that he was the culprit save the two young ladies, and they would not have betrayed him for any amount.

"Who was that singing?" Prince Alexis yelled again. The servants ran about like madmen, but he could not discover any body who could have been guilty of this musical crime.

"I will know who it was that sang," the Prince roared, for the third time, as he came out on the steps with a huntingwhip in his hand; "he must appear at once, or I will cut you all into ribbons." But the challenge was not taken up, and the furious Highness disappeared again in the palace with slavering mouth. Soon after a cracking and smashing was heard, and there was an ugly destruction of mirrors and furniture.

The steward and chief valet had a brilliant idea. They proceeded to Vaska, one of the Prince's band, and with many bows and entreaties asked him to take the matter on himself, as the true criminal was not to be found. Vaska was at first foolish enough to decline this, for, as he said, his back was his own, and he did not feel inclined to enter upon such familiar terms with his lord's double-thong. The suppliants, however, assured him that if he would only declare he had been the disturber they would do all in their power to get him off, and in any case present him with ten roubles-a large sum in those days. The singer scratched himself behind the ear: he had no desire to sacrifice his back, and yet he would be glad of the money. At last he said:

"Well, I am ready to take it on myself; but look you, if he does not flog me himself, just be merciful with the stick."

In the mean while the Prince had worked himself into a fury, which was closely allied to mania. He threatened not only to give each of his servants a thousand lashes, but also to the parasites who lived with him. "Go and ask the young ladies up there," he yelled, "and if they do not know, they shall be thrashed too." Every body was in fear and trembling, and scarce dared to breath. "Fetch the knout!" Alexis Yurivitch shrieked, so that it could be heard all over the town.

At this moment came salvation for the seriously threatened backs. "They have got him!" several shouted together, when the butler and the valet dragged in honest Vaska with fettered hands and feet. The Prince seated himself on a sofa in

order to pass sentence with due dignity. Vaska was brought before him, and the spectators, who expected something fearful, were so frightened, that they did not know were they dead or alive.

"It was you, then, who sang?" the Prince asked, with the look of a grand inquisitor.

"Have mercy on me, most gracious lord-I did it," the poor sinner answered.

The Prince was silent for a moment, and then said: "You have an exquisite voice." Then he turned to his servants: "Give him an embroidered kaftan and two roubles."

The

("So you see," remarks the old peasant who tells the story," what a good-hearted man Prince Alexis Yurivitch was. only thing was that he liked order, and those who neglected it were quickly and severely punished.")

The Prince's hospitality was as lavish as it was barbarous. On grand festivals, such, for instance, as his saint's day, several hundred persons were invited to dinner. Of these, one hundred dined in the banquet-hall, and four to five hundred in the galleries round it. At one end of the high table sat the Princess, with a number of the most noble ladies; at the other end the Prince, supported by generals, governors, and other high officials. Each guest took his seat according to rank, and if he selected a chair too high for him, the Prince's fool was sent to draw it from under him when he rose, or the waiters were told to pass him over when handing round the dishes. On the daïs near the Prince were a tame bear, the before-mentioned Mishka, and a Yurodive, or idiot, who are regarded in Russia, as in Turkey, as halfsaints. The latter had a plate in his hand, and wore no clothing beyond a torn dirty shirt. In this plate the Prince put something from every dish, adding thereto pepper, mustard, wine, and kvas, and Spina would devour this strange ragout while singing nursery-rhymes. Alexis Yurivitch also fed the bear with his own hands, and gave it so much wine that the brute could scarce stand. The ordinary guests dined on silver, the Prince, his spouse, and a few important guests on gold plate. Two footmen stood behind each chair, and in one corner of the hall were mountebanks, deaf mutes, dwarfs, and Calmucks, waiting for the conclusion of the banquet, and filling up the interval with quarreling and fighting. Immediately after dinner

When the sleepers awoke again they proceeded to their apartments and dressed for the ball, which commenced at seven o'clock. Thousand of wax-candles were lighted in the ball-room, tar-barrels blazed in front of the palace, while across the Volga the country was illumined with enormous bonfires. So soon as the Prince and Princess made their appearance, the drummers and buglers struck up a Polonaise. Then the Governor, dressed in a green kaftan, red waistcoast, and yellow breeches, with a mighty powdered peruke on his head, and his cavalry scarf across his breast, walked up to the Princess, made as graceful a bow as he could, took her hand and led the dance, the other couples following in accordance with their rank. After the Polonaise, the company entered the dining-hall, where Italian musicians played till all had taken their seats. A curtain was drawn and displayed a stage, upon which Dunyashka, a peasant's daughter, and the prettiest girl in the town, presently appeared. She was dressed à la Pompadour, with tall powdered hair and beauty patches on her face; in a word, it was the exact costume of the shepherdesses at the court of Louis Quinze. Dunyashka began by reciting a congratulatory ode, written by Simeon Titisch, the palace poet. Then Parashka, another shepherdess, came in and said many pretty things about love and lambs, which also were the productions of Titisch. We may remark, in parenthesis, that this son of the Muses had very marked Bohemian tendencies, and when an ode was required of him he was locked up for several days for fear lest he should confound the Castalian spring with the vodki-bottle.

After the performance of the shepherdesses, fireworks were let off, and a small scullion-lad descended from the top of the

kaftan and light-blue breeches, with gold spangles. In his hand he held a piece of wood with a hole in the center, over which twine was tied, and this represented his lyre. He had also yellow twine in his hair, which was indulgently supposed to indicate sunbeams. Finally, nine peasant girls appeared in hooped petticoats-the Muses-who crowned the Prince with a garland of flowers obtained from the palace hot-house. Alexis Yurivitch would sometimes call for Simeon Titisch, in order that he might congratulate him, but the poet was never in a presentable condition: he was generally tied down in a chair in a cellar, because, when, intoxicated, he was extremely noisy. The supper was a repetition of the dinner, with fewer dishes and more bottles. When it was ended, the minor guests retired, and Prince Alexis proceeded with fifteen or twenty of the highest persons to a summer-house. As a sign that they should make themselves comfortable, he took off his coat, and a booze began, which lasted till the next morning.

Prince Alexis did not live on satisfactory terms at all with his wife; in fact, he only saw her on grand occasions, like the one we have just described. One day, on returning from the chase, he found a letter awaiting him from his son, Prince Boris Alexievitch, who was residing at the capital. He took a glance at the contents, roared like a bull, and again could be heard the smashing of glass and tables The servants fell on their knees and prayed that the storm might pass over their heads, while others ran out of the house in terror. The Prince then inquired after his consort, and one of his valets was so incautious as to inform his master that Her Highness was confined to her room; whereupon the unhappy wretch was hurled to the ground, (" like corn before the sickle," says the deponent,) and when he rose again, made the painful discovery that five of his teeth were absent without leave. The Prince, in the mean while, dashed up to his wife's apartments, and found her lying very ill on a sofa. At a table near her was seated one Koudratie Sergeyevitch, a pious, learned dweller in the Prince's house, who had sought shelter with him after being expelled from his estate by a powerful neighbor. He was at the moment reading to the Princess the "Life of Saint Barbara.”

"Ha!" Alexis Yurivitch shrieked, "there you are! You who have so spoiled your boy, that he wants to marry a woman of light character, while you spend your time here with your lover." And the Prince gave full vent to his fury.

The next morning not a trace of Sergeyevitch could be found in Zaboria, and the kind-hearted Princess Martha Petrovna was a corpse. The funeral was superb; it was performed by three archimandrites and one hundred priests, and although hardly one of them had known the Princess, all wept, with the exception of her husband, who followed the coffin dry-eyed. Still, it was noticed that he had grown much thinner; his lips quivered, and every now and then he shuddered all over. For six weeks after the funeral all the beggars who came to Zaboria were regaled at the Prince's charges, and money was distributed to them on Saturday. The funeral cost altogether three thousand roubles. At the funeral banquet Prince Alexis spoke in the most edifying manner with the archimandrite about the Holy Gospels, the way of saving the soul, and the duties of a Christian. "There was my poor Princess," he said; "she lived a life of humility and holiness, and prepared herself a place in the kingdom of the blessed." Then he added, that existence no longer had charms for him, that he could not endure the thought of living without his wife, and begged the archimandrite to take him into his monastery, and he would bring forty thousand roubles with him.

"Do not make any premature resolution," said the archimandrite; "have you not a son to live for ?"

"What, Boris?" the penitent Prince and future monk yelled; "if he cares for life, he had better not show his face here. The iniquitous villain! he has ruined me, and is the cause of his mother's death. He has brought eternal disgrace upon our name; without our permission, or asking for his father's blessing, he has married some wench without a penny-piece to her fortune-a person for whom it would have been an honor to tend my swine. It was that scoundrel who brought the Princess to the grave; when she heard of it she had a fainting-fit, and passed away during the same hour-the dear dove!"

"You must bow your head before affliction, Prince," the archimandrite remonstrated.

Alexis Yurivitch said, with a laugh. "Nothing of the sort. I will marry again, and have other children. Boris and his beauty may go a begging, for they shall not have a kopeck from me. There are plenty of girls who would be glad to have me, and were there no other I would marry Malashka, the goose-girl."

At this moment the priest began drinking the "trisna,"* the deacons read prayers, and the choristers sang the "Vetchnoiu Pamiat." All rose and prayed excepting Prince Alexis, who fell down before the sacred images, and sobbed so bitterly that no one could gaze at him without bursting into tears. He was at length raised from the ground with great difficulty, and the next day his sorrow was so intense that he had a heap of peasants flogged, and thrashed half a dozen with his own hands. Every body he came across had done something wrong. The small gentry, who lived with him as sycophants and led captains, lost patience so entirely, that in spite of their good entertainment they resolved to leave Zaboria. Fortunately, the Prince only remained for a week in this terrible humor; he again went out hunting, and no sooner had he killed a bear than his sorrow and grief disappeared as if by enchantment. Still, he could be seen to be ageing, and at times he fell into a state of despondency. Sometimes, when the hunt was at an end, he would still seat himself astride on a cask of vodki, fill a beaker, and drink to the health of all present. But then it often happened that he suddenly became gloomy, let the glass fall, and a deadly silence would take the place of the noisy bursts of laughter a moment previously. After a few moments of brooding the Prince's face would brighten again, and he would say, "I have startled you, my friends. Ah! yes, brothers, I shall soon die." After this he began singing, hundreds of voices chimed in, and then dancing, shouting, and drinking went on till nightfall.

In spite of the paternal wrath, Prince Boris was not disposed to keep away from Zaboria for ever, and just a year after his mother's death he wrote his father that he would shortly pay him a visit. Prince Alexis read the letter, and summoned his steward, who received the following instructions:

* A potion of mead, rum, wine, and beer, which is drunk by all present, upstanding, after the pope has read the final prayer at a funeral festival.

lously, should it prove necessary, for his mother the Empress. As regarded his wife, he need be under no anxiety about her, for, whatever might happen to himself, she would be taken care of. The Princess was so unhappy at the separation, that after her husband's departure no company was seen at Zaboria until letters arrived from Prince Boris, in which he narrated the actions he had been engaged in, and added that he should not go any farther into Prussia, as he was appointed town- commandant of Memel, which place was now in the hands of the Russians. On receiving this intelligence, matters began to grow a little more lively at Zaboria, and Prince Alexis again received company, though it was all very quiet.

"At last, however," the old peasant of the MS. says, "Satan must have grown wearied of Alexis Yurivitch's good behavior." One day there was a frightful scene between him and his lovely daughter-in-law, which ended with the latter trying to leave the room, and falling in a swoon on the threshold. Directly after the monster broke out again in all his savageness; again the knout and lash whizzed through the streets, again were the wildest orgies held, and again did His Highness bestride the vodki barrel. The Palace of Zaboria became one huge pothouse.

Among the Prince's followers was a bandit, who, when his men were destroyed, left the forests and came to Zaboria. Alexis Yurivitch was kind to this man, and placed him about his person; he was a capital spy, and kept his master well informed of all that occurred in palace and town. One day this robber brought the Prince a letter, which he had intercepted, and which was written by Princess Varvara to her husband. His Highness at once broke it open, scowled, grew more and more furious as he read, and at last walked up and down the room with his hands on his back, and whistling softly. The next day a letter arrived from the Virvodo and Governor of Semigorsk, which announced a visit from that official, the motive for it being certain communications he had received from the Princess Varvara. The Prince and the bandit, whose name was Chatun, consulted the whole night through in a retired apartment, and the next morning the servants received orders to pack up the Princess's clothes, as she was going to Memel, to

On the same night the Prince proceeded to the pavilion, where he remained a considerable time. When he came out again he was seen to lock the door and throw the key into the Volga. The next morning all the doors leading to the garden were nailed up, and orders were issued that no one should enter it again. At the same time disappeared Arina, an old woman, who had been suffering for weeks of a fever. No one supposed that she could possibly recover, but one day she suddenly left her cabin. In what manner no one knew; enough that she was never seen again. A fortnight later Chatun and the two maids who accompanied the Princess Varvara returned with the news that their mistress had died from the fatigues of the journey. Chatun brought a letter from the doctor who attended her, as well as from the priest who paid her the last offices. The Prince took charge of the two documents, and locked them up in his secretaire. The fact was that the Prince had carried off that Arina, who had died on the journey, in the place of his daughter-in-law. Chatun dragged the unhappy Varvara out of the carriage, and immured her in the pavilion, with the help of the Prince. Such, at any rate, was the whisper, and the discovery which Daniel Borisovitch, grandson of the Prince, made in the garden-house, and which induced him to pull it down, appears to confirm it.

across

At the outset nothing came to light; on the day after their return Chatun and the two maids were sent the Volga, on some excuse, in a leaky boat. The river was full of ice, and a strong breeze was blowing. Prince Alexis was standing on one of the hills over the river, and looking on. When the boat sank, he crossed himself, and went into the monastery, to order prayers for the soul of the deceased Princess. When Alexis returned home, he had a large cask of vodki brought up into the drawing-room, and boozed with his peasants for several days in succession. He gave one a piece of costly velvet, another