o such
travellers as we were.

Cheek is a fine thing in its way, and on this occasion I developed enough
brass to make a pan, and enough "sass" to fill it; but all in vain. When
I visited the Muscovite realm in after years I was more kindly received.
On this occasion we were closely searched and re-searched, although we
were not allowed to go on into Russia! Every square inch of everything
was examined as with a microscope--even the small scraps of newspaper in
which soap or such trifles were wrapped were examined, a note made as to
each, and all put under paper-weights; and whatever was suspected--as,
for instance, books or pamphlets--was confiscated, although, as I said,
we were turned back! And this robbery accomplished, we were informed
that the stage-coach, or rather rough post-waggon, in which we came,
would return at five o'clock P.M., and that we could in it go back to
Dresden, and might pass the time till then on a bench outside the
building--reflecting on our sins! I had truly some papers about me which
I did not care to have examined, but these were in my cravat, and even
Russian ingenuity had not at that time got beyond picking pockets and
feeling the linings of coats. It has since been suggested to me by
something which I read that I was under suspicion. I had in Munich aided
a Swiss student who was under police surveillance for political
intriguing to escape, by lending him money to get away. It is probable
that for this my passport was marked in a peculiar manner. My companion,
Pottinger, was not much searched; all suspicion seemed to fall on me.

The stage went on, and Pottinger and I sat on the bench in a mild drizzle
at half-past three in the morning, with as miserable a country round
about as mortal man ever beheld. By-and-bye one of the subs., a poor
Pole, moved by compassion and the hope of reward, cautiously invited us
to come into his den. He spoke a very little German and a little Latin
(Pottinger was an Oxford man, and knew several heavy classics, Greek and
Latin, perfectly by heart). The Pole had a fire, and we began to
converse. He had heard of America, and that Polish exiles had been well
treated there. I assured him that Poles were admired and cherished among
us like pet lambs among children, and the adored of the adored. Then I
spoke of Russian oppression, and the Pole, in utmost secrecy, produced a
sabre which had been borne under Kosciusko, and showed us a silver
coin--utte