The Banquet-Hall.

In The Tsar's Palace.

Yet Peter was a man of noble impulses. Soon after his recovery from the illness caused by his carousal, he beheld a vessel full of soldiers and sailors helplessly drifting at the mercy of the winds and waves, and driven toward the shore. With his accustomed heroism, he hurried to their rescue. All night long he stood in the icy water to his waist, and with his own hands saved the lives of twenty men. But this exposure brought on an inflammation, which rapidly developed dangerous symptoms. Peter does not appear to have been well treated, for a celebrated Dutch physician, on learning the facts in the case, exclaimed, " Merciful Heavens!

The Painting Of Peter.

Up The Neva, From Palace Bridge.

Was it possible to allow that great man to die, when he might have been cured by a pennyworth of medicine ?" Still, in those hours when pain appeared his sole connecting link with earth, he characteristically strove to give another world to Russia; for it was then that the navigator Bering received from Peter's hand those orders, which were to extend his empire across the body of water known as Bering's Strait, from Siberia into Alaska.

Although the Tsar fought against his anguish like a dying Hercules, the pain became at last so intense as to wring from him frightful shrieks and groans. Finally, unable to articulate, he motioned for a slate on which to write his will. It was a thrilling moment! The fate of millions hung upon his signature. He seized the pencil and scrawled three words only, " Give all to," -then his hand dropped upon the bed.

Cruel caprice of destiny! The autocrat whose slightest wish was a command, the man whose prominent characteristic had been his unexampled power of volition, had died without a will.

Fifteen miles from St. Petersburg, and easily reached by the first railroad ever built in Russia, is Tsars-Koe-Selo, one of the summer homes of the imperial family. Catharine II. loved this place especially, and spent enormous sums upon its embellishment. Its lovely park is eighteen miles in circumference. Upon its pretty lake were formerly several swans, of which the youthful daughter of the Tsar Nicholas was very fond. This child died at an early age, and, ever since, the white swans which she loved have been replaced by black swans, as though they were in mourning for their young mistress. In a pavilion adjoining the lake is hung the portrait of this little Princess, and beneath it is one of her childish sayings, which startles us when we think it referred to the despotic ruler, Nicholas. It is this, " I know, Papa, that you have no greater pleasure than that of making Mamma happy."

The Tsar S Bedroom.

The Lake.

Tsars-Kok-Selo.

Beyond the lake, a pretty river winds through the park in graceful curves, with numerous bridges of fantastic and beautiful designs. This garden of Tsars-Koe-Selo is one of the most beautifully kept enclosures in the world. On account of the severitv of the Russian climate, its trees and flowers have to be watched and cultivated with the utmost tenderness. Catharine II. used to say, "In Russia we have not summer and winter, but only a white winter and a green winter." An invalid soldier here commands an army of five hundred gardeners. After each falling leaf a veteran runs, and every spear of grass is carefully drawn from lake and river. The cost of this lavish care amounts, it is said, to fifty thousand dollars a year; but the result is a park that is kept in the order of a ball-room.

In The Park.

Entering the palace, we found a display of the same extravagance that formerly characterized its outer walls. One beautiful apartment is called the "Chinese" room, because much of its furniture and decorations are modeled after the styles of the Celestial Empire. Another is the hall of " Lapis-Lazuli," the sides of which are beautifully inlaid with that rare stone; while the floor is of ebony, adorned with mosaic flowers made of mother-of-pearl. Still another is called the " Amber " room, because its walls are literally covered with that precious substance. Even the chairs in this apartment are made of amber, and amber chessmen stand on an amber board.