056 



Madame deStail' a -Tetu y^t-n' Exik. 



sion^m-enota^'ali applicable to it. I 



do not by timt mean to say tliat ncitliw 

 real grandeur or stability are to be met 

 with in it : but the bohlness and the 

 imagination of the Russians know no 

 bounds: M'ith tliem every thing is co- 

 lossal ratiier than well proportioned, 

 audacious rather than reflective, and if 

 they do not hit the mark it is because 

 tliey overshoot it. 



■'- I was always advancing nearer to 

 '^Moscow, hilt notliing yet indicated the 

 appi'oach to a capital. The wooden 

 villages were equally distant from eacli 

 othfr, we saw no gn-aler movement 

 upon the immense plains which are 

 called high roads; ycni heai'd no more 

 noise ; the country houses were not 

 more numerous : there is so much 

 space in Russia that every thing is lost 

 in it, even the chateaux, even the popu- 

 lation. You might suppose you were 

 travelling through a country from 

 which the people h^d just taken their 

 departure. The absence of birds adds 

 to this silence; cattle also are rare, or 

 at least they are placed at a great dis- 

 tance from the road. Extent makes 

 every thing disappear, except extent 

 itself, like certain ideas in metaphysics, 

 of whicli the mind can never get rid, 

 when it has once seized them. 



The manner of the Russians is so 

 obliging, that you might imagine your- 

 self, the veiy first day, intimate with 

 them, and probably at the end of ten 

 years you would not be ;o. Tlie silence 

 of a Russian is altogether extraordin- 

 ary ; this silence is solely occasioned by 

 what he takes a deep interest in. In 

 other respects they talk as much as you 

 will; but their conversation teaches 

 you nothing but their ])olitcness ; it 

 betrays neither their feelings nor opi- 

 nions. They have been frequently 

 compared to the French, in my opinion 

 with the least justice in the world. 

 The flexibility of their organs makes 

 imitation in all things a matter of ease 

 to them ; they arc English, French, or 

 German in their manners, according 

 to circumstances; but they never cease 

 to he Russians, that is to say uniting 

 impetuosity and reserve, more capable 

 of passion than friendsliip, more bold 

 than delicate, more devout than vir- 

 tuous, more brave than chivalrous, 

 and so violent in their desires that no- 

 thing can stop them, whrn their grati- 

 fication is in question. They are much 

 more hospitable than the French : but 

 ;society does not with them, as with us, 

 consist of a circle of clever people of 



bdth sexes, who take pleasure \n <alR- 

 Ing together. They meet, as we go to 

 a fete, to see a great deal of company, 

 to have fruits ana rare pro<luctions from 

 Asia or Europe; to hear music, to 

 play ; in siiort to receive vivid emo- 

 tions from external objects, rather than 

 from the heart or understanding, both 

 of which they reserve for actions and 

 not for company. Besides, as they are 

 in general very ignorant, they find 

 very little pleasure in serious conversa- 

 tion, and do not at all i)ique themselves 

 on shining by the wit they can exhibit 

 in it. Poetry, elo(|iience, and litera- 

 ture, are not yet to be found in Russia; 

 luxury, power, and coumge, are the 

 principal objects of pride and ambition, 

 all other methods of ac(juiring distinc- 

 tion appear as yet effeminate and vain 

 to this nation. • ' ' 



But the peojde are slavesj it will be 

 said: what character therefore can they 

 be supposed to have? It is not cer- 

 tainly necessary for me to .say that all 

 enlightened people wish to see the Rus- 

 sian people freed from this state, and 

 probably no one wishes it more strongly 

 than the Emperor Alexander : but the 

 Russian slavery has no resemblance in 

 its effects to thut of M-Jiich we form the 

 idea in the West ; it is not as under 

 the feudal system, vi<toi-s who have 

 imposed severe laws on the vanqnish- 

 etl ; the ties which connect the gran- 

 dees with the people resemble' rather 

 what was called a family of slaves 

 among the ancients, than the slate of 

 serfs among the moderns. There is no 

 middling class in Russia, which is a 

 great drawback on the progress of litera- 

 ture and the arts ; for it is generally in 

 tliat class that knowledge is developed: 

 but the want of any intermedium be- 

 tween the nobility and the people 

 creates a greater afiection between 

 them both. The distance between the 

 t\A-o classes apjjears greater, becausi; 

 there are no steps between these two 

 extremities, which in fact border very 

 nearly on each other, not being sepa- 

 ratefl by a middling class. This is a 

 state of social organization quite unfa- 

 vourable to the knowledge of the higher 

 classes, but not so to the happiness of 

 the lower. Besides, where there is no 

 representative goveniment, that is to 

 say, in countries where the sovereign 

 still promulgates the law which -he 

 is to execute, men arc frequently 

 more degraded by the very sacrifice 

 of their reason and character, than thay 

 are iu this vast empire, in which a few 

 , simple 



