and other social gatherings are by no means infrequent.  In Novgorod the society is much more limited.  It does not, like Kief, Kharkof, and Kazan, possess a university, and it contains no houses belonging to wealthy nobles.  The few proprietors of the province who live on their estates, and are rich enough to spend part of the year in town, prefer St. Petersburg for their winter residence.  The society, therefore, is composed exclusively of the officials and of the officers who happen to be quartered in the town or the immediate vicinity.

Of all the people whose acquaintance I made at Novgorod, I can recall only two men who did not occupy some official position, civil or military.  One of these was a retired doctor, who was attempting to farm on scientific principles, and who, I believe, soon afterwards gave up the attempt and migrated elsewhere.  The other was a Polish bishop who had been compromised in the insurrection of 1863, and was condemned to live here under police supervision.  This latter could scarcely be said to belong to the society of the place; though he sometimes appeared at the unceremonious weekly receptions given by the Governor, and was invariably treated by all present with marked respect, he could not but feel that he was in a false position, and he was rarely or never seen in other houses.

The official circle of a town like Novgorod is sure to contain a good many people of average education and agreeable manners, but it is sure to be neither brilliant nor interesting.  Though it is constantly undergoing a gradual renovation by the received system of frequently transferring officials from one town to another, it preserves faithfully, in spite of the new blood which it thus receives, its essentially languid character.  When a new official arrives he exchanges visits with all the notables, and for a few days he produces quite a sensation in the little community.  If he appears at social gatherings he is much talked to, and if he does not appear he is much talked about.  His former history is repeatedly narrated, and his various merits and defects assiduously discussed.

If he is married, and has brought his wife with him, the field of comment and discussion is very much enlarged.  The first time that Madame appears in society she is the “cynosure of neighbouring eyes.”  Her features, her complexion, her hair, her dress, and her jewellery are carefully noted and criticised.  Perhaps she has brought with her, from the capital or from abroad, some dresses of the newest fashion.  As soon as this is discovered she at once becomes an object of special curiosity to the ladies, and of envious jealousy to those who regard as a personal grievance the presence of a toilette finer or more fashionable than their own.  Her demeanour, too, is very carefully observed.  If she is friendly and affable in manner, she is patronised; if she is distant and reserved, she is condemned as proud and pretentious.  In either case she is pretty sure