St Petersburg was founded by Peter the Great, in 1703, on an extensive marsh, formerly occupied by a few fishermen's huts, and is now one of the most magnificent capitals in Europe. The finest part of the city is the quarter of the Admiralty, on the southern bank of the river, the residence of the court, the nobility and ambassadors. The chief ornaments of this quarter, are the Admiralty, the equestrian statue of Peter the Great, the palace of winter, the hermitage, the palace and gardens of summer, and the costly churches of Isaac, and the virgin of Kazan. The spacious streets (three of the principal ones that meet in the quarter of the Admiralty, are each upwards of two miles in length), the solidity of quays built of granite, the profusion of porphyry, and precious marble, and, above all, the cheerful prospect of a fine river and an extensive commerce, are the chief ornaments of the capital of the Czar. The city is liable to occasional inundations. The mass of waters in the gulf is often impelled into the bay of Cronstadt by a tempestuous west wind. The Neva, having on these occasions no outlet, recoils on the quays and streets of St Petersburg, and rises to the first stories of the houses. Ships are sometimes thrown into the town, and casks of sugar, pipes of wine, merchandise and furniture, float in confusion. The billows have entered the marble staircase of the imperial palace, and the Czar and his generals have sailed in boats. through the streets, and rescued citizens from a watery grave.

THE arms of the Teutonic Knights were more successful against their countrymen in Germany, than against the infidels in Palestine. On the ruins of this order the kingdom of Prussia was erected. When Frederick I. assumed, of his own accord, and by his own authority, the title of king, in 1700, the population of his whole dominions amounted to little more than half the present population of Yorkshire. Frederick II. conquered, or rather

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took by surprise, the rich province of Silesia, in the south; whilst the unjust dismemberment of Poland extended the Prussian territory in the east. Napoleon set out from the banks of the Seine in 1806, and overthrew the frail edifice erected by Frederick the Great. On the fall of the French Emperor, the shattered members of the Prussian monarchy were re-united, with the Rhenish provinces superadded, so that the kingdom of Prussia now extends (with some interruption) from the Niemen to the Rhine, and from the sources of the Oder to the shores of the Baltic. But a territory so unduly elongated, and irregularly intersected, cannot possess the power or stability of a compact state.

BERLIN, the capital of Prussia, is situated on the Spree, some leagues above its junction with the Havel. Being built in the middle of a sandy plain, the neighbourhood is dismal and monotonous. It is considered the best built town in Germany, Frederick II. having expended large sums in embellishing his capital. The finest streets are Frederick Street and William Street, each about three miles long. The finest buildings are the palace and the arsenal.

Potsdam is an elegant town, with a superb palace: on a barren hill in the vicinity is another royal residence, Sans Souci, erected by Frederick the Great, only one story high, yet of great magnificence. Dantzic is the great emporium for the grain of Poland, which reaches. this port by the Vistula. Cologne is remarkable for the number of its churches, chapels, and religious houses its fine cathedral has a steeple 500 feet high.

XV.-Poland

POLAND was once a flourishing and independent kingdom. Her power was increased in 1401, by her union with Lithuania, whose Duke had been elected King of Poland, in 1384. At a time when Russia and Prussia were still petty States, ere they had yet emerged for plunder from their woods and morasses, Poland was the power

ful and successful Champion of Christendom. Her armies, under the famous John Sobieski, arrested, in 1683, the victorious career of the Turks-compelled them to raise the siege of Vienna, and gave an effectual check to the progress of Musselman power in Europe. The divisions attendant upon an elective monarchy, afforded to the rapacity of her neighbours a pretext, and an opportunity, for interference: in 1772, 1793, and finally, in 1795, Russia, Prussia, and Austria, partitioned the country among themselves, eight of its provinces being allotted to Russia, three to Prussia, and two to Austria. She' has since made many gallant struggles to recover her independence, but all ineffectual; and the name of Poland is now erased from the map of Europe.

Warsaw was the capital of this brave but ill-fated country. It stands on the left bank of the Vistula. or Wisla, partly on a plain, and partly on ground rising gently from the banks of the river. The streets are narrow and mean, many of the houses being of wood, covéred with straw. But in the suburbs, called the New Town, and Praga on the other side of the Vistula, there are many fine streets and buildings. When the city was taken by the Russian general, Suwarrow, in 1795, many of the inhabitants were massacred; and Warsaw, dis-, mantled, became a provincial town.

XVI.-Austria.

COMPOSED of various States, differing in the manners, language, and origin of their inhabitants, Austria exhib its, in a much smaller cómpass, the same confusion and the same heterogeneous parts, that are to be found in the vast empire of Russia. In the thirteenth century, a Swiss Count, Rudolph of Hapsburg, displayed such eminent qualities, both in peace and war, that he was, to his own surprise, elected Emperor of Germany. His victory over Ottocar gave him possession of the Dutchy of Austria; and his successors acquired by marriage the kingdoms of Bohemia and Hungary. Austria was twice nearly over

thrown by the Turks, and in later times she has seen her capital twice taken by the French. An empire composed of nations differing in their origin, character, and laws, always contains within itself the sources of weakness. The loyalty of the German States is doubtful, whilst the Hungarian provinces display a sort of indifference, and the Italian provinces an avowed aversion, to the power that governs them.

Vienna was founded in 1142, by Henry I., Duke of Austria. It is situated on the Danube, in the centre of a fine and fruitful plain. The city, surrounded by strong fortifications, is the smallest portion of the capital; and the suburbs, which are of much greater extent and population, are built round the walls; but none of the houses stand within 600 yards of the fortifications; so that there is a circular space all round the city, which gives it a pleasant and romantic appearance. Vienna is embellished by many magnificent buildings; the Bourg, or Imperial Palace, is the finest. The Library contains 300,000 volumes, and 12,000 manuscripts. In the town's arsenal, in the Hof, is preserved the head of the Great Vizier, KaraMustapha, who commanded the Turkish army at the blockade of Vienna in 1683, and was strangled at Belgrade in the following year. In the great arsenal are to be seen part of the dress worn by Gustavus Adolphus, at the battle of Leutzen, and the balloon which, in consequence of the observations made from it, enabled the French to gain the battle of Fleurus. Schoenbrunn, a palace in the neighbourhood, built by Maria Theresa, is remarkable for the extent of the buildings, the fineness of the gardens, and the profusion of rare and valuable plants in the conservatories.

XVII. Turkey.

CONSTANTINOPLE. This celebrated city, at first a Thracian village, and afterwards a Greek settlement, called Byzantium, was raised into importance by Constantine, the Roman Emperor, who, in the year 330, leaving

Rome, made this the seat of his empire, and gave it the name of Nea Roma, an appellation which custom, or respect for the founder, has changed into Constantinople. For 1100 years it remained the capital of the Eastern, or Greek Empire. In 1453, it fell into the hands of the Turks, a people of Tartar origin, who, by a long career of victory over the arms of Christendom, extended their dominion from the Euphrates to the Danube, making Constantinople the capital of their empire. The rapid progress, and still more rapid decline of the Turkish power, are among the most interesting phenomena in the history of Europe. Two centuries ago, the Ottoman Empire was unquestionably the most powerful in the world: it now subsists only by the mutual animosities and jealousies of the other European powers.

Constantinople, known also by the name of Stamboul, and the Ottoman Porte, is built on a triangular promontory, on the west side of the strait that bears its name. It is washed on the south by the sea of Marmora, and bounded on the north by a small gulf, the ancient Golden Horn, which forms a safe anchorage for 1200 ships. It is surrounded by walls, flanked by 250 towers. As the ground on which it stands rises gradually, the city affords a fine spectacle from the sea. The bazaars, or market-places, are numerous and extensive, supported by rows of pillars, and surmounted by domes. Saint Sophia, supposed to be the most ancient Christian Church that now exists, is a venerable monument of antiquity, erected by Justinian, in the sixth century, and now converted into a Mahometan Mosque. The Seraglio, or principal palace, viewed from the Bosphorus, has a romantic appearance, but the building is a confused mass of prisons, barracks, and gardens. The summits of the seven hills on which the city is built, are adorned with mosques and baths, among which groves of the lofty cypress wave their heads; while the painted houses, gilded domes, and tall slender minarets, convey to the spectator an impressive idea of splendour and magnificence. But the interior of the city ill accords with the striking view which it exhibits at a distance. The streets are narrow and dark, ill paved, and covered either with dust or mud; and the houses, con