of Peter's position at his accession. To do so is to appreciate his genius and the strength of his will. While paddling in his little skiff on the Yausa he had already determined that this great inland empire of his, whose inhabitants had never seen or heard of the ocean, should 5 become a maritime power. He saw that without seaports it could never be redeemed from its barbarism, and he was resolved to exchange its mongrel Orientalism for European civilization. Accordingly, before he had been within five hundred miles of blue water, he made 10 himself a sailor, and at the same time formed the plan, which he pursued with iron pertinacity to its completion, of conquering the Baltic from the Swede and the Euxine from the Turk. In the vast square of the Admiralty at St. Petersburg 15 stands the celebrated colossal statue of Peter the Great. Around him are palaces, academies, arsenals, gorgeous temples with their light and starry cupolas floating up like painted balloons, and tall spires sheathed in gold and flashing like pillars of fire. From the side opposite 20 the Winter Palace radiate three great streets lined with stately and imposing buildings, thronged with population, and intersected by canals which are all bridged with iron; across the square, on the side opposite the statue, stands St. Isaac's cathedral, built of marble, bronze, granite, and 25 gold, and standing upon a subterranean forest, more than a million large trees having been driven into the earth to form its foundation. The emperor faces the Neva, which pours its limpid waters through quays of solid granite. For twenty-five miles these line its length and that of its branches; and beyond the river rise in full view the 5 Bourse, the Academy of Arts and Sciences, and other imposing public edifices. This equestrian statue has been much admired; we think justly so. The action of the horse is uncommonly spirited and striking, and the position of the 10 emperor dignified and natural. He waves his hand as if, like a Scythian wizard as he was, he had just caused this mighty, swarming city, with all its palaces and temples, to rise like a vapor from the frozen morasses of the Neva with one stroke of his wand. In winter, 15 by moonlight, when the whole scene is lighted by the still cold radiance of a polar midnight, we defy any one to pause and gaze upon that statue without a vague sensation of awe. The czar seems to be still presiding in sculptured silence over the colossal work of his hands 20 to be still protecting his capital from the inundations of the ocean, and his empire from the flood of barbarism, which he always feared would sweep over it upon his death. It is impossible not to admire his genius, his indomitable energy, his unconquerable will. He proposed to 25 himself, while yet a youth, the mighty task of civilizing his country and of converting an Asiatic empire into a powerful European state. But while we admire the concentration of purpose which sustained him throughout his labors, we cannot help deploring the great and fundamental mistake which made them all comparatively worthless. A despot by birth, education, and temperament, he had never a glim- 5 mering notion of the existence of a people. He might have found other matters in England worthy of his attention, other institutions as intimately connected with civilization as the English naval architecture; but he appears to have been completely indifferent to the great spectacle 10 presented to an autocrat by a constitutional kingdom. It is difficult to judge him justly. Perhaps it would have been impossible to have planted the germ of civil, or even social, liberty in such a wilderness as Russia was at his accession. It was something to lift her ever 15 so little above the waves of barbarism, where he found her "many fathoms deep." He accomplished a great deal. He made Russia a maritime country, gave her a navy and a commercial capital, and quadrupled her revenue. If he had done nothing else, he would for these great achieve- 20 ments deserve the eternal gratitude of his country. Abridged. Duke of Marlborough: a famous English general. Saardam': a town in the Netherlands. Muscovy: the old name for Russia. Yausa: a river running through the city of Moscow. - Euxine (ūks ́in): the Black Sea. the Neva a river of Russia. the Bourse the Exchange or business headquarters. Scythian: belonging to an ancient nomadic race who inhabited the country north of the Black Sea. HOW THEY BROUGHT THE GOOD NEWS FROM GHENT ROBERT BROWNING NOTE. Browning, in answer to a question on the subject, said that there was no historical foundation for the following poem. I sprang to the stirrup, and Joris, and he; I galloped, Dirck galloped, we galloped all three ; 5"Good speed!" cried the watch, as the gate-bolts undrew; "Speed!" echoed the wall to us galloping through; Behind shut the postern, the lights sank to rest, And into the midnight we galloped abreast. Not a word to each other; we kept the great pace 10 Neck by neck, stride by stride, never changing our place; I turned in my saddle and made its girths tight, Then shortened each stirrup, and set the pique right, Rebuckled the cheek-strap, chained slacker the bit, Nor galloped less steadily Roland a whit. 15 'Twas moonset at starting; but while we drew near Lokeren, the cocks crew and twilight dawned clear; At Boom, a great yellow star came out to see; At Düffeld, 't was morning as plain as could be; And from Mecheln church-steeple we heard the half-chime, 20 So Joris broke silence with, "Yet there is time!" At Aershot, up leaped of a sudden the sun, And I saw my stout galloper Roland at last, And his low head and crest, just one sharp ear bent back For my voice, and the other pricked out on his track; And one eye's black intelligence, ever that glance O'er its white edge at me, his own master, askance! And the thick heavy spume-flakes which aye and anon His fierce lips shook upwards in galloping on. 5 10 By Hasselt, Dirck groaned; and cried Joris, "Stay spur! As down on her haunches she shuddered and sank. So, we were left galloping, Joris and I, Past Looz and past Tongres, no cloud in the sky; 'Neath our feet broke the brittle bright stubble like chaff; |