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with quass (a Russian substitute for beer), chopped cucumbers, onions, &c.; and a large slice of salt sturgeon is eaten with it.

The Neva ran close before the windows of the villa where we dined, and in the evening we saw several horses brought down to have a swim in the river. The horses all seemed used to bathing, and I find that it is a general custom to give them a swim almost every evening during the summer. There are numerous small rafts to be seen at the edge of the river and of the canals for the washerwomen, who stand on them with bare legs and wash the linen in the water at the side, or at a hole about four feet square, which is cut in the middle of the raft.

As we returned home we stopped to see the Kazan Church, which is the Cathedral of Petersburg. Another church, however, the St. Isaac's, which is now in progress, will, when finished, be far finer. The chief beauty of the Kazan Church consists in a handsome semicircular colonnade facing the street, and leading from either side to the principal entrance, and in the beautiful pillars of polished granite which support the roof. The dome is much too small for the size of the edifice, and the interior of the church is somewhat narrow. The rails of the altar, which are handsome and massive, are of solid silver.

At the lower end of the church are a number of flags taken from the Persians, the French, and other nations; and against one of the pillars are suspended the keys of various captured fortresses, with brass plates, giving the name of each. Marshal Davoust's baton is also hung up in a conspicuous spot, in a glass cylinder, to protect it from injury.

Throughout Petersburg are excellent flagged pavements for foot passengers; but the ordinary pavement of the streets is execrable, the stones which compose it being of every possible shape and size. To fill up the crevices and give an apparent smoothness, a gritty sand is strewed in large quantities over the streets; and as they never are watered, in spite of the facilities offered by the adjacent Neva and the various canals, the clouds of dust, or rather of fine gravel, with which the air is filled on a windy day, render it impossible to keep open one's eyes or to walk about in comfort. In most of the prin

cipal streets, however, a wooden pavement has been introduced, which, when new and good, is extremely pleasant to drive over. It is free from dust, and the motion of the carriage over it is smooth and easy; but it is very expensive and by no means durable, not continuing more than two or three years in repair. It is moreover dangerous for horses in wet weather.*

On Sunday we attended Divine service in the English church, which is very handsomely fitted up and liberally maintained by the British Factory. The present chaplain is Mr. Law.‡ Here we were strongly reminded of our distance from home by the change in the calendar, since, as you are aware, the old style is still in use in Russia. Whereas, therefore, according to our reckoning, it was the twenty-fifth of July, we heard the thirteenth morning of the month announced from the reading-desk, and instead of having reached, as was the case in England, the fifth Sunday after Trinity, we found ourselves here thrust back to Trinity Sunday.

There can hardly be a greater difference between two capitals, each splendid of its kind, than between London and St. Petersburg, and the contrast is especially striking when one is transported by sea, as we have been, in the short space of a week, from the banks of the Thames to those of the Neva. Everything here looks fresh and new; and the light-coloured stucco of the houses, the air free from smoke, and the bright, clear stream of the river, about as broad as the Thames, all contribute to give this city an outward character widely different from that of our own metropolis. In the population of the streets the distinction is not less broadly marked. The uncouth peasant in his sheepskin coat, the tradesman in his

* The wooden pavement, now generally abandoned for the reasons given above, had not yet been introduced into England in 1837.

In addition to their church establishment, the Factory have an excellent library, and I am most happy in this opportunity of expressing my thanks and acknowledgments to the gentlemen to whom it belongs for the liberal manner in which English visitors at Petersburg are allowed the use of their books.

The name of Mr. (now Dr.) Law is so well known in the present day, that it is almost superfluous to add that he still, in 1856, continues to hold, for the benefit of his countrymen, the honourable but arduous post of British chaplain at St. Petersburg.

long blue caftan buttoned on the left side, with black boots over his trowsers, and both with thick beards which have never felt a razor, are national figures which present themselves here at every step. The equipages also at Petersburg are, for the most part, quite unlike all that one has seen elsewhere. The private carriages, usually drawn by four longtailed horses, the wheelers being driven by a bearded coachman, and the leaders, with enormously long traces fastened to the pole, being managed by a boy mounted on the off horse. Coachman and postilion are each dressed in a caftan or wrapper without a collar, fastened by a gay sash round the waist, and they wear a low-crowned hat of a peculiar shape; the coachman being adorned, if possible, by a handsome beard. The whole is frequently turned out in a wretched style; but the four horses keep up the dignity of the equipage. Many handsome carriages are indeed built at Petersburg, and many fine horses are to be met with; but it is to be remembered that at this season the court is out of town, and that most fashionable people have followed its example.

There are plenty of vehicles, both open and close, plying for hire in the streets; but as the fares are not regulated by authority, it is necessary always to make a bargain before engaging one. The hack-cab of Petersburg is the droschka, a very primitive vehicle, consisting merely of a bench about five feet long, covered by a cushion, mounted on four low wheels, and hung on C springs. The driver sits astride in front, resting his feet on an iron bar which projects on each side, over the fore axletree, and the passenger sits in a similar way behind, with a low back to lean against, and with his feet on the steps on either side, protected from the mud only by splashing boards over the wheels. If there is a second passenger, he sits sideways in the middle of the droschka. It is but an uncomfortable conveyance, since the passenger is entirely exposed to the weather, and the position of sitting astride on a bench is not agreeable. There are, however, plenty of private droschkas to be seen, very neat and convenient little carriages for fine weather. They are, indeed, much like a pony phaëton, with a seat in front for the driver, and they are very easy, being hung upon C springs. Sometimes these

vehicles are drawn by a pair of horses with a pole; but in general, like the hack-droschkas, they have shafts and are drawn by one horse, with his head borne up very high, a wooden arch resting on the ends of the shafts, and standing up over his head, with a ring at the highest part, to which the bearing-rein is attached. No carriage, waggon, or other vehicle with shafts is seen in Russia without this arch, which is called a douga. An outrigger is frequently harnessed on the near side of the shaft-horse, without a bearing-rein, but with his head, on the contrary, drawn down almost to the ground, and turned outwards, as if he were flying away from the shafts. In this form he is made to canter and prance through the streets, while his companion trots steadily along. To droschkas occasionally, and to heavier carriages often, a third horse is harnessed in like manner on the opposite side. This team of three horses, which is exceedingly handsome, is called a tröika. The Russians always drive with snaffle bits and without blinkers; bearing-reins being never used except for horses in shafts.

use.

The canals which run through Petersburg, as well as the sides of the Neva, are crowded with large clumsy barges, loaded with wood for winter consumption, and cut up into logs ready for Good-sized hay-stacks, thatched over, may also be seen apparently floating by themselves upon the river; a second glance, however, showing that the foundation is a low barge, almost entirely covered and concealed by the mass with which it is loaded.

We have visited the Summer Garden, the principal public promenade of Petersburg. The garden has little beauty to boast of, but it is thickly planted with trees, and it, at least, offers abundance of shade. The walks are laid out in straight lines, and are adorned by marble busts and statues; but the prin

*From subsequent observation, it appears to me that the vice of kicking in harness is much less common with Russian horses than with English, though, from the manner in which the former are often harnessed, and the slight pains which are bestowed on breaking them in, the contrary might have been expected. The reason I take to be, that the Russian horse has the use of his eyes, while the English horse imagines an invisible enemy in every loose straw or other harmless object which touches him unexpectedly. No people habitually drive so fast as Russians.

cipal ornament is the celebrated palisade facing the river, which is exceedingly fine. The Russians have a myth of an Englishman who came to Petersburg on purpose to see this palisade, and who rowed up the river to it, gazed at it, and, having gratified his curiosity, returned home without having set foot on Russian soil. Though not quite worthy of so long a pilgrimage as this gentleman is supposed to have taken, it is a most beautiful work.

We drove, one lovely evening, through the islands formed by the different branches of the Neva, and crowded with pretty villas and gardens, which in this hot weather look exceedingly cool and tempting, but which are uninhabitable from damp, excepting in the height of summer. They, however, form at present a very gay and attractive scene as one drives among them, along a well-watered road, a luxury which, as I have already observed, the city itself does not furnish.

One evening, about seven o'clock, we went out to walk, crossing the Isaac Bridge, and following the bank of the Neva on the other side up to the Exchange, and the scene, as we walked slowly along, was exquisitely beautiful. We were on the shady side of the river, while the light fell directly on the opposite side, on the Admiralty, the Imperial Palace, and the other fine buildings which line the bank, as well as on the gay pleasure-boats which crowded the broad bright stream; while facing us stood the well-known and splendid equestrian statue of Peter the Great on a granite rock as its pedestal. We could not help regretting that the ugly bridge of boats was not replaced by a structure worthy of the Neva and of the city which lay before us; for the beauty of the river, enhanced as it is by the fine granite quays facing it on either side, leaves nothing but a handsome bridge to be desired. The construction of one has hitherto been prevented by the extreme depth of water, which renders it impossible to build piers. A chainbridge is talked of, but here also there are, it is said, some serious difficulties to overcome. We returned home by the garden adjoining the custom-house; it is, however, remarkable for nothing but the immense numbers of birds of all sorts, from a parrot to a linnet, which are exposed here in cages for sale. We are much struck, in walking about Petersburg, with

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