' I hope that you will not be content with merely seeing Petersburg. What is your plan of route in visiting my country ? '
' Sire, I wish to leave immediately after the fete of PeterhoiF.'
' Togo?'
i? To Moscow and Nijna.'
' Good: but you will be there too soon : you will leave Moscow before my arrival, and I should have been glad to see you thei`e.'
' This observation of your majesty's will cause me to change my plan.'
' So much the better ; we will show you the new works that we are making at the Kremlin. My object is to render the architecture of these old edifices better adapted to the uses now made of them. The palace was inconveniently small for me. You
ENGLISH XOBLEMAX.257
will be present also at a curious ceremony on the plain of Borodino: I am to place there the first stone of a monument which we are about to erect in commemoration of that battle.'
I remained silent, and no doubt the expression of my face became serious. The emperor fixed his eyes on me, and then continued, in a tone of kindness and with a delicacy and even sensibility of manner which touched my heart, — ' The inspection of the manoeuvres
' Sire, every thing interests me in Russia.'
I saw the old Marquis D, who has only one
leg, dance the polonaise with the empress. Lame as he is, he can get through this dance, which is nothing more than a solemn procession. He has arrived here with his sons: they travel like real great lords; a yacht brought them from London to Petersburg, where they have had forwarded English horses and carriages in great number. Their equipages are the most elegant, if they are not the most sumptuous, in Petersburg. These travellers are treated with marked attention. They are intimate with the imperial family. The emperor's love of field sports, and the recollection of liis journey to London when Grand Duke, have established between him and the Marquis D —— that kind of familiarity which, it appears to me, must be more pleasant to the princes than to the private individuals who have become the objects of such favour. Where friendship is impossible, intimacy I should think can be only constraining. One would have said, to have sometimes seen the manners of the marquis's sons towards the members of the imperial family, that they thought on this subject as I did. If
25«
ANECDOTE.
freedom of manners and speech should gain a footing at court, where will falsehood and politeness find a refuge ? *
Young is at Petersburg: we meet every
where, and with pleasure ; he is a type of the Frenchman of the present day, but truly well bred. He appears to be enchanted with every thing. This satisfaction is so natural that it becomes contagious,
* Some days after this was written, a little scene occurred at court which will give some idea of the manners of the most fashionable young people among the English in the present day: they have no right to reproach, nor yet any reason to envy, the least polite of our Parisian exquisites : — what a difference between this kind of blackguard elegance, and the politeness of the Buckinghams, the L·auzuns, and the Richelieus ! The empress wished to give a private ball as a mark of attention to this family before their leaving Petersburg. She began by inviting the father, who dances so well with an artificial leg.
' Madame,' replied the old Marquis D, ' I have been loaded
with kindnesses at Petersburg ; but so many pleasures surpass my powers : I hope that your majesty will permit me to take my leave this evening, that I may get on board my yacht tomorrow morning, in order to return to England ; otherwise I shall die of pleasure in Russia.' ' Well, theu, I must give you up,' replied the empress, satisfied with this polite and manly answer, worthy of the times in which the old lord must have first entered the world ; then turning towards the sons of the marquis, whose stay in Petersburg was to be prolonged : ' At least I may depend on you ?' she said to the eldest. ' Madame,' replied this individual, ' we are engaged to hunt the rein-deer to-day.' The empress, who is said to be proud, was not discouraged, and, addressing herself to the younger brother, said, ' You, at least, will remain with me ? ' The young man, at a loss for an excuse, and not knowing what to answer, in his vexation turned to his brother, murmuring, loudly enough to be overheard, 'Am I then to be the victim?' This anecdote went the round of the whole court.
THE FKENCII AMBASSADOR.259
and I doubt not the young man pleases as much as he is pleased. He travels to advantage, is well informed, and collects numerous facts, which he can number better than he can class ; for at his age it is more easy to sum up than to arrange. But what a richly varied conversation is that of our ambassador ! and how much will literature regret the time which he gives to politics, unless the latter be only a study by which the former will profit hereafter ! Never was a man more perfectly adapted to his place, or one who played his part with greater ability, united with more apparent ease and freedom from any assumption of importance. It is this combination which appears to me to constitute, in the present day, the condition of success for every Frenchman occupied with public affairs. No one, since the revolution of July, has fulfilled, so well as M. de Barante, the difficult charge of French ambassador at Petersburg.
In connection with the marriage fetes c;iven in honour of the Grand Duchess Marie, a little incident occurred which will remind the reader of what often happened at the court of the Emperor Napoleon.
The grand chamberlain had died shortly before the marriage, and his office had been given to Count Golowkin, formerly Russian ambassador to China, to which country he could not obtain access. This nobleman, entering upon the functions of his office on the occasion of the marriage, had less experience than his predecessor. A young chamberlain, appointed by him, managed to incur the wrath of the emperor, and exposed his superior to a rather severe reprimand: it was at the ball of the Grand Duchess Helena.
The emperor was talking with the Austrian ambas-
260ТПЕ GRAND CHAMBERLAIN.
sador. The young chamberlain received from the Grand Duchess Marie an order to carry her invitation to this ambassador to dance with her. In his zeal the unfortunate
The emperor, shocked with the ignorance of the new chamberlain, said to him, in an elevated tone of voice, ' You have been appointed to a post, sir; learn, therefore, how to fulfil its duties: in the first place, my daughter is not the Duchess of Leuchtenberg — she is called the Grand Duchess Marie*; in the second place, you ought to know that no one interrupts me when I am conversing with any individual.' †
The new chamberlain who received this harsh reprimand was, unfortunately, a poor Polish gentleman. The emperor, not content with what he had said, caused the grand chamberlain to be called, and recommended him to
