Page:Julian Niemcewicz - Notes of my Captivity in Russia.djvu/260

The Emperor, not satisfied with having thus revived the memory of his father, wished still to take a little vengeance on his lady, who had so neatly dispatched him. “My father and my mother,” said he, “were disunited during their life; I wish to unite them at least after their death. Let, then, a hall be prepared, where the two coffins may be exhibited, one beside the other.” He said,—and in a few days the hall was ready. It was adorned with all the emblems of sovereignty, and escutcheons of all the governments and provinces belonging to this immense empire; there were five crowns: those of the kingdom of Kazan, Astrakan, Siberia, and Taurida or Crimea; ducal coronets were numberless. Sceptres, globes, swords, in short, everything recalled to the imagination that, in those icy regions, so many millions of men are the property of a single master. As soon as the preparations were terminated, the removal of the ashes of Peter III. was ordered. I saw this procession, which was, undoubtedly, the most magnificent pageant that had