MOSCOW. 
71 
greater than at noon-day. The whole city was 
in a blaze ; lights were seen in all the windows, 
and innumerable torches in the streets. The 
tower of the cathedral was illuminated from its 
foundation to its cross. The same ceremony 
takes place in all the churches ; and, what is 
truly surprising, considering their number, they 
are all equally crowded. 
We hastened to the cathedral : it was filled 
with a prodigious assembly, consisting of all 
ranks of both sexes, bearing lighted wax tapers, 
to be afterwards heaped as vows upon the 
different shrines. The walls, the ceilings, and 
every part of this building, are covered by the 
pictures of Saints and Martyrs. In the mo- 
ment of our arrival, the doors were shut ; and 
on the outside appeared Plato, the archbishop, 
preceded by banners and torches, and followed 
by all his train of priests, with crucifixes and 
censers, who were making three times, in pro- 
cession, the tour of the cathedral ; chaunting 
with loud voices ; and glittering in sumptuous 
vestments, bespangled with gold, silver, and 
precious stones. The snow had not melted so 
rapidly within the Kremlin as in the streets of 
the city : this magnificent procession was there- 
fore constrained to move upon planks, over 
CHAP. 
IV. 
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