language, to buy what the people thought we stood most in need of; thus to myself, who had only a loose English cloak on, they addressed a pressing invitation to enter their shops, for they were sure I wanted a thick wadded kaftan to keep me warm; while my friend, who walked by my side, like one who feels that his toes are pinched with cold, and had only thin boots on to guard him against the ice on which we trod, was strenuously urged to take shelter under one of the shades, and get himself a pair of the "best and cheapest galoshes in the universe." The crowd was excessive, and we were actually shoved from one place to another as we made our way through it; hence the nickname of Tolkoutchoï, or the shoving-market. There is another sobriquet given to it, which I may be excused repeating; as it refers to a branch of insectology by no means agreeable to study.. There were a very few females among the buyers, and none among the sellers. The motley multitude seemed made up of Armenians, Greeks, Tartars, Calmucks, and many Russians; the latter of whom, particularly the young men, as I had remarked also in other parts of the capital, have fine and pleasing countenances. Here, as well as every where else in St. Petersburgh, with one or two exceptions, you must bargain hard. We entered one of the small shops, about eight feet square and seven feet high, in which there were a great many books displayed, in order to purchase some memento of my visit to this singular market. The shop was kept by a quick and sprightly boy, who asked me three roubles (2s. 6d.) for a small treatise on caligraphy, (spocobb Derjanïa pera,) containing eighteen pages of engraved copy, which he let me have, at last, for sixty kopeeks (6d.) This practice is very general abroad, and to be deprecated, inasmuch as it occasions a considerable loss of time: but to assume it at once, as some English travellers have done, as an infallible mark of a disposition to cheat is preposterous. Usage has sanctioned the practice, and as every body is aware of it, the purchaser contents himself with making

as low an offer for the article as the seller's demand for it is high; and both are therefore quits. I certainly did not expect to find in this miserable abode, among the old and well-thumbed volumes that lined the shop, some of the works of Voltaire, in Russian; fancy the locality for such a philosopher; nor was I less surprised when I was told that a poor looking devil, half in rags and unshaven, who had come in after us, and had held a short converse with our young shopkeeper, had inquired for "Les Amours du puissant Chevalier Amadis de Gaul," in the Russian language!

From this extraordinary place we made our way to the Ovoschnoï Rynok, or fruit-market, which, even at that season of the year contained some tempting and choice articles, such as large water-melons, pine apples from the interior of the empire, Astracan grapes, &c. Oranges are also found here in abundance, which are purchased in the English market and shipped for Russia. So many skippers are eager to arrive first at St. Petersburgh with their cargoes of that delightful fruit and of lemons, in the spring, that they scarcely find payment for their freight. It is stated that a chest of four hundred lemons has upon such occasions been purchased for eight or nine shillings. The bird-market is next to the fruit-market. It is divided into two large and long avenues of shops: in the one, living birds of almost every description are exposed for sale; in the other, poultry and dead game are sold. The Russians are very fond of live birds, even when they are not of the singing species. It is curious to see several thousand large and small red cages hanging in triple rows on the outside of about eighty shops, on each side of the avenue, containing a vast variety of the feathered tribe; nor is it uninteresting to reflect how they can live exposed to such a degree of cold, the temperature being at the time about twenty-five degrees of Fahrenheit. In a part of each cage a small quantity of snow was placed, which is said to be necessary to keep them alive.

In returning home, my attention was arrested by a man carrying partly under his arm, and partly fastened round his waist, a brass jar, carefully enveloped with flannel bandages, and having a spout with a brass cock at its upper end. He appeared to be distributing to the passengers some hot liquor in tumblers, which he kept in a species of trough affixed in front of his dress, and covered by a short apron. "That is a Sbitenstchick," said my friendly conductor, "and what he sells is the Sbitene, a national drink, to which the lower classes are very partial." I approached the fellow, and had a glass of his nectar; he was about to plunge a large red pimento into the glass, previously to pouring out the sbitene, such being the practice in general; but I felt satisfied without that addition. The charge for such a draught was a two kopeek piece, for which he also gave me the information that it was made of eighteen pounds of honey, with fifty croushkis, (quarts)

of hot water.

This mixture, to which pepper is added by some, is drunk hot, with the further addition of boiling milk, which the sbitenstchick carries about with him, in another good-sized vessel. The taste of the sbitene is agreeable, and with milk, not unlike that of very sweet tea. I understand that in summer the same liquor is sold iced, and in great quantity. The man presented so original a picture, that I thought it might not be amiss to introduce a sketch of him in this place. Kvass, mead, or hydromel, of a different species from sbitene, honey and cranberry juice, both of them fermented, are some of the other national beverages which I frequently noticed dealt out by traffickers in the street, to the lower classes. I have already mentioned another kind of drink, peculiarly national, called the kislistchi: this, however, is not so much sought after as kvass, which latter is drunk commonly by all classes of persons, and in the best families, and is made in the following manner:-plain rye-meal, twenty pounds; rye-malt, ten pounds; barley-malt, three pounds; mix the two species of malt together, with a sufficient quantity of tepid water, in a glazed earthen vessel, to the consistency of a liquid paste; cover it, and let it stand for an hour. Pour afterwards some warm water over the mixture, and add gradually the rye-meal, taking care to stir it at the same time, so as to form a homogeneous paste, which should be softer than that usually prepared for making bread. The vessel is then covered, and the edges cemented with bread paste all round. It is then put into an oven at the temperature generally observed when bread is half baked, where it remains till the following day: the oven is then fresh heated, and the vessel once more replaced in it. On the third day, the vessel is removed, and the paste diluted with eight pails of cold water from the river, stirring it constantly at the same time with a large wooden spoon; the whole quantity of liquor is poured into a barrel, already containing a sufficient quantity of leaven,

stirred well for some minutes, and set aside in a place of moderate temperature. As soon as the first froth appears on its surface, the barrel is carefully closed, and carried to the ice-house, or cold cellar, for two or three days, at the end of which it is in a fit state for use. Some people add to the above ingredients half a pound of mint and two pounds of wheaten and buck-wheat flour, which are said to improve the taste, and to increase its effer

vescence.

The Russians have a tolerably good sort of beer, (pivo,) which is commonly drunk, and resembles the German beer. But, at the tables of the great, English bottled porter is considered a luxury. Spirituous liquors, however, seem to be the rage among the lower classes; and, unfortunately, there is no lack of means for procuring them. The present government revenue from the sale of brandy, amounts to sixty-seven millions of roubles, according to the statements contained in the Moskofsky Telegraph. There is an open kabak at the corner of every street, ready to receive the situbund and the idle, who, for a few kopeeks can burn their throats and their digestive tubes to their heart's content. I expected more outward and visible tokens of popular drunkenness, from what I had read of St. Petersburgh, than I actually observed: and yet I walked in the evening very frequently, in preference to riding, and certainly met much less interruption from drunkards than I have in London, when trudging to some humble dwelling at night, to carry professional succour to the patients of charitable institutions. The cheapness of gin has certainly worked a wonderful change in this respect in London, particularly among the lowest classes of women, so many of whom are constantly to be seen going into, or emerging from, gin-shops, in a state of inebriety in which I never once saw a Russian female during my stay in St. Petersburgh. No one can better ascertain such a fact than the physician of a large Dispensary. I cannot be