sation; they might have been taken for
dummies if they had not eaten like ogres. Four hours went by in this
fashion, and I was bored to the verge of nausea. At last I made up my
mind, and feigning indisposition I left them sitting at the
table--where they perhaps still are.

It was an unlucky day, for that evening a rather comical episode
occurred, though it did not amuse me in the least. For some reason or
other I was obliged to make a call upon an Englishwoman. A lady of my
acquaintance took me there, and left me for some time, after promising
to come back for me. As ill-luck would have it, this Englishwoman knew
not a word of French, and myself not a word of English, and it may
readily be conceived how great was our mutual embarrassment. I still
see her before a little table, between two candles lighting up a face
as pale as death. She thought it her duty, from politeness, to keep
talking to me in a language I could not understand, and I reciprocated
by addressing her in French, which she understood no better. We
remained together more than an hour, which hour seemed to me a
century, and I imagine the poor Englishwoman must have found it just
as long.

At the period when I was in Moscow the wealthiest resident of the
town, and perhaps of all Russia, was Prince Bezborodko. He could have
raised, it is said, an army of 30,000 men on his estate, so many
peasants did he own, these people, as everybody knows, being
considered as part of the soil in Russia. On his different properties
he owned a large number of serfs, whom he treated with the greatest
kindness, and whom he caused to be instructed in various trades. When
I went to see him he showed me rooms full of furniture, bought in
Paris from the workshops of the famous upholsterer, Daguere. Most of
this furniture had been imitated by his serfs, and it was impossible
to distinguish between copy and original. It is this fine work which
leads me to assert that the Russian people are gifted with remarkable
intelligence; they understand everything, and seem endowed with the
talent of execution. Thus the Prince de Ligne wrote: "I see Russians
who are told to be sailors, huntsmen, musicians, engineers, painters,
actors, and who become all these things according to their masters'
wish. I see others sing and dance in the trenches, plunged in snow and
mud, in the midst of musket and cannon shots. And they are all alert,
attentive, obedient, and respectful."

Prince Bezborodko