VI.

or the most gloomy annals of Russia) will prove CHAP. the state of society in the country to exist now as it always has been. The leading testimony (even of authors decidedly partial) is by no means favourable to the character of its inhabitants. So long ago as the middle of the last century, when the Baron de Manstein wrote his Memoirs1 concerning the interesting æra that elapsed between the beginning of the reign of PETER THE SECOND, and the marriage of the late Empress CATHERINE with the husband whose murder Voltaire found it impossible to methodize, the insecurity of property, the total want of public faith, the ignorance and the rudeness of the people, were notorious3. De Manstein studiously avoided all opprobrious reflections; attributing the depreciating accounts, usually given of the natives, to the little information strangers, unacquainted with the language, can procure1. It will therefore be curious to adduce the evidence, which may nevertheless be derived from his work, to validate the description we have

(1) Memoirs of Russie by the Baron de Manstein, a German, who served in the Russian army. He afterwards became a general-officer in the Prussian service. These Memoirs contain a history of Russia from the year 1727 to the year 1744.

(2) See the Advertisement prefixed to this volume.

(3) "They were perfectly ignorant of all the rules of good breeding, even of the laws of nations, and of those prerogatives of foreign ministers which are established in the other Courts of Europe." Supplement to the Memoirs, &c. p. 416. Second Edit. Lond. 1773.

(4) Ibid.

VI.

CHAP. given of the Russians; especially after the high character given of the former by David Hume'. It was during the reign of the Empress ANNE, that Valinsky, a minister of the Crown, together with his adherents, fell victims to the displeasure of one of her favourites. After relating their undeserved fate, and the confiscation of their property, De Manstein observes2: "All the estates of these unfortunate persons were given to others, who did not possess them long. In this manner," says he, "it is, that in Russia, not only money, but even lands, houses, and moveables, circulate quicker than in any other country in Europe. I have seen lands change masters at least thrice in the space of two years." The same author, describing their barbarous finery and want of cleanliness half a century ago, actually delineated a portraiture of the nobles as they

"The richest coat together with the

appear at the present day.
would be sometimes worn
vilest uncombed wig; or you might see a beau-
tiful piece of stuff spoiled by some botcher of a
tailor; or, if there were nothing amiss in the
dress, the equipage would be deficient. A man
richly dressed would come to Court in a mise-
rable coach, drawn by the wretchedest hacks."

(I) Hume vouches for his having been an eye-witness to most of the incidents he has related, and speaks of the author's candour, good sense, and inpartiality.-- See Advertisement to the Memoirs signed "David Hume."

(2) Memoirs of Russia, p. 256.

(3) Ibid. p. 247.

The same want of taste reigned in the furniture and appearance of their houses. On one side you might see gold and silver in heaps; on the other, "a shocking dirtiness." And then he adds1, "It was enough for a dealer in the commodities of luxury and fashion to remain two or three years at Petersburg, to gain a competency for the rest of his life; even though he should have begun the world there with goods upon credit." Instances of this kind, during the period of our residence in Russia, might be cited, as having happened both in Petersburg and in Moscow.

(4) Memoirs of Russia, p. 248.

СНАР.

VI.

VII.

CHAP. VII.

MOSCOW.

Sunday market-Promenades during Easter-
Kremlin-Holy Gate--Great Bell -Great
Gun--Antient Palace of the Tsars-Imperial

Treasury

Manuscripts-Superb ModelGeneral appearance of the Kremlin-First Christian Church-Festival of the Ascension. CHAP. THE market on a Sunday in Moscow is a novel and entertaining spectacle. From five in the morning till eight, the Place de Galitzin, a spacious area near the Kremlin, is filled with a concourse of peasants, and people of every description, coming to buy, or to sell, white peacocks, fan-tailed and other curious pigeons, dogs

Sunday
Market.

VII.

of all sorts for the sofa or the chace, singing- CHAP. birds, poultry, guns, pistols, in short, whatsoever chance or custom may have rendered saleable. The sellers, excepting in the market of singing-birds, which is permanent and very large, have no shops; they remain with their wares, exposed upon stalls, or they are seen hawking them about in their hands. Dogs and birds are the principal articles for sale. The pigeon-feeders are distinguished in the midst of the mob by long white wands, used for the purpose of directing the pigeons in their flight. The nobles of Moscow take great delight in pigeons: a favourite pair will sell from five to ten roubles in the market. We were surprised to see the feeders, by way of exhibiting their birds, let them fly, and then recover them again at pleasure. The principal recommendation of these birds consists in their rising to a great height in the air, by a spiral curve, all flying one way, and following each other. When a pigeon has been launched, if it do not continue in the same line of curvature which the others observe, the feeder whistles, waving at the same time his wand, and then its course is immediately changed. During these exhibitions, the nobles stake their money in wagers, betting upon the height to which the birds will ascend, and the number of curves they will make in so doing. Among