to remark that there are a variety of Circassian or other princesses in Petersburg equally desirous of fair barter; and, time and opportunity presenting themselves, I have no doubt that the field for the bric-à-brac hunter is vast and full of treasures.

But there is another and most interesting locale to which I have not yet alluded. I must describe it in detail. It is termed "Vshyvio-Rynok," or in plain English, the "Louse Market."

During the year 1862 the whole of this immense market was destroyed by fire. The tremendous conflagration may be readily conceived when I state that the place was entirely composed of wooden buildings, for the most part filled with combustible matter, ranging from valuable pictures and furniture to old rags, tar, oil, and pitch. The fire commenced at 4 P.M., and was burning till the midday following. During this tremendous fire property of all kinds was ruthlessly cast into a canal; thus books, china, pictures, silk, eastern shawls, and objects of untold value, were destroyed and lost for ever; and what had been one of the richest and most interesting places of the city was

H

in a few hours converted into one vast smoking heap of ashes. It was, indeed, a perfect wreck. Here and there casks of nails, pots, pans, and copper zamovars, or Russian tea-urns, were all melted up together; in another part, where crockery and china merchants had exhibited their wares, plates and dishes by the dozen were consumed en masse, so intense was the heat. A portion of one dozen I have now in my possession. It was, indeed, a sad scene of ruin and destruction. Scarcely anything was saved. Splendid Sèvres, Dresden clocks of great value, and bric-à-brac collected for years in every mart in Europe and the East, jewels, Cashmere shawls, Lyons silk-all one heap of ashes.

The original market-which was as old as the city-was, in fact, simply a bazaar of great extent, in which were exhibited for sale articles from the world at large, and in which every purchaser, from the highest to the lowest, could suit himself on reasonable terms.

Although much fair dealing doubtless takes place there, I will by no means answer for the

fortunes that were and are dishonestly made. In Russia it is possible that stolen goods may be received from a thief with impunity. At all events I have witnessed the purchase by a dealer of a choice article of china for a few roubles, which I have almost immediately secured for double the sum paid, with the knowledge that I still became the owner cheaply. It was not for me to inquire from whence or whither it came, but the appearance of the vendor, who gladly received the trifle given for it, convinced me it was no heirloom.

Hours have I passed with much interest and amusement in the old as the modern market, bracing my nerves against the severity of a Russian winter's day, or overcome by the heat of summer; but when does the keen hunter give up his game, whatsoever may be the element he has to contend with? And as regards these markets or bazaars, if such they may be called, there is little difference, save that articles of real value day by day become more scarce, and their price greatly augmented both to buyer and seller. No doubt but that many precious objects of Sèvres, Wedgwood,

Dresden, and Vienna porcelain, of unmistakable beauty and age, and bearing pure marks, still find their way into the dealers' hands for a few roubles, and are sold for hundreds; how obtained, I will not venture to assert; and neither the buyers nor the sellers give themselves any trouble to ascertain. However, the old saying, "I got this or that for nothing," is no longer heard; and whenever a beautiful unbroken group, or a rare cup and saucer is met with, lucky the hunter who obtains it at any reasonable price. There was a time not long ago, say about the year 1859, when I had the good fortune to become the possessor of two Wedgwood vases of extreme beauty, and several plaques of unrivalled chasteness, for a price. for which scarcely one, even if found, could now be purchased. My knowledge of the value of these lovely specimens was then very far from being that which experience and constant practice have since given me.

I will close these recollections of my hunting days in the city of the Czars with a trifling anecdote, only indirectly connected with Petersburg,

it is true, but which will not be without interest to those for whom these pages are more particularly written.

Being in Naples many years since, among numerous other articles of bric-à-brac, I became the possessor of a specimen, which, though greatly in doubt, I had much reason to believe was a Palissy dish. My belief in its genuineness arose from the fact of its great similarity to a dish I had previously seen in a first-rate collection, and from my knowledge of its having been many years in the possession of a highly respectable Neapolitan family; on the other hand, doubts were suggested to my mind by its extreme beauty and brightness of colouring, the remarkable clearness and admirable representation of the shellfish and fern-flowers with which it was adorned, and by the delicacy of its outline, which is not always characteristic of the old specimens of that remarkable labourer in the field of ceramic art. Moreover, the price for which I obtained it was about the tenth part of its value if it had really been formed by the artistic hands of Palissy. It