Part 22 (2/2)

One day a young gentleman presented a letter from Michael Faraday, dated ”Royal Institution, 29th May 1847,” requesting me to pay him some attention and show him round the works I did so with allhow avehis answer

He said:

”MY DEAR SIR--That you should both show kindness to the bearer ofht or could have expected; but it was very gratifying and pleasant to my mind I only wish that the circue of such goodwill on your part, and to be more in your company and conversation than is at present possible

”I could is; but though our desires, and even our hopes at tie extent, it is wonderful how, as the future becomes the present, the circumstances that surround us limit the sphere to which our real life is circumscribed If ever I come your way I hope to see your face; and the hope is pleasant, though the reality lorious work of your pile-driver, and it reat pleasure to witness the result Is it not Shakespeare who says, 'The pleasure we delight in physics pain'? In all your fatigue and labour you htful and healthy enjoyment it is I shall rejoice to see some day a blow of the driver and a tap of the ha and te steel in which we can help you I hope when you do co so Our apparatus, such as it is, shall be entirely at your service I o, a few such experiments on steel wire, but could eliminate no distinct or peculiar results You will kno to look at things, and at your hand I should expectaway, and I a just now; but the goodwill of such reat sti else praiseworthy

Ever, my dear Nasmyth, yours --St Petersburg--Dannemora

In the autu in company with my partner Mr Gaskell We had been invited to a conference with the directors of the Nure and Munich Railroad as to the supply of loco their line As this was rather an iht it better not to trust to correspondence, but to see the directors on the spot

We found that there were several riskful conditions attached to the proposed contract, which we considered it iood reason to feel satisfied that we had not yielded to the very te commercial blandishments that were offered to us, but that we refrained fro an order that required so many ily delighted with the appearance of the city of Nure It carries one back to the mediaeval times!

The architecture, even of the ordinary houses, is excellent

St Lawrence, St Sebald's, and the Frauenkirche, are splendid specin The city is surrounded by old walls and turrets, by ramparts and bastions, enclosed by a ditch faced with masonry

Very few cities have so well escaped the stores, and even inhas been carefully preserved, and many of the best houses are still inhabited by the fainally constructed the It is the centre of railways; buildings are extending in all directions; tra, I fear, the ditch will be filled up, the surrounding picturesque walls and towers de country

I visited the house of Albert Durer, one of the greatest artists who ever lived He was a raver, ineer He was to Germany what Leonardo da Vinci was to Italy His house is wonderfully preserved

You see his entrance hall, his exhibition roo into which his wife--that veritable Xantippe --thrust the food that was to sustain hirave, too, in the old churchyard beyond the Thiergarten gate I saw the bronze plate coravit 8 idus Aprilis 1528” ”Erave is there too--the great Reformation poet of Luther's tih his na Perhaps his finest work is in St Lawrence Cathedral--the Sacraraceful tapering stone spire of florid Gothic open work,of the right transept Its construction and decoration occupied the sculptor and his two apprentices no less than five years; and all that he received for his hard labour and skilful as 770 gulden, or about 80 sterling No wonder that he died in the deepest distress

St Sebald's and the Frauenkirche also contain numerous specimens of his ad year (1843) it was necessary forMy object was to endeavour to obtain an order for a portion of the loco the line between that city and Moscow The railway had been constructed under the engineershi+p of Major Whistler, father of the well-known artist; and it was shortly about to be opened It appeared that the E a home supply of locomotives, and that, like a wise monarch, he wished to e thelish locomotive manufacturers were not aware of the Emperor's intention When I arrived in the city I expected an order for locolish firms were there like myself; they, too, expected a share of the order

It so happened that at the table d'hote dinner I sat near a very intelligent American, hom I soon became intimate He told me that he was very well acquainted with Major Whistler, and offered to introducelike friendly feelings in ave me a frank and cordial reception, and informed me of the position of affairs The E a class of Russian mechanics to supply not only the locomotives but to keep then artisans for the latter purpose The locoiven up the extensive premises of the Imperial China Manufactory, which were to be devoted to the ines

The Major appointed Messrs Eastwick, Harrison, and Wynants, to supply the entire mechanical plant of the railway I saw that it would be of no use to apply for any order for locomotives; but I offered to do all that I could to supply the necessary details In the course of a few days I was introduced to Joseph Harrison, the chief mechanic of the fir and lasting He gave e order for boilers, and for detail parts of the Moscow engines--all of which helped him forward in the completion of the locomotives We also supplied ines could not then be very satisfactorily hly remunerated forwas much enhanced by frequent visits to my much valued friend General Alexander Wilson

He was a native of Edinburgh, and delighted to enjoy cracks with me upon subjects of mutual interest His sister, who kept house for him, joined in our conversation She had been married to the Emperor Paul's physician, as also a Scotsman, and was able to narrate many terrible events in relation to Russian Court affairs The General had worked his way upwards, like the rest of us During the principal part of his life he had superintended the great mechanical establishments at Alexandrosky and Colpenha, where about 3000 operatives were einally founded by the E a nativeon textile and mechanical works of all kinds

The sail-cloth for the Russian navy was manufactured at Alexandrosky by excellent machinery Cotton fabrics were alsocards, which were a Crown reat establishment at Colpenha consisted of a foundry, a machine manufactory, and a mint-- where the copper money of the e chief officer of all these establish introduced to General Greg, son of the great adn of the Empress Catherine He was then well advanced in years, but full of keen intelligence and devoted to astronoreat measure the founder of the Imperial Observatory at Pulkowa, situated on an appropriate e The observatory was furnished under his directions with the nificent astronomical instruments

I had the honour to be introduced by him to the elder Struve, whose astronohout Europe I had the rare happiness of spending sohts with Struve, when he showed me the wonderful capabilities of his fine instrueement, and was supported in the most liberal manner by the Emperor Nicholas

Indeed, it is a perfect example of what so noble an establishment should be

Struve most kindly invited me to come whenever the state of the weather permitted him to show forth the wonderful perfection of his instruments,--a rare chance, which I seized every opportunity of enjoying It was quite a picture to see the keen interest and intense enjoyment hich the profound astronomer would seat himself at his instrument and pick out soo, Cygnus, or Ursa Major The beautiful order and neatness hich the instrunificent appropriate apart quietly with his allotted special work, with nothing to break the silence but the ”tick, tack!” of the sidereal clock--this was indeed a ht! And the kindly coreat master of the establishment was in all respects in harreat Teh my friendshi+p with General Wilson I was enabled to extendsettled at St Petersburg in connection with commercial affairs I enjoyed their kind hospitality, and soon found st the that time I was constantly about The shops, the streets, the houses, the nificent buildings along the sides of the quay is very i from the front of the statue of Peter the Great you observe the long facade of the Admiralty, the colus The Neva flows in front of them in a massive volume of pure water On an island opposite stands the citadel The whole presents a coup d'oeil of unexanificence

I was nboards The latter were fixed all over the fronts of the shops, and contained a delineation of the goods sold within There was no necessity for reading The pictorial portraits told their own tale

They were admirable speciards the drawing and colouring of each object, but with respect to the grouping, which was in iven : one was thatthe articles sold within; and the other was that the severe and long-continued frosts of the St Petersburg winter rendered large shop s ioods

Hence the se painted signboards to display the articles sold inside