The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1894-11-05

always substituted for dinner. after
which he would drive to the theatre.
winch was the feature of city life that
ne enjoyed. The drama no appreciates
ana encourages; the opera he loves and
enjoys. He is peculiarly susceptible to
the soothing influence of music. and. al
Ihough he manifests prediction for the
louder Kinds, is not an enthusiastic ad-
mlrer OF Wagner's latest compositions.
he himself plays the from bone with as
Inucn Keeling as can be evoked from such
ah instrument, and he has taken part
IN numerous quartets in his palace
HIS move OF art, however, is rather a
liking than an affection, but the cor
rect taste which he has invariably dis
| prayed In all his purchases of pictures
| pespeaks the appreciative critic quite as
much as the munifcent Maecenas. He
is always happy to encourage Russian
| ARTISTS, and he seldom quilted the an
| nual exhl bition of paintings in St. Peters
purg without having bought the best
two or three exhibits. He is likewise
fond OF literature. He has read con-
siderable number of novels, Russian
ana foreign and among the FORMER he
much prefers those of Count Tolstoi,
manly for the very qualities which that
versatile writer would himself now most
emphatically condemn. For science he
mas scant respect. 1t produced to many
revolutions in politics, and too many
schlsms and heresies in religion, to COM
mend Itself to one whose mission it is to
Keep the threads of both in his own
hands. Besides, he is impatient of the
outiandlsh Technology, unintelligible
10 the outsider, and behind which any
!nlng or nothing may Turk. History,
indeed, especially Russian history, when
colored with the brush of Repin, or
grammatical by the pen of an Alexis
.solstol, possesses powerful attractions
Ior the monarch whose one dream is to
resusc1tate the spirit, if not the form, of
the long forgotten past. Ever since he
listened to the interesting lectures of his
tutor, Prof. Solovieff, he has acquired
taste for historical research which re-
celved many a rude shock from unex-
pected and unwelcome revelations. He
is the president of select historical
society, every member of which must be
courtly as well as scholarly and he con-
venes meetings in the .Anitshokff Palace
five or six times year. There he takes
presidential bell, listens carefully, and
discusses eagerly the papers read by the
mem bers, and generally encourages dis
Greet research into the harmless or edify-
irg past.
The history that entertains or inspires,
such as was written by Count Leo
Tolstoi War and Peace or by Sir Walter
Scott, in some of his poems and novels,
had peculiar charms for Alexander III.
1t was for the sake of the historical lesson,
rather than for any excellence Of the act
Ing, that he frequently visited and al
ways encouraged private theatricals, in
which some of the most stirring episodes
or most celebrated men were described
or depicted. Thus many of the male
and female memb ers of the highest aris-
tocracy represented every season two or
three dramas. such as the death of
Ivan the Terrible Among others,
Count Sheremetieff and Prince Volonsky
took part in these private tneatricals,
and the Gear always came at least once
to see the piece performed, and to con-
graduate the organizer and the anna
tours. On the other hand, he was ex-
tremely annoyed to learn that Count
Leo Tolstoi's play, "The Dominion of
Darkness" had been given in the same
way by high born ladies" and gallant
cavaliers, who took morbid pleasure
in using the coarsely picturesque Ian
guage, and expounding the cynically
loose views of certain of the peasants.
But as soon as he was informed that
the portraits of these fair actresses and
brave actors were being exhibited at the
window of a photographers, in then
peasant dresses, he drew the line. The
pictures were removed. the photographers
was punished, and the representation
stopped. st. Petersburg Correspondence
London Daily Telegraph.