Russia in 1839 -Empire of the Czar: A Journey Through Eternal Russia
Page 34
This ride was unquestionably the most interesting
feature in the fete of the empress. But I again
repeat, scenes of magie splendour do not constitute
scenes of gaiety. No one here laughed, sung, or
с 6
36 EEVIEW OF THE CORPS OP CADETS.
danced; they all spoke low ; they amused themselves with precaution ; it seemed a,s though the Russian subjects were so broken into politeness as to be respectful even to their pleasures. In short, liberty was wanting at Peterhoff, as it is every where else in Russia.
I reached my chamber, or rather my box, after midnight. From that time, the retreat of the spectators commenced, and while the torrent swept under my window, I sat down to write, for sleep would have been impossible in the midst of so much uproar. In this country, the horses alone have permission to make a noise. Conveyances of all forms and sizes thundered along amid a crowd of men, women, and children, on foot.
It was natural life recommencing after the constraint of a royal fete. One might have supposed them prisoners delivered from their chains. The people of the road were no longer the disciplined crowd of the park. They rushed along in the direction of Petersburg with a violence and a rapidity that recalled to my mind the descriptions of the retreat from Moscow. Several accidents on the road aided the illusion.
Scarcely had I time to undress and throw myself on my bed, than I found it necessary to be again on foot, to witness the review of the corps of cadets, who were to pass before the emperor.
My surprise was great to find the court already at its post; the women in their morning dresses, the men in their coats of office; everybody awaited the emperor at the place of rendezvous. The desire of proving themselves zealous animated this em-
REVIEW OF THE CORPS OF CADETS.37
broidered crowd, who all showed so much alacrity that it seemed as if the splendour and fatigues of the night had weighed only upon me. I blushed for my indolence, and felt that I was not born to make a good Russian courtier. The chain, though gilded, did not appear to me the less heavy.
I had but just time to make my way through the crowd before the arrival of the empress, and had not yet gained my place, when the emperor commenced inspecting the ranks of his infant officers, while the empress, so overcome with fatigue the previous evening, waited for him in a calèche in the midst of the square. I felt for her, but the extreme exhaustion under which she had seemed to suffer during the ball had disappeared. My pity, therefore, turned upon myself, and I saw with envy the oldest people of the court lightly bearing the burden which I found so heavy. Ambition, here, is the condition of life: without its artificial stimulus the people would be always dull and gloomy. The emperor's own voice directed the manoeuvres of the pupils. After several had been perfectly well executed, his majesty appeared satisfied. He took the hand of one of the youngest of the cadets, led him forth from the ranks to the empress, and then, raising the child in his arms to the height of his head ; that is, above the head of every body else, he kissed him publicly. What object had the emperor in showing himself so good-natured on this day before the public? This they either could not or would not tell me.
I asked the people around me who was the happy father of the model cadet, thus loaded with the favour of the sovereign : no one satisfied my curi-
38REVIEW OF THE CIRCASSIAN GUARD.
osity. In Russia every thing is turned into mystery. After this sentimental parade, the emperor and cm-press returned to the palace of Peterhoff, where they received in the state apartments such as wished to pay their court. Afterwards, at about eleven o'clock, they appeared on one of the balconies of the palace, before which the soldiers of the Circassian guard, mounted on their superb Asiatic horses, went through some interesting exercises. The beauty of this gorgeously clad troop adds to the military luxury of a court which, notwithstanding its efforts and pretensions, is, and for a long time will remain, more oriental than European. Towards noon, feeling my curiosity exhausted, and not possessing the all-powerful stimulus of that court ambition which here achieves so many miracles to supply my natural forces, I returned to my bed, from whence I have just risen to finish this recital.
I purpose remaining here the rest of the day, in order to let the crowd pass by; and I am also detained at Peterhoff by the hope of a pleasure to which I attach much value.
To-morrow, if I have time, I will relate the success of my machinations.
COTTAGE OF FETEEHOFF.39
CHAP. XVI.*
COTTAGE OF PETERHOFF. — A SURPRISE. — THE EMPRESS.HER
DRESS, MANNERS, AND CONVERSATION.THE HEREDITARY GRAND
ÐUKE. — AN EMBARRASSING QUESTION. INTERIOR OF THE COT
TAGE. THE GRAND DUKE ACTS AS CICERONE. TIMIDITY IN
SOCIETY. THE PRINCE AND THE YOUNG LADY. CABINET OF
THE EMPEROR. CASTLE OF ORANIENEAUM. FORTRESS OF
PETER III. ACCOUNT OF HIS ASSASSINATION. THE SUMMER
HOUSES OF THE EMPRESS CATHERINE, — THE CAMP OF ERAS NACSELO.
I had earnestly begged Madameto procure for
me admission to the English cottage of the emperor and empress. It is a small house which they have built in the midst of the noble park of Peterhoff, in the new Gothic style so much in vogue in England. " Nothing is more difficult than to enter the cottage,''
replied Madame" during the time that their
majesties remain here, and nothing would be more easy in their absence. However, I will try."
I therefore prolonged my stay at Peterhoff, wait
ing, with some impatience, but without much hope,
for the answer of Madame. Yesterday morn
ing early, I received a little note from her, thus
worded, " Let me see you at a quarter before eleven.
I am permitted, as a very particular favour, to show
you the cottage at the hour when the emperor and
empress take their walk; that is at eleven o'clock
precisely. You know their punctuality."
* Yritteu at Petersburg.
40
A SUKPEISE.
I did not fail to keep the appointment. Madame
resides at a very pretty mansion, built in a
corner of the park. She follows the empress everywhere, but she occupies, when possible, some separate house, although in the immediate vicinity of the different imperial residences. I was with her at half past ten. At a quarter before eleven we entered a carriage and four, crossed the park rapidly, and at a few minutes before eleven arrived at the gate of the cottage.
It is, as I have said, quite an English residence,
surrounded with flowers, shaded with trees, and built
in the style of the prettiest places that may be seen
near to London, about Twickenham, on the borders
of the Thames. We crossed a rather small vestibule
raised a few steps, and had just stopped to examine a
room, the furniture of which struck me as a little too
recherche for the general character of the building,
when a valet tie chamhre came to whisper a few words
in the ear of Madame, who seemed surprised.
" What is the matter?" I asked, when the man had disappeared.
" The empress is returned!"
cí How unfair ! " I exclaimed, " I shall not have time to see anything,"
Cí Perhaps not; go down into the garden by this terrace, and wait for me at the entrance of the house."
I was scarcely there two minutes before I saw the empress rapidly descending the steps of the house and coming towards me. She was alone. Her tall and slender figure possesses a singular grace ; her walk is active, light, and yet noble; she has certain move-
THE EMPRESS, HER DRESS, AND MANNERS. 41
ments of the arms and hands, certain attitudes, a certain turn of the head, that it is impossible to forget. She was dressed in white; her nice, surrounded with a white calash appeared calm a
nd composed ; her eyes had an expression of gentleness and melancholy: a veil, gracefully thrown back, shaded her features, a transparent scarf fell over her shoulders, and completed the most elegant of morning dresses. Never had I seen her to so much advantage. Before this apparition, the sinister omens of the ball disappeared : the empress seemed resuscitated, and I experienced in beholding her, that sense of security which, after a night of trouble and agitation, returns with the dawn of day. Her majesty must, I thought, be stronger than I, to have thus supported the fete of the day before yesterday, the review and the soiree of yesterday, and to appear to-day so well and beautiful.
" I have shortened my promenade," she said, "because I knew that you were here."
" Ah! Madame, I was far from expecting so much goodness."
" I said nothing of my project to Madame,
who has been scolding me for thus coming to surprise you ; she pretends that I shall disturb you in your survey. You expect then to discover all our secrets?"
" I should like, Madame; one could not but gain by acquaintance with the ideas of those who know so well how to choose between splendour and elegance."
" The residence at Peterhoff is insupportable to me, and it is to relieve my eyes from the glare of all that massive gold, that I have begged a cottage of the emperor. I have never been so happy as in this house ; but now that one of my daughters is married,
42TASTE OF THE EMPRESS.
and that my sons pursue their studies elsewhere, it has become too large for us."
I smiled, without replying : I was under u charm : it seemed to me that this woman, so different from her in whose honour was given the sumptuous fete that had just taken place, could share with me all my impressions ; she has felt like me, I thought, the weariness, the emptiness, the false brilliancy of this public magnificence, and she now feels that she is worthy of something better. I compared the flowers of the cottage with the lustres of the palace, the sun of a bright morning to the illuminations of a night of ceremony, the silence of a delicious retreat to the tumult of a palace crowd, the festival of nature to the festival of a court, the woman to the empress ; and I was enchanted with the good taste and the sense which this princess had shown in flying the satieties of public display, to surround herself with all that constitutes the charm of private life. It was a new fairy scene, the illusion of which captivated my imagination much more strongly than the magic of splendour and power.
" I would not explain myself to Madame,`'
continued the empress. " You shall see all over the cottage, and my son shall show it you. Meanwhile, I will go and visit my flowers, and shall find you again before we allow you to leave."
Such was the reception I met with from this lady, who is represented as haughty, not only in Europe, where she is scarcely known, 1mt in lîussia where they see her constantly.
At this moment, the hereditary Grand-duke joined
his mother. He was accompanied by Madame,
and her eldest daughter, a young person about four-
AN EMBARASSING QUESTION.43
teen years of age, fresh as a rose, and pretty as they were in France, in the times of Boucher. This young lady is the living model of one of the most agreeable portraits of that painter.
I expected the empress to give me my congé, but she commenced walking backwards and forwards before the house. Her majesty knew the interest I
took in all the family of Madame, who is a Polish
lady. Her majesty knew also that for some years
past one of the brothers of Madame had lived
at Paris. She turned the conversation to this young man's mode of life; and questioned me for a long time, with marked interest, regarding his sentiments, opinions and general character. This gave me every facility for saying of him all that my attachment dictated. She listened to me very attentively. "When I had ceased speaking, the Grand-duke addressing his mother, continued the same subject and said, " I met him at Ems, and liked him very well."
" And yet, it is a man thus distinguished whom they forbid to come here, because he retired into Germany after the revolution in Poland," cried
Madame , moved by her sisterly affection, and
using that freedom of expression of which the habit of living at court from her infancy has not deprived her. " But what has he done then ?" said the empress, addressing me, with an accent that was inimitable for the mixture of impatience and kindness which it expressed. I was embarrassed to find an answer to a question so direct, for it involved the delicate subject of politics, and to touch upon this subject might spoil everything.
The Grand-duke came to my aid with an affability
44THE HEREDITARY GRAND-DUKE.
and a kindness which I should be very ungrateful to forget; no doubt he thought I had too much to say to dare to answer; and anticipating some evasion which might have betrayed my embarrassment, and compromised the cause I desired to plead, " My mother," he said, with vivacity, "who ever asked a child of fifteen years what he had done in politics ? "
This answer, full of sense and of good feeling, extricated me from the difficulty, but it put an end to the conversation. If I might dare to interpret the silence of the empress, I should say that this was her thought—"What could now be done, in Russia, with a pardoned Pole? He would always be an object of envy to the old Russians, and he would only inspire his new masters with distrust. His health and life would be lost in the trials to which he would have to be exposed in order to tc¾t his fidelity : and if, at length, they came to the c<¯·ii elusion that he might be trusted, they would only despise him. Besides, what could I do for this young man ? I have so little influence ! "
I do not believe I much deceive myself in saying, that such were the thoughts of the empress ; such were also pretty nearly mine. "We tacitly agreed in concluding that of two evils, the least for a gentleman who had lost both his fellow citizens and his comrades in arms, was to remain far from the land which had given him birth ; the worst of all conditions would be that of a man who should live as a stranger in his own home.
On a sign from the empress, the Grand-duke,
Madame-, her daughter, and myself, re-entered
the cottage. I should have wished to have found less
INTERIOR OF THE COTTAGE. 45
luxurious furniture in this house, and a greater number of objects of virtu. The ground-floor resembled that of all the houses of rich aud elegant English people, but not one picture of a high order, not one fragment of marble, or of terra cotta, announced that the owners of the place had a love for the arts. It is not to be able to draw more or less skilfully, but it is the taste for chefs-d'oeuvre that proves a love for and a judgment in the arts. I always regret to see the absence of this passion in those with whom it could be so easily gratified.
It may be said that statues and pictures of great value would be out of place in a cottage; but this house is the chosen and favourite resort of its possessors ; and when people form for themselves an abode according to their fancy, if they have much love for the arts, that love will betray itself, at the risk even of some incongruity of style, some fault of harmony : besides, a little anomaly is allowable in an imperial cottaa`e. Over the distribution of the ornaments of this cottao`e, and the general arrangements of its interior, it could be easily discovered that family affections and habits had chiefly presided ; and these are worth even yet more than an appreciation of the beautiful in the works of genius. Only one thing really displeased me in the furniture and the arrangements of this elegant retreat, and that was a too servile adherence to English fashions.
We looked over the ground-floor very hastily, for fear of wearying our guide. The presence of so august a cicerone embarrassed me. I know that nothing so annoys princes as our timidity; at least, unless it be affected in order to flatter them. They love to be
46
TIMIDITY IN SOCIETY.
put at their ease, and Ave cannot do that without being at ease ourselves. With a grave prince
I could have hoped to save myself by conversation, but with a gay and youthful prince, I was left without resource.
A staircase, very narrow, but adorned with an English carpet, conducted us to the upper floor. We there saw the chamber where the Grand-duchess Marie passed a part of her infancy; it is empty : that of the Grand-duchess Olga will not probably remain long occupied. The empress might truly say that the cottage was becoming too large. These two very similar chambers are furnished with a charming simplicity.
The Grand-duke stopped at the top of the stairs, and said with that perfect politeness, of which (notwithstanding his extreme youth) he possesses the secret, — "I am sure that you would rather see everything here without me; and I have seen it all so often, that I would, I confess, as willingly leave
you to finish your survey with Madame. I will
therefore joiu my mother, and wait for you with her."
"Whereupon he saluted us gracefully, and left me, charmed with the flattering ease of his manners. It is a great advantage to a prince to be really well bred. I had not, then, this time, produced the effect that I anticipated; the constraint that I felt had not been communicated. If he had sympathised with my uneasiness, he would have remained, for timidity can do nothing but submit to its torture ; it knows not how to free itself; no elevation is safe from its attacks: the victim whom it paralyses,
TIMIDITY IN SOCIETY.
47
in whatever rank he may be placed, cannot find strength either to confront or to fly from that which produces his discomfort.