ort, and serves as a vent for his ill-humour. Then
he eats a substantial and somewhat greasy meal, which enables him to
exist while he takes a drive round his estate till dinner-time. That
meal is even more coarse and greasy than the former one. He then sleeps
for a couple of hours, smokes, plays at cards, sups, and goes to bed,--
not a satisfactory way for a person with a soul to spend his time. His
wife spends her day much in the same way, smoking paper cigarettes
instead of a pipe, and managing the female domestic serfs instead of the
men. All matrimonial affairs come under the cognisance of the
_Pameshtchik_, as no serf can marry without his permission. This,
however, is rarely withheld, as it is his interest to have as large a
number of people as possible beneath his rule.

"Owners often treat their serfs kindly, and make their lives happy, but
a capricious or tyrannical master has the power of rendering every
person on his estate miserable.

"The above description refers to the Russian landowners as a class.
There are undoubtedly exceptions, and many very excellent, intelligent
men may be found, who, living entirely on their property, devote
themselves to its improvement, and to the amelioration of the condition
of those who have been placed in dependence on them.

"The worst class in Russia are the Tchinovniks, or those employed in the
civil service of the Government, of all grades, from the highest to the
lowest. They are badly paid, and thus indemnify themselves by every
description of peculation, and by endeavouring to wring bribes out of
all with whom they come in contact. The Emperors have at times
endeavoured to alter the system, but, although they have punished
delinquents, when discovered, with the greatest severity, they have
failed to put a stop to the evil.

"The mercantile class are considered generally respectable. No person
can trade unless he is a member of one of three guilds. The privileges
belonging to the first guild are purchased by an annual tax, calculated
on the declared capital, but which cannot be less than 150; and those of
the other guilds by sums in proportion to the smaller facilities for
trading which they afford.

"The Russians are certainly not a warlike race, though their governors
have endeavoured to make them so. The conscription presses most cruelly
on the peasants, and it is with the most painful reluctance that its
summons is obeyed. When they join, the offic