to daub the inside with plaister, and to case the outside with the very reddest brick they could find. This, with large white Doric cornices, and two bright blue things, like pepper-boxes, on the two towers, has so beautified it, that, if the bishop who founded it, and the mason who built it, were to return again, they would not know their own child in its present dashing uniform.

"From Upsala we went to Osterby, the seat of Mr. Tame, one of the proprietors of the Dannemora mine. We found a very hospitable reception, and met with a large and pleasant party. The mines we saw, of course, and I can hardly express the sensations of astonishment they caused. All other mines I have seen are dark and dirty cellars in comparison; here it is Vathek's chasm and portal of ebony realised. You find, not a dark and narrow shaft like a well, but a mouth of an irregular form, more, I think, than two hundred yards long, and, in one place, at least eighty wide. On different parts of this enormous gulph are the cranes and buckets by which you are let down to the bottom, four hundred and eighty feet; the side is, for about two hundred feet, a smooth iron rock; at length there are other masses which arise like islands, and you see opening on every side the prodigious caverns whence the ore is taken; one of them into which we descended is a vault higher for some little way than the nave of York Minster. Notwithstanding the width of the chasm above, the rays of the sun fall too obliquely to reach the bottom, which is the region of eternal ice and twilight.

"The road to Stockholm is through the same rocky, green, cultivated country as the rest of Sweden, excepting that towards the capital the appearance becomes more woody, uneven, and even romantic. Nothing, indeed, can be more so than the situation of this extraordinary town, which is a collection of rocks scattered irregularly in a wide arm of the sea (or lake, call it which you will), connected by bridges, covered with buildings and gardens, the domes of churches intermingled with oaks, and the whole surrounded by an enormous palace, as big, I think, as five Somerset Houses. It is, however, chiefly of brick, but universally stuccoed or whitewashed. The houses are all large and manystoried, with a common staircase. . . . The quays, however, are some of them very noble, and the public buildings, though mostly small, in good taste."

After visiting Finland in a fishing-boat, which pleasantly threaded the beautifully-wooded Archipelago of Aland, and experiencing disappointment with the provincial capital Abo, in

spite of its then being "the most northern university in the world, an archiepiscopal and archiducal city, the queen of Finland, Bothnia, and Lapland," the travellers arrived at Petersburg on 8th October 1805.

"On our route from Louisa, the last frontier town in Sweden, to Petersburg, nothing is more remarkable than the change which takes place in the appearance, dress, and apparent circumstances of the peasantry. In Swedish Finland the peasant has all the cleanliness, industry, and decency of a Swede; he is even more sober, but very inferior in honesty. In Russia you see an immediate deterioration in morals, cleanliness, wealth, and everything but intelligence and cunning. The horses, which through the Swedish territories were uniformly good, became poor miserable hacks; and to the good roads, which we had enjoyed ever since we left Gothenburg, we now bade a long, very long adieu.

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During the time of our journey, all the northern garrisons were greatly thinned on account of the war. We passed several regiments on their march, and were much pleased with the cleanliness, good clothing, and soldier-like appearance of the men, in which they far exceeded the Swedes."

To the English patriot Russia was at that time an object of vital interest. Six months before, William Pitt's diplomacy had succeeded in concluding, at Petersburg, the treaty, offensive and defensive, which started with this preamble: "As the state of suffering in which Europe is placed demands immediate remedy, their Majesties have mutually determined. to consult upon the means of putting stop thereto, without waiting for fresh encroachments on the part of the French Government." The general league of the States of Europe thus aimed at had been joined by Sweden just after Heber had crossed the Dovrefelds, and the cabinet of Vienna had at last arranged the terms of its co-operation, although Prussia, coveting Hanover, still held out, to its ultimate injury, while it thus contributed immediately to the French victory of Austerlitz. Russia was busy in raising and equipping its

1 E. D. Clarke, LL.D., used the valuable MS. Journal of Heber for extracts in the notes to his Travels in Russian Tartary and Turkey, in the preface to which he wrote-"In addition to Mr. Heber's habitual accuracy may be mentioned the statistical information which stamps a peculiar value on his observations." Clarke travelled in 1800.

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share of the half million of men for whom England was supplying the splendid subsidies at the rate of at least six millions and a quarter sterling. Had Pitt sent across an army corps to check the march of the French from Boulogne to the Danube, Austerlitz might never have been fought. To live at such a time, and to be in a position to watch the course of the greatest events in the world's history, was for these two Oxford and Cambridge men a rare joy.

M. Novosiltzoff, the Russian statesman who had backed Pitt in securing the co-operation of Austria, had been striving for the same object at Berlin with the King of Prussia, who despatched M. Zastroff to Petersburg, hoping to avert the impending collision. The only result was a fruitless negotiation between Russia and France, which arrested war for three months. Ultimately, on 3rd November, the King of Prussia signed a secret convention with the Czar.

"PETERSBURG, 27th October 1805.

"DEAR MOTHER-By the arrival of Hanbury and Stackhouse, two Englishmen whom we left at Stockholm, I had the pleasure of receiving your second letter, which had not reached that place during our stay there. Believe me it was a very great pleasure to hear of the good health of my English circle of friends (for Hodnet seems very seldom to contain you all at once), especially as I had been disappointed of finding any letters at Petersburg. Our time is passed pleasantly and, I hope, profitably, in learning German, improving in French, seeing sights, and listening to, not joining in, political discussions. These employments, with a few Greek books which I hope to borrow, will give us ample amusement for the time we intend to stay here. . .

"All here are in high spirits about the war, particularly since the accession of Prussia. The emperor, indeed, is so popular, that he could scarcely do anything of which his people would not approve. It is far otherwise in the country we have lately quitted; general ill-humour and dissatisfaction at all public measures, mutual distrust between the king and his people, and a bitter sense of their present weakness, contrasted with their ancient military glory, are at present conspicuous in every society and conversation in Sweden.

"The emperor was set off for Germany before our arrival. Lord Leveson Gower's departure, which took place soon after

wards, was a still greater disappointment, as he had met with great kindness and civility from him; and if he had stayed we should have been introduced to the best society in the best possible manner. Mr. Moeler, the Hanoverian envoy, to whom Sandford had procured me a letter, has, however, been a very valuable acquaintance; by his means we are likely to see a good deal of the best circles here. The town is, of course, by no means full, as many of the nobility are with the army, and many more have not yet left their country houses."

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"PETERSBURG, December 1805.

"DEAR BROTHEROf the palaces here and in the neighbourhood, the Taurida is the only one that has quite answered my expectation; the winter garden there, which is a grove of evergreens in a vast saloon, is perhaps a matchless piece of elegant luxury. The great palace is a vast tasteless pile of plaistered brick, and the marble palace is tamely conceived, and its pilasters look like slices of potted beef or char. In the great palace are some good pictures; the Houghton collection is in the Hermitage, which is now under repair. What interested me most were the private rooms of the emperor and empress, which were remarkable for their comfort, neatness, and simplicity. Alexander's private study and dressing-room, which, though not generally shown, we were permitted to see, was apparently just as he had left it, and answered completely my ideas of what a monarch's retirement ought to be. The table was heaped with books, which we were not allowed to meddle with or take up, but among which I thought I distinguished Guichard and Folard; and round the room, which is small, were piled a great number of swords, musquets, rifles, and bayonets of different kinds and inventions; in the window seats were some books of finance. The whole was so carelessly and naturally arranged, that I am convinced it was not intended as a show. In fact, his aversion to display of all kinds is the most striking part of his character, and it is even carried to excess. As he is now in person with the army, and has, it is said, expressed a wish to win his spurs before he assumes the military order of St. George, I fear we have little probability of seeing him before we leave Petersburg. The Russians and English attempt to outdo each other in his praises; and the women in particular speak of him as the best, the most polite, and the handsomest man in the world. But after all allowance is made for their partiality, he appears to be really of a very amiable temper and manners, and a clear unperverted head; he

is said, above all, to be active and attentive to his peculiar duties; he is neither a fiddler, a poet, a chemist, nor a philosopher, but contents himself with being an emperor. His person, to judge by his busts and statues, is tall and strongly built; his complexion fair and pale; his hair light, and his face full and round. I have been anxious to give you some general idea of this amiable man, in whose character and conduct Europe is so deeply interested.

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"I write but little on politics, partly because Petersburg, from its remoteness, is out of the current of news almost as much as England; and partly because I do not choose to submit all my political observations to the chance of an inspection at the post office, which sometimes happens in England as well as on the Continent. The war here is popular, and the people profess themselves, and I believe really are, friendly to the English cause and nation. If anything could have diminished this feeling, it would have been, I think, the inactivity of the arms of Great Britain during the present coalition; to the want of a timely diversion in that quarter, there are many who are fond of attributing the dreadful calamities which have befallen Austria; and though the presence of Englishmen was always a restraint, I have repeatedly been made half-mad by witnessing the deep and general indignation at the conduct of the ministry; a conduct which I have often endeavoured to defend, at least as far as the general character of the country was at stake. You will likewise soon see the curious effect which this produced on the terms of a late offered negotiation. Thank God, the victory of Trafalgar, followed up by the arrival of General Don at Cuxhaven, has turned the scale in our favour, and the destruction of Boulogne, of which we are in daily hopes to hear, will give new spirits to the friends of England, and of what is emphatically called 'the good cause.' Pitt is, I believe, thought highly of here, though his late inactivity staggered their good opinion. The news from the Russian army continues comfortable to Europe and glorious to Russia. Bragration, of whose exploits you have heard, is a very remarkable character; he is a Georgian by birth, and chief of one of the tribes of Mount Caucasus; he was a favourite of Suwarof, and acquired great reputation in Italy."

What was the "sun of Austerlitz" for Napoleon set in gloom for the Allies in the armistice of the 6th December 1805. Heber thus pictures the effect in Russia :

: