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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: 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,
+Russia, and Poland, 7th ed. Vol. 2 of 2, by John Lloyd Stephens
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