ng. Harry
looked at it for a minute, and then burst into a fit of laughter.

"Well, that is the funniest building I ever saw," he exclaimed. "It
looks as if it was built up of sentry-boxes, and Hansom's cabs, and
dovecots, and windmills, and pig-sties, and all sorts of other things.
It was built, I see, by Ivan the Cruel, and it is said that he was so
pleased with its strangeness that he put out the eyes of the unfortunate
architect, to prevent his ever building another like it."

"Pleasant gentleman he must have been," observed Evergreen. "A new way
he took to reward merit."

"Rather an old way," said Cousin Giles. "I do not think that any
sovereign would venture on such a proceeding now-a-days."

Putting off their visit to the bizarre little cathedral, they turned to
the right through the Sacred Gate. Mr Evergreen did not observe that
every one passing under it took off his hat, and very nearly got a prod
from the sentry's bayonet for his neglect of that ceremony. The story
goes, that the picture over the gateway was unscorched by fire, and that
the lamp continued burning all the time the French were in occupation of
the city, untrimmed and unattended. A newly-recruited regiment of
soldiers, without arms, were marching through, and it was curious to
observe each man in succession doff his cap and cross himself as he
passed the spot. High and low, rich and poor, all do the same. The
only persons who neglected the duty were some wild-looking, dark-eyed
lads, whose marked features and olive complexions at once proclaimed
them to be Zingari or gipsies, of whom a great number are found in
Russia. Moscow is said, like Rome, to stand on seven hills, of which
that occupied by the Kremlin is the highest. It is not, however, as
much as a hundred feet above the Moscowa, which flows in a horseshoe
form directly to the south of it. It is enclosed by four walls of
irregular length--that at the west end being so short that the space it
occupies is almost triangular. Round the walls are about eighteen
towers, which vary in shape and height, though they all have
high-pointed roofs covered with green tiles. Outside the walls are
gardens with grass, and trees, and gravel walks. In the interior, on
the south side, is a magnificent esplanade and terrace overlooking the
river, and the strange jumble of coloured buildings which compose the
city. The rest of the ground is occupied with a collection of churches
of all shap