In opposition to this old summer palace, the usual residence of the Emperor is called the Winter Palace, wliich name, since the disappearance of the " Summer Palace," is meaningless.
ridors are paved with beautiful kinds of marble. The floorings of the saloons were taken from the Tauride palace, because the new ones could not be waited for. They have since been restored to their old places. The rooms where Paul was murdered are sealed and walled up. The Russians generally do this with the room in which their parents cQe. They have a certain dread of them and never enter them willingly. The Emperor Alexander never entered them. The present emperor, who dreaded neither the cholera in Moscow, nor revolt in St. Petersburg, nor the dagger in Warsaw, but shows a bold countenance every where, has viewed them several times. These rooms, easily recognizable from without by their darkened and dusty windows, are on the second story. The apartments of the beautiful Lapuchin are directly imder, on the first floor. They are now inhabited by the keeper of the castle. The stairs which led down from them are broken away. During the reign of Alexander, the castle fell so much into decay, that when Nicholas caused it to be restored, it cost 62,000 rubles merely to remove the dirt and rubbish. The painted ceilings have considerable interest. In one is represented the revival of the order of Malta. Ruthenia, a beautiful virgin, with the features of Paul, is seated on a mountain. Near her, the mighty eagle. Fame flying from the south in terror announces the injustice done her in the Mediterranean, and entreats the mighty eagle to shelter her under his wing. In the distance is seen the island threatened by the waves and the hostile fleets. In another hall all the gods of Greece are assembled, whose various physiognomies are those of persons of the court at that time. The architect whose purse profited considerably by the building of the castle, appears among them as a flying Mercmy. When Paul, who was a ready punster, and who knew very well that all the money he paid was not changed into stone and wood, caused the difierent faces to be pointed out to him, he recognised the face of the Mercmy directly, and said laughing to his courtiers, " Ah ! voila I'architecte, qui vole"
The old Michailoff palace is now the abode of the school of engineers. One hundred and fifty young persons here receive their mathematical and physical education. Its gardens are filled with blooming young cadets, who play and exercise there ; and the former audience and banqueting-rooms are partly used as school, examination, sleeping, and eating-rooms, for the pupils, and partly to hold collections of varioiis objects of a very attractive kind, of the highest interest for Russian engineering, and the science of fortification. It is wonderful what progress they have already made in this branch.
Russia, with reference to its military fortifications, is divided into ten circles. To the objects relating to the fortification of each circle, a separate hall is devoted. In large presses, in the halls, are kept all the plans, general and special, of already existing or projected fortresses. Each fortress has its own press for the materiel, in which are specimens of the bricks, kinds of earth, and the diff'erent rocks which lie in the neighbourhood, and of which tlie fortresses are, or are to be, constructed. Lastly, on large stands in the middle of the halls, are to be seen all the fortified places in Russia, modelled in clay and wood, and with such exactness, that not the sliglitest elevation, or sinking of the ground, not a tree, or a house is forgotten. In this manner are presented, among othei-s, the most striking pictures of Kieft", Reval, and Riga, It is w orthy of remark, that among them is a complete reg|:Qi?git^jion of all the ca^t^f^ of the Dardanelles, with their bastions and towers, and the most minute details of all the little creeks of the Hellespont, and the neighbouring heights and rocks. By means of these models, the whole plan of attack on the Dardanelles could be directed from St. Petersburg. It is a question whether the EngHsh have had a like foresight, and possess a similar picture in detail. The minghng of the castles of the Dardanelles with those already garrisoned by Russian troops, indicates that the Russians already look upon them as their own, and keeps warm the memory of Alexander's saying, " // faut avoir les clefs de notre maison dans la poche.'^