thought it a mean one, my judgment was perverted by the prejudices
arising from my own education and the ridicule thrown upon it by some of
my courtiers, whose minds were too narrow to be able to comprehend the
greatness of yours in that situation.

_Peter_.--It was an act of more heroism than any ever done by Alexander
or Caesar. Nor would I consent to exchange my glory with theirs. They
both did great things; but they were at the head of great nations, far
superior in valour and military skill to those with whom they contended.
I was the king of an ignorant, undisciplined, barbarous people. My
enemies were at first so superior to my subjects that ten thousand of
them could beat a hundred thousand Russians. They had formidable navies;
I had not a ship. The King of Sweden was a prince of the most intrepid
courage, assisted by generals of consummate knowledge in war, and served
by soldiers so disciplined that they were become the admiration and
terror of Europe. Yet I vanquished these soldiers; I drove that prince
to take refuge in Turkey; I won battles at sea as well as land; I new-
created my people; I gave them arts, science, policy; I enabled them to
keep all the powers of the North in awe and dependence, to give kings to
Poland, to check and intimidate the Ottoman emperors, to mix with great
weight in the affairs of all Europe. What other man has ever done such
wonders as these? Read all the records of ancient and modern times, and
find, if you can, one fit to be put in comparison with me!

_Louis_.--Your glory would indeed have been supreme and unequalled if, in
civilising your subjects, you had reformed the brutality of your own
manners and the barbarous vices of your nature. But, alas! the
legislator and reformer of the Muscovites was drunken and cruel.

_Peter_.--My drunkenness I confess; nor will I plead, to excuse it, the