in
Moscow; they press on to the more European, and commercial city,
where Tartars from Kazan, Adighes from the Caucasus, Swedes and
Norwegians from Scandinavia, Finlanders from the North, and Germans
from the South mingle together. In polite society French is the
language of St. Petersburg, while German is much in use among the
mercantile community; but in Moscow it is the native tongue which
prevails, as well as Oriental manners and customs.

A drive of about three miles from the city over a wretchedly kept
road, where the ruts are positively terrible, brings one to Sparrow
Hill, the point from whence Napoleon first looked upon the devoted
city. "There is the famous city at last, and it is high time," said
Napoleon. He had left the battlefield of Borodino covered with
corpses forty miles behind. But what cared the ravaging warrior for
the eighty thousand lives there sacrificed? It was this terrible
encounter which caused him to say emphatically, "One more such
victory would be utter ruin!" From this elevation the invading host
pressed forward and entered the Muscovite capital, to find the
streets deserted, the public buildings stripped of all valuables,
and the national archives removed. There were no officials with
whom to treat; it was like a city of the dead. This unnatural
solitude gave birth to gloomy forebodings in the hearts of the
invaders,--forebodings which were more than justified by the final
result of that wholly unwarranted campaign. Soon at various points
the conflagration of the city began. If subdued here and there by the
French it broke out elsewhere, and at last became uncontrollable.
Napoleon entered Moscow on the fifteenth of September and left it in
ashes on the nineteenth of October, when there began a retreat which
was undoubtedly one of the greatest tragedies of modern times. Half
a million men in the flower of their youth had in a brief six months
been sacrificed to the mad ambition of one individual.

At Sparrow Hill are many cafes where the native population come to
drink tea, and where foreigners partake of cheap, flat Moscow beer
and other simple refreshments. From here a notable view is to be
enjoyed, embracing the ancient capital in the distance; and it is
this charming picture which most attracts strangers to the spot. The
broad river forms the foreground, flowing through fertile meadows and
highly cultivated fields. When we saw it vegetation was at its prime,
a soft bright green ca