almost in every room, some picture is suspended), being very careful to look that there was no hole through which she could peep. She then turned her back and took a long draught of the delicious fluid, after which she removed the apron and quietly tied it round her waist as before, being perfectly convinced that Heaven had been blinded to her backsliding.

The four besetting sins of the Russian serfs are their propensity for lying, their deceitful cunning, their want of honesty, and their frequent intoxication. But undoubtedly their state of slavery, their half-civilized condition, and the demoralizing effects of their government have mainly contributed to these grave defects.

Lying is but the handmaid of cunning and deceit ; and the two latter being in every known land of despotism and slavery a distinctive mark of the people, it would be absurd to expect that the Russians would be exceptions. So deeply-rooted are these vices in the national character, that it is rare to hear the truth spoken at all: even children will continue stoutly to deny a most palpable fact, and persist so resolutely in their falsehood, that neither threats, persuasions, nor coaxings will induce them to tell the truth ; no doubt fear is the origin of this evil trait. When I was staying in the country at about twenty versts from Jaroslaf, a quantity of plate was one day missed after dinner. The domestics were all in consternation; the strictest search was made, but no trace of it could be discovered, when all at once the housekeeper remembered having seen a little village girl near the house: the child used often to come in the kitchen to beg for small scraps of the good things left, but had never excited suspicion.

However, as every other inquiry had been made, she was sent for and interrogated. She was only eight years old, and she had been quite a favourite with us all; there was something in her manner that made us think that she knew more of the affair than she chose to tell, and it was decided that she should not return home to her parents, but remain with the servants until she had confessed it. The extreme obstinacy and firmness with which she withstood every temptation of reward, and her constant denial of the truth, were wonderful, and for four whole days she still persisted in it. At last, finding that everybody was convinced that she knew the thief, and seeing that we were determined not to let her go, she acknowledged that her parents had instructed her to take the missing articles, and mentioned where they were hidden. The starosta or headman of the neighbouring village was sent for, search was made in the cottage, and there were the spoons and forks under a plank in the floor, as the child had said.

We ought not to accuse the serfs in general of want of honesty. They are very honest among themselves and towards their proprietor, nor will they often steal what is his property, excepting in the way of eatables, to which they seem to think they have a right; nor do they consider it a theft to take what they wish of tea, sugar, coffee, &c. In regard to strangers and foreigners they are not so particular; from them they take whatever is not likely to be soon missed; the laws of property are totally forgotten; but they are ordinarily so wretchedly poor, that the temptation must be very great, and they have never been taught better or shown a good example. The system of

I

continual beating has never yet succeeded in teaching any people.

In regard to their want of sobriety they must be judged with the greatest indulgence. I have referred before to the inducements held out to them: to these we must add their excessively cold climate, which renders some stimulant almost necessary, and the love of excitement prevalent in all ranks in Russia: in the upper classes this is gratified by public amusements; but in the lower by the gaiety and forgetfulness induced by intoxication. We must pity the poor Russians rather than condemn them, and earnestly pray for the time when their rulers will see that true power consists in their enlightenment rather than in their demoralization,

I remember, when the last revolution took place in France, and Louis Philippe was obliged to fly the country, it became the topic of conversation in a large evening party; the Russians there present exultingly exclaimed that the two greatest nations in the world, namely, Russia and England, in the midst of all the countries of Europe, were alone tranquil and unshaken, even by the agitation and throes of monarchies surrounding them on all sides.

"Yes," said a gentleman near me, in an under tone, "his excellency says truly, but he forgets to add that there is a slight difference in the two people: yours is the repose of the living, but ours is the slumber of the dead. Russia should have for its flag a death's head and the motto Resurgam."

CHAPTER XII.

Landed proprietors Sketch of the country The wolves dreadful

-

occurrence A child lost Winter amusements - Wolf-huntRussian costumes The

A cunning animal Summer sketch

national dance

The peasants Avarice of the landowners Serfs
Cruel and unprincipled proprietors — Opinion

and their treatment of the upper classes.

MR. OLIPHANT, in his interesting account of his voyage down the Volga, mentions having fallen in with a vulgar landowner, who was addicted to habits of intemperance, and who was the envy of all because he was rich enough to become intoxicated on English bottled porter. Undoubtedly there are such low characters to be met with, but I believe they form exceptions to the general rule, for I must say that, as far as it was possible for me to judge, the landed proprietors in Russia are for the most part a very different class of individuals; they are not perhaps very refined or well-informed-far from it; and it is not possible that in the existing state of things they could become so. Many of them live with their families on their estates, surrounded by their serfs; their mode of existence is monotonous enough, and only varied by an occasional visit to the capital, or to the neighbouring town; the friends with whom they are acquainted are similarly situated with themselves. When we consider the immense distance the cities are apart, the total want of good roads, and the wide extent of their estates, it would be ridiculous to expect the high polish and great

Sup

information that can only be attained by constant intercourse in good society and in civilized capitals. posing that a century ago, in the times of our fox-hunting squires, a traveller had accidentally met one of them in an intoxicated state on board of a Yarmouth hoy; he certainly, if he had no other opportunity of judging of the state of civilization in the rural districts of England, would have entertained anything but an exalted idea of its excellence. As far as it has been possible for a lady to remark, I have every reason to feel respect for the country ladies and gentlemen of the interior of Russia. Their hospitality is unbounded; they are, for the most part, humane to the serfs, are kind-hearted in the true sense of the word, and exceedingly amiable and polite to foreigners. There is very little ceremony, but much more heartiness in their welcome, and, rather than allow their guests to return home at night, they will put themselves to any inconvenience, and turn every apartment in the house into a sleeping-room, cause beds to be made up on sofas and chairs, and find accommodation for a couple of dozen acquaintances with as little care about the trouble it gives them as if it were merely a shake-down of straw in the stable: their principal concern is that everybody should be as comfortable as possible and sans gêne in their house; and what is more, the guests are welcome to stay as long as they please—one night or six.

The serfs are better off if the proprietor resides on the estate all the year: it is the land-stewards that make the most tyrannical and oppressive masters: being very often foreigners, generally Germans, they have no sympathy for the Russian race, and have besides two pockets to fill