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

SOCIETY IN MOSCOW.65

ful humility of misfortune ! Such was the manner in which the Greek church taught Christianity to the people.

The society of Moscow is agreeable; the mixture of the patriarchal traditions of the old world with the polished manners of the modern, produces a combination that is, in a manner, original. The hospitable customs of ancient Asia and the elegant language of civilised Europe have met together at this point of the globe, to render life pleasant and easy. Moscow, fixed on the limits of two continents, marks, in the middle of the earth, a spot for rest between London and Pekin.

A small number of letters of introduction suffice to put a stranger in communication with a crowd of persons, distinguished either by fortune, rank, or mind. The debut of a traveller is here easy.

I was invited a few days ago to dine at a country-house. It is a pavilion situated within the limits of the city, but to reach it, we had to traverse, for more than a league, fields that resemble steppes, to skirt solitary pools of waters; and, at last, on approaching the house, we perceived, beyond the garden, a dark and deep forest of firs, which borders the exterior bounds of Moscow. Who would not have been struck at the sight of these profound shades, these majestic solitudes, in a city where all the luxuries and refinements of modern civilisation are to be found ? Such contrasts are characteristics; nothing similar is to be seen elsewhere.

I entered a wooden house — another singularity. In Moscow both rich and poor are sheltered by planks and boards, as in the primitive cottages. But the in-