ence of her relatives, the authority of Alexander was obtained for the bridegroom to use the style and title of count. The first Count Koutaissoff was a Circassian slave, butler to Paul, and created by him first baron, and then count. When Souvaroff returned from his Italian campaign in 1799, Koutaissoff was chosen to convey the Emperor's congratulation. The old warrior was not over-pleased, and addressed the royal favorite thus: "Excuse, my dear Count, an old man whose memory is the worse for wear; but I can not call to mind the origin of your illustrious house- or perhaps you got your title for some great victory ?" "I never was a soldier, prince," replied the ex-valet. "Then no doubt you have been an ambassador ?" "I had the honor of serving his majesty as butler." "A very honorable capacity, my dear Count." Souvaroff rang the bell; his own butler appeared. "Look you, Trochsa!" said he "I keep telling you again and again that you must give up drinking and stealing, and you won't listen to me. Now look at that gentleman; he has been a butler like yourself, but being neither a drunkard nor a thief, you see him now a Grand Equerry to his Majesty, a knight of all the orders in Russia, and Count of the Empire. Follow his example!" While the titles of prince and count are eagerly accepted by the highest functionaries in the empire, the title of baron is of no social value whatever. Of the twenty baronies created by Peter, only eight exist as such, and four have been merged in countships. The dignity has fallen into contempt in Russia, for the same reason as the knight or baronet is in disrepute here. It has been made too common by being conferred on bankers, money-lenders, and doctors. Among the latter was Dr. Demsdale, who, besides his title, received £12,000 down, and an annuity of £500 for vaccinating Catherine II. and the Grand Duke Paul. Another notable baron was General Arakcheieff, whose name is synonymous with cruelty and wickedness. For daring to joke respecting this man the secretary of the St. Petersburgh Academy was exiled. The chairman having proposed the election of Arakcheieff, on the ground that he was the nearest nobleman to Alexander, M. Labzin rose and said, that "such being considered a competent qualification, he begged to propose Ilin Barkoff, the imperial coachman, not only as being the nearest to the emperor, but having a seat before his majesty." Whatever may be the merits or demerits of the present nobles of Russia, it would be difficult to find any aristocracy of which such a large proportion of its members have reason to be ashamed of their origin. THE PRINCE AND PRINCESS NAPOLEON. WE embellish our present number with portraits of two distinguished personages, the Prince Napoleon and his wife, the Princess Clotilde. The family name, so celebrated in the annals of modern history, and connected with the greatest captain of the age, with many of the famed battles of Europe; the personal relations they sustain to several Imperial sovereigns, and their recent visit to the United States, impart an interest to the persons and portraits of the Prince and Princess worthy to be preserved. The prospective relations they bear to the imperial throne of France enhance the interest. The portraits have been finely engraved by Mr. Sartain from photographs taken from life by Mr. Brady, of New-York. The artistic arrangement is our own. The likenesses are good, and will be instantly recognized by those who have seen the originals. A brief biographical sketch of each will suffice; simply premising that the imperial party arrived in the harbor of New-York, July twenty-seventh, 1861, on board the steam-yacht Jerome Napoleon, of some twelve hundred tons measurement. NAPOLEON JOSEPH CHARLES PAUL BoNAPARTE, second and only surviving son of Jerôme Bonaparte by his second wife, the Princess Frederique of Würtemberg, was born September ninth, 1822. He was educated chiefly in Austria and Italy, but he subsequently traveled in Switzerland, America, and Brussels, in each of which places he resided some time. His first appearance on the political stage was after the recall of the Bonaparte family to Paris, under the presidency of Prince Louis Napoleon. Being elected a member of the Legislative Assembly, the Prince Napoleon distinguished himself by his energetic support of ultra opinions, and soon became the recognized leader of the party of the Mountain. Since the accession of Napo leon III. to the Imperial crown, Prince Napoleon has abandoned extreme political views, and has become one of the most devoted and valuable supporters of the policy of the Emperor, by whom he is much esteemed and trusted. When the Anglo-French army was dispatched to the Crimea, Prince Napoleon received the command of a division of the French army. He fought with distinction at the Alma; but his health gave way soon after the army had emcamped before Sebastopol, and he was compelled to resign his command and return to France. Of the grand council of war which afterward met at Paris to arrange the campaign of 1855, Prince Napoleon was a member. But he was soon called to a more peaceful pursuit. When the grand exposition of the arts and manufactures of all nations at Paris was fixed to take place in 1855, Prince Napoleon was appointed president and chief director of the whole proceed ings. To this great work he devoted all his energies, and it is universally admitted that much of its success was owing to his great knowledge, tact, administrative ability, and untiring diligence. The ju rors, and especially the foreign jurors, were particularly indebted to him for the most friendly assistance and constant support; and the exhibitors owed no little to his zeal and sympathy. The Prince Napoleon had devoted great attention to political, social, and commercial studies; and in respect to the commercial code of France he is understood to hold opinions far more liberal than those of the great bulk even of the commercial public of that country. The visit of Prince Napoleon to this country in its present exciting crisis, under the supposed and kind auspices of the Emperor, in part at least, and to observe carefully our national movements, will form an interesting chapter in the Prince's personal history. Such a mission, so unobtrusive and unassuming on the part of the Prince, to learn the exact state of things on the great field of our national struggle, and thus be able to convey to the Emperor the result of his careful observations, is worthy of the Prince and the renowned sovereign who now fills the Imperial throne of France. The Prince, as our readers know, is first cousin to the Emperor, and next to the Prince Imperial is heir to the throne of the Napoleons. The Prince, as is generally believed, possesses the entire confidence of the Emperor, his august cousin, and is thus well fitted to undertake such a mission to the United States as he has just performed. The Prince is now in his fortieth year, and no one looking at his finely develop ed head can fail to see the impress of the lineaments of Napoleon I. The reader is referred to the portrait itself to fill out his own impression, only adding that the insignia of the honors conferred upon him are such as he wore on his breast when his photograph was taken in Paris about a year since. The Princess Clotilde-her full name is MARIE THERESE LOUISE CLOTILDE—is the daughter of Victor Emmanuel, King of Sardinia, and now King of Italy, by the wonderful renovation of that classic land and its restoration to the great family of nations. The Princess was born in Turin in 1843, and is now in her nineteenth year. Her marriage with the Prince was supposed at the time to form, or to increase, the strong bonds of amity between the two governments, France and Sardinia. Thus these two personages form a political and historic link between two | impressions of the appearance of this amiaempires, even with the colossal Alps intervening. In size the Princess is rather petite, and has an Italian complexion and features, and is very prepossessing and unassuming in her manners. The reader is referred to her graceful portrait to complete his ble personage. The kind treatment which the Prince received by the authorities in this country at Washington, Philadelphia, New-York, and Boston, and wherever he went, is too recent and well known to require mention in these pages. From Chambers's Journal. TRADITIONS OF THE GREENLAND ESQUIMAUX. In the tenth century, before Christian- | island he called Erik's Island. The next ity had been preached in the northern summer, he visited a fiord which offered lands where Thor and Odin reigned supreme, there fled from Norway to Iceland a chieftain named Thorwald-with his son Erik, afterward named the Red-to avoid the consequences of one of those deeds of violence which were so frequent at that period. Soon after the death of Thorwald, Eric, imitating his father, quarreled with his neighbors; and after several bloody meetings between these and his party, Erik was outlawed by the Thing, or Icelandic parliament, and was forced to hide himself, or flee to escape the vengeance of his enemies. In this predicament, he remembered to have heard that one Gunbiorne, whilst sailing round Iceland, had seen a great land to the westward. This land Erik determined to explore; and having fitted out a ship, he sailed with his party from Eriksvaag, in Iceland, in the year 982, promising his friends to return if he succeeded in discovering the great unvisited western land. Sailing westward, Erik soon got sight of the new land; but a stream of ice prevented his getting near the coast, and he therefore shaped his course to the southward, examining the shore for approachable and habitable land, which he first met with at a place he named Hvarf, supposed to be a little to the westward of Cape Farewell. During three years, he explored the country with its numerous fiords, passing the first winter upon an to these enterprising wanderers a retuge such as they sought; in fact, far surpassing what the aspect of the outer coasts could have allowed them to hope for. Here, instead of bleak rocks and moun tains bare, except where covered with ice and snow, they found grassy dales decked with flowers, and bushes of willow and birch, through which meandered rivulets of clear water from the melting snows on the mountains. Ptarmigan were on the hillsides, and reindeer in the valleys; whilst the bays were well stocked with fish and seals, and the streams and lakes with trout and salmon. Here Erik decided to establish his home, and he called the fiord Erik's Fiord. He built his house against the flat upright side of a rock-a Brat in Icelandic-from which circumstance the settlement was called Brattelid. The ruins of this house, built of immense blocks of jaspery sandstone, are still to be seen, with one wall almost entire. Erik returned to Iceland, and described his new country as a desirable home, calling it Greenland, perhaps because he knew the value of a name to entice emigrants, or because the name, however unsuited to the outer sea-coasts, was really applicable to all the habitable interior of South-Greenland. His glowing descriptions, aided by the general spirit of enterprise, soon succeeded in inducing a large body of Icelanders to seek a better home in his newly explored country. Whilst this expedition was preparing, Erik found himself obliged to fight again with his old enemy Thorgest, and was worsted; but they at length became reconciled. After this, Erik pushed forward his preparations for his second voyage to Greenland; and in the spring of this year (986) he led a fleet of twenty-five ships, with emigrants, cattle, etc., to people the new land. Of these ships, some were lost, others reached unknown coasts, and but fourteen are said to have arrived at their proper destination. We can easily account for this, when we remember that these ancient mariners had no compass, that fogs are prevalent on these coasts, and that, even in our day, aided by compass and science, the voyage is one requiring the skill of experienced navigators. Erik's ship was among the fourteen which arrived safely. The several chiefs who accompanied the expedition each took possession of one of the fertile fiords which Erik had discovered. Nine of these chiefs settled in the southern districts, near Juliansbaab; others went northward, and settled in Godthaab's district; and it is curious to observe, from the existing ruins, that throughout the whole length of this coast, no place capable of affording sustenance to cattle, or well supplied with fish and game, was neglected by these early settlers and their descendants. When the traveler has passed the immediate entrance of the fiords, where the steep and rocky mountains are generally barren and forbidding, he comes, as he proceeds inward, to verdant dales and grassy slopes, where he almost always finds some evidences of the former presence of the old Scandinavian settlers, in fields inclosed by stone walls now fallen, ruins of churches, convents, or houses and stables for cattle; but an unbroken solitude now reigns where formerly thronged a busy multitude. Judging from the accounts in the Icelandic sagas, and from the number and extent of the various ruins, there must have been at one time not less than ten thousand Scandinavian inhabitants; but now the men, their language, their customs, and their religion are alike extinct; and these heaps of stones alone remain to prove that they once were there. When Erik and his followers first settled in Greenland, rumors of the Christian faith had just reached Norway, but he and his followers were worshipers of Odin and Thor. In the year 1000, Erik's son made a voyage to Norway, and visited the King, Olaf Trygveson, who had embraced the new faith, and Lief and his crew were per suaded to allow themselves to be baptiz ed, and to adopt the Christian religiou. Lief remained all the winter with the King, who was very kind and hospitable to him, paying him great attention, because he saw in him a means of introducing the Christian faith into Greenland; and it appears that Lief on his return labored zealously in the cause, and greatly assisted and protected several monks who went with him. His mother, Thiodhilde, was the first convert, and her example was followed by many of the colonists. She built a church at Brattelid, in which prayers and services were frequently performed; but Erik the Red steadily refused to forsake his old faith, and it is very questionable if he ever altered his determination. Not less remarkable than Erik's discovery was that by a Greenland colonist of the coast of America. Herjulf had settled at Herjulfsnaes when Erik returned to Brattelid; he had a son named Biarne, a young man who had a ship of his own in Norway. When he sailed to Iceland, he found that his father had gone with Erik to Greenland; he took counsel with his crew, and they came to the determination to go on and discover the green land where his father was, although none of them had ever been in the Greenland seas. They sailed for three days until they lost sight of land, when they met with a northerly wind and fog. They knew not where they were, so lay-to for several days; afterward they again saw the sun and stars, hoisted sail, and at last saw land. They wondered what land it could be; but Biarne thought it could not be Greenland. They sailed closer in, and found the land destitute of mountains, but with bush-covered hills; they therefore, with this land on the left, sailed to the northward two days, when they again saw land ahead; this was also low land covered with bushes. Biarne said: "This also can not be Greenland, for it is said, there are there many large icebergs and mountains." They therefore turned the prow from land, and sailed with a southwest wind for three days, when they again saw land. This was mountainous, and 1861.] TRADITIONS OF GREENLAND. there were icebergs in the water; but 66 Now both in Norway and Greenland went the rumor abroad of Biarne's voyage, and of the promising lands he had discovered on the way, and it greatly added to the general disposition for adventure and discovery. Lief, Erik's son, who had lately returned as a Christian to Greenland, was the first to undertake a voyage in search of these lands. He sought out Biarne, bought his ship, and collected a crew of thirty-five men. He requested his father to accompany him, and take command of the expedition, and the old man at last agreed; but as he rode from Brattelid to the ship's harbor, his horse stumbled with him, and fell. This appeared to Erik a bad omen, and he said: "It is not permitted me to discover other lands than the one we now inhabit; I can not go with you;" and he returned to his house. Lief and his party sailed, and found first the land which Biarne had last seen; they landed, and saw but barren mountains, with loose blocks of stone covering their slopes down to the sea-shore. Lief called this place Helleland the Stony. They sailed further, and again saw land; went ashore, and found fine grass-covered lands. This.they called Markland. Again they sailed with north-west wind until they saw land ahead; they entered a shallow bay, where the ship was aground at the ebb-tide. The country appeared so pleasant that Lief determined to remain there during the winter, and examine it more closely. They therefore drew the ship up into a lake, and built large houses. Here they noticed that day and night were more equal than in Greenland, and that on the shortest day there was sunlight from eight in the morning until four in the afternoon. They must therefore have been near Massachusetts. In this country they found wild grapes, so Lief gave it the name of Viinland. VOL. LIV.-No. 4 When spring came, they loaded the ship with timber, and taking a good supply of dried grapes, sailed with a fair wind until they again saw Greenland; and now had Lief the good-fortune, through his sharp sight, to rescue a shipwrecked crew from a reef, and therefore he was called Lief the Lucky; and with goods and honor he safely reached his father's house at Brattelid. From this time up till 1013, during which Erik the Red had died, and Lief succeeded him in the chieftainship, his relatives made several voyages to Viinland, and his brother Thorwald was one of the foremost. He was the first who met with the natives, Indians or Esquimaux ? On the first occasion, he met with a party of nine, eight of whom his men slew, the one escaped; shortly after came a numerous party of natives in skincovered boats, from the interior of a bay. The Scandinavians had mostly fallen asleep, when a voice was heard crying: "Awake, Thorwald, and all thy folk, if you will preserve your lives!" Thorwald saw the danger, and determined to go on board the ship and act on the defensive. A fight ensued; the natives shot their arrows and retreated; but Thorwald was mortally wounded, and was buried there with two crosses over his grave. His followers returned to Greenland. Many expeditions followed, and attempts were made during three centuries to establish Scandinavian colonies in America; but it appears that the natives were too numerous and troublesome, and that the Scandinavians never succeeded in permanently establishing themselves in the country. In Greenland, however, they met with better success; and a constant trade was carried on between that country and Norway up to about the year 1400, when the intercourse between these countries ceased. The colonies were left to themselves, owing to the long-continued wars; and at last the route to Greenland was forgotten. At this time, there were in the southern district twelve large parishes, and one hundred and ninety villages, a bishop's see, and two convents. In the mean time, quarrels arose between the natives of Greenland (Esquimaux) and the Scandinavians, which apparently ended in the destruction of the latter; for when, after many futile attempts to discover the "lost land," as 36 |