If all that one hears be true, the Russia of to-day is very different from what it was at the time of which I am writing. The great hospitable houses are, so I am told, many of them shut up. The Winter Palace itself is no longer the setting of pageants and festivities of which the slaves of the ring and the lamp might have been the stage-managers and chamberlains. Misfortune, sorrow and cruel anxieties have racked the Imperial Family, and the gaiety of a nation has been eclipsed. One can but hope that it may be only a passing eclipse, only a temporary cloud, through which in years to come the sun may shine more brightly than before.[43] It was radiant in my day. It would be difficult to imagine anything more sumptuous than a great Court ball. There were one thousand eight hundred guests, themselves all as brilliant as the glory of diamonds and rubies and pearls and the most magnificent uniforms could make them. The great white and gold ball-room, with an orchestra at each end, flanked by arches leading into a winter garden rich in palms and tree-ferns and flowers and all the wonders of tropical vegetation, was lighted by twenty-seven thousand candles arranged spirally round the pillars and in crystal chandeliers. The Corps Diplomatique were ushered into the adjoining drawing-rooms, where they were received by old Count Ribeaupierre, the _grand maître de la Cour_, himself a notable link with the past, for he had been page of honour to the Empress Catherine. Presently the doors were thrown open and the Imperial family trooped in; the Emperor as usual very regal, half a head taller than any man in the room, wearing a white hussar uniform trimmed with gold and black sables; the Empress covered with the spoils of Ophir and Golconda. They went round our circle, stopping to speak to the chiefs of missions and their wives. It was a lesson to watch that gracious Lady and the winning way in which she made her guests welcome with a charm that could only come from the sweetest nature. When the little reception was over we followed Their Majesties into the ball-room. It really was a dazzling sight. At a given moment all the one thousand eight hundred guests sat down to supper at the same time; only the Emperor remained standing, himself looking after the comfort of his guests.