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

REVIEW OF THE CORPS OF CADETS.37

broidered crowd, who all showed so much alacrity that it seemed as if the splendour and fatigues of the night had weighed only upon me. I blushed for my indolence, and felt that I was not born to make a good Russian courtier. The chain, though gilded, did not appear to me the less heavy.

I had but just time to make my way through the crowd before the arrival of the empress, and had not yet gained my place, when the emperor commenced inspecting the ranks of his infant officers, while the empress, so overcome with fatigue the previous evening, waited for him in a calèche in the midst of the square. I felt for her, but the extreme exhaustion under which she had seemed to suffer during the ball had disappeared. My pity, therefore, turned upon myself, and I saw with envy the oldest people of the court lightly bearing the burden which I found so heavy. Ambition, here, is the condition of life: without its artificial stimulus the people would be always dull and gloomy. The emperor's own voice directed the manoeuvres of the pupils. After several had been perfectly well executed, his majesty appeared satisfied. He took the hand of one of the youngest of the cadets, led him forth from the ranks to the empress, and then, raising the child in his arms to the height of his head ; that is, above the head of every body else, he kissed him publicly. What object had the emperor in showing himself so good-natured on this day before the public? This they either could not or would not tell me.

I asked the people around me who was the happy father of the model cadet, thus loaded with the favour of the sovereign : no one satisfied my curi-