Opposite the great bell is the little palace, in which Nicholas sometimes lived, and in which the present emperor was born. One of the rooms contains a number of loaves of bread presented to the emperor on his visits to the city. When the sovereign arrives at Moscow, it is the custom for the chief magistrate to present to him a silver salver, on which are a gold vessel filled with salt, and a loaf of bread, requesting him to taste the bread of Moscow. The emperor nibbles the loaf, and invites the official to dine with him in the palace. By this time the Cathedral of the Assumption was open, and the party entered. It does not conform to the idea of a cathedral in other countries, for it is rather contracted in its dimensions. It is crowded with pictures and shrines. On the screen is a picture of the Holy Virgin of Vladimir, which the visitor is informed was painted by St. Luke, adorned with jewels to the value of over two hundred thousand dollars. On the other side is the shrine of St. Philip, the patriarch of the church, who had the courage to say to Ivan the Terrible, "As the image of the Divinity, I reverence thee; as a man, thou art but dust and ashes," and who was finally murdered at a monastery in Tver by Ivan's order. His tomb is in this church, which also contains the remains of other holy men. Behind the altar-screen there is a gold model of Mount Sinai, in which is a gold coffer to contain the Host, the whole worth about a quarter of a million dollars. Under it are deposited some of the most important state papers, including the Act of Succession, decreed by Paul I., the abdication of Constantine, and similar documents. Belonging to the cathedral is a Bible, presented by the mother of Peter the Great, weighing a hundred and twenty pounds, the cover of which is studded with precious stones, worth nearly a million dollars. [Illustration: ROYAL PALACE, MOSCOW. THE TEMPLE OF THE SAVIOUR, MOSCOW. MOSCOW PHOTOGRAPHS.]