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

302THE KREMLIX.

THE KREMLIN BY DAYLIGHT. CHARACTER OF ITS ARCHITECTURE.

—SYMBOLIC IMAGERY. RELATION BETWEEN THE CHARACTER

OF BUILDINGS AND BUILDERS. — IVAN IV. PATIENCE CRIMINAL.

—INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORY OF IVAN IV.REASONS FOR

CREDITING KARAMSIN.,

An attack of ophthalmia, which came on between Petersburg and Moscow, gives me much pain and annoyance. Notwithstanding this malady, I resumed to-day my promenade of yesterday evening, in order to compare the Kremlin by daylight with the fantastic Kremlin of the night. The shade increases and distorts every thing : the sun restores to objects their forms and their proportions.

At this second view, the fortress of the Czars still surprises me. The moonlight magnified and threw out in strong relief certain masses of the fabric, but it concealed others ; and, while acknowledging that I had imaged to myself too many vaults, and galleries, hanging roads, and lofty portals, I found quite enough of all these objects to justify my enthusiasm. There is something of every thing at the Kremlin : it is a varied landscape of stones. The solidity of its ramparts exceeds that of the rocks on which they stand. The multitude and the. multiformity of its parts are a marvel. This labyrinth of palaces, museums, towers, churches and dungeons, is terrific as the architecture of Martin ; it is as great and more