IV.

The most remarkable part of the solemnity CHAP, now followed. The archbishop, descending into the body of the church, concluded the whole ceremony by crawling round the pavement on his hands and knees, kissing the consecrated pictures, whether on the pillars, the walls, the altars, or the tombs; the priests and all the people imitating his example. Sepulchres were opened, and the mummied bodies of incorruptible saints exhibited: all of these underwent the same general kissing.

the Popu

Thus was Easter proclaimed: and riot and Excesses of debauchery instantly broke loose. The inn lace. where we lodged became a Pandemonium. Drinking, dancing, and singing, continued through the night and day. But, in the midst of all these excesses, quarrels hardly ever took place. The wild, rude riot of a Russian populace is full of humanity. Few disputes are heard; no blows are given; no lives endangered, but by drinking. No meetings take place, of any kind, without repeating the expressions of peace and joy, CHRISTOS VOSCRESS!

Heathen ceremony respecting the Finding of OSIRIS. Plutarch describes the same sort of procession and ceremony; adding, "Then all that are present cry out with a loud voice, OSIRIS IS FOUND!" Kai givrai κραυγὴ τῶν παρόντων, ὡς εὑρημένου τοῦ Ὀσίριδος. Plut. de Isid. et Osir,

c. 39.

CHAP.

IV.

Presentation of the Paschal Eggs.

Ball of the Peasants.

Christ is risen!-to which the answer always is the same, Vo ISTINEY VOSCRESS! He is risen indeed!

On Easter Monday begins the presentation of the Paschal eggs: lovers to their mistresses, relatives to each other, servants to their masters, all bring ornamented eggs. Every offering at this season is called a Paschal egg. The meanest pauper in the street, presenting an egg, and repeating the words Christos voscress, may demand a salute even of the Empress. All business is laid aside; the upper ranks are engaged in visiting, balls, dinners, suppers, masquerades; while boors fill the air with their songs, or roll intoxicated about the streets. Servants appear in new and tawdry liveries, and carriages in the most sumptuous decoration.

In the midst of this uproar we made ourselves as much like Russians as possible, and went in caftans to one of the public balls of the citizens, given in our inn. It was held in a suite of several apartments; and a numerous band of music, composed of violins, wind instruments, and kettle-drums, had been provided. The master of the inn had also taken care to invite a company of gipsies, to entertain

the company by their dancing. A single rouble was demanded as the price of admission. All fears of appearing like foreigners vanished upon our entering the principal ball-room; for we found an assembly as various in their appearance as the motley members of a masquerade. Upon some benches was squatted a groupe of Turks, regarding the scene with their usual gravity and indifference, unmoved by shouts of joy or by tumultuous songs, by the noise of the dancing, or by the thundering of a pair of kettle-drums close to their ears. In another room was a party of Bucharians, with flat noses, high cheek-bones, and little eyes; their heads shaven, and having small conical embroidered caps on the top of their bald sculls: these men wore red morocco boots, long trowsers of blue cloth, with a girdle and a poignard. Besides the Bucharians, were Chinese merchants, Cossacks, and even Calmucks, all of whom appeared as spectators. In the middle of the room, the Russian boors, and the tradesmen of the city, were dancing with prostitutes, while their own wives and daughters were walking about. A party of gipsies was performing the national dance, called, from the air by which it is accompanied, Barina. It resembled our English hornpipe, and was full of expressions of the most ferocious licentiousness. The male

IV.

dancer expressed his savage joy in squeaks, contortions, and sudden convulsive spasms that seemed to agitate his whole frame; standing sometimes still, then howling, whining tenderly, or trembling in all his limbs to the music, which was very animating. This dance, although extremely common in Russia, they confess to have derived from the gipsies; and it may therefore seem probable that our hornpipe was introduced by the same people. Other gipsies were telling fortunes, according to their universal practice, or begging for presents of oranges and ice. This extraordinary people, found in all parts of Europe, was originally one of the casts of India, driven out of their own territory: they are distinguished among Indian tribes by a name which signifies Thieves'. They have a similar appellation among the Finlanders. They preserve every-where the same features, manners, and customs, and, what is more remarkable, almost always the same mode of dress. The extraordinary resemblance of the female gipsies to the women of India was remarked by our officers and men in Egypt, when General Baird arrived with his

(1) See the Commentary of Professor Porthan, of Abo in Finland, upon the Chronicle of that University. His works are not sufficiently known. He has written the History and Origin of the Finland Tribes; and a very erudite Dissertation concerning the Gipsies.

IV.

army to join Lord Hutchinson. The seapoys. CHAP. had many of their women with them, who were exactly like our gipsies. In regulating their dress, they lavish all their finery upon their head. Their costume in Russia is very different from that of the natives; they wear enormous caps, covered with ribbons, and decorated in front with a prodigious quantity of silver coins; these form a matted mail-work over their foreheads. They also wear the same coins as necklaces, and a smaller kind as pendants to their ears. The Russians hold them in great contempt, never speaking of them without abuse; and feel themselves contaminated by their touch, unless it be to have their fortune told. They believe gipsies not only have the wish, but the power, to cheat every one they see, and therefore generally avoid them. Formerly they were more dispersed over Russia, and paid no tribute; but now they are collected, and all belong to one nobleman, to whom they pay a certain tribute, and rank among the number of his slaves. They accompany their dances with singing, and loud clapping of the hands; breaking forth, at intervals, with shrieks and short expressive cries, adapted to the sudden movements, gestures, and turns of the dance. The male dancers hold in one hand a handkerchief, which they wave about, and manage