the landscape, and made the road seem less monotonous than those I had hitherto travelled in Russia; not that the scenery was picturesque in the ordinary acceptation of the word, it was only less desolate than it is on the other side of the city : besides, I have a predilection for melancholy landscapes; there is always a species of grandeur in a scene, the contemplation of which produces reverie. I prefer, as regards poetical effect, the borders of the Neva to the plain between Mont-martre and St. Denis, or the rich wheat fields of La Beauce and La Brie.
The appearance of several villages surprised me ; they displayed signs of wealth, and even a sort of rustic elegance, which was very pleasing. The neat wooden houses form the line of a single street. They are painted, and their roofs are loaded with ornaments winch might be considered rather ostentatious, if a comparison were made between the exterior luxury and the internal lack of conveniences and cleanliness in these architectural toys. One regrets to see a taste for superfluities among a people not yet acquainted with necessaries; besides, on examining them more closely, these habitations are discovered to be ill built.
Always the same taste for that which addresses the eye ! Both peasants and lords take more pleasure
A RUSSIAN INN.
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iu ornamenting the road than in beautifying the interior of their dwellings. They feed here upon the admiration, or perhaps the envy, which they excite. But enjoyment, real enjoyment, where is it ? The Russians themselves would be puzzled to answer the question.
Wealth in Russia is the food of vanity. The only magnificence that pleases me is that which makes no show, and I therefore find fault with every thing here which they wish me to admire. A nation of decorators will never inspire me with any other feeling than that of fearing lest I should become their dupe. On entering the theatre where their artificial representations are exhibited, I have but one desire ; that, namely, of looking behind the curtain, a corner of which I am ever tempted to lift up. I came to see a country, I find only a playhouse.
I had ordered a relay of horses ten leagues from Petersburg. Four, ready harnessed, awaited me in a village, where 1 found a kind of Russian
An immense wooden shed, plank walls on three sides, plank flooring and plank ceiling, formed the hall of entrance, and occupied the greater part of the rustic dwelling. Notwithstanding the free currents of air, I found it redolent of that odour of onions, cabbages, and old greasy leather, which Russian villages and Russian villagers invariably exhale.
A superb stallion, tied to a post, occupied the attention of several men who were engaged in the dif-
* Venta, a Spanish country inn. —
178
A RUSSIAN INJSr.
ticult task of shoeing him. The magnificent but un-
оо
tractable animal belonged, I was told, to the stud of a neighbouring lord : the eight persons who were endeavouring to manage him, all displayed a figure, a costume, and a countenance that was striking. The population of the provinces adjoining the capital is not, however, handsome : it is not even Russian, being much mixed with the race of the Finns, who resemble the Laplanders.
They tell me that in the interior of the empire I shall find perfect models of Grecian statues, several of which I have indeed already seen in Petersburg, where the nobles are often attended by the men born on their distant estates.
Л low and confined room adjoined this immense shed ; it reminded me of the cabin of some river boat; walls, ceiling, floor, seats, and tables, were all of wood rudely hewn. The smell of cabbage and pitch was extremely powerful.
In this retreat, almost deprived of air and light, for the doors were low, and the windows extremely small, I found an old woman busy serving tea to four or five bearded peasants, clothed in pelisses of sheepskin, the wool of which is turned inwards, for it has already, and for some days past, become rather cold.* These men were of short stature. Their leather pelisses were rather tasteful, but they were very ill scented : I know nothing except the perfumes of the nobles that could be more so. On the table stood a bright copper kettle and a teapot. The tea is always of good quality, well made, and, if it is not pre-
* This is the 1st of August.
CHARACTEK OF THE RUSSIANS.179
ferred pure, good milk is every where to be obtained. This elegant beverage served up in barns, I say barns for politeness-sake, reminds me of the chocolate of the Spaniards. It forms one of the thousand contrasts with which the traveller is struck at every step he takes among these two people, equally singular, though in many of their ways as different as the climates they inhabit.
I have often said that the Russian people have a sentiment of the picturesque : among the groups of men and animals that surrounded me in this interior of a Russian farm house, a painter would have found subjects for several charming pictures.
The red or blue shirt of the peasants is buttoned over the collar bone, and drawn close round the loins by a girdle, above which it lies in antique folds, and below forms an open tunic that falls over the pantaloon. The long Persian robe, often left open, which, when the men do not work, partly covers this blouse, the hair worn long and parted on the forehead, but shaved close behind rather higher than the nape, so as to discover all the strength of the neck —does not this form an original and graceful picture ? The wild yet, at the same time, gentle expression of the Russian peasants also possesses grace: their elegant forms, their suppleness, their broad shoulders, the sweet smile of their mouth, the mixture of tenderness and ferocity which is discernible in their wild and melancholy look, render their general appearance as diiferent from that of our labourers as the land they cultivate differs from the rest of Europe. Every thing is new here for a stranger. The natives possess a certain charm which can be felt though not expressed: i 6
180DIRTINESS OF THE PEOPLE.
it is the oriental languor combined with the romantic reverie of a northern people ; and all this is exhibited in an uncultured yet noble form, which imparts to it the merit of a primitive endowment. These people inspire much more interest than confidence. The common orders in Russia are amusing knaves : they may be easily led if they are not deceived; but as soon as they see that their masters or their masters' agents lie more than themselves, they plunge into the lowest depths of falsehood and meanness. They who would civilise a people must themselves possess worth of character—the barbarism of the serf accuses the corruptness of the noble.
If the reader be surprised at the ill-nature of my judgments, he will be yet more so when I add that I do but express the general opinion ; the only difference is, that I express openly what every one here conceals, with a prudence that none would be surprised at if they saw, as I do, to what extent this virtue, which excludes so many others, is necessary to those who live in Russia.
