rtress as
well as a church; that is to say, it stands within a fortress
defended by a hundred guns and garrisoned by between two and three
thousand men. It is more venerable and interesting in its
associations than the grander Cathedral of St. Isaac's, while its
mast-like, slender spire, being fifty or sixty feet higher than any
other pinnacle in the city, is more conspicuous as a landmark. The
immediate surroundings constitute the nucleus about which the founder
of the city first began to rear his capital, being an island formed
by the junction of the Neva and one of its natural branches, but
connected with the main-land by bridges. We were told that the
present Emperor sometimes visits incognito the tombs of his
predecessors here, where kneeling in silence and alone, he seems to
pray long and fervently,--and that he had done so only a few days
previous to the time of our visit. That Alexander III. is actuated
by devout religious convictions, of which he makes no parade, is a
fact well known to those habitually near his person, and that he
seeks for higher guidance than can be expected from mortal
counsellors is abundantly proven. It was in the prison portion of
this fortress that the Czarowitz Alexis, the only son of Peter the
Great that lived to manhood, died under the knout while being
punished for insubordination and open opposition to his father's
reforms. What fearful tragedies are written in lines of blood upon
every page of Russian history! Peter's granddaughter, the Princess
Tarakanof, was also drowned in the Fortress of Peter and Paul by an
overflow of the Neva while confined in one of the dreary subterranean
dungeons. About the pillars and upon the walls inside the cathedral
hang the captured battle-flags of many nations,--Turkish, Persian,
Swedish, French, and Prussian, besides the surrendered keys of
several European capitals, including Paris, Dresden, Hamburg,
Leipsic, and others. The National Mint of Russia is within this
fortress-prison and cathedral combined.

A brief visit to the Monastery of St. Alexander Nevsky was productive
of more than ordinary interest, and it chanced to be at an hour when
the singing was especially impressive and beautiful, being conducted,
as is always the case in the Greek Church, by a male choir. As
already intimated, this institution is situated at the extremity of
the Nevsky Prospect, about three miles from the heart of the city,
occupying a large space enclosed by walls