, should an emeute ever take place, the communication between the
various quarters of the city would speedily be cut off. Groups of
shipping are visible at different parts of the quays; but no ugly
warehouses or stores of any sort are in sight, and their cargoes are
quickly spirited away to other unaristocratical parts of the city. Here
the mansions of the noble and wealthy have taken possession of the whole
length of the quays. The first building of importance on the north
side, opposite Mr Baird's works, is the Corps of Mines. It is of great
extent, and contains a museum stored with models, illustrating every
branch of civil and military engineering, as well as some beautifully
executed models of various descriptions of mines. Then come in
succession, and nearly in the same line, the magnificent edifices
containing the Academy of Arts, the University, the Academy of Sciences,
the Corps of Cadets, and, lastly, the Exchange. Some of these buildings
cover as much ground as many of the largest squares in London. Above
the Exchange is Petersburg Island, which is covered with a strong
fortification, called the Citadel. It contains a church called Peter
Paul, built by Peter the Great, and which has a spire exactly like that
of the Admiralty. On the island is also the cottage which Peter the
Great inhabited while the foundations of his wondrous city were being
laid. Beyond it, to the north and west, can be discerned some of the
smaller channels of the silvery Neva, flowing among gardens and
orchards, and green waving woods, with villas of every description of
architecture, more suited apparently to the climate of the sunny south
than to the cold atmosphere of this bleak region. Between the base of
the building on which we stand and the northern portion of the city we
have described, runs the main channel of the river. It is crossed by
several broad bridges, resting on a chain of huge boats or barges, which
can be removed when the approach of winter gives signs that, by means of
the quick-forming ice, the inhabitants will be able to cross without
their aid.

"We will now turn and face to the south. To the right is the long line
of the English Quay, with its numerous handsome and substantial
mansions, which in any other city would be called palaces. Then comes
the great square or rather space below us, bordered by huge piles
containing the chief public offices in the empire. Standing amid them,
yet not pressed on