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

INSTITUTIONS OF CHIVALRY UNKNOWN. 77

gods, governed this nation while still composed of wandering tribes. It was from the emperors and patriarchs of Constantinople that they at this period derived all their notions of luxury and the arts. Such, if I may be allowed the expression, was the first laid stratum of civilisation in Russia, afterwards trampled on and destroyed by the Tartar conquerors.

t£ A vast body of saints, who were the legislators of a newly converted Christian people, illume, with their names, this fabulous epoch of Russian history, Princes also, great by their savage virtues, ennoble the early period of the Slavonian annals. Their names shine out from the profound darkness of the age, like stars piercing the clouds of a stormy night. The very sound of these strange names excites the imagination and challenges curiosity. Rurick, 01eg, the Queen Olga, Saint Wladimir, Swiatopolk, and Monomaque, are personages whose characters no more resemble those of the heroes of the west than •lo their appellations.

" They have nothing of the chivalrous about them ; they are like the monarchs of Scripture ; the nation which they rendered great remained in the vicinity of Asia; ignorant of our romance, it preserved manners that were in a great measure patriarchal.

" The Russian nation was not formed in that brilliant school of good faith, by whose instructions chivalrous Europe had so well profited, that the word honour was for a long period synonymous with truth, and the гсога of honour had a sanctity which is still revered, even in France, where so many things have been forgotten.

" The noble influence of the Knights of the Cross