The Comte de Rechberg’s Work on the Governments of the Russian Empire--The King of Bavaria--Polish Poem of Sophiowka-- Madame Potocka, or the Handsome Fanariote--Her Infancy-- Particulars of her Life--A Glance at the Park of Sophiowka-- Subscription of the Sovereigns--Actual State of Sophiowka. The Comte Charles de Rechberg had written an interesting work on the fifty-two governments of the Russian Empire. The book, both historical and picturesque, deals with the ethnology of the peoples from the Great Wall to the Baltic, and from the Crimea to the Pole. It contains an exact description of the various provinces considered in their political and commercial aspects, and researches on the archæological curiosities still to be found there, which study is calculated to elucidate some migrations of the primitive peoples. The greatest lavishness had been displayed in this publication, which was enhanced by magnificent coloured engravings. The price, which varied from 1800 to 2500 francs, might have been an obstacle to the success of the work; fortunately Rechberg found one of the most powerful auxiliaries in his sovereign, the King of Bavaria. From having been the patron of the Altar, that excellent prince wanted to become the patron of the Book. He recommended it everywhere, with that particularly happy-go-lucky and paternal unaffectedness which made him positively worshipped by every one. He solicited subscriptions, and thanks to this benevolent intervention, the comte disposed of a great number of copies. Such a success, obtained in a gathering of so many diverse personages, gave me the idea of likewise printing a work, inspired by the Muse of Poetry. In 1811 I had spent at Tulczim, the seat of Comtesse Sophie Potocka, a twelvemonth which was practically tantamount to a whole lifetime if counted by the happiness vouchsafed to me then. Very often I accompanied the countess to Sophiowka, a garden situated close to Humeng, and one of the most charming creations the mind could conceive. The Comte Félix Potocki, in order to immortalise the woman whom he worshipped, had given proof of a magnificence in taste which surpassed everything Europe had to show of that kind. Trembecki, the most celebrated poet of Poland, had at the age of seventy recovered all the fire of his youth, and composed on that garden a poem which practically passes for a masterpiece. There are, in fact, few educated Poles who do not know some fragments of that poem by heart.