226 TIFLIS. 



second-hand Tauchnitz edition for love or money ; 

 and yet no one could lash Russian vices and foibles 

 with a truer or more unsparing hand than the 

 author of that extremely clever book. There is a 

 contradiction of one kind or another in every 

 phase of Russian life. The shopkeeper, who 

 speaks half-a-dozen languages well, cannot tell 

 Avhat change to give you without the help of his 

 abacus. Bred in a wild, rough country, with splen- 

 did opportunities for field-sports, and really with 

 plenty of pluck and muscle to excel in them, the 

 Russian gentleman cares little or nothing for them. 

 In the south, which alone I know, few except the 

 military men ride much, and when they do it is 

 not for pleasure ; still fewer skate well, and the 

 best of those who skate at all are half Germans 

 from Riga ; there are no games to correspond to 

 our cricket, football, or tennis. Of indoor amuse- 

 ments dancing and cards are the Alpha and 

 Omega. Billiards, as played in Russia, resemble 

 skittles as much as billiards. Jn spite of the 

 gorgeous apparel of their priests, and the splendour 

 of their ceremonials, few educated Russians believe 

 in anything ; though the peasant is as truly reli- 

 gious as any peasant in the world. The litera- 

 ture most read in Russia by ladies and idle men is 

 that of I*, de Kock, and French novelists like him. 

 The members of the upper middle class, if that 

 means men of a certain position and wealth, can 



