liS RUSSIA IN EUROPE, 



amongst the lower ranks ; and the barbarous treatment of wives by 

 their husbands, which extended even to scourging or broiling them 

 to death, is either guarded against by the laws of the country, or by 

 particular stipulations in the marriage contract. 



The nobility, and almost all the people of quality, dress after the 

 German fashion ; and the ladies, even in the remotest parts of the 

 country, appear more modishly attired than would easily be imagined. 

 The peasants, burghers, and most of the mercantile class, still ad- 

 here to the national dress. They let their beards grow, which are 

 commonly long and bushy ; their hair is cut and combed. They 

 wear a short shirt without any sort of collar, and loose trousers, over 

 which the shirt usually hangs, and is girt around the waist with a 

 string. Over the shirt they wear a short breast-cloth, or vest, fur- 

 nished with buttons, and a coat girt about with a sash that passes twice 

 round the body. In winter the peasants are universally habited in a 

 jacket made of sheep's hide, with the wool inwards ; the covering 

 for the head, is a square crowned red cap, with a circular edge of 

 black wool round the rim, which is very becoming, and appears 

 shadowing the eyes. On their feet they wear sandals made of the 

 bark of the birch tree. Leg-wrappers are worn instead of stockings, 

 especially by the lower class of people ; these are tied about their 

 feet and legs with packthread, so as to make them look very thick. 

 The women wear a sarafihan, or vest without sleeves, which is close 

 about the neck, and sits tight to the body down to the hips : from 

 the hips it spreads without gathers, and reaches down to the shoes. 

 On the facing it is garnished with a thick row of little buttons, from 

 the top to the very bottom : it is, however, girt with a sash, to which' 

 the bunch of keys is suspended. The girls in general wear their hair 

 uncovered more than the women : the former plait it in three plaits, 

 with ribbons and beads tied to the points of them. In some pro- 

 vinces they wear a band across the forehead bedizened with pearls 

 and beads of various colours ; in others they wear caps in the form 

 of an upright crescent. In the vicinity of Moscow, and in several of 

 the neighbouring governments, the cap has a stiff flap before, like a 

 jockey-cap, and is decorated with pearls and various coloured stones. 

 The dress of the female peasants of the Valdai consists of a shift 

 with full sleeves, and a short petticoat, with coloured stockings. 

 Over this, in winter, they wear a pelisse of lamb's wool, as white as 

 the snow around them, lined with cloth, and adorned with gold but- 

 tons and lace. Generally speaking, the traveller may pass over a 

 vast extent of territory without noticing any change in the costume. 



In great towns the funeral obsequies of people of rank are conduct- 

 ed in much the same manner as in other countries of Europe ; but 

 the lower classes still retain some peculiar ceremonies. After the 

 dead body is dressed, a priest is hired to pray for the soul, to purify 

 the corpse with incense, and to sprinkle it with holy water while it 

 remains above ground, which, among the better sort, it generally 

 does for eight or ten days. When the body is carried to the grave, 

 which is done with many gesticulations of sorrow, the priest pro- 

 duces a ticket, signed by their bishop and another clergyman, as the 

 deceased's passport to heaven. This is put into the coffin, between 

 the fingers of the corpse ; after which the company return to the 

 deceased's house, where they drown their sorrow in intoxication, 

 which lasts, among the better sort, with a few intervals, forty days. 

 During that time a priest every day recites prayers oyer the grave 



