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

AND HIS COMPANIONS.81

faithful to the man who possesses it, whatever effort he may make to throw it off. In no other land could

a man be found like the young Prince , l>ut

there are more than one such here.

He is to be seen surrounded by a crowd of young men, his disciples and competitors, who, without equalling him either in disposition or in mind, all share with him a kind of family resemblance : it may be seen at the first glance that they are, and only can be Russians. It is for this reason that I am about to give some details connected with their manner

of lifeBut already my pen falls from

my hands; for it will be necessary to reveal the connection of these libertines, not with women of the town, but with the youthful sisters of religious orders,—with nuns, whose cloisters, as it will be seen, are not very securely guarded. I hesitate to recite facts which will too readily reeal our revolutionary literature in 1793. I shall remind the reader of the Visitandines; — and why, he will ask, lift a corner of the veil that covers scenes of disorder which ought to remain carefully covered ? Perhaps my passion for the truth obscures my judgment; but it seems to me that evil triumphs so long as it remains secret, whilst to publish it is to aid in destroying it: besides, I have resolved to draw a picture of this country as I see it, — not a composition, but an exact and complete copy from nature. My business is to represent things as they are, not as they ought to be. The only law that I impose on myself, under a sense of delicacy, is to forbear making any allusion to persons who desire to remain unknown. As for the man whom I select for a specimen of the most unbridled E 5