Before relating the fate of any of the other conspirators, we will add to the sad story of this young couple, that the wife sued for and obtained leave to follow her husband into banishment; she nobly shared his trials, his privations, and his labours in the mines. Her devotion had no limit; and it was by the trifling produce of her industry that she sustained her family. Five times, in these desolate regions, she became a mother. In the year 1838, she gave her husband a fresh proof of her sublime and unwearying affection. She quitted Siberia, and alone crossing the dreadful country, after a journey of _sixteen hundred leagues_, she threw herself at the feet of the Emperor, and implored his pardon for her husband. The autocrat was inflexible, and forbade the name of the individual who had dared to conspire against his person, to be mentioned in his presence. The wretched wife withdrew, and again retrod the desert path to exile and her husband. Four years subsequently, this hapless victim again resolved to undertake this dreadful journey, and to make another effort to soften the iron will of her sovereign. And this time she succeeded, through the influence of--_an opera dancer!_ * * * * * Marie Taglioni had by her talent, and her good qualities, acquired the favour and indulgence of the Emperor and the Empress. Whilst none dared to speak in behalf of the miserable exiles, or to utter the suppliant’s cry for mercy, it was suggested, that probably Marie Taglioni would venture to lay the petition at the Sovereign’s feet; she did so, and, aided by the noble intercession of the Empress, the pardon was obtained; and after sixteen years banishment the Prince Troubeitzkoï was released, but on the condition of never approaching the Russian territory. ❦ A reflection is attributed to the illustrious historian Edward Gibbon, which those who are capable of giving it just value ought more frequently to apply. “My lot,” he says, “might have been that of a peasant, a slave, or a savage; nor can I reflect without pleasure on the bounty of nature, which cast my birth in a free and civilized country, in an age of science and philosophy, in a family of honourable rank, and decently endowed with the gifts of fortune.” ❦ Lady Wortley Montague says of the Hervey family, “They were a clever but eccentric race, and of whom it was observed, that the world consisted of men, women, and Herveys.” ❦ [Sidenote: Coquetry.] Tacitus remarks of Poppea, the Queen of Nero, that she concealed a part of her face: to the end, that the imagination having fuller play by irritating curiosity, they might think more highly of her beauty than if the whole of her face had been exposed. ❦ [Sidenote: Charles V.]