Russia in 1839 -Empire of the Czar: A Journey Through Eternal Russia

by Astolphe De Custine

  THE COUNTESS 0¾ONNELL.253

  judged the character of others. Enlightened as regards the objects of her affections, she loved them in spite of their faults, which she only sought to conceal from the eyes of the world ; she loved them in their successes and reverses, for she was devoid of envy, although jealous ; and even jealousy, which is hated in others, was pardoned in her, for she was never jealous of advantages, but only of affections. This inquietude, exempt from all vanity, and from every thing that was exacting, disarmed and attached the proudest hearts: envy inspires contempt, jealousy deserves compassion.

  Such was the woman to whom I wrote this letter just before entering Moscow. Had I been then told that before publishing it I should have to attach so melancholy a note, I should have had little heart for the remainder of my journey.

  She was so beloved, so full of life, that it is difficult to believe in her death, even while weeping it. She survives in all our recollections, all our pleasures, all our griefs. It is not of myself alone that I speak ; I speak for all those who have loved her, that is, for all who have well known her, and for her family, especially her mother, who resembles her; and I am sure, notwithstanding the distance that divides us, they will recognise their own sentiments in this expression of mine.*

  Once again, a delay on the road, and always from the same cause!—we break down regularly every twenty leagues. Of a truth the Russian officer at Pomerania was a gettatore !

  There are moments when, notwithstanding my protestations, and the reiterated word tischnê (gently), the drivers proceed at a rate that obliges me to close my eyes in order to avoid giddiness. Among them, I have not seen one deficient in skill, and some of them possess a dexterity that is extraordinary. The

  * Madame 0`Donnell was daughter of Madame Sophie Gay, and sister of Madame Delphine de Girardin.

  254BOY COACHMEN.

  Neapolitans and the Russians are the first coachmen in the world; the best among them are old men and children : the children especially surprise me. The first time that I saw my carriage and my life about to be entrusted to the care of an infant of ten years old, I protested against such imprudence; but my feldjäger assured me it was the custom, and as his person was exposed as much as mine, I believed him. Our four horses, whose fiery eagerness and wild appearance were by no means adapted to re-assure me, set off at a gallop. The experienced child knew better than to endeavour to stop them; on the contrary, he urged them to their utmost speed, and the carriage followed as it best might. This pace, which accorded better with the temperament of the animals than the qualities of the calèche, was kept up throughout the stage, although at the end of the first verst the breathless horses began to tire, and the coachman to become the most impatient. Each time they relaxed their pace he applied the whip until they resumed their former speed. The emulation which easily establishes itself between four spirited animals, harnessed abreast, soon brought us to the end of the stage. These horses would rather die than give in. After observing their character, and that of the men who drive them, I soon perceived that the word tisch?iê, which I had learned to pronounce with so much care, was utterly useless in this journey, and that I should even expose myself to accident if I persisted in checking the ordinary rate of driving. The Russians have the gift of equilibration; men and horses would lose their perpendicular in a slow trot. Their mode

  MODE OF DRIVING.255

  of getting over the ground would greatly divert me if my carriage were of more solid construction, but at each turn of the wheels I expect it to fall to pieces; and we break down so often that my apprehensions are only too well justified. "Without my Italian valet, who officiates also as wheelwright and smith, we should already have come to a stand-still. I cannot cease from admiring the air of nonchalance with which the coachmen take their seats: there is a grace about it far preferable to the studied elegance of civilised drivers. In descending the hills, they rise on their feet, and drive standing, the body slightly bent, the arms stretched forward, and the eight reins drawn well up. In this attitude, which may be seen in ancient bas-reliefs, they might be taken for charioteers of the circus. When thus driving, we rush through the air amid clouds of dust, and seem scarcely to touch the earth. The English springs cause the body of the coach to sway like a vessel in a heavy gale, and there appears then to be established between the will of man and the instinct of the animals, a relation which I cannot understand. It is not by a mechanical impulse that the equipage is guided ! — there seems to be an interchange of thoughts and sentiments, an animal magic, a real magnetic influence. The coachman is miraculously obeyed: he guides his four steeds abreast as if they were but one horse. Sometimes he draws them together into scarcely more space than is commonly occupied by two wheelers; sometimes he so spreads them out that they cover the half of the high road. In point of civilisation, every thing is incomplete in Russia, because every thing is modern. On the finest road

  256GOOD TASTE OF THE PEOPLE.

  in the world, there are still frequent interruptions; repairs going on, or temporary bridges in place of broken ones, which oblige us to turn off the road ; this the driver does without for a moment slackening the pace. The road is also much obstructed by the little carts and waggons of carriers, ten of which arc often guided by one man, who cannot possibly keep them all in line. Without great dexterity on the part of the Russian coachmen it would be difficult to find a passage through such moving labyrinths. The bodies of these carriers' carts resemble large casks cut in half lengthways, and open at the top; they are each drawn by one small horse, who, without much capacity as a draught horse, is full of courage and spirit, and will pull until he falls on the road : his life is, therefore, as short as it is devoted : in Russia, a horse twelve years old is a phenomenon.

  Nothing can be more original, more different to what is seen elsewhere, than the various vehicles, the men, and the horses that are met on the highways of this country. Every thing that the people touch, wear, or carry, takes, unknown to themselves, a picturesque appearance: condemn a race of men, less naturally elegant, to make use of the houses, dress, and utensils of the Russians, and all these things would appear hideous; but here I find them, though foreign and unusual, striking and deserving of being painted. Oblige the Russians to wear the costume of the Paris workmen, and they would make something out of it agreeable to the eye, though never would a Russian have imagined an attire so devoid of taste. The life of this people is amusing, if not for

  POLITICAL ASI>ECT.257

  themselves, at least for a spectator; the ingenious turn of their minds has found means to triumph over the climate, and every other obstacle that nature has opposed to social existence in a desert without poetic imagery. The contrast of the blind political submission of a people attached to the soil, wTith the energetic and continual struggle of that same people against the tyranny of a climate hostile to life, their conquests over nature showing itself every moment under the yoke of despotism, present an inexhaustible store for lively pictures and serious meditations. To make a journey through Russia with full advantage, it woiúd be necessary to be accompanied by a Montesquieu and a Horace Vernet.

  In none of my travels have I so much regretted my little talent for sketching. Russia is less кполтп than India : it has been less often described and pic-torially illustrated `, it is nevertheless as curious a country as any in Asia, even as relates to the arts, to poetry, and to history.

  Every mind seriously occupied with the ideas which ferment in the political world, cannot but profit by examining, on the spot, a community, governed on the principles which directed the most ancient states named in the annals of the world, and yet, already imbued with the ideas that are common among the most modern and revolutionary nations. The patriarchal tyranny of the Asiatic governments, in contact with the theories of modern philanthropy, the character of the people of the East and West, incompatible by nature, yet united together by coercion in a state of society semi-barbarous, but kept in order by fear, pres
ent a spectacle that can be only seen in

  258DRESS 0Г THE WOMEX.

  Russia, and, assuredly, one which no man who thinks, would regret the trouble of going to contemplate.

  The social, intellectual, and political state of present Russia is the result, and, so to speak, the resume of the reigns of Ivan IV., surnamcd, by Russia herself, the Terrible; of Peter the First, called the Great by the men who glory in aping Europe; and of Catharine II., deified by a people that dreams of the conquest of the world. Such is the formidable heritage over which the Emperor Nicholas holds sway — God knows to what purpose, and our posterity will know also !

  I continue to meet, here and there, a few female peasants who are tolerably pretty, but I do not cease to exclaim against the ungraceful appearance of their costume. It is not by their attire that the taste for the picturesque, which I attribute to the Russians, must be judged. The dress of these women would spoil beauty the most perfect. They are, I think, the only females in the world who have taken it into their heads to make themselves a waist above instead of below the bosom. Their shapeless sacks rather than gowns, are drawn together close under the armpits. At the first sight, their entire person gives me the idea of a bale or large loose parcel, in which all the parts of the body are confounded together without care, and yet without liberty. But this costume has other inconveniences rather difficult to describe. One of the worst is, that a Russian female peasant could suckle her child over her shoulder, as do the Hottentots. Such is the inevitable deformity produced by a fashion which destroys the shape of the body. The Circassian females, who better understand the beauty

  THE SEE-SAW.

  259

  of woman and the means of preserving it, wear, from their years of childhood, a belt round the waist, which they never cast off.

  I observed at Torjeck a variety in the toilette of the women, which perhaps deserves to be mentioned. The females of that town wear a short mantle of velvet, silk, or black cloth, a kind of pelerine which I have not seen elsewhere, it being, imlike any other sort of cape, entirely closed in front, and opening behind between the two shoulders. It is more singular than pretty or convenient ; but singularity suffices to amuse a stranger : what we seek in travelling, are proofs that we are not at home; though this is just what the Russians will not comprehend. The talent of imitating is so natural to them, that they are quite shocked when told that their land resembles no other. Originality, which to us appears a merit, is to them the remains of barbarism. They imagine that after we have given ourselves the trouble of coining so far to see them, we ought to esteem ourselves very fortunate to find, a thousand leagues from home, a bad parody of what we have left behind through love of change.

  The see-saw is the favourite amusement of the Russian peasants. This exercise developes their natural talent for adjusting the equilibrium of the body ; in addition to which, it is a silent pleasure, and quiet diversions best accord with the feelings of a people rendered prudent by fear.

  Silence presides over all the festivals of the Russian villagers. They drink plentifully, speak little, and shout less ; they either remain silent, or sing in chorus, with a nasal voice, melancholy and prolonged

  260THE SEE-SAW.

  notes, which form a harmonious but by no means noisy accord. I have been surprised, however, to observe that almost all these melodies are deficient in simplicity.

  On Sunday, in passing through populous villages, I observed rows of from four to eight young girls balancing themselves, by a scarcely perceptible movement of their bodies, on boards suspended by ropes, while, at a little distance beyond, an equal number of boys were fixed iu the same manner, in face of the females. Their mute game lasted a long time; I have never had patience to wait its conclusion. Such gentle balancing is only a kind of interlude, which serves as a relaxation in the intervals of the animated diversion of their real swing or see-saw. This is a very lively game ; it even renders the spectator nervous. Four cords hang from a lofty cross-beam, and, at about two feet from the earth, sustain a plank, on whose extremities two persons place themselves. This plank, and the four posts which support it, are placed in such a manner that the balancing may be performed either backwards and forwards or from side to side. The two performers, sometimes of the same, sometimes of the opposite sexes, place themselves, always standing, and with legs firmly planted, on the two extremities of the plank, where they preserve their balance by taking hold of the cords. In this attitude they are impelled through the air to a frightful height, for at every swing the machine reaches the point beyond which it would turn completely over, and its occupiers be dashed to the earth from a height of thirty or forty feet, for I have seen posts at least twenty feet high. The Russians, whose frames

  BEAUTIFUL FEMALE PEASANTS.261

  are singularly supple, easily maintain a balance that is to us astonishing; they exhibit much grace, boldness, and agility, in this exercise.

  I have purposely stopped in several villages to observe the girls and young men thus amuse themselves together; and I have at last seen some female faces perfectly beautiful. Their complexion is of a delicate whiteness ; their colour is, so to speak, under the skin, which is transparent and exquisitively smooth. Their teeth are brilliantly white; and—rarely seen beauty ! — their mouths are perfectly formed copies of the antique ; their eyes, generally blue, have nevertheless the oriental cast of expression, with also that unquiet and furtive glance natural to the Slavonians, who can in general look sideways, and even behind, without turning their heads. Their whole appearance possesses a great charm; but, whether from a caprice of nature, or the effects of costume, these beauties are much less often seen united in the women than in the men. Among a hundred female peasants we perhaps meet with one really beautiful, whilst the great majority of the men are remarkable for the form of their heads, and the gracefulness of their features. Among- the old men there are faces with rosy cheeks and silver hair and beard, of which it may be said that time has imparted of dignity more than it has taken of youth. There are heads that would be more beautiful iir pictures than any thing that I have seen of Rubens' or Titian's, but I have never observed an elderly female face worthy of being painted.

  I sometimes see a regularly Grecian profile united with features of so extreme a delicacy that the

  262RUSSIAN COTTAGES.

  expression of the countenance loses nothing by the perfect regularity of the lines. In such cases I am struck with unbounded admiration. The more common mould, however, of the features of both men and women is that of the Calmuc — high cheek-bones and flattened noses.

  I have entered into several of the Russian cottages at the hour when the peasants retire to rest. These cabins are almost deprived of vital air, and have no beds: men and women lie stretched pellmcll on the wooden benches which form a divan around the chamber; but the dirtiness of these rustic bivouacs has always arrested my progress; I have quickly retreated, though never speedily enough to avoid carrying away in my clothes some living memorial, as a punishment for my indiscreet curiosity.

  As a protection against the short but fervent heats of summer, a divan, under a species of veranda, runs round some cottages, and serves as a bed for the family, who even sometimes prefer sleeping on the naked earth. Recollections of the East pursue the traveller everywhere. At all the post-houses into which I have entered at night, I have invariably found, ranged in the street before the door, numerous bundles of black sheep-skins. These fleeces, which I at first took for sacks, were men sleeping under the bright canopy of heaven. TV"e have, this year, heats such as have not been known in the memory of man in Russia.

  The sheep-skins, cut out as little over-coats, serve not only for clothes, but likewise for beds, carpets, and tents to the Russian peasants. The workmen, when, during the heat of the day, they take their

  CUSTOMS OF THE SERFS.263

  siesta in the fields, make a picturesque tent of these pelisses to protect themselves from the rays of the sun. "With the ingenious address wh
ich distinguishes the Russian labourer from those of the west of Europe, they pass the sleeves of their eoat over the two handles of their wheelbarrows, and then, turning this moveable roof towards the sun, they sleep tranquilly under the rustic drapery. The sheep-skin coats are graceful in shape, and would be pretty if they were not generally so old and greasy. A poor peasant cannot often renewT a vesture which costs so much.

  The Russian labourer is industrious, and is ready for every difficulty in which he may be placed. He never goes out without his small hatchet, which is useful for a hundred purposes in the hands of a dexterous man in a country which is not yet in want of woods. With a Russian by your side, were you to lose yourself in a forest, you would in a very few hours have a house to pass the night in, perhaps more commodious, and assuredly more clean, than the houses of the old villages. But if the ti`aveller possessed small articles of leather among

  be safe nowhere. The Russians steal! with the address which they exhibit on all occasions, the straps, girths, and leathern aprons of your trunks and carriages, though the same men show every sign of being extremely devout.

  I have never travelled a stage without my coachman making at least twenty signs of the cross to salute as many little chapels. Ready to fulfil with the same punctilio his obligations of politeness, he salutes also with his hat every waggoner that he meets, and their number is great. These formalities