Peterhoff, which was begun by Peter I. and which has been enlarged and beautified by subsequent sovereigns.

"Peterhoff is situated at a short distance from Petersburg, on the Gulf of Finland, in the midst of beautiful and extensive gardens. There is a large canal in the front of the palace, which communicates with the Gulf, and which supplies three jets d'eau, which are always playing. The apartments are very splendid, and in the drawing room are five beautiful portraits of the sovereigns of Russia.

They are full length portraits, and that of Peter first strikes the spectator: opposite to him is Catherine, his wife and successor. The empresses Anne and Elizabeth, and Catherine Second, complete the groupe. The latter is habited in a Russian uniform, and sits in the attitude of a man upon her horse. In her hat is the oaken bough, and her hair floats in a loose dishevelled state upon her shoulders. "Now for another trophy of Russian greatness," said Doctor Walker," and then we must think of directing our steps towards Moscow. I mean the column erected by the present emperor to perpetuate the expulsion of the French from Russia in the year 1813. It is composed of pieces of ordnance taken from Buonaparte in his disastrous retreat from Moscow. The largest cannon are placed at the bottom, and they gradually diminish in size as they approach to the top, which is surmounted by a howitzer, the smallest piece of ordnance that is made. This is a trophy of which a nation may be proud as it records deeds performed in one of the most just of all causes, that of the defence of one's country against an ambitious and unjust invader."

"We must not return to England without seeing the fortress, Sir," said Edward. "No," replied his tutor, "that would indeed be an omission, for there we shall see the tomb of Peter the Great, his empress Catherine, of Alexis his unfortunate son, the empress Anne and Elizabeth, Peter the Third, Catherine the Second, and Paul, father of the present emperor. The spire of the church is remarkable for its height, which is two hundred and forty feet, and gilt with ducat gold. The inside possesses no object worthy of inspection, except the tombs of the sovereigns of Russia. These are of stone, arranged in lines on the right of the shrine, and covered with velvet richly embroidered in gold. Banners of war, truncheons, keys of cities and arms taken in battle, curiously diversified, adorn the walls of the chapel on either

side. On mounting the belfry our travellers were astonished even to silence, at the magnificent prospect before them. The range of palaces and superb houses extended nearly six miles. From this height they could also distingnish, what indeed formed a less agreeable prospect, many of the prison yards in the fortress, and the gratings of numerous dungeons. In a distant part of the citadel, the prison was pointed out to them in which a young princess was immured, and there perished.

The man who shewed this object, asked if they knew her story. Upon receiving an answer in the negative, he told them that "after the battle of Tischerne, a young and beautiful Russian lady having settled at Leghorn, her society was extremely courted, from the elegance and sweetness of her manners. She was always accompanied by an elderly lady, and her appearance and deportment excited a considerable degree of interest; more particularly as there was a degree of mystery about her, which never fails to throw a sort of charm around all and every thing it envelopes. At length, in an unguarded moment, she declared to some of her intimate friends that she was the daughter of the empress Elizabeth, by a private marriage, and that she was in fact the rightful heiress to the empire of Russia. This intelligence quickly reached the ears of Catherine, and Count Orloff undertook to secure the person of the indiscreet young lady. By means of one of his creatures, whom he sent to Leghorn, he induced her to come to Pisa; he himself arrived in Italy, a short time afterwards; upon being introduced to her, he appeared much struck by her beauty, and at length timidly and basely avowed the most ardent passion for her. She listened to his proposals, and dazzled at the glittering prospect he drew of their mounting the throne of Russia together, she consented to wed him. Three or four days after the marriage was completed, she embarked on board a vessel destined, as she supposed, for a pleasurable excursion, in honour of her nuptials, when to her terror and surprise, she no sooner entered the cabin, than Orloff threw off the mask. He called her a base impostor, and rudely seizing her hands, he ordered them to be confined."

"Oh, what a wretch!" exclaimed Edward.

"She was," continued their informer, "immediately conveyed on board a vessel bound for Cronstadt, from whence she was removed in a covered barge to this fortress, and was never

heard of more; indeed she is supposed to have been drowned in her dungeon by the overflowing of the Neva."

"Was this circumstance known in Orloff's life-time?" enquired Edward indignantly; "if so, I am sure he ought to have been hooted out of society. I hate deceit at all times, and I shall never hear Orloff's name again but my blood will boil."

"Edward," said Doctor Walker, "I admire your spirit; it is that of a preux chevalier. The conduct of Orloff must excite the utmost indignation in every generous breast. Whether her story were true or false, his conduct was equally reprehensible. It was unmanly, ungenerous."

-

EDWARD.- "Oh! 'twas base and treacherous, and I loathe his very name."

SECTION IV.

VISION, THE EYE; ITS PROPERTIES.

ABOUT the middle of February our travellers resumed their peregrinations, and after a tolerable journey to Novogorod, one of the principal towns of Russia, proceeded along the heights of Valda, where they amused themselves with inspecting some of those tumuli, or sepulchral mountains, which are so profusely scattered in this neighbourhood; and which have not yet excited that spirit of enquiry, they seem to merit. The road now became extremely rough, and their journey tedious; and Dr. Walker was, therefore, not a little delighted when they arrived at Vyshnoy-Volotshok, a place of considerable importance, and intimately connected with the metropolis in a commercial point of view. Here they again witnessed the splendour of an Aurora Borealis.

"I have often thought, Sir, that of all our senses, sight is the most precious," said Edward, as his eyes wandered with delight over the beauties of the brilliant changing scene before him.

Dr. Walker." Sight is undoubtedly one of the most precious and extensive of heaven's blessings, but our ears are capable of receiving almost as much pleasure as our eyes. Nay, I have often observed, that blind people are more

chearful than those who are deaf. Now this could not be the case unless we suppose that the sense of hearing imparts more general pleasure than that of sight; but I know not whether, if I had my choice, I should not prefer deafness to blindness; for the other day, when I broke my spectacles, although deprived of them but for about twelve hours, I never felt how much my happiness depended upon two small bits of crystal. How pathetically does Milton, in his address. to light, lament the loss of sight.

"Thee I revisit safe,

And feel thy sovereign vital lamp; but thou
Revisit'st not these eyes, that roll in vain,
To find thy piercing ray, and find no dawn,
So thick a drop serene hath quenched their orbs,
Or dim suffusion veil'd."

"And again,

"Thus with the year

Seasons return; but not to me returns
Day, or the sweet approach of ev'n or morn,
Or sight of vernal bloom, or summer's rose,
Or flocks, or herds, or human face divine;
But clouds instead, and ever during dark
Surrounds me, from the chearful ways of men
Cut off, and for the book of knowledge fair
Presented, with a universal blank

Of Nature's works to me expung'd and ras'd,
And wisdom at one entrance quite shut out."

EDWARD." Those beautiful lines make one quite melancholy. Pray, Sir, can you explain to me the nature and properties of the eye?"

DR. WALKER.—"Some few of its properties I can. Had you asked its anatomical formation, I could not have satisfied you; that is a subject which requires intense study, and has occupied the attention and lives of many learned men who have devoted themselves wholly to this particular study. What knowledge I have acquired relating to it, I will detail for your benefit; and small though it be, it is sufficient to excite sensations of the deepest astonishment, as well as those of the most heartfelt gratitude for the blessings it confers.

In the first place the eye can see only a very small part of an object distinctly, for the collateral parts of an object are not represented distinctly in the eye; and therefore the eye is forced to turn itself successively to the several parts of

the object it wants to view, that they may fall near the axis of the eye, where alone distinct vision is performed.

"When any point of an object is seen distinctly with both eyes, the axes of both eyes are directed to that point, and meet there; and then the object appears single, though looked at with both eyes; for the optic nerves are so framed, that the correspondent parts in both eyes, lead to the same place in the brain, and give but one sensation; and the image will be twice as bright with both eyes as with one. But if the axes of both eyes be not directed to the object, that object will appear double, as the pictures in the two eyes do not fall upon correspondent or similar parts of the retina.

"The best eye can hardly distinguish any object which at the eye subtends an angle less than half a minute; and very few can distinguish an object when it subtends a minute. If the distance of two stars in the heavens be not greater than this, they will appear as one.

"Though men may see distinctly at different distances, by altering the position and figure of the crystalline, yet they can only see distinctly within certain limits, and nearer than that, objects appear confused. But these limits are not the same in different people. A good eye can see distinctly when the rays fall parallel upon it; and then the principal focus is at the bottom of the eye.

"A man can judge at a small distance with one eye, by frequently observing how much variation is made in the eye to make the object distinct; and from this a habit of judging is acquired- But this cannot be done at great distances, because, though the distance be varied, the change in the eye becomes then insensible.

"But a man can judge of greater distances with both eyes, than he can with one; for the eyes being at a distance from one another, as long as that distance has a sensible proportion to the distance of the object, he gets a habit of judging, by the position of the axes of the eyes, which are always directed to that point; and different distances require different positions of the axes, which depends on the motions of the eyes, and which we feel; but in very great distances, no judgment can be made from the motion of the eyes, or their internal parts. Therefore we can only guess at the distances from the magnitude, colour, and the position of interjacent bodies.

"Whatever light falls upon that part of the retina, whence