course, are not bound to furnish their own eyes or
their own understanding to other people, but it seems to me that
elaborate detail is inimical to strong general impressions. I would
not give two hours' personal observation of any place or city in the
world for a hundred volumes of the best books of travel ever written
upon it; and next to that comes the conversation of a friend who
possesses, even in an ordinary degree, the faculty of conveying to
another his own impressions. A word, a hint, a gesture, or some
grotesque comparison, may give you a more vivid picture of the reality
than you can obtain by a year's study. Now, if you will just consider
me that friend, and resign yourself in a genial and confiding spirit
to the trouble of listening; if you will fancy that I mean a great
deal more than I say, and could be very learned and eloquent if I
chose; if you will take it for granted that what you don't see is
there nevertheless, the Kremlin will sooner or later loom out of the
fogs of romance and mystery that surround it, and stand before you,
with its embattled walls and towers, as it stood before me in the
blaze of the noonday sun, when Dominico, the melancholy guide, led the
way to the Holy Gate. You will then discover that the reality is quite
wonderful enough in its natural aspect, without the colored spectacles
of fancy or the rigid asperities of photographic detail to give it
effect.

Like many of the old cities of Europe, Moscow probably had its origin
in the nucleus of a citadel built upon the highest point, and
commanding an extensive sweep of the neighborhood. Around this houses
gathered by degrees for protection against the invasions of the
hostile tribes that roamed through Russia at an early period of its
history. The first object of the Kremlin was doubtless to form a
military strong-hold. It was originally constructed of wood, with
ramparts thrown up around it for purposes of defense, but, in common
with the rest of Moscow, was destroyed by the Tartars in the
fourteenth century. Under the reign of Dimitri it was rebuilt of
stone, and strongly fortified with walls and ditches, since which
period it has sustained, without any great injury, the assaults of
war, the ravages of fire, and the wear and tear of time. Kief and
Vladimir, prior to that reign, had each served in turn as the capital
of the empire. After the removal of the capital to Moscow, that city
was besieged and ravaged by Tamerlane, and su