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

To return to my father : — After he had regained his composure, he occupied himself with preparing for the stern trial that impended, and towards morning wrote to his wife a letter admirable for the fortitude which it displays. It has been preserved in the Memoirs of the Times, together with that of my grandfather's to this same son ; whose death is to be attributed, first, to a sense of duty, which would not permit him to remain a refugee at the Court of Berlin ; secondly, to the part he took in the defence of his parent; and, thirdly, to his refusal to save himself at the risk of the life of a young and unknown female.

If his enemies could not speak of his memory without respect, what must have been the sentiments of his friends !

M. Girard, his old tutor, preserved for him the ten-derest affection. On being suddenly apprised of his fate, he was seized with an apoplectic fit, and died almost immediately.

My father had a simplicity of manners and a modesty which disarmed envy, at a time when it reigned without control, and which account for the admiration his merits inspired.

He must doubtless have thought more than once during his last night, of the predictions of his friends at Berlin ; but I do not believe that he even then repented of the part he had taken. He was one of those with whom life, however bright its hopes, appears little compared with the testimony of a pure conscience. That land is not to be despaired of which produces men in whose hearts the sense of duty is stronger than the sentiments of affection.