inspection, his horse being already covered with foam, the Empress and the Grand Duchesses arrived on the ground in a carriage-and-four, with postilions in the English style, followed by four or five other court-carriages, some with four and some with six horses. The Emperor then mounted a fresh horse and rode through the ranks by the side of her Majesty's carriage, which was afterwards drawn up opposite the centre of the line. The Emperor took his station on horseback by her side, and the troops began to march past. The infantry passed first, preceded only by the mounted Circassians, or, as they are here termed, the Mamelukes of the Guard, in number about forty or fifty. These horsemen wear scarlet uniforms made after the fashion of their country, and are a wild and picturesque-looking body of men. Some are armed with carbines, and some have bows and arrows at their backs.

The infantry was followed by a train of foot-artillery; after which there was a halt for a few minutes, and then the cavalry came up, led by the regiment of Chevaliers-gardes, with their Colonel, the Grand Duke Alexander, the Heir-apparent, at their head. The band of each regiment stationed itself oppo site the Emperor, and played while the regiment marched past, and each company or troop as it came up saluted the Emperor with a shout, according to the Russian custom. As soon as the regiment had been reviewed, the Colonel was called up and complimented by the Emperor.

There were four regiments of Cuirassiers, a portion of each being Lancers, a regiment of Horse Grenadiers, and a splendid regiment of Hussars of the Guard in scarlet uniforms, and mounted on greys. These were followed by Lancers, Cossacks, and a superb train of Horse Artillery; the whole force being wound up by the Pontoon Train which I have mentioned.

After a halt for a few minutes the whole of the troops passed a second time before the Emperor, the infantry at double-quick, after which they marched off the ground, and the cavalry at a trot or hand-gallop. The review was to have concluded with a grand charge of cavalry, but this manœuvre was countermanded in consequence of the number of accidents which had occurred at a sort of rehearsal a few days before, on which occasion fourteen officers got falls, and were more or less hurt;

and one of them, having been ridden over by a squadron, was so much injured as to render his recovery doubtful.*

The Emperor was highly pleased by this review, and a bounty was proclaimed to every soldier who had taken part in it of three roubles, three glasses of brandy, and three pounds of meat.

The immense plains in the south of Russia furnish most of the horses for the cavalry, which is exceedingly well mounted, and the horses of each corps beautifully matched. The price allowed for troopers does not exceed two or three hundred roubles per horse, but the commission to purchase them is given to officers of good fortune, who are glad to obtain leave of absence on this ground, and to purchase good horses; making up out of their own pockets the difference between the Government allowance and the actual cost.

This review is the last act of the Petersburg season, as the Court will shortly be dispersed. The Empress starts in a few days for Germany, and the Emperor will soon follow her. The Grand Duchesses will spend the summer at Tzarsko Celo, or Peterhof, and the Heir-apparent will perform a foreign tour. In Easter-week M— had an interview at the palace with the Empress, who gave her, by appointment, a private audience, receiving her with great kindness and affability, and with a flattering recollection of former days at Berlin. A few days ago we both had the honour of a short conversation with Her Majesty, who met us casually in the Public Gardens, where she was walking with the Grand Duchess Mary. Recognizing M-, she stopped and accosted her, and she then addressed me in English, talking to us very graciously for a few minutes, until a small crowd of observers gathered near, when the Empress proceeded quietly on her walk.

*The Russian peasant drives his horse in a tilèga, but seldom rides him. Few Russian gentlemen ride for pleasure in private life, and many a cavalry officer never mounts a horse excepting in the riding-school or on duty. It would, therefore, hardly be expected that the Russian cavalry should as a body be first-rate horsemen, and this impression is quite correct as far as my observation goes. A civilian's opinion upon military matters is perhaps of little value, but most Englishmen have some eye for a good seat on a horse, and neither officer nor private here seems, as a rule, to possess it, if one may judge from seeing cavalry regiments march. The Cossacks, it must be owned, ride fearlessly and well.

LETTER XXV.

Opening of the navigation — Departure of Mr. Law The factory library - Visit to the Academy of Fine Arts - The President - The destruction of Pompeii, by Brilloff - Young Kotzebue - Manufactory of tapestry Malachite temple - Public library The MSS. Writing of Mary Queen of Scots - Autographs Letter from Henrietta, Queen of Charles I. Expedition to Tzarsko Celo by the railroad Conclusion of the letters.

St. Petersburg, May 22nd, 1838.

Two days ago the first steamboats of this season from Lubeck came into Cronstadt. One of them had been due ten days, but had been unable to make its way earlier through the ice. However, as the navigation of the Gulf of Finland is at last open, I presume we may consider the winter as fairly at an end, in spite of the Ladoga ice,* which still continues at intervals to float thickly past. Great numbers of people have been long waiting with impatience to commence a summertrip abroad in search of health or pleasure; and the two steamboats, which will sail for Lubeck to-morrow and the next day, will be crowded with passengers.

We had intended to be among the number; but our friend Mr. Law is going to England with some of his family for a few months, and he is anxious to lose no part of the short summer, as he must return not later than September. We have therefore given up the berths which we had engaged, and I have undertaken to act for a few weeks as chaplain at Petersburg, in his place, until the arrival of the representative he had provided. The latter, by a singular chance, happens to be no other than my oldest and most intimate friend, who is detained in England by business, and cannot arrive here until the middle of July. The Laws will sail to-morrow in the Naslednik; and we shall then remove from our hotel into their comfortable and well-furnished house on the English

* The last ice came down on the 26th of May. The leaves on the limetrees did not open till about the ist of June.

Quay, which is under the same roof with the church. We shall therefore almost imagine ourselves in England; though, indeed, during our whole stay at Petersburg we have enjoyed much English society. I have not dwelt upon this subject in my letters, because you naturally want to hear, not about English people, but about Russia and the Russians; and there is no great difference between our countrymen abroad and our countrymen at home in their customs and ideas. You will readily believe the pleasure and enjoyment which the free use of the Factory library has afforded us during our residence in this city. We have been kindly permitted to carry away any books we chose, and to read them at home; while every variety of literature, from a periodical to a book of reference, finds a place on those well-filled shelves. The English Factory is virtually independent of the censorship, as the government liberally allows them to receive from England and to place in their library any books they please, on the understanding that these unexamined works shall circulate among the English only, and not among their Russian friends.

Among the objects of interest which we have lately been visiting are the Public Library of Petersburg, and the Academy of Fine Arts, of which M-'s uncle, Mr. Olènine,* is president. He is one of the most distinguished literary men in Russia; was private secretary to the late Emperor, and has been for many years high in office. His house is well known to most foreigners who have visited St. Petersburg; and we have spent in it many of the most agreeable hours we have passed during our stay here.

The object of greatest interest in the exhibition of the Academy at present is a large historical picture by the Russian painter Brilloff. The subject is the destruction of Pompeii, and the picture was painted in Italy. It was presented to the Academy by M. Demideff, who is said to have purchased it from the artist for thirty-five thousand

* Tradition says that this family came orignally from Ireland, and they themselves suppose the name to be a corruption of O'Neill. A certain degree of fable is, however, mingled in the history, as the Hibernian ancestress is said to have been borne across the sea by a bear, in commemoration of which remarkable circumstance, a bear carrying a lady appears at this day in their coat of arms.

roubles, about fifteen hundred pounds. The general effect of this picture on the eye, at a first glance, is disagreeable, from the nature of the subject, and from the glare of colouring which belongs to such a scene. The hot falling cinders have the appearance of a shower of blood. The conception of the picture, however, shows no ordinary genius; and the expressions and attitudes of the figures and faces are beautifully imagined and admirably painted. The most striking figures are those of an old man borne in the arms of his son, and of a woman stretched dead or dying in the foreground, with black hair streaming on the pavement. She has apparently been thrown out of a chariot, of which the axle is broken, and the horses are rushing wildly away in terror. Next to these is a family group, including a mother with an infant in her arms, unconscious of the danger, and stretching out its hands to catch a small bird which is fluttering on the ground. Lastly, at the left side of the picture appears a group of Christians, as is evident from a cross hung round the neck of one of them. Their resigned, though awe-struck faces, and their attitudes of prayer, are finely contrasted with the terror and despair expressed on the faces and forms of those surrounding them. The portrait of Brilloff himself is to be seen behind the Christians in the person of a man who carries the implements of a painter on his head. The architectural parts of this picture are not so well drawn as the figures. At the right hand there are three statues, intended to be tottering on the parapet of a high building, but which look rather as if they were preparing to make a voluntary plunge into the midst of the crowd below.

In walking through the rooms of the Academy we found a young artist copying a picture, the details of which, it being a battle-piece, he was extremely courteous in explaining, as well as in answering other questions. We found afterwards that he was a son of the famous Kotzebue, who was sent to Siberia (by mistake) by the Emperor Paul.

As I am now on the subject of works of art, I may mention, though they have nothing to do with the Academy, the productions of the Imperial manufactory of tapestry in Petersburg. It is on the plan of the Gobelins at Paris, and is now in full operation, preparing carpets and hangings for