to them, and this sufficiently indicates the nature of the Government.  The coachman-in-chief of her imperial highness holds the rank of colonel, as also does her chief cook.  The castrato Luini was a lieutenant-colonel, and the painter Toretti only a captain, because he had only eight hundred roubles a year, while the coachman had three thousand.  The sentinels at the doors of the palace have their muskets crossed, and ask those who wish to pass through what is their rank.  When I was asked this question, I stopped short; but the quick-witted officer asked me how much I had a year, and on my replying, at a hazard, three thousand roubles, he gave me the rank of general, and I was allowed to pass.  I saw the czarina for a moment; she stopped at the door and took off her gloves to give her hands to be kissed by the officer and the two sentinels.  By such means as this she had won the affection of the corps, commanded by Gregorius Gregorovitch Orloff, on which her safety depended in case of revolution.

I made the following notes when I saw the empress hearing mass in her chapel.  The protopapa, or bishop, received her at the door to give her the holy water, and she kissed his episcopal ring, while the prelate, whose beard was a couple of feet in length, lowered his head to kiss the hands of his temporal sovereign and spiritual head, for in Russia the he or she on the throne is the spiritual as well as temporal head of the Church.

She did not evidence the least devotion during mass; hypocrisy did not seem to be one of her vices.  Now she smiled at one of her suite, now at another, and occasionally she addressed the favourite, not because she had anything to say to him, but to make him an object of envy to the others.

One evening, as she was leaving the theatre where Metastasio’s Olympiade had been performed, I heard her say,—­

“The music of that opera has given the greatest pleasure to everyone, so of course I am delighted with it; but it wearies me, nevertheless.  Music is a fine thing, but I cannot understand how anyone who is seriously occupied can love it passionately.  I will have Buranello here, and I wonder whether he will interest me in music, but I am afraid nature did not constitute me to feel all its charms.”

She always argued in that way.  In due time I will set down her words to me when I returned from Moscow.  When I arrived at that city I got down at a good inn, where they gave me two rooms and a coach-house for my carriage.  After dinner I hired a small carriage and a guide who could speak French.  My carriage was drawn by four horses, for Moscow is a vast city composed of four distinct towns, and many of the streets are rough and ill-paved.  I had five or six letters of introduction, and I determined to take them all.  I took Zaira with me, as she was as curious to see everything as a girl of fourteen naturally is.  I do not remember what feast the Greek Church was keeping on that day, but I shall never