After dinner we took delightful rides in
handsome boats furnished with red velvet, gold-fringed curtains. A
choir, preceding us in a plainer boat, charmed us with their singing,
which was always perfectly exact, even at the highest notes. The day
of my arrival we had music in the evening; the next day there was a
delightful play. Dalayrac's "Underground" was given. Princess
Dolgoruki played the part of Camille; young De la Ribaussiere, who
afterward became minister in Russia, played the boy; and Count
Cobentzel, the gardener. I remember how, during the performance, a
messenger arrived from Vienna with despatches for the Count, who was
Austrian Ambassador at St. Petersburg, and how, at the sight of the
man dressed as a gardener, he did not want to give up the despatches,
this giving rise to a most diverting argument between them behind the
scenes. At the end of the week, the whole of which had seemed to last
but a minute, I was obliged, to my regret, to leave the hospitable
roof of Princess Dolgoruki, as I had made a number of engagements to
paint portraits. I, however, formed several connections at
Alexandrovski which proved infinitely agreeable during my whole stay
in Russia.

Count Cobentzel was passionately devoted to the Princess Dolgoruki,
without her responding in the least to his importunities; but the
coolness she showed toward his intentions by no means drove him away.
His sole object was the happiness of being in her presence; whether in
the country or in town, he scarcely ever left her for a moment. So
soon as his despatches, written with great facility, were sent off, he
rushed to her side and made a complete slave of himself. He was seen
to fly at the least word, the least gesture of his divinity. If a play
was given he took any part she offered him, even if the role was not
at all suited to his appearance. For Count Cobentzel, who looked about
fifty, was very ugly, and squinted horribly. He was rather tall, but
also extremely fat, which, however, did not prevent him from being
quite active, particularly when it was a case of executing the demands
of his dearly beloved Princess. Otherwise he was quick and clever, his
conversation was enlivened with a thousand anecdotes which he could
recount to perfection, and I always knew him as the best and most
obliging of men.

What made the Princess Dolgoruki indifferent to the sighs of Count
Cobentzel and to those of many other admirers was the fact that from
one