The town is not poor in other collections of art and science. Many private persons possess good collections of pictures, among which, those of Count Medem and Baron Ropp are particularly worthy of note. The most important library of the country belongs to the Gymnasium lUusfre, and contains 25,000 volumes. This gymnasium was founded by the last duke of Courland. Many learned and clever men, as Sulzer, Beutler, Schulze, have been professors there, and the lectures on law and theology are well deserving of attention. The Hbrary is particularly rich in these branches, and in history. As the gymnasium is richly endowed, and its teachers well remunerated, important men are still sometimes attached to it. The gymnasium of Mitau is in every respect one of the most important educational establishments of the Russian empire. The gymnasium itself is one of the best houses in the town, which is not rich in handsome buildings. The most distinguished edifice is the castle, the old residence of the Courland dukes. This castle, an extensive gigantic building, in the style of Versailles, lies on an island surrounded by the arms and canals of the Aa. It was built a hundred years ago by the powerfid favourite, Biron, who by Russian influence became duke of Courland ; it was inhabited by two dukes, was almost entirely destroyed by a fire in the year 1788, was rebuilt, and became subsequently an asylum for the fugitive king, Louis XVIII. It now serves as a residence for the chief ofiicers of the city, and apartments are reserved for the members of the imperial family, whenever they may happen to pass through Mitau.
The poorest and most miserable inhabitants of Mitau are the Jews, four or five families of whom often live " cubbed up" together in a damp dark cellar, and lead a life which it is difficult to think worth preserving, yet to which they cling as if it were a costly jewel.
The life of the German citizens of Mitau is easy and luxurious ; indeed, it is said that luxury has gained quite too much ground of late among tliem, and has weakened their old hospitality, good temper, and cheerfidness. Their forefathers, it is said, were far merrier over two dishes and without wine than their descendants at their luxurious banquets ; and it is also said to be impossible for any host to satisfy the desires of modern guests — that, in short, if things go on thus, the whole hospitality of the country wiU soon be bankrupt. On this point, however, the stranger wiU be comforted by finding many pretty castles in different parts of Courland, where no n arrow - hearted niggardliness towards guests can be complained of, and where whole suites of rooms will be allotted beforehand to the expected visiter. Respecting the first complaint, of the degenerate luxury of the good citizens of Mitau, a document in the ducal archives shows that this complaint is by no means a new one. It is dated 1591, and, after deprecating the luxurious and extravagant excesses of the Mitau citizens, decrees, among other things, that for the future, " besides cheese and butter, only three dishes shall be used at weddings ;" that at the wedding of a Eathsninnn no more than sixty guests shall be present ; at that of a citizen no more than forty; of a mechauic no more than thiity ; and at that of a serf no more than twenty. Also, " that no citizen or Rathsmann shall eat more than three meals a day, and that no meal shall consist of more than tliree courses." Also, i^t ^^ wo Rathsmann shall wear satin or velvet, and no citizen silk ; that the wife of a Rathsmann may wear a velvet bodice, but not an embroidered one," &c.
The environs of Mltau have few pleasing features. Though its citizens are not confined in Avails and ramparts, for its suburbs gradually lose themselves in the open coimtry, yet the inhabitants keep as strictly within the town, as if they were besieged by a hostile army. If sandy wastes, dreary deserts, and snow storms are enemies, they are indeed almost the whole year in a state of blockade. Mitau is not surrounded by pleasant villages and gardens ; immediately without its gates begin the wide domains of the Bene posscssionati, and the castles and mansions of the nobility follow one another as in the interior of the country, except that they are closer to each other than in other parts of Courland. On the right hand a morass, on the left a marsh, then flat sandy wastes or sandhills raised into waves and undulations by the wind ; here and there a few firs or beechtrees ; — far and wide a barren wilderness ; such all around the mouth of the Dvvina, reaching from Mitau to Riga, and to the sea, is the country which is daily traversed by the Mitau diligence.