Page:Ancient and modern history of the Russian Empire.pdf/15

15 one judged as a German, the other as an Englishman and both by comparison with their own countries. The Englishman was shocked to see most of the Boyars, or Moscovite noblemen, sleep upon boards or benches, with only the skins of wild animals under them; but this was the ancient practice of all nations. The houses, which were almost all built of wood, had scarcely any furniture; few or none of their tables were covered with cloth; there was no pavement in their streets; nothing agreeable; no convenience; very few artificers, and those few extremely backward, and employed only in works of absolute necessity. These people might have passed for Spartans, had they been sober. But on their public days the court displays all the splendor of a Persian monarch. The Karl says, he could see nothing but gold and precious stones, on the robs of the Czar and his courtiers. These dresses were not manufactured in the country; and yet it is evident, that the people might have been rendered industrious long before that time. In short, some parts of this vast city have the appearance of a sequestered desert; others, of a populous town; some, of a contemptible village; others, of a great capital. There is in Moscow above a thousand churches andchapelsand chapels [sic]; some of which have bells of a stupendous size; particularly one of 288,000 pounds weight, and another of 432,000 being the largest in the world. The cathederal of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary is the most magnificent church in Moscow; and most