E?i?K ^*e^e fortifications were, however, fufficiently ftrong to refill'
•—v—■'the defultory attacks o f undifciplined troops, and it was at
different intervals ineffectually befieged until the beginning
o f the 16th cehtury, when Vaflili Ivanovitch great-duke o f
Mofcovy got poifeffion o f it, by corrupting the garrifon. It
continued in the hands o f the Ruffians for above a century,,
in the fame Ample ftyle of' defence; A t length the import
fance o f its fituation near the frontiers o f Poland, and the
improvements in the art o f war, induced Boris Godunof,,
prime minifter, and brother-in-law o f the tzar Feodor Ivanovitch,
to furround it with a w a ll: he.came.imperfdnto •
Smoleniko, and himfelf aflifted in tracing out the fife o f the ■
fortifications, which he lived to fee completed in his own;
reign®, and which are the fame that fubfift at prefen t . .
Thefe additional fortifications, however,- did not prevent Si—
gifmond III. king o f Poland, from befieging and taking the -
town fit 1 6 1 1 ; and by the truce o f Develina in 16 i 8~, the
poffeifion was confirmed to Poland. In 1 6 5 4 k was again
reduced by A le x e y Michaelovitch ; and in 16 8 6finalled.cede'd:
to Ruifia at the peace o f Mofcow f ;
Smoleniko, though by no means the moft magnificent,'is
by far the moft lingular-town 1 have ever feen. It is f i f k —
ated upon the river Dnieper, and Hands upon two hills, and i
upon the valley which lies between them. I f is furrounded
b y walls thirty feet high and fifteen thick; Wkh' the lower
p a r t o f ftone, and The upper o f brick : thefe'walls', which
follow the ihape o f the hills, and encldfe a circumference of ;
feven v e rfts j, have, at every angle, round or fquare towers
o f two or three flories, much broader at top than at bottom, .
and covered with circular roofs o f wood. T h e intervals are
* S .R . G . vol. V . p. 94. Lengnicb, Jus Pub. V, I, p. 46.
f Lengnich„v. I . p. 47/ J Four miles and three-quarters.
s ftudded
ftudded with fmaller turrets; on the outfide o f the wall is chap.
a broad deep ditch, regular covered way with traverfes, > „ <
glacis, & c . and where the ground is higheft there are redoubts
o f earth according to the modern ftyle o f fortification.
I n the middle o f the town is an eminence, upon which
ftands the cathedral ; from whence I had a moft pidturefque
view o f the town, interfperfed within the circuit o f the walls
with gardens, groves, copies, fields o f pafture, and corn.
The buildings are moftly wooden, o f one ftory (many o f
them no better than cottages) excepting here and there a
gentleman’s houfe, which is called a palace, and feveral
churches, conftrudtedof brick and ftuccoed. One long broad
ftreet, which is paved, interfects the whole length o f the
town in a ftraight line ; the other ftreets generally wind in
circular directions,, and are floored with planks. T h e walls
ftretching over the uneven fides o f the hills till they reach
the banks o f the Dnieper, their antient ftyle o f architecture,,
their grotefque towers, the fpires o f churches fhooting above
the trees, which are fo numerous as almoft to conceal the
buildings from view, the appearance o f meadows and the
arable ground, all thefe objedts- blended together exhibit a
fcene o f the moft Angular and contrafted kind. On the further
fide o f the Dnieper are a number o f ftraggling wooden
houfes that form the fuburbs- o f the town, and are joined to
k by a wooden bridge. As far as I could colledt-from vague
information, this town contains about 4,000 inhabitants : it
has no manufactures ; but carries on lome commerce with
the Ukraine, Dantzic, and Riga. T h e principal articles o f
its trade are flax, hemp, honey, wax, hides, hogs briftles,.
niafts, planks, and Siberian furs.
The Dnieper rifes in the foreft o f Volkonfki, near the
fource o f the Volga, about x o o miles from Smoleniko. I t
•5 gaffes