MOSCOW. 
59 
fvanish.es, and summer is ! This is not the work chai 1 . 
of a week, or a day, but of one instant ; and the > v 
manner of it exceeds belief. We came from 
Petersburg to Moscow in sledges. The next 
day, snow was gone. On the eighth of April, 
at mid-day, snow beat in at our carriage win- 
dows. On the same day, at sun-set, arriving 
in Moscoiv, we had difficulty in being dragged 
through the mud to the Commandant’s. The 
next morning the streets were dry, the double 
windows had been removed from the houses, 
the casements thrown open, all the carriages 
were upon wheels, and the balconies filled with 
spectators. A few days afterwards, we expe- 
rienced 73° of heat, according to the scale 
of Fahrenheit, when the thermometer was 
placed in the shade at noon. 
We arrived at the season of the year in impre®. 
. . ... , • , , sions made 
which this city is most interesting to strangers. on a first 
Moscow is in every thing extraordinary ; as well amva ' 
in disappointing expectation, as in surpassing it ; 
in causing wonder and derision, pleasure and 
regret. Let the Reader be conducted back 
again to the gate by which we entered, and 
thence through the streets. Numerous spires, 
glittering with gold, amidst burnished domes 
and painted palaces, appear in the midst of an 
open plain, for several versts before you reach 
