MOSCOW. 175 
minerals, or works of modern art ; for whatever 
he had collected, was, in its kind, well chosen. 1 * < 
The caprice, indeed, might be lamented which 
induced him to change, so frequently as he did, 
what he had once selected ; instead of allowing 
the acquisition to remain, as a monument of 
his genius, for the use and instruction of his 
posterity. 
Among the pictures, we noticed a very cele- Picture*, 
brated work of Van der JVerf : this had been 
formerly purchased by the author from Monsieur 
de Calonne's Collection in London, for an English 
nobleman. It was that highly-finished piece 
which represents “ the Daughters of Lot giving 
wine to their Father.” Other travellers may 
perhaps at this time find the same picture in 
Madrid. That unrivalled painting of Gerhard 
Douw, in which he has represented himself as 
an artist drawing by candle-light, was also in 
this collection : it cost the Count two thousand 
four hundred roubles. The rest were the pro- 
ductions of Leonardo da Vinci, Sasso Ferralo, 
Lanfranc, Teniers, Vandyke, and other eminent 
masters. 
In the cabinet of antiquities was an antient lyre 
of bronze, complete in all its parts, and perhaps 
the only one ever found. It was modelled by 
