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

long established in Moscow, has likewise informed me, that he dined some years ago with a merchant of Petersburg and his three wives — not concubines but leo`itimate wives. This merchant was a dissenter, a secret sectarian of some new church. I presume that the children borne him by his three helpmates would not be recognised as legitimate by the state ; but his conscience as a Christian remained at ease.

If I had learnt this tact from a native, I might not have recounted it; for there are Russians who amuse themselves with lying, in order to perplex and lead astray too curious or too credulous travellers ; a circumstance which tends to throw obstacles in the way of a pursuit, difficult everywhere, for those who would exercise it conscientiously, but doubly so here — I mean the pursuit of an observer.

The body of merchants is very powerful, very ancient, and very much esteemed in Moscow. The life of these rich dealers reminds us of the condition and manners of the Asiatic merchants, so well painted in the Arabian Nights. There are so many points of resemblance between Moscow and Bagdad, that in travelling through Eussia we lose the curiosity to see Persia ; Ave know it already.

I have just been present at a popular fete, held round the monastery of Devitschiepol. The actors are soldiers and peasants; the spectators, people of the higher classes, who go there in great numbers. The tents and booths for drinking are placed close to the cemetery. The feast, or fair, is kept in commemoration of some Russian saint, whose relics and images are ceremoniously visited between two libations of kicass. This evening an inconceivable consumption of that national liquor has here taken place.