, and a striking contrast was
thus presented. To all her loveliness was added a sweet character. The
Empress Maria was truly the woman of the Gospel; her virtues were so
universally known that she perhaps affords the only example of a woman
never attacked by slander. I confess I was proud to find myself
honoured with her favour, and that I set great store by the good-will
she showed me on all occasions.

Our sittings took place immediately after the court dinner, so that
the Emperor and his two sons, Alexander and Constantine, were
habitually present. These august spectators did not annoy me in the
least, especially as the Emperor, who alone could have made me feel
any diffidence, was exceedingly polite to me. One day, when coffee was
being served, as I was already at my easel, he brought me a cup
himself, and then waited until I had drunk the coffee to take back the
cup and put it away. Another time, it is true, he made me witness a
rather comical scene. I was having a screen put behind the Empress in
order to obtain a quiet background. In this moment of intermission
Paul began cutting up a thousand antics, exactly like a monkey,
scratching the screen and pretending to climb up it. Alexander and
Constantine seemed pained at their father's grotesque behaviour before
a stranger, and I myself felt sorry on their account.

During one of the sittings the Empress sent for her two youngest sons,
the Grand Duke Nicholas and the Grand Duke Michael. Never have I seen
a finer child than the Grand Duke Nicholas, the present Emperor. I
could, I believe, paint him from memory to-day, so much did I admire
his enchanting face, which bore all the characteristics of Greek
beauty.

I remember, too, a type of beauty of an altogether different kind--an
old man. Although in Russia the Emperor is the supreme head of the
church, as well as of the government and the army, the religious power
is held, under him, by the first "pope," called "the great
archimandrite," who is about the same to the Russians that the Holy
Father is to us. While living in St. Petersburg I had often heard of
the merit and virtues of the divine occupying this post, and one day
some of my acquaintances who were going to visit him, proposing to
take me with them, I eagerly accepted their invitation. Never in my
life had I been in the presence of such an imposing man. His figure
was tall and majestic; his handsome face, whose every feature was
endowed with perfect reg