168 PAUL PETKOWITSCIf I. EMPEROR OF RUSSIA. 



heiducke always kept several pairs of gloves warm within his bosom, 

 that he might change them at frequent intervals. He never wore a 

 fur cloak, but an undress uniform coat, which was lined on the inside 

 with black fox-skin, and to the fashion of which he latterly paid more 

 scrupulous attention than in the early part of his life. He always ad- 

 dressed his officers as equals, nor ever allowed himself, even in an 

 angry moment, the use of that degrading epithet " thou" which is 

 an idiom of the Russian language, and the customary distinction ob- 

 served by one speaking to his inferiors. When he chastised any one 

 he frequently observed, " I feed you to no purpose." 



On one occasion he said, " I was in monstrous good humour to- 

 day ; my powder magazine (meaning his fits of passion) never blew 

 up." It was impossible for any one who was intimately acquainted 

 with Paul not to be struck with his understanding, knowledge, and 

 sound judgment. He was quite at home in all matters relating to 

 cavalry tactics. 



A long series of mortifications at length inspired him with animo- 

 sity against his own subjects and the human race, and consequently 

 added to the natural impetuosity of his temper. Eager to realize his 

 plan of reformation he determined to remove or punish all who op- 

 posed it : he betrayed on every occasion an inveterate hatred towards 

 those who seemed attached to the old form of things; and an over- 

 acuteness of sensibility, first leading him to regard whatever fell con- 

 trary to his wishes as personal insult or ingratitude, at last rooted the 

 seeds of distrust so deeply in his mind, as to engender an incessant 

 dread of revolutions. 



There were moments when Paul would indulge in thought and be- 

 wail his errors with bitter tears; there were others when a sense of 

 his own weakness would aggravate his spleen. The consciousness of 

 failing frequently goaded him on to the commission of fresh offence, 

 and reduced him ultimately to such a wretched state of misanthropy, 

 that he held every one to be his enemy, and the amiable features of 

 his character were irrevocably lost. Sensual enjoyments, to which he 

 was once far from being addicted, now became his sole resource 

 against the poignancy of reflection. But, towards the last period of 

 his wretched existence, he seemed to be again alive to pleasure, and 

 declared that he felt himself younger by twenty years. 



Although Paul has been the means of rendering thousands happy, 

 scarcely one is to be found who will acknowledge him as his benefac- 

 tor scarcely one seems disposed to pass that judgment on him which 

 makes allowance for the universal weakness of human nature. Many 

 of those who owe their all of happiness to him, remember only the 

 insults he may have offered them in an unguarded hour ; though it 

 must indeed be acknowledged, that the man who was one day fos- 

 tered by his kindness was perhaps the next subjected to the humilia- 

 tion of his caprice. 



What an awful lesson does not Paul's unfortunate career, and its 

 melancholy termination, offer for the contemplation of those to whom 

 Providence has entrusted the earthly welfare of mankind ! 



Cambridge University, 1835. D. 



