Crevecoeur--Bomback--Journey to Moscow--My Adventures At St. Petersburg
The day on which I took Zaira I sent Lambert away, for I did not know
what to do with him. He got drunk every day, and when in his cups he was
unbearable. Nobody would have anything to say to him except as a common
soldier, and that is not an enviable position in Russia. I got him a
passport for Berlin, and gave him enough money for the journey. I heard
afterwards that he entered the Austrian service.
In May, Zaira had become so beautiful that when I went to Moscow I dared
not leave her behind me, so I took her in place of a servant. It was
delicious to me to hear her chattering in the Venetian dialect I had
taught her. On a Saturday I would go with her to the bath where thirty of
forty naked men and women were bathing together without the slightest
constraint. This absence of shame must arise, I should imagine, from
native innocence; but I wondered that none looked at Zaira, who seemed to
me the original of the statue of Psyche I had seen at the Villa Borghese
at Rome. She was only fourteen, so her breast was not yet developed, and
she bore about her few traces of puberty. Her skin was as white as snow,
and her ebony tresses covered the whole of her body, save in a few places
where the dazzling whiteness of her skin shone through. Her eyebrows were
perfectly shaped, and her eyes, though they might have been larger, could
not have been more brilliant or more expressive. If it had not been for
her furious jealousy and her blind confidence in fortune-telling by
cards, which she consulted every day, Zaira would have been a paragon
among women, and I should never have left her.
A young and distinguished-looking Frenchman came to St. Petersburg with a
young Parisian named La Riviere, who was tolerably pretty but quite
devoid of education, unless it were that education common to all the
girls who sell their charms in Paris. This young man came to me with a
letter from Prince Charles of Courland, who said that if I could do
anything for the young couple he would be grateful to me. They arrived
just as I was breakfasting with Zaira.
"You must tell me," said I to the young Frenchman, "in what way I can be
of use to you."
"By admitting us to your company, and introducing us to your friends."
"Well, I am a stranger here, and I will come and see you, and you can
come and see me, and I shall be delighted; but I never dine at home. As
to my friends, you must feel that, being a stranger, I could not
introduce you and the lady. Is she your wife? People will ask me who you
are, and what you are doing at St. Petersburg. What am I to say? I wonder
Prince Charles did not send you to someone else."
"I am a gentleman of Lorraine, and Madame la Riviere is my mistress, and
my object in coming to St. Petersburg is to amuse myself."
"Then I don't know to whom I could introduce you under the circumstances;
but I should think you will be able to find plenty of amusement without
knowing anyone. The theatres, the streets, and even the Court
entertainments, are open to everyone. I suppose you have plenty of
money?"
"That's exactly what I haven't got, and I don't expect any either."
"Well, I have not much more, but you really astonish me. How could you
have been so foolish as to come here without money?"
"Well, my mistress said we could do with what money we got from day to
day. She induced me to leave Paris without a farthing, and up to now it
seems to me that she is right. We have managed to get on somehow."
"Then she has the purse?"
"My purse," said she, "is in the pockets of my friends."
"I understand, and I am sure you have no difficulty in finding the
wherewithal to live. If I had such a purse, it should be opened for you,
but I am not a rich man."
Bomback, a citizen of Hamburg, whom I had known in England whence he had
fled on account of his debts, had come to St. Petersburg and entered the
army. He was the son of a rich merchant and kept up a house, a carriage,
and an army of servants; he was a lover of good cheer, women, and
gambling, and contracted debts everywhere. He was an ugly man, but full
of wit and energy. He happened to call on me just as I was addressing the
strange traveller whose purse was in the pocket of her friends. I
introduced the couple to him, telling the whole story, the item of the
purse excepted. The adventure was just to Bomback's taste, and he began
making advances to Madame la Riviere, who received them in a thoroughly
professional spirit, and I was inwardly amused and felt that her axiom
was a true one. Bomback asked them to dine with him the next day, and
begged them to come and take an unceremonious dinner the same day with
him at Crasnacaback. I was included in the invitation, and Zaira, not
understanding French, asked me what we were talking about, and on my
telling her expressed a desire to accompany me. I gave in to appease her,
for I knew the wish proceeded from jealousy, and that if I did not
consent I should be tormented by tears, ill-humour, reproaches,
melancholy, etc. This had occurred several times before, and so violent
had she been that I had been compelled to conform to the custom of the
country and beat her. Strange to say, I could not have taken a better way
to prove my love. Such is the character of the Russian women. After the
blows had been given, by slow degrees she became affectionate again, and
a love encounter sealed the reconciliation.
Bomback left us to make his preparations in high spirits, and while Zaira
was dressing, Madame Riviere talked in such a manner as to make me almost
think that I was absolutely deficient in knowledge of the world. The
astonishing thing was that her lover did not seem in the least ashamed of
the part he had to play. He might say that he was in love with the
Messalina, but the excuse would not have been admissible.
The party was a merry one. Bomback talked to the adventuress, Zaira sat
on my knee, and Crevecoeur ate and drank, laughed in season and out of
season, and walked up and down. The crafty Madame Riviere incited Bomback
to risk twenty-five roubles at quinze; he lost and paid pleasantly, and
only got a kiss for his money. Zaira, who was delighted to be able to
watch over me and my fidelity, jested pleasantly on the Frenchwoman and
the complaisance of her lover. This was altogether beyond her
comprehension, and she could not understand how he could bear such deeds
as were done before his face.
The next day I went to Bomback by myself, as I was sure of meeting young
Russian officers, who would have annoyed me by making love to Zaira in
their own language. I found the two travellers and the brothers Lunin,
then lieutenants but now generals. The younger of them was as fair and
pretty as any girl. He had been the beloved of the minister Teploff, and,
like a lad of wit, he not only was not ashamed but openly boasted that it
was his custom to secure the good-will of all men by his caresses.
He had imagined the rich citizen of Hamburg to be of the same tastes as
Teploff, and he had not been mistaken; and so he degraded me by forming
the same supposition. With this idea he seated himself next to me at
table, and behaved himself in such a manner during dinner that I began to
believe him to be a girl in man's clothes.
After dinner, as I was sitting at the fire, between him and the
Frenchman, I imparted my suspicions to him; but jealous of the
superiority of his sex, he displayed proof of it on the spot, and
forthwith got hold of me and put himself in a position to make my
happiness and his own as he called it. I confess, to my shame, that he
might perhaps have succeeded, if Madame la Riviere, indignant at this
encroachment of her peculiar province, had not made him desist.
Lunin the elder, Crevecceur, and Bomback, who had been for a walk,
returned at nightfall with two or three friends, and easily consoled the
Frenchman for the poor entertainment the younger Lunin and myself had
given him.
Bomback held a bank at faro, which only came to an end at eleven, when
the money was all gone. We then supped, and the real orgy began, in which
la Riviere bore the brunt in a manner that was simply astonishing. I and
my friend Lunin were merely spectators, and poor Crevecoeur had gone to
bed. We did not separate till day-break.
I got home, and, fortunately for myself, escaped the bottle which Zaira
flung at my head, and which would infallibly have killed me if it had hit
me. She threw herself on to the ground, and began to strike it with her
forehead. I thought she had gone mad, and wondered whether I had better
call for assistance; but she became quiet enough to call me assassin and
traitor, with all the other abusive epithets that she could remember. To
convict me of my crime she shewed me twenty-five cards, placed in order,
and on them she displayed the various enormities of which I had been
guilty.
I let her go on till her rage was somewhat exhausted, and then, having
thrown her divining apparatus into the fire, I looked at her in pity and
anger, and said that we must part the next day, as she had narrowly
escaped killing me. I confessed that I had been with Bomback, and that
there had been a girl in the house; but I denied all the other sins of
which she accused me. I then went to sleep without taking the slightest
notice of her, in spite of all she said and did to prove her repentance.
I woke after a few hours to find her sleeping soundly, and I began to
consider how I could best rid myself of the girl, who would probably kill
me if we continued living together. Whilst I was absorbed in these
thoughts she awoke, and falling at my feet wept and professed her utter
repentance, and promised never to touch another card as long as I kept
her.
At last I could resist her entreaties no longer, so I took her in my arms
and forgave her; and we did not part till she had received undeniable
proofs of the return of my affection. I intended to start for Moscow in
three days, and she was delighted when she heard she was to go.
Three circumstances had won me this young girl's furious affection. In
the first place I often took her to see her family, with whom I always
left a rouble; in the second I made her eat with me; and in the third I
had beaten her three or four times when she had tried to prevent me going
out.
In Russia beating is a matter of necessity, for words have no force
whatever. A servant, mistress, or courtezan understands nothing but the
lash. Words are altogether thrown away, but a few good strokes are
entirely efficacious. The servant, whose soul is still more enslaved than
his body, reasons somewhat as follows, after he has had a beating:
"My master has not sent me away, but beaten me; therefore he loves me,
and I ought to be attached to him."
It is the same with the Russian soldier, and in fact with everybody.
Honour stands for nothing, but with the knout and brandy one can get
anything from them except heroical enthusiasm.
Papanelopulo laughed at me when I said that as I liked my Cossack I
should endeavour to correct him with words only when he took too much
brandy.
"If you do not beat him," he said, "he will end by beating you;" and he
spoke the truth.
One day, when he was so drunk as to be unable to attend on me, I began to
scold him, and threatened him with the stick if he did not mend his ways.
As soon as he saw my cane lifted, he ran at me and got hold of it; and if
I had not knocked him down immediately, he would doubtless have beaten
me. I dismissed him on the spot. There is not a better servant in the
world than a Russian. He works without ceasing, sleeps in front of the
door of his master's bedroom to be always ready to fulfil his orders,
never answering his reproaches, incapable of theft. But after drinking a
little too much brandy he becomes a perfect monster; and drunkenness is
the vice of the whole nation.
A coachman knows no other way of resisting the bitter cold to which he is
exposed, than by drinking rye brandy. It sometimes happens that he drinks
till he falls asleep, and then there is no awaking for him in this world.
Unless one is very careful, it is easy to lose an ear, the nose, a cheek,
or a lip by frost bites. One day as I was walking out on a bitterly cold
day, a Russian noticed that one of my ears was frozen. He ran up to me
and rubbed the affected part with a handful of snow till the circulation
was restored. I asked him how he had noticed my state, and he said he had
remarked the livid whiteness of my ear, and this, he said, was always a
sign that the frost had taken it. What surprised me most of all is that
sometimes the part grows again after it has dropped off. Prince Charles
of Courland assured me that he had cost his nose in Siberia, and that it
had grown again the next summer. I have been assured of the truth of this
by several Russians.
About this time the empress made the architect Rinaldi, who had been
fifty years in St. Petersburg, build her an enormous wooden amphitheatre
so large as to cover the whole of the space in front of the palace. It
would contain a hundred thousand spectators, and in it Catherine intended
to give a vast tournament to all the knights of her empire. There were to
be four parties of a hundred knights each, and all the cavaliers were to
be clad in the national costume of the nations they represented. All the
Russians were informed of this great festival, which was to be given at
the expense of the sovereign, and the princes, counts, and barons were
already arriving with their chargers from the most remote parts of the
empire. Prince Charles of Courland wrote informing me of his intention to
be present.
It had been ordained, that the tournament should take place on the first
fine day, and this precaution was a very wise one; for, excepting in the
season of the hard frosts, a day without rain, or snow, or wind, is a
marvel. In Italy, Spain, and France, one can reckon on fine weather, and
bad weather is the exception, but it is quite the contrary in Russia.
Ever since I have known this home of frost and the cold north wind, I
laugh when I hear travelling Russians talking of the fine climate of
their native country. However, it is a pardonable weakness, most of us
prefer "mine" to "thine;" nobles affect to consider themselves of purer
blood than the peasants from whom they sprang, and the Romans and other
ancient nations pretended that they were the children of the gods, to
draw a veil over their actual ancestors who were doubtless robbers. The
truth is, that during the whole year 1756 there was not one fine day in
Russia, or in Ingria at all events, and the mere proofs of this statement
may be found in the fact that the tournament was not held in that year.
It was postponed till the next, and the princes, counts, barons, and
knights spent the winter in the capital, unless their purses forbade them
to indulge in the luxuries of Court life. The dear Prince of Courland was
in this case, to my great disappointment.
Having made all arrangements for my journey to Moscow, I got into my
sleeping carriage with Zaira, having a servant behind who could speak
both Russian and German. For twenty-four roubles the chevochic (hirer out
of horses) engaged to carry me to Moscow in six days and seven nights
with six horses. This struck me as being extremely cheap. The distance is
seventy-two Russian stages, almost equivalent to five hundred Italian
miles, or a hundred and sixty French leagues.
We set out just as a cannon shot from the citadel announced the close of
day. It was towards the end of May, in which month there is literally no
night at St. Petersburg. Without the report of the cannon no one would be
able to tell when the day ended and the night began. One can read a
letter at midnight, and the moonlight makes no appreciable difference.
This continual day lasts for eight weeks, and during that time no one
lights a candle. At Moscow it is different; a candle is always necessary
at midnight if one wished to read.
We reached Novgorod in forty-eight hours, and here the chevochic allowed
us a rest of five hours. I saw a circumstance there which surprised me
very much, though one has no business to be surprised at anything if one
travels much, and especially in a land of half savages. I asked the
chevochic to drink, but he appeared to be in great melancholy. I enquired
what was the matter, and he told Zaira that one of his horses had refused
to eat, and that it was clear that if he could not eat he could not work.
We followed him into the stable, and found the horse looking oppressed by
care, its head lowered and motionless; it had evidently got no appetite.
His master began a pathetic oration, looking tenderly at the animal, as
if to arouse it to a sense of duty, and then taking its head, and kissing
it lovingly, he put it into the manger, but to no purpose. Then the man
began to weep bitterly, but in such a way that I had the greatest
difficulty to prevent myself laughing, for I could see that he wept in
the hope that his tears might soften the brute's heart. When he had wept
some time he again put the horse's head into the manger, but again to no
purpose. At this he got furious and swore to be avenged. He led the horse
out of the stable, tied it to a post, and beat it with a thick stick for
a quarter of an hour so violently that my heart bled for the poor animal.
At last the chevochic was tired out, and taking the horse back to the
stable he fastened up his head once more, and to my astonishment it began
to devour its provender with the greatest appetite. At this the master
jumped for joy, laughed, sang, and committed a thousand extravagancies,
as if to shew the horse how happy it had made him. I was beside myself
with astonishment, and concluded that such treatment would have succeeded
nowhere but in Russia, where the stick seems to be the panacea or
universal medicine.
They tell me, however, that the stick is gradually going out of fashion.
Peter the Great used to beat his generals black and blue, and in his days
a lieutenant had to receive with all submission the cuffs of his captain,
who bent before the blows of his major, who did the same to his colonel,
who received chastisement from his general. So I was informed by old
General Woyakoff, who was a pupil of Peter the Great, and had often been
beaten by the great emperor, the founder of St. Petersburg.
It seems to me that I have scarcely said anything about this great and
famous capital, which in my opinion is built on somewhat precarious
foundations. No one but Peter could have thus given the lie to Nature by
building his immense palaces of marble and granite on mud and shifting
sand. They tell me that the town is now in its manhood, to the honour of
the great Catherine; but in the year 1765 it was still in its minority,
and seemed to me only to have been built with the childish aim of seeing
it fall into ruins. Streets were built with the certainty of having to
repair them in six months' time. The whole place proclaimed itself to be
the whim of a despot. If it is to be durable constant care will be
required, for nature never gives up its rights and reasserts them when
the constraint of man is withdrawn. My theory is that sooner or later the
soil must give way and drag the vast city with it.
We reached Moscow in the time the chevochic had promised. As the same
horses were used for the whole journey, it would have been impossible to
travel mote quickly. A Russian told me that the Empress Elizabeth had
done the journey in fifty-two hours.
"You mean that she issued a ukase to the effect that she had done it,"
said a Russian of the old school; "and if she had liked she could have
travelled more quickly still; it was only a question of the wording of
the ukase."
Even when I was in Russia it was not allowable to doubt the infallibility
of a ukase, and to do so was, equivalent to high treason. One day I was
crossing a canal at St. Petersburg by a small wooden bridge; Melissino
Papanelopulo, and some other Russians were with me. I began to abuse the
wooden bridge, which I characterized as both mean and dangerous. One of
my companions said that on such a day it would be replaced by a fine
stone bridge, as the empress had to pass there on some state occasion.
The day named way three weeks off, and I said plainly that it was
impossible. One of the Russians looked askance at me, and said there was
no doubt about it, as a ukase had been published ordering that the bridge
should be built. I was going to answer him, but Papanelopulo gave my hand
a squeeze, and whispered "Taci!" (hush).
The bridge was not built, but I was not justified, for the empress
published another ukase in which she declared it to be her gracious
pleasure that the bridge should not be built till the following year. If
anyone would see what a pure despotism is like, let him go to Russia.
The Russian sovereigns use the language of despotism on all occasions.
One day I saw the empress, dressed in man's clothes, going out for a
ride. Her master of the horse, Prince Repnin, held the bridle of the
horse, which suddenly gave him a kick which broke his anklebone. The
empress instantly ordained that the horse should be taken away, and that
no one should mount it again under pain of death. All official positions
in Russia have military rank assigned to them, and this sufficiently
indicates the nature of the Government. The coachman-in-chief of her
imperial highness holds the rank of colonel, as also does her chief cook.
The castrato Luini was a lieutenant-colonel, and the painter Toretti only
a captain, because he had only eight hundred roubles a year, while the
coachman had three thousand. The sentinels at the doors of the palace
have their muskets crossed, and ask those who wish to pass through what
is their rank. When I was asked this question, I stopped short; but the
quick-witted officer asked me how much I had a year, and on my replying,
at a hazard, three thousand roubles, he gave me the rank of general, and
I was allowed to pass. I saw the czarina for a moment; she stopped at the
door and took off her gloves to give her hands to be kissed by the
officer and the two sentinels. By such means as this she had won the
affection of the corps, commanded by Gregorius Gregorovitch Orloff, on
which her safety depended in case of revolution.
I made the following notes when I saw the empress hearing mass in her
chapel. The protopapa, or bishop, received her at the door to give her
the holy water, and she kissed his episcopal ring, while the prelate,
whose beard was a couple of feet in length, lowered his head to kiss the
hands of his temporal sovereign and spiritual head, for in Russia the he
or she on the throne is the spiritual as well as temporal head of the
Church.
She did not evidence the least devotion during mass; hypocrisy did not
seem to be one of her vices. Now she smiled at one of her suite, now at
another, and occasionally she addressed the favourite, not because she
had anything to say to him, but to make him an object of envy to the
others.
One evening, as she was leaving the theatre where Metastasio's Olympiade
had been performed, I heard her say,--
"The music of that opera has given the greatest pleasure to everyone, so
of course I am delighted with it; but it wearies me, nevertheless. Music
is a fine thing, but I cannot understand how anyone who is seriously
occupied can love it passionately. I will have Buranello here, and I
wonder whether he will interest me in music, but I am afraid nature did
not constitute me to feel all its charms."
She always argued in that way. In due time I will set down her words to
me when I returned from Moscow. When I arrived at that city I got down at
a good inn, where they gave me two rooms and a coach-house for my
carriage. After dinner I hired a small carriage and a guide who could
speak French. My carriage was drawn by four horses, for Moscow is a vast
city composed of four distinct towns, and many of the streets are rough
and ill-paved. I had five or six letters of introduction, and I
determined to take them all. I took Zaira with me, as she was as curious
to see everything as a girl of fourteen naturally is. I do not remember
what feast the Greek Church was keeping on that day, but I shall never
forget the terrific bell-ringing with which my ears were assailed, for
there are churches every where. The country people were engaged in sowing
their grain, to reap it in September. They laughed at our Southern custom
of sowing eight months earlier, as unnecessary and even prejudicial to
the crops, but I do not know where the right lies. Perhaps we may both be
right, for there is no master to compare with experience. I took all the
introductions I had received from Narischkin, Prince Repnin, the worthy
Pananelopulo, and Melissino's brother. The next morning the whole of the
persons at whose houses I had left letters called on me. They all asked
Zaira and myself to dinner, and I accepted the invitation of the first
comer, M. Dinidoff, and promised to dine with the rest on the following
days, Zaira, who had been tutored by me to some extent, was delighted to
shew me that she was worthy of the position she occupied. She was
exquisitely dressed, and won golden opinions everywhere, for our hosts
did not care to enquire whether she were my daughter, my mistress, or my
servant, for in this matter, as in many others, the Russians are
excessively indulgent. Those who have not seen Moscow have not seen
Russia, for the people of St, Petersburg are not really Russians at all.
Their court manners are very different from their manners 'au naturel',
and it may be said with truth that the true Russian is as a stranger in
St. Petersburg. The citizens of, Moscow, and especially the rich ones,
speak with pity of those, who for one reason or another, had expatriated
themselves; and with them to expatriate one's self is to leave Moscow,
which they consider as their native land. They look on St. Petersburg
with an envious eye, and call it the ruin of Russia. I do not know
whether this is a just view to take of the case, I merely repeat what I
have heard.
In the course of a week I saw all the sights of Moscow--the
manufacturers, the churches, the remains of the old days, the museums,
the libraries, (of no interest to my mind), not forgetting the famous
bell. I noticed that their bells are not allowed to swing like ours, but
are motionless, being rung by a rope attached to the clapper.
I thought the Moscow women more handsome than those of St. Petersburg,
and I attribute this to the great superiority of the air. They are gentle
and accessible by nature; and to obtain the favour of a kiss on the lips,
one need only make a show of kissing their hands.
There was good fare in plenty, but no delicacy in its composition or
arrangement. Their table is always open to friends and acquaintances, and
a friend may bring to five or six persons to dinner, and even at the end
of the meals you will never hear a Russian say, "We have had dinner; you
have come too late." Their souls are not black enough for them to
pronounce such words as this. Notice is given to the cook, and the dinner
begins over again. They have a delicious drink, the name of which I do
not remember; but it is much superior to the sherbet of Constantinople.
The numerous servants are not given water, but a light, nourishing, and
agreeable fluid, which may be purchased very cheaply. They all hold St.
Nicholas in the greatest reverence, only praying to God through the
mediation of this saint, whose picture is always suspended in the
principal room of the house. A person coming in makes first a bow to the
image and then a bow to the master, and if perchance the image is absent,
the Russian, after gazing all round, stands confused and motionless, not
knowing what to do. As a general rule the Muscovites are the most
superstitious Christians in the world. Their liturgy is in Greek, of
which the people understand nothing, and the clergy, themselves extremely
ignorant, gladly leave them completely in the dark on all matters
connected with religion. I could never make them understand that the only
reason for the Roman Christians making the sign of the Cross from left to
right, while the Greeks make it from right to left, is that we say
'spiritus sancti', while they say 'agion pneuma'.
"If you said pneuma agion," I used to say, "then you would cross yourself
like us, and if we said sancti spiritus we should cross ourselves like
you."
"The adjective," replied my interlocutor, "should always precede the
substantive, for we should never utter the name of God without first
giving Him some honourable epithet."
Such are nearly all the differences which divide the two churches,
without reckoning the numerous idle tales which they have as well as
ourselves, and which are by no means the least cherished articles of
their faith.
We returned to St. Petersburg by the way we had come, but Zaira would
have liked me never to leave Moscow. She had become so much in love with
me by force of constant association that I could not think without a pang
of the moment of separation. The day after our arrival in the capital I
took her to her home, where she shewed her father all the little presents
I had given her, and told him of the honour she had received as my
daughter, which made the good man laugh heartily.
The first piece of news I heard was that a ukase had been issued,
ordering the erection of a temple dedicated to God in the Moscoi opposite
to the house where I resided. The empress had entrusted Rinaldi, the
architect, with the erection. He asked her what emblem he should put
above the portal, and she replied,--
"No emblem at all, only the name of God in large letters."
"I will put a triangle."
"No triangle at all; but only the name of God in whatever language you
like, and nothing more."
The second piece of news was that Bomback had fled and had been captured
at Mitau, where he believed himself in safety. M. de Simolia had arrested
him. It was a grave case, for he had deserted; however, he was given his
life, and sent into barracks at Kamstchatka. Crevecoeur and his mistress
had departed, carrying some money with them, and a Florentine adventurer
named Billotti had fled with eighteen thousand roubles belonging to
Papanelopulo, but a certain Bori, the worthy Greek's factotum, had caught
him at Mitau and brought him back to St. Petersburg, where he was now in
prison. Prince Charles of Courland arrived about this time, and I
hastened to call upon him as soon as he advised me of his coming. He was
lodging in a house belonging to Count Dimidoff, who owned large iron
mines, and had made the whole house of iron, from attic to basement. The
prince had brought his mistress with him, but she was still in an
ill-humour, and he was beginning to get heartily sick of her. The man was
to be pitied, for he could not get rid of her without finding her a
husband, and this husband became more difficult to find every day. When
the prince saw how happy I was with my Zaira, he could not help thinking
how easily happiness may be won; but the fatal desire for luxury and
empty show spoils all, and renders the very sweets of life as bitter as
gall.
I was indeed considered happy, and I liked to appear so, but in my heart
I was wretched. Ever since my imprisonment under The Leads, I had been
subject to haemorrhoids, which came on three or four times a year. At St.
Petersburg I had a serious attack, and the daily pain and anxiety
embittered my existence. A vegetarian doctor called Senapios, for whom I
had sent, gave me the sad news that I had a blind or incomplete fistula
in the rectum, and according to him nothing but the cruel pistoury would
give me any relief, and indeed he said I had no time to lose. I had to
agree, in spite of my dislike to the operation; but fortunately the
clever surgeon whom the doctor summoned pronounced that if I would have
patience nature itself would give me relief. I had much to endure,
especially from the severe dieting to which I was subjected, but which
doubtless did me good.
Colonel Melissino asked me to be present at a review which was to take
place at three versts from St. Petersburg, and was to be succeeded by a
dinner to twenty-four guests, given by General Orloff. I went with the
prince, and saw a cannon fired twenty times in a minute, testing the
performance with my watch.
My neighbour at dinner was the French ambassador. Wishing to drink
deeply, after the Russian fashion, and thinking the Hungarian wine as
innocent as champagne, he drank so bravely that at the end of dinner he
had lost the use of his legs. Count Orloff made him drink still more, and
then he fell asleep and was laid on a bed.
The gaiety of the meal gave me some idea of Russian wit. I did not
understand the language, so M. Zinowieff translated the curious sallies
to me while the applause they had raised was still resounding.
Melissino rose to his feet, holding a large goblet full of Hungarian wine
in his hand. There was a general silence to listen to him. He drank the
health of General Orloff in these words:
"May you die when you become rich."
The applause was general, for the allusion was to the unbounded
generosity of Orloff. The general's reply struck me as better still, but
it was equally rugged in character. He, too, took a full cup, and turning
to Melissino, said,
"May you never die till I slay you!"
The applause was furious, for he was their host and their general.
The Russian wit is of the energetic kind, devoid of grace; all they care
about is directness and vigour.
Voltaire had just sent the empress his "Philosophy of History," which he
had written for her and dedicated to her. A month after, an edition of
three thousand copies came by sea, and was sold out in a week, for all
the Russians who knew a little French were eager to possess a copy of the
work. The leaders of the Voltaireans were two noblemen, named,
respectively, Stroganoff and Schuvaloff. I have seen verses written by
the former of these as good as Voltaire's own verses, and twenty years
later I saw an ode by the latter of which Voltaire would not have been
ashamed, but the subject was ill chosen; for it treated of the death of
the great philosopher who had so studiously avoided using his pen on
melancholy themes. In those days all Russians with any pretensions to
literature read nothing but Voltaire, and when they had read all his
writings they thought themselves as wise as their master. To me they
seemed pigmies mimicking a giant. I told them that they ought to read all
the books from which Voltaire had drawn his immense learning, and then,
perhaps, they might become as wise as he. I remember the saying of a wise
man at Rome: "Beware of the man of one book." I wonder whether the
Russians are more profound now; but that is a question I cannot answer.
At Dresden I knew Prince Biloselski, who was on his way back to Russia
after having been ambassador at Turin. He was the author of an admirable
world on metaphysics, and the analysis of the soul and reason.
Count Panin was the tutor of Paul Petrovitch, heir-presumptive to the
throne. The young prince had a severe master, and dared not even applaud
an air at the opera unless he first received permission to do so from his
mentor.
When a courier brought the news of the sudden death of Francis I.,
Emperor of Germany and of the Holy Roman Empire, the czarina being at
Czarsko-Zelo, the count minister-tutor was in the palace with his pupil,
then eleven years old. The courier came at noon, and gave the dispatch
into the hands of the minister, who was standing in the midst of a crowd
of courtiers of whom I was one. The prince imperial was at his right
hand. The minister read the dispatch in a low voice, and then said:
"This is news indeed. The Emperor of the Romans has died suddenly."
He then turned to Paul, and said to him,--
"Full court mourning, which your highness will observe for three months
longer than the empress."
"Why so?" said Paul.
"Because, as Duke of Holstein, your highness has a right to attend the
diet of the empire, a privilege," he added, turning to us, "which Peter
the Great desired in vain."
I noted the attention with which the Grand Duke Paul listened to his
mentor, and the care with which he concealed his joy at the news. I was
immensely pleased with this way of giving instruction. I said as much to
Prince Lobkowitz, who was standing by me, and he refined on my praises.
This prince was popular with everyone. He was even preferred to his
predecessor, Prince Esterhazy; and this was saying a great deal, for
Esterhazy was adored in Russia. The gay and affable manner of Prince
Lobkowitz made him the life and soul of all the parties at which he was
present. He was a constant courtier of the Countess Braun, the reigning
beauty, and everyone believed his love had been crowned with success,
though no one could assert as much positively.
There was a great review held at a distance of twelve or fourteen versts
from St. Petersburg, at which the empress and all her train of courtiers
were present. The houses of the two or three adjoining villages were so
few and small that it would be impossible for all the company to find a
lodging. Nevertheless I wished to be present chiefly to please Zaira, who
wanted to be seen with me on such an occasion. The review was to last
three days; there were to be fireworks, and a mine was to be exploded
besides the evolutions of the troops. I went in my travelling carriage,
which would serve me for a lodging if I could get nothing better.
We arrived at the appointed place at eight o'clock in the morning; the
evolutions lasted till noon. When they were over we went towards a tavern
and had our meal served to us in the carriage, as all the rooms in the
inn were full.
After dinner my coachman tried in vain to find me a lodging, so I
disposed myself to sleep all night in the carriage; and so I did for the
whole time of the review, and fared better than those who had spent so
much money to be ill lodged. Melissino told me that the empress thought
my idea a very sensible one. As I was the only person who had a sleeping
carriage, which was quite a portable house in itself, I had numerous
visitors, and Zaira was radiant to be able to do the honours.
I had a good deal of conversation during the review with Count Tott,
brother of the nobleman who was employed at Constantinople, and known as
Baron Tott. We had known each other at Paris, and afterwards at the
Hague, where I had the pleasure of being of service to him. He had come
to St. Petersburg with Madame de Soltikoff, whom he had met at Paris, and
whose lover he was. He lived with her, went to Court, and was well
received by everyone.
Two or three years after, the empress ordered him to leave St. Petersburg
on account of the troubles in Poland. It was said that he kept up a
correspondence with his brother, who was endeavouring to intercept the
fleet under the command of Alexis Orloff. I never heard what became of
him after he left Russia, where he obliged me with the loan of five
hundred roubles, which I have not yet been able to return to him.
M. Maruzzi, by calling a Venetian merchant, and by birth a Greek, having
left trade to live like a gentleman, came to St. Petersburg when I was
there, and was presented at Court. He was a fine-looking man, and was
admitted to all the great houses. The empress treated him with
distinction because she had thoughts of making him her agent at Venice.
He paid his court to the Countess Braun, but he had rivals there who were
not afraid of him. He was rich enough, but did not know how to spend his
money; and avarice is a sin which meets with no pity from the Russian
ladies.
I went to Czarsko-Zelo, Peterhoff, and Cronstadt, for if you want to say
you have been in a country you should see as much as possible of it. I
wrote notes and memorandums on several questions with the hope of their
procuring me a place in the civil service, and all my productions were
laid before the empress but with no effect. In Russia they do not think
much of foreigners unless they have specially summoned them; those who
come of their own account rarely make much, and I suspect the Russians
are right.