IT was evident Marya Mlozov had lured Rasputin to her house under specious pretences.* I discovered later that her example was followed by numerous other people,* and it was under pretext of strengthening his cause for the regeneration of Russia, that his murderers lured him to Prince Yusoopov’s house, and foully assassinated him.*
We chatted on Russia and the War for a while. I gathered he wished for the triumph of Russia above all things, the occupation of Constantinople by the Little Father, and the restoration of the cross to Saint Sophia.* In Russia he wished to have a Peasant Tsar,* one who would defend the interests of the Orthodox peasantry against the Atheistic, riotous-living landlords and bourgeois, who spent most of their life abroad or bullying their peasants. He did not wish Germany to be absolutely defeated for fear the monarchy should be overthrown.
I promised to call and see him in Petrograd. As we parted, the beautiful chimes of the Kremlin bells rang out in the still night air.
Abridged
Marya, a bewitching twenty-two, tried hard enough. She brought home a bevy of actresses, she pressed alcohol on him and conveniently fainted into his arms, but Rasputin abstained, so the disgusted company pronounced him a hypocrite. Even the Mystic Maidens and a barefoot Romany girl serving champagne could not tempt him.
The frame-ups even extended to impersonation. ‘I realised’ wrote Shelley ‘that the fearful things attributed to Rasputin were, in many cases, the actual doings of his accusers. Perhaps no man in history has been so furiously calumniated.’ Lili Dehn, who took the ‘no smoke without fire’ line, nonetheless admitted she had never seen anything herself, and complained that ‘Rasputin was even said to have been sinning in Petrograd when he was actually in Siberia.’
Felix Yusupov (1887–1967), Count Sumarokov-Elston. At the Count’s residence in St Petersburg, the Moika Palace, Rasputin accepted cake and Madeira wine laced with cyanide, but appeared completely unaffected. The desperate Count then shot him in the head in cold blood. Moments later, Rasputin sprang back to life and disarmed Yusupov, who fled; it was Vladimir Purishkevich who delivered the final shot. Rasputin’s body was found later that morning, December 30th, 1916, floating in the Malaya Nevka River (‘Little Neva’).
Rasputin wanted Tsar Nicholas II (‘the little father’) to recapture Istanbul (Constantinople) from Turkey and turn the historic sixth-century Cathedral of Holy Wisdom, or Saint Sophia, back into a church again after more than four centuries as a mosque. Back in 1856, Richard Cobden had insisted that apart from this, the Russian Empire had no thirst for European expansion, though our political establishment chose not to believe him. See Misreading Russia.
A phrase evidently used as we today might speak of a People’s King. Tsar Nicholas II was reforming Russia’s monarchy in the way Rasputin hoped until the Communists substituted their own ‘Peasant Tsars,’ Lenin and Stalin. As John Buchan said, revolutions rarely do anything but make things worse; the best thing to do is to restore the old regime, and press ahead with reform, as we did in 1660 and 1689. See Revolution and Reaction.
Précis
Shelley saw Rasputin’s disappointment, and reflected that the same trick was played on him by many others, including those who assassinated him a year later. Before the two men parted, Shelley heard Rasputin’s hopes for Russia and the war, and his fears for Germany if her defeat (which naturally he looked forward to) should lead to a republic. (58 / 60 words)
Shelley saw Rasputin’s disappointment, and reflected that the same trick was played on him by many others, including those who assassinated him a year later. Before the two men parted, Shelley heard Rasputin’s hopes for Russia and the war, and his fears for Germany if her defeat (which naturally he looked forward to) should lead to a republic.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 65 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 55 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: about, although, just, not, or, since, until, whereas.
Archive
Word Games
Sevens Based on this passage
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
Variations: 1.expand your answer to exactly fourteen words. 2.expand your answer further, to exactly twenty-one words. 3.include one of the following words in your answer: if, but, despite, because, (al)though, unless.
Jigsaws Based on this passage
Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
Spinners Find in Think and Speak
For each group of words, compose a sentence that uses all three. You can use any form of the word: for example, cat → cats, go → went, or quick → quickly, though neigh → neighbour is stretching it a bit.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1 Atheistic. Hold. See.
2 Arm. Late. Officer.
3 Chime. Forsake. Murderer.
Variations: 1. include direct and indirect speech 2. include one or more of these words: although, because, despite, either/or, if, unless, until, when, whether, which, who 3. use negatives (not, isn’t, neither/nor, never, nobody etc.)
Add Vowels Find in Think and Speak
Make words by adding vowels to each group of consonants below. You may add as many vowels as you like before, between or after the consonants, but you may not add any consonants or change the order of those you have been given. See if you can beat our target of common words.
wd (9+2)
awed. owed. wad. wade. wed. weed. wide. wood. wooed.
wadi. woad.
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