CONVENT OF TKOÏTZA.113
sacred asylum at a ratio unknown elsewhere. Seeing the legions with which I had to combat I lost all courage : my skin was burning, my blood boiled ; I felt myself devoured by imperceptible enemies, and in my agony I fancied that I should prefer fighting an army of tigers rather than this small pest of beggars, and too often of saints; for extreme austerity sometimes marches hand in hand with filthiness, —impious alliance! against which the real friends of God cannot protest sufficiently loudly.
I rose up, and found calm for a moment at the open window; but the scoiu*ge followed me—chairs, tables, ceiling, floor, walls, were teeming with life. My valet entered my room before the usual hour; he had suffered the same agonies, and even greater: for not wishing, nor being able to add to the size of our baggage, he has no bed, and places his paillasse on the floor, in preference to the sofas with all their accessories. If I dwell upon these inconveniences,, it is because they form a jiist accompaniment to the boastings of the Russians, and serve to show the degree of civilisation to which the people of this finest part of the empire have attained. On seeing poor Antonio enter the room, his eyes closed up and his face swollen, I had no need of inquiring the cause. Without uttering a word, he exhibited to me a cloak that had been blue the evening before, but was now become brown : after he had placed it on a chair, I perceived that it was moveable : at this sight horror seized us both: air, water, fire, and all the elements were put in requisition; though in such a war victory itself is a loss. At length, purified and dressed, I made a shadow of a breakfast, and repaired to the
114 PESTALOZZI ON PERSONAL CLEANLINESS.
convent, where another army of enemies awaited me: but this time, the light cavalry quartered in the folds of the Greek monks' gowns did not inspire me with the slightest fear; I had sustained the assaults of much more formidable combatants. After the battle of the night, the skirmishes of the day appeared to me a mere child's play: to speak without metaphor, the bites of bugs, and the dread of lice, had so hardened me against the attacks of fleas, that I felt no more annoyance from the light clouds of these creatures that played at our feet in the churches of the convent, than I should have felt from the dust of the road. This past night has awakened all my feelings of pity for the unhappy Frenchmen who remained prisoners in Russia after the retreat from Moscow. Vermin, that inevitable product of poverty, is of all physical evils the one which inspires me with the deepest compassion. When I hear it said of a human being, he is in such wretchedness that he is dirty, my heart bleeds. Personal dirtiness is something viler even than it appears. It betrays, to the eyes of an attentive observer, a moral degradation worse than all bodily evils put together. This leprosy, for being to a certain extent voluntary, is only the more loathsome : it is a phenomenon which springs from our two natures; it embraces both the moral and the physical; it is the result of an infirmity of soul as well as of body; it is at once a vice and a malady.
I have often, in my travels, had reason to remember the sagacious observations of Pestalozzi, that great practical philosopher, the preceptor of the working classes before Fourier and the Saint Simonians. According to his observations on the life of the lower
INTERIOR OF THE CONVENT.115
orders, of two men who have the same habits of life, one will be dirty, the other clean. Personal cleanliness has as much to do with the health and the natural habit of body as with the personal habits of the individual. Do we not often see among the better classes people who take great pains with their persons, and who are yet very dirty. Among the Russians there reigns a high degree of sordid negligence: it seems to me they must have trained their vermin to survive the bath.
Notwithstanding my ill-humour, I went carefully over the interior of the patriotic convent of the Trinity. It does not possess the imposing aspect of our old Gothic monasteries. The architecture is not the object^ that should bring people to a sacred place ; but if these famous sanctuaries were worth the trouble of being looked at, they would lose none of their sanctity, nor the pilgrims of their merit.
The convent stands on an eminence, and resembles a town surrounded with strong walls, mounted with battlements. Like those of Moscow, it has gilded spires and cupolas, which, shining in the evening sun, announce to the pilgrims, from afar, the end of their pious journey.
During the fine season, the surrounding roads are crowded with travellers, marching in procession. In the villages, groups of the faithful are to be seen eating and sleeping under the shade of the birch-trees; and at every step a peasant may be met walking in a species of sandal, made of the bark of the lime-tree: a female often accompanies him, who carries his shoes in her hand, whilst with the other she shields herself with an umbrella from the rays of the sun, which the
116
PILGEIMS.
Muscovites dread in summer more than the inhabitants of the south. A kibitka, drawn by one horse, follows, and contains the sleeping appurtenances, and the utensils with which to prepare tea. The kibitka doubtless resembles the chariot of the ancient Sarmatians. This equipage is constructed with primitive simplicity; it consists of the half of a cask severed lengthways, and placed upon axles, resembling the frame of a cannon.
The countrymen and women, who know how to sleep anywhere except in a bed, travel, stretched at their ease, in these light and picturesque vehicles: sometimes one of the pilgrims, watching over the sleepers, sits with his legs hanging over the edge of the kibitka, and lulls with national sonc;s his dreaming comrades. In these dull and plaintive melodies, the sentiments of regret prevail over those of hope; their expression is melancholy but never impassioned: all is repressed, all betrays prudence in this naturally light and cheerful people, rendered taciturn by education. If I did not view the fate of nations as written in heaven, I should say that the Slavonians were born to people a more generous soil than the one on which they established themselves when they came forth from Asia, that great nursery of nations.
The first oppressor of the Russians was the climate. With every respect for Montesquieu, extreme cold appears to me more favourable to despotism than does heat: the men, the freest perhaps on the face of the earth — are they not the Arabs ? The rigours of nature inspire man with rudeness~and cruelty.
On leaving the hostelry of the convent I crossed an open square, and entered the monastic walls.
SAINT SERGIUS.
117
After passing under an alley of trees, I found myself among several little churches, surnamed cathedrals, with high steeples dividing them from each other; while numerous chapels, and ranges of dwellings, wherein are now lodged the disciples of Saint Ser-gius, were scattered around without design or order.
This famous hermit founded the convent of ïroïtza in 1338 : its history, as well as that of its founder, is intimately connected with the general history of Russia. In the war against the Khan Mamaï, the holy man aided Dmitry Ivanowitch with his counsels: and the victory of the grateful prince enriched the politic monks. Afterwards, their monastery was destroyed by fresh hordes of Tartars, but the body of St. Sergius, miraculously discovered under the ruins, imparted a fresh renown to this asylum of prayer, which was rebuilt by means of the pious donations of the Czars. In 1609, the Poles besieged the convent for the space of six months. It had become the retreat of the patriotic defenders of the country; and the enemy, unable to take it, was at length obliged to raise the siege, to the additional glory of St. Sergius, and to the great joy and pecuniary advantage of his successors.
The walls are adorned with turrets, and surmounted with a covered gallery, of which I made the circuit. They are nearly half a league in extent. Of all the historical associations which render this place celebrated, the most interesting is that connected with the flight of Peter the Great, saved by his mother from the fury of the Strelitz, who pursued him into the cathedral of the Trinity, even to the altar of
1 18HISTORY OF THE CONVENT.
St. Sergius, where the attitude of the hero, ten years of ag
e, disarmed the revolted soldiers.
All the Greek churches resemble each other. The paintings they contain are always Byzantine, that is to say, unnatural, without life and without variety. Sculpture is everywhere wanting; it is replaced by gilded carved work, rich, but not beautiful, and more insipid than magnificent.
All the names of note in Russian history have taken pleasure in enriching the convent, which overflows with gold, pearls, and diamonds. The universe has been placed under contribution to swell the pile of wealth that forms one of the miracles of the place, and which I contemplate with an astonishment more nearly approaching to stupefaction than to admiration. Czars, empresses, nobles, libertines, and true saints, have all vied with each other in enriching the treasury of Troïtza. Amid so many riches, the simple dress and the wooden cup of St. Sergius shine by their very rusticity.
The tomb of the saint in the cathedral of the Trinity blazes with magnificence. The convent would have furnished a rich booty to the French; it has not been taken since the fourteenth century. It contains nine churches. The slirine of the saint is of silver, gilt; it is protected by silver pillars and canopy, the gift of the Empress Anne. The image of Saint Sergius is esteemed miraculous. Peter the Great carried it with him in his Avars against Charles XII.
Not far from the slirine, under shelter of the virtues of the hermit, lies the body of the usurping assassin, Boris Godounoff, surrounded by many of
INCONVENIENCES OF TRAVELLING.119
his family. The convent contains various other famous but shapeless tombs: they exhibit at once the infancy and the decrepitude of art. The house of the Archimandrite and the palace of the Czars present nothing of interest. The number of monks is now only one hundred; they were formerly thrice as many. Notwithstanding my persevering request, they would not show me the library. " It is forbidden" was always the answer. This modesty of the monks, who conceal the treasures of science, while they parade those of vanity, strikes me as singular. I argue from it that there is more dust on their books than on their jewels.
I am now at Dernicki, a village between the small town of Periaslavle and Yaroslaf, the capital of the province of the same name.
It must be owned that it is a strange notion of enjoyment which can induce a man to travel for his pleasure in a country where there are no high roads*, according to the application of 'the word in other parts of Europe,—no inns, no beds, no straw even to sleep upon—fori am obliged to fill my mattress and that of. my servant with hay, — no white bread, no wine, no drinkable water, not a landscape to gaze upon in the country, — not a work of art to study in the towns; where, in winter, the cheeks, nose, ears, and feet are in great danger of being frozen; where, in the dog-days, you broil under the
* With the exception of the road between Petersburg and Moscow, and part of that between Petersburg and lîiga.
120BAD QUALITY OF THE ЛУАТЕЕ.
sun, and shiver at night. Such are the amusements I am come to seek in the heart of Russia.
The water is unwholesome in nearly every part of the country. You will injure your health if you trust to the protestations of the inhabitants, or do not drink it without correcting it by effervescent powders. To be sure, you may obtain the luxury of Seltzer-water in the large towns; but the necessity of laying in stores of this foreign beverage, as provision for the road, is very inconvenient. The wine of the taverns, generally white, and christened with the name of Sauterne, is scarce, dear, and of bad quality.
As for the scenery, there appears so little variety, that, as regards the habitations which alone enliven it, it may be said that there is but one village in all Russia. The distances are incommensurable, but the Russians diminish them by their rate of travelling: scarcely leaving their carriage until arrived at the place of their destination, they feel as though they had been in bed at home the whole length of the journey; and are astonished to find that we do not share their taste for tins mode of travelling while sleeping, inherited by them from their Scythian ancestors. We must not believe, however, that their course is always equally rapid; these northern Gascons do not tell us of all their delays on the route. The coachmen drive fast when they are able, but they are often stopped by insurmountable difficulties.
Even on the road between Petersburg and Moscow I found that we proceeded at very unequal rates, and that at the end of the journey we had scarcely saved more time than is done in other countries. On other routes the inconveniences are multiplied a hundred-
А NIGIIT IN A RUSSIAN VILLAGE.121
fold: tlie horses become scarce, the roads such as would destroy any vehicle; and the traveller asks himself, with a kind of shame, what could have been his motive for imposing upon himself so many discomforts, by coming to a country that has all the wilduess, without any of the poetic grandeur of the desert ? Such was the question I addressed to myself this evening, when benighted on a road, the difficulty of moving in which was greatly enhanced by a new unfinished chaussée, which crossed it at every fifty yards, and by tottering bridges, which had often lost the pieces of timber the most essential to their security.
My meditations at length determined me to halt, and, to the great annoyance of my coachman and feldjäger, I fixed on a lodging in the little house of some villagers, where I am now writing. This refuge is less disgusting than a real inn : no traveller stops in such a village ; and the wood of the cabin serves as a refuge only to the insects brought from the forest. My chamber, a loft reached by a dozen steps, is nine or ten feet square, and six or seven high ; it reminds me of the cottage of the imbecile old man in the story of Thelenef. The entire habitation is made of the trunks of fir-trees, caulked with moss and pitch as carefully as if it were a boat. The same eternal smell of tar, cabbage, and perfumed leather, which, combined, pervades every Russian village, annoys me ; but I prefer headache to mental distress, and find this bed-chamber far more comfortable than the large plastered hall of the inn at Troïtza. I have fixed in it my iron bedstead : the peasants sleep, wrapped in their sheep-skins, on the seats ranged round the room on the ground-floor.
YOL. III.G
]'22WANT OF PROBITY
Antonio makes his bed in the coach, which is guarded by him and the fcldjäger. Men are pretty safe on Russian highways, but equipages and all their appurtenances are viewed as lawful prizes by the Slavonian serfs; and, without extreme vigilance, I should fiud my calèche in the morning, stript of cover, braces, curtains, and apron ; in short, transformed into a primitive tarandasse', a real telega ; and not a soul in the village who would have any idea what had become of the leather: or if, by means of rigid searches, it should be found at the bottom of some shed, the thief, by stating that he had found it and brought it there, would be acquitted. This is the standing; defence in Eussia: theft is rooted in the habits of the people, and consequently the robber preserves an easy conscience and a serene face that would deceive the very angels. " Our Saviour would have stolen,'1 they say, "if his hands had not been pierced." This is one of their most common adages.
Xor is robbery the vice alone of the peasants : there arc as many kinds of theft as there arc orders in society. The governor of a province knows that he is constantly in danger of something occurring that may send him to finish his days in Siberia. If, dnrino· the time that he continues in office, he has the cleverness to steal enough to defend himself in the legal process which would precede his exile, he may get out of the difficulty ; but if he continue poor and honest he must be ruined. This is not my remark, but that of several Russians whom I may not name", but whom I believe to be worthy of faith. The commissaries of the army rob the soldiers, and enrich themselves by starving them : in short,
Л NATIONAL CHARACTERISTIC.123
an honest administration would be here both dangerous and ridiculous.
I hope to-morrow to reach Yaroslaf: it is a central city; and I shall stop there a day or two in order to discover, in the interior of the country, real original Russians. I took care, with this intention, to procure sever
al letters of introduction to that capital of one of the most interesting and important provinces of the empire.
G 2
124ARRIVAL AT YAROSLAF.
CHAP. XXXI.
COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE OF YAROSLAF.—A RUSSIAN'S OPINION OF
RUSSIAN ARCHITECTURE.DESCRIPTION OF YAROSLAF.MONO
TONOUS ASPECT OF THE COUNTRY. — THE BOATMEN OF THE
VOLGA.COUP-d'cEIL ON THE RUSSIAN CHARACTER.PRIMITIVE
DROWSKAS. ANTIQUE COSTUME. — RUSSIAN BATHS. — DIF
FERENCE BETWEEN RUSSIAN AND GERMAN CHILDREN. — VISIT
TO THE GOVERNOR. AN AGREEABLE SURPRISE. SOUVENIRS
OF VERSAILLES. —INFLUENCE OF FRENCH LITERATURE.VISIT
Russia in 1839 -Empire of the Czar: A Journey Through Eternal Russia Page 72
