In one of the Prince's journies to the Crimea, Mr. Gould attended him, being at that time his head gardener, and was preceded by several hundred assistants. Whenever the Prince halted, if it were only for a day, he found his travelling pavilion raised, and surrounded by a garden in the English taste, composed of trees and shrubs, raised, and carried forward as the cavalcade proceeded, and divided by gravel walks. Yet, strange to relate, amidst this Asiatic pomp, whilst the subordinate attendants fared upon every dainty that wealth could purchase, the poor Englishınan, whenever the Prince requested him to travel in his carriage, which frequently occurred, was obliged to put up with the most homely fare, which Potemkin, always irregular and eccentric, generally preferred. At a sumptuous entertainment, where every rarity of epicurism invited the appetite, the Prince has been known to order a raw carrot, or turnip, and to dine upon it. I must relate the following little anecdote, and then I have done with Potemkin. One day, in the course of their journey, they halted at Bender, in Bessarabia, where, whilst the Prince was alone at dinner, Mr. G. rambled about the neighbourhood, for the purpose of discovering the scite, or remains, of the house of Charles XII. of Sweden, in which, on the twelfth of February, 1713, he and a few followers madly bade defiance to the whole Ottoman army, after having been repeatedly and earnestly entreated to leave the dominions of the Grand Turk. After a diligent search, with the assistance of some of the natives, the English gardener discovered the ruins which the eccentric spirit of the Swedish King had rendered so interesting, and exultingly returned to the Prince with the intelligence, who exclaimed, with liberal joy," the English dis"cover every thing," immediately proceeded to it; and, after regarding its remains with a very lively sensation, ordered the house to be repaired, and partly rebuilt, and a garden to be constructed round it, which were accordingly done, as a monument of his respect for the conqueror of Narva. (343) CHAP. XVI. ENGLISH GROUND IN RUSSIA-NATIONAL BATHS -A NEW SECT PASQUINADE-ACADEMY OF HOW CUSTOMS VARY-A PANACEA-VISIT TO THE EMPEROR'S DURING my stay at Petersburg, I paid several visits to the country houses of the English merchants on the Peterhoff road, where they live in great elegance. In the gardens of one of them, I trod with delight upon British ground: an ardent love for his country had induced the hospitable owner, at a great expence, to bring a quantity of English ballast from British ships to cover his walks with. Every garden is furnished with large swings, capable of holding two persons standing, and one between, sitting. Of this diversion the Russians are very fond. As I was roving in my friend's grounds I heard the cry of some hounds in an adjoining kennel, belonging to a Russian nobleman: the nobility are very fond of the sports of the field. The gentlemen of the English factory have a regular pack and sporting establishment at Garrella. Having assumed a tolerable shabby dress, no difficult thing for a traveller at any time to command, for the purpose of qualifying ourselves for the approaching scene, and to prevent the suspicion of improper motives; we proceeded to the great national bath on a Saturday, which seems to be a purifying day every where. After passing over a raised wooden path, by the side of a long wooden wall, we halted at a house built of the same materials, which formed the grand entrance. Here, upon paying five copecs a-piece, from a hole in a dark shed, or magazine of birch rods with the leaves on, a hand poked out one of them to each of us, which we took, without at the time knowing for what purpose they were to be used. On the entrance on each side were stalls of black bread, little pies, quass, and liqueurs. In the first court we beheld men and women indiscriminately mingled together, in a state similar to that which preceded the slightest notion of breeches and waistcoats. They were arranged like so many hounds in a dog-kennel, upon benches tier above tier, where they were wringing their beards and combing and plaiting their hair. In the middle of the yard was a jet d'eau playing into a great wooden cistern; as the bathers came out of the vapour-room, red and reeking with heat, they ran to this tank, and filling a bucket with cold water, raised it, and threw it over their heads. When these baths are near a river they plunge into it, and in the winter roll themselves in the snow. . I opened the door of the vapour-room, in which I could not continue above a minute, and in that time a profuse perspiration came over me. The room was capacious, women and men were piled one above another amphitheatrically; the vapour which filled the room, and gave it the atmosphere of a digester, was produced from water being thrown upon a great number of heated stones, some of them red hot. In this place, to assist the cause of perspiration and washing, they exchange the little tender and delicate offices of flogging, soaping, and rubbing each other down. The Russians in this, as well as many other customs, bear a strong analogy to the Grecians. These scenes, such is the effect of habit, are seldom productive of libertinism, even amongst the natives; to every foreigner they cannot fail to be offensive and repulsive. If a painter wishes to delineate a Venus, or even any part of the figure, let him not go to a Russian bath for a model. My curiosity was soon satisfied, I visited no other part of the building, and right glad was I to quit this disgusting scene. These baths, however, which are to be found in every village, prove that the Russians are naturally clean. After these ablutions, clean shirts and shifts are put on for Sunday. It is highly interesting to observe how nations differ from Y Y |