On either side the superb granite quays, that give solidity to the point of the island, divide the majestic river into two mighty arms, in which it flows in calm power to the right and left. Stately flights of granite steps lead down to the river. On the space before the building two massive " Columnce rostratse," above a hundred feet in height, and decorated with the prows of ships cast in metal, have been erected to the honour of Mercury. These columns are hollow ; and on the summits, which are reached by a flight of iron steps, are gigantic vases that are filled with combustibles on all occasions of public illumination. The erection of the whole, including the quays, occupied nearly twelve years, from 1804 to 1816, a most unheard-of period in St. Petersburg, where a copy of St. Peter's at Rome was " got up in two years," and a new imperial palace rose from its ashes in eleven months. The great hall of colossal proportions is lighted from above. At either end and on both sides are spaces in the form of arcades : in one of the first stands an altar, with lamps constantly burning, for the benefit of the pious Russian merchants, who always bow to the altar, and sometimes even prostrate themselves, on their entrance, to implore the favour of aU the saints to their undertakings. The blue or green modern frock-coats of the worshippers form as curious a contrast with their long patriarchal beards as the altar itself with its steps covered with an elegant Parisian carpet, and its hideous age-blackened image of a saint, which none would venture to modernize any more than they would attempt to put the razor to the Russian mercantile chin.
Among the foreigners forming part of the mercantile body the Germans are the most important, from their great numbers and the amount of business carried on by them. Vassili Ostroff, where they have whole lines of fine houses, and w^here almost every house of pubHc entertainment and every shop has a German name over it, may be looked upon as a commercial colony of Germany. The first houses in St. Petersburg are English or German, the second rank is comxposed almost exclusively of the latter ; some of them date their establishment from the infancy of the city. The tone of society in these houses is extremely agreeable. Without losing their nationality, the Germans have not disdained so much as the English to mingle with the Russians ; and their solidity of character and mental cultivation show to great advantage, in a setting of Russian suppleness of demeanomand northern hospitality. The English form a colony apart yet more than the Germans, who have many Russian subjects among their body, wliile the former remain always the " foreign guests," who in time of peace share the privileges of the natives without partaking of their biu-dens. They call their body the St. Petersburg Factory. They have their own church, and live secluded among themselves, despising all. other nations, and more particularly their hosts, the Russians ; driv.e English equipages ; hunt the bear on the shores of the Neva, as they do the tiger on those of the Ganges ; decHne taking their hats off to the emperor ; and, looking down on all men, boast of their own indispensableness and their invincible fleets. They are, however, held in high consideration by the government and every one else — perhaps because they esteem themselves so higlily. The English inhabit chiefly the magnificent quay that bears their name, where, however, many opulent Russians also possess handsome liouses.