A Journey to St Petersburg And Moscow Through Courland And Livonia

arva, and the fall of the Narova?night-scene on the river Laga?system of territorial banks?arrival at St. Petersburg. Notwithstanding the constant intercourse between Riga and St. Petersburg, the diligence goes only once a week. It is, therefore, always full; and as, at this season more especially, owing to the bad state of the roads, it is a mode of conveyance chosen even by those who usually travel in their own carriages, the stranger should not lose a moment in securing his seat. I was fortunate in my fellow-travellers. Among the rest, we had the pastor Sarae, a Lutheran priest of Moldavia, so far on his way to solicit the FELLOW TRAVELLERS. 31 protection of the emperor for his church. This he would, no doubt, readily obtain; for the Russians, like the ancient Romans, unite in a remarkable degree, the extremes of tolerance and superstition. There was, also, M. Hartung, a German, whose business in the metropolis was to teach the Guards to shoot. He had invented a very simple machine, by means of which an officer, standing behind a soldier about to fire, can direct his aim with unfailing accuracy. M. Hartung considered that a few lessons given in this manner would be worth half a lifetime of practice in the ordinary way; and the emperor seems also to have judged favourably of the plan, having bestowed a pension and an order upon the inventor. Hartung was a gunsmith, and is a simple, peaceable man, with no more thought of blood in his mind than an angler ...