A residence on the shores of the Baltic, described in a series of letters [by E. Eastlake]. 2 vols. [in 1]. |
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A Residence on the Shores of the Baltic, Described in a Series of Letters ... Elizabeth Eastlake No preview available - 2015 |
A Residence on the Shores of the Baltic, Described in a Series of Letters ... Elizabeth Eastlake No preview available - 2015 |
A Residence on the Shores of the Baltic, Described in a Series of Letters ... Elizabeth Eastlake No preview available - 2018 |
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Baron Baron Ungern beauty beneath better bright carriage castle Catherine II centre chrani church Circassian cold colours comfort Count Countess court courtesy crown daughter Domberg door dress Emperor Empress English entered equally Estonian Estonian language eyes face feeling feet figures foreign gentlemen German girl graceful Grand Duke Michael hand happy head heart honour horses hostess Imperial interest kopecks labour lady land less light Livonian Knights looked Lutheran luxury magnificent marriage mask ment military morning Narva never night nobility noble object occasion palace party passed peasant Petersburg physiognomy picturesque present pretty Prince province racter residence returned Reval roubles round Russian Russian language Sascha scarce scene season seemed seen serf side sledge slender snow society stone stood streets taste tion tonian town traveller utmost wersts winter Winter Palace woman wood words young
Popular passages
Page 144 - Within these great houses, not a breath of cold is experienced. The rooms are heated by stoves, frequently ornamental rather than otherwise ; being built in tower-like shapes, story over story, of pure white porcelain, in various graceful architectural mouldings; sometimes surmounted with classic figures of great beauty, and opening with brass doors, kept as bright as if they were of gold. In houses of less display, these stoves are merely a projection in the wall, coloured and corniced in the same...
Page 141 - ... people's room, where all the lower servants, the coachmen and grooms (here not included as houseservants), the cow-girls and the sheepboys, &c., all come in for their meals at stated times, and muster between twenty and thirty daily. This was a room for an artist; a black earthen floor, walls toned down to every variety of dingy reds, blacks, and yellows, with a huge bulwark of a stove of a good terra cotta colour, and earthen vessels, and wooden tubs and benches ; and, in short, every implement...
Page 191 - Madge Wildfire to desire, being literally loaded with all the ribbons, handkerchiefs, and petticoats which herself or her neighbours can muster ; only the outer edge of each, in the insolence of her wealth, being visible, till the bride looks like the walking pattern-book of the Kirchspiel, or parish, and the admiring swain views at one glance both his companion and her wardrobe for life.
Page 143 - Volksbrod, or people's bread. The spinning-girls belong to the estate, and attend at the hof, or court, as the seigneur's house is termed, for so many weeks in the winter, to spin under the housekeeper's superintendence ; nor do they appear very averse to this labour, for, besides the smart grooms and soft shepherds who assort with them at meal-times, this Volkstube is the resort of every beggar and wandering pedlar, and the universal tattleshop of the neighbourhood.
Page 191 - Hebrew-draped heads and apostolic countenances crowded around — you missed only the divine aspect from this ready-made and most touching picture. The women were chiefly in sheepskins or wolfskins, with gay bands round their waists, — the men in the same, or in a coarse brown cloth with rows of silver buttons down the breast. The scene was enlivened by the presence of a bride — in other words a...
Page 18 - ... a thick forest of submarine vegetation, while the searching rays of the noon-day sun drew forth grotesque masses of light and shade, and revealed the forms of strange fish floating among the emerald branches ; and at the receding rocks, whose rough sides our feet were scarce destined again to press. The anchor was soon lifted, and off we were to the north seas again, and, order being established, all the passengers, and as many of the crew as could be spared, assembled in the saloon, where a...
Page 293 - At the beginning of winter the peasant fares well, eats wholesome rye bread, and plenty of it. Towards spring, his stores, never well husbanded, begin to fail, and the coarse...
Page 187 - ... length and symmetry of limb, with finely formed hands and feet. His face is strictly Grecian — forehead and nose in one grand line ; the eyes finely lined, large, open, and blue, with a calmness, a coldness, a freezing dignity, which can equally quell an insurrection, daunt an assassin, or paralyse a petitioner ; the mouth regular, teeth fine, chin prominent, with dark moustache, and small whisker ; but not a sympathy on his face ! His mouth sometimes smiled, his eyes never. There was that...
Page 83 - ... backwards to the chancel end, vanished behind the screen, and all was silent in a moment. ' Here you will conclude the ceremony terminated : so at least thought we, and so perhaps did the happy couple, who seemed well nigh exhausted ; but now the ci-devant crown-bearers seized upon the bride, hurried her to the screen which divides off the Holy of Holies in a Russian church, where she prostrated herself three times in rapid succession before the pictures of two saints, touching the floor at each...
Page 190 - Cen, je ne veux plus de toi," ran into the crowd. The Emperor, they assured me, was in an unusual good temper this evening. — I think there can be no doubt of it. The Heritier now also took his station at our pillar. He inherits his father's majestic person and somewhat of the regularity of his face, but with the utter absence of the Emperor's nnsympathising grandeur. On the contrary, the son has a face of much sentiment and feeling ; the lips full, — the eyelids pensive — more of kindness...