So long as the frost keeps all liquid matter in captivity, and so long as the snow, constantly renewed, throws a charitable covering over all the hidden sins of the place, so long the ploshtshod looks clean enough, but this very snow and frost prepare for the coming spring a spectacle which I would counsel no one to look upon, who wishes to keep his appetite in due order for the sumptuous banquets of St. Petersburg. Every kind of filth and garbage accumulates during the winter ; and when at last the melting influence of spring dissolves the charm, the quantities of sheep's eyes, fish tails, crab shells, goat's hairs, fragments of meat, pools of blood, not to speak of hay, dung, and other matters, are positively frightful. One would almost imagine that another Hercules would be required to cleanse the Augean stable ; nevertheless, the purveyors to the several kitchens are not deterred by the disgusting sight, but come to wander through the crowd, and lay in a supply for their daily wants, while the peasants eat their cakes and drink their quass, unmindful of the iniquities around them. Those only who have some acquaintance with the atrocious shambles of Vienna, can have any conception of the frozen, thawed, and refrozen specimens of meat v.hich are constantly imposed upon the pubhc in the Sennaia Ploshtshod.
Another of the markets in which the manners of tlie " lower orders " of St. Petersburg may be conveniently studied, is the Zimnaia Ploshtshod, at the end of the Nevskoi Prospekt, where the Hving cattle are disposed of, and where a quantity of sledges and country waggons are constantly offered for sale to the peasants. Thousands of specimens of the Russian tchga may here be examined at leisure. It is a singular vehicle, and no description would convey any idea of its form and construction, without the accompaniment of some pictorial illustration. Its appearance is certainly graceful, and it may even be described as elegant, when compared to the peasant carts of many other parts of Europe. The Russian peasant's sledge is likewise a composition admirable for its hghtness and its adaptation to the country.
The horses sold in this market are dulv imbued with the national character. Like their masters they are small, but active and supple ; with longmanes and beards, ragged hair, delicate joints, and iron constitutions. In the stable they are dull and heavy, but in harness full of spirit, unwearied in the race, and even after the hardest labour tricksy and playful. Cold, heat, hunger, and thirst, they endure with a patience truly admirable, and often receive their dirty straw with more apparent relish than their German brethren do the golden corn. Yet after all, there is but little energy in the Russian horse. He knows not how to husband his force, and if unable to clear the hill at a gallop he remains hopelessly fixed in the mud. The Russian cannot be said to illtreat his liorse. He rarely flies into a rage against his animal, and expends at all times far more words than blows upon it ; on the other hand, however, he bestows but little care upon it, and spoils it as little with over cherishing as he is himself spoiled with kindness by those in whose school he has been trained and broken in. The weekly consumption of horses at St. Petersburg is calculated at about 200 ; some idea may therefore be formed of the throng and bustle that distinguish the monthly and half-yearly horse-fairs at the Zimnaia Ploshtshod.