University of Virginia Library

“If some writers, from the minute accuracy of their details, have
been likened to such painters as Mieris and Jan Steen, Mr. Kohl's work
is nothing less than the daguerreotype itself. He has given us St. Petersburgh
by winter and by summer, by day and by night; with its Neva,
canals, quays, markets, shops, houses—each swarming with its respective
population, not stiffly drawn as if sitting for their picture, but caught
in full life and movement, song, laugh and talk hit off in every shade
and grade of mind, habit, speech and costume, under every aspect of
feasting and fasting, buying and selling, driving and walking, idling,
smoking, teaching and learning, baptizing and burying; and all with a
truth and vivacity which would be impossible to surpass.”

“There is a healthy love of nature in these volumes, a quick, manly
observation, a sincere and inquiring spirit, what we call an English
feeling for old and homely associations; much that pleases by its hearty
good sense, and nothing that teases by its alarming profundity.”