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* out slifki [cream]? Here is a pribore wanting; i. e. a cover for the table. He made his poklone [bow or salutation],' and a thousand other expressions of like nature. That the Germans and English born here should have interwoven a number of Ruthenisms in their speech is however naturally to be expected. German provincialisms are seldom heard, and the accent is rendered peculiarly soft and harmonious by the melting together of so many dialects.

"This seems no improper place for mentioning an amiable national custom which has ever been adopted among the Germans and Eng lish, and has much contributed to render the style of conversation easy and familiar by reducing nearer to a level, at least in appearance, persons of distant ranks and ages. The Russians very rarely call one another by their family names, or, in addressing any one, to give him the predicate of his quality; the baptismal name being generally used with the addition of that of the father. When, for instance, the person addressed is called Feodor, Theodore, and his father Ivan, then the former is termed Feodor Ivanovitch, Theodore Johnson. A lady named Maria, and her father Ivan, is called Maria Ivanovna, &c. The only exceptions to this rule are among persons totally unacquainted with each other or people of high distinction; in all other cases it holds good even in the politest circles. This custom has likewise crept into very many

or

German and English families; at least it has been adopted by them to facilitate the manner of address to the common Russians who are not accustomed to foreign family names. Such as have Christian names not known to the Russians change it for one something similar in sound, for instance, Henry for Andrey, Edward for Dmitri, William for Vassilly or Basil; sometimes retain it, as in the appellatives Karl, Christoph, &c. There are some other national cus. toms of a like nature that introduce a certain familiarity into society; but they are lost in proportion as foreign manners and customs glide into use. Thus, for example, it was formerly usual, among all orders of people, and is still among the lower, to kiss the cheek on coming into company and at leav ing it, or on meeting an acquaintance in the streets. This usage, which in the higher classes only subsists among the ladies, or is continued by the gentlemen to them by way of homage to the fair sex, is now gradually giving way to the mode of greeting generally used throughout Europe. Russian and even many foreign ladies have no other method of salutation than that of the gentlemen, that is, by merely bowing the head, without bending the knee.

"A people so social and fond of amusement as those of this city are not apt to let slip any opportunity for feasting and junketing. Namedays and birth-days are particularly solemnized in Russian families with grand entertainments or balls, at which the friends and acquain

"The Russians commonly have no more than one baptismal name. Women are not called after the mother, but after the father. In the pronunciation the third or fourth syllable is dropped. Though we write Ivan Vassilievitch, it is pronounced Ivane Vassilitch; Kuprian Prokopovitch, pron. Kupriane Prokopitch; Leof Alexandrovitch, prop. Leof Alexandritch.""

tance

tance customarily assemble without formal invitation. The birth of a child, the appointment to an office, the purchase of a house, in short every fortunate occurrence furnishes an occasion for a domestic festivity. At these times like wise the same ease and freedom prevail that so agreeably heighten the character of the general manners of the people of this place. No custom is of such universal obligation as not to admit of an exception without impropriety; no where are fewer formalities, and no where is the neglect of them attended with fewer expostulations and remarks. Weddings, christenings and funerals are conducted in various ways; there being no rule of etiquette prescribing the pomp, nor any form to regulate the ceremonies.

"From these strokeslightly thrown together some judgment may be formed concerning the agreeable sojourn this city affords. In fact, of all the capitals in Europe that I have visited I know of none wherein such a variety of enjoyments are to be had at so cheap a rate as here. The uncommon hospitality, the good-humoured behaviour, the passion for society, the freedom from all formality and constraint, are every where seen in particular instances, but no where in so great a degree together. Neither is Neither is Petersburg devoid of attractions for the lover of intellectual gratifications. In the higher ranks it is common enough to meet with persons of extensive cultivation in mind and heart, who to sound learning and shining talents unite a mature judgment and a profound knowledge of mankind. People of this sort, if they are not found in such numbers as in some other cities of the first magnitude, keep

so much the closer together, and by the sentiment of their wants are excited to mutual toleration and indulgence. The works of taste and science with which the residence is stocked and adorned present to the curious in beauty and art as ample nourishment as to the diligent explorer of science.➡ With a moderate share of content a man may gain sufficient amusement in our point of station; and instances are by no means want ing of people of unbounded pretensions and of an appetite for en joyment not easily satisfied, after repeatedly changing their place of abode, have anused themselves no where better than here.

"After what has been said the reader is curious to know what are the accomplishments that a person must bring into company for enabling him to claim his share in the stock of social enjoy. ments. Exclusively of the general requisites in a man of cultivated knowledge, which are every where pre-supposed nearly by the same stan dard, each country has still a particular demand on him who devotes himself to company and expects to be well received in it. In France to this purpose he must make himself agreeable; in England the grand requisite is wealth; in Holland a letter of recommendation to some great mercantile house; and in Germany a celebrated name or a patent of nobility. In Russia, money and rank are the key to good company. Without these conditions, though having all the rest, a man finds himself dismissed into that populous and obscure sojourn which in all large cities is sa widely cut off from all communication with the brilliant circles of fashion.

"Money therefore is the prime requisite

requisite in the man of breeding. Not that fund of property which in England makes the man of consequence, but a competence for supporting a decent expense in dress and equipage, and playing for the usual stakes at the clubs and in genteel companies. Riches on their own account are here no recommendation; no one gives himself the least concern about the sources of income: if a certain ease is discoverable in his deportment, and he betrays no marks of poverty that offend the common rules of decorum, it is all that is required: and it must be reasonably allowed that the Petersburgers show no undue severity in requiring thus much. Play is after all their grand resource; and who can blame them for submitting the particular humour of individuals to the predominant inclination of all? In cities and countries where play is not so universal, even these conditions are not known; but then others are adopted in their stead.-It is not less pardonable that a decent and neat attire should be made the sine qua non of admission into good company. In truth, great moderation is shown in exacting this requisite. The value

and cut of the cloaths are more indifferent matters than would perhaps be thought; as to what concerns the point of decorum, that must be every where observed. In France it is held pardonable in great geniuses, witty persons, and singular characters, if they violate the rules of propriety in their dress; with us, neither the first nor the last being very current commodities, it is not necessary to make exceptions on their account. Cleanliness and neatness being in no country, except in England, so general as here, a slovenly dress there attracts less notice. An equipage, in short, is not so much an article of convention as a necessary accommodation arising from local circumstances; since the want of it will be sensibly felt by every one who is fond of good company and would not be deprived of the satisfactions to be found in the politer eircles. To appear in these after walking through the streets at certain seasons of the year is utterly impossible. In all parts of the world to go on foot is by no means held a very shining condition, but no where is it thought worse of than here."

CLASSICAL

CLASSICAL AND POLITE CRITICISM.

CRITICISM ON FROISSART'S HISTORY.

[From JoHNES'S MEMOIRS of FROISSART, translated from the French.]

"F partiality; and this accusa

ROISSART is accused of partiality; and this accusation is become so general, that it seems to have acquired the character of notoriety; whose prilege is is to supersede proofs. Froissart is said to have sold his pen to the English, who paid him a considerable pension; and, by a necessary consequence of his affection for them, he is unfavourable to the French.

"Bodin, Pasquier, Brantôme, Sorel, la Popeliniere, le Laboureur, decide against him in the most positive terms. It seems even that his readers, prejudiced by the connexions which Froissart had with the English, may have some reason to distrust every thing he relates to their advantage. In truth, he begins by saying, that he had written his history at the solicitations of Robert de Namur, a near relation of the queen Philippa, and a vassal of the crown of England, which he usefully served against France. In another part he informs us, that he was of the household of Edward III. the most cruel enemy of the French; and that his queen, to whom he

was secretary, had not only, by her liberalities, enabled him to travel into various parts in order to enrich his history, but that she had generously paid him for his labours in it.

"In short, the first twenty-six chapters of his Chronicle solely concern the history of England, which has been the reason why it has been called the Chronicle of England' in several manuscripts. From thence it has been concluded, that Froissart, from his intimate attachment to the court of England, must be a violent partisan of that nation, and the enemy of its enemies. Nothing more was wanted for the most innocent accounts, if given by any other historian, appear ing as poisonous if issued from his pen: but, in order to judge if this suspicion has any foundation, I will run over the period of which he has transmitted to us the history, in examining successively the different situations he was in when he wrote the various parts of it.

"Froissart cannot be suspected of partiality during the first years of the reign of Edward III. This

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"The court of France had not any misunderstanding with that of England during the reign of Charles. I pass over for a moment the forty years which followed from 1329, when the succession to the crown of France being opened by the death of Charles le Bel, the bonds which had united the kings of France and England became themselves the source of divisions and of the most murderous wars; and I come to the times which succeeded the death of queen Philippa in 1369, a period when Froissart, no longer residing in England, had attached himself to Winceslaus, duke of Brabant. This prince, brother to the emperor Charles IV. was, in fact, uncle to Anne of Bokemia, who was afterwards queen of England, by her marriage with Richard II.; but he was also in the same degree of relationship with Charles V. of France, the son of his sister; and preserving a strict neutrality between the two rival crowns, he was invited to the coronations of Charles V. and of Charles VI. He obtained even in the last of these ceremonies the pardon of the count de St. Pol, whom the king's council wished to put to death for the crime of high-trea

son.

cil. During the time the war was
carrying on with the greatest ob-
stinacy, he obtained a passport
for the princess Anne of Bohemia
to go to England, where she was
to marry Richard II. Charles and
his uncles accompanied this favour
with the most obliging letters, add-
ing, they only granted it out of
friendship to him. Froissart had
not any interest to write against
France during the time he passed
with this prince; he had, shortly
afterwards, still less, when he was
secretary to the count de Blois, who
crowned a life, completely devoted
to the interests of France, by the
sacrifice of the interests of his own
family. The most trifling marks of
ill-will against France would have
exposed him to lose not only the
good graces of his master, but the
fruit of his historical labours, which
he had induced him to continue,
and which he so generously recom❤
pensed. The historian therefore,
fearful of the reproaches which
might be made him for being too
good a Frenchman, reproaches very
different from those which have
been since made him, thinks him-
self bound to justify, in the follow-
ing terms, what he relates of the
inviolable attachment of the Bretons
to the crown of France against the
English. Let no one say I have
been corrupted by the favour
which the count Guy de Blois
(who has made me write this his-
'tory) has shown unto me, and who
has so liberally paid me for it that
I am satisfied, because he was ne-
phew to the true duke of Bri-
tanny, and so nearly related as
son to count Louis de Blois, bro-
ther-german to Charles de Blois,
who, as long as he lived, was duke
of Britanny: no, by my troth, it is
not so; for I will not speak at all,
funless it be the truth, and go straight
forward,

Froissart, who informs us of this circumstance, with which he must have been well acquainted; tells us another, which clearly shows that Winceslaus ever preserved the friendship of king Charles, as well as that of his coun

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