draughts, the space between the two sashes is usually adorned with artificial flowers: indeed, the fondness of the Russians for flowers and green leaves during the winter is remarkable. The corridors are converted into greenhouses, by means of trelliswork covered with creepers. The windows of many of the apartments are encircled by evergreens, and in the drawingrooms, flower-stands form the principal ornaments. At the same time enormous sums are paid for bouquets from the hothouses which abound in both the capitals. Doubtless the long winters have some share in the production of this passion for flowers and green plants, just as love of country is increased by exile, and love of liberty by imprisonment. There are generally at least two heavy snow-storms by way of warning before winter fairly commences its reign. The first fall of snow thaws perhaps a few days afterwards, the second in about a week, the third in five months. If a lady drops her bracelet or brooch in the street during the period of this third fall, she need not trouble herself to put out handbills offering a reward for its discovery, at all events not before the spring; for it will be preserved in its hiding-place, as well as ice can preserve it, until about the middle of April, when, if the amount of the reward be greater than the value of the article lost, it will in all probability be restored to her. The Russians put on their furs at the first signs of winter, and the sledges make their appearance in the streets as soon as the snow is an inch or two thick. Of course at such a time a sledge is far from possessing any advantage over a carriage on wheels; but the Russians welcome their appearance with so much enthusiasm, that the first sledge-drivers are sure of excellent receipts for several days. The droshkies disappear one by one with the black mud of autumn; and by the time the gilt cupolas of the churches, and the red and green roofs of the houses, have been made whiter than their own walls, the city swarms with sledges. It is not, however, until near Christmas, when the 'frost of St. Nicholas' sets in, that they are seen in all their glory. The earliest frosts of October and November may or may not be attended to without any very dangerous_results ensuing; but when the frigid St. Nicholas makes his appearance-staying the most rapid currents, forming bridges over the broadest rivers, and converting seas into deserts of ice -then a blast from his breath, if not properly guarded against, may prove fatal. However, foreigners alone are afraid of him. He is the Russian's best friend. Of the Russian peasant he is not only the patron saint, but also the real benefactor. He is the greatest engineer in the country, and does more in the department of roads and bridges in a single night than the notoious Kleinmichel did in the whole course of his ministry. But when he approaches you, you must not go out to meet him otherwise than in a garment of fur, or the disrespect may be visited upon you with severity. This is the sole return he requires for his services in enabling you to receive the veal of Archangel and the beef of the Steppes, which can only be transported in winter along his excellent roads. The Frozen Market is one of the most curious in Moscow, which abounds in markets of a curious kind. . . . But none of these markets are so strikingly Russian as the Frozen Market. It is not until the fête of St. Nicholas-or later still, the week between Christmas and the new year-that this strange exhibition is to be seen in all its glory. By that time the severe period of winter has fairly set in. The soldiers, tall, stalwart men, are wearing their long grey coats over their heavy knap, sacks, which bulge out and make them look like so many hunchbacks; while the broad black bandages which protect their ears and cheeks give them the appearance of persons suffering from toothache. The cold has indeed had some effect upon them; for as they march in from the country, their raw faces are as red as beef, and their frozen moustaches as white as horseradish. Every moujik with his long and literally snowwhite beard looks like an allegorical figure of winter. The blackest horses are now piebald, thanks to the hoar-frost which has decorated their sides; while the congelation of their breath round the long hairs that project from their nostrils adds to the peculiarity of their appearance, and furnishes them with a set of spikes such as calves wear in weaning time. But although the drivers and horses of the sledges, as they hurry towards the market-place, form a by no means uninteresting part of the exhibition, their loads, when taken out and arranged with a view to sale, present a picture which is far more striking. On one side you see a collection of frozen sheep-stiff, ghastly objects-some poised on their hoofs like the wooden animals in a child's 'Noah's Ark ;' others on their sides, with their legs projecting exactly at right angles to their bodies; others, again, on their backs, with their feet in the air, after the manner of inverted tables. The oxen are only less grotesque from having been cleft down the back-an operation which seems to take them out of the category of oxen and place them in that of beef. The pigs are drawn up in line against a wall, standing on their hind-legs with their forefeet extended above their heads, in an attitude of exhortation. Among the poultry and game, the hares are especially remarkable, from the fact that their fur, which through the summer is either brown or grey, has at the approach of winter turned completely white-a provision of nature which enables the Russian and Siberian hare to travel through the snow in quest of food with a certain amount of impunity, though for all that it never fails to be represented at the winter markets of Moscow and St. Petersburg. The partridges, quails, grouse, heathcocks, woodhens, &c. are lying together in a frozen mass; and by their side are the ducks and geese, with outstretched neck, so straight and stiff that you might take one of these harmless birds by the bill, and, using it as a bludgeon, knock your enemy down with the body. The fowls have been plucked, plunged into water, and left to freeze. Thus they are completely encased in ice, and in that condition will keep for any time. And to think that Newton* wished to satisfy himself by experiment that fowls could be so preserved, and that the experiment cost him his life! What would a moujik think of such a philosopher? Besides game of every kind, not only from the neighbouring governments, but even from Finland and Siberia, the markets of St. Petersburg and Moscow are supplied with fish from every sea and river in the empire. Lomonossof, the earliest Russian poet, the author of the first Russian dictionary, and one of the most celebrated chemists and natural philosophers the country ever produced, made his first appearance in St. Petersburg with a sledge-load of fish from the White Sea, where his father gained his living as a fisherman. The Black Sea and the Caspian also contribute largely. The Don sends its sturgeons, after the roe has been duly extracted for the purpose of making caviar; and the Volga its rich, oily, yellow-fleshed sterlet, invaluable for fish-soup. The presence of the sterlet is the more welcome in the winter markets from the fact that this delicately-organised and exquisitelyflavoured fish will only live in the water of the Volga. But in winter there is no necessity for it to live at all after it has once been caught, as it can be conveyed in its frozen state to the extremities of the empire without losing any of its freshness, or any very perceptible amount of its taste. The mode of catching fish in the winter is simple enough: a hole is made in the ice, and the fish rush to it for the sake of the air. Then, in the case of the sturgeons of the Don, the Cossacks of that ilk' harpoon them; while elsewhere the smaller fish, equally in want of air, precipitate themselves in the nets that await them, and thus get, if not out of the fryingpan into the fire, at least out of the ice into the frying-pan. Another peculiarity of the Frozen Market is, that it takes place in the middle of an improvised wood-a wood which suggests the forest in 'Macbeth,' and which is composed entirely of evergreens for Christmas trees. Beneath the shade of *This is stated of Bacon, who caught cold while stuffing a fowl with snow in order to try this experiment.-ED, this portable thicket are sold brooms, wooden spades for clearing away the snow from before the houses, and the handsledges in which servants and shopmen draw their parcels through the streets; for it would be out of the question to carry anything at all heavy or cumbersome when by such simple means it may be pulled with ease along the slippery ground. Nor must I forget the itinerant vendors of suckingpigs, who start from the Frozen Market with whole litters of the interesting little animals, not much larger than guineapigs, hanging from their necks and waists; nor the dealers in dried mushrooms, who string those leathern delicacies together like pieces of brown paper on the tail of a kite, and wear them in garlands about their sheep-skinned persons. A similar kind of pedlar is to be found in the man, who is hung all over with chains and rings of thin whity-brown bread-doubtless a friend to the owner of the tumbler and tea-urn, who walks about the commercial quarter and sells hot tea to the bearded and caftaned merchants. MENSURATION. (1) How much carpet, 3 qrs. wide, would be required to cover the floor of a room 15 ft. 6 in. by 22 ft., and what would it cost at 3s. 9d. per yard? (2) What would be the cost of papering the above room, the height being 12 ft.; allowing for two doors, each 3 ft. by 6 ft. 6 in., and two fireplaces, each 5 ft. by 5 ft., at 3d. per square yard ? (3) What would the glazing of eighteen sash-frames cost, each containing 16 squares 10 in. by 12 in., at 24d. per foot? (4) What would be the cost of flagging a triangular yard, the base being 29 ft. and the perpendicular 17 ft., at 2s. 4d. per square yard? THE BATTLE OF CORUÑA. " ON the 16th of January 1809, at two o'clock in the afternoon, twenty thousand French veterans opened this battle against fourteen thousand British, who, having but nine six-pounders to oppose to a numerous light artillery, were also galled by eleven heavy guns on the rocks; and soon that formidable battery opened the fight with a slaughtering fire, sending its bullets crashing through the English ranks from right to centre. Then the columns of infantry, throwing out clouds of skirmishers, descended from their strong ridge to the fight. Those coming from Palavia and Portosa, having some distance to march, did not immediately engage, but the third dashed at once against Elvina, and there was the stress of battle; the picquets were driven in heaps out of the village, and when that was passed the French mass divided, one portion advancing against Baird's front, the other turning his right by the valley, where it was only opposed by the screen of light troops. Sir John Moore sent the 42nd and 50th Regiments against the half column at Elvina, and wheeling back the 4th Regiment on the extremity of his right, poured a fire into the flank of the mass penetrating by the valley, where it was also stoutly opposed by the light troops, and soon abated of its vehemence in attack. Then the English general knew that his adversary's whole force and order of battle was unfolded. No infantry menaced the valley from where the French cavalry stood, and the number in front showed that no body of strength for mischief was behind those heights: it was evident that Soult offered a close rough trial of arms, without subtlety, trusting to the valour of his veterans. Eagerly the gallant Moore accepted the challenge. The moment for his counter-stroke had arrived, and at once he called up Frazer's division in support of Paget, giving the latter, who was previously well instructed, the signal to descend into the valley. The French column on his flank being thus provided with opponents, he turned to observe the progress of the fight at Elvina, for as yet the battle had but slightly touched his centre and left. The 42nd and 50th had driven the enemy back into the village, and the last-named regiment, entering the streets with the repulsed disordered mass and giving no respite, forced it through, and broke out, still fighting, on the other side. To support this advance the general now sent a battalion of the Guards down, whereupon the 42nd, thinking it a relief and not a reinforcement, retired, with the exception of the grenadier company. Some confusion thus occurred, the village was not occupied, and the 50th, still accompanied by the 42nd grenadiers, were engaged without support beyond the houses, their array being quite broken by stone enclosures and the disorder of the street fight. At that critical moment the French were strongly reinforced, retook the offensive, and forced the regiment back into Elvina, having killed beyond it the second major, Stanhope, a nephew of Mr. Pitt, and made prisoner the commanding officer, Major Napier, known since as the con |