‘There was at Anne’s Court a Prince de G----, who had practically become its jester. The empress wished to get him married, and they chose him a wife more or less likely to fall in with his eccentric habits. In order fitly to celebrate the nuptials, they constructed, as I told you, a palace of ice on the Neva. The columns, the walls, the wainscoting, the furniture in the interior, such as the tables, the lustres, and even the bed of the newly-married couple, was absolutely of frozen water, shaped by cunning artificers. In order to give more variety to this extraordinary construction, blocks of coloured chiselled ice had been employed in the ornamentation of the structure. When sumptuous carpets had been spread in the apartments, and thousands of wax tapers had been lighted, the Court repaired in sleighs to this fantastic place, and the fête commenced. Cossack dances to the strangest music were performed, then there was a supper, partaken of by ever so many guests. In the midst of the banquet four Cossacks brought in with great pomp a whole ox with gilded horns, which had been roasted on the ice in the court of the palace. After having made the round of the table, this monstrous roast was given to the servants. Then came the moment for putting the newly-married couple to bed; the signal was given with a salvo of artillery from ordnance made of ice. ‘Up to that moment everything had gone well with poor G---- and his wife. But when they had been undressed and put to bed, and the ice began to melt around them, their gestures and countenances were not in the least expressive of the tender passion, whether hallowed or not. And as, according to ancient usage, all this was taking place in the presence of the Court, they did not dare to leave their couch, and were by no means pleased with this bit of imperial recreation. Save the wedding-ceremony, however, the tradition of this extraordinary and magnificent palace has been kept up to the present day, and I am sorry the members of the fêtes-committee did not revive the spectacle of an immense castle built of ice.’