as navigation is the most useful invention that ever was yet found out, he seems to have chosen it as his own part in the general inquiry he is about.  His design is certainly very noble, and discovers the greatness of his genius.  But the model he has proposed himself to imitate is a convincing proof of his extraordinary judgment; for what other prince, in the world, was a fitter pattern for the great Emperor of Muscovy, than William the Third, King of Great Britain?"[11]

[Footnote 11:  Postman, No. 417.]

In London and Deptford Peter followed essentially the same mode of life which he had adopted in Amsterdam.  There was not a single article belonging to a ship, from the casting of a cannon to the making of cables, to which he did not devote special attention.  He also devoted some time to watch making.  A number of English artificers, and also several literary and scientific gentlemen from England, were taken into his service.  He made arrangements with a distinguished Scotch geometrician and two mathematicians from Christ Church hospital, to remove to Moscow, who laid the foundation in Russia of the Marine Academy.  To astronomy, the calculation of eclipses, and the laws of gravitation he devoted much thought, guided by the most scientific men England could then produce.  Perry, an English engineer, was sent to Russia to survey a route for a ship canal from the ocean to the Caspian and from the Caspian to the Black Sea.  A company of merchants paid the tzar seventy-five thousand dollars for permission to import tobacco into Russia.  The sale of this narcotic had heretofore been discouraged in Russia, by the church, as demoralizing in its tendency and inducing untidy habits.  Peter was occasionally induced to attend the theater, but he had no relish for that amusement.  He visited the various churches and observed the mode of conducting religious worship by the several sects.

Before leaving England the tzar was entertained by King William with the spectacle of a sham sea fight.  In this scene Peter was in his element, and in the excess of his delight he declared that an English admiral must be a happier man than even the tzar of Russia.  His Britannic majesty made his guest also a present of a beautiful yacht, called the Royal Transport.  In this vessel Peter returned to Holland, in May, 1698, having passed four months in England.  He took with him quite a colony of emigrants, consisting of three captains of men of war, twenty-five captains of merchant ships, forty lieutenants, thirty pilots, thirty surgeons, two hundred and fifty gunners, and three hundred artificers.  These men from Holland sailed in the Royal Transport to Archangel, from whence they were sent to different places where their services were needed.  The officers whom the tzar sent to Italy, also led back to Russia many artists from that country.

From Holland the Emperor of Russia, with his suite, repaired to Vienna to observe the military discipline of the Germans, who had then the reputation of being the best soldiers in Europe.  He also wished to enter into a closer alliance with the Austrian court as his natural ally against the Turks.  Peter, however, insisted upon laying aside all the ceremonials of royalty, and, as a private person, held an interview with the Emperor Leopold.