Volume V Part 82 (1/2)

Petersburg in 1759 with the Baron de St Heleine Elizabeth was still on the throne, but Peter, Duke of Holstein, the heir-presuon used to frequent the fencing school where the prince was a frequent visitor, and there encountered all cory, and one day he took up a foil and defied the Neapolitan hly beaten, while the duke went off in triuht say from henceforth that he was the best fencer in St

Petersburg

When the prince had gone, Dragon could not withstand the te that he had only let hionist; and this boast soon got to the grand-duke's ears The great ed, and swore he would have hi if he did not use all his skill, and at the sa school the next day

The ion was not long in co him for what he had said the day before, but the Neapolitan, far fro the fact, expressed hied to shew his respect for his prince by letting hiood,” said the duke, ”but now it is your turn; and if you don't do your best I will drive you frohness shall be obeyed I shall not allow you to touch n to take me under your protection”

The two cha with the foils, and the duke was hit a hundred tionist

At last, convinced of Dragon's superiority, he thren his foil and shook him by the hand, and made hii won the good graces of the duke obtained leave to hold a bank at faro in his court, and in three or four years he amassed a fortune of a hundred thousand roubles, which he took with hiah Riga, St Heleine introduced hied him to call on hiainst himself and some of his friends I had the honour to be of the nuhly well he beat us, for his skill was that of a de hit at every pass, and told hia ,--

”With the naked sword I fence in quite another style, and you are quite right not to fear anyone, for you fence very well”

D'Aragon set out for Warsaw the next day, but he unfortunately found the place occupied byGreeks than himself In six months they had relieved hiamesters; no craft can be a (where I stayed two ood Prince Charles, and in a few days the Baron de St

Heleine followed hi leave of a noble arlish him that like an honest man he had left his debts where he had contracted them We shall hear more of these three persons in the course of two years

CaedI was sorry to leave Betty, and I kept up an epistolary correspondence with her

I left Riga with the therh I travelled day and night, not leaving the carriage for the sixty hours for which my journey lasted, I did not feel the cold in the least I had taken care to pay all the stages in advance, and Marshal Braun, Governor of Livonia, had given me the proper passport On the box seat was a French servant who had begged me to allow him to wait on me for the journey in return for a seat beside the coachh he was but ill clad he bore the horrible cold for two days and three nights without appearing to feel it It is only a Frenchman who can bear such trials; a Russian in similar attire would have been frozen to death in twenty-four hours, despite plentiful doses of corn brandy I lost sight of this individual when I arrived at St Petersburg, but I ain threea seat beside mine at the table of M de Czernitscheff He was the uchitel of the young count, who sat beside hith of the office of uchitel, or tutor, in Russia

As for La but eat, drink, and sleep the whole way; seldo, for he stammered, and could only talk about mathematical problems, on which I was not always in the hu, never had any sensible observation to h which we passed; in short, he was a fool, and wearisome to all save himself

I was only stopped once, and that was at Nahere the authorities deovernor that as I was a Venetian, and only travelled for pleasure, I did not conceive a passport would be necessary,at ith any other power, and Russia having no embassy at Venice

”Nevertheless,” I added, ”if your excellency wills it I will turn back; but I shall coavethat I had not the political passport”

After rubbing his forehead for a ave htto allow the custom-house officers to inspectthere is only a wretched hut for the accommodation of travellers The country is a wilderness, and the inhabitants do not even speak Russian The district is called Ingria, and I believe the jargon spoken has no affinity with any other language

The principal occupation of the peasants is robbery, and the traveller does well not to leave any of his effects alone for ajust as the first rays of the sun began to gild the horizon It was in the winter solstice, and the sun rose at the extremity of an immense plain at twenty-four ht in Russia consists of eighteen hours and three quarters

I got down in a fine street called the Millione I found a couple of empty rooms, which the people of the house furnished with two beds, four chairs, and two s the enormous stoves, I concluded they must consume a vast amount of wood, but I was mistaken Russia is the land of stoves as Venice is that of cisterns I have inspected the interior of these stoves in summer-ti theh by six broad, and are capable of war a vast room They are only refuelled once in twenty-four hours, for as soon as the wood is reduced to the state of charcoal a valve is shut in the upper part of the stove

It is only in the houses of noblemen that the stoves are refuelled twice a day, because servants are strictly forbidden to close the valve, and for a very good reason