188 RUSSIAN PHYSICIANS. twenty, forty, or sixty versts (two French leagues are equal to seven versts) after them. There are, therefore, practically speaking, no physicians in Russia. Should even the physician be sought at the known residence of his prince, and not be found there, there is no further hope. "The doctor is not here." No other answer can be obtained. In Russia every thing serves to show that reserve is the favourite virtue of the land. An opportunity for appearing discreet cannot but offer to those who know how to seize it, and what Russian would not do himself credit at so little cost? The projects and the movements of the great, and of those attached to their persons by so confidential an employ as that of physician, ought not to be known, unless officially declared, to persons who are born courtiers, and with whom obedience is a passion. Here mystery supplies the place of merit. The most able of these doctors of the princes are far inferior to the least known among the medical men of our hospitals. The skill of the most learned practitioners will rust at court: nothing can supply the place of the experience gained by the bedside of the sick. I could read the secret memoirs of a Russian court physician with great interest, but I would not follow his prescriptions. Such men would make better chroniclers than doctors. When, therefore, a stranger falls sick among this soi-disant civilised people, his best plan is to consider himself among savages, and to leave every thing to nature. On returning to my hotel this evening I found a letter, which has very agreeably surprised me. Through the influence of our ambassador, I am to KINDNESS OF COUNT WORONZOFF. 189 be admitted to-morrow to the imperial chapel, to see the marriage of the Grand Duchess. To appear at court before having been presented, is contrary to all the laws of etiquette, and I was far from hoping for such a favour. The Emperor has, however, granted it. Count Woronzoff, Grand Master of the Ceremonies, without pre-informing me, for he did not wish to amuse me with a false hope, had despatched a courier to Peterhoff, which is ten leagues from Petersburg, to solicit his Majesty in my favour. This kind consideration has not been unavailing. The Emperor has given permission for me to be present at the marriage, in the chapel of the court, and I am to be presented, without ceremony, at the ball on the same evening, 190 COINCIDENCE OF DATES. CHAP. XI. COINCIDENCE OF DATES. CHOLAS. MARRIAGE OF THE GRANDSON OF M. DE BEAUHARNAIS. -CHAPEL OF THE COURT. -THE EMPEROR NIHIS PERSON. THE EMPRESS.- CONSEQUENCES OF DESPOTISM. THE AUTHOR'S DÉBUT AT COURT. AN ACCIDENT. MAGNIFICENT DECORATIONS AND COSTUME. — - ENTRÉE OF THE - IMPERIAL FAMILY.-THE EMPEROR MASTER OF THE CEREMONIES. -FORMS OF THE GREEK CHURCH.-M. DE PAHLEN.-EMOTION OF THE EMPRESS. - DESCRIPTION OF THE DUKE OF LEUCHTENBERG. -HIS IMPATIENCE. PRUDERY IN MODERN CONVERSATION. -ITS CAUSE. MUSIC OF THE IMPERIAL CHAPEL. THE ARCHBISHOP. THE EMPEROR KISSES HIS HAND. -TALISMAN OF M. DE BEAUHARNAIS. NO CROWD IN RUSSIA. IMMENSITY OF THE PUBLIC SQUARES. -THE COLUMN OF ALEXANDER. - FALSE TASTE OF THE RUSSIANS IN THE ARTS. TRIUMPHAL ARCH.STORM AT THE MOMENT OF THE MARRIAGE. -THE EMPEROR TO BE PITIED. THE EMPRESS A VICTIM. — THE AUTHOR'S PRESENTATION. THE EMPEROR'S VOICE. THE AFFABILITY OF THE EMPRESS. -A FÊTE AT THE PALACE. -COURTIERS. COURT DANCES. THE POLONAISE. THE GRAND GALLERY. —POLITICAL REFLECTIONS. FRENCH POLITICS. -THE SUPPER. KHAN OF THE KIRGUISES. THE QUEEN OF GEORGIA. - RUSSIAN COURT DRESS. THE GENEVESE AT THE EMPEROR'S TABLE. POLITENESS OF THE MONARCH.A NIGHT SCENE IN THE NORTH. AN UNEXPECTED INTERVIEW WITH THE EMPRESS. -PHILOSOPHY OF DESPOTISM. I AM writing on the 14th of July, 1839, fifty years after the taking of the Bastille, which event occurred on the 14th of July, 1789. The coincidence of these dates is curious. The marriage of the son of Eugene de Beauharnais has taken place on the same day as that which marked the commencement of our revolutions, precisely fifty years ago. CHARACTER OF THE EMPEROR. 191 I have just returned from the palace, after having witnessed, in the Imperial chapel, all the Greek ceremonies of the marriage of the Grand Duchess Marie with the Duke de Leuchtenberg. I will endeavour to describe in detail, but in the first place I must speak of the Emperor. The predominant expression of his countenance is that of a restless severity, which strikes a beholder at the first glance; and, in spite of the regularity of his features, conveys by no means a pleasant impression. Physiognomists pretend, with much reason, that the hardness of the heart injures the beauty of the countenance. Nevertheless, this expression in the Emperor Nicholas appears to be the result of experience rather than the work of nature. By what long and cruel sufferings must not a man have been tortured, when his countenance excites fear, notwithstanding the voluntary confidence that noble features inspire. A man charged with the management and direction, in its most minute details, of some immense machine, incessantly fears the derangement of one or other of its various parts. He who obeys suffers only according to the precise measure of the evil inflicted: he who commands, suffers first as other men suffer, and afterwards that common measure of evil is multiplied a hundred fold for him by the workings of imagination and self-love. Responsibility is the punishment of absolute power. If he be the primum mobile of all minds, he becomes the centre also of all griefs: the more he is dreaded the more he is to be pitied. He to whom is accorded unlimited rule sees, even in 192 CHARACTER OF THE EMPEROR. the common occurrences of life, the spectre of revolt. Persuaded that his rights are sacred, he recognises no bounds to them but those of his own intelligence and will, and he is, therefore, subject to constant annoyance. An unlucky fly, buzzing in the Imperial palace during a ceremony, mortifies the Emperor : the independence of nature appears to him a bad example: every thing which he cannot subject to his arbitrary laws becomes in his eyes as a soldier, who in the heat of battle revolts against his officer. The Emperor of Russia is a military chief, and every day with him is a day of battle. Nevertheless, at times, some gleams of softness temper the imperious looks of this monarch, and then the expression of affability reveals all the native beauty of his classic features. In the heart of the husband and the father, humanity triumphs for a moment over the policy of the prince. When the sovereign rests from his task of imposing the yoke upon his subjects, he appears happy. This combat between the primitive dignity of the man and the affected gravity of the sovereign appears to me worthy the attention of an observer: it occupied mine the greater part of the time I passed in the chapel. The Emperor is above the usual height by half a head; his figure is noble, although a little stiff: he has practised from his youth the Russian custom of girding the body above the loins to such a degree as to push up the stomach into the chest, which produces an unnatural swelling or extension about the ribs, that is as injurious to the health as it is ungraceful in appearance, |