Part 2 (1/2)

He was a fine big fellow, and had a seaht have served as a o

There were a nuures, hels, ith piles of luggage, crowded the decks; and in this numerous company away they hurried towards the modern capital of the Czars

CHAPTER THREE

Distant View of Saint Petersburg--How it is built--Enter the City of the Czar--Its Appearance at First Sight--Mount a Drosky--The Travellers reach their Hotel--Outline Sketch of Saint Petersburg--A Tour round the City--Its Palaces and Public Buildings

”There it is! There it is! There's the city--Saint Petersburg itself!”

exclai out of the water a line of golden dohtly in the sun, like soic city of ancient romance

Conspicuous above all was the superb pile of the Isaac Church, the most modern sacred edifice in the city, and by far the finest; and near it was seen the graceful tower of the Adolden needle into the blue sky Soon other buildings--hospitals, and palaces, and houses, and towers, either not so lofty or farther off--rose to view; but no land could be discovered on which their bases ht rest

This vast city, they learned, was built by the i to reat maritime port Every house in it stands on a platforround Before a building can be erected, it is necessary thus to prepare its foundations, often at an enormous expense

The shores of the lake-like expanse along which they were steering were covered oods, froilt doolden cupolas and spires, and marble-white towers, and walls of churches and monasteries, and palaces and villas, and also sohbourhood, belonging to the Grand Duke Michael On a hill above the villa of the late Emperor It is exactly like a second-class country house Here he used to delight to retire with his family from the cares of state, and to throw aside co his overpowering ahtiness, that villa alone shows that he was a er to Cousin Giles

The head of the gulf narrowed a little, but very little, as they advanced A few buildings now appeared ahead, and their friend was pointing out to the young travellers the walls of soalley alleys in the ith the Swedes, when on a sudden they found the vast warehouses and nificent foundry and private residence of Baron Baird, who is by birth and education an Englishs are on the banks of the Neva, close to its verycrowds of stea of all sorts, they speedily found thees, and palaces, and churches, and other public buildings, the houses, which anywhere else would be palaces, each vying with the other in size anda vast street, the clear, rapid Neva flowing down the centre, with superb granite quays on each side of it Nowhere in the world is there a finer street, though the height of the houses is lost fro the line on either side arise olden spires and doe of iron--es of boats, which can be removed at the approach of winter; while in the centre of the stream were men-of-war and other steaht articles for the Saint Petersburg lish quay, with a handsolish hotel Farther on was the English church; and extending far away beyond it was palace after palace, hty pile of the Winter Palace being conspicuous above all, though in the far distance; and yet nu to the same distance from it on one side as they do on the other The travellers had little tiht up at a floating white and gold teant as it looked, it was only the custoraceful arch, which united a little office on either side, the luggage was arranged, and bearded heroes in military costume dipped their hands amid the clean linen and clothes Their behaviour, however, was civil; and, having taken possession of all the books they found, with the exception of Bibles, which they gave back, they e was then turned out through a gateway into the clean wide road, where there stood, as eager and vociferous as any Irish carmen, ready to seize on it, a number of drosky drivers There are two sorts of hack droskies in Saint Petersburg One is sos; the other has what Cousin Giles called a fore-and-aft seat, on which people sit with their legs astraddle, the driver sitting perched on the end of it The horses, which are harnessed with ropes in shafts, are wiry, shaggy-looking anih wooden bows arched over their heads, with the idea of keeping thelish eyes than their vehicles They are long-bearded, shaggy-haired, keen-eyedbri blue cloth coats, crossed at the breast, and fastened round the waist with a red cotton sash Their wide trousers are tucked into high boots, and at their back hangs a square brass plate with their nue They are, indeed, under very siulations

Cousin Giles chartered three of these vehicles to carry thehed heartily as they found the the quays and over the bridge to the English hotel, a-coated, bearded people, who looked as if they did not think there was anything strange in the matter at all

The Miss Bensons, the kind-hearted landladies of the hotel, could just e to accoed in very clean rooland After the fresh sea air they found the heat very great, and the houses felt like stoves; indeed, they heard that the weather had been excessively hot for some days They, however, had coale, and effectually cooled the air

Cousin Giles was not a row under his feet; so, as soon as dinner was over, he and his young companions sauntered out to take in, as he said, asJust above the city the Neva divides itself into several branches, which form a nu is built The streets have been laid out to accos of the river; so that they are not at right angles to each other, as ularity as possible has been observed The ular, open space, with the river on one side of it; and near the river stands, on a vast block of granite, a colossal equestrian statue of Peter the Great, with his ar the different sides of this vast open space are sos in the city: the Adolden spire, the beautiful Isaac Church with its superb granite colu rows of richly ornamented s, the War Office, the Senate House, and many others

At one end, with a crescent of fine buildings before it, which contain the War Office, stands a lofty colu only of two blocks of stone, it is said It is called the Alexander Column, and is dedicated to him as ”the Restorer of Peace to the World”

He is so called by the Russians in consequence of the part he took in the overthrow of Napoleon On its suel Michael, holding the cross of peace in his hand Froest and widest streets in that city of wide and long streets The centre one and longest is called the Nevkoi Prospekt, or the Neva Perspective The names of other two may be translated Resurrection Perspective and Peas Street The larger streets in the city are called Perspectives Even the cross streets in Saint Petersburg areas Regent Street Many canals intersect the city, and enable bulky goods to be brought to within a short distance of all the houses by water; so that heavily-laden waggons are never seen ploughing their way through the streets, as in most cities There are no narrow lanes or blind alleys either, the abode of poverty and pestilence, within the precincts of the palaces of the wealthy and great Here, truly, poverty and rags are reht; but still they do not cease to dwell in the land While our young travellers were standing looking at the Alexander Coluer, Mr Henshaw, joined them As he had been reat deal of interesting inforeneral view of the city, and then study details,” said he ”Get a knowledge of the plan of the city, and the mode in which it is constructed; then exas; and, lastly, visit their interiors when they contain anything worth seeing The first thing you should do to- is to ascend the Admiralty tower; the scene fro with their countless , while you will also obtain a perfect bird's-eye view of the whole city and surrounding land and water We will now, if you please, take a stroll along the quay beyond the Winter Palace There are ”

Cousin Giles gladly assented to the proposal, and, returning to the river, they continued eastward along its banks, passing the front of the Winter Palace Near to it they stopped to look at a e, which is about as unlike the residence of a dweller in the wilderness as anything in nature can well be Mr Henshaw proht of the interior another day, and told thenificent rooms in the world, and was full of fine pictures, rich articles of _vertu_, and numberless valuable curiosities

”It was called the Here by the Empress Catherine,” said he, ”because she, purposed to retire thither from the cares of state--not, however, to live the life of an anchorite, but to revel in that indulgence of all the objects of sense to which her inclinations proreed not to spend our tiraphy of the city”

So they continued their walk along the quays Next to the Here over an arch which spans a canal,--like the Bridge of Sighs at Venice, only smaller,--they passed the Imperial Theatre, and then a succession of fine residences of nobles and private persons, and lastly the Marble Palace of the Grand Duke Michael It is so called not because it is built of marble, but because it has marble pillars Across a street, on the same line, stands a fine pile, which looks like another palace, but in reality contains only the stables and offices, residences of servants, etcetera, belonging to the Marble Palace Ae white one, with a very ugly portico

”That,” said Mr Henshaas presented by the Eton, when he becaht have a house to inhabit should he ever visit Russia On his death it reverted to the Russian Government Opposite to this row of palaces the Neva is very wide A branch of it runs away in aan island which has been covered with fortifications, and is called the citadel In the centre stands a church with a lofty golden pinnacle Beneath it lie buried the Russian Czars Here is also a cottage, built by Peter the Great, where he used to reside while watching the progress of his navy and the uprearing of the now hty city, called after his patron saint”

”Fro, I find that Peter was not nearly so great a man as I fancied,” observed Fred

”Hush!+ Hush!+ That is treason here,” answered Cousin Giles ”To his valet he certainly was not great, as Carlyle would say, though he was a very uncoe of people by what they appear, or even by what they are doing, so s Now Peter contrived, certainly by no very roreat nureat city to be erected, he built a large navy, he taught people to navigate it who had scarcely before seen a vessel bigger than a Finnish schooner, and he contributed to imbue a population sunk in barbarism with a desire to assimilate to the civilised nations of Europe, while he introduced many arts and sciences before unknown into his country Considering his powers and the little support he could obtain from his countrymen, I must say I think he worked wonders He was, therefore, certainly what the world calls a great reat faults, and e, also, that reater men have lived, and are at present alive, and that there will be many more”

”You have defended Peter, and I think on the only grounds on which he can be defended,” said Mr Henshaw; ”his private character will not for a moment bear discussion”

”Certainly not,” answered Cousin Giles; ”reht properly to be called great, if he is to be judged by the law of Scripture, nor do I wish you to consider him so

Who is there, indeed, who can be so called? But he was great according to the received maxims of the world, by which maxims other men with as little desert have received the same title”