Some thirty years ago considerable interest was aroused by the
publication, in the Nouvelle Revue, of Letters dealing with the
Society of the different European capitals. These letters were by
Count Paul Vassili. They were clever, amusing, and, it must be
owned, rather ill-natured letters. People wondered at the
extraordinary amount of truth which they contained, at the secrets
they revealed. The real name of their author to this day has never
been disclosed; yet Count Vassili existed. He held an important
post at the Russian Court, he had travelled widely, and everywhere
had been welcomed as befitted his rank in the world. Cynical,
intelligent, and wonderfully observant of everything that went on
around him, his greatest interest in life was to commit to the
leaves of a diary all that he saw or heard. That diary, which
stretches from the time of the Crimean War to the present year, it
was his intention to publish before he died. Alas, death came too
soon. The Count passed away a few months ago. Nevertheless, the
volumes which contained this diary became accessible, and their
contents are now given to the public with the conviction that they
will be read with the same interest that always attended the
writings of Count Vassili. At the same time, we would warn the
reader that the present volume is not historical, but merely
anecdotal. Yet sometimes anecdotes are also history. They very
often explain events wide in their influence over the affairs of
the world in general and Royal Houses in particular, which at first
sight seem extraordinary, whilst, in reality, they are but the
development of some small circumstance.
General
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