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    MADAME SWETCHINE. 307

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    Tim Biography Of A Hussian Lady Of High ...

    struct the basis of society , than to" ' take tlie trouble of driving' in who

    possessed solid piles all in the the way attributes of indivi of du his al well generation -doing . , _iDartook M . Soymonof also of in social , its

    illusions amelioration ; he was but generous forgetful , liberal of the , lessons alive to of every experience prospect , given to _Utoj ) ian ideas , and sceptical in reliion . Such were the influences

    , g which or less presided common over among the education the nobilit of y his of daug Europe hter at ; influences that day , more and

    dogged against which determination our own which English had ci Farmer its good Kin side g " in set keep himself ing Eng with land a

    in what the mi middle ht have path been of expected reform . from The the Russian training Empress , or rather was from just g

    the want of training , to which her powerful mind was subjected . The Prince of Anhalt , her father , had done little or nothing for her succeeded in

    cultivation . An inferior governess had hardly even teaching III 5 a stup her id to vul read when and half she cra was zy sent boy into who Russia soon left to her marry a widow Peter .

    The . first book , which gar , fell into her _, hands _, was Bayle's Dictionary , which she read three times through with avidity , during the space

    of a few months . At twelve or fourteen years of age the little Sophie , nurtured h

    under these conditions in the imperial palace of St . Petersburg , was lishment acquainted with Rus her sian native young Russian ladies , ) tongue spoke , Eng ( an lish unusual and accom Italian - among

    p of and as perfectl reli was ion stud y b as y eyond ing she L spoke the atin , Greek French , and , spectacles understood Hebrew . of something But the she imperial knew - of German nothing chapel , ,

    love and had for g her never father said and morning pompous her motherl or evening car prayers e for her in little her life sister . , Her ten y

    years younger than , herself , were the only elements of moral culture in her childhood

    In 1796 the Empress . Catherine died of a _} _Doplexy , leaving her throne to her son Paul I ' and Sophie Soymonof was named

    maidwoman of-honor mother to his of wife six , the children . ; Empress , and Marie an angel , a good of sweetness and beautiful to her

    violent , and capricious husband , who made her ride about with him in all weathershot and cold , and take part in military

    manoeuvres ; sometimes , forgetting to fetch her hours from a post where whole he day had !

    But planted the serenit her , till y of she tlie had Empress waited m never any failed , or outwardl even a y ; and the maid-of' -honordestined in future life to know , to prevent , or

    young to console so many liuman , griefs , began thenceforth to penetrate maternal into the secret she of attained vain prosp her erity seventeenth and its silent year . tears Pier . residence Under this at

    care court had not dissipated her love of study ; and her accomplishments had received a great stimulus d do credit . Drawings to in pastil yet arti re st

    main from her handwhich woul a . professional . , Her fullsonorousand flexible voice , of a rare compass , was as , , 2

    _vol . v . w

    Madame Swetchine. 307

    MADAME SWETCHINE . 307

• Citation
  • English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), July 1, 1860, page 307, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01071860/page/19/