e the Great, as is well known, thought cities and towns
could be created, though she found out her mistake, and Russia still
remains a land of villages rather than of towns, but the great towns
which do exist have usually very distinctive features.

Petrograd, for instance, though, as Peter intended it should be,
essentially modern, has its very special features in its domed churches
and the magnificence of its wide river with the great palaces upon its
banks and bordering upon its quays. The fortress of S. Peter and S.
Paul, on the opposite side, "home of political prisoners and dead
Tsars," when the sun is setting, is never to be forgotten, and enters at
once upon the field of vision as one thinks of Peter's capital.

Then Moscow! How well I remember Bishop Creighton's enthusiasm whenever
he spoke of Moscow. Though his face might be calm and its expression
grave before, only let Moscow be mentioned and it would light up at
once, as with sparkling eyes he would exclaim:--

"Moscow!--oh, you must see Moscow: nothing in the world is like it. You
_must_ see it."

But it is really the Kremlin which makes Moscow unique, with an
intangible influence and sense of association connected with it that no
one can describe, as one thinks of its historic past and of Napoleon!
The Kremlin! I had read and heard descriptions of it from time to time,
but was in no way prepared for that vast area of palaces, churches,
treasuries, great houses, and barracks, enclosed by glorious walls and
towers and entered by impressive gateways, over which one gazed with
wondering eyes when seen first under the blue sky and brilliant winter
sun.

[Illustration: _The Gate of the Redeemer, Moscow._]

It is no use attempting to describe it; but Moscow is the Kremlin, and
to _feel_ the Kremlin is to _know_ Moscow.

Upon entering the Spassky Gate, or Gate of the Redeemer, every hat has
to be removed in honour of the _ikon_ of the Saviour which is placed
above it. The picture was placed there, by the Tsar Alexis, in 1647, to
be regarded as the "palladium of the Kremlin," and the order was given
then that hats should be removed when passing through. The law is
rigorously enforced still, and though it is sometimes a trial--I had
frostbite in consequence when I last went through a year ago--yet the
act is almost an instinctive one when entering or leaving the Kremlin.

Warsaw, again--for no one in this generation can dissociate it from
Russia and call i