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676 COXE’S TRAVELS IN RUSSIA.
foreign minifters and a fplendid train of courtiers ftood fpectators of the entertainment,
and feveral were occafionally noticed by the Emprefs.
Two or three times in the winter there are mafquerades at court, to which perfons of
all ranks are admitted. At one of thefe entertainments which we attended, eight thou-
fand tickets were diftributed ; and a magnificent fuite of twenty apartments, handfomely
illammated, was opened on this occafion. One of thefe, a large oblong room, the fame
in which the common balls at court are held, had a {pace in the middle enclofed with.a
low railing, appropriated to the nobility who danced. An elegant faloon of an oval
form, called the great hall of Apollo, nearly as fpacious as the rotunda at Ranelagh,
but without fupport in the middle, was allotted for the dances of the burghers, and
other perfons who had not been prefented. The remaining rooms, in which tea and
other refrefhments were ferved, were filled with card tables, and crowded with perfons
continually pafling and repafling. ‘The company either retained their mafks, or took
them off at their pleafure. The nobles in general wore dominos; the natives of infe-
rior rank. appeared in their own provincial clothes, perhaps embellifhed with occafional
ornaments. An exhibition of the feveral dreffes actually ufed by the different inhabi-
tants of the Ruffian empire, afforded a greater variety of motley figures, than the wildeft
fancy ever invented in the mafquerades of other countries. Several merchants wives
were decked with large quantities of valuable pearls, many of which were fplit in halves
for the purpofe of making more fhow.
At feven the Emprefs made her appearance at the head of a fuperb guadrille, con-
fitting of eight ladies led by as many gentlemen. Her Majefty and the ladies of the
feleé&t band were fumptuoufly appareled in Greek habits, and the gentlemen were ac-
coutred in the Roman military garb, their helmets richly ftudded with diamonds ;
among the ladies I diftinguifhed the Duchefs of Courland, Princefs Repnin, and Coun-
tefs Bruce ; among the gentlemen, Prince Potemkin, Marfhal Razomof{ki, and Count
Ivan Tchernichef. ‘The Emprefs led the way, leaning upon the arm of Marfhal Razo-
moffki, and pafling in great ftate through the feveral apartments, walked two or three
times round the hall of Apollo, and then fat down to cards in an adjoining faloon ;
the company flocked thither in crowds without diftinétion, and arranged themfelves
round the table at a refpectful diftance. The Emprefs withdrew as ufual before
eleven.
A feparate edifice called the Hermitage, communicates with the palace by means of
a covered gallery. It takes this appellation becaufe it is the fcene of imperial retire-
ment; but bears no refemblance to a hermitage, the apartments being extremely fpa-
cious, and decorated in a ftyle of regal magnificence. ‘To this favourite {pot the Em-
prefs ufually repairs an hour or two every day, and on a Thurfday evening gives a
private ball and fupper to the principal perfons who form her court ; ambafladors and
foreigners being feldom invited. At this entertainment all ceremony is banifhed, as far
as is confiftent with the refpeét due to-a great Sovereign. The attendance of fervants
‘being excluded, the fupper and various refrefhments are prefented on fmall tables, which
rife and fall through trap-doors. Many directions for the regulation of this feleét fo-
ciety are difpofed in the various apartments; and their general tendency was to encou-
rage freedom, banifh etiquette, and invite the moft unreftrained eafe. One written in
the French language I comprehended, and retained. ‘* Affeyex vous oi vous voulez, e&
guand il vous plaira, fans qu’on le repete mille fois *.”
_* Sit down where you chufe, and when you pleafe, without its being repeated to you a thoufand
times,
A winter
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