Narrative of a Journey from Heraut to Khiva, Moscow and St. Petersburgh, During the Late Russion Invasion of Khiva Volume 2; In Two Volumes (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1843 Excerpt: ...is that of good-nature, shrewdness, and caution. The gait of the Russian is slovenly. His manners, however gentlemanly, are seldom dignified. His extreme good nature is in the way, and when, as in the army, he has got the better of this; his manner may be pert and rude; but wants dignity. There are, of course, striking exceptions to this rule. The Russian character is made up of elements, that do not commonly meet together to form a national development. He is clever, humorous, quick, has an excellent memory, and a peculiar facility in the acquisition of languages; my friend Schickhardus assures me, that it proceeds from the extreme difficulty of his own. A man, he says, accustomed all his life to swallow 13-inch shells, would make nothing of a 3-pound shot, which nevertheless would puzzle most gullets. He who can coolly ask, between two mouthfuls of dry biscuit, Miss Tchernicheff Tcherniavsky, of Meschtchansky, to take a glass of port wine, in words as long and limpid as the proper names; and without the slightest blueness of visage, or swelling of jugular and temple arteries, turn upon Count Scheremetieff, and ask him to walk to the Pretchistenka or Souschtchevskaia, or Serpoukhovskia, or if he prefers it to the Vesdvijenskoi or Nieskouschni, or Kroutitski, what would he have to apprehend, in attempting the tongue of even a hedgehog, or a Welch porcupine. The Russian has generally an ear for music and for poetry. But I am inclined to think, this is commonest in Lower Russia. His accentuation of English is better than that of any other foreigner; and his own tongue, in his own mouth, is nervous and harmonious. The strongest characteristics of the Russian, are principles of little power. Good nature, intelligence, and extreme caution; and there is perhaps n...