In
this work the iniquitous venality of the public functionaries,
and even the conduct of the sovereign, was scrutinized and
censured with great freedom. Such a book, and in such a country,
naturally attracted general notice, and the offender was taken
into custody. After being tried in a very summary way, his
production was determined to be a libel, and the writer was
condemned to _eat his own words_. The singularity of such a
sentence induced me to see it put into execution. A scaffold was
erected in one of the most public streets of the city; the
imperial provost, the magistrates, the physicians and surgeons of
the Czar attended; the book was separated from its binding, the
margin cut off, and every leaf rolled up like a lottery ticket
when taken out of the wheel at Guildhall. The author was then
served with them leaf by leaf by the provost, who put them into
his mouth, to the no small diversion of the spectators; he was
obliged to swallow this unpalatable food on pain of the
knout,--in Russia more dreadful than death.
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