e gilding so lavishly bestowed upon them,
their wonderfully picturesque effect from every point of view, it
would be impossible to convey any adequate idea without entering into
a more elaborate description than I can at present attempt.

But it is not only in the numberless churches scattered throughout the
city that the devotional spirit of the inhabitants is manifested.
Moscow is the Mecca of Russia, where all are devotees. The external
forms of religion are every where apparent--in the palaces, the
barracks, the institutions of learning, the traktirs, the
bath-houses--even in the drinking cellars and gambling-hells. Scarcely
a bridge or corner of a street is without its shrine, its pictured
saint and burning taper, before which every by-passer of high or low
degree bows down and worships. It may be said with truth that one is
never out of sight of devotees baring their heads and prostrating
themselves before these sacred images. All distinctions of rank seem
lost in this universal passion for prayer. The nobleman, in his gilded
carriage with liveried servants, stops and pays the tribute of an
uncovered head to some saintly image by the bridge or the roadside;
the peasant, in his shaggy sheepskin capote, doffs his greasy cap,
and, while devoutly crossing himself, utters a prayer; the soldier,
grim and warlike, marches up in his rattling armor, grounds his
musket, and forgets for the time his mission of blood; the tradesman,
with his leather apron and labor-worn hands, lays down his tools and
does homage to the shrine; the drosky-driver, noted for his petty
villainies, checks his horse, and, standing up in his drosky, bows low
and crosses himself before he crosses the street or the bridge; even
my guide, the saturnine Dominico--and every body knows what guides are
all over the world--halted at every corner, regardless of time, and
uttered an elaborate form of adjurations for our mutual salvation.

Pictures of a devotional character are offered for sale in almost
every booth, alley, and passage-way, where the most extraordinary
daubs may be seen pinned up to the walls. Saints and dragons,
fiery-nosed monsters, and snakes, and horrid creeping things, gilded
and decorated in the most gaudy style, attract idle crowds from
morning till night.

It is marvelous with what profound reverence the Russians will gaze at
these extraordinary specimens of art. Often you see a hardened-looking
ruffian--his face covered with beard