French standard, but rather
upon the best English; not upon that of Balzac and Dumas, but upon
Thackeray and George Eliot. Toorgenef, Gogol, Pisanski, and Goncharov
are Russian names whose excellence in literature have familiarized
them to English readers. There is upon the bookshelves of nearly
every cultured family in St. Petersburg and Moscow a translation of
Homer into Russian, the scholarly work of an assistant in the
Imperial library of St. Petersburg. Competent persons have pronounced
this to be equal to the best rendering which we possess in the
English language. The native Universities at Moscow, Kiev,
St. Petersburg, Kharkov, Odessa, Kazan, and Warsaw are all kept fully
up to modern requirements, and are all well attended.

The Mineralogical Academy of St. Petersburg is extremely interesting,
where the various riches of the Ural Mountains are especially
displayed in all their natural beauty. Topazes, rubies, opals,
garnets, pearls, and diamonds are to be seen here as large and as
perfect as the world can produce. Many of these gems are now as
delicately and scientifically cut in Siberia as at Amsterdam or New
York. One golden nugget was observed here which weighed over eighty
pounds. This remarkable specimen of the precious metal was dug out of
the earth exactly in its present form and condition. It would seem
that the mineral riches of Russia rival those of all the rest of the
world; and we ceased to wonder, after visiting this exhibition of
native mineral products, at the lavish use of gems and the precious
metals in the palaces and churches.

The extensive and remarkably beautiful promenade on the banks of the
Neva near the Trinity Bridge called the Summer Garden it would be
hard to equal elsewhere. The ever recurring surprise is that so many
acres of land in the very heart of a great capital can be spared for
a delightful pleasure-ground. It is laid out with long avenues of
fine trees, interspersed with lovely blooming flowers and musical
fountains. A grand specimen of the fuchsia, developed into a tree ten
or twelve feet in height, attracted our attention. It was laden with
its ever gracefully drooping flowers in dainty purple, scarlet, and
white. Marble statues are appropriately distributed representing the
Seasons, the goddess Flora, Neptune, and others, recalling the Prado
at Madrid, which is similarly ornamented. There is here also a fine
statue in memory of Kriloff, the La Fontaine of Russia. This