Madame de StaSfs Ten Y-eo.rs'' ExiU. 



055 



Ij^rbafities which disfigure the history 

 • of Russia may Ite urged, reasouably, as 

 evidence of a con(rary character ; but 

 tliese I should rather lay to the cbai-se 

 of the Boyais, the class which was <fe- 

 prared by the despotism which it exer- 

 cised or subuiitted to, than to the aa- 

 •jfioA itself. 

 ^'l Although I was driven along^ with 



freat rapidity, it seemed to me that I 

 id not advance a step, the country 

 was so extremely monotonous. Plains 

 of saud, forests of birch trees, and vil- 

 Iciges at a great distance from each 

 ■cither, composed of wooden houses all 

 built 'upon the same plan : tliese were 

 the only objects that my eyes encoun- 

 -.tgred. I felt that sort of nightmare 

 tvbich sometimes seizes one during the 

 •night, when yon think you are always 

 inarching and never advancing. The 

 ^cbuhtry appeared to me like the image 

 'bf 'infinite space, and to I'equire eternity 

 tb'traverse it. Every instant you met 

 'fcouriers passing, wlio went along with 

 incredible swiftness ; they were seated 

 on a wooden bench placed across a lit- 

 ■ tie cart drawn by two horses, and no- 

 thing stopped them for a moment. 

 ;The jolting of their carriage sometimes 

 made them spring two feet aliove it, 

 but they fell with astonishing address, 

 and made haste to call out in Russian, 

 forward, with an energy similar to that 

 •of the French on a day of battle. The 

 Sclavonian language is singularly echo- 

 ing; I should almost say there is some- 

 tiiujg raetallic about it ; you would 

 think you heard a bell striking, when 

 the Russians pronounce certain letters 

 of their alphabet, quite different from 

 those which compose the dialects of the 

 AVest. 



THE RUSSIAN PEOPLE. 



'"'I reached at last that part of my road 

 ■ttiiich removed me from the theatre of 

 war, and arrived iu the governments of 

 Orel and Ton la, which have been so 

 much talked of since, in the bulletins of 

 the two armies. I was received in these 

 solitary abodes, for so the provincial 

 ■towns in Russia appear, with the most 

 perfect hospitality. Several gentlemen 

 of the neighbouriiood came to my inn 

 to compliment me on my writings, and 

 I confess having been flattered to find 

 that mylit(!rary reputation had extend- 

 ed to this distance from my native coun- 

 li^. The lady of the governor received 

 me in the Asiatic style, with sherbet 

 and roses ; her apartment was elegantly 

 furnished -with musical instruments 

 aiUl pictures. In EurojK" you see every 

 ?•' ' 'it 



wliere tlie contrast (rf wealth and po- 

 verty; but in Russia it may be saiil 

 that neither one nor tlie other malves 

 Itself remarked. The people are not 

 poor ; the great know how to lead, 

 when it is necessary, the same life as 

 the people: it is the mixture of the 

 hai-dest privations and of the most re- 

 fined enjoyments which chaiacterizes 

 the country. These same noblemen, 

 whose residence unites all that the 

 luxury of different parts of the world 

 has most attractive, live, while th^ 

 are travelling, on much worse food 

 than our French peasantry, and know 

 how to bear, not only during war, but 

 in various circumstances of life, a phy- 

 sical existence of the most disagreeable 

 kind. The severity of the climate, 

 the marshes, the forests, the deserts, 

 of wliicli a great part of the country is 

 composed, place man in a continual 

 struggle v.'ith nature. Fruits, and even 

 flowers, only grow in hot-hoiLses ; ve- 

 getables are not generally cultivated; 

 and there ai-e no \ines any where. The 

 habitual mode of life of the French pea- 

 sants could not be obtained in Russia 

 hut at a very great expense. There 

 they have only necessaries by luxury : 

 whence it happens that Avhen luxniy is 

 unattainable, even necesvaries are re- 

 nounced. What the English call com- 

 forts a-re hardly to be met with in Rus- 

 sia, You will never find any thing 

 sufiiciently perfect to satisfy in all ways 

 the imagination of the great Russian 

 noblemen ; but when this poetry of 

 wealth fails them, they drink iiydro- 

 raei, sleep upon a board, and travel 

 day and night in an open carriage, 

 without regretting the luxuiy to which 

 one would thiukthey had been habi- 

 tuated. It is rather as magnificence 

 that they love fortune, than from the 

 pleasures they derive from it : resem- 

 bling still in that point the Easterns, 

 who exercise hospitality to strangers, 

 load them with presents, and yet fre- 

 quently neglect the every-day comforts 

 of their own life. This is one of the 

 reasons which explains that noble 

 courage with v.hlch the Russians have 

 supported the ruin which has been oc- 

 casioned them by the burning of Mos- 

 cow. More accustomed to external 

 pomp than to the care of tiiemselves, 

 they are not mollified by luxury, and 

 the sacrifice of money satisfies their 

 pride as mui-h or more than the magni- 

 ficence of their expenditure. What 

 chanicterizes this people, is something 

 gigantic of all kiuus : itrdiuary dimen- 

 sions 



