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

traveller in the scene, recovered the composure of a philosophic observer.

One word more upon my costume. It had been the subject of grave consultation : some of the young people attached to the French legation had advised the habit of the national guard. I feared, however, that this uniform would displease the Emperor, and decided upon that of a staff officer, with the epaulettes of a lieutenant-colonel, which are those of my rank.

I had been warned that the dress would appear new, and that it would become, on the part of the princes of the imperial family, and of the emperor himself, the subject of numerous questions which might embarrass me. Hitherto, however, none have had time to occupy themselves with so small an affair.

The Greek marriage rites are long and imposing. Every thing is symbolical in the Eastern church. It seemed to me that the splendours of religion shed a lustre over the solemnities of the court.

The Avails and the roof of the chapel, the habiliments of the priests and of their attendants, all glittered with gold and jewels. There are riches enough here to astonish the least poetical imagination. The spectacle vies with the most fanciful description in the Arabian Nights; it is like the poetry of Lalla Rookh, or the Marvellous Lamp, — that Oriental poetry in which sensation prevails over sentiment and thought.

ENTREE OF THE IMPERIAL FAMILY. 201

The imperial chapel is not of large dimensions. It was filled with the representatives of all the sovereigns of Europe, and almost of Asia; by strangers like myself, admitted in the suite of the diplomatic corps ; by the wives of the ambassadors, and by the great officers of the court. A balustrade separated us from the circular enclosure, within which the altar was raised. This altar is like a low square table. Places in the choir were reserved for the imperial family: at the moment of our arrival they were vacant.

I have seen few things that could compare with the magnificence and solemnity which attended the entrance of the Emperor into this chapel, blazing with gold and jewels. He appeared, advancing with the Empress, and followed by the court retinue. All eyes were immediately fixed upon him, and his family, among whom the betrothed pair shone conspicuously. A marriage of inclination celebrated in broidered habiliments, and in a place so pompous, was a novelty which crowned the interest of the scene. This was repeated by every one around me; for my own part I cannot give credit to the marvel, nor can I avoid seeing a politic motive in all that is said and done here. The Emperor perhaps deceives himself, and believes that he is performing acts of paternal tenderness, while in the bottom of his heart he may be secretly influenced in his choice by the hope of personal advantage.

It is with ambition as with avarice; misers always calculate, not excepting even the moment when they believe they are yielding to disinterested sentiments.

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202ATTENDANCE AT COURT.

Although the court was numerous, and the chapel small, there was no confusion. I stood in the midst of the corps diplomatique, near the balustrade which separated us from the sanctuary. We were not so crowded, as to be unable to distinguish the features and movements of each of the personages, whom duty or curiosity had there brought together. No disorder interrupted the respectful silence that was maintained throughout the assembly. A brilliant sun illuminated the interior of the chapel, where the temperature had, I understood, risen to thirty degrees.* ЛУе observed in the suite of the Emperor, habited in a long robe of gold tissue, and a pointed bonnet, likewise adorned with gold embroidery, a Tartar Khan, who is half tributary, and half independent of Russia. This petty sovereign had come to pray the Emperor of all the Russians to admit among his pages a son, twelve years old, whom he had brought to Petersburg, hoping thus to secure for the child a suitable destiny. The presence of this declining power, served as a contrast to that of the successful monarch, and reminded me of the triumphal pomps of Rome.

The first ladies of the Russian court, and the wives of the ambassadors of the other courts, among whom I i`ecognised Mademoiselle Sontag, now Countess de Rossi, graced with their presence the circumference of the chapel. At the lower end, which terminated in a brilliant, painted rotunda, were ranged the whole of the imperial family. The gilded ceiling, reflecting the ardent rays of the sun, formed a species of crown around the heads of the sovereigns and their children.

* Of Reaumur. —Trans.

ETIQUETTE IN CHAPEL.203

The attire and diamonds of the ladies shone with a magic splendour in the midst of all the treasures of xVsia, Avhich beamed upon the Avails of the sanctuary. where royal magnificence seemed to challenge the majesty of the God whom it honoured without forgetting its own.

All this gorgeous display is wonderful, especially to us, if we recall the time, not distant, when the marriage of the daughter of a Czar would have been scarcely heard of in Europe, and when Peter I. declared, that he had a right to leave his crown to whomsoever he pleased. How great a progress for so short a period !

When Ave reflect on the diplomatic and other conquests of this power, which not long since was considered as of but little importance in the civilised world, we are led to ask ourselves if that which Ave see is not a dream. The Emperor himself appeared to me not much accustomed to Avhat Avas passing before him; for he was continually leaving his prayers, and slipping from one side to the other, in order to remedy the omissions of etiquette among his children, or the clergy. This proves, that in Russia, even the court has not yet finished its education. His son-in-laAv was not placed quite conveniently, Avhereupon he made him shift his position by about iavo feet. The Grand Duchess, the priests themselves, and all the great functionaries of the court seemed to be governed bv his minute but supreme directions. I felt that it Avould have been more dignified to leave things as they Avere, and I could have wished that Avhen once in the chapel, God only had been thought of, and each man had been left to acquit himself of his func-K 6

204M. DE PAIILEX.

tions, without his master so scrupulously rectifying each little fault of religious discipline, or of court ceremonial: but in this singular country the absence of liberty is seen every whcre : it is found even at the foot of the altar. Here the spirit of Peter the Great governs the minds of all.

During the mass at a Greek marriage, there is a moment when the betrothed drink together out of the same cup. Afterwards, accompanied by the officiating priest, they pass three times round the altar, hand in hand, to signify the conjugal union, and the fidelity which should attend their walk through life. All these acts are the more imposing, as they recall to mind the customs of the primitive church.

These ceremonies being ended, a crown was next held for a considerable time over the head of each of the newly-married pair; the crown of the Grand Duchess, by her brother the hereditary Grand Duke, the position of which the Emperor himself (once more leaving his prayer desk) took care to adjust, with a mixture of good nature and of minute attention that would be difficult to describe.

The crown of the Duke of Leuchtenberg was held by the Count de Pahlen, Russian ambassador at Paris, and son of the too celebrated and too zealous friend of Alexander. This recollection banished from the conversation, and perhaps from the thoughts, of the Russians of these days, did not cease to occupy my mind the whole time that the Count de Pahlen, with the noble simplicity which is natural to him, was engaged in the performance of an act envied, doubtless, by all who aspired to court favour. That act was an invocation of the protection of heaven,

THE BRIDE.