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VIII.

1825.

Nov. 1.

CHAP. ber; and during seventeen days that the expedition lasted, alternately admired the romantic mountain scenery and beautiful sea views, rivalling those of the Corniche between Nice and Genoa, which the route presented. At Ghirai, Nov. 10. however, on the 10th, after dinner, when conversing with Sir James Wylie, his long-tried and faithful medical attendant, on his anxiety about the empress, who had just heard of the death of the King of Bavaria, her brother-in-law, he mentioned, as if accidentally, that he felt his stomach deranged, and that for several nights his sleep had been disturbed. Sir James felt his pulse, which indicated fever, and earnestly counselled the adoption of immediate remedies. "I have no need of you," replied the emperor, smiling, "nor of your Latin pharmacopoeia 1Schnitzler, I know how to treat myself. Besides, my trust is in Ann. Hist. God, and in the strength of my constitution." Notwithstanding all that could be said, he persisted in his refusal to take medicine, and even continued his journey, and exposed himself to his wonted fatigue on horseback when returning along the pestilential shores of the Putrid Sea.1

i. 120, 124;

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374; Sir James Wylie, 37, 41.

105.

His last ill

ness.

Nov. 17.

He returned to Taganrog on the 17th, being the exact day fixed for that event before his departure; but already shivering fits, succeeded by cold ones, the well-known symptoms of intermittent fever, had shown themselves. The empress, with whom he shared every instant that could be spared from the cares of empire, showed him the most unremitting attention, and by the earnest entreaties of his physician he was at length prevailed on to take some of the usual remedies prescribed for such cases. For a brief space they had the desired effect; and the advices sent to St Petersburg of the august patient's convalescence threw the people, who had been seriously 76,79; Ann. alarmed by the accounts of his illness, into a delirium of 374, 375; joy. But these hopes proved fallacious. On the 25th i. 132, 134. the symptoms suddenly became more threatening.2

2 Wylie,

Hist. viii.

Schnitzler,

Ex

treme weakness confined him to his couch, and alarming

VIII.

1825.

despatches from General Diebitch and Count Woronzoff CHAP. augmented his anxiety, by revealing the existence and magnitude of the vast conspiracy in the army, which had for its object to deprive him of his throne and life. My friend," said he to Sir James Wylie, "what a frightful design! The monsters-the ungrateful! when I had no thought but for their happiness." *

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106.

Nov. 26.

The symptoms now daily became more alarming, and the fever assumed the form of the bilious or gastric, as it And death. is now called, and at last showed the worst features of the typhus. His physicians then, despairing of his life, got Prince Volkonsky to suggest the last duties of a Christian. They have spoken to me, Wylie," said the emperor, "of the communion; has it really come to that? "Yes," said that faithful counsellor, with tears in his eyes; "I speak to you no longer as a physician, but as a friend. Your Majesty has not a moment to lose." Next day the emperor confessed, and with the empress, who never for an instant, day or night, left his bedside, received the last communion. Forget the emperor," said he to the confessor; "speak to me simply as a dying Christian." After this he became perfectly docile. Never," said he to the empress, "have I felt such a glow of inward satisfaction as at this moment; I thank you from the bottom of my heart." The symptoms of erisypelas in his leg now returned. "I will die," said he, "like my sister," alluding to the Grand-duchess of Oldenburg, who had refused Napoleon at Erfurth, and after

66

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* "Le monarque dit un jour à M. Wylie,' Laissez-moi, je sais moi-même ce qu'il me faut du repos, de la solitude, de la tranquillité.' Un autre jour, il lui dit: Mon ami, ce sont mes nerfs qu'il faut soigner; ils sont dans un désordre épouvantable.' 'C'est un mal,' lui répliqua Wylie, 'dont les rois sont plus souvent atteints que les particuliers.' 'Surtout dans les temps actuels,' répliqua vivement Alexandre! Ah! j'ai bien sujet d'être malade.' Enfin, étant en apparence sans aucune fièvre, l'Empereur se tourna brusquement vers le docteur, qui était seul présent. Mon ami,' s'écria-t-il, ' quelles actions, quelles épouvantables actions:' et il fixa sur le médecin un regard terrible et incompréhensible.”—Annuaire Historique, viii. 37, note.

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VIII.

1826.

CHAP. wards died of that complaint. He then fell into a deep sleep, and wakened when it was near mid-day, and the sun was shining brightly. Causing the windows to be opened, he said, looking at the blue vault, "What a beautiful day!"* and feeling the arms of the empress around him, he said tenderly, pressing her hand, "My love, you must be very fatigued." These were his last words. He soon after fell into a lethargic sleep, which lasted several hours, from which he only wakened a few minutes before he breathed his last. The power of speech was gone; but he made a sign to the empress to approach, and imprinted a last and fervent kiss on her hand. The rattle was soon heard in his throat. She i. 134, 136; closed his eyes a few minutes after, and, placing the cross on his bosom, embraced his lifeless remains for the last time. "Lord!" said she, "pardon my sins; it has pleased thy omnipotent power to take him from me."1 +

Dec. 1.

1 Schnitzler,

Wylie, 79,

82; Anu. Hist. viii. 374, 375.

ral.

107.

The body of the emperor, after being embalmed, was And fune- brought to the Church of St Alexander Newski at Taganrog, where it remained for some days in a chapelle ardente, surrounded by his mourning subjects, and was thence transferred, accompanied by a splendid cortège of cavalry, Cossacks, and artillery, after a long interval, to the cathedral of St Peter and St Paul, in the citadel of St Petersburg, where his ancestors were laid. The long journey occupied several weeks, and every night, when his remains were deposited in the church of the place

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Light-more light!" the well-known last words of Goethe, as noticed by Bulwer in his beautiful romance, "My Novel." Those who have witnessed the last moments of the dying, know how often a request for, or expressions of satisfaction for light, are among their last words.

The empress addressed the following beautiful letter to her mother-inlaw on this sad bereavement: "Maman, votre ange est au ciel, et moi, je végète encore sur la terre. Qui aurait pensé que moi, faible malade, je pourrais lui survivre? Maman, ne m'abandonnez pas, car je suis absolument seule dans ce monde de douleurs. Notre cher défunt a repris son air de bienveillance, son sourire me prouve qu'il est heureux, et qu'il voit des choses plus belles qu'ici-bas. Ma seule consolation dans cette perte irréparable est, que je ne lui survivrai pas; j'ai l'espérance de m'unir bientôt à lui."-L'IMPÉRATRICE à MARIE FOEDOROVNA, 2 Déc., 1825.

VIII.

1826.

March 10.

where the procession rested, crowds of people, from CHAP. a great distance around, flocked to the spot to kneel down, and kiss the bier where their beloved Czar was laid. The body reached St Petersburg on the 10th of March, but the interment, which was conducted with extraordinary magnificence in the cathedral, did not take place till the 25th. The Grand-duke Nicholas (now become emperor), with all the imperial family, was present on the occasion, and a splendid assembly of the nobility of Russia and diplomacy of Europe. There was not a heart which was not moved, scarce an eye that was not moistened with tears. The old grenadiers, his comrades in the campaigns in Germany and France, and who bore the weight of the coffin when taken to 1 Gazette de the grave, wept like children; and he was followed to St Petershis last home by his faithful servant Ilya, who had 26, 1826; Schnitzler, driven the car from Taganrog, a distance of fifteen hun- ii. 235, 244; dred miles, and who stood in tears at the side of the bier, as his beloved master was laid in the tomb.1

burg, March

Ann. Hist.

ix. 337, 338.

burial of

May 16.

The Empress Elizabeth did not long survive the hus- 108. band who, despite all her sorrows, had ever reigned Death and supreme in her heart. The feeble state of her health the empress. did not permit of her accompanying his funeral procession to St Petersburg, which she was passionately desirous to have done; and it was not till the 8th May that she was able to leave Taganrog on her way to the capital. The entire population of the town, by whom she was extremely beloved, accompanied her for a considerable distance on the road. Her weakness, however, increased rapidly as she continued her journey; grief for the loss of her husband, along with the sudden cessation of the anxiety for his life, and the want of any other object in existence, proved fatal to a constitution already weakened by long years of mourning and severance. She with difficulty reached Belef, a small town in the government of Toule, where she breathed her last, serene and tranquil, on the 16th May. Her remains were brought May 16.

VIII.

1826. July 3.

CHAP. to St Petersburg, where she was carried to the cathedral on the same car which had conveyed her husband, and laid beside him on the 3d July. Thus terminated a marriage, celebrated thirty years before with every prospect of earthly felicity, and every splendour which the most exalted rank could confer. "I have seen,” said a Russian poet," that couple, he beautiful as Hope, she ravishing as Felicity. It seems only a day since Catherine placed on their youthful heads the nuptial crown of roses : ii. 263, 266; soon the diadems were mingled with thorns; and too ix. 341,342. soon, alas! the angel of death environed their pale foreheads with poppies, the emblem of eternal sleep." 1

1 Schnitzler,

Ann. Hist.

ter.

109.

Had Alexander died shortly after the first capture of His charac- Paris in 1814, he would have left a name unique in the history of the world, for seldom had so great a part been so nobly played on such a theatre. It is hard to say whether his fortitude in adversity, his resolution in danger, or his clemency in victory, were then most admirable. For the first time in the annals of mankind, the sublime principles of the forgiveness of injuries were brought into the government of nations in the moment of their highest excitement, and mercy in the hour of triumph restrained the uplifted hand of justice. To the end of the world the flames of Moscow will be associated with the forgiveness of Paris. But time has taken much from the halo which then environed his name, and revealed weaknesses in his character well known to his personal friends, but the existence of which the splendour of his former career had hardly permitted to be suspected. He had many veins of magnanimity in his character, but he was not a thoroughly great man. He was so, like a woman, by impulse and sentiment, rather than principle and habit. Chateaubriand said, "Il avait l'âme forte, mais le caractère foible." He wanted the constancy of purpose and perseverance of conduct which is the distinguishing and highest mark of the masculine character.

Warm-hearted, benevolent, and affectionate, he was

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