Mediaeval and modern history . ies of a nation, good and bad,been so summed up in a single personality, destined to be itshistorical type. , . Peter is Russia, — her flesh and blood, her temperament, her vir-tues, and her has beenlikened to the legend-ary heroes of the Rus-sian and the Gothicrace. He was a manof elemental forcesand passions. Hehad fits of Berserkerrage, — wild frenziesduring which the lifeof no one about himwas safe. He in-dulged in astonishingdrinking bouts anddelighted in buffoon-ery and coarse over againstPeters vices were setmany virtues. Heworked str
Mediaeval and modern history . ies of a nation, good and bad,been so summed up in a single personality, destined to be itshistorical type. , . Peter is Russia, — her flesh and blood, her temperament, her vir-tues, and her has beenlikened to the legend-ary heroes of the Rus-sian and the Gothicrace. He was a manof elemental forcesand passions. Hehad fits of Berserkerrage, — wild frenziesduring which the lifeof no one about himwas safe. He in-dulged in astonishingdrinking bouts anddelighted in buffoon-ery and coarse over againstPeters vices were setmany virtues. Heworked strenuouslyat his kingly trade,not alone from sheerlove of work but because work was to him a duty. He was not with-out truly royal thoughts, like those of the best of the enlighteneddespots, in regard to the nature of the kingly office. He is saidto have uttered this sentiment: I am the first servant of mypeople. And this was not a mere sentiment with him, as thefollowing story witnesses. One day he visited a park which he. Fig. 83. — Peter the Great. (After apainting by Karel de Moor) THE STATE OF RUSSIA 457 had made, and was surprised to find no one in it. Do the peo-ple suppose, he inquired, that I have set so many hands atwork and spent so much money simply for my own benefit? Andthen he ordered proclamation to be made that the park belongedto the people and that they were to use it as their own. 507. The State of Russia when Peter assumed the Government.— In order to understand what Peter did for Russia we must ac-quaint ourselves with the condition of the country when he tookinto his hands the shaping of its destinies. In the first place, we should note the geographical isolation ofRussia. At this time she possessed only one seaport, Archangel,on the White Sea, which harbor for a large part of the year issealed against vessels by the extreme cold of that high Tartars and Turks cut her off from the Black Sea; the terri-tories of the Swedes and the Poles
Size: 1314px × 1903px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubje, booksubjectmiddleages
