trampled upon by the understrappers.
+I walked up to the door of the commandant's chamber, when one man, who
+had been particularly insulting during the reading of the passport,
+rudely intercepted me, and leaning his back against the door, flourished
+his hands before him to keep me from entering. Fortunately, I fell back
+in time to prevent even the tip end of his fingers touching me. My blood
+flashed through me like lightning, and even now I consider myself a
+miracle of forbearance that I did not strike him.
+
+In a few moments the door opened, and a soldier beckoned me to enter.
+Directly in front, at the other end of the room, behind a table, sat the
+commandant, a grim, gaunt-looking figure about fifty, his military coat
+buttoned tight up in his throat, his cap and sword on the table by his
+side, and in his hands my unlucky passport. As I walked toward him he
+looked from the passport to me, and from me to the passport; and when I
+stopped at the table he read over again the whole description, at every
+clause looking at me; shook his head with a grim smile of incredulity,
+and laid it down, as if perfectly satisfied. I felt that my face was
+flushed with indignation, and, perhaps, to a certain extent, so
+distorted with passion that it would have been difficult to recognise me
+as the person described. I suggested to him that the rude treatment I
+had met with in the other room had no doubt altered the whole character
+of my face, but he waved his hand for me to be silent; and, taking up a
+sheet of paper, wrote a letter or order, or something which I did not
+understand, and gave it to a soldier, who took it off to one corner and
+stamped it. The commandant then folded up the passport, enclosed it in
+the letter, and handed it again to the soldier, who carried it off and
+affixed to it an enormous wax seal, which looked very ominous and
+Siberian-like. I was determined not to suffer from the want of any
+effort on my part, and pulled out my old American passport, under which
+I had travelled in France and Italy, and also a new one which Commodore
+Porter had given me in Constantinople. He looked at them without any
+comment and without understanding them; and, when the soldier returned
+with the paper and the big seal, he rose, and, without moving a muscle,
+waved with his hand for me to follow the soldier. I would have resisted
+if I had dared. I was indignant enough to do some rash thing, but at
+every step was a soldier; I saw the folly of it, and, grinding my teeth
+with vexation and rage, I did as I was ordered.
+
+At the door of the palace we found a large crowd, who, knowing my
+appointment for this hour, were waiting to hear the result. A line of
+people was formed along the walk, who, seeing me under the charge of a
+soldier, turned round and looked at me with ominous silence. We passed
+under the walls of the prison, and the prisoners thrust their arms
+through the bars and hailed me, and seemed to claim me as a companion,
+and to promise me a welcome among them. For a moment I was infected with
+some apprehensions. In my utter ignorance as to what it all meant, I ran
+over in my mind the stories I had heard of the exercise of despotic
+authority, and for one moment thought of my German host at Moscow and a
+journey to Siberia by mistake. I did not know where the soldier was
+taking me, but felt relieved when we had got out of the reach of the
+voices of the prisoners, and more so when we stopped before a large
+house, which I remarked at once as a private dwelling, though a guard of
+honour before the door indicated it as the residence of an officer of
+high rank. We entered, and were ushered into the presence of the
+governor and commander-in-chief. He was, of course, a Russian, a man
+about sixty, in the uniform of a general officer, and attended by an
+aiddecamp about thirty. I waited till the soldier had delivered his
+message; and, before the governor had broken the seal, I carried the war
+into the enemy's country by complaining of the rude treatment I had
+received, interrupted in my journey under a passport which had carried
+me all over Russia, and laughed at and insulted by the officers of the
+government, at the same time congratulating myself that I had at last
+met those who could at least tell me why I was detained, and would give
+me an opportunity of explaining anything apparently wrong. I found the
+governor, as everywhere else in Russia where I could get access to the
+principal man, a gentleman in his bearing and feelings. He requested me
+to be seated, while he retired into another apartment to examine the
+passport. The aiddecamp remained, and I entertained him with my chapter
+of grievances; he put the whole burden of the incivility upon the Poles,
+who, as he said, filled all the inferior offices of government, but told
+me, too, that the country was in such an unsettled state that it was
+necessary to be very particular in examining all strangers; and
+particularly as at that time several French emissaries were suspected to
+be secretly wandering in Poland, trying to stir up revolution. The
+governor stayed so long that I began to fear there was some technical
+irregularity which might subject me to detention, and I was in no small
+degree relieved when he sent for me, and telling me that he regretted
+the necessity for giving such annoyance and vexation to travellers,
+handed me back the passport, with a direction to the proper officer to
+make the necessary _vise_ and let me go. I was so pleased with the
+result that I did not stop to ask any questions, and to this day I do
+not know particularly why I was detained.
+
+By this time it was nine o'clock, and when we returned the bureau was
+closed. The soldier stated the case to the loungers about the door, and
+now all, including some of the scoundrels who had been so rude to me in
+the morning, were anxious to serve me. One of them conducted me to an
+apartment near, where I was ushered into the presence of an elderly lady
+and her two daughters, both of whom spoke French. I apologized for my
+intrusion; told them my extreme anxiety to go on that night, and begged
+them to procure some one to take the governor's order to the commandant;
+in fact, I had become nervous, and did not consider myself safe till out
+of the place. They called in a younger brother, who started with
+alacrity on the errand, and I sat down to wait his return. There must be
+a witchery about Polish ladies. I was almost savage against all mankind;
+I had been kept up to the extremest point of indignation without any
+opportunity of exploding all day, and it would have been a great favour
+for some one to knock me down; but in a few minutes all my bitterness
+and malevolence melted away, and before tea was over I forgot that I had
+been bandied all day from pillar to post, and even forgave the boors who
+had mocked me, in consideration of their being the countrymen of the
+ladies who were showing me such kindness. Even with them I began with
+the chafed spirit that had been goading me on all day; but when I
+listened to the calm and sad manner in which they replied; that it was
+annoying, but it was light, very light, compared with the scenes through
+which they and all their friends had passed, I was ashamed of my
+petulance. A few words convinced me that they were the Poles of my
+imagination and heart. A widowed mother and orphan children, their staff
+and protector had died in battle, and a gallant brother was then
+wandering an exile in France. I believe it is my recollection of Polish
+ladies that gives me a leaning toward rebels. I never met a Polish lady
+who was not a rebel, and I could but think, as long as the startling
+notes of revolution continue to fall like music from their pretty lips,
+so long the Russian will sleep on an unquiet pillow in Poland.
+
+It was more than an hour before the brother returned, and I was sorry
+when he came; for, after my professions of haste, I had no excuse for
+remaining longer. I was the first American they had ever seen; and if
+they do not remember me for anything else, I am happy to have disabused
+them of one prejudice against my country, for they believed the
+Americans were all black. At parting, and at my request, the eldest
+daughter wrote her name in my memorandum-book, and I bade them farewell.
+
+It was eleven o'clock when I left the house, and at the first transition
+from their presence the night seemed of pitchy darkness. I groped my way
+into the square, and found my caleche gone. I stood for a moment on the
+spot where I had left it, ruminating what I should do. Perhaps my poor
+Pole had given me up as lost, and taken out letters of administration
+upon my carpet-bag. Directly before me, intersecting the range of houses
+on the opposite side of the square, was a street leading out of the
+town. I knew that he was a man to go straight ahead, turning neither to
+the right hand nor the left. I walked on to the opening, followed it a
+little way, and saw on the right a gate opening to a shed for stabling.
+I went in, and found him with his horses unharnessed, feeding them,
+whipping them, and talking at them in furious Polish. As soon as he saw
+me he left them and came at me in the same tone, throwing up both his
+hands, and almost flourishing them in my face; then went back to his
+horses, began pitching on the harness, and, snatching up the meal-bag,
+came back again toward me, all the time talking and gesticulating like a
+Bedlamite. I was almost in despair. What have I done now? Even my poor
+peasant turns against me; this morning he kissed my foot, now he is
+ready to brain me with a meal-bag. Roused by the uproar, the old woman,
+proprietor of the shed, came out, accompanied by her daughter, a pretty
+little girl about twelve years old, carrying a lantern. I looked at them
+without expecting any help. My peasant moved between them and me and the
+horses, flourishing his meal-bag, and seeming every moment to become
+more and more enraged with me. I looked on in dismay, when the little
+girl came up, and dropping a courtesy before me, in the prettiest French
+I ever heard, asked me, "Que voulez vous, monsieur?" I could have taken
+her up in my arms and kissed her. I have had a fair share of the
+perplexity which befalls every man from the sex, but I hold many old
+accounts cancelled by the relief twice afforded me this day. Before
+coming to a parley with my Pole, I took her by the hand, and, sitting
+down on the tongue of a wagon, learned from her that she had been taken
+into the house of a rich seigneur to be educated as a companion for his
+daughter, and was then at home on a visit to her mother; after which she
+explained the meaning of my postillion's outcry. Besides his
+apprehensions for me personally, he had been tormented with the no less
+powerful one of losing the promised ten rubles upon his arrival at a
+fixed time at Michoof, and all his earnestness was to hurry me off at
+once, in order to give him a chance of still arriving within the time.
+This was exactly the humour in which I wanted to find him, for I had
+expected great difficulty in making him go on that night; so I told him
+to hitch on his horses, and at parting did give the little girl a kiss,
+and the only other thing I could give her without impoverishing myself
+was a silk purse as a memento. I lighted my pipe, and, worn out with the
+perplexities of the day, in a short time forgot police and passports,
+rude Russians and dastardly Poles, and even the Polish ladies and the
+little girl.
+
+I woke the next morning under a shed, horses harnessed, postillion on
+the box whipping, and a Jew at their head holding them, and the two
+bipeds quarrelling furiously about the stabling. I threw the Jew a
+florin, and he let go his hold, though my peasant shook his whip, and
+roared back at him long after we were out of sight and hearing. At a few
+miles' distance we came to a stopping-place, where we found a large
+caleche with four handsome horses, and the postillion in the costume of
+a peasant of Cracow, a little square red cap with a red feather, a long
+white frock somewhat like a shooting-jacket, bordered with red, a belt
+covered with pieces of brass like scales lapping over each other, and a
+horn slung over his right shoulder. It belonged to a Polish seigneur,
+who, though disaffected toward government, had succeeded in retaining
+his property, and was the proprietor of many villages. He was
+accompanied by a young man about thirty, who spoke a very little French;
+less than any man whom I ever heard attempt to speak it at all. They had
+with them their own servants and cooking apparatus, and abundance of
+provisions. The seigneur superintended the cooking, and I did them the
+honour to breakfast with them. While we were breakfasting a troop of
+wagoners or vagabonds were under the shed dancing the mazurka. The
+better class of Poles are noble, high-spirited men, warm and social in
+their feelings, and to them, living on their estates in the interior of
+their almost untrodden country, a stranger is a curiosity and a
+treasure. The old seigneur was exceedingly kind and hospitable, and the
+young man and I soon became on excellent terms. I was anxious to have a
+friend in case of a new passport difficulty, and at starting gladly
+embraced his offer to ride with me. As soon as we took our seats in the
+caleche we lighted our pipes and shook hands as a bargain of
+good fellowship. Our perfect flow of confidence, however, was much
+broken by the up-hill work of making ourselves understood. I was no
+great scholar myself, but his French was execrable; he had studied it
+when a boy, but for more than ten years had not spoken a word. At one
+time, finding it impossible to express himself, he said, "Parlatis
+Latinum?" "Can you speak Latin?" I at first thought it was some dialect
+of the country, and could not believe that he meant the veritable stuff
+that had been whipped into me at school, and which, to me, was most
+emphatically a dead language; but necessity develops all that a man has,
+and for three hours we kept up an uninterrupted stream of talk in bad
+Latin and worse French.
+
+Like every Pole whom I met, except the employes in the public offices,
+from the bottom of his heart he detested a Russian. He had been a
+soldier during the revolution, and lay on his back crippled with wounds
+when it was crushed by the capture of Warsaw. I showed him the coin
+which had accidentally come into my hands, and when we came to the point
+where our roads separated, he said that he was ashamed to do so, but
+could not help begging from me that coin; to me it was merely a
+curiosity, to him it was a trophy of the brilliant but shortlived
+independence of his country. I was loath to part with it, and would
+rather have given him every button on my coat; but I appreciated his
+patriotic feeling, and could not refuse. I got out, and he threw his
+arms around me, kissed me on both cheeks, called me his friend and
+brother, and mounted the kibitka with the old seigneur. The latter
+invited me to go with him to his chateau, about a day's journey distant,
+and if I had expected to write a book I should certainly have done so.
+
+I went on again alone. At about twelve o'clock we arrived at the town of
+Kielse. I felt nervous as we approached the barrier. I threw myself back
+in the caleche, and drew my cap over my eyes in grand seigneur style,
+the soldier touched his hat as he opened the gate, and we drove into the
+public square unmolested. I breathed more freely, but almost hesitated
+to leave the caleche while the horses fed. I smiled, however, at
+thinking that any effort to avoid observation was the very way to
+attract it, and went to a kukernia, where I drank coffee, ate bread
+encrusted with sugar, and smoked a pipe until my Pole came in and kissed
+my foot as an intimation that the horses were ready.
+
+No questions were asked at the barrier; and we rode on quietly till nine
+o'clock, when we drove under the shed of a caravanserai. Fifteen or
+twenty wagoners were eating off a bench, and, as they finished,
+stretched themselves on the floor for sleep. It was a beautiful
+moonlight night, and I strolled out for a walk. The whole country was an
+immense plain. I could see for a great distance, and the old shed was
+the only roof in sight. It was the last night of a long journey through
+wild and unsettled countries. I went back to the time when, on a night
+like that, I had embarked on the Adriatic for Greece; thought of the
+many scenes I had passed through since, and bidding farewell to the
+plains of Poland, returned to my caleche, drew my cloak around me, and
+was soon asleep.
+
+At nine o'clock we stopped at a feeding-place, where a horde of dirty
+Jews were at a long table eating. I brushed off one corner, and sat down
+to some bread and milk. Opposite me was a beggar woman dividing with a
+child about ten years old a small piece of dry black bread. I gave them
+some bread and a jar of milk, and I thought, from the lighting up of the
+boy's face, that it was long since he had had such a meal.
+
+At twelve o'clock we reached Michoof, the end of my journey with the
+caleche. I considered my difficulties all ended, and showed at the
+posthouse my letter from the Polish captain to the commissario. To my
+great annoyance, he was not in the place. I had to procure a conveyance
+to Cracow; and having parted with my poor Pole overwhelmed with
+gratitude for my treatment on the road and my trifling gratuity at
+parting, I stood at the door of the posthouse with my carpet-bag in my
+hand, utterly at a loss what to do. A crowd of people gathered round,
+all willing to assist me, but I could not tell them what I wanted. One
+young man in particular seemed bent upon serving me; he accosted me in
+Russian, Polish, and German. I answered him in English, French, and
+Italian, and then both stopped. As a desperate resource, and almost
+trembling at my own temerity, I asked him the question I had learned
+from my yesterday's companion "Parlates Latinum?" and he answered me
+with a fluency and volubility that again threw me into another
+perplexity, caught my hand, congratulated me upon having found a
+language both understood, praised the good old classic tongues, offered
+his services to procure anything I wanted, &c., and all with such
+rapidity of utterance that I was obliged to cry out with something like
+the sailor's "vast heaving," and tell him that, if he went on at that
+rate, it was all Russian to me. He stopped, and went on more moderately,
+and with great help from him I gave him to understand that I wanted to
+hire a wagon to take me to Cracow. "Venite cum me," said my friend, and
+conducted me round the town until we found one. I then told him I wanted
+my passport _vised_ for passing the frontier. "Venite cum me," again
+said my friend, and took me with him and procured the _vise_; then that
+I wanted a dinner; still he answered "Venite cum me," and took me to a
+trattoria, and dined with me. At dinner my classical friend did a rather
+unclassical thing. An enormous cucumber was swimming in a tureen of
+vinegar. He asked me whether I did not want it; and, taking it up in his
+fingers, ate it as a dessert, and drinking the vinegar out of the
+tureen, smacked his lips, wiped his mustaches with the tablecloth, and
+pronounced it "optimum." For three hours we talked constantly, and
+talked nothing but Latin. It was easy enough for him, for, as he told
+me, at school it had been the language of conversation. To me it was
+like breaking myself into the treadmill; but, once fairly started, my
+early preceptors would have been proud of my talk. At parting he kissed
+me on both cheeks, rubbed me affectionately with his mustaches and,
+after I had taken my seat, his last words were, "Semper me servate in
+vestra memoria."
+
+We had four and a half German, or about eighteen English, miles to
+Cracow. We had a pair of miserable, ragged little horses, but I promised
+my postillion two florins extra if he took me there in three hours, and
+he started off so furiously that in less than an hour the horses broke
+down, and we had to get out and walk. After breathing them a little they
+began to recover, and we arrived on a gentle trot at the frontier town,
+about half way to Cracow. My passport was all right, but here I had a
+new difficulty in that I had no passport for my postillion. I had not
+thought of this, and my classical friend had not suggested it. It was
+exceedingly provoking, as to return would prevent my reaching Cracow
+that night. After a parley with the commanding officer, a gentlemanly
+man, who spoke French very well, he finally said that my postillion
+might go on under charge of a soldier to the next posthouse, about a
+mile beyond, where I could get another conveyance and send him back.
+Just as I had thanked him for his courtesy, a young gentleman from
+Cracow, in a barouche with four horses, drove up, and, hearing my
+difficulty, politely offered to take me in with him. I gladly accepted
+his offer, and arrived at Cracow at about dark, where, upon his
+recommendation, I went to the Hotel de la Rose Blanche, and cannot well
+describe the satisfaction with which I once more found myself on the
+borders of civilized Europe, within reach of the ordinary public
+conveyances, and among people whose language I could understand. "Shall
+I not take mine ease in mine own inn?" Often, after a hard day's
+journey, I have asked myself this question, but seldom with the same
+self-complacency and the same determination to have mine ease as at
+Cracow. I inquired about the means of getting to Vienna, which, at that
+moment, I thought no more of than a journey to Boston. Though there was
+no particular need of it, I had a fire built in my room for the
+associations connected with a cheerful blaze. I put on my morning-gown
+and slippers, and hauling up before the fire an old chintz-covered sofa,
+sent for my landlord to come up and talk with me. My host was an
+Italian, and an excellent fellow. Attached to his hotel was a large
+restaurant, frequented by the first people at Cracow. During the evening
+an old countess came there to sup; he mentioned to her the arrival of an
+American, and I supped with her and her niece; neither of them, however,
+so interesting as to have any effect upon my slumber.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+    Cracow.--Casimir the Great.--Kosciusko.--Tombs of the Polish
+      Kings.--A Polish Heroine.--Last Words of a King.--A Hero in
+      Decay.--The Salt-mines of Cracow.--The Descent.--The
+      Mines.--Underground Meditations.--The Farewell.
+
+
+CRACOW is an old, curious, and interesting city, situated in a valley on
+the banks of the Vistula; and approaching it as I did, toward the sunset
+of a summer's day, the old churches and towers, the lofty castles and
+the large houses spread out on the immense plains, gave it an appearance
+of actual splendour. This faded away as I entered, but still the city
+inspired a feeling of respect, for it bore the impress of better days.
+It contains numerous churches, some of them very large, and remarkable
+for their style and architecture, and more than a hundred monasteries
+and convents. In the centre is a large square, on which stands the
+church of Notre Dame, an immense Gothic structure, and also the old
+palace of Sobieski, now cut down into shops, and many large private
+residences, uninhabited and falling to ruins. The principal streets
+terminate in this square. Almost every building bears striking marks of
+ruined grandeur. On the last partition of Poland in eighteen hundred and
+fifteen by the Holy Alliance, Cracow, with a territory of five hundred
+square miles and a population of a hundred and eight thousand, including
+about thirty thousand Jews, was erected into a republic; and at this day
+it exists nominally as a _free city_, under the protection of the three
+great powers; emphatically, such protection as vultures give to lambs;
+three masters instead of one, Russia, Prussia, and Austria, all claiming
+the right to interfere in its government.
+
+But even in its fallen state Cracow is dear to the Pole's heart, for it
+was the capital of his country when Poland ranked high among nations,
+and down to him who last sat upon her throne, was the place of
+coronation and of burial for her kings. It is the residence of many of
+the old Polish nobility, who, with reduced fortunes, prefer this little
+foothold in their country, where liberty nominally lingers, to exile in
+foreign lands. It now contains a population of about thirty thousand,
+including Jews. Occasionally the seigneur is still seen, in his short
+cassock of blue cloth, with a red sash and a white square-topped cap; a
+costume admirably adapted to the tall and noble figure of the proud
+Pole, and the costume of the peasant of Cracow is still a striking
+feature in her streets.
+
+After a stroll through the churches, I walked on the old ramparts of
+Cracow. The city was formerly surrounded with regular fortifications,
+but, as in almost all the cities of Europe, her ancient walls have been
+transformed into Boulevards; and now handsome avenues of trees encircle
+it, destroying altogether its Gothic military aspect, and on Sundays and
+fete days the whole population gathers in gay dresses, seeking pleasure
+where their fathers stood clad in armour and arrayed for battle.
+
+The Boulevards command an extensive view of all the surrounding country.
+"All the sites of my country," says a national poet, "are dear to me;
+but, above all, I love the environs of Cracow; there at every step I
+meet the recollections of our ancient glory and our once imposing
+grandeur."
+
+On the opposite bank of the river is a large tumulus of earth, marking
+the grave of Cracus, the founder of the city. A little higher up is
+another mound, reverenced as the sepulchre of his daughter Wenda, who
+was so enamoured of war that she promised to give her hand only to the
+lover who should conquer her in battle. Beyond this is the field of
+Zechino, where the brave Kosciusko, after his return from America, with
+a band of peasants, again struck the first blow of revolution, and, by a
+victory over the Russians, roused all Poland to arms.
+
+About a mile from Cracow are the ruins of the palace of Lobzow, built by
+Casimir the Great, for a long time the favourite royal residence, and
+identified with a crowd of national recollections; and, until lately, a
+large mound of earth in the garden was reverenced as the grave of
+Esther, the beautiful Jewess, the idol of Casimir the Great. Poetry has
+embellished the tradition, and the national muse has hallowed the palace
+of Lobzow and the grave of Esther.
+
+"Passer-by, if you are a stranger, tremble in thinking of human
+destruction; but if you are a Pole, shed bitter tears; heroes have
+inhabited this palace.... Who can equal them?...
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Casimir erected this palace: centuries have hailed him with the name of
+the great....
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Near his Esther, in the delightful groves of Lobzow, he thought himself
+happy in ceasing to be a king to become a lover.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"But fate is unpitiable for kings as for us, and even beauty is subject
+to the common law. Esther died, and Casimir erected a tomb in the place
+she had loved.
+
+"Oh! if you are sensible to the grief caused by love, drop a tear at
+this tomb and adorn it with a crown. If Casimir was tied to humanity by
+some weaknesses, they are the appendage of heroes! In presence of this
+chateau, in finding again noble remains, sing the glory of Casimir the
+Great."
+
+I was not a sentimental traveller, nor sensible to the grief that is
+caused by love, and I could neither drop a tear at the tomb of Esther
+nor sing the glory of Casimir the Great; but my heart beat high as I
+turned to another monument in the environs of Cracow; an immense mound
+of earth, standing on an eminence visible from every quarter, towering
+almost into a mountain, and sacred to the memory of Kosciusko! I saw it
+from the palace of the kings and from the ramparts of the fallen city,
+and, with my eyes constantly fixed upon it, descended to the Vistula,
+followed its bank to a large convent, and then turned to the right,
+direct for the mound. I walked to the foot of the hill, and ascended to
+a broad table of land. From this table the mound rises in a conical
+form, from a base three hundred feet in diameter, to the height of one
+hundred and seventy-five feet. At the four corners formerly stood small
+houses, which were occupied by revolutionary soldiers who had served
+under Kosciusko. On the farther side, enclosed by a railing, was a small
+chapel, and within it a marble tomb covering Kosciusko's heart! A
+circular path winds round the mound; I ascended by this path to the top.
+It is built of earth sodded, and was then covered with a thick carpet of
+grass, and reminded me of the tumuli of the Grecian heroes on the plains
+of Troy; and perhaps, when thousands of years shall have rolled by, and
+all connected with our age be forgotten, and time and exposure to the
+elements shall have changed its form, another stranger will stand where
+I did, and wonder why and for what it was raised. It was erected in 1819
+by the voluntary labour of the Polish people; and so great was the
+enthusiasm, that, as an eyewitness told me, wounded soldiers brought
+earth in their helmets, and women in their slippers; and I remembered,
+with a swelling heart, that on this consecrated spot a nation of brave
+men had turned to my country as the star of liberty, and that here a
+banner had been unfurled and hailed with acclamations by assembled
+thousands, bearing aloft the sacred inscription, "Kosciusko, the friend
+of Washington!"
+
+The morning was cold and dreary, the sky was overcast with clouds, and
+the sun, occasionally breaking through lighted up for a moment with
+dazzling brilliancy the domes and steeples of Cracow, and the palace and
+burial-place of her kings, emblematic of the fitful gleams of her
+liberty flashing and dazzling, and then dying away. I drew my cloak
+around me, and remained there till I was almost drenched with rain. The
+wind blew violently, and I descended and sheltered myself at the foot of
+the mound, by the grave of Kosciusko's heart!
+
+I returned to the city and entered the Cathedral Church. It stands by
+the side of the old palace, on the summit of the rock of Wauvel, in the
+centre of and commanding the city, enclosed with walls and towers, and
+allied in its history with the most memorable annals of Poland; the
+witness of the ancient glory of her kings, and their sepulchre. The rain
+was pattering against the windows of the old church as I strolled
+through the silent cloisters and among the tombs of the kings. A verger
+in a large cocked hat, and a group of peasants, moved, like myself, with
+noiseless steps, as if afraid to disturb the repose of the royal dead.
+Many of the kings of Poland fill but a corner of the page of history.
+Some of their names I had forgotten, or, perhaps, never knew until I saw
+them inscribed on their tombs; but every monument covered a head that
+had worn a crown, and some whose bones were mouldering under my feet
+will live till the last records of heroism perish.
+
+The oldest monument is that of Wladislaus le Bref, built of stone,
+without any inscription, but adorned with figures in bas-relief, which
+are very much injured. He died in thirteen hundred and thirty-three, and
+chose himself the place of his eternal rest. Charles the Twelfth of
+Sweden, on his invasion of Poland, visited the Cathedral Church, and
+stopped before this tomb. A distinguished canon who attended him, in
+allusion to the position of John Casimir, who was then at war with the
+King of Sweden, remarked, "And that king was also driven from his
+throne, but he returned and reigned until his death." The Swede answered
+with bitterness, "But your John Casimir will never return." The canon
+replied respectfully, "God is great and fortune is fickle;" and the
+canon was right, for John Casimir regained his throne.
+
+I approached with a feeling of veneration the tomb of Casimir the Great.
+It is of red marble; four columns support a canopy, and the figure of
+the king, with a crown on his head, rests on a coffin of stone. An iron
+railing encloses the monument. It is nearly five hundred years since the
+palatins and nobles of Poland, with all the insignia of barbaric
+magnificence, laid him in the place where his ashes now repose. The
+historian writes, "Poland is indebted to Casimir for the greatest part
+of her churches, palaces, fortresses, and towns," adding that "he found
+Poland of wood and left her of marble." He patronized letters, and
+founded the University of Cracow; promoted industry and encouraged
+trade; digested the unwritten laws and usages into a regular code;
+established courts of justice; repressed the tyranny of the nobles, and
+died with the honourable title of King of the Peasants; and I did not
+forget, while standing over his grave, that beneath me slept the spirit
+that loved the groves of Lobzow and the heart that beat for Esther the
+Jewess.
+
+The tomb of Sigismund I. is of red marble, with a figure as large as
+life reclining upon it. It is adorned with bas-reliefs and the arms of
+the republic, the white eagle and the armed cavalier of Lithuania. He
+died in fifteen hundred and forty-one, and his monument bears the
+following inscription in Latin: "Sigismund Jagellon, King of Poland,
+Grand-duke of Lithuania, Conqueror of the Tartars, of the Wallachians,
+of the Russians and Prussians, reposes under this stone, which he
+prepared for himself." Forty years ago Thaddeus Czacki, the Polish
+historian, opened the tombs of the kings, and found the head of
+Sigismund resting upon a plate of silver bearing a long Latin
+inscription; the body measured six feet and two inches in height, and
+was covered with three rich ermines; on the feet were golden spurs, a
+chain of gold around the neck, and a gold ring on one finger of the left
+hand. At his feet was a small pewter coffin enclosing the body of his
+son by Bone Sforza.
+
+By his side lies the body of his son Sigismund II., the last of the
+Jagellons, at whose death began the cabals and convulsions of an
+elective monarchy, by which Poland lost her influence among foreign
+powers. His memory is rendered interesting by his romantic love for
+Barbe Radzewill. She appeared at his father's court, the daughter of a
+private citizen, celebrated in Polish history and romance as uniting to
+all a woman's beauty a mingled force and tenderness, energy and
+goodness. The prince had outlived all the ardour of youth; disappointed
+and listless amid pleasures, his energy of mind destroyed by his
+excesses, inconstant in his love, and at the summit of human prosperity,
+living without a wish or a hope; but he saw Barbe, and his heart beat
+anew with the pulsations of life. In the language of his biographer he
+proved, in all its fulness, that sentiment which draws to earth by its
+sorrows and raises to heaven by its delights. He married her privately,
+and on his father's death proclaimed her queen. The whole body of nobles
+refused to acknowledge the marriage, and one of the nuncios, in the name
+of the representatives of the nation, supplicated him for himself, his
+country, his blood, and his children, to extinguish his passion; but the
+king swore on his sword that neither the diet, nor the nation, nor the
+whole universe should make him break his vows to Barbe; that he would a
+thousand times rather live with her out of the kingdom than keep a
+throne which she could not share; and was on the point of abdicating,
+when his opponents offered to do homage to the queen. When Czacki opened
+the coffin of this prince, he found the body perfectly preserved, and
+the head, as before, resting on a silver plate containing a long Latin
+inscription.
+
+At the foot of his coffin is that of his sister and successor, Anne; and
+in a separate chapel is the tomb of Stephen Battory, one of the greatest
+of the kings of Poland, raised to the throne by his marriage with Anne.
+
+I became more and more interested in this asylum of royal dead. I read
+there almost the entire history of the Polish republic, and again I felt
+that it was but a step from the throne to the grave, for near me was the
+great chair in which the kings of Poland were crowned. I paused before
+the tomb of John Casimir; and there was something strangely interesting
+in the juxtaposition of these royal dead. John Casimir lies by the side
+of the brother whom he endeavoured to supplant in his election to the
+throne. His reign was a continued succession of troubles and
+misfortunes. Once he was obliged to fly from Poland. He predicted what
+has since been so fearfully verified, that his country, enfeebled by the
+anarchy of its government and the licentiousness of the nobles, would be
+dismembered among the neighbouring powers; and, worn out with the cares
+of royalty, abdicated the throne, and died in a convent in France. I
+read at his tomb his pathetic farewell to his people.
+
+     "People of Poland,
+
+     "It is now two hundred and eighty years that you have been governed
+     by my family. The reign of my ancestors is past, and mine is going
+     to expire. Fatigued by the labours of war, the cares of the
+     cabinet, and the weight of age; oppressed with the burdens and
+     vicissitudes of a reign of more than twenty-one years, I, your king
+     and father, return into your hands what the world esteems above all
+     things, a crown, and choose for my throne six feet of earth, where
+     I shall sleep with my fathers. When you show my tomb to your
+     children, tell them that I was the foremost in battle and the last
+     in retreat; that I renounced regal grandeur for the good of my
+     country, and restored my sceptre to those who gave it me."
+
+By his side, and under a monument of black marble, lies the body of his
+successor, Michel Wisniowecki, an obscure and unambitious citizen, who
+was literally dragged to the throne, and wept when the crown was placed
+upon his head, and of whom Casimir remarked, when informed of his late
+subjects' choice, "What, have they put the crown on the head of that
+poor fellow?" And again I was almost startled by the strange and
+unnatural mingling of human ashes. By the side of that "poor fellow"
+lies the "famous" John Sobieski, the greatest of the long line of kings
+of a noble and valorous nation;
+
+    "One of the few, the immortal names,
+    That were not born to die."
+
+On the lower floor of the church, by the side of Poniatowski, the
+Polish Bayard, is the tomb of one nobler in my eyes than all the kings
+of Poland or of the world. It is of red marble, ornamented with the cap
+and plume of the peasant of Cracow, and bears the simple inscription "T.
+Kosciusko." All over the church I had read elaborate panegyrics upon the
+tenants of the royal sepulchres, and I was struck with this simple
+inscription, and remembered that the white marble column reared amid the
+magnificent scenery of the Hudson, which I had often gazed at from the
+deck of a steamboat, and at whose base I had often stood, bore also in
+majestic simplicity the name of "Kosciusko." It was late in the
+afternoon, and the group of peasants, two Poles from the interior, and a
+party of the citizens of Cracow, among whom were several ladies, joined
+me at the tomb. We could not speak each other's language; we were born
+and lived thousands of miles apart, and we were strangers in our
+thoughts and feelings, in all our hopes and prospects, but we had a bond
+of sympathy at the grave of Kosciusko. One of the ladies spoke French,
+and I told them that, in my far distant country, the name of their
+nation's idol was hallowed; that schoolboys had erected a monument to
+his memory. They knew that he had fought by the side of Washington, but
+they did not know that the recollection of his services was still so
+dearly cherished in America; and we all agreed that it was the proudest
+tribute that could be paid to his memory, to write merely his name on
+his monument. It meant that it was needless to add an epitaph, for no
+man would ask, Who was Kosciusko?
+
+It was nearly dark when I returned to my hotel. In the restaurant, at a
+small table directly opposite me, sat the celebrated Chlopicki, to whom,
+on the breaking out of the last revolution, Poland turned as to another
+Kosciusko, and who, until he faltered during the trying scenes of that
+revolution, would have been deemed worthy to lie by Kosciusko's side.
+Born of a noble family, a soldier from his birth, he served in the
+memorable campaigns of the great patriot, distinguished himself in the
+Polish legions in Italy under Dombrowski, and, as colonel of a regiment
+of the army of the Vistula, behaved gloriously in Prussia. In Spain he
+fought at Saragossa and Sagunta, and was called by Suchet _le brave des
+braves_; as general of brigade in the army of Russia, he was wounded at
+Valentina, near Smolensk, and was general of a division in eighteen
+hundred and fourteen, when Poland fell under the dominion of the
+autocrat. The Grand-duke Constantine censured him on parade, saying that
+his division was not in order; and Chlopicki, with the proud boast, "I
+did not gain my rank on the parade-ground, nor did I win my decorations
+there," asked his discharge the next day, and could never after be
+induced to return to the service. The day after the revolutionary blow
+was struck, all Poland turned to Chlopicki as the only man capable of
+standing at the head of the nation. The command of the army, with
+absolute powers, was conferred upon him by acclamation, and one of the
+patriot leaders concluded his address to him with these words: "Brother,
+take the sword of your ancestors and predecessors, Czarnecki,
+Dombrowski, and Kosciusko. Guide the nation that has placed its trust
+in you in the path of honour. Save this unhappy country." Chlopicki,
+with his silver head grown white in the service of Poland, was hailed by
+a hundred thousand people on the Champ de Mars with shouts of "our
+country and its brave defender, Chlopicki, for ever." He promised never
+to abuse their confidence, and swore that he would defend the liberty of
+Poland to the last moment. The whole nation was enthusiastic in his
+favour; but in less than three months, at a stormy session of the diet,
+he threw up his high office of dictator, and refused peremptorily to
+accept command of the army. This brave army, enthusiastically attached
+to him, was struck with profound grief at his estrangement; but, with
+all the faults imputed to him, it never was charged that he attempted to
+take advantage of his great popularity for any ambitious purposes of his
+own.
+
+At the battle of Grokow he fought nominally as a private soldier, though
+Skryznecki and Radziwill being both deficient in military experience,
+the whole army looked to him for guidance. Once, when the battle was
+setting strong against the Poles, in a moment of desperation he put
+himself at the head of some disposable battalions, and turning away from
+an aiddecamp who came to him for orders, said, "Go and ask Radziwill;
+for me, I seek only death." Grievously wounded, his wounds were dressed
+in presence of the enemy; but at two o'clock he was borne off the field,
+the hopes of the soldiers died, and the army remained without any actual
+head. Throughout the revolution his conduct was cold, indifferent, and
+inexplicable; private letters from the Emperor of Russia were talked of,
+and even _treason_ was whispered in connexion with his name. The Poles
+speak of him more in sorrow than in anger; they say that it was not
+enough that he exposed his person on the field of battle; that he should
+have given them the whole weight of his great military talents, and the
+influence of his powerful name; that, standing alone, without children
+or relations to be compromised by his acts, he should have consummated
+the glory of his life by giving its few remaining years for the liberty
+of his country. He appeared about sixty-five, with hair perfectly white,
+a high florid complexion, a firm and determined expression, and in still
+unbroken health, carrying himself with the proud bearing of a
+distinguished veteran soldier. I could not believe that he had bartered
+the precious satisfaction of a long and glorious career for a few years
+of ignoble existence; and, though a stranger, could but regret that, in
+the wane of life, circumstances, whether justly or not, had sullied an
+honoured name. It spoke loudly against him that I saw him sitting in a
+public restaurant at Cracow, unmolested by the Russian government.
+
+The next day I visited the celebrated salt-mines at Wielitska. They lie
+about, twelve miles from Cracow, in the province of Galicia, a part of
+the kingdom of Poland, which, on the unrighteous partition of that
+country, fell to the share of Austria. Although at so short a distance,
+it was necessary to go through all the passport formalities requisite on
+a departure for a foreign country. I took a fiacre and rode to the
+different bureaux of the city police, and, having procured the
+permission of the municipal authorities to leave the little territory of
+Cracow, rode next to the Austrian consul, who thereupon, and in
+consideration of one dollar to him in hand paid, was graciously pleased
+to permit me to enter the dominions of his master the Emperor of
+Austria. It was also necessary to have an order from the director of the
+mines to the superintendent; and furnished with this I again mounted my
+fiacre, rattled through the principal street, and in a few minutes
+crossed the Vistula. At the end of the bridge an Austrian soldier
+stopped me for my passport, a _douanier_ examined my carriage for
+articles subject to duty, and, these functionaries being satisfied, in
+about two hours from the time at which I began my preparations I was
+fairly on my way.
+
+Leaving the Vistula, I entered a pretty, undulating, and well-cultivated
+country, and saw at a distance a high dark line, marking the range of
+the Carpathian mountains. It was a long time since I had seen anything
+that looked like a mountain. From the Black Sea the whole of my journey
+had been over an immense plain, and I hailed the wild range of the
+Carpathian as I would the spire of a church, as an evidence of the
+approach to regions of civilization.
+
+In an hour and a half I arrived at the town of Wielitska, containing
+about three thousand inhabitants, and standing, as it were, on the roof
+of the immense subterraneous excavations. The houses are built of wood,
+and the first thing that struck me was the almost entire absence of men
+in the streets, the whole male population being employed in the mines,
+and then at work below. I rode to the office of the superintendent, and
+presented my letter, and was received with great civility of manner but
+his _Polish_ was perfectly unintelligible. A smutty-faced operative,
+just out of the mines, accosted me in Latin, and I exchanged a few shots
+with him, but hauled off on the appearance of a man whom the
+superintendent had sent for to act as my guide; an old soldier who had
+served in the campaigns of Napoleon, and, as he said, become an amateur
+and proficient in fighting and French. He was dressed in miner's
+costume, fanciful, and embroidered with gold, holding in his hand a
+steel axe; and, having arrayed me in a long white frock, conducted me to
+a wooden building covering the shaft which forms the principal entrance
+to the mine. This shaft is ten feet square, and descends perpendicularly
+more than two hundred feet into the bowels of the earth. We arranged
+ourselves in canvass seats, and several of the miners, who were waiting
+to descend, attached themselves to seats at the end of the ropes, with
+lamps in their hands, about eight or ten feet below us.
+
+When my feet left the brink of the shaft I felt, for a moment, as if
+suspended over the portal of a bottomless pit; and as my head descended
+below the surface, the rope, winding and tapering to a thread, seemed
+letting me down to the realms of Pluto. But in a few moments we touched
+bottom. From within a short distance of the surface, the shaft is cut
+through a solid rock of salt, and from the bottom passages almost
+innumerable are cut in every direction through the same bed. We were
+furnished with guides, who went before us bearing torches, and I
+followed through the whole labyrinth of passages, forming the largest
+excavations in Europe, peopled with upward of two thousand souls, and
+giving a complete idea of a subterraneous world. These mines are known
+to have been worked upward of six hundred years, being mentioned in the
+Polish annals as early as twelve hundred and thirty-seven, under
+Boleslaus the Chaste, and then not as a new discovery, but how much
+earlier they had existed cannot now be ascertained. The tradition is,
+that a sister of St. Casimir, having lost a gold ring, prayed to St.
+Anthony, the patron saint of Cracow, and was advised in a dream that, by
+digging in such a place, she would find a treasure far greater than that
+she had lost, and within the place indicated these mines were
+discovered.
+
+[Illustration: Salt-mines of Wielitska.]
+
+There are four different stories or ranges of apartments; the whole
+length of the excavations is more than six thousand feet, or three
+quarters of an hour's walk, and the greatest breadth more than two
+thousand feet; and there are so many turnings and windings that my guide
+told me, though I hardly think it possible, that the whole length of all
+the passages cut through this bed of salt amounts to more than three
+hundred miles. Many of the chambers are of immense size. Some are
+supported by timber, others by vast pillars of salt; several are without
+any support in the middle, and of vast dimensions, perhaps eighty feet
+high, and so long and broad as almost to appear a boundless
+subterraneous cavern. In one of the largest is a lake covering nearly
+the whole area. When the King of Saxony visited this place in eighteen
+hundred and ten, after taking possession of his moiety of the mines as
+Duke of Warsaw, this portion of them was brilliantly illuminated; and a
+band of music, floating on the lake, made the roof echo with patriotic
+airs. We crossed the lake in a flatboat by a rope, the dim light of
+torches, and the hollow sound of our voices, giving a lively idea of a
+passage across the Styx; and we had a scene which might have entitled us
+to a welcome from the prince of the infernals, for our torch-bearers
+quarrelled, and in a scuffle that came near carrying us all with them,
+one was tumbled into the lake. Our Charon caught him, and, without
+stopping to take him in, hurried across, and as soon as we landed beat
+them both unmercifully.
+
+From this we entered an immense cavern, in which several hundred men
+were working with pickaxes and hatchets, cutting out large blocks of
+salt, and trimming them to suit the size of barrels. With their black
+faces begrimed with dust and smoke, they looked by the light of the
+scattered torches like the journeymen of Beelzebub, the prince of
+darkness, preparing for some great blow-up, or like the spirits of the
+damned condemned to toil without end. My guide called up a party, who
+disengaged with their pickaxes a large block of salt from its native
+bed, and in a few minutes cut and trimmed it to fit the barrels in which
+they are packed. All doubts as to their being creatures of our upper
+world were removed by the eagerness with which they accepted the money I
+gave them; and it will be satisfactory to the advocates of that currency
+to know that paper money passes readily in these lower regions.
+
+There are more than a thousand chambers or halls, most of which have
+been abandoned and shut up. In one is a collection of fanciful things,
+such as rings, books, crosses, &c., cut in the rock-salt. Most of the
+principal chambers had some name printed over them, as the "Archduke,"
+"Carolina," &c. Whenever it was necessary, my guides went ahead and
+stationed themselves in some conspicuous place, lighting up the dark
+caverns with the blaze of their torches, and, after allowing me a
+sufficient time, struck their flambeaux against the wall, and millions
+of sparks flashed and floated around and filled the chamber. In one
+place, at the end of a long, dark passage, a door was thrown open, and I
+was ushered suddenly into a spacious ballroom lighted with torches; and
+directly in front, at the head of the room, was a transparency with
+coloured lights, in the centre of which were the words "Excelso
+hospiti," "To the illustrious guest," which I took to myself, though I
+believe the greeting was intended for the same royal person for whom the
+lake chamber was illuminated. Lights were ingeniously arranged around
+the room, and at the foot, about twenty feet above my head, was a large
+orchestra. On the occasion referred to a splendid ball was given in this
+room; the roof echoed with the sound of music; and nobles and princely
+ladies flirted and coquetted the same as above ground; and it is said
+that the splendid dresses of a numerous company, and the blaze of light
+from the chandeliers reflected upon the surface of the rock-salt,
+produced an effect of inconceivable brilliancy. My chandeliers were
+worse than Allan M'Aulay's strapping Highlanders with their pine
+torches, being dirty, ragged, smutty-faced rascals, who threw the light
+in streaks across the hall. I am always willing to believe fanciful
+stories; and if my guide had thrown in a handsome young princess as part
+of the welcome to the "Excelso hospiti," I would have subscribed to
+anything he said; but, in the absence of a consideration, I refused to
+tax my imagination up to the point he wished. Perhaps the most
+interesting chamber of all is the chapel dedicated to that Saint Anthony
+who brought about the discovery of these mines. It is supposed to be
+more than four hundred years old. The columns, with their ornamented
+capitals, the arches, the images of the Saviour, the Virgin and saints,
+the altar and the pulpit, with all their decorations, and the figures of
+two priests represented at prayers before the shrine of the patron
+saint, are all carved out of the rock-salt, and to this day grand mass
+is regularly celebrated in the chapel once every year.
+
+Following my guide through all the different passages and chambers, and
+constantly meeting miners and seeing squads of men at work, I descended
+by regular stairs cut in the salt, but in some places worn away and
+replaced by wood or stone, to the lowest gallery, which is nearly a
+thousand feet below the surface of the earth. I was then a rather
+veteran traveller, but up to this time it had been my business to move
+quietly on the surface of the earth, or, when infected with the soaring
+spirit of other travellers, to climb to the top of some lofty tower or
+loftier cathedral; and I had fulfilled one of the duties of a visiter to
+the eternal city by perching myself within the great ball of St.
+Peter's; but here I was far deeper under the earth than I had ever been
+above it; and at the greatest depth from which the human voice ever
+rose, I sat down on a lump of salt and soliloquized,
+
+    "Through what varieties of untried being,
+    Through what new scenes and changes must we pass!"
+
+I have since stood upon the top of the Pyramids, and admired the daring
+genius and the industry of man, and at the same time smiled at his
+feebleness when, from the mighty pile, I saw in the dark ranges of
+mountains, the sandy desert, the rich valley of the Nile and the river
+of Egypt, the hand of the world's great Architect; but I never felt
+man's feebleness more than here; for all these immense excavations, the
+work of more than six hundred years, were but as the work of ants by the
+roadside. The whole of the immense mass above me, and around and below,
+to an unknown extent, was of salt; a wonderful phenomenon in the natural
+history of the globe. All the different strata have been carefully
+examined by scientific men. The uppermost bed at the surface is sand;
+the second clay occasionally mixed with sand and gravel, and containing
+petrifactions of marine bodies; the third is calcareous stone; and from
+these circumstances it has been conjectured that this spot was formerly
+covered by the sea, and that the salt is a gradual deposite formed by
+the evaporation of its waters. I was disappointed in some of the
+particulars which had fastened themselves upon my imagination. I had
+heard and read glowing accounts of the brilliancy and luminous splendour
+of the passages and chambers, compared by some to the lustre of precious
+stones; but the salt is of a dark gray colour, almost black, and
+although sometimes glittering when the light was thrown upon it, I do
+not believe it could ever be lighted up to shine with any extraordinary
+or dazzling brightness. Early travellers, too, had reported that these
+mines contained several villages inhabited by colonies of miners, who
+lived constantly below, and that many were born and died there, who
+never saw the light of day; but all this is entirely untrue. The miners
+descend every morning and return every night, and live in the village
+above. None of them ever sleep below. There are, however, two horses
+which were foaled in the mines, and have never been on the surface of
+the earth. I looked at these horses with great interest. They were
+growing old before their time; other horses had perhaps gone down and
+told them stories of a world above which they would never know.
+
+It was late in the afternoon when I was hoisted up the shaft. These
+mines do not need the embellishment of fiction. They are, indeed, a
+wonderful spectacle, and I am satisfied that no traveller ever visited
+them without recurring to it as a day of extraordinary interest. I wrote
+my name in the book of visiters, where I saw those of two American
+friends who had preceded me about a month, mounted my barouche, and
+about an hour after dark reached the bank of the Vistula. My passport
+was again examined by a soldier and my carriage searched by a
+custom-house officer; I crossed the bridge, dined with my worthy host of
+the Hotel de la Rose Blanche, and, while listening to a touching story
+of the Polish revolution, fell asleep in my chair.
+
+And here, on the banks of the Vistula, I take my leave of the reader. I
+have carried him over seas and rivers, mountains and plains, through
+royal palaces and peasants' huts, and in return for his kindness in
+accompanying me to the end, I promise that I will not again burden him
+with my Incidents of Travel.
+
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+A NEW Classified and Descriptive Catalogue of HARPER & BROTHERS'
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+  _New York, January, 1847._
+
+
+
+
+List of Corrections:
+
+  p. 13: "Voznezeuski" was changed to "Vosnezeuski."
+
+  p. 21: "the last time in the _caleche_" was changed to "the last time
+  in the _caleche_."
+
+  p. 71: "merchandize" was changed to "merchandise" as elsewhere in
+  the book.
+
+  p. 77: "The men where nowhere" was changed to "The men were
+  nowhere."
+
+  p. 129: "sailed down the Dneiper from Kief" was changed to "sailed down
+  the Dnieper from Kief."
+
+  p. 137: "of a lilach colour" was changed to "of a lilac colour."
+
+  p. 202: "Diebisch directed the strength" was changed to "Diebitsch
+  directed the strength."
+
+
+Errata:
+
+The summary in the table of contents is not always consistent with the
+summary at the beginning of each chapter. The original has been
+retained.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Incidents of Travel in Greece, Turkey,
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