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

friend of your grandmother, Madame de Sabran; that friend often spoke to me of her natural grace and charming wit, as well as of the mind and talents of your uncle and your mother; she often even spoke to me of you, though she had left France before your

birth. It is Madameto whom I allude; she

accompanied into Russia the Polignac family when they became emigres, and since the death of the Duchess de Polignac she has never left me."

In concluding these words Madamepresented

me to her governess, an elderly person, who spoke French better than I, and whose countenance expressed penetration and gentleness.

I saw that I must once again renounce my dream of the boyards, a dream which, notwithstanding its futility, did not leave me without awaking some regret; but I had wherewith to indemnify myself

for my mistake. Madame , the wife of the

governor, belongs to one of the great original families

of Lithuania; she was born Princess ■. Over and

above the politeness common to nearly all people of this rank, in every land, she has acquired the taste and the tone of French society, as it existed in its most flourishing epoch; and, although yet young, she reminds me, by the noble simplicity of her manners, of the elderly persons whom I knew in my childhood. Those manners are the traditions of the old court, respect for every kind of propriety, good taste in its highest perfection, for it includes even good and kindly dispositions, in short, every thing that was attractive in the higher circles of Paris at the time when our social superiority was denied by none; at the time when Madame de Marsan, 1huiting fîerself