I noticed in the immediate vicinity of this monument, a curious piece of workmanship in mother of pearl, consisting of a large plate of that substance, divided into twelve compartments, in which are engraved with minute accuracy, in a space of about three inches square, the figure and name of each Saint for every day in the year of the Russian church calendar. The centre represents the abode of the Eternal, with the Saviour and all the Saints congregated around the triumphant cross. On the opposite wall a drapery of solid silver-gilt is suspended, containing an image, supported by two angels, of the same costly material, resting on the tomb which contains the mortal remains of the late Monsieur Naryschkine, and on which is recorded the only title to distinction which this family seems proud to claim, that " Pièrr 1er est sorti de leur sang." It would be useless to repeat the worldly titles of many other departed persons here interred, or to say more than a few words of the five bronze monuments belonging to the Sheremetieff family, which I observed in another still smaller church connected with the cemetery. One of the latter records the existence of the nobleman of that name, who enjoyed the confidence of the founder of St. Petersburgh; and here will be deposited for successive generations the members of this extravagantly opulent fa- . mily; the present representative of which is a young officer of the Guards, possessing, it is said, a revenue of more than two millions of roubles. The churches within the precincts of St. Alexander Nevskoï and its cemetery, constitute the Pantheon of St. Petersburgh; but although we meet with in each of those places and at every step the remains of the great, we do not recognize the illustrious of the empire in all of them. Ostentation, as much as merit, prevails in these fashionable habitations of the dead. Nowhere can a more striking display of architectural taste, pure, inventive, and refined, be seen, than is presented by the extensive consecrated ground or cemetery adjoining the churches just described, with its hundreds of monuments and tokens in memory of the dead. Some of these are real master-pieces of art; and I was struck with the affecting brevity of the inscriptions they bear; so superior either to the amplifications of those which are to be found at the Père la Chaise in Paris, or to icosi-syllabic verses that offend the eye in an English churchyard. Every design, every device, figure, emblem and decoration, every species of material from the most dazzling marble of Carrara, to gold, has been resorted to, in order to perpetuate the memory of friends and relatives, or of talent and wealth. Of the latter description is a monument of the most gigantic proportions, erected to snatch from oblivion the name of Kousoff, a merchant. It consists of a solid cubic block of the most superb granite, on which is imposed a solid pedestal of black marble, ten feet square, bearing a sarcophagus fourteen feet high, of most elegant proportions, surmounted by a gold cross, twenty feet in height. At each of the four corners there is a colossal candelabrum of cast iron, with entwining serpents, of bronze, gilt. The purchase of the ground alone for fixing this monument cost a thousand pounds, and the monument sixty thousand roubles. With a more appropriate intention have the survivors of Turtchaninov, a rich proprietor of copper mines, employed Martos in raising a monument of solid copper to that individual, in which, one is struck with two allegorical figures of the size of life, and of the same material, chiselled, not cast, by that celebrated artist, besides the marble bust of the deceased. 0 2 Nearer to the centre of this abode of death, a tetra-style Ionic temple, in marble of the purest white, crowned by a pediment, arrested my attention. It records the many virtues of an interesting female, the late Countess Potemkin, and is the production of Krilloff, an artist of great merit. Alto-relievos of the most exquisite execution tell, on three sides of the temple, the melancholy story of a mother snatched from three lovely babes, which she would fain press to her bosom. The Countess, prophetically conscious of her approaching fate, looks up calm and majestic to the figure of Religion, and rests with confidence her left hand on the symbol of Christianity. In front are the inscription and the arms of the family, in solid gold. But why linger in this Necropolis of the great, the wealthy, and the present celebrated men in the modern history of Russia, when other highly important objects claim our attention? Let us hence; yet before we quit the ground, let us cast a parting look to the spot on which rises a white marble column, to mark the tomb of Lomonossoff, the father of modern Russian poetry. Like Schiller, this extraordinary man, whose varied talents were of the highest order, would have been lying "dust to dust," without a monument, had not the late Great Chancellor Michael Woronzow, rescued his country from such a stigma, by erecting the present memento at his own expense. The Russians, however, can now better appreciate the merits of their illustrious countryman; and a monument, of the estimated value of 50,000 roubles, is intended to be erected to his memory, by voluntary subscriptions. The ancient church of St. Isaac the Dalmatian was founded in 1710, by Peter the Great, in commemoration of his birthday. Catherine, ever desirous to perpetuate the name of her great predecessor, ordered in 1768 that |