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

ENGLISH XOBLEMAX.257

will be present also at a curious ceremony on the plain of Borodino: I am to place there the first stone of a monument which we are about to erect in commemoration of that battle."

I remained silent, and no doubt the expression of my face became serious. The emperor fixed his eyes on me, and then continued, in a tone of kindness and with a delicacy and even sensibility of manner which touched my heart, — " The inspection of the manoeuvres at least will interest you."

" Sire, every thing interests me in Russia."

I saw the old Marquis D, who has only one

leg, dance the polonaise with the empress. Lame as he is, he can get through this dance, which is nothing more than a solemn procession. He has arrived here with his sons: they travel like real great lords; a yacht brought them from London to Petersburg, where they have had forwarded English horses and carriages in great number. Their equipages are the most elegant, if they are not the most sumptuous, in Petersburg. These travellers are treated with marked attention. They are intimate with the imperial family. The emperor's love of field sports, and the recollection of liis journey to London when Grand Duke, have established between him and the Marquis D —— that kind of familiarity which, it appears to me, must be more pleasant to the princes than to the private individuals who have become the objects of such favour. Where friendship is impossible, intimacy I should think can be only constraining. One would have said, to have sometimes seen the manners of the marquis's sons towards the members of the imperial family, that they thought on this subject as I did. If