1808.] Memoirs of Prince Peter Ivonitch Bagration. 
country seem to have settled, surrounded 
each by his villages, his church, and 
his vassals.” Hither, the families, who 
count the names: of the first Velike 
Knezes (the paramount Princes of Mos- 
covy,) and the earliest Tzars, in theroll of 
their ancestors, retired. Formerly inde- 
pendent princes, but now drawn into the 
wide vortex ofan empire which embraces 
nearly one quarter of the globe, and too 
proud to mingle with a race of courtiers 
round the imperial throne, they reside 
within the walls of the ancient capital, 
and there enjoy the advantages of roy- 
alty without itscares. Nothing can tran- 
scend the grarideur of these families 
inhabiting gorgeous palaces, attended by 
numerous slaves superbly clad, and 
drawn In equipages glittering with all the 
decorations of Asiatic splendour; a tra- 
veller might suppose, on witnessing their, 
retinue, their entertainments, and their 
courts, that he had quitted earth, and de- 
scended into the subterraneous regions of 
the Geni, where their domes flame with 
gold, their robes blaze with gems, and 
breathe the fragrance of-Arabia. 
From such a luxurious abode, the sons 
of these princes emerge at a very early 
age. Nursed inthe love of fame, as the - 
only end worthy of their birth, they see 
its track leads through the Imperial camp, 
and thither they repair. So strongly is 
a military life the passion of this ilus- 
trious race of men, that they sometimes 
enroll thejr sons in the army within the 
year in which they are born. Twelve 
years of age is the usual period: and 
then, even youths of the first distinction 
do not commence their martial career as 
officers; they are not considered fit to 
command before they know how to 
obey. 
Suworoff himself, the great model of our 
heroic Bagration, though the son of a Ge- 
neral officer, was first enrolledin the Rus- 
sian army as @ fusileer in the guards of 
Seimonoff. In 1747, he served as a cor- 
poral; two years after he was promoted 
to the rank of serjeant, and employed as 
a courler during the campaigns in Poland 
and Germany. In 1754, he obtained a 
lieutenancy; and after gradual promo- 
tions, at length arrived to the rank of 
lieutenant-colonel. Then came _ his 
“ blushing honours thick upon him ;” and 
at last he died, Field-marshal Suworoff 
Rymnikski, Count of the Empire. 
_ Similar would ‘be the fruits, if the hke 
probation were used in the British. line. 
Were Englishmen to serve, before they 
issued orders; were they disciplined in 
Montury Mas., No, 172. 
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521 
the field, before they attempted to mar- 
shal an army; did they passthrough as 
regular a military practice as British sea- 
men doa naval one, the ensign of Eng- 
land would fly as proudly as her flag. 
» The rudiments of a soldier’s duty were 
instilled into the young Prince Bagration, » 
as soon_as his opening faculties could ape 
prebend their use.- All eyes were turned 
to the growing fame of the great Suworoff, 
Though descended of a noble Swedish 
family, and only transplanted into Russia 
in the beginning of the last century, yet 
his forefathers had deserved well of the 
Lzars,and been endowed with lands and 
peasants, and the imperial friendship, 
Alexander-Suworoff, the hero of Rym- 
nikski, proved himself alike worthy of 
the country whence he sprung, and of 
that to which he was now attached; he 
conquered her enemies, and covered*her 
with vlory. ‘lo such a conspicuous ex-= 
ample of martial atchievement, the young 
Bagration looked with rapturous admira- 
tion. The events of the brilliant cam= 
paign of 1762, were yet alive in the me- 
mory of the veterans who surrounded the 
prince. The prowess of the brave Suwo- 
roff, and his gallant brother in arms, the 
renowned Prince Volkonsky, was a model 
which they delighted te hold up to his 
imitation. 
Instead of leading their illustrious pupil 
to the illuminated. theatres of Moscow, 
to lose his senses in the gaieties of scenic 
enchantment ; instead of dissipating his 
mind by female assemblies, and spark- 
ling promenades; they immersed them- 
selves with him in a remote apartment of 
his paternal palace, where he travelled 
with Alexandeg to the Indian shores, 
scaled the Alps with Hannibal, and ac 
companied Caesar through the vast fo-~ 
restsef Gaul: Turenne and Montecuculi, 
with the great Conde, made his heart 
glow; Charles of Sweden fired him with 
ambition, and Peter the Great made him 
grasp his little sword, and glory in be- 
longing to his empire. 
‘Fhus was this young hero brought to 
understand the merits of his fature mas-= 
ter in arms; thus was he taught to follow 
with his mind: and heart the narratives 
of his preceptors, as they recounted the 
various atchievements of their adored 
Suworoff :—his campaigns against the 
confederates of Poland, his victories on 
the Danube, and his conquests in the 
Crimea. Thus was he attempered to 
meet him with al] the enthusiasm of an 
ingenuous and martial heart, when that 
famous commander returned to Moscow 
ax from 
