GRAND DUCHESS HELENA. 249
"We admire, through their writings, several of the persons whom you see habitually, especially Madame Gay, and her daughter, Madame de Girardin."
" These ladies are very intellectuaclass="underline" I have the good fortune to be their friend."
" You possess in them friends of a superior character."
Nothing is so rare as to think ourselves obliged to feel modesty for others; it was however a sentiment which I, in a slight degree, experienced at this moment. It will be said, that of all modesty this costs the least in its manifestation. However much it may be ridiculed, it is not the less true, that I felt I should have wanted delicacy, had I endeavoured to excite for my friends an admiration, by which my own vanity might have profited. At Paris I should have said all that I thought; at Petersburg I was afraid of seeming to magnify myself, under the pretence of doing justice to others. The Grand Duchess persisted, saying, " We take great pleasure in reading the works of Madame Gay. What do you think of thorn ? "
" My opinion is, madame, that we may find in them a description of the society of former days written by one who understands it."
" Why does not Madame de Girardin continue to write ? "
" Madame de Girardin is a poetess, madame, and in a writer of poetry silence is the indication of labour."
" I hope that this is the cause of her silence : for, with her observing mind and poetical talent, it would 31 5
250MAGIC FETES.
be a pity that she should confine herself to the production of mere ephemeral works." *
During this conversation, I made it a rule merely to listen and to reply ; but I expected to hear the Grand Duchess pronounce other names which might flatter my patriotic pride, and put my friendly reserve to new trials.
These expectations were deceived. The Grand Duchess, who passes her life in a country where society is remarkable for its tact, undoubtedly knew better than myself what to speak of, and Avhat to omit. Efjually fearing the significance of my Avords, and of my silence, she did not utter another syllable on the subject of our cotemporary literaüire.
There are certain names, whose sound alone would disturb the tranquillity of mind and the uniformity of thought, despotically imposed upon all who will live at the Russian court.
I must now describe some of the magic fetes at which I am present every evening. AVith us the balls are disfigured by the sombre attire of the men, whereas the varied and brilliant uniforms of the Russian officers give an extreme brilliancy to the saloons of Petersburg.
In Russia the magnificence of the women's apparel is found to accord with the gold of the military dress ; and the male dancers have not the appearance of being the clerks of attorneys, or the shopmen of their partners' apothecaries.
The whole length of the garden front of the Michael Palace is ornamented by an Italian colon-
* The conversation is repeated word for word as it occurred.
BEAUTIFUL ILLUMINATION.251
nade. Yesterday they availed themselves of a temperature of twenty-six degrees to illuminate the spaces betwixt each pillar of this exterior gallery with clusters of small lamps, arranged in a manner that had a very original effect. The lamps were formed of paper in the shape of tulips, lyres, vases, <&c. Their appearance was both tasteful and novel.
At each fete given by the Grand Duchess Helena. it is said that she invents something altogether new. Such a reputation must be troublesome, for it is difficult to maintain. This princess, so beautiful and intellectual, and so celebrated throughout Europe for the grace of her manners, and the charms of her conversation, struck me as being less natural and easy than the other females of the imperial family. Celebrity as a woman of wit, and high intellectual attainment, must be a heavy burden in a royal court. She is an elegant and distinguished-looking person, but has the air of suffering from weariness and lassitude. Perhaps she would have been happier had she possessed good sense, with less wit and mental acquirements, and had continued a German princess confined to the monotonous life of a petty sovereignty.
Her obligation of doing the honours of French literature at the court of the Emperor Nicholas, makes me afraid of the Grand Duchess Helena.
The light that proceeded from the groups of lamps was reflected in a picturesque manner upon the pillars of the palace, and among the trees of the garden. The latter was full of people. In the fetes at Petersburg the people serve as an ornament, just as a collection of rare plants adorns a hot-house. Delightful sounds were heard in the distance, where л 6
252Л GROVE IN A BALL-ROOM.
several orchestras were executing military symphonies, and responding to each other with a harmony that was admirable. The light reflected on the trees bad u charming effect. Nothing is more fantastically beautiful than the golden verdure of foliage illuminated during a fine nio;ht.
The interior of the grand gallery in which thej danced was arranged with a marvellous luxury. Fifteen hundred boxes of the rarest plants in flower formed a grove of fragrant verdure. At one of the extremities of the hall, amid thickets of exotic plants, a fountain threw up a column of fresh and sparkling water : its spray, illumined by the innumerable wax lights, shone like the dust of diamonds, and refreshed the air, always kept in agitation by the movement of the dance. It might have been supposed that these strange plants, including large palms and bananas, all of whose boxes were concealed under a carpet of mossy verdure, grew in their native earth, and that the groups of northern dancers had been transported by enchantment to the forests of the tropics. It was like a dream ; there was not merely luxury in the scene, there was poetry. The brilliancy of the magic gallery was multiplied a hundred-fold by a greater profusion of enormous and richly gilded pier and other glasses than I had ever elsewhere seen. The windows ranged under the colonnade were left open on account of the excessive heat of the summer night. The hall was lofty, and extended the length of half the palace. The effect of all this magnificence may be better imagined than described. it seemed like the palace of the fairies : all ideas of limits disappeared, and nothing met the eye but space,
RUSSIAN DANCING.253
light, gold, flowers, reflection, illusion, and the giddy movement of the crowd, which crowd itself seemed multiplied to infinity. Every actor in the scene was equal to ten, so greatly did the mirrors aid the effect. I thav never seen any thing more beautiful than this crystal palace; but the ball was like other balls, and did not answer to the gorgeous decorations of the edifice. I was surprised that this nation of dancers did not devise something new to perform on the boards of a theatre so different from all others where people meet to dance and to fatigue themselves, under the pretext of enjoyment. I should like to have seen the quadrilles and the ballets of other theatres. It strikes me that in the middle ages, the gratifications of the imagination had a greater influence in the diversions of courts than they have at present. In the Michael Palace the only dances that I saw were the polonaises, the waltz, and the degenerated country dances called quadrilles in the Franco-Russian. Even the mazourkas danced at Petersburg are less lively and graceful than the real dances of Warsaw. Russian gravity cannot accommodate itself to the vivacity, the whim, and the abandon of the true Polish dances.