THE CATHEDRAL OF SAINT BASIL, MOSCOW.

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and trellises from Naples, and warehouses from Wapping." But Moscow is gradually losing its oriental appearance. In the great fire in which the star of Napoleon set, the greater part of the city was consumed, scarcely one-fifth of the stone buildings and one-third of the wooden houses escaped the flames. "The extraordinary mixture and contrast of magnificent palaces and petty huts," says Dr. Lyall, "so often noticed by foreigners, though still occurring in a few places, no longer strikes the eye as formerly. Moscow is gradually assuming the appearance of the capitals of western Europe. Happily for the lover of venerable antiquity, the Kremlin, which suffered comparatively little, notwithstanding the attempts of the French to blow it up, retains unimpaired its ancient irregularity and grandeur.

Amongst the edifices which display the greatest singularity must be mentioned the Cathedral of Saint Basil, (Wassili Blagennoi,) or as it is more generally called, "The Cathedral of the Protection of the Virgin Mary. It is the most extraordinary mass of buildings in Moscow, perhaps in all Christendom. It consists of two stories, and is divided into twenty chapels, or small churches, which are connected with each other, but are of different styles of architecture and have different names. One of them contains the remains of Saint Basil, who, according to tradition, was originally a merchant. Ivan the Sixth, named by the Russians "the Terrible," caused this church to be built in 1554, as a token of his gratitude for the conquest of Casan. It is said that divine service can be performed at the same time in all these chapels, which are so constructed that no disturbance is thereby produced, the service in the one not being audible in the adjoining chapel. The czar was so enchanted with this idea, and the, in his opinion, wonderful beauty of the church, that he deprived the architect of his eyesight, in order that no second building might detract from the unique charms of his favourite edifice. No symmetry can be discovered in the different parts of this cathedral; the sixteen larger and smaller towers and cupolas differ from each other in form and in the colour of their ornaments; above them rises a profusely decorated pyramidal spire, with a bulb-shaped cupola, which, like the smaller ones, is surmounted with a cross upon a crescent.

The following description by the Marquis de Custine, no very laudatory writer when he speaks of Russia, may amuse the reader. "Imagine a conglomeration of unequal small towers, composing together a bush-a nosegay of flowers; imagine rather a species of irregular fruit, bristling with excrescences, or, better still, a crystallization of a thousand colours, whose polished metal reflects from far the rays of the sun, like Bohemian or Venetian glass, or the best varnished China enamel : there are scales of gilt fish, skins of serpents extended on heaps of shapeless stones, heads of dragons, lizards of varying hues, altar ornaments, sacerdotal dresses; the whole surmounted by spires, the painting of which resembles stuffs of shot silk: in the narrow intervals of the belfries you see glittering roofs, painted in the glancing

colours of pigeons' necks, rose-coloured or azure, and always highly varnished: the flashing of this tapisserie dazzles the eye and fascinates the imagination."

PETERSKOI, OR PETROWSKY PALACE, MOSCOW. ABOUT three-quarters of a league from the Kremlin gate of Moscow stands the castle of Peterskoi, or Petrowsky, the gardens of which extend almost to the city, and appear to still greater advantage from the contrast which they afford to the desertlike plain around. It partakes of the fantastic and oriental style which characterises the ancient Russian buildings; fit emblem for the great career which in the East awaits this extraordinary power. This immense palace was built of brick by Catherine the Second. At the bottom of the vast court-yard, whose red and white walls produce a singular effect, stands the palace itself, built in the form of a square, and of extraordinary extent, surmounted, like the Kremlin, by battlements, which curve outwards. It is from this palace that the emperor always makes his solemn entry into Moscow, and it was hither that the flames which involved the Kremlin forced Napoleon to retire. What must have been the thoughts of the mighty conqueror as he saw the clouds of thick smoke rise from the devoted city and his prey escape him, as he vainly imagined himself at the summit of human glory? The palace and gardens, which will thus for ever live in the pages of history, are now become a place of amusement for the inhabitants of Moscow.

Troitzko Sergievsky Lauræ. The Trinity Cloister of Saint Serge.-(Continued from page 119, vol.I.)—Fulfilling the promise made to the reader in our first volume, we proceed to give some account of this cloister, the largest, richest, and most magnificent in Russia. It is about forty miles from Moscow, on the new high-road leading to Yaroslaf, and is annually the object of pilgrimage to thousands from all parts of the empire.

On an eminence, says a French traveller, rises a town surrounded with strong battlemented walls. It is the convent. Like the cloisters of Moscow it has spires and gilded cupolas, which glitter in the sun, particularly in the evening, and which announce from afar to the pilgrims the goal of their pious travels. Strangers are received in a kind of inn belonging to the cloister, but situated without the consecrated ground; a spacious building, which holds out the promise of comfort to the weary stranger but to torment him with that want of cleanliness for which the native Russians have attained such an unenviable reputation. On leaving the inn the first object that strikes the eye is an avenue of trees, then succeed some small churches,

THE TRINITY CLOISTER OF SAINT SERGE.

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here called cathedrals, lofty, isolated belfries, and numerous lodgings, scattered without order, in which reside the disciples of Saint Serge.

This celebrated monk founded, in 1338, the Convent of the Trinity, the history of which often involves that of Russia itself. In the war against the Khan Mamai, this holy man aided Demetrius Ivanovitch with his counsels, and the victory of the grateful princes added considerably to the wealth of the monks. At a later period, this monastery was destroyed by fresh incursions of the Tartar hordes; but the body of Saint Serge, which was found by a miracle among the ruins, gave new renown to the sacred asylum, which was rebuilt by the pious gifts of the czars. In 1609 the Poles for sixteen months laid siege to the convent, on which then rested the hopes of the defenders of their country: the enemy could not gain possession of the holy fortress, but were forced to raise the siege, to the great glory of Saint Serge and the pious joy of his successors, who continued to draw considerable profit from the efficacy of their prayers. The walls are surmounted by a covered gallery, which is almost half a league in extent and furnished with turrets. But of all the patriotic recollections which sanctify this celebrated spot, the most interesting is that of the flight of Peter the Great, saved by his mother from the fury of the Strelitzers, who pursued him in the Cathedral of the Trinity to the very altar of Saint Serge, where the attitude of the young hero, at that time but ten years of age, induced the rebellious soldiers to lay down their arms. All the persons famous in Russian history have taken pleasure in enriching this convent, the treasury of which abounds in gold, diamonds, and pearls from all parts of the empire. The czars, the empresses, the devout grandees, the saints themselves, have vied in liberality to enrich, each in his own peculiar manner, the treasury of the Convent of the Trinity. In this historical collection, the simple habits and the wooden cups of Saint Serge attract the attention, in the midst of the most magnificent presents, and stand in worthy contrast with the pompous ornaments of the church offered by Prince Potemkin. The tomb of Saint Serge is of dazzling splendour. It has not fallen into the hands of an enemy since the fourteenth century; had the French remained masters of Moscow, it is probable that its treasures would have been somewhat diminished. The convent incloses nine churches, which with their belfries and shining cupolas produce a brilliant effect: but they are small and lost in the vast space which surrounds them. The image of Saint Serge is supposed to possess the power of working miracles: Peter the Great carried it with him in his campaigns against Charles the Twelfth.