the horses as fat and lethargic as the smoking
and moustached figure they were drawing; there was a low drosky of a
Russian, three horses abreast, their harness tinkling with brass bells
as the spirited animals plunged and curvetted along. The quiet and
elegant-looking phaeton of English build, with its perfection of
appointment, rolled along with its deep woody sound beside the quaint,
old-fashioned _caleche_ of Northern Germany, above whose cumbrous
side-panels only the heads of the passengers were visible. Nor were the
horsemen less dissimilar; the stately Prussian, with his heel _a plomb_
beneath his elbow; the Cossack, with short stirrups, crouched upon
his horse's mane; the English horse artilleryman powdering along with
massive accoutrements and gigantic steed; the Polish light cavalry
soldier, standing high in his stirrups, and turning his restless eye on
every side--all were subjects for our curiosity and wonder.

The novelty of the spectacle seemed, however, to have greatly worn off
for the Parisians, who rarely noticed the strange and uncouth figures
that every moment passed before their eyes, and now talked away as
unconcernedly amid the scene of tumult and confusion as though nothing
new or remarkable was going on about them--their very indifference and
insouciance one of the strangest sights we witnessed.

Our progress, which at the first was a slow one, ceased entirely at
the corner of the palace, where a considerable crowd was now collected.
Although we asked of the bystanders, no one could tell what was going
forward; but the incessant roars of laughter showed that something droll
or ridiculous had occurred. O'Grady, whose taste in such matters would
suffer no denial, elbowed his way through the mob, I following as well
as I was able. When we reached the first rank of the spectators, we
certainly needed no explanation of the circumstances to make us join in
the mirth about us.

It was a single combat of a very remarkable description. A tall Cossack,
with a long red beard now waving wildly on every side, was endeavouring
to recover his mutcka cap from a little decrepit old fellow, from whom
he had stolen a basket of eggs. The eggs were all broken on the
ground; and the little man danced among them like an infuriated fiend,
flourishing a stick all the while in the most fearful fashion. The
Cossack, whose hand at every moment sought the naked knife that was
stuck in his girdle, was obliged to relinquish