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He considered human life only tolerable abroad, and went abroad

to stay at every opportunity, and at the same time he carried on

a complex and improved system of agriculture in Russia, and with

extreme interest followed everything and knew everything that was

being done in Russia. He considered the Russian peasant as

occupying a stage of development intermediate between the ape and

the man, and at the same time in the local assemblies no one was

readier to shake hands with the peasants and listen to their

opinion. He believed neither in God nor the devil, but was much

concerned about the question of the improvement of the clergy and

the maintenance of their revenues, and took special trouble to

keep up the church in his village.