Russia in 1839 -Empire of the Czar: A Journey Through Eternal Russia

India : it has been less often described and pic-torially illustrated `, it is nevertheless as curious a country as any in Asia, even as relates to the arts, to poetry, and to history.

Every mind seriously occupied with the ideas which ferment in the political world, cannot but profit by examining, on the spot, a community, governed on the principles which directed the most ancient states named in the annals of the world, and yet, already imbued with the ideas that are common among the most modern and revolutionary nations. The patriarchal tyranny of the Asiatic governments, in contact with the theories of modern philanthropy, the character of the people of the East and West, incompatible by nature, yet united together by coercion in a state of society semi-barbarous, but kept in order by fear, present a spectacle that can be only seen in

258DRESS 0Г THE WOMEX.

Russia, and, assuredly, one which no man who thinks, would regret the trouble of going to contemplate.

The social, intellectual, and political state of present Russia is the result, and, so to speak, the resume of the reigns of Ivan IV., surnamcd, by Russia herself, the Terrible; of Peter the First, called the Great by the men who glory in aping Europe; and of Catharine II., deified by a people that dreams of the conquest of the world. Such is the formidable heritage over which the Emperor Nicholas holds sway — God knows to what purpose, and our posterity will know also !

I continue to meet, here and there, a few female peasants who are tolerably pretty, but I do not cease to exclaim against the ungraceful appearance of their costume. It is not by their attire that the taste for the picturesque, which I attribute to the Russians, must be judged. The dress of these women would spoil beauty the most perfect. They are, I think, the only females in the world who have taken it into their heads to make themselves a waist above instead of below the bosom. Their shapeless sacks rather than gowns, are drawn together close under the armpits. At the first sight, their entire person gives me the idea of a bale or large loose parcel, in which all the parts of the body are confounded together without care, and yet without liberty. But this costume has other inconveniences rather difficult to describe. One of the worst is, that a Russian female peasant could suckle her child over her shoulder, as do the Hottentots. Such is the inevitable deformity produced by a fashion which destroys the shape of the body. The Circassian females, who better understand the beauty

THE SEE-SAW.

259

of woman and the means of preserving it, wear, from their years of childhood, a belt round the waist, which they never cast off.

I observed at Torjeck a variety in the toilette of the women, which perhaps deserves to be mentioned. The females of that town wear a short mantle of velvet, silk, or black cloth, a kind of pelerine which I have not seen elsewhere, it being, imlike any other sort of cape, entirely closed in front, and opening behind between the two shoulders. It is more singular than pretty or convenient ; but singularity suffices to amuse a stranger : what we seek in travelling, are proofs that we are not at home; though this is just what the Russians will not comprehend. The talent of imitating is so natural to them, that they are quite shocked when told that their land resembles no other. Originality, which to us appears a merit, is to them the remains of barbarism. They imagine that after we have given ourselves the trouble of coining so far to see them, we ought to esteem ourselves very fortunate to find, a thousand leagues from home, a bad parody of what we have left behind through love of change.

The see-saw is the favourite amusement of the Russian peasants. This exercise developes their natural talent for adjusting the equilibrium of the body ; in addition to which, it is a silent pleasure, and quiet diversions best accord with the feelings of a people rendered prudent by fear.

Silence presides over all the festivals of the Russian villagers. They drink plentifully, speak little, and shout less ; they either remain silent, or sing in chorus, with a nasal voice, melancholy and prolonged

260THE SEE-SAW.

notes, which form a harmonious but by no means noisy accord. I have been surprised, however, to observe that almost all these melodies are deficient in simplicity.

On Sunday, in passing through populous villages, I observed rows of from four to eight young girls balancing themselves, by a scarcely perceptible movement of their bodies, on boards suspended by ropes, while, at a little distance beyond, an equal number of boys were fixed iu the same manner, in face of the females. Their mute game lasted a long time; I have never had patience to wait its conclusion. Such gentle balancing is only a kind of interlude, which serves as a relaxation in the intervals of the animated diversion of their real swing or see-saw. This is a very lively game ; it even renders the spectator nervous. Four cords hang from a lofty cross-beam, and, at about two feet from the earth, sustain a plank, on whose extremities two persons place themselves. This plank, and the four posts which support it, are placed in such a manner that the balancing may be performed either backwards and forwards or from side to side. The two performers, sometimes of the same, sometimes of the opposite sexes, place themselves, always standing, and with legs firmly planted, on the two extremities of the plank, where they preserve their balance by taking hold of the cords. In this attitude they are impelled through the air to a frightful height, for at every swing the machine reaches the point beyond which it would turn completely over, and its occupiers be dashed to the earth from a height of thirty or forty feet, for I have seen posts at least twenty feet high. The Russians, whose frames

BEAUTIFUL FEMALE PEASANTS.261

are singularly supple, easily maintain a balance that is to us astonishing; they exhibit much grace, boldness, and agility, in this exercise.

I have purposely stopped in several villages to observe the girls and young men thus amuse themselves together; and I have at last seen some female faces perfectly beautiful. Their complexion is of a delicate whiteness ; their colour is, so to speak, under the skin, which is transparent and exquisitively smooth. Their teeth are brilliantly white; and—rarely seen beauty ! — their mouths are perfectly formed copies of the antique ; their eyes, generally blue, have nevertheless the oriental cast of expression, with also that unquiet and furtive glance natural to the Slavonians, who can in general look sideways, and even behind, without turning their heads. Their whole appearance possesses a great charm; but, whether from a caprice of nature, or the effects of costume, these beauties are much less often seen united in the women than in the men. Among a hundred female peasants we perhaps meet with one really beautiful, whilst the great majority of the men are remarkable for the form of their heads, and the gracefulness of their features. Among- the old men there are faces with rosy cheeks and silver hair and beard, of which it may be said that time has imparted of dignity more than it has taken of youth. There are heads that would be more beautiful iir pictures than any thing that I have seen of Rubens' or Titian's, but I have never observed an elderly female face worthy of being painted.

I sometimes see a regularly Grecian profile united with features of so extreme a delicacy that the

262RUSSIAN COTTAGES.

expression of the countenance loses nothing by the perfect regularity of the lines. In such cases I am struck with unbounded admiration. The more common mould, however, of the features of both men and women is that of