once terrible Ottoman Porte to virtual vas- [the rupture of the Bosphorus. The nature salage, and that aspired to wrest the empire of his task soon obliged him to embrace a of India from the grasp of Great Britain? larger field than he had at first contemplaNo; the might of Russia, saving only her ted, and to devote nearly five years to his maritime deficiencies, was admitted with researches in all directions, from the Danout question; and therein lay for her a ube to the Caspian, and as far south as the source of real power of which she knew northern verge of the Caucasus. Twice how to make the amplest profit. Possunt in the course of his long sojourn, his proquia posse videntur is an adage never better fessional services were employed on imporunderstood than by the Russian govern- tant matters by the Russian government, ment; and marvellous, indeed, has been which conferred on him the temporary rank its elaborate and successful cultivation of of colonel, rendered him on all occasions all the arts of imposture. Nor does the very useful aid towards promoting his comsystem end with the diplomacy of the em- fort and facilitating his scientific labors, pire. Barren of invention, the Muscovites and finally marked its sense of his merit, are quick imitators; and the mendacious by creating him a knight of the imperial spirit that characterizes their government, order of St. Vladimir. Thus favored by pervades likewise every phase and product the local authorities, and gifted with the of their spurious civilization. To seem talismanic virtue that encompasses the posthe thing it is not, is the grand problem of sessor of tchin (rank), without which a Russian existence, personal, social, and political.

man is less than nobody in Russia, his means of gathering authentic information The sorry figure made by the Russian on the condition of men and things in the arms in their cumbrous efforts to put down tzar's dominions, were such as can have the Polish insurrection of 1832, and their fallen to the lot of few other travellers. He protracted and miserably inglorious contest made excellent use of his opportunities ;with the Circassians, were not easily to be and in what spirit he has set down the rereconciled with preconceived opinions.sult of his observations may be inferred The credulous belief in the vastness of from the following significant words of his the tzar's resources was shaken; but it preface:was not until after the publication of the "Our work is published under no one's paworks of De Custine, Lacroix, and the au- tronage; we have kept ourselves independent thor of the Revelations of Russia,' that of all extraneous influence; and in frankly the delusion stood fully exposed. Most of pointing out what has seemed to us faulty in our Trinculos of Western Europe have by the social institutions of the Muscovite empire, this time begun to understand what a very we think we evince more gratitude for the shallow monster it is they took for a demi-hospitality afforded us in Russia than some travellers of our times, whose pages are filled god; but if there be any whose easy good only with flatteries as ridiculous as they are nature, or whose antiquated Tory prejudi- exaggerated." ces and sympathy with despotism, still cling to the old notions, let such persons refute if they can the weighty testimony of the volumes before us. Many of the most startling disclosures made by the authors we have named, and by others besides, are here abundantly corroborated by a writer whose talents, industry, candor, good temper, and rare opportunities for acquiring information on the subjects he treats of, entitle him to our highest confidence.

Madame Hommaire accompanied her husband in most of his expeditions, and as she bravely shared by his side, for five long years, the fatigues and hardships of the Scythian wilds, so she has also taken her part with him in the lighter labors of authorship. To her graceful and lively pen we owe all the narrative part of the work, comprising the greater portion of the first two volumes. Is there not something exM. Hommaire, a French civil engineer, tremely touching in these simple facts?was prompted by his zeal for science to Your critic, as some suppose, should be a visit Southern Russia in 1838, for the pur-wight of stoic mould, a sort of intellectual pose of exploring the geological constitution abstraction, regarding not the persons of of the Crimea, and of the vast region of authors, and mindful only of the quality of plains adjoining the Black Sea. His ulti- the work before him. Be this as it may, mate object was to arrive at positive data we will own that in this unobtrusive picture for the solution of the great question so of wedded fellowship, there lies for us a long debated by physical geographers: charm apart from, and surpassing, all mere

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among the petty nobles, who lavish away their vhole income in outward show. They must have equipages with four horses, billiardrooms, grand drawing-rooms, pianos, &c. And if they can procure all these superfluities, they are quite content. to live on mujik's fare, and to sleep in beds without any thing in the shape of sheets.

"Articles of furniture, the most indispensa

ewer in a bedroom. Bedsteads are almost as

literary or scientific excellence. The devoted wife, the helpmate true and helpfu in all things, is a hallowed being in ou eyes; and though we had never read a line of her inditing, nor knew whether or not she was a proficient in the writer's art, we would not the less boldly aver that the native beauties of her mind would surely breathe their influence into her pages, mak-ble, are totally unknown in the dwellings of ing them redolent of kindly, pleasant, and graceful thoughts and feelings. And so it is indeed with Madame Hommaire's narrative. It is before all things delightfully feminine; while perusing it, we seem not so much to read, as to listen to the conversation of an amiable and accomplished woman, who fascinates us as much by the manner as by the matter of what she relates. Her work abounds, too, with novel and curious details, which she seizes with instinctive delicacy of perception. She has great skill in communicating her own impressions and emotions to the reader; she tells a story trippingly and well, and her unaffected gaiety never deserts her, even when she speaks of those crosses and vexations incident to all travellers, and on which many of them, in the excess of their self-comniseration, are prone to descant somewhat tediously. We will not delay our readers with further preface, but proceed to justify our encomiums by extracts. Here is an amusing glimpse at the domestic habits of the great in Southern Russia :

"Two days afterwards we left Kherson, for the country-seat of the marshal of the nobles. where a large party was already assembled. The manner in which hospitality is exercised in Russia is very convenient, and entails no great outlay in the matter of upholstery.Those who receive visitors give themselves very little concern as to whether their guests are well or ill lodged, provided they can offer them a good table; it never occurs to them that a good bed and a room provided with some articles of furniture, are to some persons quite as acceptable as a good dinner. What ever has no reference to the comfort of the stomach, lies beyond the range of Russian politeness, and the stranger must make up his account accordingly. As we were the last comers, we fared very queerly in point of lodging, being thrust four or five of us into one room, with no other furniture than two miserable bedsteads; and there we were lef to shift for ourselves as we could. The house is very handsome in appearance; but for all its portico, its terrace, and its grand halls, it only contains two or three rooms for reception and a few garrets, graced with the name of bedrooms. Ostentation is inherent in the Russian character, but it abounds especially

most of the second-rate nobles. Notwithstanding the vaunted progress of Russian civiliza tion, it is almost impossible to find a basin and great rarities, and almost invariably you have nothing but a divan on which you may pass the night. You may deem yourself singularly fortunate if the mistress of the mansion thinks of sending you a blanket and a pillow; but this is so unusual a piece of good luck that you must never reckon upon it. In their own persons the Russians set an example of truly Spartan habits, as I had many opportunities of perceiving during my stay in the marshal's house. No one, the marshal himself not excepted, had a private chamber; his eldest daughter, though a very elegant and charming young lady, lay on the floor, wrapped up in a or four young children, passed the night in a cloak like an old veteran. His wife, with three closet that served as boudoir by day, and he himself made his bed on one of the divans of the grand saloon. As for the visitors, some slept on the billiard-table; others, like ourselves, scrambled for a few paltry stump bedsteads; whilst the most philosophical wore away the night in drinking and gambling.

"I say nothing as to the manner in which the domestic servants are lodged; a good guess as to this matter may be easily made from what I have just said of their masters. Besides, it is a settled point in Russia never to take any heed for servants; they eat, drink, and sleep, how and where they can, and their masters never think of asking a word about the matter. The family whose guests we were was very large, and furnished us with themes for many a remark on the national usages, and the notions respecting education that are in vogue in the empire. A Swiss governess is an indispensable piece of furniture in every house in which there are many children. She must teach them to read, write, and speak French, and play a few mazurkas on the piano. No more is required of her; for solid instruction is a thing almost unknown among the petty nobles. A girl of fifteen has completed her education if she can do the honors of a drawing-room, and warble a few French romances. Yet I have met with several exceptions to this rule, foremost among which I must note our host's pretty daughter Loubinka, who, thanks to a sound understanding and a quick apprehension, has acquired such a stock of information as very few Russian ladies possess.

"It is only among those families that constantly reside on their estates that we still find

in full vigor all those prejudices, superstitions, at home. A residence in Italy, the chosen and usages of old Russia, that are handed land of intrigues and illicit amours, soon setdown as heir-looms from generation to genera- tled the case. The young wife eloped with tion, and keep strong hold on all the rustic no- an Italian nobleman, whose passion ere long bility. No people are more superstitious than grew so intense that nothing would satisfy him. the Russians: the sight of two crossed forks, short of a legal sanction of their union. Dior of a saltcellar upset, will make them turn vorces, as every one knows, are easily obtained pale and tremble with terror. There are un- in the pope's dominions. Madame de K. had lucky days on which nothing could induce therefore no difficulty in causing her marriage them to set out on a journey or begin any busi- to be annulled, especially with the help of her ness. Monday especially is marked with a red lord and master, who for the first time since they cross in their calendar. and woe to the man had come together, agreed with her, heart and who would dare to brave its malign influences. soul. Every thing was promptly arranged, "Among the Russian customs most sedu- and Monsieur carried his complaisance so far lously preserved is that of mutual salutations as to be present as an official witness at Maafter meals. Nothing can be more amusing dame's wedding, doubtless for the purpose of than to see all the persons round the table thoroughly making sure of its validity. Three bowing right and left with a gravity that or four children were the fruit of this new union, proves the importance they attach to a formal- but the lady's happiness was of short duration. ity so singular in our eyes. The children set Her domestic peace was destroyed by the inthe example by respectfully kissing the hands trigues of her second husband's family; perof their parents. In all social meetings, eti- haps, too, the Italian's love had cooled; be this quette peremptorily requires that the young as it may, after some months of miserable ladies, instead of sitting in the drawing-room, struggles and humiliations, sentence of sepashall remain by themselves in an adjoining ration was finally pronounced against her, and apartment, and not allow any young man to she found herself suddenly without fortune or approach them. If there is dancing, the protector, burdened with a young family, and gravest matron in the company goes and weighed down with fearful anticipations of the brings them almost by force into the ball-room. future. Her first step was to leave a country Once there, they may indulge their youthful where such cruel calamities had befallen her, vivacity without restraint; but on no pretext and to return to Podolía, the land of her birth. are they to withdraw from beneath the eyes of Hitherto her story is like hundreds of others, their mothers or chaperons. It would be ru- and I should not have thought of narrating it inous to a young lady's reputation to be caught had it ended there; but what almost surpasses in a tête-à tête with a young man within two belief, and gives it a stamp of originality altosteps of the ball-room. But all this prudery gether out of the common line, is the conduct extends no further than outward forms, and it of her first husband when he heard of her rewould be a grand mistake to suppose that turn. That brutal, inconstant man, who had there is more morality in Russia than else- trampled on all social decencies in attending where. Genuine virtue, such as is based on at the marriage of his wife with another, did sound principles and an enlightened education, all in his power to induce her to return to his is not very common there. Young girls are house. By dint of unwearied efforts and enjealously guarded, because the practice is in treaties he succeeded in overcoming her scruaccordance with the general habits and feel- ples, and bore her home in triumph along with ings of the country, and little reliance is placed her children by the Italian, on whom he settled in their own sense of propriety. But once part of his fortune. From that time forth the married they acquire the right of conducting most perfect harmony subsists between the themselves as they please, and the husband pair, and seems likely long to continue. I saw would find it a hard matter to control their ac- a letter written by the lady two or three tions. Though divorces are almost inipossible months after her return beneath the conjugal to obtain, it does not follow that all wives re-roof; it breathed the liveliest gratitude and main with their husbands; on the contrary, nothing is more common than amicable arrangements between married people to wink at each other's peccadilloes; such conventions excite no scandal, and do not exclude the wife from society One of these divorces I will mention, which is perhaps without a parallel

in the annals of the civilized world.

the fondest affection for him whom she called her beloved husband."

Apropos to the chapter matrimónial here touched on, we find the following anecdote of General Khersanof, a man of great wealth, and son-in-law of the celebrated Hettman Platof:

"A very pretty and sprightly young Polish lady was married to a man of great wealth. "On entering the first salon we met the but much older than herself, and a thorough general, who immediately presented us to his Muscovite in coarseness of character and wo wives. But, the reader will say, is bigamy habits. After two or three years spent in allowed among the Cossacks? Not exactly wrangling and plaguing each other, the ill-so; but if the laws and public opinion are assorted pair resolved to travel, in the hopes against it, still a man of high station may of escaping the intolerable sort of life they led easily evade both; and General Khersanof

has been living for many years in open, avow- mene stands alone in the middle of the river. ed bigamy, without finding that his salons are From a distance it looks like a nest of verdure the less frequented on account of such a trifle.resting on the waves, and waiting only a In Russia. wealth covers every thing with its breath of wind to send it floating down the glittering veil, and sanctions every kind of ec- rapid course of the Volga. But, as you adcentricity, however opposed to the usages o vance, the land unfolds before you, the trees the land, provided it redeem them by plenty form themselves into groups, and the prince's of balls and entertainments. Public opinion palace displays a portion of its white façade, such as exists in France, is here altogether and the open galleries of its turrets. Every unknown. The majority leave scruples of object assumes a more decided and more picconscience to timorous souls. without even souresque form, and stands out in clear relief, much as acknowledging their merit.

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from the cupola of the mysterious pagoda A man the slave of his word, and a woman which you see towering above the trees to the of her reputation, could not be understood in humble kibitka glittering in the magic tints of a country where caprice reigns as absolute sunset. The landscape, as it presented itself sovereign. A Russian lady, to whom I made successively to our eyes, with the unruffled some remarks on this subject, answered naïve-mirror of the Volga for its framework, wore a ly, that none but low people could be affected calm, but strange and profoundly melancholy by scandal, inasmuch as censure can only pro- character. It was like nothing we had ever ceed from superiors. She was perfectly right.seen before; it was a new world which fancy for, situted as the nobility are, who would might people as it pleased; one of those mysdare to criticise and condemn their faults? Interious isles one dreams of at fifteen after readorder that public opinion should exist, thereing the Arabian Nights; a thing, in short, must be an independent class, capable of ut- such as crosses the traveller's path but once in tering its judgments without fearing the ven- all his wanderings, and which we enjoyed geance of those it calls before its bar; there with all the zest of unexpected pleasure." must be a free country in which the acts of every individual may be impartially appreciated; in short, the words justice, honor, honesty, and delicacy of feeling, must have a real meaning, instead of being the sport of an elegant and corrupt caste, that systematically makes a mock of all things not subservient to its caprices and its passions.

*

*

*

*

After describing her courteous reception, and the slight shock of disappointment she experienced at finding so much that reminded her of Europe in the habitation of a real Kalmuck prince, she continues :—

"After the first civilities were over, I was conducted to a very handsome chamber, with "It is said that the two co-wives live on the windows opening on a large verandah. I best possible terms with each other. The found in it a toilette apparatus in silver, very general seems quite at his ease with respect to elegant furniture, and many objects both rare them, and goes from the one to the other with and precious. My surprise augmented conthe same marks of attention and aff ction. tinually as I beheld this aristocratic sumptuHis first wife is very old, and might be taken ousness. In vain I looked for any thing that for the mother of the second. We were assured could remind me of the Kalmucks; nothing that being greatly distressed at having no around me had a tinge of couleur locale; all children, she had herself advised her husband seemed rather to bespeak the abode of a rich to make a new choice. The general fixed on a Asiatic nawab; and with a little effort of imvery pretty young peasant working on his own agination, I might easily have fancied myself property. In order to diminish the great dis-transported into the marvellous world of the parity of rank between them, he married her to one of his officers who, on coming out of church, received orders to depart instantly on a distant mission from which he never returned. Some time afterwards the young woman was installed in the general's brilliant mansion, and presented to all his acquaintance as Madame Khersanof."

The account Madame Hommaire gives of her visit to a Kalmuck prince and princess will surprise those whose notions of that people are derived from such travellers as Dr. Clarke, by whom they are described as among the most forbidding in aspect and features, and the most loathsome in habits of the whole human race.

fairies, as I beheld that magnificent palace encircled with water, its exterior fretted all over with balconies and fantastic ornaments, and its interior all filled with velvets, tapestries, and crystals, as though the touch of a wand had made all these wonders start from the boso of the Volga! And what completed The illusion was the thought that the author of these prodigies was a Kalmuck prince, a chief of those half-savage tribes that wander over the sandy plains of the Caspian Sea, a worshipper of the grand Lama, a believer in the metempsychosis; in short, one of those beings whose existence seems to us almost fabulous, such a host of mysterious legends do their names awaken in the mind. * ** *

"Prince Tamene is the wealthiest and most influential of all the Kalmuck chiefs. In 1815 he raised a regiment at his own expense, and "The little island belonging to Prince Tu-led it to Paris, for which meritorious service

he was rewarded with numerous decorations. | Nothing could be more agreeable to us than this He has now the rank of colonel, and he proposal. At last I was about to see Kalmuck was the first of this nomade people who ex- manners and customs without any foreign adchanged his kibitka for an European dwelling. mixture. On the way I learned that the prinAbsolute master in his own family (among the cess was renowned among her people for exKalmucks the same respect is paid to the eld-extreme beauty and accomplishments besides est brother as to the father), he employs his many other details which contributed further authority only for the good of those around to augment my curiosity. We formed a tolhim. He possesses about a million desiatineserably large party when we reached her tent, of land, and several hundred fimilies, from and as she had been informed of our intended which he derives a considerable revenue. His visit. we enjoyed, on entering, a spectacle that race, which belongs to the tribe of the Ko- far surpassed our anticipations. When the shots, is one of the most ancient and respected curtain at the doorway of the kibitka was among the Kalmucks. Repeatedly tried by raised, we found ourselves in a rather spacious severe afflictions, his mind has taken an exclu- room, lighted from above, and hung with red sively religious bent, and the superstitious damask, the reflection from which shed a practices to which he devotes himself give him glowing tint on every object; the floor was a great reputation for sanctity among his covered with a rich Turkey carpet, and the countrymen. An isolated pavilion placed at air was loaded with perfumes. In this balmy some distance from the palace is his habitual atmosphere and crimson light we perceived the abode, where he passes his life in prayers and princess seated on a low platform at the furreligious conference with the most celebrated ther end of the tent, dressed in glistening priests of the country. No one but these lat- robes, and as motionless as an idol. Sonie ter is allowed admission into his mysterious twenty women in full dress, sitting on their sanctuary; even his brothers have never en-heels, formed a strange and particolored tered it. This is assuredly a singular mode of circle round her. It was like nothing I could existence, especially if we compare it with compare it to but an opera scene suddenly got that which he might lead amidst the splendor up on the banks of the Volga. When the and conveniences with which he has embel- princess had allowed us time enough to adlished his palace, and which betoken a cast of mire her, she slowly descended the steps of thought far superior to what we should expect the platform, approached us with dignity, took to find in a Kalmuck. This voluntary sacrime by the hand, embraced me affectionately, fice of carthly delights, this ascetism caused and led me to the place she had just left. She by moral sufferings, strikingly reminds us of did the same by Madame Zakarevitch and her Christianity and the origin of our religious or- daughter, and then graciously saluting the perders. Like the most fervent Catholics, this sons who accompanied us, she motioned them votary of Lama seeks in solitude, prayer, aus- to be seated on a large divan opposite the terity, and the hope of another life, consola-platform. No mistress of a house in Paris tions which all his fortune is powerless to afford him! Is not this the history of many a Trappist or Carthusian?

"The position of the palace is exquisitely chosen, and shows a sense of the beautiful as developed as that of the most civilized na tions. It is built in the Chinese style, and is prettily seated on the gentle slope of a hill about a hundred feet from the Volga. Its numerous galleries afford views over every part of the isle, and the imposing surface of the river. From one of the angles the eye looks down on a mass of foliage, through which glitter the cupola and golden ball of the pagoda. Beautiful meadows, dotted over with clumps of trees, and fields in high cultivation. unfold their carpets of verdure on the left of the palace, and form different landscapes which the eye can take in at once. The whole is enlivened by the presence of Kalmuck horsemen, camels wandering here and there through the rich pastures, and officers conveying the chief's orders from tent to tent. It is a beautiful spectacle, various in its details, and no less harmonious in its assemblage. *

*

"At an early hour next day. Madame Zakarevitch came to accompany us to the prince's sister-in-law, who, during the fine season, resides in her kibitka in preference to the palace.

could have done better. When every one had found a place, she sat down beside me, and through the medium of an Armenian, who spoke Russian and Kalmuck extremely well, she made me a thousand compliments, that gave me a very high opinion of her capacity. With the Armenian's assistance we were able to put many questions to each other, and notwithstanding the awkwardness of being obliged to have recourse to an interpreter, the conversation was far from growing languid, so eager was the princess for information of every kind. The Armenian, who was a merry soul, constituted himself, of his own authority, grand master of the ceremonies, and commenced his functions by advising the princess to give or ders for the opening of the ball. Immediately upon a sign from the latter, one of the ladies of honour rose and performed a few steps, turning slowly upon herself'; whilst another, who remained seated, drew forth from a ba lalaika (an Oriental guitar) some melancholy sounds by no means appropriate to the occasion. Nor were the attitudes and movements of her companions more accordant with our notions of dancing. They formed a pantomime, the meaning of which I could not ascertain, but which, by its languishing monotony, expressed any thing but pleasure or