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

upon the head of the husband of Paul the First's grandchild ! The strange coincidence most probably occurred to no one except myself. It appears that tact and propriety are here necessary only for those who possess no power. Had the recollection of the fact which occupied my mind occurred to that of the Emperor, he woidd have commissioned some other individual to hold the crown over the head of his son-in-law. But in a country where they neither read nor speak of public affairs, nothing has less to do with the events of to-day, than the history of yesterday ; power consequently sometimes aets inadvertently, and commits oversights which prove that it sleeps in a security not always well advised. Russian policy is not shackled in its march either by opinions or actions ; the favour of the sovereign is every thing. So long as it lasts it supplies the want of merit, of virtue, and even of innocence in the man on whom it is lavished; and, in the same manner, when it is withdrawn, it deprives him of every thing.

Every one contemplated with a species of anxious interest the immovableness of the arms which sustained the two crowns. The scene lasted for a considerable time, and must have been very fatiguing fur the performers. The young bride is extremely graceful ; her eyes are blue, and her fair complexion has all the delicate freshness of early youth : openness and intelligence united form the predominant expression of her face. This princess and her sister, the Grand Duchess Olga, appear to me the two most beautiful persons at the Russian court:—happy unison of the advantages of rank and the gifts of nature.