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

15GRUSSIAN VETERANS.

than heroic prince—this Ulysses among the saints. An enormous convent, has been built around hit reliques.

The tomb, enclosed within the church of Saint Alexander, is in itself an edifice. It consists of an altar of massive silver, surmounted with a species of pyramid of the same metal, which rises to the vault of a vast church. The convent, the church, and the cenotaph form one of the wonders of Russia. I contemplated them with more astonishment than admiration ; for though the costliness of this pious work is immense, the rules of taste and of art have been little heeded in its construction.

In the cabin of the Czar, I was shown a boat of Ins own building, and several other objects religiously preserved, and placed under the guard of a veteran soldier. In Russia, churches, palaces, public places, and many private houses, are entrusted to the keeping of military pensioners. These unfortunate beings would be left without means of subsistence in their old age, unless they were, on leaving the barracks, converted into porters. In such posts they retain their long military capotes, which are made of coarse wool, and are generally much worn and dirty. At each visit that you make, men, thus clad, receive you at the gates of the public buildings and at the doors of the houses. They are spectres in uniform that serve to remind one of the discipline which here rules over every thing. Petersburg is a camp metamorphosed into a city. The veteran who kept guard in the imperial cottage, after having lighted several wax-tapers in the chapel, led me to the sleeping apartment of Peter the Great, emperor of all the Russias, A