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

116KRONSTADT.

As regards myself, this childish Colossus by no means predisposes me to admire what I may expect to see in the interior of the empire. To admire Russia in approaching it by water, it is necessary to forget the approach to England by the Thames. The first is the image of death ; the last, of life,

On dropping anchor before Kronstadt, we learned that one of the noble vessels we had seen manœuvering around us had just been lost on a sand bank. This shipwreck was dangerous only to the captain, who expected to be cashiered, and, perhaps, punished yet more

severely. Prince К said to me privately, that

he would have done better to have perished with Ins

vessel. Our fellow-traveller the Princess Lhad a

son attached to the unlucky ship. She was placed in a situation of painful suspense, until news of his safety was brought to her by the governor of Kronstadt,

The Russians are incessantly repeating to me that it is requisite to spend at least two years in their country before passing a judgment upon it; so difficult is it to understand.

But though patience and prudence may be necessary virtues in those learned travellers who aspire to the glory of producing erudite works, I, who have been hitherto writing only for my friend and myself, have no intention of making my journal a work of labour. I have some fear of the Russian customhouse, but they assure me that my écrìtoire will be respected.

Nothing can be more melancholy than the aspect of nature in the approach to St. Petersburg. As one advances up the Gulf, the flat marshes of Ingria