ENGLISH CHURCH.

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or the clergyman's residence. Connected with this building are a number of others, with a large court behind: these are appropriated for different purposes, such as a library, a house for the clerk, &c. The former is open at certain hours; and those subscribers, who take books home with them, pay fifty rubles annually, but those who do not, only half that sum.

CHAP. XIII.

Passage in steam-boat to Cronstadt.— Description of that port.-Docks. Anecdote.-English church. - House of Peter the Great.- Criminals. - Fortifications.- Number of vessels.-Improvements, &c.

OUR curiosity having been satisfied with a view of the principal objects in St. Petersburg, we now proposed to make a short excursion to Cronstadt, it being a place which no traveller should neglect to visit. Previous to doing so, however, it was necessary that we should obtain a formal passport, although the distance is so short (sixteen miles). We proceeded in a steam-boat; for which the proprietor, Mr. Baird, a Scotchman, who has resided here some time, and who, in the language of his native country, has found this concern to be a " dripping roast," has obtained a patent for a term of years-a favour that is looked upon with an eye of jealousy by the Russians. Some idea may be formed of the profits of this concern, when I state that, according to our information, the proprietor had made 70,000 rubles in the course of one week, by conveying passengers to Peterhoff at the time of a

PASSAGE TO CRONSTADT.

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fête. We embarked at five o'clock in the afternoon, paying five rubles a piece, and found that we were to be amused during our passage by the music of a hand-organ, miserably out of tune, and a split tambourine, which, as may be believed, we would readily have dispensed with. The prices of provisions furnished on board were fixed up.*

In the course of our voyage on the Gulf of Finland, we saw a number of buoys that had been laid down to indicate dangerous places. The scenery on both sides of the Gulf was distinctly visible, and the view on the left was enlivened by several palaces, especially that of Peterhoff, which is surrounded with woods. On our arrival at Cronstadt, we put up at a shabby inn, kept by an Englishman.

The Island of Cronstadt is situate at the extremity of the Gulf to the east, and is about forty versts by land from the capital. It is twelve miles in length, and upwards of one in breadth. Formerly it had two names; that of Retusari being given to it by the Swedes, and that of KotloiOstrov, or Kettle Island, by the Russians. Peter the Great, however, bestowed on it the dignified appellation of Kronstad or Cronstadt, literally Crown-town, to intimate that it was the crown of his new city of Petersburg.

The consequence of this place is derived from the number of ships of war, as well as commercial vessels, that arrive and depart from hence, and also from its strong fortifications. It may therefore be considered as the Portsmouth or Plymouth of Russia. There are several streets, which, like those of the metropolis, are very spacious; but we did not find here the bustle and animation of the two English ports, where one is jostled at

every other step by naval men of all ranks. The houses are formed mostly of wood, but there are some few of brick, and they stand detached from each other. The shops are under arcades. There are some inns, kept by our countrymen, which have sign-boards in the English language. In front of the harbour is a square, where a military guard is mounted, and from hence the principal street runs about half a mile in length. All the streets are kept remarkably clean; this being the task of criminals sentenced to slavery. There is a famous canal, communicating with the sea, and about sixty fathoms in depth, adjoining to which are the docks and sluices; and these latter are capable of containing several ships for repair at the same time. The first of these is a white building, next the square, with a cupola of glass, from which is a most extensive view. In front of it stands the mast of a vessel fully rigged, where boys are exercised in naval tactics and a knowledge of rigging. A similar mode of training, and of conveying an idea of naval manœuvres, is adopted in the education of the young heirapparent, the little Grand Duke Alexander, for whose use there is a large and completely rigged vessel, fitted up in one of the halls of the Winter Palace. Here he is taught the names and use of every part of the rigging, and is made to run up the ropes like a common sailor; and that he may