1. I.
WE are about to relate a story
of mingled fact and fancy. The
facts are borrowed from the
Russian author, Petjerski; the
fancy is our own. Our task
will chiefly be to soften the outlines
of incidents almost too sharp and rugged for literary
use, to supply them with the necessary coloring and
sentiment, and to give a coherent and proportioned
shape to the irregular fragments of an old chronicle.
We know something, from other sources, of the
customs described, something of the character of the
people from personal observation, and may therefore the
more freely take such liberties as we choose with the rude,
vigorous sketches of the Russian original. One who happens
to have read the work of Villebois can easily comprehend
the existence of a state of society, on the banks
of the Volga, a hundred years ago, which is now impossible,
and will soon become incredible. What is strangest
in our narrative has been declared to be true.
