atriarchs.
They had everywhere been lodged and fed with such liberality that
their purses had become almost useless. They had not been able to so
much as force drink-money on the people who had waited upon them and
cared for their horses. Their hosts, who for the most part were
traders or husbandmen, had expressed astonishment at the warmth of
their gratitude. "If we were in your country," said they, "you would
do the same for us." I only wish this had been true.

The summer ends in Russia with the month of August, and there is no
autumn. I often went walking at Czarskoiesielo, whose park, bounded by
the sea, is one of the loveliest sights imaginable. It is full of
monuments which the Empress was wont to call her caprices. There are a
superb marble bridge in the Palladian style, Turkish baths--trophies
of Romazoff's and Orloff's victories--a temple with thirty-two
pillars, and then the colonnade and the great stairway of Hercules.
The park has unrivalled avenues of trees. Opposite the castle is a
long, broad lawn, and at the end of it a cherry orchard, where I
remember having frequently eaten excellent cherries.

[Illustration: THE PRINCESS DE TALLEYRAND.]

Count Cobentzel very much wished me to make the acquaintance of a
woman whose cleverness and beauty I had often heard vaunted--the
Princess Dolgoruki. I received an invitation from her to dine at
Alexandrovski, where she had a country house, and the Count came for
me to take me there with my daughter. This very large house was
furnished without ostentation, and it was a great pleasure to me to
watch the continual passage of the boats, in which the rowers sang in
chorus. The songs of the Russian people have a somewhat barbarous
originality, but are melancholy and melodious.

The beauty of Princess Dolgoruki struck me very much. Her features had
the Greek character mixed with something Jewish, especially in
profile. Her long, dark chestnut hair, carelessly taken up, touched
her shoulders. Her figure was perfect, and in her whole person she
exhibited at once nobility and grace without the least affectation.
She received me with so much amiability and civility that I willingly
acceded to her request that I might stay a week with her. The charming
Princess Kurakin, whose acquaintance I had made, was living with the
Princess Dolgoruki, these ladies and Count Cobentzel keeping house
together. The company was very numerous, and no one thought of
anything but amusement.