Volume V Part 86 (2/2)
We arrived at the appointed place at eight o'clock in the ; the evolutions lasted till noon When they were over ent towards a tavern and had our e, as all the rooms in the inn were full
After dinner , so I disposed e; and so I did for the whole time of the review, and fared better than those who had spent so ed Melissino told ht my idea a very sensible one As I was the only person who had a sleeping carriage, which was quite a portable house in itself, I had numerous visitors, and Zaira was radiant to be able to do the honours
I had a good deal of conversation during the revieith Count Tott, brother of the nobleman as employed at Constantinople, and known as Baron Tott We had known each other at Paris, and afterwards at the Hague, where I had the pleasure of being of service to hi with Madame de Soltikoff, whom he had met at Paris, and whose lover he was He lived with her, went to Court, and ell received by everyone
Two or three years after, the e on account of the troubles in Poland It was said that he kept up a correspondence with his brother, as endeavouring to intercept the fleet under the command of Alexis Orloff I never heard what becaed me with the loan of five hundred roubles, which I have not yet been able to return to hi a Venetianleft trade to live like a gentle when I was there, and was presented at Court He was a fine-looking reat houses The ehts of ent at Venice
He paid his court to the Countess Braun, but he had rivals there ere not afraid of hih, but did not kno to spend his money; and avarice is a sin which meets with no pity from the Russian ladies
I went to Czarsko-Zelo, Peterhoff, and Cronstadt, for if you want to say you have been in a country you should see as much as possible of it I wrote notes and memorandu me a place in the civil service, and all my productions were laid before the empress but with no effect In Russia they do not think ners unless they have specially summoned them; those who come of their own account rarely ht
CHAPTER XXI
I See the Empress--My Conversations with Her--The Valville-- I Leave Zaiya I Leave St Petersburg and Arrive at Warsaw-- The Princes Ada of Poland--Theatrical Intrigues--Byanicki
I thought of leaving Russia at the beginning of the autuht not to go without having spoken to the empress
”I should be sorry to do so,” I replied, ”but as I can't find anyone to present ned”
At last Panin told arden frequented by herme, as it were by chance, she would probably speak to me I told hily naarden, and as I walked about Imade of the worst stone, and executed in the worst possible taste The naave the whole the air of a practical joke A weeping statue was Debeard was Sappho; and an old wo at this extraordinary collection, I saw the czarina, preceded by Count Gregorius Orloff, and followed by two ladies, approaching Count Panin was on her left hand I stood by the hedge to let her pass, but as soon as she caly, if I had been interested in the statues I replied, following her steps, that I presumed they had been placed there to ihter of those acquainted with history
”From what I can make out,” she replied, ”the secret of the matter is that my worthy aunt was imposed on, and indeed she did not trouble herself s in Russia less ridiculous than these statues?”
I entertained the sovereign for s of note I had seen in St Petersburg The conversation happened to turn on the King of Prussia, and I sang his praises; but I censured his terrible habit of always interrupting the person who Catherine smiled and asked me to tell her about the conversation I had had with this monarch, and I did so to the best of h to say that she had never seen , which was a vocal and instruiven at the palace, and open to all I told her that I had only attended once, as I was so unfortunate as not to have a taste for ly that she knew someone else who had the same misfortune If the reader re the opera, he will pronounce my speech to have been a very courtier-like one, and I confess it was; but who can resistsuch speeches to a monarch, and above all, a monarch in petticoats?
The czarina turned from me to speak to M Bezkoi, who had just cohted with the honour I had had
The eht and yet of aherself loved She was not beautiful, but yet she was sure of pleasing by her geniality and her wit, and also by that exquisite tact which entleness of the woman A few days after, Count Partin told me that the en I had pleased her He advisedher, and said that for the future she would always tell me to approach whenever she saw ht possible do soh I did not knohat elad to hear that I could have easy access to the Court
With that idea I walked in the garden every day, and here follows my second conversation with the empress She saw me at a distance and sent an officer to fetchof the tournament, which had to be postponed on account of the bad weather, she asked iven at Venice I told her so stories on the subject of shows and spectacles, and in this relation I remarked that the Venetian climate was more pleasant than the Russian, for at Venice fine days were the rule, while at St Petersburg they were the exception, though the year is younger there than anywhere else
”Yes,” she said, ”in your country it is eleven days older”
”Would it not be worthy of your majesty to put Russia on an equality with the rest of the world in this respect, by adopting the Gregorian calendar? All the Protestants have done so, and England, who adopted it fourteen years ago, has already gained several millions All Europe is astonished that the old style should be suffered to exist in a country where the sovereign is the head of the Church, and whose capital contains an acadeht that Peter the Great, who in in January, would have also abolished the old style if he had not been afraid of offending England, which then kept trade and cohout your vast empire”
”You know,” she replied, with a sly smile, ”that Peter the Great was not exactly a learned man”