supposed to blow out the devil; some of the hair is cut off, waxed, and thrown into the font. The service very much resembles the Roman Catholic; it is read in the Slavonian dialect. A great deal of Gregorian music is introduced in it. Confession is a most important doctrine. At the sacrament they have five loaves: one for our Saviour, one for the Virgin, and three for the saints. The one for our Saviour is dipped in wine, and eaten in small pieces. A curious practice' is observed at their burials. A piece of paper is put into the hands of the deceased, it being a prayer for the remission of voluntary and involuntary sins. In the thirteenth century Genghis Khan, with his wild hordes, poured down on the country, spreading desolation and terror all around. The Tartars maintained their footing till the fifteenth century, when Ivan Vasilwitch expelled them; but still the Poles and Swedes remained formidable enemies. In 1689 Alexis, the father of Peter the Great, made a treaty with Sweden, and now we enter on the era of the iron man who wielded the sceptre with such consummate skill and power. Amid the horrors of bloodshed he is ushered into our notice. Feodor, his half-brother, was dead. The capital was in the utmost confusion. All eyes were upon his beautiful and profligate half-sister Sophia. The Strelitz, eager to place her on the throne, rushed to the palace. A fearful massacre ensued, many of the officers of state and members of the royal family being murdered by the soldiery, who in loud tones demanded the brothers Ivan and Peter. Concealed in her apartments, the Czarina heard the cries and tumult without, and, feeling all hope gone, seized her child, resolving to make a desperate effort to save him. By a side en VOL. XXV.-NO. CXLV. trance she escaped from the palace, with the boy in her arms, and, nerved with a supernatural strength, which nothing but despair could give, she ran for her life, and in this manner accomplished sixty versts. Hearing behind the yells of her pursuers, and knowing they were rapidly gaining ground, faint and foot-sore, she saw before her the convent of the Holy Trinity, and thither she bent her weary footsteps. The sanctuary-door was open, the vesper bell was ringing-into the sacred precincts she entered, and had barely time to cast her boy on the altar and throw herself at its base -'Oh, save the mother and the child!'-when the murderous band arrived. Triumphantly they advance to the altar with arm upraised. The foremost of them prepares to sever the head of the babe from his body. Shrieks from without arrest the blow, and divert his attention. Is the tide of battle changed?' He pauses-he listens -a deathly clam comes over him -he rushes from the church, leaving the child unharmed. The rest, appalled, retire, and Peter is preserved to Russia. As we study profane and sacred history, we cannot fail to observe how those who are destined to exercise a great influence over nations are frequently miraculously preserved from some great danger in their infancy. We might cite Cyrus the Great, who but narrowly escaped the jealousy of Astyages, and was saved by a shepherd; Moses, found by Pharaoh's daughter in the bulrushes; and even the Saviour nearly fell a victim to the Herodian slaughter. To return to our hero. His weak brother Ivan was proclaimed king, and afterwards Peter, being declared joint sovereign, was crowned in 1681. The ambitious Sophia, being secretly determined to go D vern, managed to remove Peter, in whom she perceived the dawning of genius, to an obscure village, where she trusted he would fall into bad ways, and so enfeeble both his mind and body. We may truly say the vices of his life may be referred to his early education, and that his virtues were all his own. Shut up in this wretched hamlet, the mind of Peter turned round for some amusement, and how to pass the weary hours away.' Léfort, secretary to the Danish ambassador, was then in the neighbourhood. He was a curious character, and a very clever man, with a wonderful gift for languages: he had been trained in the first instance for a commercial situation, but being totally unfitted for it, and fortunately gaining the friendship of the Danish ambassador, he was appointed his secretary. This was just the sort of man to delight Peter; his vivacity, his extensive knowledge, together with his powers of discernment, entranced the mind of the young Russian prince, and the friendship thus formed lasted all his life. How in after years, when he had become the beacon star of Europe, he must have looked back on those merry hours when he and fifty young companions played at mimic soldiery. The little band erected fortifications, wheeling the earth for the entrenchments in a barrow made by Peter, who went through all the gradations of the service, beginning as a drummer. The village soon became a military school; his friends were the pupils of a system; they exercised and armed with punctuality, discipline was strictly maintained, and little skirmishes were made on the outskirts. Gradually, the bounds of their exploits becoming too confined, they spread over a whole district. Surrounded with regal state at Moscow, Sophia laughed at the boy of fifteen, not perceiving how profound and varied were his pursuits, till at length she was awakened to a sense of it, when she found him married at the age of seventeen to Eudosia, daughter of General Lapuchin, mother of the unfortunate Alexis. We next hear of his quelling an insurrection of the Strelitz and punishing the leaders of it with sanguinary violence. Although of so hard a nature, he was not free from nervous affections. His horror of water was so great that the sight of a rivulet threw him into a cold perspiration. To overcome this weakness he made a practice of going into a cold bath every morning undoubtedly very good for his constitution. To a mind ever on the alert for improvement, no incident passed unnoticed, and his love for the military life having been fired, we find his naval taste kindled by a comparatively trifling incident. One morning, walking with Zimmerman in the garden of Imaeloff, which had been a favourite residence of his father's, he was attracted by the wreck of a small English boat on the lake, and he inquired of his companion in what respect it differed from those lying in the river. Zimmerman explained it was in the application of the sails.' 'Send for a clever workman, and have it repaired,' exclaimed Peter. Brandt, being deemed most skilful, arrived. Peter watched him eagerly, and then getting into the boat, sailed it himself on the lake. This circumstance convincing him that foreign nations were more advanced in civilization than his own people, he made a tour through Livonia, Prussia, and the north of Germany into Holland, where he surpassed the expectations of his friends by engaging himself to a shipbuilder at Saar dem as a common workman, and we contemplate the prince who had millions at his command living on the wretched stipend it afforded. His companions, from their comfortable house close by, smiled on him. To this day the hovel in which he lodged is called Peter's hovel. Proceeding to England, he was well received by William III. and Mary, and studied in the arsenal at Deptford. He was going to Venice, the glorious City in the Sea,' when news reached him of the revolt of the Strelitz, and obliged him to return. Now with sorrow we see this great man clouding the very outset of his career by an act of sanguinary violence. How far greater would he have been if these desolating crimes had found no place in his history! Order being restored in the capital, in mad indignation he caused two thousand to be put to death after the most exquisite tortures, himself taking part in the execution, and compelling the nobles to assist him. Seated on his throne, with stern looks, he surveyed his mandate executed; and then, inflamed with the grapes of Bacchus, he rose from table with the deleterious cup in one hand and the axe in the other, and pledging himself to twenty successive draughts, he smote off twenty successive heads. Enough -the axe, gibbet, and wheel were in constant activity for five successive months, and Sophia, appalled and horrified, retired into a convent, where she died in 1704. Peter the Great was not the only comet of the 17th century. Its commencement had been heralded in by Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, and in the distance we hear the roar of the Norwegian Lion, Charles XII., while the crafty and polished Louis XIV. sat on the throne of France, with his entourage of art and wit, fanning himself successively in the smiles of La Vallière, Montespan, and Maintenon; the honour of the fleurs de lis being sustained by Turenne and Colbert. Alike in all was the love of power, but in Peter and Charles lay the combative talent in all its strength, and these stars are now to meet in their orbit and dispute, hand to hand, and sword to sword for empire. Charles XII. had already unfurled his standard and led on his troops to victory; indeed his successes had been such as to alarm Europe, and caused Russia, Denmark and Poland to enter into an aggressive union. Poland, so long a subject of contention, at length kindled the torch. Disturbances with regard to the succession had been going on for some time; Charles XII. supported Stanislaus, whereas the allies were for Augustus. It is not my intention to enter on this subject. I shall merely remark that the cruelties practised by Charles excited Peter to use strong expressions against his rival. Charles forthwith threw down the gauntlet, and sending word to Peter that he would meet him at Moscow, prepared for action. 'My brother Charles wishes to play the part of Alexander, but he shall not find in me a Darius,' exclaimed the Czar. Defeats and contretemps awaited him; undauntedly he retired, reorganized his army, saying, the Swedes will have the advantage of us for a time, but they will teach us how to conquer them.' Having achieved some successes, he drew up before Marienburg, which surrendered. Here we must halt a few minutes, and introduce our readers to the Livonian girl called Martha. She had been married the previous day to a serjeant in the Swedish army, and came before the Russian general, Bauer, bathed in tears, deploring the death of her husband, who had perished in the mêlée. Struck with her appearance, he took her under his protection, and shortly after she attracted the notice of Peter. He made her his wife, and he had never reason to repent of his choice. What Goethe found in his Christiana, that Peter found in his Catharine, a faithful partner of his joys and griefs. 'Bright as the day, and tender as the eve.'. Short, square, and dumpy, she had no particular outward charm to recommend her; indeed when on a future occasion she accompained her husband to Berlin, the haughty Empress of Russia sneered inwardly at the little homely body as she stood by the side of the tall, powerful Czar. Voltaire remarks, the union of royalty with a poor stranger captured amidst the ruins of a pillaged town is an accident which the most marvellous combinations of fortune and merit never produced before or since in the annals of the world.' The next object Peter achieved was the occupation of the shores of the Neva. Having taken the fortress of Kantyr on the Carelian side, he established himself on a marshy island covered with brushwood, inhabited by a few fishermen, and not very distant from the embouchure of the river. It was called Lust Eland, or Pleasure Island, and was apparently ill adapted for the destinies which afterwards surrounded it. On this spot Peter laid the foundation of St. Petersburg, the sister city of Byzantium and Venice. No stone was to be had in the neighbourhood, and the materials of which the citadel was built were derived from the ruins of the works at Nianshantz; it was completed in five months, the soldiers being obliged to carry the earth in the skirts of their coats or in bags made of shreds and matting. Before a year had elapsed 30,000 houses and huts of different descriptions were erected, and from the wood of the forests of Kostroma and Volgoda arose St. Petersburg. With great danger and labour he succeeded in erecting the fortress of Cronstadt close by. In the meantime Charles XII. at the head of about 45,000 men had crossed the frontier; and Peter, seeing he was determined to make Russia the theatre of war, conceived the masterly idea of drawing him on, and laid all the country waste between Dnieper and Smolensko. As Charles advanced, Peter retired. We will not follow the ambitious Charles through this badomened march. His army, enfeebled by fatigue and hunger, without a guide, and in an enemy's country, had to make its way through bleak solitudes, straggling forests, sandy deserts and forlorn morasses; and his crowning fatal mistake of falling back on Ukraine, vainly thinking that the Cossacks would support him, having secured the friendship of Mazeppa, their chief, drove all hopes from the breasts of his soldiers. We will bear our readers at once to the field of Pultowa, and witness the plain flooded with blood and strewed with foolish carnage,' and all to gratify the ambition of one man. For two hours the battle raged with fury. The slaughter was dreadful; 9224 Swedes were slain; that of the Russian force was comparatively small. Charles, being disabled by a wound from mounting on horseback, was borne in a litter. One of the bearers being shot by a cannon ball, another was provided; in the meantime the king was hoisted on the pikes of his men. Peter's clothes, hat, and saddle were pierced by several shots, and three horses were killed, during the action, under Prince Menzikoff. Both monarchs commanded their armies. The war-horse is neighing, 'The cannons are pounding, Strike for the Czar !' Charles, seeing his men falling on either side, and the tide of victory hopelessly against him, fled to Benda, where he remained for some time a refugee under the protection of the Grand Vizier. Peter begged him to return, but could not persuade him. Charles made another fruitless effort to retrieve his lost fortunes, and finally, at the siege of Fredericshall, received his death wound. Peter, thinking to follow up his advantages, made an expedition into Turkey, but not being conversant with the topography of the country, he was nearly surrounded by the Turks at Pruth, and had it not been for the counsel of the little homely woman, who never left him in camp or palace, defeat would have tarnished his late military renown. Catharine per suaded him to come to terms with the Vizier, and by handing over her crown jewels, an agreement was made, and the Russians retired. After this he made another trip to Hamburg, Berlin, Lubeck, and Amsterdam and Paris. And now, from the roar of the cannon we will turn to the dark tragedy enacted at St. Petersburg. Alexis, the ill-fated son of Eudosia, had long incurred the resentment of his father. Of a tall and commanding appearance, he was looked up to by a nation among whom colossal stature was particularly esteemed. Around him he had collected associates who plunged into every sort of vice and licentiousness; he openly opposed the reforms of his father, and fearing his displeasure, left the country. Peter discovering his retreat at Naples, ordered him to return, promising forgiveness if he did so; on the other hand threatening him with the most dreadful curses if he refused. Alexis, relying on his promises, returned, and had barely arrived before he was surrounded, and imprisoned; and then began a most painful ordeal, which was carried on for five months. Peter daily visited him, and working on his weak mind, prevailed on him to accuse himself of the most dreadful crimes, and to name all the friends who were in any way implicated. He then nominally consulted the priests and nobles what course to pursue; they, in awe of his power, pronounced sentence of death against Alexis, and Peter, in spite of his previous protestations, confirmed it. Seated in a prison at Moscow by a dim light, we see the unfortunate prince hearing the sentence from the lips of his father, who actually mingled his tears with his. The door opens, and a vial is handed to the monarch, who pours out the contents and proffers them to his son as a soothing draught. He then retires. Alexis raises to his lips the poisoned cup, he drinks, convulsions of the most dreadful nature follow, and before morning he lies a corpse. Peter gave out that the news that sentence of death had been passed upon him had operated fatally on his feeble constitution. Hitherto Archangel had been the Liverpool of Russia, but Peter caused the trade to be removed to St. Petersburg, commerce with the Baltic was opened, and a fleet formed at Astrachan on the Volga. He also made an expedition against Persia, which country was |