174 By Stream and Sea. 



the two or three steps upon the sanded road, and walked 

 across to the kiosk, raised some eight or ten feet from the 

 ground. A gorgeous pageant was thus heralded by the 

 burning lamp, cross, and initiatory banners. Long lines of 

 priests walking two abreast ; columns of the highest officers 

 in the Russian army, blazing with uniform and accoutre- 

 ment; a forest of banners, whose poles were terminated 

 with cross-shaped gilded spearheads ; more priests of the 

 higher rank in the rich white and gold, and with the 

 streaming hair, tall stature, and dignified appearance cha- 

 racteristic of the Greek priesthood ; choristers in maroon 

 robes — these were the main features of the splendid proces- 

 sion moving slowly across the road and ascending the 

 canopied structure, where candles were burning in readiness 

 for the service. 



But there was something more brilliant still to come. 

 The grand-looking and grandly-attired Metropolitan and his 

 associates had passed on, preceded and followed by high 

 officers of State ; the choristers had filled the air with 

 ravishing vocal music. All this had appeared like a dream 

 of the middle ages. And now came the Czar, and the 

 Prince of Wales in his English general's uniform; the 

 Czarewitch and the Duke of Edinburgh; Prince Arthur 

 and all the Grand Dukes and Grand Dukes' sons with their 

 equerries. The priests wore their head-dresses ; every other 

 person in this remarkable assembly remained bareheaded in 

 the raw rainy weather. 



The Czar of Russia, the heir to the English throne, and 

 all intermediate persons, to the meanest peasant that sweated 

 under his dirty sheepskin, paid the ceremony the honour of 

 at least outward respect. From a hole in the ice, battered 

 in for the purpose, the water of the Neva, in a golden bowl, 

 was brought to the venerable Metropolitan, by whom it was 



