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

labours, he added to his mansion a very high tower, the Avails of which you can see with the spy-glass."

Here the prince paused, and we took a view of the tower of Dago. The prince resumed:

" This tower he called his library, and crowned its summit with a sort of glazed lantern like an observatory, or rather light-ho\ise. He often repeated to his servants that he could only labour at night, and then no where but in this solitary place. It was there that he retired, as he said, to meditate, and to seek peace. " No guests were admitted into this retreat except an only son, still a child, and his tutor.

" Towards midnight, when the baron believed them to be both asleep, he used often to shut himself up in his laboratory; the glass tower of which was then lighted with a lamp so brilliant, that, at a distance, it might be taken for a signal. This light-house, though not one in reality, was calculated to deceive strange vessels, that were in danger of being lost on the island, if their captains, venturing too far, did not perfectly know each point of the coast in the perilous Gulf of Finland.

" This error was precisely that which the terrible baron hoped for. Raised upon a rock, in the midst of a stormy sea, the perfidious tower became the beacon of inexperienced pilots; and the unfortunate beings, who were misled by the false hope that glittered before them, met their death at the moment they believed they had found a shelter from the storm.

" You may judge that nautical regulations were at that time very imperfectly maintained in Russia.

" As soon as a vessel was on the point of being wrecked, the baron proceeded to the shore, and secretly