[2] Foreigners.
[3] Get out!—Go out from my presence in disgrace.
[4] “Lord, have mercy upon me.”
[5] A light, sour beverage, made by pouring water upon flour or meal.
[6] Brandy.
[7] Of course this would not be done now. But the scene is given exactly as it occurred.
[8] Alexander’s part in the adventure told above is historically true, even to the smallest particular. The only liberty taken has been that of transferring the scene from the bank of the Wilia to that of the Oka. The story became known in England through a private letter, and the Royal Humane Society sent the Czar a medal—rather a singular “decoration” for a monarch. He “accepted it with a noble and modest simplicity,” and profited by the circumstance to introduce a similar society into his own dominions. For the description of his personal appearance one contemporary authority amongst many may be cited: “Malgré la régularité et la délicatesse de ses traits, l’éclat, la fraîcheur de ses teints, sa beauté frappait moins à la première vue que cet air de bienveillance qui lui captivait tout les cœurs, et du premier mouvement inspirait la confiance.... Il avait l’œil vif, spirituel, et couleur d’un ciel sans nuages; sa vue était un peu courte, mais il possédait le sourire des yeux, si l’on peut appeler ainsi l’expression de son regard bienveillant et doux.... Son front chauve, mais qui donnait à l’ensemble de sa figure quelque chose d’ouvert et de serein, ses cheveux d’un blond doré, arrangés avec soin comme dans les belles têtes des camées ou des médailles antiques, semblaient faits pour recevoir la triple couronne de laurier, de myrte, et d’olivier.”
[9] A kind of cold soup made of kvass, with small pieces of meat in it.
[10] This fable was extensively believed in Russia, and not exclusively by the lower classes.
[11] It is, perhaps, scarcely probable that a man of the character and position of Petrovitch, an “old Muscovite” and a protégé of Rostopchine, would have appreciated these liberal measures. But Petrovitch is supposed to be unusually thoughtful and enlightened. Upon other points, especially upon the French war, he is made to share the usual sentiments of his class.