VI.

they are Scotch apothecaries, who are men of CHAP. professional skill, and of acknowledged superiority. In some places abroad the practitioners are really natives of England: but when this happens to be the case, the traveller is cautioned to shun them, however celebrated they may be, as he values his existence. With few exceptions, there are no instances of men of ability among expatriated English physicians; neither would such men leave their country, to settle among foreigners, unless compelled by circumstances of misconduct at home. Those Englishmen upon the continent who bear the name of physicians will generally be found, upon inquiry, to have exercised no such profession in their own country; but to have lived either as servants in the shops of apothecaries, of chemists, and of druggists, or to have practised as veterinary surgeons, farriers, or itinerant empirics.

of the

The Russian nobility are passionately fond of Manners travelling; and, under the circumstances of the People. Emperor PAUL's administration, this passion increased with the difficulty of its gratification. Some of them entertain extravagant notions of the wealth and happiness of Englishmen; and they have good reason so to do, since every thing they possess that is either useful or in any degree estimable comes to them from

VI.

CHAP. England. Books, maps, Books, maps, prints, furniture, clothing, hardware of all kinds, horses, carriages, hats, leather, medicine, almost every article of convenience, comfort, or luxury, must be derived from England, or it is considered as of no value. Some of the nobles are much richer than the richest of our English peers; and a vast number, as may be supposed, are very poor. To this poverty, and to those riches, are joined characteristics in which the Russian peasant and the Russian prince are the same: they are all equally barbarous. Visit a Russian, of whatsoever rank, at his country-seat, and you will find him lounging about, with his collar open, uncombed, unwashed, unshaven, half-naked, eating raw turnips, or drinking quass. The raw turnip is handed about in slices, in the first houses, upon a silver salver, with brandy, as a whet before dinner. Their hair is universally in a state not to be described; and their bodies are only divested of vermin when they frequent the bath. Upon these occasions, their shirts and pelisses are held over a hot stove, and the heat occasions the vermin to fall off'. It is a fact too notorious to admit of dispute, that from the Emperor to the

(1) Suvorof used to cleanse his shirt in this manner, during a campaign; stripping before the common soldiers, at the fires kindled in their camps,

meanest slave, throughout the vast empire of all the Russias, including all its princes, nobles, priests, and peasants, there exists not a single individual in a thousand whose body is not thus infested. The true manners of the people are not seen in Petersburg, nor even in Moscow, by entering only the houses of the nobility. Some of this class, and generally persons to whom letters of recommendation are obtained, have travelled, and introduced refinements which their friends and companions readily imitate. But the genuine Russian rises at an early hour, and breakfasts on a dram with black bread. His dinner, at noon, consists of the coarsest and most greasy food, the scorbutic effects of which are supposed to be counteracted by pickled cucumbers, by sour cabbage, by the juice of his vaccinium, and by his nectar quass. Sleep, rendering him unmindful of his abject servitude and of his barbarous life, he particularly indulges; sleeping always after eating, and going early to his bed. The principal articles of diet are the same everywhere-grease and brandy. The horrors of a Russian kitchen are inconceivable; and there is scarcely a bed in the whole empire that an English traveller would venture to approach, if he were aware of its condition.

Among the nobles, the race is not yet extinct

VI.

CHAP. of those servile beings who, at the pleasure of the Tsar, were sent to be whipped like so many dogs. The short liberty they enjoyed in the reign of CATHERINE did not suffice to elevate their minds from the depravity always incident to a state of slavery. Under PAUL, they again experienced indignities similar to those which had been offered to their forefathers. Potemkin, one of the meanest and the most profligate of men, frequently taught them to remember what their condition was originally, by inflicting blows upon any prince or nobleman with whom he chanced to be offended: and the Emperor PAUL ventured to chastise the nobles who were his officers'. Under such government, if we find them servile, oppressive, cowardly, and tyrannical, it is no more than may be expected, from their mode of education, and the discipline they undergo. They will naturally crouch in the dust before an EMPEROR, or before one of those wretched creatures called favourites, and will trample their inferiors beneath their feet.

(1) See Note 1. in p. 47.

Sor

(2) Servituti gens nata, ad omne libertatis vestigium ferox est; placida si prematur. Neque abnuunt jugum. Ultro fatentur Principi se servire; illi in suas opes, in corpora, vitamque jus esse. didioris reverentiæ humilitas Turcis non est in suorum Ottomanorum sceptrum." Barclaži Descript. Moscoviæ, p. 74. L. Bat. 1630.

CHAP.

VI.

Opinions

of the Eng

They consider the English as a mercenary people; and generally hate them, because they fear them; or court them, if they stand in need entertained of their support. One of their princes thought proper to declare in public, at his own table, where we had been invited to dine, and were of course under the protection enjoined by the laws of hospitality, that " in England there is not an individual, patriot, or placeman, who is not saleable to the highest bidder." He instanced Wilkes, Gibbon, and Burke, with many others; adding, English slavery is less justifiable than Russian. One is selfishness; the other, submission to the laws."

66

Condition

and their

It is very true, that the system of slavery in Relative Russia, like many other evils, may be some- of Slaves times productive of good. If the nobleman be Lords. benevolent, his slaves are happy; for in that case they are fed, clothed, and lodged. In sickness they are carefully attended, and in old age they have an asylum. In case of accidents from fire, if a whole village be burned, the nobleman must supply wood to rebuild it. But when, as it generally happens, the proprietor is a man without feeling or principle, their situation is indeed wretched. In such instances, the peasants often take the law into their own hands, and assassinate their lords.