Smyrna times., 1858-12-30
.,Il > Z 3GLl.AN l. . U = .
1Zi,JIUaG OF MOSCOW.


The following hignIy interesting Lecture on
MascOw and It's lnha abiantg, was recently GeIy-
cred by D4yard TayIur, before the Mercantile
Library Association Of B,lumore:
lie c1mmcncrd by citing an Arab legend o.
wonderful! city bulil III tae desert, whose dumes
Were If hetten gold, and which, though de-
slrny"d "a burst ot divine wrath. is still SAID
% loom u,, il me far ,stanco, in ali lis myate-
nous brauly, before the eyes oI the Traveller,
Though one has ever been permitted to tra-
verse rs w0ndrOus courts, or to penetrate ito
gates. Atter travelling for one hundred miles
oycr monutnuoGs country, all the central part
OF which is Il land of mlrs rs, jhc appearance
OF the city of Moscow Is like cDchanlmout -
From the Bcr"sina 10 ih" Due!pcr, all is tcrrIb
.noGotony. N h"n your endurance Is exhaust
ed, when ynI orsin - te;ievG ;hcrc is nothing
but birch ami !ir 'a"sc forests Of northern birch
which, thuu3h Ucau'itu, III The tell, in Skinner
are of { cold syrry green, when there is no;h-
lug aruuEd you that auH0uuCes your appruaci!
10 the old Russian capital, you monnt the brow
Of L hll, behind YOU is crescent Cf dense
+ rests at yoHr feet small river, and before
you--Moscuw, with its hundreds of gl!dpd
comes, sparkling like stars, aud flashing in
your face. 1t comes upon you like dream,
beauty. Whence cOmcs, YOU ask, all this " H.
dcrncss Of grass grCca rnois, whence all thos.
giIded aud s.lvrrcd do,ucs 1t can be no city
OF trade, 1t must have been built by tie genii
VIII the Iamp was yet in Aletdu's hand.-I
From The htl referred ~, The army Of Bpn1plrtc
oncc bcl"id ii aud sLon;cd Moscow All til
is yours said A4pnieon; but in the sequel ali
tie nlundcr ;hat reached Paris would not have
raGe porter's load. The Russian statement
Of the destruction of Moscow must not Lc Ia ken
too literally. Many Of III" curious re .!lcnces
of the old Bryards ard hundreds of ilu'astic
churches We're Destroyed, but much rem4IDco
uaconsumed aud Nose. ~ is still type Of tic
tar.rcach ng Russ an Empire Oac be st under.
stands peopc hy visiting their large Cities
10 know Paris IS to know the FrcHch; London
symJ9iz"s the E1Ii>h; boston New Eugland, |
o. nd although the cctu or would not say thai
New lOrk laIriy represented American nation |
uiuy, even there might be found many of It's
mure salient features. Moscow Is pte-cmnent-
ly the index 10 RYs:ia. Its interest as a city is
almost wholly historical or national. Since the |
bullIlug of ST. Petersburg Moscow has lost It's
advantage as a capital, but 1t still remains the
Holy City of Russia. lis fbres Of commerce
branch eastward. The race that founded il !
c iue from the East. It's re i. .lOn-that OF the
on every Que Of the thousand domes gliters the |
souIhern Gre cent. AIda..e de Steal, with |
her iondnefs for striking phrazes, exclaimed, on |
bchJItu2 Mo,cow .B hold tie Tartar K0nc!" |
lis O:Icn;al character Is as strongly marked as /
II Is, nevertheless, The siran-
gcst compound magiuau,c. In Moscow, Eu-
rope aud ASIA is junbed together. II called !
up "reminiscences OF every place the lecturer
had ever seen. There were temples resembling
those of Luckuow-FrcHch caJe-China tea
beer ctlIars--in short, every ma
ton in the world found a representative in |
in Moscow. No city in tho world is so pctur-
esqIe and fantastic as Moscow. II stands
housekeeping an Immense area, and every |
where around it is belt Of thick forest. Its
is from twenty-five TO thirty |
miles, and cOnfuses the ordinary ideas of dis
tancc. Close at hand, with the people of Mos
COW means, not unlrcquently, m!le Off and
near neIghbors an hours walk. a traveller
very easily loses his way in Moscow, for the
character OF even the new portion of the city
is labyrinthine. The sites of the old city be-
ing rebuilt upon, the streets seem laid out like
some of the earlier ones in New York which
were said To have followed the cattle tracks,
Moscow is full Of marvellous surprises, from its
immense extent and the irregularty of its con-
siructon. You step from a throng of palaces
suddenly into country place, and from thence
into thronged mnrket--pass rows of shops OF
a modern character, and fud yourself in quar-
ter where the Tartar character of the place is |
still preserved. Red is the favorte color of
the Russian sorfs. Green occupies the second |
position in taste. Many Of the domes of the |
churches are dark blue or green, studded |
with stars o: gold. The houses of the no.
bIes and of the wealthier classes are chiefly
of brick and stucco-wbie many of the hum
Bile tencrents are Of wood. The only tools
used By the Russian carpenter are the adze and
saw. and the skill with which be uses those
simple tools is perfectly surprising. His work
is squared with great accuracy, yet all the
smaller lengths are measured by The eye. Peter
the Great excelIed in everything he undertook,
with one exception, in which every serf is
profcient--hc never succeeded in making a
pair Of Russian boots.
The Cathedral Of st. Basil is the cuInina-