the soft limestone of Inkermann had been employed for the purpose, as it rapidly wears away when exposed to the influence of the weather, much sooner than granite and other plutonic stone; and an extraordinarily hard green stone (diorite) could have been procured in the vicinity. Perhaps, however, a softer stone is best adapted to resist bomb-shells. That granite cannot withstand for any length of time our modern missiles, we saw at the capture of Bomarsund.
" On the ground-floor lay the bombs and grenades; I saw the furnaces in which the balls are heated red-hot before they are fired. In the other stories were three batteries, each armed with one hundred and ninety-six guns. Tlie larger guns, 64-pounders, were separated from the rest, and stood in small separate chambers, behind which the space was employed for the chancellerie and similar requirements. The larger casemates contained twenty and more guns, and served at the same time as barracks for the soldiers. I have had repeated opportunities of speaking in terms of praise of the great order and cleanliness in the Russian barracks; but here everything appeared to me even cleaner and more tidy than usual. I was told that a fourth battery would eventually be planted on the roof; this is the case with the two more advanced batteries. These are considerably smaller, and only mount three hundred and sixty guns a-piece."
The drawing shows the upper tier of casemates, the embrasures of which are on the right-hand side; but they are built up, as the place is used as a barrack by the French troops, all the guns having been removed by the Russians before their retreat.
The pillars between each casemate are stoves used for the purpose of ventilation, and are found all over the battery. The bedsteads are Russian ones, which the French have appropriated to their own use.
PUBLIC LIBRARY AND TEMPLE OF THE WINDS.
The public library, erected by the Emperor Nicholas for the use of naval and military ofiicers, was a handsome edifice of Grecian architecture, elegantly fitted up internally, and well furnished with valuable works, principally on military and naval subjects, and with scientific instruments. In niches in the walls were several marble figures; these were interspersed with bas-reliefs, for the most part representing ships; and the inner rooms were reached by a broad flight of marble steps, ornamented on either side with a sphynx. The library stood in the highest part of the town of Sebastopol, and from its position was a prominent object in every direction.
The view from its windows must indeed have been unrivalled for beauty. Beneath them lay Sebastopol, with its chalky cliffs, white houses picked out with green verandahs and blinds, its cathedral, its green-domed churches, its docks, arsenals, and barracks, its casemated forts, its grand and smaller harbours, on whose waters rested tranquilly the mighty ships of war which were to sweep the Euxine of the detested Turk; and further off, the bright blue expanse of that sea itself, so lovely in calm, so terrible in storm. Turning now inland, the gaze would seek the picturesque gorge at Inkermann or the bold form of Cape Aiya, dwelling with delight on the surpassing beauty of the intervening valleys, or plunge deeper into the interior of this lovely land, where the south-eastern mountains rise chain after chain, blending their colours in exquisite harmony, till in the far distance they sink at the feet of the majestic Tchatir Dagh.
What wonder that, beholding the magnificence of the august city whose greatness he had fostered, and the romantic region by which it is surrounded, the late Czar in a moment of paternal pride should have pronounced it " the brightest jewel in his crown," little deeming that while the unfading beauty of the setting should remain for ages the same, the precious gem would, ere a few short years had passed away, be crushed to atoms beneath the iron heel of ruthless war.
The library was set on fire by the Russians when they abandoned the town, and this is the moment the artist has chosen for illustration in this sketch, in which a portion of the defeated army are seen retreating by the light of the flames they had kindled.
The front shown is that towards the sea. All the objects of art collected here which were not destroyed by the fire were removed by the French, and the library is now, like the city on which it once looked down, nothing but a desolate ruin.
QUARANTINE CEMETERY AND CHURCH,
WITH FRENCH BATTERY No. 50.
This was the scene of the two nights' desperate contests which took place between the French and Russians on the 22nd and 23rd of May. The Quarantine Battery, like the Central and Flagstaff Bastions, lost much of
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