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at short distances from each other, may be seen round towers, of sufficient height to overlook the respective quarters of the city where they stand; they have little windows on all sides, and are surrounded by a gallery which is protected by an iron railing. Each is occupied night and day by two veteran watchmen wrapped in sheepskins, who give an immediate alarm to the police in case of danger by fire or flood. A red flag is the signal of the latter catastrophe, and a large red lantern of the former.

Omitting many details of interest, let us now glance at one or two of the most promipent edifices of this remarkable city.

I have been to the church of St. Isaac's, which may be selected as the best example of the ecclesiastical buildings of the city. It is not only one of the finest ornaments of St. Petersburgh, but it is really one of the most magnificent modern churches of Europe. It is probably the last which will be constructed on such an expensive scale; the present century is too utilitarian, and very properly so, for such an undertaking. Though inferior in all respects to St. Paul's of London, or the Pantheon of Paris, neither of which bear any comparison with St. Peter's, it has the great advantage of its position over the two former. Instead of being surrounded with buildings which destroy the view, as in the case of the English cathedral, it rises from a square where one hundred thousand troops can be reviewed with ease. This immense space is surrounded with the most splendid edifices of the city; among which are the Senate, the government offices, the Winter Palace, and Admiralty; and it contains the statue of Peter the Great, and the Alexandrine column. The four principal avenues of the city diverge in opposite directions from the church: the first under a triumphal arch. Two others are the streets Vosnecenski and Garochovaia, and the last the grand perspective of Newski.

St. Isaac's is built entirely of granite marble, bronze and iron. Its foundations, which cost $700,000, are granite masses of immense size. Its form is the Greek Cross, with the dome in the center, and four square chapels at each angle, surmounted with a belfry it is three hundred and four feet in length, and one hundred and sixty-seven feet wide. It has four principal façades with porticoes supported

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by pillars of red granite from Finland; each of these pillars is in one solid piece, sixty-two feet high, and about ten feet in diameter. The size and weight of the great bell harmonizes with the colossal dimensions of the building; it is an object of pride to the citizens and an attraction to visitors. The gilded dome, seventy-seven feet in diameter, is surmounted by a gilded cross and is surrounded with bronze statues of angels of colossal size. It can be seen at a distance of more than twenty miles. At Cronstadt it has the appearance of a new star attracting commerce to the capital.

Nearly all religions are represented in the Churches of St. Petersburgh: Greeks, Armenians, Protestants, and Romanists all have their temples of worship. There is such a variety of them in the grand avenue of Newski that it has been called the Street of Toleration.

The most important as well as the most splendid of the edifices of St. Petersburgh, is the Imperial Palace, distinguished as the Winter Palace from the former royal residence, built by the Emperor Paul, and now known as the Summer Palace. This magnificent structure is not twenty years old. In 1837 its predecessor was destroyed in a few hours by fire. This was intended to replace it. The original was designed by the Italian architect Bastrelli, in the reign of the Empress Elizabeth, and was inhabited by more than eight thousand persons. The superintendent of the imperial mansion, who had held his post more than twelve years, had never entered some parts of the building. It was a real labyrinth. Besides its regular and recognized officers, whole colonies of dependents secretly lived within its inclosure. During the winter, a corps of servants were employed to prevent the reservoirs from freezing, by means of red hot balls; behind the chimneys which served for this purpose the workmen contrived to build huts for their families, and it is said that fowls, goats, and even cows subsisted here, till a sudden eclaircissement destroyed the pastoral scene.

Eighty thousand workmen were employed on this palace, and for more than eighty years its possessors lavished embellishments upon it. So many valuable objects have rarely been collected together. In less than one night, velvets, damasks, tapestries, cashmeres, mirrors, amber, lap

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islazuli, marble statues, pictures, all were consumed. The city was overwhelmed with the catastrophe. It seemed to share in the loss of the palace of the emperor. Many of the inhabitants spontaneously offered him a large part of their fortunes. Count Barincky placed $200,000 at his disposal. Two days after, Nicholas drove through one of the streets, alone, in a light droschski; a man with a long beard and a Turkish cafetan, ran to meet him, placed nearly $20,000 in bank notes upon his knees, and disappeared without mentioning his name.

The emperor refused to accept these generous offers; but he promised that the edifice should be rebuilt, and the next day

his resolution was taken. He assembled his architects and told them that in precisely one year he wished to receive his court in a new palace. Some very natural objections were raised; but his subjects had learned the lesson of obedience, and in a year from the day that his orders were issued, he received his court within its walls.

Many of the workmen sacrificed their lives to this command of their sovereign; six thousand of them were shut up in saloons heated to thirty degrees in order that the walls might be quickly dried. Several died every day from the sudden transition to the colder temperature of the open air. Those employed in the

warmest parts of the building protected themselves in some degree by wearing caps on their heads containing ice.

The Winter Palace can scarcely be compared with any of the other royal residences of Europe. It somewhat resembles that of Madrid. decorations of the interior are of almost incredible magnifiThe grand staircase

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is of marble overlaid with gold; in the Salle Blanche entertainments are given at which eight hundred covers are laid; the vast St. George's Gallery, all of sculptured marble, leaves nothing for the extravagance of a monarch to desire. One of the façades of this sumptuous edifice fronts on the Neva, with the custom house, the military academies and the fortress below it; the second is on the grand place of the Admiralty, from which the view extends to St. Isaac's; the third opens in front of the demicircle formed by the buildings of the Etat Major, where stands the Alexandrian column.

PEASANT GIRL OF PARGOLA, ENVIRONS OF ST. PETERSBURGH.

The fourth side is separated from the Palace of the Hermitage by a narrow street, which is crossed by three covered passages, uniting the two, like the Bridge of Sighs at Venice between the prison and the Ducal Palace.

The people of St. Petersburgh regard the imperial residence with a singular mixture of confidence and terror. They know that it contains their destiny, their supreme law, the law which has governed their fathers and will govern their children. With their eyes fixed on it, they repeat their national proverb, "With the Czar is power, with the Czar is death."

The Hermitage, which escaped the fire of 1837, though united to the winter palace as we have described, was built by order of Catharine II. after the fashion of royalty in the eighteenth century. It is a kind of imperial museum, but does not contain all the pictures in the possession of the emperor; these are very numerous, of different schools and epochs, and many of the apartments of the winter palace are ornamented with them. Though it cannot

be considered a gallery, as it was intended by Catharine only for the decoration of her private residence, it has been enlarged by the taste of her successors, for their use, and may be regarded as an amateur cabinet-the cabinet of the Czars it is true, and, like their palace and their empire, it is grand and vast. Visitors must be provided with tickets of admission, and a kind of court costume is necessary, as no gentleman can enter except in a dress coat.

About two thousand pictures hang quite irregularly upon the walls of the Hermitage; but among them are many chefsd'œuvres, and some very remarkable copies from Raphael. There are also collections of statues, statuettes, busts, designs, engravings, and lithographs, medallions, coins, cameos, mosaics, enamels, miniatures, gold and silver carvings, jewelry, antiquities, &c. The private library of the Czars is in this building, numbering about one hundred thousand volumes.

It may be seen from this enumeration that an artist or learned man might spend

his life as agreeably as usefully, if allowed a cell in this colossal palace. I spent several hours among the treasures enumerated, and saw so many beautiful objects that only confused ideas of the whole remain with me. But I have not forgotten the celebrated rules of the Hermitage, composed, printed, and published by Catharine II. for the regulation of her interior republic. They are so characteristic that they deserve to be translated.

1. On entering the Hermitage, titles and rank are to be laid aside, with the hat and sword.

2. All pretensions founded on the prerogatives of birth are to be left at the door. 3. Be gay; but do not break or spoil anything.

9. Eat slowly and with a good appetite, drink moderately that each may have the use of his limbs on withdrawing.

10. Any person disobeying these regulations, upon the testimony of two witnesses, shall be obliged to drink a glass of cold water, (ladies not excepted,) and besides, to read, in a loud voice, a page from the Telemachide, (a poem of Frediakofsky.) Whoever neglects three of these regulations, during one evening, shall commit to memory six lines of the Telemachide. Any one failing in observance of the tenth rule, shall never after enter the Hermitage.

An odd mixture of freedom and tyranny this, certainly. The former could scarcely be excelled in the United States; and

4. Sit down, stand still, or walk, just the latter is of a very rare character in as you please.

5. Converse moderately and not too loud, that others may not be disturbed.

6. Discuss without anger or passion. 7. Do not sigh or yawn, to interrupt the enjoyment of others.

8. Innocent games proposed by an individual of the company should be shared by the visitors.

absolute monarchies, for it is only laughable. But man was not made for a hermit, and the outer world calls us from the hermitage-yet, in spite of the name, one goes from it to silence and solitude in reëntering the streets of the city. The foreigner, accustomed to the tumult and crowd of London or New-York, is strangely struck with the quiet of the public

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above mentioned, and crossing a bridge, you are in the midst of the city: some houses are three, and even four stories high; the signs covering them are more numerous and of a different character; equipages with four horses are displayed. Beyond the Fontanka Canal is the true aristocratic quarter. The crowd and noise increase; still more elegant equipages drive past you; princes and generals jostle each other on the pavement. From thence to the Admiralty extends an uninterrupted line of magnificent shops, palaces, and churches of every religion. For about two hours of mid-day this part of St. Petersburgh rivals in every respect the fashionable promenades of other European capitals.

But the idler in the metropolis is not con

places and squares of St. Petersburgh. Vast spaces open before him, where, to his astonishment, a single drochski makes its way like a little boat upon the wide ocean. He wanders sadly through its interminable streets, with their walls of silent palaces, now and then perceiving a human being in the distance, like a marauder darting from a rocky ambuscade. The colossal proportions in which the city is built show that its founders were only occupied with a distant future. Rapidly as the population has increased, it is still quite insufficient to fill the space designed for it, or to give that life and bustle which belong to the capital of a great empire. Most of the time, but especially on fête days, and public displays, there is in the perspective of Newski, and the neighborhood of the Admiralty, some little resemb-fined to the Newski; the Summer garden lance to other capitals. This is the most beautiful and frequented street of the city. It is full three miles in length, and is perfectly straight for more than two-thirds of its extent, making but a slight deviation at one extremity. No part of St. Petersburg is more interesting to a stranger. Its commencement at the monastery and cemetery of St. Alexander Newski reminds you of solitude and death; but it soon conducts you past little low wooden houses to a cattle market. Here I always lingered, for it was generally filled with Russian peasants, clothed in the characteristic costume of the interior villages crowding around the liquor shops. Here, also, you see the various costumes of the lower classes; the milk maids; peasant girls and their lovers, from the environs; peasants even from Esthonia; the rustic girl of Pargola, spinning at her fruitstand; and sometimes the Bohemian or Gipsy, with the unfailing baby.

The appearance of the dwellings changes gradually as you advance. Occasionally a two-story stone building is seen; the shops improve. Much of the clothing which has spent its youth in more central positions, finds its way to these suburban depots in its old age. The houses are painted red and yellow, in the old Russian style, and all the male inhabitants wear long beards and still longer cafetans. Still farther, are a few isvoshtshiks, or coachmen, of whom more by-and-by, wanderers perhaps from the borders of the empire, with their shaved chins, short frock-coats, and less simple dwellings. After passing the bend

is a place of great resort. It has also beautiful trees, flowers, and grass, and the nicest care is bestowed upon it. It is so well situated in the center of the city, that if the land which it occupies were sold for building purposes, it would bring three and a half millions of dollars. It is the favorite resort of children with their nurses. It is quite delightful to see the little Cossacks and Circassians at their spirited sports. The girls are dressed in the French style as soon as they can walk; but the boys are attired à-la-moujik, as it is called, until they are seven or eight years of age, when they appear in European clothes. Their language is as interesting as their costume. The wealthier classes employ the best English, French, and German teachers for their children; and from these four languages, which they are constantly hearing, the little ones manufacture an idiom of their own, which is exceedingly diverting.

On the Monday of Pentecost, the garden presents a most animated scene. It was formerly a kind of market-day for husbands and wives. The sons and daughters of the merchants, in their gayest attire, meet there to see and be seen. The girls, accompanied by their mammas, form a blooming border to the parterres; while the young gentlemen, with floating cafetans and carefully-trimmed beards, walk up and down these dangerous files. Conversation, commenced by the parents, soon becomes general, followed by a brisk cross-fire of meaning glances, and a tumultuous fluttering of hearts. Eight days

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