514 



RUSSIA. 



.Russia. 



time will come to be upon a pnr in regard to this vir- 

 tue, with the other nations of the continent. The losses 

 sustained by the burn ; ng of Moscow, in 1812, the in- 

 creased price of provisions in the capitals, and in most 

 of the large towns, the excessive depreciation of the 

 currency, and the example of simplicity and regularity 

 in the mode of life set by the monarch, Alexander, have 

 especially tended to change the style of living of late 

 years. Carriages with six horses, which were once 

 very common, are now rarely to be seen ; the number 

 of carriages with four horses, though general, is great- 

 ly diminished ; and princes and generals now frequent- 

 ly ride and visit with a droshki and pair of horses. 

 Daily open tables are less common, and indeed exterior 

 display is gradually giving way to the real comforts of 

 life. But the number of hospitable mansions is still so 

 great, that travellers who are well recommended will 

 be unable to perceive any change, unless they have 

 been in Russia at some anterior period. The resident 

 in Moscow, nevertheless, can indicate many nobles who 

 formerly lived in an oriental style of magnificence, and 

 who now can scarcely support their rank, some who 

 have withdrawn themselves into obscurity, and others 

 who are reduced to comparative poverty. 



A late author, whom we have often had occasion to 

 quote, thinks that charity is a prevailing virtue among 

 all classes of society in Russia, although he at the same 

 time admits that there are exceptions to this statement, 

 and even instances of the height of selfishness and ava- 

 rice. The charity of the Russian nobles, and even of 

 the richer merchants, is demonstrated in various ways, 

 as in the institution of hospitals and infirmaries, the 

 protection of widows and orphans, the assistance of the 

 poor, the subscription to humane societies, the relief of 

 prisoners, &c. Even the erection of churches at times 

 seems to have been the offspring of this virtue. Su- 

 perstition, and the hope, nay the belief, however, of a 

 positive and immortal reward, have raised more temples 

 to the Lord in Russia, as elsewhere, than genuine love 

 to human kind. In late times the erection of some 

 charitable institutions, as hospitals, has frequently been 

 the bartering price of an order of knighthood, or of 

 some immunity or privilege. 



Mendicity is not so common in Russia as in free 

 countries, because in case of poverty, or incapacity to 

 work, the proprietors are obliged to maintain their 

 slaves, and the boors of the crown are equally protect- 

 ed. But notwithstanding the laws, it happens, at times, 

 that the slaves of some of the poorer or more avari- 

 cious nobles, are necessitated to have recourse to beg- 

 gary for existence. Others are reduced to the same 

 state, by improper conduct, or in consequence of their 

 villages being burned, a very common occurrence in 

 the greater part of the Russian dominions, owing to 

 their being constructed of wood, and to the careless- 

 ness of the peasants with their hitclrinkas, or burning 

 pieces of lathe-wood, which serve in place of candles. 

 It is not common for Russians of any rank to let men- 

 dicants depart from their door without giving them 

 something, though it be only a morsel of black bread. 



In no instance is the charity of the Russians more 

 conspicuous than in their kindness to orphans, whether 

 the children of natives or foreigners. If a foreigner 

 die and leave a young and unprotected family behind 

 him, there is no difficulty in getting them disposed of. 

 One or two of the children may be placed in one noble- 

 man's family, and as many in another. They are often 

 treated as their own family, and even sometimes adopt- 



ed by those who have no offspring ; and by those who Russia. 

 have, they are reckoned their children's companions, < ~ 

 and generally receive the same domestic education. Manners 

 No doubt, at times, the nobles make their own calcula- ai 

 tions in these arrangements. They wish to have com- 

 panions, on purpose to play with and amuse their 

 children, and when they speak a foreign language, to 

 be useful in accustoming them to speak it, while they 

 receive lessons from their tutors. But it would be the 

 height of injustice to suppose that such acts are never 

 done without some self-interest, some sinister motive. 

 The Russian nobles do not drink ardent spirits, 

 vodki, in the morning, as has been represented by 

 some. The custom in Russia is to take tea and cof- 

 fee at a pretty early hour, and generally without either 

 bread or sweet cake. The Russian zavtrak, or break- 

 fast follows at ten, eleven, or twelve o'clock. It is the 

 Jriihstuck of the Germans ; the dejeuner a lajburchetle 

 of the French, and neither an English nor a Scotch 

 breakfast ; but, in general, it might pass for a good din, 

 ner. It commences with a dram (schall), pickled her- 

 rings, caviar, c. : steakes, cutlets, a fricasee, fowl?, 

 and pickles, boiled eggs, roasted potatoes, pastry, wine, 

 and porter, all or in part generally follow; but a cere- 

 monious zavtrak is in fact a neat and elegant dinner. 

 The Russian dinners and suppers generally consist of a 

 number of good dishes, in which a mixture of Ger- 

 man and French cookery prevails, besides some others, 

 which are almost peculiar to Russia, as stchi, or sour 

 cabbage-soup, salted cucumbers, klukva, and kvass, two 

 agreeable drinks, the first made from the cranberry 

 (Vacdnium oxyccacos), and the latter by fermenting rye. 

 The attention paid to eating and drinking and cookery, 

 is made a very serious affair of in Russia, as well as in 

 some other countries. Almost all the higher nobility 

 either have had foreigners to teach their slaves the art 

 of cookery, or still retain them, in order to satisfy their 

 delicate and fastidious palates. Others have sent their 

 vassals to the imperial kitchen, or to the tuition of 

 some distinguished cook in the capitals, in order to be 

 taught so important an art. In some of the larger esta- 

 blishments of the nobles at Moscow, four, six, eight, 

 and even above ten men-cooks are employed, besides 

 half a dozen, a dozen, or a score of assistants in the 

 kitchen ; and it is rare that even the poorest and the 

 meanest noble is without a man-cook, even when living 

 retired in the country. The cause of this is evident. 

 A slave being once taught, costs his master little or no 

 expence besides his maintenance and his clothes. In 

 Russia women-cooks only get employment among the 

 merchants, the clergy, and free people, and in foreign 

 families. 



The Russians certainly indulge themselves in eating 

 too frequently and too abundantly ; and the fair ladies 

 no doubt destroy the beauty of the female form, by 

 a want of discretion on this score. After partaking 

 of a Russian zavtrak before or at mid-day, a Briton 

 is truly astonished at seeing the natives, even fair 

 ladies, sitting down to dinner at three or four o'clock, 

 with as voracious appetites as if they had been keep- 

 ing Lent; if one may judge by the number of dishes 

 which they share, and by the quantity of each with 

 which they provide themselves. No wonder that most 

 of the fair sex of the north remind us of the state of 

 " those who love their lords." Such daily breakfasts, 

 dinners, and suppers, besides tea and coffee, &c. com- 

 bined with inactive lives, and assisted by the powers 

 of Morpheus, all tend to destroy the symmetry of na- 



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