1800.] Anecdotes of Commercial Citaes.*. 0

prietór generouſly leaves opeñ to the public. It is a thing very uncommon, to ſee three ſuch conſiderable towns as Hamburghz;- Altona, and Wandſbeck, ſituate ſo nearly together. Of Germans eriinent in the fine arts, Hamburgh may boaſt that 1t poſſeſſes KLorSTOCK and SCHROEDER.- Among the eminent Frenchmen reſident here are thè LAMÉTHS, with ſéveral others of high diſs tinétion in literature; but Altona is; in preference‘to Hambutgh, thé favourite place of teſort for theſe E“dava

Moscow 1snearly 50 Engliſh milés 1 circumference, 1t-conz tains 53 principal-ſtreets; with 482 ſmaller ones. It has twelve gates, and over the rivers Moſcöwa ahd Janſa, and the brook Neglinnaja, which paſs through 1t, are three-añd-twenty bridges Its ordinary population amounts to about the humbtr ot-200,609 ſouls;‘and the nobility, with thew families and’ domeſtic ſervants, who ſpend only half the year in Moſcow, may be 100,000 mores The air 1s highly ſalutary, on account of the elevation of the ground on which the city ſtañds, the dryneſs of the ſoil, and#s northern latitude. The purity and lucid ſerenity of the atmose ſphère in wintér, aretruly delightful; beyond what 1s poſible tor the inhabitants of the warm cliimates&Æf the South to 1magine. May of‘the inhabitants of Moſcow live to a great age: ep1ide- mical diſeaſes are rare, and are very ſeldom fatal. On a very lofty ſituation, in the midſt of the city, ſtands, the KREML og Caftle:- The proſpedtt from it is ſingularly fſtränge, intereſting, añd magnificent; you hear the noiſe of the carriages-on the ſtreets, breaking on your ear like thunder: you” behold a medley of ſumptuous palaces, and miſerable cottages: òn the windings Æ the Moſcowa, appear innumerabie boats, and‘other ſmall veſſels z where the country extends away from the ſhelving banks of this river, you ſee hills of fair and pi&ureſque aſpett,. and the gilded ſpires of ſtately Gothic monaſteries.‘The ancient palace of the Czars, is anóther of the objets which fill up the ſcene before you: it is not magnificent; but its 1dea 1s aſſociated in the mind with all that is illuſtrious in the earlier hiſtory of Ruffia. The artizans and merchants occupy, each claſs or pro- feſſion, a particular ſtreet, or quarter of the city. The Exchange is a noble and magmficent building. The Sclavoman College tor inſtruGion in the Greek and Latin languages, is one of the mot intereſting obje&ts in one quarter of the city, its preceptors and ftudents ſhew more of etudition, than of taſte or true ſcience: But it is thé ſéminary from which proceed the moſt uſetulinſtruc- tors iù theſe parts of the empire; and the illumination of modern knowlèdge is gradually piercing‘even theſe ſhades. Themarket for birds, and ſuch other animals as are the domeſtic playthings of frivolous luxufy, is here better filled, than in any other great town known to Europeans, with animals for ſale, withhaggling dealers, and with-buyers, who fcruple noôt to pay the molt ex- travagant prices for the objets whica âttra&t theis fäncy.