Approximate equivalents of old Russian measurements:
| arshin = 28 inches | or | 71 cm |
| desyatina = 3.6 acres | or | 1.45 hectares |
| pood = 36 lbs | or | 16 kilograms |
| sazhen = 7 feet or 2.3 yards | or | 2.1 metres |
| vershok = 1.75 inches | or | 4.5 cm |
| verst = 2/3 or .66 mile | or | 1 kilometre |
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Leo Tolstoy. Photograph, Moscow 1868.
Prince Vasily. Drawing by M.S. Bashilov, 1866.
The Little Princess. Drawing by M.S. Bashilov, 1866.
Pierre Bezukhov. Drawing by M.S. Bashilov, 1866.
Hippolyte Kuragin. Drawing by M.S. Bashilov, 1866.
Pierre Bezukhov. Drawing by M.S. Bashilov, 1866.
Dolokhov’s Wager with the Englishman. Drawing by M.S. Bashilov, 1866.
Sonya. Drawing by M.S. Bashilov, 1866.
Natasha Rostov and Boris Drubetskoy. Drawing by M.S. Bashilov, 1866.
Princess Anna Mikhailovna Drubetskaya and her son Boris. Drawing by M.S. Bashilov, 1866.
Dancing the Daniel Cooper. Drawing by M.S. Bashilov, 1866.
The Death of Count Bezukhov. Drawing by M.S. Bashilov, 1866.
The Struggle for the Document Case. Drawing by M.S. Bashilov, 1866.
The Maths Lesson. Wood engraving by K.I. Rikhai after the drawing by M.S. Bashilov, 1866.
Kutuzov. Engraving by Cardelli.
The Military Review: Kutuzov and Dolokhov. Drawing by M.S. Bashilov, 1867.
Russian Army Marching Across the River Enns. Drawing by M.S. Bashilov, 1867.
Napoleon in 1807. Engraving by Debucourt.
Bilibin. Drawing by M.S. Bashilov, 1867.
Prince Andrei and Emperor Franz. Drawing by M.S. Bashilov, 1867.
Wounded Rostov at the Campfire. Drawing by M.S. Bashilov, 1867.
Battle of Austerlitz on 2 December 1805. Engraving by Bosque after the drawing by Charles Vernet.
Natasha Dancing at the Uncle’s House. Drawing by M.S. Bashilov, 1860s, Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow.
Smolensk, 20 August 1812. Lithograph.
The Battle of Borodino. Lithograph by Albrecht Adam.
Final sheet of Manuscript 107: “The End”.
PART I
I
“Eh bien, mon prince, so Genoa and Lucca are now merely estates, the private estates of the Buonaparte family. Non, I warn you, if you don’t say this means war, if you still defend all these vile acts, all these atrocities by an Antichrist (for I really do believe he is the Antichrist), then I no longer know you, you are no longer mon ami, you are no longer, as you put it, my devoted slave. But, anyway, how do you do, how are you? I see I am frightening you, do come and sit down and tell me what’s going on.”
These were the words with which, in July 1805, the renowned Anna Pavlovna Scherer, lady-in-waiting and confidante of the Empress Maria Fedorovna, greeted the influential and high-ranking Prince Vasily, who was the first to arrive at her soirée. Anna Pavlovna had been coughing for several days, and had what she called the grippe (grippe then being a new word, used only by the few), and therefore had not attended at court nor even left the house. All of the notes she had sent out in the morning with a scarlet-liveried servant had contained the same message, without variation:
If, Count (or Prince), you have nothing better to do, and the prospect of an evening in the company of a poor invalid is not too alarming, then I should be delighted to see you at home between seven and ten o’clock.
Annette Scherer.
“Dieu,