The

soldiers, did not dine till afterwards); at the second roll they halted, faced, and sat down: all their di hes appeared to be excellent: their uniform was bottle green, faced with red. Great attention appeare t> have been paid to their manners, by the decorum a id urbanity which was displayed at their tables. kitchens for soup, boiling, and roasting were remarkably neat, although we saw them just after diner had been served up. There are several other e det corps upon the same princely establishment, and create in the mind of a stranger a high idea of the wealth and patriotic spirit of the empire.

A foreigner should not quit Petersburg without see. ing the cab.net of jewels and furs, contained in the Grand Perspective: here the clocks, gilded and bronze ornaments of the palace Saint Michael, are deposited, all of which are very magnificent; there are also massy balustrades and tables of solid silver. Amongst the jewellery I was much pleased with several beautiful watches, upon the backs of which were little figures, some in the act of angling and drawing up little fish; others cooking meat, pumping, and rocking cradles; in others little cascades of glass were sct in motion. There was a profusion of magnificent diamond snuff-boxes, stars, &c. for imperial presents.

In the apartments below was the museum of furs, where we saw several pelisses made of tiny dorsal slips of the black fox, valued each at ten thousand pounds. This animal, native of Siberia, is so rare and so small, that one of these pelisses cannot be made in less than ten years, and they are then paid to the emperor in lieu of money, as tributes, from different provinces. These are generally presented upon some great national occasion to crowned heads. There are also fine collections of sables and other furs, many of which are annually sold.

As I have mentioned these tributes, it may be proper here to observe, that the imperial revenues chiefly arise from the poll tax, the crown and church lands,

the duties on export and import, profits of the min the excise upon salt, the sale of spirituous liquors post-offices, and posting. The proprietors of houses as well natives as foreigners, pay in lieu of all other taxes, and in discharge from the odious burthen of maintaining soldiers, to which they were formerly liable, a duty of one-half per cent. ad valorem, upon the house, and a ground rent which varies according to local advantages, for every square fathom.

Of course, I did not leave the capital without seeing Zarsko Zelo, the most magnificent of the country palaces, about twenty-four versts from Petersburg. The entrance to it is through a forest, under a lotty arch of artificial rock, surmounted with a Chinese watch tower; after which we passed a Chinese town, where the enormous imperial pile, consisting of three stories, one thousand two hundred feet long, opened upon us. It was built by Catherine I. embellished and barbarously gilt by Elizabeth, and greatly beautified and modernized by the late empress. Amongst the numerous rooms fitted up in the style of ancient magnificence, the amber-room, a vast apartment, entirely lined with pieces of that valuable fossil bitumen, presented by Frederic William I. to Peter the Great, but not put up till the reign of Elizabeth. One of the pieces of amber expressed in rude characters, by its veins, the year in which it was presented.

The apartments, which Catherine has fitted up and embellished, display the highest taste and profusion of expense; the floor of one of these rooms was inlaid with mother-of-pearl, representing a variety of flowers and elegant figures; but I was most pleased with her two celebrated chambers of entire glass, which in novelty and beauty exceed all description. The sides and ceilings of these rooms were formed of pieces of thick glass, about a foot square, of a cream and pale blue colour, connected by fine frames of brass richly gilded. In the centre upon steps of glass, rose a divan, above which was a vast mirror, and on

each side were slender pillars of light blue glass that supported an elegant canopy. Behind the mirror was

a rich state bed. Even the doors, sophias, and chairs, were of coloured glass, elegantly shaped, and very light.

From the rooms we entered a vast terrace under a colonnade, and proceeded to the baths, which are lasting monuments of the taste of Mr. Cameron, the imperial architect. They contain a suite of superb rooms, one of which is entirely composed of the richest agates and porphyry; in this saloon were two pieces in mosaic, the most brilliant and beautiful I ever beheld. Near the baths is a vast terrace upon arches, with a central covered gallery of great extent, capable at all times of affording either a cool or a sheltered promenade. Upon this terrace are a great number of fine busts of distinguished men; amongst others was a copy of that of Mr. Fox, in bronze, placed on the left of Cicero. As I contemplated the head of the British orator, I secretly protested against his situation, and was endeavouring to give him the right, when a terrified attendant and his companion ran up to me, and prevented me from performing this' act of justice.

In the gardens, which are extensively and very tastefully laid out by the late and present Mr. Bush, father and son, to whom the care of these gardens and hot-houses have been successively committed, we saw the hermitage, in the first floor of which the late empress, and a select party of her friends, used to dine without attendants, for which purpose she had a table constructed of most complicated machinery, at a great expense, through which the covers descended and rose by means of a great central trap-door, as did the plates through cylinders. The party was by this means supplied with every delicacy, without being seen or heard. The machinery below filled a large room, and at first made me think I was under the

stage of a theatre: this was another of Catherine's play-things.

From Zarsko Zelo we set off for a town near the palace of Gatchina, about eighteen versts from the former, where we arrived about eleven at night; although so near an imperial residence, three of us were obliged at the inn to sleep upon straw, there being only one sopha vacant: however the palace and gardens compensated this little inconvenience. The former was raised by Gregory Orloff, and, on his death, purchased by the te empress. The rooms were superb, amongst which were two of a crescent shape, richly furnished and ornamented; and a chamber, the sopha, bed, canopy, ceiling, and sides of which were formed of white calico, whilst over the latter, projecting a little, was stretched a broad net-work of the same stuff, with roses in the centre of each division: the effect was unique and very beautiful. The gardens were romantic and elegant. In a small lake were a great number of beautiful gondolas and pleasure-boats; and, on a large space of water, a frigate, of twenty-two guns, originally built to afford Paul when a youth, some little notion of a man of war. With a fair wind it is capable of sailing about one hundred yards. It is kept in good order for the purpose of forming an agreeable object, and on festive occasions is illuminated.

From Gatchina we proceeded to Pauvoloffsky, another imperial chateau, built by Paul in 1780, and which, with Gatchina, form the principal country" residences of the empress-dowager and younger branches of the imperial family, who were there at the time of our visit. We took only an hasty glance at the state-rooms, which were fitted up in a style of gorgeous magnificence. The pannels of one of the apartments contained excellent copies of some of the exquisite India views of Messieurs Daniels. In the dowager empress's cabinet was a most elegant writ

ing table, the top of which was lined on each side with Chinese roses, blowing, in vases sunk to a level with the surface.

On the eleventh of September the court, and all the people of Petersburg capable of walking, attend in great pomp the celebration of the anniversary of their tutelar spirit, Saint Alexander Nevsky. After performing their devotion at the Kazan, the court, in grand procession, in their state carriages, proceeded to the gate of the monastery (which I have before described), where they were received by the metropolitan and all the bishops in their full pontificals, adorned with pearls and diamonds, and by the monks and choristers, who preceded the imperial family, chaunting hymns, upon a raised platform, covered with scarlet cloth, to the church, where the effect produced by their entrance was very sublime. They then proceeded to the silver shrine of the saint, which, after several prayers and hymns, as I was informed, they kissed, for the crowd was so great, that I could not see the whole of the ceremony; after which they returned, and partook of some refreshments at the house of the archbishop. As soon as they had retired, some thousands of people flocked to the shrine of Saint Alexander, and another to the Virgin adjoining, to touch them with their lips.

As the empress-dowager passed, the musheeks, or common boors, said to one another, "There goes our good mother." All the male Russians, of equal degree in rank, address each other by the name of brat, or brother; which is also used by any one speaking to his inferior. The Emperor calls his subjects brats. A friend of mine heard Paul one day say to a bearded workman, My brother take care, the ice is too thin to bear you." When the low address their superiors they say batushka moia, "my father." Very near the monastery is the glass manufactory, where the vast mirrors, for which Russia is so celebrated, are rolled.

The establishment resembles a little town: