the principle of all Russian attainments. The 
Russians have nothing of their own ; but it is 
not their fault if they have not every thing that 
others invent. Their surprising powers of imi- 
tation exceed all that has been hitherto known. 
The meanest Russian slave is sometimes able 
to accomplish the most intricate and the most 
delicate works of mechanism; to copy, with 
single hand, what has demanded the joint 
labours of the best workmen in France or in 
England. Although untutored, they are the 
best actors in the world. A Russian gentleman, 
who had never beheld an European theatre, 
assisted during the representation of a play 
in one of the remote eastern provinces, and his 
performance was accidentally witnessed by 
persons who were capable of estimating its 
merit: they pronounced it to be superior to 
the acting of any of our European stage-players. 
In other examples of their imitative powers, 
the author has witnessed something similar. 
If they were instructed in the art of painting, 
they would become the finest portrait painters 
in the world. To the truth of this, we saw one 
striking testimony: in a miniature portrait of 
the Emperor, executed by a poor slave, who 
had only once seen him, during the visit he 
made to Moscow. For the resemblance and 
the minuteness of the representation, it was 
