ffered from time to time
during every succeeding century all the horrors of war, fire,
pestilence, and famine, till 1812, when it was laid in ashes by the
Russians themselves, who by this great national sacrifice secured the
destruction of the French army under Napoleon.

During the almost perpetual wars by which Moscow was assailed for a
period of four centuries, the Kremlin seems to have borne almost a
charmed existence. With the exception of the Grand Palace, the Bolshoi
Drovetz, built by the Emperor Alexander I., and the Maloi Drovetz, or
Little Palace, built by the Emperor Nicholas, and the Arsenal, it has
undergone but little change since the time of the early Czars. In
1812, when the French, after despoiling it of whatever they could lay
their hands upon, attempted, in the rage of disappointment, to blow up
the walls, the powder, as the Russians confidently assert, was
possessed by the devil of water, and refused to explode; and when they
planted a heavily-loaded cannon before the Holy Gate, and built a fire
on top of the touch-hole to make it go off, it went off at the breech,
and blew a number of Frenchmen into the infernal regions, after which
the remainder of them thought it best to let it alone.

The Kremlin, as it now stands, is a large collection of palaces,
public buildings, and churches, situated on the crown of a high bank
or eminence on the left side of the Moskwa River, nearly in the centre
of the city. It is surrounded by a high embattled wall, forming
something of a triangle, about a mile in circumference, through which
are several massive gateways. This wall is very strongly constructed
of stone, and is about twenty-five or thirty feet in height. It forms
many irregular sub-angles, and is diversified in effect by numerous
towers, with green pyramidal roofs; abutments and buttresses; and a
series of guard-houses at intervals along the top. The general color
is white, making rather a striking contrast with the green-roofed
towers, and the gilded domes and many-colored cupolas of the interior
churches. Outside of this wall, on the upper side of the main angle,
are some very pleasant gardens, handsomely laid out, with fine shady
walks, in which many of the citizens spend their summer evenings,
strolling about, enjoying the fresh air. Other parts of the exterior
spaces are devoted to drosky stands, markets, and large vacant spaces
for public gatherings on festa days and great occasions of military
dis