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

the Calmuc — high cheek-bones and flattened noses.

I have entered into several of the Russian cottages at the hour when the peasants retire to rest. These cabins are almost deprived of vital air, and have no beds: men and women lie stretched pellmcll on the wooden benches which form a divan around the chamber; but the dirtiness of these rustic bivouacs has always arrested my progress; I have quickly retreated, though never speedily enough to avoid carrying away in my clothes some living memorial, as a punishment for my indiscreet curiosity.

As a protection against the short but fervent heats of summer, a divan, under a species of veranda, runs round some cottages, and serves as a bed for the family, who even sometimes prefer sleeping on the naked earth. Recollections of the East pursue the traveller everywhere. At all the post-houses into which I have entered at night, I have invariably found, ranged in the street before the door, numerous bundles of black sheep-skins. These fleeces, which I at first took for sacks, were men sleeping under the bright canopy of heaven. TV'e have, this year, heats such as have not been known in the memory of man in Russia.

The sheep-skins, cut out as little over-coats, serve not only for clothes, but likewise for beds, carpets, and tents to the Russian peasants. The workmen, when, during the heat of the day, they take their

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siesta in the fields, make a picturesque tent of these pelisses to protect themselves from the rays of the sun. 'With the ingenious address which distinguishes the Russian labourer from those of the west of Europe, they pass the sleeves of their eoat over the two handles of their wheelbarrows, and then, turning this moveable roof towards the sun, they sleep tranquilly under the rustic drapery. The sheep-skin coats are graceful in shape, and would be pretty if they were not generally so old and greasy. A poor peasant cannot often renewT a vesture which costs so much.

The Russian labourer is industrious, and is ready for every difficulty in which he may be placed. He never goes out without his small hatchet, which is useful for a hundred purposes in the hands of a dexterous man in a country which is not yet in want of woods. With a Russian by your side, were you to lose yourself in a forest, you would in a very few hours have a house to pass the night in, perhaps more commodious, and assuredly more clean, than the houses of the old villages. But if the ti`aveller possessed small articles of leather among

be safe nowhere. The Russians steal! with the address which they exhibit on all occasions, the straps, girths, and leathern aprons of your trunks and carriages, though the same men show every sign of being extremely devout.

I have never travelled a stage without my coachman making at least twenty signs of the cross to salute as many little chapels. Ready to fulfil with the same punctilio his obligations of politeness, he salutes also with his hat every waggoner that he meets, and their number is great. These formalities

264CHARACTER OF THE SERFS.

accomplished, we arrive at the end of the stage, when it is invariably found that either in putting to or detaching the horses, the adroit, pious, polite rogue has abstracted something, perhaps a leather pouch, a strap, or a wrapper; perhaps only a nail, a screw, or a wax candle from the lamps : in short, he never leaves with altogether clean hands.

These men are extremely greedy of money; but they dare not complain when ill paid, which has often been the case with those who have driven us the last few days, for my fekljagcr retains for himself a portion of the postillion's fees, which, together with the hire of the horses for the entire journey, I paid him in advance at Petersburg. Having once observed this trick, I compensated out of my own pocket the unfortunate postillion, thus deprived of a part of the wages which, according to the ordinary custom of travellers, he had a right to expect from me ; but the knavish feldjager, having perceived my generosity (for this was the name he gave to my justice), had the audacity to complain to me openly,— saying that he could no longer act for me on the journey if I continued to thwart him in the legitimate exercise of his power.

But how can we be surprised at the want of proper feelings among the common people, in a country where the great regard the most simple rules of probity as laws proper for plebeians, but which cannot extend to persons of their rank ? Let it not be supposed that I exaggerate, I state what I perceive : an aristocratic pride, degenerated in its character, and at variance with the true sentiment of honour, reiens in liussia among the greater number of influential families. Recently a great lady made to me, little knowing

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it, an ingenuous confession: it the more siirprised me, because such sentiments, sufficiently common here among the men, are less so among the women, who have generally preserved better than their husbands and brothers the traditions of just and noble feelings. ' It is impossible for us,' she said, ' to form any clear idea of a social state like that of yours. They tell me that in France, at present, the highest noble can be put in prison for a debt of two hundred francs ; this is revolting: how different from oiir country ! There is not in all Russia a tradesman who would dare to refuse us credit for an unlimited period. With your aristocratic notions,' she added, 'you must surely find yourself more at home with us. There is greater similarity between the French of the old regime and us, than between any other of the European nations.'

I cannot describe the effort of self-command that it required on my part to prevent myself from suddenly and loudly protesting against the affinity of which this lady boasted. Notwithstanding my obligatory prudence, I could not help saying, that a man who would полу pass among ourselves for an ultra-aristocrat, might be easily classed at Petersburg with the violent liberals; and I concluded by observing, ' When you assure me that, among your families, people do not think it necessary to pay their debts, I must not take you at your word.'

' You are wrong: many of us have enormous fortunes, but they would be rained if they were to pay all they owed.'

In order to explain to me the extent to which the fashionable world is imbued with the French genius

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FEMALE POLITICIANS.

and spirit, the same lady related to me instances of impromptu answers in verse, made in a game at the house of one of her relatives. ' You see how completely French we are,' she added, with a pride that awoke my inward risibility. ' Yes, more so than we ourselves,' I replied; and we changed the subject of discourse. I can picture to myself the astonishment of this Franco-Russian lady entering the salons* of

Madame, in Paris, and inquiring of our actual

France what has become of the France of Louis XV. ?

Under the Empress Catherine, the conversation of the palace, and of some of the nobility, resembled that of the saloons of Paris. In the present day our discourse is more serious, or, at least, more bold than that of any of the other European people; and, in this respect, our modern Frenchmen are far from resembling the Russians, for we talk of every thing, and the Russians speak of nothing.

The reign of Catherine is profoundly impressed on the memories of several Russian ladies. These fair aspirantes to the title of female statesmen have a talent for polities; and, as some of them add to that «rift manners which altogether remind us of the eighteenth century, they are so many travelling