Russia in 1839 -Empire of the Czar: A Journey Through Eternal Russia

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to an humble pension, retired voluntarily to a small apartment in the Assumption, and for ten years devoted her immense income to paying the debts of her brother, the Prince de Guémenée, — by this noble sacrifice extenuating, as far as was in her power, the disgrace and scandal of a bankrupt nobleman.

All this will teach me nothing about the country I am inspecting, I thought to myself, nevertheless it will afford me a pleasure that I should be loath to deny myself, for it is one that has now become more rare perhaps, than is the satisfaction of the simple curiosity which brought me here.

I fancied myself in the chamber of my grandmother *, though, indeed, on a day when the Chevalier de Boufflers was not there, nor Madame de Coaslin, nor even the lady of the house : for those brilliant models of the character of intellect which formerly adorned French conversation have gone, never to return, even in Russia; but I found myself in the chosen circle of their friends and disciples, assembled, as it were, in their absence; and I felt as though we were waiting for them, and that they would soon reappear.

I was not in the least prepared for this species of emotion ; of all the surprises of my journey it has been for me the most unexpected.

The lady of the house participated in my astonishment; for she told me of the exclamation she had made the previous evening, on perceiving my name at the bottom of the note I had sent to the governor.

* The Countess de Sabi·an, afterwards Marchioness de Boufflers, who died at Paris in 1S27, aged 78 years.