as Prince Cantemir was high in favour with Peter.

Many Germans have adopted this opinion without referve, and in feveral genealogical tables, Alexey is put down as beheaded. A paffage however in Bruce's Memoirs feems at first fight to prove that he was poifoned. This paffage is too curious not to be introduced to the reader.

“The trial was begun the 25th of June, and continued to the 6th of July, when this fupreme court, with unanimous confent, paffed fentence of death upon the Prince, but left the manner of it to his Majefty's determination: the Prince was brought before the court, his fentence was read to him, and he was reconveyed to the fortrefs. On the next day, his Majefty, attended by all the fenators and bifhops, with feveral o thers of high rank, went to the fort, and entered the apartments where the tzarovitch was kept prifoner. Some little time thereafter, Marshal Weyde came out, and ordered me to go to Mr. Bear's the druggift, whofe fhop was hard by, and tell him to make the potion strong which he had befpoke, as the prince was then very ill when I delivered this meffage to Mr. Bear, he turned quite pale, and fell a fhaking and trembling, and appeared in the utmost confufion; which furprized me fo much, that I asked him what was the matter with him, but he was unable to return me any anfwer; in the mean time, the Marshal himfelf came in, much in the fame condition with the druggift, fay ing, he ought to have been more expeditious, as the prince was very ill of an apo plectic fit; upon this the druggift delivered him a filver cup with a cover, which the Marthal himself carried into the Prince's apartiment, staggering all the way as he went like one drunk. About half an hour after, the czar with all his attendants, withdrew, with very difmal countenances; and, when they went, the Marshal ordered me to attend at the Prince's apartment, and, in cafe of any alteration, to inform him immediately thereof. There were at that time, two phyficians and tho fugeons in waiting, with whom, and the officer on guard, I dined on what had been dreffed for the Prince's dinner. The phyficians were called in immediately after to attend the Prince, who was ftruggling out of one convulfion into another, and, after great agonies, expired at Eve o'clock in the afternoon. I went di rectly to inform the Marshal, and he went that moment to acquaint his Majefty, who ordered the corpfe to be embowelled, after which it was laid in a coffin, covered with black velvet, and a pall of rich gold tiffue fpread over it; it was then carried out of the

N

T E. Bruce's Memoirs p. 185.—187.

fort to the church of the Holy Trinity, where the corpfe lay in ftate till the 11th in the evening, when it was carried back to the fort, and depofited in the royal burying vault, next the coffin of the Princefs his late confort; on which occafion the czar and czarina, and the chief of the nobility, followed in proceffion. Various were the reports that were spread concerning his death it was given out publicly, that on hearing his fentence of death pronounced, the dread thereof threw him into an apoplectic fit, of which he died; very few believed he died a natural death, but it was dangerous for people to speak as they thought. The minifters of the Emperor, and the ttates of Holland, were forbid the court for speaking their mind too freely on this occafion, and upon complaine against them, were both recalled."

It is not to be fuppofed that Peter would order a dofe of poifon at a chymift's shop, and that Marthal Weyde would fend openly for it. The medicine was most probably fimilar to those which had been already preferibed, the Prince having been extremely indifpofed. The fright of the chymift might proceed from his delivering a medicine for the Tzarovitch, who was laid to be in the agonies of death, as under fuch a Sovereign as Peter his own fafety might be involved in the event. The agitation of Marthal Weyde will be ftill more fatisfactorily accounted for, if, according to Bufching, he was preparing to perform, or had already performed, the execution. If Bufching's account can be relied on, he must have been already beheaded, as Marshal Weyde, according to Bruce, had finally quitted the fortrefs. As to the phyficians they might be ordered to attend, and yet not fee the Prince; Marthal Weyde might have returned fecretly without the knowledge of Bruce. Even Bruce himself, being the intimate friend of Marthal Weyde, might have been in the secret, but unwilling to record in his memoirs fo horrid a cataftrophe, which was totally repugnant to the manifefto of the Emperor; and, indeed it plainly appears from his narrative, that he knew more than he chofe to discover. When the fecret execution of the heir apparent of a defpotic empire becomes the subject of enquiry, it must always be difficult to ascertain the truth. Even in the most common occurrences no two perfons relate the fame event precifely in the fame manner.

Catharine was not free from fufpicion in this horrid affair, but Peter himself exculpated her openly, teftifying that the interceded for his fon's life. There was no occafion to irritate the favage temper of Peter, too much inclined to inflict the fevereft punishment upon his fon, who threatened to overturn all his plans of reformation, and to destroy in a moment, that valt fabric of

glory

Memoirs of Peter Henry Bruce, Efq. (This is the Bruce quoted in the preceding article; he begins with an account of bis family; there is fomething very remarkable in the fortunes of his grandfather.)

"TH HE following journal was original ly written in the German, my native language; but as I have lately enjoyed the leifure of a country retirement, I have, in this year 1755, tranflated it into English (to, me a foreign tongue), for the enter tainment of my friends, and the information of my family, that they might know their connections in Germany, and the particulars of a life spent in war for a feries of years in different parts of the globe,--To begin

then,

"James Bruce and John Bruce, coufins and defcendants of the family of Airth, in the county of Stirling, (a branch of the family of Clackmannan) in Scotland, formed a refolution, during the troubles of Oliver Cromwell, to leave their native country, in order to push their fortunes abroad; and, as there were fome fhips in the port of Leith ready to fail for the Baltic, they agreed to go together to that part of the world: but as there happened to be two of thefe fhip-mafters of the fame name, by an odd mittake the coufins embarked in different veffels, the one bound to Pruffia, the other to Ruffia, by which accident they never again faw each. other.

1

"John Bruce, my grandfather, landed at Koningberg, in Pruffia; from thence he went to Berlin, and entered into the fervice of the elector of Brandenburg, and by degrees was advanced to the command of a regiment, which was the highest military pre-, ferment he ever obtained, notwithstanding. the elector, in other refpects, fhewed him many favours: amongst the reft, the following was no fmall inftance of his regard. My grandfather one day attended the elector in huming, when his highness, in the eager purfuit of the chace, entered a large wood,. and was feparated from all his attendants except my grandfather, who kept up with him. Night overtaking them in the wood, they were obliged to difmount, and lead their herfes, when, after groping their way for a

confiderable time in the dark, they at length. perceived a light at a little distance, and upon their getting up to it, they found themfelves at the miferable hut of a poor tarburner, who lived a great way in the wood. Being informed by the poor inhabitant that they were a long way from any town, village, or other habitation, the prince, who by this time was both tired and hungry, afked him what he had got to eat; upon which the poor man produced a loaf of coarse black bread and a piece of cheese, of which the elector ate very heartily, and finifred his meal with a draught of water, declaring he had never eat any thing with fo good an appetite before. He then enquired how large that wood was, and was told, that it bordered on Mecklenburgh Strelitz, and that it was of very great extent. Upon this my grandfather obferved, that it was a pity fuch if his highness would give him a grant of it, a large tract of land fhould lie ufelefs, and, he would undertake to build a village in the middle of it, and another upon the fpot where they then were. To this the elector agreed, and foon after confirmed his grant by an ample charter, with great privileges annexed thereto; and my grandfather, according middle of the wood, which he called Bruto his engagement, built a village in the cenwold (or Bruce- Wood); and, another at the tar-burner's hut, which he called Jetzkendorf, its ancient name; for a village of that name had formerly (tood there, part of the ruins being then ftill visible. elector flept upon fome ftraw till day-break, ther attendants, who had been in search of when he was awaked by the noise of his ohim all night; and, on their arrival he departed for Berlin.

The

Konikendorff and Woletz: he thus difpofed of all the landed eftates he got by his wife in favour of his daughters, and gave his two fons an education only, and a finall stock of money. Having placed them in the elector's grand musketteer guards, he left them to pufh their fortunes in the army, as he himfelf had done before them. His eldeft fon, Charles, was a lieutenant at the fiege of Namur, where he was killed; his youngest son, James, my father, married Elizabeth Catherina Detring, of a confiderable family in Weftphalia, and was himself then a lieutenant in a Scotch regiment, commanded by the earl of Leven, in the fervice of Brandenburg, and I was born at Detring Caftle, (the manor-house of that family) in the year 1692.

"This regiment was ordered to Flanders, and my father carried my mother with him, and we remained there till 1698, when the regiment returned to Scotland, and whither we accompanied him. The regiment being then pot in garrison at Fort William. I was left in Fife to the care of a grand uncle, my grandfather's youngest brother, who poffer fed a small eftate near Cupar, at which place I was put to fchool, where I continued three years, when my father fent for me to Fort William, and I remained there three years

more.

"In the year 1704, my father got leave of absence from the regiment, and fet out on a vifit to Germany, whither he carried his wife and family; and, after one year's ftay with their relations, he returned to Scot-. land, leaving me behind in the care of their friends, who undertook to educate and provide for me. Their first attempt in my favour was to get me made a page to the king of Pruffia, and when I was going to be prefented to his majesty by the marshal count Witgenftein, the prince royal enquired of him who I was; and being informed, and alfo that I was going to be prefented to the king for a page, he asked me feveral queftions, and told the marshal that he himself would have me for his page. We returned without my being prefented to the king; and on my telling this piece of news to my friends, they would by no means confent; alledging, that the prince did not ufe his pages well, which my coufin, a fon of general Lattorff's, had experienced, who had been a page of honour to him, and was then a gentleman of the bed-chamber to the king, for which reason, they would not fuffer me to accept the offer.

"The next thing they endeavoured was, to get me into the Royal Academy, as a cadet; but they were told that was now im practicable, as I had refused the prince's of fer of being his page: however, they fent me to the academy, at their own charge, to Gent. Mag. Jan, 1785.

learn fortification and other neceffary branches. My uncie Rebeur arrived at this time from Flanders; he was then lieutenant-colonel of the marquis de Varen's regiment, and when he was about to return, I expreffed a defire to go with him. He very kind. ly approved my defign, and on the fuggeftion of my friends, that it might be hurtful to me in my education, the colonel affured them that it would rather be an advantage, as there were almoft in every town in Flanders exceeding good mafters for teaching fortification and gunnery, &c. and that I should have double advantage in improving the theory by feeing many parts of it in eal practice: he farther offered not only to keep me with himself, but that no opportunity to improve my education fhould be neglected.This kind offer was very fatisfactory to all my friends, and he performed his promife with a most paternal care.

"I fet out with him accordingly for the regiment, which was then in garrifon at Maestricht, where we arrived in April 1706, and I was entered in the colonel's company to carry arms, and foon became a proficient in the manual exercise, after which I found my duty very easy, for I had only to mount guard once in a week, the rest of my time being devoted to the study of fortification, &c."

Mr. Bruce made his firft campaign under the duke of Marlborough in 1707, and ferved four campaigns. In winter 1710, he was quartered at Tournay, where a dreadful murder had lately been committed.

Terrible Story of the Jefuits.

"An affair happened here a little while before, in the Jefuits college, which amazed the whole town. A fhoemaker near the college, having a handfome wife, one of the fanctified fathers made frequent vifits to befpeak fhoes and flippers for himself and others of the fraternity; at length, giving an order, he defired the fair dame when they were done, to bring them home to the cloifter, and receive the payment for them, and the accordingly carried them; fhe was admitted into the houfe, but never returned, which much alarmed the poor husband and his neighbours, who were naturally led to enquire after her at the college, when they were told, that he had received the money and went away again: as their veracity was held facred, no body durft prefume any farther enquiry at the college, and the woman could not be found. Some few days after, a boy in the night-time getting into a garden, next to that of the Jefuits to teal fruit, faw from the top of a tree (being moonlight) thefe very holy fathers bufy in burying a corpfe in the garden. The boy, knowing that the woman could not be found, told his father what he had feen; the fa

с

there

ther, who lived in the neighbourhood of the hoemaker, immediately acquainted him of it, and they both, with the boy, went to the governor, who, upon their information, fent for the magiftrates, and they proceeded altogether to the Jefuits college; upon going into the garden, the boy directed to the fpot where he had feen the corpfe buried: upon digging there they found the body of the poor woman with her throat cut, and all her cloaths torn in pieces.The fathers declared their ignorance and innocence of the whole matter, charging the foul deed upon two of their fociety who had dif appeared. This was all the redrefs the poor man could get for the lofs of his wife, notwithstanding the boy declared there were eight of them at burying the body. The fhoemaker, his neighbour, and his fon, thought it prudent to retire to Holland, where they turned proteftants, to avoid the merciless vengeance of thefe facred fathers. This story was told me by feveral officers, who were at that time in garrifon here."

This winter he received an invitation from general Bruce his relation, to enter into the service of the czar. This general Bruce was grandfon to James who left Scotland with the author's grandfather. He was the firt officer who put the ordnance of Ruffia on a ferviceable footing. Our author accepted the offer, quitted the Pruffian fervice with the rank of captain, and was appointed captain of artillery and engineer in that of Ruffia; and at the fame time his relation the general, was made master-general of the ord

* In 1716, I was ordered to discipline thirty grenadiers, intended for a prefent to the king of Pruffia; they were collected from different parts of the czar's dominions, and were from fix feet fix, to fix feet nine inches high, without thoes; they were taught the Pruffian exercise, armed in their manner, and clad in their uniform and caps: among the number, there was one Indian, who had attended the elephant, one Turk, two Perfians, and three Taitars, and it might probably be faid with propriety, that no prince in the world had a guard compofed of fo many different nations as the king of Pruf

fia, confidering the prefents of men fent him from all parts of Europe.

"By orders from prince Menzikoff, I fet out on the 25th of March from Petersburgh, to conduct the thirty grenadiers to Berlin; and as the roads were ftill good for travelling on the fnow, we were furnished with hories and fledges to Riga: we arrived at Narva the 30th, and at Riga the 12th of April, where I refted three days to refresh the men. Here we faw twelve men broke alive upon the wheel; their crime was as follows:

"A man who kept a tavern, or inn, without one of the gates of the city, and had alfo a windmill on his ground, having detected one of his men fervants in feveral frauds, turned him away, and retained his wages for fome little indemnification: the fellow, at his going away, threatened his mafter he would make him repent detaining his wages; whereupon he went and affociated himself with eleven more as bad as himfelf. Soon after this, they went to the house in the middle of the night, and meeting one of the maid- fervants going for water, they murdered her, and put her body under the ice; they then entered the house and stables, and murdered three other women, and five men- fervants; at last they entered the landlord's apartments, and murdered his wife and three of his children before his face; the fourth, a boy of five years old, had hid himself in the confufion, below a bed unperceived; they then forced the landlord to open all his chefts and drawers, and carried away what was portable and valuable out of the houfe; they then tied the landlord neck and heel to the foot of a large table, at which they fat down and regaled themselves with the beft things the house afforded; here they concluded putting hay and straw in all the apartments, and then fet the houfe on fire, that the villain of a landlord, as they called him, might be burnt alive, and which would alfo confume the murdered bodies, and prevent any poffibility of a discovery; and to maid's body from under the ice, and laid it make all fure, they brought the fervant down by her living mafter: after this welllaid plot, they fet the house on fire, and filed with their booty. The little boy, who was hid under the bed, was forced from thence by the smoke, and the father perceiving the child called to him, and defired him to take a knife out of his pocket, and cut the cord from off his hands, which the child did : the father being thus cleared, took his little fon in his arms, and made his way through the flames, and immediately retired into the covered way of the town, for fear of being difcovered by any of the villains who might be till lurking near the place. The house and outhouses being all in flames, the go

vernor ordered the gates to be opened, and fent out a party of men to try to fave what they could from the fire; but before they could get to the place all was burnt to the ground; fo that the plot of thofe villains was to well laid, that if it had not been owing to the miraculous prefervation of the child and his father, it might have remained a fecret to this day. The landlord difcovered himself to the officer that was at the head of the detachment, intreated that he might be privately carried to the governor, to whom he difcovered the whole of this dreadful scene, and who gave orders to fecure and examine all persons who fhould enter the town that morning, by which caution the villains, apprehending themfelves fecure from every poffibility of difcovery, as all evidence had perifhed in the fire, were, on their entering the town, every one taken."

Captain Bruce on his arrival at Berlin, was prefented with a purfe of 200 ducats. His giants were all in good health and high ipi rits, the king of Pruffia received them, and declared they were the best shaped and handfomeft men of their fizes, he had ever feen, and was very much pleased with them. The captain paffed three months very agreeably among his relations, from whom he had been abfent ten years.

In 1720 the captain gives an account of
A curious Law Suit.

"At my return to Revel, a comical law fuit was commenced between my landlord and his brother, both merchants in the town; the cafe was thus -The two brothers had always lived at great variance with each other; my landlord, who was very rich, was determined, in cafe he thould die, his brother should not fucceed him; he had been married feveral years to a very handfome woman, without having any children by her; the blame whereof he attributed more to himself than to his wife; and being refolved that his wife, at any rate fhould have a child, to deprive his brother from being his heir, he took a lieutenant into his house as a lodger, a handsome young fellow, to whom he gave all manner of opportunities to converse with his wife, having beforehand concerted the matter with her, by which means the foon proved to be with child: the then made the gentleman a prefent of a purfe with a hundred ducats, defiring him, at the fame time, to seek out another lodging, as her husband was grown jealous and began to fufpect her, which made it absolutely neceffary for him to remove, promifing, that if ever he ftood in need of her affiftance, he might depend upon her. The gentleman finding her very pofitive, notwithstanding all his remonßrances, was, at laft, obliged to

comply, flattering himself to find frequent opportunities to converfe with her; but, in this he found himself mistaken, for the shuuned all occafions of ever being alone with him. This exafperated him fo much, that one evening, when he knew her husband to be from home, he forced his way into her bed-chamber, and defired to know why the fhunned his company. She very frankly told him, that he had cohabited with him, not from lutt, but with an intention to have a child by him to inherit her husband's eftate; and as he was now with child, fle hoped he would not envy its being heir to a good eftate; and desired, therefore, he would not be an inftrument in defaming her and ruining his own child; defiring him to give over any thoughts of enjoying her any more, the being fully determined againt it. After this fpeech, the gave him a diamond ring, and a purfe with fifty ducats and retired, locking herself up in another room: upon this he went away in a great paffion, and in a fit of ill-humour, divulged the whole intrigue to fome of his companions, who foon fpread it over the town, by which means the brother got notice of it, and commenced the law-fuit; but the husband acknowledging the child to be his, the fuit was dropt in course."

In 1721, he had intelligence from Scotland, that a fmall eftate had devolved to him there, by the death of his grandfather's brother, but he could not get leave to vifit that country. In 1722, he attended the czar in his Perfian expedition. In 1723 after his return, he was ordered back again to furvey the coafts of the Cafpian fea, and to lay down a chart of it. This furveying voyage took up fix months. In January 1724, he fet out from Aftracan for Mofcow to deliver his report to the Emperor, and arrived at Surat of the 28th, 1000 werts up the Wolga from Aftiacan. When the captain and his fellow travellers, 20 in number, all well armed, fet out again, they faw a cruel robbery in the woods, of which the following is an account.

Cruel Robbery in the Wocas.

"We left Saratof on the 2d of February, and travelling fixty werfts, arrived in the evening at a fingle houfe in a wood; and next day, after a journey of fixty-three werfts, through one continued wood, we came again to a fingle house, but when we were within three werfts of it, we faw feveral fledges before us attacked by robbers, and carried off; we made all the hafte we could to go to their affiftance, and before we got up, the robbers had made off into the wood, with the hoifes and fledges loaded with merchandize: we found nine men ftripped naked, and three foldiers who had C &