Thank you again, Yuri, for the quotation translated from Pushkin. It sheds a new (to me) light on his attitudes. I agree that chivalric traditions are valuable, and too easily dismissed by "Kalmyks", who would benefit by observing more of them. I surmise, too, that a Knight of the Robe would especially value a quote that made him a Knight of the Crown, although it would be better yet if he uplifted himself by acting like a Knight of the Crown in the living present. It's a neat trick, if one can do it, to unite the best features of the old aristocracy with those of the egalitarians. Let us do our best. Mason Gaffney