Page:The Boy Travellers in the Russian Empire.djvu/283

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THE WEALTH OF THE MONASTERY.
277

their pupils, forty or fifty in all, were busily at work copying from religious subjects of both Greek and Latin origin. They are not confined to church paintings, as we saw portraits of the Emperor and other members of the Imperial family, and several battle-scenes in which Russian arms
SPECIMENS OF ECCLESIASTICAL PAINTING ON GLASS.

have figured. There is a very good painting representing the attack of the Poles upon the monastery, and another illustrating the defence of Sebastopol during the Crimean War.

"The monastery was enormously rich at one time, not only in the treasures it possessed, but in grants of land and serfs which had been given by the Government. In 1764 it had one hundred and six thousand male serfs, and its lands covered many thousands of acres. Though losing its serfs, it has not been without compensation, and the monastery is handsomely supported, partly by an annual donation from the Government, and partly by the gifts of pious Russians."

Doctor Bronson and the youths returned to Moscow in the evening, as