inborn taste for travelling and for poetry. If a position of so little importance as the one which I occupy in our literature has procured me such advantages, it is easy to conceive the influence which the talents that among us rule the thinking world, must exercise.
This apostleship of our authors constitutes the real power of France : but what responsibility does not such a vocation carry with it! It is, however, viewed as are other offices; the desire of obtaining it causes the danger of exercising it to be forgotten. As re-gards myself, if, during the course of my life, I have understood and felt one sentiment of ambition, it has been that of sharing, according to my powers, in this government of the human mind, as superior to political power as electricity is to gunpowder.
A great deal was said to me about Jean Sbogar; and when it was known that I had the happiness of being personally acquainted with the author, a thousand qiiestions were asked me regarding him. Would that I had had, in order to answer, the talent for narration which he possesses in so high a degree !
One of the brothers-in-law of the governor has taken me to see the Convent of the Transfigm·ation, which serves as residence for the archbishop of Yaroslaf. This monastery, like all the Greek religious houses, is a kind of low citadel, enclosing several
142BYZANTINE STYLE IN THE ARTS.
churches, and numerous small edifices of every style except the good style.
The only thing that appeared to me novel and striking in the visit, was the devotion of my guide,
Prince. He bent his forehead, and applied his
lips, with a fervour that was surprising, to all the objects presented for the veneration of the faithful; and in this convent, which encloses several sanctuaries, he performed the same ceremonies in twenty different places. Mean while his drawing-room conversation announced nothing of this devotion of the cloister. He concluded by inviting me also to kiss the relies of a saint whose tomb a monk had opened for us. I saw him make at least fifty signs of the cross; he kissed twenty images and relies: in short, not any one of our nuns in the seclusion of her convent would repeat so many genufluxions, salutations, and inclinations of the head in passing and repassing the high altar of her church, as did this Russian prince, an old officer and aide-de-camp of the Emperor Alexander, in presence of a stranger, in the monastery of the Transfiguration.
The Greeks cover the walls of their churches with fresco paintings in the Byzantine style. A foreigner feels at first some respect for these representations, because he believes them ancient; but when he finds that the churches which appear the most ancient have been recoloured, and often rebuilt but yesterday, his veneration soon changes into profound ennui. The madonnas, even the ones most newly painted, resemble those that were brought into Italy towards the end of the middle aces, to revive there the taste for art. But since then, the Italians — their genius electrized by the con-
Г01ХТЗ OF DISPUTE IN ТПЕ GREEK СНШ1СП. 143
quering spirit of the Roman church — have perceived and pursued the grand and the beautiful, and have produced all that the world has seen of most sublime in every branch of art; during which time the Greeks of the Lower Empire, and the Russians after them, have continued faithfully to chalk their Virgins of the eighth century.
The Eastern Church has never been favourable to the arts. Since schism was declared, she has done nothing but benumb all minds with the subtleties of theology. In the present day, the true believers in Russia dispute seriously among themselves as to whether it is permitted to give the natural flesh-colour to the heads of the Virgin, or if it is necessary to continue to colour them, like the pretended madonnas of St. Luke, with that tint of bistre which is so unnatural. There is also much dispute among them as to the manner of representing the rest of the person : it is uncertain whether the body ought to be painted, or imitated in metal and enclosed in a kind of cuirass, which leaves the face alone visible, or sometimes the eyes only. The reader must explain to himself, as he best can, why a metallic body appears more decent in the eyes of the Greek priests than canvas painted as a woman's robe.
'We are not yet at the end of the great points of dispute in the Greek church. Certain doctors, whose number is large enough to form a sect, have conscientiously separated themselves from the mother-church because she now shields .within her bosom impious innovators, who permit the priests to give the sacerdotal benediction with three fingers of the hand, whereas the true tradition wills that the fore and
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144
THE ZACUSKA,
middle fingers only shall be eharged with the task of dispensing blessings upon the faithful.
Such are the questions now agitated in the Greco-Russian church; and let it not be supposed that they are considered puerile : they inflame passions, provoke heresy, and decide the fate of men in this world and in the next. To return to my entertainers :
The great Russian nobles appear to me more amiable in the provinces than at court.
The wife of the governor of Yaroslaf has, at this moment, all her family united around her; several of her sisters, with their husbands and children, are lodged in her house : she admits also to her table the principal employes of her husband, who are inhabitants of the city; her son also is still attended by a tutor; so that at dinner there were twenty persons to sit down to table.
It is the custom of the north to precede the principal repast by a smaller refection, which is served in the saloon, a quarter of an hour before entering the dining-room. This preliminary, which is destined to sharpen the appetite, is called in Russian, if my ear has not deceived me, zacuska. The servants bring upon trays small plates filled with fresh caviare, such as is only eaten in this country, dried fish, cheese, salt meats, sea biscuits, and pastry; with these, bitter liqueurs, French brandy, London porter, Hungarian wine, &c, are also brought in; and these things are eaten and drunk standing. A stranger, ignorant of the usages of the country, or an appetite easily satisfied, might very soon here make a meal, and remain afterwards a spectator only of the real dinner. The Russians eat plentifully, and keep a liberal table :
RUSSIAN DINNERS,145
but they are too fond of hashes, stuffing, little balls of minee-meat, and fish in pates.
One of the most delicate fishes in the world is caught in the Volga, where it abounds. It is called the sterled, and unites the flavour of the sea and fresh water fishes, without, however, resembling any that I have eaten elsewhere. This fish is large, its flesh light and fine; its head, pointed and full of cartilages, is considered delicate; the monster is seasoned very skilfully, but without many spices : the sauce that is served with it unites the flavour of wine, strong' meat broth, and lemon-juice. I prefer this national dish to all the other ragouts of the land, and especially to the cold and sour soup, that species of fish-broth, iced, that forms the detestable treat of the Russians. They also make soups of sugared vinegar, of which I have tasted enough to prevent my ever asking for
