Скачать книгу

and Measures

      Approximate equivalents of old Russian measurements:

arshin = 28 inches or 71 cm
desyatina = 3.6 acres or 1.45 hectares
pood = 36 lbs or 16 kilograms
sazhen = 7 feet or 2.3 yards or 2.1 metres
vershok = 1.75 inches or 4.5 cm
verst = 2/3 or .66 mile or 1 kilometre

      LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

       Prince Andrei and Emperor Franz. Drawing by M.S. Bashilov, 1867.

       Wounded Rostov at the Campfire. Drawing by M.S. Bashilov, 1867.

       Battle of Austerlitz on 2 December 1805. Engraving by Bosque after the drawing by Charles Vernet.

       The Meeting of the Two Emperors at Tilsit on 25 June 1807. Engraving by Couché fils after the drawing by Zwiebach.

       Natasha Dancing at the Uncle’s House. Drawing by M.S. Bashilov, 1860s, Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow.

       Smolensk, 20 August 1812. Lithograph.

       The Battle of Borodino. Lithograph by Albrecht Adam.

       A sheet of Manuscript 107.

       Final sheet of Manuscript 107: “The End”.

      PART I

       TOLSTOY Photograph 1862 Autograph on mounting: “1862. I took this myself. Count L.N. Tolstoy. Photograph at Yasnaya Polyana.”

      I

      “Eh bien, mon prince, so Genoa and Lucca are now merely estates, the private estates of the Buonaparte family. Non, I warn you, if you don’t say this means war, if you still defend all these vile acts, all these atrocities by an Antichrist (for I really do believe he is the Antichrist), then I no longer know you, you are no longer mon ami, you are no longer, as you put it, my devoted slave. But, anyway, how do you do, how are you? I see I am frightening you, do come and sit down and tell me what’s going on.”

      These were the words with which, in July 1805, the renowned Anna Pavlovna Scherer, lady-in-waiting and confidante of the Empress Maria Fedorovna, greeted the influential and high-ranking Prince Vasily, who was the first to arrive at her soirée. Anna Pavlovna had been coughing for several days, and had what she called the grippe (grippe then being a new word, used only by the few), and therefore had not attended at court nor even left the house. All of the notes she had sent out in the morning with a scarlet-liveried servant had contained the same message, without variation:

      If, Count (or Prince), you have nothing better to do, and the prospect of an evening in the company of a poor invalid is not too alarming, then I should be delighted to see you at home between seven and ten o’clock.

      Annette Scherer.

      “Dieu,

Скачать книгу