ant Jesus in her arms. This figure is of a
beauty and a nobility worthy of the divine brush that traced it; the
face of the child bears an expression at once innocent and heavenly;
the draperies are most accurately drawn, and their colouring is
exquisite. At the right of the Virgin is a saint done with admirable
fidelity to life, his two hands being especially to be noted. At the
left is a young saint, with head inclined, looking at two angels at
the bottom of the picture. Her face is all loveliness, truth and
modesty. The two little angels are leaning on their hands, their eyes
raised to the persons above them, and their heads are done with an
ingenuity and a delicacy not to be conveyed in words.

Being in great haste to get to St. Petersburg, I went from Dresden to
Berlin, where I only remained five days, my project being to return
thither and make a longer stay on my way back from Russia, for the
purpose of seeing Prussia's charming Queen.

CHAPTER VII

SAINT PETERSBURG

ARRIVAL AT ST. PETERSBURG -- THE BEAUTIFUL GRANDDUCHESS ELISABETH
-- CATHERINE II. RECEIVES MME. LEBRUN -- AND IS MOST GRACIOUS --
PETTY COURT INTRIGUES -- A VISIT TO COUNT STROGONOFF --
HOSPITALITY OF THE RUSSIANS -- AN AMBASSADOR AS GARDENER --
PRINCESS DOLGORUKI AND HER HIDEOUS ADMIRER -- THE EXTRAVAGANCES
OF POTEMKIN -- HIS END.

I entered St. Petersburg on the 25th of July, 1795, by the road from
Peterhoff, which gave me a favourable idea of the city, for this road
is lined on both sides by delightful country houses, with gardens of
the best taste in the English style. Their residents have taken
advantage of the soil, which is very marshy, to adorn the
gardens--where there are kiosks and pretty bridges--by canals and
little streams. But it is a pity that a dreadful dampness spoils this
pleasant scene of an evening; even before sunset such a fog rises over
the road that one seems to be enveloped in thick, dark smoke.

Magnificent as I had conceived the city to be, I was enchanted by the
aspect of its monuments, its handsome mansions, and its broad streets,
one of which, called the Prospekt, is a mile long. The Neva, clear and
limpid, cuts through the town, laden with vessels and barks
unceasingly moving up and down, and this greatly adds to the
liveliness of the town. The quays of the Neva are of granite, like
those of the large canals dug through the town by Catherine. On one
bank of the river are sp