ceiving that a storm was ready to burst upon him, he sent to Count P, the governor of the city, one of the noblemen who had resolv ed on his destruction: "I am informed, P", said the Emperor, "that there is a conspiracy on foot against me; do you think it necessary to take any precaution?" The Count, without betraying the least emotion, replied, " Sire, do not suffer such apprehensions to haunt your mind, if there were any combinations torming against your Majesty's person, I am sure I should be acquainted with it." "Then I am statisfied" said the Emperor, and the governor withdrew. Before Paul retired to rest, he unexpectedly expressed the most tender solicitude for the Empress and his children, kissed them with all the warmth of farewell fondness, and remained with them longer than usual; and after he had visited the centinels at their different posts, he retired to his chamber, where he had not long remained, before, under some colourable pretext, that satisfied the men, the guard was changed by the othcers who had the command for the night, and were engaged in the confederacy. An hussar whom the Emperor had particularly honoured by his notice and attention, always at night slept at his bed room door, in the anti-room It was impossible to remove this faithful soldier by any fair means. At this momentous period, silence reigned throughout the palace, except where it was disturbed by the pacing of the centinels, or at a distance by the murmurs of the Neva, and only a few lights were to be seen distantly and irregularly gleaming through the windows of this dark colossal abode. In the dead of the night, Zand his friends, amounting to eight or nine persons, passed the draw-bridge, easily ascended the stair-case which led to Paul's chamber, and met with no resistance till they reached the anti-room, when the faithful hussar, awakened by the noise, challenged them, and presented his fusee: much as they must have all admired the brave fidelity of the guard, neither time nor circumstances would admit of an act of generosity, which might have endangered the whole plan. Zdrew his sabre and cut the poor fellow down. Paul, awakened by the noise, sprung from his sopha: at this moment the whole party rushed into his room; the unhappy Sovereign, anticipating their design, at first endeavoured to entrench himself in the chairs and tables, then recovering, he assumed a high tone, told them they were his prisoners, and called upon them to surrender. Finding that they fixed their eyes steadily and fiercely upon him, and continued advancing towards him, he implored them to spare his life, declared his consent instantly to relinquish the sceptre, and to accept of any terms which they would dictate. In his raving, he offered to make them princes, and to give them estates, and titles, and orders, without end. They now began to press upon him, when he made a convulsive effort to reach the window: in the attempt he failed, and indeed so high was it from the ground, that had he succeeded, the expedient would only have put a more instantaneous period to his misery. In the effort he very severely cut his hand with the glass; and as they drew him back he grasped a chair, with which he felled one of the assailants, and a desperate resistance took place. So great was the noise, that notwithstanding the massy walls, and thick double folding-doors, which divided the apartments,

the

the Empress was disturbed, and began to cry for help, when a voice whispered in her ear, and imperatively told her to remain quiet, otherwise, if if she uttered another word, she should be put to instant death. Whilst the Emperor was thus making a last struggle, the Prince Y-struck him on one of his temples with his fist, and laid him upon the floor; Paul, recovering from the blow, again implored his life; at this moment the heart of P-2- -relented, and upon being observed to tremble and hesitate, a young Hanoverian resolulutely exclaimed, "We have passed the Rubicon: if we spare his life, before the setting of to-morrow's sun, we shall be his victims !" upon which he took off his sash, turned it twice round the naked neck of the Emperor, and giving one end to Z, and holding the other himself, they pulled for a considerable time with all their force, until their miserable sovereign was no more; they then retired from the palace without the least molestation, and returned to their respective homes. What occurred after their departure can be better conceived than depicted: medical aid was resorted to, but in vain, and upon the breathless body of the Emperor fell the tears of his widowed Empress and children, and domestics; nor was genuine grief ever more forcibly or feelingly displayed than by him on whose brow this melancholy event had planted the crown. So passed away this night of horror, and thus perished a Prince, to whom nature was severely bountiful. The acuteness and pungency of his feeling was incompatible with happiness: unnatural prejudice pressed upon the fibre, too finely spun, and snapped it.'

In the Taurida Palace, built by Potemkin, the dreams of Romance and Faery seem to be realized:

The first room we entered from the garden, was the celebrated hall in which Prince Potemkin gave the most gorgeous and costly entertainment ever recorded since the days of Roman voluptuousness: I am not able to communicate to my readers the ideas which this enormous room excited. If a pagan were to be transported into it in his sleep, when he awoke he could not fail of thinking that he had undergone an apotheosis, and had been conducted to the banquetingroom of Jupiter. It was built after the unassisted design of Potemkin, and unites, to a sublime conception, all the graces of finished taste. This prodigious room is supported by double rows of colossal doric pillars, opening on one side into a vast pavilion, composing the winter-garden, which I saw prepared for the Emperor, who resides here for a short time every year, just before I left Petersburg. This garden is very extensive: the trees, chiefly orange, of an enormous size, are sunk in the earth in their tubs, and are entirely covered with fine mould: the walks are gravelled, wind and undulate in a very delightful manner, are neatly turfed, and lined with roses and other flowers: the whole of the pavilion is lighted by lofty windows: from the ceiling depend several magnificent lustres of the richest cut glass.

Here, whilst the polar winter is raging without, covering the world in white, and hardening the earth to marble; when water tossed in the air drops down in ice; may be seen the foliage, and inhaled the fragrance, of an Abrabian grave, in the soft and benign climate of an

Italian

Italian spring. The novelty and voluptuous luxuriance of this green refreshing spectacle, seen through a colonnade of massy white pillars, and reduplicated by vast mirrors, is matchless. Between the columns, now no longer incumbered with boxes for spectators as they formerly were, are a great number of beautiful statues and colossal casts: the two celebrated vases of Carrara marble, the largest in the world, occupy the centre of the room leading to the winter-garden. The Dying Gladiator, Cupid and Psyche, a recumbent Hermaphrodite, and many other exquisite productions of the chisel, afford ample gratification to the man of taste. Amongst the busts, is that of the Right Honourable Charles James Fox, by Nollekens; an admirable likeness of that distinguished orator. Paul, during his temporary aversion to the English, ordered this bust into the cellar whether he intended that his spleen should carry the marks of some humor, I know not. His august successor removed it from the region of the Tuscan juice, and the depths of darkness, and ordered it to occupy its present station, where by the side of Grecian and Roman virtue, the sun of heaven shines full upon it. Opposite to the winter garden is a beautiful saloon, divided from the hall only by the colonnade, which is filled with rare antiques, principally busts. Amongst them a head of Achilles, and a small Silenus, are justly regarded as the most precious. During the darkened hours of Paul, he converted this palace into a garrison; and the hall, pavilion, and saloon, into a riding school for his troops!'

The celebrated fête given to the Empress in this room is still more astonishing:

Nothing could exceed the public sensation which this fete excited. At length the evening arrived when the Prince was to appear in all his pomp and glory, before his fond and adored sovereign. The walls of these splendid apartments were most richly and beautifully illuminated, and decorated with various exquisite transparencies; and the stairs, hall, avenues, and sides of the rooms were lined with officers of state, attached to the household of the Prince, and servants, in the most costly dresses, and magnificent liveries. The orchestra exceeded six hundred vocal and instrumental musicians, and announced the entrance of the Empress and her court, richly attired, by a grand overture and chorus, which reverberated through the collonnades and saloons. Potemkin conducted his imperial visitor to an elevated chair glittering with gold and diamonds: midway between the columns were boxes gilt with pale gold, and lined with green silk, filled with spectators in gala dresses. The festivity commenced with a dance of youths of both sexes, habited in white, and covered with pearls and jewels, at the head of whom were the present Emperor and the grand duke Constantine his brother. After the dance, and the most costly refreshments, the party repaired to the theatre, at the other end of the palace, where an occasional piece, composed in honour of the Empress, was performed, in which all the powers of singing, acting, dancing, dress, scenery, and decorations, were displayed. Upon the conclusion of the drama, the audience rose, and as if impelled by magic, the benches, touched by springs, moved and formed

into tables and little seats which were almost instancously covered with the richest viands, served up in gold and silver. The curtain again rose, and discovered a hall of mirrors, from which descended globular lustres of crystal, and a table appeared covered with the rarity of almost every region, splendidly served in gold; and at the head, upon a throne gilded and glittering with precious stones, sat the Empress surrounded by her court, the most brilliant in Europe. Such were the arrangements in this place, that every one could see and be seen. In the colossal hall were spread tables filled with delicacies and the most costly wines, and at the head of it was a prodigious massy cistern of solid silver, containing sterlet soup, which is said alone to have cost ten thousand rubles. During this splendid repast, in every room the softest music was heard, which rather enlivened than restrained the current of conversation. Universal decorum and hilarity prevailed; every wish was anticipated, every sense was gratified.'

In his account of the mode by which Catharine checked the progress of revolutionary principles in Russia, the author seems to have acquired rather too keen a relish for despotism:

Catharine put down a sect still more formidable, and by the following whimsically wise manner, saved her people from the baneful contagion of French principles. During that revolution, which portended ruin to all the sacred establishments of all nations, when in England Pitt trampled out the brightening embers, and saved his 'country from the devouring flames, a group of mischievous emissaries from France arrived at Fetersburg, and began, in whispers amongst the mob, to persuade the poor droshka driver, and the ambulatory vender of honey quass, that thrones were only to be considered as stools, and that they had as much right to sit upon one of them as their empress: Catharine, concealing her real apprehensions, availed herself of the powers with which she was clothed, without shedding a drop of blood. She knew ridicule to be, in able hands, a powerful weapon, and resolved to wield it upon the present occasion. One evening the police officers were ordered to seize all these illuminated apostles of liberty, and bear them away to the lunatic asylum, where the Empress had directed that their heads should be shaved and blistered, and their bodies well scoured by aperient medicines, and kept on meagre diet; this regimen was continued for fourteen days, when their confinement terminated. The common Russians had heard of, their fate, and really believing that they had been insane, neglected and deserted them upon their re-appearance in the city with shorn heads, hollow eyes, and sunk cheeks, and all the striking indications of a recently bewildered mind. If this mild and ingenious project had failed, Catharine would have let loose all the energy of power, and for this purpose she rapidly caused to be built that vast edifice, now used for the marine barracks, which she destined for a state prison.'

Mr. Carr has forgotten, apparently, that the best principles have been attacked in a similar manner, but luckily without

success.

The

The Institutions for the education of Girls are described with much feeling; and we were highly pleased with the subsequent story:

In the institution of Saint Catharine, under the direction of Madame Bredkoff, an elderly lady of distinguished talents, and sweetness of disposition, the following little circumstance occurred which will prove that the Russian mind, whatever may have been said of it, is susceptible of feeling and generosity. In this institution, which is supported by the Empress-dowager, a limited number only of young ladies are admitted, free of expence, by ballot; but others are received upon paying, as it is termed, a pension. At the last admission, two little girls, the eldest not exceeding ten years of age, the daughter of a naval captain, who in this country is noble, the father of a large family, presented themselves, and drew, the one a prize, the other a blank. Although so young, they knew that fate had, in this manner, resolved upon their separation; they felt it and wept. Another young lady, to whom the next chance devolved, drew a prize, and observing the distress of the sisters, without holding any communication with their parents, or with any other person, spontaneously ran up to the luckless little girl, presented her with the ticket, and leading her up to the directress, said, "See, Madam, I have drawn a prize, but my papa can afford to pay the pension, and I am sure will pay it for me: pray let one who is less fortunate, enjoy the good that has happened to me." This charming anecdote was immediately reported to the Empress-dowager, who expressed the highest delight, and paid, out of her own purse, the pension of the little benefactress."

The remaining part of the account of Russia consists of details of public festivals; at which, according to the French phrase, the author assisted.

At Dantzic, Mr. Carr experienced some disgusts, hardly important enough to have been recorded. "Travellers," as the

clown says, " should be content."

We meet with a laughable anecdote, respecting the ceremony imposed on all strangers, of announcing their names and titles on entering garrison-towns:

• An English humorist, who had by virtue of his freehold a parliamentary vote in the municipal county, upon being stopped at the gate of a town in some part of Germany, throughout which empire an elector is considered as a personage only inferior to the Emperor, and upon his name being demanded, replied, “Je suis un Electeur de Middlesex ;" upon which the Captain ordered the guard to turn out and salute him, and sent a company to follow the carriage to the inn, and attend him there, and paid him all the honours due to an electoral Prince. The delusion was easily carried on, for princes, even crowned heads in Germany, and various other parts of the continent, trouble themselves but little about equipage.'

The plates are pleasing additions to this amusing volume, and are creditable to Mr. Carr's pencil.

ART.