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

SUPERIORITY OF THE FEMALE SEX.147

house of the governor. "We had first music, and aftenvards a lottery.

One of the brothers of the lady of the house plays the violoncello in a charming manner; he was accompanied on the piano by his wife, a very agreeable woman. This duo, as well as many national airs, sung with taste, made the evening pass rapidly.

The conversation of Madame de, the old

friend of my grandmother and of Madame de Po-

lignac, contributed in no slight degree to shorten

it. This lady has lived in Kussia for forty-seven

years ; she has viewed and judged the country with

discernment and justice, and she states the truth

without hostility, and yet without oratorical pre

cautions : this is new to me ; her frankness strangely

contrasts with the universal dissimulation practised by

the Russians. An intelligent French woman, who has

passed her life among them, ought, I think, to know

them better than they know themselves; for they

blind themselves in order the better to impose false

hood upon others. Madame desaid and repeated

to me, that in this country the sentiment of honour is without power except in the heart of the women : they have made it a matter of religion to be faithful to their word, to despise falsehood, to observe delicacy in money affairs, and independence in politics;

in short, according to Madame de, the greater

number of them possess what is wanted in the great majority of the men — probity in all the circumstances of life, whether of greater or less importance. In general, the -Russian women think more than the men, because they act less. Leisure, that advantage inherent in a woman's mode of life, is as advantageous и 2