About the end of the reign of the Emperor Paul I--that is to say, towards the middle of the first year of the nineteenth century--just as four o'clock in the afternoon was sounding from the church of St. Peter and St. Paul, whose gilded vane overlooks the ramparts of the fortress, a crowd, composed of all sorts and conditions of people, began to gather in front of a house which belonged to General Count Tchermayloff, formerly military governor of a fair-sized town in the government of Pultava. The first spectators had been attracted by the preparations which they saw had been made in the middle of the courtyard for administering torture with the knout. One of the general's serfs, he who acted as barber, was to be the victim. Although this kind of punishment was a common enough sight in St. Petersburg, it nevertheless attracted all passers-by when it was publicly administered. This was the occurrence which had caused a crowd, as just mentioned, before General Tchermayloff's house. SOME FAVORITE QUOTATIONS Air of frank good-nature which Macchiavelli so greatly admired All passions are deceitful Always in extremes, whether of enthusiasm or hatred Besieged on all sides by mediocrities Danger of driving the vanquished to despair Determination to exact his strict legal rights Disdainful words which brand as deeply as a red-hot iron Doubting spirit which was unhappily so prevalent Forgetfulness is the best cure for the losses we suffer Fundamentally nothing is great, you see, and nothing small God wills not that a sinner die, but that he live and pay Influence he had gained over the narrow-minded Interpolated according to the needs of the prosecution Italy and Greece seemed to be mere suburbs of Venice Jesus, Son of David and Mary Knew how short was the space between a prison and a tomb Let her keep the pearl for the same price she had paid for it Madly in love-that is to say silly and blind Method contrary to the laws of nature More absurd the reports, the more credence did they gain No vice which has not a counterfeit resemblance to some virtue Prejudices, which are sacred to the vulgar Put to the question ordinary and extraordinary So much a lover that love imposed silence on ambition The last thing I should desire would be to be as dead as he To draw back was to acknowledge one's guilt Too commonplace ever to arrive at a high position Vanity and self-satisfaction Very clear-sighted we can be about things that don't touch us Without fear of being called to account If you wish to read the entire context of any of these quotations, select a short segment and copy it into your clipboard memory--then open the plain text eBook below and paste the phrase into your computer's find or search operation. Entire Gutenberg Edition of Dumas Celebrated Crimes (3.4mb) https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext01/dcrim11.txt