are closed, from humanity to man and beast, when the cold reaches an extreme point; and Court festivities are, under the same circumstances, postponed.

It is not the fashion at Tamboff for entertainers to issue cards of invitation, or to engage their guests long beforehand. Instead of this, a lady who intends to give a ball or party usually goes round the town making calls, and inviting the ladies in person for the next day or the next but one; leaving a card or message for those whom she does not find at home. Her husband follows her in her circuit at a short interval to invite the gentlemen, who would not be pleased were this ceremony omitted. These calls sometimes begin as early as nine o'clock in the morning, and we often find cards on the breakfast-table which have been left before we were dressed.

About Christmas and the New Year the people appear to spend most of their time in hurrying from house to house, and paying a flying visit or leaving a card; as custom requires that on one, if not both, of these occasions they should take the trouble of calling on all their acquaintances with congratulations. On Christmas-day my brother-in-law was too unwell to admit visitors, and eighty-two cards were left at his house in the course of the morning. On New Year's day he devoted himself to the task of politeness in return; and he tells me that before he came home he had called at fifty houses. At Odessa, instead of making these calls in person, they put advertisements in the newspaper to the effect that Mr. A. pays his respects to Messrs. B., C., D., and the rest of the alphabet.

The ladies are in general very well dressed when they appear in public.* Indeed their toilettes must be the source of no inconsiderable expense, since it seems to be held necessary that a lady should not appear in the same dress at two balls in the course of the winter. In a society such as that of Tamboff, no one can hope to infringe this rule without instant detection on the part of her fair friends. Ladies of moderate fortune in Russia possess, generally speaking, more jewels than Eng

* Some of them do not equally deserve to be commended for personal neatness when unadorned for society.

lish women in similar circumstances. A valuable shawl, and diamonds to a certain amount, are considered indispensable requisites in the list of marriage presents from every husband to his bride.*

At evening parties, trays loaded with bonbons, apples, grapes, and sweetmeats, are handed round in great abundance, and ices are also served in profusion: but ladies ornamented with diamonds do not appear to advantage in society when munching unpeeled apples; nor does it quite accord with the dignity of generals, decorated with stars, to stuff their pockets with bonbons, and carry them away; both of which practices prevail. No plates accompany these refreshments, and, therefore, the floor of the room is quickly strewed with the papers in which the bonbons have been wrapped; while apple-cores and grape-skins are thrown without compunction under the chairs. The sweetmeats are brought in numerous large saucers, but with only two or three spoons on the tray; a guest being expected, after using a spoon, to restore it to the saucer for the benefit of his neighbour. In some houses, instead of laying cloths for supper, the plates are set down on the naked cardtables, scrawled all over with chalk; from the Russian fashion, which I have mentioned, of marking in this manner the state of the game. The suppers are very elaborate and good, but they seldom make their appearance till two o'clock in the morning, though we dine at three in the afternoon. The fact is that Russians have a habit of quitting the house where they are entertained the moment they rise from table, whether it be late or early; and the late supper is arranged with the hospitable intention of detaining the guests as long as possible.

I observe that in this society the young married women seem to possess greater attractions than the maidens. Indeed, Russian notions impose upon the latter so much restraint, that it sometimes appears difficult to keep up a conversation with them, as they can hardly be induced to take their fair share; and, I believe, the unmarried men are absolutely afraid of them. Perhaps if a gentleman were to pay a young lady the attentions which, according to our ideas, ordinary politeness would

* Indian shawls and diamond ornaments were to be purchased in the shops at Tamboff. I inquired in vain for a nail-brush.

exact, he might here be expected to proceed further, and to offer his hand. The young ladies usually stand huddled together in the rooms in knots, and they are seated at supper like a set of children, at a separate table; without a single partner to enliven them. The young men naturally look equally dull in their state of isolation.

A pleasant and animated conversation is certainly more rare and more difficult to maintain in Russia than it is in England. The Censorship, as I have already remarked, places a great restraint upon literature; and there are few subjects to talk about of general interest, since political topics are entirely banished. No one likes, in general society, to hazard the most indifferent remark on any act of the Government, which is said, I believe with much truth, to have active spies among every class and in every quarter. Besides these unknown spies, there are, in every town, officers of gendarmes, or, as they are often called, of the secret police; part of whose duty avowedly is to report to St. Petersburg all that is passing around them, even, as I am told, to the merest gossip. Count Benkendorf is at the head of this department; and all persons unite in declaring that nothing could render so odious a system tolerable but the manner in which it is organised by its present Chief, who has succeeded in acquiring much popularity notwithstanding the unpleasant nature of his office.

So strongly is the habit of prudent reserve imprinted on the minds of Russians that their natural curiosity and desire for information often seems to be stifled, and it is difficult to excite their interest in any public event. On the evening after the arrival of the post which brought intelligence of the Winter Palace having been burned, we happened to be at a small party, consisting of less than a dozen people; one of whom had received a letter from a friend at Petersburg, giving him an account of what had occurred. As no public papers had arrived that day, it would have been natural for this gentleman to impart his correspondent's information, and to tell us all he knew about an event of so much general interest. Instead of this however, small and private as the society was, it was merely mentioned in the room that a report had arrived of a serious fire at the palace, and no one ventured to enter at all

upon the subject.* The fact, I suppose, was, that silence was the safe course, and that no one liked to be the first to bruit about the news of such a disaster. When the newspapers arrived, they merely stated in a short paragraph that the palace had unfortunately been destroyed by fire. They entered into no details, and they only made their account of the misfortune the vehicle for a little flattery of the Emperor and the Imperial family.

I will conclude my letter with an account which the Emperor's aide-de-camp, Colonel Boutourlin, lately gave us of a very singular occurrence which took place three years ago at Petersburg. Strange as the story appears, I am assured that it is undeniably true.

About the time of Christmas, masquerades are much in vogue in Russia, and even when an ordinary ball is given at this season, it is not unusual to place candles in the windows of the house as a well-understood signal that masks may enter without special invitation.

At the period to which this story refers, namely the Christmas of 1834, a ball was given at a house at Petersburg (the name of the owner was mentioned, but I have forgotten it), and the ordinary signal was displayed for the admission of masks. Several masks arrived in the course of the evening, staid but a short time, as is usual, and departed.

At length a party entered dressed as Chinese, and bearing on a palanquin a person whom they called their chief; saying that it was his fête-day. They set him down very respectfully in the middle of the room, and commenced dancing what they called their national dance around him. When this was concluded, they separated and mingled with the general company, speaking French fluently (the universal language at a Russian masquerade), and making themselves extremely agreeable. After a while they began gradually to disappear unnoticed, slipping out of the room one or two at a time. At last they were all gone, but their chief still remained

I have since been informed that the Emperor caused it to be understood at Petersburg that the subject of the fire was not agreeable to him, and that the less it was discussed in society, the better he should be pleased.

sitting motionless in dignified silence in his palanquin in the middle of the room. The ball began to thin, and the attention of those who remained was wholly drawn to the silent figure of the Chinese mask.

The master of the house at length went up to him, and told him that his companions were all gone; politely begging him at the same time to take off his mask, that he and his guests might know to whom they were indebted for all the pleasure which the exhibition had afforded them. The Chinaman, however, gave no reply by word or sign, and a feeling of uneasy curiosity gradually drew around him the guests who remained in the ball-room. He still took no notice of all that was passing around him, and the master of the house at length, with his own hand, took off the mask, and discovered to the horrified by-standers the face of a corpse.

The police were immediately sent for, and on a surgical examination of the body it appeared to be that of a man who had been strangled a few hours before. Nothing could be discovered either at the time or afterwards which could lead to the identifying of the dead man, or to the discovery of the actors in this extraordinary scene, and no clue has ever been obtained. It was found on inquiry, that they arrived at the house where they deposited the dead body in a handsome equipage with masked servants.

If this story be true, and Colonel Boutourlin spoke of it as a well-known and undoubted fact, an assurance which I have since heard confirmed on good authority, the method by which the murderers disposed of the remains of their victim is one of the most unaccountable which was ever planned or executed by human ingenuity. It is surmised to have been, in some way or other, the dénouement of a gambling transaction.

It does not perhaps argue much acuteness in the detective powers of the police that the body should never have been identified; but the proper use of the proper amount of roubles may very possibly have suppressed inconvenient discoveries.