JOURNAL

A TOUR

GERMANY, SWEDEN, RUSSIA,
POLAND,
DUKING THE YEARS 1813 AND 1814.

BY J. T. JAMES, Esa.
STUDENT OP CHRIST CHURCH, OXFORD.

IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. II.
SECOND EDITION.

LONDON :
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE-STREET.
1817.

T. Davison, Lombard-street,
Whitefriars, London. _

CONTENTS

VOL. II.

PETERSBURG CONTINUED. . . P. 1
SECTION IV.
FROM PETERSBURG TO MOSCOW AND SMOLENSKO.
Road of Peter I. — Peasantry — Criminal Justice — Nov
gorod the Great — Tartar Cottages — Barrows, &c. —
Valdai — Canal of Vishni Volotchok — Communications
with Siberia — Twer — Approach of the French in 1812
— Alarm in these Districts, and again at the Capital —
Mistaken Expectations of the French — Devotion of the
Nobles and the People — State of Affairs kept secret at
Moscow — Sudden Arrival of the French — Conflagration
— Present Appearance of Moscow — Anecdotes of Suf
ferers during the Occupation — Condition of the French
Army — Kremlin: Part destroyed by Explosion —
Extraordinary Instance of Superstition— Magnificence
of the Kremlin — Imperial Coronation, &c. — Mode of
living among the Nobles — Trade of Moscow with
Boukhara, &c. — Devitchi Nunnery — Repairs of the
City since the Conflagration — Relief afforded to the
Inhabitants— .Conduct of the Peasantry — Evacuation

IV CONTENTS.
of Moscow — Return of the Russian Troops, &c. —
Mojaisk — Field of Borodino — Viasma — Inveteracy of
theRustics against the French — Difficulties of the Re
treat — Stand made at Dorogobusch — Misery of the
French — Cruelty of the Russian Peasants — Smolensko
— Disorganized State of the French Army — Its Cause
and Consequence  P. 120
SECTION V.
SOUTH OF RUSSIA AND POLAND.
Mode of Travelling in Russia — Regulation of the Post
— Characteristic Knavery of the Peasants — Jewish
Settlers — Mglin — Starodoub — Citadels — Rude State
of the Country People — Vapour Baths — Tchirravitch
— Remains of the Tartars — Caravans — Pilgrims —
Tchernigoff — Kiev — Sacred Catacombs — Ancient
Churches — Hindoo Architecture — Origin ,of Pointed
Style — Trade — Passage of English Goods excluded
by the French Decrees — Fair — Poland — Jews of Zy-
tomir— Dress — Novgorod Volhynski— Face of Coun
try — Dubno — Austrian Poland — Brody — Lemberg —
Trade of Jews, &c — Commerce in Grain — -Condition
of the lower Classes — Polish Chateau — Visit to the
Countess Potochki at Tulchyzn — Her Establishment-
Society — >Levee — A Marriage — A Party to the Chase
— Wielicsa — Salt-miijes — Duchy of War saw-— Cracow,
present State of — Quarter of the Jews — Their oppress
ed Condition — Their Antiquity — Polish Nobility and
Vassals — Costume — Feelings of the Country with re
gard to late Events, &c.—Bielitz. . . . P 301

JOURNAL.

PETERSBURG CONTINUED.
1 he personal character of the reigning
emperor is chiefly distinguished by great
affability and condescension, which is car
ried to such a degree, as would be wholly
incompatible with his situation, if the go
vernment were of any other form than that
of an absolute monarchy. He has as often,
perhaps, been made the object of satire as
of fulsome adulation : but considering the
disadvantages of his early life, he must be
regarded as one who has, as far as possi
ble, overcome, by natural goodness of tem
per, those evil habits which circumstances
seemed to form for him ; and whatever
blame some may attach to his caprice, his
artfulness, his inflexibility, his vanity, or
VOL, II, B

2 Petersburg.
his gallantry, he nevertheless has great
merit; and his very foibles may be said
to be well suited to the part he is destined
to sustain, and to the nation whom he
governs. Of the empress it is sufficient to
say, she is adored by all classes.
After the ceremonial of our presentation
had taken place, the chief houses of Pe
tersburg were open to us, and we were in
many of them most kindly received : at
some public days for dinner were an
nounced ; at others, general invitations
given, and conversazioni or balls were the
amusements of every evening.
The power snewn by these ladies of en
tertaining and employing their visitors
(though this is by no means confined to
Russia) renders tnese soirSes at all times
agreeable to a stranger. Madame is al
ways at home, ana as the company come
uninvited, it is a chance whether the party
will be large or sma!i : but it differs in its
very essence from the nature of a formal
assembly, and to wnatever extent it may

Petersburg. 3
be swelled in the course of the evening,
still appears only as a domestic circle en-
Jarged. I may add, that neither here nor in
Sweden do the ladies, like those in the
most southerly parts of Europe, mix in
discriminately with men at the coffee
houses, for which reason private societies
are much more in vogue.
The public entertainments at Peters
burg were not splendid ; the French the
atre had been destroyed by fire, and the
only places of resort were the Hall of
Music, where some admirable concerts
were given, and two small theatres for the
representation of the German and Russian
drama. Their tragedies, having for their
subject the earlier events of the history of
the czars and grand dukes of Moscow, the
discovery of the heir of the Romanov fa
mily, or the adventures of Chouski Dons-
kide, were particularly interesting. But
of all the spectacles lately produced, a
piece of another description, entitled' Le
b 2

4 Petersburg

»¦

Cossak & Londres, had met with the greatest
general applause. This personage, one of
such ordinary estimation at Petersburg,
was introduced on the stage as being newly
arrived in the English capital, where he
was courted and admired, caressed and
beloved, by crowds that thronged to gaze
upon him : he was exhibited on the Ex
change, feasted in private houses, and vi
sited by those of the highest rank. His
appearance, indeed, was represented as
having given a new turn to popular fancy
and fashion; and in the conclusion, Ac-
kerman's repository in the Strand was
introduced, with various prints of fresh
Russian costumes, and the English ladies
were seen jigging in the street a new dance
a la Cossaque.
Hitherto little has been said of the ex
isting form of government in Russia ; nor,
indeed, is it of that nature which requires
much elaborate explanation : it is a pure
oriental despotism, which, in these days,
labours hard to suppress the growing sen-

Petersburg. 5
timent of European liberty. The sove
reigns, persons such as the accident of
nature may have fashioned for the time
being, voluptuous, impotent, ambitious,
mad; various specimens have been pre
sented in the few last reigns. The nobles,
ever a spirited body, many of them men
highly polished and refined; the people,
invariably a race of ignorant and illiterate
slaves. The tout ensemble exhibits indeed
an anomaly in the political world, on
which the extravagances of Paul, with the
catastrophe that succeeded, the present
security and even employment of some of
the authors of his death, will furnish the
best comment and illustration.
The emperor, or as he is styled, autocrat
of all the Russias, possesses a supreme un
limited power over the whole empire, and
his word is law.
The grand chancellor is the first officer
of state ; the other ministers are those of
the foreign affairs, finance, war, marine, in-

6 Petersburg.
terior, public instruction, divine worship,
police. There is a supreme council of state com
posed of thirty-five members, including
the above, who are invested with powers
of superintendence and control over all
the public offices.
The only public body besides this is the
senate, which is the organ of the decrees
or ukases of the emperor, and the highest
tribunal of justice in the empire. The
seats are filled by the nomination of the
emperor, and are sometimes made ho
nourable places of retirement for superan
nuated military officers, or at others again
conferred as employments of credit on
favourite courtiers. Another senate is also
established at Moscow. An appearance
of authority is attached to these bodies as
promulgating and regulating the ordinances
of the law; but it must be remembered
that they have not the slightest resem^
blance to a legislative assembly, and speak

Petersburg

o"

neither the voice of the nation nor even of
the nobles, but of the emperor himself
alone. So far, indeed, is the principle of
autocracy carried, that a vast deal of bu
siness, apparently of a trivial nature, is
transacted by him in person, and many of
those acts where the name of the sove
reign in other countries is used merely as
a form, here are immediately and person
ally directed by the emperor. A governor
is appointed to each province with the
necessary officers, and a large corps of
military police or gensdarmerie,'which. con
stitutes every where one of the chief organs
of administration.
As to the bias of the public mind with
regard to foreign relations, it does not
seem that the general current of opinion
turns to the side of English politics. The
naval glory and commercial preponderance
we have acquired make our career a con
stant object of envy, and never fail to
afford topics for those who are inclined at
heart, perhaps from meaner motives, to

8 Petersburg.
decry the part we have taken. Our sub
sidising system does much in aggravation
of this feeling, and instead of exciting
good-will, draws upon us the malice and
hatred of all the contracting parties. The
treaties made with Frederick II. of Prussia,
with some instances of more modern date,
are frequently quoted against us; we are
accused of encouraging animosity between
nations, with the same sanguinary feeling
with which we match two boxers to fight,
sometimes paying money, as has sometimes
really happened, to both sides in succes
sion; with our purse we feed, say they,
hostility in the abstract, and strain the
sinews of war beyond the limit which na
ture has imposed to the exertions of each
individual power.
Many circumstances, moreover, attend
ant upon this course, tend to depress the
warmth that might otherwise be felt for
the party which a country is obliged to
espouse; her national energies are re
strained by the easy manner in which the

Petersburg. 9
supplies are procured ; we see not that ex
trication of enthusiastic and ardent feeling
which arises from struggling amidst diffi
culties ; far from this, they consider them
selves acting only as secondaries, and their
exertions are cheerless and dull because for
value received. If we reason on nations as
on men, it is fair to admit the agency of
the same principles upon which men act,
and we shall find that no one feels thank
ful to him who pays him for his services ;
should we therefore look for a zealous co
operation on the score of gratitude, or
even for the appearance of such a feeling,
disappointment can be the only result.
To descend to minor points, for we are
certainly no favourites with the world in
general, our cause is injured by our un
assuming appearance, by our frankness
and plain dealing; to claim nothing, is to
want just grounds for pretension ; to make
restoration, is to shew signs of fear. Be
sides which, we have for years past been
engaged in the unwelcome task of rousing

10 Petersburg.
the neighbouring nations to a sense of
their own duty, and pointing out to their
notice the just view of the degradations
they laboured under: our steadiness, no
doubt, is allowed to merit praise, but our
honest advice is felt as a reproof, and sa
vours of the nauseousness of a medicine.
If, as Buonaparte said in his speech to
the legislative body, the European war
lies only between France and England, if
the political opinions of these countries
are those on which others place their faith,
we may discover numerous circumstances
besides these, which materially prejudice
the great cause. We must look to such
things as are likely to influence the ideas
and inclinations of individuals, which,
however trifling they may appear, ought
never to be omitted in a just calculation
of our means of acquiring popularity. The
class is numerous, especially on the con
tinent, who, neglecting more important
considerations, ground their notions on
the opportunities they may have had of

Petersburg. 11
making observations on the character of
private persons, and thus pass judgment
on the whole nation. Englishmen, less
mixed in foreign intercourse, are not gifted
with those talents of conversation in so
ciety, that power of self-recommendation
of which other nations, particularly the
French, make so brilliant a display. We
are looked upon as a distinct race of
beings, as inhabitants of a secluded
island, that have formed to ourselves pe*
culiar habits and manners, which, though
universally respected, are never, in spite
of the best exertions of our most fashion
able tourists, made the subject of admira
tion or applause : and these are personali
ties that, if they do not form the founda
tion of political sentiment, yet have a
powerful effect in giving a tone and colour
to feelings of an higher interest.
French politics, on the other hand, have
every external advantage to lend them a
gloss and brilliancy, and in addition to
what has been stated above, many strong

12 Petersburg.
and powerful engines are set at work in
another way. Their language is common,
and their literature universally cultivated ;
the great work of education of children is
chiefly in the hands of Frenchmen, who
instil into their minds whatever principles
they please. French manners and fashions
give the ton, and their poison, which is
not always rejected by men, is incense to
the female heart. Women (they think no
farther than the present day) are capti
vated with every thing that breathes the
air of Paris ; and when we state the sex
numerically, as one half of a nation, we
may add, that their influence involves no
small portion of the other. We find uni
versally, that whenever French politics
are said to be prevalent, the focus of the
party is chez Madame  whoever she
ma}' be.
The views of England are never treated
impartially. There were those not wanting
who even now ventured to assert that the
feelings of the nations on the continent

Petersburg. 13
were ripened into an animosity against
France, which, in the natural course of
things, sooner or later, would have pro
duced the same association that had now
been set on foot, when the same results
must necessarily have fallen out ; and this
(as they would wish) without having re
course to Great Britain for the means of
commencing hostilities. Europe was suf
ficiently exasperated, it is true, but at the
same time we must add, on our parts, that
if the time of action had been postponed,
nay, had it been delayed even for two or
three years, France would have amassed
so preponderating a power as to have
enabled her to rivet her fetters, perhaps
for ever.
The struggle is now passed, but the em
bers of faction still remain unextinguished :
in spite of former examples, French and
English interests will rise again in oppo
sition, and we may then view the conse
quences of our thankless efforts. We shall
see, that while restlessness, temerity, pro-

14 Petersburg.
fligacy, have admirers ; while gaiety, false
hood, and flattery, have friends ; the French
will ever secure a certain hold for them
selves, and however great their success
may be in the field, will gain an higher
ascendancy in the world by their arts than
by their arms.
Europe is as a parent with two sons,
the one frank, open, honest, industrious,
performs his duty and thrives ; the other,
gay, thoughtless, petulant, extravagant,
always wanting money, always in need,
affording a daily source of parental un
easiness. But what is the natural conse
quence? The steady boy is praised and
disregarded, while the whole tide of ma
ternal fondness is turned towards the of
fending child.
These feelings, nevertheless, were now
suppressed at least for a season. The
glory attending upon our triumphant suc
cess weighed with some, while others saw
an absolute necessity of espousing our
cause in the aspect of the times; a third

Petersburg. 15
party were brought over by private in
terest, and the hope of finding a sale for
the produce of their estates that accumu
lated on their hands ; and a fourth, per
haps, were our friends, from a thorough
conviction of the manly rectitude and in
tegrity of the British government, though
these are points that ordinarily gain only
a few proselytes.
It was highly amusing to hear the va
rious descriptions that were daily given in
conversation respecting that nation ; many
of them were ludicrous enough, but signi
ficant at least of our peculiarities as they
strike a foreigner, and symptomatic of the
light in which they are constantly viewed.
One spoke of England as a free country,
as one from whence the people had right
of emigration when they pleased ; where
there was no military police ; where sol
diers were raised by bounty-money. An
other would express surprise at the dainty
appetites of the common people, who all
eat white wheaten bread ; or perhaps sneer

16 Petersburg.
at us for our piety, because all the shops'
were shut and theatres closed on the Sab-
bath-da}r. It was asserted, indeed, by a
person who had visited London, that he
had once been, prevented by a waiter at
a coffee-house from playing an harmless
game at chess, because, forsooth, it was
Sunday evening ; the story caused great
astonishment, and was hardly credited.
This ended, a set of enquiries were next
set on foot, reflecting on our cold unfeel
ing dispositions. Was not conjugal infi
delity valued at certain prices by our law ?
Were not horrible stories of murder suffi
cient to shock the public mind related in
the daily gazettes ? Might not a man sell
his wife with an halter about her neck in
the market? Was it not lawful for the
body of a man deceased to be seized by
his creditors for his debts ? and so on. Or,
perhaps, if the gentleman's speculations
were of a political turn, he would launch
a few dark hints on the subject of our dis
interested conduct, as it was called, pro-

Petersburg. 17
claiming that all we did was done with the
same aim, and that we were as oppressive
tyrants on the sea as the French on shore,
and possibly he might wind up his philip
pic with an insinuation that the subsidies
of this year (for they are regarded as a
matter of course) seemed to him to be
mean and shabby.
But to turn from these expressions of
popular ill will to matters in which the
same feeling displayed itself amidst the
higher powers, it is impossible not to no
tice the fact, that in spite of the services
we had accomplished for Russia in the
hour of trial, though the most friendly
contract of alliance had lately been con
cluded at Abo, and notwithstanding the
right Ave had to claim all she could grant,
yet no treaty of commerce existed be
tween the two nations. The regulations
against the importation of English articles
remained in full force now as during the
war; with this relaxation only, that the
jadmission of raw colonial produce was
VOL. II. c

18 Petersburg.
allowed, and vessels were suffered to enter
the ports without demanding, in the same
fashion as before, their certificate of origin.
The continuance of this system was, it
may be imagined, highly detrimental to
the Russian finances, injuring both the
export and import trade, without afford
ing the prospect of any real advantage
in return. Our manufactured goods are
articles of prime necessity in such a
country ; and, as it turned out, silks,
cloths, cottons, and an hundred other
things, were introduced by stealth, either
addressed fictitiously to the Hofcontoir,
as if for the use of the imperial court, or
sometimes more directly evading the pro
hibitions by bribery. They were to be
found at a certain price in the shops,
where it was the practice to stamp them
with the Russian mark, and they then
passed nominally as home made. I might,
in addition to numberless other examples,
mention the case of a sugar refinery at
Abo, that had sent more sugar to Peters-

Petersburg. 19
burg during the last .month, than the
smallness of their establishment could
have enabled them to prepare in the
course of a whole year. But the entire
system of the Russian laws relative to
trade displays one uniform course of ridi
culous chicanery, proving, by the regula
tions put in force, how little the nature of
the subject is really understood. Their
laws are acted upon not according to the
spirit but the letter, and this with a spe-
ciousness of fidelity that serves only to
cheat itself. A singular instance occurred
during our stay at Petersburg. A vessel
laden with oysters arriving at Riga from
England, threw the officers at the custom
house into the greatest distress ; these
things could not be excluded, for they
were not manufactured articles, neither
were they admissible as colonial produce :
many, therefore, were the difficulties that
arose on this knotty point, and various
communications passed to and fro be
tween the department of the interior and
c2

SO Petersburg.
the custom-house. How it was finally
settled I know not; but long before the
final adjustment of the question, the dis
puted cargo became putrid, and was
thrown away. The police officer, who,
some years ago, when it was forbidden to
appear in the streets without carrying a
lantern, arrested a gentleman because his
servant carried it for him, did not commit
an error of more punctilious absurdity.
If the end proposed by these regula
tions is the encouragement of the Russian
manufactories, how inconceivably strange
is so perverse and mistaken an applica
tion of the first principles of political eco
nomy ! A nation must have arrived at a
certain point in her progress towards ge
neral prosperity, before she can be de
clared in a state to support concerns of
this sort. Articles of vital necessity should
abound, before she can afford to turn her
hands to those of a more superfluous na
ture. It is not in the power of the greatest
autocrat in the world to control the na-*

Petersburg. 21
ture of trade, or to force it prematurely to
an healthy increase : to attempt, indeed,
so preposterous a measure here, .is to add
one more source of mischief to those evils
which the precocious condition of Russia
has already so visibly produced.
From the observation, that there are
but few manufacturing establishments ex
cept such as are paid by the government,
we should naturally enough be led to in
fer, that the real temptations to adventure
in this line are few, nor can the fact be
denied. It is not, perhaps, in our power
to draw an argument from the comparison
of the alleged prices of the work of the
artisan and the rustic, for our decision is
liable to much fallacy, in a place where
slaves are generally employed, and their
labour consequently not to be estimated
at its natural rate. But when we are told
that a landed estate returns 10 per cent.
and if well managed more than 20, or
even 30, of annual income, no one can
have any doubt in pronouncing the con-

22 Petersburg.
dition of the nation as most unfavourable
to the encouragement of manufactures;
and we shall find, on examination, various
circumstances that serve to corroborate
the idea. As for the making up those ar
ticles which the bounty of nature has be
stowed more plentifully upon the country,
it may be surmised that they are not to be
included in this class : leather, cordage,
linen cloth of various .sorts, linseed oil, &c.
are manufactured and exported in large
quantities, much to the advantage of the
merchant. But it is those for the pro
duce of which no such facilities are offered
which are here alluded to.
The imperial manufactory of cotton, on
the Neva, is carried on under the greatest
advantages the government can bestow,
and by their means 600 boys and girls are
furnished from the foundling hospital for
its service. The stockings, which form
one branch of their trade, are necessarily
offered for sale at the same price as those
imported from England; otherwise they

Petersburg. 23
could not enter into competition, not be
ing of so strong a texture, or likely to last
so long ; but they are all confessedly sent
to market at a considerable loss to the
manufactory. Here is machinery also for
carding and spinning cotton, of which
about 5000 pouds* are annually made
up : yet even this part of the concern
barely repays its expenses, at the present
price of the raw article from England ;
and the importation of it from China over
land would only be an addition to its
charge. The flax which is spun, being an
home produce, under the advantages of
the establishment affords, it is true, a
very fair profit, and near 200,000 pouds
of twist are sent out each year.
The imperial plate glass manufactory is
worked by the emperor's slaves, who are
paid by the piece, and earn sometimes
twenty-five or twenty-eight roubles per
month. Their glass is sold at a cheaper
* A poud equals 36lb. English^ or 40 Russian.

24 Petersburg*
rate in the market than the English; but
when we take into the account that the
English is raised near three times its na
tural value by the heavy excise laid upon
it, our inference as to the nature of such
business in Russia will be the same as in
the article before mentioned. Its quality,
it may be mentioned, by the by, is far
from being so transparent as that brought
from England, nor does it, upon ringing,
return so clear a sound. This deficiency
was attributed to a supposed inferiority in
the quality of the oxide of lead used in re
fining, but the unequal strength of their
furnace, in which charcoal only is burnt,
was, perhaps, the real cause. It is wor
thy of remark, that the glass sometimes
came out (by accident) perfectly fine.
These instances would easily be farther
expended ; and we might observe that the
inferior quality of the things produced is
no matter of light consideration, but in
some instances more prejudicial to the
public than the bare increase of price.

Petersburg. 25

'to

In the manufactories of cloth the effect
of the restrictions upon importation from
England has been an inducement to many
to turn their machinery to the making the
finer sorts of broad cloth, in consequence
of which an article of a very inferior qua
lity has been sent forth, while the coarse
cloth used by the poorer classes, which
they were better, competent to make, is
grown so scarce as hardly to be met with
in the market.
There is also established an imperial por
celain manufactory, that the country may
boast of its existence: profit is out of the
question, for great part of the materials
are imported either from the Altai Moun
tains or from Germany ; but the . govern
ment are at the whole expense of main
taining it. Besides these, there are .irm
perial iron founderies, an imperial. fayence
manufactory, imperial bronze, and many
others, all requiring aid from the same
quarter for their support.

26 Petersburg.,,
At the head of those which we inspected,
there was almost invariably seen a Scotch
man or Englishman employed as superin-
tendant. The integrity of these men, as
agents, makes them invaluable in Russia;
while the regularity and preciseness of
arrangement which they introduce still
more enhances the value of their moral
qualities. Nor have they been found less
serviceable in matters of an higher de
scription than the conduct of commercial
business. Several Scotchmen are now
high in the military service; and at the
head of the medical profession, in its se
veral branches of military, naval, and civil,
are placed three gentlemen of the same
country. I could indeed instance a de
partment in which the expenses of the
office were reduced by no less a sum than
22,000 R. within the first year of the ad
ministration of the present governor, nor
did any diminution ensue of the advan
tages to be received from the establish-

Petersburg. 27
ment, but it was placed in a more efficient
state, notwithstanding the economical plan
which had been executed.
It is not difficult to account, on very
reasonable grounds, for a certain predilec
tion that exists in Russia in favour of the
qualifications of foreigners ; it ought not,
nevertheless, to operate so forcibly as it
does in many instances, to the utter ex
clusion of native talent and industry, or to
be carried such lengths as to place an ef
fectual bar to the exertions of any indi
vidual who may wish to redeem his cha
racter from the universal stigma. Of
strangers, it is not too much to say, that
not the Scotch alone, but the settlers from
Great Britain in general, have been found
most serviceable: a few Frenchmen were
introduced, upon experiment, during the
time of the residence of the French em
bassy at Petersburg; but they have nei
ther been found so steady, nor so intelli
gent, nor so capable as men of business.
Steam-engines were in use at many of

28 Petersburg.
the manufactories, having been for the
most part imported from England : though
we saw an example (at the arsenal) of a
machine which had been constructed on
the spot under the direction of a Scotch
man : and it seemed (which is an uncom
mon case with those made abroad) to an
swer extremely well. We had an oppor
tunity of observing also some other ma
chinery which had been formed under si
milar directions, and with similar success
in its application ; but on the subject of
which it may be fair to indulge a few re
flections. At the present aera, when the various
modes of abridging labour appear to be
so much in vogue in England, and when
some new scheme of mechanism super
sedes in almost every branch the skill of
the artisan, it is worth while to observe
the general consequences that will finally
result from the prevalence of such a sys
tem. In former days, when each succes
sive operation was performed by the hand?

Petersburg. 29
an almost insurmountable obstacle was
thrown in the way of a country which
might aim at supplanting, or even rival
ing, the ancient establishments of her
neighbour. A length of time was required
to form hands for work; a service of ap
prenticeship was necessarily gone through?
not merely by the chief workmen, but by
the boys and the women employed in the
lowest branches ; in short, every one was
obliged to acquire by practice a certain
degree of manual dexterity, and the whole
population in the vicinity of a manufac
tory was gradually trained up to its use.
In this way thirty or forty years usually
elapsed before a concern could be said to
have acquired perfection, and to be com
pletely organised in all its functions. A
business, when once well established, might
be regarded as promising a certain con
tinuance of success ; changes in the line of
trade could not possibly be effected so
suddenly or so injuriously as we may here
after expect to see. With modern im-

30 Petersburg.
provements the case is altered. , The
distaff and the needle are thrown aside;
machinery effects the whole. Great is
the saving of labour and expense; but
what follows? It is not possible for any
law effectually to prevent models or draw
ings in one shape or other from being car
ried out of the country, and together with
these, the means and the power of the
establishment, nay its very name and cre
dit, are at the same time conveyed away.
While our economical abridgment of lar
bour therefore produces a worse article for
the market than before (for this cannot be
denied) ; while it deprives many an honest
man of support, — it lays open to our ene
mies the means of cutting off the sources
of our national wealth, and of reaping all
the advantages that result from our expe
rience as well as our ingenuity.
This is reasoning on narrow grounds, I
am well aware, and much remains to be
said on the other side ; but such at least is
the nature of the immediate practical in-

Petersburg. 31
conveniences that arise from our new
mode; and when treating the subject of
an empire, where so much unnecessary
jealousy is shewn in commercial matters,
some indulgence may be granted to a like
feeling on our own parts.
It is not with the same spirit of objec
tion that the introduction of the English
machinery at the Mint is mentioned here,
but merely as an instance of the esteem in
which our countrymen are held for the
perfection of their mechanism. The whole
of the apparatus employed in coinage was
constructed by Messrs. Bolton and Watts,
and is precisely similar to that erected in
our splendid edifice on Tower-hill, Lon
don. The same has also been sent, as I
understand, to Copenhagen : indeed its
superiority to that of any other invention
of this sort is universally acknowledged.
The famous Zecca, a chef d'ceuvre of the
French at Milan, is not comparable in
point of ingenuity of arrangement, or in
practical utility ; scarcely producing in a

32 Petersburg.
week the same number of pieces which
may be here done in a single day.
The labourers are here all peasants of
the emperor, receiving soldiers' pay: and
it may be permitted to cite one fact rela
tive to their management, which affords a
striking proof of the difference of character
that exists between the English workmen
and the Russian slave. The men em
ployed at our Mint are select in character,
and are held capable of trust : the metal
delivered out to them is of course duly
weighed and accounted for; but on their
leaving the place after the day is over, no
search is ever made on their persons; so
injurious to their moral principle would be
held the bare suspicion of dishonesty : this
appearance of confidence has not been at
tended with ill consequences, I believe, in
any case. At Petersburg every artificer
is daily stripped to the skin, and so nar
rowly searched at night, that even the
cunning of a Russian cannot find a secure
mode of peculation: besides this, the

Petersburg. 33
working clothes are annually destroyed by
fire, lest the dust of the metal that adheres
should give them an " itching palm." De
gradation of the human character is by
many people looked upon as a term of
philosophy, imaginary perhaps in itself,
and not really applicable to life ; but the
traveller in Russia will frequently see its
effects displayed under a form most hi
deously visible.
The Mint was now employed in coining
silver to be exported for the use of the
army. To offer a supply indeed for home
circulation would have been useless labour,
since whatever issue was made, the coun
try was but little benefited ; it passed into
the hands of speculating merchants, and
soon disappeared ; it is a fact, that out of
500,000 English guineas and ducats which,
with other metal, had been restamped and
sent out from hence in the course of last
year, not a single piece was at this time to
be met with.
The circumstance will most probably be
vol. n. D

34 Petersburg

ft-

accounted for from the depreciation of the
paper currency, which has been for some
years declining in credit. It is at present
so low, that the army, which is paid in sil
ver roubles instead of paper, from the mo
ment they pass the Russian frontier, re
ceives, though nominally the same sum,
an intrinsic augmentation of three-fourths
of their pay. The present actual value of
a paper rouble, estimated by the quan
tity of silver* it will purchase in the mar
ket, is equal to about 104^. of English mo
ney, instead of 3s. 4>d. the value of the
silver which it is meant to represent. Now
it is singular that about twenty-five years
ago it was not merely at par, but, so ex-
* The proportion of alloy was as follows :
,„T r > for the rouble. „. > for small coin.
12^ copper J 24 copper )
The heavy metal copper was abundant in circulation. It
is worth while to observe, that there is a difference of one-
fifth in value between the copper coinage of 1795 and
that of 1811 ; yet the first, which was the most valuable,
was still in circulation, and 1 believe very seldom melted
down for profit.

Petersburg. 35
cellent was the credit of the bank, that a
small agio, of about two copecks, was re
gularly given for the paper rouble, on ac
count of its superior lightness and conve
nience. Of the fall in its value, the embarrass
ments" of government must be attributed
as the chief and original cause : but its de
terioration has been of late years rapidly
accelerated by the same circumstances
that have acted so powerfully on the
promissory issues of every neighbouring
country. In England we have noted
this comparative depreciation, and being
aware that the credit of the Bank is un
impeachable, have learnt to attribute it
entirely to the unfavourable state of our
foreign exchanges. In the United States
of America the circulating medium has
changed in the same way; the war that
cut off the trade had the effect of intro
ducing paper where the precious metals
were before abundant, and we ascribe the
fact, without hesitation, to the same source.
d %

36 Petersburg.
But in countries where foreign trade is not
so considerable in its extent, or of such
vital importance to the nation, where un
favourable exchanges have not existed in
the same degree, and where, if they had,
the drain could not have been of the same
exhausting nature, we must refer our argu
ment to another principle, and look for a
new operating cause : we shall probably
find that the exchanges (as far as they were
against them) must be quoted rather as
the effect of the loss of their gold and sil
ver than the cause, and beyond a doubt
this fact contributed most powerfully to
render permanent their disadvantageous
state. There were moments during the late
continental wars when the alarming aspect
of affairs, and the overthrow of crowns and
principalities occurring on every side, made
each individual tremble for the stability of
the government to which he was attached :
incendiary writings, treacherous negocia-
tions, and unjustifiable invasions, seemed

Petersburg. ~«
the order of the day > no reliance was to
be placed on the imaginary vouchers of
public ta /it, and every man sought to
hoard up whatever specie he could col
lect for subsistence in the day of need, or
to provide the means of flight from op
pression. The universal call for gold, in
consequence of these fears and uncertain
ties, wras soon felt in the market ; the price
of gold and silver changed with the vague
reports of the day ; and the Jews taking
advantage of this general impression, in a
short time organised the supplies on a re
gular system, while, by the slow but con
stantly increasing demand, specie was en
hanced to its present value*. Now, al
lowing the smallest possible quota as the
average amount of what each man might
* Three banks are established under the government.
1. Bank of paper, for the change and issue of notes:
it may be remarked that the French forged during their in.
vasion 10,000 R. To prevent confusion in the country,
they were all received at this bank and paid.
2. Bank of loan for eight yeare : houses or slaves arc

38 Petersburg.
thus withdraw from the circulation, and
there were few who had not some speci
mens in their possession, the aggregate
is swelled to an immeasurable amount.
Wherever hostilities appeared, gold was
called for : the armies required it for their
necessary supplies ; the citizens sought it
through their fears ; and the money-dealer
was sure of receiving a high price for his
article. If, therefore, during twenty years
of unintermitting war in one part of Eu
rope or the other, this constant demand
and difficulty of procurance should have
matured a settled system, there is no great
reason for astonishment. We had seen an
example of this at Berlin during our re
sidence at the preceding year, though simi
lar instances might be multiplied without
end.
admitted as security ; but the latter never at more than 100
K. per head.
3. Bank of loan for 20 years: 5 per cent, interest, and 3
per cent, of the capital lent, are to be repaid annually by
the borrower.

Petersburg. 39
During the summer of 1812 the agents
of a Jew's house at Gottenburg collected
all the, gold coin and bullion which they
could procure at any price in every quar
ter, and exported the whole to Russia.
Buonaparte was then marching upon Mos
cow; alarm was at the highest pitch, and
the gold was bought up by the timorous
people with such thoughtless eagerness
and avidity, that a profit of 20 per cent.
is said to have been realized upon the
transaction. Looking to the condition of another
country, we find the paper florins at
Vienna not only were at par in 1790, but
bore an agio similar to what has been
stated of the rouble at Petersburg. It
was not till the approach of the French in
1797, that paper became of less value
than gold ; but since that time the value
of the latter has gradually augmented from
day to day. The over-issues made by the
Austrian crown have also lowered the va
lue of their paper ; but the rate of increase

40 Petersburg.
in the price of specie far exceeded the
comparative rate of depreciation which
might appear to correspond with the de
clining credit of the government.
In addition to these' facts, it is a singu
lar circumstance, that one may observe,
during the few last years, Russia, Sweden,
Austria, and England, have carried on
almost the whole of their circulation by
means of paper notes : while in those coun
tries where French intendants and admi
nistrators appeared, in France, Italy, Ger
many, Prussia, and the duchy of Warsaw,
abundance of specie was to be found ; no
one was eager to hoard, because the co
lossal power of France, under whose pro
tection they stood, and her uninterrupted
career of success, seemed to promise per
manence and security. But this subject
admits of much speculative discussion ;
and I should consider myself as overstep
ping the limits of a traveller's jurisdic
tion were I to pursue the question any
farther.

Petersburg.

41

The commercial concerns of Petersburg
are of considerable extent, and to give an
idea of the amount of their transactions
with England in particular, it may be
stated that the draught of 100,000/. ster
ling upon London would not make any
sensible increase in the rate of exchange.
The number of ships entered at the port
in the course of the year 1813 was 690, of
which 343* were British. From various

* Goods exported from Petersburg in British ships in
the year 1813.

Bar iron, poods 3 60, 94 1

Linseed . 18,013

Hemp . 1,432,785

Quills . 8,996,000

Flax . . 320,726

Mats . . . 47,614

Tallow . . 1,201,810

Lathwood, pieces 49,390

Bristles . . 30,916

Deals, stand. . 404,759

Potash . . 108,280

Cordage, poods 72,071

Isinglass . . 6120

Sailcloth, pieces ] 2,1 55

Linen, arshs. . 324,021

Ravenducks . 23,456

Crash . . 187,182

Flems . . 10,363

Hareskins . 489,165

Diaper, arshs. 324,027

Wheat, chetverik 36,904

Candles, wax, glue, hides, lead ore, black lead, caviar,
raw silk, cantharides, mercury, rhubarb, aniseed oil,
tongues, timber, sole leather, feathers, horses manes,

42 Petersburg.
reasons, however, chiefly on account of
the prohibitions laid on English articles,
the course of exchange Avas very unfa
vourable to that country. Still, notwith
standing the impossibility of balancing
accounts by consignments of goods in re
turn, very little difficulty was experienced
in the mode of payment ; and though it
was impossible to diminish the loss upon
the exchange by the transport of bullion,
yet so brisk a commerce of bills and ac
ceptances was established through the
hands of the Prussian Jews and others,
that the money market (if it may be so
treacle, soap,, tobacco, squirrel skins, oats, buckwheat,
morocco leather, &c.
The ord, laty Russian measures.
Verst = 500 sajene, or about 4 of an English mile.
Sajene = 7 feet.
Arshine = 2 feet 4 inches.
Chetverik (corn measure) holds one pood of dried rye.
A coul or sack equals 8 chetverik, of wheat, or 10 of
rye, though it is not a fixed measure.
Pood = 40lb. Russian = 36lb. English.

Petersburg. 43
called) was fully supplied, at least to the
amount of the demand.
The present prices* of articles are given
below : where the price of rye bread must
be assumed as the standard of the country,
rather than that of any other grain; for
the rest, it should be remarked that every
article is enhanced beyond its natural price
by the situation of the town, because so
long and so expensive a transport from
the interior is necessary even for the most
common matters of life. As to another
subject which naturally occurs, it may be
safely stated that a generally progressive
increase of prices has taken place in Rus-
* Prices in Paper Money.
Day labour, 27 R. per month and food ; sometimes 2
R. per day is demanded.
Wheaten bread, 1 R. 60 cop. per lb. English.
Rye bread, 2 R. the pood, or 361b. English.
Meat, 25 cop. per lb. Russian.
Hire of carriage, 4 horses, and two drivers, 350 R. per
month. 170 acres of land (without slaves) 6 versts from Peters
burg, was advertised for 3000 R. ; but the land was poor.
Dutch Ducat, 13R.

44 Petersburg.
sia, independent of the depreciation of
paper money before-mentioned : but it is
difficult under the confusion arising from
the present condition of their circulating
medium, to ascertain the exact degree.
Mr. A. Young, in a late pamphlet, states
it at an average of 40 per cent, in the
price of rye, during a period of twenty
years, ending in 1806; while wheat (our
standard) has risen during the same pe
riod, in England, about 36 per cent. The
progress, indeed, in Russia ought, on ob
vious grounds, to exceed that which the
more forward state of England could admit
of: and may it be permitted to suggest,
that this increase, which has taken place,
though in proportions somewhat dissimilar,
over the whole European continent, ought
rather to be attributed, as it doubtless
must here, to the growing activity and
general increase of demand throughout
the several countries, than to any varia
tion in the supply of the precious metals
from the mines of America.
Looking, however, to the nature of these

Petersburg. 45
dominions, and the various sources whence
Russia draws her materials for trade, it is
natural to turn our eyes to those de
pendencies which make so large a .geogra
phical display in the north of Asia. They
are valuable indeed only on the ground of
commerce : the furs they afford are of an
admirable quality, and the produce of the
mines is very large, besides which, the
possession of these tracts ensures at all
times the means of carrying on a traffic
overland with China. But these are not
speculations altogether so lucrative as they
might at first sight appear, for the profits
arising from these different branches ne
cessarily experience a considerable draw
back from the expense of long convey
ance which is required through the inte
rior*. There was a time, during the
* The silver caravans from Kolivan and Nertchinsk are
the most valuable; from Kolivan two are sent annually, one
in December, the other in January. They are about two
months on the road ; the expense of carriage for their
united amount (being about 1000 pouds) is 5000 roubles

46 Petersburg.
height of speculation, when the duties on
the China trade, at 25 per cent, produced
400,000 roubles of annual revenue, a sum
which the whole value of the imports
themselves does not now exceed, and
future experience will rather tend to di
minish than increase the receipts. The
caravans to India, by the Caspian sea and
through the Persian territories, have been
relinquished, partly on the score of car
riage, and partly on account of the war.
Few of the more bulky articles, indeed, of
the China trade are now made objects of
importation : it is only a trifling quantity
of nankeens, silks, and tea that is brought,
the rest chiefly precious stones, rhubarb,
musk, &c. and some ingots of gold ; which
last, however, the merchants are obliged to
for 5000 versts ; but when this estimate was given, the
rouble was at least double its present value. The caravan
from Nenchinsk is about three months on the road, being
a distance of 7000 versts. It brings 250 poud, and sets
out in December. The lead is brought from Nertchinsk
by water.

Petersburg. 47
give up to the emperor, receiving silver in
its stead. The tea is of a most delicious
flavour; it is perfumed by being packed
up with the flowers of the oka fragrans,
and exhales a powerful aromatic odour
upon an infusion being made. I believe
there is no tea made up in the same way
on that side of the country with which
our dealings are carried on.
The exports from Russia, in return, are
light furs, such as those of otters, foxes,
or beavers ; camlets, English or Silesian
cloths, coral, watches, iron, cutlery, &c.
The imperial government have inter
ested themselves constantly to keep up
a good understanding with the court of
Pekin, though not always with the same
success. The last embassy forwarded
through Siberia was that of Count Golov-
kin, about seven years ago, which was
equipped in the most splendid style. The
retinue consisted of an hundred and forty
persons, including savans and artists of
various descriptions ; and the presents to

48 Petersburg.
the emperor, of which they were the
bearers, were of the highest value; they
consisted chiefly of velvet cloths, Russian
porcelain, large mirrors, and other costly
articles. After a journey scarcely re
markable for any thing but its tedious
length, they arrived at Kiachta, the usual
point of intercourse between the two na
tions, and thence passed over the frontier
to the palace of the Lama, where they
represent themselves to have been hand
somely entertained.
The country (from the drawings I have
seen) appears to abound with mountains,
though not on a gigantic scale ; every ob
ject however was new, and this part of
the expedition afforded them great plea
sure. They partook of various amusements pe
culiar to the country, and, among others,
made a party to hunt in the district of the
Barianski, a people, it seems, famous for
their skill in the chase : their mode of pre
paration for this sport was by beating the

Petersburg. 49
woods and driving the hares into the plain,
where the marksmen being placed in cer
tain stations, shot them as they passed at
speed ; the weapons used for this purpose
were bows and arrows, the latter of which
were loaded with a very heavy barb, and,
it is singular to remark, were never di
rected with a point blank aim, but at a
very considerable elevation.
Every instance of mechanical skill ex
hibited here does not appear to have been
equally commendable. The Russian mir
rors', which were of a vast size, seventeen
feet in length by nine in breadth, had
been packed on cushions at Petersburg,
and laid on a carriage adapted for the
purpose, and arrived hitherto uninjured.
But on passing to the Chinese side, a
mountainous road was to be traversed,
and the only provision made for the
draught of these carriages was by a range
of a dozen horsemen placed in a line, who
pressed the cross bar at the end of the
pole of the carriage with their bodies, and
VOL. II. b

50 Petersburg.
in this manner performed the office of
draught. The insecurity of the scheme
on a descent soon manifested itself; there
was no mode of resisting the accelerated
rapidity of the carriage, owing to which,
one of the mirrors, during the return to
Kiachta, was overturned and dashed to
pieces. After some days of repose the parties
entered into conference ; but an unfore
seen accident soon arose to prevent an
happy conclusion to the negociations. It
was required in the course of the pre
liminary ceremonials, that the Russian en
voy should prostrate himself nine times
before a yellow skreen, which, by the whim
sical construction of an eastern allegory,
Was supposed to shroud the blaze of ma
jesty that encircles the august emperor
Kia-king. So extraordinary an act of
homage, however, was not to be endured
on the part of the plenipotentiary repre
sentative of all the Russias; and, unfor
tunately, advices being received from Pekin

Petersburg. 51
that the entrance of a Russian ship to the
/prbidden port of Cantpn had excited the
Utmost displeasure of the -government^ the
conference was instantly broken up ; the
Wan, the Mongol governor of this part of
Tartary, retraced his steps homeward, while
Grolovkin slunk back to Petersburg to re
port the total failure of his mission.
The embassy sent to the Lama of Thibet,
with a view of soliciting tfie establishment
of a sub-Lama at Kiachta, proved equally
fruitless. Had it succeeded in its pbject,
very considerable benefit would have been
derived to the Russian colony. Many
persons of thijs religion would have been
induced to pass over to their settlements,
and the number of the population, as well
as the activity of trade, would have been
(greatly enhanced. The commercial inter
course of these provinces pn the frontier
is of an extremely .lucrative nature; so
much indeed has wealth accumulated, that
some people, competently informed on the
subject, do npt hesitate tP assert, thatlfee
e2

52 Petersburg.
line of the river Amour, the former boun
dary, was conceded by the Russians merely
from motives of fear, on account of the
formidable increase in wealth and strength
of4 the mercantile body resident in that
quarter. It was Jermak, a rebel Cossack, who
with the aid of a merchant, Strogonov, in
order to regain the favour of the Czar Ivan
Vassilievitch, first undertook an expedition
into Siberia with a small body of men, and
succeeded in conquering the most valuable
and most powerful districts of the country
on the banks of the Irtish. This was early
in the sixteenth century ; the scheme was
afterwards followed up, and the whole of
Siberia taken possession of; but though
so many ages have intervened, it is sin
gular that in the peninsula of Kamschatchka
there existed, till within these last few years,
a few tribes of marauders who enjoyed
their liberty.
The rest of the country has been long
quiet and undisturbed: the inhabitants

Petersburg. 53
are, for the most part, a lazy people, their
character inoffensive and harmless in pro
portion to their scarcity of population and
infrequency of intercourse.
Siberia is held in subjection at a very
small expense to the crown. A few pulks
of Cossacks, scattered in the towns, are
the only species of armed force which it
is thought necessary to introduce ; in ad
dition to which a sort of militia is formed
from among the natives ; those who volun
teer for this service being relieved from the
burden of taxation, and indulged in the
enjoyment of some other privileges of no
great account.
The Russian governors of provinces are
not long continued in office, unless sent
hither in consequence of disgrace at court:
the dislike to the service is so great, that
a reward is held out even to those who
accept the inferior stations of administra
tion ; and to be employed for the space of
three years in Siberia gives a title to the
rank and privileges of assessor in a college

54 Petersburg.
or bureau, without exhibiting the certificate
of a degree from one of the universities,
which is otherwise made a requisite qua
lification. The landed property is chiefly vested in
the hands of the crown, and is managed
through the medium of bailiffs or superin-*
tendants ; a system which would naturally
be commuted in the course of time for a
sort of feudal tenure, if the condition of
the country were in any way capable of
improvement. But the checks to popula
tion, incidental to such a climate, have a
very prejudicial effect upon their prospe
rity, and preclude for ever the possibility
of realising any promise of amelioration.
Other evils that go hand in hand with this
state of things Contribute also to render
these wild tracts still more forlorn : it was
about ten years back that the ravages of
the small-pox reduced one tribe of the
Kamtshadals from three or four hundred
to a number scarce exceeding twenty or
thirty ; and similar instances of misfortune

Petersburg. 54?
have occurred, though perhaps not to so
great an extent, in many districts. There
was an hospital for inoculation established
at Irkutsh, the capital of this government,
in 1772, but the immense extent of the
country makes all precautionary measures,
to a certain degree, ineffectual.
It may be observed, that at a census*
* A census of the population of the Russian empire
is taken every ten years. The total amount is about
42,299,000 souls, who are scattered over a surface of
341,000 square miles ; of this, the proportion residing in
the dominions situate in Europe (including Finland) is
about 33,000,000, and the square miles of surface are
nearly 82,000.
The bills of mortality throughout the empire (that is,
including only persons of the Greek church) give the fol
lowing results :
Bom. Died. Marriages.
1811. 1,306,147 936,368 278,600
1812. 1,264,391 971,358 239,073.
From the increase of population in ordinary years, it is
inferred that the number would be doubled in 70 years ;
from the year 1801 *o 1806 the excess was laid at
2,665,874.

56 Petersburg.
taken a few years since, only three per
sons were averaged to each square of seven
versts throughout this last province, so
scanty are the germs of population : the
few roving tribes, however, before alluded
to, were of course omitted in this calcula
tion, as being at that time not under con
trol of the police. The most cultivated
parts are in the province of Tobolsk ; the
capital bearing also this name, and the
city of Beresov, both constantly increasing
in population, as being places of banish
ment, are spoken highly of in point of so
ciety and amusement.
The Academy of Sciences at Petersburg
At St. Petersburg in 1813, all communions included:
Bom. Died.
3,828 boys 10,870 males
3,730 girls l 4,114 females

7,558 14,984
This was a year of unusual mortality. The most dan
gerous maladies were nervous fevers, colic,, and con
sumption.

Petersburg. 57
displays an interesting collection of the
several costumes of the nations inhabiting
Siberia; of the Samoieds, Ostiaks, Kou-,
riaks, the Troglodyte Kamtshadals, &c.
with some specimens of the dress of the
prophetic pagan priestesses, called Cha-
mans. These women are objects of wor
ship and Areneration with a numerous sect
of votaries in the north, acknowledging the
existence of one God with an host of in
ferior agents : doctrine, however, has but
little concern with a religion which has
more powerful means in its possession.
The instruments of this system of priest
craft are tangible and visible, and of a
nature to inspire terror and awe into the
beholders ; a cap and horn of iron, a
mantle strung with rings, and a large deep-
toned drum ; whereby, when the priestess
falls into her trance of ecstasy, the most hor
rible combination of inharmonious noises
is produced, and her audience propor-
tionably convulsed and alarmed. There
were also some of the dresses of the semi-

58 Petersburg.

»-

brutal inhabitants of the Aleoutine islands;
creatures ignorant of the existence of any
supreme power whatsoever; they worship
neither stone, nor wood, nor man, and
seem scarcely elevated, in the scale of hu
manity, to a par with an ordinary savage.
Some Japanese habits and armour made
of varnished leather and blue cloth were
shewn us too : they were trophies from the
former establishments of that kingdom in
the Kourile islands.
A very good collection of minerals is
also preserved at the Academy of Sci
ences. The fossil skeletons of the mam
moths, found on the banks of the Obi,
have been frequently described : the height
of the largest is about twelve feet, but it
differs in no other respect from the Asiatic
elephant, except that the tusks diverge
from each other instead of projecting in a
parallel direction. It is presumed from
the hair found on part of its body, that
the animal was thus provided by nature
against the inclemency of a cold climate,

Petersburg. 59
and was not, as at first supposed, brought
by the stream of the river from the more
central regions of Asia. Professor Fischer,
at Moscow, afterwards shewed us a jaw
bone of an animal that could not have
been inferior in size to the above, but
evidently belonging to another species. It
was named, for want of a more distinctive
title, the Elasmotherium, but had as yet
afforded little matter of speculation.
The mass of native iron, forty-six pood
(or l6561bs.) in weight, that was disco
vered by Pallas in Siberia, is also kept
here. But while speaking of this collection,
it may not be amiss to recur to the
mineralogy of the country which we had
traversed since our departure from Swe
den, though the season when our jour
ney was made permitted but few oppor
tunities of observation. It appeared, how
ever, that the rocks of the Alands group,
as well as those of Finland in the direc
tion of our route, were a continuation of

60 Petersburg.
the same red-coloured granitic formation,
which prevailed so generally in Sweden : it
abounded in most places with hornblende.
At Abo the feldspar seemed predominant :
at Sveaborg it became almost a feldspar
rock; at Helsingfors we observed mica
slate occurring in veins, and at Wiburg
the surface was still more diversified, bear
ing at a little distance the exact resem
blance of a breccia, in consequence of the
numerous large nodules of feldspar that
were imbedded. The varieties, otherwise,
seemed but few : the hills were constant in
their recurrence, and of an uniform cha
racter, till, on the borders of Ingria, they
suddenly disappeared, and were succeeded
by an immense plain, boundless to the
eye. This change in the face of the coun
try is equally abrupt on either side to the
east or to the west, forming a regular es
carpment as a sort of natural frontier to
the Finnish provinces. Along its line se
veral beds of the secondary formation
occur, lime-stone, sand-stone, &c. ; the

Petersburgr 6%
free-stone, indeed, used in building the
Casan church and other edifices at Peters
burg, is brought from Kexholm, a place
lying in this situation. The continuation
of this line of secondary rocks, skirting
primary formations nearly similar, may be
traced for a considerable distance to the
north-east, and it appears again on the
other hand in the southern provinces of
Sweden and the neighbouring islands,
whence a second time crossing the sea, it
may be traced in the same direction through
the southern highlands of Scotland.
The edifice alluded to above, of which
as yet notice has been taken only by name,
deserves notoriety on more grounds than
one ; and having been finished only within
these last few months, it is incumbent on
me to give a short description. The ca
thedral or church of the Holy Virgin of
Casan is one of the most splendid struc
tures that modern art has realised: up
wards of fifteen years have been consumed

(?# Petersburg.
in its erection, and the money laid out
amounted to no less a sum than 15,000,000
roubles. Numerous plans were presented to the
Academy when the intention of the em*
peror Paul to build a national cathedral
was first announced : some of these, in
particular that of Cameron, a Scotchman,
were more correct in taste than the model
which we now see put in execution. But
it was no unwise sentiment of patriotism
that gave the preference to WoronitchkL
This architect was a Russian slave, the
property of Count Strogonov, brought up
under the patronage of his master in the
Imperial Academy, where his -talent pro
cured him universal admiration ; and being
appointed to this new employment, he not
only did honour to his country by his own
exertions, but accomplished the several
parts of his great undertaking entirely
through the hands of native workmen. So
laudable an essay merited the success ihe

Petersburg. 63
met with; and it is singular enough, he
just lived to see it opened to the public at
the beginning of the present year.
The plan is laid in the form of a cross,
with a cupola in the centre: each arm
of the cross terminates with a Corinthian
portico, and that in front is received into
a grand semicircular colonnade four co
lumns in depth : the area of the crescent
was intended to have been ornamented
with the statues of St. Peter and Paul,
raised on gigantic blocks of solid granite
ten or twelve feet high : one of them, how
ever, was unfortunately sunk in crossing
the Neva, and the other still rests on the
rollers by which it was conveyed, in one
of the little streets near the place of
exercise. In point of architecture, the composition
of the building is not quite harmonious
throughout ; and the dome is so contracted
in its dimensions, as to give, in some points
of view, an air of insignificance to the
whole. It deserves, however, notwith-

64 Petersburg.
standing these defects, considerable praise
for the chastity of the decoration, as well
as for the noble effect of the approach : in
each line as the eye is directed, it is met
by a forest of lofty columns, which form,
at every step, combinations of the most
classical variety.
On entering the interior the spectator
is struck by a blaze of pomp and magni
ficence that would ill assort with any
structure, other than the temple of re
ligion. The columns of the aisles are of
purple granite highly polished ; their ca
pitals of brass and gold; rich paintings
line the walls, and a dim, mysterious gloom
pervades the whole fabric. As we ad
vanced up the nave, we perceived the rites
of, the church were under celebration; the
solemn chant of the priest was heard —
Gospodi Pomilloui !— Gospodi Pomilloui !
On a. sudden the doors of the sanctuary
were thrown open, and the bearded bi
shop appeared, clad in raiment of purple
and gold : the clouds of incense floated in

Petersburg. 65
the air, and the manly sonorous voices of
the priests again echoed through the dome.
It was a striking and impressive sight;
but, far beyond 'all this shew of parade,
one's feelings were moved by the earnest
ness and enthusiasm that reigned over the
face of the people : at one time the whole
crowd: were prostrated on the floor ; at an
other they were seen scattered in different
parts of the church, some paying their de
votions to the picture of the Virgin, others
carrying the lighted taper to fix it before
the shrine of their patron saint, others
kissing the hands, face, and feet, of the
holy paintings, others bowing their heads
to the pavement, with an aspect of hu
mility that seemed to shun the light of
heaven. All alike equally careless of one
another, wholly wrapt up in their several
acts of piety and adoration.
Among them an old peasant, who had
just entered, particularly drew my at
tention: he appeared to be about se
venty years of age, strong built, erect in
vol. n. f

66 Petersburg.
his gait, and something above the middle
stature; his neck was bare, his head bald,
and his beard as white as snow ; a simple
caftan of sheepskin, girt about his loins,
was his attire. He regarded the holy pic
ture of the Virgin with a stedfast gaze for
some time, standing at a distance : then,
his eyes still fixed, he laid down his staff
and bundle, and began to cross himself
with much devoutness; while every now
and then he bent forward on his knees and
touched the ground with his forehead :
this exercise he continued so long, that he
at last was ready to faint from weariness.
His slow and aged hand seemed always to
move with a singular air of dignity, and
the open majesty of his countenance, com
bined with the apparent simplicity of his
mind, constituted altogether a picture that
Da Vinci himself might have attempted to
imitate on the canvass, but never could
have equalled in sublimity of conception.
Whence comes it, we may ask, that such
different emotions are experienced by a

Petersburg. 67
person who enters a Roman Catholic place
of worship, from the visitor of the Greek
church? In both, the lighted tapers, the
pictures, the gaudy shrine, the incense,
are the same; in short, every thing that
can be, supposed to address itself to the
imagination is present in the one as in the
other ; yet it so happens that the former,
deficient in sentimental greatness, always
savours of a dramatic exhibition, while the
latter bears the semblance of a real scene.
But it was [on this ground that the ce
remonial worship of the Greek church was
purposely selected for the use of the Rus
sian nation. The deputies of the Grand
Duke Vladomir, the first sovereign who
received baptism, were sent in the tenth
century to examine and enquire into the
practice of the different Christian churches,
in order to recommend that form for adop
tion which should appear to them most
worthy of imitation. Upon their return
•they presented their report, in which they
gave an account of their having proceededp 2

68 Petersburg.
to Germany and to Bulgaria, where they
witnessed the celebration of the Roman
Catholic service in all its splendor: after
this, of their having visited Constantinople
for the purpose of inspecting the rites of
the Greeks : they, attended the high mass
and heard the chant, and their choice was
at once decided ; "we know not," said
they, " how to express by words the sub-:
" limity of what we have seen and heard;
" this far surpasses all the rest; we thought
" ourselves transported to heaven itself."
Their account was perfectly satisfactory
to the court, and it only remained to con
vert the nation to the same way of think
ing. From pagans they were simply to
be made christians, and this was a matter
of no difficulty to a despot : the people
instantly received orders to adopt the new
religion; all idolaters were declared ene
mies of Jesus Christ and of the grand
duke; while on a stated morning, the in
habitants of the capital were commanded
to assemble on the river side,. and, with-

Petersburg. 69

' b

out farther preparation, submit to bap
tism. Not a murmur occurred : "If it
" were not good for us," they cried, " our
" prince and the boiars would not have
" decreed it so/' It was in vain that the
angry god Peroun was said to have started
in the dead of the night from the waves
of the Volkoff, and to have thrown his
club against the bridge of Novogorod, ac
companied with heavy denunciations of
vengeance against the apostates. He,
the mighty Jupiter of the slaves, so lately
the object of their prayers, was now al
most every where neglected. The grand
duke had spoken, and his voice must be
obeyed. The effect of the Russian religion upon
the mass of the people, though it impresses
them with a solemn awe of the Supreme
Being, and in other respects is not without
its use with regard to doctrines of obedi
ence, and of self-denial, has yet very little
influence on their moral conduct. It may
be questioned, perhaps with propriety,

70 Petersburg.
whether it is in its nature well calculated
for this end : the quibble on the procession
of the Holy Ghost; the crossing from the
right breast instead of the left ; the use of
pictures, with no other part but the dra
pery in relief, because image worship is
forbidden, are so many evidences, that the
chief character of the church consists in
observance of punctilio. But even were
this not the case, the ignorance and degrada
tion of the lower classes in this country
is such as almost to extinguish every ge
nerous feeling that could serve to assist the
operation of their religious faith.
Another reason may be found by some,
perhaps, in the vicious lives of their in
structors. The priests are, it is true, a
race that hold a rank in society not much
above the lowest; that associate with the
vulgar herd alone ; that give indulgence to
their own passions, conniving at the evil
practices of others, and few of whom de
serve a higher character than public esti
mation has generally allotted to them.

Petersburg. 71
What perpetually keeps up this mischief
is that the profession descends levitically
from father to son, and they are conse
quently often brought up in a state of he
reditary ignorance and vice. I have heard
a story related of a priest in the govern
ment of Smolensko, who, being unable to
read, performed his functions constantly
by rote and repetition. The seigneur of
the village having good ground for suspect
ing his deficiency, requested him one day
to introduce a certain new prayer into the
service from one of the different liturgies
admitted in the church. The priest learnt
it by heart, and so far obeyed : he then
was requested to change it for the substi
tutional one that followed ; the ignorant
wretch affected to acquiesce, but, in fact,
went on as before, repeating over again
the same. Instances of actual incapacity
for the sacerdotal office are, nevertheless,
not very common, except in the more re
mote provinces ; and it is in the rank of the
seculars alone, we must observe, that igno-

72 Petersburg.
ranee is to be found. The monks are well
educated, and many of the higher dignita
ries of the church (for these are all selected
from the monasteries) are men of great
literary character and attainments. .
In order to prevent immoral practices
among the seculars, they are not only al
lowed to marry, but enjoined to enter the
matrimonial state on taking a parochial
cure, and even obliged to quit their. bene
fice if they become widowers. As to the
provision made for them, tithes are abo
lished, and the clergy depend on the pro
duce of certain domains belonging to the
body at large; the administration of which
was taken into- the hands of the crown
during the short reign of Peter III. stated
annual stipends being distributed, to. them.
Their official fees, however, are not incon
siderable, and besides the sums gained in
this way, they are paid largely by the noble
men, at whose houses'they attend to cele
brate private mass : ti.eir, time is, in great
measure, taken up by this duty, for the

Petersburg. 73
wealthier orders hardly ever make their ap
pearance in the public churches, almost
every family having a private chapel at
home. Since we have touched on the religious
sentiments of these classes of society, it
may not be amiss to say something of the
morality of the higher, which seems to me to
have been the subject with various writers
of much misrepresentation. There are
many families at Petersburg, as will be al
lowed by all, where the girls are brought
up with the utmost regularity and at
tention, and I hope it Avill not savour too
strongly of national prejudice if I should
say in the English mode. But to speak
more at large, we should draw an inference
favourable to their morale from the nature
of the distinctions and parties of society;
and when we see a line drawn that sepa
rates conjugal infidelity from the general
resort of those who know how to value the
real luxury of a domestic state, we ac
knowledge a feeling unknown to the las-

74 Petersburg.
civious climate of the south, and which
proves, beyond all possibility of contra
diction, that the real basis of social life
and virtue is here maintained. I have
confined my remarks to the female sex, as
the same may not, with equal propriety,
be said of the men : but the character of
the female world once established in any
country, debauchery, it may be affirmed,
meets with an almost impassable limit.
But a certain degree of superstition is
to be seen even among the people of edu
cation. It was impossible not to feel a
degree of pity, though at the same time it
was a pleasing sight, to behold the amiable
and lovely princesses making pilgrimage
to the monasteries of Sarai or Mermest;
labours that were the offspring of some%
holy vow undertaken for the sake of those
who were now absent in the war, a father,
a husband, a brother, or a lover. Nor are
these signs the only traces of over-pious
weakness that were to be observed ; it is
common to meet with those who never

Petersburg. 75
dare to inhabit a house where a person,
however distantly related, may have ex
pired. Numerous changes of habitation,
for this reason, perpetually take place at
Petersburg, the family mansion losing its
hereditary proprietor. Others have sin
gular notions about the ominous presage
that attends the giving salt at table ; and
on more serious occasions, a sick man re
ceiving the cup from the priest is not al
lowed to eat or drink, or even to take phy
sic, for six hours after the ceremony ; many
persons obstinately refuse to pollute the
sacrament by receiving any food into
their stomachs after its administration, and
the consequences that ensue may be sur
mised. Every sect of religion is tolerated by the
government, or rather admitted with in
difference. Of the rasholnicks (schisma
tics) from the established church there are
some few communities ; the greater part
being those who apostatised on the intro
duction of the modern edition of the Bible

76 Petersburg.
put forth by the patriarch Nicon, in the
seventeenth century. They are remarka
ble for a more scrupulous observance of the
ceremonies enjoined in the old forms, par
ticularly of days of fast and rules of absti
nence ; among the last of which, the for
bearance from tobacco, in conformity with
the ancient injunctions of the clergy, is
rigidly enforced. They do not form any
where a very numerous class, and have
chiefly met with success among the poor,
because their priests afford confession at a
cheaper rate than those of the established
church, and by other practices of a like
description. Disputes on doctrinal points are not
likely to arise very frequently : the only
translation of the Bible that is permitted
is one written in the old Sclavonic lan
guage, with an admixture of Greek ; and
though the Russe is also a Sclavonic
tongue^ yet this antiquated dialect is as
unintelligible to a modern Russian as the
Latin language to an Italian of the pre-

Petersburg. 77
sent day. We may collect that the public
curiosity is awake, however, to specula
tion, from the late successful publication
of one of Ancillons philosophical works.
It was translated into Russian with com
ments by Theophanes, bishop of Casan,
and was bought up with avidity ; but the
book received an answer, and its princi
ples were ably controverted by Philarete,
bishop of Novogorod, upon which a vio
lent rejoinder ensued from the other side.
After this matters proceeded no farther,
for an imperial ukase appeared which put
an end to the paper war, by entirely pro
hibiting the sale of Theophanes's book,
while the bishop himself, after a sharp re
primand from the synod, was confined to
his diocese.
It is in this way, notwithstanding the
avowed principle of toleration, the un
limited authority of the crown sometimes
is known to interfere in religious matters ;
nor is it a measure of lenity or moderation
that is usually resorted to, but the com-

78 Petersburg.
mand is made in the same authoritative
tone as that which enjoined their first con
version to Christianity. We have an in
stance of this severity in the punishment
of Prince Galitzin, an apostate to the
Roman Catholic religion during the reign
of the Empress Anne. The unfortunate
nobleman was forced to marry a woman
of low extraction, and his espousals were
celebrated with every circumstance of bur
lesque pomp that the utmost stretch of
satirical ingenuity could invent. The
bride and bridegroom were carried in a
cage of iron on the back of an elephant,
followed by a procession of rustics two by
two, habited in the costumes of the va
rious nations of Siberia. On their arrival
at the place of destination, they were
conducted to a sumptuous edifice of ice,
adorned with columns, and porticoes, and
domes. A salute of ordnance was fired
from pieces made of the same substance,
while every article of furniture, even to
the nuptial couch on which they were

Petersburg. 79
constrained to pass the night, was framed
of this cold material.
In another case that occurred within
the present reign, an act of coercion of no
less imperious a nature was adopted, but
it was an example that really demanded
the most immediate and peremptory mea
sures. A sect of enthusiasts had sprung
up in the government of Moscow, who, in
a spirit of misinterpretation almost in
credible, " made themselves," as they said,
" eunuchs for the kingdom of Heaven's
sake." So strong was the first burst of
enthusiasm, that they gained a large body
of proselytes, some of whose beardless
faces were now to be seen in the Exchange
at Petersburg ; but the affair soon became
public, and government taking cognizance
of the sect, prevented (it was said) the
farther dissemination of their doctrine by
the irresistible operation of the knout.
Privation is the essential doctrine of the
church : " Que les Russes ne savent prendre
" le del que par famine" is an old saying ;

80 Petersburg.
and in truth the length of their regular
fasts fully justifies the remark : at Lent
seven weeks of abstinence are enjoined by
the Greek church, — the same from the
first week after the Pentecost to St. John
the Baptist, then again, fourteen days be
fore the Assumption, and forty* days before
Christmas; during which times animal food
and sexual intercourse are rigorously for
bidden. The first of these periods is ter
minated by. the performance of several
ceremonies relating to the history of the
death of our Saviour, much in . the same.
fashion as those exhibited by the Roman
church in the course of Passion week ; but
on Easter even the whole is wound up with
one that is peculiar to themselves, and,
perhaps, the most striking and imposing
spectacle ever invented by the votaries of
religion. . ,
A representation of the sacred tomb is
exposed to the people during the whole
of the evening, and at night the resurrec
tion is made the subject of formal annun-

Petersburg. 81
ciation in all the churches throughout the
empire. In order to witness this extra
ordinary sight, we entered the Casan
church at a late hour ; the nave, the aisles,
in short every part, was crowded to suffoca
tion with an host of devotees : thousands
of lighted tapers (for each bore one in
his hand) glittered over the whole area,
spreading an illumination as bright as
noon. As the hour of twelve approached,
all eyes were earnestly bent on the sanc
tuary, and a dead silence reigned through
out ; at length the door opened, when
there issued forth a long train of banners,
crosses, &c. ; with archimandrites, proto-
popes, and priests of all ranks, dressed in
their sumptuous robes of embroidered silk,
covered with gold and silver, and jewels ;
they moved slowly through the crowd, and
went but from the doors of the church as
if to search for the body of our Lord ; in
a few minutes the insignia were seen again,
on their return, floating above the heads
of the mob, along the nave ; and when the
VOL. II. G

82 Petersburg.
archbishop had regained the altar, he pro
nounced, with a loud voice, Christos vol-
stress, " Christ is risen." At that instant
the hymn of praise commenced, and a
peal of ordnance from the fortress re
echoed the joyful tidings through the city.
The world of Mongiks now saluted and
Congratulated one another in turn, for the
days of fasting were at an end; tables
spread with provisions in a short time
made their appearance in the church : the
forbidden meats were tasted with eager
appetite, and a feast of gluttony, that an
nually proves fatal to some of the followers
of this religion, took place of penance and
prayer. : A second carnival of one week succeeded
this day, and afforded, though in a differ
ent way, a spectacle no less gratifying to
strangers. The Isaac Platz was filled with
people, drinking quass and kislistchi, visit
ing puppet-shows or rope-dancers, enjoy..
ing themselves in the tcherkeli or round
about, and following each other in succes-

Petersburg. 83
sion, down the slope of the summer-hills.
This last is one of their most favourite
amusements : the apparatus consists of a
scaffold between thirty or forty feet high,
with an inclined plane in front, constructed
in imitation of the ice- hills, the ordinary
diversion of the winter season. It is taste
fully adorned with flowers and boughs of
trees, amidst which an amateur of the
sport is hurried in a small narrow cart on
four wheels; descending the steep, and
traversing with the impulse a level stage
below, of some hundred feet in length,
though not with quite so great assurance
of security as in the course of the above-
mentioned diversion. The empress Cathe
rine II. indeed narrowly escaped with her
life from an accident that happened at the
Summer-hills of Oranienbaum. One of the
wheels of the cart being caught against
the side of the groove in which it moved,
she would have been precipitated from the
scaffold, if Orlof had not fortunately been
present* and, by the strength of his mus*
a 2

84 Petersburg.
cular arm, arrested the cart in its de
scent. The infinite variety of gay colour and
costume exhibited by a Russian mob adds
to the pleasure of the scene, and besides
the novelty of the aspect in this point, it
excites the astonishment of a foreigner
to behold these stout majestic men, with
solemn beards and placid countenances,
sliding down these hills in go-carts, or
whirled round one after the other in the
light round-about, or (as permission is
universally given in this week) jingling the
church bells as an act of serious devotion.
But still more singular is the charm pro
duced by the sight of so vast a concourse
of people all still and quiet. No quarrels
interrupt the sport, ho outcries are heard :
an universal face of merriment and good
humour unceasingly prevails, and every
where accompanied with the same noise
less appearance. A sight that forms a
strong contrast with the loud mirth of an
Italian, or the joyous boisterousness of an
English mob. But with the forced and

Petersburg. 85
artificial Russian, even their quantum of
gladness is regulated by the strict order of
the police.
The presentation of an egg in sign of
the termination of the fast, is the usual
compliment of the season among the peo
ple of all ranks, high or low ; the hand
somest are made of porcelain, and it is. a
gift generally made to the fair sex. The
lady in complaisance grants the donor
permission to kiss her hand, which, on his
rising, is returned according to the grace
ful mode of Russian salutation, on the
gentleman's cheek. By old established
custom, no lady of any rank whatsoever
can refuse the salute to the meanest per
son in the streets that does but make her
the offer of an egg.
April 19. — Soon after Easter a new
cause of congratulation arose. The affairs
of Troyes, Laon, Rheims, Arcis-sur-Aube,
la Fere Champenoise, had followed in ra
pid succession, and on this day the arrival
of an estafette from France brought thes

86 Petersburg*
news of the battle fought under the heights
of Montinartre, and of the subsequent ca
pitulation of Paris ; together with the in
formation that Buonaparte had abdicated
the crown of France.
Nothing could exceed the demonstra
tions of public joy on this glorious termi
nation of the campaign. The national
glory was concerned, and the emperor was
the reputed chief of the coalition, there
fore a Te Deum was ordered to be cele
brated in honour of the event, and public
illuminations prepared. On the day of
the appointed fSte again we repaired to
the cathedral church of the Virgin of
Casan ; it was now another scene, — illumi
nated with fashion and rank, and youth
and beauty, and all the costly magni
ficence of the Russian court. In the cen
tre, below the dome, stood the Empress
Dowager, the Grand Duchess Anna Pau-
lowna, Duchess of Wirtemburg, with the
queen and princesses of Georgia and Min-
greiia, the ladies of the household, and

Petersburg. 87
the female nobility of the country. Splen
did jewels, rich brocades, shawls of Cash-
mir, united their dazzling hues, and formed
a coup-d'oeil splendid beyond conception.
Behind stood the citizens' wives, attired
in dresses not less costly or profuse of de
coration. The corps diplomatique, the
representatives of the allied courts of Eu
rope, held the left of the altar ; and the
officers of the emperor, in their appro
priate uniforms of the civil and military
lines, occupied the space between.
All being duly arranged, the ceremony
commenced with the official bulletin, which
was read by a general officer; after this
succeeded a priest with a few verses from
the Testament, then the Litany, and then
a special thanksgiving ; next the Te Deum,
the prayer for the emperor and each of
the imperial family, &c. This done, the
grand chamberlain, stepping forward, con
ducted the empress to the door of the
altar, where she prostrated herself three
times before the Virgin ; the grand duchess

88 Petersburg.
followed, and went through the same ce
remony with an air of grace inexpressibly
striking. The priests were now presented
in succession to the empress; the bishop
received frPm her the kiss of peace, and
thus the whole was closed.
It added not a little to the effect of
these solemn ceremonies, that they were
performed under the same roof where re
posed the ashes of Kutusow and Moreau,
amidst walls decked on every side with
the trophies of Russian valour, the eagles
and standards wrested from the French
legions, the proud memorials of Taratina,
of Malojaroslavetz, Krasnoi, Lutzen, and
Bautzen*, which were now about to be
united to the recent tokens of still more
glorious victory.
The public illuminations were ordered
for three nights, and the inhabitants of
* Among the most remarkable were the baton of Da-
voust taken at Krasnoi, and the vexillum of the lOt) co
hort of the national guard, taken in the campaign of the
last year.

Petersburg. 89
Petersburg exhibited every device which
their ingenuity and munificence could de
vise. It was indeed ah endless and ever-
varying blaze : but in conformity with the
general system no transparency or in
scription can be set up without permis
sion, and even the effusions of loyalty are
placed under the eye of the police. An
unfortunate pastry-cook, neglecting this
precaution, nearly involved himself in a
dilemma, by a picture which appeared in
his window. He had represented the ini
tial letter of Alexander surrounded with
a little wreath of A's entwined, which was
intended as an allegorical allusion to the
a-hes or allih, rallying round his sovereign.
The device at least was harmless ; a com
pliment, as the pieman averred, neither
ill-meant nor ill executed. The police,
however, hold other matters of greater
weight than simple argument; it might
be, no fees were offered, but certainly,
from some reason or other, the unfortu
nate transparency was ordered to be re-

90 Petersburg.
moved. In respect of more vulgar exhi
bitions of public feeling, a licence and
liberty, such as we had not before wit
nessed, was allowed on this occasion, and
the " greasy crowd," (for they are greasy)
raised a confused sound of hurrah in every
street through which the imperial carriages
passed. The fortunate issue of this war had
hitherto accumulated every species of ho
nour on the head of the emperor, and of
him alone ; no individual employed in the
civil or military services could stand for
ward to challenge any competition with
him in the public estimation. None of
his generals, though men highly distin
guished, had enjoyed a distinct command,
at least of any consequence; while the
minister Romanzow, (whom no one would
consider partial to English politics) in spite
of the tender of his resignation, had con
stantly been retained as minister of foreign
affairs. The emperor was all in all; abroad
the sole ostensible agent, at home the sole

Petersburg. 91
depositary of the vows, the prayers, and
the hopes of his country.
A profusion of compliments, as may be
supposed, were designed to honour his re
turn to the capital : amongst others, the
senate was convened for the purpose of
decreeing him some new title appropriate
to his deserts. The august body debated
for three days, with closed doors, on this
important and difficult subject ; Italinski,
and Crimski, and Donski, and Zadunaiski,
honourable additions to the names of great
Russian commanders, formed no precedent
for the designation of an emperor ; and
unfortunately, a redoubtable hero of anti
quity had pre-occupied in history the only
agnomen suitable to his dignity. At last,
however, they came to a decision, and a
motion having for its object the grant of
the name of Blagoslovenni (benedictus),
was carried nem. contradicente. A solemn
deputation was then ordered to convey to
him the respectful resolution of the body,

92 Petersburg.
and Kourakin, Soltigov, and Tormasov,
set out to meet him on his journey.
Besides the titular honour, it was pro
posed to commemorate his conduct during
this war in a more substantial way, and a
subscription was entered into for the pur
pose of raising a triumphal arch on the
road through which his majesty in the fol
lowing month was expected to approach
the city. It was commenced in wood, to
be renewed in stone, and an elegant de
sign given by Signor Guarenghi for its
construction. But of all these, the most
judicious compliment was the offering pre
pared by the provincial government of
Petersburg. -They caused to be made two
silver salvers, handsomely decorated with
emblematical carved work, and on these
they intended to present his majesty with
bread and salt, the old compliments of a
Russian welcome. As it finally turned out,
the building of the triumphal arch was
afterwards stopped by imperial command,

Petersburg. 93
the title refused, and the last mentioned
was the only tribute of public gratitude
which he condescended to accept.
The mention of a certain royal family
that swelled the train of the empress dow
ager may perhaps have created the sur
prise of some of my readers ; nor was it
with a light degree of astonishment that
we ourselves first beheld them in the court.
Independent of the interest attached to
the situation in which they were repre
sented to be placed, it was impossible not
to notice them from their singularity of air
and mien. The princes were handsome
men, but the princesses, though not young,
displayed features of unparalleled beauty,
with fair complexions and eyes of a spark
ling black: they were dressed with small
round coifs upon their heads, from which
a long white veil, open in front, descended
to their feet, lending by its novel fashion
a new grace to the elegance of their per
sons. The cause of the flight of the court
of Teflis'to Petersburg may be detailed in

94 Petersburg.
a few words. The country of Georgia had
been long exposed to the intrigues of its
two powerful neighbours, Russia and Persia,
and became, partly through their means,
the constant prey of civil war. The an
cient royal family was deposed early in
the last century, and though with a view
to tranquillise all existing differences, a
red and white rose union was brought about
by intermarriage with the usurper's family,
yet this step afforded only a short repose ;
jealousies and factions, gathering strength
from intermission, soon broke out with
more animosity than before. In the end,
finding himself unable to withstand at once
the attacks of his domestic as well as fo
reign enemies, the tsar George Heraclie-
vitch voluntarily surrendered his kingdom
to Paul the Emperor of Russia. In return
for this, handsome appointments at the
court of Petersburg were by stipulation to
be provided, and in the year 1801, he, with
his whole family, arrived at Moscow. But
it was reserved for the Emperor Alexander

Petersburg* 95
to fulfil this contract, which was done as
soon as the confused state of things at the
death of the late emperor would allow,
and Georgia is in consequence now placed
under the administration of a Russian go
vernor. The rigour of the season, which we had
felt in the preceding winter at Stockholm,
had been extended with more than equal
severity to this place ; the mercury in the
thermometer was observed at 33° of Reau
mur, or 74° below the freezing point of
Fahrenheit, in the month of January last,
at least eight or ten degrees lower than in
an ordinary year. Upon this many pre
cautionary measures were adopted by the
care of the police. The public stoves set
up in various parts of the city were kept
constantly lighted, and the theatres were
ordered to be shut, as is always done when
the cold reaches 20°. On the day of its
greatest excess, guards were stationed on
the side of the town towards Cronstadt, in
order to prevent any of the poor classes

96 Petersburg.
from attempting a passage over the ice
to that place : so long a journey without
shelter would infallibly prove fatal to any
person attempting it on foot, particularly
those whose clothing was not of the warmest
kind ; and no one, I should add, in Russia
is allowed to hazard a life that, if no in
termediate claimant occurs, at any rate
belongs to the emperor.
The hospitals abounded with miserable
objects, frost-bitten in their extremities,
and the lives of several people were daily
sacrificed. This season, however, to men
tion the blessings as well as curses of the
climate, was reckoned extremely advanta
geous to the poor ; it had not- been inter
rupted by a single day's thaw, so that they
kept their provisions for the frozen market
during the whole of the winter untainted,
and these articles form with a large class
their chief dependence for their livelihood.
It may not be here unapplicable to re
mark, that the ice of the river was a foot
less in thickness than in former seasons^

Petersburg. 97
the average being about one yard ; so
plentiful a coating of snow hatd fallen upon
it early in the winter, as in great measure
to afford protection against the increased
action of the frost.
The snow might be expected therefore
to be accumulated to an enormous extent,
but neither was this the case, nor indeed
can it very well take place at any time;
for the constant evaporation carried on
from every part of its surface diminishes
its bulk to an extraordinary degree, and I
seldom observed it, unless within a few
days after a very heavy fall, to lie at a
depth of more than one foot in any open
spot. In the habitations of the wealthier classes
the rooms are kept at an unvarying tem
perature of about 14° + during the winter
by means of stoves ; a practice that serves
effectually to restore the perspiration if it
has been checked by staying out of doors,
as well as provides a remedy for any want
VOL. II. U

98 Petersburg .
of tone which the body may have acquired.
There is no need to enlarge upon this sub*
ject ; it is undoubtedly true that the con
stitution is not so liable to catarrh and
complaints of that nature here as in the
more temperate climate of England* how
ever our English prejudices may be in-^
clined to condemn the means.
In fact, the nice observance of cold, and
the means of defending the body from its
attacks, are as much a matter of study and
science in these parts as that of guarding
against excess of heat is become in the
south : it is only in the countries situate
between these extremes, where the obliga
tion is not so imperative, that danger on
such points arises from ignorance and ne
glect. It is surprising indeed to a stranger
in Russia to hear people of the lowest
orders of life, and even the very peasants of
the country, talking with the utmost fa
miliarity of the degrees of the thermometer,
with remarks of such a description as in

Petersburg. 99
another country none but a man well in
formed in other respects could attempt to
make. As to the nature of the Russian climate,
it is not subject to much variation when
the season has once commenced, nor is
the atmosphere overcharged with moisture^
seldom indeed except at the turn of the
seasons ; but the change from hot to cold
is infinitely more abrupt, and a decrease
of 34 of Fahrenheit in the course of a
single night is not uncommon.
The experience of a winter like that of
this year calls to recollection the extra
vagant humoursx of the late Emperor Paul,
who, even in the depth of the season, for
bad -his officers the use of any sort of pe
lisses, and published, moreover, an ukase,
enjoining all men, civil or military, to
stand still and unbutton and open their
coats or cloaks as he passed by, in order
to see whether they were dressed in con
formity with his whimsical regulations.
The stories which were in circulation re-
ii 2

100 Petersburg:
spectirig his orders were such as would
scarcely obtain belief from those who are'
unacquainted with the nature of imperial
government. An English merchant, who
had accidentally neglected the observance
Of this rule, was instantly attacked by the
police : he pleaded in excuse, that he la
boured under the misfortune of a short
sight, and had not, which was really the
case, observed the emperor's carriage as it
approached. On this ground the threat
ened punishment was remitted; but the
next morning an ukase came out, ordering
Mr. B  never to stir abroad again with
out spectacles, and the police were charged
to see the decree put in execution.
Without being exposed to the unplea
sant effect of such ordinances, it was with
no small pleasure that we beheld the first
symptoms of the return of milder weather.
In the beginning of April the snow car
peting of the streets shewed signs of decay,
and the stones of purple granite, or, as
•they are called', the violets of Petersburg,

Petersburg; 101

began to shew themselves; it was not,
however, a vernal season that succeeded^
but one, to conjecture from our feelings^
that bore much the same temperature as
an ordinary winter in England.
April 14. — The masses of ice on some
of the higher parts of the river now begun
to separate, and large flakes were per
ceived passing with the current* under
neath the frozen surface of the river near
the town ; for here it was yet entire, since
the frequent roads and paths that crossed
it in every direction gave it a harder and
firmer consistence. At length the pools of
water produced from the influence of the
sun on the surface began to disappear, the
ice assumed a grey colour, and indicated
the approach of the great event, that was
regarded with so much earnestnessr— the
breaking up of the Neva.
* It is this circumstance which proves so destructive
to the piers and foundations of buildings on the river side,
cutting to pieces the timbers, and frequently, by its buoy •
ancy, tearing them up.

102 Petersburg.
On the 18th of this month the police,
ever careful of the lives of his imperial
majesty's subjects, were observed to station
their guards on the river side to prevent
any person from adventuring across, and a
severe beating was the sure punishment to
any one whose rashness tempted him to
hazard the experiment. We were soon
convinced they were no mean judges with
regard to time : pn the nineteenth, at seven
o'clock in the morning, fresh symptoms of
the expected dissolution became visible.
The quays were lined with spectators, and
many a wager on the first parting of the
great sheet was to be lost and won. PreT
sently portions of ice in the centre of the
river began to sink, the holes rapidly in
creased, in a few minutes the mass split in
various directions, and every part was at
once set in motion, grating and tearing
flake against flake under the heavy pressure
of the current.
From this moment the three quarters of
the city were entirely cut off from com-

Petersburg.. 103
municatibn with each other; the passage
for boats was not only attended with dan
ger, but actually prohibited, and the bridges
were useless, being always loosened at one
end, and parting with the stroke of the ice
to one side or the other, so as to afford no
obstruction. In the course of three days, however, the
river became tolerably clear, and at twelve
o'clock on the 22d a salute was fired from
the fortress to announce the passage of the
governor and suite, who annually presents
a goblet of pure river water to the einperor
or any of the family resident at the palace;
After this form was gone through, the ferry*
men dashed fearlessly through the stream,;
each striving with emulation to be the first
to reach the opposite shore, and a free
passage was open to all,
On the 1st of May, a day which is kep$
as a fete throughout the North, a prome
nade is made en voiture to Catherinoffs
whither the empress and all the gay world
repair in mutual congratulation to hail the

104 Petersburg.
first burst of the genial season. The cere-*
mony was this year at least premature.
Vegetation, as yet, shewed itself but scan
tily ; on the hills of Finland, and the higher
grounds towards the south of the city,
some slight symptoms of verdure were to
be traced ; but the plains below were on
every side still covered with the same
mantle of brown.
On the 15th a cruel reverse took place :
the weather, which never is said to be set
tled till the ice from the Ladoga has come
down, was disturbed by the blast of a
northerly wind : the surface of the river
was in a few hours again strewed with icy
flakes, that reached in continuance from
the mouth of the lake to the sea shore,
chilling the air for many a mile, and bring
ing with them a second winter. Their pas
sage was accompanied by a fall of snow
and a hard frost, both highly unacceptable,
though no more than had been predicted
by those acquainted with the climate, who
always, indeed, speak of the shock of this

Petersburg. 105
season as more prejudicial to the health
than the rigour of all the previous winter.
After this, to our inexpressible delight, the
river again grew clear. It was indeed a
fortunate event, for the duration of the
passage of the ice is various, sometimes
lasting for a fortnight, or even longer. It
must be at all times uncertain ; for it is
obvious, only a small part of the immense
mass that covers the Ladoga can be con
veyed through the comparatively narrow
channel of the Neva : the rest is broken
on its shore, and melted down as the sea
son advances ; but of course, as long as
the northerly breeze continues, the river
is always served with a constant supply
from above. The appearance of these flakes
is worth observing : their surface is com
pletely honey-combed, and their texture is
so rotten as to yield to the slightest con
cussion; on being taken into the hand
they separate into small thin spicula, per
haps formed by the melting of the snow,
that before overspread them,

106 Petersburg.
When all this ¦ had passed away, the
bridges were again established, and we
began to congratulate ourselves on the
assurance of the times. Among other
symptoms of the improvement of the wea
ther, one in which we felt most interested
was the arrival of the mails from England ;
for upwards of thirty-six were now due,
an arrear almost unprecedented in the
course of any former winter.
May 29- — Spring and autumn are sea
sons that might be well omitted in the
Russian calendar ; from summer to winter*
or winter to summer, is only one step,
Scarcely had a complete week now elapsed
when the trees, that before hardly shewed
their buds, were clothed in full leaf, and
afforded a refreshing shelter against the
sun, whose rays were already too warm to
be agreeable; and the face of nature was
every where renewed to a state of beauty,
of which one had almost lost the remem
brance. In the fervency of the ostenta
tious gratitude that characterises the Rus-

Petersburg. 107
sian church, the verdure annually receives
a solemn benediction ; the places of wor
ship, as well as private houses, are filled
with the consecrated boughs born by the
devotees; and on the first Sunday after
Ascension-day, the same priests, who
poured their blessing on the frozen water
in the winter*, hail, with similar cere
monies, the summer vegetation. The fSte
was farther solemnised by another pro
menade to Catherinoffas before: coaches,
droshkas, landaus, caleches, every carriage
that could be produced, was pressed into
service, and by the returns it appeared that
above 200Q made their appearance in the
procession. The eternally vexatious police
were again in attendance, and they pre*
served the strictest order, not to say most
tiresome regularity : all the carriages were
ranged in lines passing and repassing, and
while perpetually watched by the corps of
spies, it was impossible, on any excuse, tp
* This is performed on the 6th of January, Q. S.

108 Petersburg',
change your direction. ,On the following;
day was a promenade on foot in the sum
mer gardens, which was much more agree
able, as not being confined by the same
regulations. Perhaps the greatest singularities in a
spectacle of this sort are the numerous
decorations of Russian knighthood, which
seem worn by persons of all ranks and de
scriptions : St. Andrew, St. Catherine, St.
Alexander Newsky, St. George, St. Via-
domir, St. Anne, and the cross of Malta ;
with all their several classes and gradations,.
Some military officers, lately returned from
Paris, appeared to carry a complete bou
quet of ribbons on their breasts. Chevalier
de plusieurs ordres, or even de torn les ovdres
de V empire, is not a title very uncommon ;
the great cross of St. Andrew indeed gives
right to wear all the other insignia, except
the first of St. George. This may be called
perhaps the most honourable badge of
merit that any European sovereign has it
in his power to bestow in reward of ser-

Petersburg. 109
vices; by the rules of its institution, it
can only be granted to those officers who
have won a general battle as commander
in chief; and had been worn by only four
knights previous to the investiture of Ku-
tusow. Other decorations are granted
with such profusion as to challenge but
little distinction for their wearer; one, in
deed, of the emperor's valets is adorned
with the fourth class of a most respectable
order. The Maltese cross used to be sold for a
Stipulated sum, and was bought and Avorn,
not only by men young and old, but also
by several chevaleresque ladies resident at
Petersburg. But the validity of the right,
by which the honour can be conferred by
the emperor, is liable to some question :
the claimants to the grand-mastership of
the order of St. John were more than one,
and the Emperor Paul's title none of the
strongest. He was called to the vacant
dignity (in pursuance of his own recom
mendation) by an irregular chapter, com-

1 10 Petersburg.
posed of a few accidental chevaliers at Pe
tersburg, at the time when the French,
finding themselves unable to keep pos
session of Malta, made a cession of it to
Russia just as it was about to yield to the
British arms. This mock election was
followed by the ridiculous farce of dis
patching Count Litta a few miles out of
the toAvn, with directions to return in qua
lity of an ambassador from the knights of
Malta, declaring himself charged with full
power to invest his imperial majesty with
the insignia of the title he so much co
veted. The self-appointed envoy was re
ceived in due form at the palace, and the
emperor, being completely satisfied with
his credentials, immediately entered upon
the functions of his new office, distributing
crosses, grand crosses, and pennyless com-
manderies without reserve.
The objects of curiosity at Petersburg
are numerous : the winter gardens of the
Taurida Palace, and the hanging gardens
of the Palais d' Hyver, as well as those of

Petersburg. Ill

'»

Prince Gazarin, are true specimens of
Russian luxury. The former is a shrub
bery planted with evergreens, inclosed in
a saloon of prodigious dimensions, and has
been often described ; the latter are par
terres warmed by heated flues : they are
raised on terraces to the level of the first
or second story of the house; whither
having mounted, the stranger, to his great
surprise, finds himself ushered into shady
walks, and trees, and groves.
The Mikhail Palace, built by Paul, is
singular only for its whimsical taste, and
as the scene of the murder of its founder.
The imperial palaces of Czarskoselo, Ora-
nienbaum, and Peterhof, have but little
claim to distinction ; they are spacious
country seats built from the designs of
foreign architects, with gardens in the
English style. It is scarcely worthy of
remark that at the last we were shewn
the picture of the naval engagement in
Tchesmi Bay ; the same for the sake of
which a ship of 300 tons was bought and

112 Petersburg..
Set on fire at Leghorn, by the order of
Catherine II. that her painter might learn
.to represent, in true colours, the explosion
that occurred during this celebrated bat
tle. What his unassisted imagination woulcl
have produced is a difficult problem to re
solve, perhaps nothing better ; but here he
certainly has completely failed in his un
dertaking. June 1. — Finding ourselves on the coast
of Oranienbaum, we embarked for Cron-
stadt, from the same shore whence Peter
III. once set sail for this fortress, upon
the breaking out of the conspiracy of his
consort. Being furnished with permission
from the governor (for without this we
should, like his majesty, have met Avith a
rebuff) Ave were admitted, and carried to
view the town, the harbour, and the forti
fications. It is a naval station, situated conveniently
enough for the protection of Petersburg
at about 10 leagues distance: there are
two passages which lead to the mouth of

Petersburg. 113
the Neva, one on the north, the other on
the south, both commanded by islands
strongly fortified. Of these the fort of
Cronslot is the most considerable: it is
formed by a pentagonal rampart, rising
directly from the water, with two tier of
embrasures for cannon ; the whole con
structed in solid masonry of granite, of
which materia], indeed, all the Avorks are
now renewed that were originally built by
Peter I. of wood.
The arsenal and docks of Cronstadt are
similarly fortified- towards the sea, having
the appearance of great strength ; though
on the side of the west, looking to the re
maining part of the island, the place is very
slenderly defended.
The display of shipping was not very
large : about 30 English vessels lay in the
Merchant's Mole ; on the other side were
eight sail of the line, and one more was in
dock ; but to complete the exhibition, the
fleet now on its voyage from England was
expected to arrive in the course of the
VOL. II. i

114 Petersburg.
month. We saw the camels which are used
for the ships launched at the docks of Pe
tersburg, in order to enable them to sur
mount the bar at the river mouth : they
consisted of two immense wooden caissons,
made to fit on each side, so as to embrace
the hull of the ship; for that purpose they
are filled with water, then sunk, and
grappled on; this done, the water is
pumped out, and the whole mass buoyed
up together, so as to lessen the draught
by many feet. These machines are not
unique of their kind ; the same are in use
at Hamburgh, and they were adopted in a
certain way by the French at Venice, to
carry their ships over the lagunes, with
their ordnance and ammunition on board,
at the time they were in danger from
the activity of the English cruisers in the
vicinity. The docks at Cronstadt are cut in the
shape of a cross, with a bason in the cen
tre : each of the three arms is made capa
ble of receiving two ships, one ahead of the

Petersburg. 115
other, the fourth being left clear for the
entrance : the whole was lined with granite,
and provided with the requisite apparatus
of pumps. The construction of their ships
is not a charge of so light a nature to the
Russian government as might be expected,
except in the case of those furnished from
the dockyard at Archangel, which are en
tirely of fir ; but oak is used at Cronstadt,
and is very expensive, on account of the
distance Avhence it is brought, coming
chiefly from the province of Casan. The
actual cost to government I have no means
of ascertaining : the merchant vessels are
generally calculated about 100 R. per ton;
which is cheap in comparison of what is
generally paid in England, but not so low
as might be supposed on the coast of the
Baltic, from the traffic that in some parts
has occasionally been carried on in the
article of ship-building. Complaints are
raised here also* as with us, of the defec
tive nature of the timber employed in the
dock-yards: their ships last, on an ave^-
i2

116 Petersburg.
rage, about fourteen years; nevertheless,
in one or two instances, they have been
condemned and broken up after a service
of only four.
It is remarkable that the timber of
many of the old wooden dwellings, built
in the time of Peter the Great, have fre
quently been found perfectly sound, even
to the day of their being pulled down, ap
pearing, even noAV, much more likely to
resist decay than any that have been used
Avithin the last twenty or thirty years. It
may be said, however, and perhaps with
truth, that only those houses where the
timber was originally of the best quality
have thus defied the lapse of years, and
remained for the inspection of succeeding
architects. With regard to the ordnance one pecu
liarity may be mentioned,. that the pieces
are furnished with a small spike on the
ring of the muzzle, elevated so as to give
the line of vision from the breech exactly
parallel with the bore of the piece : a simi-

Petersburg. 117
lar scheme is generally adopted in the
English carronades for the sea service
But this provision seems to have been
made in all the old Russian cannon, even
of the reign of Ivan IV., of Avhich suffi
cient examples are seen in the imperial
arsenal. Here, also, another ingenious
contrivance, equally adapted for acquir
ing precision in firing at an horizontal
range, is displayed in some of their ar
tillery, a few of Avhich, calculated for balls
of three or four pound weight, Avere made
with1 rifle barrels. They were evidently,
by their shape, of certain antiquity, and
one bore the date of the reign of Michael
FeodoroAvitz in the 16th century, a period
certainly long anterior to the use of the
rifle-barrelled guns in the rest of Europe.
We were told that the invention had been
long known in certain parts of Russia, and
the peasants in the government of Olonetz,
who are celebrated as marksmen, were said
to have had among them foAvling pieces

118 Petersburg.
on this construction long anterior to that
time. Having mentioned these instances of
Russian ingenuity, it is not unfair to state
a circumstance which does not reflect
much credit on the skill of their work
men. About the beginning of the month,
the greatest part of the plaister ornaments
of the ceiling of the Casan church fell
down, leaving the vault in many places
quite bare. The accident happened to
the infinite joy of the foreigners employed
in the architectural line, and discomfiture
of the natives ; but the fact was that the
iron claws, necessary to sustain the coffer
and roses in the several compartments
of the roof, had been made too small,
either through knavish parsimony or igno
rance and neglect. If the former was the
case, persons employed deserve serious
punishment from the police, as the lives of
his imperial majesty's subjects Avere en
dangered thereby : if the latter, it must be

Petersburg. 119
confessed it was done in the usual style of
Russian ^workmanship, in every line and
branch; for though any specimen is imi
tated to the eye with wonderful neatness
and precision, yet the solidity or durabi
lity, inseparable from the productions of a
well practised artizan, are qualities neither
known nor thought of.

120

SECTION IV.
FROM PETERSBURG TO MOSCOW AND
SMOLENSKO.
Road of Peter I. — Peasantry — Criminal Justice
— Novgorod the Great — Tartar Cottages —
Barrows, fyc. — Valdai—Canal of Vishni Vo-
lotchok — Communications with Siberia — Twer
— Approach of the French in 1812 — Alarm in
these Districts, and again at the Capital — Mis
taken Expectations of the French — Devotion of
the Nobles and the People — State of Affairs
kept secret at Moscow — Sudden Arrival of the
French — Conflagration — Present Appearance
of Moscow — Anecdotes of Sufferers during the
Occupation— Condition of the French Army —
Kremlin : Part destroyed by Explosion — Ex
traordinary Instance of Superstition — Magni
ficence of the Kremlin — Imperial Coronation,
<§r. — Mode of living among the Nobles —
Trade of Moscow with Boukhara, 8$c. — De-
vitchi Nunnery — Repairs of the City since the

Road to Moscow. 121
Conflagration — Relief afforded to the Inhabit
ants — Conduct of the Peasantry— Evacuation
of Moscow — Return of the Russian Troops,
8gc — Mojaisk — Field of Borodino — Viasma —
Inveteracy of the Rustics against the French —
Difficulties of the Retreat — Stand made at Do-
rogobusch — Misery of the French — Cruelty
of the Russian Peasants — Smolensko — Disor
ganised State of the French Army — Its Cause
and Consequence.
June 12. — We had for some time been
in preparation to leave Petersburg ; our
names, as is necessary, had been advertised
three times in the gazette, our podaroshna
or order for horses procured, and our pass
ports had gone through all the tedious
formalities required by the regulations of
the police : Ave set out, therefore, on this
day on our journey for Moscow. A few
versts from the city barriers introduced to
our notice the Avooden road constructed
by Peter the Great to his new built city :
it is of singular construction, an elevated
causeway, carried in one long, level, un-

122 Road to Moscow.
varying, straight line for many a league,
over marsh and bog, and through thick
forests of birch and fir. On each side is
an esplanade, cleared for the breadth of
about a hundred yards, for the accommo
dation of cattle coming up for market, and
the same provision is made by law on
all the great provincial roads ; by which
means the journey, even of two months
from the Ukraine to Petersburg, becomes
practicable at no expense to the graziers,
and Avithout much fatigue or injury to
their herd.
The causeway is thus constructed : three
poles or sleepers are laid lengthways on
the ground, over these is a flooring of
small trees closely compacted and pinned
down at the edges with a piece of timber
us^d as a kirb ; in very marshy situations,
tAvo such floorings are generally used.
The trees are here and there, in villages
for instance, neatly joined together; but
in other parts, Avhere the round trunks only
occur, the incessant jolting of the carriage

Road to Moscow. 123
over so uneven a surface is the source of
many a bruise to the Aveary traveller. The
inhabitants of Russia are too familiar with
this inconvenience not to have found
means of alleviating it, and they univer
sally fill their travelling carriages with soft
pillows taken from their beds, which give
a particularly luxurious though grotesque
appearance to their equipages.
We passed two German colonies planted
by Catherine, near Petersburg, for the
improvement of agriculture; but beyond
these settlements every thing was in a
state of uncultivated nature.
The roar of the wolves indeed (which
Ave actually heard during the night), a
sound scarcely more dissonant than the
unceasing song of the shaggy Mougik that
drove the carriage, was yet sufficient to
afford a hint of the sort of country Ave
were traversing, though only betAveen
thirty and forty versts distant from the
great metropolis. The inhabitants of these
parts, the peasant race, seem as wild sa-

124 Road to Moscow.
vages just caught from the woods, with
whom you can only hold converse through
the medium of a rouble or a thick stick ;
either of the two are equally efficacious,
and both sometimes necessary. They lie
out day and night, sleeping on their sheep
skins by the road-side, careless of any en
joyment but those of animal existence.
Our driver seized a rope, and, as we passed,
most soundly thrashed two of these crea
tures Avho were asleep before the house
door ; the hairy brutes awoke, half raised
themselves, stared about, but finding the
blow was not from their master, and that
nothing was required, composed them
selves again in the dirt to sleep as before.
I have seen an hundred quarrels in Peters
burg, but never saw one blow struck, un
less by a superior : it is not, indeed, ever
held so much a mark of anger, as an as
sertion of superiority, and Avhere respect
is due, is put up with accordingly.
All general occurrences in their routine
of life are met with a sort of stupid good

Road to Moscow. 125
humour ; and the practical jokes of which
this class seem so fond are given and taken
in turn.
As contrasted with their rude appear
ance, it has a singular effect to observe
the strict regularity with Avhich they cross
themselves at every church or oratory by
the road ; as also to remark the ceremo
nious salutations they constantly use to-
Avards each other on meeting. The mean
est Mougik takes off his cap to the meanest
Mougik his friend ; he walks hand in hand
with him, and kisses him on the cheek
when they part, each calling the other by
the endearing appellation of brother. In
the same way they speak of their master
or the emperor, with a sort of filial respect,
always coupling with his name the title of
father. Similar forms of external courtesy,
at least in salutation, occur to one's recol
lection as being practised by the common
people both in Sweden and in Scotland;
but in neither- is it manifested so strikingly
as here.

126 Road to Moscow.
A stranger would be inclined almost to
attribute these expressions of fraternal
feeling in the Russian boors to a sense of
their companionship in misery. It is really
painful to humanity to see these miserable
rustics chained in pairs, working or begr
ging on the road-side, when, perhaps, their
only crime is to have offended the whim
of their master. On their part, however,
they seem by no means alive to any sen
timent of disgrace or degradation ; their
situation seldom checks their mirth, but
they sing even in their fetters as loudly
and noisily as ever.
All those who are so punished are not,
nevertheless, to be supposed entirely un
deserving of their lot ; many are sentenced
for petty thefts, others for their debts, and
so on : but they are confounded together,
servant, debtor, or malefactor, all in one
prison, and sometimes linked in the same
chain. The limitation of arrests has been
before alluded to ; it is sufficient to add,
that personal liberty is held so cheap in

Road to Moscow. 127
this country, that a debt to the amount
of one rouble and a half is sufficient to
place a man in a state of confinement.
Corporal punishment, as adjudged by
law (it only belongs to these classes) is
usually inflicted with the battorge or rod
on the buttocks ; where heavier offences
require severer chastisement, the knout is
applied. The instrument is a whip made
of dried fish-skin cut to a point and fast
ened on a steel handle; the executioners are
said to be so expert in the use of it, that
they can inflict a mortal wound with fifteen
or twenty blows : this is not often resorted
to, and when it is done, it is generally
supposed to be under a private injunction
ftom the judge : for the principle of legisr
lation in Russia, like the mistaken cle
mency of the American government, for
bids any tribunal to pass sentence of death
upon a malefactor. The regulation here
exists in consequence of an ukase of the
Empress Anne, by virtue of which the
punishment of 200 lashes with the knout,

128 ' Road to Moscow.
the tearing off the nostrils with red hot
pincers, a journey on foot to Siberia, and
perpetual condemnation to the mines, is
substituted as a more humane species of
retribution for capital crimes.
To assist the preservation of order in
the country, a civil magistrate, called the
Captain Yprasnik, is nominated in every
district, being an officer who was intended
by Catherine II. to supply the place of a
justice of the peace, and he is vested with
the same powers as that important func
tionary in England : but the scheme failed
from want of persons properly qualified in
point of information as well as character
and rank, to take upon themselves the
discharge of such duties. The place was
not gratuitous, a fixed salary being al
lowed ; from the smallness of which, none
but the poorest members of the nobility
(men ill adapted in every Avay) were found
to accept the appointment.
During this part of our route we tra
velled constantly without stopping, for

Road ta Moscow. 129
there was no accommodation at the post-
houses. But the cool air of the night
was extremely refreshing, and as the twi
light lasted during the twenty-four hours,
we lost little or nothing of the country
scenery. This never-ending day I cannot
however describe as agreeable ; to sleep
seems unnatural, and, indeed, the attention
is kept too much on the alert to admit
of it, and a tedious sameness supersedes
the pleasing interchange of morning and
evening. After making 180 versts, Ave approached
Novgorod Veliki, Novgorod the Great, a
city Avhose antiquity amounts as high as
the fifth century, and one Avhose splendour
under her dukes, . as Avell as subsequent
"power and Avealth under a republican*
* The administration of Novgorod very nearly resem
bled that of the free cities of Germany at the present da) •
The officers were as follows :
Posadnik (bourgomaster) annual.
Tyriatski, an officer who tempers, by his authority, the
exercise of the power of the posadnik.
VOL. II. K

130 Road to Moscow.
form of administration, occupy a large
portion of the Russian history. The spirit
of liberty was once felt in this nation now
so degraded, although it never made those
vigorous shoots which it did among the
other nations of the north. The croAvn
was originally elective, and the boiars, of
whom we read so much, were a sort of
permanent house of peers, without whose
advice the czar never dared to act ; their
influence, both direct and indirect, seems
to have been very considerable in the con
cerns of the empire. They made but
little figure, however, after the days of
Tartar oppression, when a neAV system and
new ideas seem to have changed the face
of every thing in Russia: while the absolute
power acquired by succeeding sovereigns?
rendered necessary, indeed, by the con
fusion and anarchy of the times, entirely

Boiars (senators) elected from the citizens.
Starosta (police officer).
Naruestnik, an officer of the grand duke.

Road to Moscow. 131
overwhelmed the small remains of their
former authority.
But to return to Novgorod, though it
once contained more than 40t),000 inha
bitants, and covered an area of 63 versts
in circumference, little now is left to re-^
mind the traveller of its former grandeur.
The streets presented mouldering walls,
empty courts, churches in decay, and a
feAv dwellings thinly scattered amidst large
void spaces of desolation. We Avere sheAvn,
nevertheless, though it was almost the
Pnly relic, a house formerly occupied by
Marpha Posadnitza, or widow of the Po
sadnik, an intriguing heroine, Avho headed
the troops of the city against the hosts of
Ivan III., and supported the last efforts
that were made by the declining republic :
at her decease the liberties of Novgorod
were extinguished for ever. But the con
queror, not content with its humiliation,
caused the most horrible massacres to be
committed, Avhose consequences, together
with the atrocious cruelties that succeeded
k2

132 Road to Moscow.
in the reign of Ivan IV., Avere such as to
reduce the great city to its present con
dition of poverty and insignificance.
The walls of the Kremlin still remain,
containing within their circle the church
of St. Sophia, with the tombs of Vladomir
and Feodor, and the brass gates brought
(says Gibbon) from Kherson in the Cri
mea at the time of Vladomir's expedition
against the Greek empire. There were
also some curious specimens of architec
ture as well as of painting, of the date of
the 11th or 12th century ; the latter have
been much celebrated, but I think do not
possess any great interest, being appa
rently retouched, or rather reneAved. These
matters did not delay us very long; and
since our curiosity was not sufficient to
tempt us to visit the millstone on which
St. Anthony was carried from Rome to
his church at Novogorod, we rested our
selves, repaired our carriage, for it Avas al
ready necessary, and continued our route.
Several barroAvs AVere to be seen in these

Road to Moscow.. 133,
stages; they Avere, for the most part, si
tuated on the side of the riATer Mstaj
varying perpetually in figure and form :
conical, circumvallated, truncated, &c.
General tradition attributes, their erection
to the Tartars ; and the idea is certainly
far from improbable, since the troops of
the Golden Horde Avere repulsed by the
army of Novgorod somewhere Avithin this
district. To the fashion of this same peo
ple is ascribed the fantastical taste that
adorns the cottages in these parts, Avhich
being a style entirely neAV to us, deserves
description. These dAvellings are built of
large round logs of timber, resembling in
construction those Ave before mentioned in
passing through Ingria, and differing only
in shape. Their high gable roofs project
to an enormous length over the front,
sometimes overhanging as much as six-*
teen or eighteen feet, profusely carved and
adorned with small pendants at the ex
tremities, in the form of which, as avcU as
their collocation, a curious resemblance

134 Road to Moscow.
may be traced between them and the
houses in the northernmost parts of the
Tyrol; they are similar also in this re
spect, that the communications in the
upper stories are carried on by means of
a gallery outside of the wall. I know,
however, no reason to account for these
coincidences. On the fourteenth we arrived at Waldai,
a modern Polish colony, which exhibits
Strong traces of its origin in the beauty
and complexion of the women. In point
of situation, it is an Oasis in the desert;
the town itself well built, and placed n>
mantically enough on the banks of a small
lake. In the centre of this is a Avoody
island, crowned with the glittering domes
of a Greek monastery ; and the whole
scene around gloAvs Avith that luxuriant
interchange of white and red, and green
and gold, that enters so largely into the
composition of a Russian view.
The rising grounds which Ave had sur
mounted before our arrival at the town,

Road to Moscow. 135
are denominated in this level country the
Waldai mountains. They form, in fact,
the highest point of elevation between the
Gulf of Finland and the Euxine sea; the
rivers taking from hence their course in
both directions. Induced by this circum
stance, Peter I. looked uport the spot as
affording the means of organising a scheme
of communication by Avater betAveen the
north and south of his empire. He ac
cordingly opened a canal, Avhich has met
with much success since his day, and be
come the great channel of circulation for
the produce of the remotest points. On
one side a passage is open through the
TAvertza and the Volga to Astracan and
the Caspian sea : on the other, through
the lake Ilmen, the Volkof, the Ladoga,
and the Neva, to Petersburg and the Bal
tic; Avhile again from the east are con
veyed through this same point the mer
chandise of China and produce of the
Siberian mines.
This grand scheme, however, was not to

136 Road to Moscow.
be effected without difficulty ; though the
ascent and descent to the Twertza was
accomplished by ordinary locks : the fall
of ground towards the Msta required dif*
ferent management to render it in any
way practicable for navigation. But Peter I.
was not to be discouraged : an immense
reservoir is constructed, which, by col*
lecting the Avater from the small lakes in
the neighbourhood, supplies a stream suffi
cient to carry the boats doAvn these steeps :
this necessarily flows off rapidly, and there
fore is husbanded with care ; vessels being
only permitted to pass once in eight or ten
days, in caravans of 15 Or 20 at a time.
The nature of this voyage is curious
enough : Avhen they are all assembled,
which is done by beat of drum, the sluices
are opened, and they follow one another
with the flush of Avater doAvn the preci
pitous passage, called the Borovitsky falls.
Sundry provisions are made for their safety.
In the most difficult windings of the river
are moored large buoys which throw round

Road ta Mdscofo 137
the head of the boat when it strikes against
them, if their sweeps have failed of their
purpose : and in case any accident should
occr, the Cossacks avIio are stationed
at certain intervals instantly give notice
above, when the sluices are closed and
the supply of the current cut off, This
dangerous course continues for near 33
versts ; and with a view to their security,
each boat is built slight and supple, and
the freight set apart by an open space of
one or two feet in the middle, so as tagive
room for the play of the timbers of her
frame, Avhich is sometimes so much shaken
that the two sides of the cargo are brought
to meet. To remount the cataracts is
impossible; the vessels, therefore, are all
burnt for fire-Avood at Petersburg.
The conception of such a scheme of
navigation is unique of its sort perhaps in
the world ; hoAV much, therefore, are Ave
bound to admire the mind of Peter I. that
gave it birth, at such a time among such
a people, , For the sake of .comparison

138 Road to Moscow*.
Avith our own country, Ave may add that
the first river made navigable in England
Avas the Thames, under an act of parlia*-
ment passed in the reign of James 1. ; and
the first commercial canal Avhich was cut,
I believe, was that from the Mersey to St.
Helens, at no earlier a period than the
middle of the last century.
The route of the caravans mentioned as
coming from China and Siberia may ex
cite some curiosity, for they are brought
chiefly by water ; from Kiachta they make
their voyage by the Selenga and the Bai
kal, the Angara, Tongouska, Jeneissei ri
vers, without interruption ; here, hoAvever,
they are obliged to disembark and travel
60 versts over land to the Kett, whence,
by means of the Obi, the Irtjsch, and the
Tobolsk, they are carried into the Isset ;
after Avhich they again quit their boats,
and make about 60 versts over the Oural
mountains to the R. Tschoussovaya, and
then by the Kama, the Wolga, and the
Twertza, to this place and to Petersburg.

Road to Moscow. 139
The expenses of these journies, as well as
a general estimate of the distances, have
been before stated under the head of Si
beria. The facilitating the communications by
water has of late years been made a par
ticular object of attention with the Rus
sian government. The Mariensky canal,
between the Kofgia and the Vitegra in
the north, and the Ladoga canal, for the
purpose of avoiding the dangerous passage
of the lake, are completed. The junction
of the Markta and the Volga, the Oka and
the Don, the Priepicz with the Niemen
and the Bog, the improvement of the na
vigation of the Dnieper, all schemes pro^
jected, and some in an advanced state,
are sufficient examples of their zeal on
this subject, These matters are all, how
ever, without exception, the undertakings
qf the croAvn ; it is not to be expected in-r
deed that individuals should as yet hazard
much on such concerns, especially Avhile
the carriage of goods by land is at so cheap
a rate.

140 Road to Moscow.
It is by giving aid to her domestic cir
culation that the real national vvealth of
Russia must be accumulated : every cir
cumstance conspires to point out the ne
cessity of improving her internal advan
tages before she should look to those ul
timate objects which she now vainly hopes
to attain. Her condition places insur
mountable obstacles in the way of her
manufacturing trade, and the struggle is
useless. Bounded on the north by Tornea and
the Frozen Sea, on the so,uth by the Sireth,
the Danube, the Oural, the Aras, and the
Caspian ; occupying from east to Avest an
extent of upwards of 170*; she possesses
within herself every variety of climate and
soil, and almost every species of vegetable
and mineral production that foreign trade
can offer for her supply. It is by the cul
tivation of these means, and the amalga
mating and equalising, as far as possible,
the several local bounties of nature, that
the country must hope to thrive.
Of the promise held out by speculations

Road to Moscow. 141
in this line many instances might be given,
but it will be sufficient to mention one,
which bears a reference to the standard
food of Russia ; it has sometimes happened
that a coul of rye has been sold at Cheva-
linsk, on the Volga, for one rouble, at the
same time that the price in Petersburg
market Avas no less than nineteen. The
point, however, receives the best illustra
tion from the uncommon activity of the
transport trade, Avhich is displayed in every
direction, and this neither regulated, as is
the case in other affairs, by the interference
of the government, or, indeed, requiring
any ascititious aid. ' We seldom met less
than from four to six caravans each dav,
consisting of strings of tAventy or thirty
single horsed carts, carrying half a ton
each; these were in motion at all times
and in all parts; wherever a plain was
open to our vieAV they appeared like ants
over the face of the earth, realising a pro
spect of lucrative traffic, to the extension
of Avhose concerns no possible limit could

142 Road to Moscow}
be drawn. They Avere laden, some Avith-
the produce of the neighbourhood, and
some with that of the southern districts ;
tallow, leather, bristles, hides, &c.,. all
bound for Petersburg: those on their re
turn carried colonial produce, of various
sorts, to the interior: sugar, coffee, log-
AvoOd and other articles for dyeing; a
few of them, much to our surprise, were
freighted Avith small cargoes of English
lead, for Ave were told it could be afforded
at a cheaper rate here than the metal
brought from the Siberian mines. The
circumstance makes in favour of the views
of the Russian government as to the ne
cessity of the improvement of the means
of internal circulation, but bears an irre
fragable testimony to the impropriety, and
perhaps impolicy, of giving a check to
foreign commerce at this present time.
The Russian leather, another great ar
ticle of transport, was manufactured in
abundance at Torjok, our next stage. It
is tanned with oak bark in general, and

Road to Moscow}. 143
coloured with cochineal, a perfume being
added by the use of a certain oil, the
nature of which is kept a secret in the
manufactories. Torjok contained nothing,
else very remarkable. The town Avas pretty,
the country wild and bare; and if any
thing particularly caught our attention, it
was the costume of the people : for this is
varied in almost every province of Russia,
and here it bore the strongest marks of an
oriental character, both from the small
double horned coif, as also from the long
Avhite shaAvls in which the women were en
veloped from the crown of their heads to
their feet : underneath this was worn an
habit fitted to the body like a gown, and
which, even amongst the lowest classes,
was gorgeously ornamented. It was co
loured blue or red, bordered Avith broad
stripes of variegated lace, and made with
open sleeves and a profusion of foil and
beads. The men were dressed generally
in red shirts, worn over trowsers of blue or
white ; their legs bound up with dirty rag

144 Road to Moscow.':'
or thick rings of woollen, and their feet
thrust into shoes, matted of the bark of
the lime-tree. In their girdles, they usu
ally carried an hatchet, Avhich is the fac
totum of a Russian clown, and wielded
with the dexterity which all savages ac
customed to the use of a single instrument
invariably acquire.
As for travelling, Ave journeyed accord*
ing to the prejudices of the country with
four horses abreast, and sometimes, where
the wooden road was damaged or in Avant
of repair, we employed six in the same
fashion. The part of the Russian appa
ratus, however, Avhich seems most worthy
of admiration is a bow of Avood arched
at an height of two feet above the
horse's shoulders ; a ring is placed at
the top, and through this is passed the
bearing rein, Avhich, from its position, af
fords much greater security vto the horse
against falling, than when, as in our En
glish mode, it is hooked on the horse's
back : I do not ever remember to have

Road to Moscow. 145
seen a broken-kneed horse in Russia.
Something similar may be observed in
use among the waggon-teams in Austria;
where the collar of the horses is raised into
an high peak, over which the rein is car
ried for the same purpose : but it is by no
means either so little burthensome to the
beast, or, in other respects, so efficient as
the plan adopted in Russia. The scheme
is applied not only to the carts and wag
gons, but brought into use in all the most
elegant harness of the sledge or droshka,
or other carriages drawn by a shaft, be
coming, when well managed, a very orna
mental addition to the equipage.
Another fashion, as prevalent as the
above, but which does not merit the same
share of praise, is the use of the furieux;
this is an horse that, although attached, is
not employed in the draught of the car
riage, but serves merely for ornament,
capering and curvetting by the side of his
companion in the shafts : in order to im
prove his action and fit him for this duty,
VOL. II. L

146 Road to Moscow.
he is constantly kept with his neck drawn
awry by a short rein affixed to his side,
and, to assist the graceful twist of his head,
he is placed under the same constraint
even in the stable. I know not to whom
to give the merit of this invention.
The outermost horses of our own range,
when six Avere employed, appeared not to
be of much more service during the jour
ney than those used as the above, as in
deed may be easily surmised.
We were impeded also by the bad state
of the road, for the flooring was in many
parts defective : the day, in short, had al
ready broken Avhen we arrived in sight of
the city of Twer, and the spreading waters
of the Volga. There is a certain degree of
vague and indeterminate respect attached
to some names, when we can scarce assign
any reasonable ground for such a feeling,
and we discovered (I confess) mingled im
pressions of delight and wonder as we
touched the banks of this sacred stream :
yet I know not that the river god boasts

Road td Moscow. 147
any peculiar attributes, or claims our no
tice from any more striking powers than
those of bestowing fertility on pasture
lands and corn-fields. The town, never
theless, is of note, and celebrated on ac
count of the massacre of the Tartars, in
the reign of the Grand Duke Alexander
Mikailovitch, Avhen a tragical scene, like
that of the Sicilian vespers, was exhibited;
but such an occurrence is held no extraor
dinary feature in the Russian annals. We
passed the river, which is about two hun
dred yards broad, by a bridge of boats,
and entering the streets of Twer found
ourselves again encircled by splendid pub
lic buildings, (for it is the seat of the
provincial government) walled convents,
and churches covered with cupolas. Its
general wealthy appearance is owing to
the trade it enjoys from its situation on
the river: for numerous articles are for
warded from this place as an entrepot in
various directions, chiefly, however, over
land to Riga. One of the great water
l2

148 Road to Moscow.
caravans Avas at this time hourly expected
to arrive, and four or five of the vessels
were already in sight, towed by horses
against the stream ; a tedious labour that
interested us but little.
We were now entering upon a new field
of speculation, and about to tread those
grounds that had so lately been the seat
of a war, the most important in its con
sequences which the world ever saw : and
to trace the march of an army which in
point of gallantry and shew, in enterprise
of individual spirit and courage, as after
wards in experience of cruel reverse of toil
and suffering, far exceeded all we have read
in the page of history, or even the fictions
of romance. The association of locality,
it must be confessed, gives an hold to the
imagination when ruminating upon this
momentous period, and in traversing the
scene of operation, seems to place before
us, in a tangible shape, all that our mind
had fancied or pictured to itself of great
events. Here we identify ourselves in

Road to Moscow. 149
thought with the actors in these revolutions
themselves, and enjoy the delight of a more
than theatrical representation. Every spot
partakes a shade of gloom or horror, of
grief or pity, from the sights it has wit
nessed ; and the cry of danger and alarm
seems still to reside in the haunts where
the din of war has once been heard.
When the rapid advance of the French
army in 1812, and the occupation of Mos
cow, seemed at once to have decided the
fate of the campaign, the general con
sternation in these quarters was at its
greatest height ; not only the citizens fled
themselves from Twer, but removed all
their goods to more distant parts, and
orders were said to be issued that the town
should be committed to the flames, in case
the chance of war should render it liable to
the occupation of the enemy ; the chance
therefore of a few hours might have in
volved it in the fate of Smolensko, Mojaisk,
Viasma, and Moscow.
To prevent, however, their advance in

150 Road to Moscow.
this line, a corps of 30,000 men had been
collected under General Witzingerode, and
posted in the neighbourhood of Klin. Yet
no appearance of protection could relieve
the fears of the people, either in the towns
or the country ; every mode of conveyance
was put in requisition, and the inhabitants
of the district dispersed in various direc
tions, flying to Vladomir, and to N. Nov
gorod, while some scarce thought them
selves secure at a place less remote than
Kasan. But it was not in this neighbourhood
alone the alarm Avas felt ; even at Peters
burg, the dreadful neAvs that was an
nounced overpoAvered their senses. Ku-
tusoAv's motions were unknown ; the French
appeared irresistible, and every one fan
cied they saw their legions already enter
ing the city gates. Preparations were made
to move the court to Casan ; the valuables
of the palace were packed up ; the several
imperial institutions ordered to be in rea
diness for a journey to Finland ; at length

Road to Moscow. 151
the fleet actually set sail; and all persons
who had connexions in England, hurried
their wives and families, or even their pro
perty, to London as the only place of se
curity. It is indeed a curious instance of
unfortunate precaution, that a Russian no
bleman's pictures being sent thither to be
placed out of the way of French rapacity,
Avere burned in the fire which broke out at
the British custom-house in the following
year. But the fears of individuals had
been infinitely augmented by these public
demonstrations of alarm ; and in propor
tion as people were further removed from
the scene of action, they became the more
a prey to vague conjecture and phantoms
of the imagination.
In the course of our journey, the day
after we quitted TAver, we came upon the
place where the advanced posts of the
French army had been established during
the occupation of Moscow. It was a small
village belonging to Count Strogonov, at
about the distance of forty versts from the

152 Road to Moscow.
city, and had been the theatre of many a
sanguinary rencontre. But the spot at
this time presented no features of ravage ;
the houses were renewed, and the whole
bore a quiet and tranquil appearance. The
villagers, sitting before their doors, were
chanting their wild songs over their work:
the Avomen for the most part industriously
employed in making lace; the children
playing around with baffis* ; and the men,
as usual, apart, sluggish from the sultriness
of the evening, were sleeping here and
there on the bare ground. The contrast
of their dingy wooden cabins with the
merry air and gay attire of the female
groups, formed a picture of the most strik
ing singularity.
- How mistaken were the notions that
induced Buonaparte to think that these
people would ever lend themselves to a
* This game resembles nine-pins, or rather the vulgar
game of skittles; only that the pins, which are thekuuckle
bones of sheep, are six in number, and arranged as three
pair.

Road to Moscow. 153
scheme like his! How erroneous the re
presentations of his treacherous emissaries !
He had himself found by experience that
the volatile Italian, even in the highest
days of revolutionary phrenzy, was sel
dom able fully to co-operate with the
frantic desires of his mind. What could
be expected from the bigotry, obstinacy,
and ignorance of Russian slaves ? Utterly
incompetent to picture in imagination
those visionary ideas of liberty that were
offered, they felt content with the state of
things as they were, because they Avere so,
without the power of exercising more than
an inert, sluggish attachment even on any
score. Their constancy did not arise from
respect for present customs and ordi
nances, not from a sober dislike to change,
but from an absolute incapacity to disco
ver what the prospect of change might be.
" Avant de voir les democrates, les de-
" magogues, les jacobins, il faut en avoir
" eu des royalistes, des aristocrates, des

154 Moscow.
" monarchiens; ils n'ont encore que des
" esclaves *."
If French promises succeeded in de
luding a feAV individuals in the manufac
turing districts of Toula and Kalouga, it
was a rare exception. For the rest, — far
from receiving the demonstrations of fra
ternisation with satisfaction, the Mougik,
who saw that, in spite of the proffered
kindness, his dwelling was invaded, his
wife and daughters violated, and his
church polluted by the wantonness of a
stranger, was roused by rage from his
apathy, and fleAv at once to arms. This
exasperation was constantly increased by
fresh instances of aggravation, and every
day brought new proofs of the growing en
thusiasm of the country.
Twenty of these poor creatures, who re
fused to act as guides to some detachments
of the French army, were tried for dis-
* M^moires Secretes sur la Russie. Paris, 1800.

Moscow. 155
obedience, and sentenced to be shot.
They were marched in a body to the fatal
spot, when, after embracing one another,
and taking leave, each man stepped for-
Avard in his turn, and, crossing him
self, submitted to his fate without a
groan. The peasants of Prince B. Gallitzen af
forded a bright example of love for their
country, though of another description.
They assembled one morning, and sur
rounded the house of their lord to the
number of near three thousand, in a tu
multuous body, that might have excited a
different suspicion in a stranger's breast.
The prince was absent, having a command
of militia in the neighbourhood, but the
princess made her appearance, and de
manded of them what it Avas they wanted;
they answered, they had placed their Avives
and children, and their goods, in security
in the forest, and came to her to ask for
arms, that they might share with their

156 Moscow.
master the duties of the field. A more
simple and impressive exhibition of pa
triotic sentiment could hardly be con
ceived. The nobles displayed a spirit of earnest
ness and devotion such as had never been
experienced in any other enemy with
whom the French hitherto had measured
strength. Individuals seemed to exert
themselves to the utmost of their power :
Countess Orlov gave 4,000,000 roubles as a
contribution toAvards the expenses ; Count
Mamounoff the amount of his income for
that yeai% offering also some valuable
jeAvels to the emperor for the same pur
pose; Count Zouboff, Soltigoff, Demidoff,
and many others too numerous to be par
ticularised, followed their example. The
nobles of the government of Moscow
shewed no less zeal, met the emperor in a
body, at their capital, in the month of
July, and far outstripped, by voluntary
offers, all the demands he made upon

Moscow. 157
them. Notwithstanding the heavy draughts
of men* that had taken place, 80,000
men Avere instantly enrolled under the
name of opolchanie, or militia, by them
alone, and placed at the disposal of the
emperor. A similar step was adopted
throughout the Russian provinces, and
the numbers levied under the same deno
mination throughout the empire did not
fall short of 900,000 men, which was at
least two- thirds beyond the quota that was
required. All these were to be clothed, armed,
and furnished with provision for three
months, at the expense of the seigneur,
who had no other right reserved to him
than the nomination of their colonel.

* The ordinary recruiting for the army is light : one
man out of 250 is taken each year; here one man in ten
was drafted for the militia service. Prince Sheremetov
alone raised 12,000. Every nobleman on appointing the
commander to his own corps nominated Kutusow, and
the emperor was hence induced to confer on him the
command of the grand army.

158 Moscow.
Many of these troops who afterwards were
actually called into service, proved them
selves worthy companions of the soldiers
of Borodino; their steadiness was irre
proachable, and their spirit undaunted.
The army employed in the siege of Dant-
zic was almost wholly composed of these
regiments of militia.
The conduct of the corps of 10,000
raised in the north bears ample testimony
to those feelings that were said to pervade
the Avhole : they had been trained and as
sembled at Petersburg, from which place
they received orders to march to Velikaya,
the nearest point that the advance of the
French had reached in that direction. The
emperor reviewed them before their de
parture, and is said to have shed tears
on witnessing their expressions of enthu
siastic devotion to his cause, as if presag
ing the melancholy fate which awaited
them. It so happened that at the time of
their arrival at Velikaya, Witgenstein was
unable to detach troops to support them,

Moscow. 159
and sent an order that they should fall
back to a certain distance. " No," said
they, " the last promise we made to the
" emperor, our father, was, that we would
" never fly before the enemy ; we keep
" our Avord." They did so, and 8000
out of the number fell on the spot, the
victims of their obstinate but misguided
courage. But notwithstanding the favourable state
of the public mind, such is the principle of
the Russian government, that it was held
expedient to keep the people, as far as pos
sible, in ignorance of the real condition of
affairs, and most singular were the devices
adopted. About ten days before the
French forces entered Moscow, the go
vernor, Rastopchin, issued a proclamation,
stating that a balloon was preparing which
was to be filled with various combustibles,
and would accomplish a great scheme for
the deliverance of the country ; that on
the following Sunday a small one would
be launched, by way of experiment, and

160 Moscow.
the inhabitants were forewarned of its
appearance, lest any unnecessary alarm
should be excited, for it was only the
forerunner of that Avhich Avas to destroy
Znodoy, the wicked one. Another proclama
tion requested the youths of Moscow to
meet on the SparroAV Hills, on a stated
day, in order to repel the presumptuous
hosts of the enemy. It short, every mea
sure that could encourage a fallacious hope
of confidence was resorted to on this occa
sion. Some even reported the battle of
Borodino to have been a victory on the
part of the Russians, and a celebrated
pesonage gave a grand dinner in honour
of the event.
On Friday the 11th September, a public
masquerade was advertised ; but the gene
ral consternation had by this time gained
too much ground to permit the citizens to
join in diversions of this sort, and only two
persons shewed themselves at the doors,
where they viewed the entertainment of
an empty room.

Moscow. 161
On Sunday, 13th September, all uncer
tainty Avas put at an end. The Russian
army, in full retreat, entered the town,
and the vanguard already held the road of
Vladomir. Every one who had been de
ceived by idle tales, or Avho, fondly hoping
his OAvn wishes might prove true, had
procrastinated the evil hour of departure,
now hurried to join the crowd of fugitives
at the city gates, and a scene of confusion
ensued, that served to increase a thousand
fold the general dismay.
On the following morning, when the tu
multuous passage of the troops was con
cluded, the police and the officers of go
vernment took their departure: the few
miserable people who were unable to fly,
shut themselves up Avithin their houses, and
Avaited, in pain and anxiety, the dreadful
interval that elapsed between the passage
of one army and the entrance of another.
Here and there the outrages of a few half
drunken wretches, escaped from the pri-J-
VOL. II. 31

162 Moscow.
sons*, Avere heard; but every where be
sides the stillness of death prevailed; a
fearful calm, that seemed destined to be the
precursor of some dire convulsion.
It was about five o'clock on Monday
evening, when the sound of the trumpets,
and clatter of horses' feet, announced the
approach of the forces of Murat, who led
the advance of the French. The streets
were filled in rapid succession ; guards
were quickly posted at every open spot or
avenue, and immediate possession taken of
the Kremlin.
Before night closed in, Buonaparte ar
rived in person at the barrier on the Smo-
lensko road, and the greater part of the
forces were vinderstood to have reached the
suburbs. Here his temporary residence
* A party of these vagabonds pillaged the arms from
the arsenal, and posted themselves in the Kremlin, which
they thought sacred and impregnable-; here they made an
useless attempt to defend the walls, and were massacred
to a man.

Moscow. 163
became the scene of a singular occurrence.
He Avaited some time in seeming surprise
at not receiving a formal deputation from
the municipality to present him with the
keys of the town ; but supposing that a
mistake might have caused the delay, he
dispatched an aid-de-camp to inform them
of his arrival. The officer soon returned
to him with the account that neither ma
gistracy nor police were to be discovered,
and that the whole place was apparently
deserted. Buonaparte was amazed, but
soon found the account confirmed from
other quarters : again he sent an officer to
endeavour to search for some person at
least, who might afford him intelligence
respecting these extraordinary circum
stances 1 his messenger wandered about
for an hour or two in vain; at last he
lighted upon a poor school-mistress, who
was reported to be tolerably well versed
in the French language ; upon the strength
of this qualification, she was taken from
her house, mounted on a droshka, and sent
m2

164 Moscow.
in haste to hold a conference with the
mighty Napoleon. Her story was such as
might be expected ; and this ambitious des
pot felt the first shock of the great cata
strophe that aAvaited his fatal expedition.
Meanwhile the secret preparations to
burn the town, and to deprive the French
army of the resources they hoped to se
cure, had been partially carried into effect.
Under pretence of constructing the bal
loon before mentioned, a large apparatus
of fire-works and combustibles Avere made
ready by the direction of M. Smith, at
Voronzovo. In the course of this day,
they were conveyed and distributed, by
the hands of various emissaries, through
out every quarter of the town, and ap
plied with the greatest assiduity. The con
fusion that ensued upon the occupation of
so large a place aided the secrecy of their
operations, and in a few instances some of
the inhabitants on the eve of departure
Avere found to lend their assistance to the
scheme. Fraught as they were with the

Moscow. 165
zeal of the moment, they set fire with their
OAvn hands to their empty habitations;
even Avomen were seen kneeling, crossing
themselves for an instant before their own
doors, and then flinging in the fatal brand,
and hurrying away half dismayed at what
they had done.
On this very night the French observed
a flame breaking out in the Twerskaia, a
part of the city situated on the north ; a
short time after, a bright light Avas seen in
the Taoutsa quarter, and several buildings
of the Exchange in the Kitaigorod Avere
reported to be on fire. These phenomena,
however, were disregarded at the time;
they were looked upon as occurrences of
accident, orders given to extinguish them,
and little further notice was taken.
By Tuesday evening the fires before ob
served had assumed a very serious aspect ;
the detachment employed fo stop their
progress reported their labours to be in
vain ; the blaze arose in a thousand places
at once, and encircled them while plying

166 Moscow.
their ineffectual labours. A south-west
wind, Avhich prevailed the whole day, in
creased its destructive fury, involving in
ruin all the parts of the town lying in that
direction. But in spite of the increase of
danger, a suspicion was as yet scarcely en
tertained of the real origin of this mischief,
though some persons charged as incendi
aries had been apprehended, and one dar
ing hand, that feared not to advertise the
hated invaders of what Avas going on, had
thrown a rocket within the walls of the
Kremlin. The imperial palace, where Buonaparte
had taken up his abode, after the first
night spent at the barrier, Avas situated
Avithin the holy citadel; and whether it
was from this circumstance, or from gene
ral alarm at the fire that threatened to sur
round him every way, I know not, but it
is well known that he was induced for one
pight to shift his quarters to the Petrovski
Palace. Hither he was followed by be
tween three and four hundred miserable

Moscow. I6i
©bjects, — hungry, houseless citizens, plun
dered and insulted by the soldiery, who
crowded around the doors, and with dumb
shew and pale faces of despair, implored
the protection of him that was the cause of
all. But what could be done? To stop the?
flames was impossible ; for the rest, leave
to pillage had already been granted, and
numerous bands of marauders infested
every place that the fire left open to their
rapacity. The licentiousness of the army
was uncontrollable.
On Thursday, the wind, which had veer
ed round by the south, set in violently
from the east, as if it were destined that
the destruction should on all sides be com
plete. On Friday it became still more
boisterous ; and the fiery current quicken
ing along the wooden alleys, instead of
spreading from house to house, at once
Ayrapt whole streets in conflagration.
Throughout this vast place nothing was
heard but the crash of timbers and walls,
accompanied with the hollow murmur of

168 Moscow.
the fire, Avhile to the sight was exhibited
one unvarying circle of dismal and smo
thered ruins. There Avas not even that
brilliancy in the scene, Avhich fancy might
picture to itself as attendant upon a con
flagration. In some distant parts the
breeze occasionally fanned out a moment
ary flame ; but even this in a feAV seconds
died away, sinking into the black and va
porous deluge that inundated the atmo
sphere. Such were the features of horror that
shewed themselves within the gates; with
out, a wretched crew of fugitives, nobles
and peasants, all alike fatigued Avith their
march, and destitute of food, lay on the
roads, and watched through the long
night, " afar, afar off," the flames of the
burning city. Murder and rapine stared
them in the face, — the laAvlessness of con
fusion reigned throughout, — and the eter
nal distrust that is engendered by calamity
added distraction to their sufferings.
But to return. On Saturday morning

Moscow. 169
the wind fell, and as the smoke gradually
cleared off, exposed to vieAV a field of
desolation thaj; ho words can attempt to
describe. To the feelings of a native it Avas an
heart-rending prospect indeed; no one is
more alive to the^pride of his country than
a Russian. But setting aside the sense of
disgrace, it was a sight involving so many
feelings inseparable from human nature,
that it was impossible to look on unmoved,
or to indulge those abstract sentiments
which it might suggest to a stranger. The
latter may vieAv in these sad marks the
earnest of the deliverance of Europe ; not
so the former : it is impossible for him to
reason quietly on the necessity or policy
of the measures which were adopted, and
there is no Russian at this day that will
avoAV from what means the conflagration
arose; but it is invariably ascribed by
people at Petersburg, as well as at. Mos-
coav, to the malice of the French army.
History, hoAvever, will do justice to the

170 Moscow.
nation, and blazon in its true colours this
signal triumph of Russian magnanimity.
It Avas from the road as it passed under
the turrets of the Petrovsky Palace, that
we first beheld the myriads of domes and
steeples that yet glittered among the relics
of Moscow ; and a short hour brought us
to the barriers. At our first entrance few
symptoms were seen of a nature to corre
spond with the gloomy appearance which
Ave had been led to expect ; but as we ad
vanced, the quarters of the Slabode or
fauxbourg, where wood had chiefly been
used in building, exhibited destruction in
its fullest extent, — for the most part a
campagne rase : now and then the shell of
a house was seen standing in a blank space,
or here and there a few brick stoves yet
remaining, pointed out the spot where a
dAvelling once had been. Moving onwards,
Ave crossed the avenues of the boulevards ;
the trees were in full leaf and beauty,
seeming to vary the view only to heighten
its melancholy aspect. Leaving this, we

Moscow. 171
passed to the central parts of the toAvn
that were constructed with more durable
materials, exhibiting occasionally a rich
ness and elegance of exterior that must
have equalled, if not surpassed, the archi
tectural magnificence of the most beauti
ful towns of Europe. But all was now in
the same forlorn condition; street after
street greeted the eye with perpetual ruin ;
disjointed columns, mutilated porticos,
broken cupolas, walls of rugged stucco,
black, discoloured Avith the stains of fire,
and open on every side to the sky, formed
an hideous contrast with the glowing pic
tures which travellers had drawn of the
grand and sumptuous palaces of Moscow.
The cross Manes looked even at this in
terval as if unused to hear the sound of
human tread : the grass sprung up amidst
the mouldering fragments that scattered ,
the pavements ; while a low smoke, issuing
perhaps from some obscure cellar corner,
gave the only indications of human ha-

172 Moscow.
bitation, and seemed to make desolation
' visible.' If such were the impressions on a
stranger's mind at the present day, what
Avere the feelings of those who were con
strained to remain in the town during the
reign of the French ; witnessing the daily
progress of their misfortunes, as well as
experiencing in their OAvn persons the bit
terest sufferings which want and oppres
sion could inflict. The number was not
large; only about 20,000, out of a po
pulation of more than 300,000, having
been detained by poverty or other causes.
Some people will regard the proportion as
greater than common expectation would
have calculated upon ; but it should be
recollected that the danger of their situa
tion was for a long time concealed from
thecitizens; and, flashing upon them as
it did, on a sudden, it augmented in a
marvellous degree the difficulties of pro
viding the necessary means for flight.

Moscow. 173
The demands for horses, mules, carriages,
Avere exorbitant beyond measure; on the
last day, four and even five hundred rou
bles were offered for horses to the first
stage out of Moscoav, and repeatedly re
fused. Many, also, helpless through bodily in
firmities, Avere constrained, under these
circumstances of aggravation, to abide the
fury of the storm ; and when in this ac
count we include between 7,000 and 8,000
Avounded soldiers of the Russian army, who
perished either through want of surgical
assistance, or were involved in the general
conflagration, it is impossible for the most
inventive genius to imagine a tale of greater
horror. Another class again Avas composed of
foreign residents, to whom an attempt
to depart, unless under protection, would
have been at the imminent peril of their
lives. The prejudices, ignorance, and rage
of the multitude Avere equally ungovern
able : every stranger Avas Avith them a

174 Moscow.
Frenchman arid a spy ; and several Avere
cruelly butchered by the peasants on the
road, no farther ground of suspicion ap
pearing than their ignorance of the Rus
sian language.
The hardships undergone by one of the
German merchants were related to us as
we passed the remains of his former dwell
ing : it Avas a small house situated at a
short distance from the city ; Avhere fear
ing he might be exposed to the insults
of the soldiery, he resolved to quit the
place and seek the shelter of the town,
setting out for this purpose the very day
on which the French troops entered. He
was unable to undertake a journey, and
scarce, indeed, could look to an easy ac
complishment of this short trip, being
himself afflicted with a severe dropsical
complaint, his wife far advanced in preg
nancy, and burthened moreover with an
infant daughter nine months old. The
party was joined by the son-in-law and
the daughter, who Avere unwilling to quit

Moscow. 175
their side, and they all repaired together
to the habitation of a friend in the Nikit-
skaia, where they remained during the
entrance of the troops. On the 3d of
September they were assaulted and plun
dered of whatever articles the military
robbers chose to lay their hands upon :
after which, seeing their house was threat
ened by the rapid advance of the flames,
they were again forced out of doors. A
droschka, that they lighted upon by
chance, afforded a mode of conveyance for
the sick man, his daughter and son-in-law.
drawing it by turns : on their route, they
were attacked by a second body of plun
derers, who stripped them of the greater
part of their clothes, and robbed even
the child of its swathings : feeling thank
ful however that no farther violence was
offered, they pursued their journey till
they arrived at a house near the barrier
in the Twerskaia, but from hence as be
fore were driven on the following day by
the flames. They noAV sallied forth for

176 Moscow.
the third time in quest of an habitation,
and, having the good fortune to be accom
panied by two French officers, Avere pre
served from insult by their polite attend
ance. They journeyed near five versts
through the smoking ruins of the toAvn,
and finding a bathing-house Avhich Avas
entirely deserted, halted, and fixed upon
it for their abode. Scarcely had they been
settled a fortnight when they were assailed
by a new source of danger : the Cossacks,
in the course of their inroads to Moscow,
paid them a visit, and imagining them,
from some circumstances or other, to be
a French family, were preparing on this
bare surmise to put them to death. Some
of the party had fortunately concealed
themselves, only the sick man, with his
wife and child, appearing : she, having
competent knoAvledge of the Russian lan
guage, endeavoured to persuade them of
their error ; while he, whose imperfect ac
cent would have increased their suspicion,
answered their interrogations only by sighs

Moscow. 177
and groans; feigning, though perhaps it
was scarcely a counterfeit, that he laboured
under pangs of the acutest suffering : the
intruders were at last, Avith much diffi
culty, appeased, but on their departure
left our poor foreigners in such a state of
agitation and alarm that they dared not
stay another night in this exposed part of
the town, and set out on their travels for
the fifth time. They now repaired to one
of the toll-houses, where three, Avho alone
survived the miseries of their situation, re
mained till the final evacuation of the city.
There were none of these people but had
some peculiar anecdote to relate of their
sufferings, and all bore yet in their looks
some mark of the privations and anxieties
they had undergone. Mr. C  repre
sented himself to have been seated in his
chamber the evening of the arrival of the
French ;, where he heard the bustle of the
military undisturbed : at night, however,
two dragoons entered suddenly, demand
ing, with pistols in their hands, whether
VOL. II. N

178 Moscow.
any Russian soldiers or Cossacks were con
cealed ? He replied that there were not.
— " If you deceive us," said they, " you
die." They went up stairs to search, and
presently returned, asking for some brandy
and a pair of boots ; these Avere given, and
they went their way. Soon afterwards a
thick smoke began to make itself percep
tible from the upper part of the house,
and in a short time the whole burst into
a blaze : Mr. C— — was obliged to seek
shelter elsewhere at a late hour, and wan
dered some time in vain, till at length dis
covering the house of a person in the Sla
bode with whom he had some slight ac
quaintance, he knocked, and requested a
lodging ; this was soon granted : the favour
was not indeed confined to himself, for he
found the whole establishment converted
into a place of general refuge, containing
upwards of an hundred wretched persons
littered down in the several rooms and
out-houses. It was hardly to be expected
they should enjoy the sleep of this night

Moscow. 179
unmolested, and they Avere visited succes
sively by four several parties of marauders,
of whom it can be only said that the first
left nothing for their successors to deprive
them of. Alarmed by the continual re
ports of assassination in the streets, he
told us he never quitted the house except
once during the six weeks of his abode,
and then he had cause to repent of his
temerity, being insulted by some of the
soldiers, robbed of his coat, and congra
tulating himself that he had escaped with
his life. Some time afterwards a feAV
French officers, as quarters began to grow
scarce, came and billeted themselves in
the house, where they Avere received as
welcome guests, since their presence af
forded hope of protection. But this in
crease of company added to their dif
ficulties in some sort, and filled them
with fears lest they should be unable
to find subsistence enough for so large a
party. Meat, which had been abundant
during the first week, was not now to be

180 Moscow.
had : they doled out day by day to each
a small allowance of flour from the house
hold store, which they kneaded into paste
and baked themselves over their fires.
This supply began at last to fail, without
the possibility of its being replenished
from any quarter : for the peasants who
had ventured to market being beaten and
robbed of their provisions, carts, and their
horses, had ceased their visits, so that no
grain was to be procured. Feeling them
selves deprived, therefore, of every other
resource, they were driven to forage, ac
companied by the French soldiers, in the
gardens of the neighbourhood, digging for
potatoes and roots, or whatever they could
find : yet even this mode of subsistence
was precarious, and their work Avas often
interrupted by' the incursions of the Cos
sacks. In a half-starved condition, Avith-
Out a single change of elothes or linen, this
gentleman passed the greater part of the
time the French stayed at Moscow : but,
pursued by more than an ordinary malig-

Moscow. 181
nity of fate, his sufferings were not brought
to a conclusion at their departure. The ex
cellent character Avhich he bore had led the
French governor to solicit his acceptance
of a temporary appointment in the provi
sional municipality ; he was urged on the
score of putting him in a Avay to assist his fel
low citizens, and, preferring the calls of duty
to a consideration of the consequences to,
which it would expose him, unfortunately
yielded to the request. But on the return
of the Russian police, no argument that
he could urge Avas held a sufficient plea
for such conduct : it was necessary, in
compliance with the feelings of the times,
that the utmost abhorrence should be
shewn against every person who bore the
slightest mark of connexion with the enemy,
and to have merited their confidence was
the highest crime. For this he Avas con
demned by the unanimous voice of his
tribunal; and the punishment awarded
was, that he should be obliged to labour
half an hour (pro forma) on the public

182 Moscow.
Avorks, with a badge .of infamy affixed to
his arm; after which exposure he was
thrown into prison for three months, and
evermore forbidden to quit the city of
Moscow. This story, nevertheless, presents but an
imperfect epitome of scenes of distress,
that varied with every distinction of age
or sex. The females Avere of course no
less subjected to the miseries of so cala
mitous a period ; Madame — — - related to
us her tale of woe, Feeling, as was natu
ral, great alarm on hearing of the arrival
of the French, she had retired to an open
space of ground near one of the churches,
whither a number of the inhabitants had
fled from similar motives. The party
waited here near an hour without seeing
any one, when a troop of cavalry came
up and asked (it was the ordinary inquiry)
whether any Russian soldiers were con
cealed amongst them? " No," ansAvered
the women, covering up with their cloaks
a poor wounded man Avho lay half dead

Moscow. 183
upon the ground. The French said they
were content, and, with much appearance
of politeness, demanded next if they stood
in need of any thing which it was in their
power to procure : they received a second
answer in the negative, and passed on.
Presently one of them returned with a
bottle of brandy in his hand, and kindly
offered them to drink : after this, as night
came on, the whole group dispersed to
seek for shelter where occasion might
serve. The lady, Avith her husband and
daughter, retired to an empty house, and
remained there for two days, not daring
to stir out of doors : Avhen, being almost
famished, the husband was obliged to go
abroad with the hope of procuring pro
visions. In crossing the street he stopped,
either from curiosity or some other trivial
motive, and picked up a rocket-case which
was lying on the ground, with the appear
ance of having been used in the conflagra
tion : seeing, however, that he was observed
by two French soldiers, he put it away in

184 Moscow.
1ms pocket somewhat perhaps in a hurried
manner : they at the instant came up, and
demanded, in a threatening tone, to see
what it was he had concealed. On being
shewn, one of them accused him as an
incendiary, and Avithout: farther parley
took a step back, levelled his musket, and
shot him through the heart. His daughter
beheld this scene from the Avindow with
such feelings as may be Avell imagined,
and the wife ran up but to behold him
weltering in his blood. At this juncture
they were discovered by a French officer,
who happened to pass that way ; he took
pity on them, and. removed them to the
palace of Count A. Rasumofski, then the
residence of King Murat, where they re
mained till the final evacuation.
His majesty had been driven by the
irreverent flames to this hotel, in which,
much to his credit, (be it said) he opened
an asylum for the poor sufferers, and af
forded them every means of relief that was
in his power. Circumstances, however,,

Moscow. 185
did not admit of the enjoyment of much
comfort : a large assembly of both sexes
was crowded into one apartment, where
the companionship in misfortune served
rather to increase than relieve their pains.
It is distressful to delicacy to relate, that
in this very room a woman of good con
dition in life was actually delivered of a
child, her female friends standing around,
and endeavouring with their handkerchiefs
and clothes to skreen her as far as they
were able from public sight.
Mr. B  was another resident at Mos-
coav during this dreadful period ; but, more
favoured by accident, he lived at an inn
near the Twerskoi in the society of several
French officers, from whom he received
much kindness and attention. His ac
count furnishes an idea of the want of dis
cipline, or, as it is termed, demoralisation,
that prevailed in the ranks of the army.
He had one morning, he says, ventured
out in the street imprudently alone, when
he Avas met by two Poles, Ay ho attempted,

186 Moscow.
on some pretence or other, to decoy him
into a private lane ; he refused to accom
pany them, and as they added menaces to
entreaties, he took to flight; the street,
hoAvever, was empty, so they pursued him,
and he was on the point of being over
taken, but fortunately turning a corner,
he stumbled on a French officer, to whom
he lost no time in applying for protection.
The officer complied, enquired into his
story, and very severely reprimanded the
Poles, striking them repeatedly with his
sabre; they answered him, nevertheless,
impudently enough, asserting that leave
was given to plunder, and that they had a
right to do so : he told them that the per
mission had been revoked at the end of
the first week, but as he had no actual ac
cusation to bring forward, he dismissed
them, and kindly promised Mr. B  to
accompany him to his lodgings. On the
Avay they met a French soldier carrying a
bundle that bore a suspicious appearance.
He stopped him, and insisted on its being

Moscow. 187
opened, when several Avatches, rings, &c.
and other articles of plunder, were exposed
to view. — " Scoundrel !" said he, in amaze
ment, " is it not disgraceful enough for a
" Russian to commit acts of thievery, but
" must a Frenchman also turn rogue, and
"" bring dishonour on his nation ? Are you
" not a soldier of the grand army ?" So
raying, he gave him a blow on the cheek
with his sword, which he then coolly wiped
and returned into the scabbard ; and draw
ing an order for the man upon the hospital
for his cure, resumed his conversation with
our friend.
It is not at all surprising that the grand
army, on finding their situation here so
different from their expectation, should
have been driven by their discontent to
acts of irregularity and disobedience. Re
pose in a great capital was the lure con
stantly held out before their eyes, to cheer
their long and toilsome march to Russia.
They arrived foot-sore, with shoes and
clothes worn out, and destitute of every

188 Moscow.
thing but the mere materiel of war. Mos
cow in its deserted state afforded them
scarce the necessaries of life; while new
labours and hardships were substituted for
the ease and enjoyment to which they had
looked forward. Thus disappointed, they
next placed their hopes in the arrival of
their heavy baggage, which was moving
up on the road from Smolensko ; but the
Cossacks broke in upon their line of com
munications, and plundered the whole. A
Frenchman, hoAvever, is always loth to
despair ; still another expectation Avas held
out, — peace Avas promised them ; they con
fided in this idea, and peace might restore
them to the enjoyment of every comfort
which their toils entitled them to. Alas !
even this prospect, after a time, was found
delusory and vain. The crafty Kutusow
baffled every endeavour to obtain the
wished-for end, and defeated each attempt
of Buonaparte to work upon the feelings
of the emperor. Various were the pre
tences for delay; one while he bantered

Moscow. 189
him by refusing to forward the dispatches
to his master, because the form of direction
Avas incomplete — the emperor of Russia,
instead of all the Russias : another time
he encouraged his hope by false intelli
gence, sending a dispatch to Petersburg
feigning the greatest alarm, and assert
ing the utter impossibility of contending
against the invincible legions of their op
ponents ; the courier Avas ordered to keep
a certain route, Avhich necessarily threw
him into the hands of the French ; Avhile,
on the same day, a true account of what
had been prepared, and of the hopes con
sequently entertained, was conveyed to the
emperor by a more secure road ; both these
schemes succeeded.
During this interval the country around
was rising to arms in every direction ; the
rustics Avere formed into regular bodies,
standing constantly on the defensive, while
the more vigorous Avarfare of the Cossacks
harassed the enemy by frequent incursions
into their very quarters ; in short, from

190 Moscow.
these circumstances, the duties that were
necessarily imposed on the French forces
called forth the same perpetual watchful
ness and exertion Avhich had fallen to their
lot during the severest part of the cam
paign. No one dared to Arenture out of
the city, unless under the protection of
an escort ; and the foraging parties were
obliged to be attended with strong detach
ments of infantr y and artillery, resembling
rather a division of the army equipped for
the field, than troops sent on a temporary
excursion. Thus dispirited by fatigue, and daily
subjected to fresh proofs of the growing
insecurity of their situation, conversations
of a Seditious nature were excited, and loud
murmurs manifested themselves against the
author of their misfortunes ; so high Avere
their feelings carried, that they were not
concealed even from the throne, and Buo
naparte scarcely was seen to venture in
the streets, some say twice only during his
stay at Moscoav, and then he rode at full

Moscow. 191
speed. The general state of insubordina
tion was little short of open mutiny; many
of the officers declared, that during the
worst times of the revolutionary armies,
they never had witnessed so shameless and
daring a spirit of resistance. The common
men not only thought themselves equal to
their officers, but even frequently defied
their authority ; and many instances oc
curred where the commanders were robbed
of their money or their horses by the ra
pacity of their oSvn soldiers : plunder Avas
the universal cry. Buonaparte's prohi
bition was disregarded : " Je me  de
" lui et de sa proclamation." His name
seemed to have lost its value, for his Avord
was no longer infallible. Churchyards
were disturbed, cellars ransacked and de
stroyed, kettles of water poured on the
ground or the walls to discover where they
had been newly broken, and every plan of
refined ingenuity which had been resorted
to in the early days of the French re
public was practised here. It is said, in-

192 Moscow.
deed, that among other artifices, the sol
diers invented a new and simple process
for extracting the most valuable and es
sential articles which an house might con
tain. They threw their lighted matches
and other combustibles through the Avin-
dows, and then, making fast the back
doors, seated themselves quietly in front,
Avaiting till the unhappy proprietor should
come out prepared for flight, carrying in
his hands whatever moveable articles he
hekl of most value; they then pounced
upon him and relieved him of his burden.
Many a house, no doubt, in the course of
pillage was set on fire by the A\rantonness
of the French; but with regard to Avhat
has been advanced before, relative to this
subject, it must be evident that if we allow
the utmost to the barbarous activity of the
plunderers, yet very little could have been
effected in four days, when compared with
the immense mass of ruin that presented
itself in every part of the city.
Considerable magazines of flour and

MOSCOW: 19$
brandy, which had been laid in for the use
of the Russians, were discovered during
the third week; but so insufficient was the
discipline of the army, that the Avhole was
dispersed and laid waste before the com
missariat could take the necessary steps to
secure them for the public use. This state of
disorganisation is natural to a French army
when overtaken by a reverse of fortune^
but the troops of their foreign allies were
generally said to indulge in still greater ex*
cesses than the French themselves, and the
Poles in particular appeared to gratify a
feeling of retaliation in every act of li
cence which they committed. It is but
fair to add to this account, that the allies
Avere infinitely worse provided, in every
respect, than the French, and their con-
f duct therefore admits of some sort of pal^
liation. Of the latter, the imperial guards,
whose orderly behaviour was held out as
an example worthy of imitation to the rest
of the forces, Avere so Avell taken care of,
that they Avere placed beyond the imme-
VOL. 11. o

194 Moscow-*.
diate reach of want, and deserved but little
encomium for their observance of a certain
degree of regularity. Many other instances
of similar partiality might be quoted, for
it formed a part of the system of Napoleon,
But this is a digression that may be said
to relate to Avhat we heard, rather than
what we actually saw during our stay : it
will be well to recur to our former subject,
and attempt a short description of the
town of Moscow.
A general idea may easily be formed,
since there are, perhaps, few towns whose
quarters present a more simple plan of
distribution: the ancient Kremlin and
Kitaigorod are situated on a central emi
nence above the river MoskAva ; and around
these, as a nucleus, the circles of the Bel
gorod, the Semlianigorod, and the Slabode
or Fauxbourg, are severally discernible,
marking by their lines the growth of the
place in successive seras.
The Kitaigorod, or Tartar town, besides
some religious buildings, contains within

Moscow. 195
its Avails the public exchange and the chief
houses of trade. All these had been com
pletely gutted by the fire, but the spirit of
the place still remained ; shops and stalls,
and tents of every denomination, were
erected amidst the ruins ; and the chief
street was, even now, the theatre of much
bustle and activity.
The Kremlin contains the public offices
and apartments of state, and hither we
made a daily visit, as to a point that af
forded the only specimen of the ancient
magnificence of the capital of the grand
dukes and the czars. It stood Uninjured
amidst the times of the conflagration, but
the barbarous fury of Buonaparte attacked'
whatever Russian piety had spared, and
with unutterable malignity he marked out
for devastation some of the fairest portions
of this proud citadel. The most peremp
tory orders were given to the detachment
occupying the Kremlin after his departure;
the mines were prepared, and at two o'clock
On the last night of their stay this horrid-
o2

196 Moscow
purpose Avas carried into execution. By
the two first explosions* part of the walls
and one of the towers towards the river
Avere destroyed : by the third, the church
of St. Nicholas and the four great bells of
Moscow were bloAvn up Avith tremendous
violence; at the same moment the lofty
toAver of Ivan Veliki, the first of the Czars,
was rent from the top to its base, and the
cross of the cupola, crowning its summit,
buried in the ruin below. The fourth
shock Avas by far the most dreadful ; the
Avails of the arsenal, which were upwards.
of three yards in thickness, with a part of
the gate of St. Nicholas and several ad
jacent pinnacles, were at once bloAvn into
the air, a concussion succeeding that shook
the whole city to its foundations.
When the spot was visited by the people
on the following day, it Avas not with
out much awe they seemed to tread this
ground, almost dreading to look on the
ruinous chasm that was yet smoking. The
impression of fear, however, is easily trans-

Moscow. 197
ferred by the mind from one source to an
other, and the superstitious Russian soon
discovered that divine agents had here
been at Avork as Avell as human. Day
after day these gates seemed to attract the
gaze of the multitude ; for the first Aveek
or fortnight hundreds of peasants Avere"
seen perpetually collected, crossing them
selves, and bowing to the ground in the5
most fervent adoration. It Avas some time
before a stranger could discover their ob
ject, but it appeared that a marvellous in
terposition of St. Nicholas had presented
the glass Avhich was placed before his pic
ture from being injured by the explosion,
although it took place Avithin the distance
of a few yards, Avhile it was notorious that
many windoAvs in the most distant parts
of the Fauxbourg had suffered from its'
effects. The fact was curious, and as a
part of the wall to which it Avas attached
Avas at the same time thrown down, the
concurrence of circumstances might we\¥
excite astonishment. The tutelary saint.

198 Moscow:
of Russia had certainly never wrought a
greater miracle ; his fame increased daily,
and even at this interval of time when our
visit was made, the picture was the object
of constant devotion with the mob.
Profane persons might attempt an ex
planation of the phenomenon in a different
way : it was observable that the centre of
explosion was somewhat removed behind
the building on which the picture stood,
so it was completely sheltered from the
scattering of the stones and other mate
rials, which in these cases are generally
'the occasion of the greatest havoc. In the
next place, it is probable that the strength
of the glass Avas able to withstand the
pressure arising from the expansion of the
small quantity of air confined behind, in
spite of the great rarefaction that had'
taken place without. We may find upon
enquiry that much greater miracles have
sometimes been witnessed at the blowing
up of an ordinary powder-mill in England^
The imperial palace, Avhich stands on a

Moscow. 19^
point commanding the whole to Avn, was
the residence, as before stated, of Buo
naparte : but even these Avails, that had
formed his abode, were given to destruction
by his orders, and now shewed themselves1
in the most forlorn condition, stripped of
every article, and completely gutted from
top to bottom. The same scene of waste
was exhibited in an interesting antique
edifice, containing the chamber of the
throne. As the public hall of audience
at the coronation of the czars * and em^
perors, it had been often made the scene
of festivities in this most pompous and
splendid court. But noAV not a vestige
of ancient ornament could any Avhere be
traced; the activity of devastation • had
been great, and scarce a beam or a stone
rested one on the other.
* The title czar was only borne by two sovereigns of
Russia : the word is a Sclavonic translation of the Tartar
khan or king : in their translation of the Old Testament
it constantly occurs in this sense. The czar Solomon qr
czar David being the ordinary terms in use.

%QQ Moscow.
The other parts of the .Kremlin remained
untouched, and it was impossible to con
ceive a more imposing spectacle than Avas
here afforded. An high terrace overhung
the walls towards the river, at the ex
tremity of vvhich, to the left, appeared the
fantastical structure of the Trinity church,
and the awe-commanding portals of the
Holy Gate, through which every passenger
walks bare-headed, At the other end was
a, cluster of domes rising from the church
of St. Nicholas, that of the Assump-
tipn, and the phapel and palace of the
Czars; with the lofty steeple of Jvan Veliki
towering far above them all, and reflect
ing the beanqis of thp sun frpm a globe of
gold. The palace of the Czars does not boast
an antiquity of more than two hundred
years, but it is an edifice raised with
princely costliness in the Hindu fashion,
and marked with every peculiarity of mas
sive squareness in the carve-work Avith
which that style abounds,

Moscow'. 201
This was one of the most shewy ex
amples of the gorgeous architecture of
the Kremlin : though the whole circle of
fered an assemblage of bright gay colours,
and a display of gaud and richness that
vied with " the wealth of Ormus and of
" Ind." The cupolas and roofs were gilt
or stained green or red, the walls and
tOAvers covered with glazed tiles of blue,
and white, and yellow, in other parts
adorned Avith storied paintings from holy
writ, while a melange Avas seen on every
side of pear-shaped domes, Tartar battle-.
ments, Gothic , tracery, Grecian columns,
the star, the crescent, and the cross.
Looking below appeared the stream of
the MoskAvar Avinding its course amidst
the streets and houses of the town, all in
deed now in ruin, but still interspersed
with many a glittering steeple, Avith cot-*
tage, garden, and palace intermixed, and
offering to vieAV the eternal variety of a
Russian city. This scene Avas backed by
an extensiye landscape of the country on,

202- Moscow.
the Avest, dotted Avith country houses arid
monasteries, and surmounted by the long
gloomy line of the Sparrow Hills, over
which the French army first shewed them
selves before the work of abomination was
begun. If we turned our eyes to the ground oil
which Ave stood, it was streAved Avith the
relics of the church of St. Nicholas : the
great bells that were its chief boast (one
of Avhich Aveighed more than 200,0001b.)
lay scattered in different directions, as
they chanced to have fallen at the time of
explosion ; and of the celebrated bell, cast
by the Empress Anne, nothing was disco
verable but the ring at the top, so deep
Avas it buried in rubbish. In other parts
remnants of military stores of various de
scriptions met the eye; and at a little
distance, in front of the arsenal, Avere
ranged the 1,100 pieces of artillery, which
the French lost during their campaign
in Russia. These formed an heterogene
ous collection, being trophies from these*

Moscow: 20S
veral nations Avhose mark they bore ; Italy,
Holland, Austria, Prussia, Poland, Saxony,
Spain, &c. To add to the endless confu
sion, were others that carried the names
not only of the ancient kings of France,
but of the heroes and princes of the revo
lution, and of the fields of their glory :
Avith these again cant terms of empty sen
timentalities, that once domineered in that
country over men and things. Here Louis
and Napoleon, there Essling and Marengo,
on another side le Tage and le Danube, or,
with still worse appropriation to its subject,
lavertu, I'egalitS, la HbertS ; high sounding
words, that served only to swell the pride
of the Russian triumph; in themselves of
as little force as the now mute and power
less engines of destruction on Avhich they
were inscribed.
Having incidentally mentioned the splen
dour of a Russian coronation, perhaps a
few particulars relating to that solemnity
may not be deemed unacceptable. A great
deal of the barbaric magnificence of their

204 Moscow.
ancient court is still preserved, and the
coronation of the Emperor Alexander was'
conducted in a style of national pageantry,
of which other courts of Europe have but
little conception. The procession was
composed of the several chief functionaries
of state, of all the constituted authorities
from the different provincial governments,-
the first military and naval officers, no*
bility, &c. in their robes and uniforms : to
give an idea of their number suffice it to
say, that they extended many a verst in
length, and continued to defile on the day
of entrance, through the city gates, from,
seven in the forenoon, without intermis
sion, till nine at night. On the following
morning the company were ranged in
benches step above step, forming a circle
about the tower of Ivan. The emperor,
with the chief officers, paraded three times
around, and next made a pious visitation
to the four churches in succession, bowing
to the shrines and kissing the holy relics.;
To this ceremony succeeded a time of fes^

Moscow. '205
tival, when the nobles and the merchants,
on two successive days, were regaled in
the chamber of the throne; and qn the
third a grand entertainment Avas given
to the peasantry, upwards of 30,000 per
sons partaking of the imperial hospitality.
Long tables were spread, and amply fur
nished with provision of every description,
while fountains of beer, of brandy, and of
wine, displayed in profusion the joyous
sources of inebriation. The ancient cus
tom at these fetes was also complied with:
and an huge pyramid of roasted meat Avas
raised, surmounted at the top by an ox
Avith gilded horns. On a signal being
given the populace rushed fonvard to
scramble for the contents of this pile, and
a prize of an hundred roubles was the re
ward of the happy mougik who succeed
ed in gaining possession of the summit.
Various other exhibitions of this nature
took place; but even these contentious
scenes bred little riot : the order of the
day (d, la russe) Avas preserved most per-

20$ Moscow.
tinaciously : if any symptoms of rage be
tween two parties exhibited themselves,
the Abater engine Avas at hand, Avith whose
full and cooling scream the police never
failed to assuage the feelings of the mettle
some slave. The usual ceremonies, pre
sentations, grand military reviews, and
fetes succeeded, and all in a proportionate
scale of grandeur.
3d July. — On this day we took advan
tage of an invitation from Prince  ,
and made a Adsit to his palace as well as to
that of another seigneur in the neighbour
hood. Our arrival at the latter was unex
pected, but we met with a most splendid
reception, though all which we saw was in
the ordinary course of Russian hospitality.
It was unaided by any temporary parade,
or by what some persons so often lay to
the charge of this generous people, the
Avish to make an ostentatious display be
fore strangers.
The gardens were laid out with much
taste in the English fashion, and included

Moscow: 207
a 'winter palace as Avell as an elegant pa
vilion d^StS, where our host was now resid
ing. As it was Sunday evening, the place
was given up to the public, and a large
company from Moscow and the neigh
bourhood were amusing themselves parad
ing in the Avalks and shrubberies, or taking
the diversion of exercise on the Avater. At
six o'clock the theatre Avas thrown open,
and the various groups of company were
all seen bending their steps toAvards the
door ; a few minutes afterwards a servant
entered the saloon where we Avere as
sembled, and announced that the actors
were prepared, and only Avaited the ap
pearance of their lord. On entering Ave
found the house already crowded, two
rows only reserved in front for private
friends, the rest of the seats entirely occu
pied by the promiscuous parties of holiday
visitors. The piece was a Russian comedy,
founded on some tale of modern French
coquetry, and appeared, as far as one

208 Moscow.
could judge, to be extremely well acted.
After the spectacle Ave returned to the sa
loon and partook of refreshments, while
our ears Avere saluted with a concert of
Russian music, from a full band of well
practised performers. The songs Avere
both conceived and executed Avith all the
wildness of the national taste, varied and
abrupt : one of them, lately composed in
honour of Miloradovitch, Avas peculiarly
striking, and perhaps excelled, in loftiness
and grandeur of style,* by none of the
finished melodies of more fashionable
masters. At night Ave sat down to a sumptuous
repast, with every variety of wine from
Burgundy and la Fitte to the wormwood-
flavoured juices of Moldavia : nor Avere Ave
permitted to leave the hospitable mansion
till a very late hour.
The large domestic establishment of
slaves which this nobleman kept, amount
ing to about four hundred, easily furnished
the means for these several diversions. He

Moscow. 209
apologised, however, to us, and without
affectation, for not having received us in a
more magnificent way, complaining that
his losses in the campaign had been very
severe. His house at Moscoav had been
burnt, Avith all its furniture, and he had
lost besides a vast number of his peasants.
Some of these, whom he much regretted,
had in a great degree crippled his means
of entertainment ; the comes de chasse and
corps du ballet had been entirely broken
up, and some of his best actors, as well as
most accomplished musicians, sacrificed to
the exigencies of the war.
To give a fair idea of an household like
this, it should be observed that these slaves
are not maintained distinctly and solely
for their separate avocations. Education,
notwithstanding their natural aptitude for
almost every employment, is from its na
ture attended with considerable expense.
Each one, therefore, who has the advan
tage of being well brought up, is prepared
to fulfil three or four several functions,
VOL. II. p

210 Moscow.
however incompatible they may seem.
The house surgeon, a first-rate comedian,
an admirable performer on the violin, offi
ciated also as his master's principal valet
de chambre; and I was surprised to see
the " gay Lothario," Avho had likewise di
stinguished himself in the concert, stand
ing behind my chair at supper.
The Avhole establishment bore, in their
gay and easy looks, the marks of the ge
nerous disposition of the seigneur, who
was represented by all to be remarkable
for his frankness, openness and humanity.
An instance occurred during the late
times, which sufficiently put to the test
the attachment of these poor creatures :
he had divided all his plate into small lots,
and doled it out to them as they dispersed
on the approach of the French army ; to
one he gave a chandelier, to another a tu
reen, to another plates and spoons, &c.
Avith orders that they should place them
in concealment. In October, when he ap
peared again amongst them, he required

Moscow. 211
an account of the articles so disposed, and
not one was missing.
Nor was this all. This poor people,
upon his first taking to flight, shewed their
gratitude to him by their care of his fa
vourite female slave. She Avas well pro-i
vided by them with every requisite; and
when they understood that he was settled
in a comfortable retreat, they furnished
her, of their own accord, with money and
horses to follovir him. He seemed to pride
himself much in these traits of good feel
ing, as well he might; no doubt they are
not very common, but probably are as often
seen on the part of the slave as generosity
and kindness are to be met with on the
side of the master.
This description of household is by no
means considered as large ; five or six
hundred slaves are kept in many of the
great palaces at Moscow, as well as in the
country residences, as has been before re
marked. They live huddled together in a
miserable state, without beds (which in-
p 2

212 Moscow.
deed are not required by a Russian) and
destitute of all that Ave should style com
fortable. But it is through their means
that the wealthy seigneur, besides pro-
Adding the amusements of theatrical enter
tainments and concerts at home, besides
exhibiting an antichamber constantly filled
with menials, and a dinner table open to
all his friends, is able to give to the world
more durable testimonies of his wealth.
The number of hands consigned to any
employment (though at this moment the
supply is diminished) is almost incredible,
but may be surmised by the labours that
are sometimes Avitnessed. Count Apraxin
had lost his palace at Moscow in the late
conflagration ; nothing dispirited, how
ever, at the misfortune, "That stately edi
fice," said he, " Avas built in twenty-two
" successive years ; it was destroyed in as
" many hours, and yet before twenty-tAVo
"months are expired shall be renewed in
" the same state as before." It was done,
and we saw his new building, with all its

Moscow. 213
domes and porticoes, completely finished,
at this moment the actual residence of a
population of between 400 and 500 souls.
: This rapid power of creation is truly
consonant Avith the Russian taste : when
the King and Queen of Prussia paid a visit
to Petersburg, a suite of fourteen apart?
ments, with the carving, gilding, painting,
and different elaborate decorations, were
prepared at a short notice of fourteen
days ; and Avhich is still more extraordir
nary, the gigantic pije of the Mikhail
Palace, the residence of the Emperor Paul
at Petersburg, was planned, built, and in
habited wdthin the short space of three
years. A certain northern sceptic, Avith whom
every thing that exceeded the ordinary
limits of ocular demonstration was alike
'¦' majus fide," Avould perhaps have been
induced, on the inspection of one of the
curious establishments of seignoralty in
this country, to acknoAvledge that the
reported estimate of the population of

214 Moscow.
Athens was by no means rendered impos
sible by the small size of the town ; where
accommodation more than enough might
doubtless have been found. And in re
ference to the magnitude of their archi*
Jectural monuments, which has been in
sisted upon by an ingenious writer as af
fording matter of argument in support of
the alleged nuniber of the people, these
specimens of Russian grandeur may also
be quoted.
On the 26th of June the heat Avas op
pressive; the mercury standing at 22°
(Reaumur) in the shade*. As the fine
ness of the evening, however, was expect
ed to be unusually attractive, Ave strolled
down to the public walk on the boule
vards, where we saw numberless singular
and interesting groups of people. Infinite
was the variety of national costume. The
f The cold is generally more severe in the winter at
Moscow than at Petersburg, from its inland situation ; in
January 1814, the mercury of the thermometer stood at
40° of Reaumur,

Moscow. 215
Russian tradesman, in his blue caftan,
promenading with his Avife, in her head
dress of pearls, and plaited tippet of crim
son velvet and, gold; the Greek in his
gown of silk, blue or red ; the Persian m
his peaked cap, his vest of flowered cotton,
and flowing robe ; the Boukharian mer
chant, the Kasan Tartar, the Mongoul,
each Avith their appropriate ornaments ;
and the stately unbending Turk, stepping
the Avalk Avith grave and dignified air, a
type of the only people in the Avorld Avith
whom a smile does not seem to pass for
current. But the Sunday butterfly, dressed
in the last arrived fashion from England,
patent Avhite boot-tops, long breeches be
low his calf, and waist below his middle,
bore the bell, and carried away all the ad
miration of the company.
We had little expected, from the de^
serted appearance of the streets, to see so
large a concourse of people in these walks,
but Avere told it was an extremely thin at-,
tendance in comparison Avith the exhibi-

216 Moscow.
tions of former years. Nevertheless it was
certain that the lucrative nature of the
trade from the east had already brought
back a very large part of the foreign re
sidents, commerce was daily increasing in
activity, and the promenaders Avere mostly
persons engaged in that line.
Of all the different branches, that Avhich
Avas carried on by the Boukharian mer
chants seemed to be one of the most
gainful; it consisted chiefly in exchange;
sugar, coffee, cloth, leather, indigo, small
iron ware, &c. being given for cotton,
stuffs and vests, silk, lambskins, rice,
avooI, rhubarb, dried fruits, saltpetre,
tourquoises*, lapis lazuli, and other pre-
* This mineral is found at Nikapour. three days journey
from Mecshit ; it is brought over in small pieces, packed
in sacks. I have seen one of these specimens with the
matrix attached; it was a red ferruginous argillaceous
earth, bearing- the appearance of stratification. The com
merce carried on between Russia and the Boukharians and
horde of Kirguis, in the reports of 1803, stands thus : Ex
ported, to the amount of 793,29.1 R, Imported 2,993,669.

Moscow. 217
cious stones ; the shaAvls also of Cashmir,
some at a value of not less than 5,000 or
6,000 roubles, are frequently imported by
the same persons for sale. Nor is it to
Moscow alone that they resort ; many are
established at Astracan and other places
in that direction; but the chief trade is
carried on at the fair of Makarier, in July :
numberless Boukharian caravans arrive
annually by the Volga, and upwards of
100,000 persons are said to assemble there
for the transaction of business, and the
value of the articles Avhich are exhibited
is stated at no less a sum than 5,000,000
roubles in the reports of the year 1803.
The people of the country, the objects
of this intercourse, are a quiet industrious
race of Tartars, living under an independ
ent khan, that holds his court at Boukhara,
a city not far distant from Samarcand.
But the tract lying between this state and
the Russian frontier presents the most se
rious obstacles to a direct trade, being
unprovided with water, and besides much

218 Moscow.
infested by the wandering piratical tribe
of the Kirgisses. Though the caravans
are large, and contain from 200 to 900
camels, they are frequently attacked by
these laAvless freebooters, the only alterna
tive being to purchase their protection,
Avhich must be done at a dear rate before
they set out.
The armed bodies of the latter people
are exceeding strong; so much so, that
the Russian engineers who were sent at
tended by a squadron of cavalry and two
pieces of artillery, to survey the country,
some years since, were actually driven
back before they reached the shores of
lake Aral.
On account of these difficulties, the
Russians have hitherto been content to
leave the trade in the hands of the na
tives ; but the imperial government has
not been neglectful of the interest of the
merchants, and in the present reign, an
offer of a constant escort of 1,000 men
Avas made to any company of merchants

Moscow. 219
that were willing to embark a capital of
1,000,000 roubles, in a scheme for opening
a direct trade with Boukharia. No one,
however, thought it advisable to close with
the proposal.
Besides the ordinary course of trade,
curious fields of speculation are open to
foreigners, Avho from hence sometimes plan
adventurous excursions into the eastern
parts. One merchant makes a journey
Avith the hope of discovering jewels that
might have been deposited in flight or
hoarded through fear, during the various
revolutions that have desolated Persia
and the neighbouring dominions. Another
buys up emeralds and coral for the Usbek
Tartars, who, from custom immemorial,
are in the practice of ornamenting the
eyes and forehead of the dead Avith these
valuable articles. Another told me he
had made a profitable journey Avith a
cargo of avooI from Cashmir : making his
way by the route of Palatinsk, across a
great portion of the desert ; where he

220 Moscow.
passed several days trusting to the guidance
of two honest Usbek Tartars, avIio served
him throughout for the moderate wages of
one ducat each, This scheme answered
so well that he Avas about to send his son
on a similar expedition.
The sum specified as given in recom-
pence may seem extraordinary, but com
merce has given the same notoriety to the
Dutch ducat in these remote provinces of
Asia which it has so long bprne in every
kingdom of Europe, and i\ is one of the
coins that are most extensively used in
affairs of commerce. The French Napo
leon, he told us, though the gold was ex
cellent, passed generally for something
short of its real value, being the specimen
of a currency Avhose stamp was not yet
sufficiently knoAvn as to have acquired the
same credit Avith that of an older coinage :
a curious fact, that is highly illustrative of
the unspeculative spirit of these people.
He had heard, however, the name of
Buonaparte mentioned even in the Avilds

Moscow- 221
of Tartary, and had seen in the course of
the journey an history of his life,, contain
ing a pompous account of his successful
enterprises and actions, doAvn to the mar
riage Avith the Arch-Duchess Maria Louisa,
in 1810. It was composed in Arabic, a
language which is there familiar to every
person of education, and having been
printed at Paris, several hundred copies
were sent to Aleppo, and distributed for
circulation. Whether this was merely Avith
a vieAV to propagate the glory of his name,
or intended to assist some future plan of
conquest in the East, Avas not manifest.
We have heard of no undertaking of this
nature since the days of the Emperor Paul,
Avho, in one of his paroxysms of frenzy, Avas
fired Avith the idea of becoming an Eastern
Conqueror. To further this idea, and at
the same time to gratify the ill Avill he bore
against England, he ordered several hordes
of Cossacks to set out on a march that was
to lead by the line of the Aral, towards

222 Moscow.
the confines of Hindostan. Each succes
sive body was to fill the place of the pre
ceding one, " velut unda supervenit un-
" dam," as they might have perished in
the desert or by the hands of their oppo
nents; and thus it was hoped the object
might finally be attained by the perse-
verance of the latter corps. The Avild scheme
was afterwards for some reason, no doubt
as good as that which first gave it birth,
most happily relinquished.
Looking to the traffic of Moscow, the
late ukase of the Emperor Alexander,
which forbids any foreigners, unless natu
ralised, to establish themselves in busi
ness there, is unfortunate in its application
to the present time, Avhen encouragement
should be given to settlers on almost any
terms : otherwise, no doubt can be enter
tained of the general expediency of such a
decree, in an empire Avhere foreign agency
has been so Avidely diffused. Several regu
lations with this yieAv have been promul-

Moscow. 223
gated at Petersburg, though the govern
ment could not venture to carry into exe
cution the step adopted at Moscow*.
On another day we made a short excur
sion to the Devitchi nunnery, once made
the place of confinement of Sophia, the
sister of Peter I. The court was open to
the public ; no envious grate opposed our
entrance, but Ave surveyed at leisure every
part of the melancholy establishment. The
black caps, and habits of the devotees,
* In the year 1810, a new lax was ordered to be levied
on the foreign tradesmen at Petersburg who were not
naturalised; 100 roubles was the sum demanded from
every master, and 40 from each journeyman. The ukase
(a curious specimen of Russian legislation) stated it to be
the intention of government that the rich should pay for
the poor, in order to avoid oppression on any class. The
foreigners were therefore assembled by order of the police,
locked in a room together, a guard mounted over them,
and they were commanded to select twelve men who
should be responsible for the payment of the rest. This
was done, but the tax was afterwards remitted, and in
deed the measure was supposed only to aim at forcing
them to enter into the established companies of trade.

224 Moscow.
seen under the gloom of a Russian church,
gave a most impressive solemnity to their
vespers; and this was still heightened by
the plaintive tone of the female voices,
joining in the chant; for they officiated
themselves during a part of the service,
reading passages from the scriptures, &c.
but priests were in attendance at the
sanctuary door, which their canons never
permit a woman to pass : on the whole,
we Avere much delighted with our visit.
These religious edifices, which during
the disorderly time of the reigns of the
grand dukes, were all built and provided
as fortresses, might be even now considered
strong holds in a military view. But
added to this consideration, the angle
formed by the river, towards the great
Avestern road, immediately under the Spar
row hills, rendered the nunnery a post
highly necessary to be occupied by the
French. A detachment of near 4000 men
were accordingly placed in garrison, to

Moscow. 225
watch the passage, and prevent the Rus
sians from establishing themselves in that
quarter. The officers of this division were repre
sented to have behaved extrernely well;
they professed to acknowledge t|ie same
God as their female hostesses, and crossed
themselves before the painted images with
a specious shew of devotion. In short,
they gave such general satisfaction by their
conduct, that when Davoust offered to re
place half of his men with an equal num
ber of wounded Russians, the goodly lgou-
mena, or abbess, declined without cere
mony the proffered exchange. Lest any
suspicion should arise that might bear hard
upon her character or that of her com
panions, it is but justice at the conclusion
of the story to add, that the nuns seemed,
to us at least, neither young nor hand
some. , Another evening took us to the mo
nasteries lying on the Moskwa below the
VOL. II. Q

226 Moscow.
town, which are all remarkable for the
beauty of their situations : they were mostly
buildings like that of St. A. Newski at
Petersburg, faced with patch-^work walls of
red and white, and, one only excepted,
seemed of no great antiquity.
In making these various excursions, it
was lamentable to behold, in whatever di
rection Ave passed, similar scenes of wreck
and havoc constantly before us. It is not
difficult to picture to one's mind the ap
pearance of an ordinary town reduced to
a state of ruin ; but to traverse a place of
35 versts in circumference, and find every
Avhere the same features, was a display of
horror that far exceeds the utmost limits of
fancy. The citizens had been diligent in
repairs, it is true, though little could the
labour of two years produce in a city of
such dimensions. The few habitations
that were renewed shewed but as spots in
the wide waste, and seemed scarce to
diversify this universal scene of desolation.

Moscow. 227
Of the whole original extent, the more
distant parts of the Slabode alone, with a
few streets of the Belgorod on the north,
had escaped. The former from the circum
stance of the dwellings being so loosely
dispersed ; the latter owing to the exertions
of the new imperial guard, who for their
own sake laboured to save the houses in
which they were quartered ; nor was it
probably less indebted to the presence of
the governor Mortier, who with his staff
occupied one of the private houses of Ras-
topchin. The annexed plan will furnish an
idea of the extent of the mischief, the parts
of the town which were consumed being
shaded black. It appears by the official
returns, that before the fire the Avooden
houses amounted in number to 659 1> and
those built of stone or brick to 2567 ; of
the former, Avhen the French evacuated the
town, only 2100 were remaining, and of
the latter 526.

q 2

228

Moscow.

With regard to the funds for purposes
of rebuilding, we must observe, that the
losses of the nobility were, generally speak
ing, too extensive to admit of their bestow
ing any thoughts on this subject for the
present. The Princess D. whom I mention rather
for the sake of more credible authority
than as furnishing an example of misfortune

BE3BOKOBK© FAJLACE, SLAB OBE , MOSCOW,

Moscow. 229
greater than ordinary, estimated her losses
at 2095 slaves, besides an amount in houses,
furniture, cattle, &c. of 2,000,000 roubles.
Under such circumstances, when not only
the direct privation is to be taken into
account, but also the diminution of the
sources of profit, it cannot be expected
that many of the palaces at Moscow should
be yet restored. The mansions of Count
Apraxin and Monsieur Batachov alone
formed an exception: the rest, those of
Pashkov, Menzikov, Pushkin, Troubetskoi,
Scheremetov, Dashkov, Orlov, Dolgorucki,
Panin, Kasselov, Besborodko, Durassov,
Soltigov, Gagarin, with many others, lay
in the same neglected and forlorn condi
tion. The ranks of society were thinned
in proportion, and at the promenade on
the 1st of May, instead of 5000 carriages
being seen in the train as heretofore, only
1500, including those of many country re
sidents, were mustered.
Among the lower classes, several of the
little retail shop-keepers and the owners

230 Moscow.
of inns, &c. had rebuilt their houses in
those situations where a ready and quick
return of money might warrant the spe
culation, for it was accomplished at a
heavy expense*. The hotel of the Ger
man tractir, as he is called, in which we
lodged, was one of this description; it
stood almost single in a ruinous street, and
the marks of the fire were still visible over
the windows and doors, as well as various
other parts of the walls. The total amount
of the numbers which the report of the
police stated to have been refitted Avere,
in wood 1480, in stone 1312.
It may be asked by some persons what
was the effect of the subscriptions which
English liberality had afforded in relief of
these cases of distress. I am sorry to say
* Day labour was at two roubles, and the price of
bricks had risen at this time from 15 roubles to 45. A
subscription was made at Petersburg for the relief of the
fugitives from Moscow. The town was divided into 12
districts, over each of which a lady presided to give aid to
any who might be found there.

Moscow. 231
that it was not in the nature of things that
much could be effected by a measure of
this sort; it was some time, indeed, before
the Russian government prevailed upon
themselves to accept this generous mark
of consideration. But it must be recol
lected that the class of persons to whom
we would in such cases give assistance in
England, under the denomination of" poor
sufferers," have in this country no exist
ence ; they are all slaves, and can possess
nothing legally of their own. The money
sent out therefore was to be distributed in
grants to such of the seigneurs as chose to
avail themselves of the offer. In this way,
perhaps, it ansAvered its purpose, however
indirectly, since it might relieve their pea
sants from the immediate call for money,
which they would otherwise have expe
rienced. If such an arrangement was not
according to the wishes of the liberal con
tributors to the subscription, it is a painful
task to record the failure of their Avell
meant benevolence.

232 Moscow.
The number of inhabitants resident at
Moscow, while the heat of the summer
months admitted them to bivouac in the
streets or in the ruined houses, amounted
to about 170,000 ; but this vast accession
was only temporary, and did not in reality
amount to much more than half the num
ber which the city was estimated to con
tain before the war.
The existing appearances afforded^,
no doubt, very insufficient memorials of
the real calamities which had been in
flicted on this people by the ambition of
France. To see so many unoffending souls
deprived at once of every thing they had
in the world, was a sight too much for a
heart of the sternest mould to regard un
moved. Murat, as was before stated, and
Mortier, had each opened a large asylum
in their respective houses; but, which is
still more a matter of astonishment, Na
poleon himself was melted to pity, and,
though in direct opposition to every in
stance of his former conduct, seemed de-

Moscow. 233
sirous of alleviating in some degree their
miserable state. Human nature, it is true,
is not at all times consistent in herself;
our frail habits are as incapable of accom
plishing perfection in one character as in
another; and the villain shews occasional
feelings of remorse as the good man his
vicious weaknesses.
We may suppose that prudential motives
entered largely into his calculations ; but,
nevertheless, it was certainly owing to his
orders that the permission to pillage was
formally recalled at the end of the first
week; that the governor, Mortier, was
charged to organise a provisional muni
cipality from among the citizens ; that syn
dics were named to report on the number
of the poor and destitute; that rations
were promised to them; that the French
surgeons were ordered to attend the sick
of both nations without distinction ; and
Monsieur Toutolmin was required to draw
up a report * of the present state of the
* In order to secure Monsieur Toutolmin from any ill

234 Moscow.
Foundling-hospital (for it had escaped the
flames) specifying the means it afforded of
giving assistance.
Nor were these steps altogether without
effect: though the new municipality met
with a thousand difficulties in the execu
tion of their office; though neither civil
nor military authorities seemed respected;
though the promised rations * could not
consequences, Buonaparte promised to forward this do
cument, as from himself, to the Dowager Empress, which
was done, but no answer was ever received.
* Buonaparte in consequence of this distributed 30,000
roubles, that had been coined in copper, among the
wretches mentioned in the report alluded to, who amounted
to 500 in number. The copper, however, was nearly
useless; the French, who were in chief possession of all
articles of food, would not accept it, because too weighty
to be carried off; so that being disregarded as useless in
the town, it was carried away by the peasants to be buried
in their gardens for future use.
It is singular that, before the war, an ukase came out
ordering 33 churches to be pulled down at Moscow
{where there were anciently said to be near 2000). The
superstition of the people attributed their calamities to
this circumstance. The emperor has vowed to build
a new church at Moscow in commemoration of the late
deliverance of Russia.

Moscow. 235
be furnished for the poor ; and though the
hospitals were reported to have been left
unprovided with any means of aid : yet in
consequence of the issue of such regula
tions, a material difference took place in
the general condition of the citizens, and
even at the beginning of the third week
the town had assumed an appearance com
paratively tranquil.
In consequence of this the people began
to turn their thoughts to a new subject:
hitherto no mass had been celebrated since
the day on which the French entered ; it
was proposed, therefore, to open one of
the churches for public accommodation.
After a long search a priest was discovered
(aumonier du regiment de chev. gardes) Avho
undertook to officiate; preparations were
made with due solemnity, and a French
guard mounted in front of the Eupla-
Diacona, which was the church selected
for this purpose. Long before the ap
pointed hour the entrance was beset by
the populace, and on the doors being

236 Moscow.
thrown open, the area was in an instant
thronged by the anxious crowd that hur
ried to their devotions. Eye-witnesses re
port the scene of religious earnestness
which here took place to have been such
as far exceeded in interest any of the most
striking spectacles exhibited by the osten
tatious ceremonials of the Greek church.
It so happened that this day was the feast
of St. Alexander, the emperor's name's
day ; a Te Deum Avas chanted on the oc
casion, and the happy omen hailed with
joy- As better treatment began to prevail,
the country peasants occasionally shewed
themselves at the barriers, and a feAv even
ventured into the town, where mixing with
the French soldiers, and finding themselves
kindly received, they began to bring pro
visions to the market as before. All this,
hoAvever, was not merely with the desire of
gain, but they hoped also, under the mask
of good humour, to conceal their projects
of revenge. They would constantly laugh,

Moscow. 237
and shake hands, and dance (as they said)
with monsieur, calling themselves son ami,
son humble serviteur, for they are gifted
with an extraordinary facility in catching
the phrases of a foreign tongue. But, not
withstanding this, whenever they were for
tunate enough to light upon monsieur alone,
they infallibly murdered him, and sometimes
with circumstances of aggravation the most
cruel and barbarous.
The soldiers were so far deceived by
these demonstrations of friendship, that
they sometimes sat down to dinner at the
village cottages, leaving their muskets, in
unsuspecting confidence, piled outside of
the door: the peasants then watching
their opportunity, assembled together and
butchered their guests with their own
arms, while enjoying the proffered hos
pitality ; triumphing in the glory of an
act of vengeance, but still more proud of
the devilish subtilty of the scheme. Many
foraging parties were in this way cut off
by the crafty rustics. An extract of a

238 Moscow.
letter, Avritten by a steward of an estate in
the country to his master at Petersburg,
giving a simple account of his success, de
serves to be quoted. — " The French came
" to us, and took from us hay, oats, bread,
" and some cattle; however, we have got
" still sufficient for the winter. In some
" of your estates they have committed great
" ravages : about three Aveeks ago they
" came to us again with an intention to burn
" our village, but by the assistance of God
" and your peasantry we have killed them
" all, like so many starved dogs. We
" found in their baggage many church or-
" naments, a priest's surplice, and a string
" of pearls. I have given all these for the
" use of our parish church : we want no-
" thing belonging to the French ; we are
" contented, and must not provoke divine
" vengeance." Some curious anecdotes are also in cir
culation illustrative of their zeal and per
severance. A story is related of a slave
living on Count Romanzov's estate, in

Moscow. 239
the neighbourhood of Moscow, who was
wounded by a shot from a soldier in the
Course of a predatory excursion ; the poor
wretch, feeling- he had not long to live,
crawled as well as he Avas able to his cot
tage : the Frenchman, thinking this a fair
occasion of making some booty, followed
the steps of his victim, and found him,
when he entered, stretched at length on
the floor in the agonies of death. Upon
this he proceeded without delay to put in
his claims to the most valuable moveables
of the cabin, and was descending through
the trap-door in the centre where the
store is kept, to make his search; at this
instant the dying peasant, summoning his
remaining strength, seized his hatchet and
staggered to the spot ; with one blow he
cleft the Frenchman's head in twain, and
then himself dropping down from loss of
blood, breathed his last gasp at the same
moment with his cruel assassin. Various
examples of the courage and spirit, of in
dividuals might be afforded, for no one

240 Moscow^
was a quiet spectator of what passed ; but
it is time to close this account for the
sake of turning our attention to a state.
of misery scarcely inferior, which now be
came the lot of the invaders themselves.
In the beginning of October the cold be
gan to set in ; and at the same time the in
creased activity of the Russian army post
ed near Kalouga redoubled the anxiety
of the French. According to their cus
tom, every possible expedient was resorted
to that might animate the drooping spirits
of the soldiers, or at least to divert them
from ruminating on their condition. It
was their turn now to practise such stra
tagems of deceit as the Russians had re
sorted to before their departure from the
city : peace again was promised, a second
envoy to the Emperor Alexander was talked
of, and various amusements and spectacles
were proposed. I have seen indeed a bill
of one of the performances at their tempo
rary theatre, bearing date October 12th,
being only five days previous to the eva-

Moscow. 241
cuation of the city. But all Avas in vain ;
the victory gained by Benningsen at Ta-
ratina led them to form such inferences,
with regard to the prospect that was
opening upon them, as produced a mark
ed change in the countenance of all the
French officers. Their communicative spi
rit seemed sunk, and their gaiety and usual
face of assurance were for once dismayed :
" c est fait de nous — nous voila bienjlambes,"
now and then was heard to escape their
lips : but they grew, in general, cautious of
entertaining conversation, and never talked
of affairs but in dark hints or in whispers
with one another.
Immediate retreat from Moscow was be
come a matter of necessity rather than
choice, and it was a step that could not
be taken without infinite hazard. At last,
as if on a sudden, the mind of the Empe
ror appeared to be made up : orders were
given that the convoys of the wounded
should set out for Smolensko, and direc
tions to the commissariat to prepare bis-
VOL. II. R

242 Moscow.
cuit for twenty days on the towns in that
route. These commands were soon noised
through the town : after which, at four
o'clock on the evening of October 18, the
generale was beaten, and in the space of
one hour several regiments were already
put in motion towards the south. Mos
cow however was still held in possession,
in order to conceal the nature of these
movements; and Mortier was left in charge
of it, with a garrison of 5,000 men. His
first act was to remove his quarters to the
Kremlin for the sake of security, since it
could not be expected that the deserted
situation of the place would be long un
known to the Russian troops in the neigh
bourhood. On the 20th, indeed, a party
of Cossacks, trusting to what they dis
covered from their own observation, pe
netrated into the town, and proceeded
through great part of the Twerskoi before
troops could be collected to repulse them,
Avhich was not effected till after a hard
struggle.

Moscow. 243
A day or two afterwards General Witzin-
gerode, with his aid-de-camp, hearing of
the march of large bodies of troops, en
tered for the purpose of making a recon
naissance : but scarcely had he reached the
boulevards, Avhen he saw a squadron of
French cavalry appear suddenly in his
rear. Thus surprised, he bethought him
self of a ruse de guerre, and holding up his
white handkerchief as a flag of truce, ad
dressed himself to the officer commanding
the squadron, purporting to be an envoy
from the Russian army, and desirous to be
led instantly to head-quarters. He was con-
ducted accordingly to the Kremlin. But
Mortier was not to be deceived by so shal
low a device; he discovered him, and pro
tested in strong terms against the idea of a
commander in chief becoming his own mes
senger : the excuse being on this ground,
therefore, totally inadmissible, he said he
should consider him as a prisoner of war,
and sent him, under guard, to Buonaparte.
Here this story was nearly brought to a
r 2

244 Moscow.
tragical conclusion. The emperor's tem
per was soured by disappointment, and in
open violation of all just principle, he con
demned Witzingerode to death: acting
upon one of those political sophisms, for
which he is so remarkable, and seeing
his captive, for he was a Westphalian,
in no other light than that of a rebel,
bearing arms against his king and mas
ter. The general's extraordinary preser
vation and subsequent escape are well
known. As to the original intention of Buona
parte, with regard to the occupation of
Moscow, many speculations have been en
tered upon by various people ; since, from
the circumstance of an esplanade being
cleared with some labour, on that side of
the Kremlin which fronts the Kitaigorod,
and also from the entrenchments and bar
ricade, constructed before the gate on the
water-side, fears had been entertained at
one time, that he meant still to keep pos
session of the place. The 26th bulletin in-

Moscow. 245
deed gives an hint of such an intention,
although, it is added, for certain reasons,
the Kremlin was held untenable, and alto
gether, " the unhealthy and impure sink
" of Moscow" was abandoned. The pre
parations, however, for blowing up the
Avails and other parts, of which no secret
was made, first gave to the citizens an as
surance that he would really evacuate.
Yet nothing was knovra for certain until
tAvo o'clock in the morning of the 23d
October, when the four explosions, before
alluded to, Avere heard in succession, giv
ing a terrible annunciation of what was
passing, and putting a finishing stroke to
the wanton insults that had been heaped
upon this nation.
The French troops, Avho, for the sake of
shew, had been paraded in various direc
tions during several hours, commenced
their march at 7 o'clock in the evening of
the 22d; and at sunrise on the following
morning no trace was to be seen but the
frightful ruin they had occasioned.

246 Moscow.
In the course of this memorable day the
Cossacks took possession of the town ; but
instead of their arrival being a subject of
congratulation, this was a new hour of trial
for the persecuted inhabitants. Being
masters of the place, they first looked out
for plunder, and next, being instigated by
the people, commenced a search in all the
houses for French soldiers, whom, if by
chance they found, they instantly put to
death, sick or Avounded, as they lay in
their beds.
Those to whom the French had mani
fested any partiality became, in the mo
ment, the objects of their rage, and Avere
pursued with similar assiduity. A score of
Cossacks burst into the house of Mons. Be-
ketov, near the Pont aux Marechaux, where
they beat, the women with their sabres,
and would have killed the men had they
not made a precipitate escape during the
tumult. After this the mob led the way
to the French Colony, a fraternity of re
fugees, who had many years ago taken up

Moscow. 247
their abode in one of the northern quarters
of the Semlianigorod : " Behold," said one
of the Mougiks, addressing himself to the
Cossacks, " behold a nest of spies and
" traitors whom we have long nourished in
" the heart of our city — kill without re-
" serve." Upon this address they prepared
to execute the bloody design : but the ve
nerable Abbe Savagne, their pastor, rush
ing forward, besought them to hear a few
words in defence of himself and his flock.
The firm air and manner with which he
spoke assured them of his innocence. The
Cossacks listened patiently, and not only
obeyed his request, but even themselves
promised to engage the people to retire
without seeking to glut their revenge with
such acts of unjust reprisal.
L This time of confusion and anarchy was
indeed a dreadful intervals which assumed
every hour a more serious aspect. Gene
ral Benkendorf, who arrived with three
battalions on the following day, exerted

248 Moscow.
himself to the utmost ; yet the exaspera
tion of the mob knew no bounds, and it
was with the greatest difficulty that tran
quillity was restored.
It had been noised abroad that 2,000
sick and wounded Frenchmen had been
left in the Foundling and Gallitzin hospi
tals. A few of the poor creatures being in
a convalescent state, set out to follow the
retreating army, but were instantly mur
dered, and the mob discovering whence
they proceeded, assembled in crowds be
fore the doors with denunciations .of ven
geance. The thirst of blood seemed to
have increased with every fresh act of gra
tification : three times did they address
themselves, by deputation, to General
Benkendorf, soliciting permission to enter
the hospitals where these wretches lay;
They were of course as often refused ; yet
all explanation or reasoning was useless;
the last time, however, of their coming, the
general spoke so strongly, and threatened

Moscow. 249
them with such severe punishment if they re
turned, that they Avere compelled, though
reluctantly, to disperse.
With regard to the Cossacks, as their
name has been mentioned, it is not' meant
to assert that they are likely to abstain
from such conduct, when incited by the
rage of the people ; yet on this subject we
must refer to Avhat was said at a former
occasion. Many are the acts of outrage
that are undeservedly attributed to them,
Cossack is a term in this country, which
being transferred from the tribes usually
employed in certain duties, is used to ex
press any irregular body of militia Avhatso-
ever. Every one so serving is nPt neces
sarily of their race, any more than an hus
sar in any other. service is an indigenous
Hungarian. ; There were several new regi
ments during thewar, as is the constant
practice, armed and appointed a) la Cos-
saquei I remember indeed that on our
passing through Twer, a body of Cossacks
(as they were called) had just returned

250 Moscow.
from the army, and were disbanded at that
place, being almost all of them natives of
the province ; they had been crown-slaves,
drivers, lacqueys, bargemen, serving in va
rious capacities, but that had no further
pretensions to their name, than their car
rying long pikes, wearing loose hose, and
displaying certain powers of knavery.
July 4th. — It is on this day that a so
lemn procession takes place to the mo
nastery where is preserved an image of the
Virgin, which once struck the Tartars with
blindness upon their making an attack on
Moscow. As, however, she had wrought
no miracle on the late occasion, Ave ne
glected the persuasions of her devotees,
and set out, as we had proposed, on our
road to Smolensko ; having it in view to
trace the route of the French army during
their retreat.
A few mansions appeared in ruins on the
side of the Avay, but this was a sight with
which we had now grown familiar. The
first objects which arrested our attention

Moscow. 251
were the remains of the works erected at
Poclonigorod, (the bowing hill) Avhere it
Avas at one time intended to have made an
other stand against the French army, after
the loss of the battle of Borodino. The
road passed over a gentle rising ground on
which three large batteries were construct
ed ; the flanks of the position were secured
to a certain degree by large and thick fo
rests, but the country beyond was open
and practicable for every sort of opera
tion, and it was judicious perhaps not to
risk an action against the numerous force
that the enemy was moving up, especially
as a reverse would have been attended
with the worst possible consequences, since
the distance from Moscow was no more
than 12 versts.
The town of Mojaisk was for the greater
part destroyed by conflagration ; its inha
bitants, as well as the peasantry of the vi
cinity, had fled, they said, on the advance
of the French to Vladomir, and their
houses were set in flames by the retreat-

252 Borodino. .
ing Russians. The French afterwards, re
treating in their turn, set a finishing hand
to the work.
It was at this place that the army re
gained the Smolensko road, after the
manoeuvres of Kutusof, together with the
loss of the battle of Malojareslovetz, had
frustrated their intention of accomplishing
a passage through the southern provinces.
The grand Russian army marched in a
direct line upon Krasnoi, intending to in
tercept them, while they were here actively
pursued by Platow and Miloradovitch, and
Orlow Denisov ; the first of whom coming
up at Mojaisk, made a successful attack,
forcing them with great loss over an emi
nence at the back of the town, which was
pointed out to us with much glee by our
rustic driver.
But the fields of Borodino were now
within six versts, and we were wholly
occupied in anticipating the pleasure of
viewing a spot of so great notoriety. In
dependent of all other considerations, this

Borodino. 253
spot bore a peculiar interest, inasmuch as
it was not a post casually taken up in
the course of the campaign, but had been
long selected beforehand, and fortified with
great care. General Beningsen, to whom
this duty was intrusted, resided here with
the engineers for upwards of a week ; and
it was the same officer indeed who after
wards put his OAvn works to the test, and
in conjunction with B. de Tolli directed
the chief operations of the day.
Advancing by the rear, we first passed
the little cottage at Tatarinosa, where
Kutusov established his head-quarters,
and soon after came upon the centre of
the Russian positions.
The point at which we had arrived pre-'
sented to our view a straight natural ter
race of about thirty or forty feet of eleva
tion, falling Avith a gentle descent in front,
and extending three or four English miles
in length ; along the foot ran the Kologha,
a small tributary stream to the Mosqwa,
and fordable in many places. The right

254 Borodino.
flank was secured by the last-mentioned
river, and otherwise so strong, that no at
tempt was made by the enemy in that
quarter. The left was protected by a
deep ravine, beyond which Avas an height
occupied Avith three redoubts. Besides
this, two knolls, croAvned with batteries,
strengthened the left centre, commanding,
by their towering station, the whole field
around ; immediately beloAv our feet stood
the village of Borodino.
The French occupied an eminence on
the other side of the Kologha, in a line
extending from a point opposite the Rus
sian centre, and reaching round the ex
tremity of their left, which they in fact
completely turned; their ground was of
an higher elevation, but not such as to
afford any command within cannon range.
Their position was strengthened by two
batteries on the extreme right, and the
parapets of tAvo others were yet remaining
near Alexyno, which had been constructed
to favour their latter operations.

Borodino. 255
The redoubts on the height before men
tioned, Avhich protected the left of the Rus
sians, were carried on the first day of the
action, after Avhich the plan of the enemy
was changed, and an attack commenced
on the centre. Notwithstanding a double
range of guns that poured their fire down
the long natural glacis here opposed to
them, the impetuous valour of the French
bore them on undaunted. Early in the
morning, they carried the village of Boro
dino, before the Russians had time to de
stroy the bridge, and crossing the Kolo
gha, advanced, and made three desperate
charges up the heights; but being received
by troops brave as themselves, they were
driven back each time with immense
slaughter. Upon this they again altered
their plan, and returned to the left to
follow up the advantages gained in that
quarter. This Aving of the Russians had
been much weakened by the loss of the
height before mentioned ; for what reason
it was not retaken I cannot say, since the

256 Borodino.
French batteries were too far removed to
be able to afford any efficient support to
their own troops, and the situation of a
Russian corps in the wood behind ren
dered its recovery practicable by an at
tack in reverse. Its possession by the
enemy certainly gave them , the most de
cided superiority, and in consequence
they succeeded, on the third day, in gain
ing possession of the ground on which
their adversaries left wing had stood. Here
the battle ended. At night. the parties
mutually drew off, and the Russians seized
this opportunity of effecting their retreat
unmolested. Their army was not in a
condition to resume the field with any
prospect of advantage: the French were
already superior in number, and an over-
Avhelming force was coming up ; while at
the same time a second contest, attended
even with better success than the first,
could not have saved the city of Moscow.
The loss sustained by the two armies was
nearly upon an equality ; and to prove the

Boroditfo. 257
•sanguinary nature of this conflict, it will
be sufficient to say that 63,000 bodies were
left for. interment, an amount sUch as can
scarcely have occurred in the history of
any preceding war. It must be confessed,
indeed, on viewing the numerous diffi
culties that Avere here surmounted ; on the
one hand the commanding situation of the
redoubts, the strength of the ravines, and
the artificial aids that were opposed ; on
the other, the obstinacy of the defence,
and the steadiness and intrepidity with
Avhich every attack of their daring enemy
was resisted, one cannot but look on this
memorable engagement as one of those
great examples of spirit and courage, that
not only form the pride of military history,
but, morally speaking, seem to elevate the
character of human nature.
On descending from Gorrha to the vil
lage of Borodino, Ave lighted upon a fo
reigner who was sitting in a meditative
posture on the banks of the Kologha. In
a place so unfrequented, a casual rencon--
VOL. II. s

258 Borodihn.
tre is an introduction : we addressed our
selves to the stranger, and were received
with great politeness : though startled at
our sudden appearance, he seemed pleased
at an opportunity of finding any person to
whom he could communicate his thoughts,
and entered into conversation Avithout re
serve. He informed us he Avas a native
of Poland Avho had <served as an officer in
Sebastiani's division at the battle of Boro
dino, where he Avas struck by a ball during
the attack upon the centre, and being left
Avounded on the field, was taken prisoner
by the Russians, and sent to Archangel.
Now set at liberty, he Avas returning to
his native country, and happening in his
route to pass over this place, had stopped
to survey once more the field of carnage.
The spot on Avhichwe stood was the same
Avhere he had received his wound ; and he
had been sitting, he said, nearly an hour,
tracing in his mind the various images of
the past. He Avas unable to tear himself
aAvay ; the view made such an impression

Borodino. 259
on him as quite bewildered his ideas ; and
Avhen he looked on these fields noAV so
tranquil, and so different from the tu
multuous scene they before exhibited, it
seemed as if his former recollections Avere
but the memory of a dream.
All, all is peaceful, all is still,
As if these waves, since time was born,
Had only heard the shepherd's reed,
Nor startled at the bugle-horn.

"&¦

After gathering what information Ave
could, Ave left our new acquaintance to
pursue his journey ; and feeling ourselves
too much interested to hurry from the
ground so soon, we proceeded to the left
of the positions, where we saAv the field
Avorks, on the height before mentioned,
Avere still remaining. The ravine sepa
rating this post from the main body was
commanded by a strong battery at Seme-
novski, which swept the greater part of
its length, and the ground yet shewed
s 2

260 Borodino.
many memorials of the havoc that had
taken place. But on arriving at the re
doubts, these melancholy tokens were still
more abundant ; the interior was literally
strewed with caps, feathers, scabbards,
pieces of camp kettles, scraps of uniforms,
both French and Russian mixed together
in confusion, apparently in the place where
each man had fallen. A little farther was
the spot where General Montbrun was
killed by a cannon-ball ; an officer whose
intrepidity well deserved the encomium
of his comrades. A small Avooden tablet,
attached to a rough stake, had been erected
over the place where he was interred, bear
ing an inscription to his memory. It had
been penned in ink after the hurry of the
day Avas past ; but the simple and classical
turn of its style Avell entitles it to record.
Ci git
Le General Montbrun.
Passant, de quelque nation
qui tu sois,

Borodino. 261
respecte ces cendres :
Ces sont les restes d'un des plus
braves parmi to us les
braves du monde,
du General Montbrun.
Le Marechal d'Empire, Due de Dantzic,
lui a erige ce faible monument.
Sa memoire est dans tous les fcoeurs
de la Grande Armee.
Of these field works it Avas easy to see^
said the 18th French bulletin, that they
" were but half formed, the fosse shallow,
"neither pallisadoed nor defended Avitli
"chevaux de frise," yet this was the key
of the position : as far as one might be
allowed to form any judgment on this
subject, the critique does not seem to have
been ill applied; there was no sufficient
obstacle to have prevented a body of ca
valry from forcing their Avay directly over
the parapets ; and, judging from present
appearances, one of them had been carried
in this manner.

262 Borodino.
After the expulsion of the French army
from Russia, a question of some import
ance Avas agitated regarding the best mode
of getting rid of the innumerable carcases
of men and horses which covered the sur
face of the ground. The method of bury
ing in quick lime was at first suggested;
but since it occurred that the wood ne
cessary for burning so large a quantity of
lime would in all probability be sufficient
tp consume the bodies themselves, the
scheme was dropped, and the more sum
mary process preferred of committing them
at once to the flames. They lay during
the hard season in a frozen state, until a
short time before the thaw was expected
to commence ; they were then hewn in
pieces, collected in fieaps, and consumed
upon piles of wood.
It was absolutely necessary to dispose
of them in some way, and it does not
appear that a better could have been
adopted. Considerable fear prevailed at one time,

Borodino. 263
lest pestilential fevers should be generated
from the corruption of these carcases, in
case they had been left to rot in the open
air. It Avas asserted in opposition to this
doctrine, that the miasmata arising from
animal putrifaction were not found by
experience to possess those detrimental
qualities which attend the decomposition
of vegetable matter. With what truth
such an argument may be urged, let those
who are better informed take upon them
selves to decide; but certain it is that
many of the bodies were left unburied,
exposed only to the rapacity of the Avolves,
or the still more tedious operation of the
forest ants ; nor at any place, as far as I
.could hear, did those whp lived near suffer
the ill effects from tins circumstance, which
.had been so often predicted,
The village of Gridnevo, our next station,
was the spot where Buonaparte encamped
the night before he marched for Borodino,
and had been the scene of some trifling
affairs. Our post-master had remained

Q64f Borodino.
here during the whole campaign, Avitness-
ing the march and retreat of both parties ;
but he seemed to know very little concern
ing Avhat had passed, as it may be said,
before his eyes, which, neA'ertheless, we
found to be no uncommon case. It is
worthy of remark, that this part of the
road, the hamlet itself, the Kolozki, mo
nastery, and other neighbouring places^
Avere frequently surprised and taken pos
session of by detachments from the army
of Witzingerode, during the occupation of
Moscow, whp intercepted, by these move
ments, the communications, of the French
Avith their rear.
Gshatsk shewed less signs of ravage than
any other town in this, line; but Viasma,
on the other hand, presented as dismal a
scene as we had any where witnessed.
Nearly all the large houses were gutted
and burnt. It contained before the' war
,15,000 inhabitants, and might boast a name
of high antiquity, being formerly made
an appanage. to the family of the. grand

V.iasma.'. 265
dukes of Russia. Some, traces of the old
towers and ramparts were still discover
able, though these too had been in part
demolished during the war.
At the entrance to the town from the
east was a large plain, where the retreat
ing army of the French drew up, and sus
tained the attacks of the corps of Orlov
Denisov and MiloradoAdtch, on the 21st
and 22d of October, (O. S.) Their ex
hausted state compelled them on the latter
day, after some severe fighting, to give
Avay, and being throAvn into disorder, the}-
Avere obliged to take to flight Avith preci
pitation. The victorious Russians pursued
them through the streets with trumpets
sounding and colours flying ; and upAvards
of 6000 men were sacrificed to their fury.
The hatred and exasperation of all ranks
of people against the French was so inve
terate, that even at the time of our mak
ing this journey, their feelings ran as high
as ever, in testimony of which I must add

266 V.iasma.
the narrative of a circumstance that oc
curred here.
It Avill be necessary to apologise to my
reader, Avho has accompanied me thus far,
for detaining him with any tale of self ad
venture; but the story is so illustrative of
the manners as Avell as sentiments of the
people, that I hope to stand excused for
its introduction.
- Being employed in sketching a view on
the skirts of the town, a citizen came up,
and after surveying me with symptoms
of disapprobation, shouted in a vehement
-tone, " Plan — espion — Napoleon dobry —
Francosen .'" I Avas unable to answer this
strange disjointed jargon, but by a single
" Engliska," Avhich, as it asserted the name
of my country in answer to his last accusa
tion, I thought might prove satisfactory,
and continued my occupation. This seemed
-to inflame his rage the more ; he again ad
dressed me with the same words, and re-
iCeived the same ansAver; for a, moment it

Viasma. 267
pacified him, and, in the true Russian
style, he proceeded to offer me the kiss of
peace ; I naturally enough refused his over
ture, venting, in my turn, a few loud AVords,
as unintelligible, no doubt, to him as his
had been to me. Supposing this to be
fresh ground of suspicion against me, or
perhaps fancying himself insulted, he be
came frantic with passion, he spit on his
fingers several times, rolled himself with
violent gestures on the ground ; but find
ing that I still continued my Avork, he said
no more, but left me, and I congratulated
myself on being rid of my troublesome
companion. Presently he returned, fol
lowed by a serjeant of the police and a
third person; another furious volley of
abuse now succeeded from all the three,
and the police officer without farther de
lay seized upon me. The affair was thus
growing serious, and as I had seen these
men, upon taking any person into custody,
usually give the culprit a thwack upon the
back as if in detestation of his crime, I ex-

268 Viasma.
pected no better treatment, and prudently
struck him myself by way of prevention.
He immediately loosed his hold, recoiling
a feAv steps in amazement; it Avas an asser
tion of superiority, yet it availed me no
thing, for he called up six or seven soldats
of his. guard to attend him. I, on the
other hand, vociferated for my domestic,
who was within hail; but since my force,
even with this accession, was far out-num
bered by that of my adversaries, it seemed
wise to essay a parley, and I directed the
servant to explain to these brutes the na
ture of my occupation, and display at the
same time a Avritten permission which. was
furnished me by the vice governor of Mos-
coav, allowing me to make drawings any
Avhere within his province. It was some
thing in justification at- least, though by
no means a document thoroughly satisfac
tory; a similar certificate from the gover
nor of this district Avould, however, have
served no better,: for these men Avere uu-
able to read a. single word, and using less

Viasma. 269
ceremony with the poor fellow than they
thought it right to do with me, they seized
upon him as an accomplice in my treason
able act, and hurried him to prison ,r for it
was hard by, Avithout staying to listen to
his harangue. Having done this, they sur
rounded me in a ring, their numbers being
noAV very much increased by the arrival of
several idle Mougiks whom curiosity had
attracted to the place: and since their
threats Avere growing every instant more
-Adolent, and, furthermore, as a priest, Avho
accidentally passed by at this juncture,
appeared rather to encourage the outcry
than inclined to take my part, I yielded to
the repeated solicitations of the turnkey,
and entered the prison door.
My friend Mr. Macmichael Avas sit
ting in the carriage before the door of our
hotel, Avhen these people, having disposed
of me, came up, and assailed, him with si
milar imprecations. A Russian seigneur
who happened to be present naturally
enough enquiredinto the reason of so large

270 Viasma.
a mob having assembled, and Avhen he
Avas informed of their suspicions, politely
enough asked my friend permission to ex
amine his passport : this he read, and exr
plained for the edification of the people,
and then dismissed them with a severe re
primand. I Avas, hoAvever, detained tAvo hours in
prison, when after threatening the jailer
Avith punishment unless he carried me in
stantly to the governor, Ave set out for his
^residence. On arriving there I was an
nounced by one of his messengers, whom
Ave met on our Avay, and his excellency re
ceived me with great politeness, anticipat
ing my address by begging my pardon, as
he said, for himself and for his poor peo
ple. — " I hope you will excuse them, they
" are so ignorant, and have suffered so much
" — they are sorely exasperated against the
".authors of their sufferings, and in their
" eyes every foreigner is a Frenchman." I
assented to Avhat he said, but could not
help letting a Avish escape me that they

Viasma. 271
should be corrected in the very awkward
mode they adopted of expressing these
sentiments. He immediately turned round,
and ordered the punishment of the " coup
de baton" to the serjeant of police. I now
interceded in my turn, begging that no
measure should be put in execution Avhich
jnight check, even in a single individual,
^those rude feelings of Russian patriotism
to Avhich all Europe, in the present aera,
stood so much indebted ; and professed
that I should be satisfied if he were brought
to beg my pardon in token of his error.
He returned a polite ansAver, and the of
fender Avas immediately ordered up and
prostrated before me, uttering some strange
noises in penitence, Avhich, though I com
prehended not one word, had, neverthe
less, a most agreeable and refreshing sound.
In some measure the interruption I re
ceived was not unmerited, having been
often before cautioned by the civil officers
of government, in various places, to avoid
making, sketches; but the temptation, Avhile

272 Viasma.
viewing places so interesting as these, could
not be resisted; besides, the accident was
an amusing one, and it may be said to be
something at least in the -way- of novelty,
to have seen the inside of a Russian jail.
The prisoners immediately on my en
trance had assembled around me with
eager and enquiring looks, losing no time
to signify by signs, according to the force
of their respective imaginations, that I
should be shot or knouted, or hung; all
seemed agreed as to my guilt and my cer
tain condemnation, varying only in the ap
portionment of my sentence. One poor
fellow, indeed, to Avhom I had given some
feAv copecks in the morning during the
liour they are permitted to beg in the tOAvn,
ventured to hint (though diffidently) that
perhaps they might have selected a Avorse
man. Another contented himself Avith
making a feAv remarks on my dress, add
ing, he had remembered a person of his
own condition Avho quitted his village about
twenty years ago, with a passport to, go to

Viasma. 273
Petersburg, and returned habited in as fine
clothes as what I then wore.
As they all seemed communicative, I
enquired in my turn, through the medium
of my servant as an interpreter, the rea
sons for which they were severally confined
in this dismal place of abode, when some
told me they were detained for small debts,
others for small thefts, and a considerable
number said they were slaves, imprisoned,
on different grounds, by the sentence of
their master. Among these were a man
and boy, Avho had served as coachman and
postilion in the household of a neighbour
ing seigneur : they probably deserved pu
nishment, yet their fate appeared pecu
liarly hard. Having gone out in the morn
ing to water the horses, they brought back
one of them, from some accident or other,
with a broken knee : the master, enraged
at what had happened, ordered them in
stantly to prison, where, for the first week,
they were daily beaten with rods ; and had
since that time, a period of eighteen months,
VOL. II. t

274 Dorogobusch.
been kept in close custody. It is to be
hoped that such instances of oppression
and cruelty are rare.
On leaving this tOAvn Ave passed several
tumuli on the road side, covering the re
mains of those who had fallen in the war
of 1812 : every place, indeed, bore the me
mory of some event connected Avith that
campaign : at Jeremin 1000 prisoners were
taken by Platow ; at Semlovo, again a thou
sand ; and at the latter place our post
master related, in simple terms, how the
French soldiers Avere scattered in parties
here and there ; how they sheltered them
selves behind the banks ; how large bodies
of the retreating army had three times
passed and repassed the bridge in front of
his house, repulsing their enemy, and being
repulsed themselves in turn, with many
amusing observations on what he saAv.
Hitherto the French army had retreated
in an orderly style, and defended them
selves Avith courage; nevertheless they were
placed in circumstances of the severest

Dorogobusch. 275
distress ; they were closely pursued by Pla-
tow with a large force of cavalry, while
but a small division of their own could be
mustered, and that both in bad condition,
and diminishing daily in strength from the
want of provender. Even during the stay at
Moscow much distress had been occasioned
by this circumstance : though the men
frequently slept in the streets, that they
might place their horses under shelter of
the house, and took every care of them,
yet a great mortality prevailed. Nothing
could cripple the army more effectually;
not only Avere their dragoons dismounted,
but, for the' same reason, they were forced
to blow up more than an hundred ammu
nition waggons, within the two or three
last stages, and to abandon the greater
part of their artillery for Avant of horses to
carry it away. It was curious, indeed, we
Avere told, to trace, in the course of their
flight, the successive diminution in size of
the different pieces of ordnance which were
taken, at first the tAvelve pounders, then
t 2

276 Dorogobusch.
the eights, and then the sixes ; their means
of transport Constantly decreasing as they
advanced farther on their march.
In the mean while the Russian troops ,-*
in pursuit,* were furnished with every ar-*
tide that could assist their activity ; they
harassed the enemy incessantly, driving in
on every side their scattered parties, and
cutting off their only hopes of finding sub
sistence, and even venturing on the line
of march they were about to make. Orlov
Denisov pushed on so far, that he inter
cepted on the 25th, (O.* S.) a convoy of
thirty Avaggons laden Avith provisions, Avhich-
were coming up from beyond Dorogo-'
busch. But now a fresh source of calamity
arose ; the severe cold set in unusually early
this year, and aggravated in every way the
sufferings to which they Avere exposed.
The men, no longer capable of exertion,
dropped in numbers by the road, over
powered by famine or. exhausted by fa
tigue ; listless, inactive, and unable to de-

Dorogobusch. 277

o

fend themselves, they yielded an easy prey
to the victors ; and, in short, here was felt
the commencement of that fatal period
which few ever lived to see completed.
This account of the calamities they
here underwent recalled to my mind the
history of two Spanish children Avhom I
remember to have, seen in the Foundling
Hospital at Petersburg, They Avere, as
far as could be ascertained from their
account, the offspring of a chaplain from
Madrid, accompanying the division of
Spanish forces employed in the French
service during the late invasion of Russia.
He, however, died at Moscow, and the
mother, Avho had been delivered of an in
fant during their stay, fearing to hazard
the vengeance of the inhabitants in their
return to the city, endeavoured Avith their
little family to accompany the retreating
French army. Her strength seems to have
been very unequal to the attempt; and
Avhen they last saw her she Avas lying on
the road-side unable to proceed, her body

278 Dorogobusch.
doubtless perfectly exhausted, and her
mind, as might be gathered from their de
scription, in a complete state of delirium.
The daughter, though only eleven years of
age, took charge of her brother as Avell as
her infant sister, whom she carried on her
back for many leagues. This little party
followed the troops during all the severity
of the weather Avithout any other provision
than the few scraps of horse-flesh or offal
which the half-starved soldiers could spare
from their meals. They passed Smolensko,
and after many escapes, they at length
reached Krasnoi; but during the action
which there took place they were frightened
at the appearance of a squadron of Cos
sacks, and fled to conceal themselves in
the forest; here they staid for tAvo days
Avithout any food, and Avere at last acci
dentally found bjr a Russian soldier, crawl
ing as well as their little remaining strength
would permit them along the snow. Their
feet were entirely bare, and being seized
by the frost, had become useless: their

Dorogobusch. 279
language was not understood ; and had
they even been skilled in the Russian
tongue, their voices, feeble and inarticu
late, could have availed them nothing; their
appearance, hoAvever, was sufficient to
proclaim their situation, and to ensure
them commiseration in this country. The
Grand Duke Constantine happened, soon
aftenvards, to fall in with them, and or
dered them to be Avell taken care of, finally
taking care to secure them a place in this
asylum. They Avere of an intelligent coun
tenance, and Avere said to possess some
talent; and we must hope the singular
story of the first part of their lives will be
folloAved by a more happy career in the
land that has adopted them.
July 7- — We passed the little stream of
the Osma at a comfortless hour in the chill
of the morning ; the rafters and half burnt
stakes of the bridge, which was destroyed
during the retreat, Avere still remaining,
and the steep banks seemed yet to bear the
marks of the tumult which had taken place.

280 Dorogobusch.
Amidst the hazy uncertain twilight, it was
not difficult to picture to the imagination
the plain around, scattered with carts, and
waggons, and cannon, all abandoned at
this spot ; or to fancy a thousand miser
able Avretches that wandered up and down
the water side, in vain looking for a pass
age, or the sound of the half stifled cries
pf the drowning soldiers mingled with the
triumphant shouts of their pursuers.
Those? however, Avhp surmounted this
difficulty found a season pf relief: at the
distance of about eight versts, they suc
ceeded in gaining the heights above Doro
gobusch, a situation which commanded
the town, the road, and the river Dnie
per; and so strongly were they posted,
that here they defied for a Avhile the ut
most efforts of the Russian troops : some
parties, Avho were fortunate in their time
of arrival and departure, gaining upwards
of tAvo days rest.
Dorogobusch is gaily described in the
French bulletins as a " town of 10,000

Dorogobusch. 281
souls and eight steeples:" and Ave found
it, even in its present state, no unpleasing
station. Its ruinous aspect was enlivened
by the presence of several bands of coun
try people, indulging in the humours of a
fair ; and the rafts on the Dnieper Avere
croAvded with a variety of figures dressed
in all the finery of the Russian costume.
It was an annual assembly of the people
from the neighbourhood, at Avhich certain
rustic festivities were kept up for the space
of three days, and a merry meeting it ap
peared, in spite of the late unfortunate
events : the last of these assemblies Avas the
chief resort of persons of a better condition
in life, Avho came to purchase provisions for
their household store ; such being the cus
tom of the country, and, indeed, one that
is dictated by necessity in so Avild a di
strict. We Avere introduced to some of the
country gentlemen by an amusing acci
dent. Having been observed in the com
pany of two French officers, during great

282 Dorogobusch.

o

part of the morning, it was our lot to be
again mistaken for natives of that country,
— Ah Messieurs, vous etes de retour done ! —
quel grand plaisir que de revoir votre patrie,
vosperes, vos meres, pent etre vos enfans — Oui
e'est vrai : mais notre absence a etS bien re
compense par le voyage que nous vcnoiis de
faire dans votre pays, si interessant a plu-
sieurs egards. — Helas ! Messieurs ce voyage,
donl vous parlez, nous a coutediablement cher.
— Comment, done ? — pardon — here Ave were
interrupted by one of the ladies with whom
Ave had before held some conversation, and
the mistake being rectified, they over-
poAvcrcd us Avith expressions of esteem and
regard. We passed aftenvards some time in
their company, the ladies chiefly entertain
ing us with complaints of the great Avant of
British manufactures, stuff for gOAvns, &c.
and Avhen this topic Avas exhausted, the
former gave us long stories of their Cos-
saquing with their domestics in the forests
and fields during the course of the late war :
some of them had received the order of

Dorogobusch. 283
Vladomir for their services, but the narra
tives contained nothing new.
From this place it Avas that the corps
of Murat turned off from the Smolensko
read, directing their march upon Duchow-
schtschina, whither they Avere followed by
the indefatigable Plato w. After their se
paration, the main body of the French
army seeing that Miloradovitch Avas already
in advance on their flank, quitted their
position at Dorogobusch, and again set
out on their road. The tract they here
passed over appeared to us much more di
versified Avith hill and dale than Avhat Ave
before had traversed, and intersected less
frequently by lines of forests, affording in
many respects an advantage to the re
treating army. As to the present general
aspect, to speak of those parts which were
remote from the toAvns, they had never
been in a cultivated state, and the marks
of ravage Avere therefore not very easily
traced. The wooden cabins of the people
Avere rebuilt almost as soon as destroyed,

284 Dorogobusch

o"

the posts had been re-established within
these few months, and except for the
scarcity of horses, and murmurs of our
drivers at being compelled to their duty
when other employment called for their
exertion, we should have remarked few
visible symptoms of the late disasters.
The feeling of the peasants nevertheless
sufficiently manifested, in eternal execra
tions of the French, and every thing be
longing to that nation, a sentiment which
they had before displayed, as furiously by
their actions as now by Avords, It Avas
during this part of the retreat that, em
boldened by their apparent weakness, the
rustics ventured to attack detached parties
and stragglers Avherever they found them
unsupported ; and Avhen once fallen Avithin
their poAver, they had no chance of escaping
assassination. In some places they burned
them within their cottages ; in others they
Avould excavate a pit, and throw in as
many of the prisoners as they could collect ;
inviting them courteously with a feAv

Jitrn^f IhtveZr.

Smolensko from the Banks of the Bniefer .

Dorogobusch. 285
French phrases,— Entrez, Messieursr—je
vous en prie — soyez tranquille — il y a.assez
de place— entrez, entrez: — Avhen they had
filled the hole sufficiently, they threw in
the mould, and buried the whole, party
alive. Many, it was said, also bought
prisoners from their escort, for the pleasure
of killing them Avith their oAvn hands : hoAV
far this is true, I know not ; but the number
that perished on the road from fatigue, or.
ill-usage Avas inconceivably great.
An officer, who had been marched from.
this province to the borders of the White
Sea, informed me that out of 1,400 men,
with whom he set out,, only 400 finally
arrived at their destination. After they
had passed Novogorod, they proceeded on
their route unaccompanied by any military
escort ; and the peasants taking advantage
of the circumstance, not only abridged;
them of their food, but frequently murdered
them on the most trifling pretences.
July 9.— We now crossed the Dnieper
©n one of the rafts of the country, and had

286 Smolensko.
travelled a few versts in the valley through
Avhich it Avinds its course, when on a sud
den turn of the road the hills opened, and
disclosed, at a short distance, a view of
Smolensko. It was no longer the " Volcano
of fire," but a quiet and peaceful scene.
The heights on which the tOAvn stood
shewed the domes of the venerable cathe
dral rising majestically over their summit,
while their sides, from the top to the- very
base, were covered with trees and gardens
in rich luxuriance; the few ruined houses
that were discoverable at this distance,
together with the turrets and ancient walls
that encircled them, rather lent a pic
turesque effect to the scene than excited
any feeling of horror. Advancing a little
farther, we entered the suburbs on the
right bank of the river, the same Avhich
had suffered from the conflagration that
took place at the close of the battle of
Smolensko. These too had now been en
tirely rebuilt; and, among other signs of
renovation, the old wooden bridge over the

Smolensko. 287
Dnieper, Avhich had been destroyed by the
retreating army of the Russians, Avas sup
plied by one of a light military construc
tion, the work of the French engineers.
As Ave drove up the hill Ave heard the
sound of music, and observed a display of
lights in the streets that betokened some
occasion of public rejoicing. The gover
nor, it seemed, had issued orders that the
citizens should illuminate on this night, in
honour of the general success of the allied
arms, and the capture of Paris. It was
done (d la Russe) about three months after
the event had taken place; but of all
people, we had the least reason to com
plain of the circumstance : and Ave gra
tified our curiosity by strolling about for
some hours in the dusk, to view this exhi
bition of loyalty. It could not be called
splendid in comparison Avith the similar
spectacles that the same events had given
birth to elsewhere; but when we beheld
these signs of triumph glittering amidst the
desolated mansions of Smolensko, it must

288 Smolensko.
be confessed they excited a feeling far
beyond the charm of the most splendid
pageantry which art could have devised.
On the next morning we rose early, to
make a second tour round the toAvn. The
cathedral, notwithstanding all the reports
in circulation, Ave found was uninjured, and
afforded a fine specimen of the style of
ecclesiastical magnificence in this country.
But this building stood almost single
amidst heaps of ruins : the scene at hand
presented a detail far different in its aspect
from the gay prospect which before had
flattered the eye. The chief street of the
town, the great square, even to the very
house Avhich Avas pointed out as having
been the lodging of Buonaparte, had all
suffered the same destruction. The walls
too of the town Avere breached in several
parts, and the toAvers, on which batteries
of howitzers had been planted during the
action of the 18th of August, were in a.
very shattered state. Besides the devasta
tion of that day, the retreating French,

Smolensko. 289
army occasioned much mischief, and many
private houses were burnt and ransacked
by them which had escaped the hands of
the Russian incendiaries.
The power of defence of these ancient
fortifications had been aided here and
there by the addition of modern out-works,
and, upon the whole, the place must have
been regarded as a very strong and com
manding post at the time of the first ap
proach of the French. When it had passed
into their possession, it might have enabled
Buonaparte, had he been content to re
main there for the Avinter, to have given
a very different termination to his cam
paign in the following year, and, if no
enemy had started in his rear, probably
to compass the destruction of the Russian
Empire. We saw the field of battle, and the po
sitions which the Russians occupied at
about 3 versts in advance of the place, on
the road to Witepsk. The two armies
Avere ranged on the opposite sides of an
VOL. II. v

290 Smolensko.
extensive ravine. The Russians were
strongly posted, but the operations of the
French on their left flank, Avhich threatened,
at one time, almost to cut off their com
munications with the town, obliged them
to fall back on the third day, and in
executing this movement they suffered se
verely. They were, however, not so dispi
rited as their enemies represented them
to have been; and, notwithstanding the
boastful air of the French bulletin, Buona
parte experienced a resistance here which
he had but little expected. It is asserted,
indeed, that, foreseeing, from the obstinacy
with which this struggle was maintained,
the sanguinary nature of his future cam
paigns, he ordered some hundred officers
immediately to the rear, with their heads
bandaged as if they had been wounded,
giving them secret directions to return and
assist in forwarding the discipline of his
new levies in Poland, because recruits
would be wanted for his army.
What Avere, at that period, the feelings

Smolensko. 291
of the poor citizens of Smolensko, it would
be a difficult task to describe : they had
previously been fed with the most flatter
ing tales : the emperor, as well as Barclay
de Tolli, who passed through a short time
before, assured them all was well ; and yet
in a few days the enemy sheAved them
selves at their very gates. They were
then, at a moment's warning, ordered to
leave their homes and follow the flying
army, for that Smolensko Avas to be a city
no more. Even this notification was, in
some instances, followed by rigorous en
forcement : many inhabitants were actually
torn away from their houses, and the few
that ventured to stay behind were after^
Avards severely called to account by the
police for disobedience of orders.
Those who had been the cause of all
these miseries were destined to suffer a
heavy retribution in the months that suc
ceeded, as has been partially related above.
Buonaparte entered Moscow in Sep
tember, with an army of 100,000 men,
u 2

292 Smolensko.
and he arrived at Smolensko on the 9tfr
of November with the remains, mustering
about 60,000 strong; many of them un
armed, and othei.'Avise unfit for duty. Here
he halted three days, which Avas no more
than was absolutely necessary, from their
disorganised state; and although much
abuse has been lavished on him for his
delay, it should be remembered that the
French troops executed a march of 985
versts, from Malojaroslavetz to Wilna, in
the space of 49 days, including five en
gagements, Avhich, with so large a body,
even in good condition, Avell equipped,
and under excellent discipline, it Avould
be held no inconsiderable task to perform.
As soon, however, as it Avas known that
KutuSOAV had advanced in the direction of
Krasnoi, Buonaparte was forced to pro
ceed; and his harassed troops marched
from hence to the endurance of fresh ag
gravations of suffering and misfortune.
It Avas impossible, indeed, effectually to
restore the system of the army, though

Smolensko. 293
the increasing want of regularity added
so infinitely to their calamities. The sud
den death or frequent illness of some, and
the capture of others, incapacitated, the
several necessary departments, and pre
vented a regular distribution even of the
means of assistance that Avere at hand;
while, as is wont in so desperate a situa
tion of affairs, private feeling absorbed in
every one both his wishes for the public
good and his sense of indiAddual duty.
But it may be urged that the very prin
ciple of the French army is, from its con
stitution, highly injurious to itself, when
ever a reverse of fortune takes place ; and
we shall find on this occasion the propor
tion of their loss* was much greater than
that Avhich the Swedes suffered under
Charles XII. with circumstances nearly
similar. The same spirit of national cha
racter which fits every Frenchman for the

* The official returns published in Russia of the losses
of the French army, from the 19th of June, 1812, to the

294

Smolensko.

activity of war, that fills him with the
strongest ardour wherever the least ex
pectations of success can be held out, and
gives to the lowest individual an insight
and interest in every operation that is un
dertaken — this same quickness enables him

end of the year, are as follows : — besides which a large
number perished unheard of and unaccounted for.

Killed and wounded.

Prisoners.

a>
•H.I !¦? O >

O o
a. S
3.

I

(3
1 Go

?ti

aU£5

o3!np
144

5 <*
V
a>

Ons

o
3)
oa»i

3

owder waggons
and cartridge
chests.

10

128,421

52

2,898

186,350

12,360

78

1,134

66,109

3,035

If we deduct 45,000 Austrians and Prussians, who re
turned to their respective countries, out of the whole
army employed in various parts, amounting on paper to
570,000 men, only between 30,000 and 40,000 escaped ;
and of those who actually entered Russia scarce 10,000.
The loss of the Russians was also very extensive, from
the severity of the weather, and the hardships they under
went : exclusive of the corps they left to observe the for
tresses in their rear, the army, on entering Germany, mus
tered no more than 40,000 men : some of the corps had
lost upwards of two-thirds of their men in the previous
campaign.

Smolensko. 295
to catch at every appearance of misfortune
with equal rapidity, and the " prophetic
eye" is scared and terrified by a prospect
Avhich it Avere better should be concealed
from public view.
Are they broken — they rally ; are they
once defeated — they are undone : a fact
which has received abundant illustration
from the disasters of their late campaigns.
Their self-sufficiency is really their destruc
tion. Buonaparte, on this occasion, would
probably not have been sorry to have
availed himself of those strict and rigorous
regulations, Avhose adoption, when pro
posed to him, on first entering the friendly
country of Poland, would, he said, have
demoralised the army : it was better the
Poles should suffer than that his success
should be endangered. The insults of his
soldiers now read him a neAV lesson.
In truth, the principle of honour, which
forms the basis of the French military sys
tem, is, in many cases, a poor substitute

296 Smolensko.
for real discipline. When it is once in
fringed upon, when the men feel that they
are already defeated and disgraced beyond
redemption, their support is gone, and they
have nothing more to fear.
Such is the mode pursued, that their
modern armies can scarcely be said to be
placed under the correction of any disci
pline at all. A soldier may be shot or
imprisoned, or condemned to labour on
the public Avorks Avith an iron ball chained
to his leg : b.ut these are the punishments
of heavy crimes, while for lesser offences,
for those minor points, the certain and
constant visitation of which inures vast
unmanageable bodies of men to notions of
orderly subjection, no adequate remedy is
provided. Corporal punishment* is for-
* In this respect the constitution of the French army is,
I believe, unique : nothing similar is to be found in any
other European service. With the Russians the corporal
punishments axe the plat de sabre, or les verges, which are
switches furnished to each soldier in the ranks, when the
culprit is ordered to run the gauntlet. In the Swedish

Smolensko. 297
bidden : an officer, it is true, sometimes
strikes a soldier with his sabre, but he is
for this act amenable to the law. There
is no need to comment on the nature of
the assumption of such a power, or its
consequences. It happened in one of the early periods
of the revolutionary war, that the army of

service I think the baton is used. In the Austrian again
the baton : a captain may, of his own authority, order
twenty-five blows to be inflicted, a field officer more, even
an hundred : for heavy offences the men are imprisoned,
or sentenced to run the gauntlet- In the Prussian service
a distinction is made of three classes : in the first class cer
tain rewards are given, and in this as well as in the second,
the meu are exempt from corporal punishment ; the third
class alone are made liable : but all soldiers upon enlisting
are placed in the second class, whence they are raised to
the first or degraded to the third, according as their con
duct deserves.
For the punishment of the plat de sabre, which is so
general on the continent, thin swords are specially made
for the purpose ; but it may be added, both of this and the
baton, that they are universally allowed to do a man more
serious injury than the military punishments adopted with
us in England.

298 Smolensko.
the southern Pyrenees was in the utmost
state of disorder ; and Augereau's division
Avas one of the most licentious in its con
duct; the measure taken by that general
to effect a reform was the erection of a
post in the centre of his camp, to Avhich
every man guilty of any offence was at
tached, and in this situation exposed to
the derision of his comrades. Even now,
if a soldier acts cowardly, or, as it is said,
unworthy of the " great nation," his coat
is turned, he is exposed to ridicule on the
parade, and drafted to another regiment,
where he is to form a new character.
Such is the description of punishment
adopted : nor is it always without effect.
But however peculiar the character of
Frenchmen may be, however alive to a
sense of honour, however susceptible of
shame, yet there are certain principles
which apply to human nature in general,
and never vary : all mankind being, to a
certain extent, alike, are manageable in
the same way; and it requires no great

Smolensko. 299
sagacity to see that these large tumultuous
bodies cannot possibly be kept in real
subjection by the excitement of moral
principle when unaided by the more bind
ing power of fear. The intelligence and
activity of a Frenchman may sometimes
compensate the want of discipline in the
field, as their esprit du corps in the camp ;
but on occasions where it is most wanted,
on a retreat or under circumstances of
misfortune, their code of honour is found
useless and nugatory.
For this system they are indebted to the
revolution, and to that mimickry of virtue
and principle which was introduced by
the ruling men of the day. If I mistake
not, French armies were once of a different
composition ; and Ave shall find, upon re
ference to history, that a different spirit
pervaded the troops of Villars, Montmo
rency, or Turenne.
As to the army retreating from Russia,
implicated in every calamity v -hich their
evil destiny could inflict, they were, with
out the accession of these peculiar evils,

300 Smolensko.
irrecoverably devoted to ruin. It would
often excite the pity even of their enemies
to behold the misery which the mad am
bition of their chieftain had entailed upon
the finest and best appointed army the
world ever yet saAv; and to contemplate
the scenes of horror* and dismay, that
even the romantic talent of Labaume has
not painted in too high colours.
* It has often been asked whether the French army were
ever so far reduced as to turn cannibals. I have been told
by a private soldier, who had survived that campaign, that
he had seen some of his comrades forced to make such a
meal, but that he never had done so himself. It may be
fair to add the words of a Russian officer on this subject.
" During the campaign of 1812, I have seen three French-
" men roasting one of their companions, and eating his
" flesh ; and when asked why they did not devour the dead
" horses which were not far off, one answered ' cette chair
" vaut mieux.' In another instance I have seen two men
" naked at a fire, and a third, who having laid himself down
" with his back to the fire almost dead, his blistered flesh
" was eaten by the two others. I have never been able to
" learn that any other soldiers, except the French, did this ;
" the rest spoke of it with horror and aversion, but the
" French merely with regret of the hard necessity that
" compelled them."

301

SECTION V.
SOUTH OF RUSSIA AND POLAND.
Mode of Travelling in Russia— Regulation of
the Post — Characteristic Knavery of the Pea
sants — Jewish Settlers — Mglin — Starodoub —
Citadels — Rude State of the Country People —
Vapour Baths— Tchirravitch — Remains of the
Tartars — Caravans — Pilgrims — Tchernigoff
Kiev — Sacred Catacombs — Ancient Churches —
Hindoo Architecture — Origin of Pointed Style
— Trade — Passage of English Goods excluded
Iry the French Decrees — Fair — Poland — Jews
of Zytomir — Dress — Novgorod Volhynski —
Face of Country — Dubno — Austrian Poland —
Brody — Lemberg — Trade of Jews, 8$c. — Com
merce in Grain — Condition of the lower Classes
— Polish Chateau — Visit to the Countess Po-
tochki at Tulchyzn — Her Establishment — Society
— Levee — A Marriage — A Party to the Chase
— Wielksa — Salt-mines — Duchy of Warsaw
—-Cracow, present State of— Quarter of the

302 Smolensko.
lexis — Their oppressed Condition — Their An
tiquity — Polish Nobility and Vassals — Costume
— teelings of the Country with regard to late
Events, fyc. — Bielitz.
The strong hold of Smolensko was for
merly the theatre of many a sanguinary
combat between the rival Poles and Rus
sians, but all interest in those times was
merged in the greatness of modern events.
Having gone over, therefore, whatever was
pointed out to our notice as bearing refer
ence to this object, we set out on our road
for the south. Kiev, the ancient capital
of Russia, was our next place of destina
tion : the line of route lay through an un
frequented tract, and we were threatened
with all those unpleasant circumstances of
accompaniment, that render a journey in
Russia, for the most part, so disagreeable.
It is a rare case that travellers really en
dure all the evils which the ill-boding
stories of their friends predict; but we
had already some experience of the na-

Smolensko. 303
ture of Russian travelling, and exaggera
tion was not needful. From Moscoav to
Smolensko, a journey of 348 versts, had
occupied six days, Avith little other inter
mission than the delay arising from the
difficulty of procuring horses ; and a week
was hardly deemed sufficient for the ac
complishment of 650 versts, through a
country, not exhausted indeed, like that we
had just quitted, but which, from its po
verty and unfrequented state, was ill pro
vided with accommodation. " All the
" Avay," says Ant. Jenkinson, who travel
led in Russia during the l6th century,
" I never came in house, but lodged in
" the wilderness by the river's side, and
" carried provision for the way, — for there
" be small succour in those parts," The
condition of these tracts is not even now
much altered. Nevertheless, Ave set out
on our road, and after a tedious journey
of a day and night, by dint of a few rou
bles, a little wrangling, a little cudgelling,

304 Smolensko.
and a little patience, arrived safe at Ro
slavle. At this toAvn, as at the lone posthouses
of the previous stages, it Avas by no means
easy to procure provisions : as for meat, Ave
carried it Avith us ; but the articles of bread,
milk, and coffee, Avhich we thought to have
purchased easily in any quarter, Avere for
some time denied us, and given at last with
an evident air of reluctance.
This sullenness and inhospitality is a com-
sequence that arises naturally out of the ha
bits of the country. Every native, when on
a journey, carries Avith him his food, as Avell
as other articles of which he may stand in
need ; and since it is usual with a Russian to
take his OAvn bed, even when visiting at a
friend's house, it is not surprising that he
should be worse furnished for his route.
Hence neither bed nor board are to be
met with, and the demand for such ar
ticles is viewed by the landlord of a pub
lic house as something unreasonable.

Smolensko. 305
Such is the practice of every family Avho
take their departure from Petersburg or
Moscow to their residences in the more
distant parts of the provinces. Nothing,
indeed, can be conceived more independ
ent than the appearance of one of those
patriarchal circles at halt, for such a sight
we witnessed near Roslavle, and the party
Avas said to belong to a person of some
distinction. The carriages, six in number,
Avere ranged in a row by the road side ; at
a little distance a fire was lighted, round
which a score of domestics were employed
in cooking dinner; still farther, under the
shade of the trees, he, with his children,
and several ladies, Avere seated, regaling
themselves on the provisions they had
brought; and the horses, near thirty in
number, were browsing hard by.
As to the large number of horses em
ployed, it must be observed that they are
in general private property, for it would
be impossible to be furnished with such a
supply on the road. We found that the
VOL. II. x

306 Smolensko.
horses of the post, notwithstanding our
podaroshna*, were perpetually withheld
from us, and we were obliged to make a
bargain for others as Avell as Ave could.
Yet for this some sort of excuse may be
offered ; it is as necessary that the means
of intercourse should be facilitated in this
country, as it was before remarked to be
indispensably requisite for the public be
nefit in Sweden : but though the reason is
the same, the remedy is not administered
in so salutary or efficacious a mode. The
Russian government issues orders that a
certain number of horses shall be main
tained on the several roads, for the use of
the post and the couriers, for which a regu
lar compensation is made, and though the
number varies, as well as the proportions
of payment, according to the circumstances
of each district, we may lay it, perhaps, at
1000 roubles per annum, on an average for
* This is an order for horses from the crown, at re
ceiving which you lay down the amount of duty, instead
of paying it, as in England, to the postmaster.

Smolensko. 307
six horses, which is the least number
that is any where, kept up. When these
are not employed on government duty,
they are let out to hire for the benefit
of the postmaster, being charged always,
however, at a certain fixed rate : on the
chief roads five copecks per verst, on the
cross roads, as here, only three.
If these horses are engaged, the post
master offers to procure for the traveller
isvoschtschik (or hired peasants' horses,)
which is done at an advanced price ; and
the difference between the natural price
and that established by laAV is the cause of
constant wrangling and chaffering ; but it
was satisfactory to us to see that other
travellers besides ourselves, even the na
tives, were in places obliged to submit
to the same imposition. As far as it
was in our power to judge, a fair com
pensation would be about fifteen copecks
per verst, but they frequently demanded
eight or ten times this sum, and con ten t-
x 2

308 Smolensko.
ed themselves with extorting merely the
double. But I might state instances of oppres
sion by the seigneur, Avhich would seem
almost to justify any attempt they may
make to reimburse themselves, by prac
tising tricks upon the travellers that fall
in their Avay. Since an allowance for the
post is made on the part, of the crown, it
happens, in some places, that, actuated
by a disgraceful spirit of meanness, he
takes the stipend to himself, and then, in
order that the duties of the post may not
be neglected, lays the burden of furnish
ing the necessary horses on one of his
own peasants. The poor man's cattle,
therefore, are not only obliged to do this
duty, but also, as belonging to the post-
house, must lie at the mercy of every tra
veller who offers three copecks per verst
for their hire; and as may be supposed,
the greatest resistance is always sheAvn in
such a case to the demand.

Smolensko. 309
The cautious and cunning management
of a Mougik, Avhile striking his bargain on
these and similar occasions, is one of the
most entertaining pieces of comic acting
that can be conceived. With a av ell-told
story of distress, implying the difficulty,
or perhaps the utter impossibility of his
satisfying your demand, he leads you to
pause for a moment on your own apparent
unreasonableness; and it may be too he suc
ceeds in gaining your good opinion so far
as to recommend himself for a seeming cha
racter of frankness and honesty. — Three
couriers had been forwarded that morn
ing — tAvo more expected — no horses could
be got ready even for them on their ar
rival; for he lost a large stud, which was
carried off by the French, or died of a
contagious disease. — His wife and chil
dren are starving, because he cannot send
his cart to replenish his store of rye meal ;
but he promises, if the stranger will wait
three hours, to find him some horses, which
he passes off as belonging to one of his

310 Smolensko.
neighbours; and having received one rouble
for his trouble of purveying, Avill charge only
ten extra for their use. On the comple
tion, however, of the contract, the half
suppressed smile of triumph breaks forth
from the rogue as he turns away his head,
and informs the traveller at once of the
successful deceit that has been practised
upon him ; but the argumenium baculinum,
if well applied, materially alters the fea
tures of the case in every stage, and sets
at nought the starving children, the ex
pected courier, or the impracticability of
his wishes.
In the trading towns the system of de
ceit is carried to a still greater degree of
perfection, as may be imagined : a shop
keeper is in the constant habit of demand
ing from a foreigner three or four times
the amount for his articles which he means
to content himself with ; but that it should
prevail in the country, is a fact which fixes
it at once as a trait of character peculiar
to the nation : so natural, indeed, and ha-

Smolensko. 311
bitual is it become, that the very children
of whom we bought strawberries on the
road would haggle and chaffer, consult
with one another, and reconsider our of
fers, with the most amusing dexterity.
One may venture, from the instances we
saw in both old and young, to assert, that
not the Chinese themselves, or any other
orientals, are greater adepts than the Rus
sians in the school of fraud and artifice.
At one of the lonely stations in this
province, where we stopped to change
horses, we were much surprised by the
extraordinary neatness and cleanliness that
appeared, as well as civility and kind
attention which we experienced from our
hosts. To our surprise, they readily fur
nished us with milk, eggs, quass, &c. ;
pointed but a comfortable corner in their
wooden cabin, entirely free from dirt, and
seemed almost (as the phrase is) to take a
pleasure in setting before us whatever they
could offer for our service. Nor were they,
for their circumstances, ill supplied. Al-

312, Smolensko.
though the whole prospect in front was
wild as nature, they shewed us, on Avalk-
ing behind the house, a little garden full of
every sort of vegetable, with a neat farm
yard, Avell stocked Avith cattle, and kept
in admirable order. To unravel this mys^
tery, we found, on further conversation,
the owner was a freed man. He had
formerly, lived as a servant in a Russian
nobleman's family, Avhere he acquired
a sort of polish; and taking a fancy to
marry and settle in the Avorld, he pur
chased his liberty, and procured a farm in
this remote spot, apart from the vexations
of the district officers, and still more ra
pacious agents of the police. He appear
ed, it might be urged, a striking example
of the improvement in moral condition as
in wealth Avhich these people might even
now be made capable of receiving : but
I fear it was one of those rare instances of
a fortunate combination of circumstances,
from Avhence no general argument could
safely be drawn.

Novgorod Sieverskoi. 313
July 16. — We noAV entered the govern
ment of Novgorod Sieverskoi, the limits
of which we passed at no great distance
from Mglin. This Avas a wretched wooden
town, sprinkled over the slope of three
small hills, and containing very few regu
lar streets ; nothing of decent appearance,
or even of Russian finery, was discernible,
except in the churches. It was here we
first observed the houses of Jewish settlers :
Peter the Great, it seems, forbad their re
sidence in his dominions, " because," said
he, " my people have craft enough in their
dispositions already;" yet they are now
admitted, without reserve, into the di
stricts bordering on the provinces of Rus
sian Poland. We were not inclined to
find fault with the measure : as far as our
experience went, Peter I. spoke too mo
destly of the subtilty of his subjects : they
had nothing to learn from the Jews, and
we thought ourselves much less liable to.
be cheated in their hands than those of
the natives, feeling delighted whenever.

314 Novgorod Sieverskoi.
the chance of the road threw us into their
way. It was moreover no slight satisfaction,
when traversing so remote a country, to
observe a people, with whose singular cus
toms and ceremonies one was in some de
gree familiarised at home, differing only in
some trifles of their dress, and what is in
deed more essential, the higher character
in society which they here seemed to
maintain. They considered themselves as
a race far superior to the native rustics,
domineering over them in the most autho
ritative style; nor were their pretensions
ill founded, for they OAvned no masters,
but Avere in the full enjoyment of their
personal liberty. The gipsies, or Bohe-
miens, as they are called, are another mi
gratory race that claimed from us the
same local associations and recollections ;
but they are not very numerous, or in
deed very often to be met with.
Starodoub was the next town at which
we arrived : a place which, though now

Novgorod Sieverskoi. 315
possessing not above 600 inhabitants, dis
plays, in several of its buildings, certain
pretensions to antiquity. It was the ap
panage of lAran, a son of Vsevolod, Grand
Duke of Kiev, at the beginning of the
13th century, and its name occurs again
in the Russian history, as the opening
scene of the imposture of the second false
Demetrius. As to present appearance,
the quarters now inhabited were almost
entirely built of wood, the houses chiefly
of one story, and divested of paint or any
other decoration; their streets extremely
irregular, looking as if formed without a
plan. There was one striking feature, however,
which I cannot avoid mentioning. Just
upon the skirts of the town rose an high
earthen hill, with the appearance of hav
ing been rudely fortified. The sides of the
hill Avere neatly Cut to a slope, in the same
way as the donjon in our ancient Norman
fortresses, in England; not being wholly
artificial, but a natural elevation, of which

31 6 Novgorod Sieverskoi.
advantage had been taken. It was simi
lar, in most respects, to Avhat Ave had before
observed at Viasma, Dorogobusch, Mglin,
&c. ; in all Avhich places, a church seemed
the only object which occupied the area
of the platform at the summit. At Ro-
slavle (where nevertheless no church Avas
now standing within the precincts) there
Avas a large mound of more than 100 yards
square, shaped with precision and regu
larity. The Kremlin at Novgorod Veliki,
and that at Moscow, are similar elevations,
only varying by the greater extent of their
dimensions, by being walled around, and
by containing other public buildings, of
which, hoAvever, the church occupies the
most conspicuous situation.
From the date of the toAvns Avhere they
are found, as Avell as from concomitant
circumstances, we should be inclined to
annex some idea of superstitious protec
tion to these spots, and to view them, not
only as citadels and places of command,
but as sanctuaries or places of refuge dur-

Novgorod Sieverskoi. 317
ing the constant civil wars and broils that
disgrace the early Russian history.
The institutions of the police, which may
prove either the blessing. or curse of the
first steps of civilization, according to the
use that is made of them, seemed here cal
culated to introduce the exercise of a most
detestable petty tyranny over the pea
santry of these remote spots : the loAvest
halberdier scarce ever spoke to a rustic
without adding a Woav. Where they lived
apart from the toAvns, these miserables, we
thought, led a much more comfortable and
easy life. ^
But it is clear that neither the advan
tages nor disadvantages of civilization ex
tended to any great distance from the
larger tOAvns : the country shewed only as
one large plain, intersected Avith rivers,
bogs, and forests : the uplands were gene
rally of a light sandy soil, but in very few
parts did they exhibit any signs of culture,
or even habitation. Nothing could be
more strikingly wild than our passage

318 Novgorod Sieverskoi.
over the Ypoote : a raft of trees loosely
pinned together was provided for the pur
pose of transport ; a rope made from the
bark of trees served for its draught : on
either bank of the river rose a vast forest,
not thick and luxuriant, but bared in many
a line by the progress of age and decay :
amidst its shades were seen the white
shirts and black fur caps of the Tartars as
they scampered along in the wantonness of
sport, with their horses at full speed : their
caravan, just arrived, was ranged on the
river side, and the oxen were seen every
npAV and then, as the raft put off, plung
ing into the stream, and swimming to the
opposite shore.
In a country of this description it can
not be that any great progress should have
been made in the arts of civil life. Me
chanical contrivances of any sort do but
little to occupy the minds of the villagers :
their plough is the same as the rude in
strument represented in Egyptian sculp
ture, or rather that of the Georgics of Vir-

Novgorod Sieverskoi. 319
gil; a Avooden hook turned downwards,
armed with iron, and sometimes with two
twigs tied on the back as handles or tillers.
Their harrows were simple hurdles, in
which the ends of the twigs being bent
downwards, performed the office of teeth,
for the land was every where extremely
light. Boats of one piece, rudely hollowed
from the trunk of a tree, were common
both on the Soz and on the upper part of
the Desna ; and the only skill of workman
ship which displayed itself was in the
carved work that ornamented the bodies
of their carts or tilegas, and the gable ends
of their houses, which were sometimes
very elaborately decorated.
The interior of the dwellings was in the
same unfinished style as what we had
before seen: the walls of logs Avere not
even lined with planks; the moss that
caulked the interstices hung out in shreds
and patches, nor was the appearance at
all correspondent to the degree of atten
tion which seemed to have been bestowed
without.

320 Novgorod Sieverskoi.
The Avhole family slept in the same room,
on mats, or straw, or sheepskins, and the
men generally in their day-clothes ; but the
favourite station for the night Avas on the
ledge of the stove, or lejanka, which is always
raised Avith a few bricks on a slope at one
extremity, in order to supply the place of
a pillow. Where an infant child was seen, it was
packed Avith a feAv clothes on a square
canvass frame, and suspended by strings
to a nail in the Avail or the ceiling : a
horn, having a small aperture at the
bottom, and closed at top, was filled
with milk, that being suspended over its
head, it might indulge itself in sucking
at pleasure. A sick person, whom we not
unfrequently found lying in bed in this
single apartment of their cottage, seemed
to complete the picture of misery.
Rye cakes, or black sour bread of the
same grain, with a little salt to give it a
flavour, formed their chief diet; to this
was added cabbage broth, or schtchi, thick
ened with oatmeal, and perhaps a little

Novgorod Sieverskoi. 321

wo

meat : all this is procured at an easy rate ;
and during the several periods which the
rites of the Greek church prescribe certain
rules of abstinence, (for these materially
diminish the expenses of the poor man's
housekeeping), their ordinary meals may
be procured at a very reasonable price.
The only attempt at manufacture to
Avhich I was an eye-Avitness Avas the making
of oil from linseed, the plant being much
cultivated in these provinces. The stamper
Avas a beam of wood fastened -to a branch
of a tree, forced down by strength of hand*
and recoiling again by the natural elasti
city of the bough ; a simple contrivance
enough, but it is Avorth observing how
nearly this machine resembles in construc
tion the apparatus, even at this day, used
in our English oil-mills.
As to the moral effects of civilization,
such as a sense of modesty or delicacy, this
was still less to be traced in their manners ;
men, Avomen, and children Avere bathing
promiscuously on the road side, and very
VOL. II. y

322 Novgorod Sieverskoi.
rarely indeed did they betray any Avish to
conceal their nakedness on the approach
of strangers : the same Avas the case at
Moscow, only that of the two, the people
of the country possessed, perhaps, a greater
portion of shamefacedness. They had in
general brown salloAV complexions, but not
of unhealthy appearance ; nor, except the
marks of scrofula or sometimes the limbs
of a few persons crippled by the winter
frost, did Ave see any examples of malady^
or suffering. Of the latter some victims
appeared in almost every place which we
passed from Petersburg doAvnwards.
The syphilis, when it sheAvs itself, as it
sometimes does, makes dreadful ravages.
The person infected has as little chance of
being cured here as a poor savage of the
South sea islands*.
* Ignorant in himself, and unable to obtain the assist
ance of those who are better informed, he acts according
to the usage of the country, and endeavours to close the
ulcer by fumigation with cinnabar, or some other similar
application, that heals the sore to the eye without effecting

Novgorod Sieverskoi. 323
The villages Avere more mean in their
appearance than those of the wealthier
governments comprehended in our pre
vious route; yet even here there was one
luxury which never seemed to be Avanting,
and there was no hamlet, however incon
siderable, but was provided with the uni
versal indulgence of a vapour-bath. In
some conspicuous spot one might espy,
towards evening, the wooden hut pouring
forth steam from every chink and cranny,
and generally surrounded by seminudes,
with their leafy rods in their hands, joking
and sporting with each other unconcerned.
The universal prevalence of the practice
of bathing in steam is remarkable. To
wards the end of the week the Mougik r
complains that his skin begins to itch, and,
Avhether it be summer or Avinter, his first
leisure hour, if he possess but three copecks,
any radical cure. The consequences may be imagined :
cases have sometimes been sent to the provincial hospitals,
where people have been discovered to have laboured
under this malady for upwards of fifteen years.
y 2

324 Novgorod Sieverskoi.

o

is employed in the bath. The process
here undergone has been often described :
to judge from its effect on myself, I can
only say, that being heated as in general
to 120° Fahrenheit, or 130° Fahrenheit, it
is far from affording to a stranger any very
great gratification. At first, it is true, a
luxurious sense of lassitude comes on, but
this is succeeded by an oppressive debility,
Avhich continues so long that I should be
very umvilling to undergo its discipline a
second time; the body is completely ex
hausted by the strong temporary stimulus
Avhich is applied : its poAver indeed may
be imagined from the well known fact,
that it is the common custom, with the
lower classes of people, to roll in the snoAV
in winter time, immediately on leaving the
bath : nor is the sudden change ever suc
ceeded by illness, or productive of the
least inconvenience.
The heat of the atmosphere was in this
month very great, the mercury standing'
at upwards of 809 Fahrenheit in the shade \>

Novgorod Sieverskoi. 325
and this sort, therefore, of vapour^washing,
which is so universal in hot countries,
seemed nothing more than the natural
course of things. But to what can we
ascribe its adoption in the northern di
stricts, in Finland, in Ingria, at Archangel,
Avhere it is as constantly applied during
the eight months of the Avinter, as through
out the short period of their summer?
Unable to form a judgment of its medicinal
advantages, it remains only to say that it
is not from the physical necessities of a
cold climate that it has been put in pracr
tice. It is not common in Sweden or
Canada, countries nearly parallel in point
of latitude, and suffering the rigour of
seasons equally severe. But probably,
like many other customs of the Russian
nation, the use of the bath was borroAved
from the habits of their eastern or southern
neighbours, and thence has been gradually
extended by fashion and imitation over the.
Avhole empire.
July 18.— Our .days pass here under

326 Novgorod Sieverskoi.
much the same circumstances : the morning
breaks, and we waken as the carriage stops
at the end of the stage : the musquitoes
now begin to allow us some respite from
their torment — the peasants bawl out their
uncouth airs as they drive a-field — the Jew
puts on his phylactery, and mutters his
orisons — the caravan driver is heard bus
tling among his horses — and after a re
freshing sleep, in which the turmoils of the
foregoing day Avere forgotten, Ave look for-
Avard to a more comfortable journey for
the remainder ; — but soon vexations begin
anew — no horses are to be had, breakfast
is denied, and our own stock is exhausted ;
after much trouble we drive another stage,
but still the same complaints accompany
us ; we at last contract with some old
Avoman of the village for a few eggs and a
little coffee ; thence proceeding to a third
station, we find matters wear a better
aspect ; we drive to a Jew's house situated
in a large town ; — it is early in the day, but
the opportunity is not to be lost, and Ave

Novgorod Sieverskoi. £27

"8

order dinner, a comfortable meal in the
German fashion ;— Avhile again waiting for
horses, Ave amuse ourselves in sketching
some of the objects around ; the police
officer interferes, — Ave are taken to the
governor, are acquitted, and conclude by
drinking tea Avith his family : Ave set out
a fourth time, and make one more stage —
again no horses — the post-house a lone
habitation in the Avoods ; we are con
strained to Avait, and pass the night there ;
and so on, with little variety or relief. In
this part of our route Ave Averp obliged to
pass eight nights sleeping constantly in our
clothes, either in the carriage, or, for the
sake of the cool air, a) la Russe on the road
side. The houses in general Avere so filthy
that Ave Avere unAvillir.g to enter them, and
beds Avere at any rate no Avfiere to be proT
cured. Tchirravitch Avas a large village .of SieT
verskoi, Avildly scattered over some rising
grounds on the banks of a lake : it Avas

328 Novgorod Sieverskoi.
here we remarked the recurrence of the
same style of ornamented gables over-1
hanging the cottage front which had ap
peared in the government of Novgorod ;
though not so profusely carved, or built.
on so large a scale. The tumuli too, or
barrows similar to those Ave had before
seen, were common in the plains ; and
these two circumstances, accompanying
each other, since this district, as well as the
former, had been visited by the Tartars,
seemed favourable to the opinion of those
Avho attribute both the introduction of one
and the other to that race of peoplp.
I may observe in confirmation, that these
barroAvs, besides other parts, are of fre
quent occurrence in the eastern side of the
government of Moscow : one of them, Avhich
lay on the estate of Count Romanzov, Avas
opened a few years since, when it was
found to contain the skeleton of a man
placed in a horizontal posture, Avith a stone
at his head, and another at his feet ; many

d

e

1

1

r

IS

* N

r

R-

n

S>

0

n

. Tchernigoff. 329
silver ornaments, which were recognised to
be of Tartar fashion, were also discovered
in the course of the excavation.
No place Avhich Ave had seen exhibited
so great a number of these monuments as
the plains of Sednovo, in the government
of Tchernigoff, Avhere they completely co-,
vered the ground to a considerable extent
around the town. I know no allusion to
its name in the Russian history, but the
antiquity and importance of the settle
ment Avas evident from the remains of
earthen Avails, that had probably been
erected as a defence against the pre
datory excursions of the neighbouring
Poles. The grounds marked out by these tu-
midi were selected as favourite places of
interment by the natives at the present
day : often being planted around with
trees, and studded thick Avith wooden
crosses, oratories, and other permanent
marks of reverence. The general appear
ance of piety with which they are kept

330 Tchernigoff.
up, their sequestered situation apart from
any toAvn, the profound veneration Avith
which they are saluted by the natives,
added to the dark and sepulchral shade
of the groves, lent them an interest Avith
which the tinsel ornaments of more gor
geous cemeteries can in no degree com
pare. The caravans that we here met on the
road were extremely numerous, more so
than even on the line from Petersburg
to Moscow. Wp frequently encountered
eight or ten each day, consisting of thirty,
or forty, or sometimes an hundred carts.
A feAv were travelling towards Petersburg*
drawn by the mouse-coloured oxen of the
Ukraine, that Avere themselves destined
for the market, as Avell as the goods they
convejTed : but the greater part came Avith
horses, and Avere bound for Riga, bringing
cargoes of the different produce of the
southern provinces. Occurring under va
rious circumstances, they contributed to
enliven our cheerless route : one while we

Tchernigoff. 331
heard them at a distance, the loud shouts
of their drivers echoing among the woods ;
at another, we saw them draAvn in long
lines across the plain, or grouped in a body
at halt, their cattle reposing in the shade;
at another again, Ave saAv them ranged in
a circle around their fires for the night.
The Avild looks of the people, many of
whom were Tartars, improved the effect
of this spectacle ; though I cannot say that
their employment at the evening resting-
place would add much to the delicacy of
the picture, as it was usually an exhibition
of naked men divesting their bodies of
vermin. Besides these, there was but one sort of
company whom we passed on the road ; —
those who were making a pilgrimage to
the sacred relics at Kiev. They Avere
mostly persons of the loAver classes of life,
travelling on foot : Ave fell in, hoAvever, at
Tchernigoff, Avith a family of respecta
bility, Avho Avere bound on the same erz
rand : they consisted of the seigneur of

332 Tchernigoff'.
a considerable property in the govern
ment of Moghilev, Avith a young Avife and
two children. He. had been, as he inr
formed us, in the earlier part of his life,
an officer of the army, and served under
Kutusov at the unfortunate battle of Aus-»
terlitz : he Avas, I dare say, a good soldier,
and a very well disposed man ; neverthel
ess I am apt to think it Avas chiefly the
piety of his spouse that had induced him
to set out on this excursion. In order to
relieve the incessant jolting of his carriage
over the Avooden causeAvay, he was fur
nished Avith the luxurious indulgence of
soft pillows, Avith which the carriage wag
completely filled : a practice that, notwith
standing its being in conformity with Rus^
sian fashions in general, Avas surely very
reprehensible in a pilgrim.
We met also at Tchernigoff several bo
dies of prisoners, who were on their, re
turn to France, having been discharged by
the Emperor's late proclamation. It Avas
amusing tp observe the different manner

Tchernigoff. 333
in which they received the news of the
success of the allies ; but, as if their affec
tion Avas fed by the recollection of what
they had suffered for him, they all spoke
in terms of the highest admiration for
Buonaparte, and devotion to his cause.
The common men could not be brought
to believe that he had ceased to reign :
they supposed, they said, the allies had
been forced to sue for peace, and, on
having obtained it, claimed a victory : —
that the war Avas at an end Avas evident,
but as to the rest, it Avas quite impossible.
The officers spoke of the new situation of
things as a temporary change in the affairs
of the great nation ; and some few, in the
true style of gasconade, talked Avith in
finite assurance of a second visit to the
Russian dominions.
Tchernigoff, the capital of the govern
ment of that name, is a handsome, neat-
built town, upon the banks of the Desna.
It was formerly the appanage of one of
the sons of Jouri Dolgoroucki (or Longt-

334 Kiev.
manus) ; for in this manner most of the
chief toAvns and districts of Russia seem
at one time to have been separated from
the crown : they have been all, hoAvever,
in subsequent reigns reunited, and in ge
neral by force of arms. Tchernigoff in
the course of time passed into the hands
of the kings of Poland, and was only
given up by them, together with Smolen
sko and Kiev, in 1686, as the price of the
accession of Russia to an alliance formed
Avith that nation and the republic of Venice
against the Ottoman poAver.
The city of Kiev, to which Ave were noAV
approaching, is called the cradle of the
Russian sovereignty : some uncertainty ex
ists as to its foundation, but most writers
agree in referring it to a colony of Sar-
mates,. Avho came hither at a time ante
cedent to the Christian sera; these were
afterwards expelled by the Slaves, who,
being driven from their former settlements
by the Romans, about the year 400 A.D.,
divided into two distinct parties, and esta-

Kiev. 335
Wished themselves in this country ; the
one at Kiev, the other at Novgorod on
the Ilmen. In the ninth century, the
prince of Novgorod, under the conduct
of Oleg his guardian, perfidiously made
himself master of Kiev. While makino-
his famous expedition to Constantinople,
Oleg passed near Kiev, and concealing
his army in the Avoods solicited an amica
ble conference Avith the princes Dio and
Oskold : " We," said he, " are sprung
from the same race as yourselves ; regard
us as brothers." Having prevailed upon
them to come to his tent, he put them to
death, and took possession of the city,
Avhich became, from that day, the seat of
the united sovereignty of the two poAvers.
The grand dukes constantly made it their
residence, till it Avas ruined and depopu
lated by the incursions, first, of the Li
thuanians, and afterwards of the Tartars :
Avhen, in consequence of the Avaste thus
occasioned, Andre Jourievitch transferred
the seat of poAver in 1156 to Vladomir;

336 Kiev.
from Avhich place it was again removed to
Moscoav, and finally fixed at Petersburg.
Amidst the toils of a long journey, op
pressed by the constant heat of the cli
mate, and Avearied Avith the restless travel
ling of many days and nights, there are
yet some few moments when the local
interest of a particular spot, heightened
perhaps by the accidental glow of sunset,
or other adventitious circumstances, has
power to excite a sentiment of ecstacy
that amply compensates all the privations
and inconveniences one had undergone.
The imagination, Avhich riots to satiety
on the battle-ground, or dAvells Avith rap
ture on proud memorials of ancient art,
may yet feel a quiet enjoyment in the
contemplation of a scene which appears
to lull in harmonious repose all the higher
feelings of our nature. Such Avas the de
light with which Ave closed our journey on
the eA'ening of the 19th. The Dnieper
rolled at our feet, a smooth majestic river,
of more than a verst in breadth ; on its

Kiev. 337
banks was a caravan of Tartars and Rus
sians, listening to the simple » notes of the
balalaika; above our heads rose a long
range of hills encircled by a rich foliage
of trees, and crowned with the gilt domes
of the sacred city.
Having waited some time while the
horses and carts, near twenty in number,
were placed aboard, we at length crossed
the ferry, and toiled up the steep ascent,
over a road as usual covered with planks.
When arrived at the summit, a new scene
presented itself: the cupolas that before
Avere but as spots in the view, faced us
Avith a blaze of gold, and a thousand gay
colours shining around us dazzled the eye :
if we looked to the country below, one
unvaried plain appeared of immeasurable
extent, and covered Avith a thick forest,
through the middle of Avhich the Dnieper,
now dwindled to a streamlet, was seen
winding its silvery path into the horizon : it
was a land seemingly untouched by man,
and affording a prospect as Avild in its cha-
VOL, n. z

338 Kiev.
racter as any that the most uncivilised
tracts of America could furnish.
Notwithstanding however its picturesque
appearance, we, who had just travelled
through it, did not regard it with an eye
of complacency, and I must confess that
a Avell known story of Catherine II. will
assist the reader's judgment to form an
idea of its nature. Arrived at this place,
in the course of her southern tour, she de
manded of the three ambassadors who ac
companied her what they thought of the
country before them. Count Cobentzel
was enraptured Avith what he saw. M.
Segur said much might be made of it in
the course of time. Mr. Fitzherbert (Lord
St. Helens) declared the place was detest
able, and the view nothing extraordinary.
The Empress said with a smile — " Le Comte
Cobentzel est un courtisan; M. Segur est un
homme poli ; mais M. Fitzherbert est un
homme vrai"
Our first duty on the morning after our
arrival, in the true spirit of pilgrimage,

Kiev. 339
Avas to pay a visit to the catacombs. Upon
proper application being made at the for
tress called Perchask, within which the
monastery is situated, we were admitted ;
and received infinite amusement from all
we saw. The entrance was ornamented
with pictures, that, like those used for
country shows in England, were illustra
tive of the exhibition in the interior;
around stood a miserable looking crowd,
the purchasers and venders of crosses, re
lics, and various other articles of super
stition : the walls of the court within too
were covered with huge religious paint
ings ; and numberless pilgrims, of both
sexes, were assembled in groups, reading,
admiring, bowing, praying. The stories
were chiefly selected from the legendary
tales of the lives of the saints : on one
side was represented the virgin Theodosia,
accompanied at each stage of her life (a
continued series of temptation) by two
guardian angels, and three or four mini-
z 2

340 Kiev.
sters of darkness; the devils always de
feated, the angels ever triumphant; and
in the last painting she was represented
as having surmounted all her difficulties,
and arrived in heaven. The artist's ima
gination, however, has somewhat failed,
and seems not quite to have seized, oh
this occasion, the true notion of the sub
lime, or the beautiful ; but Ave should re
collect that, in the Russian vocabulary,
the terms beautiful, red and coloured are
all three represented by the same Avord,
so that a confusion of ideas might easily
occur. On another side an old miser is seen on
his death-bed : the company surrounding
him are, as before, angels and devils ; the
latter are very urgent to seize upon his
parting soul, but prevented by the former,
who claim him to themselves, because,
forsooth, he had bequeathed a large sum
by will to the monastery. The devils,
thus disappointed, peruse the will and

Kiev. 341
codicil with much earnestness and appa
rent chagrin. The moral of the tale needs
no explanation.
The profound respect and awe impress
ed on the countenance of every one we
met lent an air of solemnity even to their
ludicrous superstitions ; and a stranger
almost felt inclined to chide himself for
making a visit of mere curiosity. . Our
meditations, however, on this singular
spectacle were interrupted by our guide
arriving to inform us the priest was wait
ing to conduct us to the relics. We de
scended a long staircase en ramp, to the
mouth of the sacred catacomb, being
formed into a regular procession, and each
bare-headed, carrying a lighted taper in
his hand. It Avas a labyrinth mined in
the solid rock, consisting of Avalks, cham
bers, branches, &c, ascending and de
scending for the distance of several hundred
yards ; the passage about six feet wide,
and coved at the top ; its sides neatly
plastered and stained with a black Avash ;

342 Kiev.
the flooring laid with iron plates about a
foot square. The remains of seventy-three
saints, or primitive Christians of Russia,
the objects of veneration, were deposited
in semicircular niches that occurred at in
tervals on the passage. The bodies were
Avrapped round and bandaged up with
swathings of silk after the fashion of mum
mies, though no part, not even the face,
was left visible : what was within I know
not; but they were scattered over with
pieces of money, the offerings of the de
votees. The coffins, which Avere always
left open, were of an oblong square figure,
decreasing in breadth from the head doAvn-
wards, adorned on the interior with flowers
of gold painted on a red ground. These
personages were the same who once found
an asylum here while alive, at a day when
the unsettled nature of the times render
ed them liable to perpetual persecutions
abroad. St. Anthony is the chief and patron
saint : we Avere first shewn his oratory, and

Kiev. 343
the cell in which he dwelt, say they, forty
years, which, in memory of the holy man,
the monks are constrained to visit at least
twice every day. Next Ave proceeded in
regular order to the shrines of St. Precop,
St. Polycarp, St. Theodore, St. Luke (the
Russian), and St. Nicholas, the last of
whom having died at the distance of 3000
versts, was wafted hither by the angels in
one hour : there Avas also a Russian St.
Mark, who, to outdo all other acts of ab
stemiousness, never drank even of pure
water oftener than once each day, and
then only the contents of a small cruise
made in the shape of a cross, containing
about a gill in quantity ; and a certain St.
John who was pointed out, being buried
up to his shoulders in earth; a penance
which he imposed upon himself for forty
days, when he expired. Here Ave halted,
and the priest, placing the saint's cap on
our head, gave us (for it was the custom
.of the place) a short blessing. The only
other persons Avhose good works entitled

344 Kiev.
them to look for repose here were the
twelve men of Constantinople who exca
vated this subterraneous retreat, about 800
years ago : their bodies were seen collected
together in one chamber, and were the last
of the series that were shewn us.
On our return to the realms of day, we
heard the chant of mass sounding from the
church of the monastery, and thither we
instantly repaired. The people whom we
found assembled completely filled every
part of the area : it was a herd of pilgrims,
habited in all the various costumes of the
southern provinces of the empire, some of
them being said to have made a journey
on foot of fifteen hundred versts, in order
to discharge their vows at Kiev : and in
deed their lank Avorn looks and tattered
garments seemed, in many instances, to
bespeak the toilsomeness of their under
taking. While their devotions detain them
here, they are for the most part obliged
to lie out at night, being destitute of mo
ney to pay for lodging, and by day only

Kiev. 345
perhaps once receive refreshment, at the
gratuitous repast which is provided by the
Emperor in the refectory of the monastery.
But the enthusiasm, devotion, and super
stition of a Russian is easily able to sur
mount all these difficulties; and there is
scarce a person in the south, either of
those who have sins to expiate, or of those
whose quiet and holy life requires some
notable act to grace its monotonous ca
reer, but imposes on himself, at one time
or other, the task of performing this bur
densome act of over-zealous piety. The
ground plan of this building was the same,
as to distribution, which seems commonly
to have prevailed in all the older Russian
churches ; a Greek cross divided by four
square" pillars in the centre, with a vesti
bule or parvis, one arch in breadth, ad
vanced in front ; the rood was, according
to custom, covered with three several ranges
of pictures of saints, in compartments of
rich gilt carved Avork, profusely inter^
spersed with pearls, lapis lazuli, turquoises,

346 Kiev. ,
i
enamel, &c. and exceeding, in gaudy cost
liness, whatever we had before seen dis
played. From hence we visited the churches of
St. Sophie, and of the miraculous St.
Avare in old Kiev, Avhere ends the ordi
nary course of pilgrimage.
The former is the oldest church in the
Russian dominions, and though not, as is
said, built strictly after the model of the
famous church of the same name at Con
stantinople, yet was, no doubt, the work
of architects Avho came from thence ; and
bears on the interior many traces of By
zantine architecture. It is, however, al
most a singular instance of that style; Avhile
the fashions and taste of those oriental na
tions, whose character is so strongly im
printed in the lineaments of the Russian
visage*, are easily recognised in the more
durable monuments of architecture.
* The general character of the Russian countenance
differs as much from the European face as the Mantshoo
Tartar from the Mongol, or Chinese from the Hindu ;

Kiev. 347
The Gostinnoi dvor, or square market
place, which we see in every town, con
structed Avith double arcades, one above
the other, as in an eastern bazar; the
thick baluster-shaped column, the pagoda
fashion of the old steeples, the facades
adorned with painted and glazed tiles,
the bulging form of the cupola, and its
situation in the centre of the building,
surrounded by four smaller ones, all pe
culiarities common throughout the Mo
hammedan countries of the East, will
sufficiently prove from what quarter this
people must have draAvn its ideas of
architecture. It might be urged that these fashions
were introduced by the Tartars during
their invasion, but it appears from exam-
and may be said to bear the same genuine character as the
two former of these nations. The Russian face is marked
by high, broad cheek bones, and a short triangular form
of face. A learned prelate, who lately published at Petersburg
Recherches sur I'origine des Slaves, considers them as of
Medish origin, and of the same tribe with the Pelasgi.

348 Kiev.
pies noAV existing that this was not the
first time they borroAved from the Eastern
nations. The older churches of Russia
afford so many points of resemblance to
the sculpture and buildings of the Hindus,
that we can scarce entertain a doubt of
their having acquired their taste from that
people. Nor can this be held extraordi
nary * ; we know that the only places in
the adjoining districts of Tartary, where
science and letters were cultivated, were
settlements of the Hindus^ who supplied
the hordes Avith all the learning and inge
nuity of which we can discover any traces.
The Tartar remains at Bolga, as well as
those at Kasan, are built in the Hindu
style: there are also many buildings in
the Kremlin at Moscow, and a church in
the southern quarter of the Semlianigorod,
* See Sir William Jones's Discourses, published in
the Asiatip Researches. It is curious that at the remains
of the monastic establishment of the Tartars at Semipa-
latnaia, in the province of Tobolsk, the chief books dis
covered were in the Mongolese and Tangout languages.

Kiev. 349
Avith many others, where certain similari
ties may be traced. Again, the pagoda
fashion of the old wooden churches through
out the empire, and the baluster-shaped
columns, which are often to be met with,
are striking examples of this style.
When treating of this subject, it is im
possible to avoid remarking that certain
points of resemblance betAveen this style
and that of the European pointed archi
tecture are to be observed here, as Avell
as in that of Hindostan, as exhibited by Mr.
Daniell ; Ave trace it in the high pointed,
gable-headed windows, in the contrasted
arch, in the long slender shafts of pillars
in relief, in the broad astragals that in
tersect their length, and in the minutiae
of their ornamental carve-Avork : and one
can imagine we see, though in a different
stage of perfection, the same taste in
building which has since made so great
progress throughout Europe.
Infinite are the disputes that have arisen
concerning the origin of this style : the

350 Kiev.
English Avriter who is certainly best in
formed on the subject attributes its rise to
the inventive powers of our native archi
tects. I must add, in answer to this idea,
that on my asking a well-informed German
artist whence he thought it had sprung,
he told me, without hesitation, it had re
ceived its birth on the banks of the Rhine ;
for the specimens found in that quarter
were the purest and most elegant he had
ever seen, and bore the strongest marks of
originality. The reason he gave was by
no means ill imagined ; but, no doubt,
many other nations might put in their
claims to the invention, on grounds equally
strong. I must confess that, in treating this sub
ject, it seems rather absurd to limit the
proofs of identity of style to the existence
of a feature like the pointed shape of an
arch, which was no uncommon form in
any age, and may be traced in Roman mo
numents as well as those of an earlier date:
but still more is it exceptionable to attri-

Kiev. 351
bute the growth of this perfect system of
architecture to a chance intersection of
arches, to the groining of a roof, to the
ramification of twigs, or such circumstances
of accident. The distinguishing marks of
its early character are the pyramidal form,
the infinite division of parts, and the pro
fusion of minute ornaments, &c. ; and
these Ave shall find, if an argument may
be draAvn from thence, to be alike the
essential characteristics of oriental fashion
of almost every description.
Perhaps it will hereafter appear that the
same eastern or primitive style, which' we
trace under similar features in the oldest
monuments of the world, at Persepolis, in
Egypt, , and Hindostan, was in fact the
prototype of the two chief prevalent styles
of the present day ; of both the Grecian
and the pointed architecture: since we
may discover in its lineaments strong fea
tures, not only of the one but of the other.
The rude and half-formed notions of
taste, passing from Syria and .Egypt into

352 Kiev.
the hands of the polished Greeks, received,
from the elegance and simplicity of that
peculiar race, a new and graceful form ;
whence arose the finished symmetry of the
Doric, Ionic and Corinthian models. On
the other side, this style, when cultivated
on its native ground, and nurtured among
a people naturally ostentatious of finery
and gaud rather than plainness, partook,
in its change, of the form and impression
which their habits imposed : it received
that pointed character which prevails in
every structure from the pagoda to the
pyramid, and that lavish combination of
gorgeous irregularities that belongs to ori
entalism. When this taste, with many varieties,
was diffused over the whole of Asia, it Avas
transplanted to Europe by the devotees
who frequented Syria, at a later epoch ;
among whom it was no uncommon prac
tice to vow the erection of some religious
building at their return to their home. It
Avas not likely they should Avish to adopt

Kiev. 353'
any fashion" of architecture in preference
to that which afforded so many associa--
tions with the sacred spot they had visited ;
and being thus received, we may suppose
it assumed that beauty and perfection,'
which is peculiar to the architecture of the
middle ages, in European hands, giving
many distinct styles of this taste through
out different countries.
This digression has already gone too
far: nevertheless, on the subject of reli-*
gious buildings in Russia, one word more
remains to be added. There is no traveller
who has visited this empire without observ
ing the curious ornament of the crescent
surmounted - by ' the cross, which adorns
the domes of almost every church of any an
tiquity either at Moscow, or in the toAvns of
the. southern provinces. Several unsatis
factory conjectures have been made on this
extraordinary union : some said the orna
ment was 'only given to those churches
which had once served as mosques to
the Tartars ; others assigned a different
VOL. II. A A

354 Kiev.
reason -, but the question still remains un*
settled. We must not, however, forget
that the crescent was not originally the de
vice of the Turkish empire, but only adopt
ed by the government after its establish
ment at Constantinople ; because that city
had borne it on her ensigns from the high
est antiquity. The crescent was, there-;
fore, probably introduced to Russia at a
time coeval with the establishment of the
cross, and might perhaps (for the schism
took place soon afterwards) be considered
as an emblem of distinction between the
early Greek and the Romish churches.
The trade of Kiev, though it has attract
ed a few settlers from Germany, is ex
tremely dull; it consists chiefly in ex
portation of corn and wood to the south,
for Avhich salt or money is received in ex
change. But a very considerable business
of transit had been carried on, through
this place, during the last year or two.
Thearticles of English manufacture, or the
produce of our colonies, which the French

Kiev. 355
prevented from being introduced by more
direct means, found their Avay into the in
terior of the continent, by the circuitous
route of Riga or Petersburg, Moscow,
and the south of Poland. Spme parts of
Austria and Germany Avere latterly sup
plied in this Avay ; and the quantity of
goods Avas so great, that a merchant, who
had considerable dealings in this line, told
me he had sometimes forwarded three or
four hundred carts in a single day.
Expense of carriage, as Avas before remark
ed, is not very heavy ; and these articles,
when in large quantities, were forwarded
under contract for three roubles and a
half, or four roubles, each poud, (361b.
English,) from Moscoav to Kiev. As this
distance is about 750 versts, or 500 En^
glish miles, the rate may be considered as
something lower, in nominal value, than
the ayerage amount of the price of Avater
carriage in England.
The necessaries* of life were much
* Price of day-labour, (a slave, with a passport from
A A 2

356 Kiev.
cheaper here than in any other town of
Russia which had fallen within our route ;
though the inhabitants of Kiev complained
that a great augmentation of prices in gene
ral had taken place, during the visit of the
Empress Catherine, and that they never
aftenvards sunk to their former value.
The town has become, within a few
years, a place of greater resort than for
merly ; for the fair, Avhich used to be held
at Dubno, has been transferred hither by
the emperor's command. It is to this the
Polish nobles, and indeed all the people of
the country around meet for the sake of
transacting business, and making leases
or transfers of land, Avhile at the same
time the merchants attend Avith stores of
provision for sale, which are purchased for
the baronial household in the wholesale
way ;- and the concourse is immense. At
present very little company Avas to be seen
his lord,) 50 copeks. Gold was cheaper here than in Po
land, on account of the commerce with Odessa. The
ducat was valued at 1 1 and a half paper roubles.

5p*K*

¦¦: '"t-L- ,.¦.,¦"..'

GOJLUMBT of VJLA3JOMIJK., KIEV,
Zendem.J'u&lisfad. 2&- Z.Mkrrap,Al6e?mz.rle. Slre&£, /SI?.

Kiev. 357
except some Greek merchants, who seem
ed the chief beaux of the placp, and dis
played themselves every evening with their
ladies in the gardens pf the governor.
The resident population of Kiev, iiir
eluding its university, is supposed to be
about 20,00Q; they inhabit, however, three
distinct towns ; the Perchask fortress, Avith
its adjoining strpets, standing upon the sum-?
mit'of a hill on the past; Old Kiev, Avith
its Polish fortifications, lying to the west ;
and below, the Podolsk quarter; Avhich,
last is in a dilapidated state, having suf
fered a dreadful cpnflagration about four
years ago. Many houses had been re?
newed, but it contains nothing very strikr
ing, except the remains of some o}d Greek
¦¦ convents, and buildings pf that nature.
On ascending the hill from hence, the road
passes near the spring Avherp St, Vladomir
-baptised the first Russian conA'erts: the
place is held sacred, and a column bearing
a cross is erected over it to commemorate
the. pious act, as Avell as to record the

358 Volhynia.
former importance of Kiev as the seat of
sovereignty. July 23. — We now crossed the frontier
of Poland, and passed from the land of
the credulous to the habitations of the un
believers, for every house Ave saw Avas in
the hands of Jews. They seemed, indeed,
the only people Avho Avere in a state of ac
tivity, exercising almost all professions, and
engaged in every branch of trade; millers,
farmers, Avhitesmiths, saddlers, drivers,
ostlers, innkeepers, &c, Their constant
bustle makes them appear more abundant
in number than they really are; and al
though the streets of Zytomir seemed full
of them, Ave Avere informed that out of a
population of 6000, not more than one
third Avere of this sect, Avhen we could
easily have imagined the reverse.
The day of our arrival Avas the Sabbath,
and the Jews Avere habited in their best
garments for attendance at the synagogue.
The married part of the community were
distinguished from the rest, the men wear-

Volhyniu. 359
ing a white shaAvl of muslin (or tuck)
thrown over their long black mantle;
Avhich, Avith the addition of a bushy beard
and a fur cap on the head, gave an air of
no ordinary stateliness and dignity to their
persons. This singular article is Avorn over
the head or on the shoulders, according to
fancy, and is a part of their dress on which
they pride themselves highly, laying out
sometimes as much as four hundred ducats
or more in its purchase; the best are
brought from Constantinople, and are of
the finest texture, handsomely embroideiv
ed at the top. The married Avomen too
have their peculiar mark, Avhich consists
of a thin scarlet stripe of cloth, hanging in
a horse-shoe shape over the front of their
headdresses. The colour of their gowns is,
in common, plain red or blue, Avith a short
lappet of different colour pendent in front,
and falling doAvn over the bosom ; but on
this day they Avere more sheAvy in their
appearance, bedizening themselves Avith
laces of gold or silver : the chief expense.

360 Volhynia.
however, is lavished on their headdress,
being, in the more splendid, a complete
tissue of pearls. It is not unfrequent to
see a Avoman of the loAver class with a cap
of this sort, 3000 or 4000 ducats in value.
They are not always the purchase of the
wearer, but handed doAvn in hereditary
succession from one generation to an
other ; and since as much pride is placed in
their possession as in a pedigree, it Avould
be difficult, indeed, to oblige a Jewess to
offer one at any price for sale.
At the synagogue they Avere seated with
their heads covered, employed in diligent
perusal of the scriptures ; the whole meet
ing gabbling aloud at once, each his chap
ter, and to our ears the ceremony sounded
not unlike Avhat we read of the confusion
of tongues, Their phylacteries are only
made use of in their private orisons, and
are throAvn on the head or bprne upon the
arm ; they do not differ in other respects,
it is true, but they seemed to be fashioned
of a more Pharisaical breadth than those

Volhynia. 361
carried by; the Israelites of Monmouth-
street in London.
We could not help being very much
struck with the beauty of this race of peo
ple, for they seem by no means to have de
generated by limiting themselves to inter
marriage Avith their own breed. The cha
racter of countenance is from this circum
stance almost inArariably the same through
out, though not in any way resembling
what Ave call in England a Jewish turn
of feature. The Avomen.Avere remarkably
handsome, , their persons large and full
made, their faces very regularly formed,
with black eyes and hair, set off with deli
cate complexions of Avhite and red. The
men tall and straight, but rather of a spare
habit, their features small, and very much
fashioned like that meek and placid coun
tenance Avhich the Italian painters have
invariably given to the picture of our
Saviour. This peculiar style of visage,
hoAvever, Avas , gradually lost as Ave. ap
proached r nearer, to ^ the. confines of Ger-

362 Volhynia.
many, nor did it any where seem so pre
valent as in this province.
Our journey was here rendered much
more agreeable from the absence of the
mosquitoes; these obnoxious insects had
not ceased to torment us from the time Ave
left Moscoav, till we passed the Dnieper at
Kiev ; from that time it is singular that
they partially intermitted their nocturnal
visits, and after a feAv stages disappeared
altogether ; and Ave felt so Avell satisfied
with the fact, that Ave made little or no en
quiry after the reason : similar instances
are, I believe, by no means uncommon.
The part we Avere now traversing was in
general an uncleared tract of bog and
wood : nothing occurred to cheer the Avay ;
Ave heard nothing but the crack of the
driver's Avhip as it was echoed back from
the depth of the forest ; Ave saw no trace
of human beings, but by chance here or
there, under a tree, the mark of some lone
traveller's fire. Our horses Avere usually
changed at the end of the stage, in a sort

Volhynia. 363
of caravansera, which Avas a large barn up
ward of 200 feet in length, attached to
the miserable hut of the post-master, and
made capable of receiving all the carts
and horses of the largest company^ an ac
commodation that Avas no Avhere afforded
in Russia, As Ave journeyed on, the coun
try began to improve, and among the first
symptoms of the Avorks of man, Ave ob
served the crosses that Avere erected at the
junction of the by roads and in other spots,
said to be where murders had been com
mitted; they Avere adorned in the true
popish taste, Avith the pincers, nails, spunge,
and reed, inscription and ladder: tokens
that Avere to be recognised as significant
of a change at least in the forms of the
superstition of the people Avhom Ave Avere
about to visit.
After some dreary stages, Ave at last ar
rived on the rocky banks of the Slucz, and
came in sight of the castle and scattered
cottages of Novgorod, the worthy capital of
the Avild Volhynia. As Ave ascended the hill

364 Volhynia.
on which it is seated, Ave caught the sound
of the "jocund fiddle," and the merry rustic
step tripping it most lustily : Ave hastened
to the cottage from Avheiice it proceeded
to indulge our curiosity, and found a party
of Polish peasants entertaining their friends
at a marriage feast, while the younger part
of the company Avere performing the fa
vourite national dance of the Mazurco. It
was one of the most characteristic scenes
of mirth in this line of life that I ever be
held : it is true the women Avere not handf
some, in their persons, .or graceful in their
movements, but extremely lively, and all
so. fully occupied Avith their amusement,
and so av rapt up in enjoyment, that our
intrusion passed unnoticed.
They Avere dressed in Avhite chemises,
Avith petticoats of blue, edged Avith boTr
ders of red, these being the favourite na
tional colours of, Poland : their hair Avas
adorned with large wreaths of flowers, and
a great profusion of ribbons of the samp
hues hung in stripes doAvn their backs.

Volhynia. 365
The men were not so gaily attired, but
they had shaved their chins, and this to
strangers arrived from Russia Avas a grati
fying mark of novelty.
We were here also agreeably surprised
by hearing the chime* of bells once more;
Avhile the tones of the pealing organ that
echoed the chant of vespers, from a ve
nerable abbey church opposite to our ho
tel, seemed to Avelcome us to a more con
genial country. It may seem extraor
dinary to indulge such sentiments Avhenon
the point of taking our leave of any coun
try, but there is something so revolting
in the manner and conduct of the lower
classes of the Russians (with Avhom a tra
veller is chiefly concerned on ' the road)
that I confess the feeling one experiences
towards them is something* more than that
of unmixed pity, and I believe there are

* The Russians tie the clappers of six or eight bells to
one rope, and ring them all together. Id their churches
no music but vocal is allowed.

366 Volhynia.
few persons but what congratulate them
selves on passing the Russian frontier.
The Roman catholic is the established
religion of Poland, though it is by no
means so universal in the southern as, I
believe, in the northern provinces. There
Avas not a village we had yet passed (un
less its population Avholly consisted of
Jews) but Avas provided with a Greek
church : and it is from a date long ante
cedent to the usurpation of the Russians,
that this form of Avorship has found nu
merous votaries in Volhynia.
We Avere much disappointed to hear
that the great fair of Berditchev, Avhich
Ave intended to have visited from hence,
was just terminated. Being an annual
assembly of all the seigneurs of the coun
try, Avith their families, who remain there,
many of them, encamped for upwards of
three weeks, it would have afforded an in
teresting example of national manners and
customs. The chief sale is for horses ; and
there Avas a sheAV this year of upAvards of

Volhynia. 367
40,000 : the saddle-horses bore a price of
about 400 roubles each, those for draught
not above half that sum ; but the value of
the former had been enhanced to near
three times what they formerly bore, in
consequence of the large purchases made
by the Prussian government for the late
campaigns. Thus having failed of our object, we had
no alternative but to proceed to our next
station at Ostrog, a place that Avas once
enlivened by the residence of the Dukes
of Ostrogski : it is noAV a Jewish town,
shewing <only a few remains of its former
consequence, in the ruins of its monasteries
and the relics of its fortifications. The
country hereabouts began to assume an
appearance of fertility ; there Avere some
few meadow lands, and the rest, where
clear from wood, Avas generally cultivated
with grain. The houses on the road side
were built of wood, in some instances,
however, covered with plaster, and all cer
tainly in far better condition than those

368 Volhynia.
we had seen on the other side of the Dnie
per: the accommodation too afforded us
at the inns was every Avhere excellent, and
the i venal Jews usually surround the
stranger in croAA'ds with samples of their
articles for sale, giving to understand that
money, -will command every thing, even to
the services of their wives and daughters. >
The town of Dubno had some shew of
fortification; it was, in fact, formerly se
cured by regular works, to insure it against
the incursions of the Turks, an enemy Avho
now afforded no great source of disquie
tude. The place enjoyed a considerable
trade before the late French decrees,
which, though they had not succeeded in
depriving these parts of their usual sup
plies, had nevertheless thrown the profit
of the carrying trade into. neAV channels.
The remoATal of the fair to Kiev, also, as
above mentioned, since it had formerly
attracted near 30,000 people annually
-hither, ,put a finishing bloAV to the pros
perity; of Dubno. .

Volhynia. 369
Radzivilov was the frontier town of Rus
sian Poland on the west, and this circum
stance alone gave it any appearance of
bustle and consequence *. At our arrival
we found the way was thronged with ca
ravans of carts, and crowds of Italian pri
soners on their return from Russia. The
name of Englishmen, however, procured
us attention; and having submitted to a
trivial inspection of our luggage, and gone
through the usual formalities of signature,
&c. which are required for a Russian pass
port, we passed the barriers marking the
line of demarcation, and arrived at Brody,
the first town within the pale of the Au
strian dominions.
We were here detained some days before
a passport could be obtained from the go-
* The established customhouses for the Russian trade
with Germany are at Polangen, Fourbourg, Kowno,
Brest, Kainkz, Preboroff, Radzivilov, Rojeiampele, Vo-
lotchisk, Isachovitz : the amount of merchandizes, &c. as
reported in 1803, were — Exports 4,678,639.
Imports 11,018,134.
VOL. II. B B

370 Gallicia.
vernor of Gallicia, who resided at Lemberg,
and thus were indulged with a longer stay
than would have been agreeable, but for
the wearisome nature of our previous jour
ney. The toAvn is chiefly remarkable as a
colony of Jews, and we made the experi
ment of contracting Avith these people,
who are a sort of vetturini in this country,
for horses to carry us to Lemberg : they
afford them at a cheaper rate than the re
gular post-house, but their plan is liable
to many objections, and by no means to
be recommended to a traveller. He is
carried from one JeAv's house to another
on the road, Avithout a chance of escaping
from the hands of the tribe ; obliged, hoAv-
ever, to sneak aside and quit the road
wherever the tinkling bell and bugle horn
of the driver belonging to the imperial
post is heard.
We set out again on the 31st of July,
and in spite of the obstinacy of the driver
and the drowsiness of his jaded steeds, we
enjoyed this part of our journey very

Gallicia. 371
much. The well wooded hills rising above
Sokolavla formed a pleasing change to our
prospect, after the vast and uniform plain
that we had traversed since we left the
borders of Finland : and the country was
not only varied in feature but fertile in
production, and the town of Lemberg it
self struck us by its appearance, as singu
larly romantic and beautiful. It was em
bellished by an university, a large public
library, a cathedral, &c. The private
houses were extremely handsome and
shewy in their exterior, being decorated
in the ornamental style, so much in vogue
throughout Germany. Indeed, generally
speaking, a mixture of German fashions,
customs, or, one may say symptoms of im
provement, seemed to dawn every where
as we advanced, introduced through the
patronage of the new government or the
influx of Austrian colonists.
These intruders have, however, by no
means been able to draAV exclusively into
their own hands the whole of the vast
b b 2

372 Gallicia.
commerce which is afforded by the situa
tion of Lemberg ; it is largely participated
by the Jews, as well as the Armenians and
Greeks, both travellers and settlers. Their
wine, corn, and wax, or coffee and sugars,
&c. are brought hither, both for consump
tion and as articles of transit : for the town
is a common centre of intercourse for this
part of the south, carrying on frequent
communication with the ports of Riga
on the north, and Odessa on the east.
Through this last mentioned line as well
as from Salonichi, the colonial produce
and British manufactures, which formerly
were introduced through Vienna, from
Trieste, had chiefly made their way: an
other course for these commodities was be
fore mentioned, but which also passed
through Lemberg.
The JeAvs, never neglecting any mode of
gaining money, hoAvever novel, had been
very active in this business, and seemed
severely to lament that commerce should
be on the point of being restored to its

Gallicia. 373
former channel * : they would, indeed, on
the ground of their late gains alone, in
spite of the murmurs of the Sanhedrim at
Paris, have almost idolised Buonaparte.
At the beautiful little village of Mos-
cyko, we observed again the Greek church
surmounted with the crescent and the
cross ; for we were still within those tracts
which formerly bore the name of Russia,
and are supposed by some to have been
originally colonised from Kiev: but here
they terminated, and a bridge over the
Sann near Premzyl was pointed out as
marking the ancient boundary of this dis
trict or Red Russia.
The bridges, which are generally of one
arch, are built of timber, and fenced with
wooden posts in front to ward off the ice,
as it descends in heavy flakes during the
winter flood ; they are covered over at the

* The exchange with England was quoted at 17 paper
florins for ll. sterling : but the Austrian paper currency
only bore in reality 2-5ths of its nominal value.

374 Gallicia.
top, in order to preserve the frame-work *
much in the same way as those which may
be noticed in several of the vallies of Swit
zerland, The principle of their construc
tion is simple and ingenious : the real cen
tre or key, if one may so say, of the arch
of wood is at a point much elevated above
the platform of the causeway ; the several
beams of support being inclined to it at
different angles, and the apparent arch
suspended frOm the strong frame-work
which they afford. We had often ob
served bridges in Sweden built upon the
same plan ; which I imagine gives greater
strength of resistance than any other mode
could effect with the same materials.
There Avere several detachments of Au
strian troops on the road, as it seemed the
design of government to form a strong cor
don on the frontier of Gallicia : they were
fine men, well mounted, and with their
light-coloured clothes, their panaches of
green leaves in their caps, and ropes of
hay attached to the saddle bow, made

Gallicia. 375
extremely picturesque accompaniments to
the road side.
As to the face of the country, it was
every where covered with cultivation ; it is
scarcely possible, indeed, to form any esti
mate of the immense produce which these
interminable plains must afford : from
Ostrog to this place we had gone over
a tract of inexhaustible agricultural re
source : the land was frequently covered,
as far as the eye could reach, with no
thing but grain. The soil on which it
grew -was rather of a red colour Avith a
texture slightly sandy, and was said to
possess strength enough to yield the an
nual crop without any other labour than
that of the .plough and the harrow: no
manure is ever laid on, nor does the sys
tem even admit of a summer fallow : the
course is simple ; wheat, in one year ; oats,
(chiefly Tartarian) or rye, or buckwheat,
or barley, in the next, and so on in alter
nate recurrence. Hemp and. flax too are
grown in some parts, giving a supply to

376 Gallicia.
some small manufactories in the neigh
bourhood. But though the aggregate pro
duce of these provinces is large, it is by no
means abundant in proportion to the ex
tent of land taken into cultivation : the
appearance of these fields has but little
resemblance to the full crops that attend
the exertions of English husbandry, seem
ing every where thin and meagre : while
five times the measure sown is reckoned
throughout the country a return rather
above the average produce: the remark,
however, as to this deficiency will apply,
I believe, with almost equal truth to many
other parts of the continent. In the sta
tistical reports indeed of Russia, presented
to the imperial senate, after giving the ne
cessary measures of seed wheat to each
acre, they add that the good crops may
be reckoned as yielding of rye six timps
more than the quantity of seed expended ;
of wheat, five ; of barley, ten ; and of oats,
three or four.
Grain is the chief article of trade in

Gallicia. 377
Poland, and upwards of 365,000 lasts are
said to be annually exported : it is carried
chiefly in boats down the rivers, thus, find
ing its way to Dantzic, Pillau, Memel,
Libau, Odessa, &c. Wheaf is never groAvn
but with this view, and often left to spoil
or waste if no opportunity of sale occurs ;
yet it Avould be difficult to say at Avhat
price it is generally afforded, for all advices
are here received from the lower country
through the hands of the Jews, who are the
factors, and as the selling prices vary not
only in proportion to the urgency or slack
ness of the demand, but also to the honest
or roguish representations of the above per
sons, the fluctuations in the same year are
innumerable. The best bread, however, at
Cracow I think I may state as being sold
at a something cheaper rate than it was at
Berlin during our stay, and the province
of Brandenburg was the only corn district
which we had before visited. Rye bread
is the general food of the country, and so
much in use, that a slice is always placed

378 Gallicia.
at the table d'hote, together with the
wheaten roll, which is given as a delicacy,
much as it is the custom to give oaten
cake in Scotland.
The tenure of land is nearly on the same
conditions as in Germany, a portion being
allotted to each slave, for Avhich soccage
service is paid to his lord. At this time
they shewed themselves on the road side,
employed in making hay, or in other works
of the field, under the superintendance of
the task-master ; the tithe of the seigneur
being regularly set out, with a bough stuck
at the top of the cock, in the same fashion
as it is the custom to mark the several
decimations belonging to the church in
England. The condition of those of the poorer
classes Avho are unable to labour is mi
serable enough; they are but slenderly
provided for throughout the whole empire ;
a small rate for their support is levied on
the houses of each parish, but extremely
inadequate to its purpose. The roads,

Gallicia. 379
therefore, are constantly beset with beg
gars, mostly old men that have overlived
the days of their strength, or been acci
dentally maimed. They stretched forth
their hand with the beads and crucifix,
and supplicated for charity in a tone of
the most abject distress. Their favourite
stations were seats under the image of the
Virgin or some patron saint, figures that
ornament almost every part of'the Austrian
provinces, and with these accompaniments
they seldom failed to attract the notice of
the traveller.
It is scarcely possible to travel half a mile
without seeing here one or more of these
remnants of Catholic superstition, though
they have been some years since swept
away by modern revolutionary zeal, from
most other Catholic territories. The most
common was that of the Virgin Mary trans
fixed with a sword through her breast, il
lustrative, we were told, of the text " My
sorrows have pierced my heart as with a

380 Gallicia.
sharp sword." Scattered as they were
over the fields, they had the appearance of
Termini, or images of sylvan gods, the
relics of classical paganism, rather than
the monuments of any Christian form of
Avorship. As Ave entered a shady avenue in the en
virons of Landshut, we observed a hand
some and spacious palace belonging to
the ancient family of Lubomirski, Avhich
Avas the completest specimen we had seen
of the old baronial style of magnificence.
It Avas built by a famous Prince L. who
commanded the Polish forces in the Turkish
Avars during part of the 17th century, and
had the air of that splendid and grand
style which might be supposed to be the
order of the day Avhen 5 or 6000 men in
livery were at the beck of their seigneur.
It Avas fortified with regular bastions, a
rampart revetted with brick, and a broad
ditch, as was the ordinary fashion : for it
was necessary to be guarded against sur-

ftws

tt

0Sa O.5

Gallicia. 381
prise, Avhen the little feudal sovereigns of
the neighbourhood Avere perpetually en
gaged in warfare with one another.
The present establishments of the nobility
are still of a large scale, some of them now
giving their livery to several hundred vas
sals, but the general system of life is re
duced much nearer to the standard of the
rest of Europe than it was in the days of
the republic.
We do not hear of the villages of a great
proprietor being burnt to revenge a per
sonal insult offered to his neighbour, or of
a wealthy Lubomirski being cut and hewn
in pieces by an injured family of Miko-
laievski. Still, hoAvever, these barbarities
apart, something of their ancient manners
may be traced in the appearance of state
and grandeur yet kept up, and the modern
establishment of a noble Polish family well
merits attention.
For the following interesting account of
a visit to the Countess Potocki I am in
debted to the kindness of a friend who

382 Gallicia.
travelled in that country a few years since ;
and whose narrative has supplied me with
that information Avhich I stood in great
need of, having been prevented by ill
health from paying my respects in the
same quarter.
" I look back with peculiar interest to
the time which I spent in Poland, during
my last visit to the continent; and the
recollections of my sejour at Tulchyzn,
(which was unexpectedly prolonged by the
rupture between the two countries) rather
resemble the visions of an enchanted pa
lace than the sober reveries of an inquisi
tive traveller.
" My curiosity, I confess, had been greatly
excited by all that I had heard and read, of
the air of feudal state with which the
Polish magnat is surrounded, when residing
on his estates ; and my visit to Madame
P.  by no means dispelled the illusions
which my mind had formed on this sub
ject. I was desirous of becoming in some
measure acquainted with the habits and

Gallicia. 383
manners which belonged to the nobles of
our own country in an earlier period of the
English history ; and as many vestiges of
the iron age are still to be traced in Po
land, most strangely combined with the
refinements of society in a later time, I
had them, whilst at Tulchyzn, sufficiently
brought under my view, with all the ad
vantages of superior civilization, and in
creased means of enjoyment.
" That cumbrous magnificence and os
tentatious hospitality which so strikingly
pervades the spacious, though uncom
fortable, dwellings of the grandees of Mos
cow, is displayed in a greater degree, if
possible, by those Polish noblemen whose
extensive possessions still alloAv them to
keep up that profuse style of living and
entertainment for Avhich their ancestors
were so peculiarly distinguished. The
opulent representatives of this aristocracy
are now few in number, and they must
gradually disappear as estates become
subdivided on the death of the great landed
proprietors.

384 Gallicia.
" Of this turbulent and restless body, so
impatient of foreign rule, and so perfectly
unfitted for that state of political independ
ence which they are so anxious to enjoy,
the great names who have chiefly figured
in the various revolutions and convulsions
of this unhappy country still support the
ancient dignity and splendour of their
houses. The Czartorinskis, the Lubomir-
skis, the Sapiehas, and the Potockis, may
still vie with the Esterhazys and Palfys of
Hungary; and as I apprehend that the
race of powerful German barons, (though
some may display as many quarterings as
Candide gives to his patron) have ceased
to exist in this " best of all possible worlds,"
on the extinction of the great Polish and
Hungarian families above mentioned, we
shall look in vain for that class of subjects,
so princely in their establishments, so
dangerous in the authority and means
which they possessed.
" I arrived at Tulchyzn on the evening
of the 31st December, 1806, having in my
way from Odessa made an excursion to

Gallicia. 385
Bender, and having suffered all the minor
inconveniences of delays and vexations in
crossing the Steppes. The snow was already
beginning to fall, and the following day it
lay thick on the ground, Avhere it remained
most pertinaciously during the whole of
my stay ^ I had little inducement, there
fore, to stir out of doors, excepting for the
sake of exercise, and no opportunity of
forming any judgment of the state of cul
tivation in the country around -
" The palace is situated at the extre
mity of a large village, of which Madame
P. is the sole proprietor; its inhabitants
consist almost entirely of Jews, who, with
their usual activity, carry on here every
trade under heaven. I had occasion for
a taylor to recruit my wardrobe, which,
had suffered materially by our late expedi
tion over the mountains of the Crimea;
and an artist was sent me of so respectable
a description, as to set my mind quite at
ease on this momentous point.
" At the back of the house, the ground
VOL. II. C C

386 Gallicia.
was laid out someAvhat in the manner of an
English garden ; its chief ornament, how
ever, was a large piece of Avater, Avith a
greater number of poplars on its banks
than good taste would have desired.
" This spot, as may be supposed, was,
at the time of the year of which I am
speaking, but seldom visited, and the large
place before the palace became the chief
rendezvous : here also, in the evening, an
old carriage or tAvo Avere constantly sta
tioned, to convey those who lived in the
Avings to the main body of the building.
" The house is a handsome edifice of
three stories, forming three sides of a
square, of Avhich the centre is entirely
taken up by the apartments of the family,
or by those which are appropriated for the
reception of company : the Avings, being
almost exclusively devoted to the recep
tion of strangers, are scarcely superior to
the caravanserais of the East; for the
rooms, although not entirely destitute of
furniture, are most lamentably deficient in

Gallicia. 387
many necessary articles. A tawdry and
tattered French bed, not intended for re
pose, (for as most travellers carry their
own sleeping apparatus, a bedstead is all
that it is considered necessary to provide)
or perhaps a chaise-longue under equally
equivocal circumstances, a couple of chairs,
and a tottering table, a scanty carpet, and
an unwashed floor, — all these inconve
niences must be submitted to by him who
ventures to explore the southern parts of
the Russian dominions,
" Your vanity may perhaps find con
solation for a time in surveying your figure
in a looking-glass of the largest dimensions
at the foot of your bed, or in contemplat
ing the valuable lustre which may be
hanging over your head. The writing
table which shakes at every motion of
your pen, or the torn gilding of the chair
which makes havoc with your dress every
time that you rise, may probably shew
symptoms of better days in their form, and
the Parisian ornaments which still adhere
c c 2

388 Gallicia.
to them ; yet they, in the long run, but ill
supply the place of more substantial com
forts. " You will say the visitor must fare
badly in such quarters, and that the host
is to blame in not correcting such disorder
in his household establishment; but the
fact is not so. No one can travel long in
Russia Avithout learning to establish himself
in some degree of comfort under circum
stances the most unpromising; and the
delight of returning to civilized society
makes up for many minor inconveniences.
It must, too, be observed, that if the guest
on his arrival be not provided Avith all
that he requires, it is entirely his OAvn fault
if he long remain so. A Cossack attends
constantly at his door (like a dog on the
mat) to keep up the fire in his stove, and
to execute those orders which his servant
may be at a loss to perform. The maitre
d'hotel will either change his quarters, or
will furnish him Avith such articles as are
not to be found in those which he inhabits;

Gallicia. 389
and the cook, the caviste, or the chief
man in the stable, will attend daily to
know his Avishes in regard to his arfiuse-
ment in the morning, or his entertain
ment at night; and if inclined to dine in
his rooms, and to see his friends there, in
stead of encountering a larger society, he
has only to signify his wishes, and the
master of the house will even sometimes
condescend to make one of his guests. In
the apartments which are appropriated for
the reception of company (though here
and there the same strange mixture of dis
comfort and magnificence Avhich Ave have
remarked in the private rooms cannot fail
to strike the eye,) a degree of splendour
and taste in furniture and decoration ap
pears which suits extremely Avell Avith the
sort of homage Avhich is exacted from all
around her by the lady of the house; a
stricter attention, perhaps, to, order and
cleanliness in the economy of the lobbies
and anti-rooms would certainly be desira
ble, yet a more simple (and therefore to

390 Gallicia.
an English eye more comfortable) style of
furniture would not so well correspond
with the air of shoAv and display which
belongs in so marked a degree to the man
ners and establishments of the great people
of this country.
" The number of domestics in constant
attendance (though we should in this
country consider them as an useless in
cumbrance,) are also necessary appendages
in keeping up the degree of show and
parade which is here thought requisite ;
and it is carried to such an extent, that
there is scarcely to be found a Polish lady
who has not a young Cossack Avhose ex
clusive duty it is to act as her page.
" The very hospitality of the Poles ren
ders it hopeless to look in their dwellings
for cleanliness and order, and it is fair to
state the obstacles which must effectually
prevent the adoption, Avith them, of more
comfortable habits, Avhen we mention the
annoyances which prevail in the best houses
in Poland.

, Gallicia. 391
. < "In the first place, it must be remarked,
that as the feudal habits of connexion be
tween the lord and his vassal are less ob
solete here than in any other part of the
Avorld, a considerable portion of every no
bleman's mansion is a mere receptacle for
his friends and dependants. They come
without invitation, and depart Avithout
taking leave : their stay, Avhich is some*
.times prolonged for months, may be, as
it often is, for weeks unknoAvn to their
landlord ; and they enter into such comj-
plete possession of the rooms allotted to
them, that it is not surprising if, in the
course of these tremendous Arisitations, the
quarter assigned to them should generally
suffer materially by the etourderie of the
master, and the filthiness of the servant.
" I remember my surprise Avhen the soi>
in-laAV of our hostess proposed to try my
pistols at a mark fixed against the door
of one of the rooms I was inhabiting. It
was in vain, that I remonstrated against
such a disorderly proceeding; the votes

392 Gallicia.
. went against me, and a few hours' prac
tice reduced one end of my apartment to
the condition of a target,
" I cannot either easily forget a scene
which took place at an entertainment
given by the eccentric though good-hu
moured person 1 have just mentioned, on
the departure from Tulchyzn of one of our
English friends. Count S. amongst other
travelling appendages which are consi
dered indispensable by a Polish grandee,
had brought with him a considerable stock
of wine, and an excellent French cook,
with a very powerful batterie de cuisine.
It was decided that Francois should dis
play his art, on the occasion to Avhich I
have alluded, in providing an ambiguous
sort of meal at two o'clock in the count's
OAvn rooms : the talents of the artisan were
highly extolled, and such'i Avas the effect
of his artillery upon the party, that Avith
the aid of considerable reinforcements of
champagne, the feast ended as many have
done among people less given to intoxica-

. Gallicia. 393
tion than the Poles, and it is not to be
imagined that the ornaments of the count's
apartments suffered less damage than the
heads of some of his guests.
" If the eye be offended by the havoc
made on such occasions, the olfactory
sense suffers in an equal degree, for
smoking is the never failing accompani
ment of such convivial meetings ; and
though the Turkish tobacco is of the
mild sort, and the practice dignified by
all the parade of amber mouth-pieces,
and cherry and jasmin pipes, yet the
chamber-furniture remains Avithout any
chance of purification.
" I found, upon enquiry, that I Avas
fortunate in the time I had chosen for my
visit to Tulchyzn ; most of the members
of the family Avere assembled, to settle
some affairs of importance respecting the
property of the late Count P. : several of
my English friends Avere also here, and
amongst the foreign birds of passage I Avas
glad to find the Prince of N., Count M->

394 . Gallicia.
and General M., the commander of the
Moldavian army.
" A short interval before dinner is de?
voted by Madame P. to receive the saluta
tions and enquiries of her guests, and to
welcome the new comers ; and as attend
ance at her apartments in the morning is
by no means expected, this process is con
ducted Avith nearly as much form and
ceremony as can be witnessed at the
court of one of the minor German poten
tates. The operation of dining forms a
considerable feature in the internal eco
nomy of every foreigner's house. As in
Germany and Russia, it is here tediously
long ; and the chief domestics of the fa
mily being admitted to the seats at the
bottom of the table, the party seldom con
sisted of less than 35 or 40 persons : to
this practice, so calculated to keep up the
intimate connexion Avhich subsisted in the
feudal times between the chief and his
dependants, I should have no objection to
.urge, if a greater degree of equality Avas

Gallicia. 395
preserved in the distribution of the good
things of which all should partake ; but
the choice wine is not intended for general
circulation, (though I could not discover
that its precise limits Avere marked by the
salt-cellar, as in our OAvn country of old)
and a more tantalizing situation cannot
be imagined than that of the hungry vas
sal who sees an inviting dish, which is
never to return, carried from under his
nose to the side-board for dissection.
" The apris diner is short : coffee is
served, and the Avhole party retire till nine
o'clock, as if by mutual consent, to their
own or each other's apartments, Avhen the
hostess again appears, ready to receive
them : if the puppets are in operation,
this interval is passed in the theatre be
longing to the house, which is sufficiently
large for the representation of more in>
.portant performances.
" Gambling, and that for considerable
Sums, forms, I believe, a necessary part of
the daily occupation of every Polish gen-

396 Gallicia.
tleman. No evening passed Avithout it;
nor could it be expected Avhere Count M.
was in company. I observed that cards
were only occasionally introduced, but that
the favourite game consisted in pitching
ducats from the edge of the table so as to
cover one placed in the middle. The win
ner sometimes carried off a handful in this
way. " Amusement, however, of other kinds,
Avas always to be found ; music, and
dancing, and supper had their turn ; and
on the first day pf the year, on which
occasion all the neighbourhood Avere col
lected, as much Avaltzing and polonaizing
Avas exhibited, in as full an assembly has
Avould satisfy the most persevering fre
quenter of parties in London.
" This day Avas also marked by the
marriage of a very beautiful female, re
lated to the family. A dinner, more splen
did in its decorations, more croAvded, and
of longer duration than ordinary, formed
the prelude to the performance of the

Gallicia* 397.
matrimonial rites, Avhich ceremony took
place in the adjoining room.
" The repeated bumpers to the bride's
health, Avhich had succeeded each other
at dinner Avith more than usual rapidity,
could not fail of producing their natural
effect; and so marked was their influence
upon that member of the family to whose
lot it fell to give the fair creature aAvay,
that the ceremony had nothing of the so
lemnity and tribulation belonging to it,
Avhich is generally observable elseAvhere.
It certainly had the recommendation, in
my eyes, of being the merriest Avedding I
ever witnessed : Avhat the forms of pro
ceeding are ih more sober moments, I do
not pretend to say.
" The neAV married couple did not con
sider it necessary, for the sake of retire
ment after the bustle of the day, to run
the risk of being frozen to death by de
camping in a chaise and four (or, as I
should express it more correctly, in a
britzcki or kibitki, the Avinter carriages of

398 Gallicia.
this country) ; but I found afterwards that
they had suffered a still Avorse persecu
tion, in being exposed, at a most incon
veniently early hour the next morning, to
the congratulations of those Avho, to do
honour to their nuptials, had sat up the
Avhole night, making copious libations to
their health.
" This evening is impressed on my me
mory as well by the circumstances 1 have
detailed, as by a conversation I held (or
rather attempted to hold) with a venerable
old Pole, splendidly habited in the ancient
dress of his county. He spoke no lan
guage but his own, and Latin, which at
first Avas to me equally unintelligible; my
ear at last became accustomed to his pro
nunciation of the latter, and I listened,
Avith great interest, to the account of his
early achievements against Lord Heath-
field (of Avhom he spoke Avith high admira
tion) at Gibraltar ; to his lamentations on
the present state of Poland, on the bitter
disappointment which his countrymen had

Gallicia.- 299
suffered, Avhen their eyes were opened to
the true nature of all the promises of Buo
naparte. " Foreigners are, in general, extremely
deficient in resources for the occupation
of their mornings in the country; exercise
not being with them an object of import
ance. Their breakfast is an uncomfortable
meal, taken en robe de chambre, between
sleeping and Avaking and smoking ; and
here as Avell as elsewhere on the conti
nent, feAv leave their apartment for that
purpose. " Excepting Avhen any great general
scheme of amusement Avas in contempla
tion, the immediate retainers of the house
Avere the only attendants at the public
breakfast, Avhich was always prepared in
the palace for those Avho chose to go
there : but on the occasion of a grand
chasse, or similar project, a great display
of oysters from the Black Sea, with cham
pagne and other luxuries, presented too
inviting a repast to be resisted in the

400 Gallicia.
middle of the day ; the result, howeA'er, as
may Avell be imagined, seldom tended to
render the aim of the sportsmen in shoot
ing more deliberate or precise.
~" The trainage being in excellent order,
and the Aveather uncommonly mild for the
time of the year, the ladies were induced
to assist at one of the first hunting expe
ditions which took place after my arrival.
It Avas amusing enough to see the vehicles
Avhich were brought to the door for their
especial conveyance. They had the air of
those in use at the court of Louis XIV.
Avith the substitution of a light sledge for
the ponderous wheels belonging to the car-.
riages of that time; and six horses were
required to set in motion such Aveighty
machines. The men Avho were to be con
veyed found places as they could, in open
traineaux of various descriptions.
" I should imagine that the country
around Tulchyzn must be extremely agree
able in the finer season of the year. It is
prettily diversified Avith hill and dale, and

Gallicia. 401
the large open cultivated spots are here
and there broken very happily by masses
of wood of considerable extent.
" The wolf being the particular object
of this day's sport, our motions were di
rected to one of these insulated woods,
which Ave found had already been care-»
fully surrounded Avith nets, and in the
centre was assembled a motley collection
of mongrels, ready to be let loose for the
purpose of securing the game : the sports<-
men Avere then stationed at the different
passes, and the halloo began. I observed
that the wolf never condescended to turn
upon the currish tribe which followed bark
ing at his heels, except with an occasional
snarl of contempt, but constantly made
for the nearest point for escape, and it ge
nerally ended with his being shot in at
tempting to break through the nets; in
this Way four were disposed of in the
course of the morning, and a fifth was
added to the list of slain, though not until
he had afforded us a more than usual de-
VOL. II. D I)

402 Gallicia.
gree of sport : having contrived to escape
from the toils into the open country, three
of the large Siberian greyhounds were let
loose upon him ; as he went away in a
most gallant style, we Avere obliged to
mount our horses in order to follow him,
and after a gallop which was amply suffi
cient to exhaust the united efforts of all
Madame P.'s stud (Avho were by no means
used to such lengthened performances),
we succeeded in coming up with him
when on the point of being seized by the
dogs. He then stood at bay, made a de
sperate leap at the throat of the horse I
was riding, and falling back in the ef
fort, was immediately seized by the grey
hounds, and shortly dispatched by a cou-
teau de chasse. This was the best day's
sport that I recollect, and I perhaps found
it the more interesting from having acci
dentally been posted near the Prince of
N. As our patience became exhausted,
the necessity of keeping silence was for
gotten; and he gave me a very amusing

Gallicia. 403
detail of his exploits at the great siege of
Gibraltar, in Avhich he had taken a very
considerable share.
" I assisted at various other parties de
chasse, which Avere, for the mosL part, ex
tremely dull, except as they led us into a
new part of the country ; a great slaughter
of hares was the general result, but no
game of a nobler description.
" I cannot dismiss the subject of Poland
without bearing testimony, in the fullest
degree, to the agreeable qualities of the
higher orders of society, both male and fe
male, and to the great attention, as far as I
could discover, which strangers invariably
receive from them. The women possess
in general a more than common degree of
beauty, a superior figure, and great poAvers
of pleasing : the men are, for the most
part, thoroughly practised in the Avays of
the world, and peculiarly calculated to
shine in society. Every Polish nobleman
has seen more or less of foreign countries,
and has something to say upon every sub-
d d 2

404 Gallicia.
ject ; and though it may be doubted whe
ther any great depth of information or
sincerity of feeling is to be found among
them, yet as casual acquaintances, few
people are more agreeable.
" Of the kindness which I, in common
with others, experienced from our hostess,
I cannot say too much; her means are
ample, and she possesses the art of enjoy
ing them: the rupture between the two
countries, of which we received intelli
gence whilst at Tulchyzn, and the refusal
of permission for the English to proceed
to St. Petersburg, (which became, by the
turn that public affairs had taken in Au
stria and Turkey, the only outlet) ren
dered our situation at one time a little
embarrassing. " To attempt a retreat at last became
necessary, and after a good deal of dis
cussion with general K. who then com
manded at Kiev, the first town of import
ance that occurred on our road, we suc
ceeded in obtaining permission to prose-

Gallicia. 405
cute our journey to the capital, although
not Avithout being placed under the sur
veillance of a Russian officer, Avho accom
panied us the whole of the way."
In the present aera of general peace we
were happily free from such occurrences
as might have been the lot of travellers a
few years back ; no difficulties indeed of any
sort occurred. Our horses were good, our
roads excellent; so much intercourse in
deed was kept up on this line, that a stage
coach was constantly travelling between
Lenaberg and Vienna, and this in no way
inferior, as to equipment, to those which
are seen in France or Germany, though
the journey of 96 German miles occupied
12 days. The inns had gradually improved
since we entered Poland ; we were pro
vided with clean beds and excellent ac
commodations, and a table d'hote was al-
Avays found prepared towards the middle of
the day, which we made a point of frequent
ing. The company generally consisted of
some Austrian officers, a few merchants, and

406 Gallicia.
some of the petty seigneurs of the coun
try. The French language was not com
monly talked, feAV seeming masters of it,
but Latin was used in its stead; for to
converse in that tongue is made a neces
sary point of education at all the schools,
and we met no one but had acquired the
art of speaking it Avithr fluency. I should
add, that the Poles are celebrated for their
ready talent in this respect, and are in ge
neral better linguists than even the Rus
sians themselves.
It was at one of these meetings in the
hotel at Jaroslav that we were accosted, to
our surprise, by a felloAV-countryman, who
made many enquiries about England ;— -
having satisfied him, — he told us in re
turn, that he had been brought hither by
a Polish nobleman, and employed in the
superintendance of a brewery near this
place ; but that the speculation failed, and
he met with great losses. He had, however^
nearly forgotten his mother tongue, and his
story was to our ears scarcely intelligible.

Gallicia. 407
From Tarnov to Bochnia, and Wielicsa,
we viewed nothing but a repetition of what
we had before seen ; an open country of
grain, varied by Ioav ranges of hills, and
intersected by the small rivers that cha
racterise a remote inland district.
The salt-works at Bochnia would have
detained us, if we had not a greater object
in view at our next stage, the mines of
Wielicsa, which have been much cele
brated; they form, indeed, one of the
largest labyrinths of excavation in Europe,
and being peopled with upwards of 2000
souls, give a complpte idea of a subter
ranean world. Some notion of their ex
tent may be conceived wheii it is related
that the whole town is completely under
mined : the galleries extending in length,
from east to west, about 6000 feet, and
about one third of that distance in
breadth; the total depth is estimated at
140 clatter or fathoms; and this is per
petually on the increase. We were Ioav-

408 Gallicia.
ered by a wheel down one of the shafts,
for about forty fathoms, being a party of
sixteen seated in slings that were attached
to a large cable : arrived at the first gal
lery, Ave halted, and thence descended to
a second, a third, and even a fourth, by
means of regular stairs cut in the rock of
salt. But the more splendid part of the
sight consists in the chambers or vaults,
of which upAvards of three hundred are
contained in the circuit, many of them
of very large dimensions ; the chief was
that called the Psikos, in which nearly
the whole of the area was filled with
water. At the time when the King of Saxony
paid a visit to this place, after taking pos
session of his moiety of the mines as Duke
of Warsaw, in the year 1810, the Psikos
cavern was selected for exhibition : it was
splendidly lighted up with tapers, and a
full band of music floating on the dark lake,
made the roof re-echo with patriotic airs

Gallicia. 409
in honour of the re-establishment of the
Polish sovereignty. It was on the same
occasion that a ball was given in the great
hall in the first gallery, which is a large
room regularly shaped, and of about fifty
or sixty feet in length. The S/parkling sur
face of the rock salt reflecting the blaze
of the chandeliers, and the various colour
ed dresses of a numerous assemblage of
company, are said to have displayed an
appearance inconceivably brilliant: but
having no means of judging from our
humble survey of the effect of such pre
parations, Ave were more delighted with
many other parts than the present cheer
less aspect of the great hall ; and perhaps
the chapel of Cunegunda struck us as
more beautiful than any thing else that
had on that day been exhibited. The
sera of its formation is almost coeval with
the opening of the mine, and is calculated
to have taken place about 600 years back ;
the simple round style of its architecture

410 Gallicia.
bears, indeed, testimony to its antiquity.
It is chiefly remarkable, however, for its
material; the columns with their high
wrought capitals, the arches with their or
namental groins, niches Avith the images
of saints, and all the decorations of the
altar, are carved in the transparent rock-
salt ; as well as two priests, who are re
presented at prayers before the shrine of
the patron saint. But these wonders have
already furnished matter to more vivid
imaginations, and found a place among
talPs of romance; I shall therefore con
clude my story.
The article, as prepared for traffic, is
cut in large cubical blocks, and carried
away without farther package, since its
quality is so pure by nature, that to per
fect it for use it is simply reduced to pow
der; no process of solution being re
quisite, or any other mode of manufac
ture. The net receipts arising from the mines

Cracow. 411
are not of so great an amount as plight be
expected ; they are stated, it is said, at
2,000,000 florins of annual revenue*.
Leaving Wielicsa we continued our
route, having received the permission of
the governor of Lemberg to extend our
journey a few miles beyond the frontier of
Gallicia. The country was bare of trees,
and void of any features of dignity ; but
the stream of the Vistula, Avith the spires
of Cracow rising in its valley, were suffi
cient to diversify the appearance. Nei
ther were memorials wanting that should
illustrate the antiquity of the spot, or its
claim to interest. Immediately above the
river side stood adarge earthen tumulus, that
marked the grave of Cracus the founder of
the city : a little higher up the river side
* The workmen can make, with industry, about two
paper florins each per day. The thermometer stopd at
58° Fahrenheit, being at this time 82° in the open air;
but the number of lights constantly burning perhaps in
creased the heat beyond the natural temperature of the
earth.

412 Cracow.
Avas a similar erection, reported, by tradi
tion, to be the sepulchral monument of his
daughter Wenda. The story of this prin
cess borders upon the marvellous : her
soul, it seems, was given to war; and, un
willing to yield to the controul of any
softer passion, she promised to give her
hand to him alone of her lovers who
should prove her conquPror in the field.
Ritigner was the last of a long list who
marshalled a body of troops to woo by
force of arms the Amazonian heroine.
But his soldiers possessing less ardour in
the cause than inspired their chieftain, ig-
nominiously refused the comhat, and fled
before the Cracovite forces. Ritigner upon
this (and indeed he could not well do less)
threw himself upon his sword in despair,
and expired in the sight of his mistress-
To conclude the tale, Wenda returned vic
torious to her capital; but feeling unhappy
in the celebration of such a triumph, she also
played the Roman, and made away Avith
herself by plunging into the Vistula, and

Cracow. 413
devoting herself, yet a virgin, to the em
braces of the river god.
Stretching our eyes beyond these mo
numents, a place of interest in later his
tory was eagerly pointed out to us by our
peasant drivers ; it was the field of Zecho-
kino, a spot where the brave Kosciusko,
with his band of peasant soldiers, gain
ed a victory over the Russians during
their second attack upon the liberties of
Poland. He lay with his men in ambus
cade, and falling upon the enemy un
awares, slaughtered near half the number
on the spot. Cracow was at that day al
ready in the hands of the Poles, this suc
cess seemed to rouse the whole nation at
once to exertion, and faint hopes of suc
cess were for a while entertained.
But it was useless now to sigh after the
phantoms of freedom and independence.
The antiquity of the foundation of this
place, and the celebrity which it once en
joyed, were but melancholy recollections
at this day, when Cracow shewed itself

414 Cracow.
stripped of all its former wealth, and ac
customed by long experience to the yoke
of foreign tyrants.
This last circumstance was curiously ex
emplified. The barriers of the Podgorge
or southern suburb were painted with the
white eagle ; but we Avere accosted by an
Austrian guard from the military detach
ment who occupied the right bank of the
river. On crossing the ferry to the second
quarter of the town, a Russian officer, com
menced his examination ; and a feAV yards
farther we were similarly visited by the
civil authorities of the Saxon,. or, as they
called it, Polish government, who were, it
seemed, still continued in their functions.
On driving through the place, the streets
appeared old and dismal, and marked in
general with that aspect of gloom which
the decay of a once flourishing trade never
fails to produce*. In the outskirts ap-
* Day labour, 30 creutzers. 60 creutzers = 1 florin
(silver) = 3 shillings English.
The currency of the place, on this side of the Vistula,

Cracow. 415
peared many houses fallen into neglect,
and in an absolute state of ruin. The fact
indeed, that out of a population' Avhich
once consisted of 80,000 only a fourth
part should now remain, is conclusive, and
may serve to give an idea of the present
lonesome and impoverished condition ofi
Cracow. So much were the national customs su
perseded by the introduction of foreign
habits, that Ave observed very few exam
ples of the Polish dress any where in the
streets; one or tAvo seigneurs only were
seen who Avore the short cassoc of blue or
brown, tied Avith a red sash about their
loins* and the white square-topped cap on
their heads ; a costume which is particu
larly well adapted to the tall and comely
figure of a noble Pole. A few also of the
was carried on in specie, chiefly the 20-creutzer pieces of
Prussia, or the coinage of the dukedom of Warsaw.
There was a manufactory of cloth, another of blue dies,
and a brewery ; but none of these were in any great state
of activity.

416 Cracow.
older men among the peasantry displayed
their loose hose and boots, and the white
cloth gown over their shoulders, and their
heads shaved with only a circle of hair left
on the top; but these symptoms of at
tachment to ancient form were very rare,
and the ladies were invariably attired in
the French or German fashions.
The citadpl of Cracow stands proudly
on an eminence commanding the town :
it is surrounded with lofty Avails and high
tOAvers, and contains within its precincts
the remains of several public buildings be
longing to the former government. But
the palace, as well as the house of diet,
have been demolished by the Austrians,
and barracks for their soldiers (no inappro
priate substitution) erected on the founda
tions. The cathedral is a handsome structure,
and well deserves the observation of
strangers, for many other points than its
great bell, or its chapel covered with a
roof of golden tiles. Among the tombs of

Cracow. 417
their kings we read the names of Mcislas,
Jagellon, Casimir the Great, Sigismond I.
Stephen Battori, and Sobieski the saviour
of Vienna; men that once had an influ
ence in the great affairs of Europe, and
respect for whom ought to have ensured a.
better fate for their unhappy posterity.
The chair formerly used at the solemnities
of coronation is also preserved here: the
aged guide seemed almost in tears when
he pointed it out to our attention, and
told he was present when Poniatowski was
placed in that seat.
This Avas an overflow of patriotism that
might have been spared: their last king
Avas sovereign of Poland, it is true; but
the name was the only claim he had in
that capacity to the affection of the na
tion. All other circumstances, hoAvever,
are now forgotten in the general regret for
the extinction of the crown. We might
judge from bur friend's sensibility of the
incoherent nature of his ideas : he at ter-
Avards pointed' out to us the sewer, through.
VOL. IT. E E

418 Cracow.
which a party of his countrymen, the
members of the confederation of Barr,
crept into the castle by night, with the
intention of stealing away the puppet Po-
niatowski ; and he displayed, on this occa
sion, the same emotion as we had Avit-
nessed on beholding the chair of corona
tion, or the tomb where his ashes reposed.
Of this description, in general, are the
sentiments of the people who cry out for
independence, but neither know Avhat it
is they have lost, or what is the nature of
that tyranny which they so much Avish to
see renewed.
The church of N. D., the monastery of
St. Stephen', the botanical garden, the uni
versity, built in a semigothic style, and
the public promenade of the garden of
Lodi, were also objects Avorthy of atten
tion : though the most curious quarter of
Cracow is that of the Casimir town, being
Avholly inhabited by JeAvs, and having
been originally built for that people by
the monarch whose name it bears.

Cracow. 41-9
The JeAvs are first said to have been in
troduced into Gallicia by Boleslaus, King
of Haliez, in 1264. But the period of their
prosperity commenced in the reign of
Casimir the Great, Avho, instigated by his
beautiful JeAvish concubine Esther, grant
ed them so many immunities and privi
leges as attracted settlers from all parts of
Germany to his dominions. They after-
Avards became a body highly useful and
acceptable to the. nobility, not only by
their commercial connexions, but by the
activity Avith which they engaged in their
domestic concerns : and in time they made
themselves necessary to them, by com
pletely occupying the place of that middle
rank in society, to which a wiser system of
policy would have elevated the native vas
sals. They filled all the chief houses of
trade in the town and country, and were,
in general, the stewards and agents of all
landed property, and finally greAV to form
so powerful a class, that they not only
procured the right of establishing judicial
e e 2

420 Cracow.
tribunals among themselves (subject only
to the way wode) but were allowed to have
an officer, nominated by the king, who
should attend the meetings of the diet on
behalf of their sect.
By their present governors they seemed
rather viewed as profitable objects of taxa
tion than in any more honourable light,
and they suffered accordingly the most
enormous exactions: a capitation, tax is
fair enough, but it is not ori quite so equita
ble a principle that the law, taking advan
tage of their peculiar habits and customs,
lays an heavy burden upon them Avhich is
impossible to evade : thus, the privilege of
having an animal, killed is valued at 15
groschen; if a turkey, one florin and a
half is paid, or for a goose one florin.
This last is a very productive impost, for
the greasy nature of this bird makes it a
favourite dish among the JeAvs, who can
not taste the forbidden flesh of swine.
They are taxed again for the candles
burnt in their synagogue, and for the

Cracow. 42-1
large flambeaux used at the ceremony
of marriage, and for many other similar
articles. To give an opinion of them, they are, as
far as strangers could judge, an industrious
and persevering people, and of a nature
that, notwithstanding the oppressive hand
of government, seem every where to
thrive; some, indeed, have amassed large
, fortunes in spite of all difficulties, and set
tling in one or other of the Jewish towns,
live in a state of considerable opulence
and luxury.
With regard to the Polish nobility, the
extent of their power as individuals, as
Avell as politically speaking, has been
much diminished since the annihilation of
the semi-republican form of government.
In the parts under the government of Au
stria and Prussia, the inordinate authority
of the seigneur over his \Tassals has been
restrained by law. They do not now en
joy the right, of inflicting corporal punish
ment ; nor, indeed, are slaves hoav, as for,-

422 Cracow.
fnerly the case, attached to the glebe, so
that their condition, in some respects, as
similates to that of the German peasant.
Besides this, the manners of the nobles
themselves are greatly changed and im
proved (as was before remarked) by inter
course Avith their neighbours. There are
those, it is true, Avho confine themselves
almost entirely to their country residences;
but a great proportion are to be found in
society, at the respective capitals of their
sovereigns, particularly at Petersburg and
Vienna. They are many of them also em
ployed in official situations, for Avhich they
are made equally eligible Avith the rest of
their fellow subjects.
Those Avho have fallen under the do
mination of Prussia are excluded from any
share in public employments ; but, not
withstanding this unjust exception, the
mild nature and excellent regulations of
the Prussian government have succeeded
in making it more generally popular and
acceptable among all classes in Poland

Cracow* 423
than either the. Russian or Austrian admi
nistrations. As to the feelings of the country in ge
neral, and their desire to recover that inde
pendence which had lately been so much
talked about; a strong spirit of enthusiasm
appeared almost every where to prevail.
The nobles vieAved in the common cause
the recovery of their fancied rights ; the
people heard it only as a name : still it
was the Avatcrnvord of patriotism, and all
Avere actuated by the same wish to see
Poland re-established in the rank of na
tions. The levies made in the neighbour
hood during the occupation of Cracow by
the French were raised by ballot, but
Avithout resorting to any harsh means of
compulsion : the people were ripe for ac
tion, and every Pole has a soul for Avar.
One of the citizens amused us much, by-
recounting a story of his being called
upon by a French officer to go and in
spect one of these bands of irregulars : they
Avere peasants, in their working dress, arm-

424 Cracow.
ed Avith scythes fastened on long staves,
weapons that promised, in their hands, to
be by no means inefficient. They had
gone through several evolutions in excel
lent style, when our friend paid some com
pliment to their commandant on their pro
ficiency. He allowed they succeeded ex
tremely well, and that their forwardness
was very creditable to the corps, consider
ing the short time they had been embo
died ; but, added he, this is not all ; wait
a feAv instants, and you shall hear my re
gimental music. Upon this the Avord was
given, and the Avhole line drew forth their
Avhetstones from their sides, and began to
sharpen their scythes with such a blithe
and merry sound as dinned the ears of his
astonished companion.
It cannot be held surprising that the
proclamations of Buonaparte should have
produced a certain effect upon the minds
of the people of Poland, Avhen they had so
long looked to France for deliverance. The
legion of Dombrowski at the time of the

Cracow. 425
second partition, finding all their efforts
to be unavailing, retired to that coun
try, offering its services to the friends
of revolutionary liberty. From hence
a constant connexion was kept up be
tween the two nations; and Dombrowski
being sent hither during the Avar of 1809,
his presence excited an enthusiastic feel
ing that induced numerous volunteers to
join the French army. The subsequent
appointment of Poniatowski (nephew of
the late king) to command a corps d'armee,
seemed to raise their hopes to the highest
pitch ; at the same time the most flatter
ing promises Avere uttered by the French
government, and upAvards of fourteen mil
lions of people heard the call. When the
marshal entered CracoAv, the shops Avere
lighted up, every public honour lavished
on his arrival, and the citizens seemed to
think the emancipation of their country
Avas at hand. This spirit, hoAvever, was
sufficiently repressed in the eastern parts
of Poland by the Russian troops : the le-

426 Cracow.
vies were scanty, and, indeed, says Pradt,
Volhynia " afforded us only two soldiers ;"
but where these tyrants Avere not numer
ous, symptoms of insubordination mani
fested themselves in daily murmurs and
discontent. Even at Kiev Ave Avere in
formed that a tone of insolence and pre
sumption, before unknown, Avas constantly
in the mouths of the Poles who were re
sident there, from the highest to the loAvest
orders, and an almost revolutionary free
dom of manner reigned throughout.
At this time, nOAV that the poAver of
France was humbled, the fallen chieftain
was still regarded Avith the most friendly
eye ; and the reports that we heard in cir
culation of open dissensions between the
new king and his people, of armies in the
field, &c. of French marshals divided into
parties and exciting the broils of civil Avar,
were sufficient evidences in themselves of
the real Avishes of those Avho forged and
propagated these stories.
The name or even semblance of inde-

Gallicia. 427
pen den ce is so popular, however, and the
creation of the dukedom of WarsaAv was
so much approved, that I have no doubt
but that the promulgation of the neAV con
stitution, under the viceroyalty of Russia,
(promising at least the reunion of the na
tion) Avill be not ill received on the part of
the people.
August 9- — We now repassed the Vis
tula to the Austrian territories, and after
some trouble with the douaniers, Avho Avere
very diligent in their search after tea or
tobacco, Ave regained the road to Vienna.
On passing under the beautiful monastery
of Calvary, and ascending the first offset
of those long ranges that branch out from
the Krapaks, the scene opened to us a no
ble amphitheatre of mountains, stretching
from the Silesian frontier far round to the
southern horizon. The foreground was
not much diversified : we Avere met now
and then by a Jew trader, Avith cargoes of
hides or salt, and our ears Avere some
times assailed by the creaking waggons

428 Gallicia.
that conA^eyed the copper money to Vienna
which had been received from the salt
mines, or here and there were more agree
ably saluted by a chorus of Avomen chant
ing hymns as they returned from working
in the fields. The constant employment
of women, in agricultural labours of every
sort, is a custom Avhich, though much
more universal at all times on the conti
nent than in England, is said to have been
generally on the increase for this last
twenty years, from the incessant demands
of the different European governments for
men. This Avas however by no means the
only example we saAv of the misery which
Avas occasioned by the late wars ; the num
ber of those thrown out of employment
from the change of interest from one side
to the other Avas enormous, and many in
these parts without any worse crime than a
just though impolitic feeling of patriotism
Avere now reduced to want and beggary.
Occasionally Ave encountered a solitary
traveller on the road, and of these avc

Gallicia. 429
Were most interested for a poor Pole at
Zebnik, Avho requested a seat at the back
of our carriage : he had served as a soldier
in the French army, in the war of 1812 ;
had been at Moscoav, Viasma, Dorogo
busch, Smolensko, &c. and Avas finally
taken prisoner at Dresden in the late
campaign : he Avas now on his return
home, having refused service in the Au
strian army, and about to live in retire
ment, a suspected character, as was natu
rally the lot of too many Avho were en
gaged in the late transactions.
We saw on this side of Gallicia also, as
well as we had on the other, numerous
bodies of Austrian troops on their way to
the frontier. They were provided with
trains of artillery, of caissons, of pontoons,
and every material of war ; and carried but
little the appearance (which we were told
was the object of their march) of being inT
tended as a mere guard of honour, to re-
ceiA'e the Emperor of Russia on his ex
pected arrival. The Russians, on their

430 Gallicia.
side, did not seem to be inactive; and
from appearances one might judge that
a large army was draAving together in the
neighbourhood of Cracow.
It Avas easy to foresee that if the cession
of Gallicia* were insisted upon by Russia,
war must ensue. But now being on our
Avay to the congress at Vienna, it was folly
to speculate on political contingencies, and
we pursued our road heedless of the pro
mise of these warlike demonstrations.
At Belitz we took our leave of Poland,
and passing through Austrian Silesia and
Moravia, arrived in the course of the
month at Vienna.
* Gallicia (or Lodomeria, according to its name in
diplomacy) was formerly a part of the kingdom of Hun
gary. It was separated in the person of a daughter of
Lewis, King of Hungary and Poland, Hedwigi by name,
who married Jagellon, Duke of Lithuania, and taking
Gallicia as her portion united it to the crown of Poland.
This sort of claim, however, is now out of fashion in
modern political arrangements : and it muse be observed
that it is called a separate kingdom, the emperor's titles
being Hungaria?, Bohemias, et Gallicia? Rex.

Gallicia. 431
¦ To the eye of a mineralogist, the country
we had traversed would present one vast
plain, from the rocks of Finland to the
foot of the Carpathian Mountains : the
eminences that occurred at Valdai, at Mos
cow, Smolensko, Kiev, &c. can scarcely be
said to make any material variation in its
form. Numerous rivers, it may be sup
posed, intersect this surface, and the soil,
as to its fertility, shews many degrees of
excellence. The plains about Valdai, as well as the
hills themselves, Avere covered Avith sand ;
and on their summits, Avhich had in some
parts a broken appearance, Ave found nu
merous boulder stones of red gneiss, mica
slate, and other fragments of primitive
rocks : the height may be about 400 feet.
It may be worth while here to make
an observation which is not wholly inap
plicable to this subject ; namely, that the
tracts lying to the north of this point seem
to have an higher general elevation than
those on the south : inasmuch as the rivers

432 Gallicia.
taking their course in that direction are
slow and torpid, while the Don, the
Wolga, and the rivers on the opposite
side, flow with great rapidity, although
the course they have to run to their re
spective seas is much longer than the line
to the Baltic; and therefore, if these two
plains were of equal elevation, the force
of their currents would be proportionably
diminished. Boggy ground and black mould suc
ceeded occasionally ; but the soil assumed
a redder hue as we approached the govern
ment of Moscow; and the little cliffs that
overhung the MoskAva river to the east and
west Avere entirely of red rock marl. This
soil generally predominated in the line we
took to Smolensko, though here some
calcareous sandstone also broke out in
places. The river Dnieper, at this part,
lies extremely deep in its bed, bearing a
striking resemblance, both in the colour
and form of its banks, as Avell as its size,
to the river Severn, in Shropshire and Wor-

Gallicia. 4S3
cestershire. The same soil continued on our
road to the south, only growing blacker as
we approached the beds of the Desna or
the Dnieper ; and some distance from the
latter we observed large plains of sand, ex
tending on both sides, as is generally the
case with great rivers.
The Hill of Kiev, which is of considerable
elevation, is entirely of fine sandstone ; on
the south is a naked steppe, and on the
Avest our road soon carried us from the
rising ground on which the town stands to
a level plain.
The banks of the river at Zytomir Avere
again of a red soil, and on the Slucz, at the
town of Novgorod Volhynskoi, we were
surprised with the appearance of a sienitic
rock, which rose thirty or forty feet over
the river banks. The ground which covered
it was of the same nature we had so often
met with, but perhaps of a more decided
ochrous colour, and our line of country,
we observed, had for some distance been
more diversified than before by a gentle
VOL. II. f f

434 Gallicia.
rise and fall. A few boulder stones of a
granitic formation were scattered in various
directions. At Sokolavla we passed over one of the
secondary branches of the Krapaks. The
rock was a yellowish, granular, shelly lime
stone; the same appeared at Lemberg,
but surmounted by high sand-hills : as we
receded from the limits of this formation,
we came again upon the red soil, which,
however, was mixed with sand.
At Wielicsa we were on the immense
bed of fossil salt that breaks out on every
side of the Carpathian ranges. It lay im
bedded and stratified in parts Avith shale ;
the point where the pure rock salt com
menced was at a depth not much short of
an hundred feet under the argillaceous
stratum. Near CracoAv we again came on the
limestone formation ; it was an extremely
compact rock, containing shells, and what
was more extraordinary, occasionally ex
hibiting small black flints imbedded in it.

Gallicia. 435
We were told there was coal to be found
about six miles higher on the Vistula.
As our road only passed over the se
condary formations of the great range of
the Krapaks, any further hint on this sub
ject would be useless; and indeed their
description has already been published
by a Avriter far better informed on the
subject.

THE END.

X. DAVISON, Lombard.street,
Whitefriars, London.

Albemarle-street, Lundun,
March, 1817-
JUST PUBLISHED.
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IN THE PRESS.
JOURNAL of the late CAPTAIN TUCKEY, on a
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