Great Novgorod, according to Mr Coxe, is one of the most ancient cities in Russia. It was formerly called Great Novgorod, to distinguish it from other Russian towns of a similar appellation; and now presents to the attentive and intelligent traveller a striking instance of fallen grandeur. According to Nestor, the earliest of the Russian historians, it was built at the same time with Kiev, namely, in the middle of the 5th century, by a Slavonian horde, who, according to Procopius, issued from the banks of the Volga. Its antiquity is clearly proved. Novgorod proved by a passage in the Gothic historian Jornandes, in which it is called Civitas Nova, or new town. We have little insight into its history before the ninth century, when Ruric the first great duke of Rusia reduced it, and made it the metropolis of his vast dominion. The year subsequent to his death, which happened in 879, the seat of government was removed, under his son Igor, then an infant, to Kiof; and Novgorod continued, for above a century, under the jurisdiction of governors nominated by the great dukes, until 979, when Svatolaf, the son of Igor, created his third son Vladimir duke of Novgorod: the latter, succeeding his father in the throne of Rusia, ceded the town to his son Yaroslav, who in 1036 granted to the inhabitants very considerable privileges, that laid the foundation of that extraordinary degree of liberty which they afterwards gradually obtained. From this period Novgorod was for a long time governed by its own dukes: these sovereigns were at first subordinate to the great dukes, who resided at Kiof and Volodimir; but afterwards, as the town increased in population and wealth, they gradually usurped an absolute independency. Its independency, however, was not perpetual. It continued, indeed, in a flourishing state until the middle of the 15th century: but the great dukes of Rusia, whose ancestors had reigned over this town, and who still retained the title of dukes of Novgorod, having transferred their residence from Kiof to Volodimir, and afterwards to Moscow, laid claim to its feudal sovereignty; a demand which the inhabitants sometimes put off by composition, sometimes by resistance, but were sometimes compelled to acknowledge. At length, however, the great duke became absolute sovereign of Novgorod, though the ostensible forms of government were still preserved. It even then, however, continued to be the largest and most commercial city of Rusia; a proof of which we have as late as the year 1554, from the following description of Richard Chancellor, who passed through it in 1554 in his way to Moscow. "Next unto Moscow, the city of Novgorod is reputed the chiefest of Rusia; for although it be in majesty inferior to it, yet in greatness it goeth beyond it. It is the chiefest and greatest mart town of all Muscovy; and albeit the emperor's seat is not there, but at Moscow, yet the commodiousness of the river, falling into that gulf which is called Sinus Finicus, whereby it is well frequented by merchants, makes it more famous than Moscow itself." An idea of its population during this period, when compared with its present declined state, is manifest from the fact, that in 1568 above 15,000 persons died of an epidemical disorder; more than double the number of its present inhabitants. In its most flourishing condition it contained at least 400,000 souls. Its ruin was brought on by Ivan Vasilievitch II. and completed by the foundation of Peterburgh. The present town is surrounded by a rampart of earth, with a range of old towers at regular distances, forming a circumference of scarcely a mile and a half; and even this inconsiderable circle includes much open space, and many houses which are not inhabited. As Novgorod was built after the manner of the ancient towns in this country, in the Asiatic style, this rampart, like that of the Slavonogorod at Moscow, probably enclosed several interior circles. Without it was a vast extensive suburb, which reached to the distance of six miles, and included within its circuit all the convents and churches, the ancient ducal palace and other structures, that now make a splendid but solitary appearance, as they lie scattered in the adjacent plain.

Novgorod stretches on both sides of the Volkof, a beautiful river of considerable depth and rapidity, and somewhat broader than the Thames at Windsor. This river separates the town into two divisions, the trading part, and the quarter of St Sophia, which are united by means of a bridge, partly wooden and partly brick.

NOVGOROD Veliki, a province of Muscovy, bounded on the north by Ingria; on the east by part of the duchy of Belozero, and that of Tuera, which also bounds it on the south, with the province of Rzva; and on the west by Plefcow. It is full of lakes and forests; however, there are some places which produce corn, flax, hemp, honey, and wax.

NOVGOROD Serpikoi, a strong town of the Russian empire, and capital of a province of Siberia of the same name, seated on the river Dubica, in E. Long. 33° 20'. N. Lat. 52° 30'.