branch of its revenue is feen to arife from an encouragement of the ruling vice of the people; yet this fact is fully exemplified in Ruffia, where two capital imposts are laid on corn-brandy. It is fold by government to the dealers, at a fixed rate, from which a large profit is produced, and a duty is collected from every perfon, who vends it.

WHATEVER cenfure the prefent Katherine may have incurred in fwerving from the cardinal virtue of her fex, we must unrefervedly fay, that he hath made fome atonement for that deviation, by establishing a wife and vigorous fyftem of government, by a liberal encouragement of the arts, and an exercise of humanity to her fubjects, meriting the example of the most polished nations. She poffeffes a munificence, which has much endeared her to the people, and which an occasion of displaying happened fome days before my arrival at Petersburgh. Being informed that an extenfive pile of wooden buildings, appropriated to the use of merchants and tradesmen, was burning with violence, she immediately proceeded to the spot, where exhorting the firemen to an active execution of their duty, fhe affured those who had fuffered by the conflagration, that the buildings fhould be reconstructed at the public expence and of more fubftantial materials.

AMONG the many monuments of grandeur, raised by Katherine, the most attracting is an equestrian statue, erected to the memory of the great Peter, which is placed in front of the

council

council-houfe, and in a fituation commanding a view of the port; nor have I feen any figure which exhibits a bolder or more just aspect of nature, except that of our first Charles in London. It stands on a hugh block of ftone, whofe fummit flanting, gives an afcending pofition to the horse, one of the hinder feet of which bruifes the head of a ferpent,* The figure of Peter looks towards the Neva, having the right arm ftretched forth with an expanded hand, giving to all nations encouragement and protection. Often did I vifit this ftatue of Peter, and in reviewing the ftupendous work, which his hand has raised, I have gazed on it with admiration and delight; and did the tenets of my faith permit, Peter fhould be chofen my tutelar faint.

PAUL PETROWITZ, entitled the Grand Duke of Ruffia, and the only iffue of the emprefs, having been little brought forward to the public notice, the effential parts of his character remain undeveloped. The foreigners who have access to him, say, that he is endowed with difcretion, is beloved in his family, and observes a just punctuality in the discharge of his accounts, a quality the more deferving of praife, as it is rarely found among the nobility of Ruffia, who have become notorious by an accumulation of debts and a common failure of payments.

* Emblematical of the malignant prejudices, which this prince encountered and overcome.

The

The grand duke is the nominal prefident of the admiralty, though he does not officiate in that department, or poffefs any influence in the cabinet; but aware of the emprefs's jealoufy of domestic interference, he lives wholly abftracted from bufinefs.

A GENTLEMAN, who had acquired a converfant knowledge of the court of Petersburgh, obferved to me that a female reign was most favorable to the views of the Ruffian nobility; it afforded a wider fcope, to their ambition, avarice, and intrigue, which under the eye of a prince, especially if he were active, would neceffarily be limited, and that they would ever diflike and ftrive to exclude a male fucceffion; nor does this obfervation want proofs of support, in the four last reigns of this empire.

IN clofing thefe defultory remarks, I am induced to notice, that thofe Ruffians who have not yet adopted the manners and drefs of Europe, and they probably include three fourths of the nation, resemble the Afiatics, and particularly Tartars, in many conspicuous instances. They wear the long gown, the sash, and the cap; and they confider the beard as a type of personal honor. The hot bath as in Afia is in common use, even with the lowest claffes of the Ruffians, who perform alfo many ordi nary ablutions, not practised by any northern people, and when not prevented by their occupations, they fleep at noon. In the manner of Afia, the Ruffians obferve to their fuperiors an ex

treme

treme fubmiffion, and their deportment is blended with a fuavity of addrefs and language, which is not warranted by their appearance, or the opinions generally formed of them.

By impofing a fuperior value on this quality, the Ruffians, it should feem, have neglected to cultivate the more effential virtues, a want of which is often experienced by the foreign merchants, who have incurred heavy loffes by their want of faith. The copeck of Ruffia, a copper coin, in name, and apparently in value is the fame which was current in Tartary during the reign of Timur; and as the paffage illuftrating this fact is curious, I will lay it before you.

"THE dearth was fo great in the Tartar camp, that a pound of millet fold for seventy dinars copeghi, an ox's head "for an hundred, and a sheep's head for two hundred and fifty." This occurrence happened during the expedition of Timur into Aftracan, at a period of two hundred years previous to the Ruffian acquifition of that kingdom. Should a national connection between Ruffia and Tartary be afcertained, a reverse of the general progress of conquest, which has been seen to stretch to the fouthward, will appear exemplified in the Russian nation, who penetrating into the higher parts of Europe, have fixed a capital in the fixtieth degree of latitude. Embarking at

Shirriff ud Dein's Hiftory of Timur, tranflated by Petit de la Croix.

Petersburgh,

Petersburgh, in the middle of June, on board of a trading veffel, I arrived in England in the latter end of July.

HAVING now brought you to the close of a long journey, the performance of which was chiefly derived from a vigorous health, and a certain portion of perfeverance, I bid you an affectionate farewel, and I trust, that you will never have cause to impute to any of the various facts which have been brought forward in the body of the letters, the colour of passion or the views of interest. Amicus Plato, &c. The opinions deduced from them, given by a man flenderly converfant in the higher claffes of science, and who has yet much to feek in the abstruser page of human life, I freely commit to your cenfure, as also the manner of writing, which I fear will be judged offensive to the chafteness, distinguishing the language of the present age.