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COXE’S TRAVELS IN RUSSIA. 583
feemed neceffary, as our horfes never faw the ftable from the morning until the even.
ing, or at midnight; and remained during that interval, like thofe of our hackney.
coaches, in the itreets. During our continuance in this city, we, not uncommonly,
perceived about dinner-time, in the court-yards of thofe houfes where we dined, many
horfes without bridles, and unharnefled from the refpettive carriages, browfing upon
their portable provender ftrewed on the ground; with them were intermixed different
parties of coachmen and poltillions ; who at the fame time gratified the calls of hunger
upon a repaft ready prepared, like that of their cattle, and which too required as little
ceremony in ferving up. ‘The frequency of thefe obje&s foon rendered them familiar,
and we ceafed to look upon our trufs of hay as an excrefcence.
The firft vifit we made in our new equipage was to our banker, who lived at the
furtheft extremity of one of the fuburbs, at the diftance of four miles from our inn.
Our coachman drove through the town with great expedition, generally in a brifk trot,
and frequently a full gallop, without any diftinétion of paved or boarded ftreets.
Having fettled our bufinefs with the banker, who was our countryman, and obligingly
furnifhed us with a large collection of Englifh newfpapers, we croffed the Yaufa over a
raft bridge to a palace, con{tructed for the reception of the prefent Emprefs, when fhe
vifits Mofcow; this palace is not, according to our ordinary acceptation of the word,
a fingle ftructure; but, in the true flyle of Afiatic grandeur, a valt affemblage of nu-
merous buildings, diftributed into feveral {treets, and bearing the appearance of a mo-
derate town*. ‘he bafe of each building is ftone, but of fo foft a nature, that it feem-
ed fcarcely adequate to fupport the fuperftru€ture ; the bricks ufed for the remainder
of the fabric crumbled at the touch, nor did the workmanfhip exceed the materials, for
the walls were in many places out of the perpendicular line. :
The greater part of the timber employed in the conitruétion of thefe vaft edifices
was fafhioned with the axe, ‘Though I often faw the carpenters at work, I never once
perceived a faw in their hands; they cut the trees through with the axe, they hewed
planks with the axe, they formed the beams, and fitted them together with the axe.
With this fimple engine they mortaifed and tenanted the fmalleft as well as the largeft
pieces of wood, and fmoothed the boards for the floor with the niceft exaGtnefs. In-
deed, the dexterity and juftnefs with which they managed this inflrument was won-
derful; but the operation mui evidently occafion a prodigious wafte of labour and
wood.
The gardens which belonged to the old palace built by Elizabeth near the fpot where
the prefent {truGure was erecting, are ftill retained ; they are of confiderable extent,
and contained fome of the beft gravel walks I have feeu fince my departure from Eng-
land. In fome parts the grounds were laid out in a pleafing and natural manner, but
in general the old ftyle of gardening prevailed, and prefented rows of clipped yew.
trees, long ftraight canals, and a profufion of prepofierous ftatues: Hercules prefided
at a fountain, with a retinue of gilded cupids, dolphins, and lamias; every little ftruc-
ture was a pantheon, and every grove was haunted by Apollos and Dianas; but the
principal deity in the place was a female figure holding a cornucopia reverfed,. which,
inftead of diftributing as ufwal, all kinds of fruit, grain, and flowers, poured out crowns,
coronets, and mitres. The reign of thefe deities was however doomed to be fhort :
under the aufpices cf Catherine, all thefe inftances of grotefque tafte will be removed,
and give place to more natural ornaments. ‘his palace and gardens occupy the ex-
® Paul converted this palace into barracks fortwo thoufand men,
tremity
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