the  sciences  and  the  arts  of  civilization,
and  who  aided  him  in  bis  projects  of  re-
form, remodelled  the  army,  and  laid  the
foundations  of  a  Russian  navy.  To  the
restraining  influences  of  this  counsellor,
Peter,  it  is  said,  was  probably  saved
from  becoming  ' '  the  mere  savage  despot
which  his  brutal  and  passionate  disposi-
tion and  indomitable  energy  inclined
him  to  be."  Vet  the  Emperor  was  a
man  of  no  little  genius  and  undoubtedly
did  much  to  raise  the  nation  he  ruled
and  "  knouted  "  to  an  appreciation  of  its
greatness.
For  the  purposes  of  stage  representa-
tion, Tsar  Peter,  in  Mr.  Laurence  Irv-
ing' s  hands,  retains  a  good  deal  of  the
remorseless  tyrant  mood  with  which  his-
tory credits  him.  He  softens  little  of
his  savagery,  yet  dwells  mostly  on  that
side  of  his  character  which  led  him,  in
his  love  for  Russia,  to  long  for  heroic
qualities  in  his  son,  which  should  fit  him
for  rule,  and  so  carry  out  his  great
schemes  for  the  aggrandizement  of  the
Empire.  In  this,  as  we  know,  he  was
bitterly  disappointed.  Alexis's  nature
was  weak  and  emotional,  and  he  hated
the  barbarity  of  his  father's  passionate
ways.  Moreover,  he  shrank  from  the
national  work  which  the  Emperor  desired
to  lay  upon  him,  and  for  the  performance
of  which  he  was  wholly  unfitted.  It  was
disappointment  at  the  failure  of  this
chosen  instrument  that  evidently  sug-
gested the  idea  in  Peter' s  untutored  mind
of  getting  rid  of  Alexis,  though  his  rebel-
lion against  fate  prevented  his  foreseeing
who  else  there  was  to  succeed  him  on


PETER  THE  GREAT


487


the  throne  and  give  effect  to  his  designs.
