PETERSBURG. 
nobleman. Kreffoffki-oflrof, the largeft of tliefe iflands, 
belongs to count Razumowfki; and, though lefs trans¬ 
formed by art, is however, by reafon of its delightful 
profpe£ls ariflng from the noble villas and walks, and the 
fhores of the furrounding ifles, very much frequented by 
the inhabitants of the city. 
The lad and greateft curiofity of this quarter is the 
citadel, which hands on the ifland in the Neva, four 
hundred fathoms long and half as much in breadth, near 
the Peterfburg-ifle, a little above Vaffili-aftrof, and there¬ 
fore nearly oppofite to the marble palace. The date of 
its confirmation is memorable in the annals of the em¬ 
pire, as marking at the fame time the era of this city. In 
the year 1703, while Peter the Great was caufing an 
earthen rampart to be thrown up on this fpot, little 
could.he forefee that the hamlet, confiding entirely of a 
few fifhermen’s huts, would within the courfe of a cen¬ 
tury be garnifhed with marble temples and gorgeous 
palaces. Even his rampart of mud has met with a bril¬ 
liant lot, being faced on the Neva fide with a magnificent 
quay of granite. This was the work of the emprefs 
Catharine II. The fortrefs has two gates; one looking 
towards the Peterfburg ifiand, with which it has commu¬ 
nication by a drawbridge, the other fronting the admi¬ 
ralty fide, to which the only accefs is by water. The 
mod driking edifice within the walls is the church of St. 
Peter and St. Paul, which owes its origin to the duflile 
genius of the famous czar. It dands in an open place 
nearly in the centre of the whole enclofure; having, 
contrary to the ufual cudom, no more than one cupola, 
with a tower fifty fathoms in height, furnifhed with a 
chiming clock, for which no lefs a fum than forty-five 
thoufand rubles were paid by Peter the Great. From 
this tower the fpire rifes twelve fathoms, is gilt with 
ducat-gold, and the whole prefents a beautiful objeft 
from various points of view. This church contains the 
bones of its heroic founder, and feveral of his fuccefi'ors. 
Among the other curiofities of the cadle are to be noted 
the imperial gold and filver affay-offices, and the mint. 
Ladly, the Vyborg Quarter has the mod rural appear¬ 
ance of all; fince, excepting the dreet along the bank of 
the Neva, it is entirely occupied by cottages of the pea- 
fantry, and its fmall population is chiefly employed in 
rudic labours. Notwithdanding this charafleridic, it 
however numbers amongd its buildings two noble man- 
fions. That belonging to the late count Befborodko, fland- 
ing on the Neva, has wings of colonnades, which form an 
amphitheatre, and has an elegant garden in the Englifh 
fade. The other of thefe villas, remarkable for its cu¬ 
rious dyle of architebfure, is the property of count 
Stroganof, and has likewife extenfive gardens. The 
wharf for merchant-fhips of all defcriptions, in this 
quarter of the town, is the lad particular we fhall men¬ 
tion. 
The population of St. Peterfburg is computed at 
250,000 perfons, confiding of Ruffians, Germans, Finns, 
French, Swedes,Englifh, Dutch, Poles, Italians, Spaniards, 
Portuguefe, &c. St. Peterfburg is therefore a colonial 
city, of the motley mixture of which the Ruffians form 
by far the major part of the people, though they are not 
the aborigines of the region which the fovereigns of 
the Ruffian empire have fixed upon as their imperial refi- 
dence. 
The revenue which the date draws from the traffic of 
the city, may at prefent be edimated at about five mil¬ 
lions of rubles. If to this be added the tax on the fale 
of houfes, on contracts, &c. on the lowed probable cal¬ 
culation, the total will perhaps be increafed by one-half. 
Bread-corn is brought to St. Peterfburg from thecoun- 
tries bordering on the Volga. Both rye and wheaten 
bread are eaten here; the latter is the common food of 
even the lowed and poorefl claffes. The rye-bread is well 
taded, and yields more nourifhment; it is univerfally 
eaten, and even in families of good condition, where they 
have the choofing between this and the other. The 
Vol. XIX. No. 1344. 
791 
poorer fort ufe what is called black bread, prepared of 
rye-meal unboiled, and is extremely nutritious. 
To drangers, unaccudomed to the various changes 
produced in men and things by the influence of intenfe 
frod, nothing appears more wonderful than that part of 
the city dedicated to the fa'.e of frozen provifions. Your 
adonifhed fight is there arreded by a vad open fquare, 
containing the bodies of many thoufand animals, piled 
in pyratnidical heaps on all fides ; cows, fheep, hogs, 
fowls, butter, eggs, fifh, all did'ened into granite. The 
fifli are attractively beautiful, pofl'elfing the vivid- 
nefs of their living colour, with the tranfparent clearnefs 
of wax imitations. The beads prefent a far lefs pleating, 
fpecftacle ; mod of the larger fort being fkinned, and 
claffed according to their fpecies; groups of many hun¬ 
dreds are feen piled upon their hind legs againd one ano¬ 
ther, as if each were making an effort to climb over the 
back of its neighbour. The apparent animation of their 
feemingly-druggling attitudes (as if fuddenly feized in 
moving, and petrified by frod,) gives a horrid life to this 
dead fcene. Had an enchanter’s wand been indantane- 
oufly waved over this fea of animals during their different 
aflions, they could not have been fixed more decidedly. 
Their hardnefs, too, is fo extreme, that the natives chop 
them up for the purchafers like wood, and the chips of 
their carcafes fly off in the fame way as fplinters do from 
maffes of timber and coal. The provifions colfsfled here 
are the produfl of countries many thoufand miles didant. 
Siberia, Archangel, and dill remoter provinces, furnifh 
the mercharidife, which, during the (rod’s feverity, is 
conveyed hither on fledges. In confequence of the mul¬ 
titudes of thefe commodities, and the fliort period allowed 
to Hie exidence of the market, they are cheaper than at 
any other period of the year; and are, therefore, bought 
in large quantities to be laid up as winter dock. When 
depofited in cellars, they keep for a length of time. 
Fifh is here a very common article of confumption. 
The derlet is one of the mod edeemed kinds of fifh, and 
is confequently the deared. Of thefe about twenty-five 
thoufand are every year brought alive to St. Peterfburg 
from the Volga; which river moreover fends upwards of 
a million of (izeable fidi of various other kinds. The 
town is fupplied with the ordinary forts of live fi(h from 
the Ladoga lake. Frozen, falted, and dried, fifh are 
mofcly the food of the lovyer claffes. The Neva abounds 
with lalmon, which however are inferior in point of fla¬ 
vour to thofe of Riga. Cray-fifli are alfo caught in the 
Neva; befides which the Volga furnifhes annually about 
a million. Vegetables are the foie article of confumption 
which the city obtains for the mod part from its environs. 
The culture of the kitchen-garden is here brought to 
fuch perfection, that the mod delicate exotics of this 
kind are to be had at every feafon of the year, and of un¬ 
common excellence. Several of thefe, fuch as cauli¬ 
flowers, afparagus, &c. are very common, and not clear. 
Sour cabbage, which the Ruffians call fchtfchi, the falu- 
tary antifcorbutic virtues of which have procured it a 
welcome reception alfo in other countries under the name 
of four crout, is a daily difli of the common people ; it is 
even ferved up at great tables as a national delicacy. 
Salted cucumbers are eaten in equal abundance, and are 
extremely cheap. The fruit reared in the orchards and 
forcing-houfes in and about St. Peterfburg, is not nearly 
adequate to tiie demands of taffe and luxury. Fruit of 
the country comes from the Ukraine, and from the re¬ 
gions of the Volga and the Occa ; foreign fruit, efpe- 
cially apples, from Roltock and Stettin, to the amount of 
about a hundred thoufand rubles annually. The firll 
fliips that arrive here in the fpring import oranges of both 
kinds, and lemons in fuch abundance, that the fale of 
thefe goods often fcarceiy pays the freight. A cheft con¬ 
taining four hundred lemons is ufually to be had, at 
that feafon, for two or three rubles. Of the ordinary li¬ 
quors, rjuas is an acidulous, cooling, and wholefome, be¬ 
verage, peculiarly national, and is offered for fale at the 
9 Q corners 
