Memories of the Neva. 183 



the mitre-shaped hats which Paul himself invented. The 

 Rifles followed, a sergeant in the front company being much 

 chaffed by his comrades for losing his kepi. The Rifles, if 

 the truth must be told, were out of line, out of order, and 

 behaving in a very unsoldierly fashion. The Rifle Brigade 

 men of his Imperial Majesty were a powerful company, 

 wearing a shako resembling that of the English line regi- 

 ments. One regiment had turbans. The Sappers passed 

 next, then the Marine Guard, with the Grand Duke Alexis at 

 its head. The colonel of this regiment, I am afraid, was using 

 very profane language to the rear companies, who seemed 

 to be as wooden as the handles of their bright hatchets. 



The next was what I can best interpret as a sample 

 regiment, a full regiment composed of specimens of every 

 regiment in the service, but the overcoats brought them all 

 to the same appearance. One regiment of Sappers was 

 made up of the shortest men I had ever seen in uniform, 

 four feet three being the average height. With this, and 

 perhaps one other exception, it must be taken for granted 

 that the men were as fine a set of fellows as any country 

 could produce. 



The cavalry was naturally the great object of attention, 

 and worthily so. The Russian cavalry are not famous with- 

 out cause ; and on this occasion the Emperor had given us 

 the flower of his troops. The first regiment was composed 

 of noblemen's sons who had not yet completed their 

 military education. Cuirassiers on bay horses, Cuirassiers 

 on greys and blacks, each man with pennon fluttering and 

 lance fixed, trotted past, an occasional trooper coming to 

 grief, but always making light of it, and recovering his 

 saddle with a smile. The Empress's regiment — fresh from 

 Tsarskoe — was admired by every one, and would be held in 

 the highest estimation did not a chestnut regiment from 



