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

REFORM OF COURT LANGUAGE. 75

a satire, but a grand historical picture. The great, the little, the bad, the sublime, and all other op-posites, enter into the constitution of this singular country, while silence perpetuates the prodigy and prevents the machine from breaking.

The Emperor Nicholas extends his reforms even to the language of those who surround him; he requires Russian to be spoken at court. The greater number of the women of the highest circles, especially those who have been born at Petersburg, are ignorant of their native language; but they learn a few Russian phrases, which they utter through obedience to the emperor, when he passes into the saloons of the palace where their duties may retain them. One of them acts always as a sentinel, to announce to the others, by some conventional sign, the arrival of the monarch, on whose appearance French conversation immediately ceases, and Russian phrases, destined to flatter the imperial ear, are heard on every side. The prince observes, with self-complacency, the extent of his power as a reformer; and the fair rebels begin to laugh as soon as he has passed.

However, like every reformer, the Emperor is endowed with an obstinacy which must ultimately produce success.

At the extremity of that square, vast as a mighty region, in which stands the column, is to be seen a mountain of granite — the church of Saint Isaac, of Petersburg. This edifice, though less stately, less beautiful in design, and less rich in ornaments than that of St. Peter's at Rome, is quite as extraordinary. It is not finished, and one cannot therefore judge of the whole, which will be a work whose gigantic pro-E 2