they walk in it, sit in it, and sleep in it; and the dirty appendage is only relinquished for the few moments they enjoy of comparative cleanliness in the bath: they smell abominably, especially after rain.

The generality of travellers have remarked the brilliant rooms and dresses of the Russians. These are the common hordes of travellers who drive through a town, and see the buildings through the glasses; they only see the butterflies by night, and know not that a Russian family never inhabit the "show rooms," except on "show occasions," and they never, unfortunately, visited before they were expected.

I called one morning on a Russian nobleman of great distinction and fortune in Moscow, I found him at breakfast, sitting on his bed, on which was also his dog. The bed was a sofa, with nothing for covering but his military cloak; an old leather pillow finished the list of that furniture. His table was uncovered; he had a slice of raw ham, with one cup of coffee, a broken French mustard-bottle, and black bread; he was unwashed, unhosed, dirty and offensive, with apparatus used in bed-rooms lying in all directions. This was washed down with a half bottle of some wine, or quass, drunk out of his tooth-cup. Another Russian nobleman, known as the Anacreon of Russia, presented a still more ludicrous appearance; he was likewise at breakfast, in much the same dirty and uncomfortable style, but his night-gown, in which he exhibited himself, had stood the wear of many a year, and was literally so full of holes, that in spite of fold over fold, some parts were seen which the scanty shirt could not cover: I never shall forget his constant endeavour to defend himself or skin from observation. The only nobleman's bed-room which exhibited comfort and cleanliness, was that of the Prince Theodore Gargarin's: he had travelled much, and was a pattern to many in this respect.

One or two beds are the utmost to be found in one house in the country; the young ladies sleep on the sofas which surround the room, without any covering but their own clothes, a pillow being the only extra furniture on the occasion. The stockings are seldom relinquished; this must be from idleness, because the rooms are always kept at nearly an equal heat, and much covering cannot be requisite in the hardest winter. As to washing-basins, and other comforts, one is quite sufficient in a house; and on asking for that article, I have had a soup-plate, with a caraff of water brought. Towels, night-caps, &c. have not yet become common in the interior. In the domestic comforts of a house, the Russians, away from their capital, know very little; and yet, when a dinner is given, the "show rooms" lighted, the servants dressed alike, (which is very seldom the case,) they make a splendid appearance, and run into the wildest expenses. A Russian party is seldom dull, for, when conversation flags, they have recourse to the Bohemians, and then the time flies too rapidly.

The Bohemians, who come in tribes to Moscow, are well worth the attention of the traveller. I was resolved to see these wanderers in their own abodes; and, accompanied by Prince Wiasemki and Gargarin, my travelling companion, Mr. Dick, and Mr. Elphinstone, I arrived at their house, which, to my astonishment, seemed to embrace more comfort than half the houses in Moscow. A supper had been ordered to be sent from the restaurateur's, and we intended to make a jolly evening after a bitter cold and uncomfortable day.

The Bohemians were absent on our arrival, which gave me an opportunity of making observations as to interior arrangements. The room was about thirty feet long; on both sides were beds with sheets, quilts, blankets, and, as if luxury was understood by these wanderers, I counted on one bed eight pillows, from the regular bolster to a small pillow about the size of a man's head; every thing was clean and neat, and the quarter of an hour between our arrival and that of the Bohemians was soon gone. Five women and three men shortly appeared. The first impulse was to kiss the pretty ones, and to pat the cheeks of the more aged. As far as the former need be commented on, I can say that the prima-donna had not only a very pretty face and hand, but a well-turned ankle and delicious breath.

On a stove (the way of warming all rooms in Russia) sat the eldest of the tribe with her guitar; the rest, with ourselves, formed a circle in the centre of the room. The music began with the guitar only, which was suddenly interrupted by the player bursting into a song, which she sang with a wildness bordering on frenzy; the others joined in the chorus, and threw more animation into the eyes and countenance than I believed to have been possible: suddenly the chorus ceased, and the prima-donna, with the most seductive and fascinating voice, sang a verse, which for sweetness of intonation, and delicacy of execution, might have astonished those who receive thousands for a few nights' exhibition. The loud burst of the chorus seemed to interrupt her, as if answering a question; and the whole song and chorus died away as if perfectly exhausted. Not so in reality. Away bounded one of these syrens, light as a shadow. The music again commenced, and a dance, somewhat resembling the lascivious movement of the "Palato," (a Columbian dance,) was sustained by a man and the above-mentioned woman. The rest hurried them into the wildest excesses, by singing, stamping the feet, and clapping the hands, to which the little feet of the dancer kept an increased pace; while the man bounded about with wonderful activity, performing the Cossack dance; the voices became loud, and the increased pace became faster, until, wound up to the full extent of the human power, they gave one tremendous shriek, and the dance and song instantly ceased. Here were princes of the land, men high in authority, travellers accustomed to all sights and nations, champaigne sparkled, costly suppers were spread; and yet such was the fascination of these women, such the power produced over the mind by that wild song, and wilder dance, that although every eye sparkled with animation, the surprise was so great, and the string of our feelings wound to such a pitch, that we looked and gazed at each other without being able to grant the smallest applause. A kiss and conversation soon restored us to ourselves: again the song, and dance, and supper, and, last of all, the departure at three o'clock, a. m.

When these fascinating creatures collect the money, of which they are extremely avaricious, they sing a complimentary verse to the donor; this they continue to every one present, and receive from each generally twenty-five rubles.

It is said that these women, who allow their lips to be kissed by all, and who are not averse to fondling and embracing, are mostly in other respects virtuous, and difficult of access; yet the prima-donna, although unmarried, left an infant at the Enfans Trouvés; and such occur

rences are not rare.

The famous Count Tolstoy and Prince Gargarin married Bohemians: when this does occur, the bride is given away by the Patriarch of the tribe, and he requires a security that the lady shall never be returned. The nobles of Russia are extremely partial to the Bohemians: these ladies seldom surrender their virtue without being retained in a most splendid style. I remember a prince who held a champaigne-bottle in one hand and a candle in the other, remarking to me in these words-" Who can help being foolish with such creatures?" The tribe in London are no more like the tribes in Moscow, than the Russian princes of the second class resemble our Royal family.

The upper class of women in Russia are decidedly handsome, generally speaking. I could name many families it would be hard in any country to surpass as to beauty. For instance, the Sherbatoffs, the Soltikoffs, Yousoupoffs, Pouchkin, Galitzins, Potemkins, and many others. The lower classes, even if they were beautiful, are always seen to great disadvantage: these have mostly the Tartar countenance; eyes far apart, and small; broad noses, and large mouths; added to which, the dress with fastenings above the breasts, leaves the shape entirely to imagination, and in spite of Moore's

it must be admitted that the female shape is much benefited by stays. I hardly ever saw (and I have seen some hundreds) one of the lower class of Russians with a slim and elegant figure.

THE CORN LAWS AND 66 CATECHISM.

THE abolition of the Corn Laws, like every other paramount object that has powerful opposition and blind bigotry to contend against, can only be accomplished by perseverance, and a steadfast determination on the part of the country to make its opinion be duly felt; aided and directed as it is by that able and willing coadjutor, the independent portion of the press. In renewing, therefore, this subject in the present Number, we do so under the impression that we may again and again have occasion to return to the charge, in defence of an oppressed people against a grasping oligarchy; and on that account we shall not now enter upon the variety of details that might be gone into to show the impolicy and injustice of these laws, and the folly of those who maintain that they are necessary for the existence of the landed interest, which, in certain points of view, have been so well stated by the author of the "Catechism on the Corn Laws," but deal rather in general principles, as more applicable to our purpose, because the value of the present system of agriculture, taken in its largest view, and of the landed interest itself, becomes a legitimate object for consideration. At the outset of this article, in our last publication, we have noticed our objection to the unqualified doctrine of the owners of the soil being of necessity the drones in the hive. In common with all monopolists, they are so; and being the most extensive and vexatious of monopolists, they the more cruelly oppress the industrious, thwart their painstaking efforts, and take more good things out of the hive-living, in short, upon the vitals of those who are working in it, than any other of their class. Landowners generally, for there are some splendid exceptions to the groveling wish, have preferred the galling opprobrium of living out of the honest industry of the people, rather than looking

• Continued from p. 337.

to their own energies, to active enterprize, to a stirring spirit of improvement for their means; in a word, they have virtually preferred the privileges of the feudal lord, to the high independence of freemen, whose good fortune it is to be in the uppermost scale of society of the first country in the world, enjoying the opportunity of shedding happiness around them. They have placed their own advantage, or that which they falsely assert to be so, in competition with the common good; they have put themselves in the gap, to prevent the people passing from wretchedness to comfort; they have shown to a disgusted nation that their own benefit, exclusive and apart from the best interests of England, is paramount with them. All this they have done, and have caused the people to point the finger of scorn at them for their conduct; but it does not follow from this that the landed interest per se is inimical to the other national interests, or that innate opposition exists between them; and therefore we have objected in limine, in the present state of society, to any abstract questions of economical science, with regard to rent or other points, from being applied unfairly, as we think, to increase the odium that has been excited against the landed interest; because it is not in its original position, but in the efforts it has made to force itself out of that position, by determining, as far as in it lay, to throw all the pressure of extraordinary circumstances in a period of peace, produced from a variety of causes, and succeeding a period of war replete with still more extraordinary events, upon the people, rather than bear its due proportion. Under a long course of mismanagement, extravagance, and inattention to the welfare of the empire, a perpetual coquetting between the minister of the day and the aristocracy has been resorted to. That was the corner-stone of the system that has created for us nearly one thousand millions sterling of debt, and compels the community to pay taxes to the amount of upwards of thirty millions annually before the current expenses of the army, navy, and various other contingent outlays for the public service can be provided for. Those who have held the reins of Government have not chosen a liberal policy towards the people, by which they might, in a great degree, have freed themselves from the trammels of the aristocracy; and the latter, in preference to an independent course, have truckled to the minister of the day for the loaves and fishes; and as a sort of collective reward for their obsequiousness to his will, demanded, at the close of the war, that the advantages of the period that enriched individual classes, and particularly that connected with the land, should be continued to the latter; that when other articles, together with the rate of wages, were reduced from 50 be 150 per cent. agricultural produce should remain at the maximum price; that they, according to their false notions of exclusive benefit-for it is bottomed upon the principle of producing poverty and starvation through the land, and therefore cannot last-were to continue unmolested in the receipt of high rents and war prices, when the currency, and every direct and collateral circumstance are changed around them. We have already declared our hope and belief that the Duke of Wellington's cabinet, which is'strong in the talent of its head, and we unfeignedly think is strong in political honesty, will crush the Quixotic effort of the landowners, made through the medium of the Corn Laws; but should they be so weak and wicked in this instance as to shrink from a task demanded of them by justice, humanity, policy, and every other consideration that ought to influence the mind of wise and virtuous statesmen, the natural course of events must speedily bring about a change in these accursed statutes, unless those events should be anticipated by a more speedy popular convulsion. In accordance, then, with the rule that we have laid down for ourselves, we shall not now pursue the course of argument that would naturally issue from the two points we brought out in the first part of this article-that the agriculturists are not more highly taxed than their fellowsubjects, and that the protecting duty they can in common justice demand, in conformity with their profession, constantly repeated, that they only wish to be protected from the underselling of the foreign grower, would not exceed 58. These details we pass over for the moment, for opportunities enough, in all likelihood, will be afforded to us to enter upon them during the

next session of Parliament, for the discussion on the Corn Laws must come fairly and extensively before the House of Commons, if not, as we anxiously expect, spontaneously from the Government, by the loud and determined voice of the nation forcing the question upon it. But in passing, we would ask if the difference be reduced within about 5s. per quarter, of bringing foreign wheat to the English market and growing wheat in England, is there nothing to be done in the way of improvement in agriculture? Can an additional impetus be no where given to it? Cannot increased energy and industry be usefully applied in a pursuit that, during a long war, returned inordinate profits to the most slothful follower of it, and during fifteen years of succeeding peace, has shown all those who have been connected with it, leaning on the people for support, without making a single energetic effort for their own independent advantage? Are they to stand aside and supinely look on, whilst the Legislature, year after year, is driving minor monopolists to the application of their enterprise and active industry? Is the obligation of the bond that enables the owners of the soil to place their foot upon the neck of the British people and crush them to the earth, of so sacred a nature, and must it of necessity be so strictly observed, that the crying and overwhelming distress that surrounds them cannot induce those owners to soften the galling condition, and try whether energy and well applied industry might not lead to agricultural improvement, that would enable them to meet successfully the difference of expense between bringing English and foreign wheat to this market, reduced as it is, in reality, to the small pittance of about 5s. per quarter? But to uphold the professions, that they only want protection from the foreign grower of corn in the English market, (a mere colourable and flimsy pretence, set up to cover their grasping ambition to fill the same space in society as they formerly did, and to gratify their inordinate jealousy of other classes, which they see are now occupying the most important position) the aristocracy declare that, if that sum were quadrupled, it would not protect them, and that without protection they must sink; and our answer to them is, in God's name let them sink, in preference to the people of England. These proud lords of the soil have driven their fellow-subjects to an extremity that renders it necessary for them fairly to look the question in the face, regard its true bearing, contemplate the social duty they have to perform in consequence, and with the spirit, and independence, and honesty of freemen, let them know that, as there is no necessity for it, they will no longer endure the galling hardship and crying disgrace of a bread-tax, to uphold, not the land, but those who abuse the pos session of it. Our object at this moment is to call the attention of the people of England to the question, whether the land of England would go out of cultivation, if the forebodings of the present landed interest were realized, that its members could not bear up against that which they falsely assert to be foreign competition? Many of them, we admit, with their mortgages, and annuities, and cumbrous expenditure, might be unable to conform themselves to the change that would ultimately benefit the land, as well as every other department of the social system; and it might bring their difficulties to a crisis more prematurely than otherwise would be the case, and estates might in consequence change hands in unusual numbers; but that the land would go out of cultivation, or be worse managed, we boldly deny. Who are the persons, we would ask, who are the most pertinacious in their support of the Corn Laws? Landlords, who are screwing their tenants with rack-rents; men who are encumbered with debts, and know not how to meet their expenditure, who are looking for their receipts before they are due, who have no means, by the constant anticipation of their incomes, of encouraging improvement, or managing their estates, to the best advantage. These, we maintain, are the individuals who are loudest in their plaudits of those desolating statutes that interfere so cruelly with the purchase of the first necessary of life, which compel the poor man, out of his hard-earned labour, to eat dear bread, when the bounty of Providence, and all the circumstances of the world, unite in affording it to him at a cheap rate. If foreign competition were so far to operate upon the circumstances of these individuals as to compel them to sell