person
Count Sheremetev
Sheremetev
also: граф Шереметьев, Count Sheremetyev
Invoked here not as a specific historical individual but as a byword: the immensely wealthy Sheremetev noble family name stands in for a spectacularly advantageous aristocratic marriage, as Chekhov jokingly wishes Tikhonov's infant daughter might one day marry 'Count Sheremetev.' Distinct from family:sheremetev's use elsewhere in the corpus as an idiom for freeloading at someone else's expense.
Reading notes
- To V. A. Tikhonov, 7 December 1889. Moscow. §5 Count Sheremetev
Invoked purely as a byword for a spectacularly advantageous aristocratic marriage -- the Sheremetevs were among the wealthiest noble families in Imperial Russia. Not a claim that any specific Sheremetev individual is meant; a stock name for grand nobility, as Chekhov jokingly wishes Tikhonov's infant daughter might one day marry into it.