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

PAVILION OF ТПЕ EMPRESS.173

tions of a superior mind, rather than the proof of real happiness. Consolation is not felicity ; on the contrary, the remedy proves the evil; an emperor of Russia must have a heart like other men if he has one at all. So much for the over-lauded private virtues of the Emperor Nicholas.

This evening the Empress, having proceeded from Peterhoff by sea, landed at her pavilion on the islands, where she will remain until the marriage of her daughter, which is to be celebrated to-morrow, in the new winter palace. While she remains at the islands, the leafy shade which sm·rounds her pavilion serves as a shelter during the day for her regiment of chevalier guards, one of the finest in the army.

`\Ve arrived too late to see her leave her sacred vessel, but we found the crowd still under the excite-- ment caused by the rapid transit of the imperial star. The only tumults possible in Russia are those caused by the struggles of flatterers. This evening the human effervescence resembled the agitation of the waves, that continue boiling in the track of some mighty vessel long after she has entered port.

At last, then, I have breathed the air of the court! though the deities who exhale it upon mortals are still unseen.

It is now one o'clock in the morning; the sun is about to rise, and I cannot yet sleep : I will, therefore, finish my night as I commenced it, by writing without lights.

Notwithstanding Russian pretensions to elegance,

* foreigners cannot find in all Petersburg one hotel

that is endurable. The great lords bring with them,

from the interior of the empire, a suite which is always

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