Page:Julian Niemcewicz - Notes of my Captivity in Russia.djvu/209

Rh weakness of my right hand, which trembled excessively, rendered my drawings yet worse, and more rough, but still it was an agreeable pastime for a prisoner.

I never dined before four o'clock, consequently for the most part by candle-light. They sent for my dinner to Orlow's palace, on the other side of the river, whither General Kosciuszko had been removed; it was always brought frozen, and it required a long time to warm it in the casemates. The Empress, who was liberal even in her cruelties, had said, that as our expenses were defrayed by her, she wished that we should be provided for sumptuously. This was an excellent opportunity for the officers, who were concerned, to defraud the treasury in a most scandalous manner. Every month the bills they made up amounted to I do not know how many thousand roubles. We should have lived like princes; we did not, however; but I must confess that we fared as gentlemen who were very well off: our dinner was composed of soup, boiled beef, entrée,