It is frequently, indeed generally, the case for the proprietors to place many of their serfs out as apprentices to different trades, some as carpenters, others as hairdressers, shoemakers, tailors, cooks, milliners, dressmakers, &c. After their time is out, if their services be not required in their master’s house, they are furnished with a passport, and pay the poll-tax like Vassili, of whom I have spoken. In many of the châteaux the domestics are capable of doing all the work for the family: one makes the shoes and boots; another his master’s coat; a third, brought up as a coiffeur, is the valet; a fourth the head cook; a fifth the confectioner, who attends to all the preserves, pickles, and bonbons used in the establishment; his place is no sinecure, as the Russians eat a great quantity of these things, especially in the winter-time. In very large households there are serfs who have been educated as musicians and singers. One family with whom I was acquainted in St. Petersburg had a private theatre in which their own people performed operas in very good style: the orchestra and vocalists had all been trained at the owner’s expense expressly for his amusement. There was an old _noble_ (?), an acquaintance of my friends in Moscow, who was possessed of an enormous fortune, and who made it his boast that he was the greatest gourmand in Russia; his whole conversation was concerning savoury dishes and delicious meats, to the concocting of which his entire mental energies (if he had any) were devoted. His dreams were nothing but visions of soups, fricassées, and pâtés, varied with ragoûts, jellies, and macédoines. Whenever he called we were sure to hear that his genius had discovered some new combination of good things, which he seemed to think redounded as much to his honour as Napoleon’s victory at Austerlitz did to his, or as Newton’s discovery of the theory of gravitation. By excessively high living he had attained so preposterous a size, that the door of his carriage had to be made the entire width of one side to allow of his getting in and out: his eyes were almost buried in the fat of his cheeks, and his thick lips and heavy looks showed to what an extent he pursued the gratification of his favourite vice.