[For List of Works published see the back of the Wrapper.]

COUNT XAVIER DE MAISTRE,

GENERAL IN THE RUSSIAN SERVICE, MEMBER OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES AT TURIN,
ETC. ETC.

Α

JOURNEY ROUND MY ROOM,

AND

A NOCTURNAL EXPEDITION ROUND MY ROOM.

NOW FIRST TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH OF

COUNT XAVIER DE MAISTRE,

GENERAL IN THE RUSSIAN SERVICE, MEMBER OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES AT TURIN, ETC. ETC.

PREFATORY NOTICE.

A SLIGHT notice of the Author of the following pages, which the Translator regrets he has it not in his power to render more complete, may yet be of service to the reader, by introducing him to some knowledge of the writer and his family, and acquainting him with the circumstances under which the works were composed-circumstances frequently incidentally alluded to, but which it may be useful to know beforehand, as tending much to elucidate the tone and character of the author's writings.

Count Xavier de Maistre was the younger son of Count François Xavier de Maistre, President of the Senate of Savoy. His elder brother, Joseph Marie de Maistre, was a man of remarkable character and attainments, being, like Niebuhr and Guizot, at once the studious philosopher and active statesman. The brothers received together an excellent education*, under the immediate superintendence of their father and their maternal grandfather, the senator Joseph de Metz. Joseph de Maistre, whose powers were extraordinary, and who throughout his life was accustomed to devote fifteen hours a-day to study and business, was early distinguished. At the age of twenty he had taken all his degrees at the university of Turin, and the next year commenced his official career as Deputy-Advocate-Fiscal to the Senate of Savoy, and in 1787 became a senator.

When, in 1792, the French invasion drove the king of Sardinia from Savoy, the De Maistres followed him in his flight. As we learn incidentally, in the "Nocturnal Expedition," Xavier, who had early entered the army, remained with the Court at Turin, until Piedmont also fell before the French; but Joseph returned to Chambery (the family residence), and afterwards retired to Lausanne, where, for several years, he acted as a political agent on the part of the king of Sardinia, and published several works in support of the cause of legitimacy, which added much to his already high reputation. In 1797 he was recalled to Turin; but when, in 1798, Charles Emanuel was obliged to abandon his capital and continental dominions, Joseph retired to Venice, where he suffered great privations from absolute poverty, all his property and family possessions having been confiscated and sold. Xavier proceeded to Bologna, and remained there, stripped, like his brother, of his possessions, until the successes of the Austro-Russian army had driven back the French, and re-opened the gates of Turin to its legitimate sovereign and his adherents. At this period, but from what cause we are not informed, Xavier had ceased to hold a commission in the Sardinian service, and had resolved on emigrating. The country of his choice was Russia, whither he was followed by his brother Joseph, who, in 1803, was appointed ambassador at the Court of St. Petersburgh from the king of Sardinia, and continued to fill that office for fourteen years. Count Xavier speedily rose to the rank of General in the Russian service; and, that he did not abandon his literary studies whilst pursuing his military career, did we not possess the evidence of his works-which, though not profound, like his brother's, bear evident marks of a reflective and wellstored mind-the fact that, in 1816, he, as well as his brother, was nominated one of the five first national non-resident members of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Turin, would be sufficient to assure us.

This is the last fact which we have been able to collect respecting the history of Xavier, but we have reason to believe that he ended his life in the service of Russia. The precise period of his death we have not been able to ascertain.

Besides his "Journey Round my Room," and the " Nocturnal Expedition," now first translated, works which have procured for him in France the not inapt designation of "the Sterne of polite society," he published three other short pieces, "The Leper of the City of Aosta," "The Prisoners of the Caucasus," translated some time ago in "Chambers's Edinburgh Journal," and "The Young Siberian Girl," all which, like the former, have attained a high degree of popularity, and have been repeatedly reprinted. "The Journey Round my Room" was written at Turin, before the occupation of that city by the French; the other works were written and published during their author's residence in Russia.

Joseph, on his return from Russia, in 1817, was appointed Chief President, a Minister of State, and Grand Chancellor, in which capacities he continued to serve his sovereign till his death in 1821. Whilst at St. Petersburgh, and after his return, he published several works, political and religious. The most remarkable of these is an essay, entitled "Du Pape," published in 1819, and considered the best defence of the Papal claims ever produced.

* Joseph was born in 1753. As the brothers were educated together there was probably little difference in their ages; but we have failed in proving the exact date of Xavier's birth.