marked in a former letter, who do not carry on a manufactory of some kind or other, and this practice arises naturally out of the circumstances of the case. The riches of the Russian gentleman lie in the labour of his serfs, which it is his study to turn to good account,* and he is the more urged to this, since the law which compels the peasant to work for him, requires him to maintain the peasant: if the latter is found begging, the former is liable to a fine. He is therefore a master who must always keep a certain number of workmen, whether they are useful to him or not; and as every kind of agricultural and out-doors employment is at a stand-still during the winter, he naturally turns to the establishment of a manufactory as a means of employing his peasants, and as a source of profit to himself. In some cases the manufactory is at work only during the winter, and the people are employed in the summer in agriculture; though beyond what is necessary for home consumption, this is but an unprofitable trade in most parts of this empire, from the badness of roads, the paucity and distance of markets, and the consequent difficulty in selling produce.

*Of course, the income derived from an estate depends upon the system of management, and upon the profit from the labour of the peasants. I believe, however, that an annual revenue to the proprietor of thirty-three or thirty-four shillings per head, reckoning all the male serfs, young and old, may be taken as a fair average.

The largest landed proprietor in Russia is Count Cheremetieff, the number of his souls being computed at a hundred and ten thousand.

The alternate employment of the same man in the field and in the factory, which would be attempted in most countries with little success, is here rendered practicable and easy by the versatile genius of the Russian peasants, one of whose leading national characteristics is a general capability of turning his hand to any kind of work which he may be required to undertake. He will plough to-day, weave to-morrow, help to build a house the third day, and the fourth, if his master needs an extra coachman, he will mount the box and drive four horses abreast, as though it were his daily occupation. It is probable that none of these operations, except, perhaps, the last, will be as well performed as in a country where the division of labour is more thoroughly understood. They will all, however, be sufficiently well done to serve the turn, a favourite phrase in Russia. These people are a very ingenious race, but perseverance is wanting; and though they will carry many arts to a high degree of excellence, they will generally stop short of the point of perfection, and it will be long before their manufactures can rival the finish and durability of English goods.

Where the manufactory is established on a considerable scale, and is constantly at work, the peasants are usually put on the footing of hired labourers, and instead of having an allotment of land, are paid for their work, and left to provide themselves with the necessaries of life. Their master, it is true,

can compel them to work in his manufactory, and that on his own terms; but these are regulated by custom, and since the serfs are paid at the same rate with the free workmen who may be employed with them, they seldom have reason to complain of injustice.

Not only have the Russian nobles, from the nature of their property and the constitution of the country, become manufacturers, but they carry on the business in every branch, almost entirely to the exclusion of other classes, since they alone can command without difficulty, and on advantageous terms, the hands necessary for the purpose. A manufacturer, who is not noble, being incapable by law of possessing serfs, while free labour is scarce, must compete at a disadvantage with a rival, who can enforce the performance of whatever work he requires, and who has his operatives, as it were under military discipline. Besides the regularly established manufactories, the exercise of various arts on a smaller scale in private houses, either for profit or home consumption is very general. One consequence of this system of things is, that the prices and qualities of various fabrics, such as cloth, linen, paper, glass, china, &c., are subjects of general interest and of common conversation here, in the same manner that farming and planting are discussed by country gentlemen in England.

Boys are often sent to Petersburg or Moscow, as

apprentices, to learn various trades, which they afterwards practise at home for the use and profit of their masters, who thus, in a remote country district, have well-taught cabinet-makers, coach-makers, smiths, and sometimes medical practitioners and musicians always at command.*

I have often been surprised at the excellence of a home-made carriage (the springs only having been purchased elsewhere), for the art of coachmaking is one of those most generally exercised for private use, owing, doubtless, to the number of equipages which a Russian habitually requires, and which are thus obtained at a cheap rate.

Many ladies employ a number of girls, generally the children of household servants, in embroidering and making all kinds of fancy-work, which they execute most beautifully, and which their mistress sells, receiving orders for it, as is common in charityschools in England. In a house where we were visiting some time ago, we were shown a shawl with corners and borders of a most beautiful pattern of flowers in brilliant colours, which had been entirely made at home by a young girl, who brought it in to exhibit it, and who was then employed upon another which we saw in progress. Even the

* Occasionally, at the expiration of their apprenticeship, these people, instead of returning to their masters, pay them a sum agreed upon as an equivalent for their services, and establish themselves in their trades on their own account in towns. The rent thus paid by the peasants is called an obrok.

wool, the colours of which were admirable, had been dyed in the house. The shawl was valued at fifteen hundred roubles, about sixty-two pounds; it had occupied the girl who made it about a year and a half.

In almost every house some art is carried on, useful or ornamental, and women are employed in spinning, weaving, knitting, carpet-making, &c.; for the raw material in Russia is worth little, and the manufactured article alone is valuable in the market.

The ladies of England, "who live at home at ease," little know the disagreeable and troublesome duties of inspection and correction, which often devolve upon the mistress of a family in Russia, from all the various branches of domestic industry which she is obliged to superintend.