of count Piper, who became thereby his first minister.

Soon after his accession, the kings of Denmark and Poland, and the czar of Muscovy, formed a powerful confederacy against him, encouraged by the mean opinion they had of his youth and abilities. He made head against them all; and besieging Copenhagen, he dictated the peace of Thavendahl to his Danish majesty, by which the duke of Holstein was re-established in his dominions Charles, who had never in his life, before this siege, heard a general discharge of muskets loaded with ball, asked major Stuart, who stood near him, what the whistling which he heard meant. "It is the noise of bullets," replied the major, "which they fire against your majesty."—" Very well!" said the king;-"This shall henceforth be my music."

The czar Peter was at this time ravaging Ingria, at the head of 80,000 men; and had besieged Narva. The army of Charles did not exceed 20,000 men. But such was his impatience, that he advanced at the head of 8000, entirely routed the main body of the Russians, and raised the siege. Such were his successes, and so numerous his prisoners, that the Russians attributed his actions to necromancy.

Charles from thence marched into Saxony, where his warlike atchievments equalled, if they did not excel those of Gustavus Adolphus.

He dethroned Augustus king of Poland, and raised Stanislaus, one of his favorite Swedish nobles, to the Polish crown. His name carried with it such terror, that he was courted by all

1

the princes of Europe; and among others, by the duke of Malborough, in the name of queen Anne, amidst the full career of her successes against France.

His stubbornness and implacable disposition, however, were such, that he cannot be considered in a better light, than that of an illustrious madman; for he lost, in the battle of Pultowa, which he fought in his march to dethrone the czar, more than all he had gained by his victories. His brave army was ruined, and he was forced to take refuge among the Turks at Bender. His actions there, in attempting to defend himself with 300 Swedes against 30,000 Turks, prove him to have been worse than frantic. The Turks found it, however, convenient for their affairs to set him at liberty.

But his misfortunes did not cure his military madness; and after his return to his dominions, he prosecuted his revenge against Denmark, till he was killed by a cannon-shot, as it is generally said, at the siege of Fredericshall in Norway, belonging to the Danes, in 1718, when he was no more than thirty-six years of age.

It has, however, been supposed, that Charles was not, in reality, killed by a shot from the walls of Fredericshall, but that a pistol, from some nearer hand, from one of those about him, gave the decisive blow, which put an end to the life of this celebrated monarch. This opinion is said to be very prevalent among the best inform ed persons in Sweden. And it appears that the Swedes were tired of a prince, under whom they had lost their richest province, their bravest

troops, and their national riches; and who yet, untamed by adversity, pursued an unsuccessful and pernicious war, nor would ever have listened to the voice of peace, or consulted the internal tranquility of his country.

No prince, perhaps, ever had fewer weaknesses, or possessed so many eminent, with so few estimable or amiable qualities, as Charles XII. Rigidly just, but void of lenity; romantically brave, but blind to consequences; profusely generous, without knowing how to oblige; temperate without delicacy; and chaste, without acquiring the praise of continence, because he seems to have been insensible to the charms of the sex; a stranger to the pleasures of society, and but slightly acquainted with books; a Goth in his manners, and a savage in his resentments; resolute even to obstinacy, inexorable in vengeance, and inaccessible to sympathy, he has. little to conciliate our love or esteem. But his wonderful intrepidity and perseverence in enterprize, his firmness under misfortunes, his contempt of danger, and his enthusiastic passion for glory, will ever command our admiration.

CHAP. LXXVII.

Of Peter the Great of Russia.

IT would far exceed the bounds prescribed to this work, to give even a summary detail of this prince's actions. I must content myself

with giving a general view of his power, and the vast reformation he introduced into his do minions.

At a very early period, he associated himself with the Germans, for the sake of their manufactures, which he introduced into his dominions; and with the Dutch, for their skill in nav. igation, which he practised himself. His inclination for the arts was encouraged by his favorite Le Fort, a Piedmontese; and general Gordon, a Scotchman, disciplined the czar's own regiment, consisting of 5000 foreigners; while Le Fort raised a regiment of 12,000, among whom he introduced the French and German exercises of arms, with a view of employing them in curbing the insolence of the Strelitzes.

Peter, after this, began his travels; leaving his military affairs in the hands of Gordon. He set out as an attendant on his own ambassadors. His adventures in Holland and England, and other courts, are too numerous to be inserted here. By working as a common ship carpenter, at Deptford and Saardan, he completed himself in ship-building: and through the excellent discipline introduced among his troops by the foreigners, he not only over-awed or crushed all civil insurrections, but all his enemies on this side of Asia; and at last he even exterminated, excepting two feeble regiments, the whole body of the Strelitzes.

He rose gradually through every rank and service both by sea and land; and the many defeats which he received, especially that from Charles XII. at Narva, seemed only to enlarge

his ambition, and extend his ideas. The battles he lost rendered him a conqueror on the whole, by adding experience to his courage. The gen erous friendship he shewed to Augustus, king of Poland, both before and after he was dethroned by the king of Sweden, redounds greatly to his honor. He had no regard for rank distinct from merit; and he at last married, by the name of Catherine, a young Lithuanian woman, who had been betrothed to a Swedish soldier; because, after long cohabitation, he found her possessed of a soul formed to execute his plans, and to assist his counsels. Catherine was so

much a stranger to her own country, that her husband afterwards discovered her brother, who served as a common soldier in his armies.

But military and naval triumphs, which succeeded one another, after the battle of Pultowa with Charles XII. were not the chief glories of Peter's reign. He applied himself with equal assiduity, as I have already mentioned, to the cultivation of commerce, arts, and sciences. As he had visited England and Holland, in the early part of his reign, to acquire a knowledge of the useful arts, he made a journey into France, in 1717, in order to become acquainted with those which are more immediately connected with elegance. A number of ingenious artists, in every branch, allured by the prospect of advantage, followed him from France, to settle in Russia; and on his return to Petersburg, he established a board of trade, composed partly of natives and partly of foreigners, in order that justice might be impartially administered to all. One French