mercers, and all the tradesmen requisite to furnish a lady's toilette, with goods home-made or imported from England or France. The shopkeepers were all wrapped up in furs, for the booths were bitterly cold.

Who would expect, at a country fair, to find church-bells for sale! There were a number of all sizes, some being of a very considerable weight of metal. They were hung on wooden frames in an open space, so that a customer could easily ring them to judge of their tones. I was told that there was always a certain demand for these bells at the fair.

A number of fire-engines were stationed round the booths, to be useful not only in the event of fire, but as assistants to the police in keeping order; since, in case of a mob of drunken and disorderly people assembling at night, an engine playing into the midst of them speedily disperses the crowd.

The horse-fair altogether presented a most curious scene. A large space of the steppe was thickly covered with tilègas, or little waggons, behind which the horses for sale were tied; and the strange figures of the people in their sheepskin coats and fur caps, with their long beards, had anything but an European character. In one part of the fair were to be seen showy horses, covered with gaudy cloths in bright colours, and tied three or four together behind tilègas, where from time to time they created a disturbance by kicking and fighting with their companions or neighbours. Among these were our six eastern steeds, destined by their owner to procure for herself a plentiful harvest of roubles, and to become sires of renown in the breeding studs of Tamboff. The former expectation, at least, will have been much disappointed, for unfortunately such horses were not now in demand. In another quarter were Tartars bargaining for miserable worn-out animals, such as in England may be seen awaiting their time in the paddock adjoining a kennel; but which the Tartar purchases as food, not for his dogs but for himself; horse-flesh being the principal fare of these Russian Mahometans, who are tolerably numerous in this neighbourhood.

In another part of the fair, again, were dealers from the Don, with large lots of Cossack and Bashkir horses. The Cossack horse is small, raw-boned, and spare, carrying little

flesh, and apparently not equal to any great weight; but he is far better than he looks, and is hardy, active, and enduring: he is little used for harness, his master being a horseman bred and born. The Bashkir horse is short and punchy, with a thick neck and a dull heavy head; but he will travel seventy miles without stopping or tiring. The Cossack and Bashkir horses at the fair were chiefly wild unbroken colts, and they were not haltered like the rest, or tied behind tilègas, but enclosed twenty or thirty together, in pens surrounded by a strong railing. In each pen was a lad with a whip, who kept the horses moving slowly round and round.

It was amusing to watch the process of showing these colts to purchasers. When a customer fixed his eye on one of them, and wished to examine him and see his action, the dealer, with the help of a long stick, threw a noose over the horse's head, and pulled it tight round his throat. The bar which closed the pen was then let down, and the lad inside, keeping the other horses away from the opening, drove out the one which had been selected. He, of course, finding himself apparently free on the open plain, immediately tried to run away; but his escape was not to be effected, for his owner had a firm hand on the rope round his neck, and a vigorous pull tightened the noose so as almost to strangle the horse. The assistant, having now closed the pen, came to his master's aid ; and having forced a bridle on the head of the poor frightened brute, boldly jumped on his back. The colt naturally resented the aggression by rearing, kicking, plunging, and doing all in his power to rid himself of his unceremonious rider. The Cossack, however, held fast by the mane, clung tightly with his legs, and kept a firm seat. Presently he urged on the horse, his master still holding the rope round the animal's neck. After a minute or two the colt became more tranquil; the end of the rope was given to the rider, and he was left to take care of himself. He immediately set off at full gallop across the steppe, and returned after a while at the same pace, pulling up with some difficulty when he reached the spot from which he had started.

This process, which I saw followed with two or three horses, reminded me of the account given by Sir Francis

Head, in his Journey across the Pampas,' of the manner of breaking in wild horses in South America.

The Cossack dealers had their own riding-horses, saddled and bridled, tied to the railings of the pens, and every now and then a couple of them would mount, and, starting off at full gallop, have a wild race against one another across the steppe. The ground was hard and slippery from the frost, but these fellows appeared to fear neither for themselves nor their horses, though one of them, who was neither young nor light, met with rather an awkward tumble; however, he appeared to care nothing for it. He was coming at full speed down hill, and, not having pulled up in time, he was obliged to turn on one side to avoid the crowd; and in so doing his horse slipped and fell flat on his side. I expected the rider to be considerably hurt, but he was instantly on his legs, urged up his horse, mounted, and set off again at full gallop across the plain. The Cossacks, who appear to be the only Russians much given to horsemanship, ride with snaffle bridles and upon a peaked saddle, with a leather cushion girthed upon it, so that they sit very high. They have a very peculiar seat, riding rather on one side, looking to the right, with the right toe and knee pointing out, and the left pressed closely to the horse. They wear no spurs, but carry a whip of pig-skin, looking like a small flail, in their hands.

Adjoining the space which was occupied by the horse-fair is a race-course for trotting-matches, which are greatly in Vogue in Russia at present. Great attention is paid, especially in this part of the country, to breeding fast trotters, which often command very high prices. They are many of them as large and handsome as London cabriolet horses. We saw some of these horses in training every evening on the race-course. They are driven in light droschkas; the vehicle being simply a board about four or five feet long, covered with a cushion, and placed on four low wheels. On this bench the driver sits astride, with his feet resting on iron bars, which project on either side for this purpose. When a trotter is in training, a boy on another horse generally gallops by his side to excite him; and the art of driving them is as carefully studied as jockeyship is in England. In winter a place is marked out.

with branches of trees on the ice for trotting-matches, and a light sledge is used instead of a droschka.

I have not much to say in praise of the beauty of Tamboff as a town. From the scarcity of stone, it consists chiefly of wooden houses, and only one or two of the principal streets are paved. In the others the mud in wet weather is ploughed with ruts axle-deep; and frost having now succeeded rain, and these roads having become as hard as stone, they are in a condition to endanger breaking the wheels of the carriages and the legs of the horses.

Like all government towns in Russia, Tamboff boasts an Archbishop and a Monastery. There is also a Nunnery there, and a certain number of churches, but none of them are remarkable. The government house has a most dismal appearance; and the only building in the place of any pretension is the Hall of Assembly of the nobles. This edifice contains a fine room, with a gallery running round three sides, supported on Corinthian pillars. At the upper end is a marvellously bad portrait of the Emperor under a canopy. His Majesty's portrait is usually placed in all public rooms, the pictures being for the most part unvarying copies of one original. The Emperor is depicted in uniform, with leather breeches and jackboots; and he looks sternly over a green and blue landscape to the right, his cocked-hat being in his right hand, and his left thumb stuck into his sash, apparently to relieve him from its exceeding pressure.

The nobles, that is to say the gentlemen, of every Government in Russia form an Assembly, in which every one who owns within the province a hundred peasants is entitled to vote. They meet once in three years to elect a Marshal for each district, of which there are twelve in every province, and a Grand-Marshal for the whole Government. The latter stands next in rank to the governor. He has the title of Excellency and the grade of General while he remains in office, and, if he is elected three several times, he retains his rank for life. After being elected, he must be confirmed in his office by the Emperor before he can enter on his functions. These Marshals represent the nobles, and they meet from time to time for the transaction of business; but the General Assembly of nobles

cannot meet oftener than triennially, except by an extraordinary permission from the Emperor. The business of the Assembly relates chiefly to the management and disposal of funds raised by a voluntary rate among themselves for the establishment and maintenance of public institutions, such as schools, hospitals, &c. The wardship of minors, of lunatics, and even of spendthrifts among their own number, is vested in the hands of the nobles, the business being practically conducted by their representatives the Marshals. Moreover, if a noble is injuring his children by wasting his estate, the Assembly have the power, which is not unfrequently exercised, of taking the management of his property into their own hands for the benefit of his family, and of putting him upon an allowance.

At the meeting of the Assembly, thirteen tables are placed in the great hall, one for the Grand-Marshal of the government, and one for the nobles of each district, with their Marshal as their chairman. A government in Russia may be considered as a county, and the districts into which it is divided as corresponding to our English hundreds. When the Grand-Marshal proposes a question, he assembles the twelve Marshals at his own table, and addresses himself to them. Each of them then goes to the table of his district and puts the question, after it has been discussed, to the vote. Having thus ascertained the decision of the majority of his constituents, he returns to the Grand-Marshal's table and gives his voice accordingly, the question being thus finally decided by the majority of districts.

Any member of the Assembly may propose a question. In this case, it is first discussed and put to the vote at the table to which the proposer belongs. If it be rejected there, it is of course at once lost; but if it be carried, the Marshal of the district reports it to the Grand-Marshal, who puts it to the vote of the meeting in the manner described above.

In this way the nobles assess themselves voluntarily for various purposes of public utility according to the number of peasants possessed by each. Their vote receives the ratification of the Emperor, and it is then binding on all; and payment of the contributions, though originally voluntary, can be legally enforced.