The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 20, No. 120, October, 1867: A Magazine of Literature, Science, Art, and PoliticsVarious
General
The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 20, No. 120, October, 1867: A Magazine of Literature, Science, Art, and Politics
Various
American periodicals
The Prince passed the summer season outside of the city, a distance of
about twenty-five versts, at a splendid residence of his own, a marble
house about the size of the Fifth Avenue Hotel of New York City. Adjoining
it was a small theatre, or glass house, containing tropical fruits, and a
menagerie, where I first saw a llama, and the interior of the palace was
lined with pictures and statues. It was a magnificent building, but was
getting to be quite old, and the Prince used to talk of repairing it,
though he remarked it would cost many thousand roubles. This estate
contained many thousand acres, and four good-sized villages, and was about
eight miles square. I had here some of the happiest days of my life.
About this time I went with the Prince to Georgia,--his brother-in-law, a
general in that department, having been wounded by the Circassians under
Schamyl. We reached Tiflis, the capital of Georgia, in January, and
remained there until after the capture of Kars by the English and Turks.
While in the Caucasus, the Prince visited some of the neighboring parts of
Persia, including Teheran and some smaller towns, and he returned to Russia
by way of Novgorod.
After the death of Czar Nicholas, Alexander, his successor, gave the Prince
permission to travel where he chose, without limit of time, and on the 24th
of February he started, going first to Warsaw, and thence, via Cracow, to
Vienna. Here I remained for two months, in charge of his effects, while he
visited a sister in Pesth, in Hungary. On his return we went to Prague, and
thence to Dresden. At this place, I was greatly bothered by the children.
They said that they had never seen a black man before. But the thing which
most attracted them was my Turkish dress, which I wore all the time in
Europe. Every day, for the three weeks we remained in Dresden, whenever I
went to take my walk I was surrounded by them to the number of several
hundred. To keep myself from them, I used to ride in a carriage or on
horseback, but this was too expensive. I thought the way I could do best
was to be friendly with them. So I used to sit in the garden and speak
with them,--that is, those who could understand French. They took a great
liking to me, for I used sometimes to buy them fruits, candies, and other
things, spending in this way a large amount. Prince Troubetzkoy had a
brother, Prince Vladimir, living in Dresden, a very handsome and a very
excellent man, but suffering from consumption. He treated me very kindly,
and when we left gave me several very interesting books, both religious and
secular.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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