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

252THE COUNTESS 0¾ONNELL.

with weakness ; she used with discernment the arms with which her natural penetration supplied her ; she was just, even in the exercise of her wit; she ridiculed only the absurdities that were avoidable. Endowed with a judgment that was strong, although exempt from all pedantry, she rectified the prejudices of others with an address the more efficacious because well concealed. But for the sincerity of sentiment which influenced her in this benevolent work, her skilfulness and her delicacy of feeling might have been taken for art; but that art was the art of kindness and benevolence ; she employed it to correct the faults and to redress the wrongs of others, without wounding the feelings of any.

When she believed it her duty, she could say severe truths, yet without injuring self-love : for, in her, frankness was felt as a proof of friendship. All that she showed of her character was agreeable, all that she concealed inspired attachment.

So rare a union of opposite qualities — so much solidity of character, liveliness of disposition, and kindness of heart — so happy a combination of sense and of gaiety, made her one of the models of those Frenchwomen who, with strong energy of character, concealed under graces of which they alone possess the secret, ai`e, according to the influence of circumstances, fascinating coquettes or real heroines. It is revolutions which test the hearts, and which bring to light the hidden virtues.

Naturally obliging, she was happier in the good that she did, than in the services that were rendered to her; and yet — rarely seen faculty!—she had carried the delicacy of friendship to the point of knowing how to receive as well as to give ; in other words, she had attained the perfection of sentiment.

Watching closely over her friends without ever wearying them by her solicitude, always severe with herself and patient towards others, resigned to their imperfections as to necessity, concealing, with a care precisely the contrary to that which other women take, a profound mental capacity under a graceful lightness of conversation, she saw men as they were, and yet viewed every thing on the bright side. Those who knew her, remember as well as I, the philosophy, the courage, and the promptitude with which she submitted to circumstances, and the penetration, yet generosity and charity, with which she