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

the miseries to which our nature is exposed. Alas ! the loftier the height from which we fall, the severer is the shock. The great expiate in one day, even in this world, all the privations of the poor during a long life.

The inequality of conditions disappears under the levelling pressure of suffering. Time is but an illusion, which passion disperses. The intensity of the feeling, whether of joy or of grief, is the measure of the reality.

Persons, even of the highest elevation, act unwisely when they pretend to amuse themselves on any fixed day. An anniversary regularly celebrated only aids in more deeply impressing the mind with the progress of time, by suggesting comparison between the present and the past. The memories of the past, celebrated with rejoicings, always inspire us with a crowd of melancholy ideas, visions of vanished early youth, and prospects of declining life. At the return of each yearly fete we have ever some fewer joys, some increased sorrows, to contemplate. The change being so sad, were it not better to let the days fly past in silence ? Anniversaries are the plaintive voices of the tomb, the solemn echoes of time.

Yesterday, at the close of the ball, we supped: then almost melted, for the heat of the apartments in which the crowd was gathered was insupportable, we entered certain carriages belonging to the court, called lignes, and made the tour of the illuminations ; beyond the influence of which the night was very dark and cool. The incredible profusion of lights spread over the enchanted forest produced, however, within с 5