iberian aqua-marines, etc., add colour and splendour
to the imperial treasure. The comparison on the spot, which I not
unnaturally instituted, was with the imperial treasury at Vienna.
Next, a word may be given to the room in which the proud, stern,
and unrelenting Nicholas died, where all is kept intact as he left
it. I have seldom been more impressed than with this small, simple,
and almost penurious apartment, so striking in contrast with the
splendour of the rest of the palace. Silence, solitude, and solemnity
all the more attach to the spot from the statement to which credence
is given that the great emperor, on learning of the reverses in
the Crimea, here committed suicide. In other words, it is said
that he directed his physician to prepare a medicine which after
having taken he died. The sword, helmet, and grey military cloak
are where he laid them. Here lies a historic tragedy which remains
to be painted; one of the most dramatic pictorial scenes in Europe,
the death of Wallenstein in Schiller's drama, painted by Professor
Piloty and now in the new Pinakothek, Munich, might in the death
of the great Nicholas find a parallel. The emperor lies buried
with all the sovereigns of Russia since the foundation of St.
Petersburg, in the cathedral fortress of St. Peter and St. Paul.
Nothing in Europe is grander in the simplicity and silence which
befit a sepulchre--not even the imperial tombs in Vienna--than
this stately mausoleum of the Tsars. The Emperor Nicholas lies
opposite to Peter the Great. In the Hermitage, or rather in the
Winter Palace, is a gallery illustrative of the life and labours of
Peter the Great. The collection, besides turning-lathes and other
instruments with which the monarch worked, contains curiosities,
knickknacks, as well as some works of real art value: the connecting
point of the whole collection is in Peter himself. An analogous
collection was some years ago opened in the Louvre as the Museum
of Napoleon I. Dynasties all the world over thus seek to perpetuate
their memories.

[Illustration: THE HERMITAGE, ST. PETERSBURG.]

The Academy of Fine Arts is a noble institution, imposing in its
architecture, and richly endowed. The Corps des Mines must also
be visited, the collection of minerals proves the amazing riches
of European and Asiatic Russia. I wish I had knowledge and space
to describe this unexampled collection, which though not falling
within my art province has direct art relations.