book. >rhe Engliih merchants live in a very focial and even
■ . fplendid manner. Befide conftant meetings at their refpedtive
houfes, they have, once in a fortnight, a regular affembly
in a houfe hired for that purpofe, to which they obligingly
invite all their countrymen who happen to be at Peteriburgh,
and occafionally fome Rufiian ladies. There is a ball, cards,
and fupper: twelve or fourteen couple ufually dance oh this
occafion ; and the meeting is perfectly cheerful and agree-
.able.
During my Ray at Peteriburgh I dined two or three times
at a club, which confifts of about 300 members, moftly.
Engliih and Germans. None are admitted who have a-
rank fuperior to that of major-general; but a member who
afterwards attains a higher Ration is not excluded. Every
perfon, upon his admiffien, pays £5. and afterwards f 1 . per
ann. They have a large houfe, which isopen day and night,,
and fervants always attending. It contains billiard tables, a<
coffee room, apartments for cards, a large apartment, in
which there is a fupper every evening, and a dinner, three,
times in theweek. Each meal cofts is . exelufive of wine,
which is feparately paid for. Any member may introduce:
his friend, firft entering his name in a day-book,, and paying;
his dinner at the ftipulated rate.
C H A P.
C H A P . V.
Dsfeription o f the fortrefs o f Peteriburgh.— Cathedral o f St.
Peter and Paul.1— "Tomb and character o f Peter the Great,
and thofe o f the Imperial family.— Mint.— Hi/lory o f the
boat called The Little Grandiire, which gave rife to the
Ruffian navy upon the Black Sea..
r I 1HE origin of the fortrefs which occafioned the founda- CI^AP-
tion of this capital has been already related in the— v—^
general defcription of Peteriburgh. Its walls of brick, and
ffrengthened with five regular baftions, encircle a final!
iiland of about half a mile in circumference, formed by the
Great and Little Neva. Within the walls are barracks for
a ftnall garrifon, feveral wards ufed as a common jail, and
dungeons for the confinement o f ftate-prifoners.
In the middle of the iiland- ftands the cathedral of St. Peter
and Paul, in a different ftyle-of archite&ure from that ufually
employed in the conftrufiion of churches for the ferviceof
the Greek religion, Inftead of domes, it has a fpire of copper
gilt, the higheft, part whereof rifes above 240 feet from the
ground.. Its interior decorations are much more elegant and
lefs gaudy than thofe in. the churches of Novogorod and
Mofcow ; and the paintings are done in the modern ftyle of
the Italian fchool, and not in the dry manner of the Greek
mailers. '
In this cathedral are depofited the remains o f Peter the
Great, and of all the fucceflive fovereigns, excepting thofe of
3 ‘ Peter.