THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESENTED BY PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID THE BALTIC: ITS GATES, SHORES, AND CITIES. LoNDOV; A. and G. A. Spottisvvoode, New-street • Square. THE BALTIC, / ^ ITS GATES, SHORES, AND CITIES; WITH A NOTICE OF THE WHITE SEA. BY THE EET. THOS. MILNER, M.A., F.E.G.S. LONDON; LOXGMAN, BROWX, GREEN, AXD L0:N'GMANS. 1854. •^ ■^ ^ .^^ vat THE BALTIC, <. /^<^a^ ITS GATES, SHORES, AND CITIES; WITH A NOTICE OF THE WHITE SEA. BY THE EET. THOS. MILNER, M.A., E.R.G.S. LONDON: LONGMAISr, BROWX, GREEN, AXD LONGMANS. 1854. Ht NOTE. While the public mind has been strongly directed to the Baltic by warlike operations during the present year, and will be so probably during the succeeding one, the region is eminently deserving of attention on account of its remarkable physical geo- graphy, active and important commerce, historical and scientific associations. Few parts of the globe have a more unique natural character, or can boast of such a catalogue of illustrious names connected with their shores. These are topics of abiding in- terest, to the illustration of which the followinsT pages are principally devoted. If details introduced into this volume are trite to many readers, such are respectfully reminded, that the common-place to them may have a fresher aspect to no inconsiderable class. It is only necessary to remark further, that some passages have been contributed by the writer to one of the public journals. Loughborough Hoad, Brixton, September 21. 1854. A 3 CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. GREAT BRITAIN AND THE BAL,TIC COUNTRIES. Early Connection. — Jutes, Angles, and Saxons, — Danes and Northmen. — Alfred and the Danes. — Wulfsten's Voyage in the Baltic. — Danish Conquest of England. — Canute the Great. — Descendants of the Northmen. — Rise of the Hanseatic League. — Hanse Factory at London. — English Establishments in the Baltic. — First Intercourse with Russia. — Negotiations with Ivan IV. — Poetical Letters from Moscow. — Formal Cession of the Orkneys and Shet- lands. — James I. in Denmark. — Fate of Colonel Sinclair. — British Auxiliaries under Gustavus Adolphus. — The Gordons in Russia. — Peter the Great in England. — His London Life. — Charles XII. of Sweden, and Marlborough. — Russian Ambassador arrested for Debt. — Peter com- mands a British Fleet. — Northern Confederacy against Great Britain. — Battle of Copenhagen. — Nelson at Reval. — Bombardment of Copenhagen. — Subsequent Affairs Page 1 CHAP. II. GENERAL PHYSICAL FEATURES OF THE BALTIC. Extent of the Sea and its Basin. — Comparative Shallowness. — Numerous Rivers. — Character of the Shores. — Absence of Highlands. — Rise of Land in Scandinavia. — Celsius. — Playfair. — Von Buch, Lyell, Chambers. — Subsidence of Vlll CONTENTS. Land. — Water of the Baltic. — Tidelessness. — Local Alter- ations of Level, — Characteristics of the Waves. — Lightness of Summer Nights. — Ice. — Records of severe Winters. — Freezing and Opening of the Neva. — Drift Ice. — Trans- port of rocky Masses. — Erratic Blocks. — Time of the Un- roading. — Accompaniments of intense Cold. — Spring. — Rapid Progress of Vegetation. — Excessive Heat in Summer. — Change of Vegetation in Sweden. — Fish of the Baltic. — Amber. — Name of the Sea - - - Page 42 CHAP. III. GATES OF THE BALTIC AND THE DANISH SHORES. Danish Archipelago. — The Sound. — Swedish Shore. — Hel- singborg, Landscrona, IVIalmo. — Danish Shore. — Elsinore. — The Sound Dues. — Traffic. — Shakspeare and Hamlet. — Kronborg Castle. — Caroline Matilda. — Island of Hveen. — Commemoration of Tycho Brahe. — Copenhagen. — General Description. — Museums and Libraries. — Amak Islanders. — Memorials of Copenhagen. — Battle. — Kioge Bay. — Ar- rival of Sir C. Napier. — The Great Belt. — Sprogo Island. — Funen. — The Little Belt. — Shores of Sleswick and Holstein. — Kiel. — Island of Bornholm. — A Visit. — The Ertholms. — Christian IV. - - - - 81 CHAP. IV. THE GERMANIC SHORES. Haffs and Nehrungs. — Stettin er, Frische, and Curlsche Haffs. — Organic Character of Deposits. — City and Territory of Liibeck. — Memorials of Liibeck. — Duchy of Mecklenburg. — Wismar. — Dobberan. — The Helige-Dam. — Rostock. — Grotius, Bllicher, Nelson. — Prussia. — Island of Rligen. — Stralsund. — Stettin. — Dantzic. — Its History. — Corn Trade. — Magazine Island. — Fahrenheit. — Hevelius. — Copernicus. — Konigsberg. — Memel. — Russian Frontier 116 CONTENTS. IX CHAP. V. THE SWEDISH SHORES. Character of the Coast. — The Skiirgard. — Carlscrona. — Isolated Churches. — Kahuar. — Christian IV. — Oland. — Gottland. — Its Importance. — Wisby, the Capital. — Its ancient Consequence. — Present Remains. — Churches. — Tombstones. — Faro Sound. — Arrival of British Fleet. — Skargard near Stockholm. — The City. — Palace. — Ridder- holm Church. — Opera House. — Assassination of Gustavus III. — Swedish Royal Family. — Upsal. — Cathedral and University. — Linnaeus. — A travelled Book. — Old Upsal. — Adventure of Bernadotte. — Sigtuna. — Gulf of Bothnia. — Gefle. — Norala. — Hernosand. — Pitea and Lulea. — Rise of the Coast. — Haparanda. — Policy of Sweden, — King Oscar in Gottland. — Swedish Navy and Army Page 141 CHAP. VI. THE RUSSIAN SHORES. COURLAIO). LIVONIA. ESTHONIA. The Russo-Baltic Coast. — The Baltic Provinces. — Aboriginal Population. — Danes, Germans, and Lithuanians. — The Teutonic Knights. — Lutheranism. — Superstitions. — Poli- tical Changes. — Courland. — Mittau. — Libau. — Russian Prizes. — Distribution of the People. — Post - Stations. — Courlanders. — The Letts. — Lettish Poetry. — St. John's Day. — Livonia. — Riga. — Its Commerce. — Wandering Labourers. — Memorials of the City. — The Livonians. — Dorpat. — Esthonia. — The Island - Country, — Habsal. — Peter and Menzikoff. — Port Baltic. — Reval. — Its History. — Upper and Lower Town. — Due de Croi. — The Estho- nians. — ISTarva " - - - 178 X COXTEXTS. CHAP. vii. THE RUSSIAN SHORES. ST. TETERSBCRG. Design of the Founder. — His arbitrary Proceedings. — Pro- gress of the City. — First foreign Ships. — Relics of Peter. — Unfavourable Features of the Site. — The Neva. — Its Delta. — Qu:ility of the AVater. — Scenery. — Blessing of the Waters. — Inundations of the River. — Climate of the Capital. — Opening of the Xavigation. — "Wild Animals. — Streets and Houses. — The Admiralty. — The Quays. — Statue of Peter. — The AVinter Palace. — The Hermitage. — The Alexander Column. — Marble and Taurida Palaces. — Summer Garden. — Imperial Library. — Academy of Sci- ences. — Hotel des Mines. — Churches. — Markets. — Popu- lation. -- The Province - - - Page 212 CHAP. YIII. THE RUSSIAN SHORES. CRONSTADT. Bay of Cronstadt. — The Island. — Its Capture from the Swedes. — The Town. — Its Harbours. — Official Fraud. — The Fortifications. — Rise of the Russian Xavy. — Peter at Archangel. — His Shipbuilding. — Maritime Adventure. — Great Victory over the Swedes. — Consecration of the Little Grandsire. — Peter's Fleet. — Navy after his Decease. — Ensairements with the British. — The Russian Baltic Fleet 275 CHAP. IX. THE RUSSIAN SHORES. FINLAXD. Position and Area. — Lakes and Rivers. — Granite Blocks. — Forests. — Climate. — Produce. — Conquest by the Swedes. CONTEXTS. XI — Conquest by the Russians. — Constitution. — Territorial Divisions. — Population. — The Fins. — Finnish Poetry. — Introduction of Christianity. — Province of Yiborg. — St. Michael and Kuopio. — Province of Xyland. — Lovisa, Borga, Helsingfors, and Sveaborg. — Baro Sound. — Ekness. Abo. — ALind Islands. — Christmas at Kumlinge. — Bomar- sund. — Wasa. — Gamla Carleby. — Uleaborg. — Brahestadt. — Tornea ----- Page 299 CHAP. X. THE WUITE SEA. Position and Area. — The Svatoi Xoss. — The Climate. — The Tundras. — Vegetation. — Rose Island. — Zoology. — The Dwina. — Voyage of Other. — Voyage of Sir Hugh Wil- louffhbv. — The Harbour of Death. — First En»:lishmen in Russia. — Letter of Edward VI. — Disastrous homeward Voyage. — The Russia Company. — Fiose Island. — Factory at Cholmogory. — First Shipments. — Moscow burnt. — Vessels entered inwards. — Government of Archangel. — Its Population. — The Samoiedes. — Russian Dissenters. — Arch- angel. — Cholmogory. — Kola. — Monastery of Solovetz 375 THE BALTIC: ITS GATES, SHORES, AND CITIES, CHAPTER I. GREAT BRITAIN AND THE BALTIC COUNTRIES. EARLY CONNECTION. JUTES, ANGLES, AND SAXONS. DANES AND NORTHMEN. ALFRED AND THE DANES. WULFSTEN's VOYAGE IN THE BALTIC. DANISH CON- QUEST OF ENGLAND. CANUTE THE GREAT. DE- SCENDANTS OF THE NORTHMEN. RISE OF THE HAN- SEATIC LEAGUE. HANSE FACTORY AT LONDON. ENGLISH ESTABLISHMENTS IN THE BALTIC. FIRST IN- TERCOURSE WITH RUSSIA. NEGOTIATIONS WITH IVAN IV. POETICAL LETTERS FROM MOSCOW. — FORMAL CESSION OF THE ORKNEYS AND SHETLANDS. JAMES I. IN DEN- MARK. FATE OF COLONEL SINCLAIR. BRITISH AUXI- LIARIES UNDER GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. THE GORDONS IN RUSSIA PETER THE GREAT IN ENGLAND. HIS LONDON LIFE. CHARLES XII, OF SWEDEN, AND MARL- BOROUGH. RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR ARRESTED FOB DEBT. — PETER C0M3IANDS A BRITISH FLEET. NORTHERN CONFEDERACY AGAINST GREAT BRITAIN. BATTLE OF COPENHAGEN. NELSON AT REVAL. BOMBARDMENT OF COPENHAGEN. — SUBSEQUENT AFFAIRS. Denmakk and Sweden, two of the ancient Scandi- navian kingdoms, Mecklenburg, Prussia, and Russia, B 2 THE BALTIC. are the countries of the Baltic with which Great Britain has long maintained intimate communication. The intercourse has generally been devoted to peace- fid objects, as the exchange of commodities, the pursuits of science, and the gratifications of travel. But occasionally its character has varied from the friendly to the warlike, and involved the arrest of commerce instead of its advance. Three times in the course of the present century a fleet has left our ports to operate in a hostile manner on this inland sea ; and expeditions of a similarly menacing kind, but unprovoked, piratical, and proceeding in an in- verse direction, marked the early period of our con- nection with its waters. Upwards of fourteen centuries ago — before Britain had been abandoned by its Roman masters, though more conspicuously immediately after the withdrawment of imperial pro- tection — bands of obscure adventurers issued from the lands of the Baltic, and passed over the inter- vening ocean to our eastern shores. They were content at first to plunder and retire ; then aspired to subdue and settle ; and finally wrested the domi- nion of the soil from the native race, exliausted and deteriorated by the rule of the stern taskmasters to which they had been subject. It is curious to reflect, that invaders connected with two of the great in- JUTES, ANGLES, AND SAXONS. 3 ternal seas of Europe have overrun our hills and vales — the Komans from the northern shores of the Mediterranean — the Jutes, Angles, and Saxons, with other allied and confederated tribes, from the western part of the Baltic basin — and the Danes or North- men from insular dependencies of the same region, and other maritime localities in its neighbourhood. HoAV different now the political position of countries conquering and conquered in ancient times — Italy, Denmark, and Great Britain ; and the relative im- portance of the Tiber, the Eyder, and the Thames How striking the contrast between the rude barks of Hengist and Horsa, chiules or "long ships," as they were proudly denominated — or the galleys of the legions under Aulus Plautius — and the magnificent men-of-war which have recently borne the flag of the United Kingdom through the Dardanelles, the Bos- phorus, the Great Belt, and the Sound ! The conquering immigrants of the fifth and sixth centuries exchanged a continental for an insular home, being invited to the migration by the favourable con- trast which the latter presented to the former in point of natural capabilities, and partly compelled to it by a mighty movement of popidation from the east — " the wandering of the nations " — which pushed already settled tribes further to the west, covered the B 2 4 THE BALTIC. sea with rovers, and gave new inhabitants to ahnost every province of the Roman empire. The Jutes came from the Cimbrica Chersonesus, the peninsula of modern Jutland, a province of Denmark, and founded the diminutive kingdom of Kent. The Angles migrated from parts of the present duchies of Sleswick and Holstein, appeared in greater numbers, and spread over the island from the neighbourhood of the Thames to the north of the Tyne, originating the states of Northumbria, Mercia, and East Anglia. The Saxons left a more inland territory, south of the Elbe, and established themselves in the localities which retain their names, Essex, Middlesex, Sussex, and Wessex, respectively the kingdoms of the East, Middle, South, and West Saxons. It is easy to re- cognise in the orthography of England and English slightly altered forms of Angle-land and Angles. A district in the Sleswick duchy still bears the name of Angeln, inhabited by a people distinct in physiognomy and speech from their neighbours. Dr. E. D. Clarke thus writes of it in his Travels : — " We were surprised at the number of English faces we met; and resemblance is not confined to features. Many articles of dress, and many customs, are com- mon to the two countries. The method of cultivating and dividing the land is the same in both : the mea- JUTES, ANGLES, ANT) SAXONS. 5 clows, bounded by quick-set hedges, or by fences made of intertwisted boughs, reminded us of Kent, Surrey, and Sussex. The natural appearance of the country is also like the south of England ; being diversified by numerous hills and valleys, adorned with flourishing woods and fertile fields." Kohl, a more recent visitor, makes a precisely similar remark. This interesting locality — part of the true Old England — lies on the Baltic coast, between the towns of Flensborg and Apenrade. The latter name, signifying an " open road," or station for shipping, is nearly English. There is a closely adjoining tract, but on the shore of the North Sea, occupied by a Frisian race, where the people have traditionally preserved the memory of the immigration, and claim to be peculiarly of the same stock with the founders of England, appeal- ing to the identity of their language in proof. Kolil quotes a distich current among them, " Good bread and good cheese, is good English and good Friese." Walking in one of the villages, he abruptly asked a child, "Where did Heno-ist and Horsa sail from?" The answer was promptly returned, " From Tondern, on the Eyder." Centuries passed away, and the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms were beginning to merge in a single monarchy, when a fresh race of disturbers issued B 3 b THE BALTIC. from the western region of the Baltic, chiefly from the archipelagoes of Denmark and Norway. They are variously styled Danes, Norsemen, or Northmen by our own annalists, Normans by the French, and Normanni by the Italians; for their ravages extended from the stormy rocks of the Shetlands to the balmy shores of the Mediterranean, and permanent settle- ments were made in Great Britain, France, and Italy. Their creed was a ferocious Paganism ; their standard, the ominous raven ; their profession, piracy. Originally, haunting inlets of the coast, bays, and estuaries, they were called children of the creeks; while the chieftains had the title of sea-kings, from the ocean being their ordinary scene of adventure, and the boldness with which its perils were encoun- tered. " The strength of the tempest aids the arm of the rower ; the storm is our servant ; it throws us where we desired to go." Such were the maxims of the Northmen. Wherever they landed, skies red- dened with the flames of a conflagration, and fields crimsoned with the blood of the slain marked their path. So intense and general was the terror of Christendom, that the special prayer was inserted in the litany of the western church, — ''A furore Nor- manorum, libera nos, O Domine ! " A formidable host of these terrible marauders, with DANES OR NORTHMEN. 7 their sea-horses, — their ocean skates — as they called their craft, appeared off the coast of Norfolk soon after the middle of the ninth century. They rapidly overran nearly the whole country to the north of the Thames, and threatened with their mastery the terri- tory to the south. York, Chester, Lincoln, Derby, Nottingham, Leicester, and Stamford became " Danish burghs," so styled from an effective num- ber of the foreigners occupying those sites. The great Alfred, after severe reverses, succeeded by his skill and valour in checking the invaders, and re- stricting them to definite Imiits. By a celebrated treaty, which is still extant, their land boundaries were defined to be the lower course of the Thames ; then its affluent, the Lea, up to its source in Hert- fordshire ; next, the Ouse ; and the Roman road of the Watling Street, which passed diagonally through the heart of Enoland to the border of Wales. The country to the north and east of this line received the name of the Danelagh, from being ceded to the Danes, a considerable number of whom, renouncing their roving life and savage idolatry, settled in the district, and peacefully intermingled with the old in- habitants. Ethnologists trace their localities by the names of places. With few exceptions, names ending? in by, signifying originally a single farm, afterwards = B 4 8 THE BALTIC. a town in general, as Whitbi/, AppleZ»y, Derbi/, indi- cate sites founded or occupied by the Danes. This terminal occurs in 576 instances in the whole of England and Wales, most frequently in the counties of Lincoln, York, Leicester, Cumberland, Norfolk, Westmoreland, and Northampton. While geographical knowledge in general was eagerly sought by the inquiring mind of Alfred, his attention was directed with special interest to the native seat of the Northmen ; and information was obtained respecting the Baltic from two voyagers who navigated its waters in his time, and possibly at his command. Narratives of the expeditions from their own lips, the king incorporated in his trans- lation of the geography of Orosius, the work of a S2:)anish monk who flourished in the beginning of the fifth century. One of these w^as Other, a refugee from Norway, who sailed round the north of Europe into the White Sea, and was acquainted with Scania, the south part of Sweden, and with the country of the Angles and Saxons. Wulfsten, the other, ex- plored the eastern regions of the inland sea, for he mentions the islands of Grottland and Oland, with the mouth of the river Wisla, or Vistula, all beyond which was called bv the o-eneral name of Estland, or Eastland. This district, according to the ancient wulfsten's voyage. 9 voyager, had' a great number of towns, in each of which there was a king. It abounded in honey, and had a plentiful supply of fish. The chiefs and great men drank mares' milk : the poor peojjle and slaves used mead. No ale was brewed among them. It was a custom with these old Esthonians, when any one died, to award the property of the deceased to the best horseman at his funeral. For this purpose, it was divided into ^ve or six heaps, sometimes into more, according to its amount. The heaps were placed at intervals of about a mile from each other, and regularly increased in size, so that the largest heap was at the greatest distance from the town to which the dead man belonged. All parties in the neio'hbourhood were allowed to contend for the prizes, the fleetest horse winning the most distant and valuable portion. The name of Eastland survives in that of Esthonia, one of the Baltic provinces of Russia. Pilots still use the ancient form of the name. The nobles style themselves Esthlanders, and are thus distinguished from the peasants, who are simply Esthes. Piratical squadrons from the recesses of the Baltic, the sinuosities of the Danish peninsula, and the fiords of Norway, made hostile excursions across the western ocean in the tenth century, and permanently 10 THE BALTIC. occupied the Shetlands and Orkneys, as convenient naval stations from which to harass the adjoining mainland. Their power extended over the Hebrides ; and to this insular dominion a considerable portion of the north of Scotland was added, as Caithness and Sutherland, their southern land. Towards the close of the century, the storm of invasion from the same quarter broke upon England with tremendous effect. The Northmen poured upon its shores in swarms, planted their lances in the soil, or threw them into the streams, as symbolic of their purpose to acquire the mastery. Being joined by their brethren, the Anglo-Danes, while opposed by a weak and perfidious Anglo-Saxon king, the second Ethelred, the course of events soon pointed to a change of dynasty. During the struggle between the two parties, our system of direct annual taxation arose, by the imposition of Dane-geld. This was a tax levied upon all non-ecclesiastical estates, with the proceeds of which the pusillanimous Ethelred vainly endeavoured to purchase the retreat of the enemy. A certain quantity of land was also charged with the provision of a ship, to provide a fleet for the national defence, a measure which was quoted upwards of six centuries later, as a precedent for CANUTE THE GKEAT. 11 the ship-money demanded by Charles I., and resisted by Hampden. At length, in 1017, a Dane formally ascended the throne of England in the person of Canute the Great, who united it to his continental dominions under a common sceptre, becoming the most con- spicuous potentate of his age. In governing the insular territory, he divided it into four distinct provinces, Northumbria, East Anglia, Mercia, and Wessex, personally superintending the affairs of the latter, and appointing earls over the other three. England became henceforth his favourite scene of residence. Wlien abroad on military expeditions, English troops served in the army of their liege- lord, and met his Sclavonic foes in battle and skir- mish on the coasts of the Baltic. Laws of Canute are still extant, ecclesiastical and secular, enacted in mid-winter at Winchester, with the counsel of his witan; and a remarkable letter remains, written during a continental journey, addressed to " all the nation of the English, both nobles and commoners." It expresses highly honourable sentiments, and ex- hibits the northern warrior, after a most successful career, enlightened by experience, moderated by triumph, and improved by years, both his character 12 THE BALTIC. and rule having been largely reclaimed from the bar- baric to the civilised, from the despotic to the equit- able. He styles himself in the epistle " King of all Denmark, England, and Norway, and of part of Sweden." The political incorporation of these countries was dissolved soon after the death of Canute, and has never been renewed. The Anglo-Danish dynasty expired, and now fills up the scanty interval of a quarter of a century in oiu' national history. But the Orkney and Shetland Isles remained subject to Denmark till the year 1469, when James III. of Scotland marrying Margaret, daughter of Christian I., the islands were given in pledge for part of the princess's dowry, which, ncA^er being paid, they lapsed to the Scottish crown. Ujoon the Norman conquest of England, a scion of the Scandinavian stock gained the English throne, the Conqueror being fifth in de- scent from Rollo, one of the old sea-kings, who had ravaged the Baltic coasts, haimted the Orkneys, and sailed in the Norwegian fiords, before he conquered Normandy. Descendants also of the Scandinavian race at present form an integral part of our po^^ula- tion, scattered along our eastern and northern shores, where the nomenclature of headlands, isles, and occu- pied sites, with peculiarities of dialect, temperament, RISE OF THE HANSEATIC LEAGUE. 13 and habits, proclaim the North-European lineage of the people. After the lapse of ages, the spirit of the men who passed their time upon the wide deep as their chosen home, survives in the seamen of our fleets, in the boatmen of Deal and Sunderland, the fisher- men of Yarmouth and Wick, and in that bold, skilful, and energetic class of adventurers in general who are familiar with every ocean, have navigated the waters of the antipodes, and battled with the ice of the poles. Down to a comparatively recent date, the connec- tion between Great Britain and the Baltic remained free from the stormy episodes of war upon an extensive scale, being actively commercial, though occasionally marked with broils caused by the plundering habits to which seamen were prone, while the ocean was insecure. To protect commerce from the professed bandits prowling upon the narrow seas in the middle ages, as well as from unscrupulous merchantmen, and the cupidity of nobles on shore, the Hanseatic League was formed in the thirteenth century, which had the Baltic for its centre of operation, and the northern and western waters of Europe for its sphere. It embraced from seventy to eighty great mercantile cities, of which Liibeck, Dantzic, Stettin, Stralsund, Dorpat, Konigsberg, Beval, Riga, Wisby in the Isle of Gottland, and Frankfort-on-the-Oder, were some 14 THE BALTIC. of the more important, — all in the Baltic region. These, with Hamburg and other members of the body, were the Hansa or Hanse Towns, an old German Avord, signifying a company or association for mutual support. Liibeck was the metropolitan city, where the common treasury and archives were kept. There also the deputies assembled, triennially, at A^Tiitsun- tide, for the first time in 1260, extraordinary meet- ings being held every tenth year. The members of the league rapidly became merchant-princes in wealth and power. They negotiated with sovereigns, le\ded troops, waged war, and proceeded from contemplating a purely defensive object, to maintain a rigorous monopoly of the entire trade of Northern Europe. Among the factories established by the Hanse Towns in foreign countries, four were accounted of chief dignity — Novogorod in Russia, Bergen in Norway, Bruges in Flanders, and London, the last being probably the most ancient and important. Repeated treaties were made between the English kings and this commercial confederacy, particu- larly one concluded at Utrecht, in the reign of Edward IV., by commissioners appointed on both sides, after long negotiations. It provided for the appointment of two or more judges by the Crown, summarily to determine all civil and criminal causes HANSE FACTORY AT LONDON. 15 in which the Hanse merchants might be concerned in England, — a similar provision being made for the speedy settlement of disputes to which English resi- dents in the Hanseatic territories might be parties. It also made over to the foreign traders the absolute property of their Staelhoft or Steelyard, a place in the metropolis, described as a court-yard, where cloths and other goods were probably stamped and warehoused. A similar site was conveyed to them at Boston in Lincolnshire, and a house at Lynn in Norfolk, with full power to pull down and rebuild as might be convenient. The London Staelhoft was situated between Thames Street and the river, near DoAVgate ^Yliarf, where Steelyard Street is at present a memorial of it. The different individuals belonging to the factory lived at a common table, and Avere enjoined to observe the strictest celibacy. The custody of one of the city gates, Bishopsgate, was entrusted to their care. The money of England found its way largely to the Baltic and other parts of the continent, through the medium of these commercialists, in spite of the rigorous interdict laid by the unenlightened legisla- tion of the time upon taking out of the realm any gold and silver in coin, plate, or mass. Thtis, in 1408, the Hanseatic isle of Gottland was purchased 16 THE BALTIC. by Eric, King of Sweden, who paid for it in English nobles. Commercial establishments, conducted by Englishmen, were likewise founded in various parts of the Baltic. A treaty with Denmark in the reign of Henry YII. stipulates, that the English should freely enjoy for ever the projoerty of all the lands and tenements they possessed at Lund and Landscrona, in Sweden, with some other places belonging to the Danish Crown. The Hanseatic confederacy Avas at the height of its prosperity and power in the fifteenth century. It declined in the sixteenth, and was dis- solved in the seventeenth, owing to the growth of order and infl ence in adjoining states, the successful attacks made by rival traders upon its exclusive pre- tensions, and the new direction given to commerce by the discovery of America, and of the passage to India round the Cape. Important privileges had been conceded to the Hanse merchants tradino; to, and resident in, London, chiefly in relation to the duties payable on imports and exports. This had the effect of throwing into their hands nearly all those branches of commerce in which others did not enjoy the like advantages. It naturally created dissatis- faction, and led to a movement for the sujDpression of the invidious privileges. By Edward VI. they were accordingly abolished. By Queen ^lary they FIRST INTERCOURSE WITH RUSSIA. 17 were restored; but by Elizabetli they were finally abrogated. The Lord Mayor and Sheriffs of London being ordered to shut up the Steelyard, the mercan- tile corporation ceased to exist. At this period^ communication was first opened between England and Russia, the predominating power on the Baltic shores in modern times, but not as yet in command of any portion of its waters. In 1553, during the reign of Edward YL, a number of London merchants formed themselves into a com- pany for the prosecution of maritime discovery, with a commercial object in view, and despatched three vessels from the Thames under Sir Hugh Willoughby on a voyage to the Arctic Ocean. As it was con- ceived probable that they might pass round the northern coasts of Europe and Asia into the Indian seas, the vessels were sheathed with lead to defend them from the Avorms of the tropical waters. This is the first instance on record in our annals of ships beino; coated with a metallic substance. The com- mander, with two of his crews, perished miserably of cold and hunger on the coast of Lapland. But Richard Chancellor, in the third vessel, was more fortunate. He found his way into the White Sea, entered the Dwina, encountered some natives, and was hospitably received by them. Learning that c 18 THE BALTIC. the country to the south belonged to the Czar of Muscovy, he had the courage to undertake a journey of more than a thousand miles to Mosco^y, travelling in sledges, to open intercourse with the potentate. The Muscovite treated the Englishman and his party with favour, sanctioned the project of trade between the two countries, and admitted them to view fami- liarly the barbarian splendour of his court. " The prince called them to his table, to receive each a cup from his hand to drinke, and took into his hand master George Killingworthe's beard, w^hich reached over the table, and pleasantly delivered it to the metro- politan, who, seeming to bless it, said in Russ, ' This is God's gift.' " A most extraordinary beard it was, according to the account in Hakluyt, "not only thick, broad, and yellow coloured, but in length five foot and two inches of assize." Chancellor was dis- missed with a letter from the Czar to Edward YI., and returned home in safety by the route he had pursued. The merchant adventurers now deputed their agent to revisit Kussia, in order to arrange more explicitly with its sovereign, who gave formal permission to the parties to settle and trade in all parts of his dominions, and exempted them from various burdens laid upon his own subjects. On coming back from this successful NEGOTIATIONS WITH IVAN IV. 19^ mission. Chancellor was accompanied by Osep Neped, as ambassador from the Czar, with sixteen of his countrymen. The voyage was most disastrous. The ship was wrecked in Pitsligo Bay on the east coast of Scotland, and Chancellor perished, with most of his crew. But the ambassador escaped, and was the first Russian who ever visited our shores. He made his appearance at the court of Queen Mary, who had ascended the throne, and by royal charter the English Russian Company was incorporated. The town of Archangel on the White Sea arose in consequence of this opening commerce; and the entire trade with Western Europe was confined to its port till Russia advanced her conquests to the Baltic sea-board. England returned the compliment of the Czar by sending an ambassador to his court. This was Mr. Arthur Jenkinson, who was aj^pointed by Queen Elizabeth as her representative, and pub- lished the first map of Russia that was ever made, on returning home in 1560. A few years later, the Queen deputed Thomas Randolph, Esq., to the same office, who took with him as secretary Mr. George Turberville. The secretary was a rhymester, and employed his leisure at Moscow in writing letters in verse to his friends in London, describing the country and manners of the people. These poetical c 2 20 THE BALTIC* epistles have been printed, but are very little known. They are inscribed to three persons of the name of Dancie, Spencer, and Parker. It will be of interest to give a few extracts, premising that in the quota- tions the orthography is modernised. " My Dancie, dear, when I recount within my breast, My London friends and wonted mates, and thee above the rest ; I feel a thousand fits of deep and deadly woe. To think that I from land to sea, from bliss to bale did go. I left my native soil, full like a reckless man, And unacquainted of the coast, among the Russies ran : A people passing rude, to vices vile inclined, Folk fit to be of Bacchus' train, so quaffing is their kind ; Drink is their whole desire, the pot is all their pride. The soberest head doth once a day stand needful of a guide. If he to banquet bid his friends, he will not shrink On them at dinner to bestow a dozen kinds of drink." Not long before Turberville wrote, Baron Herber- stein was at the Russian court as ambassador from the em]3eror Maximilian. He fully confirms the above account of the drinking habits of the people in his narrative of the embassy. On dining with the grand prince, brandy was served round before the eating commenced, and on returning to his lodgings, two carriages with drink were sent after him from the palace, with some gentlemen of the court, for the purpose of " making the ambassador fully These parties drank bravely, proposed toasts, and occasion- POETICAL LETTERS FROM MOSCOW. 21 ally one of them expressed the wish, cup in hand, that not so much blood might remain in liis enemies as he meant to leave in the sfoblet. •'• Xot wishing:,'' says Herberstein, •• to di'ink so much, I had no alternative, but to assume the appearance of being drunk." Intoxication is still eminently the vice of the Russians. But to return to the poet letter- writer. " Almost the meanest man in all the coTintry rides, The woman eke, against our use, her trotting horse bestrides : In sundry colours they, both men and women go, In buskins all. that money have on buskins to bestow ; Each woman hanging hath a ring within her ear, Which all of ancient use, and some of very pride do wear ; Their gait is very brave, their countenance wise and sad, And yet they follow fleshly lusts, their trade of living bad." Turber^ille was not in love with his sleeping ac- commodations : " And in that very place which they most sacred deem *, The stranger lies — a token that his guest he doth esteem — Where he is wont to have a bear's skin for his bed, And must instead of pillow clap his saddle to his head. In Russia other shift there is not to be had. For where the bedding is not good, the bolsters are but bad. * Marked by the image of the Virgin Mary, the household goddess of the Russians. c 3 22 THE BALTIC. I mused very mucli what made them so to lie, Since in their country down is rife, and feathers out of cry * ; Unless it be because the country is so hard, They fear by niceness of a bed their bodies would be marred. I wished thee oft with us, save that I stood in fear Thou wouldst have loathed to have laid thy limbs upon a bear, As I and Stafford did, that was my mate in bed, And yet, we thank the God of heaven, we both right well have sped." The rhymer refers to the despotism, lives and lands depending upon the king's will ; and thus de- scribes a state of things existing at the present moment. " Good faith, I see thee muse at what I tell thee now. But true it is — no choice — but all at prince's pleasure bow. So Tarquin ruled Rome, as thou rememberest well, And what his fortune was at last, I know thyself canst tell. Where will in common weal doth bear the only sway, And lust is law, the prince and realm must need in time decay ; The strangeness of the place is such for sundry things I see, As if I would, I can not write each private point to thee. The cold is rare, the people rude, the prince so full of pride, The realm so stored with monks and nuns, and priests on every side." The versifying secretary closes one of his epistles from Moscow by advising his friend in London to remain content at home, and not covet to see bar- barous coasts ! * i. e. innumerable. IVAN IV. 23 Ivan lY., with whom all the negotiations noticed were conducted, reigned the longest of any prince in the Russian annals — fifty-one years. He is said to have been the first who assumed the title of Czar ; and acquired the surname of the " Terrible," from his violent passions and sanguinary deeds. After the death of his first wife, who exercised a beneficial con- trol over him, he gave vent to the ferocity of his nature Avithout restraint. Town after town was de- luged with blood, and laid in ashes. Neither age nor sex was spared ; and the exposure of women in the public streets was a common prelude to the victims being cut down. The crimes of the tyrant are un- surpassed, and scarcely to be rivalled in universal history. Yet — strange inconsistency — though in harmony with the aspect under which the despotism of Russia is at present exercised — this paragon of monsters could quote Scripture, and was conversant with a pious verbiage. His correspondence — for he had great natural and some acquired ability — is be- strewed with blasphemous assertion and arrogant religious hyperbole. At last, in a fit of rage, he murdered his son, and became a remorseful, despair- ing wretch, equally indifferent to war and power, the objects of his past concern, surviving liis victim only a few months. o 4 24 THE BALTIC. " He sat in silence on the ground, The old and haughty Czar ; Lonely, though princes girt hira round. And leaders of the war : He had cast his jewell'd sabre. That many a field had won. To the earth beside his youthful dead, His fair and first-born son." Ivan, though a barbarian, could appreciate the civilisation of Western Europe, and took special in- terest In the English, particularly In their Queen. Not content with seven wives, he sought the hand of Elizabeth, and, failing that, wished to marry one of her kinswomen. The matrimonial advances of the terrible Muscovite were not encouraged ; but he received a favourable answer to an aj^plication for an asylum in England, in the event of a revolution driving him from his own dominions ; and in compliance with another request. Dr. Robert Jacobs was sent to attend him as a physician. Elizabeth's letter, pro- mising him hospitality, has been published by Ka- ramsin, the native historian of Russia. The original is preserved in the archives of the foreign office at St. Petersburg. Though the Orkney and Shetland Isles had been practically separated from the Danish crown in the year 1469, as before stated, they were not formally JAMES I. IN DENMARK. 25 resigned by that power till the marriage of James YI. of Scotland, afterwards James I. of England, with the Princess Anne of Denmark in 1590, when they were surrendered as part of her dower. This mar- riage led to the only visit ever made to the Baltic by a sovereign of these realms since the days of Canute. Three thnes the bride was foiled in attempting to cross the ocean by contrary winds, and obliged to put back to the Norwegian coast, where she was long de- tained by foul wintry weather. Thus arrested. Ad- miral Peter Munch, who had charge of the lady, came to the sage conclusion that the North Sea was certainly bewitched. He was fortified in this opinion by the recollection of having once given a notable baillie or burgess of Copenhagen a cuff on the ear, and his spouse being reputed to be a veritable witch- wife, Peter attributed to her malignant influence the stirring up of the winds and waves against him, in order to avenge the indignity offered to the husband. The comic and the tragic are often very closely allied. They were so in the present instance, for the unfor- tunate woman, with some of her supposed accom- plices, was actually put to death at the stake for disturbing the ocean, and baffling the seamanship of the admiral by her witchcraft. James, fidgetty at the non-appearance of his queen, gallantly sailed from 26 THE BALTIC. Leith, for " Norroway over the foam/' according to the old ballad, in search of the lost one. He found her after some difficulty, waiting for friendly breezes at Upslo, a poor village on the site of the present Christiana. The royal j^air travelled through Sweden to Helsingborg, crossed the Sound to the Castle of Cronenburg, or Kronborg, where the king met the relations of his wife, and abandoned himself to up- roarious festivity at the Danish court. Some of his letters are dated "From the Castle of Cronenburg, guhaire we are drinking and driving in the auld manner." James returned home, after an absence of about six months, with Anne of Denmark, who be- came Queen of England upon his accession to the southern throne. She was the mother of the unhappy Charles I., and of the scarcely less unfortunate Eli- zabeth of Bohemia, to one of whose descendants, George L, Elector of Hanover, the crown of the United Kingdom was awarded upon the male line of the Stuarts being disinherited. There have been in subsequent times two more intermarriages between the royal families of England and Denmark ; that of Queen Anne, while a princess, to George, second son of Frederic III., and of Matilda, sister of our George III., to Christian VII. The politics of Northern Europe largely engrossed FATE OP COLONEL SINCLAIR. 27 public attention, and enlisted sympathy in Great Britain, towards the close of the reign of James, and in the early days of Charles I. This was owing to the martial genius displayed by Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, and the cause to which he devoted his arms and life. Soon after his accession, a force of auxiliary Scots was raised for the service of Sweden, then at war with Denmark. They landed on the coast of Norway, a hostile country, acknowledging the Danish sovereignty. This was with the view of gaining the Swedish frontier by a march across the mountains, as the passage by sea was guarded by the ships of the enemy. One detachment, nine hundred strong, under Colonel Sinclair, met with a disastrous fate, being attacked in a narrow defile by a band of peasants, who rolled huge masses of rock, stones, and trees, upon the entrapped party from the adjoining heights, and then rushed down to slaughter the confused and wounded men. All perished, with the exception of two individuals. This massacre occurred August 24. 1612, near Yiig, and is com- memorated by an inscription on a wooden tablet at the spot. To reward this exploit, the peasants were formally exempted from paying any taxes, as well as from serving in the army. Though more than two centuries have now elapsed, the name of Sinclair 28 THE BALTIC. (^Zinclar), says Sir A. de Capel Brooke, is still as familiar to the peasants of the surrounding districts as that of Napoleon to the world, and will remain so, no doubt, for ages to come. Another detachment passed in safety the Scandinavian Alps by a different route, and arrived at Stockholm. For upwards of half a century previously, Scotch contingents had been thus occasionally obtained by the Swedish monarchs for military purposes. Gustavus Wasa had a body of two thousand employed in Finland ; and, as a memorial of this intercourse, some words and phrases used in Sweden are strikingly analogous to lowland Scotch, while such names as Hamilton, Colquhoun, Murray, Bruce, and Seaton, are not un- common at present in the country. Upon the " snow king," as Gustavus was called in derision by his opponents, formally appearing at the head of the reformed faith, in order to frustrate the attempt of the House of Austria to bring the whole of Clii'istendom again into subjection to the Papacy, military adventurers flocked to his standard in great numbers from England and Scotland. The northern kingdom furnished the largest supply of volunteers. They were in some instances the descendants of fierce border chieftains, who inherited the love of martial life which inflamed their ancestors; in others, the BRITISH AUXILIARIES UNDER GUSTAVUS. 29 connections of noble families, too poor to subsist without employment, yet too proud to engage in mercantile pursuits ; wliile not a few were instigated by a zeal for right and truth. Oxenstiern, the Swedish minister, came over to London to endeavour to secure a political ally in the reigning monarch for his master; but Charles I., though especially called upon to take part in the struggle on family and religious grounds, cautiously avoided committing himself against the Austrian House, while his subjects enthusiasti- cally flocked to the banner of the Protestant cham- pion. Six regiments of volunteers were led by the Marquis of Hamilton to the southern shores of the Baltic. Sir Alexander Leslie, Sir John Hepburn, Sir James Ramsay the Black, Donald Mackay, Lord Beay, and Colonel Monro, signalised their valour in many a well fought field against the imperialists under Tilly and Wallenstein. Monro, the original of Captain Dugald Dalgetty, who so amusingly figures in Sir Walter Scott's " Legend of Montrose," wrote an account of the campaigns of his chief, in which a list is given of thirty colonels, fifty-two lieutenant-colonels, and fourteen majors, chiefly his own coimtrymen, employed in the Swedish service in 1632. Many of these officers returned home after the death of Gustavus, and displayed in their own 30 THE BALTIC. country the military ability acquired under his standard, in the parliamentary and royalist armies, during the great civil war. The end of the seventeenth century witnessed Russia preparing to become a great power on the Baltic and in Europe, under the auspices of the ex- traordinary semi-barbarian, Peter the Great, an event to which his intercourse with natives of Great Britain in no slisiht deo'ree contributed. A Scotchman called Menesius, probably a corruption of Menzies, was his governor in boyhood. Patrick Gordon, who rose to the rank of general, was one of the social companions and chief advisers of the youthful Czar, as he had been of his father, Alexis. He was present when Peter made his first experiment in navigation after the European fashion, embarked with him on board the same vessel, on the Lake Peipus, and kept a log of the proceedings. A namesake, Alexander Gordon, probably a youthful relative, likewise attained the rank of general, and obtained his commission in a very characteristic man- ner. It was about the year 1693 that he arrived at Moscow ; and, having been introduced to the Czar, he was invited to a festive party at which several young Russian nobles were present. Hearing disrespectful language applied to foreigners, especially to his own countrymen, the blood of the Scot warmed, THE GORDONS IN RUSSIA. 31 and, with a blow of his fist, one of the most imper- tinent Avas laid sprawling on the floor. Five others were capsized in the same manner in the general row that ensued. The affah' was soon carried to the ears of Peter, who ordered the combative Scot to appear before him. He expected nothing short of the knout or Siberia, but acknowledged his indiscretion, apo- logised for it, and so conciliated the Czar, that he responded, " Well, sir, your accusers have done you justice by admitting that you beat six of them. I will also do you justice." Having retired for a few minutes, he returned with a major's commission and handed it to the astonished foreigner. Both the Gordons were actively employed in organising a standing army for the Czar, and were present at the capture of Azof, in his first campaign, an important fortress then belonging to the Turks, on the Black Sea. The younger Gordon was also in the battle of Narva, and a prisoner for some time in the hands of the Swedes. He finally left the Russian service, and spent his last days in his native country, Scot- land. " The History of Peter the Great, Emperor of Russia, by Alexander Gordon, of Achintoul, several Years a Major-General in the Tzar's Service," is one of the authorities for the early part of his career. Convinced of the superiority of the natives of 32 THE BALTIC. Western Europe to his own barbarous subjects, Peter not only employed them in his own dominions, but sent a number of his youthful nobles abroad to study the arts of the civilised nations ; and undertook a me- morable journey himself, with the special ^aew of gaining instruction in naval architecture and nautical science. He reached London, with Menzikoff and others of his suite, January 21. 1698, and had an interview the next day with the king (William III.) at Kensington Palace. While in the metro- polis, the Czar occupied a large house at the bottom of York Buildings, and was placed under the especial charge of the Marquis Carmarthen. He went to the j theatre, to a masquerade at the Temple, visited the ; Tower, Lambeth Palace, the House of Commons, \ and Westminster Hall, On going to the latter, he \ inquired who all those busy people in black gowns and flowing wigs were, and what they were about. Being told, " They are lawyers, sir," "Lawyers!" he rejoined ; " why I have but two in my whole do- minions, and I believe I shall hang one of them the moment I get home!" Two Quakers had an inter- view with him, for the purpose of presenting a copy of Barclay's Apologies in Latin ; and Peter conversed with them through the medium of an interpreter. On learning their principles, he characteristically ex- PETER THE GREAT IN ENGLAND. 33 claimed, " Of what use can you be in any kingdom or government, seeing you will not bear arms and fight?" But the men must have interested him, as he made his appearance at one of their places of worship, with a train of attendants. This was in Gracechurch Street. " I happened," says the narrator, " to be there in the gallery ; and the first I knew was MenzikofF. Kobert Haddock had begun to preach a little before they came in, upon the subject of ^ Naaman, the captain-general of the host of the Assyrians, going to the prophet for cure of his leprosy ;' — and the Tzar and the interpreter were often whispering together, though Robert Haddock knew nothing of his being in the meeting; and thus he stayed very sociably, till observing the people crowd up before him to gaze, which he could not endure, he retired on a sudden, along with his company, before the meeting was quite over ; for some people in the streets had seen him as he came, and by some means had discovered who he was, and crowded after him to see him more perfectly." The visit of the two Quakers to Peter the Great — Messrs. MoUyson and Storey — was not a whit more unsuccessful as to winning him over to the cause of peace, than that of Messrs. Sturge and Pease to his descendant, the Emperor Nicholas, up- wards of a century and a half later ; and, considering D 34 THE BALTIC. the immense advance which jucft and humane senti- ments have made ahnost everywhere in the interval, the conduct of the latter proves him the greater barbarian of the two. The Czar did not like his position in London. The crowd of the streets was a source of annoyance, with the independent bearing of the passengers. On one occasion, while walking in the Strand with Car- marthen, he is said to have been jostled by a porter carrying a load, perhaps inadvertently. Peter waxed wroth, and the Marquis turned angrily to the man, saying, " Don't you know that this is the Czar?" '* Czar!" replied he, "avc are all Czars here." Upon leaving the capital, he resided at Saye's Court, near Deptford Dock-yard, a house belonging to the cele- brated and excellent Evelyn, whose domestic soon reported it to him, as " full of people right nasti/.^^ Here, boating on the Thames, watching the ship- wrights, occasionally trying his hand at their work, and taking an ample quantity of strong drink, were congenial occupations. After visiting Portsmouth, and sitting for his portrait to Sir Godfrey Kneller, which is now at Windsor, the Czar left England, April 18 th, Avith a large number of officers and artizans enlisted in his service. He took home with hun three captains of ships of war, twenty -five captains of mer- CHARLES XII. OF SWEDEN. 35 chant vessels, thirty pilots, thirty surgeons, two hun- di'ed gunners, four mastmakers, four boatbuilders, two master sailmakers and tAventy workmen, two compassmakers, two carvers, two anchorsmiths, two locksmiths, two coppersmiths, and two tinmen, making, with some others, a retinue of nearly five hundred persons. One of these was a Scotch mathe- matician, who introduced the use of Arabic numerals into Russia ; and another, likewise a Scot, was a lieu- tenant Best. This name, signifying beast in Russian, was changed to Bestuchef. Alexey Bestuchef, the celebrated minister of the Empress Elizabeth, was the son of this obscure north-countryman. The political complexion of the North underwent an entire change in the reign of Peter, owing to his genius, perseverance, and adoption of the tactics of Western Europe. At the time of his return, Charles XII. of Sweden possessed or commanded nearly all the shores of the Baltic ; and soon afterwards carried his victorious arms into the heart of the continent. He humbled Denmark, defeated the Czar, and transiently disposed of the crown of Poland. At the summit of his prosperity, in 1707, our celebrated Marlborouo;h, who united the character of the courtier and diplomatist to that of the general, visited the gaunt and homely Swede. This was with iho, view D 2 36 THE BALTIC. of ascertaining to what quarter his ambitious thoughts were directed, — whether eastward against Peter, or westward on behalf of the fallen fortunes of Louis XIV. A map of Kussia upon the table relieved the Englishman ; and, with other indications, satisfied him that Muscovy, not the Netherlands, w^as present to the mind of Charles. He had formed the project — " From Moscow's walls let Gothic banners fly ! " But his crushing defeat by Peter, at Pultow^a, in 1709, completely blasted the scheme. The conse- quences of that battle were most momentous. It reduced Charles to the condition of an exile, de- pendant upon the Turks, gave European importance to the Czar, and was the first of a series of events which transferred from Sweden to Russia the supre- macy on the Baltic. At this juncture, a somewhat singular circumstance occurred in London. The CD Russian ambassador, Matveof, having been arrested for debt, a long correspondence ensued between the two courts upon the subject. It terminated by Par- liament passing an act exempting ambassadors in future from such inconvenient processes ; and Mr. (afterw^ards Lord) Whitworth w^as sent as ambassador extraordinary to Russia, with an explanatory letter to the Czar from Queen Anne. The letter bears TETER COMMANDS A BRITISH FLEET. 37 date soon after the battle of Pultowa was fought, but before tidings of the event could possibly have reached England. Upon the fugitive Swede returning from exile, and reappearing in his own kingdom, he indulged Quixotic schemes of regaining his fomier conse- quence, refused the terms of peace offered by his neighbours, and quarrelled with George I. of Eng- land, in his capacity of Elector of Hanover. In 1717, a British squadron, under Sir John Xorris, appeared in Copenhagen roads, in charge of some merchantmen, along with a Dutch squadron, under Rear- Admiral Grave, with a similar convoy, while Peter arrived at the Danish capital, with a number of his galleys, in the course of his second European tour. The Czar now proposed to unite the British, Dutch, Danish, and Russian ships into one arma- ment, and put out to sea under his own command, in search of the Swedish fleet. This was accordingly done. He hoisted his flag on board one of his own vessels, as commander-in-chief of the allied squadrons, and was saluted by the flag-ships of the other three admirals. But no enemy being met with, the fleets separated, the British and Dutch admirals proceeding with their respective convoys, while the Danes and Russians returned to Copenhagen. This incident P 3 38 THE BALTIC. was always referred to by Peter as one of the most gratifying circumstances of his life ; and he recalled it with as much pleasure as the greatest of his vic- tories. But at this very period an intrigue was in process to unite the old antagonists, Peter and Charles XII., in a common object. They were to aggran- dise themselves, along with the Spanish crown, at the expense of the rest of Europe, drive George I. from his throne by means of a Swedish army, and restore the Stuart dynasty. The death of Charles, in 1718, put an end to this extravagant project; and, by the peace of Nystadt, in 1721, Peter was confirmed in the possession of part of Finland, with the Esthonian and Livonian shores of the Baltic. Friendly relations between Great Britain and the Northern Powers were little distm^bed through the remainder of the eighteenth century, till towards its close, when, in the war consequent on the French Revolution, the naval rights upon which our govern- ment insisted in relation to neutral vessels, provoked a collision. In 1798, some Danish and Swedish mer- chantmen trading to the French ports were seized for resistinof the ris-ht of search, and condemned in the Admiralty Court at London as lawful prizes. In the next year a Danish frigate in charge of a merchant fleet similarly refused to recognise it, was cannonaded. NORTHERN CONFEDERACY. 39 and carried with her convoy into the Thames. The Emperor Paul of Russia who had instigated the re- sistence, now formed a coalition of the northern maritime powers, Denmark, Sweden, Prussia, and Russia, to compel Great Britain to relinquish by- force of arms the obnoxious claim. But the measures taken to maintain it were decisive and successful. A powerful fleet was despatched to the Baltic under Sir Hyde Parker, with Lord Nelson as second in command. It passed the Sound without damage from the guns of Kronborg Castle or the batteries of Elsinore, and advanced to the attack of the Danish capital, wdiich was defended by a long line of formid- able works on shore, a numerous fleet, a difficult navigation, and a gallant people. The battle of Copenhagen, fought on Good Friday, April 2nd, 1801, under the immediate direction of Nelson, was one of the most terrible conflicts in the annals of naval warfare. The Danes suffered an awful loss in killed and prisoners. All their ships were taken, burnt, or sunk ; and Denmark agreed to abandon the armed coalition. Sweden followed the example, and the assassination of the Emperor Paul dissolved the con- federacy — his successor, Alexander, making pacific overtures. Still Nelson, upon being appointed com- mander-in-chief in the Baltic, sailed to the Russian D 4 40 THE BALTIC. shores, to require the surrender of the property and persons of his countrymen seized by the deceased autocrat. He visited Reval at the mouth of the Gulf of Finland, exchanged friendly intercourse with its inhabitants, and received from the new Czar the reply he wished and expected. The same city and people again suffered from British coercion in 1807, when a fleet was sent under Admiral Gambler, and an army under Lord Cathcart, with whom Sir Arthur Wellesley acted as a sub- ordinate, to demand from the Danes the surrender of their ships of war and naval stores. It was known that Napoleon intended to seize them for his own purposes : hence the demand, a solemn pledge being offered that, if peacefully given up, the vessels should be restored at the conclusion of the war. This was an act of aggression against a neutral state which necessary self-defence may palliate, but will not justify. The hostile armament passed through the Great Belt upon this occasion ; and Copenhagen was invested by land and sea. After enduring the hor- rors of a bombardment^ the Danish government yielded to a requisition it could not resist, and its entire naval force was conducted in triumph to the Thames. With the exception of a land force and some cruisers sent to assist Sweden against Russia, COMMMERCE DURING PRESENT WAR. 41 while the policy of the emperor Alexander was ad- verse to us in the last great war, Great Britain has made no warlike demonstration in the Baltic till the present spring, when the bandit designs of his brother Nicholas upon Turkey called for resistance and chas- tisement. Ships have passed by thousands to and fro in the Sound, carrying our manufactures out- wards ; and bringing homewards corn from Dantzic and Stettin, timber from Memel, and the produce of a rude agriculture, hemp, flax, tallow, and other articles from the Russian ports. But as the grim apparatus of war has noAV suspended commerce with the subjects of the autocrat on the shores of the Baltic, it deserves to be prominently stated, that our export trade to that quarter has vastly decreased of late years, and has not amounted to even one-third of our export trade to Turkey and her dependencies ; while our exports to the minor Baltic states, Den- mark, Sweden, and Prussia, have largely increased, more than equalling the Russian demand. 42 CHAP. II. GENERAL PHYSICAL FEATURES OF THE BALTIC. EXTENT OF THE SEA AND ITS BASIN. COMPARATIVE SHALLO^^^NESS. NUMEROUS RIYERS. — CHARACTER OF THE SHORES. ABSENCE OF HIGHLANDS. — RISE OF LAND IN SCANDINAVIA. — CELSIUS. PLAYFAIR. VON BUCH, LYELL, CHAMBERS. — SUBSIDENCE OF LAND. WATER OF THE BALTIC. TIDELESSNESS. — LOCAL ALTERATIONS OF LEVEL. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE WAVES. — LIGHTNESS OF SUMMER NIGHTS. ICE. RE- CORDS OF SEVERE WINTERS FREEZING AND OPENING OF THE NEVA. DRIFT ICE. TRANSPORT OF ROCKY MASSES. — ERRATIC BLOCKS. TIME OF THE UNROADING. — ACCOMPANIMENTS OF INTENSE COLD. — SPRING. — RAPID PROGRESS OF VEGETATION. — EXCESSIVE HEAT IN SUMMER. CHANGE OF VEGETATION IN SWEDEN. — FISH OF THE BALTIC. AMBER. NAME OF THE SEA. This great inland sea — the Mediterranean of the north — is a remote branch of the Atlantic Ocean, communicating with it by two gulfs, the Skagerack and Kattegat, and by three straits, the Sound, the Great Belt, and the Little Belt. The latter channels are so narrow, difficult, and indirect, as to render the interior basin one of the most land-locked of any similarly extensive body of water on the face of the EXTENT OF THE SEA AND ITS BASIN. 43 globe. It penetrates to the central region of North- ern Europe, but in a very irregular, and somewhat serpentine manner. From the south of the Danish Archipelago, it extends east to Memel, and then north to the latitude of Stockholm, having opened into the land on the eastern side, forming the gulf of Riga. These are the limits of the Baltic, properly so called. But, in the latitude named, an important branch is sent off to the east, the Gulf of Finland, upwards of two hundred miles in length by from forty to seventy in breadth ; while the main body of the sea is con- tinued by the Gulf of Bothnia, four hundred miles further to the north, with an average width of one hundred, terminating within a short distance of the Arctic Circle. From Tornea, the most northerly point, at the head of this gulf, to SAvinemunde, at the entrance of the Stettiner Haff, nearly the south extremity, the length is 770 geographic miles, almost equal to 900 English statute miles. But the breadth is very inferior, not exceeding 200 miles at the greatest, as between Carlscrona and Memel, and only about one-fourth of that distance between the south point of Sweden and the Prussian island of Rugen. Including the far extended northern limbs, the surface of the Baltic is computed to embrace 125,000 geographic square miles, which is little less 44 THE BALTIC. than the area of the North Sea. But its enth-e basin, or the country it dizains, is of vast extent. The waters of the Oder and Vistula pour into it from the south, whose sources lie at the base of the Carj^athian Mountains, upwards of 300 miles in a direct line from its shores. The springs of the Niemen and Dwina on the east, though nearer, are not much less remote, while around the northern gulfs the water- shed is generally 150 miles from the coast. The area comprised within these limits may be roughly taken at 800,000 English square miles, almost equal to the basin of the Black Sea, and more than one-fifth of the surface of Europe. The phrase of the " deep, deep sea" is quite in- applicable to the Baltic when compared with other great arms of the ocean. It strikingly contrasts with the Mediterranean in depth. The bed of the latter is a strongly defined magnificent cleft between Europe and Africa, marked with profound hollows, which no plummet has yet thoroughly explored. Immediately without the Strait of Gibraltar, the soundings are from fifty to sixty fathoms, but they rapidly increase to 1000 fathoms on passing the Rock, and no bottom is struck further east, even with that length of line. This great depth is not unusual off the Spanish coast ; also between Spain and Italy, in the Levant, and COMPARATIVE SHALLOWNESS. 45 among the islands of the Grecian Archipehigo ; while about ninety miles east of Malta 2570 fathoms of line have been given out without finding a bottom. The common depth of the North Sea is from 120 to 150 fathoms. But in no part of the western portion of the Baltic, or from Copenhagen to Born- holm, is there a depth of water amounting to thirty fathoms. Below the parallel of Memel it never reaches sixty fathoms, and is generally very much less. Further north it increases, and attains its max- imum of 140 fathoms between the Island of Gottland and the Russian shore, decreasing northwards to the Gulf of Finland. South of this gulf, where the commercial demand for maritime accommodation is the greatest, there is no harbour which will admit a vessel drawing twenty feet of water ; and most of them will only receive such as draw fifteen or sixteen feet. The trade with remote countries is, therefore, conducted in comparatively small vessels, or by the consignment of cargoes to larger at intermediate ports — in either case an obvious disadvantage to the merchant. The harbours of the northern gulfs are deeper, but belong to countries of inferior value as to their produce, and hence of inconsiderable foreign commerce. The general shallowness of this sea is attributed with probability to the immense amount of 46 THE BALTIC. drainage it receives from the adjoining lands^ more rivers flowing into it, especially on the Scandinavian side, than into any other basin of the same extent. Upwards of 250 streams find their way into the Baltic. Thousrh with short courses in the case of the majority, they have full channels and powerful currents in spring-time, when the deeply accumulated snows dissolve which cover the entire surface of the North in winter. Vast quantities of soil are then carried down by the rushing torrents into their com- mon estuary, and deposited upon its floor, contri- buting to form the shoals, bars, and shallows, with Avhich it abounds. Unlike the majority of close seas, which are com- monly girdled to some extent by high mountain ranges or lofty table-lands, often presenting their precipices to the play of the billows, as in the instance of the Mediterranean, the Red Sea, and the Persian Gulf, the shores of the Baltic have nowhere any great elevation, and bold, rugged cliffs are exceptions to the general character of the coast-line. The high- land system of the Scandinavian peninsula, indeed, supplies a well-defined boundary in that quarter, rising like a huge billow from the east, forming a crest, and falling precipitously towards the west. But the rise is very gradual on the eastern or Baltic CHARACTER OF THE SHORES. 47 side. It commences also far away from the coast, in the interior of SAveden ; and the crest of the rocky wave lies wholly in Norway. Cliffs and walls of rock form the Swedish and Russian seaboards to a considerable extent, but they have no altitude of the slightest importance; while the innermost recesses of the Bothnian and Finnish gulfs are largely lined with low sandy or marshy tracts. The rest of the shore, from the Gulf of Kiga round to the Little Belt, is a flat, diversified only with dunes or sand- hills, erratic blocks, and pebbles — the maritime border of the great plain of Europe. Eastward, to the Ural Mountains, there are no hills except the insignificant eminences of Valdai ; south-eastward there is a vast level extending to the Black Sea and the Caspian ; southward, the nearest highlands are the Carpathians, the Bohemian ranges, and the Hartz ; south-westward and westward are the naked heaths of Lauenburg, Hanover, and Jutland, with the meadow-grounds of Holstein and Sleswick. This absence of protecting highlands explains many of the peculiarities of the Baltic region, its copious snows, numerous streams, the shoals of the sea, and comparative freshness of the water. Freely exposed to the south-west winds charged with warm moisture from the Atlantic, and to the dry cold gales which sweep over the plains 48 THE BALTIC. of Northern Russia from the Icy Ocean and the Asiatic steppes, frequent and rapid changes from the former to the latter produce precipitation, in the form of snow or rain, according to the season. The northern shores are of great geological in- terest, owing to the remarkable proofs they aiFord of changes in the relative level of sea and land, in gradual process at the present moment. Celsius, a Swedish naturalist, about the commencement of the last century, avowed the opinion that the w^aters both of the Baltic and of the Northern Ocean were slowly subsiding. In confirmation of it, he quoted the testimony of inhabitants on the shores of the Gulf of Bothnia, that towns formerly sea-ports were then far inland, w^hile the sea was still constantly leaving dry new tracts along its borders. The same parties also aflSmied that insulated rocks in the gulf, and on parts of the coast of Sweden, rose higher above the sea level than they remembered them to have done in their youth ; and it was alleged that marks had been cut on fixed rocks to indicate the water-stand, which already denoted its lower level. From numerous observations, Celsius esti- mated the rate of depression at from three to four feet in the course of a century. Linnajus personally examined the facts, and embraced the same opinion. RISE OF LAND. 49 But as, by the laws of equilibrium, tbe level of the sea can neither sink nor rise permanently in one place, without proper tionably sinking or rising over the whole surface of the earth, philosophers in ge- neral were content to discredit the alleged proofs of change till the commencement of the present cen- tury. Accurately to test the question, lines or grooves, at the ordinary level of the water on a calm day, with the date of the year, were chiselled out on the rocks in various localities. Play fair, in 1802, who admitted the evidence, was the first to suggest the true solution of the pheno- menon, referring it to the upward movement of the land, not to the depression of the water. But Leo- pold Yon Buch, who passed more than two years in Scandinavia, from 1806 to 1808, and traversed it in every direction, was the first distinguished geologist to pronounce an opinion upon the subject founded upon personal visitation. He sought information from intelligent pilots and fishermen, inspected the marks upon the rocks, observed upraised deposits of shells belonging to species now inhabiting the Baltic and the Bothnian Gulf, and announced his conviction '' that the whole country, from Frederickshall in Norway to Abo in Finland, and, j^erhaps as far as St. Petersburg, was slowly and insensibly rising," E 50 THE BALTIC. He also conceived " that Sweden may rise more in the northern than in the southern part." All suc- ceedino; observers have come to the same o^eneral conclusion, and multiplied proofs of its correctness. In the course of the years 1820-1, the old rock- marks were carefully examined, under the joint di- rection of the Swedish Academy and the Russian Minister of Marine. The officers reported that, on comparing the level of the sea at the time of their observations with the ancient indications, they found it lower relatively to the land in certain places, but the amount of change during equal periods of time had not been every "where the same. The officers cut new marks, for the guidance of future investi- gators. In 1834, fourteen years later. Sir Charles Lyell, who had been sceptical relative to the pheno- menon, fully satisfied himself of its reality, in the course of a tour in Sweden ; and, on examining even the new rock-marks, the sea was found to be sensibly below them at various points to the north of Stock- holm. He marked, with the height of the water at the time of his visit, the celebrated stone at Loffs- grund, near Gefle, on the Gulf of Bothnia. Sir Charles's mark was two feet seven inches below one made in 1731 ; and the sea was found about six inches below the fresh indication by Mr. R. SUBSIDENCE OF LAND. 51 Chambers in 1849. The total change of relative level had, therefore, been more than three feet in 118 years, a striking confirmation of the accuracy of Celsius in his estimate of the rate of change. It may be observed, that the hard texture of the rocks on this part of the coast, and the absence of tides, facilitate the accurate determination of the mean or ordinary height of the water. On receding from the northern parts of the Gulf of Bothnia, the alteration of level diminishes, and is very slight around Stockholm. Farther south, the rise of the land ceases altogether, and evidence is met with of an opposite movement, that of a gradual sub- sidence. No beds of marine silt, containing the she 11 of mollusca identical with species now inhabiting the sea, are found inland through the southern part of the peninsula, wliile well-known landmarks are nearer the water-line now than formerly. Linnaeus, in 1749, measured and marked the distance between the sea and a large stone near Trelleborg on the shore of Scania. In 1836, eighty-seven years after- wards, the distance had diminished to the extent of 100 feet. Another conclusive proof of the sub- sidence appears in the circumstance, that houses and entire streets in the maritime towns occupy posi- tions relative to the sea, to which they would never E 2 52 THE BALTIC. have been exjiosed had the same relations subsisted between them when they were built. In many cases they are either at or below the lowest level of the Baltic^ and are liable to be overflowed when the wind raises the waters above their ordinary height. This oscillatory movement, upward in the north, and downward in the south, is the more striking, as no part of the globe has been less subject to A'iolent physical disturbances, since the date of authentic history. However gradual the elevation and the subsidence, great changes must be incA'itably pro- duced in the configuration of the jieninsula, in the lapse of ages. Though quite inexplicable, the slow and silent oscillation seems like an expiring effort on the part of those forces by which the vastly greater geological changes of ancient epochs were effected. The water of the Baltic strikingly contrasts with that of the ocean, and of inland seas in general, especially with that of the Mediterranean, in its chemical composition. The ocean holds in solution chloride of sodium, or common salt, and other in- gredients in an amount varying somewhat in different zones, and at different depths. It is less at the sur- face towards the equator and the poles, owing to the copious equatorial rains, and the melting of the polar snows. But the Mediterranean is more intensely QUALITY OF THE WATER. 53 saline than the ocean, arising perhaps, in some degree, from the mineral character of its bed, though chiefly from the excessive evaporation to which it is subject. It will be sufficiently correct to say, that the saline matter in common sea-water amounts on the average to 2 7^^ ^^ ^t^ ^^^^^ weight ; in other words, there is one grain of salts in solution in every twenty-seven grains of water. But Yon Buch found the proportion at Copenhagen reduced to considerably less than the yigth; and in the remoter districts of the Baltic the quantity is so slight as scarcely to affect the palate. In the Gulf of Bothnia and in many bays the water is said to be commonly used for culinary purposes. In the neighbourhood of Stockholm it is brackish, but may be drank without much inconvenience. In the Sound it is perceptibly Salter ; and at the Scaw, the north point of Denmark, it has the ordinary taste of the ocean brine. The comparative freshness of this part of Xeptune's dominions has been remarked with no little surprise by officers and men on board the present Anglo-French fleet. " The water is not salt up here," writes one, alluding to the north e x- tremity of Gottland ; " how cj^ueer ! " A land-lubber has thus recorded his own experience of the region in one of the journals for the benefit of such novices in physical geography : — " When I was there twenty E 3 04 THE BALTIC. years ago I found nothing but sweet water off Hel- singfors, Lovisa, and Viborg in the Gulf of Finland ; and while crossinor the Gulf of Bothnia from Stock- holm to Abo I won a wager^ just midway, by guess- ing a bucket we let oyer the side for the purpose woidd bring up perfectly fresh water. So it proyed, and deliciously clear and drinkable." A better test of the quality than an incident of this kind is to be found in the fact, that all the coast towns of the northern gulfs depend upon importation for their supply of salt, being unable to manufacture it from the adjoining waters. During the present season so much distress has been occasioned by the blockade cutting off the ordinary supply, that boats' crews haye yisited vessels of the hostile squadron to obtain the indispensable article at the hazard of being made prisoners. The relative specific gravity of oceanic and Baltic water, according to Professor T. Thompson, is as follows : — Sp. gr. Water from the Firth of Forth - - - 1-02900 „ „ the Scaw ... - 1 •02037 „ „ the Sound ... - 1-00701 ., „ off Tunaberg, near Stockholm - 1 "00476 Thus the density is least at Tunaberg, and in- creases as the ocean is approached. The same autho- QUALITY OF THE WATER. 55 rity procured from 1000 grains of water, weight of salt as under : — Grs. Water from the Frith of Forth - - 36 6 „ „ the Scaw - . . 320 „ „ the Sound - - - 11-2 „ „ offTunaberg - - - 7-4 Thus the water at Tunaberg scarcely yielded one- fifth part of the saline contents of the British sea ; that of the Sound yielded less than one-third; and the difference at the Scaw was still considerable. This inferior degree of saltness is the joint effect of the number of rivers which the Baltic receives ; the direction of its currents, which are generally outivard ; and the narrowness of the straits at its entrance. The first circumstance brings an immense influx of fresh water into its basin ; the two latter tend to prevent the ingress of the ocean ; and hence there is the least saline impregnation where the inflowing streams are the most numerous, and the outlying ocean is at the sfreatest distance. But diflferences are observed in the quality of the water, especially in the bays and gulfs, at opposite seasons. It is stated, that Avhile fifty tons of water taken from the Gulf of Bothnia at midwinter will yield one ton of salt, it will require 300 tons at midsummer to produce the same quantity. Without vouch- E 4 56 THE BALTIC. ing for tlie literal accuracy of this statement, it is no doubt substantially correct. Such a result might naturally be expected from the larger amount of fresh water poured into the gulf, through the melt- ins of the snows at the commencement of the sum- mer. The direction of the wind has also a percep- tible effect upon the character of the Baltic water. Wilcke examined its specific gravity under different atmospheric conditions. Though no locality is men- tioned, yet, being a resident in Stockholm, his ex- periments probably refer to a part of the sea as far north as that capital. He obtained the following results : — Sp. gr. Wind at east - - - 1-0039 Wind at west - - - 10067 Storm at west - - - 1-0118 Wind at north-west - 1-0098 The density of the water, or its proportion of salt, was thus found to be at its minimum with the wind at east ; it was greater with the wind at west ; greater still at north-west ; and attained its maximum during a westerly storm. These differences are readily ex- plained, for easterly winds will obviously co-operate with the almost constant outward current of the Baltic to repel the ocean, while west and north-west TIDELESSNESS OF THE SEA. 57 winds will clieck the current, and aid the ocean to gain access to its basin. In the Sound, it is ob- served that winds from between west and north not only retard the ordinary outward motion of the water, but when strong and continuous they reverse its direction, and an inward current is produced. Nor is it necessary to this result that the last-named winds should blow home, to use nautical language, or be in direct action in the locality. It is sufficient that a gale should have swept across the North Sea from that quarter for several successive days. Such, however, is the natm-al tendency of the Baltic to pour out its water, consequent on the vast quantity received from the countries around it, that an out- ward stream is supposed to be constantly running in the Sound, at the depth of some feet, even when an inward oceanic stream is running with considerable strength at the surface. The semi-diurnal advance and recession of the tidal wave is not known in the Baltic, except in the straits at its mouth, and there the oscillations are very feeble and irregular. This is owing to its entrance beino: at an acute ano^le with reference to the tide- wave of the ocean, instead of opening towards it. In the Sound, and as far as Copenhagen, when the weather is comj)letely settled, a change of a few 58 THE BALTIC. inches in the water-stand announces the rare pheno- menon of the flood and ebb^, but farther southward it is never observed. Yet, though tideless, the waters of this sea are subject to alterations of level more or less local, occmTing to a varying extent and at irregular intervals. This fact has long been known, and was first noticed by the naturalists of Sweden. Sometunes the surface rises upwards of three feet above the ordinary level, and maintains that height occasionally for weeks together, though most com- monly only for several days. This movement occurs at all seasons, but is most frequent in the autumn or winter. It takes place indifferently whether the sur- face is agitated with waves or perfectly smooth. In- stead of exhibiting a stormy aspect, the phenomenon is rather a calm and shnultaneous movement of the en- tire liquid mass through a certain area, occasioning strong eddies and currents at its outskirts, particularly in the gulfs and straits. The Swiss lakes exliibit at times precisely the same local inequality of level, especially the Lake of Geneva, where the term seiches is applied to sudden elevations and depressions of parts of the surface. They are more or less frequent and considerable according to the frequency and power of those changes which take place in the superincmnbent atmosphere, for the cause seems to LOCAL ALTERATIONS OF LEVEL. 59 be wholly atmospheric. At an early period, pre- valent winds, storms, heavy rains, and sudden river- floods were referred to by way of explaining these remarkable movements ; and when found to be mani- festly inadequate, the disturbance was summarily at- tributed to some occult law of physics. But since Schulten's observation of the water of the Baltic rising and falling in correspondence with barometric indications, his hypothesis has been accepted, and is quite satisfactory, that the variation of level is owing to the unequal pressure of the atmosphere. Columns of air of different densities pressing with unequal weight upon different parts of the yielding fluid, the depression of the surface at one point by the heavier air, and its corresponding rise at an- other beneath the lighter, naturally follows. This is doubtless the true principle of the phenomenon ; but its exhibition is very much modified by geo- graphical chxumstances, and other incidents of posi- tion. The surface of all waters, whether lacustrine or oceanic, must be affected in like manner ; but it only becomes noticeable in those large lakes or in- land seas where the atmosphere is peculiarly liable to great and rapid transitions. The ocean is too broad an expanse, and subject to agitations too powerful from other causes, for the effect to be perceptible on 60 THE BALTIC. its surface. Yet along the coasts it has been observed that the height of the tides is affected by variations of atmospheric pressure. With a low barometer^ in- dicating a lighter atmosphere, the tides may be expected to rise higher, and vice versa, other cir- cumstances being equal. The British Channel rises more than eight inches for a fall of about half an inch of the barometer. Of all seas, the Baltic is one of the most dangerous to shipping, and harassing to crews. Sudden and frequent changes of the wind, shallow waters off- shore, innumerable shoals and insulated rocks, with currents divided by these obstacles, branching off in different directions to be re-divided by the same cause, till, meeting from opposite quarters, the waters are embroiled in the hurly-burly of a sturdy conflict ; these are almost constant soiu^ces of anxiety to the mariner, for the na\dgation is most beset with such impediments precisely in those parts which are emi- nently the highways of commerce. Hence the pro- portion of maritime casualties is much greater in the case of vessels sailing to the Baltic ports, than in the instance of merchantmen j)assing between Great Britain and America. In the month of May, when tlie navigation opens in the Gulf of Finland, flags are planted, by order of the Russian government, at the CHARACTERISTICS OF THE WAVES. 61 extremities of most of the shoals, which are red when placed on the north side of the channel, white when they are to be left on the south, and half red half white when they may be passed on either side. The hydrographical officers of the Czar have not per- formed this duty for obvious reasons in the present season. Nowhere have the waves the magnitude and grandeur which belong to those of the ocean ; but they are not less furious, and far more difficult to manage, breaking abruptly, owing to the inconsi- derable depths, and succeeding each other with greater rapidity. The long rolling billows common to the Atlantic are seldom seen, except in the more open parts of the sea ; but sandbanks soon terminate their unbroken sweep ; when, rent into a thousand antagonist columns, the fragments of the shattered wave are thrown together in unimaginable confusion. A " chopping sea," or one without any definite right- onward movement, but tossing up and down, to and fro, hither and thither — a chopping performed in most vigorous style — is eminently characteristic of the waters. When Nelson arrived at the fleet off Yarmouth, about to sail for the Baltic in the first week of March, he found his superior in command. Sir Hyde Parker, somewhat nervous upon the subject of long nights 62 THE BALTIC. and fields of ice. Both are features of the reg-ion in winter. Yet only in its northerly extent is the length of the days and nights throughout the year different to what is experienced in the British isles, north of our midland counties ; for Stettin and Grimsby, Copenhagen and Berwick-upon-Tweed, Riga and Aberdeen, Stockholm and Kirkwall in the Orkneys, St. Petersburg and Lerwick in the Shet- lands, nearly correspond in latitude. But almost the whole of the Gulf of Bothnia ranges north of our highest latitude, and has days and nights of greater inequality. Towards the upper extremity of the gulf, on the day of the winter solstice, the sun is scarcely two hours above the horizon, giving twenty-two hours for the length of the night. But this long absence of the solar orb is compensated by the darting fires of the Aurora, with their brilliant illumination and gorgeous splendour ; the clear vivid lustre of the moon and stars, the former without a tino^e of halo round her disk ; and the leno^thened in- terval during which the sun's glorious lamp is aloft in the heavens in the opposite season. At the sum- mer solstice there is a reluctant sunset after the clock has struck eleven. But even at the hour of midnight, the descended orb throws streaks of crim- son light across the heavens, imparting a fiery tinge LIGHTNESS OF SUMMER NIGHTS. 63 to the landscape ; and soon after one, the animal creation returns to life, the singing of various birds announces the approach of morn, and the solar glory is ao^ain above the horizon. In the neio;hbourhood of Tornea, on the northern shore of the gulf, the sun does not set at all for a few days at midsummer ; and is continuously visible a little farther north, from the summit of a mountain, Avasara, for a much longer period. For upwards of a month, under the more southern parallels of St. Petersburg and Stockholm, the summer nio-hts are intervals of brioht twilight in fine weather, as in the instance of our own extreme northerly localities. Reading, writing, and other delicate operations may be performed without arti- ficial aid, when the time-piece is marking the close of one day and the commencement of another. " I am writing at midnight," observes the Marquis de Cus- tine, " without any lights, on board the steam-boat Nicholas the First, in the Gulf of Finland. It is now the close of a day which has nearly the length of a month in these latitudes, beginning about the 8th of June, and ending towards the 4th of July. About an hour ago, I beheld the sun sinking in the ocean, between the N.N.W. and N. He has left be- hind a long bright track which continues to light me at this midnight hour, and enables me to write upon 64 THE BALTIC. deck while my fellow-passengers are sleeping. As I lay clown my pen to look around, I perceive al- ready, towards the N. N. E., the first streaks of morning light. Yesterday is not ended, yet to-mor- row is begun." In this gulf the lighthouses are lit in spring, as soon as the breaking-up of the ice opens the navigation ; but towards the close of INIay they are extinguished, owing to the brightness of the nights, and not rekindled till the middle of July, from which period they are kept glowing till return- ing congelation suspends maritime pursuits. Ice, formed along the shores, closing the ports, and extending over entire bays and gulfs, is the grand peculiarity of the winter. Its formation in latitudes corresponding to those of our own seas, which display no tendency to solidify in the most rigorous seasons, is due to the exclusion from the Baltic of the warmer water of the ocean, to the free exposure of its basin to the cold of the polar zone, to its slender depth and comparative freshness, for fresh water congeals at a higher temperature than salt. Ordinarily, both the northern gulfs are con- verted into a hard icy pavement through a vast ex- tent of their area for four or five months in the year. All the shores to the extreme south are fringed with ice-fields; and the straits communicating with the RECORDS OF SEVERE WINTERS. 65 ocean are impassable from the accumulation of drift- ice. But in severe winters, even the straits and considerable spaces of the open sea have been com- pletely frozen over, so as to admit of roadways being established upon them. Historical memoranda upon the state of the weather for a thousand years back, published at Vienna in the last century, com- piled from old chronicles, supply the following de- tails ; — In 1269, the Cattegat was frozen between Norway and Jutland. In 1292, one sheet of ice extended between Norway and Jutland, so that travellers passed with ease. In 1323, the winter was so severe, that both horse and foot passengers travelled over the ice from Denmark to Liibeck and Dantzic. Communica- tion was maintained for six weeks, and places of refreshment were established upon the road. In 1349, the sea was frozen over, and passable from Stralsund to Denmark. In 1402, the Baltic was quite frozen over from Pomerania to Denmark. In 1408, there was one of the coldest winters ever remembered. The whole sea between Gottland and Oland was frozen over, and between Norway F 66 THE BALTIC. and Denmark, so that wolves driven from their forests came over the ice into Jutland. In 1423, both the North Sea and the Baltic were frozen. Travellers passed on foot from Liibeck to Dantzic, and from Mecklenburg to Denmark. In 1460, the Baltic was frozen, and both horse and foot passengers crossed over the ice from Denmark to Sweden. In 1548, the winter was very cold and protracted. Between Denmark and Rostock sledges di'awn by horses or oxen travelled over the ice. In more recent times, 1658, Charles X. of Sweden crossed both the Belts upon the ice, with his whole army, horse, foot, baggage, and artillery. Charles was on his way from Holstein to the attack of Copen- hagen, and passed the Great Belt by the islands of Langeland, Laland, and Falster. His ablest officers endeavoured to dissuade him from the under- taking ; but, though hazardous, it was performed in safety, and compelled the Danes to conclude the peace of Roeskilde. In a similar manner, during the war between Russia and Sweden in 1809, Barclay de Tolly led a Russian army from Finland across the Gulf of Bothnia, at the narrowest part, called the Quarken, forty miles wide. But the enterprise is FREEZING AND OPENING OF THE NEVA. 67 not likely to be repeated, owing to the difficulty and peril with which it was attended. Though there have been remarkably long and se- vere frosts in the last two centuries, yet no instances have occurred of ice forming so extensively and strongly in the Baltic as those above recorded. Hence it is inferred, that the climate of Northern Europe has acquired a more genial character, owing, among other causes, to the destruction of forests, the extinction of bogs and morasses by drainage, with the careful and vastly extended cultivation of the soil. At present, the navigation is annually interrupted from three to four months in general, and for a longer period at the more northern ports. Colonel Jackson, in a commu- nication to the Royal Geographical Society, pub- lished in the Journal, gives some interesting details respecting the seasonal freezing of the Neva at St. Petersburg, and the breaking of its wintry bonds, extending over an interval of 117 years. From this paper, it appears, first, that, out of 117 times, the river has only been frozen up once so late as the 14th of December ; secondly, that it has been frozen 13 times in October, 95 in November, and 8 in De- cember, the general period being from the 5th to the 20th of November; thu-dly, that, out of 117 times, the ice has never broken up before the 6th of March, F 2 68 THE BALTIC. and only once at that early date ; fourthly, that it has broken up 18 times in March, and 99 in April, the general period being from the 5th to the 15th of A2:)ril ; and, lastly, that, one year with another, the navigation may be said to be open seven months, and closed the remaining five. Of course, in the southern parts of the Baltic, the ice forms later, and breaks up earlier. Drift-ice, which the currents convey through the straits into the Cattegat, rarely appears in the latter before the new year commences, and scarcely ever before Christmas. The period of its disap- pearance is more variable, as that depends entirely upon the state of the ice in the Baltic, where it has been known to remain fixed and passable between the island of Bornholm and Sweden so late as up to the time of the vernal equinox. It may be met with in April, is common in March, but generally ceases in February to be formidable to shipping. As long as drift-ice continues to be seen from the lighthouse on the Scaw Point, a white flag with a vertical blue stripe is hoisted. In the lapse of centuries the ice of the Baltic has modified to no unimportant extent its geological condition. In the northern parts of the sea, where the water is least saline, the surface is frozen to the depth of five or six feet. Huge stones at the bottom TRANSPORT OF ROCKY MASSES. 69 and the dislocated tops of rocks, are hence imbedded in the congealed mass. Thus grasped by the strong hand of winter, they are raised np when the water rises in spring from the melting of the snow, and borne off by floating ice-islands, to be finally lodged in a different site. In a smiilar manner, fragments upon the surface of the ice, detached from cliffs along- shore, undergo change of place. There are some curious and well authenticated instances of this transporting process. Professor Yon Baer, in a communication to the Academy of St. Petersburg, mentions a block of g-ranite, weisfhino; a million of pounds, which was carried by ice during the winter of 1837-8 from Finland to the Island of Hogland; and two other blocks were removed by packed ice on the south coast of Finland, about the years 1806 and 1814, according to the testimony of the pilots and inhabitants. At Memel, in 1821, when the Niemen broke up, a mass of ice descended the stream and was thrown ashore, bearing in its bosom a trian- gular piece of granite, about a yard in diameter, resembling the red granite of Finland. A more singular and kindred circumstance is related by Dr. Forchhammer of Copenhagen. " In the year 1807," he states, " at the time of the bombardment of the Danish fleet, an English sloop of war, riding at F 3 70 THE BALTIC. anchor in the roads at Copenhagen, blew up. In 1844, or thh'ty-seven years afterwards, one of our divers, known to be a trustworthy man, went down to save whatever might yet remain in the ship- wrecked vessel. He found the space between decks entire, but covered with blocks from six to eight cubic feet in size, and some of them heaped one upon the other. He also affirmed, that all the sunk ships which he had visited in the Sound were in like manner strewed over with blocks." This transporting process, in action at present, is of great interest, on account of geological phenomena common in the Baltic basin. To a considerable dis- tance inland, the surface of Sweden, Finland, Russia, and North Germany, is i^rofusely strewn with erratic blocks, which, in various places, give to the land- scape the appearance of a country in ruins. They are angular or rounded boulders of granite, por- phyry, gneiss, primary limestone, and other rocks, differing from the smallest size to enormous masses of 200 feet in circumference and 30 feet in height. These materials have no natural relation- ship to their present sites, but are more or less re- mote from the place of their origin : they are hence termed erratic. The nearest beds of kindred rock to which they can be referred are in the Scandinavian Alps. That they have been derived from that quarter. ERRATIC BLOCKS. 71 at least principally, is established by the fact that their mineral characters agree with those of the mountain masses of Norway and Sweden, while the limestones contain organic fossils peculiar to the transition series of those countries. The travelled fragments are not equably diffused over the surface of the zone they occupy, but form groups in parti- cular situations, often elliptical in shape, the major axis extending from north-west to south-east. They gradually become less in amount, and of smaller dimensions, on receding from the northern highlands. It is quite an unsolved geognostical problem by what means these blocks were detached from their original position, carried across the Baltic, and scattered over the sandy plain to the southward and eastward of it. It is scarcely possible to account for the entire phe- nomena by one simple event, but probably compli- cated causes and forces co-operated. Among others, the transporting agency of ice-fields at a period when the greater part of Northern Europe was submerged, is a perfectly conceivable mode of transit, sustained by the experience of the present epoch. The first signs of coming winter in the North, — falls of snow, or " white flies," as the firstling flakes are sometimes familiarly called, obstruct intercommunica- tion for a time, or so long as the departing summer F 4 72 THE BALTIC. maintains any kind of struggle with the approaching season. Without continued frost to harden it, the snow impedes Avheel-carriages, while it does not allow the use of the sledge. So marked and periodic is this impediment to progress, that in various parts of Russia it has given rise to a popular phrase de- scriptive of the period, " the time of the unroading," vremena rasputya, or the spoiling of the roads. But when winter becomes lord of the ascendant, after a short conflict, the entire North is converted into an apparently interminable expanse of hard snow, form- ing a vast highway for the accommodation of the traveller. There is great interest connected with the monotony of the scenery. The cleanness of the landscape, the facility for rapid sledge tra- velling, the freedom to wander at will over brooks and pools which arrest progress in summer, and the millions of icy crystals glittering in the sunbeams with the brightest prismatic colours, are joleasing features of the season. The out-of-doors appearance of the people is not, however, improved by it, as the necessary costume of fur cloaks and caps, or shaggy skins thickly mantling the person, and leaving scarcely a bit of visage to be seen, gives them the aspect of two-legged bears upon the run, — quick movement being essential to keep up the circulation. The cold is often terrific. At Stockholm the thermometer TIME OF THE UNROADING. 73 ''frequently descends to 28° below zero, and sometimes to 54° at St. Petersburo'. But this extreme cold sel- dom lasts long on the coasts, though more persistent inland ; and during its continuance the weather is usually fine, often splendid. The storm-spirits sleep ; the air is calm ; the sky clear ; and the sunshine glorious. But as almost every one keeps carefully within doors, unless compelled by necessity to go abroad, a nearly unbroken silence reigns in town and country, on hill and vale, in frosty-white forests, and by pent-up floods, solemn and unearthly, sometimes awful to the stranger. On the shores, winds from seaward interrupt this terrible cold, relieve the tem- perature, but bring raw and foggy weather. Another ^^ time of unroading " marks the year of the Xorth, equally as periodic and definite as the former. It occurs when spring wrestles with winter for the mastery, and compels the ice-king to resign his dominion over the elements of nature. As soon as the genial season has secured its triumph, after some interchanges of rapid thaw by day with biting frost by night, the snow-ways are obliterated, the surface hastily throws aside its winter dress, the brown soil re-appears, and the imprisoned streams are liberated. But the rivers are rendered unpassable for a time by furious floods, rolling along enormous 74 THE BALTIC. masses of ice, while locomotion by land is a dis- agreeable splashing through trickling waters, or shoals of mud, till the natural drainage has carried off the produce of the thaw, and the earth dries beneath the glowing sun. But the spring can scarcely be reckoned a definite season, so speedily is it summer. Vegetation advances with marvellous quickness, as if the grasses, shrubs, and trees had been suddenly en- franchised with independent life, instead of simply obeying the influence of warmth and moistui'e. In little more than thirty days after the Neva has been covered with passable ice, the birch trees have put forth their full complement of leaves, and in ten days afterwards the syringa vulgaris is in flower. By com- parison of Erman's and Goppart's observations on the first manifestations of vegetable life, it appears that, while they are about a month later at St. Petersburg than at Breslau, the various phenomena of development succeed one another with far greater rapidity at the northern capital, both Avith reference to native and acclimatised plants. Thus the budding of the birch is followed by that of the At St. Petersburg. At Breslau. Mountain-ash - - in 2 days - in 6 days. The lime-tree - - „ 5 „ - „ 15 „ The flowering of the syringa „ 10 „ - ?? 39 „ Of alchemilki vulgaris „ 18 „ - „ 51 ,, EXCESSIVE HEAT IN SUMMER. 75 If the winter has its rigorous cold, the summer has its excessive heat, with an ample population of tor- menting musquitoes. The contrast between the temperatures of the two seasons is most patent apart from the coasts, littoral climates being more equable than continental, owing to the more uniform tem- perature of the contiguous sea. But, unlike the days of winter, w^iich brighten as the cold sharpens, the days of summer become dull as the heat increases, w^hile the succeeding nights are magically clear. There is a haze aloft, and all round the horizon, often with a bluish tinge, not moist, and therefore popularly styled sun-smoke, to discriminate it from ordinary fog. It saddens the sky, restricts vision, confuses objects, and tarnishes the landscape. Owing to the high temperature of summer, the vine, which has its northern limit of successful culti- vation in western Europe about the mouth of the Loire, comes to perfection on the south Baltic plain, in a latitude corresponding to that of Yarmouth and Norwich. But crossing the sea, and proceeding northward through Sweden, the effect of the long cold winter, depressing the mean temperature of the year, is very speedily evidenced by the successive change of vegetation. The mulberry, walnut, and chestnut ripen in Schonen, at the south extremity. 76 THE BALTIC. Natural beech-woods cease soon after passing the parallel of Kalmar, a Ihnit Avhich here defines the range of the nightingale towards the pole. The plum bears as far as Gefle, upwards of 100 miles north of Stockholm. The oak, lime, and elm cease to thrive at the 6 1 st parallel ; apple and pear-trees are planted with success as far as Sundsvall, at the 62nd ; the cherry, alder, and maple stand their ground to the 63rd ; Avheat is raised, but with difficulty, in Anger- manland, at the 64th, the general limit of garden cultivation ; oats very rarely ripen at a higher lati- tude ; rye, hemp, and barley, potatoes, broccoli, and gooseberries, with the birch, fir, dwarf-willow, and mountain-ash, extend beyond the far extremity of the Gulf of Bothnia, to within the Arctic Circle. At Enontekis, 68° 30', nearly the north point of the Baltic basin, the mean temperature of the year is from four to five degrees below the freezing point ; and, on the average, once in three years a remunera- tive crop of barley is obtained. The ichthyology of the Baltic is not remarkable for either variety of species, or number of individuals in general. The herring once visited it in vast shoals from the North Sea, and was the object of an important fishery in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries on the southern shores of Sweden. But FISH OF THE BALTIC. 77 only stragglers are now met with. Varieties of cod are caught in the straits formed by the Danish islands, which are not found in the interior sea ; and in the early months of winter herds of porpoises crowd into the Little Belt from the ocean, where they are eagerly hunted for the sake of their skins and blubber. Salmon, flounder, sturgeon, and tur- bot, are widely distributed. The sword-fish also occurs ; and seals are captured in great numbers, on the breaking up of the ice by the islanders of Gott- land and Aland. Some non-oceanic fish, perch, pike, and barbel, live in the comparative fresh-water. The most valuable fishery is that of the stroemling or stromming, carried on by the Alanders, and the inhabitants on both sides of the Gulf of Bothnia, northwards to the Quarken. This is a diminutive fish of the herring family, not unlike the sprat, but more delicate. Vast quantities are annually taken, dried and salted, forming an important article of food in the interior of Sweden, Finland, and Northern Russia. A different kind of fishery distinguishes the shores of East Prussia, the product being amber, so well known for its electrical properties, and prized for ornamental purposes. Though found along the coast of Pomeranian Prussia, the chief site of the produce 78 THE BALTIC. is between Dantzic and Memel, particularly the neio;hbourhood of Konlo:sbero;. After hio;h north winds have agitated the sea, shoals of seaweed are washed towards the strand, among which the carbo- naceous mineral is found, adhering to the mass, or entano;led in it. As soon as a carsco arrives within convenient distance, the amber-fishers enter the water to secure it, haul the prize upon the beach, and examine its contents. The amber occurs in nodules varying in size from that of a nut to that of a man's head, though the latter size is very rare. It has been obtained by regular mining in the sands, and divers have been employed to search for it at the bottom of the sea, but neither plan has proved remunerative, and the billows are noAV the sole agents of the supply. About 150 hogsheads are annually collected, an amount which has been steadily maintained for three centuries. But the occupation is strictly closed to indi^ddual enterprise. The Grand Masters of the Teutonic Order, during their reign upon the coast, took possession of the trade, and derived a considerable revenue from it. It afterwards became a royal monopoly. An officer of the government superintended the collection, dis- posed of the proceeds by public auction, maintained watch and ward on the coast, and any individual AMBER. 79 detected collecting on his own account was liable to capital punishment. Since the commencement of the present century, the right of collecting has been let by the government to contractors, who pay an annual rental, and have the monopoly of the shore. At present, a person detaining a piece of amber, ac- cidentally found, is liable to be prosecuted for theft ; nor can the Konigsbergers roam their own seaside at will, beyond certain limits, without being subject to search by watchmen of the strand. Amber is an in- durated fossil resin produced by an extinct species of pine, often with insects imbedded in it. Hence, in this part of the Baltic, where the waters now freely sport, forests of amber pines once waved to the winds, and were either slowly submerged by the encroach- ments of the sea, or suddenly engulfed by some grand catastrophe of nature. It was chiefly from amber-merchants, who con- veyed the product overland to the south of Europe, that the ancients obtained- knowledge of the Baltic, for their own navigations never extended to its waters, and their information was almost entirely limited to the bare fact of its existence. The inland sea is referred to under a variety of names, as that of the Venedicus Sinus by Ptolemy, the Mare Suevi- cum by Tacitus, and the Sinus Codanus by Pliny. 80 THE BALTIC. Locally, in the countries on the eastern side, it was formerly known as the Varyazskoye More, or Sea of the Variaghi. The German and Scandinavian nations of the present day use the title of Ost-See, the East Sea, which discriminates it from the ocean on the west. The derivation of the name with w^hich we are familiar, Baltic, is quite uncertain ; but it has existed from the twelfth century, when it was used by Adam of Bremen. The Danish haelt, " a girdle," and the Lithuanian halta, " white," have both been quoted as its roots. Seas covered in winter to a considerable extent with ice, while their shores are clothed with snow, are literally "White Seas," 81 CHAP. III. GATES OF THE BALTIC AND THE DANISH SHORES. DANISH ARCHIPELAGO. — THE SOUND. — SWEDISH SHORE HELSINGBORG, LANDSCRONA, MALMO. DANISH SHORE. ELSINORE. THE SOUND DUES. — TRAFFIC. SHAK- SPEARE AND HAJVILET. KRONBORG CASTLE. CARO- LINE MATILDA. ISLAND OF HVEEN. COMMEMORATION OF TTCHO BRAHE. COPENHAGEN. GENERAL DESCRIP- TION. — MUSEUMS AND LIBRARIES. AMAK ISLANDERS. MEMORIALS OF COPENHAGEN. BATTLE. KIOGE BAY. ARRIVAL OF SIR C. NAPIER. — THE GREAT BELT, SPROGO ISLAND. FUNEN. — THE LITTLE BELT. SHORES OF SLESWICK AND HOLSTEIN. KIEL. ISLAND OF BORNHOLM. — A VISIT. — THE ERTHOLMS. CHRISTIAN IV. The three entrances of the Baltic, which may be considered its gates, are formed by the comparatively large islands of Zealand and Funen, and the conti- nental coasts of Sweden and Denmark. These islands, and four lesser immediately to the south, Langeland, Laland, Falster, and Moen, with up- wards of sixty more dwindling down to insignificant tracts, compose the Danish Archipelago. The entire group occupies an area not exceeding 100 miles from north to south by 1 30 from east to west. Thus G 82 THE BALTIC. crowded, the sei:)arating channels are narrow, and are rendered still more confined by innumerable shoals and sandbanks. Thouo-h contigrious to one of the great highways of European commerce, many of these insulated spots were little known to each other, and much less to the outlying world, prior to the establishment of steam navigation. The phy- siognomy of the more extensive is very uniform. There is no bold scenery, but it is often picturesque, and eminently beautiful with tolerable summer weather. Striking blendings of land, water, and sky are to be seen in almost every direction, while the white sails of merchantmen, the boats of pilots and fishermen, rich meadows and noble beech-woods, neat churches, windmills, and homesteads, give variety and life to the landscape. Yegetation is everywhere luxuriant, and long retains a vernal ap- pearance, owing to the humidity of the atmosphere and of the soil. When the plains of Germany are brown and ashy with the summer heat, the isles of Denmark delight the eye with a fresh bright green ; and as truly deserve the title of emerald as our sister kingdom. But dense fogs and cold drenching rains are more common experiences than fine weather, marring out-of-doors enjoyment. Yet, when a gale from the westward drives up clouds of mist from the THE SOUND. 83 Atlantic, alternately veiling and disclosing sea, shore, and sky, fine studies are afforded to the painter of marine scenery. I. THE SOUND. The eastern entrance, between Zealand, the largest island, and the Swedish shore, is the great commercial thoroughfare — the Ore Sund of the Danes, and the well-known Sound of the English. But these denominations do not denote the same ex- tent of water. The Danish Sund is restricted to the narrower part of the channel, wdiile the English Sound includes the whole arm of the sea from the Cattegat to the Baltic. At the narrows, the oppo- site shores approach within two miles and a half of each other. In 1830, when the channel was choked with drift-ice, which a hard frost converted into a compact mass, an accurate measurement was made of its width. This was found to be 4602 yards be- tween the harbour of Elsinore on the Danish, and that of Helsingborg on the Swedish side. But these towns are somewhat diagonal with reference to the strait, and a direct line across it, from the fortress of Kronborg, immediately above Elsinore, to a stone tower on the opposite shore, measured 4328 yards. This distance, somewhat less than two miles and a G 2 84 THE BALTIC. half, marks the narrowest part of the channel. It expands to upwards of twelve miles off Copenhagen, and to sixteen miles below it. The depth is very irregular, varying from three to nineteen fathoms ; but the more considerable of these depths are rare and local. Shallows everywhere abound, requiring careful pilotage in the instance of large merchant- men. Nelson, with the inferior line-of-battle ships of his day, found it one of the most harassing tasks of his life to reach the Danish capital by this route ; and was almost worn out with fatigue and anxiety on accomplishing it. After the battle of Copen- hagen, on proceeding to the Baltic, he had the guns of his ships taken out, and carried in merchant vessels, in order to pass through the "grounds," or the shoals which stud the southern part of tlie channel. In the present spring. Sir Charles Xapier, in the colossal Duke of Wellington, and Admiral Parseval Deschanes, in the Inflexible, with all the large men-of-war belonging to the British and French squadrons, took the route of the Great Belt, a less direct and equally intricate passage, but with a greater average depth of water. On entering the Sound from the north, the bold steep rocks of Kullen Point, crowned with a light- house, and liills of a high and dark appearance are THE SOUND — SWEDISH SIDE. 85 seen on the Swedish side. In the same direction at night the horizon glows with the fires of adjoining coal-pits. The coast soon becomes low to the south, is of moderate height at Helsingborg, beyond which it remains cliffy, but loses all character of elevation, and is entirely destitute of wood. Helsingborg, a small uninviting town, maintains communication across the strait with Elsinore by a regular ferry, and profits by the transit of passengers through it between Copenhagen and Stockholm. The inha- bitants have not forgotten that Bernadotte landed at their harbour on being called to the throne of Sweden, for his name is chiselled out upon the pier, said to have been originally written by himself with chalk upon the spot. On the same shore is Landscrona, about midway through the Sound, with excellent maritime acconnnodation ; and Malmo, a decayed but still considerable place, nearly opposite Copenhagen, which, in fine weather, may be seen from it at the distance of sixteen miles. It will illustrate the un- important size of the Swedish towns to state that Malmo, with only 9000 inhabitants, is the sixth in point of population in the kingdom. The infamous Bothwell was a prisoner for some years in its castle. The Danish side of the channel is of greater in- terest, and more pleasing aspect. Its low shores G 3 86 THE BALTIC. descend in light green slopes to the water's edge, and, with few exceptions, are adorned with beech- woods all the way to Copenhagen. At the entrance, Elsinore, with numerous shipping generally in the roadstead, and jjilot-boats passing to and fro, ex- hibits a somewhat lively scene ; and, with the ad- joining Castle of Kronborg, the turrets of which are visible far away to seaward, revives recollections in the English mind of Hamlet and Shakspeare, and of the unhappy sister of our George III. Elsinore has been called the Wapping of Den- mark, and Kronborg Castle its Windsor ; but the resemblance is not very patent. Mariners, naval store-keepers, officers of customs or quarantine, and consular agents, form the chief part of the j)opula- tion, engaged in ^dctualling, clearing, and piloting ships. A number of incorporated ferrymen, in com- mand of seventy boats, are ever on the alert, ready to go out to vessels in distress, whose skill and courage have been tested in the wild tempest, and are as well known as in the instance of the boatmen of Deal. Many names of our countrymen who have died at sea by hapless shipwreck or natural causes, occur among the inscriptions in the public cemetery. On passing Kronborg, outward or inward, all vessels are required to show their colours, as well as to THE SOUND — ELSINORE. 87 anchor in Elsinore roads, for the purpose of paying the Sound dues, and of being reported at the qua- rantine office. There is ample security for this stoppage besides the guns of the fortress, for, without a bill of health from this station, and proof of having paid the dues, no vessel is admitted into any port of the Baltic. The toll levied is a per centage on the value of the cargoes. It is less in the case of English, Dutch, French, Swedish, and Russian ves- sels, than of those belonging to other nations. But men-of-war and yachts of all countries pass free. These dues have existed from an early period, but it is quite uncertain how they originated, whether ar- bitrarily imposed by Denmark when supreme as a maritime power, or conceded as the result of an engagement to maintain lights upon the coast. They were guaranteed to the Danish Crown by the Treaty of Vienna in 1815, and supply it with an important revenue, not less than a quarter of a million sterling per annum, a tolerable salary for keeping the gate of the Baltic. The hours at which vessels may be cleared at the custom-house vary according to the season, but are announced by a gun fired morning and evening from the guard-ship. From this ship the instant of Greenwich mean noon is made known by the dropping of a ball. The number of vessels G 4 86 THE BALTIC. passing the Sound, inwards and outwards, was as follows in the annexed years : — 1835 1840 1851 1852 10,255 15,662 19,919 17,563 In the last-named year, the vessels returned belonged to the following covmtries : — British Isles - - - 3,902 'NoYwaj - - - - 3,020 Prussia - - - 2,319 Sweden - - - 2,100 Holland - - - - 1,691 Denmark - - - - 1,464 Russia - - - 946 Mecklenburg - - - 771 Hanover - - - - 545 France - - - 283 Oldenburg - - - 183 Lubeck - - - 136 United States - - - 76 Hamburg - - - - 46 Bremen - - - 22 Spain - - - 6 Venice - - - 2 All other place; 3 - - 51 Total - - 17,563 This amount of annual traffic gives an exalted idea of the commerce of the Baltic, yet it must be re- THE SOUND — ELSINORE. 89 membered that it only represents the external trade, there being in addition the internal traffic, carried on by the marines of Denmark, Sweden, Pl-ussia, and Russia. Navigation has recently been astonishingly active in the Sound, as many as 250 vessels having passed in a day. During the first six months of the last year 6615 vessels passed; but, in the corre- sponding period of the present year, the number amounted to more than 7500, showing an increase of 900 ships. Of these, 2130 ships passed in the single month of June. The warlike movements of the period account for the increase, an enormous number of transports being employed in the service of the Anglo-French fleet. The scene of the tragedy of Hamlet is laid at Elsinore. But, using poetic license, Shakspeare has transferred the locality of the Prince of Denmark hither from the peninsula of Jutland, where he lived, reigned, died, and was buried. With the same liberty, the dramatist did not concern himself to depict the natural features of the selected site, even supposing that he was accurately acquainted with them. No spot in the neighbourhood answers to the described place of Ophelia's death : — " There is a willow grows ascaunt the brook^ That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream ^ 90 THE BALTIC. Or to tlie lans^imo'e of Horatio : — " The morn, in russet mantle clad, Walks o'er the dew of yon high eastern hill.''' Or to the words of the same party, when dissuading the prince from following his ghostly guide : — " What, if it tempt you toward the flood, my lord. Or to the dreadful summit of the cliffy That beetles oer his base into the sea f And there assume some other horrible form, Which might deprive your sovereignty of reason. And draw you into madness ? think of it : The very place puts toys of desperation^ Without more motive, into every brain, That looks so many fathoms to the sea, And hears it roar beneath.'^ Elsinore has no " Shakspeare's Cliff" like Dover, nor is there one within many a mile of it at all resembling the dizzy precipice described above. Beyond repeated mention of the name, there is nothing in the tragedy which we can identify with the place, except notices which are equally appli- cable to a thousand maritime localities. Still, as the selected scene of a splendid work of genius, it will ever be associated in the minds of Englishmen with the bard of Avon, and the obscure Jutish prince he has immortalised. The line in Campbell's famous ode on the battle of Copenhagen — " Thy wild and THE SOUND — ELSINORE. 91 stormy steep, Elsinore !" — is of course equally a poetic fiction. Kronborg Castle, an immense pile of Gothic archi- tecture, immediately adjoining the town on the north, and projecting into the sea, is an imposing object, viewed in any direction, but especially from the surface of the Sound, combining the strength of a fortress with the elegance and grandeur of a palace. The edifice was founded by Frederic II. in the year 1574, and completed in the reign of Christian IV. It remained a royal residence for some time, but has long been appropriated to other purposes, now being used for a prison and a sea-mark. The northern turret bears a fixed light, and commands a fine view of the channel, with its shipping, and the Swedish shore. In this building, in 1772, Caroline Matilda, Queen of Denmark, sister of George III., was con- fined upon a charge of which she has been acquitted by the unanimous verdict of posterity, including that of the Danish royal family. The story of her mis- fortunes is a more than thrice-told tale, though not so familiar to the present generation as it was to their grandsires. It has been properly said, that the memory of injustice ought never to die, for to hand it down on the page of history, branded with the infamy it deserves, is the only compensation which 92 THE BALTIC. can be made to the guiltless party, and may prove a useful warninix to those who stand on the ver^^e of a similar crime. Married at an early age to Christian YU., an imbecile and vicious monarch, the young queen fell a victim to the ambition and malignity of her step- mother, the Queen-dowager, Avho wished to secure the succession to her own son. The plot contrived for this purpose involved a charge of political in- trigue with the prime minister, Count Struensee, to which the suspicion of personal criminality was at- tached. He was a foreigner, the advocate of popular rights, obnoxious on both accounts to the higher classes. It was on the night of a masked ball in the royal palace at Copenhagen that the plot took effect. The king danced with the queen, who, upon his retiring from the room, gave her hand to Struensee. The Queen-dowager and her son Prince Frederic were present, and often exchanged remarks in a tone too low to be overheard. Caroline Matilda with- drew from the gay scene at two o'clock in the morn- ing. At four. Prince Frederic, with his mother and two confidants, went to the king's bed chamber, and directed the page in attendance to arouse him. While alarmed by this disturbance at such an hour, they informed him that his consort, the minister, THE SOUND — HVEEN. 93 and other confederates, were at that very moment drawing up an act of abdication, and would compel him to sign it, unless their movements were promptly anticipated. Upon this monstrous accusation against a mere girl, unsupported by the slightest evidence, she was immediately arrested, and ultimately con- veyed a prisoner to Kronborg. Struensee and Count Brandt Avere seized, and executed after a mock trial. After an imprisonment of some months, the queen was permitted to retire to Zell in Hanover, owing to the intervention of her brother ; and three years afterwards she Avent in sorrow to the grave, at the still youthful age of twenty-three. No one now believes that a shadow of suspicion rested upon her character, but what an unscrupulous and malignant disposition may attach to the most blameless indivi- duals. The ill-fated Matilda wrote with a diamond in her misfortunes on one of the windows of Frede- ricsborg Castle, the line — " Lord, keep me innocent, make others great." The pane of glass bearing the inscription is pro- tected from injury by a screen of wire. Nearly midway between Elsinore and Copenhagen, and in the mid-channel of the Sound, the Island of Hveen rises with moderately high and steep shores. 94 ' THE BALTIC. This spot is of interest as the scene of Tycho Brahe's residence towards the close of the sixteenth century. The celebrated Danish astronomer having received a. grant of it from Frederic II., with an annual pension, erected a house and observatory on his insular do- main, as fantastic in its architecture as in its name — Uranienborg, the Castle of the Heavens. Tycho was of noble birth, and seldom forgot his nobility. While eminent also as a severe observer, his mind was clouded by the delusions of astrology, in harmony with his age. The edifice he reared, of which repre- sentations have been handed down, partook in its aspect of the character of the man. It was not un- like the hold of a feudal chief, but more strongly answered to conceptions of the abode of an eastern magician. Here, master of the best instruments that could be procured, with a plebeian wife, and a favourite poodle, he pursued that course of pure ob- servation for upwards of twenty years which sup- plied Kepler with the data of his brilliant discoveries. The revelation of the laws of the solar universe effected by that wonderful man had its birthplace on this obscure island of the Sound. The death of Frederic was fatal to the repose of Tycho. Under his successor he came into collision with the court, had his pension withdrawn, his poodle cuffed by the THE SOUND — HVEEX. 95 prime minister, and quitted Denmark in disgust, to find a grave at Prague. The glory of Uranienborg passed away with its founder. The Castle of the Heavens was dismantled by some succeeding pro- prietor, who cared not for the stars ; its instruments were scattered far and wide ; and, half a century after the death of their collector, Hveen came into the possession of the Swedes, when the site of his favourite residence was a green field, though still in- dicated by a few ruins towards the eastern shore. Honour has recently been paid to the memory of the astronomer by his countrymen. In the year 1846, on the three hundredth anniversary of his birthday, the inhabitants of Denmark, Sweden, and Xorway, to the number of 8000, assembled on the little island to celebrate the occasion. The fiags of the three Scandinavian kino-doms floated from the fleet of steamers which bore the pilgrims from different points to the place. A government war-steamer con- veyed the professors of the Universities of Copen- hagen and Kiel, the members of the Koyal Academy of Sciences, and of other similar bodies, with a co- lossal bust of Tycho Brahe in white marble. This was erected amid the ruins of his old house, and left to its solitude, — for Hveen scarcely numbers 100 inhabitants, all of the poorest class, and possesses no 96 THE BALTIC. interest of itself to attract a visitor. A site for the monument in the capital would have been far more suitable. The spires and public buildings of the Danish capital, with the masts of shipping in its roads and harbour, are distinctly visible from the astronomical island. On a near approach, the aspect of Copen- hagen is striking in the extreme from the sea, especially in the full summer, owing to the dense masses of foliage which appear in connection with its material and marine features. But the interior is more suggestive of respectability and comfort than of elegance or grandeur, though by no means destitute of imposing edifices. The Danes naturally regard their capital with peculiar interest, as it is the only city or town they possess at all answering to the modern acceptation of those terms. This feeling rendered the English bombardment a specially ex- asperating event. But it has a more general interest, as the only truly island capital in Europe, whether we refer to past or present times. Venice, since it rose to the rank of a city, Avas never otherwise than materially and morally connected Avith the continent. But Copenhagen is not only completely insulated in relation to it, and to nearly the Avhole territory be- longing to the Danish Crown, but is sul^ect occa- THE SOUND — COPENHAGEN. 97 sionally to transient suspensions of continental inter- course. Sometimes, in the winter months, its position with reference to the rest of Europe is quite unique, drift-ice preventing all communication, and intercept- ing the transit of intelligence. Hence king, court, and citizens may remain for a fortnight as ignorant of what is passing in London, Paris, and Berlin, as if their locality had been suddenly shifted to the pole. The principal part of the city, comprising the old and the new town, simply separated by a street, oc- cupies a promontory of Zealand ; another division is built on the adjoining Island of Amak ; the inter- vening channel is the port, across which there is communication by drawbridges. Both parts are for- tified with immense earthern ramparts, flanked with bastions, and surrounded by a deep and broad wet ditch. A citadel and some forts, with the celebrated Trekoner battery on a sandbank off the entrance to the port, are further defences. The ramparts extend through a circuit of five miles, and enclose a popula- tion of about 130,000. Being planted with double rows of lime-trees, they form an agreeable promenade in summer. In the trading part of the city, or the old town, the streets are generally narrow, the shops small, and the houses plain ; but its aspect is rendered H 98 THE BALTIC. somewhat picturesque and Dutch-like by an old- fashioned style of building, and the occurrence of canals which penetrate it in various directions from the harbour. The new town, the residence of the court, has superior external arrangements. But the entire street-architecture of Copenhagen is of a very ordinary description ; and the greater part of the tho- roughfares have an air of striking quietude at variance with what is natm'ally expected in the capital of a European kingdom of renown in history. Though there are few attractions for ordinary sight-seers, some public exhibitions are of remarkable interest to the more limited class of instructed visitors. The chief " lions " are the Palace of Chris tiansborg, with its Picture Gallery and Museum of Northern Anti- quities ; the Museum of Natural History ; the Royal Library ; Thorwaldsen's Museum ; the Palace of Char- lottenborg, now the Repository of the Academy of Arts ; the old Castle of Rosenborg, devoted to the re- ception of rarities collected by the various sovereigns ; and the Observatory. The Museum of Northern Antiquities, founded in 1807, occupies a large suite of rooms in the Chris- tiansborg palace. It is one of the most remarkable in the world, quite unique of its kind for complete- ness and systematic arrangement. In this repository. THE SOUND — COPENHAGEN. 99 illustrative monuments of the Scandinavian past are stored, amounting to upwards of 8000 articles, found by the delving peasant in turning up the soil, or obtained by exploring antiquarians from burial- mounds. The first room contains relics of the age of stone, dating full 3000 years back, when the people, ignorant of metal, slew their game, felled trees, and had all their domestic and warlike imple- ments of flint or stone. Next come memorials of the age of bronze, when the uses of copper and tin were known, to which an antiquity of five or six centuries before the Christian era is assigned. Then folloAV articles of the iron age, a comparatively modern period, supposed to commence about the time that Christianity was first promulgated on the shores of the Baltic. Thorwaldsen's museum, an ad- joining building, contains casts of all his works, as well as several of his statues in marble, to the number of about 300, which he bequeathed to his native city. The mortal remains of the great sculptor repose in a mausoleum at the centre of the inner quadrangle. The originals of his grand pro- duction — Christ and the Twelve Apostles, St. Paul taking the place of Judas — are in the Frue-Kirke, the Notre-Dame of Copenhagen. The Observatory, along with the University Library, occupies the H 2 100 THE BALTIC. Runde Tarn, or Round Tower, an immense round brick building rising to a great height, attached to the Trinity Church. An inclined plane of brick- work winds within the tower to the summit, up which Peter the Great is said to have driven his empress in a carriage and four. The feat is possible enough ; though how he contrived to descend is not stated, unless by backing, as there is not space for a vehicle of any description to turn. The summit commands a fine view of the capital, the Sound, the Swedish coast, and the Danish Islands. No city of the same extent rivals Copenhagen in the richness of its literary and antique stores, or in the number of its societies for the encourao'cment o of art, science, and general learning. These have long placed it at the head of the civilisation of north- ern Europe ; and, together with the many illustrious names in its roll of citizenship, Niebuhr, Thorwald- sen. Oersted, Oehlenschlager, Rask, Magnusen, Grundtvig, and others, establish for the Danish capital a claim to be regarded as the Athens of the North. The Royal Library contains 400,000 volumes, arranged on open shelves, so as to be accessible to the public ; and, besides the accommodation of a reading-room, books are lent out to respectable re- sidents, and to strangers competently recommended. THE SOUND — COPEXHAGEX. 101 It has a large collection of oriental manuscripts, only inferior in value to those of Paris ; and of Ice- landic works, beautifully written in the Runic cha- racter. Among the MS. documents, there is a curious version of part of the Old Testament, for- merly in the possession of Count Thott, the oldest attempt at a Danish translation. It follows literally the Yulgate, for at the time it was made Greek is supposed not to have been known by any of the Danish clers^v. But, with most absurd effect, the trans- lator has attempted to express the derivation of the Latin words in his version. Thus the word ceremonias in the Yulgate is often rendered " wax, that is, wax candles," in the Danish ; and the Almighty, in Gen. xxvi. 0., is made to commend Abraham for using wax candles in the observance of relio-ious rites ! The University Library contains 100,000 voliunes; and Classen's 40,000, bequeathed to the public by the sreneral of that name. The more insular subm-b of the city, or the Island of Amak, i inhabited chiefly by a race of foreign extraction, still distinct from the Danes in dress, manners, and lanscuao-e. About three centuries and a half ago Isabel, Queen of Denmark, a native of the Low Countries, imported from Holland a num- ber of East Friesland families, in order to introduce H 2 102 THE BALTIC. more skilful husbandry. They were established on the island, and their descendants still occupy it to the number of about 7000. The name of their prin- cipal village, " Hollander-byen," Hollanders'-town, commemorates their origin. Time has effected little change in the appearance of these colonists. They retain their picturesque, many-coloured national costume, which at once discriminates the girls of Amak from the more soberly attired maidens of Zealand. They are preached to also in the Dutch language by their own ministers, though Danish is, of course, sufficiently well understood for all prac- tical purposes ; and have civil and criminal tribunals peculiar to themselves, but under the jurisdiction of higher courts in the city. With the characteristic industry of their race, the flat swampy island has been rendered extraordinarily productive, so as to be at once the dairy and kitchen-garden of the capital. Copenhagen, or Kjobenhavn, according to the Danish form of the name, signifies the " IMerchant's Harbour ; " and the place is indebted for its exist- ence as a city and capital to the convenience of the situation as a port. It had gone through the suc- cessive stages of fishing-village, town, and city, when Christopher III., in 1443, transferred to it the dig- THE SOUND — COPENHAGEN. 103 nity of metropolis from Roeskilcle, the old capital of Denmark, and the mausoleum of its sovereigns. Few European cities have suffered more public cala- mities — pestilence, fire, and war. In 1711, 30,000 of the inhabitants were carried off by the plague ; and in 1853 cholera made fearful havoc. Yast con- flagrations raged in 1728, 1794, and 1795. On the second of these occasions the royal palace of Chris- tiansborg was totally destroyed, and since rebuilt on its original scale. The citizens have, consequently, a lively dread of fire, though it is exhibited with little intelligence ; for, while watchmen are stationed at high points to look out and alarm the slumbering inhabitants on the appearance of danger, there is no efficient water-supply secured in case of accident. But these ^dsitations have been very serviceable in the issue, as wooden houses were swept away, and succeeded by improved brick buildings, while the streets were made broader and more regular. Nelson's terrible attack inflicted intense distress, " When to battle fierce came forth, All the might of Denmark's crown, And her arms along the deep proudly shone." A planted inclosure in the naval cemetery, outside the city, beneath the ramparts of the citadel, marks the grave of the gallant men who fell in its defence. H 4 104 THE BALTIC. Rough blocks of granite in front serve as tombstones to record the names of the officers, and of their re- spective ships. An obelisk of grey marble, resting on a pedestal of granite, bears the simple inscription, De faldt Faedraland, " They fell for their father- land. April 2. 1801." Beneath is written " Their grateful fellow-citizens have raised this monument ; " and on a tablet of white marble, below laurel, oak, and cypress leaves, are the words, " The wreath which the country bestows never withers over the grave of the fallen warrior." Much greater material injury was inflicted by the bombardment under Lord Cathcart and Admiral Gambler, in 1807. Upwards of 300 houses, w4th one church, were almost totally destroyed, and 2000 dwellings were rendered unin- habitable. These events — the stern military ne- cessities of the period — long embittered the minds of the Danes to the English. But lapse of time, free intercommunication, and intelligence respecting the political causes of hostilities, have so far changed the tone of feeling, that while the court of Denmark may sympathise with Russia in the present struggle, the people are decidedly on the side of the Anglo-French. In fact, the Danes are now generally aware of the true explanation of their disasters. Russia was their real author, constraining England by her tortuous THE SOUND — KIOGE BAY. 105 policy reluctantly to strike the l^lows in self-defence. The bloody battle of Copenhagen was mainly the work of the Emperor Paul ; and the subsequent bombardment, that of his vacillating successor, Alexander. Immediately south of the capital, the Sound forms the opening of Kioge Bay, a station suitable for the anchorage of a fleet, and often used in time of war for that purpose. Juel's Ground, the name of a shoal in the roadstead, commemorates the celebrated Danish admiral, Niels Juel, who, in 1677, gained in its neighbourhood a decisive victory over the Swedes. Nelson proceeded to this anchorage after his conflict in Copenhagen Roads ; and Sir Charles Napier, with the fleet under his command, then con- sisting of nineteen vessels, was here for some days in the present spring. During his stay, a remarkable demonstration of public feeling occurred. It was the memorable 2nd of April, the fifty-third anniver- sary of the battle of Copenhagen — a fine and nearly summer-like day. The fleet lay moored in a semi- circle in the bight of the bay. The Duke of Wel- lington, 131 guns, with Napier's blue flag flying at the fore, was in the centre. Next, on one side, was the St. Jean d'Acre, 101 ; then the Royal George, 120; the Edinburgh, 58; and the Neptune, 120, 106 THE BALTIC. with the red flag of Admiral Corry. Towards noon, the Cimbria, a Danish steamer, approached the squadron, with upwards of four hundred excursionists from Copenhagen. " We sailed round the fleet," observes one on board, " and the Danes greeted each ship, especially the Duke, with repeated hurrahs, which were answered with louder cheers from the fleet; and from two of them (the St. Jean d'Acre and the Neptune) with music. Evidently, we should have been most hospitably received on board; but the passengers of the Cimbria being so nume- rous, the Danes gave a proof of tact and good taste in withstandins: their desire to see the interior of the ships, which would inevitably have been a great trouble to the crews, and especially the ofl&cers. The Danes, therefore, contented themselves with sailing round the fleet, singing the British national anthem, and giving vent to their delight and sym- pathy by repeated cheers to every ship. It was a delightful day, and one of the grandest sights I have ever seen as we lay to by the side of the last ship in the fleet — the Neptune, — and looked down along the majestic line, and saw the tremendous set of white teeth from a thousand cannon-mouths, smiling at us as friendly this time as they hit us hard fifty- three years ago." It Avas in Kioge Bay, on the 4th, THE BELTS. 107 that the Admiral received information of the declara- tion of war against Russia; and announced it by signal to the ships, some of which hoisted signals to the effect, " We are ready and willing." 2. THE BELTS. — KIEL BAY. The middle passage into the Baltic, or the Great Belt, lies between the islands of Zealand on the east and Fimen on the west, and terminates on the south with those of Langeland, Laland, and Falster. It is the broadest of the three entrances, varying in width from eight to twenty miles. Though almost everywhere of intricate navigation, there is water deep enough to float the largest vessels, except near the shores. Admiral Sir Charles Maurice Pole, who succeeded Nelson in command of the Baltic fleet, was the first who passed the channel with line-of battle-ships, working through it against adverse winds. There are no places of the slightest conse- quence upon its coasts, except Nyborg, at the upper extremity of a long fiord in Funen, a town of some importance in the middle ages, and now the chief pilot- station in the strait. All merchantmen proceeding throua^h the Great Belt are bound to touch here, or at Slip's Havn, at the entrance of the fiord, in order to pay the duties, and pass the quarantine-oflice. A 108 THE BALTIC. regular ferry crosses the channel at this point to Zealand; and nearly midway, the little island of Sprogo occasionally serves as a temporary halting- place for passengers. It has a telegraph on the brow of a gentle hill for the transmission of intelligence, and a house of public accommodation adjoining, erected by the government ; for frequently, in the winter season, the accumulation of drift-ice compels the mail to stop here, and travellers likewise, till the passage opens. So well known is this detention for its discomfort, that the Danes commonly express their dislike of an obnoxious individual by wishing him at Sprogo. Funen was the cradle of the Re- formation in Denmark. Hans Tausen, who obtained the name of the Danish Luther, was born in an obscure village on the island, and brought up in the cathedral school of Odense, the capital. Here, in 1527, the Diet was held, under Frederic I., which granted perfect liberty of conscience to the Keformed party, cut oif the dependence of the bishops on the Papal See, and vested the crown with the right of confirming their election by the chapters. Hans Christian Andersen, the popular writer of the present day, so Avell known to the English public, is a native of this provincial capital. The western gate of the Baltic, or the Little Belt, KIEL BAY. 109 separates the island of Funen from the south of Jut- land and the north of Sleswick, portions of the European continent. This is the narrowest of the straits, the least frequented, and the most dangerous, owino; to the strong^ current which runs throuo;h it from south to north. At the southern extremity it is upwards of ten miles across ; but northward the opposite shores converge towards each other till they form the Narrows at the northern entrance, Avhere the distance between them is scarcely three quarters of a mile. Passing vessels pay the customary dues at Fredericia, near this point, on the continental side of the channel, and hoist their colours to the castle. Haderslev, an ancient and still flourishing town on the Sleswick shore, is of historical note, as the place where the founder of the present reigning dynasty. Count Christian of Oldenburg, was raised to the throne of Denmark in 1448. South of the Belts, the extreme western arm of the Baltic, under the general denomination of Kiel Bay, washes the shores of Sleswick and Holstein, and maintains a nearly uniform depth of from nine to twelve fathoms. The coast scenery of the duchies is eminently pleasing, combining moderately high cliffs, deep fiords, fine timber, fertile fields, neat towns and villages, occupied by an industrious, in- no THE BALTIC. telligent, and thriving population. The spacious fiord of Flensborg stretches upwards of twenty- miles inland, and is in general deep and wide. The town of that name, at its upper extremity, has a school of navigation, a college, and a well frequented harbour, admitting of large vessels coming along- side of its quays. Another inlet, still longer, but in places so narroAV as to appear like a river, runs up to Sleswick, the antique capital of the duchy. Kiel stands on a third fiord, forming a harbour almost without a parallel, enclosed with finely wooded and most lovely shores. This little Holstein town is one of the most agreeable to be met with for a transient stoppage. It has a university of some repute, pos- sessing a library of 70,000 volumes, with small but interesting; and well-arrano-ed collections of natural objects. The charming environs annually attract a number of inland visitors, intent on recreation and sea-bathing. Its importance has greatly advanced since a railroad connected it with Altona on the Elbe, and from thence Avith all Germany, Belgium, and France. One of the best routes between Eng-land and Denmark is by sea from London or Hull to Hamburg, and thence by rail from Altona to Kiel, which has regular steam communication with Copen- hagen. The total distance is about 650 miles. Crowds of Holsteiners and north German people BOllNHOLM. Ill have recently visited Kiel, to view the splendid British and French men of war at anchor in the bay, and witness their gunnery practice. 3. BOKNHOLM. — THE ERTHOLMS. These are the most advanced possessions of Den- mark in the Baltic, and are in fact its only territories situated in the open sea. The large island of Born- holm is upwards of eighty miles from the nearest point of the Danish archipelago, and but little more than a quarter of that distance from the south-east extremity of Sweden. It geographically belongs therefore to the latter peninsula, and is often united to it by the ice in winter. The island forms a rhom- boid averaging twenty miles in length by eleven in breadth ; and contains a population of 27,000, of Danish extraction, and speaking the Danish language, but with a considerable infusion of German words. The shores are high, rocky, and treeless. Large barren heaths occupy the centre, where the land rises in the Rytterkneght Hill 509 feet above the level of the sea, which is considerably above the highest point of Denmark Proper. Building-stone, dark blue marble, potters' clay, and some coal are wrought on the island, chiefly for export to the capital. Agri- culture, fishing, and a few simple manufactures, as wooden clocks, earthenware, tiles and bricks, with 112 THE BALTIC. home-spun linens, are the principal occupations. An ingenious native having accidentally taken to pieces a wooden clock imported from abroad, attempted the construction of another from the model. His success was so great that others folloAved the example, till wooden clocks began, and still continue, to be a prin- cipal article of export. Ronne, the capital and re- sidence of the governor, on the western side of the island, has a considerable trade, despatches several fishing vessels to the Northern Ocean, and has regular intercourse by packets through the summer with Copenhagen. But Bornholm, cut off from commu- nication with the world in winter, is a somewhat secluded spot, and was especially isolated prior to the age of steam. At present, in some of the villages, the inhabitants display extraordinary simplicity with reference to foreign objects. Their island — a mere speck upon the map of Europe, if it obtains notice — has all the importance of an imperial realm in their esteem. Not many years ago, a sailing-vessel under stress of weather made for Bornholm. Finding a quiet anchorasre on the leeward side of the island, some of the passengers went on shore. " Upon reaching the land," says one of the party, " we made for the village which stood nearest our berth. Some young girls, whom we disturbed drawing water from a well, fled BORNHOLM. 113 upon our appearance with marks of terror on their countenances, and took refuge in the houses. Wlien we entered the yillage, we found only a few old men and women, Avhom our aspect did not scare into flight, as the more youthful population ventured only an occasional peep from the doorways, doubtless con- sidering us as some terrible monsters escaped from the deep. As the Danish language is spoken upon the island, we were unable at first to hold any inter- course with the people around us ; but at last a person in a somewhat better garb than his neighbours advanced towards us, and in the German dialect in- vited us into his mansion. This we found to be the hotel of the village, and its occupier, as he himself positively assured us, the greatest man in the com- munity. Though his house or cottage was upon a small scale, and as to furniture very bare, yet it was clean and orderly. It was, however, the most sump- tuous abode in the parish, save that of the priest, who, our landlord informed us, lived about two miles up the country, in a very stately and magnificent re- sidence. He likewise gave us to understand, that he was the only individual in the place who eat mutton to his dinner on certain days of the week, his fellow- citizens living upon fish and barley-bread the whole year round. ' Yes,' said he, ^ all the people look up to I 114 THE BALTIC. me, except on Sundays, when the priest comes down to preach. Ah I he is a great man, that priest ! But I have seen much of the world also. I have been three times in Elsinore, and once in Kostock ; and few can say as much. Yes, upon my word, I have seen a deal ; so much, that the governor himself sometimes asks my opinion when he comes this way. And he is a greater man than the priest ! ' As he thought that some doubts might still remain on our minds as to the importance he assumed, he proceeded to du'ect om* attention to the articles of fiu'niture in the two rooms he occupied, which, although of the most ordinary description, were in his eyes evidences of a superior luxury. Of his bed he seemed singularly proud. * See that bed,' said he, * it is indeed a very fine bed. I assm'e you it is all stuffed Avith wool. But,' added he with a sigh, ' it is after all not so grand as the priest's bed.'" Upon this vaunted func- tionary, the Lutheran clergyman of the parish, being visited, he was found in the back-yard of his dwelling, Avithout coat or waistcoat, and with his striped shirt- sleeves tucked up above the elbows, killing one of his pigs, though not for the supply of his own table, but for sale to the neighbouring garrison. The Danish territories advance about ten miles further into the Baltic, and terminate with a cluster of little rocky islets, strongly fortified, collectively THE ERTHOLMS. 115 called the Ertliolms, but separately bearing the names of Christianso, Fredericsholm, and Gra^sliolm. The narrow sound between them forms a safe small har- bour, of great service to trading vessels. Christianso has a citadel, in the tower of which a revolving light is maintained. The common occurrence of the prefix Christian in the nomenclature of Denmark, especially that of its maritune localities, is an honour paid to the memory of Christian IV., who distinguished himself in many naval battles against the Swedes, and is the hero of several spirited ballads. He paid a visit to James I. of England, his brother-in-laAv, and became a popular personage in London. Both kings sig- nalised the meeting with a boisterous revelry, more in harmony with the times of Scandinavian paganism than with the seventeenth century. " King Christian stood by the high mast, *Mid smoke and spray ; His fierce artillery flash'd so fast, That Swedish wrecks were round him cast. And lost each hostile stern and mast, 'Mid smoke and spray. Fly ! Sweden, fly ! nor hope to win, Where Christian dauntless mingles in The fray ! " Thus commences one of the national sonofs of Denmark. 1 2 116 THE BALTIC. CHAP. IV. THE GERMANIC SHORES. HAFFS AND NEHRUNGS. — STETTINER, FRISCHE, AND CU- RISCHE HAFFS. — ORGANIC CHARACTER OF DEPOSITS. — CITY AND TERRITORY OF LUBECK. MEMORIALS OF LUBECK. DUCHY OF MECKLENBURG. — WISMAR. DOBBERAN THE HELIGE-DAM. ROSTOCK. GROTIUS, BLUCHER, NELSON. PRUSSIA. ISLAND OF RUGEN. — STRALSUND. — STETTIN. — DANTZIC. ITS HISTORY CORN TRADE. MAGAZINE ISLAND FAHRENHEIT. HEVELIUS. — COPERNICUS KONIGSBERG. MEMEL. RUSSIAN FRONTIER. The southern coast of the Baltic, extending from the borders of Holsteln, through Mecklenburg and Prussia, to the Russian frontier, though not without some peculiar natural features, is of far less physical interest than the northern. But its mercantile im- portance is incomparably greater, comprising the out-ports of the corn-growing countries of central Europe. Expanses of fresh water, haffs or lakes, distinguish the shores. They are the estuaries of rivers, shallow but of considerable extent, communi- cating with the sea, but rendered lake-like by the narrowness of the outlets, and the fluviatile quality of the water. THE GEKMANIC SHORES. 117 The Stettiner-liafF, the first of these expanses en- countered on passing from west to east, receives the discharge of the Oder, has an area of 180 geogra- phical square miles, and effects its efflux by three confined channels, formed by the level wooded Islands of Usedom and Wollin, with the adjoining mainland. The rest are bounded to seaward by tongues of sand, called nehrungs, of extraordinary length in propor- tion to their breadth, and variously flat, or undulating with hillocks which the winds have piled. Thus the mouth of the Vistula is enclosed on the north-western side by a sandy promontory, eighteen miles long by only a quarter of a mile broad, terminating in the well- known Hela of Dantzic, marked by a revolving light. Another of these singular formations commences eastward of the corn-exporting city, thu'ty-eight mfles long by less than one mile broad. It encloses the Frische-haff, the estuary of the Pregel, which has an area of 250 square miles, and opens to the sea by a narrow strait, half a mile wide, said to have been formed by an inundation of the lake in the be- ginning of the sixteenth century. A third sandy ridge lies immediately to the north, fifty-two miles long by one and a quarter in average breadth, almost entirely destitute of vegetation, but occupied by a few scattered hamlets. It bounds the Curische-haff, I 3 118 THE BALTIC. into which the Niemcn discharges itself, an expanse of 470 square miles, connected with the sea by Memel Deeps, a passage about 300 yards wide. It will afford some idea of these curious features of the coast-line if we suppose our own Landguard Point, off Har- wich, to be continued parallel to the shore to Yarmouth ; or conceive of a spit of sand running out from Dover, to be prolonged to Beachy Head, averaging fifteen miles from the strand, yet termi- nating Avithin a stone's throw of the chalky pro- montory. In the year 1839, Ehrenberg of Berlin, the great microscopolist, examined the sediment deposited by the rivers in these land-locked expanses, brought up by dredging machines in the harbours, and made a striking discovery respecting its composition. He found it to consist largely of living microscopic organisms, and of the empty shells of siliceously- enveloped dead individuals. In the harbour of Wis- mar, these insignificant existences formed from one- twentieth to one-fourth of the entire mass. Similar experiments on the deposits at Pillau, the port of Konigsberg, yielded a like result; and at Swine- miinde, the port of Stettin, analyses of its mud-banks gave a proportion of from one-third to one-half of distinguishable organic bodies. The deposits of the THE GEKMANIC SHORES — LUBECK. 119 Nile and Elbe have since been ascertained to be similarly constituted. It thus appears, in certain cases at least, that the choking up of harbours and estuaries — a process in rapid action in various places, requiring the constant use of the dredging machine to prevent injurious accumulation — is not due solely to the mechanical transport of soil, but in part to infusorial animalcules wholly undistinguishable by the naked eye, but making up, by numbers too prodigious for arithmetic to express, for excessive in- dividual minuteness. It is also certain, from this dis- covery, that there are subaqueous formations at present in process precisely analogous to the ex- tensive masses of hard rock, as the polishing slate of Bohemia, which the microscope has shown to be almost enth'ely organic. Not less than 750 miles of coast, following its sinuosities, intervene between the Holstein border of Denmark and the Russian frontier station to the north of Memel. Of this extent about 650 miles belons: to Prussia, and the remainder to Mecklen- burg and Llibeck. The free city of Liibeck stands on a moderate eminence by the winding Trave, ten miles up the navigable river, and has Travemiinde for its ship- ping out-port, a small fortified town and fashionable I 4 120 THE BALTIC. bathing-place, situated at the mouth of the river, as the name denotes. Though shorn completely of its ancient glory, when, as the head of the Hanseatic League, its fleets commanded the Baltic, its voice decided in the affairs of kingdoms, while far-extended commercial relations rendered it the Carthage of the North, it still possesses a considerable transit trade, has opulent burghers, and retains many striking memorials of lost importance. Historical associa- tions — houses, old, lofty, and picturesque, with their gable-ends facing the streets — church towers and spires out of the perpendicular — an antique cathe- dral and town-hall — rich wood carvings and examples of feudal fortification — invest the city with peculiar interest. The Dom or Cathedral, and the Marien- kirche, St. Mary's Church, contain many curious objects. The latter has a celebrated Dance of Death, a pictorial satire on the vanity of mankind, with an astronomical clock, and is in itself one of the finest churches of Noi'th Germany, in elegantly pointed Gothic. The senate-house or town-hall, though somewhat defaced by modern repairs, is a striking turretted structure, in ancient Gothic, with several noble halls, in one of which, now divided into com- partments, the deputies of the eighty-five Hanse Towns held their triennial sessions. It is now used THE GERMANIC SHORES — LUBECK. 121 by the authorities of the city-j who keep up the memory of former consequence in their style and title, the common councillors being the "well wise Sirs," the syndics " high wise," and the head bur- gomaster " Your Magnificence." Of the old fortifi- cations four gates remain. The Holstein Gate is an eminently beautiful specimen of ancient feudal architecture. Huge ramparts of earth, planted with trees and laid out with walks and drives, contribute to the ornament of the town and the convenience of its inhabitants. Liibeck now contains a population of 25,000, commands an adjoining strip of territory of about 100 square miles, and is bound to furnish a contino-ent of 490 men to the Germanic Confedera- tion. It had once a standing army of its own 50,000 strong. Sir Godfrey Kneller, the painter, and Mosheim, the ecclesiastical historian, were natives of Liibeck. The city was founded by Adolphus II., Count of Holstein, towards the middle of the twelfth century. It was soon afterwards ceded to Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony, who surrounded it with walls, established the magistracy, granted various trading privileges, and originated the celebrated code of laws, called das Lubische Recht, which many other towns adopted as a model of government. It was 122 THE BALTIC. subsequently su])ject to the Danes; but in 1226 the citizens expelled the garrison, and placed themselves under the protection of the Emperor Frederic II., who confirmed aU their privileges, and declared Llibeck a free imperial city. From this period it rapidly grew to be a place of great trade, and be- came the principal emporium for the commerce of the Baltic, extending its dealings to Italy and the Levant. It took the lead in the League of the Hanse Towns. At a period when navigation was still imperfect, and when the seas were infested with pirates, it was of great importance to maintain a safe intercourse by land between Llibeck and Hamburg, as by that means the long and difficult passage of the Sound was avoided. Accordingly, a proclamation of the magistrates of Liibeck is extant, dated in 1304, announcing that they used the same mint and the same coins as the citizens of Hamburg ; and that they maintained, at their own expense, thirty-two horsemen, and the magistrates of Ham- burg eight horsemen, for the protection of merchants and merchandise going by land between the two cities, stating the sums charged for their escort. The Hanseatic confederacy embraced every con- siderable city in the countries stretching from Flan- ders to the Gulf of Finland ; and was more than THE GERMANIC SHORES — LUBECK. 123 a, match for the most powerful monarchs. These cities were distributed into four classes or circles. Liibeck Avas at the head of the first circle, and had under it Hamburg, Bremen, Rostock, Wismar, and other places. Cologne was at the head of the second circle, with twenty-nine towns under it. Brunswick Avas at the head of the third circle, consisting of thirteen towns. Dantzic presided over the fourth, which included eight towns in its vicinity, besides several that were more remote. The supreme au- thority of the alliance was vested in the deputies of the dilFerent towns assembled in con2:ress. To this office any one might be elected. Hence the assem- bly embraced politicians, artists, lawyers, clergymen, as well as merchants, though the latter, of course, predominated. Its decrees were formally commu- nicated to the maojistrates of the cities at the head of each circle, by whom they were made known to the subordinate towns ; and the most vigorous measures were adopted to secure obedience to them. The meetings were almost always held at Liibeck, where the archives were kept. One of its burgomasters presided ; and, during the recess, its magistrates had the sole, or at least the principal, direction of the affairs of the League. This distinction of the city contributed to its aggrandisement. In the middle 124 THE BALTIC. of the fourteenth century, the pestilence called the " black death " is said to have swept away upwards of eighty thousand of the inhabitants, without re- ducing their number more than one-half; and two centuries later, in April 1580, between fifty and and sixty thousand citizens able to bear arms were numbered, which woidd certainly imply a popula- tion of two hundred thousand souls. The decay of Liibeck dates from the decline of the confederacy, as a consequence of the general improvement of society. At the last general assembly held within its walls, in 1630, the deputies merely appeared to declare their secession from it. The deeds and re- nown of this celebrated association survive in his- tory ; and its name is still retained by Liibeck, Hamburg, and Bremen, which the treaty of Vienna in 1815 recognised as the free Hanseatic cities of the Germanic Confederation. Immediately eastward of the Trave, the territory of Mecklenburg- Schwerin commences, for the most part a sandy plain, interspersed with forests and a prodigious number of small lakes, with some remark- able banks of shingle on the shore. Wismar, a con- siderable mediaeval town and shipping-port, at the extremity of a bay ; Dobberan, a bathing-place, with a grand ducal palace, fine beech woods, and " holy THE GERMANIC SHORES — ROSTOCK. 125 dike," a shingle wall ; and Kostock, on an eminence in a flat but fertile country, are the chief maritime localities. The ^' holy dike," helige-dam, is a mound of flat stones, of different sizes and colours, which serves as a barrier against the sea. It extends more than two miles in length, is 15 yards in breadth, and from 12 to 16 feet high. According to popular story it was thrown up in a single night to pro- tect the country from inundation. The dike was undoubtedly raised for that purpose by the hands of man ; and is probably a monument of the northern tribes who once occupied the coast, raised at an un- recorded date. The stones are polished, joined with- out cement, and various figures may be traced upon them. Rostock, though not the capital of the grand duchy, is its largest and most important town, con- taining upwards of 20,000 inhabitants. It stands upon the Warnow, a river nearly half a mile broad, which forms the harbour, and falls into the Baltic after a further course of about nine miles. In 1850 nearly 1000 vessels entered and cleared at the port. St. Peter's Church is remarkable for its lofty spire, rising 420 feet high, and forming an important sea-mark. The University, founded in 1419, with which Kepler was for a time connected, has twenty- three professors, a library of 80,000 volumes, a 126 THE BALTIC. museum of natural history, a cabinet of medals, and a botanic garden. The celebrated Grotius ended his days at Bostock. Upon leaving Sweden, a violent storm drove his vessel to and fro in the Baltic, and obli2:ed him to land on the Pomeranian shore. But he was so overcome with fatigue, and ill from ex- posure to the wind and rain, that in a few days he died. The house in which he breathed his last is pointed out in one corner of the market-place. The Blucher Platz, the name of a square, commemorates General Blucher, a native of the town. His statue, by Schudow, is in the centre. The house in which he was bom, in 1742, still exists. Lord Nelson, during his cruise in the Baltic, lay for some days at anchor off Bostock. He received the Grand Duke, a brother of Queen Charlotte, on board his ship ; and several inland towns sent deputations, with their books of public record, requesting the insertion of his autograph. The coast beyond Rostock speedily becomes Prus- sian, and forms a spacious bay, with the island of Biigen on the north-western side, and the Stettiner- haiF, at the south extremity. This island, the largest belonging to Germany, is of singular form, being cut up by indentations of the sea into a series of peninsulas, and of very picturesque aspect. The THE GERMANIC SHORES — RUGEN. 127 surface strikingly contrasts with that of the mainland, which is flat and uninteresting in the extreme, pre- senting a pleasing diversity of hill and dale, many well-wooded slopes, and wild romantic ravines. The highest point in one of the peninsulas, composed of lofty and grotesquely grouped chalk cliffs, bears the name of the Konigstuhl, " king's chair," or " King Frederic William's chair," from which a flight of 600 steps leads down to the beach. Riigen was one of the last strongholds of Paganism in the north. Sites of temples, stone coffins, jars full of bones and ashes, tumuli, and cromlechs or stones of sacrifice, are met with. These are traces of a barbarous people, whom Odoacer, king of the Rligii, nearly fourteen centuries ago, led from this remote spot and the neighboiu'ing shores of Pomerania, to the con- quest of Italy and Rome. The island was considered sacred to the goddess Hertha. Tacitus describes the site of her worship. An ancient beech forest, con- taining an oval-shaped pool, called the Black Lake, from the sombre shade of the adjoining trees, is still regarded with feelings of superstition, and believed to be identical with the place noticed by the historian. Riigen is remarkable for its fertility, and has a very creditable population, alike distinguished for industry and hospitality, especially to unfortunate mariners. 128 THE BALTIC. Tlie cretaceous rocks have contributed, by their de- composition and intermixture with vegetable and alluvial loams, to form a soil equally adapted to agri- culture and grazing. Humane laws respecting wrecks have been in force from an early date, pro- viding protection for stranded property and relief to distressed seamen. During the Thirty Years' War, the Swedes gained possession of Riigen, and held it till the year 1815, when it was ceded to Prussia. Opposite the island, across a narrow strait, stands Stralsund, in the midst of great lakes and marshes, so as to be entirely surrounded by water, and con- nected with the continent by bridges. This busy commercial town, formerly the capital of Swedish Pomerania, is celebrated for its long and ineffective siege by Wallenstein, during the religious wars of the seventeenth century ; and as the scene of one of Charles XII. 's romantic adventures at a subsequent period. Wallenstein had sworn to take it, " even though it were fastened by chains to heaven ; " but he was compelled to reth'e from its walls with great loss. Charles XII. arrived beneath them as a fugitive from Turkey ; and, overcome with fatigue, he was found asleep on the outside by a sentinel on duty. The stone on which he reposed is preserved in the town-hall. Stettin, one of the most flourish- THE GEKMANIC SHORES — STETTIN. 129 ino; towns and strono;est fortresses of Prussia, with a population of 40,000, occupies an eminence on the left bank of the Oder. The river forms the spacious estuary called after the town a few miles below it ; and communicates with the Baltic chiefly through the channel between the isles of Usedom and Wollin, the ordinary" line of navigation. Gustavus Adolphus, at the commencement of his renowned campaign, landed in the former island with his army, and set his troops an instructive example, by falling upon his knees on the beach in prayer, rising to work with his own hands in throwing up entrenchments. Two Russian empresses were born at Stettin: — Sophia Augusta Frederica, Princess of Anhalt-Zerbst, after- wards Catherine the Great ; and Sophia Dorothea, Princess of Wurtemberg, the mother of the Emperors Alexander and Nicholas. Their fathers were the local governors at the time of their birth. The magistrates having complimented Catherine on as- cending the Russian tlirone, she ordered that a copy of every gold medal struck in Russia should be given to the town, which now possesses nearly a hundred of them. From this point the Prussian coast is altogether without interest, till, after a long course of northerly trending, it abruptly turns to the south, forms the K 130 THE BALTIC. Gulf of Dantzic, and, resuming its fonner direction, extends due north to the Russian frontier, marked with the sandy ridges and large haiFs previously noticed. Dantzic, the principal port of the kingdom, and a first-class fortress, with 65,000 inhabitants, is situated on the left bank of the western main arm of the Vistula, between three and four miles from its outlet in the gvdf. It is probably as old as the tenth century, and was held for a considerable period by the Knights of the Teutonic Order, imder whom the present cathedral was founded. Upon shaking off their yoke, it became a free city, and was a principal member of the Hanseatic League, but accepted with certain limitations the protection of the kings of Poland. More than one attempt was made by the Poles to become its real masters. In repelling these attacks, the citizens received such important aid from a number of Scotch residents, whose ancestors had settled in the place as weavers, that they were in- vested with the privileges of freemen. A member of the Douglas family headed the colonists, and, to commemorate their A^alour, the arms of Scotland were set over the gate whence they sallied out upon the beleaguering army. The district where they resided still bears the name of Schottland. The city re- THE GERMANIC SHORES — DANTZIC. 131 mainecl independent, governed by its own magis- trates, whose jurisdiction extended to a space of forty miles round, till the infamous partition of Poland, at the close of the last century, when it was assigned to the Prussian monarchy. Its capture by the French in 1807, under Marshal Lefebre, whom Napoleon created Duke of Dantzic, in honour of the event, and its recapture by the allies in 1813, are terrible episodes in its annals. Ramparts, bastions, redoubts, and wet-ditches, vastly strengthened since the war, with the lowness of the ground, and gigantic works to lay the adjoining country under water, render it as impregnable as any position can be made by arti- ficial means. On approaching Dantzic by land, lines of horse- chestnuts on each side of the road give a pleasing ap- pearance to the suburbs in summer ; and country- houses suggest ideas of citizen comfort and opulence. But if expectations of interior elegance and grandeur are raised, they will be disappointed. It is simply a large town of narrow streets and quaint-looking dwellings, somewhat gloomy, with few public build- in^s deserving notice besides the cathedral and ex- change. The celebrated painting of the Last Judg- ment, attributed to John Van Eyck, commonly called the Dantzic Picture, is the great attraction of the K 2 132 THE BALTIC. cathedral. Commercially estimated, Dantzic ranks with the greatest marts in the world, as the emporium of the produce of the fertile countries watered by the Vistula. It stands at the head of all the corn- shipping ports, as many as half a million quarters of wheat having been shipped in a single year, besides large quantities of flour, rye, barley, oats, linseed, hemp, flax, and timber. The Vistula rises in Aus- trian Silesia, and becomes navigable at Cracow, a dis- tance of 430 miles from its mouth. From its upper basin, according to Mr. Jacob's Report, the wheat is conveyed chiefly in open flats, rudely constructed of fir, and covered with as rudely made mats of straw. The grain is heaped upon them, and left during the voyage exposed to all the inclemency of the weather, and the pilfering of the crews. The barges are floated by the stream, oars being only used at the head and stern, to steer clear of the sandbanks, which are numerous and shifting, and direct the boats under the several bridges. A small boat commonly precedes, with a man in it employed in sounding. Owing to this tedious mode of navigation, the voyage lasts for several weeks, and even months. Upon rain falling, it soon causes the wheat to grow, and the craft becomes like a little floating meadow. But the shooting fibres speedily form a thick mat, which THE GEEMANIC SHORES — DANTZIC. 133 prevents the moisture from penetrating to any depth, and protects the main bulk. Upon reaching the out- port, the barges are broken up and sold, the crews returning home on foot. The green surface of the cargoes is thrown aside. The remainder is spread out upon the ground, exposed to the sun and air, and protected Avhen rain is apprehended, as well as during the night, by stacking, and a covering of linen cloths. A long interval thus elapses from the commence- ment of the voyage till the wheat is sufficiently dry to be warehoused. The granaries are on an island in the heart of the city, formed by two arms of the Mottlau, a tributary of the Vistula. It bears the name of Speicherinsel, or " Magazine Island." The buildings are of six or seven stories, furnished with an ample allowance of windows, which are left open in dry weather to ventilate the corn. It is usually turned over three times a week, and thrown as high in the air as the ceilings will admit. Hemp, flax, and other produce are stored in the same place. To guard against fire, no lights are ever admitted to the island, and no person is allowed to live upon it. Drawbridges connecting it with the streets are raised at night ; and formerly, perhaps at present, from twenty to thirty dogs were turned loose for further K 3 13-1: THE BALTIC. protection. Ships are loaded with remarkable dis- patch by gangs of porters, who will complete a cargo of 500 quarters of wheat in three or four hours. The export of grain from this port has been vastly increased since the abolition of the British corn laws. The total annual exports are valued at somewhat less than 1,000,000/., and the imports at 300,000/. Since the commencement of the war, the postal authorities of the city are said to have had their nerves not a little tried by the extent of the mail between England and the Baltic fleet, Avhich passes by way of Belgium, Xorth Germany, and Dantzic, where a steamer weekly arrives from the squadron and departs. It has been mentioned with astonish- ment, that in the course of fourteen days, 8500 English letters passed through their hands. Fahrenheit, the optician, who invented the ther- mometer bearing his name, and Hevelius, the astro- nomer, were native Danzicers. The latter became one of its merchant-princes and magistrates, esta- blished an observatory in connection with his house, Avas visited by our countryman, Halley, at the re- quest of the Royal Society, to solve a problem of observation, and published an account of the transit of Venus in 1639, as seen by the youthfid English- man, HoiTox, in the neighbourhood of Liverpool, — THE GERMANIC SHORES — FRAUENBURG. 135 the first human being who ever witnessed the pheno- menon. Sites of interest in the history of theoretical and practical astronomy lie to the eastward, Elbing, Frauenberg, and Konigsberg, on the inner shore of the Frische-haiF. Copernicus, born on the Vistula, spent the greater part of his life at Frauenberg, a small old town, partly seated on a height, over- looking the waters of the haff, and those of the more distant Gulf of Dantzic. Here, in a house on the Domberg, or hill of the cathedral, in which he held a canonry, his famous treatise on the motions of the celestial orbs was written, which, in the expressive though somewhat hyperbolical lan- guage of Tycho Brahe, *^ moved the earth from its foundations, stopped the revolution of the firmament, made the sun stand still, and subverted the whole ancient order of the universe." In the neighbouring town of Elbing, the sagacious theorist was publicly satirised on the stage for his opinions ; and after his decease, the papal ban of excommunication visited his name, which was not revoked till the year 1821. INIeanwhile Copernicus slept peacefully in his grave in the cathedral of Frauenberg, where rude spheres and a half effaced name mark his resting place. Konigsberg has a university and observatory, of K. 4 136 THE BALTIC. celebrity in the present age from the astronomical labours of the late Professor Bessel. This is the most important city of Prussia, after Berlin and Breslau, containing 80,000 inhabitants. It may be considered the native place of the monarchy, for it was here, at the commencement of the last century, that Frederic, Elector of Brandenburg, placed the crown upon his own head, becoming the first King of Prussia. It stands upon the little river Pregel, and carries on an active trade in the same produce as Dantzic. Vessels too large for the shallow waters of the half, unload and receive their cargoes at the entrance, in the harbour of Pillau. From fifteen to sixteen hundred merchantmen annually enter and sail from the port. Konigsberg is very irregularly built, and has an unj)repossessing exterior. The palace, now the government house, was the residence of the Grand Masters of the Teutonic Order, afterwards of the Electors of Brandenburg; and in recent times the Prussian royal family found shelter within its walls, when driven from Berlin by the French. It is a large unsightly building, with one apartment of interest in itself, called the Amber Chamber, from being adorned with the mineral, obtained from the neighbouring shores. The cathedral contains the grave of Kant, tlie metaphysician ; and a fine marble THE GERMANIC SHORES — MEMEL. 137 monument of the Margrave Albert, who founded the university in 1555. Several autograph letters of Luther to his wife, Catherine Bora, with the original of the summons and safe-conduct he received to appear at the Diet of Worms, are preserved in the university library. The fields of Friedland and Eylau, the scenes of sanguinary battles in the campaigns of Napoleon, are in the neighbourhood of Konigsberg ; and on the road between it and Memel is Tilsit, the site of his interview with the Emperor Alexander. Memel, the most northern town in the Prussian dominions, is situated at the entrance of the Curische-haiF, or Bay of the Cures, the name of an ancient people who dwelt upon its banks, still familiar to some of the fishermen. The town is the central point of the Baltic timber trade, brought down by the Niemen from the Lithuanian forests, principally from the estates of Prince Radzivil. The quays and streets exhibit a lively scene and a motley throng in the trading season, — German and Russian merchants — English, French, and Dutch captains and sailors — Lithuanian boatmen, foresters, and farmers — Jew dealers and pedlars — and occasionally some country people of singular appearance and costume are seen, the Samaitish inhabitants of the adjoining tract of 138 THE BALTIC. Samogltia, a wide-spread branch of the Finnish race. They still wear the mean -looking ash -coloured woollen cloak, are as small in then' stature, and possess as diminutive a breed of horses, as when Herberstein saw them in the sixteenth centmy. In- termingled with a population of larger growth, the imperial ambassador was deceived into the remark, that, while some of the men of the countiy are tall, and have children who attain an equal height, the offspring of others, " bv a sort of freak of natm'e, are extremely small, and decided dwarfs." Xortli of Memel, the country is a naked desert of loose sand, bounded by the sea on the one hand, and by pine forests and cultivated tracts on the other, discernible from the road in the remote dis- tance. At about twelve miles on this desolate plain, the traveller sees a barrier before liim, which marks the Prussian frontier. Some neutral ground conducts him to another barrier, with the Cossack lance pro- jecting above it. Passing this, he enters Russia, and is led off to the custom-house in the village of Polano;en, to undero-o the ordeal of admission to the Empire of the Czar. Prussia, neutral in the present war, is reaping a rich harvest from it at her eastern ports, Dantzic, Elbing, Konicrsbers:, and ]\lemel; especially at the THE GER3IAXIC SHORES. 139 latter, owing to the liberal concessions of the British and French Goyemments to neutral powers. The effect of the blockade of the Russian ports has not been the stoppage of the foreign commerce of the country, but the transference of it to the adjoin- ing state as the medium ; except in the instance of the export of timber and the import of coals, which are far too heavy and cumbrous for overland trans- port. From St. Petersburg and Riga to Memel and Konigsberg, a caravan system has been organised and is caiTied on with considerable regularity. Goods for Russia, as cotton, sugar, wines, spices, and other colonial produce, are landed at the PiTLSsian ports, and forwarded to their destination ; the same waggons returning with Russian produce, as hemp, flax, tallow, bristles, linseed, and grain, for export to Great Britain, France, HoUand, or Bel- ofium. Thus the Prussian merchants srain bv the coromission on this ti^aflic : and the government profits by the increase of the customs' duties. One of the custom-houses on the frontier has taken as much as 1000 thalers a day for import duties ; and as many as 500 cartloads of hemp and flax have frequently arrived per day at ^Memel. Thi'oughout the summer, the town has presented an extraordinary spectacle. Eveiy wai*ehouse, coach-house, stable. 140 THE BALTIC. and outhouse has been literally crammed with mer- chandise ; the streets and open spaces have been piled with it; while upwards of 100 ships have been kept lying in the harbour, unable to discharge their cargoes on account of all the landing-places being occupied. Landlords have realised rents, tavern and shopkeepers have obtained prices, comparable to those which resulted from the rush of emigration to Melbourne. 141 CHAP. V. THE SWEDISH SHORES. CHARACTER OF THE COAST. — THE SKARGABD. CARL- SCRONA. ISOLATED CHURCHES. KALMAR. CHRIS- TIAN IV. — OLAND. — GOTTLAND. — ITS IMPORTANCE. WISBY, THE CAPITAL. — ITS ANCIENT CONSEQUENCE. PRESENT REMAINS. CHURCHES. — TOMBSTONES. FARO SOUND. ARRIVAL OF BRITISH FLEET, SKARGARD NEAR STOCKHOLM. THE CITY. PALACE. RIDDERHOLM CHURCH OPERA HOUSE. ^ ASSASSINATION OF GUS- TAVUS III. SWEDISH ROYAL FAMILY. UPSAL. CATHEDRAL AND UNIVERSITY. — LINN^US. A TRA- VELLED BOOK, — OLD UPSAL. ADVENTURE OP BER- NADOTTE. SIGTUNA. GULF OF BOTHNIA GEFLE. NORALA. HERNOSAND PITEA AND LULEA. RISE OF THE COAST. HAPARANDA. — POLICY OF SWEDEN. KING OSCAR IN GOTTLAND. SWEDISH NAVY AND ARMY. The sea-board of the Scandinavian peninsula is strikingly diiFerent in its natural features to the Ger- manic coast. Instead of sandy promontories and downs enclosing large sheets of unbroken water, it is characterised by an enormous assemblage of rocky islands, and insulated points of rock, which no map can represent, owing to their number ; and by long narrow fiords, tortuously penetrating the mainland. 142 THE BALTIC. Sweden, according to a common saying, has two coasts, one inner and the other outer. The inner is an integral part of its main mass ; the outer is the fringe of islands closely bordering upon it. They are almost all of insignificant extent, are never ele- vated, and have a very monotonous aspect, the sur- faces being rounded, and either entirely naked, or clothed with stunted pine and fir. Small vessels and boats navigate the intervening channels, and find smooth water in them Avhen the outward sea is tempest-tost. But this can only be done with safety by experienced pilots, as there are innumerable sunk rocks ; and the na\^gation is usually suspended alto- gether during the night. Besides the fixed islands, or those which form a component part of the sub- jacent and adjoining land, a vast number of erratic blocks lie scattered upon shoals, which have probably been drifted thither by the ice. These, along with their more established neighbom's, are observed to have increased in height and dimensions within the last half century, owing to that process of gradual elevation to which great part of Scandinavia is sub- ject. " Some," observes Sir C. Lyell, " which were formerly known as dangerous sunken rocks, are now only hidden when the water is highest. On their first appearance they usually present a smooth, bare. THE SWEDISH SHORE — CARLSCRONA. 143 rounded protuberance, a few feet or yards in diameter ; and a single sea-gull often appropriates to itself this resting-place, resorting there to devour its prey. Si- milar points, in the meantime, have grown to long reefs, and are constantly whitened by a multitude of sea-fowl ; while others have been changed from a reef, annually submerged, into a small islet, on which a few lichens, a fir seedling, and blades of grass, attest that the shoal has at length been fairly changed into dry land. Thousands of Avooded islands around show the greater alterations which time can work." The whole labyrinth is locally called the Skargard, signifying a rocky danger along the shore or reef- defence ; the intervening channels are the Skdrgard- sleden ; and the light craft which navigate them, vessels built for the particular purpose, the Skdrgards Skutor. The southern coast of the peninsula is free from this remarkable island fringe. It appears, indeed, partially at Carlscrona and its neighbourhood, but only becomes prominent and continuous north of the Sound of Kalmar, being prolonged from thence into the interior of the Gulf of Bothnia. Carlscrona, the naval arsenal of Sweden, and the ordinary station of the fleet, is situated towards its south-eastern ex- tremity, on several islands, connected with each other 144 THE BALTIC. by bridges, and with the mainland by an embank- ment. A citadel, with walls of granite twenty feet high, mounting 200 pieces of cannon, and strong de- tached forts, render its position peculiarly formidable towards the sea. The town contains about 12,000 inhabitants, and commemorates by its name Charles XI., who founded it in 1680. At Torrum Point, a few miles to the east, the coast turns permanently to the north, and is nearly level, everywhere covered with wood, as far as Kalmar. The steam-boat voyager from Copenhagen, Kiel, or Liibeck to Stockholm has it distinctly in view for a considerable distance. Iso- lated churches, usually on gentle eminences, with red-tiled or white-boarded roofs, and ricketty wooden steeples, are common objects, and useful landmarks to the sailor. Throughout Scandinavia this custom of isolating the church from the village, and planting it on elevated ground, is very general, and is un- doubtedly a relic of its ancient paganism. The temples of Odin invariably occupied such sites; for localities were supposed to acquire sanctity by dis- tance from human habitations, and high situations were prefered to low for the same reason, being nearer the sky, the abode of the gods, whence the lightning flashed, and the thunder pealed. This su- perstition is not of Northern origin, but born in the THE SWEDISH SHORES — KALMAR. 145 East, where, in far remote antiquity, idolatrous nations " served their gods upon the high moun- tains, and upon the hills." The Sound of Kalmar, a long arm of the sea, separates the main shore from the island of Oland, and narrows to about five miles in width opposite the old episcopal city. Kalmar, on the continental side of the strait, a decayed place, is conspicuous from afar by its remarkable cathedral and castle ; and is of great interest from its historical associations. In the palatial castle, June 1397, Queen Margaret assembled representatives of the three Scandinavian kingdoms, and effected the union of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, under one crown, a federation which was never cor- dial, and lasted little more than a century. On Stenso Point, a tongue of land in the neighbourhood, Gusta\"us Wasa disembarked in 1520, on returning from his exile at Llibeck to deliver his country from the yoke of a tyrant, and establish a new dynasty upon the throne. At Kalmar also, in 1611, Christian IV. of Denmark, having captured the castle, indited his famous reply to a challenge to personal combat from Charles IX. of Sweden. " AYe, Christian TV., by the Grace of God, King of Denmark, give you, Charles IX., King of Sweden, to understand that L 146 THE BALTIC. your indiscreet and insolent letter has been de- livered to us by a trumpeter. Such a message on your part we were far from expecting^ but we observe that the dog-days are not yet past, and conclude that they are still shedding their full violence uf)on your head. AYith regard to the single combat you propose, this appears to us alto- gether ridiculous, knowing as we do that you have been already sufficiently chastised by the hand of God, and that a warm chamber would be far better for you at present than the field of battle. You have too much need of a physician to re-settle your senses, to think of any such encounter. But you ought to sink with shame, ancient dotard that you are ! at having insulted a person of honour, imitating those feeble old women who, having no other means of oiFence, are reduced to assail each other with a thou- sand scurrilous and abusive epithets. Given at our Castle of Calmar, August 14. 1611." The bluntness of this missive may remind us of the Homeric heroes or Scandinavian sea-kings, though probably none of them would have acted the part of the doughty Dane in declining the proposed personal encounter. Kal- mar Castle was the temporary residence of the exiled royal family of France in the year 1804. Louis XVIII., during his stay, caused a tablet to be THE SWEDISH SHOKES — KALMAR. 147 erected on Stenso Point, as a memorial of the land- ing of Gusta^Tis Wasa. The Island of Oland, which forms the opposite shore of the Sound, is of very disproportionate size, extending ninety miles in length, parallel to the peninsula, but never more than ten miles in width. It is a great slab of limestone, so uniformly low and level, that the churches on one side may be seen across it from the sea on the other. The old Castle of Borgholm, the chief town, on the west coast, re- markable for its colossal architecture, may be dis- tinguished to seaward on the east. Oland possesses a productive soil, abundant game, fine woods, and pleasing villages, with a population of about 31,000; and has long been celebrated for a race of diminutive and graceful ponies. One of the most beautifid was presented by a native peasant to Gustavus Adolphus while a boy. He was higlily delighted with the gift, but with the thoughtful conscientiousness which distinguished him in after life, immediately proposed to compensate the donor. " I must not suffer you," said he, ^^ to go away unpaid, for it cannot be your intention to give me this horse for nothing ; at any rate, you may be in want of money." So saying, he drew forth his little purse, filled with ducats, and emptied its contents into the peasant's hands. L 2 148 THE BALTIC. On the north-east of Olancl, separated from it by a broad belt of sea, the Island of Gottland is situated (^Goodland), the largest belonging to Sweden, of special political importance from its geographical position and natural capabilities. It lies forty-two miles from the Swedish, and ninety-six from the Russian coasts; extends nearly eighty miles in length, from south to north, by an average of twenty in breadth ; and includes an area somewhat greater than that of Cheshire. The whole island is a table of limestone moderately raised above the sea, broken at the edges, but without hill or valley deser\'ing the name in the interior. This formation is a strand mausoleum of ancient beings, so crowded with the fossil remains of extinct inhabitants of the waters as to be in places one entire mass of fragmentary encri- nites and trilobites. It is watered by a number of small streams and lakes, has excellent pastm'age, productive fisheries, extensive woods of oak and pine, a soil capable, under proper management, of yielding abundant harvests, and harbours of suffi- cient depth of water for war steamers. The climate is remarkably mild for the Baltic, as the inhabitants do not reckon upon having more than eight days of sledge-driving in the winter, while horses and sheep remain abroad the whole season, and the grape. THE SWEDISH SHORES — GOTTLAND. 149 walnut, and mulberry, ripen in favourable summers. But these natural advantages are largely thrown away, owing to a want of intelligence, and the enterprise it excites, on the part of the inhabitants. Mr. R. Chambers, in a brief notice of the island, prepared from a personal survey, considers it to hold out great attractions to British settlers, on ac- count of its adaptation for an improved agriculture. The Swedish Government has, till very recently, strangely neglected this outpost of the kingdom, the possession of which is supposed to have been long coveted by Russia. Owing to the value of its posi- tion in a strategic point of view, it has been styled " a padlock upon the Gulfs of Finland and Bothnia," by means of which a strong hand might lock up the Russian navy, and command the navigation of the Baltic. If Gottland were held by an effective power, and the Crimea conquered, the predominance of Russia in the Baltic and Black Seas would be at an end, and her European consequence vastly crippled. The Idn or province of Gottland, sometimes called Wisby Ian, from the name of the chief town, includes Faro Island, adjoining it on the north ; and con- tained a population of 41,575 in the year 1840, with ninety-three churches. Wisby, on the west coast, with about 4000 inhabitants, and a miserable port, L 3 150 THE BALTIC. has a history proclaimed by existing monuments of former consequence, and illustrated by notices in mediaeval clu'onicles. Its present aspect is somewhat unique in Upper Europe, not unlike that of a ruined city of the ancient world, which the traveller expects to encounter in an Eastern region, near the primeval home of the human race, but views with surprise in the far North, amid the mists and waters of the Baltic. The date of its foundation is quite uncer- tain ; but, prior to the Norman conquest of England, it was a prosperous commercial emporium. Some of its deserted but well-preserved churches were founded in the early part of the eleventh century. Wisby was the parent city of the Hanseatic League, and one of its principal depots during the period of its ascendancy. The productions of the East, brought by caravan to Novogorod, and conveyed across the Baltic, met in its marts the furs of the North, and the buyers of Southern Europe. So numerous were the foreigners resorting to it, that each nation had its own church and house of assembly. Hence there are extant edifices of this kind within a few yards of each other. Olaus Magnus specifies among its visitors " GotJii, Suedi, Russi seu ReutJieni, Dani, Prussia Angliy Scoti, Flandri, Gallic Finni, Vandali, Saxones, HispanV^ In the thirteenth century it had a popu- THE SAVEDISH SHORES — GOTTLAND. 151 lation of 12,000 burgesses, besides labourers, trades- men, women, and children. A series of resolutions exists, purporting to have been unanimously agreed to by the merchants frequenting the port of Wisby in 1297, providing for the restoration of shipwrecked property, and threatening to eject from the body of recognised traders any city that did not act conform- ably to the regulations laid down. But Wisby is chiefly famous for a code of maritime laws, which was long of paramount authority in the Baltic. This code, styled the " Supreme Maritime Law of Wisby," comprises upwards of sixty articles, and was printed at Copenhagen in 1505. The first blow to its prosperity was inflicted l^y Yaldemar III. of Denmark, who took it by storm in July 1361, slew 1800 of the citizens, obtained enor- mous plunder, but lost it by the wreck of his vessels on the adjoining Carl Islands. It was afterwards repeatedly ravaged by pirates, and gradually declined to its present desolate condition. Mr. Laing, who visited Gottland in 1838, thus describes the appear- ance of Wisby : — *' This ancient city is the most ex- traordinary place in the North of Europe. It is a city of the middle ages, existing unbroken and un- changed in a great measure to the present day ; it appears to have undergone less alteration from time, L 4 152 THE BALTIC. devastation, or improvement, than any place of the same antiquity. The appearance from the sea of this mother of the Hanseatic cities is very striking, from the nmnerous remains of churches and ancient struc- tures within a small space. I counted thirty-five towers, spires, or prominent ruins. On landing, the aspect is equally novel ; — ancient streets, well paved, cross each other in all directions ; and the causeway work, with two or three parallel bands or stripes of larger paving-stones, running lengthwise through the streets, looks ornamental, or at least regular. I have seen such paving about some cathedral in Eng- land. The houses on each side of these ancient streets are in general poor cabins, with gardens, potato-ground, and corn crops, all huddled together, among ruins of churches of very extraordinary beauty and workmanship, and, as ruins, in very picturesque preservation. The whole city is surrounded by its ancient wall, with towers — square, octagonal, and round — as they stood in the thirteenth century, and with very little demolition. The wall is enthe, and above thirty feet high for the greater part, and is in no place demolished. Of forty-five towers upon it, the greater part are entire ; some are roofed in, and used as magazines, a prison, store-houses, or work- shops. There has been no ditch. The wall, with THE SWEDISH SHORES — GOTTLAND. 153 its towers built upon rock scarcely covered with soil, follows the inequalities of the ground from the sea at one end, all round the site of the ancient city, to the sea at the other. There are three gates in the wall ; and it appears to have been strengthened at some period by an additional wall on the inside, built against the other, which has also been raised higher. On the north side of the town there has been appa- rently an outer wall. This wall was built in 1288, and consequently without any view to attack and defence by fire-arms ; and is, perhaps, the most entire specimen of ancient fortification remaining in the North of Europe. Tliis curious city (which might accommodate within its area and along its paved streets 30,000 or 40,000 people) contains at present only 4268 inhabitants, badly lodged in little tenements, under edifices of great cost and magnificence, which the former inhabitants reared with the superfluity of their wealth. You scarcely see a human being moving in streets once crowded with the wealthiest merchants of all countries." The ruined churches, eighteen in niunber, are most interesting objects to the antiquary; and supply the student of ecclesiastical architecture with models of the style of building, ornament, and workmanship of the eleventh and twelfth centuries. No specimens 154 THE BALTIC. SO entire of equal date are to be found in England. o The Helige Ands Kirken, or Church of the Holy Ghost, a small octagonal structure, built in 1046, has a round massive Saxon arch for the main en- trance, with windows and other arches in the same style. A curious aperture occurs in the ceiling of the choir, the purpose of which has not been satisfac- torily ascertained. St. Lawrence Church, erected in the same year, has a transept, and exhibits the pointed arch used indiscriminately with the round. St. Drottens, built in 1086, is a specimen of the Saxon style. St. Nicholas, 1097, is altogether Nor- man, with very beautiful pointed arches. The only church now kept up for the use of the inhabitants, St. Mary's, was built by the German merchants in 1190. Tombstones applied to strange purposes, forming stairs and pavements, are common objects. Many of these, though of comparatively modern date, exhibit marks resembling hieroglyphics or Kunic characters. A lawyer of the place accounted to Mr. Laing for the occurrence of these marks in an ingenious and plausible way. At a period when writing was not an ordinary accomplishment, even with the wealthiest inhabitants of Wisby and the Hanse towns, every merchant had his particular mark or scratresent, when it was the head oi" a diocese, and ]n-elates emulated the state oi^ ]n-inces in its castle, the ruins of which attest its magni- ficence. ^Vii estate in the iieiii'liboiirhood, now held 202 THE BALTIC. by an Esthonian noble, was the scene of a curious adventure in the days of the Czar Peter. He came to it, with the inseparable MenzikofF, when inspect- ing his conquests from the Swedes. It was then held by a widow of considerable personal attractions, the Countess Steinbock, a devoted partisan of Sweden. MenzikofF, anxious to display his loyalty, watched for an opportunity ; and, observing that she drank the Czar's health at table with a cup which bore the Swedish arms, he noticed the circumstance with the insolence of a favourite. But his master was not in the same humour with himself. Pleased with the charms and manners of his hostess, Peter opened a broadside of abuse upon the unlucky re- monstrant ; and, after exhausting invectives, ordered him instantly to fall in love with the lady, and atone by marriage for his boorish behaviour. MenzikofF must of course comply ; but the Countess was in despair. At last, thinking of a discarded lover, a cousin, on the adjoining Dago Island, she pleaded his cause to the satisfaction of the Czar. They were married; and their descendant is now lord of the patrimony. Further north, near the junction of the Gulf of Finland with the sea, is the fishing village grandilo- quently named Port Baltic. It has never prospered. THE KUSSIAN SHORES — ESTHONIA. 203 though a pet place with the Empress Catherine. The harbour has, however, the advantage of being clear of ice before the seaward road to St. Peters- burg is open. Hence casks of oranges, lemons, and other luxuries are here brought ashore from trading vessels in the early spring, and transported overland to the capital. The principal port and chief town of the province is Reval, with regular fortifications, a fine harbour, and considerable commerce, containing a resident population of about 15,000. It stands on the south coast of the Finnish gulf, not far from its entrance, and nearly opposite Helsingfors, on the northern shore. The two coasts are distinctly visible in clear weather from the mid-channel. The largest man-of- war may enter the roadstead, and find good anchor- age in every part of it. Reval Road was visited by Lord Nelson during his cruise in the Baltic, after the battle of Copenhagen. It is occasionally the rendezvous of the Russian fleet in summer, part of which sometimes remains through the winter. In the autumn of 1853 the symptoms of impending war were too unequivocal to admit of this being done ; and the whole squadron was moored in the better pro- tected harbours of Helsingfors and Cronstadt. The town was first regularly founded by Waldemar II. of 204 THE BALTIC. Denmark, in 1219, after some buildings had been erected on the spot by his predecessors. The place soon acquired commercial importance, was admitted into the Hanseatic League, and had its corps of Schwarzen Haupter, like Riga. It remained more or less subject to the Danes till the year 1347, when want of cash induced them to dispose of their do- minion to the Grand Masters of the Teutonic Order. From them it passed to the Swedes in 1561, who held possession till Peter the Great annexed the province to his empire. The Czar was fond of Reval ; built himself a house in the neighbourhood, and near it a palace for the Czarina, which he pre- sented to her by the name of Catherinthal. Most of the succeeding sovereigns have made this spot their temporary residence ; and its ornamental grounds furnish the inhabitants with an agreeable summer evening promenade. Reval consists of two distinct portions, the upper town and the lower. The upper is picturesquely seated on the Domberg, or hill of the cathedral. This is a singular reef of lofty rocks, circular in shape, and about a mile in circumference. It has a citadel-like aspect, being an insulated mass, with plains of deep sand around it. The cathedral is altogether devoid of attraction as a building, but contains sepulchral THE RUSSIAN SHORES — ESTHONIA. 205 monuments of interest — the tombs of the noble families of Garclie, Thurn, Horn, and others; and vaults which formerly received the remains of dif- ferent trading corporations in the town, who pre- served a kind of distinction in death as well as in life, by being separately grouped. Butcher slumbers with butcher, and shoemaker with shoemaker; but the men of the hatchet and the awl do not com- mingle. The vaults are marked with insignia de- noting the respective professions of the inmates. Thus the bas-relief of a colossal boot in the pave- ment indicates the resting-place of the shoemakers, and an ox's head that of the butchers. The cathe- dral has long been closed to the reception of plebeian dust, and the Domberg is now aristocratic ground. No person, not noble, is privileged to possess a single foot of it, though the common pedestrian crowd, passing from the lower to the upper town, find the summer sun as bright, and the breeze from the Finnish gulf as fresh to them as to any of the fashionables. The locality is occupied by the man- sions of the aristocracy, the residence of the gover- nor, an old castle, and the Ritterschafts Hans, or hall of the senate, a body composed of the recognised provincial nobility. In this edifice the names of all the Esthonian nobles who served in the French 206 THE BALTIC. campaign are inscribed on tablets of white marble, while the names of those who fell are on black tablets. The magnates of the senate perform various functions, not the least unportant of which, in their esteem, is to dispose of the produce of their estates, by contract, to the imperial government. The lower town is connected with the upper by an ascent so steep that the downward passage of vehicles is a somewhat dangerous affair to the pedes- trian toiling upward. Its site stretches away from the Domberg to the shore of the harbour, and ex- hibits the usual features of a commercial mart of the Hanseatic times — high narrow houses, with arched doorways approached by flights of steps, and stone benches adjoining, where neighbours sat conversing together on summer evenings in by-gone days. There are remains of convents and monasteries ob- scured by modern erections ; several antique guild- halls under whose groined roofs merchant companies transacted business and caroused in former times ; ancient churches, towers, gates, and walls. The churches include five Kussian and six Lutheran. St. Nicholas church, a time-worn building erected in 1317, with some fine old elms in front, is often visited on account of the unburied body of a prince in it, whose story is somewhat remarkable. The THE RUSSIAN SHORES — ESTHONIA. 207 Due de Croi, a Flemish offieer, commanded at Narva for Peter the Great. Fearing the wrath of the Czar, owing to the disastrous result of the battle, he sur- rendered himself to the Swedes, retired to Reval, and soon afterwards died. Short as was the term of his career in the town, it was sufficiently extrava- gant, so that upon his decease a considerable sum remained owing to his creditors, after they had dis- posed of his goods and chattels. These worthies, availing themselves of an old custom of the province, which denied Christian burial to insolvents till their debts were paid, put it in force against the defunct duke, and consigned him to a cellar in the precincts of St. Nicholas church. No one appearing to pay his bills, there he lay, caring nothing about them himself, and forgotten by every body till the year 1819, nearly a hundred and twenty years, when ac- cidental discovery was made of the body which had been preserved from decomposition by the cold. It was then removed to its present resting-place in one of the chapels belonging to the church. " The corpse is attired in a rich suit of black velvet and white satin, equally uninjured by the tooth of time — with silk stockings, full curled wig, and a ruff of the most exquisite point lace, which any modern grand duchess might approve. The remains are 208 THE BALTIC. those of a small man, with an aristocratic line of countenance. The old sacristan profits in his crea- ture comforts by the exhibition of this dust, which he stroked and caressed with something of gratitude and fellow feeling ; and locking the ponderous door, ejaculated, ' Da licgt mein hester freund ! — There lies my best friend ! ' Poor Due de Croi ! " The Esthonian nobles, clergy, and burghers are chiefly of German or Swedish origin ; the peasantry are a Finnish race. The former are intruders ; the latter are the aborigines, and the most indigenous people in the Baltic provinces. They preceded the Letts in the southern districts, were displaced by them, and limited to the northern, where they are found at present, in much the same manner as the Britons in our own country were displaced by the Anglo-Saxons, falling back into Wales and Corn- wall. Their Sclavonic neighbours often apply to them the discriminative term Tchukin or Tcliudi, signifying " a stranger," an application which may have been originated by the impression that, of all people in their vicinity, these had the least resem- blance to themselves. The relation of this rural class to the soil is the same as that of the Letts ; but in almost every other respect — in physical appear- ance, language, and temperament— they strikingly THE RUSSIAN SHORES — ESTHONIA. 209 diiFer, and contrast unfavourably with them. The men are of short stature, with broad faces, heavy limbs, and long hair, which no scissors ever touch. They work, move, and do everything slowly, as though vitality were at its lowest ebb, and have no curiosity ; are silent and sombre, yet pleased with music and song. They wear sheep-skin habiliments^ and live in one-storied, log-built houses, without compartments, reeking with wood-smoke, and be- strewed with fir-tips, hogs and poultry reposing beneath the same roof. Though strictly observing all the forms of Lutheranism, constant at church, Avhatever may be the weather or the distance, they retain many traces of Paganism, prefer black to any other colour, are superstitious with reference to trees, leaves, and shadows, and would rather have a grave by solitary river-banks or in silent woods, than lie beneath the churchyard sod. In these characteristics the effect of ages of depression may be seen. On the other hand, they are a sturdy race, not given to crime, and readily ease their consciences by confessing venial offences. They make dogged soldiers, and stand a fiery charge as well as any troops in the Russian army. The province is bounded to the eastward by the River Narova, which conducts the waters of the p 210 THE BALTIC. Lake Peipus into the Gulf of Finland. Near its mouth is Narva, on steep limestone hills, lining both sides of the river, which flows between them with a broad, deep, and strong current. The town contains about 5000 inhabitants — German on the left bank, and Russian on the right. It is historically cele- brated for the great victory which the Swedes, under Charles XII., in the year 1700, obtained over the army of Peter the Great, at the commencement of the contest between them. The Czar was not pre- sent at the battle. His large force of 60,000 men consisted chiefly of a rudely armed, undisciplined rabble. Charles availed himself of a snow-storm which blew in the face of the enemy to attack, and with a body of about 9000 veterans speedily routed his opponents with great slaughter. " I know very well," said Peter, on receiving news of the defeat, " that the Swedes will have the advantage of us for a considerable time ; but they will teach us at length to beat them." The prediction began to be verified near the spot where it was uttered, and within four years of its date. In 1704 he captured Narva, and signalised himself by endeavouring to arrest the ex- cesses of his savage soldiery, cutting some of them down. Proceeding to the Hotel de Ville, where many of the inhabitants had taken refuge, he threw THE RUSSIAN SHORES — ESTHONIA. 211 down his sword, reeking with blood, upon the table, saying : — ^^ My sword is not stained with the blood of the inhabitants of this city, but with that of my own soldiers, which I have not hesitated to spill to save your lives." On the right bank of the Narova lies the government of St. Petersburg. 212 CHAP. VII. THE RUSSIAN SHORES. ST. PETERSBURG. DESIGN OF THE FOtJNDER. HIS ARBITRARY PROCEEDINGS. PROGRESS OF THE CITY FIRST FOREIGN SHIPS. RELICS OF PETER. UNFAVOURABLE FEATURES OF THE SITE. THE NEVA. ITS DELTA. QUALITY OF THE WATER. SCENERY. BLESSING OF THE WATERS. INUNDATIONS OF THE RIVER. CLBIATE OF THE CAPITAL. OPENING OF THE NAVIGATION. WILD ANIMALS. STREETS AND HOUSES. THE ADIVHRALTY. THE QUAYS. — STATUE OF PETER. THE WINTER PALACE. THE HERMITAGE. THE ALEXANDER COLUMN. MARBLE AND TAURIDA PALACES. — SUMMER GARDEN. IMPERIAL LIBRARY. ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. HOTEL DES MINES. CHURCHES. MARKETS. — POPULATION. — THE PRO- VINCE. The northern capital of the empire is the only metropolis in Europe the existence of which is of a date subsequent to the middle ages ; and, with the single exception of Calcutta, it is the youngest mem- ber of the family of great cities in the world at large. Little more than a century and a half ago, its site THE RUSSIAN SHORES — ST. PETERSBURG. 213 was either wholly abandoned to the silent waters of the Neva and a marshy vegetation^ or occnpied by the huts of a few Finnish hunters and fishermen, with a rude Swedish fort in the vicinity. The city, now colossal, though thus of recent origin, is a monu- ment of the intellectual greatness and indomitable energy of its founder, Peter the Great. It evidences an enlarged mind, considering the barbarism which surrounded him, that he could appreciate the civi- lisation of Western Europe, and the advantage to his own empire of holding direct communication with it through the Baltic. To secure this connection was his main object in planting an imperial port upon its shores. Nature offered no facilities for the under- taking, but frowned decisively upon it. The ground supplied no stone of any description for building ; and no foundation for a structure could be obtained in the moist, spongy soil except by artificial means ; yet, having grasped the idea of establishing a capital city of his own in the Finnish Gulf, he was not to be deterred by difficulties from the enterprise, but addressed himself with characteristic ardour and per- severance to overcome them, and most wonderfully succeeded. Here all admiration of the man must end, for in the execution of the task he acted the part of an Asiatic despot, impatiently gratifying his p 3 214 THE BALTIC. own self-will, reckless of the price which others had to pay for it. Tens of thousands of wild men — Russians, Cossacks, Tartars, Kalmucks, Ingrians, and Fins — were dragged from their homes by one man's word — many from distant parts of the empire — and doomed to exhausting toil, rendered the more severe by the want of experience and accommodation. The la- bourers were not furnished with the necessary tools ; and had to effect everything by brute force. They transported the soil required to raise the level of the site, which was liable to be overflowed, in the skirts of their clothes, or on old mats, the use of wheel- barrows being then unknown to them. They were, besides, exposed night and day to all the inclemency of the weather, and could only obtain scanty fare of the worst description. Such was the consequent mortality, that the first year of St. Petersburg is said to have cost 100,000 men their lives. Yet, accord- ing to the maxims of Russian despotism, which are of unquestionable integrity in the esteem of its sub- jects, this frightful sacrifice was perfectly legitimate in accomplishing the pleasure of the impetuous potentate. Herberstein, three centuries ago, justly characterised the autocratic government of the coun- try, and the infatuated servility with which the THE RUSSIAN SHORES — ST. PETERSBURG. 215 people honour the dreadful phantom as a god-like form. His words are true to the very letter at pre- sent. '^ He (the Czar) speaks and it is done ; the life and fortunes of laity and clergy, nobles and burghers, depend on his supreme will. He is unac- quainted with contradiction, and all he does is deemed as equitable as though it were done by Deity ; for the Russians are persuaded that their prince is the executor of the Divine decrees. Thus ^ God and the prince have willed,' * God and the prince know,' are common modes of speech among them. I can- not say," he remarks, and it still remains an un- solved problem, " whether it is the character of the Russian nation which has formed such autocrats, or whether it is the autocrats themselves who have given this character to the nation." Peter planned, and gave out his orders. Serfs laboured to the death in obedience to his will. Thus the waste became a dwelling-place ; the solitary banks of a river received a city; and St. Petersburg arose out of the very depths of a swamp I Not daring openly to complain, an imposture was contrived to express the sufferings of the hapless multitude, and, if possible, bring them to an end. While the Czar was absent from the spot, his repre- sentative, Count Golofkin^ was one day informed p 4 216 THE BALTIC. that the image of the blessed Vh-gin had been seen to shed tears, denoting her sympathy with the people, and sorrow at being compelled to remain a witness of their distress. This event was regarded as ominous of some dire misfortune, should the works for the new establishment be continued, after such a manifest sign of celestial disapprobation. Golofkin, notwithstanding the absurdity of the story, deemed it expedient to send an express for his master, who immediately returned to investigate the miracle. He was not to be outwitted. Having ordered the priests to attend him, they brought forth the image, and the Virgin wept before huu. But Peter directed the covering behind the head to be removed, and dis- covered a small cavity close to the eyes, in which was deposited a little oil or water, that gradually oozed out, and trickled down her cheeks, at the pleasure of the exhibitors. Having exposed this trickery, he ordered the image to be taken to his own house, telling the people he meant to preserve it in his cabinet of curiosities. The sites of London and Paris had been occupied more than a thousand years — Queen Anne was upon the throne of England, and Louis XIV. on that of France — when the city was founded. This was in the year 1703. According to the ancient Muscovite THE RUSSIAN SHORES — ST. PETERSBURG. 217 custom of consecrating to archangels, angels, and saints, not only places of worship, but fortresses, castles, palaces, and cities, the new capital was dedi- cated to St. Peter, and took its name from that of the apostle. One of the first buildings, a small fort, was commenced on an island, and occupied the spot where the Academy of Sciences is now seated. Vassali Demetrievitz, a captain of artillery, was ap- pointed to the command. The monarch addressed his written orders to him with the superscription, Vassali na Ostrof, " To Vassali in the Island." Hence it received and still retains that name. It was then covered with low trees, brushwood, and rank grass, but is now an important quarter of the capital, on which may be seen regular streets, majestic edifices inhabited by rich merchants, the exchange, custom- house, and other public buildings. The original erections were of wood. In 1710 the first brick house was built; in 1712 the residence of the Czar was transferred from Moscow to the maritime site ; and in 1715 a sieneral order was issued that the houses should be of brick, covered with red tiles. Finland was ravaged to obtain the materials, and the o spoils of Abo contributed to the aggrandisement of St. Petersburg. Every large ship that entered the river was required to bring a cargo of thirty stones. 218 THE BALTIC. every small one ten stones, and every waggon from the country ten. But it was impossible to execute the order to any great extent. 40,000 Swedish and Finnish prisoners, with other captives, were at this time employed in constructing the dockyard, erecting wharfs, and raising fortifications. MenzikofF, the proud favourite, who rose from the station of a pastry-cook's boy in the streets of Moscow to become a prime minister, had the chief puperintendence of the works ; and was once soundly cudgelled by his master, when a disappointment occurred, a chastise- ment which he took as submissively as a spaniel. The site rapidly became one of traffic in conse- quence of two ukases, one forbidding the importa- tion of produce for the interior from Archangel, and another commanding every merchant to export a third of his merchandise from the Neva. Not many months had elapsed after the foundation of the city, when Peter was informed that a large ship was seen standing into the river. It proved to be a Dutchman, the first vessel that ever entered the new port, laden with a cargo of salt, wine, and other provisions. Auke Wybes, the skipper, was joyfully welcomed by the Czar, especially as the ship had been freighted by an old acquaintance of his own in Holland. In honour of the event, the vessel was allowed to bring THE RUSSIAN SHORES — ST. PETERSBURG. 219 into the empire, duty free, whatever cargo it carried — a privilege which only ceased towards the close of the last centuiy, when it became impossible to render the old ship sea-worthy. The second vessel was like- wise Dutch, laden with hams, butter, cheese, and gin. The third was English. From the first year of its existence till 1720, St. Petersburg saw only from 12 to 50 ships yearly; from 1720 to 1730, the number was from 200 to 250; from 1730 to 1750, the average annual arrivals was from 300 to 400 ; and during the present century it has amounted to nearly 2000. A cipher will express the return for the present year. In the time of its founder the city w^as a very homely skeleton, partially occupying some islands of the Neva, and the north bank of the river. An old map, bearing date 1738, exhibits scarcely an erection besides the Admiralty on the south bank, where the principal part of the capital is now situated, with most of its magnificent edifices. The Nevski Pros- pekt, the Regent Street of St. Petersburg, is de- lineated on the map in its present direction, but only as an avenue of trees. Its grandeur dates from the reign of Catherine II., who built noble palaces for her favourites, formed canals, and caused the vast granite quays to be constructed. But down to the 220 THE BALTIC. time of Alexander foot-pavements were unknown. The emperor, on the occasion of his visit to London, was so struck with this accommodation for pedes- trians, that he directed it to be introduced in the principal quarter of his own capital, every inhabitant being forthwith required to pave at his own expense the frontao:e of his dwellino-. The streets still re- main very imperfectly lighted in winter with oil lamps, tliree attempts to substitute gas having been frustrated by untoward events. The successors of Peter have abundantly honoured his memory in the city he founded, though some commemorations are not a little puerile and barbaric. The most interesting relic is a small wooden house or cabin, which he occupied during the progress of his grand undertaking. This is preserved in the neighbourhood of the present citadel, encased within a brick w^all to protect it from decay through ex- posure to the weather. It consists of three small apartments, which severally served for a bed-room, chapel, and receiving-room. They are said to be in the same state as when left by their extraordinary tenant. Here, too, is preserved the first boat he managed, named the " Little Grandsire," with the sails he used, the germ of the now imprisoned Russian navy. An entire suite of room in the Aca- THE RUSSIAN SHORES — ST. PETERSBURG. 221 demy of Sciences is appropriated to an odd collection of commemorative articles. Among other objects there are his tools, numerous enough " to stock a very respectable carpenter's shop," various models of his own making, specimens of his turning in ivory, his uniform and ordinary wardrobe, the hat he wore at the battle of Pultowa, with a bullet-hole through it, and the skeleton of the horse he rode in the action. It contains, also, the figures of two of his attendants, veritably composed of their stuffed ^az/ec? skins, which have all the appearance of having been tanned. Both are naked to the loins. One of these hideous and disgusting objects is of giant stature, a favourite Holsteiner, seven feet high; the other is a Polish dwarf. Peter himself is represented in wax, large as life, sitting in an old-fashioned leather-bottomed chair, beneath a canopy of crimson velvet, dressed in the suit he wore at the coronation of his consort. The face is a likeness, taken from a cast of the original when dead, and shaded according to the living com- plexion. 1. THE SITE. St. Petersburg, in 59° 5^' north latitude, and 30° 20' east longitude, is situated on both banks of 222 THE BALTIC. the Neva, and several islands between them, where the river enters the eastern extremity of the Gulf of Finland. The site is singularly unpropitious. Being on the confines of the polar zone, a rigorous winter renders it a bed of ice and snow for almost half the year. The surrounding country is a nearly uniform plain, only occasionally broken by a few slight un- dulations, apparently without bounds, yet without that interest or impressiveness which frequently belongs to a level having no well-defined horizon. This flatness of the surface interferes with architectural display, and does not allow the city to reveal its existence to the traveller till he has crossed its threshold. The few gilt spires and painted domes that are alone seen at a distance, indicate nothing of the great monu- ments beneath and around them. Yet the sudden- ness with which the visitor finds himself in a vast metropolis is very impressive. The soil is damp, chilling, and ungrateful ; the aspect of the neigh- bourhood dreary in the extreme, in its natural state, exhibiting a grey mossy earth over which birch-trees and firs are sparingly scattered ; and though large tracts of the wet lowland have been converted into market-gardens for the supply of the capital, and beautifully planted grounds for its adornment, it has severely taxed industry and skill to reduce them to THE RUSSIAN SHORES — ST. PETERSBURG. 223 cultivation. When the Empress Catherine was ex- pressing vexation at the position of the city, a favourite responded, " It is not God who should be blamed, madam, because men have persisted in build- ing the capital of a great empire in a territory des- tined by nature to be the patrimony of wolves and bears." Peter's nobles are said to have remonstrated with him for projecting the establishment of a city where the winter reigned so long and rigorously — where rye was an article of garden culture, and a beehive a curiosity. But he had little choice of a site suited to his purpose. As the Baltic provinces of modern Russia were then held by S^veden, the eastern extremity of the Finnish Gulf was the nearest point under his command to the great centres of European commerce and civilisation. The boggy and treacherous character of the ground, consequent on its having nearly the same level as the river, is a serious evil to the city, both enhancing the original cost of its architecture, and rendering it liable to speedy derangement. There may be ex- aggeration in the remark, that more money has been expended in its subterranean works than in those which are above the surface ; but in the instance of bidldings of any mass, the cost of securing a foundation often approximates to that of rearing the 224 THE BALTIC. superstructure. Piles are driven to an immense depth, sometimes five or six tiers in succession, before a base is gained deemed sufficiently firm for the i^urpose of the architect. Yet notwithstanding every precaution, evidences of settling and disjoint- ment are not uncommon, intimating the somewhat uncertain tenure with which the proud edifices hold their position. Twice has the granite substratum of the citadel been undermined; flights of steps have been parted from the buildings to which they lead ; and the quays have shrunk in sca eral j)laces. If the European capitals were to be deserted by their in- habitants, and abandoned to neglect, St. Petersburg, in spite of its mighty masses of granite, would be the first struck down by the dilapidating hand of time. " Nothing," says a recent writer, " can be more obvious than that in a very few years — in half the time that has elapsed since St. Petersburg arose out of the marsh — if the city were not being per- petually built, the marsh would again succeed the city ; the stucco would be dust ; the walls it coAcrs, ruins imbedded in mud ; and the cold, sj)ongy moss of this northern climate again creeping over it, with the acid cranberry, that alone seems to flourish in its alternate bed of snow and stagnant waters. Only the St. Isaac's Cathedral, the Alexander Column, and THE RUSSIAN SHORES —ST. PETERSBURG. 225 the granite quays of the Neva's bed, it is said, would a century hence survive the ruins of St. Petersburg, were it not for the intervention of man's preserving hand." The Neva is the grand and only outlet for the superabundant waters of four great basins, each of which has a natural reservoir of its own. These re- servoirs are the lakes Onega, Ilmen, Saima, and Ladog;a. The latter receives the drainage of the other three, and spreads over an area of more than 6000 square miles. Ten different streams flow into the Onega, eleven into the Ilmen, and thirteen into the Ladoga, besides those which convey the tribute of its lacustrine feeders. From such an accumulation of waters it is natural to expect an immense out- flowing, especially as the solar heat, upon which evaporation depends, acts only with vigour for a very brief portion of the year. Accordingly, the Neva is found to discharge into the Gulf of Finland upwards of 116,000 cubic feet of water in a second, a fraction of which proceeds from eight small streams which flow into it during its course from the lake to the capital. This admeasurement was executed with great care and skill by Lieutenant-Colonel Henry, in the year 1826, in order to obtain the data requisite for devising means to secure the city from the inun- Q 226 THE BALTIC. dations to which it is subject. At St. Petersburg the river divides itself into several deltoidal branches, the largest of which bears along a mass of 74,000 cubic feet of water per second, while the Xile, in the same time, furnishes but 21,800 cubic feet. Besides the superficial discharge of the Ladoga, the Neva receives a large accession of water from it by a sub- terranean outlet, which forms a powerful spring in its own bed. This is one of the most remarkable natural curiosities in Russia. It occurs immediately beneath the walls of Schlusselburg, an old Swedish fortress, now a state prison, occupying a flat island at the efflux of the lake. The boiling up of the w^ater sometimes renders the siu'face as tumultuous as that of the open sea. Hence, to avoid the danger, a lateral canal, Avith sluices, has been constructed, by which boats leave the lake before reaching the spot, and enter the river about half a leao;ue below it. A canal connects the river system of the Xeva with that of the Volga ; and thus secures an uninter- rupted line of Avater communication between St. Petersbm'g and Astrachan, the Baltic and the Cas- pian Seas. Goods are conveyed from the one to the other without once landing them, a distance of 1424 miles. From Schlusselburg, at the south-western angle of THE RUSSIAN SHORES ST. PETERSBURG. 227 the Ladoga, the Neva has a course of sixty-nine versts, about forty-six miles, to St. Petersburg. It maintains a medium breadth of 1500 feet, and a considerable depth in the mid-channel, generally amounting to fifty feet. But it cannot be entered by large vessels from the Gulf of Finland, owing to a bar across the mouth with not more than nine feet of water upon it. This obstruction renders the selection of the capital for the site of the dock-yard peculiarly unfortunate, for, in order to overcome it, the ships have to be transported as hulls, and fitted out at Cronstadt. They are towed by steamers in huge chest-like rafts, called *^ camels," so constructed as to diminish the draught of water. At the city the river divides into two principal arms, called the Great Neva and Great Nevka. The former is the main stream, and exceeds in its broadest part the greatest width of the Thames at London. The bridge of boats thrown across it near the citadel is 2730 feet in length. Each arm sends off another, called the Little Neva and Little Nevka. There are minor ramifications of the river, which have been formed into canals, and are crossed by upwards of a hun- dred and thirty permanent bridges. These lesser branches, with the greater, enclose altogether not less than forty islands, which constitute the Delta of Q 2 228 THE BALTIC. the Neva, and are still to some extent in a state of nature. A granite bridge, recently erected, is the only permanent thoroughfare across the main stream. This fine river is the pride of the St. Peters- burgers. They may well be proud of it, for the brimful stream is the only ornament which nature has given to their locality. The water is beautifully blue and transparent. Its quality is extravagantly lauded by the citizens, who pronoimce it superior to that of any other water in the world. Kohl states, that, on returning from a journey, it is a subject of congratulation with them to be able again to partake of it. He once saw a young man welcomed home by his family with a goblet filled from the stream. The Emperor Alexander always had a quantity bottled for his own use when travelling in his domi- nions. One reason for this high estunation is doubt- less found in the fact that there is no other supply of the first necessary of life fit for domestic use, not a single pure spring existing for leagues in the neighbourhood. Of itself, the water does not appear to merit the distinction attached to it. It is suffi- ciently palatable and wholesome to those accus- tomed to it, but upon strangers it is well known to produce unpleasant efiects, till used to the beverage. Few rivers contribute more essentially to the com- THE RUSSIAN SHORES — ST. PETERSBURG. 229 fort of the cities on their banks than this metropoli- tan stream. The capital receives the luxuries of the tropics at its mouth, retains what is wanted for its own population, and disperses the remainder far in- land by a connected system of navigation ; while pro- ducts from the remote interior — the furs of Siberia and the teas of China — arrive on its surface. On bright summer days, and especially at night, to a late hour, the scene which the Neva presents is peculiarly animated and delightful. Seamen of different mari- time nations are rowing about in their boats, singing their national airs to the splash of the oars, — tastefully decorated gondolas and barges convey the families of nobles and rich merchants to and fro, intent on pas- time, — ships may be seen in the distance casting anchor or taking in their sails, — while the magnifi- cent river winds its way through an archipelago of islands, amid stately palaces, and ornamental planta- tions, with a stream level with its banks. But en- joyable weather is of rare occurrence at St. Peters- burg, for, on an average of ten years, it has been cal- culated that there are only ninety days in the year on which sunshine is to be expected, the remainder being days of rain, snow, or of the unsettled class. Even the summer sunshine is more generally dimmed by a bluish or grayish haze, than bright and clear, Q 3 230 THE BALTIC. At the opposite season the Neva has no charm, — at night being a solitary, icy, monotonous waste, with a few road-ways across it, though by day, when the air is not over keen, sledges, booths, and ice-hills give variety to the surface. While imprisoned by the winter, the frozen sur- face of the river is annually the scene of a remark- able spectacle, that of the blessing of the waters. This is one of the rites of the Greek Church, per- formed with great pomp and ceremony throughout the empire, on the day of the Epiphany, the 6 th of January, old style. It takes place at St. Petersburg on the ice opposite the Winter Palace, and is attended by the imperial family, the archbishop or metropoli- tan, with the principal clergy, the officers of state, the troops, and a vast concourse of the inhabitants. The late Marquis of Londonderry was present on one of these occasions, and has left a description of it. The day was most unpropitious, the atmosphere dense and foggy, the cold extreme, and the snow fell in thick masses. Yet, notwithstanding this in- clemency of the weather, Nicholas appeared in Cos- sack dress, and, with head bare, braved the tempest. " We left the palace," says the Marquis, " and walked in solemn procession, amongst the mass of the inhabitants of St. Petersburg, without cloaks. THE RUSSIAN SHORES— ST. PETERSBURG. 231 and bareheaded, in splendid uniforms and diamond decorations^ in cordons of all colours, and in uniforms of all classes and descriptions, in one of the most pitiless snow-storms that ever descended from the heavens, along the terrace and quays of the Neva, for a considerable distance, until we were opposite the windows of the empress, where her Imperial Majesty and her ladies were assembled. We then turned to the Neva, and proceeded on the ice to a temple which was erected on the river. The clergy and the head of the cortege assembled around and within it. A loud mass was then suns; : at its con- elusion, the metropolitan, taking off his upper gar- ments and seizing a large basin and tankard, de- scended a staircase leading from the inside of the temple to the water, a large hole having been made in the ice under the temple. His Eminence shortly appeared from below, having blessed the waters; and, bearing them in the jug and salver, he proceeded to the emperor, who plunged his face and hands into the vessel ; then the grand priest, dipping a brush into the water, sprinkled his Imperial Majesty all over, invoking at the same time the blessing o Heaven on Russia and its monarch. The metropo- litan next proceeded to sprinkle and give his bene- diction to all the standards and colours which had Q 4 232 THE BALTIC. been collected round the temple, and afterwards to the officers, civil and military, who were besprinkled in a similar manner. During this period salutes of artillery from the fortress continued to be dis- charged, but the midtitude remained in breathless awe and silence. One of the officiating clergy had been desj^atched, so soon as the metropolitan had blessed the waters of the Neva, to the empress within the palace, bearing vessels and goblets for her Imperial Majesty and the ladies, filled with the holy water. The emperor, cold and wet to the skin, with all the cortege covered with snow, and entirely drenched, in all their splendid ribbons, stars, &c., now returned to the palace, the troops and pro- cession falling in as at first, the standards and colours being carried back to the centre of their corps." The people regard this ceremony with excessive superstition. Upon the retirement of the imperial procession, they rush with eager haste towards the temple, anxious to touch the consecrated stream, and fill pitchers with it. An indescribable pele-mele ensues. Even new-born babes have been sent with their nurses to be plunged in the water, through the hole in the ice, under the idea that, if the immersion is endured, they will be free from every danger through life. The little ones have occasionally THE RUSSIAN SHORES — ST. PETERSBURG. 233 perished from this experiment, and instances have been known of their slipping into the flood from the grasp of the bearers, whose frozen hands have been unable to sustain them. The last occasion on which Peter the Great appeared in public was at the cele- bration of this ceremony. He had been previously indisposed, but a severe cold, consequent on attend- ing the benediction of the waters, increased his dis- order, and in a few days brought on his death. With all its summer charms and useful ministry, the Neva is occasionally a source of great danger to the city, and an object of dread to its inhabitants. This occurs when a gale blows for any length of time from the Gulf of Finland, the common direc- tion of the wind in spring and autumn. It only re- quires a certain amount of strength and persistency to convert the river into a deluge, and place the capital in jeopardy. Such a gale opposes the exit of the stream, and drives up the waters of the gulf into its channel, causing a wild overthrow of the low- lands on its banks. The highest ground in the city is not more than twelve or fourteen feet above the ordinary level of the Neva. Consequently, a rise to that extent would place its entire base under water, and inundate to a considerable depth the lower streets and dwellings. One of twenty feet would 234 THE BALTIC. sweep away houses and property, and threaten the whole population with a watery grave. So certain is this result, under the circumstances, that when the wind is continuous from the west the state of the river is anxiously watched by the police authorities. The ominous rise is immediately noted to the in- habitants by well-known signals, in order that mea- sures may be taken for the safety of their property and lives. This precaution is the more necessary, owing to the suddenness with which the river over- leaps its bounds and proceeds to the work of sub- mergence. " How often," says one, " have I been awakened at night in St. Petersburg by the guns of the fortress announcing the sudden overflow of the Neva ! " An alarm gun fired at intervals of an hour, and white flags hoisted on the steeples, denote the extremities of the islands to be under water. Upon any of the lower streets being flooded, the gun is fired every quarter of an hour, and its report be- comes more frequent as the danger increases. Many dreadful inundations are on record. The first occurred November 5. 1714, when the newly- created city nearly disappeared beneath the waters. On November 8. 1721, a violent westerly gale pre- vailed for nine days, and, stopping the outlet of the Neva, the city was again on the verge of destruction. THE RUSSIAN SHORES— ST. PETERSBURG. 235 All the streets were covered with boats ; the lower were submerged to the depth of nearly eight feet; and in the higher the horses were immersed to their chests. So rapid was the rise, that Peter, who was at a ball given by the German Ambassador, was hardly able to return to the palace. The years 1723, 1724, and 1725, were years of flood. On the latter occasion, the Czarina, who had started for the Church of the Holy Trinity, was surprised on the road by the overflowing river, and forced to turn back. In 1752, the Neva rose eleven feet above its ordinary level, and fourteen feet in 1777, when the Princess Tarakanofl" and all the other state prisoners confined in the fortress were drowned. But the most terrible visitation occurred in the reia^n of Alexander, November, 1824. A storm from the west swept over the whole Baltic and the Gulf of Finland, strewing the shores with wrecks, and de- vastating the harbours. Anticipating the result at the capital, lamps were hung out around the Ad- miralty steeple on the night of the 18th, to warn the people not to sleep in their lowest apartments, — a signal the meaning of which was well understood. Early the next day the water-flags were hoisted, and guns were fired at diminishing intervals, warning the city of increasing danger. It soon presented a 236 THE BALTIC. fearful spectacle. The rl^'er came rushing through the streets, burst open the windows, and filled the lower parts of the houses. Equipages and carts, abandoned by their drivers, who had not time to dis- engage the horses, were swept away. The trees in the public squares were thronged with refugee men and boys. The pontoon bridges broke away from their moorings, and were destroyed. Wooden bar- racks, with many of their inmates, were totally overwhelmed ; and an entire regiment of carabineers, who had climbed up the roof of one of them, perished. Vessels of various kinds floated over the parapets of the quays along the river into the streets and squares, and were afterwards broken up for fuel. The wind blew in awful gusts ; and the roar of the tempest, mingled with the cries of the people, was terrific. So violent was the hurricane, that it rolled up the sheet-iron roofing of many of the houses like paper, broke in doors and windows everywhere, and, com- bining its force with that of the current, swept away bodily some of the slighter habitations. It was a horrible feature of the scene that the burial-grounds were disturbed, and gave up their dead. The loss of life was never known, as multitudes of bodies were carried by the retreating waters into the Gulf of Finland ; but it must have amounted to several THE RUSSIAN SHORES — ST. PETERSBURG. 237 thousands. The damage done to commercial pro- perty was enormous, and the total cost of the calamity to the city is said to have been more than 100,000,000 rubles. A red mark on many of the houses lonor indicated the heisrht of the flood. Alex- ander, a day or two afterwards, inspected his deso- lated capital, and addressed a rescript to the Governor, observing : " The decrees of the Supreme Being are just and inscrutable. Profoundly sub- missive to His will, and pitying the fate of those who have suffered the loss and ruin of their pro- perty, the Government cannot repair all the evils of this disastrous day. But I have imposed it on myself as a sacred duty to afford prompt and efficacious succour to those in particular who have been ruined, and to the indigent. They, more than all others, are entitled to my paternal protection. I assio;n them a o^ratuitous distribution of a million rubles." With such experiences, it is not an extra- vagant apprehension that St. Petersburg may be doomed to perish far more rapidly than it was planted, not by the decline of the empire or a foreign enemy, but by the natural agency that ordinarily ministers to its luxury, at a period when its armies may be triumphing and its autocrat is apparently invincible. 238 THE BALTIC. Though not the most northern of capitals, St. Petersburo; is the coldest. Drontheim, the old me- tropolis of Norway, three degrees more to the north, has a less rigorous climate. The temperature fluc- tuates annually to a great extent, and is subject to very sudden alterations. In summer, the thermo- meter rises to + 30° of Reaumur, equal to 99° of Fahrenheit ; and in winter it falls to — 24° of the foreign scale, equal to 54° below Fahrenheit's zero. Even a greater degree of cold has been registered. Kolil graphically describes common phases of life in winter : — ^^ The pedestrians, who at other times are rather leisurely in their movements, now run along the streets as though they were hastening on some mission of life and death, and the sledges dash in tempo celeratissimo over the creaking snow. Faces are not to be seen in the streets ; for every man has drawn his furs over his head, and leaves but little of his countenance uncovered. Every one is uneasy about his nose and his ears ; and as the freezing of these desirable appendages to the human face divine is not preceded by any uncomfortable sensation to warn the sufferer of his danger, he has enough to think of, if he wish to keep his extremities in order. ' Father, father, thy nose ! ' one man w^ill cry to another, as he passes him ; or will even stop and THE RUSSIAN SHORES — ST. PETERSBURG. 239 apply a handful of snow to the stranger's face, and endeavour, by briskly rubbing the nasal prominence, to restore the suspended circulation. These are salu- tations to which people are accustomed; and, as no man becomes aware of the fact when his own nose has assumed the dangerous chalky hue, custom pre- scribes, among all who venture into the streets, a kind of mutual observance of each other's noses, — a custom by which many thousands of these valued organs are yearly rescued from the clutches of the Russian Boreas. A man's eyes at this season cost him some trouble likewise, for they are apt to freeze up every now and then. On such occasions, it is customary to knock at the door of the first house you come to, and ask permission to occupy a place for a few minutes by the stove. This is a favour never denied, and the stranger seldom fails to ac- knowledge it on his departure, by dropping a grate- ful tear on the hospitable floor. There are families at this season who will spend weeks without once tasting a mouthful of fresh air ; and at last, when the cold has reached its extreme point, none are to be seen in the streets but the poorest classes, unless it be foreigners, people in business, or officers. As to these last, the parades and mountings of guard are never interrupted by any degree of cold ; and while 240 THE BALTIC. the frost is hard enough to cripple a stag, generals and colonels of the guard may be seen in their glitter- ing uniforms, moving as nimbly and as unconcernedly about the windy Admiralty Square as though they were promenading a ball-room. Not a particle of a cloak must be seen about them, — not a whisper of complaint must be heard. The Emperor's presence forbids both, for he exposes himself unhesitatingly to wind, snow, hail, and rain, and expects from his officers the same disregard of the inclemencies of the season." In various parts of the city small circular buildings may be seen, furnished with public fire- places for the accommodation of coachmen and ser- vants, whose profession compels them to stand still in the open air at night, waiting to take up parties from the ball or the theatre. The return of the genial season, exposing the surface of the Neva, and changing the enthe aspect of nature, is an occurrence hailed with intense in- terest by all classes. The thaw is commonly accom- plished with great rapidity, especially if the weather is rainy. Indistinct murmuring sounds indicate a partial cracking of the ice. The disappearance of water from the surface denotes its separation from the banks, and that it has become too porous to be ventured upon with safety. At length, a general THE RUSSIAN SHORES — ST. PETERSBURG. 241 crash is heard, the whole body breaks up, and is floated to seaward in huge masses by the current. For some time afterwards, similar masses come drift- ing down from the upper part of the river, and the Ladoga; though the greater part of the lake-ice melts in its own reservoir. As soon as the passage of a boat is practicable, the event is announced by the cannon of the citadel ; and the navigation is oj^ened with great ceremony. The governor of the fortress, attended by his staff, in full official dress, embarks in a splendid barge, and proceeds to the Winter Palace on the opposite bank, to present the Emperor with a glass of the emancipated water, which he drinks to the prosperity of his subjects. It was for- merly the custom for the glass to be returned to the commandant full of ducats. But this was found to be an inconvenient practice, owing to the vessel in- creasing in bulk, so that the Czar had annually more water to drink, and more ducats to pay for the draught. The present of a fixed sum has therefore been substituted. Besides being the coldest of all capitals, St. Peters- burg is the nearest of any European metropolis to the haunts of savage life. London had once the stag and the wild boar in its immediate neighbour- hood, either of which might be captured between R 242 THE BALTIC. breakfast and dinner by the gallants of the court. But the incident belongs to a period five or six cen- turies back. The wolf may still be occasionally seen or heard not many miles from Stockholm. But the wild beasts advance to the threshold of the city of the Czar. Some of the islands of the Neva, and portions of others, have not yet been occupied by man, but remain as nature formed them, swampy, birch-covered, and scarcely known to the citizens, thouo'h not far removed from their marts and streets. They are visited by fishermen in summer, and by seals and wolves in winter, which come over the ice to them. In severe seasons, when pressed by hun- ger, the wolves have been known to enter the sub- urbs, and prowl in the precincts of royal palaces. Kohl was told by a lady that she had scared away one of these animals from the garden with her para- sol ; and mentions another, Avho, being surprised by a bear while reading on a bench at a suburban villa, drove Bruin off, by throwing the book, a novel of George Sand's, at his head. Bear hunting and wolf hunting were not long ago feasible winter diversions with the higher classes in the capital, and involved no lengthened journey from it to find game. THE RUSSIAN SHORES — ST. PETERSBURG. 243 2. THE CITY. St. Petersburg occupies an area of nearly twenty miles in circumference ; but large open tracts, vast squares, gardens and ornamental grounds, are in- cluded within this space. It contains about 450 streets, with somewhat less than 9000 buildino^s and tenements. The streets run generally in straight lines, but intersect each other at different anofles, though many cross at right angles, and divide the houses into regular squares or parallelograms. Their limited number is owing to the great length, and to the same name being retained from one extremity to another, however often interrupted by cross streets. The Nevski Prospekt has an extent of more than two miles and a half, with a breadth of sixty yards. Both sides are lined with footways formed of granite pavement, and separated from the carriageway by a row of lime trees. Several other streets exceed the length of a mile. The very small proportion of houses to a population of half a million is similarly explained by their vast size. When the Emperor is in residence at the Winter Palace, its occu- pants equal the population of a third-rate Swedish B 2 244 THE BALTIC. town. At a late census, thirteen houses were enumerated, each inhabited by more than a thou- sand persons ; 121 had from three hundred to a thousand occupants, 223 from two to three hundred, and 671 contained each from one to two hundred persons. The dwellings of the opulent classes are chiefly of brick, well stuccoed, and adorned with a profusion of Grecian pillars and pilasters. Those of the lower orders are mostly of wood. The latter are painted to hide the material, and are clean-looking, owing to the proprietors being required by law to renew the coating once a year. These timber-built houses amount to considerably more than one-half of the whole number. Hence fires are of frequent occurrence, and spread rapidly into destructive conflagrations, owing to the immense quantity of wood stored for winter fuel. The erec- tion of wooden buildings, except at the outskirts, is now prohibited. All the houses have roofs inclined at a very slight angle, by which means they are readily cleared of snow, while the occasional fall of large masses of snow, to which high-pitched roofs are subject, endangering passengers in the streets, is prevented. Every house is furnished with double windows. The outer are displaced in summer, and fitted in as the winter approaches, while the inner THE RUSSIAN SHORES — ST. PETERSBURG. 245 are carefully secured, in order to exclude the cold. The dwellings are all numbered, and it is compulsory for the proprietors or tenants to have their names conspicuously attached to them. The most important part of the city, containing the residences of the court and nobility, the officers of government, and more than half the population, occupies the mainland on the left or south bank of the Neva. This is, therefore, called the Great Side. It is also known as the Admiralty Quarter, from that building being not only prominent, but a point from which the leading streets diverge. The Admiralty, centrally situated with reference to the whole city, is a vast edifice, the principal side of which extends nearly half a mile in length. It runs parallel to the river, and sends off a wing at each end to the water's ed2:e, the whole enclosins; the dockvard. A tower rises from the centre of the grand front, surmounted by a cupola, from which springs a tall tapering spire, terminated by a vane in the shape of a ship under full sail. The spire and vane are gilt with the finest ducat gold, and glitter brilliantly in the sun- shine. From the Admiralty, on either hand, granite quays extend along the Neva, lined Avith imperial palaces on the eastern side, and with scarcely less stately private residences on the western. The K 3 246 THE BALTIC. eastern Is the Russian or imperial quay ; the western the English quay. The latter took its name from the houses being originally built or occupied by our countrymen. But they have been for years chiefly in the hands of native proprietors ; and, since the war broke out, the name itself has been changed. The quays extend upwards of two miles in length, and are furnished at intervals with flights of steps for landing-places. They were commenced by Ca- therine II. in 1764, and occupied upwards of twenty years in their construction. Ample foot and carriage- ways extend along them, forming a superb road. It commands a spectacle of unsurpassed architectural grandeur, entirely free from the signs of handicraft, wholly devoted to the display of opulence and state, no shops being allowed by law in the locality. But if this absence of appearances indicating the vulgar toils of life heightens the first impression of the scene to a foreigner, he speedily finds the massive edifices somewhat dull and cold, is chilled by the comparative lifelessness of the vast spaces around him, and oppressed by a monotonous magnificence. The western wing of the Admiralty overlooks the square containing the bronze equestrian statue of Peter the Great, a bold and spirited monument, erected at the instance of Catherine II. It repre- THE RUSSIAN SHORES — ST. PETERSBURG 247 sents him riding up the steep face of a granite rock, and checking the steed so as to make him rear, at the instant of having: o-ained the summit. This is an expressive personification of the natural difficulties encountered and overcome in founding the city. The face of the rider is turned towards the river ; his left hand holds the rein, and the right is stretched out as if claiming the empire of land and water. The horse appears trampling upon a huge serpent, a need- less indication of triumph, and an unhappy device, as it spoils the unity of the design. But it was pro- bably introduced more for a mechanical than an emblematic purpose, as it materially assists in fix- ing the statue, the serpent being let into the rock, while the extremity of the horse's tail is ingeniously united to the monster. M. Falconet, a French artist, was employed in casting the statue. Chevalier de Lascary, a Greek military officer, in the service of the empress, contributed to provide the granite pe- destal. As the neighbourhood of the capital supplied no rock, large or small, it became necessary to look out for one at a distance, yet, at the nearest point, in order to lessen the difficulty of transport. The officer, anxious to gain distinction, engaged in this inquiry. " Fortune," he remarks, in an account of his operations, " which frequently favours noble and R 4 248 THE BALTIC. extraordinary enterprises, seemed to give a special mark of her favour to Catherine II. on the occasion of the monument which she was about to raise to the memory of Peter the Great. A peasant informed me that there was a very large rock in a morass not far from a bay in the Gulf of Finland, about four miles from the shore, and about fourteen miles by water from St. Petersburg. I found the rock, covered with moss ; its form was that of a parallelopipedon, whose length was 42 feet, its breadth 27 feet, and height 21 feet." Lascary accomplished the formid- able task, by great mechanical ingenuity, of drawing this enormous mass, weighing about 1600 tons, out of the morass, in which some portions lay buried to the depth of 15 feet. It was dragged four miles to the shore by means of metal balls, moving in metallic grooves, let into large beams of wood, and floated on a raft between two vessels to the quay of St. Peters- burg. The block, much reduced in size by the chisel, is now 14 feet high, 20 feet broad, and 35 feet long. The horse rises 17 feet, and the rider 11. The pedestal has the following inscription, in Latin on one side, and in Russian on the other : — " PETR0 PRIMO CATHERINA SECUNDA, 1782." THE RUSSIAN SHORES — ST. PETERSBURG. 249 Some years ago, an American captain, when elated after dinner, laid a wager that he would ride on the same horse with the Czar Peter, and sallied forth to accomplish the exploit. With little difficulty he got over the railing, and was preparing, by means of the horse's tall, to take his seat behind the illustrious equestrian, when the police espied him. Being taken into custody, he was somewhat sobered by a night's confinement, and completely so on finding himself condemned to pay a heavy fine. Remonstrance was lost upon the authorities, who not inaptly stated that if he would ride with great people he must pay great people's prices. The eastern wing of the Admiralty has the Winter Palace immediately beyond it, the largest imperial or royal residence in Europe, and perhaps the most superb in its interior decorations. It pre- sents a front of more than 700 feet in length to the Neva, and has an open court in the centre, around which the gigantic pile forms nearly a complete square, the angles answering to the four cardinal points. The Empress Elizabeth laid the foundation- stone in the year 1754; and Rastrelll, the architect, obtained the dignity of Count for his work, com- pleting it in 1762, the year when the Empress died. Succeeding sovereigns had accumulated in this palace 250 THE BALTIC. the most rare and precious objects through upwards of seventy years, when, on the night of December 29. 1837, it was reduced to a mere shell by an acci- dental fire. The Imperial Court was at the theatre when the conflagration broke out. Upon being in- formed of the event, Nicholas conducted the Empress to the AnnitchkoiF Palace, then mounted his horse, and was speedily at the spot, directing the efforts of the people to arrest the flames, and rescue property. Though much was saved, a greater mass of wealth probably perished than was ever consumed in a sino-le buildino; since " Macedonia's madman " fired the palace of Persepolis. Nearly all the male in- habitants of the capital were present. Few, except the very young and aged, closed their eyes that night. If report speaks true, the Emperor exhibited remarkable coolness upon the occasion, and showed a respect for human life in which his general career has been wofully deficient. " Let it burn away," he is reported to have said ; " let it all go, but let not a life be endangered in attempts to preserve compara- tively worthless property." Though the external masonry resisted the fire, the whole interior was de- stroyed. But it was rapidly reconstructed ; a task to which nobles and citizens were anxious to contri- bute. Count Barincsky tendered 1,000,000 of rubles THE RUSSIAN SHORES ST. PETERSBURG. 251 for the purpose ; a poor shopkeeper offered the sum of 1500; and, as the Czar was passing along in his droschkj, a man wearing a long beard and the caftan of the moujik ran forward, and placed on his knees 25,000 rubles in notes, departing Avithout telling his name. Jacobleff, one of the wealthiest merchants of the city, offered to roof again the palace with iron as a free gift. These generous proposals were not accepted by the Emperor. He had formed his resolve, and thus signified it : — " This day year will I again sleep in my room in the Winter Palace. Who undertakes the building?" The pleasure of the Czar and the decree of Providence are synonymous in Russia. None doubted the accomplishment of the purpose, because the Emperor Avilled it, though no one had the courage to respond at once to the challenge. At last, Kleinmichael, an aid-de-camp, accepted the commission. " And the building," said the master of 70,000,000 of men, " is to be complete in a year?" '' Yes, Sire ! " Six thousand persons were employed in the work of restoration. It went on day and night, regardless of sleep, meals, festivals, and sea- sons, the workmen relievino; each other in a-anors. The architect redeemed his pledge. The gorgeous edifice was finished by the close of December, 1838, 252 THE BALTIC. and three months afterwards it was occupied by the Court. But a fearful price had been paid in order to fulfil a capricious mandate. During the great frosts, the building was heated to an excessive tem- perature, in order to dry the -walls. The health of the labourers consequently failed; numbers Avere carried fainting from the sultry interior, and many perished owing to the change of temperature to which they were subject. The Winter Palace is the ordinary residence of the Emperor for seven or eight months of the year. But, instead of hav- ing a proper sleeping apartment, Nicholas is said to change his place of rest, privately retiring to one of llie unoccupied rooms at night, only known to himself and a few trusted attendants. Among saloons, halls, and galleries of varied splendour, two apartments are pre-eminent — one for beauty, the other for magnificence. The former is the Salle Blanche., or White Hall, a ball-room. The walls, pillars, decorations, and furniture, all of pure white, are relieved with just as much gilding as is necessary to prevent monotony, constituting it one of the most chastely beautiful of earthly gather- ing-places. The latter is the Hall of St. George, a Doric parallelogram, grand and imperial in its aspect, devoted to occasions of state, the reception THE RUSSIAN SHORES — ST. PETERSBURG. 253 of foreign ambassadors, and the bestowment of honours. The Winter Palace Is connected by covered gal- leries with the Hermitage, which forms a continua- tion of it along the river, and Is scarcely inferior to it in size or splendour. It was commenced by Catherine II., and has been greatly enlarged and enriched by her successors. Here the Empress re- treated from the cares of state, and Indulged the en- joyments of social life. But the name, suggestive of sylvan retirement, of grot and grove, has long been inappropriate, if ever In any degree applicable. The Hermitage has no rural or secluded features, but is a vast temple, containing an immense assem- blage of objects collected with unsparing munificence from the great world of life. There are cabinets of medals, engravings, jewels, and articles of vertu ; vases, candelabra, and other decorative works of marble, malachite, and jasper ; galleries of paintings, arranged In a long suite of apartments, each room being devoted to one master or school ; and a library of upwards of 100,000 volumes, among which are those bequeathed by Voltaire, with the marks of his handling upon them. In the shape of thumb-stains and dogs'-ears. Tliese Imperial buildings, on the side turned from the Neva, face a square, Avhich has 254 THE BALTIC. directly opposite the Hotel I'Etat Major, an esta- blishment to which our Horse Guards is analogous, with the Alexander Column in the centre. This monument is sufficient of itself to render any city remarkable. The shaft of the column, upwards of eighty feet high, is a single block of red granite, hewn out of the quarries of Finland, the greatest monolith known to modern architecture. The pe- destal, also a single granite block, rises about twenty- five feet, and bears the brief inscription, " TO ALEXANDER THE FIRST. GRATEFUL RUSSIA." The capital, measuring sixteen feet, is surmounted by a gigantic figure of Hope, holding the cross and pointing upwards, making the total height of the monument about 150 feet. Anecdotes are current in relation to it of some interest. Louis Philippe of France, in the days of his prosperity, is said to have applied for a similar shaft. But Nicholas excused himself, saying, " He would not send him a smaller one ; and a greater, or one of the same size, was not to be obtained." Owing to the position of the cross-bearing hovering figure at the summit, the head can hardly be seen at all from several points of view. " How is it," observed one, " that this figure of Hope is without a head?" "Would Hope itself," THE EUSSIAN SHORES — ST. PETERSBURG. 255 was the reply, " dare to take up its abode beneath the withering glance of a Russian Emperor, si elle rtavait pas perdu le tete ? " The splendid monolith had a huge crack before it was erected, which was hastily filled up with cement, and polished over. But a few summer suns and winter frosts dislodged the inserted material, and exposed the rent. Still, as nothing imperial in Russia can be admitted to have a flaw, a commission appointed to examine the monument, reported the crack to be an optical delu- sion, occasioned by the imperfect polish of the part, though two of its members were known to have ad- mitted previously that they had put their fingers into the crevice before the column was raised. Not far from the Hermitage is the Marble Palace, and at some distance, still following the course of the river eastward, the Taurida occurs, Avith the Summer Garden between them. Both buildings were erected by Catherine II., and bestowed upon her favourites ; the former upon Orlofi", and the latter upon Potemkin. Both speedily became again the property of the crown (singularly enough, by purchase), and have been oc- cupied by members of the imperial family, or devoted to the reception of illustrious guests. The Marble Palace, a gloomy pile, derives its name from the in- terior being cased with dark grey marble ; but 256 THE BALTIC. granite and bronze enter more largely into its con- struction than any other material. The Taurida Palace — so called in honour of the conquest of the Crimea, the Taurica Chersonesus of ancient geo- graj^hy — is a low but more pleasing structure, re- markable for a hall of such vast dimensions that 20,000 Avax candles are requh-ed to light it com- pletely, and a whole battalion of soldiers was once manoeuATcd in it. Karamsin, the Russian historian, had apartments assigned to him in this palace, where he died in the year 1826. The intervening Summer Garden, with finely-grown trees, flower-beds, grass- plots, resting-places, and statues, contrasts pleasantly through the summer months with the surrounding masonry of the city. A magnificent iron railing, with gilded spikes, sixteen feet high, and a quarter of a mile long, encloses it on the side parallel to the river. Here, at Whitsuntide, an odd spectacle is ex- hibited — a show of would-be brides. They are the marriasieable dau2:hters of the middle and lower class, who appear in their best attire, often strangely be- dizened, for the purpose of tempting gazing bachelors to matrimony. Through the medium of attendant relatives or friends, introductions and proposals are arranged, with the same decorum as business is car- ried on in a well-regulated mart. THE RUSSIAN SHORES ST. PETERSBURG. 257 Leaving the Neva for the Nevski Prospekt and its neighbourhood, the list of principal imperial re- sidences is here completed by the AnnitchkoiF Palace, the home of the present Emperor prior to his accession, and still frequently occupied by him ; and the new Mi- chailofF Palace, built for his younger brother, the de- ceased Grand Duke Michael, esteemed the noblest and most elegant building in the capital. Near the former, the Imperial Library is located, one of the largest and most valuable in Euroj^e. It contains 400,000 volumes, and an extensive collection of manuscripts, chiefly obtained by pillage from Poland and Persia. The manuscript department is rich in autograph letters, state papers, and memoranda of sovereigns, collected at Paris during the stormy time of the French Revolution, by M. Doubrowsky, who was then connected with the Russian embassy at that ca- pital. There are letters of Henry VII., Henry VIIL, Elizabeth, James I., and Charles I. of England ; and of Louis XL, Charles VIIL, Louis XII., Francis I., Henry IV., and Louis XIV. of France. A writing exercise of the latter when a boy is not a little curious from its bad spelling, and the fidelity with which his mature life reflected the axiom impressed upon his childhood. In a large hand the juvenile royal scribe repeats the sentiment six times on a sheet of paper, — s 258 THE BALTIC. " L'hommage est deut aux Roys, lis font ce qu'il \euY pluist." " Honour is due to kings ; they do whatever they please." A missal, once belonging to Mary Queen of Scots, marked with her own annotations, and many of her private letters, are here preserved. Across the river, the side of the Yassali Island is lined with an array of commanding public edi- fices, devoted to commerce, art, and science, the Ex- change, the Custom House, the Academy of Arts, the Academy of Sciences, and the Hotel des Mines. The last two establishments are of special interest. The Academy of Sciences, planned by Peter the Great and inaugurated by liis widow, has had many illustrious names connected with it, — Euler, Ber- nouilli, Pallas, Gmelin, and Schubert. From the date of its foundation, through nearly a century, its memoirs were published in Latin ; but in 1803 the Emperor Alexander gave it new laws, and the French lans-uao-e w^as substituted as the vehicle of communication. Since 1726, the year of institution, the register of meteorological observations has pre- served the maxima and minima of the barometrical heights of each month, the number of days of rain and snow, and the dates of floods and aurora? boreales wdiich happened each year; since 1769, the barome- THE RUSSIAN SHORES ST. PETERSBURG. 259 trical height of every day is marked, and the means of these observations for each month are given ; since 1781, the thermometer has been observed morn- ing and afternoon of each day; since 1803, the same observations have been made three times a day ; and since 1822, the entire meteorology of the capital has been carefully noted at seven o'clock in the morning, two in the afternoon, and nine in the evening. This is perhaps the only scientific establishment that was ever under the presidency of a woman. It was deemed a somewhat remarkable event, requiring an apologetic note, when in 1835 our Royal Astrono- mical Society added the names of Miss Caroline Herschel and Mrs. Somerville to the list of honorary members. Even in 1850, objection was made to Madame Ida PeifFer being present at a meeting of the Royal Geographical Society. But in 1783, an imperial ukase placed the Academy of Sciences at St. Petersburg under the presidency of the Princess DaschkofF, with the title of Directeur. Be- sides ethnographic, mineralogical, and botanical trea- sures, it possesses a collection of the fossil bones of extinct species of animals, remarkable for the famous skeleton of the mammoth found on the banks of the Lena, in Siberia, imbedded in the frozen earth. This monster inhabitant of the earth at a former S 2 260 THE BALTIC. epoch, is 9 feet 4 inches high, 16 feet 4 inches long, exclusive of the tusks, which are 9 feet 6 inches, measuring along the curve. The skeleton of a living species of Indian elephant is shown beside it, and the difference between them in size and structure immediately attracts notice. Erman remarks, that in the mammoth the tusks approach closer together at the roots than in the elephant, and thence extend laterally like two scythes in the same horizontal plane, and not in two parallel vertical planes, as in the elephant. It would thus appear, that the mam- moth in defending itself moved the head from side to side, whereas the elephant in striking tosses the head upwards. The mammoth is also distinguished from the elephant by the greater length and compression of its skull, as well as by its superior height. The Hotel des Mines is the seat of a school for miners, into which pupils are received at a very early age, and trained to superintend the mining establish- ments in the hands of the government. Its minera- logical collection, the best in Europe, contains an instructive series of specimens of the alluvial gold found in the Ural Mountains. They vary from the size of a pea to a mass of eighty pounds weight. The latter was obtained from a bed of sand in the district of Ekatherineberg, and Avas the largest mass of native gold known to exist prior to the discovery THE RUSSIAN SHORES — ST. PETERSBURG. 261 of auriferous wealth in Australia. None of the spe- cimens have a crystalline structure, in which condi- tion native gold ordinarily occurs, but show a tendency to a circular kidney-shaped figure. Among other remarkable objects, there is the largest known piece of platinum, weighing ten pounds, from the mines of the DemidofF family ; a colossal block of pure malachite, weighing upwards of 4000 pounds ; and the block of meteoric iron discovered by Pallas on a mountain of slate in Siberia, which, after having furnished specimens to most of the cabinets in Europe, still exceeds three cubic feet in bulk. The estabhshment possesses models of interesting minera- logical sites, one of the region of Lake Olonetz, from which iron ore is obtained, another of the magnetic mountain of Blagodat, in the Ural range, and a third of a mine in the neighbourhood of Tobolsk, which exhibits all its winding passages, various stratifica- tions, different metals, and toiling Avorkmen. There are also models of excavating and smelting processes for the instruction of the students. The ecclesiastical edifices of the city represent almost every variety of faith professed in Europe. The Russian-Greek, Armenian, Roman, and Pro- testant forms of Christianity have their structures, while Islamism has its mosque, and Judaism its s 3 262 THE BALTIC. synagogue. Religious serv^ice is performed in fifteen languages. The Nevski Prospekt alone contains seven places of worship belonging to as many dif- ferent confessions, and has acquired from this cir- cumstance the sobriquet of Toleration Street. But no Russian is at liberty to leave the Russian-Greek Church, the dominant and established communion, under pain of banishment to Siberia ; and the entire policy of the present reign has steadily aimed at securing as large an incorporation of subjects as pos- sible within its pale. This is obviously a piece of kingcraft, for the members of the hierarchy are the servile tools of despotism, staunch upholders of the doctrine that the Emperor, their official head, is to be reverenced as a kind of vicegerent of the Deity, whose decisions may not be disputed, and whose will is rightful law. Nicholas, in the ecclesiastical con- stitution of his empire, has all the authority and prestige of the Pope in the Roman Catholic com- munion, with the addition of wearing a military cos- tume, and commanding an army more than half a million strong, even on the peace establishment. " I b elieve in God in heaven, and in the Czar on earth," is part of the orthodox confession of faith. Hence, as the power of the secular crown is strengthened in proportion as the spiritual supremacy of its wearer THE RUSSIAN SHORES — ST. PETERSBURG. 263 is recognised, the imperial policy has pursued with no little zeal and unscrupulousness the work of pro- selytism to the National Establishment. The Byzan- tine style of architecture, with its single or clustered domes, distinguishes the churches of the capital. But Greek and Roman features are largely mixed with it in the more important, as the Kasan cathedral, in the Nevski Prospekt, and the Isaac's church, near the Admiralty, one of the grandest of temples, still unfinished in the interior after the lapse of more than a quarter of a century devoted to its construc- tion, remarkable for simplicity of design combin- ing with colossal proportions. Within the precincts of the fortress, which occupies a small island of the Neva, opposite the Winter Palace, is the church of St. Peter and St. Paul, where repose the ashes of Peter the Great and his successors, with members of the imperial family. The tombs are plain stone sar- coi:)hagi, covered with a velvet pall, on which the names of the deceased appear, and sometimes only the initial letters. The remains of Suwarrow, and other distinguished Russians, are in the church of the Annunciation, attached to the monastery of St. Alexander Nevski ; Kutusoff lies in the Kasan cathedral ; and Moreau, the conqueror of Hohen- linden, in the Roman Catholic church. S 4 264 THE BALTIC. The marts and markets of the city, of interest in themselves, are the best sites for observing the phases of life amono; the middle and lower classes. Throuofh- out the empire generally, every town of consequence has its Gostinnoi Dvor, or Merchant's Inn, a bazaar where all the important articles of commerce are to be met with in close proximity, provisions excepted. These places were founded in the nomadic age of the Sclavonians, when, in the absence of an organised carrying system, merchants came with their goods to certain spots, at well-known seasons, to which their customers resorted. Hence arose the necessity of providing, for the accommodation of both parties, buildings answering the two-fold purpose of a bazaar and a caravansery or inn. The Gostinnoi Dvor of St. Petersburg is a vast structure consisting of a ground floor and an upper story, surrounding an open court, with a reservoir in the centre, a memo- rial of the time when the traders arrived in caravans, unpacked their wares, and watered their jaded beasts of burden. Particular compartments are devoted to goods of the same description, which have the names of Iron Row, Book Row, Cap Row, from the articles there exposed for sale. Business is carried on with great animation from dawn to dusk, when the shop- keepers retire to their homes, and leave the place to THE RUSSIAN SHORES — ST. PETERSBURG. 265 the guardianship of watchmen and dogs. There are special markets for fish, fruit, live birds, and dead game ; and in the Sennaia Ploschad, or Haymarket, provisions of all kinds are sold, besides fodder for cattle. This vast square was the scene of a remark- able spectacle in the year 1831, during the cholera visitation. It was tln-onged by an infuriated mob, who attributed its rava<2:es to foreio:ners residing; in the capital, to the medical men, and police authorities. The populace had proceeded to acts of violence, when the Emperor suddenly appeared on the spot, stopped near a church, and addressed the misguided multitude. After stating that the disease had been sent from heaven as a punishment, he added : " In- stead of doing penance, and praying for forgiveness, you double your faults, and load your consciences with fresh crime. On your knees, unhappy beings, and ask pardon from me and Christ I " The over- awed rioters instantly obeyed, and then dispersed quietly to their homes. In winter, and especially at Christmas, the scene in the Sennai'a is without a parallel elsewhere. The ground, deeply overlaid with snow, hardened by frost, is covered with an immense number of sledges, many from very distant parts of the empire, loaded with oxen, pigs, sheep, calves, and other dead stock. The stiffly frozen car- 266 THE BALTIC. cases stand upright as if in life ; the flesh is as hard as the bone ; and if a few pounds of meat are wanted, the quantity has to be detached by the axe or saw. At the death of its founder in 1725, St. Peters- burg contained a population of 75,000, mostly strangers ; at the accession of Catherine II., thirty- seven years later, it amounted to 110,000; and at the present date it may be estimated at 500,000, consisting of clergy, nobles, soldiers, merchants, bourgeois, domestics, artificers, peasants, and foreign- ers. Among the wealthy, according to M. Golovin, there are not more than twelve families in the en- joyment of an annual income of 30,000/. The most numerous class are the tsliornoi narod, or " black people," a phrase corresponding to our " unwashed," to which the common labourers, peasantry, street- rabble, and beggars belong. Few cities, perhaps none, have such a fluctuating population. The military are, of course, liable to shift their quarters from the Neva to the Dwina, the Vistula, or the Pruth. The em- ployes of the government seldom remain long in one post, but are either subject to involuntary removal to distant provinces, or seek the change in order to rise higher in the official scale. Those who accept service in Siberia, civil or military, gain a step in THE RUSSIAN SHORES ST. PETERSBURG. 267 promotion on crossing the Irtish, the frontier river, and residing three years beyond its boundary. The lower classes, servants, mechanics, and labourers, are often serfs, who have received temporary leave of absence from the proprietors of the estates to which they belong, paying a consideration for the privilege, and returning at the expiration of the term. Owing to these circumstances, the mass of the inhabitants undergo a complete change in little more than ten years, a minority only remaining stationary. In the streets, the foreigner is at once struck by the preva- lence of uniforms. Besides the various costumes of the military, civil officers of every grade, university professors, and public teachers, the police, clerks of the post-office, postmen, and other subalterns of ad- ministration, have their respective liveries. Another distinctive feature of the population is the enormous disproportion of the sexes, the males being in excess of the females by considerably more than two to one. There are at least 150,000 more men than women. This preponderance of males is accounted for by the number of soldiers in garrison ; the host of govern- ment functionaries who flock to the metropolis in quest of fortune, remaining unmarried till their aspirations are realised; and the multitudes of pea- sants from the interior who sojourn in it for a term 268 THE BALTIC. as servants and labourers, leaving their wives and families at home in the provinces. St. Petersburg is thus eminently a city of men, and of fine-looking men in general, while the women are deficient in external attractions. Necessarily in-doors more than the other sex, and confined throughout the winter to close, heated rooms, the Avindows of which are never opened, female beauty is rarely developed on the banks of the Neva, and, if imported from the pro- vinces, it comes to the capital rapidly to fiide. With all its imposing material features, St. Peters- burg does not please ; and when first impressions of astonishment are over, it repels. The city has no hoar antiquity and historical associations to excite interest — no high moral character, as having acted a great part in the events of life, to inspire respect. It is too palpably the creation of force suddenly ap- plied, and stringently continued, to give satisfaction, instead of being an aggregate spontaneously and gradually formed as the fruit of social progress. Its Greek and Italian designs, gay pilasters and balus- trades, blue domes spangled with golden stars, with the everlasting whitewash, green paint, and yellow ochre of the dwellings, are not in harmony with the stern region in which it is placed ; and are viewed with the uncomfortable feelins^ which unfitness al- THE RUSSIAN SHORES — ST. PETERSBURG. 269 ways inspires. The Russians themselves do not like the place. It is not their capital — not an expression of their ideas and tastes. Moscow, with its traces of Tartarian architecture, is their true metropolis, and a better reflection of the spirit of the Czar himself; while, if St. Petersburg, in the language of a French writer, is " the boAV-window at which the imperial court and government take the air of European civilisation," it may be added, that the parties have not yet derived all the benefit that is desirable from access to it. " What is there," says one, " about this capital which renders it so unloveable as a re- sidence ? I had experienced within its walls kindness as much beyond my expectations as my deserts — not only courtesy and hospitality, but real genuine Christian goodness, and I turned away with a feeling of thankfulness that my life was not destined to be spent there. It seems as if the soil, revenging itself for having been taken by force, and appropriated to a purpose Nature never intended, inspires a sense of dreariness and loneliness which can hardly be ra- tionally accounted for. I never read or heard of the English traveller sojourning beyond a few days, who did not quit Petersburg with a sentiment of release from bondage ; and many a Russian, long resident abroad, whose darling vision by day and night it has 270 THE BALTIC. been to retire to his native capital with the fruits of his expatriation, has, upon experiment, owned the disappointment, and ended his days elsewhere. ' Je dtteste Peter sbourg^ is the thankless sentence you hear from every mouth." The awful presence of one man in the city, either personally or by representa- tives, oppressive as the night-mare, is doubtless largely concerned in the production of this feeling. The Autocrat is there — that embodiment of abso- lutism, who can doom the highest to chains and exile, without condescending to assign an offence ; above all law himself, and its arbiter to millions — a ter- rible power, rendered somewhat ubiquitous by a legion of police, whose secret spy may be the acci- dentally-formed acquaintance of the visitor, noting every word, and seeking to explore the very thoughts and intents of the mind, while blandly discharging the civilities of life. None are secure from the scrutiny of the myrmidons of a suspicious govern- ment but the crows and pigeons overhead. These denizens of the air are the only free inhabitants of the capital, swarming in vast flocks about the churches and palaces, careless alike of imperial dig- nities, police, spies, and conspirators. On the night of the murder of the Emperor Paul, the crows nearly defeated the tragedy by clamorously cawing when THE RUSSIAN SHORES — ST. PETERSBURG. 271 disturbed by the assassins in the garden of the old MichailofF palace. Upon the approach of hostilities in the present year, the command of the capital was placed in the hands of four military governors, each with jurisdic- tion over a division of it. The state of sieo^e has since been applied in all its rigour. Notwithstand- ing the assumed impregnability of Cronstadt, bat- teries and strong defensive works have been erected on both sides of the mouth of the Neva, while the imperial treasure was early removed from the fortress to Moscow, as a safer place of custody. By a ge- neral order, anticipating the event of the allied fleets forcing the passage to the city, old men, women, and children were directed immediately to quit ; the streets were to be unpaved ; and the bells of the churches, with the images of the saints, to be sent into the interior. Though St. Petersburg may not experience an attack, it is certain that the blockade must have told Avith damaging effect upon its interests. So long as it continues, the despotic scheme of its founder is frustrated, who contemplated the enrichment of the capital by arbitrarily constitut- ing it the chief port of the empire. But the Neva is not the natural outlet of Russian produce, being 500 miles further from the gates of the Baltic 272 THE BALTIC. than the mouth of the Niemen, while the latter is quite as near to the chief sites of production. It may be difficult to restore its traffic, if long diverted into other and more convenient channels. 3. THE PROVINCE. Besides being the capital of an empire, St. Peters- burg is the head of a local government, extending alono; the shore of the Gulf of Finland, from the River Narova to the central region of the Ladoga Lake. The greater portion of this tract belonged to ancient Ingria, and was originally occupied by a Finnish race, still existing in fragments in the vil- lages. Two-thirds of its area of 15,000 square miles are still in a state of nature, and consist of a low flat, overspread with forests, lakes, and swamps. The province has few sites of interest besides the chateaus and summer residences of the imperial family. The Palace of Tzarskocelo, the Emperor's village, round which a considerable town has sprung up, about fifteen miles south of the capital, exhibits the profuse magnificence characteristic of Russian court life, with not a little of tawdriness and glare. It was erected by the Empress Elizabeth, greatly embellished by Catherine, and restored after a fire by Alexander, but is not occupied by Nicholas, who takes up his THE RUSSIAN SHORES — ST. PETERSBURG. 273 abode in a chaster dwelling in the park. Two rooms are remarkable; one, the amber chamber, lined from the floor to the ceiling with that substance ; the other, lined half way up its walls with lapis lazuli, the floor being of ebony inlaid with mother-of-pearl. The apartments occupied by Alexander are still in the state in which he left them, broken down by cares, to meet his death at Taganrog. Writing-table, desk, pens and ink, hat and gloves, books, pocket-hand- kerchief, and camp-bedstead, have been kept undis- turbed. More attractive from its maritime site and elevated position is Peterhof, a favourite place with the great Peter, who gave his name to it, erected various buildings, and often watched his fleet from the spot. It stands on the chalk clifls w^liich form the southern shore of the Gulf of Finland, and commands a fine view of its waters, with the northern coast in the distance, and Cronstadt intermediate. Peter's build- ings are humble ; the palace, chiefly the work of Catherine II., is tawdry; but the surrounding domain has many charms, enclosing parks, gardens, water- works, pavilions, cottages, hermitages, walks and drives, spreading over an extensive area. The im- perial family when in residence occupy an elegant wooden pavilion which belonged to the Emperor T 274 THE BALTIC. before his accession to the throne. Thousands throno; from the capital to Peterhof every July, when the renowned fetes are held, taking the road by the shore, or performing the transit in the steamers. The an- nual holiday is in honour of the Empress's birthday, which is also her wedding-day, celebrated by reviews, balls, music, and illuminations. Every comer, prince or peasant, native or foreigner, is at liberty to wander into every nook and corner of the grounds. Last July, the Emperor was at Peterhof, telescope in hand, watching the magnificent navy of the Western nations upon his own waters, vainly challenging his fleet to come out of its granite stronghold to the battle. 275 CHAP. VIII. THE RUSSIAN SHORES. CRONSTADT. BAY OF CRONSTADT. THE ISLAND. ITS CAPTURE FROM THE SWEDES. THE TOWN. ITS HARBOURS. OFFI- CIAL FRAUD. THE FORTIFICATIONS. RISE OF THE RUSSIAN NAVY. PETER AT ARCHANGEL. HIS SHIP- BUILDING. MARITIME ADVENTURE. GREAT VICTORY OVER THE SWEDES. CONSECRATION OF THE LITTLE GRANDSIRE. PETER's FLEET. NAVY AFTER HIS DE- CEASE. ENGAGEMENTS WITH THE BRITISH. THE RUSSIAN BALTIC FLEET. This celebrated bulwark and seaward gate of St. Petersburg, a town, fortress, and great naval sta- tion, occupies the eastern extremity of an island in the Gulf of Finland, at the distance of eighteen miles due west of the capital. The intervening waters form the shallow Bay of Cronstadt, or Crown Port, through which the navigable passage to the Neva is ordinarily marked with poles, but on which horses gallop, sledges fly, and houses of refreshment appear in winter, the entire surface being solidly frozen. Hio;h roads are then established from the port to the metropolis, and to the northern and T 2 276 THE BALTIC. southern shores of the gulf. The depth of water in the bay varies to some extent with the direction of the Avind. It increases with a westerly gale, wliich drives up the waves of the gulf; and lessens under the inverse action of an easterly wind. The average depth is under 12 feet. But, about five miles above the port, a bar of sand occurs, on which there is only 9 feet of water at the most, and often not more than 7 or 8. This effectually precludes the further passage of the large vessels that come up to Cron- stadt, which has 30 feet of water in the ship-channel on the seaward side. When the Gloucester man- of-war, of 74 guns, accompanied by the Lightning steamer, conveyed the Duke of Devonshire to these waters, to be present at the coronation of the reign- ing Emperor, the ship anchored at the port, and the steamer attempted to proceed to the capital. But it was found impossible to get over the bar ; and the envoy, with his suite, had to go on board a small Russian passenger steam-boat, in order to gain the Neva. The Gloucester was the first British line-of- battle ship that ever anchored in Cronstadt roads. The island on which the town is built is a low flat track, sandy or swampy, except where the sur- face has been improved by cultivation ; and overlaid with the granite blocks common to the contiguous THE RUSSIAN SHORES — CRONSTADT. 277 mainland. It runs nearly parallel to tlie shores of the gulf, at the distance of about six miles from the northern, and four from the southern. From west to east it extends about seven miles, but averages little more than one in breadth ; and tapers to a point at the seaward extremitj, Avhich is marked by a light- house on Tolboukin Islet, showing a fixed light at the height of 88 feet, \isible eleven miles round. At the time of the foundation of the capital, this insu- lated outpost was occupied by a few Finnish fisher-, men and a small Swedish garrison. It then bore the name of Retusari, or Rat Island. Upon the armed agents of Peter the Great making their appearance, the Swedes withdrew ; but left nothing behind them in the shape of spoil except a great camp-kettle. The conquerors seized upon the iron joot as a trophy, paraded it in triumph on a pole, and re-baptized the island after it — Kotlinoi Ostrof, or Kettle Island, the name which it bears at present. The Czar visited the spot, approved of it as a site suitable on which to plant a fortress for the protection of his new capital, laid the foundations of Cronslott, one of the detached forts, and commenced the buildings which have expanded under succeeding sovereigns into the town and fortifications of Cronstadt. The town is a collection of regular streets and T 3 278 THE BALTIC. squares, lined in general with one-storied houses. It contains ordinarily in summer, when trade is active, a popidation of 30,000, consisting of work- men, sailors, soldiers, merchants, and employes ; but in winter, when all maritime operations are at a stand, this number is reduced by more than two thirds, and an aspect of utter dreariness is impressed upon the site. One of its chief ornaments is a statue of Peter, in the centre of a large square close to the port, which issued from the studio of the French sculptor, Jaques, in the year 1844. The Czar is represented in the dress he usually wore, on foot, bareheaded, in an attitude of reflection. This monu- ment, of colossal size, was inaugurated by the Em- peror Nicholas, Avith great pomp and circumstance, in the presence of thousands from the capital. A Gostinnoi Dvor, several Russian churches, Avith a Lutheran, English, and Roman Catholic place of worship; a naval school and great hospital, a custom- house, arsenals, and harbours are the principal public establishments. The harbours consist of three ex- tensive and connected basins, ranging from west to east. The outermost or western, called the Mer- chants' Harbour, is exclusively set apart for the mer- cantile craft trading to the port ; and will accommo- date a thousand vessels. Here, in peaceful times. THE RUSSIAN SHORES — CRONSTADT. 279 soon after the navigation opens, the flags of most nations may be seen — the English predominating; and the spectacle is most animated till the season closes. Next, is the Middle Harbour, appropriated to the fitting out of men-of-war, the hulls of which are built in the dockyards of the capital, and floated down to this haven to be equipped. The eastern is the War Harbour, the proper haven for the fleet, which will contain from thirty to forty line-of-battle ships. These basins are not excavations, but have been constructed by driving piles, so as to enclose the area required. The piles sustain a superstruc- ture of timber and granite, forming the mole, which is defended by forts and bastions, with a range of heavy guns on the flat top of the rampart. The Emperor Alexander is said to have observed, in allusion to the venality of his subjects in official stations, " If they only kncAV where to warehouse them, they would purloin my line-of-battle ships — if they could do it without waking me, they would steal my teeth while I slept." The peculation com- mon to the officials of government, which extends from the lowest to the highest step of the admini- strative ladder, has marked the conduct of affairs at Cronstadt. Soon after Nicholas came to the throne, on the occasion of a grand review of troops at one of T 4 280 THE BALTIC. his proyincial residences, four men of the class of moujiks, or peasants, with long beards and wearing caftans, made their appearance. They boldly ap- proached a superior officer, and requested permission to see the Emperor. Being required to state their business, they declared it to be of the utmost im- portance ; but had resolved only to communicate with the Emperor in person. No opportunity would of course have been afforded them to do this, had not the Czar observed the inter vicAV, inquired its ob- ject, and ordered the peasants to be brouglit before him. One of them, as the spokesman of the rest, then informed him that they had discovered a vast system of depredation in practice at Cronstadt, in which some of the highest functionaries there were implicated. The Gostinnoi Dvor, or bazaar, they affirmed to be crowded with o-oods belono-ino; to the Crown — rigging, iron-work, copper lining, anchors, cables, cannons, and an endless variety of fittings for shij)s. These articles, they stated, had been stolen from the arsenals, and were heaped up in the shops behind partitions, to which purchasers were secretly introduced who came to make cheap bargains. Nicholas refused to credit the story ; but the peasants persisted in it, and he dismissed them sternly, with the remark, " Take care ! I hold you responsible for THE RUSSIAN SHOEES — CRONSTADT. 281 your language." Kesolved to ascertain the truth, an aide-de-camp was ordered to proceed to Cronstadt, Avith a detachment of troops, at the head of a com- mission of inquiry. Suddenly surrounding the bazaar, the proofs of the veracity of the peasants were speedily found. The officer set seals upon the shops, left them under guard, and returned to make his report to the Emperor, who announced his pur- pose of punishing the guilty parties. But a night or two afterwards, the inhabitants of the capital ob- served the western sky illumined with a red glare. The Gostinnoi Dvor of Cronstadt was in flames, and had been intentionally fired to destroy the evidences of fraud. Some of them, however, resisted the con- sumino- element. A number of cannon were found in the ruins, which, on reading the inscription on them, were identified as having belonged to a man- of-war reported to have been lost in the Gulf of Finland, with all guns and stores on board. This aiforded clear proof that the vessel had been sent out to be sunk, having previously had the valuable part of her armament abstracted ! Apparently, the capital may be reached by passing Cronstadt on the north and south ; but the northern passage, or that between the island and the Finnish shore, has been obstructed by the Government by 282 THE BALTIC. piles, blocks of stone, and other materials, so as not to be navigable except by light craft. The southern is the only available passage. There is here a ship channel, called the Great Koad, comparatively narrow, and completely swept by the heavy guns of four principal forts. On approaching from seaward. Fort Alexander first occurs, on the left ; an imposing elliptical construction of granite blocks, mounting 116 eight-inch and ten-inch guns, all in casemates, which must be passed within the distance of 800 yards. Next, on the right, is Fort Kisbank, at about the same distance ; an oblong, with sixty guns of the heaviest calibre. Further on, but to the left, is Fort Peter, with seventy-six pieces of artil- lery ; and Cronslot, to the right, mounting, perhaps, eighty guns. The Great Road, defended by these detached works, conducts to the Little Road, a much narrower channel, leading up to Cronstadt. This is exposed to the fire of Fort Menzikoff*, with forty- four guns, a granite mass on the mole of the western harbour. Enormous sums have been expended upon these defences, Avith small redoubts and batteries, in order to render Cronstadt, and by consequence St. Petersburg, impregnable by sea. Whether they can be successfully attacked is a problem which remains to be solved ; and opinion differs as to the solution. • THE RUSSIAN SHORES — CRONSTADT. 283 Kussla is indebted to no inconsiderable extent to England for the origin of her marine, upon which a brief notice may be bestowed. Peter, its founder, commenced his maritime education when a boy in a tiny bark which had been constructed in the reign of his father, by a Dutchman of the name of Brandt, out of the wreck of an English sloop. Observing this craft afloat on the small river which runs through Moscow, he immediately noticed the differ- ence of build between it and the flat rafts of his countrymen. Inquiring '^ why it was made so un- like other vessels," he was informed that it was so designed in order to take advantage of an opposing wind. The idea took hold upon his mind, and, sum- moning Brandt, the vessel was masted, fitted with sails, and both embarked upon the stream. From that moment Peter turned his attention to seaman- ship, ordered a number of larger vessels to be built, grew skilful himself by degrees in their management, and, early in his reign, while organising a standing army, he determined also to possess a fleet. This was essential to an ulterior object, that of driving the Swedes from the great lakes Ladoga and Peipus, and mastering the Gulf of Finland. To acquire maritime experience, the youthful Czar paid a visit to Archangel, purchased a Dutch trading vessel, and 284 THE BALTIC. sailed to the mouth of the White Sea, 150 miles from the port, when, for the first time, " the Frozen Ocean had the honour of bearing a monarch on its bosom." During a second visit, which lasted several months, he made acquaintance with a mercantile commander named Musch, with whom he frequently Avent to sea. Greatly to the astonishment of the skipper, he was one day informed by his royal com- rade that he intended to embark with him, and serve in all the offices of a common seaman's life. This was not deemed at first a serious proposal ; but Peter was in earnest, and actually went through the various gradations of the sailor's career. He com- menced with the lowest, that of a zicahber, w^ho swept the cabin and scoured the decks ; then be- came a hnecht, or servant, who lighted the fire in the stove, primed the skipper's pipe, and brushed his jacket ; next a kajuitioacliter, or cabin-boy, who waited at table, and made the grog ; and finally ad- vanced to the rank o{ yong matrooSy or young sailor, who w^ent aloft to look out and handle the rigging. Musch now became seriously alarmed, lest a royal neck should be broken on board his ship. But his strange apprentice was not more bold than nimble, and safely performed his evolutions in the shrouds. The knoAvledge of shipbuilding gained by Peter THE RUSSIAN SHORES — CRONSTADT. 285 during his \asit to England, witli the large number of officers and artificers he enlisted in his service, materially contributed to forward his naval designs. Shortly after his return, a letter written from Moscow to the Marquis of Carmarthen by Mr. John Deane, a brother of Sir Anthony Deane, com- missioner and surveyor to the navy, is proof of the zeal with which the extraordinary traveller turned his infonnation and means to account. " My Lord," it commenced, " I have deferred writing till I could be able to give your Lordship a true account, from my own knowledge, of the Tzar, our master's navy, which, being a new thing in the world as yet, I be- lieve is variously talked of in England. First, at Yoronize (Yoronetz on the Don), there are already in the water and rigged thirty-six, and to be launched in the spring twenty more stout ships, from thirty to sixty guns. Next, eighteen very large galleys, built after the Venetian manner by Italian masters, are already completed ; and one hundred smaller galleys or brigantines are equipt for the sea ; seven bomb- ships are launched and rigged ; and four fire-ships are building against the spring, when they are all to go down to Azoph." Peter's temper was often sorely tried by the shortcomings of his officers and agents, who had no relish for a seafaring life, or for the 286 THE BALTIC. practical diitles of naval artisanship. But for the assistance of foreigners, chiefly Dutch and English, he would never have possessed a fleet. Some feigned sickness ; Menzikoff complained bitterly of sore hands; and General Major Galovin wofully failed in ful- filling a mission with which he was entrusted. Being sent to Venice in order to learn the art of building galleys, he spent four years in that city. On return- ms; he was summoned to attend his master to Cronstadt, who wished to profit by his accomplish- ments as a shij)wright. But, in answer to re- peated questions, he remained ominously silent, till, evasion being no longer possible, the luckless officer was obliged to confess that he had learned little or nothing. " ^^Tiat on earth," roared Peter, " did you do, during all the four years you were there ? " Driven by desj^eration to be ingenuous, he candidly replied, " Smoked tobacco, drank wine, and played the bass viol ! " The oddity of the avowal saved him from beino; cudo^elled and dism-aced. Peter lauo-hed loud and long, permitted the delinquent to retain his rank, but directed, by an official order, that General-Major Galovin should in future be styled Galovin Bass Viol ! If subjects tried the patience of the Czar, he tested the courage of his attendants in many an THE RUSSIAN SHORES — CRONSTADT. 287 expedition upon the foaming waters. Proceeding on one occasion in a yacht from St. Petersburg to Cronstadt to inspect his fleet, accompanied by the foreign ministers, whose presence he had specially in\dted, a sudden storm arose, and the waves dashed furiously against the bark. The ambassadors were in the utmost alarm, while Peter was at his ease on the raging element. They besought him to return, or to make for Peterhof; but he calmly replied, " Don't be frightened, gentlemen ; " continuing to direct the helmsman, and work the yessel. One of them, in a fit of terror, at length expostulated, say- ing, " I beseech your Majesty, for the love of God, to return to Petersburg, or to Peterhof, which is still nearer, and not to forget that my court did not send me to Russia to be drowned. If I should perish here, as in all likelihood I shall, your Majesty will have to answer to the king my master." Peter smiled, though there was some danger, and remarked, " Sir, if you are drowned, we shall all share the same fate, and nobody will be left to answer for your Excellency." In less than twenty years after the indefatigable monarch first turned his attention to maritime affairs, he had the satisfaction of seeing his object accom- plished, in possessing a naval force upon the Volga, 288 THE BALTIC. upon the Lakes Ladoga and Pelpus, and one suffi- ciently formidable to make head against the Swedes in the Gulf of Finland, eventually chasing them from its waters. Collecting a fleet of galleys, and brigantines, with 16,000 land forces on board, he sailed from Cronstadt in a ship of fifty guns, built after a model of his own, and scoured the north- ern shores of the gulf from Borga to Abo. In the year 1715, falling unexpectedly upon the Swedes, under Admiral Ehrenschild, in the Archipelago of o Aland, he signally defeated them, and took the com- mander prisoner. This \dctory transferred the do- minion of the Northern Baltic from Sweden to Kussia, and alarmed the inhabitants of Stockholm for the safety of their capital. The Czar's success upon this occasion was mainly owing to the small size of his vessels. They could be manoeuvred at will in the land-locked shallows of the archipelago, while the Swedish ships, being much larger, were incapable of such management. The conqueror took from this period the title of Vice- Admiral of Kussia. He conveyed the captive commander to St. Peters- burg, where his own triumph was celebrated with great rejoicing. At a grand entertainment given by MenzikofF in honour of it, Peter addressed a remark- able speech to the assembled magnates, many of THE KUSSIAN SHORES — CRONSTADT. 289 whom had regarded unfavourably his reforms and projects. "Where," said he, "is the man among you who, twenty years ago, would have conceived the idea of being engaged along with myself in building ships here on the Baltic, and in settling in these regions, conquered by our fatigues and bravery ? — of living to see so many brave and vic- torious soldiers and seamen sprung from Russian blood, and to see our sons returning home accom- plished men from foreign countries ? Historians place the seat of all sciences in Greece ; whence, being expelled by the fatality of the times, they spread into Italy, and thence were dispersed all over Europe ; but, by the perverseness of our ancestors, they stopped short in Poland. The Poles, as Avell as the Germans, formerly groped in the same dark- ness in which Ave have hitherto lived, but the inde- fatigable care of their governors at length opened their eyes, and they made themselves masters of those arts, sciences, and social unprovements, which Greece once boasted of. It is now our turn, if you will only seriously second my designs, and add to your obedience voluntary knowledge. I can com- pare this migration of the sciences to nothing better than the circulation of the blood in the human body ; and my mind almost prognosticates that they will, u 290 THE BALTIC. some time or other, quit their abode in Britain, France, and Germany, to come and settle for some centuries among us." The prognostication was too sombre with reference to Western Europe, and too sanguine in the instance of his own country. The sciences have since taken a firmer and broader hold of the inhabitants of the West, while the millions of the East are still comparatively indifferent to them. Towards the close of his reign, Cronstadt was the scene of an interesting naval ceremonial, — the consecration of the Little Grandsire. This was the name bestowed upon the boat in which Peter first embarked and learned to manage — the one acci- dently seen by him on the river of IMoscow. He had caused it to be preserved with care ; and it was now removed to St. Petersburg as a more appropriate location. Intending it to remain as a monument of the origin of the navy, the occasion of permanently laying up the skiflf was naturally deemed deserving of celebration. Accordingly, having been suitably decorated for the ceremony, it was sent to Cronstadt on the deck of a galley, where twenty-seven sail of the line lay moored in the form of a crescent. Peter embarked in the tiny bark as steersman, with Menzikoff" and three admirals as rowers. They went out some distance into the bav, and, on returning. THE RUSSIAN SHORES — CRONSTADT. 291 tlie vessel was saluted by the guns of the whole squadron, while each ship struck its colours and fired a salute, as it passed slowly along the line of the fleet. The boat was afterwards sent back to St. Petersburg, where it is now preserved. This germ of the navy is 30 feet long, 8 broad, and is capable of spreading three sails. The stern has an image carved in wood, representing a long-bearded Russian priest stretching out his hand over the sea, blessing and consecrating the waters, that they may bear propitiously the Russian ships, which are de- noted by some rude carvings in the act of leaving harbour. The Czar left to his subjects on his death the legacy of forty-one ships of the line, carrying 2106 guns, and manned with 14,900 seamen, be- sides a proportionate number of frigates, galleys, and small craft. After the death of its founder, the navy was neglected by the imperial government, and rapidly went to decay through the reigns of the Empresses Anne and Elizabeth. It revived under Catherine II.; and a squadron found its way round Europe into the Levant, which completely defeated the Turks at Tchesme, on the west coast of Anatoli, in 1770, the first naval battle between the two powers. This victory established the Russian marine in the U 2 292 THE BALTIC. Black Sea. It Avon for the Orloffs, one of whom was the commander, the family name of Tches- menski ; and obtained a medal for the soldiers and sailors, with an inscription signifying, " I was there." The chateau of Tchesme, on the road from St. Petersburg to Moscow, an edifice in the form of a Turkish pavilion, was likewise erected as a comme- morative monument. But three Englishmen in the service of the Empress, Admirals Greig and Elphin- stone, and Lieutenant Dugdale, mainly contributed to the success of the Bussian arms. The Empress sent some of her best ships to the assistance of the English against the French ; but they were so little available for either maritime or military purposes? that she was requested to withdraw them, as occa- sioning more trouble than they were worth. Under the Emperor Alexander, considerable attention was paid to the navy ; and in his reign, during the con- quest of Finland, the only two important instances occurred in which British and Bussian forces have come into hostile collision prior to the present year. The one was a gun-boat affair, in 1809, under Lieu- tenant Hawker. A strong flotilla lay in detach- ments along the north coast of the Finnish gulf, one of which w^as stationed at Portkala Point, about mid- way between Hango Head and Sveaborg. Per- ceiving the British manning their boats for an at- THE RUSSIAN SHORES — CRONSTADT. 293 tack, the enemy took up a position of extraordinary strength within two rocks, from which they could pour a destructive fire upon the boats as they ad- vanced. Hawker and his companions coolly ap- proached without firing a shot, till the vessels touched each other. They then boarded the flotilla, and carried everything before them. Of eight gun- boats, each mounting thirty-two and twenty-four pounders, six were brought away, and one was sunk, while twelve vessels under convoy were captured, laden with powder and provisions for the Russian army. The lieutenant who headed this gallant en- terprise fell in the execution of it. The other ac- tion took place in 1810, between the Implacable, under Captain, afterwards Sir By am Martin, and the Sewolod, under Captain Koudneif, when the latter was compelled to haul down her pendant in little more tlian half an hour. In the followino; year, two line-of-battle ships, with a frigate and sloop, sailed peacefully in the Gulf of Finland, for no Russian vessel ventured to come out of port. Nicholas has done more for the navy of the empire than any preceding sovereign ; but it has been pro- nounced a failure by competent naval authorities. This opinion does not refer to its positive force, but to the build, equipment, manning, and officership of u 3 294 THE BALTIC. the vessels, as compared with the same elements in the fleets of the maritime nations. The correctness of the judgment may be admitted without hazarding the dangerous error of under-estimating the means of an opponent. The sea service has never been popular with the true Muscovites ; and, however carefully instructed in the nautical academies, officers rarely become efficient in a profession for which a special predilection is wanting. The common sea- men labour under the same disability, except the Fins in the north, aud the Greeks in the south. Though in possession of unbounded supplies of the best materials for shipbuilding — timber, iron, hemp, and tar, — yet, owing to the venality of employes, and the absurd interference of unenlightened autho- rity, the vessels constructed in the national dock- yards are clumsily built, deficient in sailing qualities, and do not readily answer to the helm. The best ships of the Russian navy have been built in the ports of other countries. Golovin states, that when the Emperor inspected a man-of-war on the stocks, the Russia, now at Helsingfors, he found that there was not room to move about at ease, and ordered the vessel to be made more spacious. The imperial opinion prevailed over that of the naval superintend- ant ; and the ship turned out to be one of the worst sailers in the fleet. The entire force in the Baltic THE RUSSIAN SHORES — CRONSTADT. 295 consists of thirty ships of the line, all sailing vessels ; six sailing frigates, five sailing brigs and corvettes, and ten paddle-wheel steamers, besides the gun-boat flotilla, and miscellaneous craft, as schooners, trans- ports, luggers, and yachts. Fleet at Cronstadt. Guns. Ships of ^^e izwe. — Emperor Peter I. - - 120 »j Ji St. George the Conquerer - 112 yy 17 ***** - - - 112 »> 11 Emgeiten - - - - 84 »» » Krasnoi - - - 84 » »» Gunule - - - 84 »5 »» Volga - - - 84 ?J » Empress Alexandra - - 84 1» « Narva - - - 74 » u Beresina - - - 7± »» >» Borodino - - - - 74 »» 11 Smolensko - - - - 74 5? ?1 Finland - - - 74 1> 51 Katzbacli - - - - 74 J» u Culm - - - 74 »5 » Ingermanland - - - 74 « 11 Pamyat Azofa - - - 74 »1 11 Sisoi the Great - - - 74 1» 11 Villagosh - - - - 74 »» 11 Natron-menya - - - 74 »> 11 Fere-champenoise - - 74 »» 11 Michael - - - 74 Frigates. — Alexander !N'evsky - - 58 »» Constantine U 4 - - - 44 296 2. Fi'igates (cont.) — 3 . Brisrs and Corvettes. — THE BALTIC. Guns. Cesarevna - - - - 44 Amphitrite - - - 44 Castor - - - 44 — Paris . - - 20 Philoctetes - - - 20 Prince of Warsaw - - 20 Horse-power. "s. — Kamschatka - 540 - 16 Grosaschi - 400 6 Ruric - 300 6 Chrabroi - - 300 6 Bogatir - 300 6 Diana - 200 6 Hercules - - 200 6 Fleet at Helsingfors. 1. Ships of the Line. — Russia 5» » Pultawa j» »» Proschar j> » Vladimir »> »> Brienne n »» Arsis 5> »» Ezekiel »> »> Andrew 2. Irrigates. — Cesarevitch 3. Brigs and Corvettes. — Ajax 5» M Palinurus 4. Paddle-u ^heel Steamers.- -Olaf 11 Smiloi Gremiasclii 450 400 400 120 84 84 84 74 74 74 74 44 20 20 16 12 6 THE RUSSIAN SHORES — CRONSTADT. 297 Of the thirty ships of the line not more than twenty are in a serviceable condition. The Grand Duke Constantine, second son of the Emperor, is High Admiral of the Fleet. The Prince was born in 1827, and married, in 1848, the Princess Alex- andra, daughter of the Duke of Saxe-Altenburg. Fanatically attached to the Kussian-Greek Church, in which he has officiated, and to the old Muscovite party, the good people of Cronstadt presented him, upon the approach of hostilities, with a magnificent image of St. Nicholas, the patron of Muscovy, famous for working miracles, to be placed at the prow of his flag-ship. Further to secure the strong- hold, the Empress despatched four images, repre- senting St. Alexander Nevsky, St. Nicholas, St. Peter, and St. Paul, to be respectively given to the forts Alexander, Cronslott, Peter, and Kisbank. This gross superstition is more surprising and dis- gusting now than was its parallel a century and a half ago, when on the occasion of the great defeat of the Russians by the Swedes at Narva, the clergy offered up a prayer in the churches, invoking the patron saint of the country in profane terms, without condescending to notice at all the Supreme Being : — " O thou who art our perpetual comforter in all our adversities, great St. Nicholas ! infinitely powerful, 298 THE BALTIC. by what sin have we ofFended thee in our sacrifices, genuflexions, reverences, and thanksgivings, that thou hast thus forsaken us ? We have implored thy assistance against these terrible, insolent, enraged, dreadful, insuperable destroyers, when like lions and bears, and other savage beasts, which have lost their young, they have attacked us, terrified, wounded, slain by thousands, us, who are thy people. But as it is impossible this could have happened without witchcraft and enchantment, seeing the great care that we have taken to fortify ourselves in an inac- cessible manner, for the defence and security of thy name, we beseech thee, O great Nicholas ! to be our champion and standard-bearer, to be with us as well in peace as in war, in all our necessities, and in the time of our death ; to protect us against this terrible and tyrannical crowd of sorcerers, and drive them far from our frontiers, Avith the reward which they deserve." 299 CHAP. IX. THE RUSSIAN SHORES. FINLAND. POSITION AND AREA. LAKES AND RIVERS. — GRANITE BLOCKS. FORESTS. • CLIINIATE. PRODUCE. CON- QUEST BY THE S^yEDES. CONQUEST BY THE RUSSIANS. CONSTITUTION. TERRITORIAL DIVISIONS. POPULA- TION. THE FINS. FINNISH POETRY. INTRODUCTION OF CHRISTIANITY. PROVINCE OF VIBORG. ST. MI- CHAEL AND KUOPIO PROVINCE OF NYLAND. — LOVISA, BORGA, HELSINGFORS, AND SVEABORG. BARO SOUND. EKNESS. ABO. ALAND ISLANDS. CHRISTMAS AT KUMLINGE. BOMARSUND. WASA. — GAMLA CARLEBY. ULEABORG. — BRAHESTADT. TORNEA. The Grand Duchy of Finland, the district of Viborg, and the two Lappmarks of Tornea and Kiemi, form the north-western extremity of the Russian empire, and ordinarily constitute a single government under a separate administration. This territory lies between the parallels of 59° 48' and 70° 6' north latitude, thus passing within the arctic circle, and between the meridians of 21° and 32° east longitude. Its general boundaries are the Finnish gulf on the south, the Baltic on the south-west, the 300 THE BALTIC. Gulf of Bothnia and part of Sweden on the west, the Norwegian province of Finmark on the north, and the governments of Archangel and Olonetz on the east. These limits include an area of 6,844 German geographical square miles, equal to upwards of 144,000 English, which considerably exceeds the aggregate area of Great Britain and Ireland. There is perhaps no part of Europe less known to English readers than this region ; and the sources of informa- tion respecting it are extremely limited. But some general notices of its physical features, history, topo- graphy, political and social condition, may be col- lected, of interest at present, as in one of its southern bays, the greatest maritime force that ever was as- sembled, the British and French fleets, came to a junction, and have since principally skirted its shores. A vast proportion of the surface is water or marsh-land. Lakes, rivers, and swamps are profusely distributed, engendering cold and unwholesome mists. The lacustrine reservoirs are of very irregular shape, tortuous and winding in the extreme, generally con- nected by streams, and studded with islands, few exhibiting any extent of oj^en water. They interfere greatly with land travelling in summer, rendering it circuitous, though in many instances the high roads THE RUSSIAN SHORES — FINLAND. 301 are conducted over the islands in them ; but in winter they form a hard and easy pavement for the sledge. The Lake Pyhajarvi, or the " Peaceable," in the south, towards the centre, is seventy-two miles in length, by thirteen in breadth. The Saima, which discharges its waters by a series of cascades into a tributary of the Ladoga, is still larger, but so crowded with isles as to resemble rather a collection of bays than a single expanse. The Enara, in the far north, spreads over an area of a thousand square miles, and communicates with the Arctic Ocean. The Ladoga, which belongs only in part to Finland, is the largest lake of Europe. The rivers, though numerous, are not important, but are occasionally rendered highly picturesque by rapids and waterfalls. The most con- siderable are the Kymen, which flows into the middle of the Gulf of Finland, the former frontier between o Sweden and Kussia; the Aurajoki, ou which Abo stands, remarkable for its muddy waters ; the Kumo, which passes Biorneborg ; the Ulea, on which Ulea- borg is situated, celebrated for its rushing stream and fine scenery ; and the Tornea, at the north extremity of the Gulf of Bothnia, which gives its name to the Muonio on joining it, the present boundary between Russia and Sweden. This copious water supply, the great natural feature of the country, originated its 302 THE BALTIC. native name, and that of the aboriginal population, for the common names, Finland and Fins, were im- posed by the Ssvedes. The indigenous inhabitants call it Suomemna, meaning the " region of lakes and swamps," and style themselves by a derivative, ana- logously signifying " dwellers in the morasses." A considerable extent of the sea-board bristles with the rocky islets common to the Swedish shore, some of which have been converted into fortresses of vast strength ; while fiords, upon a smaller scale than the inlets of Sweden, mark the coast-line. Offshoots from the Scandinavian mountains enter the country, and ramify through it in various di- rections ; but the elevations are all moderate, except in the north. Its superficial aspect has hence few bold and striking features, but it is almost every- where uneven, presenting a series of hills and val- leys, often rocks and ravines, nearly devoid of plains. The predominating geological formation is granite, which, besides forming a leading component of the compact general surface, is strewn over the lower sites in huge blocks* and smaller boulders, seriously diminishins; the extent of the cultivable ""round. Many of these blocks are estimated to weigh from two to four hundred tons. They are mostly coated with large lichens of green, purple, and yellow THE RUSSIAN SHORES — FINLAND. 303 colours ; and ferns of great size grow beneath the shelter of these masses. Two kinds are noticed : one rounded, the other sharp-edged. The former have evidently been rolled for a long period against each other, so as to wear away their projections ; for the parts in contact with the ground are smooth, as well as those exposed to the action of the atmo- sphere. The latter have sharp edges and rough surfaces, as if recently struck from a granite moun- tain, and are of very various forms, sometimes dis- posed in cubes, and, in other instances, like pyramids or obelisks. The diverse appearance of these blocks indicates two different modes of transport : that of water for the rounded, and of ice for the sharp- edged. Both kinds are met with through the zone where the phenomenon is observed. They are not abundant on the shores of the Gulf of Bothnia ; but on those of the Gulf of Finland they occur in immense numbers of most formidable size. Between Viborsc and Helsino-fors the erratics are of extra- ordinary dimensions, and lie heaped upon one another in terrible disorder, forming a very wild spectacle. Some of the blocks are imbedded in their own de- bris, owing to the granite-rot, la maladie du granite of the French, a disintegration from atmospheric causes, to which the rock is liable, when its felspar 304 THE BALTIC. constituent is in excess in its composition. But others are of firmer texture ; and a number of granite quarries have been opened in the general surface, yielding a material of the hardest kind, of which the palaces, public buildings, and monuments of St. Petersburg are composed, with the vast quays of the Neva. The more elevated hills are bare, but the lesser heights and the lowlands are largely clothed with wood, and form in various parts very extensive forests. Pines and firs are the princij)al trees ; with these the birch, ash, aspen, alder, intermingle. The oak is only met with in the southern districts, and there it occurs sparingly, more as a shrub than a tree. Brushwood thick and tangled, bramble and juniper bushes, the cranberry, crowberry, whortle- berry, dog-moss, and wood-sorrel are abundant. Woodland produce, as timber, deals, potash, pitcli, tar, and resin, are among the most important exports of the country. The forests suffer great devastations from the winter tempests, which descend with the fury of a tropical tornado, gain access to then- centres, tear up the largest pines by the roots, snap them asunder in the middle, or bend them to the earth. They are frequently, also, the scenes of conflagration, owing to the carelessness of the THE EUSSIAN SHORES — FINLAND. 305 pes^sants in kindling fires, and lighting their pipes. From this cause, as well as continued fellinof for export, and the extraction of resin, the maritime districts have been largely deprived of their timber. The dense and extensive forests are now chiefly found in the interior, and no language can ade- quately describe their gloom. In exploring them, the traveller may readily fancy himself in a region never before trodden by the foot of man. On all sides are seen huge trunks prostrate from age, moss- grown, and in various stages of decay, while between them the living pines shoot up to an immense height, clothed from the bottom to the top with the same mossy mantle. This parasitical vege- tation not only envelopes the stems, but follows the ramifications of the branches, and ends by sus- pending itself in long clusters of pale green from the extremities, or extends in festoons from one tree to another. It frequently happens that, having devoured the foliage, the mosses take its place, and bring the tree to a state of rapid decay, the pre- cursor of its fall from the storms of winter. The bear, wolf, elk, deer, fox, polecat, beaver, and various species of game, inhabit the forest solitudes. A prolonged and rigorous winter, a short and sultry summer, and a rapid transition from the one X 306 THE BALTIC. to tlie other season, are distinctive features of the climate. They become more observable on ad- vancing from south to north. Ranging through ten deo^rees of latitude, there exist differences in the climatic condition of the southern and northern provinces. The duration of the winter varies from five to six months in the south, and extends to seven months in the north; but the difference in the degree of summer heat experienced at the two extremities is not so perceptible as in the instance of the winter cold. At Uleaborg, winter com- mences early in October, and lasts till the end of April ; spring is confined to the month of May ; summer begins in June, and terminates at the close of August; autumn, like spring, is limited to a single month, September. But even in the summer, and particularly by the middle of August, the night- frosts are sharp. The progress of vegetation during the brief period allotted to it, is astonishingly rapid, as in all northern latitudes. Grain has been sown and reaped in the neighbourhood of Uleaborg in the space of six weeks. Great heat is often experienced in summer, and the temperature is higher than in much more southerly localities, owing to the longer continuance of the sun above the horizon. Sir John Carr remarks, that the summer burst upon THE RUSSIAN SHORES — FINLAND. 307 him in this region with fiery fury, and with no earlier precursor than grass and green leaves. Suddenly, with the hot weather, the flies awake from their torpor in myriads, and distress as well as annoy the traveller. Modifications have been observed in the climate in recent times, the winter arriving later, and being less severe than formerly, while the autumn is more prolonged. This alter- ation is doubtless owing to the diminution of the extent of the forests, and the drainage of the marshes for cultivable purposes. Hoar-frosts, the dread of the Finnish husbandman, continue to be scA'cre, and frequently destroy in a single night the flattering prospect of the richest harvest. The inhabitants mainly depend upon agriculture, rearing of cattle, and fishing for their subsistence. Wheat is raised scantily in the south; oats to a greater extent ; but barley and rye are the principal objects of cultivation, as far north as the parallel of 67°, where cereal produce ceases. Finland is to some extent the granary of Sweden; and Finnish hemp, flax, and tar, are well known in England. The pastures and meadows, though left to them- selves, without care or inspection, afford sufficient food, according to an official return, to 876,000 X 2 308 THE BALTIC. head of cattle, 235,000 horses, 833,000 sheep, 204,000 swine, 33,040 goats, and 30,000 tame rein- deer, the latter confined to the Lappmarks. The butter production amounts to more than 2,000,000 stone yearly, and the wool to about 200,000 stone. The potato, introduced in 1762, is largely raised in the south-west ; and a great number of the peasants cultivate tobacco for their own use. The official return of the foreign trade for the year 1848, in the following table, is in silver rubles of the value of 35. 2d. nearly : — Exports. To Sweden and Norway To other countries Export duty on the same Silv. Rub. 197,942 - 1,946,994 38,704 2,183,640 Imports. From Sweden and Norway From other countries 430,366 - 3,123,590 Deduct import duty thereon - 3,553,956 893,500 Total - 2,660,456 This shows an excess of 476,816 rubles in the imports over the exports, which was, however, in THE RUSSIAN SHORES — FINLAND. 309 part covered by the freights earned by the merchant shipping. To Sweden and Norway the principal articles of export were fish, hides^ beef, grain, tallow, tar, and firewood ; the imports were books, fish, iron and steel, sugar, tobacco, dye-woods, and stufis. To other countries, the chief exports were potash, pitch, hemp and linseed, butter, tar, wood and timber ; the imports were medicines, cotton, spirits, wine, coifee, prints, dye-stufis, iron and steel, salt, sugar, yarn, and manufactures wove. In 1852, the export trade occupied 467 vessels of 107,000 tons, and kept 900 lesser vessels, of 50,000 tons, in activity, besides the coasters. Finland was partially subjugated by the Swedes under Eric IX., soon after the middle of ihe twelfth century. They took possession of the south-west coast, which seems to have been before an unknown territory, as it received the name of Nyland, or '^new land," which is still the denomination of a province. Birger Jarl completed the conquest some- what more than a century afterwards. The Swedes gradually established their religion, language, litera- ture, and institutions in the country, extensively o colonising the shores, and the Aland Archipelago. It became exactly to Sweden what Wales is to England, and so remained for six centuries. Two X 3 310 THE BALTIC. nationalities intermingled in the district, subject to the same laws, serving on common battle fields, and rendered as much one as friendly intercourse and political union can amalgamate distinct races. In the army which Gustavus Adolphus led to Ger- many, the " Fin regiment " obtained distinction by hardihood and valour. Peter the Great wrested from Sweden the province of Viborg, commonly called Old or Russian Finland, and had it confirmed to him by the peace of Nystad in 1723. Russia ob- tained a further portion of the territory by the treaty of Abo in 1743 ; and acquired possession of the whole in the last great European war. Upon the Emperor Alexander deserting the allies with whom he had been acting, and confederating with Napoleon at Tilsit in 1807, it was agreed by secret articles of the treaty, a copy of which came into the hands of the British government, that Russia should take possession of Finland, and that Denmark should be compelled to make over her fleet to France. The last article led to the seizure of the Danish fleet by England ; and, in accordance with the first, a Russian army entered Finland. It was in the month of February 1808 that the invasion commenced. The snow lay deep upon the ground^ but the cold being moderate, it was not THE RUSSIAN SHORES — FINLAND. 311 sufficiently firm for ordinary marching. The Russian light infantry were, therefore^ provided with snow- shoes, fit for travelling over the unstable surface, and the artillery was mounted upon sledges. But the lakes and streams were solid plains of ice, capa- ble of bearing troops of every description, and the heaviest ordnance. Upon crossing the frontier river Kymen, the Russian commander. Count Boux- hoevden, issued a manifesto addressed to the inha- bitants of Finland, which has recently had its coun- terpart in the proclamation of Prince Gortschakoff to the people of Moldavia and Wallachia. " It is with the utmost concern his Imperial Majesty, my most gracious master, finds himself necessitated to order his troops under my command to enter your country, good friends and inhabitants of Swedish Finland. His present Swedish Majesty, far from joining his Imperial Majesty in his exertions to re- store the tranquillity of Europe, which alone can be effected by the coalition which so fortunately has been formed by the most powerful states (Russia and France), has, on the contrary, formetl a closer alliance with the enemy of tranquillity and peace (Great Britain), Avhose oppressive system and unwarrantable conduct towards his Imperial Ma- jesty and his nearest ally, his Imperial Majesty X 4 312 THE BALTIC. cannot by any means look upon with indifference. It is on this ground, in addition to what his Majesty owes to the security of his own dominions, that he finds himself necessitated to take your country under his own -protection, in order to reserve to himself due satisfaction, in case his Swedish Majesty should per- sist in his design not to accept the just conditions of peace which have been tendered to him." The seizure of Finland in order to obtain " due satisfac- tion " from Sweden for refusing to obey the high behests of Russia, and the occupation of the Dana- bian Principalities as " material guarantees " for the good behaviour of Turkey, are events parallel in their principle. Indulging a false security, the Swedish govern- ment was wholly unprepared effectively to resist the aggression. Ordinary precautions to repel an attack had been neglected, the troops of the army of Fin- land being dispersed in the cantonments they occu- pied in time of peace when the Russians crossed the frontier. Various circumstances combined to favour the invaders. Marshal Kringsporr, the Swedish commander-in-chief, adopted a timid and dispiriting policy ; other officers, as the Commandant of Svea- borg, allowed themselves to be tampered with by the enemy ; and the king was a hasty, obstinate, and y THE RUSSIAN SHOEES — FINLAND. 313 most imprudent sovereign. A British force of 10,000 men, under Sir John Moore, landed at Gottenburg for the defence of Sweden ; but Gustavus IV., the last but one of the Wasa dynasty, proved himself an impracticable ally. He quarrelled with the general for refusing to depart from his instructions, sent him a challenge, and the auxiliary army was of course withdrawn. Being at last dethroned by his own subjects, his successor, Charles XIII., signed the treaty of Fredericsham in 1809, by which Finland was ceded to the Russian empire. The treaty of Vienna in 1815 confirmed the cession. Still the acquisition was not made without a severe struggle and much bloodshed. The most desperate battle was fought at Oravais, on the shore of the Gulf of Bothnia. It lasted fourteen consecutive hours. Both sides consumed all their cartridges ; and more than two thousand men were left dead on the field. The Swedes retreated at night, but the Russians were too completely exhausted to pursue. At the time of the conquest, Finland had a consti- tution similar to that of Sweden. The four orders of the land, the nobility, clergy, burghers, and peasantry, sent representatives to the Assembly of Estates, without whose consent no new taxes could be im- posed, or troops levied. Alexander promised to 314 THE BALTIC. respect the constitution, and issued a ukase to that effect. Nicholas did the same at his accession. But though never formally abrogated, and therefore no- minally existing, no representative body has ever been allowed to meet. The affairs of the country are under the direction of a governor-general, who is also commander-in-chief, and resides at Helsingfors. This office has been held by Prince Menzikoff, re- cently of European notoriety, whose arrogant airs at Constantinople have been rendered so supremely ridiculous by Turkish valour. There is also an impe- rial senate ; and a ministerial secretary of state at St. Petersburg represents Finnish interests in the Im- perial presence. The territorial divisions consist of eight Idns, or provinces, each of which has a governor. These are subdivided into fogderier, or districts, and herads, or bailiwicks. The provinces, with their areas, and respective population in the year 1852, are given in the annexed table, commencing with the most easterly : — Germ. Geog. Sq\ 'tare Miles. Population. Viborg - 779 - - 273,011 St. Michael - 431 - 148,039 Kuopio - 800 - 196,155 Nyiands - - ;234 - 160,252 Tavastehus - 343 - 152,526 THE RUSSIAN SHORES — FINLAND. 315 Abo Germ. Geog. Square Miles. 488 - Population. - 292,098 Wasa 757 - - 257,854 Uleaborg-lau ^ 3,012 - 157,000 6,844 1,636,915 Of the above number, about 1000 are Lapps, occupying Lapponia, or North Finland, with their reindeer. From 7000 to 8000 are Russians, chiefly o in Viborg-lan, inhabiting the towns. The Aland Archipelago and the shores of the mainland have 125,000 Swedes, who belong to the middle and upper class. The rest are Fins. The Swedish language is used in official documents, and is as fami- liarly the medium of social intercourse in the towns, as the English in Wales, or the French among the Celts of Brittany. This is a consequence of the long union w^ith that country. The peasantry speak a mixed dialect ; and in remote parts of the interior the Finnish is alone spoken and known. Attempts have recently been made by the government to pro- mote the knowledo-e of it in order to counteract Swedish sympathies. In 1850, a professor of the Finnish language and literature was appointed in the Helsingfors university, and Imperial patronage has been extended to a society formed to illustrate and preserve the native dialect. 316 THE BALTIC. The Fins, properly so called, are a leading branch of the Tshoude or Ugrian family, very widely spread over Northern Russia, of which the Lapps, Estho- nians, Permians, Ostiaks, Yotiaks, Yoguls, Samoiedes, and other tribes, extending into Siberia, and towards the Caspian Sea, are cognate branches with the Magyars of Hungary. They are quite distinct from the Sclavonic and Teutonic races in physiognomy, language, character, and manners. A short stature, sallow complexion, and flat face, with tawny hair, scanty beard, and small lustreless eyes, are Finnic personal characteristics. More hardy than the INIus- covites, they are hence less warmly clad. The pea- santry wear a surtout of coarse woollen manufacture, made without any regard to shape, and tied round the waist with a band, long pantaloons of the same material bound about the instep, a fur cap, and socks of skins. Their houses are constructed of wood, black with smoke in the interior, owing to being chimneyless, and generally painted red on the out- side, with small out-houses for rudely prepared vapour baths. A number of stones being heated till they become red hot, water is thrown upon them, when the bathers expose themselves naked to the thick clouds of steam, at the same time vigorously rubbing the skin with birch twigs. They will then THE RUSSIAN SHORES — FIXLAXD. 317 suddenly exchange a boiling for a freezing tempera- ture by going out uncovered into the open air, and rolling in the snow. This practice is very general, and tends to give hardiliood to the frame. Winter is the busiest season. The great fairs are then held, owing to the facility which the ice and frozen snow afford for the transport of goods, and general locomo- tion. Journeys of many hundred miles are made to dispose of produce, and procure commodities, per- formed in one-horse sledges, which accommodate only a single individual, his few wares, and provender for his steed. Frozen fish, peltry, and corn are the chief articles brought, to be exchanged for salt, brandy, tobacco, and domestic utensils. When Dr. E. D. Clarke and his party were at Abo, at the time of the annual fair, a Fin suddenly claimed acquaintance with them in the market-place. " After some time," he observes, " we recollected having seen him some- where before : and upon inquiring whence he came, he seemed to be hurt ; and addressing our interpreter in the Swedish language, said, ^ What, have the gen- tlemen forgotten the poor Fin who ferried them to and fro in their visits to Kiemi fair ? ' And now we recollected the boatman employed upon that occasion, who had actually traversed, in his sledge, with a single horse, the whole extent of the Gulf of Both- 318 THE BALTIC. nia, from Kiemi, on its northern, to Abo, on its sonthern extremity ; and this amazing journey had been performed for the sole purpose of buying a little salt and tobacco, with which he was preparing to return. What would be thought, if at a fair in England, in one of our southern counties, as, for example, the fair of Lewes in Sussex, the natives of the Orkney Isles were to be seen annually present ? " This record has not become inapplicable, though half a century old. The Fins are resolute, courageous, and hospitable, though taciturn and grave. Notwithstanding a serious demeanour, they are fond of music, dancing, and poetry. The song is a slow monotonous chant; the dance a rude jumping process, singular from the perfect gravity with which it is conducted. Finnish poetry embraces a number of popular songs, mythological compositions, and proverbs, orally handed down from the times of Pas-anism. A collection published by a native. Dr. LfBnnroth, has been translated into French by M. Leouzon le Due. From this translation, some extracts were given in English by the author of " Eastern Europe," in 1846. One poem. The Kalevala, of a mythological cast, celebrates the adventures of Waihamoinen, a female divinity, and extends to THE RUSSIAN SHORES — FINLAND. 319 not less than tliirty-two books or runes. All Fin- nish poetry, ancient and modern, is in alliterative verse, the harmony depending upon a number of words in the same line beo-innino; with the same letter. This kind of versification is improvised by the peasantry with great facility. As an example, the writer above referred to introduces a passage from the French translation of The Kalevala, where the Lapland wizard shoots the blue elk on which the goddess is riding, and then arranges it in a Finnish dress. '' And he shot his shaft, but it rose too high ; the sky was rent ; the arches of the air were shaken. He shot a second, but it fell too low ; it sunk into the depths of the earth — the mother of men — down to Manala, whose vaults it made to tremble. He shot a third, but this shaft pierced the blue elk," &c. " /Shootlnor a shaft it soared so hlnrh, That it smote the sky and severed its arch ; Then speeding a second it sunk too low, And f/eeply fZescending <7own through the dark, earth — Of mortal man the mighty mother — iT/ade J/anala's murmuring walls to quiver ; Then with ^ruer aim, his ^hird shaft he shot through The Z>lue Sounding elk hy the hero bestridden." A ditty commonly sung at convivial meetings of 320 THE BALTIC. the peasantry, given by Dr. Clarke, mentions this female divinity. " If old Wainamoinen knew this (i. e., knew how jovial we are), verily she would come hither from Eternity" (from the other world). In Finland, as in England, traces of its ancient heathendom linger in popular sayings and usages. Christianity was introduced to the Fins by the first Swedish conqueror Eric, who took along with him an English ecclesiastic, named Henry, to con- o vert the natives, and appointed him Bishop of Abo, founding the town at the same time. The prelate set to work Christianising the pagans by the sum- mary process of coercion as the easiest method. Recusants were mercilessly visited with fire and sword, and a war cruel and bloody for the brutal days of the twelfth century was waged against the unhappy idolaters. At last he fell a victim to his own violence, and underwent a fate similar to that of Archbishop Sharp in Scottish annals. A plot was organised against him by the exasperated Fins, in which several of their principal men engaged. Knowing that he contemplated a journey, and having ascertained his route, they lay in wait for him by the way side. It was in a part of the o country now traversed by the road between Abo THE RUSSIAN SHOKES — FINLAND. 321 and Biorneborg. Upon bishop Henry reaching the spot, the conspirators rushed from their ambush, and fell sword in hand upon him and his attendants. LuUy, a man of distinction, threw him down, dealt a mortal blow, and then tried to take the pastoral ring from his finger. Not being able to do this quickly, he struck off the finger with his sword. But in the confusion it was lost in the snow, and not recovered till the following spring. Disap- pointed of the ring, Lully took off the bishop's cap, put it on his own head, and from that period wore it openly when practicable, as if a trophy of which he had reason to be proud. These particulars form the subject of one of the oldest Finnish songs, entitled " the Cap of Bishop Henry." The mur- dered prelate was of course canonised, and, as St. Henry the Martyr, became the patron saint of Fin- land. He is said to have founded the cathedral of o Abo ; and there, in former times, a gilded wooden effigy of him was exhibited on festival days as a venerated object. Boman Catholicism eventually supplanted pagan- ism in the country ; and was itself superseded by Lutheranism in the reign of Gustavus Wasa. Un- der his patronage the first translation of any por- tion of the Scriptures in the Finnish language was Y 322 THE BALTIC. printed, at Stockholm, in 1548. It consisted of the Psalms and the New Testament, executed by Michael Agricola, a native of the province of Nyland, who studied at Wittemberg, made the ac- quaintance of Luther, and was recommended by him to the Swedish kino;. The first entire Finnish Bible appeared about a century later, dedicated to Queen Christina. The vast majority of the people, at least 1,500,000, are now Lutherans, un- o der the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Abo. The remainder belong chiefly to the Greek Church. Politically considered, the present population may be divided into three classes — Russian Fins, chiefly public functionaries or Russians by birth, the zealous friends of the Czar, not numerous or important ; Swedish Fins, connected with Sweden by descent or family alliances, and anxious for a political reunion, a class of limited extent, but influential; and Finnish Fins, the bulk of the nation, not hostile to Sweden, yet not desirous of incorporation, much less cleaving to Russia, but wishing to be left to themselves. 1. VIBOEG-LAN. This province comprises the south-eastern portion of the Grand Duchy, and is its most Russian district, having been annexed to the empire nearly as long as THE RUSSIAN SHORES — FINLAND. 323 St. Petersburg has existed. The town of Viborg is situated at the head of a deep inlet, and marks the north-east extremity of the Gulf of Finland. It has a neat, clean, and picturesque appearance, many of the brick houses being white-washed, while the roofs are painted green, as are the domes of the churches. It is strongly fortified with batteries and bastions, has a population of 3,500, independent of the garri- son, and is the seat of an active export trade in tim- ber, tallow, resin, pitch and potash. The harbour being of insufficient depth, vessels anchor at Stral- sund, a little island at the distance of eight miles, where there is an excellent port, a custom-house, and spacious warehouses. Viborg has four churches — one Russian, and three Lutheran — a military hospital, a gymnasium, a governor's house, and large magazines of warlike stores. It was founded by the Swedes in 1118, surrounded with regular fortifi- cations by Torkel Knudston in 1293, and taken by Peter the Great in 1710, while Charles XII. was quarrelling with the Turks at Bender. The capture of this place was the first blow struck at the power of Sweden in Finland. Fredericsham, founded in the early part of the last century by Frederic I., whose name it bears, another maritime town of the province, is at its western extremity. It fell into Y 2 324 THE BALTIC. the hands of the Russians in 1742^ and was definitely o ceded to them by the treaty of Abo, when the boundary line between the Russian and Swedish possessions was fixed at the Kymen river. In 1809, in an old massive tower of the town, now destroyed, the treaty was signed which incorporated the whole of the duchy in the Russian empire. Fredericsham enjoyed considerable prosperity till a disastrous fire in 1840 desolated it, the traces of which have not yet disappeared. Most of the marble and granite of St. Petersburg has been obtained from the rocks of this province. The marble is found at Ruskiala, a village about fifteen miles from Serdobol, on the northern shore of Lake Ladoga, where the quarrying it has been carried on for nearly a century. The blocks are extracted in the summer, transported to the lake in winter, and conveyed in barges to the Neva as soon as the spring opens the navigation. The material takes a rather deep grey hue when subjected to polishing. It has been largely used in casing the exterior of the vast and splendid Isaac church. Green and yellow marbles are also procured in the same locality, the hues resulting from the presence of metallic oxides. The green is finely veined, sus- ceptible of the highest polish, and employed for deco- THE RUSSIAN SHORES — FINLAND. 325 ratlve purposes. These quarries are let by the state, on certain conditions, for a term of years, to a con- tractor, the government keeping an inspector at the spot, usually a veteran workman, to see that the operations are properly conducted. Granite used in the great building works executed by the state, principally at the capital, is obtained from an island of the Ladoga near Serdobol, and from Peterlaks, a villao;e on the shore of the e^ulf, between Viboro; and Fredericsham. The stone of the two sites differs in its hue and texture. At Peterlaks the granite is of a dingy rose-colour, speckled with black. The quays of the Neva, the great Alexander column, and the forty-eight huge monoliths which adorn the two principal porticoes of the Isaac church, are composed of it. Serdobol granite is of far superior quality, havino; a finer (rrain and harder texture : but the ex- pense of extraction and cutting is on that account much greater. From its smoothness and beautiful iron-grey colour, it might be mistaken for the grey porphyry which the ancients employed in statuary, and has been devoted to the same purpose. The in- terior of the Hermita2:e contains a bust of the Em- peror Alexander, larger than life, of Serdobol granite, which is said to justify its adoption in deli- cate works. On account of its excessive hardness, T 3 326 THE BALTIC. notwithstanding the cost of working, this material Avas deemed the fittest for the new bridge across the Neva, which it was desirable to render as strong as possible, in order to sustain the pressure of the ice. 2. ST MICHAEL AND KUOPIO-LANS. Both these provinces are inland, and lie succes- sively north of the preceding. St. Michael contains a small town of the same name, with another, Nyslott, of interest from its situation in the centre of a picturesque region. It occupies two islets in the middle of a natural canal formed by a contrac- tion of the basin of Lake Saima. The islets are con- nected with each other, and with the main shore by bridges. One of them is crowned with a dilapidated fortress, erected by General Tott in 1477, when he governed the Grand Duchy for Sweden, with a view of commandins: the narrow laijune between the two portions of the lake, called the Saima of the north and of the south. Two principal towers remain, which are known in the neighbourhood by the names of the Kirk and the Klok, the former having pro- bably contained the chapel of the fortress, the latter being the clock-tower. Towards the summit of one of the towers, a small chamber projects from tlie wall over the water of the lake. According to tradition. THE RUSSIAN SHORES — FINLAND, 327 an important prisoner of state endured a long con- finement in it. In another part, evidently an ancient dungeon, human skeletons have been discovered, with handcuffs attached to chains rivetted in the ma- sonry, telling a mournful tale of the barbarous fate to Avliich captives were doomed in the middle ages. o Nyslott was ceded to Russia by the peace of Abo. Kuopio, situated on the shore of Lake Kallavesi, a northerly continuation of the Saima, is a modern town, having been founded in the year 1776, in con- sequence of the vast pine forests which overspread the extensive district of which it is the head, stimu- lating an important timber trade. It possesses a gymnasium, a superior elementary school, a public library, and a printing-press. Numerous saw-mills are in the neighbourhood, where the trees are cut into planks, and floated along the lakes towards the southern outports. Horses are also bred in consi- derable numbers, celebrated for their hardihood. Stations with very humble pretensions to the rank of hamlets are sparingly distributed through the re- mainder of the province, three or four of which are the heads of vast parishes, with Lutheran clergy- men located at them, whose visitation of their flocks involves long and toilsome journeys. Near the sta- tion of Idensalmi, where the great water system Y 4 328 THE BALTIC. of the Saima terminates on the north, a granite obe- lisk attracts attention. An inscription upon it ex- phiins its design : — " Here was slain on the 15th of October, 1808, during the war with the Swedes, the brave Adjutant-General Prince Michael Petrovitch- Dolgorouki. This monument was erected in 1828 by those who revere his memoiy." The prince, a favourite of the Emperor Alexander, was only in his twenty-eighth year, and had but recently reached the theatre of war. It was the close of rather a long armistice, which was to terminate at noon. He stood with his watch in his hand, waiting for the moment to re-commence hostilities. Upon its ar- rival, the Swedes advanced, and while leading on his men, the Prince fell, mortally wounded. 3. NYLANDS-LA?r. The Kymen river forms the boundary between this maritime province and that of Yiborg. Not far from its entrance into the Gulf of Finland, the stream forms a waterfall of from fifty to sixty feet, of great celebrity in the country, divided into two cas- cades by a projecting rock in the middle. This is a grand object in spring, from the vast flood of water precipitated, owing to the melting of the snows. Its aspect is also remarkable in the depth of winter. THE RUSSIAN SHORES — FINLAND. 329 The river is tlien seen issuing from an icy vault covering the upper part of its bed ; and no sooner has it fallen, than it disappears beneath another vault of ice over the lower. Its course was the former line of demarcation between Swedish and Russian Finland ; and its borders witnessed the first hostili- ties during the Russo-Finnish campaign of 1808. Count Bouxhoevden, the commander of the invading army, on crossing the frontier, sent a flag of truce to the first Swedish post, demanding to be received without opposition. The messenger was fired upon; and this act commenced the war. Proceeding hence towards Helsingfors, the capital of the province, Lovisa and Borga are successively passed, upon the shore of the Finnish oulf. o The small town of Lovisa, or Louisa, has not in- appropriately had a woman's name bestowed upon it, suggestive of the agreeable ; for it is neatly kept, and charmingly situated, though surrounded with a country sternly desolate. Bald grim-looking granite blocks of vast size are abundant; compared by Prince Galitzin to the ruins of a city of giants. The in- habitants, from 3000 to 4000, are all Swedish, and speak exclusively the Swedish language. Borga, in the form of an amphitheatre on a steep declivity, is about the same size, and one of the oldest towns of Finland, also Swedish. It is the seat of a bishopric. 330 THE BALTIC. and has a superior educational establishment or gym- nasium. Here resides, or rather did reside, for the Emperor Nicholas is said to have removed him since the present war broke out, the patriot poet Rune- berg. In simple and stirring strains, translated in one of our journals, he has sung the exertions and sufferings of Swedes and Fins in resisting Russian aggression, with the timid policy of their chief com- mander : — " Ho, good people, men and women, is tliere any who will hear, Who will listen to the ditty of an aged grenadier ? — " I have heard," he sung, " the cannon roar in six-and-thirty fights ; I have borne both cold and hunger, 1 have watched for days and nights ; I was once a sturdy soldier, now all crippled and forlorn, With one arm shot off at Ume, and the other bare and worn. " ' Midst this younger generation is there any that was by, When the cry was heard, ' To battle, for the foe is drawing nigh ! ' There was fire and spirit in us, men were then of other mould. Then this poor old heart was glowing, that will soon be icy cold. " Tavasthus ! I'll ne'er forget thee, when, from Hattelmala's height. First I saw thee stretched beneath me, sleeping in the pale raoonli<;ht. It was late; the air was biting; long and wearily we'd marched, Yet I thought not of reposing, nor for hearth and home I searched. THE RUSSIAN SHORES — FINLAND. 331 " No 1 'twas for thy frozen valleys that my bosom yearned the while — There was more than hearth and homestead, more than slum- ber after toil. Finland's host was there assembled — young and gallant, free and brave ; And our country's eyes were on us, and for her our blood we gave. " ITow, hurrah ! for brave old Klercker, endless honour is his due ; Twenty years of toil had tried him, as a man and soldier too ; His white head I well remember, as amid the ranks he rode, Mustering his brave boys with glances where a father's fond- ness glowed. "He the scattered troops had gathered, every movement he had planned. We had met from various quarters — we remained at his com- mand ; And he found us all assembled, and his visage beamed with hope. And to him as the preserver of our country "we looked up. " With six thousand sons around him, equal to the foe in strength. We with bold and joyous spirit longed to face their host at length. Doubt we knew not, fear we felt not, battle was our watch- word grim ; And we trusted in each other — he in us, and we in him. 332 THE BALTIC. " Then came Klingsporr, the Field-Marshal, with his bearing proud and high, With his mean and coward spirit, and his single lowering eye ; Then came Klingsporr — seized the office due unto his high estate, And gave orders, prompt as Klercker's ; but the order was — retreat ! " Borga was tlie scene of a memorable ceremony in the year 1810. On the 15th of March, the Em- peror Alexander made his entry into the place, fol- lowed by a brilliant train of officers, to receive the homage of Finland. The Governor-General of the Grand Duchy, Count Strengporten, at the head of the municipal authorities, advanced to meet him, under a triumphal arch erected for the occasion ; and from thence he proceeded, amid the discharge of ar- tillery and the ringing of bells, to the house pre- pared for his accommodation. In front of the steps outside stood the deputies of the Assembly of Es- tates, awaiting the arrival of their future lord ; in- fantry lining the street. He issued a ukase confirm- ing the promise to maintain intact the religion, fun- damental laws, rights and privileges of the people. The next day a stately procession was formed to the cathedral. Foremost marched two heralds, bearino: the arms of Finland, dressed in their costume of blue and silver ; then advanced the deputies of the states THE RUSSIAN SHOEES — FINLAND. 333 and other functionaries ; the governor-general came after ; two heralds followed, bearing the arms of the empire, dressed in green and silver ; next appeared the Emperor, on foot, under a canopy ; and the cortege closed with officers of the court and military. After a religious service Alexander addressed the deputies in an adjoining hall. Each answering to his name subsequently took the oath of allegiance, upon which the chancellor advanced into the middle of the cathe- dral, and formally proclaimed the compact which had been made. Helsingfors, the capital of the circle and of the Grand Duchy, was originally founded by Gustavus Wasa in 1550, but on a site between four and five miles to the north-east of the present. He gave it the name of the Swedish province of Helsingland, combined with the word fors^ a " cascade," from a water-fall at the spot. A colony from that part of Sweden had been in the neighbourhood for some centm^es. The site was changed in the year 1639, owino; to the shallowness of the creek formino; the port ; but the " ancient town," Gammel Stad, as it is called, still exists as a very humble village. The present town has experienced many calamities ; famine in the years 1695-6-7, a fire in 1764, fol- lowed by another in 1809, which made fearful 334 THE BALTIC. havoc. But, rising from its ashes, it rapidly- gained importance, and acquired metropolitan rank upon the senate of Finland, which formerly sat at Abo, being transferred to it in 1819. An obelisk on the esplanade near the south harbour commemo- rates this event, and a visit of the Emperor Alex- ander upon the occasion. Helsingfors stands on a peninsula, with rocky islands in front, ^me tenanted by fishermen, others massively fortified, and with a country for its background either of naked granite, or presenting no other verdure but that of the dark pine. It has all the institutions and public buildings which usually characterise and embellish the capital of a considerable province, a university, senate house, and cathedral, which are fine modern structures, barracks, hospitals, and assembly rooms, an observatory, and botanic garden, the latter a little rich plot of ground formed of soil laid upon the previously bare rock. The university is called the Alexander University, though founded by the o present czar in 1828, by removal from Abo. It has twenty-four professors, with the Hereditary Grand-duke for the chancellor. The town contains a population of 15,000, independent of the garrison. Manufactures of linen and sail-cloth, with an im- THE RUSSIAN SHORES — FINLAND. 335 portant traffic in timber, fish, and corn, are the important industrial employments. From the quays of the capital, within long range of cannot shot, the granite ramparts of Sveaborg may be seen, with the roofs of the buildings it contains, consisting of barracks, magazines, prisons, and a limited number of private houses, for, besides the garrison, there are some Russian merchants in the establishment. This celebrated spot is the guardian fortress of Helsingfors, commonly styled the Gibraltar of the north. It completely com- mands the seaward passage to the city, or the narrow Gustaf Sound, the only channel which has water deep enough for large vessels. The fortifi- cations extend over six islands, or rather rocks, Langorn, Lilla-Swarto, Wester - Swarto, Oster- Swarto, Yargon, and Gustafsvard. The last five are connected by bridges. Yargon is considered the citadel, and is somewhat central. All these islands bristle with cannon, and are grim with ramparts. The works are of granite, and are as massive as the foundations upon which they are built, being for the most part constructions out of the solid rock. They are said to mount 800 cannon, to have casemates for from 6000 to 7000 small arms, and barrack room for a garrison of 12,000 336 THE BALTIC. men. In connection with these grim features are little gardens formed of transported soil. Count Ehrenswerd, field marshal of Sweden, superin- tended the construction of the first fortress, the citadel of Vargon, begun in 1747 and finished in 1758, during the reign of Adolphus Frederic. He lies burled in the area before the house of the com- mandant, under a monument bearing the inscrip- tion: — ^'^ On this spot, and surrounded by his own work, repose the remains of the Count Auguste Ehrenswerd." The same officer originated the gun- boat flotilla of Sweden, which was first organised in 1760 under the name of armeens-Jlotta, the fleet of the army. The surrender of Sveaborg to the Russians in the year 1808 is one of the most extraordinary events in military history. SAveden entrusted its defence to Admiral Count Cronstedt, a man whose courage had been tested on many occasions, and whose character was above suspicion as to moral probity till the capi- tulation amply justified it. The siege commenced INIarch 6, when the sea was clothed with ice, and the land was deeply covered with snow. In little more than two months afterwards, though no impression had been made upon the place, it was given uj), the garrison amounting at the time to 208 officers, and THE RUSSIAN SHORES — FINLAND. 337 7386 non-commissioned officers and soldiers, wliile the Russians had scarcely troops enough to occupy the fortress, and superintend the evacuation. On May 8, the Russian flag was hoisted, and Te Deum was chanted in the square of Vargon, near the tomb of Ehrenswerd. The Russians came into possession of the following prizes; 58 pieces of brass ordnance, 1975 iron guns, 9535 cannon cartridges, 3000 barrels of powder, 10,000 cartouches, 340 projectiles, nearly 9000 stand of arms, 2 frigates, 6 xebecs, 1 brig, 6 yachts of war, 25 gunboats, 51 yawls, 51 barks and sloops, 19 transports, and an immense depot of naval stores. The commander of Sveaboro; has been stigmatised by the poet Runeberg. " Conceal his lineage, hide his race — The crime be his alone ! That none may blush for his disgrace — Let it be all his own ! He who his country brings to shame, Nor race, nor sire, nor son, may claim. " Call him a serpent false and vile, That wretch devoid of faith ! Call him disgrace, and scorn, and guile. Sin, infamy, and death ! Oh ! call him by no other name. To spare thy hearers grief and shame. Z 338 THE BALTIC. The surrender has been called a psychological pro- blem ; but perhaps the following ^' separate article " appended to the convention between the hostile com- manders will resolve it to most readers : — "In case the fortress should surrender according to the con- vention signed this day, Admiral Cronstedt proposes that the deficiencies of his military chest, not exceed- ing a sum of 100,000 rix-dollars, Swedish currency, and verified according to all the usual forms, shall be made good by the Emperor of Russia." The com- mandant never returned to Sweden, but died in the course of a few years, it is said, of grief at Hel- sino-fors. Following the coast about twenty miles westward, Baro Sound occurs, a well-protected anchorage- ground, accessible only by intricate channels, low and flat rocky islands thickly studding its waters on every hand, many of which do not rise above the splash of the foam. This roadstead has acquired a name in history, as the first rendezvous of the British and French fleets after their junction on the 13th of June. BRITISH FLEET. SCREW LINE OF BATTLE SHIPS. Guns. Duke of Wellington (flag of Sir C. Napier) - 131 Royal George ----- 120 THE RUSSIAN SHORES — FINLAND. 339 Guns. St, Jean d'Acre - - - - 101 James Watt - - - - - 91 Nile ------ 91 Princess Royal - - - - 91 Caesar ' - - - - - 91 Cressy - - - - - ^0 Majestic - - - - - 91 Edinburgh (flag of Admiral Chads) - - 60 Hogue - - - - - 60 Blenheim - - - - - 60 Ajax - - - - - - 60 SAILING LINE OF BATTLE SHirS. Nepture (flag of Admiral Corry) - - 120 St. George - - - - - 120 Cumberland » - - - - 70 Boscawen - - - - - 70 Monarch - - - - - 84 Prince Regent - - - - 90 STEAM FRIGATES AND SLOOPS, &C. Leopard (flag of Admiral Plumridge) - 18 Imperieuse - - - - - 51 Arrogant - - - - - 46 Euryalus - - - - - 51 'Penelope - - - - - 22 Odin ------ 16 Bulldog ----- 6 Vulture ----- 6 Rosamond - - - - - 6 Basilisk - - - - - 6 Amphion - - - - - 34 z 2 340 THE BALTIC. Cruizer Archer Desperate Conflict Valorous Magicienne Dragon Driver Hecla - Gorgon Alban Porcupine Lisihtninsr Total guns STEAM GUNBOATS. Pigmy. Cuckoo. Zephyr. Otter. HOSPITAL SHIP. Belleisle. Guns. 16 14 8 8 IG 16 6 6 6 6 4 3 3 2045 FRENCH FLEET. SAILING SHIPS OF THE LINE. Guns. Inflexible (flag of Vice-Admiral Parseval Des- chenes) - - - - - 90 Breslau - - - - - 86 Tage - - - - - - 100 THE RUSSIAN SHORES — FINLAND, 341 FRIGATES. Hercule Jamappes Duguesclin Duperre Trident Semillante - - - Andromaque - - - Vengeance - - - Poursuivante - - - Virglnie - - - Psyche Zenobie - _ - STEAMERS. Austerlitz (screw ship of the line) Darien - _ - Phlegethon - - - Souffler Milan - . . Lucifer _ - - Aigle - - - - Total guns Total force of English guns Total force of French ° N. lat. exceeded a degree in the latitude of Paris by 512 toises. Though not considered an accurate determination, it tended to prove the theory THE KUSSIAN SHORES — FINLAND. 373 of Newton correct, that the earth is a sphere flattened towards the poles, which he concluded must be the case from the fact of its axial rotation. This has since been adequately established by extensive and admirable measures of degrees of the meridian, and numerous pendulum experiments, in various parts of the world. Svanberg, the Swedish astronomer, re- peated the observations of Maupertius on the same site at the commencement of the present century. The sun at midnio;ht above the horizon at the summer solstice annually brings a number of tourists to Tornea, as the nearest and most accessible point of JSTorthern Europe, to witness the spectacle. For a few nights, from elevated situations, the solar orb may be seen grazing the horizon, without dipping below it, if the weather is favourable. But at Ofvre Tornea, a village half a degree further north, this is observable through a longer period ; and sight-seers usually proceed thither, more certain, from the lengthened interval, of having an horizon without clouds to gratify their curiosity. Here, on the eastern side of the river, a hill rises upwards of six hundred feet above the stream, and on its summit a motley group has often been collected, — Swedes, Russians, Germans, French, and English, — watching the sun at the witching time of night. Anecdotes B B 3 374 THE BALTIC. are current resj^ecting the visits of our countrymen, which are somewhat characteristic. One came galloping up to the spot at about half-past eleven o'clock. Being invited by a Swede who spoke English to join his party at a collation, he declined, intent upon accomplishing the grand object of his mission. As the critical moment drew near, he ordered his servant to produce a bottle of champagne, which had travelled with him from St. Petersburg ; and when the sun was on the horizon, setting and rising, as it were, at the same moment, he quaffed a bumper, hastened to his carriage, and was off as quickly as he came. Of another, it is related, that he made the long journey on two occasions in vain, — not arriving in time. Nothing daunted, he paid a thu'd visitj and had now a few hours to spare. Being thorouglily fatigued, he went to bed in the village, after refreshing the outward man, ordering his ser- vant to call him as the midnight hour approached. The slumberer was accordingly aroused, but awoke in a somewhat oblivious state. "Eh — what?" said he, " the sun — oh, the sun — I'll see him to-mor- row ; " and again resigned himself to forgetfulness. A very short distance beyond the village, at the ca- taracts of Kattila, the latitude of 66^ 30' marks the limit of the north temperate zone, and the line of the arctic circle. 375 CHAP. X. THE WHITE SEA. POSITION AND AREA. THE SVATOI NOSS THE CLIMATE. THE TUNDRAS. VEGETATION. — ROSE ISLAND. ZOOLOGY. THE DWINA. VOYAGE OF OTHER. VOYAGE OF SIR HUGH WILLOUGHBY. THE HARBOUR OF DEATH. FIRST ENGLISHMEN IN RUSSIA. LETTER OF ED- WARD VI. DISASTROUS HOMEWARD VOYAGE. THE RUSSIA COMPANY. ROSE ISLAND. FACTORY AT CHOL- MOGOKY. FIRST SHIPMENTS. MOSCOW BURNT. VESSELS ENTERED INWARDS. GOVERNMENT OF ARCH- ANGEL. ITS POPULATION. THE SAMOIEDES. RUS- SIAN DISSENTERS. — ARCHANGEL. CHOLMOGORY. KOLA. MONASTERY OF SOLOVETZ. The Bieloe More, or AVTiite Sea, part of the northern seat of existing hostilities, is a large arm of the Arctic Ocean, which deeply penetrates Northern Europe in an inverse direction to the course of the Baltic. The two contiguous basins are the only in- land seas exclusively belonging to the European continent; and the waters of the former are the only commercially important maritime possessions of the Czar entirely included in his empire. This oceanic inlet extends 250 miles from north to south, through B B 4 376 THE WHITE SEA. four degrees of latitude, from 63° 45' to 68° 30' IST. The breadth is very irregular, about 100 miles at the entrance, between the headlands of Svatoi Noss on the west and Kanin Noss on the east, contracting to forty-five miles further south, and then expanding to nearly 200 miles in the central part of its basin. It has the general shape of a semicircle, opening to- wards the north-west, and sweeping round the peninsula of Russian Lapland. In that direction, it forms the Gulf of Kandalask, called after an unim- portant place at the extremity ; and terminates on the south and south-east with the gulfs of the Oneo:a and Dwina, the estuaries of the rivers so denomi- nated. The sea is computed to occupy an area of 44,000 square miles. The shores have no peculiar features, except at the western entrance, Svatoi Noss, or the " Holy Point," where a whirlpool foams at intervals diur- nally. This was formerly the terror of mariners; and, along with an adjoining insulated rock, an ob- ject of superstition. The promontory is a low narrow tongue of land, extending upwards of ten miles from the main shore, in a direction diagonal to it. The inlet formed between them opens towards the flood- tide, which rushes into it with considerable velocity ; but being arrested at the extremity, the accumulated water escapes from the cul-de-sac by a return cur- THE SVATOI NOSS. 377 rent along the side of the headland. Encountering at an angle off its termination the general tide-waves of the ocean, the collision occasions violent dis- turbance and a poAverful eddy, which starts into activity with the flood tide, and relaxes its play with the ebb. The adjoining rock referred to is covered at high water, but rears its dark head above the surface at half-tide. In the infancy of navigation, when mariners crept cautiously along the shores, the rounding of this projection was a dreaded j^art of the voyage, and a somewhat perilous experiment in their crazy craft. The ignorant natives of the coast were accustomed, on approaching it, to propitiate the rock with offerings, as tlie living spirit of the agitated waters, engaged during the period of submergence, when the whirlpool is active, in creating the dis- turbance. Anthony Jenkinson, the English mercan- tile agent, on first coming to Russia by this route in 1557, made the following entry in his log-book: — " On the 7th July we arrived at a cape called Sveti- nose, which forms the entrance into the Bay of St. Nicholas. Off this cape lies a great stone, to which vessels, when passing it, took care to make an offer- ing of butter, meal, and other victuals ; for they imagined that if this were omitted, their barks or other craft would necessarily be lost, as, indeed, it has often happened." Tradescant, on his voyage in 1618^ 378 THE WHITE SEA. remarks of the spot : — " We wear afrayed of being brought upon a rock ; but, thanks be to God, it proved beter." Sir Hugh Willoughby seems to have been deterred by it from pursuing his course, preferring, fatally for himself and his crews, to winter westward on the Lapland coast, than encounter, in the advanced season, the perils of the Svatoi Noss. In foggy weather, small fishing-vessels have been caught by the current and have foundered in the whirling flood. The aspect of the Wliite Sea annually answers to its name. Lying under the arctic circle, ice closes the navigation from October to May, while all its streams are frost-bound, and the vast region tra- versed by them, more than equal in its area to the entire Austrian empire, is thickly crusted with hard snow. In crevices of the rocks and shaded places exposed to the north, the accumulated snow of winter is occasionally met with after midsummer ; and in some years it never wholly disappears. Ex- tremes of heat and cold are characteristic of the climate. The experience of the former is limited to a brief interval, while the latter prevail uninter- ruptedly for six months. Mosquitoes are numerous on the coast in summer, and the temperature is fre- quently oppressive. During the present season, the THE CLIMATE. 379 officers of Captain Ommaney's squadron, after en- countering severe cold and squalls, found the weather calm and sultry in July, as hot as it usually is in England, and some wanted to bathe. But the sum- mer temperature is subject to sudden and violent transitions from heat to cold, owing to the wind veering, so that an out-of-doors labourer perspiring at his task one hour, will be glad to resume his furs the next. In the same neighbourhood, also, the dif- ferences of temperature are remarkable, owing to the different aspects of the points of observation. M. Baer, on the banks of the River Ponoi in Lapland, found the thermometer at one place standing at 70° of Fahrenheit, while, at the same time, at another with a northerly exposure, it scarcely exceeded 40°. Dense fogs, continued for days together, furious and sudden storms, are other features of the climate. But the fogs are seldom hazardous to shipping, being commonly light towards the land, and thick only out at sea, where there is ample depth of water for safe navigation. The country aroiTud the White Sea is a region of plains, apparently interminable, with very little di- versity of surface. The northernmost lie beyond the zone of arborescent vegetation. They are covered with mosses or lichens — the true children of the 380 THE WHITE SEA. north, — with which a little sorrel is intermingled ; and occasionally a berry-bearing dwarf bush appears, the height of which is not equal to one third of the breadth. These wastes preserve the same aspect for hundreds of miles in succession, and have maintained it for thousands of years, their treelessness and scanty vegetable life resulting from their exposure to the destroying breath of the pole. The Russians desig- nate them tundras, a term adopted from the Fins, and applied by the conquerors to the similar desolate tracts of Northern Siberia. In the words of a Rus- sian poet, they seem, from their monotony, ^' alike inaccessible to joy and pain, the types of everlasting rest ! " Two kinds of tundras are distinguished, the dry and the wet, differing in their cryptogamic plants. Lichens predominate where the summer sun completely dries the soil ; and mosses where it remains moist. The wet tundras intersect the dry in every direction, and act the part of natural streams in carrying off the di'ainage. The incautious traveller, not noticing the change of cryptogamia, may have firm ground under one foot and step with the other deep into a bog. This distinction of wet and dry ceases in winter, when both are rendered hard as iron by the frost. South of the tundras the zone of the woods com- THE VEGETATION. 381 mences. The arborescent forms on the verge of these melancholy wastes are crippled, sickly, and diminutive, standing at wide intervals apart. Many are dead, and all seem expressions of expiring nature, unable to bear the relentless blast of the north, and smothered by the embrace of the encroaching cryp- togamic vegetation, a coating of moss covering them, which is thicker than their stems. Farther south, the trees gradually assume proper proportions and a cheerful mien. They form vast forests of pines, firs, larches, birches, alders, and willows, some of which are of stately dimensions and lofty growth. In a few sheltered spots, facing the south, wild roses, aconites, and peonies flourish, with other plants characteristic of Southern Europe. At the Winter- berg, on the eastern coast of the White Sea, in lati- tude 65° 20', M. Baer found the south-western slope luxuriantly clothed with them. Rose Island, at the mouth of the Dwina, the site of the first English factory, obtained that name from the quantity of wild roses seen on it by the merchant settlers. They covered from four to five English acres, near a birch and pine wood. Beautiful pinks were also observed. Some of the roses were brought to Eng- land, and are mentioned by Parkinson, in the former part of the seventeenth century, under the name of 382 THE AVIIITE SEA. " the wild brycr of Muscovle." Previous to the year 1630, the Russians alone possessed the wild species of which they made rose-water and conserve of roses. At that period the cultivated plant was introduced to Moscow from the ducal garden of Gottorp in Sleswick. A few herds of wild reindeer browse on the lichen or moss-covered plains, but are constantly diminish- ing, every art being employed to reclaim and do- mesticate the individuals. The stock of this invalu- able animal possessed by the Lapps and Samoiedes is their standard of wealth. A drove of two thou- sand is opulence : one of forty, poverty. The bear, wolf, squirrel, ermine, hare, polar and common fox, marten, and glutton are the other wild quadrupeds of the White Sea basin. The marine animals in- clude immense multitudes of the Greenland seal, which annually visit the shores, and are eagerly hunted on the floating ice for their skins ; the beluga, or white whale, in large shoals, yielding a valuable oil; cod, salmon, and herrings in abundance. The poverty of the land as to animal life useful for human subsistence, is compensated by its profusion in the waters, the sea, rivers, and lakes swarming with fish. From these details the produce exported from the shores may readily be inferred ; tar, pitch, THE DWIXA. 383 and deals from the forests ; tallow from tlie more interior districts ; train-oil, skins, and furs from the whole region, extending into Siberia. The Dwina, Onega, and Mezen are the principal rivers. The first is by far the most important, and the seventh in point of length in the Russian empire. It takes its name, signifying the "double river," from being formed by the junction of the Sukhoria and Yug, nearly in the centre of the government of Vologda. The Sukhoria, the main source, issues from a lake connected by a canal with an affluent of the Volga ; and thereby communication is established between the White Sea and the Caspian. The Dwina has a total course of 700 miles including the meanderings ; and is navigable for upwards of 200 miles from its mouth, from the end of April to the close of October. It maintains a considerable width for a long distance, expands into a broad estuary towards its termination, being from four to five miles wide opposite the town of Archangel ; and discharges its waters forty miles below it through four chan- nels between low alluvial islands. A bar across the entrance of the river, with but twelve feet of water upon it, prevents vessels of heavy burthen from coming up to the town. Though this obstacle to navigation has been known for centuries to merchant- 384 THE WHITE SEA. men, yet, with singular fatuity, war steamers have been sent to operate against Archangel, the lightest of which has not been able to get across the bar. The first recorded voyage from the West into the White Sea dates at the close of the tenth century, the time of Alfred the Great, who has briefly chro- nicled it from information supplied by the bold ad- venturer. This Avas a foreigner named Other, Avho had fled from civil turmoil in his own country, and sought an asylum at the court of the royal author. He came from the north of Norway, where he had possessed a hundred reindeer, six decoy deer, with twenty head of cattle ; and had enjoyed the con- sequence of a chieftain, receiving an annual tribute from the Fins of valuable furs, feathers, whalebone, and ship cables made of the skins of seals. Anxious to know how far the country extended to the north of his own locality, and to discover new fishing or hunting grounds, he sailed northwards, keeping close to the shore. Having passed the bounds of the whale fishers, three days' sail brought him to a point where the coast changed its course, and turned to the east. Continuing his voyage in the new direc- tion for four days, he found it bend towards the south ; and after five days' southerly sailing he came to the country of the Beormians or Permians, Avho VOYAGE OF OTHEE. 385 seemed to speak the same language as the Fins. Thus Other rounded the North Cape of Europe, and passed into the White Sea, the eastern side of which was the land of the Permians, now occupied by the Samoiedes. The voyager met with the walrus, or horse-whale, as Alfred appropriately translates it, in such abundance, that his party killed three score in the space of as many days. To discover the haunts of the walrus was the main object he had in view, for the teeth of the animal were highly valued, sup- plying the ivory of the period ; and the ropes used for shipping were made of the strong and pliant skin. The walrus, though driven by navigation, and the havoc of centuries, to more solitary waters, is still occasionally captured in the same region. The island of Morshovet, in Mezen Bay, is called after it, being derived from morsli^ the Russian name for the animal, the original of our word morse, by which the walrus is often denoted. In the same neighbour- hood lie the Morshowuja Koschki, the walrus sand- banks or shoals. Alfred received some walrus teeth from the refugee mariner. They were the first articles ever brouo'lit to Eno-land from the White Sea. This voyage was not speedily repeated. All knowledge of it, though recorded by a monarch who c c 386 THE WHITE SEA. could handle the pen and the sword with equal skill, seems to have utterly perished, for, upwards of five centuries and a half afterwards, the entrance of an English vessel into the White Sea revealed its ex- istence to the maritime nations. In fact, the eastern shores of the Transatlantic continent had been largely ransacked, and the passage to India by the Cape dis- covered, before the contour of Northern Euro^^e was known to its western populations. Willoughby's expedition, in the reign of Edward YL, which led to this result, though already referred to, deserves additional notice, as it 023ened the empire of Russia to commercial enterprise through the medium of its northern waters. But previously, for perhaps a cen- tury, Russian produce had found its way to the far Avest by overland channels. In the year 1510, at an entertainment given by Henry YIIL, the king ap- peared in Turkish costume; but two nobles, the Earl of Wiltshire and the Baron Fitzwalter, presented themselves in " two long gowns of yellow satin tra- versed with white satin, and in every bend of white was a bend of crimson satin, after the fashion of Russia or Russlande, with furred hats of grey on their heads." Russian peltries appear on the canvass of Holbein, as in the portraits of Archbishop War- ham, Sir Thomas More, and Anne Boleyn. VOYAGE OF SIR HUGH WILLOUGHBY. 387 Under the mistaken idea of reaching China and India hj a north-east passage, three vessels were despatched in the year 1553, by a company of Lon- don merchants, to explore the route, licensed by the Crown to " discover strange countries." They con- sisted of the Bona Esperanza, of 120 tons, on board of which was the commander of the expedition. Sir Hugh AYilloughby, with a master, mate, and thirty- six seamen; the Edward Bonaventura, of 160 tons, under Bichard Chancellor, pilot-major of the fleet, with a master, mate, chaplain, surgeon, and fifty sea- men ; and the Bona Confidentia, of 90 tons, under Cornelius Durforth, with twenty-two seamen. Be- sides the crcAvs, six merchants embarked with the commander, nine with the pilot-major, and three in the third vessel. The ships were victualled for fifteen months. Sir Hugh was the third son of Sir Henry Willoughby, of Wollaton near Nottingham, ancestor of the present Lord Middleton. He had served with distinction in several campaigns on the Scottish border, when entrusted by the mercantile company with the command of their adventure, being recommended to notice by his '* goodly personage, for he was of tall stature, and also of singular skill in the services of war." The vessels sailed on the 11th of May from Deptford. They fired guns on c c 2 388 THE WHITE SEA. passing Greenwich, where Edward YI. was then re- siding ; and the crews put on their best attire, a light blue. But the king was then sinking under his last sickness, and could not leave his couch to witness the spectacle. Owing to contrary winds, the squadron did not leave the coast till towards the close of June. Off Harwich two surgeons were taken on board Sir Hugh's ship. By the end of July the North Cape had been passed, which then first received that title ; and soon afterwards the vessels were separated by a storm. The Bona Esperanza and Bona Confidentia again joined com- pany ; but Chancellor's ship, the Edward Bonaven- tura, finally parted from them, and safely entered the White Sea. The separation took place early in August, and from that time the only information possessed respecting the companion vessels, while the crews were alive, is derived from a journal pur- porting to be Sir Hugh Willoughby's, afterwards found on board the ill-fated Esperanza. After beating about on the tempestuous ocean, the two ships entered an inlet Avith convenient an- chorage ground on the Lapland coast, September 14th. This has been identified as Nokouev Bay, in which an island of the same name is situated, west- ward of the Svatoi Noss. The island, converted THE HAEBOUR OF DEATH. 389 into a peninsula at low water, presents to the sea a dark rocky promontory, rising 400 feet, the most conspicuous object on the shores. It shelters the roadstead on the western side from the south-east winds, which were violently blowing when the vessels entered it, opposing their passage towards the White Sea. Weighing anchor, perhaps the next day, they approached the breakers of the Svatoi Noss ; but the threatening appearance of the waters, and the baffling gales, induced Sir Hugh to return to the station he had quitted, which was reached September 18th. After waiting in vain a week for favourable weather, and seeing only the signs of winter, commencing with severity and at an unusu- ally early date, the commander despau'ed of continu- ing his voyage, and resolved to pass the dreary season in Nokouev Bay. It became the "harbour of death" to the entire party. " This haven," says the journal, " runneth into the main about two leagues, and is in breadth half a league, wherein are very many seal fishes and other great fishes ; and upon the main we saw bears, great deer, foxes, with divers strange beasts, as ellans and such others, which were to us unknown and also wonderftd. There remaining in this haven the space of a sevennight, seeing the year far spent, and also very evil weather, as frost, snow, c c 3 390 THE WHITE SEA. and hall, as though it had been the depth of winter, we thouo^ht it best to winter there. Wherefore we sent out three men south-south-west to search if they coukl find people, who went three days journey, but could find none. After that we sent other three westward four days journey, which also returned without finding any people. Then sent we three men south-east three days journey, who in like sort returned without finding of people, or any similitude of habitation." This desolation of the country is an annual occur- rence, for the fishermen who visit the shores in sum- mer retire into the interior to spend the winter. The month of October must have been far advanced before the last exploring party returned from the fruitless quest of succour. The days were then rapidly shortening. Towards the close of November the sun would cease to appear above the horizon, leaving the mariners exposed to the cold of a two- months' wintry night. They were not prepared for its severity by experience or, probably, by correct information, nor could they obtain the means of sus- taining it, as the neighbourhood supplied no wood for fuel. To add to their misery, there is evidence that the season was unusuallv ris^orous in the arctic zone. Hence, in the following spring, when the THE HARBOUR OF DEATH. 391 native fishermen repaired to the coast, the two ships were found in Nokouev Bay deeply covered with the snoAV-drift, and the stiffly-frozen corpses of the crews lay beneath the chilling pall which nature had thrown over them. How much they suffered? when their last agony came ? and who survived the longest ? no one knows. But Sir Hugh Willoughby's signature to the will of Gabriel Willoughby, a kinsman on board, dated towards the end of January, 1554, proves that he was alive at that period. He may have lingered to witness the sun remount the horizon, expiring as the winter was about to relax its icy grasp. The sad tragedy suggests the probably similar fate of Sir John Franklin and his companions. At Lord Middleton's seat, Wollaton House, Not- tinghamshire, a portrait of Sir Hugh was formerly shown, together with some clothes, reputed to have been those in which his body was found. His remains are said to have been brought to England, but this is very doubtful. Their disposal has escaped a chro- nicle, owing to the distracted state of the nation after the accession of Queen Mary, which largely diverted public attention from the fate of the unfor- tunate voyager. The first English ship to enter the White Sea was thus the EdAvard Bonaventura under Chan- c c 4 392 THE WHITE SEA. cellor. Its commander and his companions^ Stephen Burrough the celebrated navigator, John Stafford the chaplain, Thomas Walter the surgeon, George Burton and Arthur Edwards, two merchants, with the remainder of the crew, Avere the first English- men who set foot upon its shores, and entered the Russian empire. This was on the 24th of August, while Willoughby was beating about on the ocean westward of the Svatoi Noss. The adventurers landed at Nenocksa, a small place on the main shore of the southernmost mouth of the Dwina, hard by a convent of the miracle-working St. Nicholas, Avhere some salt-works were carried on, and have been since continued. They proceeded up the river to Cholmogory, the head town of the dis- trict, Archangel not being then in existence ; and were from thence forwarded by the Russian officials to Moscow, where an open letter from Edward VI., already in his grave, was presented to Ivan IV. It recited, among other particulars, as follows : — " AVe have permitted the honourable and brave Hugh Willoughby, and others of our faithful and dear servants wdio accompany him, to proceed to regions previously unknown, in order to seek such things as we stand in need of, as well as to take to them from our country such things as they reouirc. DISASTROUS HOMEWARD VOYAGE. 393 This will be productive of advantage both to them and* to us, and establish a perpetual friendship and an indissoluble league between them and us ; whilst they permit us to receive such things as abound in their territories, and we furnish them with those of which they are destitute." The commencement of commercial dealings between the two countries was the result of this journey. During the absence of the travellers, the ship was laid up in Ouna Bay, to the westward of Nenocksa, and was eventually re- joined by the two vessels which had become the coffins of their crews, the Russian authorities con- ductino' them to the Dwina. Fresh hands ha vino; been sent out from England, the three sailed home- ward in 1556, with cargoes of Russian produce, under the command of Chancellor. But not one of them reached its destination. The Bona Esperanza and Bona Coniidentia were lost in a storm on the coast of Norway, and all on board perished ; while the Edward Bonaventura was wrecked in Pitsligo Bay, Scotland, and only a small portion of the crew reached the shore. In spite of these disasters, the discovery of the route from Western Europe to Russia by the Wliite Sea was actively improved by the merchants of London, who formed themselves into a chartered 394 THE WHITE SEA. association Invested with exclusive privileges of trade with the country, and occupied a house in Seething Lane. It finally took the name of the Kussia Company, and still exists under that denomination, though deprived of its monopoly. Ship after ship and agent after agent were despatched from the Thames to the Dwina. A factory was established at its mouth on Kose Island, and others at Cholmogory, Vologda, and IMoscow. But the former was the principal depot of imported English wares, and of Russian produce for export. The island is described as " low land all over, except where the house stands, and that place is a lortg bank of dry white sand, the land being either woods or meadow, but seldom either mown or fed." Upon Archangel being founded, the factors were formally excused by the Czar from removing to it : — " We allow them to continue to retain the house and Avarehouses which they have hitherto occupied at the Pudoshem mouth ; and they shall not be obliged to remove these build- ings to the site of the newly-founded city ; but they shall be permitted, as they have hitherto done, to unload English articles of import, and embark Russian produce for exportation, at their old house at Rose Island." At Cholmogory an enterprising factor set up a rojoe-manufactory, for Avhich work- FACTORY AT CHOLMOGORY. 395 men Avere specially sent out from England. The English establishment at this place was the scene of a melancholy event in the year 1576. Daniel Sylvester, a political agent of Queen Elizabeth, had just arrived at it on a mission to the Court of Moscow, when, in the upper story of the building, as he was preparing to prosecute his journey, he was killed by a flash of lightning, with a boy and a doo; beside him. The lifrhtnino; set fire to the house and destroyed it, with the despatches of the agent. Sharp practices on the part of the native dealers seem to have been suspected by the Russia Company, for its servants were early admonished to make their bargains plain, and set them down in writing. At the same time, some of its own repre- sentatives misconducted themselves, for they were rebuked for tippling, hound and bear keeping, and extravagant expenditure in silks and velvets, to the damage of the dividend-expectants in Seething Lane. The produce imported by the Russia Company consisted of train-oil, tallow, flax, hemj), tarred ropes, elk-hides, and hides in general for tanners. Inquiry was made after a certain kind of wool, " very good in those parts for hats and felts, of which the Tartarians are accustomed to make their cloaks ; " and, upon information of the country yield- 396 THE WHITE SEA. ing a great quantity of yew, the directors pricked up their ears, and ordered it to be examined, " because it is a special commodity for our reahu." The age of Robin Hood and Chevy Chase, of which the line is characteristic — " Draw, archers, draw your arrows to the head," was not entirely over in the days of Queen Bess. The bow was still distinctive of the English yeoman in war and forestins^. But the silver fir had been mistaken for the yew, which does not flourish so far to the north. The first shipment of goods to any amount from England arrived at the Dwina in 1557. It consisted chiefly of London cloth, lukno lunduscli, so called from the outport ; and of Hampshire kerseys, the manufactures of that county. Already the Russian taste for gay colours seems to have been known, for, of the kerseys, two pieces were yellow, fifteen green, five ginger-coloured, fifty-three red, forty- three blue, and four hundred were sky-blue. Salt, sugar, manufactured goods of various descriptions, artillery and warlike stores folloAved in considerable quantities ; and, under the auspices of the Company, the tones of the or2:an and viro;inal were first intro- O CD duced to Moscow. The people " wondered and de- FIRST SHIPMENTS. 397 lighted," says the agent, " at the loud and musical sound thereof, never seeing nor hearing the like before. Thousands resorted and stayed about the palace to hear the same ; my man that played upon them much made of, and admitted into such presence often where myself could not come." Professional persons were also sent out, accredited by Queen Elizabeth, at the request of the Czar ; among others, an architect, an engineer, a goldsmith and goldfinder, a doctor, an apothecary, and a midwife for the Czarina. But one article, an English wife, much coveted by Ivan the Terrible on becoming a widoAver for the seventh time, was not forthcoming. Eliza- beth, indeed, destined Lady Mary Hastings for the alliance; but his death in 1584 fortunately saved the lady from the brute. It is curious to find corn mentioned amoncr the early shipments of produce from England to Russia. This occurred in 1571 under peculiar circumstances. A fearful famine prevailed in the preceding year, which reduced the people to such extremity that human flesh was resorted to for subsistence, and mothers fed upon the corpses of their children. A carg;o of corn was therefore sent in the ensuino; spring to Rose Island. Russia experienced terrible calamities at this period, in which the resident Eng- lish commercial agents participated. The famine was 398 THE WHITE SEA. followed by the plague, which, in a brief space, swept away 300,000 persons. Availing themselves of this time of weakness and terror, the Tartars broke into the country, compelled Ivan to flee, and burnt Moscow to the ground. The citizens, with fugitives from the neighbourhood, pent up in the city by the barbarians, perished to the number of 100,000. Many fell victims to the flames; others were drowned in the Moskwa, vainly endeavouring to escape ; and the wretched inhabitants were largely suffocated in the cellars. The English factory was destroyed. Southam a clerk, Chafin a workman. Carver the apothecary, the widow of Green the goldsmith, with two children, and altogether thirty- six persons, perished in the beer-cellar, in which they had taken refuge. Communication between England and the White Sea has now subsisted for three centuries. Durino; that period, among the vessels of foreign nations on its waters, the English have been the most numerous ; next the Dutch, whose nautical and commercial spirit very quickly brought them to the Dwina. The first Frenchman reached its mouth in 1586. In more re- cent tunes not a few Yankees have been annual visitors. The shipping of all nations entered in- wards in the annexed years was as follows ; — VESSELS ENTERED INWARDS. 399 Years. Tonnage. Years. Tonnage. 1844 - - 72,614 1846 - - 129,292 1845 - - 94,678 1847 - - 118,588 Salt from the United Kingdom early found its way to Rose Island for consumption in the interior of the empire, the inhabitants of the coast probably manu- facturing sufficient for their own use from the briny deep. It has since been an important article of export from our shores to Russia, which took 2,010,585 bushels in the year 1851. But this quantity was sent almost entirely to the Baltic ports. The indispen- sable condiment is there most in demand, owing to the distance of the native salt mines, and the compa- rative fresh water of the adjoining sea preventing distillation. Though Russia, as a whole, possesses supplies of salt within her own borders much more than equal to the wants of the population, yet the western provinces are so remote from the great places of production — the salt mines in the govern- ments of Orenburg and Astrachan — as to make it cheaper for those districts to import the article by sea from foreign sources. The country around the White Sea is entirely in- cluded in the government of Archangel, or, as it is more properly termed, Archangelskoe, " the Land of the Archangel." St. Michael is the celestial per- sonage referred to, to whom a convent was dedicated 400 THE WHITE SEA. at an early period on the north bank of the Dwina. The province is the most extensive of the territorial divisions of European Russia, and the most thinly peopled. Though equal in extent to the united areas of Great Britain and France, comprising about 300,000 square miles, its total population is far less than that of the borough of Liverpool, being not more than 280,000. This does not give one indi- vidual to the square mile. The comparative density of the population in European Russia is thus approxi- mately stated: — Persons per Sq. Mile. In Poland, clilefly around Warsaw - - 103 In the central provinces around JNIoscow - 80 In the Baltic provinces - - - - 52 In the Black Sea provinces - - - - 26 In Finland - - - - - - -17 In the province of Archangel - less than 1 Throughout European Russia - - - 31 A few Lapps and Fins, fishermen, hunters, and rein- deer breeders, inhabit the peninsula of Russian Lapland on the north-west. Small hordes of nomadic Samoiedes, a Finnish race, following the same a^oca- tions, are thinly scattered over the north-eastern dis- trict, the basin of the river Petchora, one of the coldest and dreariest regions on the face of the globe But the inhabitants are mainly Russians, in the pro- THE SAMOIEDES. 401 portion of ninety-five out of every hundred souls, and are most numerous in the country of the DAvina. They are chiefly engaged in the preparation of train- oil, pitch, and tar, cutting deals, the manufacture of cables, ship-building, and the general trade in tallow, skins, and furs. A considerable quantity of linen is wove by the female peasantry. The rude and uncivilised Samoides adliered to the heathenism of their fathers till an imperial ukase, in the year 1825, directed their conversion to the orthodox faith. Armed with this potent missive, missionary priests visited the hordes ; and more by its authority than any other instrument, succeeded in widely administering the rite of baptism. There is little reason to suppose that either administrators or recipients cared anything about the ceremony beyond the performance of it. But some of the Russian inhabitants of the province themselves are seceders from the church of the empire, now tolerated, though rigidly restrained from proselyting, and formerly per- secuted with virulence. They were once numerous through the whole country from the Wliite Sea to the southern provinces, but have vastly diminished, toleration having subdued the sectarian obstinacy which persecution serves to strengthen. These par- ties are known by the general name of Raskolniks D D 402 THE WHITE SEA. which is exactly equiyalent in its meaning to that of Dissenters in England. But their original dissidence from the Russian establishment was the fruit of absurd ignorance, not of intelligent conviction. They arose soon after the middle of the seventeenth cen- tury, in the reign of the Czar Alexis, the father of Peter the Great. At that time, the Sclavonic Scrip- tures and the liturgical books of the church, which had become exceedingly corrupt in the process of transcription, were revised by a general council pre- sided over by the patriarch Nicon ; and the new purified texts were ordered to be alone used in the churches. This measure, wholesome in itself, met with opposition. Thousands, both of the clergy and laity, reverenced the antiquated copies, however corrupt, simply because they Avere ancient ; and preferred separation to conformity. Hence arose the Raskolniks, who were particularly numerous in the government of Archangel. This was a conferred, not an adopted title; the seceders styling themselves by terms signifying adherents to the " old faith," or the " old rite." They divided into numerous sects, embraced discordant and wildly fanatical opinions, while agreeing generally in certain points. They mutually denounced the patriarch Nicon and the conformists as heretics, and abjured communion with RUSSIAN DISSENTERS. 403 them; while the Czar Michael Federowich, founder of the present Romanoff dynasty, was considered the last orthodox monarch of Russia, because the revi- sion of the sacred books took place in the reign and under the authority of his son Alexis. One sect of the Russian dissenters acquired the name of Pomarians, meaning inhabitants of the sea- coast, from the locality Avhere they originated, the shores of the AYliite Sea. A remnant still exists. They hold tenets corresponding to those prevailing to some extent in our own country, as the inutility of priests, and the invalidity of ordinances admi- nistered by them; and have places of assembly for silent prayer, where any one of the members may officiate as an exliorter, who drudges through the week-days extracting oil from blubber, or forwarding the export of Siberian produce. But formerly, if not at present, these sectaries maintained more ex- travagant opinions, as the lawfulness of suicide under certain circumstances, founding the notion upon the text, " Whosoever will save his life shall lose it ; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the Gospel's shall save it." Suicide by combustion was commonly preferred. In the middle of the last cen- tury a commission of inquiry was issued respecting them in the government of Archangel. Upon ap- 404 THE WHITE SEA. proaching one of their convents — a large wooden edi- fice — the commissioners were refused admittance, and greeted with violent abuse. The visitors proceeded to break open the gate, upon which the inmates fired the building, and perished in the flames, sternly refusing to avail themselves of every opportunity to quit it. Suicide by starvation has also been exten- sively practised. Its victims, wishing to imitate the example of Him who fasted forty days in the desert, have been uro-ed to the task as a " hio-h endeavour," by those who expected to inherit their property. The relations are horrible respecting these deluded indi- viduals. After having been confined for a few days in solitary cabins and out-houses, the pangs of hunger have compelled them to sue piteously for a release, which has been mercilessly refused by the parties interested in their sacrifice. Archangel, the capital of the government, was founded by Ivan the Terrible in 1583, the year previous to his decease ; and obtained its name from the old and venerated convent dedicated to the arch- angel Michael, in its neighbourhood. It occupies a low flat on the north bank of the Dwina, forty miles from its mouth, and about 400 miles north-east of St. Petersburg. The town is chiefly built of wood, but has a large stone Gastinnoi Dvor, and contains up- ARCHANGEL. — CHOLMOGORY. 405 wards of 15,000 inhabitants. Situated close to the line which marks the northern Innit of cereal and garden cultivation, its supplies of grain^ vegetables, and cattle are brought from a distance. The port is the oldest in the Russian empire, and was for a considerable period the only channel of communica- tion with the maritmie nations. About 500 foreisrn vessels annually enter the roadstead, five miles below the town, where a bar across the river prevents large merchantmen from ascending higher. Chol- mogory, thirty-five miles above Archangel, on an island of the Dwina, is of unimportant size, but of some interest, as the first seat of the maritime com- merce of Russia with Western Europe, and formerly a place of exile. To this remote and dreary spot the Regent Ann was sent, along with her husband, Prince Anthony Ulric of Brunswick, upon the de- position of their son, the infant Czar Ivan, in favour of the Empress Elizabeth, in 1742. The boy-king, immured in a dark dungeon in the fortress of Schus- selburg, on Lake Ladoga, grew up an idiot, and was finally murdered in the reign of Catherine II. ; while his parents, connected with the royal houses of England and Austria, were rigorously confined at Cholmogory. They occupied a house surrounded with high palings, which enclosed a little garden, E E 406 THE WHITE SEA. containing a few birches, ferns, and nettles. To this garden, covered with snow for seven months of the year, they had free access. But soldiers in charge of them occupied the same dwelling ; and they were never allowed to go abroad except under their escort. Death soon delivered the Princess from this hard lot ; but the Prince lingered to the year 1776, when he died, after having been a pri- soner upwards of thirty years. Mezen, Onega, Kem, and Kola, are the other towns of the province. Kola, near the shores of the Arctic Ocean, 630 miles north of St. Petersburg, is the most northerly town of European Russia. The Wliite Sea contains several inhabited islands. Solovetz, the largest of a cluster at the entrance of the Gulf of the Onega, possesses a town celebrated for its isinglass, and an adjoining monastery, the re- puted sanctity of which annually attracts pilgrims from an immense distance, for whose accommodation an inn is provided. All the inmates became Rae- kolniks on the occurrence of the schism, and held their house for seven years, though repeatedly besieged by their opponents. Upon the building being fired, many of them voluntarily sacrificed themselves in the flames rather than surrender. Some of the survivors escaped with a few consecrated loaves ; MONASTERY OF SOLOVETZ. 407 and as they lessened by sacramental use, the crumbs were worked up with fresh paste. The same process being adopted with reference to the new loaves, the schismatics thus contrived to preserve the succession of a|X)stolically-descended eucharistic bread. Peter the Great, during his stay at Archangel, paid a visit to the island monastery, and narrowly escaped from shipwreck on his return. Being overtaken by a violent storm, he became anxious, and interfered with the helmsman, Antip Timofeef. Knowing, the navigation better, and being equally alarmed, the steersman hastily repulsed him. When the danger was over, the man fell at the feet of the Czar, and apologised for his rudeness. " There is nothing to forgive," said he. " I owe you thanks, not only for our rescue from danger, but for the proper rebuke you gave me." The vessel took refuge in the Bay of Ouna, where the first English ship wintered ; and on its shores Peter planted a cross as a memorial of his deliverance. A long account has recently ap- jxjared in the St. Petersburg Journal, of an attack on the monastery of Solovetz by Captain Ommanney's squadron, drawn up by the Archimandrite, who, ac- cording to his own statement of the operations, seems quite as well qualified to handle a gun and marshal a battalion, as to head a procession and ad- 408 THE WHITE SEA. minister the sacraments. These religious establish- ments are really fortified strongholds, with ramparts, towers, and artillery ; and have witnessed many a fray in the civil wars of Kussia. THE END. London ; A. and G. A. Spottiswoode, Xew-street-Sqii.ire. A CATALOGUE OF NEW WORKS IN GENERAL LITERATURE PUBLISHED BY LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, and LONGMANS, 39, PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON. CLASSIFIED INDEX. Agriculture and Rural Affairs. Pageb Bayldon on Valuing- Rents, etc. " " ^ Caird's Letters on Agriculture * ' " 7 Cecil's Stud Farm - .... 7 Loudon's Encyclopaedia of Agriculture - 14 ,, Self-Instruction for Farmers, etc. H ,, (Mrs.) Lady'sCountry Companion 14 Low's Elements of Agriculture - - 15 ,, Domesticated Animals - - - 14 Arts, Manufactures, and ArcMtecture. Bourne's Catechism of the Steam Engine 6 ,, On the Screw Propeller - - 6 Brande's Dictionary of Science, etc. - 6 Chevreul on Colour . - - - - 8 Cresv's Encyclo. of Civil Engineering - 8 Eastlake on Oil Painting . . - - 8 Gwilt's Encyclopaedia of Architecture - 9 Jameson's Sacred and Legendary Art - 11 „ Commonplace Book - - 12 Loudon's Rural Architecture - - - 14 Moseley's Engineering and Architecture 14 Richardson's Art of Horsemanship - - 19 Steam Engine, by the Artisan Club - 6 Tate on Strength of Materials - - 22 Ure's Dictionary of Arts, etc. - -24 Biography. Bodenstedt and "Wagner's Schamyl Brightwell's Memorials of Opie Bunsen's Hippolytus . - - Chesterton's Autobiography - Clinton's (Fynes) Autobiography - Cockayne's Marshal Tureune - Freeman's Life of Kirby - • - Haydon's Autobiography, by Taylor Holcroft's Memoirs - - - Holland's (Lord) Memoirs Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopiedia Maunder's Biographical Treasury . Memoir of the Duke of Wellington Memoirs of James Montgomery Merivale's Memoirs of Cicero Russell's Memoirs of Moore - Russell's Life of Lord William Russell - Southey's Life of Wesley ... ,, Life and Correspondence Stephen's Ecclesiastical Biography Taylor's Loyola ..... ,, Wesley ..... Townsend's Eminent Judges ... Watertou's Autobiography and Essays - Books of General Utility. Acton's Modern Cookery Book Black's Treatise on Brewing . . - Cabinet Gazetteer . . . . , „ Lawyer • - - . . Cust's Invalid's Own Book ... Hints on Etiquette • - . . Hudson's Executor's Guide „ On Making Wills Lardner's Cabinet Cycloptedia • Loudon's Self Instruction „ Lady's Companion ,, (Mrs.) Amateur Gardener Maunder's Treasury of Knowledge ,, Biographical Treasury . ,, Scientific Treasury ,, Treasury of History ,, Natural History Pocket and the Stud ... Pycroft's English Reading Recce's Medical Guide ... Rich's Companion to Latin Dictionary Riddle's Latin Dictionaries Richardson's Art of Horsemanship Roget's English Thesaurus • Rowton's Debater - - . . Short Whist . - ■ . . Thomson's InterestTables Traveller's Library ... Webster's Domestic Economy Willich's Popular Tables Wilmot's Abridgment of Blackstone's Commentaries - . . . . Botany and Gardening. Conversations on Botany . . . Hooker's British Flora . . . . ,, Guide to Kew Gardens 10 11 11 13 14 14 14 16 Ifi 16 16 16 10 19 19 19 19 19 M 19 20 22 23 24 24 24 8 10 10 London: Printed by M. Mason, Ivy Lane, Paternoster Row. CLASSIFIED INDEX. Pages Lindley's Introduction to Botany - • 14 „ Theory of Horticulture - - 1"2 Loudon's Hortus Britannicus - - 14 ,, (Mrs.) Amateur Gardener - 14 ,, Self-Instruction for Gardeners 14 ,, Encyclopxdiaof Trees & Shrubs 14 ,, ,, Girdeniiit" • 14 „ ,, Plants - • 14 Uivers's Rose Amateur's Guide - -19 Chronology. Blair's Chronoloarical Tables - Bunseii's Ancient Ksrypt - Haydn's Beatson's Index - Nicolas's Chronology of History - 10 - 13 Commerce and Mercantile Aifairs. Atkinson's Shippinij Laws ... 5 Francis On Life Assurance - - - 9 Loch's Sailor's Guide .... 14 Lorimer's Letters to aYounjMasterMariner 14 M'CuUoch's Commerce and Navisfation - 15 Thomson's Interest Tables - - - 22 Criticism, History, and Memoirs. Austin's Germany . - . . - Balfour's Sketches of Literature Blair's Chron. and Historical Tables Bunsen's Ancient Egypt . . - „ Hippotytiis . - . - Burton's History of Scotland Chalybaeus's Speculative Pliilosophy Conybeare and Howson's St. Paul - Eastlake's History of Oil Painting Erskine's History of India ... Francis's Annuls of Life Assurance Gleig's Leipsic Campaign Gurney's Historical Sketches - - . Hamilton's Discussions in Philosophy, etc. Haydon's Autobiography, by Taylor Holland's (Lord) Foreign Reminiscences ,, „ \Vhig Party - Jeffrey's (Lord) Contributions Kemble's Anglo-Saxons in England Lardner's Cabinet Cvclopadia Macaulay's Crit. and Hist. Essays - „ History of England „ Speeches - - . . Mackintosh's Miscellaneous Works 1, History of England M'CuUoch's Geographical Dictionary Martineau's Church History ... Maunder's Treasury of History Memoir of the Duke of Wellington Merivale's History of Rome - . . ., Roman Republic - . _ Milner's Church History ... Moore's (Thomas) Memoirs, etc. - Mnre's Greek Literature . . , Ranke's Ferdinand and Maximilian - Rich's Companion to Latin Dictionary - Riddle's Latin Dictionaries Rogers's Essays from Edinburgh Review Ro^et's English Thesaurus ... Russell's (l.ady Rachel) Letters „ Life of Lord William Russell - St. John's Indian Archipelago Schmitz's History of Greece • . I Smith's Sacred Annals . . - Southey's The Doctor etc. Stephen's Ecclesiastical Biography ,, Lectures on French History Sydney Smith's Works Select Works Pages - 21 - 21 - 21 - 21 - 21 - 23 ,, Lectures ou Moral Philosophy 21 Tavlor's Lovola .... - 22 ■ ,, Wesley 22 Thirhvall's History of Greece - - - 22 Townsend's State Trials .... 22 Turkey and Christendom - - - 23 Turner's Anglo-Saxons • - - .24 ,, Middle Ages . - - - 24 „ Sacred History of the World - 22 Zurapt's Latin Grammar - • - - 24 Geography and Atlases. Butler's Geography and Atlases • - 7 Cabinet Gazetteer - - - • • 7 Durrieu's Morocco - - - - - 23 Hall's Large Library Atlas . . - 9 Hughes's Australian Colonies - • - 23 Jesse's Russia and the War - - - 12 Johnston's (ieneral Gazetteer - - 12 M'CuUoch's (jeographical Dictionary - 15 „ Russia and Turkey - - 23 Milner's Baltic Sea - - - - 16 Murray's Kncyclopiedia of Geography - IS Sharp's British Gazetteer - - 20 Wheeler's Gsography of Herodotus . 24 Juvenile Books. Amy Herbert ...... 20 Corner's Children's Sunday Book - - 8 Earl's Daughter (The) - - . - 20 Experience of Life - - • - - 20 Gertrude ------ 20 Howitt's Boy's Country Book - - - 11 ,, (Mar>) Children's Year - - U Katharine Asliton - - - - - 20 Lady Una and her Queendom - - - 12 Laneton Parsonage • - - - 20 Mrs. Marcet's Conversations • - 15 & 16 Margaret Percival - - - . - 20 Pycroft's English Reading • - - 19 Medicine and Surgery. Bull's Hints to Mothers . . . g ,, Management of Children - • 6 Copland's Dictionary of Medicine - -8 Cust's Invalid's Own Book . . . g Holland's Mental Physiology - . -10 Latham On Diseases of the Heart • . 12 Little on Treatment of Deformities - 14 Moore On Health, Disease, and Remedy - 17 Pereira On Food and Diet - . - 18 Psychological Inquiries - • - . 18 Recce's Medical Guide - - . - 19 Miscellaneous and General Literature. Atkinson's Sheriff Law - - . - 5 Austin's Sketches of German Life - 5 Carlisle's Lectures and Addresses - - 23 Chalybaeus's Speculative Philosophy - 8 Defence of Eclipse of Faith - - . 9 Eclipse of Faith - . - - . 8 Greg's Essays on Political and Social Science ..... q TO Messrs. LONGMAN and Co.'s CATALOGUE. Pages Haydn's Book of Pigrnities - - - 10 Hole's Essav on Mechanics' Institutions 10 Holland's Alental Physiology - . - 10 Hooker's Kew Guide - - • - 10 Howitt's Rural Life of England - - 11 ,, Visits to Remarkable Places - 11 Jameson's Commonplace Book - - 12 Jeffrey's (Lord) Contributions - - 12 Last of the Old Squires - - - - 18 Loudon's Lady's Country Companion - 14 Macaulay's (Jritical and Historical Essays 15 ,, Speeches • • - - 15 Mackintosh's (Sir J.) Miscellaneous Works 15 Memoirs of a Maitre d'Armes • - 23 Maitland's Church in the Catacombs - 16 Pascal's Works, by Pearce - . - ]S Pycroft'a English'Reading- - • . 19 Rich's Companion to Latin Dictionary - 19 Riddle's Latin Dictionaries • - - l9 Rowton's Debater - - - - - l9 Seaward's Narrative of his Shipwreck . 20 Sir Roger De Coverlev - - - 21 Smith's (Rev. Sydney) Works - . 21 Southey's Common-Place Books - - 21 „ The Doctor etc. ... 23 Souvestre's Attic Philosopher - - 23 ,, Confessions of a Working Man 23 Stephen's Essays - - ... 21 Stow's Training System - - - 21 Thomson's Outline of the Laws ofThought 22 Townsend's State Trials - - - - 22 Willich's Popular Tales - - - - 24 Yonge's English Greek Lexicon - - 24 ,, Latin Gradus - - - - 24 Zumpt's Latin Grammar . • . - 24 Natural History in General. Catlow's Popular Conchology - Ephemera and Young on the Salmon Gosse's Natural History of Jamaica Kemp's Natural History of Creation Kirby and Speuce's Entomology Lee's Elements of Natural History Maunder's Treasury of Natural History - Turton's Shellsof the Britishlslands VVaterton's Essays on Natural History - Youatt's The Dog The Horse - - - 1-Volume Encyclopaedias and Dictionaries. Blaine's Rural Sports - - - • 6 Brande's Science, Literature, and Art - 6 Copland's Dictionary of Medicine - - 8 Cresy's Civil Engineering - - • 8 Gwilt's Architecture - - - - 9 Johnston's Geographical Dictionary - 12 Loudon's Agriculture ... . 14 ,, Rural Architecture - - 14 ,, Gardening . - - - 14 ,, Plants . . . _ . 14 ,, Trees and Shrubs - - - 14 M'CuUoch's Geographical Dictionary - 15 ,, Dictionary of Commerce - 15 Murray'sEncyclopjcdiaof Geography - 17 Sharp's British Gazetteer • . - 20 Ure's Dictionary of Arts, etc.- - - 24 Webster'sDomestic Economy - - 24 Religious and Moral Works. Amy Herbert -..-_- 20 Atkinson on the Church - - . - 5 Bloomfield'sGreek Testaments - _ 6 ,, Annotations on ditto - - 6 Calvert's Wife's Manual - - • 7 Conybeare and Howson's St. Paul . - g Corner's Sunday Book - - • - 8 Dale's Domestic Liturgy • - • 8 Defence oi Eclipse 0/ Faith - - - 9 Discipline ----- . 8 Earl's Daughter (The) - - - - 20 Eclipse of Faith . . - - - 3 Knglishmau's Greek Concordance - - 9 ,, Heb. and Chald. Concord. 9 Experience of Life (The) - - - 20 Gertrude - • - - - - 20 Harrison's Light of the Forge - - 10 Hook's (Dr.) Lectures on Passion Week 10 Home's Introduction to Scriptures - jj ,, Abridgment of ditto - - H HulbertonJob . - - - - )i Jameson's Sacred Legends - - -11 „ Monastic Legends - - "11 ,, Legends of the Madonna - jj Jeremy Taylor's Works - - " • 12 Katharine Asliton .... - 20 Kippis's Hymns ----- j2 Lady Una and her Queendom - - 12 Laneton Parsonage ----- 20 Letters to My Unknown Friends - - 12 ,, on Happiness - - - - 12 Litton's Church of Christ - - - 14 Maitland's Church in the Catacombs - 15 Margaret Percival - - • - 20 Martineau's Church History - - - 16 Milner's Church of Christ - - - 16 Montgomery's Original Hymns - - 16 Moore On the Use of the Body - - 17 tt ,, Soul and Body - - 17 „ 's Man and bis Motives - - 17 Monnonism ------ 23 Neale's Closing Scene - - . - 18 ,, Resting Places of the Just - - 17 ,, Riches that bring no Sorrow - 17 ,, Risen from the Ranks - - - 17 Newman's (J. H.) Discourses - - • 18 Ranke's Ferdinand and Maximilian - 23 Readings for Lent - . . - 20 „ Confirmation - . - 20 Robinson's Lexicon to the Greek Testa- ment ---..- 19 Saints our Example - . . . 20 Self- Denial ----- _ oq Sermon on the Moant - - - - 20 ,» ,, illuminated - - 20 Sinclair's Journey of Life - - - 21 Smith's (Sydney) Moral Philosophy - 21 ,, (G.) Sacred Annals - . - 21 Southey's Life of Wesley - ■ - 21 Stephen's (Sir J.) Ecclesiastical Biography 21 Taylor's Loyola - .... 22 ,, Wesley ... - - 22 Theologia Germanica - . . - '>2 Thumb Bible (The) - - - - 22 Ttirner's Sacred History - . - 22 Poetry and the Drama. Arnold's Poems . . _ . . Aikin's (Dr.) British Poets - - . Baillie's (Joanna) Poetical Works - Barter's Iliad of Homer - - - - Bode's Ballads from Herodotus Calvert's Wife's Manual - - - Flowers and their Kindred Thoughts Goldsmith's Poems, illustrated . . Kent's Aletheia . - . . , Kippis's Hymns - . . - . L.E.L.'s Poetical Works - . . CLASSIFIED INDEX. Pages Linwood's Antliologia Oxoniensis • ' ^j Mauaulay's Lays of Ancient Rome • - IS Montgomery's Poetical Works • -16 ,, Original Hymns - - '5 Moore's Poetical Works . - - -17 ,, Lalla Rookh - « - - ]/ ,, Irish Melodies - - - • 17 ,, Songs and Ballads - - - 17 Shakspeare, By Bowdler - - - - 20 ,. 's Sentiments and Similes - 11 Southey's Poetical Works - - - 21 ,, British Poets - - - - 21 Thomson's Seasons, illustrated - - 22 Thornton's Zohrab . - ... 22 Watts's Lyrics of the Heart - - - 24 Political Economy & Statistics. Banfield's Statistical Companion - - 6 Caird's Letters on Agriculture - - 7 Francis on Life Assurance - . • 9 Greg's Essays on Political and Social S'-ience . . - _ - . 9 Laing's Notes of a Traveller - - 12 & 23 M'CuUoch's Geographical Dictionary - 15 ,, Dictionary of Commerce - 15 „ London - - - - - 23 ,, Statistics of the British Empire 15 Marcet's Political Economy - - - 16 Willich's Popular Tables - - - - 2-1 The Sciences in General and Mathematics. Bourne's Catechism of the Steam Engine 6 ,, on the Screw Propeller - - 6 Brande's Dictionary of Science, etc. - 6 ,, Lectures on Organic Chemistry Cresy's Civil Engineering . - _ 8 DelaBeche's Geology of Cornwall, etc. 8 ,, 's Geological Observer - - s De la Rive's Electricity - - . . Faraday's Non-Metallic Elements • FuUom's Marvels of Science - - . Herschel's Outlines of Astronomy - Holland's Mental Physiology Humboldt's Aspects of Nature ,, Cosmos - - - Hunt's Researches on Light - . _ Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopaedia Marcet's (Mrs.) Conversations - 15 & Moseley's Engineering and Architecture Owen's Lectures on Comparative Anatomy Our Coal Fields and our Coal Pits - • Peschel's Elements of Physics Phillips's Fossils of Cornwall, etc. „ Mineralogy • - . , „ Guide to Geology . . _ Portlock's Geology of Londonderry Smee's Electro-Metallurgy . - ■ Steam Engine, by the Artisan Club Tate on Strength of Materials - '- Todd's Tables of Circles Wilson's Electricity and the Electric Telegraph - . . . . Rural Sports. 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