the same time. A fair-complexioned cossac of the Don habited in a pyramidal red velvet cap, short scarlet cloak, with a belt of pistols, a light fuzee slung across his shoulders, and a long elastic spear in his hand, mounted upon a little miserable high-boned hack, was ordered to attend us to the governor of the city, and with this garde d'honneur we posted through the vast suburbs of Wibourg, and at length ascended the Emperor's bridge of pontoons or barges; here the most mganificent and gorgeous spectacle burst upon me, and for a time overwhelmed me with amazement and admiration.

The sky was cloudless, the Neva of a brilliant blue, clear, and nearly as broad as the Thames at Westmister bridge; it flowed majestically along, bearing on its bosom the most picturesque vessels and splendid pleasurebarges; as the eye rapidly travelled several miles up and down this glorious river, adorned with stupendous embankments of granite, it beheld its sides lined with palaces, stately buildings, and gardens, whilst at a distance arose green cupolas, and the lofty spires of the Greek churches covered with ducat gold, and glittering in the sun. Immediately before us extended the magnificent railing of the summer gardens, with its columns and vases of granite, a matchless work of imperial taste and splendor.

In the capacious streets of this marvellous city, we passed through crowds of carriages drawn by four horses at length, and a variety of rich equipages, and of people from all parts of the world, in their various and motley costume. At the governor's office we presented our passports, and the cossac left us. The cossacs have a curious appearance upon their little shabby horses, which have the reputation, however, of being remarkably fleet and hardy; their riders hold their spear, which is from fifteen to eighteen feet long, vertically resting upon their stirrup. It is said that they have the faculty of calculating from the appearance of trodden grass, the number of men and of cattle that have passed over it, and even to ascertain the period of their passing. The cossacs are never trained to attack in squadrons: they are always placed in the rear of the army, and act only in a desulto

ry manner, upon the retreat of an enemy. At the gov ernor's we were questioned by the officer upon duty, as to our motives of travelling, names, &c. &c.; a description of his room will serve to give a general idea of the arrangements which constantly occur in the Russian houses: the apartment was divided by a partition of wood, of about three fourths of the height of the room, indented at the top and ornamented with little crescents; behind this screen was his bed, and in a corner, suspended near the top of the cieling, was the framed and glazed picture of his favorite saint, before which a lamp was burning; this economy of space gave him the convenience of two rooms.

Amidst the tumult of ideas which the scenes around us excited, we drove into the yard of Demouth's hotel, I believe the best in Petersburg: it is kept by some civil Germans, and stands on the side of the Moika, a beautiful canal, having a rich iron railing and an embankment of granite. It may be as well now to caution the traveller against the free use of the Neva water, which, like that of the Seine, is very aperient.

Our hotel was upon a scale with all the surrounding objects, and very crowded; it was with great difficulty that we obtained two uncomfortable rooms, which, according to the custom of the place, we were obliged to hire for a week certain. One of these apartments was divided as I have described, and afforded a place to sleep in for the servant. The walls were covered with a complete crust of our old tormentors the flies, which in Russia, at this season of the year, are little inferior to the plague of Egypt. After discharging the dust of Finland in a copious ablution, and partaking of a good dinner, at which for the first time since we left Stockholm, we tasted vegetables, I sallied forth, but the day was far gone

After hesitating some time, amidst such a blaze of novel magnificence, what object I should first investigate, I resolved to present myself at the base of the statue of Peter the Great. All the world has heard of this colossal compliment paid by the munificence of Catherine II. and the genius of Falconet, to the memory of that wonderful man, who elevated Muscovy to the rank of an Eu

ropean empire. Filled, as I was, with admiration of this glorious work of art, I could not help regretting that the artist had so much reduced and polished the granite rock, which, with great grandeur of conception, forms the pedestal of the statue. The horse, in the act of ascending its acclivity, is intended to illustrate the difficulties which Peter had to encounter in civilizing his unenlightened people. Had this rock retained the size and shape which it bore when, as if propelled by some vast convulsion of nature, it first occupied its present place, with only a few of its asperities removed, it would have encreased the dignity and expression of the horse and his rider, and would have astonished every beholder with a stupendous evidence of toil and enterprize, which since the subversion of the Roman empire has no parallel. A gèntleman, who saw this rock in Carelia, before its removal, describes it to have been forty feet long, twenty-two broad, and twenty-two high. It is of granite and onyx, and has a mixture of white, black, and grey coloring; if I may judge of it by a seal, which the learned Dr. Guthrie presented to me, it is susceptible of a very fine polish. In six months the rock was removed from its native bed to the spot where it now stands, partly by land and water, a distance of eleven versts, or forty-one thousand two hundred and fifty English feet, and cost four hundred and twenty-four thousand six hundred and ten rubles. So indefatigable has been the labor of the chisel upon its enormous magnitude and rugged coating, that its history is its greatest wonder. The genius of Falconet was evidently jealous of the rude but stupendous powers of nature, and was fearful that her rock might engage more attention than his statue; hence he reduced the former, until he rendered it disproportioned to the colossal figures which it supports; but he has thereby succeeded in bringing his work nearer to the eye of the beholder. Had he been content to have divided the homage with nature, he would not have been a loser. The head of Peter, which is very fine, was modelled by Madame Collot, the mistress of Falconet. The figure and the drapery are admirable, and the horse is worthy of being ranked next to his Venetian brethren,

^

those matchless works of art, which now adorn the gates of the Thuilleries. The spot were this statue is raised is always very much thronged, on account of its being central, and leading to one of the bridges.

I bestrode one of the little droshkas which I have described; my driver, who emitted a most pestiferous atmosphere of garlic, with a tin plate upon his back, marked with his number, and the quarter to which he belonged, (a badge which is used by all the fraternity, to facilitate their punishment, if they behave ill), drove me with uncommon velocity. His horse had a high arch of ash rising from his collar, more for ornament than use. I was much struck with the prodigious length and breadth of the streets and with the magnitude and magnificence of the houses, which are built in the Italian style of architecture, of brick stuccoed, and stained to resemble stone. They are mostly of four stories, including the basement, in the centre of which is generally a large carriage-gateway: the roof slopes very gently, and is formed of sheets of cast iron, or of copper, painted red or green; and behind there is a great yard, containing the out-houses, and ice-houses, and immense stores of wood. The vast number also of chariots, each of which was drawn by four horses, the leaders at a great distance from the shaft horses, very much augmented the effect. The postillion is always a little boy, habited in a round hat, and a long coarse coat, generally brown, fastened round the middle by a red sash, and, strangely reversing the order of things, is always mounted on the off horse, and carries his whip in his left hand. The little fellow is very skilful and careful, and it is pleasant to hear him whenever he turns a corner, or sees any one in the road before him, exclaim, or rather very musically sing, "paddee! paddee! paddee!" The coachman, or, as he is called, the Ishvoshick, is dressed in the same manner, and wears a long venerable beard; behind the carriage are one or two servants in large, laced, cocked hats, shewy liveries, military boots and spurs. What an equipage for St. James's-street on a birth-day! The beard of the Russian charioteer would here produce as strong a sensation, as did the neat, formal, little bob

wig of Lord Whitworth's coachman in the streets of Paris. The carriage and horses in attendance are stand→ ing the greater part of the day in the court yards, or before the houses of their masters; the horses are fed in harness, and the little postillion is frequently twenty-four hours in the stirrup, eats, drinks, and sleeps on horseback, and the coachman does the same upon his box. A stranger immediately upon his arrival, if he wishes to maintain the least respectability, is under the necessity of hiring a coach or chariot and four, for which he pays two hundred rubles a month. Without this equip age a traveller is of no consideration in Petersburg,

CHAPTER XI.

Advantages of the imperial city-The village architect The summer gardens-Kissing-Horses with false hair Sweetness of Russian language-Bearded milliners Incorruptibility of beards-Great riches amassed by common Russians-The cause of humanity and justiceMusic and argument better than the whip-A negro's notions Slavery-The new kazań-The knout.

PET

ETERSBURG is worthy of being the capital of an empire as large as the half of Asia, more than twice the size of Europe, and covered with a population of forty millions of people. Its boundaries measure about twenty English miles, but the circumference of the ground actually built upon is considerably less. The vast space of its streets and areas will ever give it superiority over every other European capital; but its principal beauty arises from its being the result of one mighty design.

In almost every other city, the buildings at once display the progress of its prosperity and taste. In some dark and narrow lane a palace rears its head: or, in an handsome street, the eye is suddenly offended, by be