Manners
■' ' A SB * ~
C ustoms.
language.
bride, and fays to Ker mother, Webber«
gp# trust! ëy 5” • an nexpiëffioh i which; ids .thought, toi [refer ÿ|q §be<£fq§ien;&
cuftom of.bu-ying a wife,'TChe other ceremonies -fcre• equall y curious,
but qannot'be detailed jnjhis abftraÇï*, r’£hç jRii-ffians-ûrew greal; attention
« f their nurfes, and are - fo-JhofpftahJ®? tjh#t, they ïprffer. to. .'every
ftiangq^the K b^h-/fa^qlr:& bf€|td and &l% the/>fymbpljpi ló^jladgiflg,
. and prote&ion. c jy jlr ham,5aftd à glafs ,of
bpandy* are prefented in tb e ^ irft p l a c e ^ n d afteç>dmner
w ith honey i r e ufually ferved, ; the common- drin k is kyafs, an acid, th in ,
malt liquor : , the. hpufeis a r e o rnamented with ftoves, and, among the
rich, J b y flues conducted into every ro om, which is at the .fame time
guarded "with double windows. Fires are alfo | employed w ith pro-
fufion to obviate th e feverity o f winter in the n o rth e rn provinces ; but.
a t Peterfburg th e ' a ir is fo pure that»there .,is. no pcc.afipii |o painj.fthe
iron chains in th e ftreets,, a s they are hot-attacked by ruft», .In.^evprâl
inftanees th e Ruffians form a curious ju n c tio n o f European, and Afiatic
manners ; m a n y o f lhe ir ceremonies ,partake .o£ Afiatic fplendour.^ the
great are-fojad o f dwarfs j and Jfome . opulent .ladies maintain .femalft
tellers o f tales, whofe occupation is to lull their m in if ie s .aflqep, b y
ftories refemhling th.ofe' o f the Arabian nights, ; r
j T h e Ruffian language is extremely .difficult t^onr.onouncè,,,anç| * hot
Ie& difficult to acquire^ as, it rabounds with^e^traprdhiary fpflJids»;^fed
' anomalies oFevery kind. The characters amount to no lefa,than çfiiçty-
fiK ; and the common founds are fometimes exprefied in the,,Greeb character,
fometime^ in characters quite unlike thojfe of any other Jan-
guage.' The tones, peculiar to ,the Ruffian are joften^xpreffedJby .letters,
which wear a very -ill chofen femblance to the Gre ek or Roman. In
fomei'efpeCts the founds feem to approach the Perfian and Arabic; a cir-
humftance v/hich can' hardly arife from th e Mahometan domination o f
th e Tatars, as after Neftor, w h o,wrote his annals about the year io p o ,
there is a fucceffion of Ruffian authors- , Among othe r ftngularities
there is, one letter to exp refs .th e J ch , and another the Jfch^ the la tte r ,
a found hardly pronounceable by an y human mouth.
T h e Ruffian literature fucceeded, as ufual, th e converfion' o f the
Em pire to Chriftianity. As there is no inducement for ftran g e rs, to
11 learn
Literature.
lèarn the -languftgo, ’ for- the ptwpofe ’of perufing, works of genius, it is 1
unneceflaryjttq- enlargeiuppn it i-n a.;work of this gerieral nature. Thé’
el des authors are either! writers- qf ann.alsjj>dr compilers p f martyrologles,
and lives of faint's,\ N'eftqt, the earlieft.’biftoriajn^alforfpt.^n example
©f .thei'latter skin’d, 4In recpht.Jtirmes the beft authors,refidqnt in Ruffia,
fuch as Pallas, and many, Others*) H^ve* had iTgcourfei to t;he German
language; and little can be expëCted from the native,‘literature, till the
language fhall have .been reduced,-,to the more prOcife alphabet, and
pollfhed form of other European dialeCts. ■
»Education is little 'known oif||d|flhfed ,iii; Ruffia,., though, the ,cgjirt
have inftituted .academiesfor the!inftruCtion o f officers and artifts. >uThe
univerfity of Peterfburg, founded by the latq Emprefs Catharine II, is
a noble inftance of munificence, and it sis hopqd -wfttófcape the fate of
,the cqlleges,-founded at' Mofcow by Peter^thp, Great,' wfiicjta.do pot
feem to-have met with the deferved duccefs. j
In confidering the chief cities and.,,towns of Ruffia, Mofcow the
ancient capital attracts the firft. attention, -j This-city v dates from the,
year 1300, and is of very confiderabl^ extent, and population^' tH’oiigh
. injured J>y' a' peftilence ,in 1771» .Prior to this mortality the^OEpes-pi
Mofcow were computed at 12,-53!},nJteL|dthe nqpulatioTr;at not lefs than.
£>90,000.* Mofcow -is> built in the .-Afiatic manner,.*^ which cities
cover a vaft fpace of ground» Peterfburg, the imperial refidence, is
faitf, to&ontain 1,70,000 inhabitants; and is ‘the well-known,, but fur-
prifing ereCtion of "the laft century. This city has been lpf repeatedly
defctihed that the theme is trivial. Suffice it to ObTeWejthaj: it-ftands in
>a marfhy fituation oh the river Neva, the hqufës bei^gf‘chiefly o f wood’,
though there be fome o f bride ornamented with white'ftifcco. The
ftpne buildings are few; and JFeterfhhrg^is miorë Slïffiinguiftied 4y its
fame, than by its appearance or opultnce.^i T h é ^ B le « pufilie works
are the quays, built of perpetual granite, while we èmploy perifhable
freeftone.
Aftracan is fuppofed to ftand next to Peterfburg in* phphlation. This
city, near the mouth of the vaft river Vnlgï’, was the" capital 'of the
* Coxe,®. in Poland, i, 3jff8yd; eain»tca, from good |ydèn^,"-the population at 2jo,cooi
y o l . 1.’ 1 • s s - , ' Tatar;
L it er A-
■ TOR. E.
Education.
Uniycrfitie*»
Cities and
Towns.
Mofcow.
‘Peteffbnrg.
Aftracan,