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

The Russian people have a natural perception of the picturesque; their customs, furniture, utensils, costume and figure, would all furnish subject for the painter, and the corner of every street in Petersburg might suggest material for a picture graceful in its kind.

But to complete the description of the national costume:—in place of our frock and great-coats, is substituted the cafetan, a long and loose Persian robe made of grey, olive, or yet more commonly, of blue

144THE DROWSKA.

cloth. The folds of this robe, which has no collar, but is c;it close to the neck, form an ample drapery, drawn together ro;ind the loins by a brightly coloured silken or woollen girdle. The boots are large, and take the form of the foot. On the legs the high leather falls down, or is doubled back over itself, in not ungraceful folds.

The singular form of the drowska is well known; imitations, more or less exact, are to be seen every where. It is the lowest and smallest carriage imaginable, being almost hid by the two or three persons that it carries. It consists of a stuffed seat, protected by four splash-boards of polished leather. This seat is supported on four extremely low wheels, by four little springs, and is placed lengthwise. The driver sits before, his feet almost touching the hocks of his horses, and close behind, astride the seat, his masters are jammed together, for two men sometimes mount the same drowska. I have not seen how the women manage. To these singular vehicles, small as they are, one, two, and sometimes three horses are attached. The shaft horse has his head fixed in a large and raised semi-circle of wood, which gives the idea of a moving triumphal arch. It is not a collar, for the neck of the horse is far below the wood ; it is rather a hoop, through which the animal seems to be proudly passing. The different parts of the harness are wrell adapted to correspond with this not ungraceful hoop, a bell attached to which announces the approach of the drowska.

In observing this lowest of all equipages gliding swiftly between two lines of the lowest built of all

WOODEN PAVEMENTS.145

houses, one can scarcely realise the idea of being in Europe. The second horse, fastened on the near side of the former, is yet less confined ; his head is left free, and he is kept constantly on the gallop, when even his comrade in harness only trots.

Originally the drowska was nothing more than a rough plank, placed between four little wheels, on axles almost touching the earth. This primitive coach has been greatly improved, but it still preserves its original lightness and its strange appearance. In striding the seat one feels as if mounting some tamed animal; but if this species of horseback is not liked, the party seats himself sideways, holding by the coachman, who always drives at a gallop.

There is a new kind of drowska, in which the seat is not fixed lengthwise, and the body of which has the form of a tilbury. It is an approach to the carriages of other lands, and savours of the English modes; so much the worse, for among all people I love that which is national, and regret that it should ever become obsolete ! These scarcely perceptible coaches are rudely jolted over the uneven stones of the streets of Petersburg, though in certain quarters the pavement is improved by two lines of wooden blocks laid down on each side of the way. Over such pavements, which are found in the larger streets, the horses proceed with great rapidity, especially in dry weather, for the rain renders them slippery. These mosaics of the north are expensive by reason of the continual repairs which they require, but they are preferable to the stones.

The movements of the men whom I met appeared stiff and constrained; every gesture expressed a

vol. i.и

146PETERSBURG IN THE MORNING.

will which was not their own. The morning is the time for commissions and errands, and not one individual appeared to be walking on his own account. I observed few good looking women, and heard no girlish voices ; every thing was dull and regular as in a barrack. Military discipline reigns throughout Russia. The aspect of the country makes me regret Spain as much as though I had been born an Andalusian: it is not however the heat which I want, for that here is almost suffocating : it is light and light-heartedness. Love and liberty for the heart, brilliancy and variety of colour for the eye, are here unknown : in a word, Russia is in all respects the very opposite of Spain. Fancy can almost descry the shadow of death hovering over this portion of the globe.

Now appears a cavalry officer passing at full gallop to bear an order to some commanding officer; then a chasseur carrying an order to some provincial governor, perhaps at the other extremity of the empire, whither he proceeds in a kibitka, a little Russian chariot, without springs or stuffed seat. This vehicle, driven by an old bearded coachman, rapidly conveys the courier, whose rank would prevent his using a more commodious equipage had he one at his disposal. Next are seen foot soldiers returning from exercise to their quarters, in order to receive orders from their captain. This automaton population resembles one side of a chess-board, where a single individual causes the movements of all the pieces, but where the adversary is invisible. One neither moves nor respires here except by an imperial order; consequently everything is dull, formal, and

TYRANNY AND DESPOTISM.147

spiritless. Silence presides oyer and paralyses life. Officers, coachmen, Cossacks, serfs, courtiers, all servants under the same master, blindly obey the orders which they do not understand; it is certainly the perfection of discipline; but the sight of such perfection does not gratify me; so much regularity can only be obtained by the entire absence of independence.

Among this people bereft of time and of will, we see only bodies without souls, and tremble to think that, for so vast a multitude of arms and legs, there is only one head. Despotism is a union of impatience and of indolence ; with a little more forbearance on the part of the governing power, and of activity on the part of the people, equal results might be obtained at a far cheaper cost; but what then would become of tyranny ?

If I am reproached for confounding despotism with tyranny, I answer that I do so with design. They are such near relatives, that they never fail to unite in secret to the misfortune of mankind. Under a despotism, tyranny may maintain itself the longer, because it preserves the mask.

`YYlien Peter the Great established what is here called the tchin, that is to say, when he applied the military system to the general administration of the empire, he changed his nation into a regiment of mutes, of which he declared himself and his successors the hereditary colonels.

Let the reader imagine the ambition, the rivalry,

and all the other passions of war in operation during

a state of peace ; let his mind conceive an absence

of all that constitutes social and domestic happiness

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148Л RUSSIAN HOTEL.

and, in place of these, let him picture to himself the universal agitation of an ever-restless though secret intrigue, — secret, because the mask is essential to success; finally, let him realise the idea of the almost complete apparent triumph of the will of one man over the will of God, and he will understand Russia.

As the morning advances, the city becomes more noisy, without however appearing more gay; one sees only carriages, little distinguished for elegance, carrying at the full speed of their two, four, or six horses, people always in haste, because their life is passed in thus making their way. Pleasure without any