148Л RUSSIAN HOTEL.
and, in place of these, let him picture to himself the universal agitation of an ever-restless though secret intrigue, — secret, because the mask is essential to success; finally, let him realise the idea of the almost complete apparent triumph of the will of one man over the will of God, and he will understand Russia.
As the morning advances, the city becomes more noisy, without however appearing more gay; one sees only carriages, little distinguished for elegance, carrying at the full speed of their two, four, or six horses, people always in haste, because their life is passed in thus making their way. Pleasure without any ulterior aim—pleasure for its own sake, is here a thing unknown.
Thus, almost all the great artistes who visit Russia to reap the fruit of the fame they have acquired elsewhere, never remain beyond a very brief period ; if ever they prolong their stay, they wrong their talents. The air of this country is unfavourable to the finer arts. Productions that spring spontaneously elsewhere, will only here grow in the hot house. Russian art will never be a hardy plant.
At the Hotel de Coulon, I found a degenerated French innkeeper. His house is at present nearly full, on account of the marriage of the Grand Duchess Marie; and he appeared almost annoyed at being obliged to receive another guest, and consequently gave himself little trouble to accommodate me. After several parleys, I was at length established on the second floor, in suffocating apartments, consisting of an entree;, a salon, and a bed-chamber, the whole without curtains or window blinds, though there is a sun for twenty-two hours daily above the horizon,
'
A RUSSIAN HOTEL.149
the oblique rays of which penetrate more fully into the houses than the sun of Africa, which falls direct upon the roofs. The air of this lodging resembles that of a limekiln choked with dust, and charged with exhalations of insects mingled with musk, forming altogether an atmosphere that is insupportable.
Scarcely was I installed in this abode than (the fatigue of the night having got the better of my curiosity, which usually impels me to sally forth and lose myself in a large unknown city) I lay down, wrapped in a cloak, on an immense leather sofa, and slept profoundly during — three minutes.
At the end of this time I woke in a fever, and on casting my eyes upon the cloak, what a sight awaited them! — A brown but living mass: things must be called by their proper name—I was covered, I was devoured with bugs. Russia is, in this respect, not a whit inferior to Spain: but in the south we can both console and secure ourselves in the open air; here we remain imprisoned with the enemy, and the war is consequently more sanguine. I began throwing off my clothes, and calling for help. What a prospect for the night ! This thought made me cry out more lustily. A Russian waiter appeared. I made him understand that I wished to see his master. The master kept me waiting a long time, and when he at length did come, and was informed of the nature of my trouble, he began to laugh, and soon left the room, telling me that I should become accustomed to it, for that it was the same every where in Petersburg. He first advised me however never to seat myself on a Russian sofa, because the domestics, who always и 3
150THE MICHAEL PALACES.
cany about with them legions of insects, sleep on these articles of furniture. To tranquillise me he further stated, that the vermin would not follow me if I kept at a proper distance from the furniture in which they had fixed their abode.
The inns of Petersburg resemble caravanserais, where the traveller is simply housed, but not waited upon, unless by his own servants. Mine, not understanding the Eussian language, is not only useless to me but troublesome, for I have to take care of him as well as myself!
However, his Italian quickness soon discovered in one of the dark corridors of this walled desert, called L'Hôíel Coulon, a footman, out of place, who speaks German, and whom the keeper of the hotel recommended. I engaged him, and told him of my distress. He immediately procured me a light iron bedstead, the mattrass for which, I had stuffed with the freshest straw that could be obtained, and caused the four feet to be placed in as many jars of water, in the middle of the el\amber, the furniture of which I also had removed. Thus intrenched for the night, I dressed, and attended by the footman, whom I had desired to forbear directing me, I issued from this magnificent hotel — a palace without, and an ornamented stable within.
The hotel Coulon opens on a kind of " square^' which is tolerably lively for this city. On one side of the square stands the new Michael Palace, the stately abode of the Grand Duke Michael, brother of the emperor. It was built for the Emperor Alexander, who never inhabited it. The other sides of the square are inclosed by fine ranges of buildings with noble
THE MICHAEL PALACE?.151
streets opening between. Scarcely had I passed the new Michael Palace than I found myself before the old. It is a vast, square, and gloomy fabric, differing in all respects from the elegant modern edifice of the same name.
If the men are silent in Russia, the stones speak with a lamentable voice. I am not surprised that the Russians neglect their ancient architectural monuments ; these are witnesses of their history, which, for the most part, they are glad to forget. When I observed the black steps, the deep canals, the massive bridges, and the deserted porticos of this ill-omened palace, I asked its name ; and the answer called to my mind the catastrophe which placed Alexander on the throne, while all the circumstances of the dark scene which terminated the reign of Paul I. presented themselves to my imagination.
Xor was this alclass="underline" by a kind of savage irony there had been placed before the principal gate of the sinister edifice, before the death, and by the order of the Emperor Paul, the equestrian statue of his brother Peter III., another victim whose memory the emperor delighted to honour in order to dishonour that of his mother. What tragedies are played in cold blood in this land, where ambition and even hate are calm in appearance! With the people of the south, their passion reconciles me, in some measure, to their cruelty; but the calculating reserve, and the coldness of the men of the north, adds to crime the varnish of hypocrisy. Snow is a mask. Here man appears gentle because he is impassible; but murder without hate inspires me with more horror than vindictive assassination. The more nearly I can recognise an и 4
152DEATH OF PAUL I.
involuntary impulse in the commission of evil, the more I feel consoled. Unfortunately, it was the calculation of interest and prudence, and not the impulses of anger, which presided over the murder of Paul. Good Russians pretend that the conspirators had only intended to plaee him in prison. I have seen the secret door opening into the garden, which led to the apartment of the emperor by a private staircase, up which Pahlen caused the assassins to ascend. His communication with them on the evening before was to this effect: — " You will either have killed the emperor by five o'clock to-morrow morning, or you will be denounced by me to the emperor, at half past five, as conspirators." The result of this eloquent and laconic harangue need not be questioned.