ship. One of his tutors was Sir John Cheke, of whom Milton speaks, in a well-known sonnet, as having taught "Cambridge, and King Edward, Greek ;" and it is a curious illustration of the times, that this learned individual was soon after selected to fill the office of Secretary of State. Queen ELIZABETH, we need hardly remark, is famous as a learned princess. She also, like her royal predecessor, King Alfred, completed an English translation of Boethius's “Consolations of Philosophy "—a work which, in addition to having been thus rendered into 928

ELIZABETH.

the vernacular tongue by two of the greatest of our monarchs, had the honour of receiving the same service from Chaucer, the father of our poetry.* Elizabeth's successor, JAMES, had more learning than good sense, and was a pedant rather than a scholar; but with less learning, he certainly would not have been a wiser king. He is the instance,

The original copy of Queen Elizabeth's translation of Boethius, partly in her ma jesty's handwriting, and partly in that of her

secretary, was discovered some years ago, in the State-Paper Office.

however, that has perhaps contributed more than any other to confirm the common prejudice, that a taste for letters is, after all, no very de sirable quality in the possessor of a throne. If it be meant that literary kings have generally been bad kings, the notion is certainly not borne out by the facts of history. It may be asserted with much greater truth that, in all of those who, notwithstanding their scholarship, havė shown themselves unworthy of their high station, that scholarship has yet been a redeeming quality, both in itself, and in its effects. If, again, all that is meant be only that learning has some tendency to become pedantic on a throne, this may be admitted; for it is a natural consequence of the possession being so unusual: but even this result, where it has happened, has, in by far the majority of cases, formed but a very trifling drawback upon the good with which it was connected. James, certainly, has not gained much credit to his name by his authorship; though it deserves to be remarked, that it is posterity that has been least indulgent to his pretensions. In his own day his learning procured him great admiration, not only from the mere courtly flatterers of the time, but from many of its most distinguished scholars—for evidence of which, we need go no further than to the dedication of their work addressed to him by the authors of our admirable translation of the Bible, and still commonly printed at its head. The natural character of the man, the species and quality of the learning which he had acquired, and, above all, the spirit of the age, had more share in making James the pedant that he was, than any disadvantage under which his station placed him.

Another name, which is sometime quoted as that of a king to whom learning was a misfortune rather than a blessing, is that of the celebrated ALPHONSO X., king of Castile and Leon, commonly called the Wise. This prince, who lived in the thirteenth century, was certainly unlucky in his schemes of political ambition; and the vain attempt he made to obtain possession of the imperial crown involved him in a series of calamities, and eventually led to his dethronement. But it does not appear that his literary and scientific acquirements, so extraordinary for his age, had anything to do in occasioning the errors to which he owed his ruin, or that, with less learning, he would have been either more prudent, or more fortunate. As it was, Alphonso, notwithstanding the troubles in which his reign was passed, conferred such services, both upon his own country and upon the world at large, as few royal names have to boast of. Spain owes to him, not only her earliest national history and translation of the Scriptures, but the restoration of her principal University, the introduction of the vernacular tongue in public proceedings and documents, and the promulgation of an admirable code of laws; and science is indebted to this monarch for the celebrated astronomical tables known by his name, the earliest which were compiled subsequently to those given in the "Almagest" of Ptolemy, who flourished in

the second century. According to some accounts, Alphonso spent the large sum of 400,000 crowns on the preparation of these tables, in which he was assisted by others of the most learned astronomers of the time. They went through several editions, even after the invention of printing, and continued, indeed, to be generally used by astronomers till the commencement of the sixteenth century.

CHAPTER XXV.

PETER THE GREAT, CZAR OF RUSSIA.

BUT the Pursuit of Knowledge is not necessarily confined to the study of books; and, therefore, although we pass over many other names that might be here introduced, we must not omit that of a sovereign who distinguished himself by his ardour in this pursuit in a variety of ways, and was in all respects one of the most extraordinary men that ever lived-the Czar PETER I. of Russia.

Peter was born in 1672, and at ten years of age found himself in nominal possession of the throne; although, for some time, all the actual power of the state remained in the hands of his sister, the Princess Sophia, who was about five years older than himself. But his boyhood was scarcely expired, when he gave proof of the energy of his character by ridding himself of this domination; and in 1689 the princess was already removed from the government, and immured in a monastery. From this moment the young Czar, now absolute in reality as well as in name, directed his whole efforts to the most extraordinary enterprise in which a sovereign ever engaged; being nothing less than to change entirely the most settled habits and prejudices of his subjects, and not so much to reform them, as to transform them, almost by main force, from barbarians into a civilized people. For the Russians at this time-not much more than a century and a half ago—were, in truth, little better than a nation of savages. Nay, Peter himself was born and reared a savage; and to his last days the passions and propensities of his original condition remained strong in his nature. It speaks the more for his wonderful genius that, throughout his whole history, he forces us to feel that we are reading the adventures of the chief of a barbarous country, struggling to civilize himself as well as his people. And, undoubtedly, we do not follow his progress with the less interest on that account. Nothing, in fact, in his proceedings or his character so much engages our curiosity, as to watch the astonishment with which his own ignorance was struck, on the first view of those arts of civilized life

which he was so anxious to introduce among his less ambitious, but hardly more ignorant, subjects. It is exactly the case of a strongminded and enterprising leader of some tribe of wild Americans or South Sea islanders, setting out to see with his own eyes the wonders of those distant lands of which his white visitors have told him, and, after all, viewing the scenes which civilization presents to him with an intoxication of surprise, which shows how imperfectly even his excited fancy had anticipated their actual nature.

what he beheld, Peter did

But, however he was at first struck with not continue long lost in mere amazement. The story which is told of the occasion which awakened him to the ambition of creating a Russian navy is very illustrative of his character. While looking about one day among some old stores and other neglected effects, he chanced to cast his eye upon the hulk of a small English sloop, with its sailing tackle, lying among the rest of the lumber, and fast going to decay. This vessel had been imported many years before by his father, Alexis Michelovitch, also a prince of distinguished talents, and one who had nourished many schemes for the regeneration of his country; but it had long been forgotten by everybody, as well as the object which it was designed to promote. No sooner, however, was it observed by Peter than it fixed his attention. He made inquiries of some of the foreigners by whom he was surrounded as to the use of the mast and sails, even the general purposes of which he did not know; and the explanations which he received made him look on the old hulk with new interest. It immediately became, in his imagination, the germ of a magnificent national marine; and he could take no rest till he had made arrangements for having it repaired and set afloat. With some difficulty the Dutch pilot was found out whom Alexis had procured at the same time with the sloop to teach his subjects the method of managing it; the man, like the vessel of which he was to have the charge, had long been forgotten by all the world. Once more, however, brought out of his obscurity, he soon refitted the sloop; and the Czar was gratified beyond measure by at length beholding it, with its mast replaced and its sails in order, moving on its proper element. Delighted as he was, he went himself on board, and was not long before he became a sufficiently expert seaman to take the place of his Dutch pilot. For several years after this his chief attention was given to maritime affairs; although his first ships were all of foreign construction, and it was a considerable time before any issued from his own docks. From so small a beginning as has been described, Russia has since become one of the great naval powers of the world.*

*The most detailed version we have met with of the story told in the text, is one preserved among the MSS. of Sir Hans Sloane,

in the British Museum (No. 3168). It appears to have been written shortly after the death of Peter the Great, and by a person who

But the most extraordinary of the plans which Peter adopted in order to obtain an acquaintance with the arts of civilized life, was that which he put in execution in 1697, when he set out in the suite of his own ambassador to visit the other countries of Europe. On this occasion, passing through Prussia, he directed his course to Holland, and at last arrived at the city of Amsterdam. His embassy was here received by the government of the United Provinces with all manner of honour and distinction; but he himself refused to be recognized in any other character than that of a private individual. The first days of his visit were spent in perambulating the different streets of the city, the various wonders of which were probably never viewed by any eye with more astonishment and gratification than they excited in this illustrious stranger. The whole scene was nearly as new to him, and as much beyond anything by which he had ever before been surrounded, as if he had come from another world. The different arts and trades which he saw exercised, and the productions of which met him, wherever he turned, in such surprising profusion, were all attentively examined. But what especially attracted his attention was the great East India dockyard in the village of Saardam (situated a few miles from Amsterdam), which was then the principal establishment of this description in Holland. Here he actually took the singular resolution of entering himself as a working carpenter; and, accordingly, giving in to the superintendent the simple name of Peter Michaelof," he took his place among the other workmen, and became in all respects one of them, even wearing the same dress, eating the same sort of food, and inhabiting equally humble lodgings. The hut in which he lived is still shown at Saardam. When he first made his appearance in the dockyard nobody knew who he was, and he of course attracted no notice; but, even after his true quality was discovered, he would suffer none of the observances usual to persons of his rank to be paid to him, repelling every attempt of the

was either a native of Russia, or had resided in that country. According to this authority, the incident took place in the flax-yard, at Ishmaeloff, an old seat of the royal family, near Moscow. The writer gives us also an account of a great naval show, at which he himself was present, in honour of this celebrated vessel, which took place, by the emperor's command, at St. Petersburg, on the 12th of August, 1723. On this occasion, the sloop, or ship's boat, as it is here called, having been repaired and beautified, was received by about 200 yachts, and, having advanced to the harbour, attended by that numerous convoy, was then saluted by a general volley from the twenty-two men-of-war, which might be considered as forming its progeny. The emperor, of course, was present, and the day was. altogether, one of the greatest festivals that

had been known in Petersburg. "A few days after." it is added, "the boat was brought to Petersburg, and laid up in the castle, where she is to be taken the greatest care of.”

* That is, Peter, the grandson of Michael, according to the manner of forming the surname in Russia among the lower orders. His majesty's proper designation was Peter Alexovitch, or, the son of Alexis of, or ow,

as it is pronounced, and often written, seems to be the same with the Celtic O, still used as a prefix to proper names in Ireland, and the Scottish oe or oy, which generally signifies a grandchild, but in some districts a nephew, having been applied originally, in all proba bility, to any near descendant, direct or collateral Vitch, again, is the Norman, or old French, Fitz, now Fils, a son.