Russia in 1839 -Empire of the Czar: A Journey Through Eternal Russia

INTERIOR OF THE CONVENT.115

orders, of two men who have the same habits of life, one will be dirty, the other clean. Personal cleanliness has as much to do with the health and the natural habit of body as with the personal habits of the individual. Do we not often see among the better classes people who take great pains with their persons, and who are yet very dirty. Among the Russians there reigns a high degree of sordid negligence: it seems to me they must have trained their vermin to survive the bath.

Notwithstanding my ill-humour, I went carefully over the interior of the patriotic convent of the Trinity. It does not possess the imposing aspect of our old Gothic monasteries. The architecture is not the object^ that should bring people to a sacred place ; but if these famous sanctuaries were worth the trouble of being looked at, they would lose none of their sanctity, nor the pilgrims of their merit.

The convent stands on an eminence, and resembles a town surrounded with strong walls, mounted with battlements. Like those of Moscow, it has gilded spires and cupolas, which, shining in the evening sun, announce to the pilgrims, from afar, the end of their pious journey.

During the fine season, the surrounding roads are crowded with travellers, marching in procession. In the villages, groups of the faithful are to be seen eating and sleeping under the shade of the birch-trees; and at every step a peasant may be met walking in a species of sandal, made of the bark of the lime-tree: a female often accompanies him, who carries his shoes in her hand, whilst with the other she shields herself with an umbrella from the rays of the sun, which the