But Alexander's nature had not as yet been strengthened by misfortune and religious convictions: it was a sunny background of flickering enthusiasms, flecked now and again by shadows of eastern cunning or darkened by warlike ambitions-a nature in which the sentimentalism of Rousseau and the passions of a Boyar alternately gained the mastery.
"The Life of Napoleon I (Volumes, 1 and 2)"
John Holland Rose
Despite the training of Laharpe, Alexander at times showed the passions and finesse of a Boyar.
"The Life of Napoleon I (Volumes, 1 and 2)"
John Holland Rose
When the several principalities became united with the Czardom of Muscovy many centuries ago, the Boyar was in fact no more than a steward of the Czar's estate and a leader of a posse defending his property; the most he dared to do was surreptitiously to obstruct the carrying out of the Czar's intentions; he dared not try to impose the will of his class upon the crown.
"A History of Trade Unionism in the United States"
Selig Perlman