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

a night's lodging.27

they now are. The ambassadors with their families and suites, as well as the strangers who have been presented, are boarded and lodged at the expence of the emperor. For this object a large and charming edifice, called the English palace, is reserved. The building is a quarter of a league from the imperial palace, in a beautiful park, laid out in the English taste, and so picturesque that it appears natural. The beauty of the waters, and the irregularities of the surface, an irregularity rarely seen in the environs of Petersburg, render it very pleasant. This year, the number of foreigners being greater than usual, there is not room for them in the English palace. I do not therefore sleep there, but I dine there daily with the diplomatic corps and seven or eight hundred other individuals, at a perfectly well-served table. This is certainly magnificent hospitality. In lodging at the village, it is necessary, after dressing in uniform, to proceed in my carriage, in order to dine at this table, at which presides one of the great officers of the empire.

For the night, the director general of the theatres of the court has placed at my disposal two actor's boxes in the theatre of Peterhoff, and this l0d2;ino· is the envy of every one.* It lacks nothing except a bed ; and fortunately I brought my little iron couch from Petersburg. It is an indispensable necessary for an European travelling in Russia, who does not wish to pass the night on a seat, or on the floor. TVe carry our beds here as we woidd our cloaks in Spain.

* In the village there are only a small number ol` dirty houses, in which the rooms are let at the rate of 200 to 500 roubles per night.

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