A New Friend.--The Winter Palace.--Importance of a Hat.--An
artificial Mine.--Remains of a huge Monster.--Peter the Great's
Workshop.--The Greek Religion.--Tomb of a Hero.--A Saint
Militant.--Another Love Affair.--The Hermitage.--The Winter and
Summer Gardens.
EARLY in the morning, while at breakfast, I heard a loud knock at my
door, which was opened without waiting for an answer, and in stalked a
tall, stout, dashing-looking young man, with a blue frock, white
pantaloons, and a vest of many colours, a heavy gold chain around his
neck, an enormous Indian cane in his hand, and a broad-brimmed hat
brought down on one side, over his right eye in particular. He had a
terrible scowl on his face, which seemed to be put on to sustain the
dignity of his amazing costume, and he bowed on his entrance with as
much _hauteur_ as if he meant to turn me out of my own room. I stared at
him in unfeigned astonishment, when, putting his cane under his arm, and
pulling off his hat, his intensely red head broke upon me with a blaze
of beauty, and I recognised my friend and intended fellow-traveller, the
French Belgian Pole, whom I had seen in an old morning-gown and
slippers. I saw through my man at once; and speedily knocking in the
head his overwhelming formality, came upon him with the old college
salutation, asking him to pull off his clothes and stay a week; and he
complied almost literally, for in less than ten minutes he had off his
coat and waistcoat, cravat and boots, and was kicking up his heels on my
bed. I soon discovered that he was a capital fellow, a great beau in his
little town on the frontiers of Poland, and one of a class by no means
uncommon, that of the very ugly men who imagine themselves very
handsome. While he was kicking his heels over the footboard, he asked me
what we thought of red hair in America; and I told him that I could not
undertake to speak the public voice, but that, for myself, I did not
admire it as much as some people did, though, as to his, there was
something striking about it, which was strictly true, for it was such an
enormous mop that, as his head lay on the pillow, it looked like a bust
set in a large red frame. All the time he held in his hand a pocket
looking-glass and a small brush, with which he kept brushing his
mustaches, giving them a peculiar twirl toward the ears. I told him that
he was wrong about the mustache; and, taking the brush, brought them out
of their twist, and gave them an inclination a la Turque, recommending
my own as a model; but he soon got them back to their place, and,
rising, shook his gory locks and began to dress himself, or, as he said,
to put himself in parchment for a walk.
My new friend was for no small game, and proposed visiting some of the
palaces. On the way he confided to me a conquest he had already made
since his arrival; a beautiful young lady, of course, the daughter of an
Italian music-master, who resided directly opposite our hotel. He said
he had applied for an apartment next to mine, which commanded a view of
the window at which she sat, and asked me, as a friend, whether it would
be interfering with me. Having received my assurance that I had no
intentions in that quarter, he said he would order his effects to be
removed the same day.
By this time we had arrived at the Winter Palace, presenting, as I have
before remarked, a marble front on the Neva of more than seven hundred
feet, or as long as the side of Washington Square, and larger and more
imposing than that of the Tuileries or any other royal palace in Europe.
We approached the large door of entrance to this stately pile, and,
notwithstanding my modest application, backed by my companion's dashing
exterior, we were turned away by the imperial footman because we had not
on dresscoats. We went home and soon returned equipped as the law of
etiquette requires, and were admitted to the imperial residence. We
ascended the principal story by the great marble staircase, remarkable
for its magnificence and the grandeur of its architecture. There are
nearly a hundred principal rooms on the first floor, occupying an area
of four hundred thousand square feet, and forming almost a labyrinth of
splendour. The great banqueting-hall is one hundred and eighty-nine feet
by one hundred and ten, incrusted with the finest marble, with a row of
columns at each end, and the side decorated with attached columns, rich
gilding, and splendid mirrors. The great Hall of St. George is one of
the richest and most superb rooms on the Continent, not excepting the
pride of the Tuileries or Versailles. It is a parallelogram of one
hundred and forty feet by sixty, decorated with forty fluted Corinthian
columns of porphyritic marble, with capitals and bases of bronze richly
gilded, and supporting a gallery with a gilded bronze balustrade of
exquisite workmanship. At one end, on a platform, is the throne,
approached by a flight of eight steps, covered with the richest Genoa
velvet, embroidered with gold, with the double-headed eagle expanding
his wings above it. The large windows on both sides are hung with the
richest drapery, and the room is embellished by magnificent mirrors and
colossal candelabra profusely gilded.
We passed on to the _salle blanche_, which is nearly of the same
dimensions, and beautifully chaste in design and finish. Its elevation
is greater, and the sides are decorated with pilasters, columns, and
bas-reliefs of a soft white tint, without the least admixture of gaudy
colours. The space between the Hall of St. George and the _salle
blanche_ is occupied as a gallery of national portraits, where the
Russians who distinguished themselves during the French invasion are
exhibited in half-length portraits as rewards for their military
services. The three field-marshals, Kutuzow, Barclay de Tolly, and the
Duke of Wellington, are represented at full length. The symbol which
accompanies the hero of Waterloo is that of imperishable strength, the
British oak, "the triumpher of many storms."
I will not carry the reader through all the magnificent apartments, but
I cannot help mentioning the Diamond Room, containing the crowns and
jewels of the imperial family. Diamonds, rubies, and emeralds are
arranged round the room in small cases, of such dazzling beauty that it
is almost bewildering to look at them. I had already acquired almost a
passion for gazing at precious stones. At Constantinople I had wandered
through the bazars, under the guidance of a Jew, and seen all the
diamonds collected and for sale in the capital of the East, but I was
astonished at the brilliancy of this little chamber, and, in my
strongly-awakened admiration, looked upon the miser who, before the
degrading days of bonds and mortgages, converted his wealth into jewels
and precious stones, as a man of elegant and refined taste. The crown of
the emperor is adorned with a chaplet of oak-leaves made of diamonds of
an extraordinary size, and the imperial sceptre contains one supposed to
be the largest in the world, being the celebrated stone purchased by the
Empress Catharine II. from a Greek slave for four hundred and fifty
thousand rubles and a large pension for life. Eighty thousand persons
were employed in the construction of this palace; upward of two thousand
habitually reside in it, and even a larger number when the emperor is in
St. Petersburgh. The imperial flag was then floating from the top of the
palace, as an indication to his subjects of his majesty's presence in
the capital; and about the time that his majesty sat down to his royal
dinner we were working upon a cotelette de mouton, and drinking in vin
ordinaire health and long life to Nicolas the First; and afterward, in
talking of the splendour of the imperial palace and the courtesy of the
imperial footmen, we added health and long life to the Lady Autocrat and
all the little autocrats.[1]
After dinner we took our coffee at the Cafe Chinois, on the Newski
Perspective, equal, if not superior, in style and decoration to anything
in Paris. Even the rules of etiquette in France are not orthodox all
over the world. In Paris it is not necessary to take off the hat on
entering a cafe or restaurant, and in the south of France a Frenchman
will sit down to dinner next a lady with his head covered; but in
Russia, even on entering an apartment where there are only gentlemen, it
is necessary to uncover the head. I neglected this rule from ignorance
and want of attention, and was treated with rudeness by the proprietor,
and afterward learned the cause, with the suggestion that it was
fortunate that I had not been insulted. This is a small matter, but a
man's character in a strange place is often affected by a trifling
circumstance; and Americans, at least I know it to be the case with
myself, are, perhaps, too much in the habit of neglecting the minor
rules of etiquette.
That night my new friend had his effects removed to a room adjoining
mine, and the next morning I found him sitting in his window with a book
in his hand, watching the young lady opposite. He was so pleased with
his occupation that I could not get him away, and went off without him.
Mr. Wilkins having offered to accompany me to some of the public
institutions, I called for him; and, finding him disengaged, we took a
boat on the Neva, and went first to the Academy of Arts, standing
conspicuously on the right bank opposite the English Quay, and, perhaps,
the chastest and most classical structure in St. Petersburgh. In the
court are two noble Egyptian Sphynxes. A magnificent staircase, with a
double flight of granite steps, leads to a grand landing-place with
broad galleries around it, supporting, by means of Ionic columns, the
cupola, which crowns the whole. The Rotunda is a fine apartment of
exquisite proportions, decorated with statues and busts; and at the
upper end of the Conference-room stands a large table, at the head of
which is a full-length portrait of Nicolas under a rich canopy. In one
room are a collection of models from the antique, and another of the
paintings of native artists, some of which are considered as indicating
extraordinary talent.
From hence we went to the _Hotel des Mines_, where the name of the
American minister procured us admission without the usual permit. The
_Hotel des Mines_ was instituted by the great Peter for the purpose of
training a mining engineer corps, to explore scientifically the vast
mineral resources of the empire, and also engineers for the army. Like
all the other public edifices, the building is grand and imposing, and
the arrangement of the different rooms and galleries is admirable. In
one room is a large collection of medals, and in another of coins.
Besides specimens of general mineralogy of extraordinary beauty, there
are native iron from the Lake Olonetz, silver ore from Tobolsk and gold
sand from the Oural Mountains; and in iron-bound cases, beautifully
ornamented, there is a rich collection of native gold, found either in
the mines belonging to government or in those of individuals, one piece
of which was discovered at the depth of three and a half feet in the
sand, weighing more than twenty-four pounds. The largest piece of
platinum in existence, from the mines of Demidoff, weighing ten pounds,
is here also; and, above all, a colossal specimen of amalachite weighing
three thousand four hundred and fifty-six pounds, and, at the common
average price of this combination of copper and carbonic acid, worth
three thousand seven hundred and fifty pounds sterling.
But the most curious part of this valuable repository is under ground,
being a model of a mine in Siberia. Furnished with lighted tapers, we
followed our guides through winding passages cut into the bowels of the
earth, the sides of which represented, by the aggregation of real
specimens, the various stratifications, with all the different ores, and
minerals, and different species of earth, as they were found in the
natural state; the coal formation, veins of copper, and in one place of
gold, being particularly well represented, forming an admirable
practical school for the study of geology, though under a chillness of
atmosphere which would be likely very soon to put an end to studies of
all kinds.
From here we passed to the imperial Academy of Sciences, by far the most
interesting part of our day's visiting. This, too, was founded by the
Great Peter. I hardly know why, but I had already acquired a warm
admiration for the stout old Czar. There was nothing high or chivalric
about him, but every step in Russia, from the Black Sea to the Baltic,
showed me what he had done to advance the condition of his people. I
knew all this as matter of history, but here I felt it as fact. We
strolled through the mineralogical and zoological repositories, and
stopped before the skeleton of that stupendous inhabitant of a former
world, denominated the mammoth, whose fame had been carried over the
waste of waters even to our distant country, and beside which even the
skeletons of elephants looked insignificant. What was he? where did he
live, and is his race extinct? It gave rise to a long train of
interesting speculation, to endow him with life, and see him striding
with gigantic steps, the living tenant of a former world; and more
interesting still to question, as others had done, whether he was not,
after all, one of a race of animals not yet extinct, and perhaps
wandering even now within a short distance of the Polar Sea.
There is also in this part of the museum a collection of anatomical
specimens and of human monsters; an unpleasing exhibition, though, no
doubt, useful to medical science; among them was a child with two heads
from America. More interesting to me was a large collection of insects,
of medals, and particularly of the different objects in gold found in
the tumuli of Siberia, consisting of bracelets, vases, crowns, bucklers,
rings, sabres with golden hilts, Tartar idols, &c., many of them of
great value and of very elegant workmanship, which have given rise to
much interesting speculation in regard to the character of the people
who formerly inhabited that country. The Asiatic museum contains a
library of Chinese, Japanese, Mongolese, and Tibetan books and
manuscripts; Mohammedan, Chinese, and Japanese coins; an interesting
assemblage of Mongolese idols cut in bronze and gilded, and illustrating
the religion of Buddha. There is also an Egyptian museum, containing
about a thousand articles. The cabinet of curiosities contains figures
of all the different people conquered under the government of Russia,
habited in their national costumes; also of Chinese, Persians, Aleutans,
Carelians, and the inhabitants of many of the Eastern, Pacific, or
Northern Islands discovered or visited by Russian travellers and
navigators, as well as of the different nations inhabiting Siberia.
But by far the most interesting part of the museum is the cabinet of
Peter himself, consisting of a suite of apartments, in which the old
Czar was in the habit of passing his leisure hours engaged in some
mechanical employment. In one room are several brass cylinders turned by
his own hands, and covered with battle-scenes of his own engraving. Also
an iron bar forged by him; bas-reliefs executed in copper, representing
his desperate battles in Livonia; an ivory chandelier of curious and
highly-wrought workmanship, and a group in ivory representing Abraham
offering up his son Isaac, the ram and the angel Gabriel cut out entire.
In another room is his workshop, containing a variety of vessels and
models etched in copper, and a copperplate with an unfinished
battle-scene. His tools and implements are strewed about the room
precisely in the state in which he left them the last time he was there.
In another chamber were the distended skin of his French body-servant,
seven feet high; the Arabian horse which he rode at the bloody battle of
Pultowa, and the two favourite dogs which always accompanied him; and in
another the figure of the old Czar himself in wax, as large as life; the
features, beyond doubt, bearing the exact resemblance to the original,
being taken from a cast applied to his face when dead, and shaded in
imitation of his real complexion. The eyebrows and hair are black, the
eyes dark, the complexion swarthy, and aspect stern. This figure is
surrounded by the portraits of his predecessors, in their barbarian
costumes, himself seated in an armchair in the same splendid dress which
he wore when with his own hands he placed the imperial crown on the head
of his beloved Catharine. Here, also, are his uniform of the guards,
gorget, scarf, and sword, and hat shot through at the battle of Pultowa;
and the last thing which the guide put into my hands was a long stick
measuring his exact height, and showing him literally a great man, being
six Russian feet. I must not forget a pair of shoes made by his own
hands; but the old Czar was no shoemaker. Nevertheless, these memorials
were all deeply interesting; and though I had seen the fruits of his
labours from the Black Sea to the Baltic, I never felt such a strong
personal attraction to him as I did here.
I was obliged to decline dining with Mr. Wilkins in consequence of an
engagement with my friend the Pole; and, returning, I found him at the
window with a book in his hand, precisely in the same position in which
I had left him. After dinner a servant came in and delivered a message,
and he proposed a walk on the Admiralty Boulevards. It was the
fashionable hour for promenade, and, after a turn or two, he discovered
his fair enslaver, accompanied by her father and several ladies and
gentlemen, one of whom seemed particularly devoted to her. She was a
pretty little girl, and seemed to me a mere child, certainly not more
than fifteen. His admiration had commenced on the Boulevards the first
afternoon of his arrival, and had increased violently during the whole
day, while he was sitting at the window. He paraded me up and down the
walk once or twice, and, when they had seated themselves on a bench,
took a seat opposite. He was sure she was pleased with his admiration,
but I could not see that her look indicated any very flattering
acknowledgment. In fact, I could but remark that the eyes of the
gentlemen were turned toward us quite as often as those of the lady, and
suggested that, if he persisted, he would involve us in some difficulty
with them; but he said there could not be any difficulty about it, for,
if he offended them, he would give them satisfaction. As this view of
the case did not hit my humour, I told him that, as I had come out with
him, I would remain, but if he made any farther demonstrations, I should
leave him, and, at all events, after that he must excuse me from joining
his evening promenades. Soon after they left the Boulevards, and we
returned to our hotel, where he entertained me with a history of his
love adventures at home, and felicitations upon his good fortune in
finding himself already engaged in one here.
Sunday. Until the early part of the tenth century the religion of Russia
was a gross idolatry. In nine hundred and thirty-five, Olga, the widow
of Igor the son of Runic, sailed down the Dnieper from Kief, was
baptized at Constantinople, and introduced Christianity into Russia,
though her family and nation adhered for a long time to the idolatry of
their fathers. The great schism between the Eastern and Western churches
had already taken place, and the Christianity derived from
Constantinople was of course of the Greek persuasion. The Greek Church
believes in the doctrines of the Trinity, but differs from the Catholic
in some refined and subtle distinction in regard to what is called the
procession of the Holy Ghost. It enjoins the invocation of saints as
mediators, and permits the use of pictures as a means of inspiring and
strengthening devotion. The well-informed understand the use for which
they are intended, but these form a very small portion of the community,
and probably the great bulk of the people worship the pictures
themselves. The clergy are, in general, very poor and very ignorant. The
priests are not received at the tables of the upper classes, but they
exercise an almost controlling influence over the lower, and they
exhibited this influence in rousing the serfs against the French, which
may be ascribed partly, perhaps, to feelings of patriotism, and partly
to the certainty that Napoleon would strip their churches of their
treasures, tear down their monasteries, and turn themselves out of
doors. But of the population of fifty-five millions, fifteen are divided
into Roman Catholics, Armenians, Protestants, Jews, and Mohammedans, and
among the Caucasians, Georgians, Circassians, and Mongol tribes nearly
two millions are pagans or idolaters, Brahmins, Lamists, and worshippers
of the sun.
For a people so devout as the Russians, the utmost toleration prevails
throughout the whole empire, and particularly in St. Petersburgh.
Churches of every denomination stand but a short distance apart on the
Newski Perspective. The Russian cathedral is nearly opposite the great
Catholic chapel; near them is the Armenian, then the Lutheran, two
churches for Dissenters, and a mosque for the Mohammedans! and on Sunday
thousands are seen bending their steps to their separate churches, to
worship according to the faith handed down to them by their fathers.
Early in the morning, taking with me a valet and joining the crowd that
was already hurrying with devout and serious air along the Newski
Perspective, I entered the Cathedral of our Lady of Cazan, a splendid
monument of architecture, and more remarkable as the work of a native
artist, with a semicircular colonnade in front, consisting of one
hundred and thirty-two Corinthian columns thirty-five feet high,
somewhat after the style of the great circular colonnade of St. Peter's
at Rome, and surmounted by a dome crowned with a cross of exquisite
workmanship, supported on a large gilded ball. Within, fifty noble
columns, each of one piece of solid granite from Finland, forty-eight
feet high and four feet in diameter, surmounted by a rich capital of
bronze, and resting on a massive bronze base, support an arched roof
richly ornamented with flowers in bas-relief. The jewels and decorations
of the altar are rich and splendid, the doors leading to the sanctum
sanctorum, with the railing in front, being of silver. As in the
Catholic churches, there are no pews, chairs, or benches, and all over
the floor were the praying figures of the Russians. Around the walls
were arranged military trophies, flags, banners, and the keys of
fortresses wrested from the enemies of Russia; but far more interesting
than her columns, and colossal statues, and military trophies, is the
tomb of the warrior Kutuzow; simple, and remarkable for the appropriate
warlike trophy over it, formed of French flags and the eagles of
Napoleon. Admiration for heroism owns no geographical or territorial
limits, and I pity the man who could stand by the grave of Kutuzow
without feeling it a sacred spot. The Emperor Alexander with his own
hands took the most precious jewel from his crown and sent it to the
warrior, with a letter announcing to him his elevation to the rank of
Prince of Smolensko; but richer than jewels or principalities is the
tribute which his countrymen pay at his tomb.
The church of our Lady of Cazan contains another monument of barbarian
patriotism. The celebrated leader of the Cossacks during the period of
the French invasion, having intercepted a great part of the booty which
the French were carrying from Moscow, sent it to the metropolitan or
head of the church, with a characteristic letter, directing it to be
"made into an image of the four Evangelists, and adorn the church of the
Mother of God of Cazan." The concluding paragraph is, "Hasten to erect
in the temple of God this monument of battle and victory; and while you
erect it, say with thankfulness to Providence, the enemies of Russia are
no more; the vengeance of God has overtaken them on the soil of Russia;
and the road they have gone has been strewed with their bones, to the
utter confusion of their frantic and proud ambition."
(Signed) "PLATOFF."
From the church of our Lady of Cazan I went to the Protestant church,
where I again joined in an orthodox service. The interior of the church
is elegant, though externally it can scarcely be distinguished from a
private building. The seats are free, the men sitting on one side and
the women on the other. Mr. Law, the clergyman, has been there many
years, and is respected and loved by his congregation. After church I
walked to the convent of Alexander Newski, the burial-place of Prince
Alexander, who obtained in the thirteenth century a splendid victory
over the allied forces of Sweden, Denmark, and Livonia; afterward became
a monk, and for his pure and holy life was canonized, and now ranks
among the principal saints in the Russian calendar. The warrior was
first buried at Moscow, but Peter the Great had his remains transported
with great ceremony to this place, a procession of a thousand priests
walking barefoot all the way. The monastery stands at the extreme end of
the Newski Perspective, and within its precincts are several churches
and a large cemetery. It is the residence of the distinguished prelates
of the Greek Church and a large fraternity of monks. The dress of the
monks is a loose black cloak and round black cap, and no one can be
admitted a member until the age of thirty. We entered a grand portal,
walked up a long avenue, and, crossing a bridge over a stream, worked
our way between lines of the carriages of nobles and ladies, and crowds
of the people in their best bell-crowned hats; and, amid a throng of
miserable beggars, penetrated to the door of the principal church, a
large and beautiful specimen of modern Corinthian architecture. I
remarked the great entrance, the lofty dome, the fresco paintings on the
ceilings, and the arabesque decorations on the walls; the altar-piece of
white Carrara marble, paintings by Rubens and Vandyck, the holy door in
the iconastos, raised on a flight of steps of rich gilded bronze, and
surmounted by the representation of a dazzling aureola of different
colored metals, and in the centre the initials of that awful name which
none in Israel save the initiated were permitted to pronounce. I walked
around and paused before the tomb of the warrior saint.
A sarcophagus or coffin of massive silver, standing on an elevated
platform, ornamented in bas-relief, representing scenes of battles with
the Swedes, contains his relics; a rich ermine lies upon the coffin, and
above is a silver canopy. On each side is a warrior clothed in armour,
with his helmet, breastplate, shield, and spear also of massive silver.
The altar rises thirty feet in height, of solid silver, with groups of
military figures and trophies of warriors, also of silver, as large as
life; and over it hangs a golden lamp, with a magnificent candelabrum of
silver, together with a vessel of curious workmanship holding the bones
of several holy men, the whole of extraordinary magnificence and
costliness of material, upward of four thousand pounds weight of silver
having been used in the construction of the chapel and shrine. The dead
sleep the same whether in silver coffins or in the bare earth, but the
stately character of the church, dimly lighted, and the splendour and
richness of the material, gave a peculiar solemnity to the tomb of the
warrior saint.
Leaving the churches, I strolled through the cloisters of the monastery
and entered the great cemetery. There, as in the great cemetery of Pere
la Chaise at Paris, all that respect, and love, and affection can do to
honour the memory of the dead, and all that vanity and folly can do to
ridicule it, have been accomplished. There are seen epitaphs of
affecting brevity and elaborate amplification; every design, every
device, figure, emblem, and decoration; every species of material, from
native granite to Carrara marble and pure gold. Among the simpler tombs
of poets, warriors, and statesmen, a monument of the most gigantic
proportions is erected to snatch from oblivion the name of a rich
Russian merchant. The base is a solid cubic block of the most superb
marble, on which is a solid pedestal of black marble ten feet square,
bearing a sarcophagus fourteen feet high, and of most elegant
proportions, surmounted by a gold cross twenty feet in height. At each
of the four corners is a colossal candelabrum of cast iron, with
entwining serpents of bronze gilded. The ground alone cost a thousand
pounds, and the whole monument about twenty thousand dollars. Near the
centre of this asylum of the dead, a tetrastyle Ionic temple of the
purest white marble records the virtues of an interesting lady, the
Countess of Potemkin, and alto relievos of the most exquisite execution
on three sides of the temple tell the melancholy story of a mother
snatched from three lovely children. The countess, prophetically
conscious of her approaching fate, is looking up calmly and majestically
to the figure of religion, and resting with confidence her left hand on
the symbol of Christianity. In front are the inscription and arms of the
family in solid gold.
But what are the Russian dead to me? The granite and marble monument of
the merchant is a conglomeration of hides, hemp, and tallow; a man may
be excused if he linger a moment at the tomb of an interesting woman, a
mother cut off in her prime; but melancholy is infectious, and induces
drowsiness and closing of the book.
In consideration for my valet, at the grand portal I took a drosky,
rolled over the wooden pavement of the Newski Perspective, and, with
hardly motion enough to disturb my revery, was set down at the door of
my hotel. My Pole was waiting to dine with me, and roused me from my
dreams of the dead to recount his dreams of the living. All day he had
sat at his window, and a few straggling glances from the lady opposite
had abundantly rewarded him, and given him great spirits for his
evening's promenade on the Boulevards. I declined accompanying him, and
he went alone, and returned in the evening almost in raptures. We
strolled an hour by the twilight, and retired early.
It will hardly be believed, but early the next morning he came to my
room with a letter on fine pink paper addressed to his fair enslaver.
The reader may remember that this was not the first time I had been made
a confidant in an affaire du coeur. To be sure, the missionary at Smyrna
turned out to be crazy; and on this point, at least, my Pole was a
little touched; nevertheless, I listened to his epistle. It was the
regular oldfashioned document, full of hanging, shooting, drowning, and
other extravagances. He sealed it with an amatory device, and, calling
up a servant in his confidence, told him to carry it over, and then took
his place in my window to watch the result. In the mean time, finding it
impossible to dislodge him, and that I could not count upon him to
accompany me on my visits to the palaces as he had promised, I went to
the Hermitage alone. The Great and Little Hermitages are connected with
the Winter Palace and with each other by covered galleries, and the
theatre is connected with the two Hermitages by means of another great
arch thrown over a canal, so that the whole present a continued line of
imperial palaces, unequalled in extent in any part of Europe, measuring
one thousand five hundred and ninety-six feet, or one third of an
English mile. If I were to select a building designed to realize the
most extravagant notions of grandeur and luxury, it would be the
gorgeous palace known under the modest name of the Hermitage. I shall
not attempt any description of the interior of this splendid edifice,
but confine myself to a brief enumeration of its contents. I ascended by
a spacious staircase to the anteroom, where I gave, or, rather, where
my cane was demanded by the footman, and proceeded through a suite of
magnificent rooms, every one surpassing the last, and richer in objects
of the fine arts, science, and literature; embellished throughout by a
profusion of the most splendid ornaments and furniture, and remarkable
for beauty of proportion and variety of design. In rooms and galleries
appropriated to the separate schools and masters are upward of thirteen
hundred paintings by Raphael, Titian, Guido, Andrea del Sarto, Luca
Giordano, the Caracci, Perugino, Corregio, and Leonardi da Vinci; here
is also the best collection in existence, of pictures by Wouvermans and
Teniers, with some of the masterpieces of Rubens and Vandyck, of the
French Claude, Poussin, and Vernet. The celebrated Houghton collection
is here, with a gallery of paintings of the Spanish schools, many of
them Murillos. In one room is a superb vase of Siberian jasper, of a
lilac colour, five feet high, and of exquisite form and polish; in
another are two magnificent candelabras, said to be valued at two
hundred and twenty thousand rubles, or about fifty thousand dollars; I
must mention also the great musical clock, representing an antique
Grecian temple, and containing within a combination of instruments,
having the power of two orchestras, which accompany each other; two
golden tripods, seven feet high, supporting the gold salvers on which
salt and bread were exhibited to the Emperor Alexander on his triumphal
return from Paris, as emblems of wisdom and plenty, a large musical and
magical secretary, which opens spontaneously in a hundred directions at
the sound of music, purchased by the late emperor for eight hundred
guineas; a room surrounded with books, some of which were originals,
placed there by Catharine for the use of the domestics, as she said, to
keep the devil out of their heads; a saloon containing the largest
collection of engravings and books of engravings in Europe, amounting to
upward of thirty thousand; a library of upward of one hundred and ten
thousand volumes; an extensive cabinet of medals, and another of gems
and pastes; a jewel-cabinet, containing the rich ornaments which have
served for the toilettes of succeeding empresses, innumerable precious
stones and pearls, many of extraordinary magnitude; a superb collection
of antiques and cameos, amounting to upward of fifteen thousand, the
cameos alone affording employment for days. In one room are curious
works in ivory and fishbones, by the inhabitants of Archangel, who are
skilled in that species of workmanship; and in another is the celebrated
clock, known by the name of L'Horloge du Paon. It is enclosed in a large
glass case ten feet high, being the trunk of a golden tree, with its
branches and leaves all of gold. On the top of the trunk sits a peacock,
which, when the chimes begin, expands its brilliant tail, while an owl
rolls its eyes with its own peculiar stare, and, instead of a bell
striking the hours, a golden cock flaps his wings and crows. The clock
is now out of order, and the machinery is so complicated that no artist
has hitherto been able to repair it.
But perhaps the most extraordinary and interesting of the wonders of the
Hermitage are the Winter and Summer Gardens. As I strolled through the
suites of apartments, and looked out through the windows of a long
gallery, it was hardly possible to believe that the flourishing trees,
shrubs, and flowers stood upon an artificial soil, raised nearly fifty
feet above the surface of the earth. The Winter Garden is a large
quadrangular conservatory, planted with laurels and orange trees, in
which linnets and Canary birds formerly flew about enjoying the freedom
of nature; but the feathered tribe have disappeared. The Summer Garden
connected with it is four hundred feet long; and here, suspended, as it
were, in the air, near the top of the palace, I strolled along
gravel-walks, and among parterres of shrubs and flowers growing in rich
luxuriance, and under a thick foliage inhaled their delightful
fragrance. It is idle to attempt a description of this scene.
I returned to my Pole, whom I found at his window with a melancholy and
sentimental visage, his beautiful epistle returned upon his
hands--having, in sportsman's phrase, entirely missed fire--and then
lying with a most reproving look on his table. My friend had come up to
St. Petersburgh in consequence of a lawsuit, and as this occupied but a
small portion of his time, he had involved himself in a lovesuit, and,
so far as I could see, with about an equal chance of success in both.
L'amour was the great business of his life, and he could not be content
unless he had on hand what he called une affaire du coeur.
FOOTNOTE:
[1] The Winter Palace has since been destroyed by fire. The author has
not seen any account of the particulars, but has heard that the contents
of the Diamond Chamber were saved.