20 THE LIFE Of 



firft with a flood of tears, and a complaint that I 

 was depriving her of her only companion ; and 

 then (finding me unmoved) with a torrent of 

 abiifc that would have done credit to Billings- 

 gate, concluded with faying, we might both go 

 to the d — 1. 



It is ncceffdry to inform my readers that, by 

 the laws of Ruffia, no perfon can travel from 

 the capital without a pafTport defcribing his 

 route, which he is not at liberty to alter ; in the 

 country, travellers mud have a pafs from the 

 perfon whofe eflate they may have been upon, 

 before they quit it, or no poft-maftcr dare fur- 

 nifh them with horfes. On my application at 

 the poft-houfe, which was not above half a mile 

 from the Duchefs's, I was not only told that 

 they durfl: not fupply me with horfes, but that they 

 had her Grace's exprefs prohibition to that ef- 

 fetft. I anfwered the poft-mafter, that .1 fhould 

 remove that difficulty by taking his or her horfes 

 by foi ce. . I inftantly removed my family to the 

 poft-houfe. I jufl then recolleded that I had 

 given the receipt I had obtained from Madame 

 de Porquet at Dantzic to the Duchefs, without 

 her Grace having returned me that which flie 

 required of mc, when flie entrufled the money 

 to my charge. I begun to be apprehenfive of 

 her making a bad ufe of it ; I therefore wrote 

 a note to Mr. Wilkinfon her fleward, requeft- 



ing 



