Memoirs of Alexander I. and the Court of Russia. By
Madame la Comtesse de Choiseul-Gouffier. (Kogan Paul, Trench, and Co. 52. net.)—Much of what we know concerning Alexander and his Court has been drawn from these Memoirs of Madame de Choiseul- Gouffier. Contemporary French writers based their information on her known intimacy with the Court, and her acquaintance with many of the horrors of the retreat from Moscow. A Pole, and living at Vilna, she gives us some dreadful pictures of the spectres that wandered about the streets,—men who had lost all feeling or sense of suffering but that of hunger. It is a realistic picture that of the beaten soldiers and the heterogeneous collection of garments they had clothed themselves in for protection against the cold,— ladies' fur hoods, vestments, dressing-gowns, grave-clothes. The Emperor Alexander dominates the book, and the lavish praise and enthusiasm with which his personality is adorned would be nauseous but for the sincerity of the biographer, her knowledge of affairs and accuracy, and the many anecdotes she introduces. Moreover, Madame de Choiseul-Gouffier could describe a scene—a Court scene or a street scene—with real power. These Memoirs have a great interest, and recall with peculiar vividness Alexander's Court. The account of Pahlen's conspiracy against Paul, omitted in the second French edition, is included—the Memoirs being translated from the first edition—and a vigorous but harrowing narrative it is. Alexander was worshipped by many as the beau- ideal of a Sovereign, and Europe, and even France, owed much to him. Whether Madame de Choiseul-Gouffier's account of Alexander can be justified in fact cannot be discussed on the present occasion, but it is impossible to deny the interest of her narrative, for the translation of which we must thank Miss Mary B. Patterson.
THE NORTHUMBERLAND MANUSCRIPT.
Previous page
