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Article ANECDOTES OF PETER THE GREAT, Page 1 of 5 →
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Anecdotes Of Peter The Great,
ANECDOTES OF PETER THE GREAT ,
OF RUSSIA . BELATED IN A LETTER , ADDRESSED TO THE BIGHT HON . XV . PITT , BY A TRAVELLER IN RUSSIA IS' OCTOBEIt I 706 .
T PERAMBULATED almost the whole island of Saint Petersburg , after ¦ " - which the city is named , wherein a small wooden house , built by Peter for himself , and inhabited by him when he laid the foundation of this capital , is carefully preserved . In the village of Sardam , in Holland , the same respectful attention is also paid to the humble lodging he occupied , when he , in the dress of a common carpenterwent there to learn the construction of shi . The
, ps Swedes , from the same principle of pride , keep in the arsenal at Stockholm a boat fabricated by the hands of Peter the Great , and taken from on board a Russian ship , which transported it from Amsterdam to Petersburg : At the sight of the little mansion inhabited by the Russian Legislatorsentiments of respect took possession of my soul ! The simple
, appearance of this hut , when compared with the sumptuous edifices which decorate Petersburg , forces , I think , upon the mind a more exalted idea of the power of genius , which , from the bosom of fens , has raised a superb city 1 . The defects , the vices , and , above all , the crimes of Peter I .
have lessened the splendor of his glory , and he ought rather to be reckoned among the number of extraordinary , than in the small circle of really great , men . Under the former title , he excites my admiration ; all extraordinary characters have a ri ght to it , but according to the obstacles surmounted by them they comparativel y demand the tribute . Your illustrious father , who by turns was the Demosthenes and Richelieu of Englandto me appears to have merited
, glory in a much greater degree , from the consideration of having risen superior to the rank in which he set out , than if the chance of birth-right or the hand of fortune had bestowed it upon him . Although an Englishman , I am not blind to the injustice of my country ; I know that even with our constitution , so mugh the subject of -panegyric , plebeian merit with difficulty raises her head .
With obstacles . of another kind , and of a nature much more terrible , Peter I . had to contend . These were the frenzy of superstition , and th 2 innumerable prejudices of a nation still sunk in barbarism ; but the obstinate perseverance of his character enabled him to triumph over them . Whilst on the one hand he opposed the formidable efforts of the conqueror of Narva ; on the other , he built ships , ha
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Anecdotes Of Peter The Great,
ANECDOTES OF PETER THE GREAT ,
OF RUSSIA . BELATED IN A LETTER , ADDRESSED TO THE BIGHT HON . XV . PITT , BY A TRAVELLER IN RUSSIA IS' OCTOBEIt I 706 .
T PERAMBULATED almost the whole island of Saint Petersburg , after ¦ " - which the city is named , wherein a small wooden house , built by Peter for himself , and inhabited by him when he laid the foundation of this capital , is carefully preserved . In the village of Sardam , in Holland , the same respectful attention is also paid to the humble lodging he occupied , when he , in the dress of a common carpenterwent there to learn the construction of shi . The
, ps Swedes , from the same principle of pride , keep in the arsenal at Stockholm a boat fabricated by the hands of Peter the Great , and taken from on board a Russian ship , which transported it from Amsterdam to Petersburg : At the sight of the little mansion inhabited by the Russian Legislatorsentiments of respect took possession of my soul ! The simple
, appearance of this hut , when compared with the sumptuous edifices which decorate Petersburg , forces , I think , upon the mind a more exalted idea of the power of genius , which , from the bosom of fens , has raised a superb city 1 . The defects , the vices , and , above all , the crimes of Peter I .
have lessened the splendor of his glory , and he ought rather to be reckoned among the number of extraordinary , than in the small circle of really great , men . Under the former title , he excites my admiration ; all extraordinary characters have a ri ght to it , but according to the obstacles surmounted by them they comparativel y demand the tribute . Your illustrious father , who by turns was the Demosthenes and Richelieu of Englandto me appears to have merited
, glory in a much greater degree , from the consideration of having risen superior to the rank in which he set out , than if the chance of birth-right or the hand of fortune had bestowed it upon him . Although an Englishman , I am not blind to the injustice of my country ; I know that even with our constitution , so mugh the subject of -panegyric , plebeian merit with difficulty raises her head .
With obstacles . of another kind , and of a nature much more terrible , Peter I . had to contend . These were the frenzy of superstition , and th 2 innumerable prejudices of a nation still sunk in barbarism ; but the obstinate perseverance of his character enabled him to triumph over them . Whilst on the one hand he opposed the formidable efforts of the conqueror of Narva ; on the other , he built ships , ha