mentioned, a
black veil over their head and face. No one, by the way, is allowed
to wear a bonnet at any festival of the church.

But the most brilliant of the public festivals I saw here, was the
christening of the imperial princess, which took place on the 15th
of November, in the Imperial Chapel, which is connected with the
palace.

Towards 3 o'clock in the afternoon a number of troops were drawn up
in the court-yard of the palace, the guards were distributed in the
corridors and the church, while the bands played a series of
pleasing melodies, frequently repeating the National Anthem, which
the late emperor, Peter I., is said to have composed. Equipage
after equipage began to roll up to the palace, and set down the most
brilliantly attired company of both sexes.

At 4 o'clock the procession began to leave the palace. First, came
the court band, clothed in red velvet, and followed by three
heralds, in old Spanish costume, magnificently decorated hats and
feathers, and black velvet suits. Next walked the officers of the
law, and the authorities of every rank, chamberlains, court
physicians, senators, deputies, generals, and ecclesiastics, privy
councillors and secretaries; and, lastly, after this long line of
different personages, came the lord steward of the young princess,
whom he bore upon a magnificent white velvet cushion, edged with
gold lace. Immediately behind him followed the emperor, and the
little princess's nurse, surrounded by the principal nobles and
ladies of the court. On passing through the triumphal arch of the
gallery, and coming before the pallium of the church, the emperor
took his little daughter {23a} into his own arms, and presented her
to the people; an act which pleased me exceedingly, and which I
considered extremely appropriate.

The empress, with her ladies, had likewise already arrived in the
church through the inner corridors, and the ceremony commenced
forthwith. The instant the princess was baptized, the event was
announced to the whole town by salvos of artillery, volleys of
musketry, and the discharge of rockets. {23b} At the conclusion of
the ceremony, which lasted above an hour, the procession returned in
the same order in which it had arrived, and the chapel was then
opened to the people. I was curious enough to enter with the rest,
and, I must own, I was quite surprised at the magnificence and taste
with which the building was decorated. The walls were covered wit