through a double line of carriages outside of the Senatehouse, found the inner court full of sledges and other vehicles, and with difficulty made good my way through a long range of rooms crowded with people, running in all directions.

Close to the Senate-house, and forming the opposite side of Isaac-square is the western wing of the Admiralty, an edifice which, in its present state, may with truth be said to be without parallel in Europe. Its principal front on the land side measures considerably more than one-third of an English mile in length, and its depth extends to six hundred and seventy-two feet down to the water's-edge. The exterior of this vast building has been greatly embellished and completely modernized within the last five years. The moat and ramparts by which it was surrounded like a castle, and on which cannons were mounted, have disappeared, and a handsome promenade is substituted. The centre of the principal façade is occupied by a handsome large gate, not unlike a triumphal arch, seventy-five feet high, surmounted by a rich Doric entablature, in the frieze of which is a massive and bold bas-relief. The principal entrance is through this gate, which is flanked with two colossal groups placed on granite pedestals, and bearing the celestial and terrestrial globes of huge armensions. The relief of the frieze represents Russia seated on a rock beneath laurel trees, with the emblems of strength and plenty by her side, and Peter receiving the trident from the hands of Neptune; while the Goddess of Wisdom, who stands beside the Emperor, contemplates the majestic stream of the Neva. At each angle of the entablature a statue, sixteen feet high, is placed, and from the centre rise the lofty tower and cupola, the former of which is quadrilateral, and surrounded by a canopied gallery, adorned with Ionic columns, each bearing aloft an allegorical statue. The cupola has a graceful elliptic curve in four

compartments, in one of which, facing the square, is a large clock. A lantern surmounts the cupola, with a narrow gallery around it, defended by a light iron balustrade; and from the lantern springs with tapering elegance the spire, to a height of eighty-four feet, including the colossal vane in the semblance of a ship under full sails. This spire is covered with the finest ducat gold, and from its great elevation, catching and reflecting the first as well as the last rays of the sun, exhibits a most brilliant appearance, and is seen from every quarter of the metropolis, often serving as a beacon to guide the way-lost traveller towards this common and well-known centre of St. Petersburgh.

On either side of the grand entrance the building projects two hundred and fifty feet, with a rusticated basement, and a principal, or only story, pierced with eleven handsome windows, with rustic architraves, and horizontal cornices, surmounted by a running frieze, which contains naval trophies in bas-relief. Beyond this line of the building, right and left, the general elevation again changes its character, and assumes a loftier style, forming of itself a whole worthy to serve as a façade to a princely mansion. Three distinct members are distinguishable in this division of the main structure. The first is a portion of the building one hundred and twenty feet long, somewhat in advance of the general line of the edifice, composed of a basement story, having three well-proportioned Doric doors, and supporting a handsome portico of twelve Doric columns, with a pediment of the finest proportions attached to the principal story and attic. The windows are placed in each intercolumniation, and those of the principal floor are embellished with Doric balustrades. The pediment contains in bas-relief the figures of several Genii presenting to Russia the fruits of science and industry. A statue is placed on each of the acroteria, as well as on the centre of the pediment; and colossal recumbent figures of the principal rivers in the

empire, upon large oblong pedestals of granite, are disposed near to the doors. The second and third portions of the building are found on each side of the portico just mentioned, where the rustic basement and principal story and attic are continued about sixty-three feet further, and a fine colonnade of six pillars, of the Doric order, appears at each end, thus terminating the general front of the edifice.

The sides or wings of the Admiralty present an elevation similar to that just described, except that the central portico, and lateral hexastyle colonnades, are on a more extended scale.

The plan of this vast edifice, seen from the interior, within which we were admitted by permission, presents a long and the two short sides of a parallelogram of buildings, under which is a corridor or piazza supporting the apartment of the principal story. A second range of buildings runs exactly parallel with the three sides of the former, and comprehends an assemblage of magazines, block, cordage, and tool-houses, carpenters and smiths' shops, stores, and boathouses. These parallel ranges are separated from the main building by a canal over which a central and two lateral bridges are thrown. These canals terminate in a square basin at the extremity of the wings of the Admiralty, and in front of the colossal gateways, which afford an entrance within the wings from the river side. In the inner area, occupying about 8901 square sajénes, or 62,307 square feet, there are four uncovered slips for the construction of the largest, and two for that of the smallest class of vessels of war. A three-deck ship, and one of seventy-four guns, had just been launched from them, and appeared to me to be very fine vessels. The outer, or more important ranges of buildings, besides the piazzas, have on the ground floor a succession of arched rooms, some of which are used as offices, other as dwellings for the resident employés, and the greater part as store-houses. Above these run the