M O S 
Numerous churches prefent tlvemfclves in every quarter, 
built in a peculiar flyle of architecture ; fomfe'with domes 
of copper, others of tin, gilt or painted green, and many 
roofed with wood. In a word, fome parts of this vaft 
city have the look of a fequeflered defert, other quarters 
of a populous town ; fome of a contemptible village, 
others of a great capital. 
Mofcow may be eonfidered as a town built upon the 
Afiatic model, but gradually becoming more and more 
European, and exhibiting in its prefent Hate a motley 
mixture of difcordant architecture. It is diflributed into 
the following divifions. i. Krc-hlin, or the Fort refs. This 
i (lands in the central and highefl part of the city; is of a 
triangular form, and about two miles in circumference; 
and is furrounded by high walls of Hone and brick ; which 
were conftruCied in the year 149K under the reign of 
Ivan Valfilievitch I. It contains the ancient palace of 
the czars, feveral churches, two convents, the patriarchal 
palace, the arfenal, now in ruins, and one private houfe, 
which belonged to Boris Godunof before lie was railed 
to the throne. 2. KhitaigoroA, or the Chinefe Town, is 
enclofed on one fide by that wall of the Kremlin which 
runs from the Molkva to the Neglina; and on the other 
,fide by a brick wall of inferior height. It is much larger 
than the Kremlin, and contains the univerfity, the print- 
ing-houfe, and many other public buildings, and all the 
tradefmen’s (hops. The edifices are moftly fluccoed or 
white-warned; and it contains the only flreet in Mofcow in 
which the houfes Hand dole to one another without any 
intervals between them. 3. The Bie.lgorod, or White 
Town, which runs quite round the two preceding divi¬ 
fions, is 1'uppol’ed to derive its name from a white wall 
with which it was formerly enclofed, and of which fome 
remains are Hill to be feen. 4.. Scrnlainogorod, which en¬ 
virons ail the three other quarters, takes its denomina¬ 
tion from a circular rampart of earth with which it is 
encompafied. Thefe two laH-mentioned divifions exhibit 
a grotel'que groupe of churches, convents, palaces, brick 
and wooden houfes, and mean hovels, in no degree fu- 
periorto peafants’cottages. 5. The Slobuda, or Suburbs, 
form a vafl exterior circle round all the parts already 
deferibed, and are invefied with a low rampart and ditch. 
Thefe fuburbs contain, befides buildings of all kinds and 
denominations, corn-fields, much openpaflure, and fome 
fmall lakes, which give rile to the Neglina. The river 
Mujlivu, from which the city takes its name, flows through 
it in a. winding channel; but excepting in fpring is only 
navigable for rafts. It receives the Yaufa in the Sem- 
lainogorod, and the Neglina at the weflern extremity of 
the Kremlin 5 the beds of both thefe laH-mentioned rivu¬ 
lets are in fummer little better than dry channels. 
The places of divine worftiip at Mofcow are exceedingly 
numerous; including chapels, they amount to above a 
thoufand: there are 484 public churches, of which 199 
are of brick, and the others of wood ; the former are com¬ 
monly Huccoed or white-wafhed, the latter painted of a 
red colour. The moH ancient churches of Mofcow are 
generally fquare buildings, with a cupola and four fmall 
domes, fome whereof are of copper or iron gilt; others 
of tin, either plain or painted green. Thefe cupolas and 
domes are for the moft part ornamented with crofles en¬ 
twined with thin chains or wires. The church of the* 
Holy Trinity, fometimes called the church of Jerufalem, 
which Hands in the Khitaigorod, clofe to the gate lead¬ 
ing into the Kremlin, has a kind of high Heeple and nine 
or ten domes: it was built in the reign of Ivan Vaflilie¬ 
vitch II, The inlide of the churches is moHly compofed 
of three parts 5 that called by the Greeks uSavccot;, by the 
Ruffians trapeza; the body; and the fanCtuary or flirine. 
Over the door of each church is the portrait of the faint 
to whom it is dedicated, to which the common people 
pay their homage as they pafs along, by taking off their 
hats, croffmg tliemfelves, and occafionally touching the 
ground with their heads. 
Vol. XVI. No. 109a. 
C O W. S>7 
The bells, which form no inconfiderable part of public 
worliiip in this country, as the length or fhortnefs of 
their peals afeertains the greater or lefs fanCtity of the 
day, are hung in belfries detached from the church: they 
do not fwing like our bells, but are fixed immoveably 
to the beams, and are rung by a rope tied to the clapper 
and pulled fidewife. Some of thefe bells are of a Huuen- 
dous fize; one in the tower of St. Ivan’s church weighs 
3551 Ruffian poods, or 127,836 Englifh pounds. It has al¬ 
ways been efleemed a meritorious a& of religion to prefent 
a church with bells; and the piety of the donor has been 
meafured by their magnitude. According to this- mode 
of eftimation, Boris Godunof, who gave a brill of 288,000 
pounds to the cathedral of Mofcow, Was the moH pious 
fovereign of Ruffia, until he was furpafled by the emprefs 
Anne, at whofe expenfe a bell was cafl which exceeded 
in bignefs every bell in the knotvn world. This bell was- 
never fufpended. The hiflory of its fall, by the acci¬ 
dental burning of a beam to which it was hung, Dr. 
Clarke informs us is mere fable; but, as writers are ac- 
cuHomed to copy each other, the Hory continues to be 
propagated. “ The fad is, the bell remains in the place 
where it was originally cafl. It never was fufpended ; 
the Ruffians might as well attempt to fufpend a firft-rate 
line-of-battle fhip, with all its guns and ftores. A fire 
took place in the Kremlin, the flames of which caught 
the building ereCted' over the pit in which the bell yet 
remained; in confequence of which the metal became 
hot; and water thrown to extinguifh the fire fell upon 
the bell, caufing the fraCture which has taken place. The 
defeent into the cave is by a double flight of Heps ; and the 
bell reaches from the bottom of the cave to the roof. The 
entrance is by a trap-door, placed even with the furface 
of the earth. We found the Heps very dangerous; fome 
of them were wanting, and others broken, which occa- 
fioned me a fevere fall down the whole extent of the firff 
flight, and a narrow elcape for my life, in not being 
dallied upon the bell. In confequence of this accident, 
a centinel was ftationed afterwards at the trap-door, to 
prevent people becoming victims to their curiofity. He 
might have been as well employed in mending the Heps, 
as in waiting all day to fay they were broken. The bell 
is truly a mountain of metal. They relate, that it con¬ 
tains a very large proportion of gold and filver; for that, 
while it was in fufion, the nobles and the people cafl in, 
as votive offerings, their plate and money. It is permit¬ 
ted to doubt the truth of traditionary tales, particularly 
in Ruffia, where people are much difpofed to relate what 
they have heard, without once reflecting on its probabi¬ 
lity. I endeavoured, in vain, to affay a fmall part. The 
natives regard it with fuperftitious veneration, and they 
would not allow even a grain to be filed off. At the fame 
time it may be faid, the compound has a white fhining 
appearance, unlike bell-metal in general; and perhaps its 
filvery afpeft has llrengthened, if not given rife to, a con¬ 
jecture relpeCling the richnefs of its materials. On fefti- 
val days, the peafants vifit the bell as they would a church, 
conlider it an aCl of devotion; and they crofs themfelves 
as they defeend and afeend the fteps. The bottom of the 
pit is covered with water, mud, and large pieces of tim¬ 
ber, which, added to the darknefs, render it always an 
unpleafant and unwholefome place, in addition to the 
danger arifing from the fteps which lead to the bottom. 
I went frequently there, in order to afeertain the dimen- 
fions of the bell with exaCtnefs. To my great furprife, 
during one of thofe vifits, half a dozen Ruffian officers, 
whom I found in the pit, agreed to affift me in the ad- 
meafurement. It fo nearly agreed with the account pub- 
liflied by Jonas Hanway, that the difference is not worth 
notice. This is fomewhat remarkable, confidering the dif¬ 
ficulty of exaftly meafuring what is partly buried in the 
earth, and the circumference of which is not entire. No 
one, I believe, has yet afeertained the fize of the lower 
rim of the bell, which would aftbrd Hill greater dimen- 
Q lions 
