Page:Julian Niemcewicz - Notes of my Captivity in Russia.djvu/262

234 another; then followed the dignitaries and great officers of state, bearing various emblems of royalty—crowns, sceptres, swords, ducal coronets, orders, and ribbons of every colour and description. Then appeared the hearse, drawn by eight grey horses, with housings, and surmounted by an immense coffin, hung with crimson velvet, and bordered with gold fringes and tassels. This was immediately followed by the imperial family; namely, all the little princesses, first the oldest ones, after them the beautiful Princess Alexandra Paulowna, the two Grand-Dukes with their Grand-Duchesses, the Empress, and last of all, the Emperor himself, surrounded by the first dignitaries of the empire. Various detachments of the troops closed the procession. Though the thermometer stood, on this day, eighteen degrees below the freezing point of Réaumur, they proceeded all in slow and stately pace, and seemed to be attired in dresses suitable for the occasion, and the rank of each, at least as far as the outward appearance was concerned. When the