primarily to give the ministrations
of religion. It can be permitted to few, if any, to see those two sides
of the life of a great and growing Empire at the same time. This has
been my reason, therefore, for undertaking this small effort, and my
object is to give, as the Publishers expressed it, "personal
impressions." I hope my readers will accept this book, therefore, as an
impressionist description of Russian life of to-day, of which it would
have been quite impossible to keep personal experiences from forming an
important part. And though I write as an English Churchman, yet I wish
to speak, and I trust in no narrow spirit, to the whole religious
public, that I may draw them more closely into intelligent sympathy with
this great nation which has seemed to come so suddenly, unexpectedly,
and intimately into our own national life and destiny--and I believe as
a friend.

HERBERT BURY,
_Bishop_.

CONTENTS

CHAP. PAGE

I. RUSSIA'S GREAT SPACES 1

II. GENERAL SOCIAL LIFE 21

III. THE PEASANTRY 46

IV. THE CLERGY 71

V. RELIGIOUS LIFE AND WORSHIP 95

VI. HIS IMPERIAL MAJESTY THE TSAR 118

VII. A PATERNAL GOVERNMENT 139

VIII. THE STEPPES 162

IX. RUSSIA'S PROBLEM 186

X. THE ANGLICAN CHURCH IN RUSSIA 205

XI. THE JEWS 228

XII. OUR COUNTRYMEN IN THE EMPIRE 248

INDEX 268

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

HIS IMPERIAL MAJESTY THE TSAR _Frontispiece_

RUSSIA'S GREAT SPACES--WINTER _facing page_ 4

RUSSIA'S GREAT SPACES--SUMMER " " 8

THE KREMLIN " " 21

THE GATE OF THE REDEEMER, MOSCOW " " 29

A WELL-CLAD COACHMAN " " 33

A VILLAGE SCENE " " 46

THE METROPOLITAN OF MOSCOW " " 71

THE CONVENT AT EKATERINBURG, SIBERIA " " 78

THE ABBESS MAGDALENA " " 84

THE RUSSIAN PRIEST AT SPASSKY " " 90

S. ISAAC'S CATHEDRAL