Banish sighs and yawns, that you may not communicate ennui, or be a burden to any one.
168CODE OF THE EMPRESS CATHERINE.
Innocent games proposed by any member of the society, must be accepted by the others.
Eat slowly and with
Leave all quarrels at the door; that which
Before reading the above, I believed the Empress Catherine possessed a livelier and more pointed wit. Is this a simple pleasantry ? If so it is a bad one, for the shortest jokes are the best. The care which lias been taken to preserve the statutes, as though of great value, surprises me not less than the want of <«·ood taste which characterises them.
What chiefly provoked my laughter on reading this social code, was the use that had been made of the poem of Frediakofsky. Woe to the poet immortalised by a sovereign !
Г leave to-morrow for Moscow.
ГНЕ MINISTER OF WAR.169
THE MINISTER OF WAR, AN EVASION. THE FORTRESS OF
SCHLUSSELBURG.FORMALITIES.TROUBLESOME POLITENESS.
HALLUCINATIONS.—K.OTZEBUE IN SIBERIA.THE FELDJAGER.
MANUFACTORIES OF PETERSBURG. HOUSES OF RUSSIAN PEA
SANTS. A RUSSIAN INN. — DIRTINESS OF THE PEOPLE. THE
COUNTRY WOMEN.—BAD ROADS.—THE ENGINEER AND HIS WIFE.
THE SLUICES OF SCHLUSSELBURG.UNION OF THE CASPIAN
AND BALTIC. —THE SOURCE OF THE NEVA. INUNDATIONS OF
PETERSBURG. THE INTERIOR OF THE FORTRESS OF SCHLUSSEL
BURG. THE TOMB OF IVAN.ANGER OF THE COMMANDANT.
STATE PRISONERS. — A DINNER WITH THE MIDDLE CLASSES IN
RUSSIA.NATURAL CAUSTICITY OF THE PEOPLE.POLITE CON
VERSATION.—MADAME DE GENLIS.—FRENCH MODERN LITERA
TURE PROHIBITED. A NATIONAL DISH. — DIFFERENCE IN THE
MANNERS OF THE HIGHER AND MIDDLE CLASSES.RETURN TO
PETERSBURG.
On the day of the fete at Peterhoff, I had asked the minister of war what means I should take in order to obtain permission to see the fortress of Schlusselburg.
This grave person is the Count Tchernieheff. The brilliant aide-de-camp, the elegant envoy of Alexander at the court of Napoleon, is become a sedate man, a man of importance, and one of the most active ministers of the empire. Not a morning passes without his transacting business with the emperor. He replied, ' I will communicate your desire to his majesty.' This tone of prudence, mingled with an
VOL, II.I
170FORTRESS OF SCHLUSSELBURG.
air of surprise, made me feel that the answer was very significative. My request, simple as I had thought it, was evidently an important one in the eyes of the minister. To think of visiting a fortress that had become historical since the imprisonment and death of Ivan VI., which took place in the reign of the Empress Elizabeth, was enormous presumption. 1 perceived that I had touched a tender chord, and said no more on the subject.
Some days after this, namely, the day before yesterday, at the moment I was preparing to depart for Moscow, I received a letter from the minister of war, announcing permission to see the sluices of Schlusselburg !
The ancient Swedish fortress, called the key of the Baltic by Peter Т., is situated precisely at the source of the Neva, on an island in the lake of Ladoga, to which the river serves as a natural canal, that carries its superfluous waters into the Gulf of Finland. This canal, otherwise called the Neva, receives, however, n large accession of water, which is considered as exclusively the source of the river, and which rises up under the waves immediately beneath the wall of the fortress of Schlusselburg, between the river and the lake. The spring is one of the most remarkable natural curiosities in Eussia; and the surrounding scenery, though very flat, like all other scenery in the country, is the most interesting in the environs of Petersburg.
By means of a canal, with sluices, the boats avoid the danger caused by the spring: they leave the lake before reaching the source of the Neva, and enter the river about half a league below.
FORMALITIES.
171
This then was the interesting work which I was permitted to examine.
I had requested to see a state prison ; my request was met by a permission to sec the floodgates.
The minister of Avar ended his note Ъу informing me that the aide-de-camp, general director of the roads of the empire, had received orders to give me every facility for making this journey.
Facility! Good heavens! to what trouble had my curiosity exposed me, and what a lesson of discretion had they given me, by the exhibition of so much ceremony, qualified by so much politeness! Not to avail myself of the permission, when orders had been sent respecting me throughout the route, would have been to incur the charge of ingratitude ; yet to examine the sluices with Russian minuteness, without even seeing the castle of Schlusselburg, was to fall with my eyes open into the snare and to lose a day ; a serious loss, at this already advanced season, if I am to see all that I purpose seeing in Russia, without altogether passing the winter there.
I state facts. The reader can draw the conclusions. They have not here yet ventured to speak freely of the iniquities of the reign of Elizabeth. Any thing that might lead to reflection on the nature of the legitimacy of the present power passes for an impiety. It was therefore necessary to represent my request to the emperor. He would neither grant it nor directly refuse it; he therefore modified it, and granted me permission to admire a wonder of industry which 1 had no intention of seeing. From the emperor, this permission was forwarded to the minister, from the minister to the director-general, from the director-general to a chief i 2
