CHAP. X.

Vast

Departure from Moscow-Celo Molody-Serpuchof-Insolence and
Extortion-River Oka - Celo Zavody - Antient Games -
Oriental Plain-State of Travelling-Tula-its Manufactures—
Imperial Fabric of Arms-present State of Tula-Economy of
Fuel-Iron Mines-Road from Tula to Woronetz-Dedilof-
Change of Climate - Boghoroditz-Celo Nikitzkoy - Bolshoy
Effremof Nikolajevka Celo Petrofskia Palnia
Eletz-Exvoly-Zadonetz-Celo Chlebnoy-Bestuzevka - Celo

Platy

Staroy Ivotinskoy-Woronetz.

Ir is now necessary to take leave of Moscow, where we

passed some pleasant hours, and many others of painful anxiety, insult, and oppression, from the creatures, spies, and agents, of the contemptible tyrant then upon the Russian throne. Our condition, as well as every Englishman's in the empire, was that of prisoners on their parole. We had been allowed to move about, but always under the vigilant eye of a trouble

some

1

some and capricious police. We were detained a long time, before we could learn when we might go, or by what route we should be allowed to pass. An escape by the Livonian frontier was utterly impracticable. At last, without any passport for leaving the country, but encouraged by the advice and exertions of our good ambassador, who secretly conveyed to us letters from the Governor of Petersburg to the Governor of Moscow, and to General Michelson commander in chief in the Crimea, we determined to set out for that Peninsula by a circuitous route, through the country of the Don Cossacks; and, if possible, to visit the more distant regions of Kuban Tartary and Circassia. Having, by means of these letters, purchased the long-wished-for poderosnoi, and placed our carriage again upon its wheels, we left the city on the evening of the thirty-first of May, visiting our banker at his country-seat near Moscow, and proceeding that night only twenty-seven versts, to a place called Molodtzy, the first station. The next day, June 1st, we arrived at CELO MOLODY1. Its

(1) The want of any settled rule of orthography for Russian words, in our language, embarrasses the Reader in viewing maps of the country, as well as in perusing its history or books of Travels. Celo is said to signify a church; and, being added to the name of a place, implies that it is a village with a church. I will not vouch for the truth of this observation. It is pronounced Selo; and on that account I had written it Tsarskoselo in the Second Chapter. The Empress Catharine, in her Letters to Voltaire, (Œuvres completes de Voltaire, tom. LXVII. p. 303, &c.) wrote this last word Czarskozélo; but Storch, in his orthography of Russian words, on the authority of Lévesque, disapproves the use of the term Czar, and says it ought to be written Tsar. —“ Les Russes donnent à leur Souverain le titre de Tsar, et ils l'écrivent par le caractère qu'ils appellent tsi, et qui répond a notre ts. Les étrangers ont tort d'écrire Czar." Tableau de l'Empire de Russie, par Henri Storch, tom. I.

p. 19.

One peculiarity in the Russian language is very worthy of remark. They have

no

CHAP. X.

Departure

from Moscow.

CHAP. X.

Celo Molody.

Its inhabitants were once in good circumstances; but they are
now completely ruined by their present master. The tyrant
has a fine house, near the church, on the left hand side quitting
the village. He is the person I before mentioned, who refused
a poor girl liberty, after accepting her ransom, when she wished
to marry in Moscow.
in Moscow. Between Molodtzy and Celo Molody
we passed through Podolsk, prettily situated between two hills,
on the river Mockra. The late Empress conferred on this place
the name and distinction of a town; but Paul, in his determi-
nation to do every thing she would not have done, and to undo
all she did, made it again a village.

From Celo Molody our journey was performed with very great expedition, and over good roads, to Grischinka, and to Serpuchof; which last place perfectly resembles Newmarket, in situation, appearance, and surrounding scenery; and that nothing might be wanting to awaken the recollection of our beloved country, the Myosotis Scorpioïdes (Mouse-ear Scorpion Grass,) with other British herbs, appeared among the plants then in flower. Exactly in the spot which, with reference to the town, corresponds with the Course at Newmarket, before descending into Serpuchof, is a church-yard; where, among the graves and tombs, we saw several women of the country practising a custom strictly Oriental,

that

no W in their alphabet. The double V, often observed in their compound words, is not the same thing. Thus, for example, the word Introduction is written VVédénié ; consisting of the preposition Vo or V, which signifies into, and Védénié, To conduct. Whenever the V so doubled occurs in the middle of a word, a single V may be substituted in its place; but if at the end of the word, an F, from the pronunciation then given, is perhaps more proper.

that of visiting the sepulchres of friends long buried, bowing their heads to the ground, touching the graves with their foreheads, weeping loud, and uttering short prayers. In this road the dress of the peasants changes more frequently than in other parts of Russia; and it is remarkable, that, although the dresses of the women are so various in the different provinces, those of the men are the same throughout the empire.

CHAP. X.

Serpuchof is a handsome little town, on the river Nara. It Serpuchof. contains a citadel enclosed by a strong rampart, and has a Weywode, with his Chancery. In the market we observed shops solely appropriated to the sale of the Labkas, Russian Sandals, which I before described, constructed of Birch or Linden bark1. Some authors have asserted that each peasant made his own. Formerly this might have been the case; and perhaps in the interior it is so now. Such shops however prove, that the rudest and most antient form of sandal in the world, common to man in a state of nature, while roaming his primeval forests, is now an article of commerce".

At every station on the route there is an officer called Potchetilione, to superintend the post, and to see that travellers are regularly supplied with horses. Some of these men are great rascals, and will not furnish horses without a bribe, even

when

(1) See p. 161. According to Mr. Heber, the Linden, or Lime-tree, affords the bark used for these sandals. "This practice of making shoes of Linden bark is very destructive to the trees, as a man will wear out twenty or thirty pair of sandals in a year. The Limetree, of which these shoes are made, is a very valuable plant, owing to the construction of mats from its bark, which form a very considerable article of exportation. The Lime-tree is scarce in the western provinces. In the eastern it is very plentiful, and flourishes as high as Archangel." Heber's MS. Journal.

(2) See the Vignette to this Chapter.

CHAP. X.

Insolence and
Extortion.

River Oka.

when the Imperial order is produced. We experienced delay
at this place from a person of this description. Our order
directed, that if horses were not found at the post-house, the
officer on duty was to procure others from the peasants. Being
told there were no horses, I went into the office, to enforce the
order. As I entered, the Potchetilione commanded me to take
off my hat: and being asked for what reason I was to remain
bareheaded in that place; "What, are you blind," he ex-
claimed in a tone of great insolence,
"that you do not see the
Emperor's portrait' on the wall? it is a face to make English-
men tremble.'
I endeavoured to answer him in his own way,

by saying, "The Emperor, truly! If he knew how shamefully
you have belied his countenance by that vile representation,
head would come off sooner than
your
hat."
my
Finding his
gasconade had not succeeded, he caused it to be intimated, that
he wanted a rouble. I could hardly credit what I heard;
and should have been ashamed to offer it, if he had not
afterwards told me so himself. Horses now came quick
enough, and half a dozen fine speeches into the bargain.

About a verst from this town we crossed the Oka, by a ferry. This river falls into the Volga at Kolomna. It is a noble piece of water, almost as broad as the Thames, and well stocked with fish. We had been detained so long at Serpuchof, that evening was coming on when we arrived upon its banks. Peasants

(1) Copies of the Emperor's Portrait, for which see the Vignette to the First Chapter, were sent by order of Paul to all public offices of his empire. Some of them, as may be conceived, were executed in a most wretched manner. All persons were ordered to stand bareheaded before these pictures, as if in his presence. The peasants fell prostrate, and offered adoration, as to their BOGII.