rtaining a Russian, on seeing him eat
after drinking, would press him to drink again, and having drunk
a second time, the Russian would eat once more on his own account;
which would involve another invitation to drink on the part of the
Englishman. As a hospitable Russian, on the other hand, entertaining
an Englishman, would endeavour to prevail upon him to eat after
drinking, and as it is the Englishman's habit to drink after eating,
it is easy to see that too much attention on either side might
lead to very unfortunate results.

A great deal is said about the enormous quantity of champagne consumed
in Russia. Champagne, however, costs five roubles (from sixteen to
seventeen shillings) a bottle--the duty alone amounting to one rouble
a bottle--and is only drunk habitually by persons of considerable
means. Nor does the champagne bottle go round so frequently at
Russian as at English dinners. It is usually given, as in France,
with the pastry and dessert, and no other wine is taken after it.
The rich merchants are said to drink champagne very freely at their
evening entertainments; but the only merchant at whose house I
dined had, unfortunately, adopted Western manners, and gave nothing
during the evening but tea. However, at festivals and celebrations
of all kinds--whether of congratulation, of welcome, or of
farewell--champagne is indispensable. What Alphonse Karr says of
women and their toilette--that they regard every event in life
as an occasion for a new dress--may certainly be paraphrased and
applied to the Russians in connection with champagne. Besides the
champagne which is given as a matter of course at dinner-parties
and balls, there must be champagne at birthdays, champagne at
christenings, champagne at, or in honour of, betrothals, champagne
in abundance at weddings, champagne at the arrival of a friend, and
champagne at his departure. For those who cannot afford veritable
champagne, Russian viniculture supplies an excellent imitation in
the shape of "_Donskoi_" and "_Crimskoi_,"--the wines of the Don
and of the Crimea. As "_Donskoi_" costs only a fifth of the price
of real champagne, it will be understood that it is not seldom
substituted for the genuine article, both by fraudulent wine merchants
and economic hosts. However, it is a true wine, and far superior to
the fabrications of Hamburg, which, under the name of champagne,
find their way all over the north of Europe. It has often been
said that the Ru