officers appointed for the purpose, the details of their discipline and aside from this she munificently provides for the blind, and deaf and dumb, and opens to the use of even the humblest individual the national collections of natural history, the philosophical and astronomical apparatus, and the public libraries.

From Berlin, Cochrane proceeded, over a bleak and almost deserted country, to Stettin, after forty miles of heavy and dreary walking. He in vain demanded a night's lodging at three different houses, though he had previously ordered and eaten as many suppers for that express inducement. He then retreated to the wharf, cold and snowy as it was, and threw himself on the ground to repose for the night. A brother tar passing roused him up, and by a little past midnight, through dint of earnest persuasion, induced the land; lord of the Copenhagen Inn to receive him on condition that his passport should be deposited in his hands as security.

A day or two after, while traveling through a marshy country, Cochrane got lost in an attempt to cross a frozen swamp, and wandered some fifteen miles out of his road. Thus much for quitting the high-road to make a short cut, which a pedestrian should never do except under a certainty of being right.

"A post-house, called Romini," says he, "with a good, civil landlord, better wife, and seven well-behaved children, made me welcome, dried my clothes, and gave me a glass of schnaps to keep me warm; while a good supper of beef and potatoes was preparing for me. Cold, wet, weary, and half famished, I had entered the benevolent post-house; but one short hour restored me to life and good-humor, and ultimately to the enjoyment of a clean bed, made on the spot for my accommodation by filling a tick with hay and sewing it up again. Happy, contented, though impoverished family, would to heaven that benevolence like yours had more numerous followers among mankind! I had arrived in a most miserable plight, the heavy and frequent rains having dilapidated my apparel, which, even in good weather, was not calculated to last long. My cap I had lost in the icy swamp, and in place of it my head was bound up in a piece of red flannel. My trowsers were literally torn in tatters, and my shoes tied to my feet to prevent their falling off. All I had retained was sound health and a contented mind, and I wanted nothing more; for this generous family had during the night put my entire wardrobe to rights; and I departed the following morning with sound clothing and reflections of heartfelt gratitude to have met with the beneficial exercise of such qualities in a quarter of the world where I had so little reason to expect them.

"Over an execrable road, sandy heath, and in cheerless wintry weather I resumed my route, and reached Zanone, on the banks of the little river Boslin. Here again I found lodgings in a cobbler's stall. An old bedstead and straw mattress served for the cobbler and his grandson in one corner; in the second was a fireplace but no fire; in the third a cupboard, with an empty glass and two or three broken plates; and in the fourth a board for his journeymen to work upon, when he had business to employ them, which now served for my bed-place. In this place I passed the night, charmed with the

contentment of old Crispin, whose whole happiness seemed wrapped up in the future welfare of his grandson. I was provided with some straw and a horse-rug, which, however they might assimilate me to the inhabitants of the stable, were truly acceptable; for the night was cold, and the windows, which transmitted the light only through oiled paper, could not prevent the sensible intrusion of cold air."

Next morning, in spite of the obstacle of a sprained ankle, he pushed on toward Schlaws, where he was arrested and taken before the magistrates to answer the offense of smoking in the streets. His ignorance of the laws and very palpable poverty alone saved him from a fine. At Skolpe, thirty-five miles farther on, the police supplied him with quarters at the guard-house : "a circumstance rendered almost necessary to me," says Cochrane, "from the unaccountable, but manifest ill-will of the women toward me. The illfated Ledyard, had he been situated as I have often been, would have allowed exceptions to his beautiful encomium on the fair sex. But Ledyard's fortune was better in this respect, and he was justified by his own experience in espousing the cause of the whole sex.”

He endured much while traveling in this region from the bad condition of his shoes, which the variations in the weather made alternately like sponge and horn. The country grew more picturesque as he advanced, but bore a desperately bad name from the bands of robbers that infested it; but his poverty prevented him from entertaining any unnecessary fears of them.

At Dantzic, a strongly fortified town on the Baltic in Polish Prussia, he was kindly received by the English consul, and having obtained a present of a pair of strong, English shoes, he departed, passing successively through Dnishaw, Marienberg, Elbing, and the populous towns of Konigsberg, and Memel. At the place last named, he says: "I received great marks of kindness from its inhabitants, who even expostulated with me on my seemingly unhappy mode of life. If happiness, however, be the one pursuit in this world, it may admit of question, whether a traveler does not attain a greater portion of it than most others - certainly more than those who languish on the lap of ease, and who, in one shape or other, feel the tortures of anxiety, though surrounded by all the luxuries which affluence can procure."

Cochrane soon after crossed the Russian frontier, and at Narva made an acquaintance who gave him a lift on his journey. The story we tell in his own words: "When on the point of resuming my journey, I was accosted by a black gentleman, who, as he informed me, was a resident and retired merchant of St. Petersburg. Understanding that I was a foreigner, he entered into many inquiries with me, of my rank, country, the object of my travels, and my reasons for pursuing them on foot. To these inquiries I replied, and to the last simply observed that I was in the habit of traveling on foot, and that indeed I could not afford to see the world in any more convenient manner. He expressed his regret that a man of my merit had not been better rewarded by fortune - and his satisfaction at the same time that he had it in his power to offer me a lift even to the capital of Russia, having two carriages empty; though he was prevented by an affair of importance from resuming the journey that day. I accepted his offer, and agreed to

await his pleasure, rejoiced at the opportunity afforded me of entering the imperial capital in style, with less expense, and still less fatigue. In the meantime I ate and drank freely at his charge; and not to appear backward, I ordered for myself the luxury of a proper bedroom, where I slept well.

"I learned the next morning that the important business, which detained my friend, was neither more nor less than an intrigue with a rosy-cheeked chambermaid. This being dispatched, we departed; he in the first, and I in the second carriage, each drawn by four horses. I had a specific charge from him to use no ceremony in abusing the coachman if he should slacken in his driving. I soon forgot this admonition in a sound sleep, for which, by-theby, I afterward got a severe reprimand. We passed through Yamberg and reached Kipene the next evening. My companion, again having treated me with supper and bed, left me for the night, evidently a little nettled at his ill success in engaging the affections of a little Russian girl who had waited on us at table.

“While at breakfast next morning and just as the horses were announced, my companion asked me whether I was furnished with a passport. I replied in the affirmative. He requested to see it; and observing my name, inquired if I was related to Admiral Kakran, who was in de West Indies at de capture ob de Danish island in 1807?' Being informed I was the admiral's nephew, he asked, 'Be you de son ob massa Jahnstone Kakran?'—' Yes, I am,'-'You are den,' said he, dat lilly massa Jonny I know'd at de same time.' It now turned out that this black gentleman, with the two carriages and four horses each, had been my father's and my uncle's servant thirteen years before. Having talked over old matters, he remarked that he never could have recognized me, from the alteration that time had made in my features; observing that I seemed to have verified the West Indian proverb, Like the black man's pig, very lilly but dam old.' I acknowledged the justice of the remark and proceeded to inquire his history; but as he did not seem inclined to be communicative on this head, I did not press him; and we proceeded both in the same carriage; my friend no longer considering me in the light of a menial servant.”

At parting with his sable friend at St. Petersburg, he declined, much to Cochrane's chagrin, giving him his address, as he felt an increased curiosity to learn the source of his wealth and situation in life. The next day, in relating this adventure to Dr. Ryan, the physician of the young prince Labonoff, the doctor stated that the carriages of the prince having been left at Narva, he sent his black servant to bring them to the capital. Fortune's frolic was now explained; the wealthy, dashing, overbearing, and intriguing companion of the captain being no more than the very humble attendant of his Highness.

Having obtained comfortable lodgings in St. Petersburg, through the intervention of the British consul-general, Cochrane sent a memorial, by Count Nesselrode, to the emperor, soliciting a permit to pass through the Russian empire on his way to America, either by Kamtschatka or Behring's Straits a sealed mandate from the emperor, with an order from all governors and persons in authority to assist him to the utmost of their power-one

to the police not to interfere or molest him, and a letter of introduction to the governor-general of Siberia. The emperor Alexander, with the well-known kindness of his disposition, not only granted him all he asked, but generously offered to provide him money for the journey, at the same time expressing a belief that when he was furnished with the required documents he would flinch from his formidable and hazardous undertaking. The gift of money he gratefully declined, and to the expression of the belief, he replied, he should be ready to set off on his journey of eight or ten thousand miles at half an hour's notice.

In Russia the police regulations respecting travelers, are very strict, and it was fortunate for Cochrane that he had an influential friend at court. A stranger in St. Petersburg is obliged to procure a permit of residence, and he cannot leave for the interior without obtaining certain papers. So stringent are the Russian police that it is not probable, except in a time of war, that a single foreigner has, within a century, entered Russia without their knowing accurately his name, business and movements. Nor can a foreigner leave St. Petersburg unless he first publish his intention in three successive numbers of the Gazette, as a measure of safety to his creditors. After this he must petition for a passport. It is with great difficulty that a Russian can leave the empire at all, and then only for a limited time, and after an enormous expenditure. If he does not return at the call of the police, he is liable to have his property confiscated and to be banished to Siberia.

Since Cochrane was at St. Petersburg, the city has much advanced in elegance and refinement, and this great capital now absorbs so much of the notice of the civilized world that we pause to give a more lengthy notice, from the records of a recent American traveler.

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St. Petersburg was founded by the Czar, Peter the Great, in 1703, to secure a communication by sea between his empire and the rest of Europe. It is built upon a marsh upon the southern bank of the Neva, and includes several islands in the river. The houses generally stand upon piles and are usually of brick covered with plaster and washed a white, yellow or pink color. The intense cold of winter discolors the walls and peels off the stucco. About the first of June some 70 or 80,000 serfs come from the interior to repair and rebeautify the city, which soon assumes as fresh an appearance, as if entirely When viewed in the subdued twilight of a summer evening, the brilliant colors of the colonnades, and deep embrasures of the palaces and other public buildings are indescribably beautiful. Some of the islands are occupied as summer residences by members of the royal family, and by the nobility, and are embellished with villas, shell chateaux and fantastic cottages; at every turn water perspectives, lawns containing Chinese pagodas, Grecian temples, and Italian colonnades are continually presented to the eye. Some of these charming residences are surrounded with parks, vine-covered pavilions, and terraces adorned with flowers, while the perfume of the plants, and the sounds of music make it seem like enchantment.

Days are required to see all the curiosities at St. Petersburg. Among these may be mentioned the Hermitage with its two thousand paintings, and within which are the famous winter gardens, and the scenes of the voluptu

ous banquets of Catherine-the Imperial Library, with its half a million of rare volumes and manuscripts-the Museum of Peter, containing his clothes, and tools, and specimens of his handicraft; the Museum of the Academy of Sciences, etc. Beside these are Imperial lyceums, gymnasiums, universities, military schools, schools of engineers, of law, medicine, etc.; charitable institutions, and various others. In the city are over two hundred churches and chapels, most of which are surmounted with four or five golden or particolored cupolas, and adorned within by a profusion of ornaments, shrines and images of the Virgin, resplendent with gold and jewels. One of the first streets in the world is the Nevsky Perspective, three miles in length, which is usually crowded with vehicles of all kinds, and thronged with ladies, serwants in livery, officers and soldiers of every uniform, Circassians and Cossacks in their respective costumes, civilians, merchants and serfs in sheepskins.

In the environs of the city, the palace of Peterhoff, or the house of Peter, rich in treasures of arts, and gorgeous in the splendor of its decorations and furniture, equaling Versailles in the magnitude and beauty of its artificial cascades, presents an unrivaled picture of luxury and taste. In this retreat, the Great Czar was accustomed to forget the cares of office, while yielding to the charms of his peasant-born mistress. In these grounds the widow of Peter was wont to mingle the habits of her early life with the indulgences of her imperial condition, in suppers prepared by her own queenly hands. Here the second Catherine, timid in the midst of regal splendors secluded herself at times from the world, and refusing the ministry of human hands, was served at table by the aid of ingenious machinery. In her amusements, she sometimes sought to realize fairy scenes in the music of nymphs, the woodland dances of youth arrayed in white, and in the serving of feasts apparently by magic art. Few of these curious devices now remain ; mechanical fish still swim in the neglected waters, and an artificial tree drenches the too confiding stranger with copious showers of water, the moment he seeks its shade. A pond in the vicinity illustrates the punctuality with which fish can be taught to come for their food at the ringing of the bell.

A Railway uniting St. Petersburg with Tsarkoe, a distance of 15 miles, was the first constructed in Russia. An accident, attended with the loss of several lives, prejudiced the public against its use. So great is the timidity of this people, in the risk of human life, that Carter, the Lion Tamer, was forbidden to exhibit his usual feats, and the same feeling proving injurious to the prosperity of the road, the Emperor, attended by the President of the company, volunteered to intrust his august person to this dangerous species of locomotion, before confidence could be restored and the road resume its accustomed business.

Not far from the city, the Imperial Farming Institution educates, at the public expense, two hundred young men selected for their intelligence. A sober-looking Yankee, ignorant of all languages but his own, but with a head full of native ingenuity, had wandered to Russia, with a lot of patent Yankee Agricultural machines, and was astonishing the Russian youths with the superior style and execution of his implements of husbandry. The broad