b o o k w e had mufic during dinner, which indeed generally
■ made a part of the entertainment at the tables of the nobility.
We obferved alfo another very ufual inftance of parade
; namely, a great number of retainers and dependents,
mixed with fervants, but feldom aififting in any menial office:
they occafionally flood rohnd their lord’s chair, and
feemed infinitely pleafed whenever they were diftinguilhed
by a nod or a fmile.
In this train there was an Armenian not long arrived
from Mount CaUcafus, who, agreeably to the cufiom of his
country, inhabited a tent pitched in the garden, and covered
with a thick kind of felt. His drefs confifted of a long loofe
robe tied with a iaih, large breeches, and boots : his hair
was cut, in the manner of the Tartars, in a circular form ;
his arms were a poignard, and a bow of buffalo’s horn ftrung
with the finews of the fame animal. He was extremely attached
to his matter: when he was firft prefen ted, he voluntarily
took an oath of fealty, and fwore, in the true language
of Eaftern hyperbole, to attack all the count’s enemies,
offering, as a proof of the fincerky of this declaration,
to cut off his own ears; he alfo wifhed that all the ficknefs,
which at any time threatened his matter, might be transferred
to himfelf. He examined our clothes, and feemed
delighted with pointing out the fuperiority of his own drefs
in the article of convenience; he threw himfelf into different
attitudes with uncommon agility, and defied us to follow his
example ; he danced a Calmuc dance, which confifted in
ftraining every mufcle, and writhing his body into various
contortions without ftirring from the fp o t : he beckoned
fometimes weighing thirty pounds. M r. he has accompanied with an accurate de-
Pennant has given an engraving o f thefe fcription*
fheep in bis Hiilory o f Quadrupeds, which
US
us into the garden, took great pleafure in fhowing us his CHAP-
tents and his arms; and ihot feveral arrows to an amazing. .
height. W e were ftruck with the unartificial character of
this Armenian, who feemed like a wild-man juft beginning
to be civilized.
.Count Orlof, who is very fond of the manege, is efteemed
to have, though not the largeft, yet the fineft ftud in
Ruflia: and he was fo obliging as to gratify our curiofity
by carrying us to fee it near his country-houfe, at the
diftance of about fifteen miles from Mofcow. He conveyed
us, in his own carriage drawn by fix horfes, har-
neffed with ropes, and placed two in front, and four a-breaft
in the hinder row : an empty coach, with fix horfes, ranged
two by two, followed for parade. He was attended by four
huffars, and the above-mentioned Armenian accoutred with
his bow and quiver: the latter continually fhouted and
waved his hand with the ftrongeft expreifions of tranfport;
he occafionally galloped his horfe clofe to the carriage, then
fuddenly flopped, and wheeled round to the right or left
with inconceivable rapidity.
In pur route we patted feveral large convents, furrounded,
like many of the monafteries in w this countr■y> 7, with ' ftronsQ:
walls and battlements of brick, fo as to have the appearance
of fmall fortreffes; crofled the Moikva twice, and came in
about two hours into a fpacious circular plain of luxuriant
pafture, in the midft of which rifes an in.fulated hill, with
the count’s houfe on the top. This feat commands a beautiful
view of the circular plain, watered by the Moikva, and
ikirted by gentle hills, whofe fides prefent a rich variety of
wood, corn, and paftures.
O o a The