512 



RUSSIA. 



Russia. 



first tables, jellies, marmalades, and preserved fruits, 

 are generally served up as a part of the dessert, and 

 every guest has his ov. n plate ; but sometimes it hap- 

 pens that the same spoon makes the round of the table 

 with the preserves or jelly, and serves the whole com- 

 pany. Eac',. individual having filled his mouth, kind- 

 ly passes the spoon for the accommodation of his 

 neighbour. Among the lower nobility, the ladies and 

 gentlemen having retired from dinner, often find fruits 

 and jellies p'.aced upon a covered table, to which they 

 approach, and help themselves at their pleasure, one 

 spoon serving all the party, however numerous. This 

 practice is carried to the most disgusting degree among 

 the rich merchants, among the clergy, and among 

 those peasants who have acquired wealth by their in- 

 dustry or their good fortune. 



Another extremely disagreeable practice, spitting 

 upon the floor, is prevalent among all classes of the 

 Russian nobility. Neither fine inlaid floors, nor even 

 Wilton carpets oppose any obstacle to this filthy cus- 

 tom. The Russian noble will spit immediately before 

 you, and rub the saliva with his foot. He sometimes, 

 however, retires to a corner to conceal this deposit. 



Picking the teeth with a fork during meals, is a ge- 

 neral and most offensive custom, which can never be 

 sufficiently reprehended, were it only on account of 

 the danger which attends it ; and the same remarks 

 are equally applicable to picking or cleaning the ears. 

 In the streets of Petersburgh and Moscow, as well 

 as in the villages of the empire, lazy loungers, and in 

 the shops of grocers, butchers, &c. their attendants are 

 frequently seen in the act of searching each other's 

 heads for vermin ; but those of the nobility who re- 

 quire the same attention de not expose themselves so 

 openly as has been said. The Russian peasants, when 

 they visit the bath, which is generally at least once 

 every week, often wash their shirts at the same time, 

 especially when they have no change of linen. Some- 

 times also, they hold their shirts and their shoobs or 

 sheep-skin pelisses over a hot stove, till the vermin 

 fall off. But they have another and most effectual way 

 of destroying such pests when they become super- 

 abundant. In their own language, they roast their 

 clothes, i. e. they strip themselves, and having loosely 

 rolled up their vestments, they introduce them into 

 the hot oven of the bath, and they allow them to re- 

 main there until they conjecture that no more victims 

 remain for sacrifice. Another very extraordinary prac- 

 tice is prevalent among the peasantry, in those poor 

 villages which have no banyas, or baths. In Russia, 

 all the peasants houses have stoves, like bakers ovens, 

 with flat roofs, in which they not only bake their 

 bread, but also daily cook their victuals. On Satur- 

 day evening, these ovens are made to serve the place 

 of baths. Being duly warmed, water is thrown into 

 them, and abundance of vapour is instantly produced. 

 The peasants, one by one, creep into the interior of 

 the oven, and having steamed themselves, they use 

 ablutions with cold and hot water, as at the ordinary 

 banya. 



The Russian peasantry, during winter, generally 

 sleep on the flat and warm tops of their ovens ; they 

 are not averse to enter, or at least half enter them, 

 and being excessively fond of heat, Dr. Lyall relates 

 that a woman servant attached to his family was mis- 

 sing in an extremely cold evening, and that after a 

 long and anxious research, she was discovered, in a 

 profound sleep, nearly within the kitchen oven. 

 The horrors of the Russian kitchens are inconceiv- 



able. The interior of but few of them could be viewed Russia, 

 without the appetite being appalled or destroyed. s y 



There are but few beds in the whole Russian empire, ^ anners 

 which an Englishman, aware of its condition, would ^ 

 venture to approach. It is astonishing that the Rus- 

 sians should not pay more attention to fine bed-rooms 

 and elegant beds, for daily convenience, and not for 

 mere exhibition, especially as most of the articles re- 

 quisite for the purpose are low priced in their country. 

 Few rooms altogether fitted up and furnished like bed- 

 rooms, as in Britain, are to be found in the northern 

 empire. They form a luxury which the Russian 

 knows nothing of, except what he has learned in fo- 

 reign countries, heard of from travellers, or read of in 

 books. The Russians assuredly have plenty of spa/ni, 

 or bed-rooms, as they call them, which are open to 

 the whole house, and often form one of a suite of 

 rooms in small houses. In the palaces and mansion* 

 or the nobles, there are elegant rooms, containing state- 

 beds, in which no person reposes. They are generally 

 left open, and as they make part of a suite of cham- 

 bers, may be reckoned part of a nobleman's parade or 

 show rooms. 



The Russian nobility, when they attend the festivals 

 of their neighbours, generally carry their beds with 

 them. Hence on the day before a fete, numerous car- 

 riages, filled with nobles, arrive from time to time, 

 some of them with large bags filled with beds, and 

 fixed behind them ; others followed by telegas, or 

 small four-wheeled carts, loaded with beds and pil- 

 lows. After supper, and the conclusion of the amuse- 

 ment of the day, cards, &c. a scene of bustle and con- 

 fusion follows, which seems extremely curious and 

 ridiculous. The dining-room, the drawing-room, the 

 hall, and the whole suite of apartments, in which the ' 

 evening has been passed, are converted into bed- rooms. 

 Dozens of small painted and unpainted bedsteads, each 

 for a single person, and of the value of five roubles, 

 are speedily transported into the chambers, and ar- 

 ranged along the sides of the rooms, which soon re- 

 semble a barrack, or the wards of an hospital. Scores 

 of servants belonging to the host and to the visitors 

 are seen running backwards and forwards, with beds 

 and mattresses, pillows and linen, shoobs and baggage. 

 Many of these beds have no inviting appearance. 

 Others of the guest?, who have been less provident 

 than their neighbours, are accommodated with beds 

 from the master of the house, and when a scarcity oc- 

 curs, the beds of his servants are put in requisition. 

 It also happens frequently that the number of bed- 

 steads is insufficient, but this is of little moment. In 

 this case, the beds are arranged upon the floor, upon 

 chairs, and upon the Ifjankas, or flat parts of some of 

 the stoves. Besides all the sofas and divans are at 

 once converted into places of repose for the night, 

 Dr. Lyall has drawn a description of such a scene at 

 a grand fete given by a nobleman. He made a visit 

 to one of the houses adjoining to the proprietor's 

 mansion, in which a number of his acquaintances were 

 lodged. He found the hall and the drawing-room 

 literally a barrack. Sofas, divans, .and chairs put to- 

 gether, covered with beds, and their fatigued or lazy 

 tenants formed the scenery of the first apartment ; in 

 the latter was arranged a sleeping-place upon the floor, 

 for half a dozen noblemen, with beds, pillows, shoobs, 

 great coats, &c. The possessors of this den, wrapped 

 up in splendid silk night-gowns, some lying down, 

 some sitting up in bed, some drinking coffee and tea, 

 and smoking tobacco, amidbt mephitic air, and sur- 

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