CHAP.

X.

ental Plain.

flowers, and there were none worthy of a particular notice. The whole territory, whether to the south of Moscow, or in any other direction, is flat. The great Oriental plain extends Vast Orifrom that city even to Tobolsky in Siberia, and throughout all the southern provinces; appearing generally destitute of wood, and being always without inclosures.

In a narrative of travels through Russia, there State of Travelling, is no reason to fear any account of adventures at inns. Except in large towns, such houses are never seen; and even there they are abominable. Better accommodation may be had in the farm-houses of Lapland peasants, than in Russian inns. In the latter, the rooms consist of bare walls, filthy beyond description, destitute of any article of furniture. Sometimes these houses are kept by foreigners; and, in this case, the evil is not mended; because, although a little old furniture be then introduced, it is always dirty, and affords a receptacle for every kind of vermin. A person who wishes to traverse Russia, must consider it as Antient Scythia; being provided with every thing he may require. If he can endure fatigue, with little sleep, and live constantly covered with dust, exposed to a scorching sun; or to severe frost, with a couch of snow to lie upon, beneath

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CHAP. the canopy of heaven; he may travel in a khabitka, which is the best of all means of conveyance. If not, he must, according to the method recommended in the First Chapter, have a dormeuse in his carriage, which should be made low, and with very wide axle-trees. In this manner his journey will not be quite so expeditious as in a lighter machine; but he will always be able to proceed at the rate of a hundred versts in a day. If he can smoke tobacco, the fumes of it, used moderately, may preserve him from dangerous infection; repel vermin; and, by their narcotic power, acting as a stimulant, may promote the digestion of bad food. This practice also, during long fasting, upon chilling lakes and marshes, and amidst unwholesome air, has been found both solacing and salutary,

TULA.

The next day, June the third, we passed through Vaszany and Celo Volotia, to TULA, capital of the government of the same name, and the Sheffield of Russia. Near the town we found the Lathræa squamaria, a plant which the peasants boil in milk, as a remedy for disordered bowels, and a disease called sickness of heart; but the specimens were difficult to preserve, owing to their succulent nature.

For some time before we reached Tula, it

. X.

tures at

exhibited a considerable appearance. A very CHAP. handsome church, with white columns, appeared above the town, which occupies an extensive vale, and is filled with spires and domes. The entrance, both on its northern and southern side, is through triumphal arches, made of wood, painted to imitate marble. In former times, Tula was a dangerous place to visit; the inhabitants frequently pillaging travellers in the public streets. Now, it is the great mart of Manufachardware for the whole empire; containing a manufactory of arms, all sorts of cutlery, and other works in polished steel. As soon as you arrive at the inn, a number of persons crowd the room, each bearing a sack filled with trinkets, knives, inkstands, incense-pots, silk-reels, scissars, and corkscrews. Their work is showy, but very bad, and will not bear the smallest comparison with our English wares: it is a sufficient proof of the superiority of English workmanship, that they stamp all their goods with the names of English towns and English artificers, imitating even the marks of the Sheffield manufacturers, and adopting all their models. The wares hawked about are made during holidays and hours of leisure; these the workmen are permitted to sell to strangers, as their own perquisites. They are able to fabricate any thing, but they finish nothing. Some

of the workmen were purposely sent to England by the late EMPRESS, who neglected no measure conducive to the improvement of the manufactory. We asked those who had worked in our country, why their wares were so badly finished. They replied, they could finish them better, but were not able to bestow the necessary time; for as every article is the produce of the labour of a single person, the high price such additional labour must require would never be obtained. The best work we saw was in a manufactory of barometers, thermometers, and mathematical instruments; but here the artificer was a German, who had been instructed under English masters in Petersburg. The late EMPRESS bought up almost all the work which her English workmen completed. To encourage them, she ordered spectacles by the gross, and afterwards distributed them in presents. In her palaces, thermometers were placed in every window: and, as they were perpetually broken by the servants, her workmen, in providing a fresh supply, had sufficient demands to keep them constantly at work.

A letter to one of the principal persons in the Imperial manufactory enabled us to see the whole of it. They exhibited to us a splendid collection of guns, swords, pistols, &c. designed as

X.

presents from the inhabitants of Tula to each CHAP. member of the Royal family, upon PAUL'S accession to the throne. These offerings were, however, refused by the Emperor, upon some pretext of dissatisfaction experienced by him from the people of the place. The true cause, however, was known to be his steady determination of oppressing and insulting every individual, or class of individuals, patronized by his mother. Whatsoever might cast odium upon her memory; whatsoever might sully the lustre of her fame; by interrupting the progress of her plans for public improvement; by dismissing her statesmen and her officers; by poisoning the sources whence she dispensed happiness amongst her people; by overthrowing her establishments; by blighting the tender but thriving shoots of science and of the arts, which she had planted; by converting good to evil, and joy to grief; was the hourly occupation of her unnatural son. In the few years of his frantic tyranny (for every one saw, that of his government there would be a speedy termination) he proved a greater scourge to Russia than can be counterbalanced by another long and glorious career, like that of CATHERINE, distinguished by wisdom and power and conquest and beneficence'.

(1) Such was, at least, the character of her public administration. Her private vices were those of the people over whom she reigned. The

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