500 



PETERSBURG PETITION. 



change, finished in 1816, a splendid building, sur- 

 rounded by a colonnade of forty-four pillars ; the 

 house of the first corps of cadets, occupied by near- 

 ly 4000 men, and embracing a circuit of above a 

 mile ; the spacious building of the academy of fine 

 arts, which, besides accommodations for 300 400 

 pupils, who are maintained and educated at the ex- 

 pense of the crown, contains every thing suitable 

 for such an establishment ; the second, or naval, 

 mining, artillery and engineer cadet corps ; the uni- 

 versity (instituted in 1819), with its collections, and 

 above fifty public institutions for education, suppor- 

 ted at the expense of the state. These institutions 

 lie in the Vasili-Ostrov (Basil's island), to which 

 there is access from the continent by a bridge of 

 boats. There are also similar institutions in other 

 quarters of the city, particularly the great imperial 

 gymnasium, and numerous benevolent establishments, 

 such as military and other hospitals, the insane hos- 

 pital, the iustitutions for the blind, and for the deaf 

 and dumb, various medical and surgical establish- 

 ments, the great foundling hospital, in which about 

 5000 children are nursed and educated, and in which 

 the mother is permitted to lie-in without charges, 

 and then to leave or take away her child, whether 

 legitimate or not, without being questioned as to her 

 name and station. With this is connected the great 

 pawn-house, in whicli loans are -made, even on real 

 property. In all the institutions for instruction (as 

 is also the case with the high schools throughout 

 the empire), Russian, German, and French, and, in 

 many, English, are taught : Latin and Greek are also 

 publicly taught ; and the young Russian shows a de- 

 cided taste for dancing, music and painting. There 

 are eleven public libraries : the most important is the 

 imperial, containing 300,000 volumes and 12,000 

 manuscripts. 



Among the palaces should be mentioned the splen- 

 did Michailoff palace, built by Paul, near the sum- 

 mer-garden, at an expense of 10,000,000 roubles ; 

 the Taurian palace, with its admirable gardens, built 

 and occupied by Potemkin, and much enlarged and 

 embellished by Catharine during his absence. The 

 roofs of all the palaces, and most of the houses, are 

 covered with thin iron plates, varnished black or 

 green. The summer residences also deserve to be 

 seen on account of their natural and artificial 

 beauties. 



Petersburg contains 115 churches for the established 

 worship, and thirty-three for other rites. The most 

 splendid are Isaac's church, and that of Our Lady of 

 Kazan ; the latter is of great dimensions ; the nave 

 and cupola are supported by fifty-six granite columns, 

 with bronze capitals ; the pavement is of different 

 kinds of marble, the steps to the choir, of porphyry, 

 with a silver balustrade. Among the towers, the 

 most remarkable are that of the admiralty, and that 

 of the fortress, of a pyramidal form, and more than 

 half covered with plates of pure gold. Public wor- 

 ship is performed in fifteen languages, and according 

 to eleven different rites. Organs and other instrumen- 

 tal music are not heard in the Russian churches, but 

 singing is much cultivated. There are no seats in 

 them. The worshippers come and go at pleasure, 

 and are crowded together without distinction of rank, 

 each as his feelings dictate, crossing himself, falling 

 upon his knees, touching his forehead to the ground, 

 and murmuring for the hundredth time, Hospodin 

 Pomillny (Lord, have mercy upon me). The Luth- 

 erans, Calvinists, Armenians, &c., have churches, 

 and there is one Mohammedan house of prayer. The 

 most remarkable monasteries are that of Alexander 

 Newskoi, the residence of the metropolitan, and 

 which contains, in a silver tomb, the bones of the 

 saints, and the Smolnui nunnery. The commerce and 



navigation are very extensive; more than 1100 ves- 

 sels, from all parts of Europe and from America, 

 arrive yearly. Vessels which draw much water can- 

 not come up to Petersburg, but unload by means of 

 lighters at Cronsladt. Provisions are in general 

 very high. As sources of amusement, we may men- 

 tion the grand opera and other theatres ; in winter 

 sleigh-riding, and, in summer, sailing on the Neva ; 

 sliding down artificial elevations, &c., &c. The 

 climate is very severe ; the sleighing continues near- 

 ly five months. (See Russia.) In the neighbour- 

 hood are several imperial palaces, such as Peterliof, 

 Kammenoi Ostrov, Pawlovsk and Zarskoi Zelo. 



Population of St Petersburg in 1818, 313,000; in 

 1828, 422,166, of which only 124,722 were females. 

 The census of 1832 gave the following results : 



Males, 

 Females, 



Among 1 these were . . - 



Ecclesiastics, . . . 



Nobles, .... 



Soldiers, .... 



Merchants, ... 



Artisans, . . . 



Citizens, .... 



Of the middle class, 



Foreigners of various conditions, 7 

 with the exception of merchants J- 

 and nrti -HUS j 



Domestic servant*, . . 



Peasants, . . 



Inhabitants of Odita, . 



29 1, 108 

 151,9)0 



449,368 



Birth8 ' 



(mJes, 5,198) 



I females. 4,969 J 



Deaths of various i males, 11,032' 



diseases I females, 



Accidental, 



,0327 

 ,,230 f 

 676 J 



Excess of deaths 



2,13* 

 34,079 

 39,437 

 10,828 

 24,179 

 36,732 

 66,360 



7,199 



94,000 



127,86r> 

 . 3,388 



10 Ifi7 

 16,937 



6,770 



This great excess of deaths is not to be ascribed 

 to the insalubrity of the climate, but to the dispro- 

 portion between the number of the sexes the male 

 population being nearly double that of the female. 

 The number of families is of course not proportion- 

 ate to the gross amount of the population ; accord- 

 ingly, the excess of deaths is found in the males, and 

 ought to be deducted. See a Journey to St Peters- 

 burg, by Leitch Ritchie, 1835, 8vo. 



PETER'S PENCE ; a tax which England paid, 

 from the eighth century down to the time of Henry 

 VIII., to the pope. The Anglo-Saxon king Ira is 

 said to have first granted it to the pope, in 725, in 

 order to maintain a seminary of English ecclesiastics 

 in Rome, and to keep in order the tombs of St Peter 

 and St Paul in that city. It was collected every 

 year on St Peter's day, one penny on every house, 

 and considerably exceeded the income of the kings 

 of England in the thirteenth century. 



PETERWARDEIN,on PETER WARADIN (an- 

 ciently Acunurr!) ; a town of Sclavonia, capital of a 

 military district (see Military Districts] , on the Dan- 

 ube, strongly fortified, thirty-eight miles north-west 

 of Belgrade, 216 south-south-east of Vienna ; Ion. 

 19 37' E. ; lat. 45 16' N. ; population, 3847. It 

 consists of the upper fortress, overlooking the Dan- 

 ube, the lower fortress, the horn work, and the sub- 

 urbs. It is remarkable for the defeat of the Turks 

 by prince Eugene in 1716. See Eugene. 



PETHION, OR PETION DE VILLENEUVE, 

 JEROME, a French revolutionary statesman, originally 

 an advocate at Chartres, was chosen deputy, by the 

 tiers etat of that city, to the states-general. The 

 character, conduct and talents of Pethion have been 

 variously represented ; but his great influence over 

 public affairs is a proof that he was not destitute of 

 ability. In the early part of his career, he acted 

 with Mirabeau, but did not join in such of his mea- 



