rders, so characteristic of the
Russian. When the column had been determined upon, orders were dispatched
to the quarries to detach, if possible, a single block for the shaft of
the length of eighty-four feet, though with scarcely a hope that the
attempt would succeed. One day a dispatch was received by the Czar from
the superintendent, with the tidings that a block had been detached, free
from flaw, one hundred feet long; but that he was about to proceed to
reduce it to the required length. The sovereign mounted in hot haste to
save the block from mutilation, and to preserve a column so much exceeding
his hopes. But he was too late; and arrived just in time to see the
sixteen feet severed from the block, which would otherwise have been the
noblest shaft in the world.

The length of these public places, open and in full view, right and left,
from the Admiralty tower, is a full mile.

Stretching southward from the tower lies the "Great Side" of St.
Petersburg, cut into three concentric semicircular divisions, of which the
Admiralty is the centre, by three canals, and intersected by the three
main avenues or _Prospekts_ (Perspectives). These three Perspectives
diverge like the spokes of a wheel from the Admiralty and run straight
through the city, through the sumptuous quarters of the aristocracy, the
domains of commerce, and the suburbs of the poor; while the view is closed
by the mists rising from the swamps of Ingermanland.

Turning from the "Great Side," and looking northward, the arms of the Neva
diverge from near the foot of the Admiralty tower, as the Perspectives do
from the southern side. The width of the Neva, its yielding bottom and
shores, and the masses of ice which it sweeps down, make the erection of
bridges so difficult that they are placed at very rare intervals, so that
a person might be obliged to go miles before reaching one. But the stream
is enlivened by boats and gondolas ready to convey passengers from one
bank to the other. We were never weary of watching with a glass from the
Admiralty tower, alternately, the river gay with boats and shipping, and
the Perspectives thronged with their brilliant and motley crowd. With a
somewhat different, but certainly no less absorbing interest, we gazed
down from the same elevation into the works of the citadel, upon
Petersburg Island, whose minutest details were clearly visible. This
citadel is useless as a defense of the city against a hostile attack; but
it