Page:Julian Niemcewicz - Notes of my Captivity in Russia.djvu/120

92 Those images are the penates or fetiches of the Russians. St. Nicholas ranks with them just after the Empress, and immediately before the Everlasting Father. A Russian scarcely enters an apartment, ere he turns to the image and worships it, by bowing and crossing himself nine times. They take those images with them to the camp, and on board the men-of-war. I saw at Abo, in the possession of a Swede, the commander of a squadron, such a St. Nicholas in a silver frock, taken on board of a Russian xebec.

They did not conceal any longer from us that we were going to St. Petersburg. As we advanced to the capital, couriers were passing to and fro with more rapidity, and the conversations and whisperings of our attendants became more frequent. Titow, either from malice or ignorance, talked to us only of the clemency and generosity with which we were to be treated. A despatch, however, which he received in our presence, soon destroyed whatever little faith we had in his words, for the address, written in large