The Sun.
London, England, 1829-07-06 00:00:00

ST. PETERSBURGH, APRIL, 1829.

It is now time to say something of St. Peters-
burgh, and I can assure you that this is a task I
enter upon with considerable reluctance, as the
subject has so recently been discussed by more
able and accomplished travellers, yet I should
but ill discharge the duties of your Correspon-
dent were I not to contribute my mite, and
should pay but a poor compliment to the Russian
capital were I not to take some notice of the
splendours with which I am surrounded. I there-
fore propose giving you an outline of the plan and
general appearance of the city, and in some succeed-
ing communications *ill offer a few remarks on
the principal public buildings, museums, and other
objects connected with the capital. The enter-
prising founder of St. Petersburgh, seeing the
importance of a naval establishment to Russia,
and knowing that the further extremity of the
Gulf of Finland was the most eligible spot to
put his plans in execution, has in the midst of a
black and dreary morass, founded a city which
is justly considered as the triumph of architecture,
and one of the wonders of the world. I have
now before me a map which was published before
this city was in existence, consequently a place
of such modern date must possess all the ad-
vantages of the more recent improvements in
architecture. Italian artists were principally em-
ployed, and the architecture is an improvement
on the general style and appearance of the prin-
cipal cities in Italy. The houses, which are
built of brick and plastered, have low metal roofs,
and as to elevation have a happy medium be-
tween London and Paris; and as yellow as in
Italy is the prevailing colour, and as the climate
is dry, the air pure, and wood exclusively burnt,
the colours retain their brilliancy for years. The
houses are all above medioCrity, but the palaces,
chambers, public buildings, and the mansions of
the nobility are on the most colossal scale of
magnificence. I remarked that the gothic style
of architecture is entirely excluded, the streets
are broad and well paved, and have not the
monstrous appearance of the streets of London,
and which induced a foreign traveller to compare
them to long lines of brick walls with peep-holes
at regular intervals. The houses in general are
richly decorated, with friezes, bas reliefs, and
other ornaments after the purest models of
the antique, but upon a close inspection it
must be confessed they do not possess the
neatness and finish which characterise most, if
not all the buildings in London ; at the same time
the eye of a severe critic cannot discover any of
the architectural abortions which unfortunately
disgrace our metropolis.
The plan of St. Petersburgh is admirable ; the
Neva discharges itself into the Baltic by three
mouths, which form the two islands of Wasili
Ostrof and Petrofski. The greater part of these
islands is now built upon; in the former the
streets are laid out at right angles, with mathe-
matical precision, and are most appropriately
called " Lines ;" here most of the merchants re-
side, and have their warehouses ; here likewise are
the Custom-house and Exchange. The Wasili
Ostrof is in short the " City," the place exclu-
sively devoted to every transaction connected
with the wholesale trade ; and the Neva, which
separates this emporium of commerce from the
more fashionable part of the capital, is charac-
teristic of the strong line of demarcation which
exists between the trading and military part of
the community, for into these two classes the
whole population must be divided ; it is therefore
natural to suppose that most of the splendid
buildings, for which St. Petersburgh is so re-
markable, should be confined to the northern
side or court end of the capital. The first that
generally strikes a foreigner is the great beauty of
the Neva, which is as broad as the Thames at
London, but is not, like that river, the great
common sewer of the metropolis, but a rapid
stream of water as pure as chrystal ; as there is
no tide there can be no embankments of mud
and no deposits of filth. On both sides, the Neva
is confined by granite quays extending from one
extremity of the town to the other ; there are a
broad road and a foot-path lined throughout
with the finest buildings of the metropolis ; on
the south side are the English quay, the Ad-
miralty, the Summer, Winter, and Marble Palaces,
forming altogether a line of magnificent edifices
extending nearly three miles. From the new
Dock-yard (the western extremity of St. Pe-
tersburgh) the view is incomparably fine,
particularly at sunset, when the western hori-
zon is illumined by tints unknown in our
humid and cloudy atmosphere ; a " coup trail"
is there conjured up by the rays of the
departing sun which you may imagine, but
which no pencil but that of a " Martin" can de-
scribe. The nearer edifices which form the fore-
ground of the picture, and the natural colours of
which are so vivid, are now lit up by a golden
gleam, which gradually loses its power and effect"
as the eye ranges along the scene, till the ex-
treme distance appears lost in the haziness of the
eastern horizon.

As St. Petersburgh is the principal sea-port of
Russia, the trade, of course, is very considerable,
but ships generally unload at Cronstadt ; the car-
goes are then brought up in lighters, and dis-
charged on the wharfs of the numerous inlets and
creeks with which the northern part of St. Pe-
tersburgh abounds, so that the quays of the Neva
are throughout a fashionable promenade, neither
disfigured with warehouses, nor encumbered
with merchandise. _ _

Peter, who had resided a long time in Hol-
land, originally intended to have a canal through
all the principal streets of his new capital ; this
plan has been partially put in execution, and
where it has not, the streets are unusually broad;
the canals, instead of intersecting the town at
right angles as in Holland, are here laid out in
the form of a semicircle, and communicate with
the Neva at both extremities of the town ; the
Moikas and Fautanka canals are broad and deep,
and, with the bridges, quays, &c., formA great
ornament to St. Petzrsburgh ; in winter the
canals serve admirably for roads, and in summer,
the short duration of the heat prevents the ill
effects that might otherwise arise from so much
stagnant water.
There are no squares at St. Peterslourgh ; in-
deed the great breadth of the streets, as well as
the peculiarities of the climate, render these
openings unnecessary ; there is, however, a con.
siderable space in front of the Admiralty, an

' edifice which may be with some propriety con-
sidered as the centre of St. Petersburgh ; from
this space the three principal streets issue ; these
streets are perfectly straight, and like the radii of
a circle, meet in one point; the principal is the
" Nevski perspective," the first glance of
which I must confess shook my faith in
the supremacy of Regent-street; the buildings
of the latter are certainly richer in their archi-
tecture, and the shops more elegant in every
sense of the word, but there is a grandeur and a
space in the tout ensemble of the Nevski
which cannot fail of striking every stranger. This
celebrated street is two miles in length, and twice
the breadth of Regent-street, and besides several
churches and public buildings above mediocrity,
is ennobled by a cathedral or palace, and an ex-
tensive range of fine buildings appropriated to
the market or bazaar ; it is likewise intersected
by the principal canals of the capital. Regent-
street is a splendid thoroughfare, traversing an
inferior district, but all the streets and canals to
the right and left of the Nevski are lined with
buildings of corresponding splendour. As the
most fashionable promenade of the capital, the
Nevski is crowded between the hours of twelve
and three, the shops are then a favourite lounge,
but though by far the best in St. Petersburgh,
they are neither so elegantly fitted up nor so richly
stocked as the shops of London or Paris ; seve-
ral English and French tradesmen have very ex-
tensive magazines, and succeed well, as the in-
habitants generally prefer dealing with foreigners,
in consequence of the well-known roguery of the
Russian character. An Englishman informed me
that he attempted to carry on his trade upon the
English system, but found the plan would. not
answer, as one price must be named and another
taken, the purchasers never appearing satisfied
till some diminution is effected ; in Russian
shops it is usual to offer about half what the
dealers demand, and purchases are frequently
made on those terms ; indeed such is the stigma
attached to trade here, that a native tradesman is
determined to make all he can, and naturally
conceives that the worth of a commodity is the
price that any fool may be induced to give. As
to parks there are none, indeed they would be
perfectly useless in such a climate, but there is a
plot of ground planted with birch trees, and
fenced in with an elegant iron palisade, this is
called the summer garden, and in summer is
crowded with nursery-maids and children. In the
Wasili Ostrof there is an attempt at a "Boule-
vard," but the trees are of slow growth, and afford
but little protection against the scorching heats of
a Russian summer; many of the inhabitants of this
quarter of the town are determined to have gar-
dens in spite of climate, and strive hard to over-
come the defects of nature, but with what suc-
cess may be imagined. It must be confessed,
however, that the Russians display great skill in
the art of forcing ; the flower market is a con-
vincing proof of their superiority in this respect,
and during winter the fruiterers' shops are not
only supplied with asparagus, cucumbers,
strawberries, cherries, and raspberries, but I
have actually seen ripe egg plums at a period
when not a vestige of vegetation was likely to
appear for many weeks. Gas lights have not
as yet been introduced, though an Englishman
was some time since engaged by the Govern-
ment to make the necessary arrangements, but
throughout the year the nights are so brilliant as
to render lamps of any description almost unne-
cessary. One-eighth of St. Petersburgh is the
actual property of the Government, and all the
recent embellishments prove the good taste of the
present administration.
Every thing connected with what the French
term " le Spectacle," from the Italian opera to
a puppet show, is inferior in St. Petersburgh to
what would be met with in a second rate city of
Italy or Germany ; as to the theatres I have very

little to say, as they were closed for a consider-
able time after my arrival, in consequence of the
death of the Empress Mother. A death in the
Imperial family is a serious inconvenience to the
play-going part of the community, as the court-
mourning is carried to a preposterous extreme,
and all places of public amusement are closed for
a much longer period than is usual in other capi-
tals. There are four theatres and a circus, and the
performances are alternately in French, German,
or Russian ; there is likewise an Italian company
but no theatre is exclusively set apart for the
opera as in London and Paris ; theatricals are
not much in vogue here, and the actors are
wretchedly paid, consequently there is little real
talent to be found where the encouragement is
so limited. I went to the great theatre in the
hope of seeing a national ballet, but I was disap-
pointed, the performers were French, and the
Ballet " Zephyr and Flora," a piece most
judiciously chosen at such a season, and
in such a latitude. 'Tis true that Russia of
all countries in the world is the least indebted to

these mythological personages, but as the stage
was a perfect hot-bed of flowers, and the deco-
rations of the most glowing description, the
spectators were indulged with a scenic represen-
tation of those beauties, the reality of which they
are so little acquainted with. There is nothing
remarkable in the architecture of this theatre,
but the interior is well arranged, though the de-
corations are not above mediocrity ; the pit is
furnished with chairs instead of benches, and as
each chair is numbered, no confusion can pos-
sibly take place. The Imperial Box, as in all con-
tinental theatres, is in the centre fronting the
stage ; about two-thirds of the boxes were filled
with cadets from the military schools, every
thing had a military appearance, and two send-
nels were stationed at all the principal approaches
to the pit and boxes. At the further end of the
pit was the officer on guard in full regimentals,
he was as motionless as a statue, and stood dur-
ing the whole representation. Besides the usual
military guard there was a strong muster of the
Gendarmerie or mounted police outside the
theatre ; their exertions were absolutely necessary
as the sledges were so numerous, and formed
such a complete labyrinth, that no one on foot
could proceed with safety till the way was cleared.
In the open space before the theatre are several
circular inciosures, with benches and fire-places
for the accommodation of coachmen and sledge-
drivers, no fires are allowed unless the weather is
exceedingly cold. Another theatre is pow
building in the Nevski, and which, to judge from
appearances, will far .exceed the others in extent
as well as architecture.

NO. 111.
NCOME and CHARGE on the CONSOLIDATED FUND in the
QUARTERS ended sth July, 1828 and 1829.

Quarters ended July 5.