94 feet. The circumference of the pillars which support the dome is 253 feet. The façade is greatly blamed, for two reasons, that it is out of proportion to the building, and that it prevents the dome from being seen from the exterior in its full proportions, and in harmonious combination with the rest of the building. The proportions observed in the interior details of St. Peter's prevent the beholder from being at once struck with its vast size, all the figures of natural objects, as statues of men, being so adjusted to the laws of perspective as to appear of life size. In the tribune or upper end of the nave beyond the transept is the chair of St. Peter. The cost of St. Peter's is estimated to have exceeded £10,000,000. The sale of indulgences to defray it was one of the proximate causes of the Reformation.

PETER'S (SAINT) COLLEGE, Cambridge, was founded in 1257 (charter 1284), by Hugh Balsham, bishop of Ely, for a master and fourteen fellows. By the revised statutes confirmed by the queen in council, 27th August, 1860, the foundation consists of a master, fourteen fellows, and at least twenty-three scholars. The master, who is elected by the fellows, must be a member of the Church of England, a Master of Arts and of Laws, and of some superior degree in the university. The fellows must be graduates of the college, or, at the option of the society, of the university, and British subjects. Three members of the society at least must be in holy orders. A fellowship is not tenable by any one who is in possession of a life income of more than twice its amount, and according to the general rule it cannot be held after marriage, but to this there are several exceptions. Any fellow may within twelve months of his election declare his option of holding his fellowship for a fixed term of twelve years, in which case he is at liberty to hold it for that period without restriction as to marriage. Any fellow who is a professor in the university, and whose income does not exceed £800 a year, may continue to hold his fellowship after marriage. Any fellow who serves the college as tutor, assistant-tutor, or lecturer, may, by a vote of not less than two-thirds of the whole society, be allowed to retain his fellowship after marriage, while he continues to serve in any of these capacities. PETERSBURG, ST., the capital of the Russian Empire, is built on a site chosen by Peter the Great at the mouth of the Neva, which here divides into three main branches-the Great Neva on the south, the Great Nevka on the north, and Little Nevka in the middle. The winding course of the river half incloses a tract of land between the main stream and the Great Neva. On this tract, on the south or left bank of the river, a considerable part of the city is situated; a small portion is on the north bank; and the remainder in the numerous islands formed by the different mouths. These various sections are connected by numerous bridges. St. Petersburg is connected with Moscow, Warsaw, and other parts of the empire by railways, which are also united to the general European system. The town is divided into thirteen quarters; one of the finest is the Admiralty; the Vasilevskoi contains the greater number of the literary and scientific institutions. The islands Aptekarskoi, Krestovskoi, Petrovskoi, and others are almost entirely occupied with summer houses and gardens. The site of St. Petersburg is in many respects unfavourable. It is low and marshy, and the atmosphere is constantly charged with humidity. The heat of summer is succeeded almost without transition by the rigours of winter. The Neva is frozen, on an average, during five months of the year, and in extreme seasons for seven. The shortest day lasts 5 hours 47 minutes; the longest, 18 hours 45 minutes. The town is liable to periodic

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inundations of the Neva, some of which have been formidable. Moreover, the climatic influences of the locality are extremely adverse to the durability of the edifices of St. Petersburg, which is constantly being rebuilt; the excessive humidity disintegrates the stone, and the violent frosts rend it. The insalubrity of the climate is also great. The grandeur and magnificence of the public buildings of St. Petersburg strike the visitor with astonishment, and seen from an elevation the contour of its immense palaces and the gilded domes of its churches form a scene which presents itself to the fancy as a work of enchantment. The streets are long, wide, and straight, and open upon immense squares; the buildings are of colossal proportions, the quays of granite. The defect of the town is the want of a national type. It is a pêle-mêle of foreign and classical architectural notions, imitated without maturity of judgment. The abuse of columns, which are profusely used in all the great buildings, is especially conspicuous. The southern part of St. Petersburg has a lively and bustling aspect; the northern division is remarkable for its quiet and deserted appearance. The spaciousness of the city, which is built on an unusually large scale for the number of its inhabitants, makes the appearance of activity in it much less than it would be in narrower thoroughfares. The greatest thoroughfares are the Square or Place of the Admiralty, the quays of the Neva, and the summer garden. The Nevskoi Prospekt is a magnificent street, nearly 3 miles long, and 130 feet wide. St. Petersburg has upwards of 200 churches; of which more than 160 belong to the orthodox Greek Church, about seven to a schismatic body, six to the Catholic, and fifteen to the Protestant professions. The church of St. Isaac's, the most costly of all, is built on a deep bog, of which the surface has been strengthened by a strong framework of timber. It was begun by Catharine II. in 1770, and had been in process of construction till 1859. It can hardly, however, be said to be finished, as it already shows too evident signs of decay. The granite columns are fissured from top to bottom, and the walls are bent in all directions. Very extensive repairs were made in 1874. It is modelled on the Pantheon of Rome, and is one of the largest churches in Europe. It is entirely formed of granite and Finland marble. Forty-eight monolithic columns of red granite, about 30 feet high, adorn its four peristyles. The gilded cupola is surrounded by four smaller domes at the corners of the roof. The interior is profusely decorated with gold, silver, bronze, marble, and precious stones. Among these are two columns of agate and eight of malachite, each of the latter 40 feet in height. The greater part of this church was pulled down in the reign of Alexander I. and Nicholas, and reconstructed on a new plan. The church of St. Peter and St. Paul, built in 1774, is the last resting-place of the emperors, whose sarcophagi are deposited in vaults under the nave. Like several other churches of St. Petersburg, it is stuffed with military spoils, which give it the appearance of an arsenal. The cathedral of Our Lady of Kazan has an image of the Virgin enriched with precious stones and pearls to the value of £14,000. St. Petersburg contains twelve palaces appropriated to the residence of the emperors, of which eight are built of stone and four of wood, which is largely used in the construction of the town. They present a great variety of style and ornamentation. The old palace of Mikhailhoff, or palace of Paul I., presents, it is said, a rare combination of luxury and bad taste. The interior resembles a prison. The new palace of Mikhailhoff is one of the chief ornaments of the capital. Its lower story is surrounded with Corinthian columns, and its portico, supported by ten columns, is of great elegance. The winter

palace, which was burned down and rebuilt within a year, at the expense of the lives of large numbers of workmen, on the caprice of the Emperor Nicholas, is one of the largest and most luxurious in Europe, but without artistic value. It is the ordinary residence of the imperial family. The court theatre attached to it is of great elegance. The marble palace of Orloff is remarkable for its richness and luxury. The palace of the Hermitage, separated by a narrow street from the winter-palace, with which it communicates by galleries, was built by Catharine II., and is appropriated to a museum, begun from her private collection, and which contains the best collection of pictures in Russia. This collection, containing 2000 pictures, and about as many masterpieces as the principal galleries in other European capitals, is the private property of the emperors. The French, Flemish, and Dutch schools are represented with great completeness; the Italian school is more numerous, but less select; the Spanish school is also liberally represented by about 100 pictures, while the Louvre has only about thirty. The Russian school is only represented by about thirty pictures. There is a colossal statue of Peter the Great, in bronze, in the square called by his name. It is placed on an immense block of Finland granite, which shows deep signs of the disintegrating effects of the climate. There is a monolithic Doric column of granite, 80 feet high, erected by the Emperor Nicholas to the memory of Alexander I. It is also rent and split by the weather. The Academy of Sciences has devised a cement to fill its crevices, by which its duration has been prolonged. The Admiralty, a vast parallelogram of brick, contains a naval museum, a museum of natural history, and a library. Ships of war, built in the docks here, are carried down the Neva to Cronstadt. The arsenal possesses a museum of artillery. The palace of the general staff contains many of the government offices. The senate has a handsome palace in the square of the same name. The custom-house, exchange, and bank are the chief commercial buildings. The fortress of Petropavlovsk, the Russian bastille, is situated near the church of St. Peter and St. Paul. St. Petersburg possesses numerous hospitals and charitable institutions, a university founded in 1819, and numerous special academies. The Academy of Sciences has an extensive museum, embracing numerous departments; and there are several other collections besides the pictorial one already adverted to. The imperial library of St. Petersburg is one of the most valuable in the world. It contains, according to different estimates, from 600,000 to 900,000 volumes, 30,000 manuscripts, and 75,000 engravings. The collection has been drawn | chiefly from the Polish libraries, which were unscrupulously plundered to enrich it, a work which was sometimes intrusted to ignorant agents. The library of Warsaw arrived in an extremely dilapidated condition There is a story that the Cossacks intrusted with its transportation sawed through the folios which were too large to go into their cases. The library of

the Academy of Sciences and that of the Hermitage has each over 100,000 volumes. Out of 120,000 volumes the latter contains only 10,000 in the Russian language. St. Petersburg has four theatres, one for Italian opera, one for Russian opera and comedy, one for Russian and German plays, and one for French and German.

The mortality of St. Petersburg is nearly the highest in Europe; the death-rate uniformly exceeds by some thousands the birth-rate. The trade of St. Petersburg is said, in amount, to be about half that of the whole Russian Empire. The Neva is only approachable for about seven months in the year; but a considerable part of the trade is conducted by railway, so that exact statistics of imports and exports are unattainable. There are glass-works, sugar-refineries, cotton-mills, breweries, and manufac tures of tobacco. There are also several government manufactures besides those connected with military and naval equipment, as a carpect manufactory, modelled on that of the Gobelins at Paris; a glass and porcelain manufactory, which is said to be unable to maintain itself against private competition.

St. Petersburg was founded by Peter the Great in 1703, when he had just wrested its site from the Swedes. The forced construction of a city in a site apparently forbidden by nature cost the lives, according to various accounts, of from 100,000 to 200,000 peasants, collected from all parts of the Russian Empire to perform the necessary labours. Even in 1724 the various groups of houses were separated from each other by marshes, and the town was surrounded by forests and deserts. The senate was transferred to St. Petersburg in 1714. The fortress and the admiralty had already been built. The Czarina Anna definitely removed the court to St. Petersburg, which from this time grew rapidly. The winter-palace was built by Elizabeth. The quays and numerous palaces and monuments were constructed by Catharine II. Commercial prosperity, due to the centralization of an autocratic government, likewise shone upon the new capital; but the system of railways having relieved Moscow from its isolation, the main motive for the transference of the capital has ceased to exist, and the restoration of Moscow to its former position, or even the choice of a new capital, has been repeatedly considered. Should such an event happen, of which there is no immediate probability, but which might be brought about suddenly by the caprice of a new czar, the natural disadvantages of St. Petersburg would tell heavily against it, and its decline might be as rapid as its rise. St. Petersburg has suffered from serious inundations in 1752, 1777, and 1824, and from a great fire in 1862. Pop. (1869), 667,026.

PETERSFIELD, a parliamentary borough in England, county of Hants, 23 miles E.N.E. of Southampton; with a fine equestrian statue of William III., a town-hall, a church, a college for boarding and educating boys, and a National school. It sends one member to Parliament. Pop. in 1871, 6104.