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CHAP. objects around it, and being emblematical of the simplicity and virtue of the people from whom it had been plundered'. Its form was very antient, and resembled that usually given by painters to our English Alfred. The part of the Treasury containing the most valuable objects is a chamber where the crowns of the Russian sovereigns are deposited. It is said, the rubies once adorning those of the Empress ANNE and of PETER THE SECOND have been changed, and stones of less value substituted in their place.

Some things were shewn to us that were formerly considered of great value, but are now curious only from their antiquity; such, for instance, as a long ivory comb, with which the TSARS Combed their flowing beards. Cupboards, below the glass-cases covering the walls, were filled with a profusion of goblets, vases, plates, cups of all sorts, basons, gold and silver candlesticks, and other articles of value, the gift of foreign princes and tributary states. A round box of gilded silver contains, upon a scroll, the code of laws of the several pro

(1) The writers of the Voyage de Deux Français mention a very、 antient crown of gold, which may be that here noticed. "Une autre couronne, d'or, plus simple que toutes les autres, qui paroît fort ancienne, mais dont on n'a pas pu nous dire l'origine."

(2) Voyage de Deux Français, tom. III. p. 291.

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vinces of the empire, collected by ALEXIS, father CHAP. of PETER THE GREAT, one of the best and wisest princes that ever sat upon the Russian throne. There are also some pieces of mechanism that would now be little esteemed anywhere a toilette entirely of amber: serpentine vessels, supposed to possess the property of disarming poison of its deadly quality: masquerade dresses worn by their sovereigns: a few natural curiosities; and among these, the horn of a Narvhal, above eight feet in length. This kind of whale is found near the mouths of rivers falling into the Icy Sea, or upon the shores of lakes in the same latitude. The horns and tusks of animals, in a fossile state, form a considerable article of the internal commerce of Russia. Perhaps the ivory manufactured at Archangel may have been dug up in the north of Russia. Professor Pallas informed us, that such prodigious quantities of elephants' teeth were discovered on an island north of the Samoiede Land, that caravans come annually laden with them to Petersburg. The most remarkable circumstance is, that, instead of being mineralized, like elephants' tusks found in the South of Europe, they may be wrought with all the facility of the most perfect ivory: but this only happens when they are found in a latitude where the soil is perpetually frozen;

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CHAP. they have then been preserved, like the fishes and other articles of food brought annually to the winter markets of Petersburg. Those dug in the southern parts of Siberia are found either soft and decayed, or mineralized by siliceous infiltrations, and metalline compounds. What a source of wondrous reflection do these discoveries open! If frost alone have preserved them, they were frozen in the moment of their deposit; and thus it appears, that an animal peculiar to the warmest regions of the earth must, at some distant period, have been habituated to a temperature which it could not now endure for an instant. In the epistolary mummery bartered by the late Empress CATHERINE With Voltaire, these animal remains are brought forward to gratify his infidelity': and it is difficult to say who appears most abject in the eyes of posterity; CATHERINE, condescending to gratify the scepticism of a man she inwardly despised; or the arch-infidel himself, having nearly completed his eighth decade', sometimes by insinuation, and often

(1) "Mais une chose qui démontre, je pense, que le monde est un peu plus vieux que nos nourrices ne nous le disent, c'est qu'on trouve dans le Nord de la Sibérie, à plusieurs toises sous terre, des ossemens d'éléphans, qui depuis fort long-temps n'habitent plus ces contrées." Lett. de l'Impératrice à M. de Voltaire, dans les Euvres de Volt. tome lxvii. p. 201. Edit. 1785.

66

(2) J'aurai à la vérité soixante et dix-sept ans, et je n'ai pas la vigueur d'un. Turc; mais je ne vois pas ce qui pourrait m'empêcher

de

by direct entreaty, meanly courting an invitation to Petersburg, which neither his drivelling gallantry, nor fulsome adulation could obtain.

In a very antient part of the palace, formerly inhabited by the Patriarchs, and adjoining to their chapel, are kept the dresses worn by them; these are also exhibited in glass-cases. They requested us particularly to notice the habits of Nicon and St. Nicholas; the tiaras sent to the Patriarchs from the Emperors of CONSTANTINOPLE; the crucifixes borne in their solemn processions; the patriarchal staves, and relics. Several of the last were inserted in cavities cut within a wooden crucifix. Among other things adding to its prodigious sanctity and miraculous powers, a part of one of the bones of Mary Magdalene was pointed out to us. The dresses were very antient, but full as magnificent as those we had seen at the ceremony of the Resurrection; gold and silver being the meanest ornaments lavished

de venir dans les beaux jours saluer l'étoile du Nord et maudire le croissant. Nôtre Madame Geoffrin a bien fait le voyage de Varsovie; pourquoi n'entreprendrais-je pas celui de Pétersbourg au mois d'Avril?" Lett. de Volt. à l'Imperat. Ibid. p. 49.

To which the Empress replied, that she admired his courage; but knowing the delicate state of his health, she could not consent to expose him to the dangers of so long a journey. Moreover," she added, "it may happen, if things continue as they are, that the prosperity of my affairs may demand my presence in the southern provinces of my empire." Ibid. p. 50.

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CHAP.
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Manuscripts.

upon them. Many were entirely covered with pearls, and otherwise adorned with emeralds, rubies, diamonds, sapphires, and precious gems of Siberia. In smaller cabinets we saw onyxstones wrought in cameo work, exhibiting images of Jesus and of the Virgin; these were not less than three inches and a half in length, and two in breadth. They shewed us, moreover, vessels of massive silver, made to contain consecrated oil: this is sent all over RUSSIA, from Moscow, for the service of the Greek churches. Sixteen. of these vessels, of very considerable magnitude, each capable of containing from three to four gallons, were presented by the Emperor PAUL.

In the chapel adjoining the chambers where the treasures are kept, is a collection of Manuscripts in Greek and Sclavonic; also more of the bones of Mary Magdalene. By much the greater number of the manuscripts are in the Sclavonic language. The priest who had the care of them conversed with us in Latin; affirming, that among the Sclavonic, or, as he termed them, the Ruthenic manuscripts, there was a copy of the works of Virgil, and one of Livy. He was not, however, able to find either of them, and we imputed the whole story to his ignorance and vanity. We afterwards conversed with Archbishop Plato upon the same subject; who