"RUSSIA BEFORE THE WAR." (TO THE EDITOR OF THE sescrAToR.-1
SIR,—In your criticism of "Russia Before the War," you have- made a blunder, not unnatural to one not personally intimate-
'with Russian life. On page 208 you find fault with the author for mentioning a Gostinoi-Dvor as in Moscow, rather than in St. Petersburg. I am a native of Russia, and of course per. fectly familiar with the language, though long resident in England. There are Gostinoi-Dvors in all large Russian towns, and certainly one in Moscow, as well as in St. Petersburg.—I
[Like the author of "Russia Before and After the War," our -correspondent has fallen into a very natural mistake. A foreigner who knew St. Petersburg, but had no knowledge, or .only a passing traveller's knowledge, of other Russian towns, would be likely to imagine that because the bazaar of St. Peters- burg is called " Gostinoi-Dvor," therefore all other Russian bazaars would bear the same name. Such, however, is not the fact. The bazaar of Moscow is invariably called " Gorod " (i.e., town). If Dr. Whishaw were to hail a droshky in the streets of Moscow, and order the driver to go to the " Gostinoi-Dvor," the man, unless he had been to St. Petersburg, would not know what he meant. We repeat that the blunder on this point committed by the author of" Russia Before and After the War" is of itself sufficient to prove that he is not what he professes to be,—" a Russian." No Russian could make such a mistake. —ED. Spectator.]
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