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

For want of straw, which is a rare thing in a region that grows no wheat, my mattrass is filled with hay.

In any other country, so great an assemblage of people would produce overwhelming noise and disturbance. In Russia every thing passes with gravity, every thing takes the character of a ceremony ; to see so many young persons united together for their pleasure, or for that of others, not daring either to laugh, to sing, to quarrel, to play, or to dance, one might imagine them a troop of prisoners about to proceed to their destination. That which is wanted in all I see here is not, assuredly, grandeur or magnificence, nor even taste and elegance : it is gaiety. Gaiety cannot be compelled; on the contrary, com-pulsion makes it fly, just as the line and the level destroy the picturesque in scenery. I see only in Russia that which is symmetrically correct, which carries with it an air of command and regulation ; but that which would give a value to this order, variety, from whence springs harmony, is here unknown.

The soldiers at their bivouac are subjected to a more severe discipline than in their barracks. Such rigour, in time of peace, in the open field, and on a day of festival, reminds me of the remark of the Grand Duke Constantine. " I do not like war," he said ; " it spoils the soldiers, dirts their uniforms, and destroys discipline."

The prince did not give all his reasons for disliking war, as is proved by his conduct in Poland.

On the day of the ball and the illumination, Ave repaired to the imperial palace at seven o'clock. The courtiers, the ambassadors, the invited foreigners, and the soi-disa?it pop;ilaee, entered the state apart-