e spoken on a
former occasion, at the foot of the hills which formed it I came to a
place where a wagon was standing, but without horses, the shafts resting
on the ground; there was a crowd about it, which extended halfway up the
side of the neighbouring hill. The wagon was occupied by some
half-a-dozen men; some sitting, others standing--they were dressed in
sober-coloured habiliments of black or brown, cut in a plain and rather
uncouth fashion, and partially white with dust; their hair was short, and
seemed to have been smoothed down by the application of the hand; all
were bare-headed--sitting or standing, all were bare-headed. One of
them, a tall man, was speaking as I arrived; ere, however, I could
distinguish what he was saying, he left off, and then there was a cry for
a hymn "to the glory of God"--that was the word. It was a strange
sounding hymn, as well it might be, for everybody joined in it: there
were voices of all kinds, of men, of women, and of children--of those who
could sing, and of those who could not--a thousand voices all joined, and
all joined heartily; no voice of all the multitude was silent save mine.
The crowd consisted entirely of the lower classes, labourers and
mechanics, and their wives and children--dusty people, unwashed people,
people of no account whatever, and yet they did not look a mob. And when
that hymn was over--and here let me observe that, strange as it sounded,
I have recalled that hymn to mind, and it has seemed to tingle in my ears
on occasions when all that pomp and art could do to enhance religious
solemnity was being done--in the Sistine Chapel, what time the papal band
was in full play, and the choicest choristers of Italy poured forth their
melodious tones in presence of Batuschca and his cardinals--on the ice of
the Neva, what time the long train of stately priests, with their noble
beards and their flowing robes of crimson and gold, with their ebony and
ivory staves, stalked along, chanting their Sclavonian litanies in
advance of the mighty Emperor of the North and his Priberjensky guard of
giants, towards the orifice through which the river, running below in its
swiftness, is to receive the baptismal lymph:--when the hymn was over,
another man in the wagon proceeded to address the people; he was a much
younger man than the last speaker; somewhat square built and about the
middle height; his face was rather broad, but expressive of much
intelligence, and with a pecul