only motives touched ou. In every ship of war, and in every regiment, there is a fiscal or authorized spy, a man of respectable rank, whose letters must not be opened, but at the risk of the great knout; and he is required by express statute to give monthly reports of the behaviour of the officers and privates, Such regulations we cannot think well adapted to improve the morals of the people, yet we believe they have been improved by the care, assiduity, and example of some of their late sovereigns. Certain it is, the vice of drunkenness was so universally prevalent among them, that Peter I. was obliged to restrain it by very severe edicts, which, however, have not produced much effect. There were in the city of Moscow no fewer than 4000 brandy shops, in which the inhabitants used to sot away their time in drinking strong liquors and smoking tobacco. This last practice became so dangerous among persons in the most beastly state of intoxication, that a very severe law was made to prevent the pernicious consequences, otherwise the whole city might have been consumed by fire. The nobility were heretofore very powerful, each commanding a great number of vassals, whom they ruled with the most despotic and barbarous authority; but their possessions have been gradually circumscribed, and their power transferred in a great measure to the czar, on whom they are now wholly dependent. The Russian nobles formerly wore long beards, and long robes with straight sleeves dangling down to their aukles; their collars and shirts were generally wrought with silk of different colours; in lieu of hats, they covered their heads with furred caps; and, instead of shoes, wore red or yellow leathern

buskins.

The dress of the women nearly resembled that of the other sex; with this difference, that their garments were more loose, their caps fantastical, and their shirt-sleeves three or four ells in length, gathered up in folds from the shoulder to the fore-arm. But now the French fashions prevail among the superior ranks throughout all Muscovy. The common people in this country are generally tall, healthy, and robust, patient of cold and hunger, inured to hardships, and remarkably capable of bearing the most sudden transitions from the extremes of hot or cold weather. Nothing is more customary than to see a Russian, who is over-heated, and sweating at every pore, strip himself naked, and plunge into a river; nay, when their pores are all opened in the hot bath, to which they have daily recourse, they either practise this immersion, or subject themselves to a discharge of some pailfuls of cold water. This is the custom of both men and women, who enter the baths promiscuously, and appear uncovered to each other without scruple or hesitation. A Russian will subsist for many days upon a little oatmeal and water, and even raw roots; an onion is a regale; but the food they generally use in their journeys is a kind of rye bread cut into small square pieces, and dried again in the oven; these, when they are hungry, they soak in water, and eat as a very comfortable repast. Both sexes are remarkably healthy and robust, and accustom themselves to sleep every day after dinner, The Russian women are remarkably fair, comely, strong, and well shaped, obedient to their lordly husbands, and patient under discipline.

Parental Despotism.

Such is the slavery in which the Muscovites of both sexes are kept by their parents, their patrons, and the emperor, that they are not allowed to dispute any match that may be provided for them by these directors, however disagreeable or odious it may be. Officers of the greatest rank in the army, both natives and foreigners, have been saddled with wives by the sovereign in this arbitrary manner.

A great general, some time ago deceased, who was a native of Britain, having been pressed by the late empress to wed one of her ladies, saved himself from a very disagreeable marriage, by pretending his constitution was so unsound that the lady would be irreparably injured by his compliance. In Russia, the authority of parents over their children is almost as great as it was among the ancient Romans, and is often exercised with equal severity. Should a father, in punishing his son for a fault, be the immediate cause of his death, he could not be called to account for his conduct; he would have done nothing but what the law authorized him to do. Nor does this legal tyranny cease with the minority of children; it continues while they remain in their father's family, and is often exerted in the most indecent manner. It is not uncommon, even in St. Petersburg, to see a lady of the highest rank, and in all the pomp and pride of youthful beauty, standing in the court-yard with her back bare, exposed to the whip of her father's servants. And so little disgrace is attached to this punishment, that the same lady will sit down at table with her father and his guests immediately after she has received her flogging, provided its severity has not confined her to bed.

Marriage Ceremonies.

On the wedding day, the bride presents the bridegroom with a whip of her own making, in token of submission; and this he fails not to employ as the instrument of his authority. Very little ceremony is here used in match-making, which is the work of the parents. The bridegroom seldom sees the woman till he is joined to her for life. The marriage being proposed and agreed to, the lady is minutely examined by a certain body of her female relations ; and if they find any bodily defect, they endeavour to cure it by their own skill. The bride, on her wedding day, is crowned with a garland of wormwood, implying the bitterness that often attends the married state. When the priest has tied the nuptial knot at the altar, his clerk or sexton throws upon her head a handful of hops, wishing that she may prove as fruitful as the plant thus scattered. She is muffled up, and led home by a certain number of old women, the parish priest carrying the cross before; while one of his subalterns, in a rough goat-skin, prays all the way that she may bear as many children as there are hairs on his garment. The new-married couple, being seated at table, are presented with bread and salt; and a chorus of boys and girls sing the epithalamium, which is always grossly obscene. The bride and bridegroom are then conducted to their own chamber by an old woman, who exhorts the wife to obey her husband, and retires. Then the bridegroom desires the lady to

pull off one of his buskins, giving her to understand, that in one of them there is contained a whip, and in the other a jewel or a purse of money. She takes her choice; and if she finds the purse, interprets it into a good omen; whereas, should she light on the whip, she construes it into an unhappy presage, and instantly receives a lash, as a specimen of what she has to expect.

The Muscovite husbands are the most barbarous, even to a proverb; they not only administer frequent and severe corrections to their wives, but sometimes torture them to death, without being sub. ject to any punishment for the murder. He that marries a second wife, the first being alive, is not admitted farther than the church door; whoever espouses a third, is excommunicated; so that, though polygamy is tolerated, they count it infamous. If a woman

is barren, the husband generally persuades her to retire into a convent; if fair means will not succeed, he may whip her into compliance.

Religions and Superstitions.

The Russians were converted to the Christian religion about the end of the tenth century. Since that period they have professed the articles of the Greek church, mingled with many superstitious ceremonies of their own. They do not believe in the pope's infallibility or supremacy; they hold no communion with the see of Rome; they use auricular confession, communicate in both kinds, adopt the Athanasian creed, and adhere to the established liturgy of St. Basil. They worship the Virgin Mary and other saints, and adore crosses and relics. They observe four great fasts in the year, during which they never taste fish, flesh, nor any animal food; they will not drink after a man who has eaten flesh, nor use a knife that has cut meat, in less than twenty-four hours after it has been used; nor will they, even though their health is at stake, touch any thing in which hartshorn or any animal substance has been infused. While this kind of Lent continues, they subsist upon cabbages, cucumbers, and rye-bread, drinking nothing stronger than a sort of small beer called quassi. They likewise fast every Wednesday and Friday. Their most common penance is to abstain from every species of food and drink, but bread, salt, cucumbers, and water. They bend their bodies, and continue in that painful posture, and between whiles strike their head against an image. The Muscovites reject as impure, horseflesh, elk, veal, hare, rabbit, ass's milk, mare's milk, and Venice treacle, because the flesh of vipers is an ingredient, also every thing that contains even the smallest quantity of musk, civet, and castor; yet they have no aversion to swine's flesh, and the country produces excellent bacon.

They celebrate fifteen grand festivals in the year. On Palm Sunday there is a magnificent procession, at which the czar assists in person and on foot. He is dressed in cloth of gold, his train is carried by the prime nobility, and he is attended by his whole court. He is immediately preceded by the officers of his household, one of whom carries his handkerchief on his arm, lying upon another of the richest embroidery. He halts at a sort of platform of free-stone, where,