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CHAP.

V.

a joyful deliverance, in the death of their husbands. Every one acquainted with the real history of the Empress CATHERINE, and with her manner of bursting the connubial bonds, will find in it a picture of the state of female society throughout the empire. The wives of the nobles, it is true, do not assassinate their husbands; but the ties of wedlock are altogether disregarded. This representation, of course, regards the general state of the community. The Reader shall not be offended, nor the feelings of individuals wounded, by any detail of private anecdotes for public purposes; neither is it necessary to relate the few exceptions which may be found to the preceding statement: whatsoever credit is given to it in England, it will not be contradicted in Russia.

A Russian nobleman will sell any thing he possesses, from his wife to his lap-dog; from the decorations of his palace, to the ornaments of his person; any thing to obtain money; any thing for the pleasure of squandering it away. Visiting a trading mineralogist, we were surprised to see glass-cases filled with courtdresses; and still more so on being told that these were dresses of the nobility; sent to be exposed for sale, as often as any of them wanted money. Their plan is, to order goods

V.

to any amount for which they can procure CHAP. credit; to pay for nothing; and to sell what they have ordered, as soon as they receive it. We should call such conduct, in England, swindling. In Moscow it bears another name; it is there called Russian magnificence.

The children of those who murdered PETER Children of Orlof. THE THIRD resided in Moscow when we were there one of them married the daughter of the Governor. The Princess Menzikof, granddaughter of the favourite of PETter the Great, was also there: we were often in her company; and too much amused by her cheerful disposition, to report the style of conversation she indulges everywhere. However, that which is a proverb in Russia may at the least bear an allusion in England. When the late Empress died, her son, and successor, caused the body of his father to be taken up, and laid in state, by the coffin of his mother, in the palace at Petersburg. It is said there was only one person, an archbishop, who knew where they had buried him; as he was interred without monument or inscription, in the church of the monastery of St. Alexander Nevsky. ORLOF, his murderer, was then at Moscow. An order from Retributive Spirit the Emperor brought him to Petersburg; and of the when the bodies were removed to the church

Emperor.

V.

CHAP. of St. Peter and St. Paul in the citadel', he was compelled to walk in the procession from the palace to the church, following the body of the person he had murdered so long before. It was then the people of Petersburg beheld an interesting scene of retribution. One of them, who was an eye-witness, described the whole of it to us. The bodies were drawn upon low chariots, by horses. Immediately after the coffin of PETER THE THIRD, and close to it, walked, with slow and faltering steps, his assassin, Orlof; having his eyes fixed on the ground, his hands folded, and his face pale as death. Next to Orlof walked the EMPEROR; certainly manifesting, by this sublime although mysterious sacrifice to the manes of his father, an action worthy of a greater character. The ceremony ended, Orlof received an order to quit the empire; and lately was travelling in the South of Europe.

(1) The place where state-prisoners are kept.

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State of Exiles in Siberia-Tobolsky-Generous Conduet of a Citizen-Prince turned Pawnbroker-Picture Dealers-State of Medicine-Manners of the PeopleOpinions entertained of the English-Relative Condition of Slaves and their Lords-Noble Behaviour of Count Golovkin's Peasants-Servants of the NobilityTheft committed by a Party of the Nobles-Convent of the New Jerusalem-New Prohibitions-Public Censors -Convent of the Trinity-Church of St. BasilIvan Basilovich-Tubervile's Letters.

In England, we hear of persons being sent to Siberia, as a most severe punishment; and we entertain very erroneous notions concerning the

CHAP.
VI.

State of

Exiles in

Siberia.

CHAP.
VI.

state of exiles in that country. To a Russian nobleman the sentence of exile can hardly imply punishment. The consequence of their journey is very often an amelioration of their understanding and of their hearts. They have no particular attachment to their country; none of that maladie du pays, which sickens the soul of an Englishman in banishment. They are bound by no strong ties of affection to their families; neither have they any friendship worth preTobolsky. serving. Tobolsky, from the number and the rank of the exiled, is become a large and populous city, full of shops, and containing theatres, besides other places of public amusement. Its inhabitants, above two thousand versts from Moscow, have booksellers, masquerades, French hotels, and French wines, with the porter and beer of England. Those who have resided there, either as officers on duty, as travellers, or as exiles, give the highest accounts of its gaiety and population. An officer of considerable rank in the Russian service told us, he would rather have the half of his pay and live at Tobolsky, than the whole of it in residenceat Petersburg. Many, who have been ordered home, have wished and sought to return thither. This is no subject of wonder. Tobolsky is admirably adapted to the Russian taste. Ac-' cording to Gmelin, it is a very temple of

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