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COXE’s TRAVELS IN RUSSIA. 683
In this cathedral are depofited the remains of Peter the Great, and of all the fuccef-
five fovereigns, excepting thofe of Peter II. buried at Mofcow, and of the late unfortu-
nate Peter III. * interred in the convent of St. Alexander Neviki. ‘The tombs are of
marble, in the fhape of a fquare coffin; and one excepted, have infcriptions in the Ruf-
fian tongue: when I faw them, they were covered with gold brocade, bordered with
filver lace and ermine.
I viewed, not without peculiar veneration and awe, the fepulchre which contains the
body of Peter I.; the fternnefs, or rather the ferocity of whofe difpofition, neither fpared
age nor fex, nor the deareft connections ; and who yet, with a {trong degree of com-
punction, was accuftomed to fay, “I can reform my people, but I cannot reform my-
felf’? Af royal hiftorian has juftly obferved of Peter, that he redeemed the cruelties
of a tyrant by the virtues of a legiflator. We mutt readily allow that he confiderably
reformed and civilized his fubjects; that he created a navy, and new-modelled his army;
that he encouraged the arts and fciences, promoted agriculture and commerce, and laid
the foundation of Ruffian grandeur. But, inftead of exclaiming in the language of
panegyric,
se Erubelce, ars! Hic vir maximus tibi nihil debuit :
Exulta, natura! Hoc ftupendium tuum eft *:
we may, on the contrary, venture to regret that he was not tavgh¢ the leffons of humanity;
that his fublime but unruly genius was not controuled and improved by proper culture 5
nor his favage nature corrected and foftened by the refinements of art. And if Peter failed
in enlightening the mafs of his fubjeéts equal to his wifhes, the failure was occafioned
by his own precipitate temper, by the chimerical idea of introducing the arts and {ci-
ences by force, and of performing in a moment what can only be the gradual work of
time; by violating the eftablifhed cuftoms of his people, and in contradiction to the
dictates of found policy, requiring an immediate facrifice of prejudices fanctified by ages.
In a word, his failure was the failure of a fuperior genius wandering without a guide;
and the greateft eulogium we can juftly offer to his extraordinary character, is to allow
that his virtues were his own, and his defects thofe of education and country. Peter
the Great was born at Mofcow on the 30th of May, 1672, and died at Peterfburgh on
the 28th of January, 1725, in the fifty-third of his age, and in the forty-fourth of a
glorious reign.
I obferved near the tomb of Peter fome Turkifh colours: they were taken in the
naval engagement of Tchefme, difplayed during a folemn proceflion, and placed by
the hand of the Emprefs, at the tomb of the Sovereign who founded the Ruflian navy.
* Catherine the Second was interred in this cathedral. On the acceflion of Paul, the remains of his
father Peter the Third were removed from the church of the monaftery, and after lying in ftate, interred with
regal pomp in the cathedral, in the fame fepulchreas the body of Catharine the Second. By order of the
new Emperor, Count Alexéy Orlof, and Prince Baratynfki, to whom the death of Peter the Third was
attributed, were ftationed on each fide of the body while it lay in ftate, and compelled to follow the funeral
proceffion.
+ Pierre T. mourut dans ces’circonftances, laiffant dans le monde pliit6t la reputation d’un homme extra-
ordinaire, que d’un grand homme, & couvrant Jes cruautes d’un Tiran des vertus d’un legiflateur, ‘Hitt. de la
Maifon de Brandebourg.
{ Blufh art ! this hero owed thee nothing.
: Exult nature! for this prodigy is all thy own.
See Gordon’s Life of Peter. Vol. II.
48 2 Near
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