until their miserable sovereign was no more; they then retired
from the palace without the least molestation, and returned to
their respective homes. What occurred after their departure
can be better conceived than depicted: medical aid was re-
sorted to, but in vain, and upon the breathless body of the
Emperor fell the tears of his widowed Empress and children,
and domestics; nor was genuine grief ever more forcibly or
feelingly displayed than by him on whose brow this melan-
choly event had planted the crown. So passed away this
night of horror, and thus perished a Prince, to whom nature
was severely bountiful. The acuteness and pungency of his
feeling was incompatible with happiness: unnatural prejudice
pressed upon
the fibre, too finely spun, and snapped it.

'Tis not as heads that never ache suppose,
Forgery of fancy, and a dream of woes;
Man is a harp, whose chords elude the sight,
Each yielding harmony, dispos'd aright;
The screws revers'd (a task which if he please
God in a moment executes with ease),
Ten thousand thousand strings at once go loose,
Lost, till he tune them, all their power and use.

COWPER.

The sun shone upon a new order of things. At seven o'clock the intelligence of the demise of Paul spread through the capital. The interval of time from its first communication to its diffusion over every part of Petersburg, was scarcely perceptible. At the parade Alexander presented himself on

horseback, when the troops, with tears rolling down their rugged and sun-browned faces, hailed him with loud and cordial acclamation. The young Emperor was overwhelmed, and at the moment of mounting the throne of the most extensive empire under heaven, he was seen to turn from the grand and affecting spectacle, and weep.

What followed is of very subordinate consideration; but perhaps it will be eagerly asked, to what extremity did the avenging arm of Justice pursue the perpetrators of the deed? Mercy, the brightest jewel of every crown, and a forlorn and melancholy conviction, that the reigning motive was the salvation of the empire, prevented her from being vindictive. Never upon the theatre of life was there presented a scene of more affecting magnanimity; decency, not revenge, governed the sacrifice. PZ- was ordered not to approach the Imperial residence, and the governor of the city was transferred to Riga. As soon as Madame Chevalier was informed of the demise of her Imperial patron, she prepared, under the protection of her brother, a dancer, for flight, with a booty of nearly a million of rubles. A police officer was sent to inspect and report upon her property: amongst a pile of valuable articles, he discovered a diamond cross of no great intrinsic value, which had been given by Peter I. to a branch of the Imperial Family, and on that account much

esteemed; it was to recover this that the officer was sent, who obtained it, after the most indecent and unprincipled resistance on her part. Passports were then granted to Madame Chevalier and her brother. Thus terminated this ex

traordinary and impressive tragedy.

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CHAP. XV.

SIR JOHN BORLASE WARREN-THE POLIGNACS-THE PARADE-THE BANEFUL EFFECTS OF PASSION-THE EMPERORA PICKPOCKET --A TRAVELLler's memorANDUMS—-UNPUGILISTIC BRUISERSDOCTOR GUTHRIE-VISIT TO THE TAURIDA PALACE-THE COLOSSAL HALL-THE WINTER GARDENS-THE BANQUET-PRINCE POTEMKIN-RAW CARROTS-FLYING GARDENS-THE HOUSE OF CHARLES XII. AT BENDER DISCOVERED.

IT was impossible for an Englishman to visit Petersburg when I did, without feeling a justifiable national pride in finding his country represented by one of her most distinguished naval heroes, who, to the frankness and sincerity so peculiar to that character, unites the graceful attractions of the most courteous and polished manners. From the intrepid minister, and his elegant and enlightened lady, I experienced that urbanity and attention, which eminently distinguished their conduct, and endeared them to the Russian court, and to their countrymen. The Emperor, in his private circles, has often extolled the nautical skill and undaunted valour of Sir John Borlase Warren, and honoured him with his friendship. In no period of those political storms which have so long shaken,

TT

and still continue to convulse, the continent of Europe, has the cabinet of Russia manifested a more propitious and cordial disposition to the cause and interests of Great Britain, than during the diplomacy of the gallant Admiral.

The house of embassy, a noble mansion, in the English line, was fitted up with great taste, and the hospitality which prevailed in it was truly Russian. The parties which assembled there were very select and agreeable. Amongst the most frequent visitors I met the Duc de Polignac and several of the members of that illustrious house, who, from the highest rank, and an influence equal to that of their sovereign, have been cast into the regions of the north, by the terrible tornado of the French revolution, where, in the sensibility and munificence of the Emperor, they have found protection.

The noble fortitude of the Polignacs, and particularly the heroic and affecting eloquence of one of the brothers before the tribunal of Bonaparte, created at this period a strong sen sation in the public mind, and in no part of the world more forcibly than at Petersburg. In another age, when passion and prejudice shall repose in "the tomb of all the Capulets," the calm investigating historian may perhaps, but in better language, describe their crime, as I have ever considered it, a conspiracy of Bonaparte against himself, to enable him to assume the imperial purple.