222 
MOSCOW. 
chap, not exacted from males only : women, and child- 
1 ^ rcn from the age of ten years and upwards, 
are obliged to perform their equal share. Tithes 
are, moreover, demanded of whatever may remain 
in their hands ; of linen, poultry, eggs, butter, 
pigs, sheep, lambs, and every product of the 
land, or of domestic manual labour. Should a 
peasant, by any misfortune, be deprived of the 
tribute expected by his lord, he must beg, bor- 
row, or steal, to make up the deficiency. Some 
of the nobles choose to converse with foreigners 
upon the condition of their slaves; and, when 
this is the case, not the smallest reliance can 
be placed upon the statement they may make. 
The observations of one of their Princes, at his 
own table, concerning the superiority of Russian 
to English liberty, will be found in a formei 
Chapter. The same person deemed it to be 
decorous, upon another occasion, and before an 
immense assembly, to contrast the situation of 
English peasants with what he termed the hap- 
piness of the Russian slaves. “ There is, said 
he, addressing himself to us with an air of 
triumph, “ more of the reality of slavery in 
England than in Russia .” When we requested his 
Excellency to explain what he implied by the 
“ reality of slavery ,” he expatiated upon the 
miseries of press-gangs ; and pictured the flou- 
rishing condition of his own peasants, whom he 
