His tastes for literary pursuits, however, soon induced him to leave the service, whereupon he withdrew to his estates in the government of Smolensk, and subsequently devoted most of his time to studying or travelling about Russia.

[1] Upon the Napoleon's invasion of Russia in 1812, he re-entered the Russian army, and remained in active service until the end of the campaign in 1814.

He was banished to Petrozavodsk, but he nevertheless retained his honorary post of president of the Society of the Friends of Russian Literature, and was after a time allowed to return to St. Petersburg.

His fame as a military author is chiefly due to his Pisma Russkago Ofitsera ("Letters of a Russian Officer") (8 vols., 1815–1816).

[1] His most infamous work which remains exceedingly rare was his contribution of an allegory to the first Swedish translation of John William Polidori's Vampyre (Vampyren) credited to Lord Byron.