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Letters from the shores of the Baltic
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1844 ...all military is useless in a country where to be a man is to be a soldier, and every means were employed to prepare for a struggle, by spreading disaffection among the soldiery, who, to do them justice, were only turned from their duty by an artful misrepresentation of the same, or by a direct fabrication of the emperor's while Bestucheff, one of Russia's first writers, employed his pen in publishing seditious and exciting poems and addresses. Proceeding thus from one extreme to another, each fresh meeting of the conspirators gave birth to wilder schemes of government, all pointing at selfaggrandisement in various shapes, while, with brutal sang froid, the imperial family were condemned to a general massacre; Pestel coolly counting on his fingers up to thirteen necessary murders, adding, " I will prepare the bravos to deal the blows; Baryatinski has several ready." With their bloodthirstiness, however, their disorders kept pace, almost every sitting terminating in dissensions which nullified their resolves; and thus, under God's providence, the Emperor Alexander slept safe in his bed though a traitor not seldom mounted guard at his door. For it is remarkable, that, of several who assumed the night-watch at the palace expressly for the purpose of murdering the emperor in his sleep, not one was found capable of carrying this plan into execution. From time to time, it is believed, intelligence of this plot reached him, but weary with the weight of a Russian diadem, and careless of his own life, he gave the subject no attention. In the June preceding his death, however, these reports (deserters from the cause not being wanting) assumed too responsible a shape to be neglected, and at Taganrog, whence he never returned, precautionary means were t...
1 pages, Unknown Binding
Published January 1, 1970
About the author
Elizabeth Rigby Eastlake
106 books5 followersElizabeth Rigby, Lady Eastlake, was an English art critic.
She was born in Norwich into the large family of Edward and Anne Rigby. Her father, a physician and classical scholar, and her mother included her in their social life and conversation with prominent citizens and intellectuals.
In 1842, the widowed Anne Rigby moved with her daughters to Edinburgh, where Elizabeth's literary career brought entry to an intellectual social circle including prominent figures such as Francis Jeffrey, John Murray and David Octavius Hill, who photographed her in a series of about 20 early calotypes, assisted by Robert Adamson.
In 1849, Elizabeth married Sir Charles Lock Eastlake, artist, connoisseur, Director of the National Gallery in London, and in 1853 the first president of the Photographic Society. She joined him in an active working and social life, entertaining artists such as Landseer and mixing with a wide range of well-known people, from Lord Macaulay to Lady Lovelace. Her habit of continental travel continued through the 1850s and 1860s as she and her husband toured several European countries in search of new acquisitions for the gallery.
In 1857, she published her essay Photography, one of the earliest commentaries on it, effectively denying 'works of light' a place among the fine arts, and detailing its permeation of nineteenth-century culture, its social institutions and the home, pronouncing it “a household word and a household want”.
She continued to write prolifically, helping to popularise German art history in England, both as critic and as translator (Waagen and Kugler). Sometimes, she collaborated with her husband, and she wrote a memoir of him after his death in 1865.
Italian art also absorbed her attention; Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Titian, Raphael and Dürer were the subjects of her Five Great Painters (1883). In 1895 her nephew Charles Eastlake Smith edited her Letters and Correspondence.
In the 20th century, aside from her Photography, she was remembered mostly for her scathing review of Jane Eyre, of which she strongly disapproved. She disputed the morality of the novel, writing that ‘the popularity of Jane Eyre is a proof how deeply the love for illegitimate romance is implanted in our nature’ and summarising with ‘It is a very remarkable book: we have no remembrance of another combining such genuine power with such horrid taste’.
She is also known for her attacks on John Ruskin, assumed to be linked to her role as confidante to his estranged wife, Effie Gray.
She was born in Norwich into the large family of Edward and Anne Rigby. Her father, a physician and classical scholar, and her mother included her in their social life and conversation with prominent citizens and intellectuals.
In 1842, the widowed Anne Rigby moved with her daughters to Edinburgh, where Elizabeth's literary career brought entry to an intellectual social circle including prominent figures such as Francis Jeffrey, John Murray and David Octavius Hill, who photographed her in a series of about 20 early calotypes, assisted by Robert Adamson.
In 1849, Elizabeth married Sir Charles Lock Eastlake, artist, connoisseur, Director of the National Gallery in London, and in 1853 the first president of the Photographic Society. She joined him in an active working and social life, entertaining artists such as Landseer and mixing with a wide range of well-known people, from Lord Macaulay to Lady Lovelace. Her habit of continental travel continued through the 1850s and 1860s as she and her husband toured several European countries in search of new acquisitions for the gallery.
In 1857, she published her essay Photography, one of the earliest commentaries on it, effectively denying 'works of light' a place among the fine arts, and detailing its permeation of nineteenth-century culture, its social institutions and the home, pronouncing it “a household word and a household want”.
She continued to write prolifically, helping to popularise German art history in England, both as critic and as translator (Waagen and Kugler). Sometimes, she collaborated with her husband, and she wrote a memoir of him after his death in 1865.
Italian art also absorbed her attention; Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Titian, Raphael and Dürer were the subjects of her Five Great Painters (1883). In 1895 her nephew Charles Eastlake Smith edited her Letters and Correspondence.
In the 20th century, aside from her Photography, she was remembered mostly for her scathing review of Jane Eyre, of which she strongly disapproved. She disputed the morality of the novel, writing that ‘the popularity of Jane Eyre is a proof how deeply the love for illegitimate romance is implanted in our nature’ and summarising with ‘It is a very remarkable book: we have no remembrance of another combining such genuine power with such horrid taste’.
She is also known for her attacks on John Ruskin, assumed to be linked to her role as confidante to his estranged wife, Effie Gray.
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August 24, 2014Could not get interested in this to save my life; I was forcing myself to read and reread passages before I gave up. Barely made any headway.
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