From the Athenæum. THE LAST DAYS OF THE EMPEROR ANDER. BY ROBERT LEE, M.D., F.R.S. ALEX ON the 5th of November, 1824, I arrived at Cologne on my way from London to Odessa, to join the family of Count Woronzow, in the capacity of physician to his excellency. The weather had been very tempestuous during the whole journey from England, and torrents of rain had fallen. The Rhine had overflowed its banks to a greater extent than had ever before been remembered. From the cathedral and spire of the town-house the inundation presented a striking and melancholy spectacle. The whole level country was covered with water, and the river with the wrecks it was floating away. The following day, many miles before reaching Andernach, the road was inundated by the Rhine, and it was necessary to embark in a boat and be towed up the stream by a number of men on the shore. The rope by which it was dragged against the rapid current frequently became entangled among the chimneys of houses and tops of trees, when suddenly getting loose, the boat ran great risk of being upset, to the extreme danger of the passengers. The night had begun to set in long before this dangerous voyage was completed, and the river was becoming more and more rapid, rushing against our boat with increasing violence. The darkness had increased so much that every object around us had become indistinct, and our situation truly perilous, when the full moon unexpectedly rising above the mountains of the Rhine, our apprehensions of danger were removed, and our feelings of anxiety lost, in admiration of the magnificence of the scenery around us. it blew a hurricane from W.S.W., by which the stream of the river, the upper part at least, was reversed, and the waters, running higher than ever remembered, soon caused the lower parts of the city and neighborhood of the embouchure to be inundated. At nine o'clock in the morning I attempted to cross the Voskresenskoy bridge of boats on my way to the General Naval Hospital, on the Wyborside, but was unable, owing to the great elevation. I then paid some professional visits, and at eleven called on Prince Narishkin, who had already given orders to remove the furniture from his lower apartments, the water then being above the level of the Fontanka canal opposite to his residence. From this time the rise was rapid, and at half-past eleven, when I returned to my house, in the great Millione, the water was gushing upwards through the gratings of the sewers, filling the streets and court-yards with which every house is provided. A servant took me on his back from the droshky, my horses at that time being above their knees, and conveyed me to the landing of the staircase. The wind now blew in awful gusts, and the noise of the tempest with the cries of the people in the streets was terrific. It was not long ere boats were seen in the streets with vast quantities of fire-wood and other articles floating about. As there was an ascent to my coach-house and stables, the water there attained but to four feet in depth; in most, however, it was necessary to get both horses and cows up to the landing places of the stairs in order to save them, though the loss of animals was great. Now and then a horse was seen swimming across from one pavement to another, the deepest part of the streets of St. Petersburgh being in the centre. The number of rats drowned on this occasion was inconceivable, and of dogs and cats not a few. The crisis seemed to be from one to three in the afternoon, at which hour the wind having veered round a couple of points to the northward, the waters began to abate, and by four o'clock the tops of the iron posts, three feet in height, by the side of the pavement made their appearance. The reflux of the water was tremendous, causing much damage, and carrying off fire-wood, boards, lumber, and all sorts of rubbish, with various articles of furniture. From the commencement of the inundation the report of the signal cannon, fired first at the Galleyhaven, at the entrance of the river, then at the admiralty dockyard, and lastly at the fortress, was continued at intervals as a warning to the inhabitants, and added not a little to the horror of the scene. At five o'clock, persons were seen on the pavements carrying lanterns, and the rattling of equipages was heard an hour afterwards. The depth of water in the different parts of the city varied from four to nine and ten feet; but along the border of the Gulf of Finland, and especially in the low suburb of the Galleyhaven before alluded to, the depth was from fourteen to eighteen feet, and many of the small wooden houses built on piles were carried away, inmates and all. A few were floated up the Neva, rocking about with poor creatures clinging on the roof. Some of these "The autumnal equinoctial gales most generally perished; others were taken off, at a great risk, prevail at St. Petersburgh from the south-west, by by boats from the admiralty yard, which had been which the waters of the Gulf of Finland and Neva ordered out by the express command of his imare much increased. So it was in 1824, and for perial majesty, who stood during the greatest part some weeks the wind continued from nearly the of the day on the balcony of the winter palace, same quarter. The night of the 18th of Novem- giving the necessary orders. The government ber was very stormy, and at daylight of the 19th | ironworks, near the shore of the gulf, and two Having reached Coblentz about midnight I crossed the river with difficulty the following afternoon to Ehrenbreitstein, from whence my journey was continued to Francfort without interruption. I saw from a hill between Limburg and Wiesbaden, to a distance, as far as the eye could reach, the Rhine and the Maine, like two arms of the sea covering the whole of the flat country, and it was estimated that no less than 50,000 persons were ruined by this extensive inundation. Passing through Wurtzburg and Nuremberg, I reached Ratisbon on the 15th of November. The wind blew and the rain fell without ceasing during the whole of my journey from Francfort. The Danube had risen as much above its ordinary level as the Rhine, and was rushing with its characteristic impetuosity, fearfully increased at this time, through all the fifteen arches of the old bridge of Ratisbon. It appeared to me surprising that this structure, which had been built seven hundred years before, should be able to withstand the force of such a mighty torrent. A frightful and disastrous inundation also took place at this time at St. Petersburgh, of which the following description has been furnished me by my friend Dr. Gibbs, of Exeter, then residing at St. Petersburgh : miles distant, were almost annihilated, and the loss of life was great. This establishment was after wards removed to the left and elevated bank of the Neva, five versts above the city. Vessels of various kinds, boats, timber, &c., floated over the parapets of the quays on the banks of the Neva | and canals, into the streets and squares, and were for the most part afterwards broken up for fuel. As the lower part of most houses in St. Petersburgh is occupied by shopkeepers and artizans of various descriptions, so these unfortunate people sustained much loss, and until their dwellings were considered to be sufficiently dried by means of stoves, found refuge and maintenance with their neighbors in the upper apartments. A German shoemaker with his family, lived below me, and in this way became my guests for the space of eight days. The wind continued providentially to get round to the north during the night of the 19th, and a smart frost taking place on the following morning, rendered the roads and streets extremely slippery, but doing much good by the dryness it produced. On the 20th, the Emperor Alexander, ever benevolent and humane, visited those parts of the city and suburbs most afflicted by this catastrophe, and in person bestowed alms and consolation to the sufferers, for the most part of the lower classes, and in every way afforded such relief, both then and afterwards, as won for him the still greater love and admiration of his people and of the foreign residents in St. Petersburgh. To assist the emperor's benevolent views, a subscription was entered into, and the British residents came forward, as usual, with their wonted liberality. As nothing official was published as to the actual loss of lives on this melancholy occasion, it is impossible to state otherwise than by report. The authorities were shy on this subject; but from what information I could obtain, twelve or fifteen hundred persons must have perished. Owing to the damp and unwholesome state of the lower parts of the houses and cellars, the mortality during the subsequent winter was nearly doubled, from typhus chiefly, as also from affection of the lungs; and many dated their rheumatic pains and various other maladies to the sufferings they then underwent." wounded, or made prisoners. It was the first battle in which the Emperor Alexander had been present, and from an eminence near the field he saw a great part of his army destroyed, and the remainder retreating in confusion upon Austerlitz, pursued by the enemy. His troops fought, I was assured, with the most determined bravery, and that the victory which the French gained was due entirely to the transcendant military genius of Napoleon. When the Russian and Austrian columns were descending from the heights which formed the key of their position, and were marching round the French, to attack their right wing, and cut off their communication with Vienna, Napeleon encouraged the allies to make this false movement, and before it was completed, he drove his masses of infantry, like a wedge, against their flank and centre, cut their army into two parts, and afterwards quickly routed them, as Lord Nelson had before done to the French fleet at Trafalgar, after breaking their line. Europe felt the shock of the battle of Austerlitz like that of an earthquake. "Henceforth we may close the map of Europe for half a century," said Mr. Pitt, on receiving the fatal tidings. But Alexander, though defeated, was not wholly vanquished on this occasion. He persevered, till his allies ceased to cooperate with him, and the entire subjugation of his empire was threatened, to discharge the solemn obligations he had sworn to fulfil during his nocturnal visit with the King of Prussia, a month before, to the tomb of Frederick the Great. After the battle of Friedland, he was compelled to yield to the force of circumstances which he could not control, and it is difficult to believe, that if Alexander had been desirous to conceal from the English government the secret articles of the treaty of Tilsit that they could have succeeded (by any bribe, however great) in obtaining so speedily a perfect knowledge of the means by which England was saved. The capture of the Danish fleet, which followed this discovery, there can be no doubt inspired the emperor with secret hope and joy. I continued my route through Poland by Cracow and Lemberg to Brody, and there entering Russia, traversed the Ukraine to Odessa, where I arrived The effects of this calamity were still visible on the 8th of January, 1825. The winter soon set more than a year after, when I visited St. Peters-in with great severity; the Black Sea on that burgh, subsequent to the death of the Emperor coast was frozen, and the communication with Alexander. The red painted lines on the houses Constantinople and the Mediterranean entirely cut still remained to mark the height to which the off. At the end of January a great quantity of waters had risen. In the inundation of 1752, snow fell and lay, both on the land and sea, till the the waters of the Neva rose eleven feet, and in commencement of April, when the ice floated that of 1777, the most extensive and destruc-away to the south, and vegetation began to appear tive that had ever before occurred, they rose on the steppe. Odessa, which had no existence fourteen feet above the ordinary level of the river. The Danube and the surrounding country were covered by a dense fog during my journey from Ratisbon to Vienna, where I arrived on the 21st of November, 1824, and set out for the Russian frontier on the 29th. The same evening I reached Brünn, the capital of Moravia, where I remained till the 2d of December, the anniversary of the battle of Austerlitz, which was fought near this town, nineteen years before. Here I met an Austrian cavalry officer, on his way from Italy to Gallicia, who was in the battle, and gave a vivid description of it. He said it commenced between eight and nine o'clock in the morning, and was nearly over by mid-day, and that in the very short space of four hours 40,000 men were either killed, half a century before this period, now contained upwards of 36,000 inhabitants and carried on an extensive commerce with Turkey and the countries in the south of Europe. In the eis of the town were seen Greeks, Jews asians, Poles, Germans, French, America, and English, in the costumes of their respective nations. The governor general, Count Woronzow, was surrounded with military and civil officers, who had either distinguished themselves in the public service or were eminent for their rank and talents. The dreary and monotonous winter months of Scythia passed quickly and agreeably away in the society of those who had served in the Persian, Turkish, and French wars; and who had witnessed both the burning of Moscow and the capture of Paris. Society at Odessa seemed as free and unrestrained as in London, and there was nothing apparent to a stranger from which it could at this time be suspected that a conspiracy existed to destroy the Emperor Alexander, and subvert the government of the country. sphex afterwards dragged the locust into a small grave it had previously dug in the ground for its reception, and covered it carefully with earth. The ultimate extinction of the locusts here obviously would be effected by this means, if none other were provided by nature for the purpose. The locusts, I was informed some years after, had entirely disappeared from these extensive steppes. On the 11th August, 1825, his excellency Count Woronzow and his suite embarked at Odessa on board Admiral Greig's yacht, and sailed for the Crimea. The Counts F. Pahlen, Olizar, Potoski, and the Baron de Brunow (now Russian minister in England) were among the number. The following evening we saw the land near Kosloff. At two o'clock on the morning of Sunday the 16th, we were off Sevastopole, in the midst of the Black Sea fleet, consisting of eight ships of the line and three large frigates. We went on board the admiral's ship, and after examining every part, heard divine service performed in the chapel, where all the sailors who could be spared were present. After this, a sham fight took place between the three frigates and the yacht. Admiral Greig then formed his own ship and seven other of the line into close order of battle, with all their sails expanded, and many tremendous broadsides were fired. We afterwards dined with the admiral, vice-admiral, and captains of the fleet. We parted from Admiral Greig at sunset, and made all sail for Yoursouff, on the south coast. The breeze was favorable, but towards morning it gradually died away, the vessel being about ten miles from the point called Criu Metopon, where the temple of Diana is supposed to have stood in the days of Iphigenia. During the 17th the weather was beautiful, there was not a breath of air, and the sea was like a placid lake. The following day, when opposite Jalta, the scene suddenly changed by the occurrence of a violent gale from the east, which drove the vessel back, and compelled us to take refuge in a bay near Balaclava. We passed the night at a village called Laspi, belonging to General Poitiers, all the inhabitants of which were suffering from fever, and in a wretched condition. On the 19th, taking Tartar horses, we rode through the valley of Baidar, and crossed the Ayla mountains by the passage of Foros, to the south coast, along which we passed eastward by Simeis, Aloupka, Musghor, Derekuy, Nikita, Masandra, and Orianda, to Yoursouff, the seat of During the summer I visited Kief, and the greater part of the country extending between the Dnieper and the Dniester, which was at that time suffering from the ravages of locusts. They appeared in the Crimea in 1819, and had continued in it until 1823-that year the crops were completely devoured by them. From thence they spread westward as far as Bessarabia, and to the north upwards of 300 miles from the sea, and in the autumn of 1824, their eggs had been deposited in the earth, not only in these fertile provinces, but throughout the whole tract of country extending eastward from the Dnieper beyond the Don, to the Caucassus. I had seen their ova during the winter dug out of the earth, when they presented the appearance of clusters of small yellow sacs or bags. In the month of May the young ones began to issue from the ground in myriads, at which time they did not exceed the fifth of an inch in length, and could only crawl along the surface. In a few weeks they had greatly enlarged, and could leap considerable distances, like grasshoppers. By the end of June they were able to fly a short way, and before the end of July they mounted high into the air and took long flights. At first they were of a blackish hue, and their heads were disproportionately large, but afterwards they became of a clear brown color, with wings of grey or rosy red. In some places they covered the ground completely, and were in a state of rest, but in others they were going slowly before the breeze, and resembled at a distance a sheet of gently flowing water. Around Novomigorod, in travelling from Biala Cerkiew, near Kief, to Odessa, the road was deeply covered with them, and they rose as our carriages approached, with a peculiar rattling noise, and in such numbers that they filled the air like flakes of snow in a storm. They swarmed in the streets of Odessa, in the vineyards, and on the surrounding steppe, at the beginning of August, and masses of the dead bodies of those drowned in the sea, covered the shore. There were everywhere two distinct varieties of these insects, one about three inches, and the other of half that length. The first kind was observed to bear a much greater proportion | to the other near the sea, than at a remote Count Woronzow. There are probably no scenes distance. There was a third variety, of a green color, but it was extremely rare, and in some places wholly wanting. In the neighborhood of Odessa, on the steppe, I observed vast numbers of a peculiar species of Sphex, or Ichneumon fly, employed in killing and burying the locusts. The fly insidiously sprung upon the locust, applying its long and powerful legs around the body, so that the victim could not expand its wings and escape. When exhausted with fruitless efforts to fly, the sphex applied the strong nippers with which its mouth is furnished around the neck of the locust and thrusting the dart with which it is also provided between the head and body in a few seconds deprived the locust of life. This dart I found to consist of two sharp spears, with a small tube between them, but whether connected or not with a poisonous sac was not ascertained. The fly remained for some time attached to the body of the locust after it was dead, probably for the purpose of depositing its ova within it. The in Europe which surpass in magnificence and beauty those around Aloupka, Masandra, and Orianda. "If there exists on the earth a spot which may be described as a terrestrial paradise," says Dr. Clarke, "it is that which intervenes between Kutchukoy and Sudac, on the south coast of the Crimea. Protected by encircling Alps from every cold and blighting wind, and only open to those breezes which are wafted across the sea from the south, the inhabitants enjoy every advantage of climate and situation. From the mountains continual streams of crystal water pour down upon the gardens, in which many species of fruit known in the rest of Europe, and many that are not, attain the highest perfection. Neither unwholesome exhalations, nor chilling winds, nor venomous insects, nor hostile neighbors, infest their blissful territory." During the month of September, 1825, the whole population of the Crimea between the mountains and the sea, all the inhabitants of " this terrestrial paradise," were in a very sickly condi- | happy people, the following morning, we were tion, and in the villages along the coast between not long in coming among the Nogay Tartars, Yoursouff and Simeis, I saw and treated more than where all was ignorance, poverty and wretcheda hundred cases of intermittent and remittent fever.ness. Light and darkness, civilization and barbaMany who had been suffering for months had en- rism, were here almost in contact. We remained largement of the liver and spleen, with jaundice two nights and a day at Sympheropole, where ] and dropsy. The weather, during the whole time had the satisfaction of giving professional aid to I remained on the south coast of the Crimea, was the daughter of Count Rostopschin, a name which delightful, and none of those sudden and violent will be preserved through all ages in the annals changes were observed which so frequently occur of Russia. in all the countries situated along the northern shore of the Black Sea. There could be little doubt that the fever which then prevailed on the coast and in the interior of the Crimea, was produced by noxious exhalations from the earth. After visiting all the most interesting places in the Crimea, I embarked on board Admiral Greig's yacht at Sevastopole on the 23d September, and returned to Odessa, with Count F. Pahlen, on the 1st of October. Count Woronzow at the same time set out for Taganrog, to meet the Emperor Alexander, who had arrived there with the empress a short time before, with the intention of spending the winter on the shores of the sea of Azoff. Before reaching Odessa, Count Pahlen was seized with severe shivering, headache, and the other characteristic symptoms of bilious remittent fever. The attack was far more violent and dangerous than in any of the cases which had before fallen under my observation, and he narrowly escaped with his life. Mr. Rose, an English gentleman, who had been in the Crimea with us, was also attacked after our return to Odessa, and died from effusion into the brain. The health of a considerable number of those who had been on the south coast of the Crimea at the same time, suffered severely for some months after, and in a few fever appeared in a severe form early the following spring. There was evidence to prove that almost all of us had suffered from malaria. On the 14th of October, 1825, (Q. S.) at Odessa, I received a letter from Count Woronzow at Taganrog, informing me of the emperor's determination to visit the Crimea, and requesting me to meet him at Bereslaw, on the Dnieper. I accordingly left Odessa in the afternoon of the same day, with General Bashmakoff, Messrs. Marini and Artemieff We arrived at Nicolaef in the afternoon of the 15th, and remained a few hours with Admiral Greig, who had just returned from Taganrog. It was a clear, beautiful night, the road was excellent, and we reached Bereslaw the following morning, at seven o'clock, where we remained during the day. This is a large town on the west bank of the Dnieper, which does not differ in appearance from the other towns in the south of Russia. There were many shops or bazaars in it, full of every kind of merchandise. Great numbers of wagons laden with salt from the Crimea, were then passing through, and large bodies of troops marching to join the army on the Turkish frontiers. The country around was extremely fertile, but the locusts had committed great havoc the year before, the peasants and landed proprietors being in a state of the greatest distress. We left Bereslaw in the afternoon, for the isthmus of Perecop, and after passing over an extensive plain of sand like the Llandes, near the Pyrenees, we entered the Crimea, and spent the night at the German colony of Nahitchwan. Here all was order, cleanliness and comfort, the population rapidly increasing, and additional grants of land required. On quitting these intelligent, On the 20th we left Sympheropole early in the morning, and passing rapidly over the steppe extending between the town and the mountains, crossed these in a calèche, by the new road which had lately been made to connect the shore of the Crimea with the interior. Many of the soldiers employed in completing this arduous work appeared sickly and depressed. Upwards of a hundred out of five hundred had suffered from fever during the autumn, but in none had the disease assumed a dangerous form. No less than a thousand soldiers had been employed in this important work the year before, and comparatively few of them, it was reported, had suffered from the effects of fever. The face of the country had changed since our former visit to the Crimea. The woods along the Salgir, and on the ChatyrDagh, were stripped of their leaves, though on entering the valley of Alushta the trees were still green. From the isthmus of Perecop to Yoursouff where we arrived on the 20th, preparations were being made for the reception of the emperor; the roads were being repaired, and all the cottages and houses in the line were being cleaned and whitewashed. The principal Tartar of the village of Yoursouff had been suffering severely from intermittent fever for several weeks, but the fits were speedily arrested by the calomel and sulphate of quinine which I administered to him. This latter remedy, which had never before been employed in the fevers of the Crimea, often stopped their course so quickly, that some of the ignorant Tartars were disposed to attribute the striking effects to supernatural influence. At The following morning we set out for Aloupka. It was like a summer's day in England, the thermometer in the shade being 17° of Reaumur. The tops of the mountains were, however, covered with dense clouds. The road along the sea-shore to Orianda from Yoursouff never appeared to me so beautiful before, and I could not pass Nikita and Masandra, without halting to admire the glorious scenery. The woods had lost a part of their verdure, but there were still many of the trees as green as during the autumn. The wild vine, which climbs to the tops of the highest trees, and the leaves of which were then of a deep red color. formed a striking feature in the scene. The walnut and fig trees were still fresh and green. Aloupka, in the evening, we walked around the gardens, the most romantic in the Crimea, where preparations were being made for planting forty lemon trees in the open air, which had been imported the previous year from Italy, and one of them, which had been exposed in the middle of the garden to the intense frost the preceding winter, was in a flourishing state. We returned to the Tartar house which was prepared for the emperor. Boards had been placed around the front of it, and whitewashed. The walls of the two chambers for his majesty's accommodation, had been surrounded with a coarse white linen cloth, and a very neat bed prepared. There were two chairs, a table, and a couch, and newly glazed windows | He expressed the strong displeasure he felt at the had been put in. In that climate one could not cruel treatment the poor Tartar woman had rehave desired a better habitation for a night, though ceived from the superintendent, and ordered that it was a common Tartar cottage. he should be severely punished. The death of We returned to Yoursouff on the 23d, and on Mr. Fondane, the governor of Kertche, from conthe following day one of the emperor's couriers sumption, had occurred not long before, and when arrived, and arranged all the apartments in the this was mentioned the emperor said, he thought house for his majesty and attendants. On the it would be possible to combine the offices of the 25th the emperor arrived at Sympheropole. He governors of Kertche and Theodosia, as the govwent to the service in the cathedral the follow-ernment of Taganrog was much more extensive ing morning, and he arrived at Yoursouff about than the two combined. Count Woronzow obfour o'clock in the afternoon, accompanied by served, that there would be a difficulty in effecting General Diebitch, Sir James Wylie, and a few this, because a great jealousy existed between the attendants. When he dismounted from his horse inhabitants of the two towns, which would be in front of the house at Yoursouff, Count Woron-increased by the change. The emperor, on the zow, his aides-de-camp, secretaries, and myself, contrary, thought it might be the means of reconwere standing in a line to receive him. ciling them to each other. The count said that Though apparently active, and in the prime and the people of Theodosia would never be reconciled vigor of life, the emperor stooped a little in walk-to it: that they would consider themselves placed ing, and seemed rather inclined to corpulency. He in a situation inferior to that of Kertche, and that, was dressed in a blue military surtout, with epau- in his opinion, it was not advisable. The emperor lettes, and had nothing to distinguish him from any general officer. He shook Count Woronzow by the hand, and afterwards warmly saluted him, first on one cheek and then on the other. He afterwards shook hands with us all, and then inquired of me particularly about the health of the Count's children at Baila Cerkiew, whom I had seen not long before. He then inquired if I had visited the south coast of the Crimea during the autumn, and if so, how I was pleased with it. Looking up to the mountains above Yoursouff, and then to the calm sea, upon which the sun was shining, his majesty exclaimed, "Was there ever such magnificent scenery!" I replied that the coast of Italy between Genoa and Nice presented the only scenery I had ever witnessed that could be compared to it-a part of Italy which his majesty stated he had never visited. still urged the practicability of the measure, which he said he had fully considered, and the count acquiesced in his majesty's decision, by admitting that no great harm could result from the experiment. The emperor then made many inquiries respecting the wealth and respectability of the merchants of Theodosia, to which such answers were given as appeared entirely satisfactory. There were oysters at dinner, and a small worm was adhering to the shell of one presented to his majesty. This was shown to Sir James Wylie, who said it was quite common and harmless, and he reminded the emperor of a circumstance which had occurred to them at the congress of Verona. A person at Venice had then sent to the emperor to entreat that he would abstain from the use of oysters, as there was a poisonous marine worm or insect in them. This led the conversation to the I set out from Yoursouff on the morning of the insects of the Crimea and the Ukraine, of which 26th of October, before the emperor, and rode I had made a considerable collection, and the emalong the coast to Aloupka. It was a sultry day, peror inquired of me if there were scorpions, scoand the scenery was rendered still more interesting lopendras and tarantulas in the Crimea. I said to me than on all former occasions, in consequence scorpions of large size were not uncommon, and of the Tartars having come from all parts of the that at Musghor, during our former visit, we found Crimea to see the emperor, on his way from Your- a scorpion of great strength in the apartment souff to Aloupka, where he arrived about four where we passed the night, but that it was harmo'clock. I was informed that a Tartar female less. Scolopendras of great length I had often complained to his majesty, at Orianda, of her hav-seen around Odessa, but not in the Crimea, nor ing been beaten and ill treated by the superintend- tarantulas, although, as I had been informed, they ent; when the offender was ordered to appear were not very rare. I heard of no instance during before his majesty, he threw himself upon his the autumn in which they had inflicted any injury knees and implored forgiveness. Alexander or- by their bites or stings. He said, he supposed dered him to be arrested, and said, with great sever- they were the same as in Italy, and then alluded ity, that it was an eternal disgrace to injure any to the dance for the cure of the bite of the taranfemale, more especially one in her situation, she tula; Sir James Wylie reminded his majesty of being pregnant. The emperor was greatly pleased the scorpion which was found in his bed at Verowith Orianda, and immediately determined to pur- na, and of the prescription which he had then chase the estate from Count Kisseloff, and build a written for the cure of the bites of the carbonari. palace there. Before coming to Aloupka he visited the vineyards at Martyan, and the Princess Galitzin and Musghor, distributing liberally to the poor in his way. Count Woronzow, General Diebitch, Sir James Wylie and myself, with one or two others, had the honor of dining with the emperor on this occasion, the last he was destined to enjoy. The emperor addressed himself chiefly to Count Woronzow, who was seated next to his majesty, and the greater part of the conversation was carried on in French and English. Again his majesty recurred to the beauties of Orianda, and thanked the count for the acquisition he had that day made for him. Then followed a long discussion on homœopathy, and the peculiar views of Hahnemann, which were at that time greatly in vogue, not only in Germany but in Russia. Sir James seemed rather more favorable to these views than I considered justified by the evidence upon which they were founded. He said he believed Hahnemann, with his extremely minute doses of medicines, cured as many patients as regular physicians did by their great ones, because he at the same time enjoined a rigorous diet. Count Woronzow inquired if Sir James would trust to Hahnemann's method of treatment in cases of inflammation of the brain or bowels, or in the fevers of the Crimea. Would |