ST. PETERSBURG. 38 



without the necessity of any servant entering the room, 

 which was a great advantage to the morals of the ser- 

 vants ; and finally for this sight-seeing puts one out ot 

 breath I visited another palace on the left shore of the 

 firth going to Cronstadt, called Peterhoff, built by the 

 half-mad Czar Peter, in which is still shown his bed, and 

 dirty flannel night- cap lying on his pillow ; and another 

 palace in the same place, where the royal family reside 

 in summer, which has grounds with no end of splendid 

 jets-d'eau, bands of music, Circassian guards, and fine 

 soldiers. 



This was a small portion of St. Petersburg sight- 

 seeing without a word of Alexandrofski and old General 

 Wilson ; and besides these, all Moscow is before us yet, 

 and Moscow has its Kremlin, worth all St. Petersburg 

 put together. 



But before we part for the present, please, reader, take 

 in fancy a chair with me on the balcony, entered from 

 the dining-room, on the second story of Miss Benson's 

 excellent boarding-house. 



The guests who are seated beside me and in the room 

 are all English, with one exception, who shall be men- 

 tioned. Almost all of them are commercial men. Two 

 or three of them with unrevealed names are probably not 

 BO. They maintain the usual silence and reserve of 

 Englishmen on their travels ; talk among themselves, 

 and gaze around them with eyes educated to express a 

 vacanf stare. Yet these are very likely fire fellows, if 

 you only knew them. They have travelled bsforo 



