one of Napoleon's generals. A great many keys of towns and fortresses are exhibited, and the church has somewhat the appearance of an arsenal. From this church the students walked to St. Isaac's, in the square of the same name, a large, open space, flanked by some of the finest public buildings and monuments in the city. On this spot Peter the Great built a wooden church, in 1710, which gave place to another, built by Catharine I. The present edifice was commenced in 1819, and consecrated in 1858. The ground is swampy, and the piles which were driven to support the foundation cost a million dollars--enough to build a dozen substantial churches in any city in America. It is in the form of the Greek cross, with four grand fronts, which are similar to that of the Pantheon at Paris, with columns sixty feet high and seven in diameter, of highly-polished Finland granite, of a reddish hue. The dome is nearly like that of the Capitol at Washington, and is gilded, so that it is a "shining mark" for a great distance. On the four corners are smaller bell-towers, each containing several bells, though such a thing as a chime is unknown in Russia. Externally, this church is one of the grandest and most beautiful in the world. The walls of the interior are covered with marble, and are adorned with pictures of the saints, decked with gold and precious stones, before which are the circular stands for the offerings of candles. Near the door is an official, who is authorized to sell these candles to worshippers. As in all the Russian churches, the _ikonostas_, or altar-screen, is the most prominent object, which is almost covered with the gilded plates which form the raiment of the holy persons, with spaces cut out to exhibit the faces, hands, and feet of the painting. Before the principal saints elaborate lamps are suspended, which are lighted during service. In the screen are three doors, the double ones, in the middle, being "the royal gates," so called because the emperor passes through them at his coronation. On each side of them is a pillar of lapis lazuli, set on iron columns, the two costing sixty thousand dollars. The doors are of bronze, of very elaborate construction. The space behind the screen, which occupies about one eighth of the interior of the church, is the altar, in which stands a small round temple, with eight columns of malachite, eight feet high, the material for which cost a hundred thousand dollars. This temple is really the altar, the shrine of the church, in which are placed a richly-bound volume, called the "Gospels," a gold cross used in the service, the vessel for the sacred elements, and the silk in which they are placed when consecrated. Behind the altar, on the window, is an immense painting of Christ.