b o o k on the 30th of May, 1706, Peter ordered the ramparts
IVJ . 0f earth to be demoliilied, and began the foundation of the
new fortrefs on the fame fpot. In .1710 Count Golovkin
built the firft edifice of brick .; and in the following year
the tzar, with his own hand,.laid the foundation of an houfe,
to be erected with the fame materials * .
From thefe fmall beginnings rofe the prefent metropolis
of the Ruffian empire.; and in lefs tlfan nine years after the
fjrfi wretched hovels of wood -were eredled, the ieat of em—
pire was transferred from Mofcow to Peteriburgh.
The defpotick authority of Peter, his zeal for the improvement
of the new capital, and his endeavours to make it
refemble the other cities of Europe, will appear from the
f o l l o w i n g ordersifluedbyihis-command. In 1 7 1 . 4 a mandate
was put forth, that all buildings upon the Ifland of St. Peteriburgh,
and in the Admiralty-Quarter, particularly thofe
upon the banks of the Neva, iliould he conftrucited after the
German manner with timber and brick ; that each of the
nobility and principal merchants iliould be obliged to have an
houfe in Peteriburgh.; that every large veflel navigating to
the city ihoukl bring 30 {tones, every .-fmall-one 10, and
every peafant’s .waggon three, towards the conftrucftion of
the bridges and other public works.: that the tops of the
houfes ihould be no longer covered-with birch-planks, and
bark, fo dangerous in cafe of fire, but ffiould be roofed with
tiles, or clods of earth. In 1.74-6 a regular plan t for.the new
city was approved and publiihed b.y Peter- Accordingto which
the principal part of the new metropolis wasto be fituated
in the Vaffili Oftrof; and, in imitation o f the Dutch towns,
•* Journal St. Pet. for 17-79- ,
4 T h e reader will find a.delineation ofjthis plan in Perry’ s State o f Ru-lfia.
, canals
canals were to be cut' through the principal ftreets, and CHAP-
,to be lined with avenues of trees. This plan, however, was - D'' ■
never carried into execution. Under the emprefs Anne
the imperial refidence was removed to the Admiralty Quarter.
The nobility Toon followed the-example of the fovereign;
and at prefent, i f we except fome of the publick edifices, and
the row of houfes fronting the Neva, the Vaffili Oitrof is the
worft part of the city, and alone' contains more wooden
buildings than all the other quarters.
Succeeding fovereigns have continued to embelliih Peterf-
burgh, but none more than the prefent emprefs; who may,
without exaggeration, be called its fecond foundrefs. Not-
withftanding,- however,- all theie improvements, it bears
every mark of an infant city, and is ftill, as Mr. Wraxall «
jultly obferves, “ only an immenfe outline, which will re-
“ quire future ernprefles and almoft future ages to-complete.”
The ftreets in general are broad t- and fpacious ; and three
of the principal ones, which meet in a point at the Admiralty,
and reach to the extremities of the fuburbs, are at leaft
two miles in length. Moft of them are paved ; but a few
are ftill fuffered to remain floored with planks. In feveral
parts of the metropolis, particularly in the Vaffili Oftrof,
wooden houfes and habitations, fcarcely fuperior to common
cottages, are blended with the publick buildings; but this
motley mixture is far lefs common than at Mofcow, where
alone can be formed any idea of an antient Ruffian city.
The brick houfes are ornamented with a white ftucco,
which has led feveral travellers to fay that they are built
with ftone ; whereas, unlefs I am greatly miftaken, there are
* Wraxall’s Tour, p 231.
t They are mofily as bread as Oxford-Street: thofe with canals much broader.
V o l . I. O o o only