The Blandford and Wimbourne Telegram. — 1880-08-20 (Blandford, Dorset, England)

RUSSIAN EMPRESS'S JOKE.— The grim humour of her rininv—m woich, however, there Was mm rcintilla of cruelty, a suspicion that the fun was more it ms from the fact that the feelings or tlieh of others was leo:rated—was On • In° or two oec sions tuanifested by Anne. As a Finishsnent fir his religions apiediev, she nominated Prince G.iliitzin, a nobleman of midole age and the wearer of an historic name, court page and court buffoon. There aro few men hsr enough to meter death to life on dillhonourable conditions when one or other of the altern.ttives must Met iotaneously he chosen ; and this prince was of iminion that even the life of a publlc butt was better ti life in Siberia or no life at ad. Indignant tells with a smiling ;ace and showed he lshowedwes noir sesn'shl cal ant eifhiiiniiiation, the royal burnout:it, with a broad grin on I:er broad face, and a malicious twinkle in her blue eye, ordered him to marry a girl of low degree, promising to superintend and pay the explains) of the marriage festivities, and to present him with a palace of great brilliance and beauty. The one she gave him was brilliant enough when this sun shone on it ! Toe festivities wero emillicted on a scale of national magnificence. More tban 30) men and women were ordered up from the several pi evinced of too einp.re to St. Petersburg to attend the nuptiale of the mince, and commanded to come in the peculiar dress and costume of their districts. On the wedding day the motley mob Was assembled in the courtyard of the p lice, where the babblement of many tongues and the want of a common dialect almost drove the responsible managers of the rejoicings to distraction, and whence the wedding guests started in procession through the princiral streets of the city. At their head marched the happy pair, locked together in a cage perched on the shoulders of an elephant. The guests, brought from their far glens aid hills to make WI hour's fun for queen, (elbowed on sledges drawn by all manner of beasts—swine, calves, dogs, reindeer, and hears. Some from far Irch:mg 1 eel., hoisted on the backs of cantle, fierce monsters of whose existence they wilt not, and spent an hour efeoncentrated agony there ; their reluctance to mount baying been overcome by tierce ohjurgationi which fell harnilesrle on ears blissfully ignorant of their meanng, and by the (rem use of the cudgel,to the persuasive power of which they responded A salute of guns announced to the citiz-ns the departure of the procession from the palace; it was died from four small cannon and two mortars. The cannon could only hold half-an-ounce oh powder without: bursting, and the moriars threw little wooden shells hsrdly as dangerous as a boy's squib ; for the murderous weapons were made of ice. Dancing and drinking vivre kept lip till an early hour in the morning, when the bride and bridegroom were conducted home by a military este,' t to the mansion the Empress had promised them. It was a chamber of two apartments, built iif ice. The furniture was of ice, the marriage bed was of ice, and into it the young couple, in obedietice to orders from headquarters, rafter being stripped, were duly placed, and guards stood sentry all night at the door to prevent them seeking warmer shelter.—Gentlemaa's Mags7ine.