His practice has been Thoro-base,
A chord will be his exit!
Yet while we blame his hasty flight
Our censure may be rash;
A traveller is surely right
To change his notes for cash.
The Emperor and the Opera Dancer.
The insurrection and popular tumult which took place during the first days of the reign of the present Emperor of Russia, Nicolas, are facts well known; yet it may not be uninteresting to relate some of the circumstances attending the substitution of the Grand Duke Nicolas Paulowitsch in place of his brother the Grand Duke Constantine, who had abdicated, as was declared, and renounced his right to the crown in consequence of the marriage which had been in opposition, it was stated, to the opinions of his family, and by them averred, with his own abdication of his rights in favour of his brother Nicolas. After the, to say the least, awfully mysterious death of Alexander, the Archduke Constantine’s abdication was thus explained.
It was towards the end of 1825 that St. Petersburg was the scene of the struggle between the subjects and the sovereign; marked, in the first instance, by the fearless and intrepid exposure of his own royal person, and in the latter, by the terrible vengeance and inflictions with which many of the agents of this revolt were made to suffer by the merciless decree of the new Emperor. Even where life was spared, scarcely preferable to death were the punishments awarded indiscriminately, and without mitigation to age, youth, or sex.