The Hermitage is not greatly frequented, as foreigners as well as natives must procure tickets. These are given indeed without difficulty, yet even this little obstacle is sufficient to keep numbers away. Love of ease is, after vanity, the great impulse to all our actions, or at least to all our omissions. There are in St. Petersburg a nmnber of families of the educated classes who have never visited the Hermitage ; and how Uttle is gained compared with what might be, even by those who do ? When we look at the listless faces of the sight-satiated pubhc, lounging past the pictures, we cannot help asking ourselves how so many painters could ever obtain such extraordinary renown. Where is the enthusiasm for their works, the rapture they inspire ? For four thousand paintings reflecting half the natural world and half mankind, a two hours' saunter ; for thirty thousand engravings, a few minutes ; for three rooms fuU of statues, as many passing looks ; for the antiquities of Greece, a couple of " Ah's" and " Oh's ;" and for twelve thousand cameos and gems, scarcely a halfopened eye !
The most admired objects here are beyond all doubt the crown jewels, and other valuables arranged in a separate cabinet with them. For boast as we may of our higher cultivation, the old Adam is so little driven from his kingdom, that we all grasp, Hke children and savages, more eagerly after what is bright and glittermg, than after that wliich breathes life and grace ? What is the water of Ruysdael's forestbrooks, to the water of the imperial diamonds ? all the melting lustre of Carlo Dolce, to the lustre of those pearls ? What are all the roses, apricots, and juicy pomegranates of Heemskerk, to the oriental splendom-s of the diadem ? Cuyp's green meadows seldom touch the heart, but the green of the emerald in yon sceptre fills all hearts with hope and longing.
We human creatures, taken on the whole, are very sensual, rapacious, unrefined beings, and where we see hundreds ya^^^ling in the face of Rembrandt's " reverend old man," we scarcely see one so much a philosopher as not to grow more animated when the jewel-keeper grasps his keys, and opens that magic cabinet. In fact, it would be hard to find elsewhere so many jewels together. The old connexion of Russia with India and Persia has brought a quantity of precious stones into the treasury, and lately hor own subject mountains have opened their bosoms, and yielded such treasures, that many a private persorr might be well contented with what was meant for the imperial little finger alone. Diadems, sceptres, armlets, bracelets, girdles, rings, bouquets of jewels, are displayed here in astonishing profusion, and if one dared to pluck a nosegay in thl"
sparkling garden, many would find a few sprigs sufficient to place them above the cares of life.
St. Petersburg has, in the Casan church, a copy of St. Peter's, and the Hermitage has a copy of Rafaelle's Loggi. They are executed by the best Italian masters in one of the wings built for the purpose by the celebrated architect Guarenghi. These magnificent pictures they place in a more advantageous light than in Rome itself, and they can be better enjoyed here than there. In the passages of the Loggi are displayed some beautiful models in wax and ivory, partly representations of Russian popular life, which every one interested in the study of Russia will contemplate with delight. Among other things there is an exquisitely wrought settlement of Russian peasants in wax. A wooden dweUing-house shaded by birchtrees is seen on the borders of a brook. A fisherman is sitting by the brook, an old bearded peasant is at work in the yard, his daughter is going to the spring, the old mother is before the door feeding poultry. It is a pity this pretty rustic picture is composed of such perishable materials. The treasures contained in the library of the Hermitage, although they appear in the light of day, are yet more buried and concealed than those of the saloons of art. Among other interesting matters may be seen there the whole legacy of Diderot and Voltaire's library ; the books as he used and abused them with his marginal notes in pencil, and the thumb -stains and dogs-ears left by his fingers on the covers.
We have but touched on some of the treasures of this palace, but enough has been said to show that a hermit might boldly renounce the rest of the world if allowed to make his cell here, where half nature and half mankind are offered to his contemplation on canvass, in colour, in marble, glass, and ivory ; painted, chiselled, stamped, woven, and printed.