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

IMPATIENCE OF THE DUKE.207

than a prince. Not one relation on his side had come to St. Petersburg to assist at the ceremony.

During the mass he appeared singularly impatient to be alone with his wife ; and the eyes of the whole assembly were directed, by a kind of spontaneous sympathy, towards the two pigeons perched above the altar.

I possess neither the cynicism nor the talent for description of St. Simon, nor yet the ingenious humour of the writers of the good old times; I must therefore here dispense with some details that might prove rather amusin¤; to the reader. In the аце of Louis XIV. they exercised a liberty of language, which was fostered by the certainty of there being no hearers, except those who all lived and spoke in the same manner: there was then plenty of society, but no public. In these times, there is a public, but no society. With our fathers, every narrator in his own circle could state facts without reference to consequences ; in the present day, all classes being mixed, there is a lack of benevolence, and therefore of security. Freedom of expression would appear mauvctis ton to people who have not all learnt their French from the same vocabulary. A certain degree of plebeian sensitiveness has insinuated itself into the language of the best society in France; the greater the number whom we address, the greater the necessity for assuming a grave and precise mode of speaking; a nation demands more respect than an intimate society, however refined that society may be. As regards decorum in language, a crowd is more precise than a court. Freedom of speech becomes in-