The Sun.
London, England, 1866-11-26 00:00:00

ILIILIY riYB.

For Account.
Orleans
Northern llBO
Lyons and Mediterranean ........
Southern 5Bl 25
Western 562 50
Eastern
Sardinian
Austrian
Lombard 4OB 75
North of Spain ll7 50
Saragossa
Ditto to Barcelona
Roman.

92 50

THE PRINCE OF WALES IN RUSSIA.

(From the Berlin Correspondent of the Times.)
ST. PETERSBURG, Nov. 20.
Whoever has been lucky enough to spend a week
of his life in Italian air will, I dare say, admit that
half the time would have been sufficient to acquaint
himself with the manners and habits of the people.
The genial climate causes all the business of life to
be transacted. in the streets. The sky is so blue
and the air so warm that no one wishes to be cooped
up within four walls. Why forego the sight of the
heavens and the fragrance of the flowers when both
can be enjoyed by stepping over the threshold ?
Those who cannot afford to saunter about at any
rate try to perform the drudgery of life al fresco,
while others whose vocations do not admit of being
carried on before the public eye throw open doors
and windows tomake as near an approach to nature
as possible. Love-letters are penned in the garden,
and skirts sewed on the doorsteps. The cook washes
cabbages in the gateway, a bevy of children stand-
ing by, some watching the operation, and learn-
ing their lessons for the morrow. In Russia
everything is different. No one goes out unless
absolutely compelled to leave the protection of the
house. The street is not an extension of the draw-
ing-room, the workroom, or even the bedroom, as
in Italy, but only a means of communication. No
one stands still on the pavement. All rush and
hurry past each other. Except the.numerous cab-
men, and a few newspaper boys languidly standing
about in the Newski Prospect, I have hardly no-
ticed a single creature in this immense capital earn-
ing its daily bread in the streets. No more than
half- b.-dozen organ7grinders have intruded them-
selves upon my gratified senses within the space of
a fortnight. I remember one whose heroism in
exposing himself to the cold was the greater as he
had no legs, and could not even attempt to warm
himself by walking about. Perhaps he has a com-
rade who, finding himself in the same predicament,
occasionally meets his companion in misery that
they may mutually beat each other's arms and
chests. Such, at least, is the expedient adopted by
cabmen, who, with four extra legs at their disposal,
suffer as much as the legless.
Strange above all things is the thin clothing of
the poor. Under sheepskin and felt boots, cotton is
frequently worn even by men. I have iu this month
of November, though the streets are covered with
snow, and a cutting wind seems to be blowing right
in your teeth whichever way you turn, seen men at
work without a fire, in costumes more suited to the
climate of Naples than to that of St. Petersburg.
Bare feet, a blouse of printed calico, and the thinnest
of breeches are little calculated to keep soul anti body
together in such a country as this. :When going out
boots and furs are expected to make up for deficient
underclothing. Of course they fail to do it, and
the mortality is correspondingly great.
Thus it is that, apart from the characteristic style
of architecture and the costume of the people, there
are few, if any, sights to be seen in the streets of
St. Petersburg. Whatever the strong or the weak
points of Russia may be, they are at this season
concealed in the houses. There is only one thing
which makes the Russian stop in the street even in
winter. It is the duty of prayer. God, according
to the doctrine of the Orthodox Church, as of all

Many dutiful members of the Church, and more
especially ladies of rank, not content with praying
without, enter the churches or one of the many
chapels abounding in every part of the town. These
chapels are most of them but a few feet square, and
with their open windows and shining candles, seem
to invite the passer-bye to step in and compose his
thoughts in worship. Their walls are entirely covered
with images of the same kind as those which in
larger churches occupy the partition separating the
altar from the nave. Great and small, whole figures
atid busts, are painted side by side, separated by
heavy frames of an Arabesque character, in wood or
some glittering metal. Frequently, I believe I may
say in the case of old pictures always, the face and
the hands only are painted, the rest of the body be-
ing appended in embroidery, gold cloth, beaten sil-
ver, or plate. Such workmanship generally surrounds
even the head, the face just peeping out from amid
a chaplet of brilliant folds and rays. To the faithful
the metal or silken clothing which, so to say, is put
upon the pictures, affords an opportunity for adorn-
ing the object of their adoration with precious
stones. I have seen pictures with the Virgin decked
out with colours and diadems of countless price,
and there are few of these sacred images in the
larger churches of this and the other capitals of the
realm whose jewels do not amount to a very con-
siderable sum. By a natural amplification of this
custom, the pictures, being considered as persons,
are occasionally presented with treasure deposited
in their frame, but not attached to them. In the
Peter and Paul Cathedral there is an oil painting of
.the Virgin to which an Empress who died not long
ago sacrificed a ring now suspended before it. Be-
fore another produet of the brush hang diamond
earrings which belonged to an Empress of a re-
moter age, and in pious humility were ceded by her
to Vie Mother of God. In preference to others, pic-
tures enjoying a reputation for working miracles are
overloaded with jewellery of every kind, mostly be-
stowed to support prayers offered up or in gratitude
for answers granted. The time-stained but still lovely
face of the Holy Mother of God of Kazan, preserved
in the Kazan Cathedral here, before which Kutusoff
prayed when setting out against Napoleon, wears a
more costly diadem than any Empress in the world.
On his victorious return Kutusoff gratefully added
to her gems, and his statue was eventually put up
in front of the church whose patron hal lent a gra-
cious ear in his petition and strengthened his hand

against the enemy. The desire to remind mankind
of the Deity by means of these pictures is so decided

that the same ofteu-seen frames and faces appear no

only in churches and chapels, but also ln other

_ .
localities, considered, it seems, to be in special need

of protection.

All the principal entrances of the

Moscow and St. Petersburg bazaars are fortified by
Virgins and favourite saints. The portal of the Ad-
_ _

miralty is flanked on either side by ancient images,
and in the casemated passage of the fort of Peter

and Paul, which commands the capital, a painted
Christ keeps watch and ward over the gate. In
Moscow, where the multiplicity of these pictures is

such as almost to amount to a material incitation o:

the Omnipresence, a peculiarly sacred representa

tion of Christ, " the Redeemer of Smolensk," is
fixed over the principal gateway of the Kremlin.
Criminals doomed to death formerly asked for the

favour of being executed with their eyes fixed upon
this wonder-working Piece of painted wood. Even

now no one is allowed to pass through the gate
without uncovering his head. Emperor and Mujik

alike pay their tribute of respect to " the Redeemer

of Smolensk."

In all churches Divine service is performed seve-
ral times a clay. It chiefly consists of prayers in-
toned by the priest, or several priests officiating at
the same time. The responses are sung by a choir

consisting of a few voices only. Powerful bassos pre.

dominate, and are seconded by the sweet sopranos
of little boys. The congregations are small on week

days, the churches being open throughout the day,
and every one it seems, competent to perform his

devotions as well without as with the assistance of

the priests. What there is of a congregation takes
no very visible part in the service. They stand and
kneel about in the nave of the church, inaudibly
muttering sacred formulas, or listening silently to
the solemn chantingbf the appointed servants of the

altar. Sermons are very rarely preached. Why so
many churches should be built when this is the

peculiar arrangement of the Greek service I c,anno

. _
tell. So far as the stranger is able to see, the prac-
tical purposes of devotion would, under the ritual
of the Orthodox Church, be as well subserved by
diminutive chapels. However, the churches in
Russia, though too large for their congregations, are
in reality much smaller than in Protestant countries.

Statues and organs are prohibited by canon law.
Priests are but rarely seen in the streets, and their

garb, consisting of long black robes and broad-
brimmed hats, savours less of the ecclesiastic than

that of the Catholic clergy. Young men peforming
functions of a subordinate character in the churches

are easily distinguished by their long hair, never
touched by scissors, and, perhaps. not often enough
by combs.

CANNON-STREET AND CHARING-CROSS LINE.-
The South-Eastern contemplate, it is said, putting on at
no distant date trains running at ten minute intervals.
This would be nearly double the present train service, and
a great improvement.—llerapath.

SINGULAR INCIDENT IN A THEATRE.—A SAILOR'S
LOVE OF FAIR PLAY.—On Saturday evening an
• amusing yet startling contretemps occurred at the Theatie
Royal, Portsmouth, which afforded a very strong illus-
tration of the British sailor's love of fair play and his
feeling towards an oppressed fellow-creature. After
the drama of " Faust," .a piece was produced entitled
"The Slave's Revenge," the two leading characters being
a slave and a planter. In the course of the play the slave
is turned over to the planter, who is pretty liberal in
the use of the lash. A number of seamen belonging to
her Majesty's ship Hector were seated in the pit, and it was
observed that they did not appear to relish this state of
things, watching the movements of the two with anxious
looks and expressions of disapprobation. At length the
slave is supposed to be laid insensible, and the brutal
planter is about to spurn him with his foot, when one of
the seamen could stand it no longer, but leaped upon the
stage, putting himself in a fighting attitude, and his ap-
pearance so startled the planter that he made his exit from
the stage as speedily as possible, leaving the "tar" in un-
disturbed possession. The sailor looked upon the matter
as a reality; for he loudly exclaimed, "Kick a man when
he is down ; not if I know it!" and taking up the astonished
slave in his arms, as carefully as if he were a baby, he
quietly deposited him in the wings. This strange incident
excited no little commotion in a well-filled house. The
curtain was lowered, and it was not until "Jack" had been
appeased by the assertion of the slave that he had not been
ill-treated that he retired from the stage, and thus enabled
the play to proceed.

other Christian denominations, is omnipresent, and
may be as well invoked in the closet as in the
temple or the public thoroughfare. But it seems
to be regarded as more than ordinarily meritorious
in this country to peform one's devotions before
sacred images, and as the believers cannot possibly
enter each of the many churches scattered through
every street, they frequently remain standing out-
side the door, muttering prayers, and acquitting
themselves of their religious obligations in a manner
less formal, it is true, yet equally consistent with
the rules of their Church.
The devotion exhibited on these occasions is ap-
parently earnest and sincere. Gentlemen of rank
excepted, I have seen persons of all classes and both
sexes engaged in this pious occupation. Strong men
in sheepskins, with yellow beards,, looking like the
divinities of Northern mythology--ladies, the wives
of officers and daughters of Councillors of State,
and poor, miserable women, hobbling about in the
winterly roads, and resorting every now and
then to the image of their choice to ask it
for their daily bread—all seem to prostrate them-
selves with equal humility before the shrine of
their patron saint. Before my eyes, but utterly
unheedful of my presence, a man in semi-ecclesias-
tical garb, who seemed to be a novice or sacristan,
knelt down before a picture and in solemn orison
touched the pavement thrice with his forehead. He
then rose, turned round, and with an adoring ges-
ture raised his hand toward several other pictures
suspended at a distance. I don't think we two
should agree on all questions were we ever to meet
again and discuss the things of this and the other
world in a friendly and tolerant way; but, so long
as religion exists, the purity and heartfelt nobleness
of his supplication will compel the respect of those
to whom the grave is not the necessary end of man's
career.