PETER I

PETER I. justly styled Peter the Great, czar, and afterwards emperor, of Russia, founder of the Russian empire; for though the country was well known, and of great antiquity, yet it had no extent of power, of political influence, or of general commerce, in Europe, till his time. He was born in 1672; and was proclaimed czar when but ten years of age, in exclusion of John his elder brother, who, being of a sickly constitution, was at the same time very weak in his understanding. The princess Sophia, his half-sister, made an insurrection in favour of John; and to put an end to the civil war, it was at last agreed that the two brothers should jointly share the imperial dignity. Peter had been very ill brought up, not only through the general defects of the Russian education, but likewise through the arts of the princess Sophia, who surrounded him with every thing that might stifle his natural desire of knowledge, deprave his mind, and enervate it with pleasures. Notwithstanding this, his inclination for military exercises discovered itself in his tenderest years. He formed a company of 50 men, commanded by foreign officers, clothed and exercised after the German manner. He entered himself into the lowest post, that of a drummer; and never rose otherwise than as a soldier of fortune. Herein his design was to teach his nobility, that merit, not birth, was the only title to military employments. He reinforced his company with several others, till at last he had got together a considerable body of soldiers. As he then had no war on his hands, he exercised them in all sorts of mock engagements, and by this means secured to himself a body of well-disciplined troops. The fight of a Dutch vessel, which he had met with on a lake belonging to one of his pleasure-houses,

made such an impression on his mind, that he conceived the almost impracticable design of forming a navy. His first care was to get some Hollanders to build some small vessels at Moscow; and he passed two successive summers on board English or Dutch ships, which set out from Archangel, that he might instruct himself in every branch of naval affairs (A). In 1696 czar John died, and Peter was now sole master of the empire. In 1698 he sent an embassy to Holland; and went incognito in the retinue, and visited England, as well as Holland, in order to inform himself fully in the art of ship-building. At Amsterdam he worked in the yard as a private ship-carpenter, under the name of Peter Michaelof; but he has been often heard to say, that if he had never gone to England, he had still remained ignorant of that art. In 1700 he had got together a body of standing forces, consisting of 30,000 foot; and now the vast project he had formed displayed itself in all its parts. He opened his dominions, which till then had been shut up, having first sent the chief nobility of his empire into foreign countries to improve themselves in knowledge and learning. He invited into Russia all the foreigners he could meet with, who were capable of instructing his subjects in any manner, and offered them great encouragement to settle in his dominions. This raised many discontents; and the despotic authority he exerted on that occasion was scarcely powerful enough to suppress them. In 1700, being strengthened by the alliance of Augustus king of Poland, he made war on Charles XII. king of Sweden. His first ill success did not deter him; for he used to say, I know that my armies must be overcome for a great while; but even this will at last teach them to conquer. He afterwards gained considerable advantages; and founded Petersburg in 1703. In 1709 he gained a complete victory over the Swedes at Poltava. In 1712 he was inclosed by the Turks on the banks of the Pruth; and seemed inevitably lost, had not the exarma Catherine bribed the grand vizir. In 1716 he made a tour through Germany and Holland, and visited the royal academy of sciences at Paris. It would be endless to enumerate all the various establishments for which the Russians are obliged to him. He formed an army according to the manner of the politest and most experienced nations; he fitted out fleets in all the four seas which border upon Russia; he caused many strong fortresses to be raised after the best plans; and made convenient harbours: he introduced

(A) The following circumstance, it is said, in some measure determined Peter to attempt those reformations which he afterwards accomplished. Great events have been sometimes the effect of little causes; and it is at least possible, that without the occurrence we are going to relate, Russia might still have been in a state of barbarism. A young Genevese, called Le Fort, about 1695, went to Moscow with the Danish ambassador. The czar Peter, who was then 19 years old, fell in company with this Genevese, who had soon learnt the Russian tongue, and spoke almost all the tongues of Europe. Le Fort ingratiated himself with the prince, entered into his service, and soon afterwards into his familiarity. He made him comprehend that there was a different manner of living and reigning from what had unhappily obtained throughout his vast and miserable empire. A prince must be born with an uncommon greatness of soul to listen readily to a stranger, and to be able to divest himself of the prejudices of a throne and of his country. The czar was sensible that neither himself nor his people were yet to be reckoned among men; and that he had an empire to form, but could have no assistance at home. From that time he took a resolution to leave his dominions; and set out, like another Prometheus, to borrow celestial fire for animating his countrymen.

arts and sciences into his dominions, and freed religion from many superstitious abuses: he made laws, built cities, cut canals, &c. &c.; was generous in rewarding, impartial in punishing; faithful, laborious, and humble; yet was not free from a certain roughness of temper natural to his nation. He had indeed cured himself of excess in drinking; but he has been branded with several other vices, particularly cruelty. He published the unfortunate history of his son Prince Alexis (B); towards whom some blame his severity, while others think it no more than was necessary. He perfectly knew the honour due to persons of merit; and not only heaped honours upon them during their life, but gave them marks of esteem even after their death. He died of the strangury in 1725, and left the world with the magnanimity of a hero and the piety of a Christian.

Peter was tall of stature, and of a bold and majestic aspect, though sometimes disguised by convulsions, which altered his features. This deformity was ascribed to poison, given him, as it is said, by his sister Sophia; but it was indeed no other than wine and brandy, which he often drank to excess, relying too much on the strength of his constitution. He conversed with persons in all stations, from the mechanic to the general of an army; and his conversation was neither like that of a barbarian who makes no distinction between men, nor of a popular prince who seeks to please all the world, but that of a person who aims at instruction. He loved women as much as the king of Sweden, his rival, dreaded them, and all were equally agreeable to him; he valued himself on drinking large draughts, rather than sipping delicious wine. We are told that kings and legislators should never suffer themselves

(B) Alexis, like his father, is said to have married a slave, and, like him, quitted Muscovy secretly, but had not the same success in his undertakings; and the being but a bad imitator of his father, cost him his life. He became an example of the most terrible severity that ever was given from the tribunal of the throne: but, what is much to the honour of the empress Catherine, she had no hand in the misfortunes of that prince, who was born of another woman, and loved nothing that his father loved. Catherine was not in the least suspected of acting the cruel stepmother. The great crime of the unfortunate Alexis was his being too much a Russian, and his disapproving every thing that was grand and immortal, and projected by his father for the glory of the nation. One day, hearing some Muscovites lamenting the insupportable fatigues they were to undergo in the building of Petersburg, he said, "Take courage, this city will not stand long." When he was called to attend his father in a journey of 600 or 700 leagues, which the czar often made, he feigned sickness. He took violent purges for a distemper which he had not; and such quantities of medicines, with excessive drinking of brandy, impaired his health and his wits. At first he had an inclination to learning, was acquainted with geometry and history, and had learnt the German tongue: but he hated war, and would never learn it; for which he was most reproached by his father. They had married him in 1711 to the princess of Wolfenbuttel, sister of the empress consort to Charles VI. This marriage was unfortunate; the princess was often abandoned for a debauch in brandy, and for Afrosina, a Finland wench, of a large stature, well made, and very agreeable. It is reported that the princess died of chagrin, if it be possible for chagrin to prove mortal; and that afterwards the czarowitz secretly espoused Afrosina in 1713, when the empress Catherine had just brought him a brother, at which he had no reason to be uneasy.

The misunderstandings between the father and the son became every day more serious; till at length the father, about the year 1716, threatened the prince to disinherit him; and the prince told him that he intended to go into a monastery.

The czar, in 1717, renewed his journeys, as well with a view to politics as curiosity. He came at last into France. If the son had entertained an inclination to revolt, if he had actually had a party formed in his favour, now was the time to declare himself; but instead of remaining in Russia, making himself popular, and creating dependents, he took a journey in his turn, having with much difficulty scraped together some thousands of ducats which he had secretly borrowed. He threw himself under the protection of the emperor Charles VI. brother of his deceased wife. They kept him for some time incognito at Venice, from whence he passed to Naples, where he resided almost a year, while neither his father nor any person in Russia knew the place of his retreat.

While the son kept himself thus concealed, the father was at Paris, where he was received with all the respect paid him in other places, but with a gallantry nowhere to be found but in France. If he went to visit a manufactory, and one piece of work attracted his sight more than another, he was presented with it the next day. He went to dine at the duke d'Antin's at Petitbourg, where the first thing he saw was his own picture at full length, in the same habit that he wore. When he was at the royal mint of medals, they struck all kinds before him, and presented him with them; at last they struck one which they let drop on purpose at his feet, and left him to take it up. He there saw himself perfectly engraven with these words, Peter the Great. The reverse was a Fame, and round her in letters Vires acquirit eundo; an allusion no less just than flattering to a prince who really acquired new merit by travelling.

After he had seen this country, where every thing disposes men to gentleness and indulgence, he returned to his own, and resumed his severity. He had engaged his son to return from Naples to Petersburg, from whence that young prince was conducted to Moscow before the czar his father; who began with depriving him of his succession to the throne, by making him sign a solemn act of renunciation at the end of January 1718, in consideration of which act the father promised the son to spare his life.

It was not altogether improbable that such an act would have been some time or other annulled. The czar, therefore,

Peter. themselves to be transported by passion; but never was any man more passionate than Peter the Great, or more merciless. In a king this is more than an infirmity for which we make amends by confessing it; but it was generally remarked of Peter, and he himself said to a magistrate of Holland, at his second voyage, "I have reformed my nation, and have not been able to reform myself." It is true, the cruelties with which he reproached were not novelties at the court of Moscow, any more than at that of Morocco: it was not uncommon to see a czar, with his own royal hand, inflict 100 lashes on the naked shoulders of a prime officer of the crown, or of a lady of the palace, for failing in their duty, by getting drunk; or to try the goodness of his fabre, by striking off the head of a criminal. Peter had himself performed some of those ceremonies of his country; Le Fort, however (see note A), had authority enough over him at times to stay his hand even when it used up to strike, but he had not Le Fort always near him.

The czar's first marriage is thus related in the memoirs of Peter Henry Bruce, Esq. "It took place in 1690, when he was only 18. He was married to Ottokessa Lapuchin, a boyar's daughter, by whom he had Prince Alexis; some time after he turned her away and shut her up in a monastery, on suspicion of infidelity. It was said, that in one of her jealous fits she charged Prince Menzikoff with carrying the czar to drabs of his former acquaintance, who had been his customers for cakes; upbraiding him with his first occupation: and that Menzikoff ever after bore an irreconcileable enmity to both her and her son. After the divorce,

one Miss Mous, a very beautiful young lady, born at Moscow, of foreign parents, was much in favour with the czar; but when he was abroad, Mr Keyserling, then residing at Moscow as envoy from the king of Prussia, paid his addresses to, and married her. When the czar returned, he was so much offended at Keyserling, that he ordered him to leave Moscow, which occasioned his immediate recall by the king his master, who sent another in his room. It was believed, if his public character had not protected him, he would have severely felt his majesty's displeasure.

The czar was some time after smitten with the charms of another beautiful young lady, the daughter of a foreign merchant in this city: he first saw her in her father's house, where he dined one day. He was so much taken with her appearance, that he offered her any terms she pleased, if she would live with him; which this virtuous young woman modestly refused: but dreading the effects of his authority, she put on a resolution, and left Moscow in the night, without communicating her design even to her parents. Having provided a little money for her support, she travelled on foot several miles into the country, till she arrived at a small village where her nurse lived with her husband and their daughter, the young lady's foster-sister, to whom she discovered her intention of concealing herself in the wood near that village: and to prevent any discovery, she set out the same night, accompanied by the husband and daughter. The husband being a timber-man by trade, and well acquainted with the wood, conducted her to a little dry spot in the middle of a morass, and there he built a hut for her habitation.

therefore, in order to give it more force, forgetting that he was a father, and only remembering that he was the founder of an empire, which his son might overturn, and involve in its ancient barbarity, ordered a public process to be drawn up against that unfortunate prince, for some concealment, with which he was charged, in the confession that they had exacted of him.

An assembly was held of the bishops, inferior ecclesiastics, and professors; who found in the Old Testament, that those who curse their father or their mother should be put to death; that David indeed had pardoned Abalom, who had rebelled against him, but that Abalom was never pardoned by God. Such was their opinion, without drawing any conclusion; but it was in effect signing a warrant for his death. Alexis had not in fact cursed his father, neither had he ever revolted like Abalom; he had never lain publicly with the king's concubines; but he had left the kingdom without his father's permission, and had written letters to his friends in which he only signified that he hoped they would one day be mindful of him in Russia. But whatever might be his case, of 124 lay judges, who were appointed to sit on him, there was not one that judged his offences less than capital; and those who could not write, made others sign for them. It is reported in Europe, that the czar had got translated from Spanish into Russian the criminal process against Don Carlos, that unfortunate prince whom his father Philip II. had confined in a prison, where the heir of that great monarchy ended his days. But there was nothing like a process carried on against Don Carlos, nor was it ever known whether that prince died a natural or a violent death. Peter, the most despotic of princes, wanted not an example. Certain it is that the prince died the day after the sentence, and that the czar had at Moscow one of the best apothecary's shops in Europe. It is probable, however, that the prince Alexis, the heir of the most extensive empire in the world, being condemned unanimously by his father's subjects, which were one day to be his own, might die of the sudden shock and change given to the body at the apprehension of so strange and dismal a sentence. The father went to see his son in his last agonies; and it is said he shed tears. Infelix utunque ferent ea fata nepotes. These tears, however, did not prevent the wheels from being covered with the broken limbs of his son's friends. He beheaded his own brother-in-law Count Lapuchin, brother to his wife Ottokessa Lapuchin whom he had divorced, and uncle to Prince Alexis. The prince's confessor had also his head cut off. If Muscovy has been civilized, she has, it must be confessed, paid dear for her improvement.

The remainder of the czar's life was nothing but a series of grand projects, labours, and exploits, that seemed to efface the memory of his excessive severities, which were perhaps necessary. He made frequent speeches to his court and to his council. In one he told them that he had sacrificed his son to the welfare of his dominions.

tation. She had deposited her money with her nurse to procure little necessaries for her support, which were faithfully conveyed to her at night by the nurse or her daughter, by one of whom she was constantly attended in the night time.

"The next day after her flight, the czar called at her father's to see her, and finding the parents in anxious concern for their daughter, and himself disappointed, fancied it a plan of their own conceiting. He became angry, and began to threaten them with the effects of his displeasure if she was not produced: nothing was left to the parents but the most solemn protestations, with tears of real sorrow running down their cheeks, to convince him of their innocence, and ignorance of what was become of her; assuring him of their fears that some fatal disaster must have befallen her, as nothing belonging to her was amissing, except what she had on at the time. The czar, satisfied of their sincerity, ordered great search to be made for her, with the offer of a considerable reward to the person who should discover what was become of her, but to no purpose: the parents and relations, apprehending she was no more, went into mourning for her.

"Above a year after this she was discovered by an accident. A colonel who had come from the army to see his friends, going to hunt in that wood, and following his game through the morass, he came to the hut, and looking into it saw a pretty young woman in a mean dress. After inquiring of her who she was, and how she came to live in so solitary a place, he found out at last that she was the lady whose disappearance had made so great a noise; in the utmost confusion, and with the most fervent intreaties, she prayed him on her knees that he would not betray her; to which he replied, that he thought her danger was now past, as the czar was then otherwise engaged, and that she might with safety discover herself, at least to her parents, with whom he would consult how matters should be managed. The lady agreed to this proposal; and he set out immediately, and overjoyed her parents with the happy discovery; the issue of their deliberation was to consult Madame Catherine (as she was then called) in what manner the affair should be opened to the czar. The colonel went also upon this business, and was advised by Madame to come next morning and she would introduce him to his majesty, when he might make the discovery and claim the promised reward. He went according to appointment; and being introduced, told the accident by which he had discovered the lady, and represented the miserable situation in which he found her, and what she must have suffered by being so long shut up in such a dismal place, from the delicacy of her sex. The czar showed a great deal of concern that he should have been the cause of all her sufferings, declaring that he would endeavour to make her amends. Here Madame Catherine suggested, that she thought the best amends his majesty could make, was to give her a handsome fortune and the colonel for a husband, who had the best right, having caught her in pursuit of his game. The czar, agreeing perfectly with Madame Catherine's sentiments, ordered one of his favourites to go with the colonel, and bring the young lady home; where she arrived to the inexpressible joy of her family and relations, who had all been in mourning for her. The marriage was under the direction and at the expence of the czar, who himself

gave the bride to the bridegroom; saying, that he presented him with one of the most virtuous of women; and accompanied his declaration with very valuable presents, besides settling on her and her heirs three thousand rubles a-year. This lady lived highly esteemed by the czar, and every one who knew her. Besides the concurring reports of other people, I had the story from her own mouth."

On the whole, that Peter I. was a great man, few will deny who know what real greatness is. A minute account of the life of this distinguished emperor would make a large volume; we have been able to give but the mere outlines of it: the anecdotes, however, at the end, show in some degree the nature of the man; at all events they show one important truth, that it is a more difficult thing to reform one's self than to reform a kingdom; to conquer one's passions, than to conquer the world. The Russians, however, if there be any good in civilization, owe to him every thing: and they seem to be sensible of it; for a very pompous oration was delivered to his memory by Michael Lomonosoff, before the Academy of Sciences at St Petersburg, on the 26th of April 1755. For a minute account of his improvements, &c. see RUSSIA, PETERSBURG, and CATHERINE I.

PETER the Wild Boy. This extraordinary creature occasioned great speculation among the learned; but we do not know that any satisfactory causes have been assigned for the striking difference between him and other human beings.

The following account of him is extracted from the parish-register of North-church, in the county of Hertford. "Peter, commonly known by the name of Peter the Wild Boy, lies buried in this churchyard, opposite to the porch. In the year 1725 he was found in the woods near Hamelen, a fortified town in the electorate of Hanover, when his majesty George I. with his attendants, was hunting in the forest of Hertswold. He was supposed to be then about 12 years of age, and had fastened in those woods upon the bark of trees, leaves, berries, &c. for some considerable length of time. How long he had continued in that wild state is altogether uncertain; but that he had formerly been under the care of some person, was evident from the remains of a thirt collar about his neck at the time when he was found. As Hamelen was a town where criminals were confined to work upon the fortifications, it was then conjectured at Hanover that Peter might be the issue of one of those criminals, who had either wandered into the woods and could not find his way back again, or being discovered to be an idiot was inhumanly turned out by his parents, and left to perish or shift for himself. In the following year, 1726, he was brought over to England, by the order of Queen Caroline then princess of Wales, and put under the care of Dr Arbuthnot with proper masters to attend him. But notwithstanding there appeared to be no natural defect in his organs of speech, after all the pains that had been taken with him he could never be brought distinctly to articulate a single syllable, and proved totally incapable of receiving any instruction. He was afterwards intrusted to the care of Mrs Titchbourn, one of the queen's bedchamber women, with a handsome pension annexed to the charge. Mrs Titchbourn usually spending a few weeks every summer at the house of Mr James Penn, a yeoman farmer at Axter's

Peter. End in this parish, Peter was left to the care of the said Mr Fenn, who was allowed 35l. a-year for his support and maintenance. After the death of James Fenn he was transferred to the care of his brother Thomas Fenn, at another farm-house in this parish called Broadway, where he lived with the several successive tenants of that farm, and with the same provision allowed by government to the time of his death, Feb. 22. 1785, when he was supposed to be about 72 years of age.

"Peter was well made, and of the middle size. His countenance had not the appearance of an idiot, nor was there any thing particular in his form, except that two of the fingers of his left hand were united by a web up to the middle joint. He had a natural ear for music, and was so delighted with it, that if he heard any musical instrument played upon, he would immediately dance and caper about till he was almost quite exhausted with fatigue; and though he could never be taught the distinct utterance of any word, yet he could easily learn to hum a tune. All those idle tales which have been published to the world about his climbing up trees like a squirrel, running upon all fours like a wild beast, &c. are entirely without foundation; for he was so exceedingly timid and gentle in his nature, that he would suffer himself to be governed by a child. There have been also many false stories propagated of his incontinence; but from the minutest inquiries among those who constantly lived with him, it does not appear that he ever discovered any natural passion for women, though he was subject to the other passions of human nature, such as anger, joy, &c. Upon the approach of bad weather he always appeared full and uneasy. At particular seasons of the year he showed a strange fondness for stealing away into the woods, where he would feed eagerly upon leaves, beech-mast, acorns, and the green bark of trees, which proves evidently that he had subsisted in that manner for a considerable length of time before he was first taken. His keeper therefore at such seasons generally kept a strict eye over him, and sometimes even confined him, because if he ever rambled to any distance from his home he could not find his way back again: and once in particular, having gone beyond his knowledge, he wandered as far as Norfolk, where he was taken up, and being carried before a magistrate, was committed to the house of correction in Norwich, and punished as a sturdy and obstinate vagrant, who would not (for indeed he could not) give any account of himself: but Mr Fenn having advertised him in the public papers, he was released from his confinement, and brought back to his usual place of abode.

"Notwithstanding the extraordinary and savage state in which Peter was first found greatly excited the attention and curiosity of the public; yet, after all that has been said of him, he was certainly nothing more than a common idiot without the appearance of one. But as men of some eminence in the literary world have in their works published strange opinions and ill-founded conjectures about him, which may seem to stamp a credit upon
VOL. XVI. PART I.

what they have advanced; that posterity may not through their authority be hereafter misled upon the subject, this short and true account of Peter is recorded in the parish-register by one who constantly resided above 30 years in his neighbourhood, and had daily opportunities of seeing and observing him."

Perhaps our readers will not be displeased if we present them with Lord Monboddo's account of this extraordinary creature (A). "It was in the beginning of June 1782 (says his lordship) that I saw him in a farm-house called Broadway, within about a mile of Berkhamstead, kept there upon a pension which the king pays. He is but low of stature, not exceeding five feet three inches; and although he must now be about 70 years of age, has a fresh healthy look. He wears his beard; his face is not at all ugly or disagreeable; and he has a look that may be called sensible and sagacious for a savage. About 20 years ago he was in use to elope, and to be missing for several days; and once, I was told, he wandered as far as Norfolk; but of late he has been quite tame, and either keeps in the house or haunts about the farm. He has been the 13 last years where he lives at present; and before that he was 12 years with another farmer, whom I saw and conversed with. This farmer told me, that he had been put to school somewhere in Hertfordshire, but had only learned to articulate his own name Peter, and the name of King George, both which I heard him pronounce very distinctly. But the woman of the house where he now is (for the man happened not to be at home) told me, that he understood every thing that was said to him concerning the common affairs of life; and I saw that he readily understood several things that she said to him while I was present. Among other things she desired him to sing Nancy Dawson; which he did, and another tune which she named. He never was mischievous, but had always that gentleness of nature which I hold to be characteristic of our nature, at least till we became carnivorous, and hunters or warriors. He feeds at present as the farmer and his wife do; but, as I was told by an old woman (one Mrs Collop, living at a village in the neighbourhood called Hempstead, who remembered to have seen him when he first came to Hertfordshire, which she computed to be 55 years before the time I saw her), he then fed very much upon leaves, and particularly upon the leaves of cabbage, which he ate raw. He was then, as she thought, about 15 years of age, walked upright, but could climb trees like a squirrel. At present he not only eats flesh, but has also got the taste of beer, and even of spirits, of which he inclines to drink more than he can get. And the old farmer above-mentioned, with whom he lived twelve years before he came to this last farmer, told me, that he had acquired that taste before he came to him, which is about 25 years ago. He has also become very fond of fire, but has not yet acquired a liking for money; for though he takes it, he does not keep it, but gives it to his landlord or landlady, which I suppose is a lesson that they have taught him. He retains so
F f much

much of his natural instinct, that he has a fore-feeling of bad weather, growling and howling, and showing great disorder, before it comes.

"These are the particulars concerning him which I observed myself, or could learn by information from the neighbourhood." From all these facts put together his lordship makes the following observations:

"1^st, Whatever doubts there may be concerning the humanity of the oran-outang, it was never made a question but that Peter was a man.

"2^dly, That he was, as the Dean [Swift] says, of a father and mother like one of us. This, as I have said, was the case of two savages found in the Dismal swamp in Virginia, of the one found in the island of Diego Garcia, and of him that was discovered by M. le Roy in the Pyrenees, and in general of all the savages that have been found in Europe within these last 300 years; for I do not believe, that for these 2000 years past there has been a race of such savages in Europe.

"3^dly, I think there can be no reason to doubt of what was written from Hanover, and published in the newspapers, that he was found going upon all fours, as well as other solitary savages that have been found in Europe. It is true that others have been found erect; which was the case of the two found in the Dismal swamp of Virginia, likewise of the man of the Pyrenees, and of him in the island of Diego Garcia; but these I suppose were not exposed till they had learned to walk upright; whereas Peter appears to have been abandoned by his parents before he had learned that lesson, but walked as we know children do at first.

"4^thly, I think it is evident that he is not an idiot, not only from his appearance, as I have described it, and from his actions, but from all the accounts that we have of him, both those printed and those attested by persons yet living; for as to the printed accounts, there is not the least information of that kind in any of them, except in one, viz. Wye's letter, N^o 8. wherein is said, that some imputed his not learning to speak to want of understanding; which I should think showed rather want of understanding in those who thought so, when it is considered that at this time he had not been a year out of the woods, and I suppose but a month or two under the care of Dr Arbuthnot, who had taken the charge of his education. The Dean indeed tells us, that he suspected he was a pretender, and no genuine wild man, but not a word of his being an idiot. And as to the persons living, not one with whom I have conversed appeared to have the least suspicion of that kind; though it is natural that men, who were not philosophers, and knew nothing of the progress of man from the mere animal to the intellectual creature, nor of the improvement of our understanding by social intercourse and the arts of life, but believed that man when he came to a certain age has from nature all the faculties which we see him exert, and particularly the faculty of speech, should think him an idiot, and wanting even the capacity of acquiring understanding. I knew an officer of dragoons, a man of very good sense, who was quartered where Peter then lived for some months, and saw him almost every day,

and who assured me that he was not an idiot, but showed common understanding, which was all that could be expected from one no better educated than he.

"Lastly, those who have considered what I have said (B) of the difficulty of articulation, will not be surprised that a man who had lived a savage for the first 14 or 15 years of his life, should have made so little progress in that art. I cannot, however, have the least doubt, that if he had been under the care of Mr Braidwood of Edinburgh, he would have learned to speak, though with much more difficulty than a man who had been brought up tame among people who had the use of speech, and who consequently must know the advantage of it. And I can have as little doubt that Mr Braidwood could have taught the oran-outang in Sir Ashton Lever's collection, who learned to articulate a few words, so as to speak plainly enough."

St Peter, Le Port, a market-town of England, in the south-east part of Guernsey, in Hampshire, in the British channel, consisting of only one long and narrow street. The mouth of the harbour is well set with rocks, and is on each side defended by a castle; one called the Old castle, and the other Castle-cornet. The governor of the island generally resides here, who has the command of the garrison in this and all the other castles. The harbour has a good road, from whence ships may sail with any wind, and from the road pass under the guns of the castle to the pier, close up to the town. The pier is a noble work, formed of vast stones, joined together with great art and regularity; it is not only a security to the ships, but, being contiguous to the town, is handsomely paved at the top with large smooth flagstones, guarded with parapets, and, being of a great length and breadth, forms a pleasant walk, affording a free prospect of the sea and the neighbouring islands. Cornet-castle, which commands both the town and the harbour, stands on a rock, separated from the land by an arm of the sea, no less than 600 yards wide, and not fordable but at low water in great spring tides.

St Peter's island, in the lake of Bienne in Switzerland, remarkable for being one of the retreats of Rousseau; whence it has also got the name of Rousseau's island. It lies towards the south side of the lake, and produces a great variety of shrubs and trees, particularly large oaks, beech, and Spanish chestnut. The southern shore slopes gradually to the lake, and is covered with herbage; the remaining borders are steep and rocky; their summits in a few places thinly covered with shrubs; in others their perpendicular sides are clothed to the water's edge with hanging woods. The views from the different parts of the island are beautiful and diversified; that to the north being the most extensive and pleasing. It commands the prospect of the lake, which is of an oval form; its cultivated borders, interspersed with villages and castles, with the towns of Nidau and Bienne standing upon the farther extremity. Agreeable walks are carried through the woods, and terminate in a circular pavilion placed in the centre of the island. Before the troubles in France, on Sunday, and particularly the vintage-time, this island was filled with

with parties who amused themselves with wandering about the woods or dancing in the circular pavilion. How they employ themselves now it is not so easy to say, as it was overrun and subjected by the forces of that unhappy nation, and of course tainted with their destructive principles. It was retaken by the Spaniards, and properly belongs to the king of Sardinia. There is only one farm-house on the island, in an apartment of which Rousseau was lodged.