cted with country or religion, may be satisfied
by an easy change of residence. Several of these fine edifices have
been constructed for an entertainment; they were destined to add to
the eclat of a day, and the rich manner in which they were decorated
has made them last up to this period of universal destruction. A
great number of houses are painted green, yellow, or rose color, and
are sculptured in detail like dessert ornaments. The citadel of the
Kremlin, in which the emperors of Russia defended themselves against
the Tartars, is surrounded by a high wall, embattled and flanked
with turrets, which, by their odd shapes, remind one of a Turkish
minaret rather than a fortress like those of the West of Europe. But
although the external character of the buildings of the city be
oriental, the impression of Christianity was found in that,
multitude of churches so much venerated, and which attracted your
notice at every step. One was reminded of Rome in seeing Moscow;
certainly not from the monuments being of the same style, but
because the mixture of solitary country and magnificent palaces, the
grandeur of the city and the infinite number of its churches give
the Asiatic Rome some points of resemblance to the European Rome.

It was about the beginning of August, that I was allowed to see the
interior of the Kremlin; I got there by the same staircase which the
emperor Alexander had ascended a few days preceding, surrounded by
an immense people, who loaded him with their blessings, and promised
him to defend his empire at all hazards. This people has kept its
word. The halls were first thrown open to me in which the arms of
the ancient warriors of Russia are contained; the arsenals of this
kind, in other parts of Europe, are much more interesting. The
Russians have taken no part in the times of chivalry; they never
mingled in the Crusades. Constantly at war with the Tartars, Poles,
and Turks, the military spirit has been formed among them in the
midst of the atrocities of all kinds brought in the train of Asiatic
nations, and of the tyrants who governed Russia. It is not therefore
the generous bravery of the Bayards or the Percys, but the
intrepidity of a fanatical courage which has been exhibited in this
country for several centuries. The Russians, in the relations of
society, which are so new to them, are not distinguished by the
spirit of chivalry, such as the people of the West conceive it; but
they have always shown t