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

ABOLITION OF THE UNIATES.293

demoiselle Taglioni herself (alas ! for Mademoiselle Taglioni!) is not a perfect dancer at St. Petersburg. What a fall for La Sylphide ! But when she walks in the streets — for she walks at present — she is followed by footmen in handsome cockades and gold lace; and the newspapers overwhelm her every morning with articles containing the most preposterous praises I have ever seen. This is all the Russians, notwithstanding their cleverness,, ean do for the arts and for artistes. What the latter want is a heaven to give them life, a public which can understand them, a society which can excite and inspire them. These are necessaries : rewards are supererogatory. It is not, however, in a country contiguous to Lapland, and governed under the system of Peter the Great, that such things are to be sought for. I must wait for the Russians' establishment in Constantinople, before I can know of what they are really capable in the fine arts and in civilisation.

The best method of patronising art is to have a sincere desire for the pleasures it procures: a nation that reaches this point of civilisation will not be long-compelled to seek for artists among foreigners.

At the time of my leaving St. Petersburg, several persons were secretly deploring the abolition of the Uniates*, and recounting the arbitrary measures by which this irreligious act, celebrated as a triumph by the Greek church, has been accomplished. The unknown persecutions to which many priests among the Uniates have been exposed would be viewed as revolt-

* The Uniates are Greeks reunited to the Catholic church, and therefore regarded as schismatics by the Greek church. о 3