MSKETT. 
103 
Cossacks only, having but a short distance to go before we should 
attain our proposed sojourn for the night. We had not pro¬ 
ceeded more than a werst or two, ere it became quite dark; yet, 
the eye being used to it, I could distinguish that the increasing 
gloom, which deepened on us as we continued to advance, was 
occasioned by the closing in of the valley. At last its mountain 
walls drew so near each other, as totally to exclude all trace 
of the road; and we had nothing to guide us from stepping 
into the river, that was combating the rocks at our side, but the 
warning noise of its course ; and, now and then, a sparkle of 
light on the water, shot from moon or stars through some 
friendly chasm in the stony canopy above us. 
At nine o’clock we arrived at Mskett, once the capital of 
Georgia, now a wretched village. Such is the too probable 
consequence of a frequent change of masters; the ravages of 
war, the neglect of caprice, the miseries of delegated authority, 
of oppression and poverty. Nothing more resembles the turn 
of fortune in the destiny of such a place, once the residence 
of kings, now the abode of penury and wretchedness, than 
the fate of many a proud and frail fair one. One day, we hear 
of her lying in the bosom of princes, on a couch of luxury and 
indulgence; and ere long, perhaps, we shall be told, that she 
has perished on some bed of straw, without a human being to 
give her a drop of water, or a hand to close her eyes. 
Having arrived at the forlorn remnant of the great city of 
Mskett, I took up my quarters amidst the ruins of its castle, 
where I was lodged for the night, in the cell of a priest, or proto¬ 
pope, belonging to the old cathedral, still existing within the 
walls of the fortress. We were only a short day’s journey from 
Tiflis ; and the venerable incumbent of my cell being as kindly 
hospitable as his means would allow, I determined to delay my 
