and the czar, or as Mr. Coxe writes it, Tzar Ivan Vaffilievitch II. of that prince's demand of the Lady Ann Haftings in marriage, and of other difpatches. From the Ruffian archives exhibited to his view and to his understanding by Mr. Muller, he was alfo enabled to defcribe the negotiation be tween Peter the Great and the European courts relative to the title of emperor. As fome hiftorians have afferted that Ivan Vaffilievitch II, carried his perfonal refpect for Queen. Elizabeth fo far as to be one of her fuitors, while Camden only relates that he propofed to marry Lady Ann Haftings, daughter of the Earl of Huntington, Mr. Coxe's cu riofity led him to make inquiries into that tranfaction. The refult of thefe was as follows.

The first hint of this match feems to have been fuggefted by Dr. Robert Jacob, a phyfician, whom Elizabeth in 1581, at the tzar's defire, fent to Moscow. Dr. Jacob, not unacquainted with the fickleness of Ivan in his amours, and his defire of contracting an alliance with a foreign princess, extolled, in the most extravagant terms, the beauty, accomplishments, and rank of lady Anne Hattings, and actually infpired the tzar with a ftrong inclination to efpoufe her, although he had juft married his fifth wife Maria Feoderofna. Dr. Jacob reprefented this lady as a niece of the queen, and daughter of an independent prince; both which circumftances being falfe, fufficiently feem to prove that he acted from his own' fuggeftions, without the leaft authority from Elizabeth. The tzar, fired by his defcription, difpatched Gregory Pirfemfkoi, a Ruffian nobleman of the firft diftinction, to England, to make a formal demand of the lady for his wife: according to his inftructions, he was ordered, after a conference with the queen, to procure an interview with the lady, obtain her portrait, and inform himself of the rank and fituation of her family: he was then to requeft that an English embaffador might return with him to Mofcow, with full powers to adjust the conditions of the marriage. If an objection fhould be raised, that Ivan was already married, he fhould anfwer, that the tzar, having efpoufed a fubject, was at liberty to divorce her; and if it was afked, what provifion fhould be made for the children by lady Anne Haftings, he should reply, that Feodor the eldeft prince was undoubtedly heir to the throne, but that her children fhould be amply endowed,

Pirfemfkoi, in confequence of thefe orders, repaired to Lon don, had an audience of Elizabeth, faw lady Haftings, who had. juft recovered from the fmall-pox,. procured her portrait, and returned to Mofcow in 1583, accompanied with an English embaffador, Sir Jerome Bowes. The latter, who was a perfón of a capricious difpofition, at his firft interview greatly offended the tzar by his freedom of fpeech, and more particularly as he was not commiffioned to give a final affent to the marriage, but only to receive a more explicit offer, and tranfmit it to the queen. The tzar, lit tle accustomed to brook delay, declared, "that no obstacle should prevent him from marrying fome kinfwoman of her majesty's;

that

“that he should fend again into England to have fome one of them to wife; adding, that if her majefty would not, upon his next embafly, fend him fuch an one as he defired, himself would "then go into England, and carry his treasure with him, and marry 66 one of them there", Sir Jerome Bowes, probably in conformity with his inftructions, threw every obftacle in the way of the marriage inftead of fpeaking handfomely of lady Haftings, mentioned her perfon with indifference, and denied that the was any relation to the queen; adding, with fome marks of contempt, that his 'miftrefs had many fuch nieces. By thefe means the affair was fufpended, and the negotiation was finally terminated by the death of the tzar in the beginning of the following year'.

The restoration of Charles II. renewed the friendly harmony between the courts of London and Mofcow, which had been interrupted during the civil wars, and the reign of Cromwell. And, as from this interval, the difpatches received from England were fo numerous, that it would have required feveral days to have examined them with any degree of attention, Mr. Coxe tells us that he was "compelled to retire without having fufficiently fatisfied his curiofity.

On this declaration we shall make a remark which may ferve as a general criticifm on the travels under review.-Mr. Coxe, on the occafion alluded to, ought to have taken time to gratify his curiofity. It was often at Moscow worse employed. What English reader can delight in minute details concerning the divifions or quarters at Moscow? Kremlin, Khitaigorod, Bielgorod, or Semnailigorod? The nunnery of Vieínovitchkoi; or genealogical tables of the fovereigns of Moscow either of the lines of Rurie or Romanoff? If he addreffes thefe details to the Ruffians, they are not new: if to other nations, uninterefting. The patriarch Philaretes, and the patriarch_Ninon may indeed have been very venerable men, but in England we are more interested in fuch characters as Dean Swift and Dr. Atterbury; characters lefs facred, but more political.

It would carry us beyond our bounds to follow Mr. Coxe into his various details of facts, many of which muft appear infipid even to a Ruffian reader. His Inquiry into the history and adventures of the Czar who reigned under the name of Demetrius, and his reafonings concerning the queftion whether he was an impoftor, take up no less than a whole fheet of his publication. He is ftill more voluminous in his inquiries into the hiftory and conduct of the princefs Sophia Alexiefna. Having left Moscow our traveller arrives at Iver which he defcribes in his ufually tedious manner. It is worthy of obfervation, however, that Iver which was the first province of the Ruffian empire that was modelled according to her prefent majefty's new code of laws, has already experienced the beneficial effects of thofe regulations.

"The

The rifing fpirit of commerce has added greatly within thefe few years to the wealth and population of the town (Iver). It contains at prefent at least 10,000 fouls: and the number of its inhabitants has increased in a very furprifing degree.

Although the Travels under Review discover nothing of that fire, and fenfibility, and fublimity of genius which fo readily captivate the heart and extend the imagination in the writings of men of genius; yet, faithful pictures of life and manners being at all times interefting, we fhall extract for the entertainment of our readers the following particulars which fell under the obfervation of Mri Coxe in his routs from Moscow to Petersburgh.

In this part of our journey (in the neighbourhood of Novogorod) we paffed by numberless herds of oxen, moving towards Petersburgh for the fupply of that capital. Most of them had been brought from the Ukraine, the nearest part of which country is diftant 800 miles from the metropolis. During this long progrefs the drivers feldom enter any houfe; they stop to feed their cattle upon the flips of pasture which lie on each fide of the road; and they themselves have no other covering in bad weather but what is afforded by the foliage of the trees. In the evening the ftill filence of the country was awfully interrupted by the occafional lowing of the oxen, and the carols of the drivers, while the folitary gloom of the forest was enlivened by the glare of numerous fires, furrounded by different groupes of herdfman in various attitudes; fome were fitting round the flame, fome employed in dreffing their provifions, and others fleeping upon the bare ground. They refembled, in their drefs and manners, a rambling horde of Tartars.

The route from Moscow to Petersburgh is continued during a fpace of 500 miles, almot in a straight line cut through the foreit, and is extremely tedious: on each fide the trees are cleared away to the breadth of forty or fifty paces; and the whole way lies chiefly through endless tracts of wood, only broken by villages, round which, to a small distance, the grounds are open and cultiva ted.

The road is of an uniform breadth, and is formed in the fol lowing manner; trunks of trees are laid tranfverfely in rows parellel to each other, and are bound down in the center, and at each extremity, by long poles or beams, faftened into the ground with wooden pegs; thefe trunks are covered with layers of boughs, and the whole is ftrewed over with fand or earth. When the road is new, it is remarkably good; but as the trunks decay or fink into the ground, and as the fand or earth is worn away or washed off by the rain, as is frequently the cafe for feveral miles together, it is broken into innumerable holes, and the jolting of the carriage over the bare timber can better be conceived than defcribed. In many places the road may be confidered as little elfe than a perpetual fucceffion of ridges; and the motion of the carriage a continual concuffion, and much greater than I ever experienced over the Toughest pavement.

The villages which occafionally line this route are extremely fimilar

4

fimilar to each other; they ufually confift of a fingle strect, with wooden cottages; a few only being diftinguifhed by brick-houtes. The cottages in thefe parts are far fuperior to thofe we obferved between Tolitzen and Mofcow: they teemed, indeed, well fuited to a rigorous climate; and although conftructed in the rudeft and most artlefs manner, are very comfortable habitations. The fite of each building is an oblong fquare, which furrounds an open area, and, being enclosed within an high wooden wall with a penthouse roof, looks on the outfide like a large barn. In one angle of this enclosure stands the house fronting the street of the village, with the staircase on the outfide, and the door opening underneath the penthouse roof. It contains one, or at molt two rooms, one whereof is occupied by the whole family..

I have frequently had occafion to obferve, that beds are by no means ufual in this country; infomuch, that in all the cottages I entered in Ruffia, I only observed two, each of which con tained two women at different ends with their cloths on. The family flept generally upon the benches, on the ground, or over the ftove; occafionally men, women, and children, promifcuoufly, without any difcrimination of fex or condition, and frequently almost in a ftate of nature. In fome cottages I obferved a kind of fhelf, about fix or seven feet from the ground, carried from one end of the room to the other; to which were faftened feveral tranfverfe planks, and upon these fome of the family flept with their heads and feet occafionally hanging down, and appearing to us, who were not accuftomed to fuch places of repote, as if they were upon the point of falling to the ground.

The number of perfons thus crouded into a small space, and which fometimes amounted to twenty, added to the heat of the ftove, rendered the room intolerably warm, and produced a fuffocating fmell, which nothing but ufe enabled us to fupport. This inconvenience was ftill more difagreeable in thofe cottages which were not provided with chimnies, when the fmoke, being confined in the room, loaded the atmosphere with additional impurities. If we opened the lattices during the night, in order to relieve us from this oppreffion by the admiffion of fresh air, fuch an influx of cold wind rufhed into the room, that we preferred the heat and effluvia to the keennefs of these northern blasts.

In the midst of every room hangs from the ceiling a veffel of holy water, and a lamp, which is lighted only on particular occafions. Every houfe is provided with a picture of fome faint coarfely daubed upon wood, which frequently resembles more a Calmuc idol, than the reprefentation of a human head: to this the people pay the highest marks of veneration. All the members of the family the moment they rofe in the morning, and before they retired to fleep in the evening, never omitted standing before the faint; they croffed themselves during feveral minutes upon the fides and on the forehead; bowed very low, and fometimes even proftrated themselves on the ground. Every peafant alfo, upon entering the room, always paid his obeifance to this object of worship before he addreffed himself to the family.

The peafants, in their common intercourfe, are remarkably polite

3

to

to each other: they take off their cap at meeting; bow ceremoni oufly and frequently, and ufually exchange a falute. They accompany their ordinary difcourfe with much action and innumerable geftures, and are exceedingly fervile in their expreflions of deference to their fuperiors: in accofling a perfon of conlequence, they proftrate themielves, and even touch the ground with their heads, We were often ftruck at receiving this kind of eastern homage, not only from beggars, but frequently from children, and occafionally from fome of the peasants themselves,

In the appearance of the common people, nothing furprised us, more than the enormous thickness of their legs, which we at first conceived to be their real dimenfions, until we were undeceived by the frequent exhibition of their bare feet, and by being admitted to their toilets without the leaft ceremony. The bulk which created our aftonishment, proceeded from the vast quantity of coverings with which they fwaddle their legs in fummer, as well as in winter. Befide one or two pair of thick worsted stockings, they envelop their legs with wrappers of coarfe flannel or cloth feveral feet in length; and over thefe they frequently draw a pair of boots, fo large as to receive their bulky contents with the utmost facility.

The pealants are well clothed, comfortably lodged, and feem to enjoy plenty of wholefome food. Their rye-bread, whofe blacknefs at arft difgufts the eye, and whofe fournefs the tale of a delicate traveller, agrees very well with the appetite; as I became reconciled to it from ufe, I found it at all times no unpleasant morfel, and, when seasoned with hunger, it was quite delicious: they ren der this bread more palatable by stuffing it with onions and groats, carrots or green corn, and feafoning it with fweet oil. The other articles of their food I have enumerated on a former occafion; in this place I fhall only obferve that mushrooms are fo exceedingly common in these regions, as to form a very effential part of their provifion. I feldom entered a cottage without feeing great abundance of them, and in paffing through the markets, I was often aftonifhed at the prodigious quantity expofed for fale: their variety was no lefs remarkable than their number; they were of many colours, among which I particularly noticed white, black, brown, yellow, green and pink. The common drink of the peasants is quafs, a fermented fiquor fomewhat like fweet-wort, made by pouring warm water on rye or barley meal; and deemed an excellent antifcorbutick. They are extremely fond of whifky, a fpirituous liquor diftilled from malt which the pooreft can occafionly command, and which their inclination often leads them to ufe to great excefs.

The backwardnefs of the Ruffian peafants in all, the mechanical arts, when compared with thofe of the other nations of Europe, is vifible to the moft fuperficial obferver. As we approached indeed, towards Petersburgh, and nearer the civilized parts of Europe, we could not fail to remark,. that the villagers were fomewhat more furnished with the conveniencies of life, and fomewhat further advanced in the knowledge of the neceflary arts, than those who fell under our notice between Tolitzin and Moscow. The planks were lefs frequently hewn with the axe, and faw-pits, which we had long confidered as objects of curiosity, oftener occurred; the cottages

were