402 Dr. Granville’s Travels to St. Petersburgh. [Ocr. 
this second capital of the Empire was not a matter of choice, but one of compul- 
sion. To place a town destined to be the principal seat of government, where 
St. Petersburgh now stands, has been considered a great fault on the part of its. ° 
founder. It has been alleged that to select a low and’swampy soil, on the banks 
and at the mouth of a river which divides the country into anumber of islands, 
was to perpetuate inconveniences which might never be overcome, and to create 
a new population that it might become the prey of an unhealthy climate. But 
Peter the Great, convinced of the important political and. commercial advan- 
tages of the chosen site of his new city, deemed any inconvenience which he 
might have to struggle with, arising from the nature of the situation, a matter 
of secondary consideration. He knew mankind in general too well, and the 
people in particular whom he proposed to bring together in this place, not to 
rely upon the efforts of human industry and skill for producing a gradual and 
beneficial change, and for deriving advantages even from the difficulties in 
which they were placed. He had the example and success of the first foun- 
ders of Venice on his side: he knew that the great towns in Holland had had 
no other beginning.” 
Our next extract shall point out some of the numerous changes which 
have taken place in the Russian capital during the last few years, shew- 
ing that no former descriptions cf it mecca preclude anew one :— 
“ A comparison between St. Petersburgh as it was in 1801, when Storck’s 
description of that town was first translated into English, and as it now is, 
shows its rapid increase in size and importance in the course of a quarter 
of a century. The difference is manifest, not only in the great addition 
of dwelling-houses, and public buildings since the former period, but in the 
many improvements and multiplied embellishments which have from that time 
become conspicuous features of the capital. 
“ Two new districts have been added in one part of the town since that 
time, and the other parts have considerably extended their limits. New streets 
and new squares have been opened; the former are now nearly double in 
number. A new Imperial Palace in town, and two Imperial residences in the 
country have been erected. New churches have been built, as well as new 
places of amusement. Another moveable bridge has been added to the two 
already existing on the Neva; and several new granite and suspension-bridges 
have been erected across the canals. Two new museums are forming ; several 
new literary and medical institutions have been founded. Most of the collec- 
tions of natural history and antiquities have been augmented. An extensive 
botanic garden has been opened. The principal Imperial palaces have been 
embellished, their internal decorations and arrangements changed, and new 
collections of objects of the fine arts added to them. A new exchange with 
extensive magazines has since risen on one of the points of Vassileiostrow, and 
Rostral columns to carry a Pharo light have been placed in front of it. The ex- 
terior of the great edifice of the Admiralty has undergone a complete change, 
and most of the streets leading to it have had trottoirs added to them. Other 
alterations also, too numerous to describe, although not less important, have 
taken place in the same period of time for the improvement of the city.” 
- It appears that Petersburgh is at present well supplied with vehicles 
of public conveyance, of every kind, and at a most moderate price. The 
various descriptions of these which are to be met with in all the fre- 
quented parts of the city, must produce a very lively and picturesque 
effect—especially when aided by the strange costumes of their drivers. 
The following sketch of a Russian coachman is worth extracting :— 
‘© The costume of a Russian coachman is very picturesque. It consists of a 
caftan or tunic of fine blue, crimson, or green cloth, closely drawn over the 
chest, reaching only as high as the lower ‘part of the neck, which is generally 
left uncovered, and either buttoned down the middle, with small round-headed 
gold buttons, or the two front plaits laid one over the other obliquely, clasped 
