at the dish which preceded the dinner; namely, iced soup. It was
certainly a novelty to the author, and by no means palatable to one
not initiated. As near as it was possible to analyze the production,
it consisted of Russian beer, cucumbers, onions, and slices of
uncooked fish floating on the surface amid small pieces of ice. With
this exception, the menu was not very dissimilar to the sparse
service of northern European hotels. But let us dismiss this mention
of food as promptly as we did that odious, frosty soup, and prepare
to give the reader the impressions realized from the grandest city of
Northern Europe.

CHAPTER XII.

St. Petersburg. -- Churches. -- The Alexander Column. --
Principal Street. -- Cathedral of Peter and Paul. -- Nevsky
Monastery. -- Russian Priesthood. -- The Canals. -- Public
Library. -- Cruelty of an Empress. -- Religious Devotion of the
People. -- A Dangerous Locality. -- Population. -- The Neva and
Lake Ladoga. -- The Nicholas Bridge. -- Winter Season. -- Begging
Nuns. -- Nihilism. -- Scandal Touching the Emperor. -- The
Fashionable Drive. -- St. Isaac's Church. -- Russian Bells. --
Famous Equestrian Statue. -- The Admiralty. -- Architecture.

St. Petersburg is a city of sumptuous distances. There are no blind
alleys, no narrow lanes, no rag-fair in the imperial capital. The
streets are broad, the open squares vast in size, the avenues
interminable, the river wide and rapid, and the lines of architecture
seemingly endless, while the whole is as level as a chess-board. One
instinctively desires to reach a spot whence to overlook this broad
area peopled by more than eight hundred thousand souls. This object
is easily accomplished by ascending the tower of the Admiralty, from
whose base the main avenues diverge. The comprehensive view from this
elevation is unique, studded with azure domes decked with stars of
silver and gilded minarets. A grand city of palaces and spacious
boulevards lies spread out before the spectator. The quays of the
Neva above and below the bridges will be seen to present as animated
a scene as the busy thoroughfares. A portion of this Admiralty
building is devoted to school-rooms for the education of naval
cadets. The rest is occupied by the civil department of the service
and by a complete naval museum, to which the officers of all vessels
on their return from distant service are expected to contribute.
There are over two hundred churches a