who built the adjacent Cathedral of St. Isaac. The shaft would have been still more lofty had it not been for that blind unreasoning obedience to directions so customary in Russia. After the erection of the column had been decided upon, orders were sent to the various quarries to detach a single block of 84 feet in length, with which to form the shaft; little hope, however, being entertained that so large a block would be forthcoming. One day the Czar received a despatch from the superintendent of a quarry, stating that a block without blemish of the length of 100 feet had been detached, and that it was about to be cut down to the required length. The Czar rushed off in hot haste to prevent the block from being mutilated, but arrived too late. He was just in time to see the sixteen feet lying separate from the block, which otherwise would have formed the noblest column in the world. A mass of granite measuring about 25 feet in each direction forms the base. The capital, angel, and cross make the total height of the monument nearly 155 feet. The capital and the ornaments on the pedestal were made from Turkish cannon. No less than six successive rows of piles were driven in to form a firm foundation for this grand column. The frost has produced several fissures in the shaft, but they have been carefully cemented over. "In any other city," says Kohl, "its enormous size would produce a greater impression; here in St. Petersburg, where the eye expands with the vast surrounding spaces, it is seen under a smaller angle of vision. The place in which it stands is so vast in its dimensions—the houses around are so high and massive, that even this giant requires its 150 feet not to disappear. But when we approach and become aware of its circumference, while its head seems to reach the heavens, the impression is strong and overpowering."

In the middle of a square, near the Academy of Arts, is a black marble obelisk on a red marble pedestal, surmounted by a gilt Russian eagle. It originally stood on the Champ de Mars, having been erected in 1799, in memory of Field-Marshal Rumiantskoff Zadunaiski, and was removed to the present site in 1821. It is about 70 feet in height, and bears the inscription" To the Victories of Rumiantskoff.”

The Souvaroff monument stands between the Champ de Mars and the Quay of the Winter Palace. It is a bronze statue of that notable general, standing, in Roman costume, with sword in one hand and shield in the other. In other parts of the city are various statues; amongst the rest, one of Czar Nicholas, surrounded with bas-reliefs of the principal events in his life; a statue of Barclay de Tolly, associated with Culm, Leipzig, and Paris; another of Kutusof, who is looked upon as the Saviour of Russia in 1812; a monument to Krylof, the noted Russian fabulist, who rose from poverty to a good position. as a Government official and man of letters. His fables are exceedingly characteristic of Russian life, and unsparingly expose the faults and weaknesses of his countrymen. They have been translated into English. There is also a statue to Admiral Krusenstern, the first Russian who circumnavigated the globe; and a monument to Sir James Wylie, Bart., the distinguished medical attendant to the Court in the reigns of Paul and Alexander I., and during part of the reign of Nicholas.

On the Nevski Prospect stands a monument to Catherine II., which was unveiled with great ceremony in 1873. It is a handsome monument, modelled by Mikeshin, a Russian artist, and cast by an English firm at St. Petersburg. It stands on huge blocks of

Finnish granite, and in high relief around the pedestal are the figures of celebrated personages whose names are linked in history with that of the great Empress.

an

St. Petersburg contains, of course, the usual buildings connected with the Government departments and civic institutions. The different ministries are accommodated in immense edifice, and there is a fine palace for the Senate. The Admiralty is a vast parallelogram of brick, with contiguous accommodation for the construction at one time of several ships of war, and thence launching them into the Neva. It is surmounted by a light and graceful tower, from which a splendid view of the city and river can be obtained. The building is to a considerable extent occupied by schoolrooms for the cadets, but there are also a Naval Museum, a Museum of Natural History, and a Library. The Naval Museum contains a varied collection of naval models, including an array of Russian iron-clads; there are also life-size models of Russian sailors at different periods. There are several other technical and scientific museums in St. Petersburg, that do not require further notice here, excepting only the Artillery Museum and the Museum of Imperial Carriages.

The Artillery Museum is in the new Arsenal, and contains a grand collection of all sorts of curiosities in addition to the objects specially appertaining to it. Here is the horse (stuffed) on which Catherine II. rode in June, 1762, when she came to take possession of her throne. On this horse the great Empress rode astride like a man. Here is the stool on which Stenka Razil, the renowned bandit chief of the Caspian, used to sit and deliver judgment, and execute his decrees, without rising, by means of eight pistols stuck round the stool. Surrounded by his Don Cossacks, he set the Russian power for a time at defiance, but was ultimately captured and beheaded. A stone sun-dial from Adrianople, the clothes and ornaments of Frederick the Great, captured in the Thirty Years' War, Peter the Great's hat, and an immense collection of weapons of war and ordnance, with an endless array of relics and curiosities render this museum a place of intense interest.

To one group of objects a word or two must be devoted. In an alcove hangs the huge standard of the Strelitz troops, formed of pieces of silk sewn together and covered with symbolical pictures. Other banners and accoutrements of this famous corps lie around. The Strelitz were the Imperial Guard of Russia; and when Peter the Great was introducing foreign dress and foreign customs into the country, they fomented popular discontent and opposed the new order of things. Not content with passive resistance, the Strelitz planned active measures. A number of them conspired to assassinate the Czar, and burn his new capital off the face of the earth. Peter heard of it, and surprised the conspirators. He had the culprits racked, and then, whilst under the torture, their limbs were slowly cut away one after another, and not till after long-protracted agonies were their lives finally extinguished. The Russians shuddered with horror at this cruelty, and Peter for a time left the country. In his absence there were fresh troubles. The Strelitz, influenced by the priests, were indignant at Peter's foreign alliances, and refused to repair to the Polish frontiers as ordered. Peter had been prosecuting his studies in the dockyards of Zaandam and Deptford, he had left the Scottish General (Gordon) in command of 12,000 disciplined troops, principally Frenchmen, and all

accoutred and trained after the European manner. Peter was returning through Austria when he heard of the rebellion of the Strelitz, and that Gordon had taken them prisoners and loaded them with chains to await his arrival.

He resolved to humble the proud and insolent corps, who had so continuously hindered his designs. "The particulars of the vengeance," says Lardner, "which on this dreadful occasion the Czar inflicted on the Strelitz are revolting. He did not satisfy himself with ordinary cruelty, but spared no detail of physical pain that could prolong and render still more acute the dying agonies of his victims. He first put them to the torture, interrogating and reviling them during the operation; and when he had. sufficiently feasted his eyes with that exhibition of cruelty, he ordered 2,000 of the mangled wretches to be put to death, taking a part in the executions himself, and compelling his nobles to assist him in cutting off the heads of the guilty chiefs. Throughout this barbarous scene, Peter, seated on his throne, gazed with calm and unpitying looks on the work of death, and never moved from his stern composure except to indulge his cruelty by participating in the business of the executions. Nor did his vengeance rest here; to these horrors he added the intoxication of the wine-cup, as if his blood were not inflamed enough already. With the wine-cup in one hand and the axe in the other, he drank twenty successive draughts, as he smote off twenty successive heads in a single hour; exulting at every stroke at the skill and dexterity he displayed."

Further excesses followed. Axe, gibbet, and wheel were active for months all over Russia. The imperial consort was suspected and sent to a cloister. Peter's name became a word of terror. Revolts broke out everywhere: these were cruelly suppressed; many more of the Strelitz were beheaded; and finally the whole corps was disbanded and scattered over the empire, or incorporated with his increasing well-disciplined army, chiefly consisting of men chosen from the ranks of the experienced soldiery of civilised Europe.

The Museum of Imperial Carriages is a remarkable collection, containing a fine assortment of vehicles in use at the present day, and also the splendid state and festival carriages of successive sovereigns of Russia. Perhaps the greatest curiosity is the sledge of Peter the Great, who really seems ubiquitous in this city. The sledge was made by the great Czar with his own hands.

The Imperial Public Library of St. Petersburg is one of the richest in Europe, containing over a million printed volumes and about 25,000 manuscripts. Its reading room, constructed in 1862, is only second to the noble room at the British Museum. Amongst the MSS. are an important collection of some of the most valuable State papers of Franceletters from French kings to their ambassadors at foreign Courts, reports, secret State documents, and so forth. These were bought at Paris when the contents of the archives were ransacked by the maddened populace and sold to the first bidder. The classical, Biblical, and mediaval manuscripts are also exceedingly valuable. Those who take a special interest in Peter the Great may here inspect about 400 engravings and lithographs representing him under various circumstances.

Of theatres the city possesses five, of which the Great Theatre, the home of Italian opera, is the largest, accommodating 3,000 persons. The Marie Theatre is devoted to Russian opera and drama.

To see the good people of St. Petersburg amusing themselves to their fullest bent we must regard them at the Carnival and at Easter. Fasting is in very high repute in the Greek Church; and the fasts are kept with great strictness, all food containing any particle of animal matter being rigidly excluded. Of course neither flesh nor fowl must be touched; but milk, eggs, and butter are also tabooed, and likewise sugar on account of the animal matter used in refining it. The Great Fast preceding Easter lasts for seven weeks, and is kept far more strictly than in Roman Catholic countries. On all the Wednesdays and Fridays, and during the whole of the first and last week, the lower class abstain even from fish. To prepare for so much abstinence a preparatory time of feasting and merriment is

necessary.

During February the upper classes are fully engaged with their routs and balls and all sorts of Carnival revelries. But the mass of the people compress their merry-making into the week preceding the fast. This week is termed the Masslanitza, or Butter-week; and during its continuance Russian festivity reaches its highest point. The idea seems to be to consume during this week all the butter that would ordinarily be consumed during the remaining seven. Nothing seems to be eaten except what can be prepared or cooked with butter. The standard popular dish of the season is blinni, a sort of pancake made with butter, fried in butter, and eaten with butter sauce. The ordinary great national dish of shtshee, or cabbage soup, finds no patronage in Butter-week.

At

The intervals between refreshment are devoted to a round of endless amusements. one time the frozen surface of the Neva was the arena upon which were erected the temporary theatres, swings, and ice mountains. But the ice gave way under the immense pressure some years ago, and many persons were drowned. Accordingly the vast square of the Admiralty has since been devoted to these festal proceedings. For some time previously extensive preparations are afoot. Timber, poles, planks, blocks of ice, and all things needful for the theatres and booths, and slides and swings, are brought in vast quantities on sledges. Holes are dug in the frozen ground and posts planted, and then water is poured in, which immediately freezes, and the posts stand as firm as if fixed in solid rock. On the first Sunday of Butter-week the fun begins, and all St. Petersburg is either sliding or swinging, or else looking on at those who are doing so. No eating and drinking booths are allowed in the square, but tea and cakes and other light refreshments are hawked about. At noonday the Admiralty Square presents a stirring sight. The mirth among the lower classes is at its highest, and in a broad space reserved for equipages the higher classes drive past in interminable procession. Everybody in St. Petersburg who has any pretension to wealth or position keeps a carriage, and all these carriages, filled with the families of their owners, make up a very pleasing portion of the spectacle.

After Butter-week comes the grim seven weeks' fast. All public amusements are strictly prohibited, and the desolate Admiralty Square is strewed with fragments of the late joyous festivities. At length the Easter eggs appear in readiness for presents. As midnight approaches on the Saturday before Easter the churches fill; people of all ranks and ages. attend the services, and at the Imperial chapel the Court appears in full dress. As soon as the midnight hour strikes, the sanctuary doors burst open, and the song of "Christ is Risen"