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

I shall here recount two stories, which will show how little meritorious was the attention for which I had been complimented.

We were passing the isle of Dago on the coast of Esthonia. The appearance of this spot is melancholy; it is a cold solitude, where nature appears naked and sterile, rather than savage and imposing ; it seems as though she meant to repel man by the dulness, rather than by the terrors of her aspect."

" A strange scene has been witnessed in that isle,"

remarked Prince К.

" At what period ? "

" Not long ago, it was under the Emperor Paul,"

" Pray relate it to us."

The prince then recounted, in a very interesting manner, the history of the Baron de Sternberg,