6 THE FOREST LANDS OF NORTHERN RUSSIA. 



what I have heard from others.' His rejoinder was : ' Mark 

 my reply ; I cannot say more, but, I repeat, As loyal as 

 man is to God.' 'Oh ! ho ! Universal depravity ? ' He 

 said nothing in reply, but his silence led me to say : 

 ' How came you then to fire upon those who were in the 

 same plot ? ' He shrugged his shoulders and replied, ' We 

 are in the army accustomed to implicit and immediate 

 obedience. Our superior officers gave the orders to us ; 

 and we in turn, faithful to our traditions, gave them to 

 those who were under our command, et Voila ! ' 



Through the scene of this outbreak, and slaughter, and 

 treason, and treachery, lies the way from the English Quay 

 to the point of embarking for Lake Onega. 



St. Isaac's Plain is now laid out as a garden with public 

 promenades, and there there is to be seen one manifestation 

 of the reign of peace which, often as I have beheld it, always 

 gives me pleasure. Here and there are laid down cart- 

 loads of fine clean sand in the summer, in which children, 

 whose parents cannot arrange to take them to the country, 

 as do most who can, may work as they please making dove- 

 cots, digging pits, raising bulwarks, and trundling sand 

 from one corner to another, as children delight to do ; and 

 in the early morning, before they are again astir, all is 

 swept up again into a heap, where during the day they or 

 others may resume their play. 



Within this garden stands the statue of Peter the Great, 

 on its immense boulder support. At right angles to the 

 Synod and Senate Houses stands St. Isaac's Church, the 

 dome of which dominates the city. Along the left-hand 

 side of the garden are the Admiralty Buildings, with their 

 golden spire, opposite to which diverge at equal angles the 

 three lengthened Prospects which divide into sections a 

 great extent of the city situated on the mainland, one of 

 them, the Nevsky Prospect, being one of the celebrated 

 streets of Europe. Beyond the Admiralty Buildings is the 

 Imperial residence, the Winter Palace, looking out upon the 

 monolith erected to the memory of Alexander I., and on the 



