2qq MOSCOW. 
chap. Sparrow Hill, an eminence near the city, much 
, IX _^ celebrated for the view it affords of Moscow and 
aur w its environs. The sight is not so pleasing as 
the scene beheld from the Kremlin; it is too 
much of a bird’s-eye prospect; and, although 
it comprehend the whole extent of tire city, 
with the rivers, aud all its vast suburbs, the 
magnificence of the edifices is lost in the dis- 
tance to which they appear removed. Upon 
this hill one of the former Sovereigns began to 
build a palace: the foundations of this, with 
vaults and cellars of brick-work, are now in 
ruins. From the eminence we perceived the 
land round Moscow to be low and swampy, 
abounding with pools of stagnant water, and of 
course unhealthy. The climate is also danger- 
ous, from sudden transitions. The rapidity of 
vegetation was here very striking. The English 
“ Pilewort,” or Ranunculus Jicaria, was already 
losing its blossom. Many other later flowers, 
by their forward state, gave us notice that it 
was time to bid adieu to cities and the 
“ busy haunts of men,” if we wished to behold 
Nature in more southern latitudes, before she 
became divested of her smiling countenance. 
The manner in which the Russian peasants 
clothe their legs and feet, throughout the whole 
empire, seems, from its simplicity and the mate- 
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