644

coke’s TRAVELS JN RUSSIA.

Chap. IX.— foirney from Mofcow to Novogorod .— Production of the neighbouringCountry. — Quadrupeds .— Birds.—-Fiji?. — Defcripiion of the Sterlet . — Torjhok.— Vijh-nei-Volofook. — Valdai Hills and Lake . — Bronitza.—Wooden Road.—Further Accountof the Peafants. — Tamjhics , zvho furnifh Pojl-hcrfes.—Songs of the Peafants.

WE quitted Mofcow on the 14th of September, traverfed a gently rifing country,partly open, and partly overfpread with forelts, palled the night at the village ofParlki, in a peafant’s cottage, as ufual, and changed horfes the next morning at Klin,fituated upon the Sellra, a broad rivulet. This village had been lately burnt, and thepeafants were engaged in rebuilding their huts: near it we obferved a faw-pit, which,in this country, was too rare an object not to attradl our notice. Beyond Savidof weeroded a rivulet, and foon after reached the banks of the Volga , which we coalted toGorodna. The next morning the fprings of our carriage being ready to Hart, and oneof the wheels in a crazy date, we left it to the care of our fervants, and hired the cartsof the country, called kibitkas, which we filled with hay. After a confiderable degreeof jolting, we arrived at Tver, which is magnificently fituated upon the elevated banksof the Volga .

Tver * owes its origin to Vlodimir Georgivitch, Great-duke of Vlodimer, who in1182 raifed a fmall fortrefs at the junction of the Tvertza and Volga , to proteft histerritories againft the incurfions of the inhabitants of Novogorod. Afterwards, in1240, the'Great-duke Yaroflaf II. built another citadel on the fpot now occupied bythe prefent fortrefs, and laid the foundation of a new town, which increafing in popula-tion and wealth, became the metropolis of an independent fovereignty, called from thetown the duchy of Tver. Yaroflaf III., fon of Yaroflaf II., and brother of AlexanderNevfki, received this duchy as his inheritance, and tranfmitted the fucceffion to a longtrain of defeendants. The lall fovereign of this line was Michael Borifovitch, whofefilter Maria efpoufed the Great-duke Ivan Vaffilievitch I. Notwithflanding this alli-ance, an open rupture enfued, and in i486, Ivan befieged Tver with a iarge army,and compelled Michael to abandon the town, and retire into Lithuania . On his re-treat, Ivan Vaffilievitch bellowed the town and duchy as a fief on his eldelt fon Ivan,and on his death in 1490, annexed them to his other dominions.

Tver is divided into the old and new town ; the former, fituated on the oppofite fideof the Volga , confilts almolt entirely of wooden cottages; the latter was fcarcely fuperior;but in 1763,being deltroyed by a dreadful conflagration, has rifenwith lultre from itsalhes.The Emprefs ordered a regular plan of a new town to be Iketched by an eminent ar-chitect, and enjoined that all the houfes fhould be re-conltru£ted in conformity to thismodel. She raifed, at her own expence, the Governor’s houfe, the 'Bilhop’s palace,courts of jultice, the new exchange, prifon, and other public edifices; and offered to everyperfon, who would build a brick houfe, a loan of 300]. for twelve years without in-t-ereft. The money advanced on this occafion amounted to 6o,oool. ; and one-thirdof this fum has been fince remitted. The llreets, which are broad and long, iffue ina ftraight line from an oCtagon, in the centre : the houfes are of brick lluccoed white,and form a magnificent appearance. Part only of the new town was finifhed : whencompleted, it will confilt of two oCtagons, with feveral llreets leading to them, and

* See Hifti Geog. Befchreibung dcr Stadt Twer, &c. Journ Pet. for November 1780.

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