734 



MOSCOW. 



Motcow. and in conseqnence of water having been thrown in to 

 1 *^"Y""" 1 ' extinguish a fire in the building erected over it, n large 

 fracture was made in the bell. It has a white shining 

 appearance, and is said to contain a very large proper, 

 tion of gold and silver. The siae of the base cannot 

 be ascertained, as it is partly buried in the earth ; but 

 the circumference, within two feet of the lower extre- 

 mity, is sixty-seven feet four inches ; and the perpen- 

 dicular height from the top twenty-one feet four inches 

 and a half. In the stoutest part, about seven feet above 

 the lip of the bell, where it should have received the 

 blow of the hammer, it is above twenty-three inches 

 thick ; and the weight of the whole is computed to be 

 443.772 Ibs. which, at three shillings a pound, amounts 

 in value to L.66',565, 16s. 



Great gun. Another wonder of the Kremlin, is the great gun, 

 which admits of a man sitting upright in its mouth, 

 and is about 18$ feet in length, and 10 inches thick at 

 the lip. It is never used, and serves merely for os- 

 tentation ; but it is surrounded with artillery of extra- 

 ordinary length. On of the principal structures and 

 Foundling public institutions of Moscow, is the Foundling Hos- 

 hosjiital. pital, an immense quadrangular pile of building, capa- 

 ble of containing 8000 children, who are suitably in- 

 structed according to the occupation which they are 

 desirous to follow, and who receive, at the age of 20 

 years, a sum of money, with various advantages for 

 prosecuting their trade in any part of the empire. 

 This institution, besides diminishing the practice of 

 child-murder, (which is said to have been greatly pre- 

 valent before its establishment) diffuses the know- 

 ledge of the arts among the people, and increases the 

 Shops and number of free subjects in the empire. All the shops 

 markets. of Moscow arc collected together in one spot, in the 

 division of Kalaigorod, where the whole retail com- 

 merce of the city is carried on, and where there is the 

 appearance of a perpetual fair. Every trade has its 

 separate department ; but the shops which sell fur and 

 skins, occupy the greatest number of streets. There 

 is a market held in a large open space, in one of the 

 suburbs, where ready made houses of every variety 

 are strewed upon the ground, and where a purchaser, 

 upon specifying the number of rooms which he re- 

 ijuires, may have a dwelling removed, raised, and oc- 

 cupied in the space of a week. The number of pic- 

 ture-dealers in Moscow is very great ; and the houses 

 of the nobles are filled with them ; but they are al- 

 most all copies made with the most exact imitation, 

 and in general are valued according to the splendour 

 of the colouring, and fineness of finishing. The book- 

 sellers' shops, also, are seldom provided with books of 

 real literary reputation, but are" rather stored with the 

 toys than the instruments of science. The splendour 

 Equipages, of the equipages, and the number of horses attached 

 to them, gives an appearance of wealth and grandeur 

 far above the reality. There is hardly an individual 

 above the rank of a plebeian, who has not four horses 

 to his carriage ; the greater part have six ; but the 

 postilions are generally ragged boys, and the coach- 

 man a peasant in his sheep-skin, while the long traces 

 of the horses are made of no better materials than 

 ropes. 



' In the metropolis f an empire composed of so many 

 different nations, rather united than assimilated, the 

 manners, dresses, amusements, languages, and occupa- 

 tions of the inhabitants, present to the eye of a stranger 

 Amuse- the moat wonderful variety. The amusements are of 

 merits. t h e mos t; childish description ; and the most respecta- 

 ble of the citizens, and even persons of rank, may be 

 seen in public, whirling about in chairs, and screaming 



with pleasure. One of the most general luxuries, is Moscow; 

 that of the bath, which is taken in public both by men 

 and women, who may often be seen naked before 

 these places of resort, talking together without any 

 sense of shame. The citizens are fond of promenades, 

 which, particularly during Easter, take place every 

 morning and evening; and in which, besides the no- 

 bles in their carriages and on horseback, are seen the 

 merchants' wives on donkies in their richest dresses, 

 the peasantry shouting and singing, the gypsies danc- 

 ing, piping, clapping of hands, and various kinds of 

 revelry. Another favourite resort is the market on 

 Sunday mornings, in a spacious area near the Krem- 

 lin, where people of every description assemble to pur- 

 chase dogs, singing-birds, peacocks, poultry, fire-arras, 

 curious pigeons, &c. Dogs and birds are the princi- 

 pal articles, and particularly the pigeons, in which the 

 nobles of Moscow take great delight, and which are 

 trained by the feeders to fly and return at command. 

 The morals of this great city are extremely relaxed ; Morals, 

 and it is no uncommon thing for a number of hired 

 prostitutes to be kept openly in the inns for the use of 

 the guests. 



Hitherto we have spoken of Moscow, as it existed Oestmc- 

 previous to its occupation by the French army under tion of 

 Buonaparte in 1812; but, by the conflagrations to- Moscow, 

 which it waa devoted both by the Russians and the 

 French at their respective evacuations of the city, it 

 was almost entirely destroyed, except some of the 

 more distant parts of the Slabode, where the houses 

 were thinly scattered, and a few streets in the division 

 of Bielgorod, which had been occupied by the French 

 guards. Preparations were made, by Buonaparte's 

 orders, to blow up the Kremlin ; but, excepting one 

 of the towers, and the church ot St. Nicolas, the greater 

 part of it was preserved by the exertions of the Rus- 

 sians. By official returns before the conflagrations, 

 the wooden houses amounted to 6591, and those of 

 stone or brick to 25C7- When the French evacuated 

 the town, there remained of the former only 2100, and 

 of the latter 526. In the year 1814, there were re- 

 fitted in wood 1480, and in stone o/ brick 1312. Dur- 

 ing the summer, when the weather permitted the peo- 

 ple to bivouac in the streets amidst the ruined houses, 

 about 170,000 inhabitants were collected; but the re- 

 sidence of this number could not be counted upon 

 during the winter. Its appearance at that period is 

 thus described by an intelligent English traveller. 

 " It was from the road, as it passed under the turrets 

 of the Petrousky palace, that we first beheld the my- 

 riads of domes and steeples that yet glittered among 

 the relics of Moscow ; and a short hour brought us to 

 the barriers. At our first entrance, few symptoms 

 were seen of a nature to correspond with the gloomy 

 appearance which we had been led to expect ; but, as 

 we advanced, the quarters of the Slabode or Faux- 

 bourg, where wood had chiefly been used in building, 

 exhibited destruction in its fullest extent, for the most 

 part, a campagne rase ; now and then the shell of a 

 house was seen standing in a blank space, and here 

 and there a few bricks and stones yet remaining, pointed 

 out the spot where a dwelling once had been. Mov- 

 ing onwards, we crossed the avenues of the boule- 

 vards ; the trees were in full leaf and beauty, seeming 

 to vary the view only to heighten its melancholy as- 

 pect. Leaving this, we passed to the central parts of 

 the town, that were constructed with more durable 

 materials, exhibiting occasionally a richness and ele- 

 gance of exterior, that must have equalled, if not sur- 

 passed, the architectural magnificence of the most 



