and glorious Russia." St Petersburg he considered "the finest city
in the world" {109a} other European capitals were unworthy of
comparison. The enormous palaces, the long, straight streets, the
grandeur of the public buildings, the noble Neva that flows
majestically through "this Queen of the cities," the three miles long
Nevsky Prospect, paved with wood; all aroused in him enthusiasm and
admiration. "In a word," he wrote to his mother, "I can do little
else but look and wonder." All that he had read and heard of the
capital of All the Russias had failed to prepare him for this scene
of splendour. The meeting and harmonious mixing of East and West
early attracted his attention. The Oriental cultivation of a twelve-
inch beard among the middle and lower classes, placed them in marked
contrast with the moustached or clean-shaven patricians and
foreigners. In short, Russia gripped hold of and warmed Borrow's
imagination. Here were new types, curious blendings of nationalities
unthought of and strange to him, a mine of wealth to a man whose
studies were never books, except when they helped him the better to
understand men.

Another thing that attracted him to Russia was the great kindness
with which he was received, both by the English Colony and the
natives: to the one he appealed by virtue of a common ancestry; to
the other, on account of his knowledge of the Russian tongue, not to
speak of his mission, which acted as a strong recommendation to their
favour. On his part Borrow reciprocated the esteem. If he were an
implacable enemy, he was also a good friend, and he thoroughly
appreciated the manner in which he was welcomed by his countrymen,
especially the invitation he received from one of them to make his
house his home until he found a suitable dwelling. To his mother he
wrote: