~>7(J PtfeffburgJt, Moscow, and the Provinces. Nov. 



^ " A Russian lady, being engaged to dinner with M. de Talleyrand, at that 

 time minister for foreign affairs, was detained a full hour by some unexpected 

 accident. The famished guests grumbled, and looked at their watches. On 

 the lady's entrance, one of the company observed to his neighbour in Greek, 

 ' When a woman is neither young nor handsome, she ought to arrive 

 betimes.' The lady, turning round sharply, accosted the satirist in the same 

 language ; ' When a woman/ says she, ' has the misfortune to dine with 

 savages, she always arrives too soon/ 



" An American ambassador having been presented to the reigning empress, 

 her majesty addressed him in English, which she spoke in perfection. At the 

 close of the audience, the delighted envoy exclaimed to the courtier who had 

 introduced him, ( What a charming woman ! how admirably she speaks 

 English! To what country does she belong?' ' Germany.' ( Indeed! I 

 should have supposed her English ; she speaks the language so well ! And 

 of what family is she ?' ' Of the house of Baden.' ' What an amiable, sen- 

 sible woman ! Speaks English with as much purity as if she had been born 

 at Boston !' And the worthy envoy took his departure, wholly blind to the 

 rank, wit, and graces of the empress. The only circumstance which 

 impressed him was her acquaintance with his language an acquirement 

 which, in his opinion, outweighed all others." 



The author's amour-propre leads him to enlarge on the preference 

 shewn by the Russians to the French language. This, however, is a 

 pardonable instance of vanity. On this subject we have a little anecdote 

 of our own. A Spanish linguist, discussing the merits of different lan- 

 guages, observed, that were he to choose, he would address his valet in 

 French, his horse in German, his mistress in Italian, and his Creator in 

 Spanish. 



" A lady being once taken to task for her exclusive partiality for the French 

 language, ' If the people in the moon," said she, ' have tongues, I am quite 

 convinced they must speak in good Parisian ; and I have little doubt but that, 

 in two hundred years hence, Moliere's Tartuffe will be performed in the 

 capital of China, where Perigord pies will be eaten, and paid for with French 

 louis-d'or.' " 



We have some anecdotes with regard to the superstition of the Rus- 

 sians : 



" When a Russian peasant imagines that his cattle are of an unlucky 

 colour, no persuasion can prevent him from changing them. This supersti- 

 tious fancy extends even to his poultry ; and it is by no means uncommon to 

 see the hens, ducks, and geese in a farm-yard all of the same monotonous hue. 

 When such is the case, should the peasant receive a present of a cow, differing 

 in colour from the rest of his live stock only by the shade of a single hair, the 

 animal would be sold on the instant, to prevent mischief from befalling the 

 remainder of his herd." 



" Prince Belloselsky possesses to an eminent degree the talent of telling a 

 ghost-story. At a large party, one evening, the ladies drew their chairs 

 around him, and exclaimed, ( Do, Prince, terrify us a little.' Upon this, 

 the prince ordered the lights to be extinguished, with the exception of one, 

 which was left burning in an adjoining apartment, the door of which remained 

 ajar. The narrator commenced his tale, which turned, as might be expected, 

 upon the apparition of a horrid phantom, advancing slowly, in the midst of 

 darkness visible, towards a person in bed. For the last ten minutes, the prince 

 had kept his hand extended on a marble table: his voice assumed a sepulchral 

 tone. All at once, he applied his icy hand upon the bare arm of his hostess, 

 who uttered a piercing scream. The terrified auditors rushed into the other 

 room, and, in their confusion, extinguished the solitary light. The sudden 

 darkness redoubled their panic. At last the servants made their appearance 

 with flambeaux ; and the prince, who began to be alarmed at the success of 

 his experiment, succeeded with some difiiculty in calming the apprehensions 



