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Ms presence was about (o extinguish ; 

 for a moment I dreamed that he would 

 gkay in jeplacin^, in the palace of the 

 czars, the chief of the great horde, 

 wbich had also once had possession of 

 it; but the sky was so beautiful, that 

 I repelled the appi ehension. 



ROSTOPCHIN. 



•f! The famous Count Rostopchin, with 

 whose name the Emperor's bulletins 

 have been filled, came to see me, and 

 invited me to dine with him. He had 

 been minister for foreign affairs to 

 Paul I., his conversation had some- 

 thing original about it, and you could 

 easilyperceive that his character would 

 sihow itself in a very strong manner, if 

 circumstances required it. The Coun- 

 tess Rostopchin was good enough to 

 give me a l>ook which she had written 

 on the triumphs of religion, the style 

 and morality of which were very pure. 

 I went to visit her at her country- 

 house, in the interior of Moscow; I 

 was ohliged to cross a lake and a wood 

 in order to reach it: it was to this 

 house, one of the most agreeable resi- 

 dences in Russia, that Count Rostop- 

 chin himself set fire, on the approach 

 jof the French army. Certainly an ac- 

 tion of this kind was likely to excite a 

 cei-tain kind of admiration, even in 

 enemies. The Emperor Napoleon has, 

 notwithstanding, compared Count Ros- 

 topchin to Marat, forgetting that the 

 governor of Moscow sacrificed his own 

 interests, while Marat set fire to the 

 ioiises of others, which certainly makes 

 a considerable difference. The only 

 thing which Count Rostopchin could 

 properly be reproached with, was his 

 concealing too long the bad news from 

 the armies, either from flattering him- 

 self, or, believing it to be necessary to 

 flatter others. 



STATE OF LEARNING. 



I saw at Moscow the mostenlighten- 

 Cfl men in (he career of science and 

 literature : but there, as well as at 

 Petersburg, the professors' chairs are 

 almost entirely filled with (iermans. 

 There is in Russia a great scarcity of 

 wtfU-iuformed meu in any branch ; 

 young people in general only go to the 

 University to be enabled sooner to 

 eater into the military profession. Ci- 

 vil employments in Russia confer a 

 i-ank corresponding to a gra:le in the 

 array; the spirit of the nation is turned 

 entirely towards war ; in eveiy thing 

 else, in administration, in political 

 economy, in public instruction, &c. 

 the (ihcr nations of Emope have 



hitherto borne away the palm from the 

 Russians. They are making atterapts^ 

 however, in literature ; the softness 

 and brilliancy of the sounds of their 

 language are remarked even by those 

 who do not understand it; and it 

 should be veiy well adapted for poetry 

 and music. But the Russians have, 

 like so manjf other continental nations, 

 the fault of imitating the Fi-ench litera- 

 ture, which, even with all its beauties, 

 is only fit for the French themselves, 

 I think that the Russians ought rather to 

 make their literary studies derive from 

 the Greeks than from the Latins. The 

 characters of the Russian alphabet, so 

 similar to those of the Greeks, the an- 

 cient communication of the Russians 

 with tlie Byzantine empire, their fu- 

 ture destinies, which will probably 

 lead them to the illustrious monuments 

 of Athens and Sparta, all this ought to 

 turn the Russians to the study of 

 Greek ; but it is above all necessary 

 that their wniters should draw their 

 poetry from the deepest inspiration of 

 their own soul. Their works, up to 

 this time, have been composed, as one 

 may say, by the lips, and never can a 

 nation so vehement be stirred up by 

 such shrill notes. 



MOSCOW TO PETERSBURG, 



I quitted Moscow witli regret ; I 

 stopped a short time in a wood neai- 

 the city, where on holidays the inha- 

 bitants go to dance, and celebrate the 

 sun, whose splendour is of such short 

 duration, even at Moscow. What is it 

 then 1 see, in ad^'aucing towards the 

 North ? Even these eternal birch-trees, 

 which weary j'ou with (heir monotony, 

 become very rar3, it is said, as you ap- 

 proach Archangel ; they are presei'ved 

 there, like orange-trees in Fiance. The 

 country from Moscow to Petersburg 

 is at first sand}', and afterwards aU 

 marsh ; when it raiiis, the ground be- 

 comes black, and the high road be- 

 comes uudistinguLshable. ITle houses 

 of the peasants, however, every where 

 indicate a state of comfort ; they are 

 decorated with columns, and the win- 

 dows are surrounded with ai-abesques 

 carved in wood. Although it was sum- 

 mer when 1 passe<l through this coun- 

 try, 1 already felt the thi-eatening wiivr 

 ter which seemed to conceal itself be.- 

 hind the clouds : of the fruits which 

 were oU'ered to me, the flavour was 

 bitter, because their ripening liad been 

 (oo much hastened ; a rose excited 

 emotion in me as a recollection cf our 

 fine countries, and the flowers tlitwu- 



sdves 



