198 
RUSSIANS. 
Parental Despotism. 
Such is the slavery in which the Muscovites of both sexes are kept 
by their parents, their patrons, and the emperor, that they are not 
allowed to dis})ute any match that may be provided for them by 
these directors, however disagreeable or odious it may be. Officers of 
the greatest rank in the army, both natives and foreigners, have been 
saddled with wives by the sovereign in this arbitrary manner. 
A great general, some time ago deceased, who was a native of Bri- 
tain, having been pressed by the late empress to wed one of her ladies, 
saved himself from a very disagreeable marriage, by pretending his 
constitution was so unsound that the lady would be irreparably injured 
by his compliance. In Russia, the authority of parents over their chil- 
dren is almost as great as it W'as among the ancient Romans, and is 
often exercised with equal severity. Should a father, in punishing 
his son for a fault, be the immediate cause of his death, he could not 
be called to account for his conduct ; he would have done nothing 
but what the law authorized him to do. Nor does this legal tyranny 
cease with the minority of children ; it continues while they remain in 
their father’s family, and is often exerted in the most indecent manner. 
It is not uncommon, even in St. Petersburg, to see a lady of the 
highest rank, and in all the pomp and pride of youthful beauty, 
standing in the court-yard with her back bare, exposed to the whip 
of her father’s servants. And so little disgrace is attached to this 
punishment, that the same lady will sit down at table with her father 
and his guests immediately after she has received her flogging, pro- 
vided its severity has not confined her to bed. 
Marriage Ceremonies. 
On the w'edding day, the bride presents the bridegroom with a 
whip of her owm making, in token of submission; and this he fails 
not to employ as the instrument of his authority. Very little cere- 
mony is here used in match-making, w'hich is the work of the parents. 
The bridegroom seldom sees the woman till he is joined to her for 
life. The marriage being proposed and agreed to, the lady is 
minutely examined by a certain body of her female relations ; 
and if they find any bodily defect, they endeavour to cure it by their 
own skill. The bride, on her wedding day, is crowned with a gar- 
land of w'ormwood, implying the bitterness that often attends the 
married state. When the priest has tied the nuptial knot at the 
altar, his clerk or sexton throws upon her head a handful of hops, 
wishing that she may prove as fruitful as the plant thus scattered. 
She is muffled up, and led home by a certain number of old women, the 
parish priest carrying the cross before ; while one of his subalterns, 
in a rough goat-skin, prays all the way that she may bear as many 
children as there are hairs on his garment. The new-married coujile, 
being seated at table, are presented w'ith bread and salt; and a 
chorus of boys and girls sing the epithalamium, which is always 
grossly obscene. The bride and bridegroom are then conducted to 
their own chamber by an old woman, who exhorts the wife to obey 
her husband, and retires. Then the bridegroom desires the lady to 
