Nothing of especial interest occurred during the brief residence of Peter in Vienna.  The Emperor of Germany paid the tzar every possible attention which could be conferred upon one who had the strongest reluctance to be gazed upon, or to take part in any parade.  For the amusement of the tzar the emperor revived the ancient game of landlord.  The royal game is as follows.  The emperor is landlord, the empress landlady, the heir apparent to the throne, the archdukes and archduchesses are generally their assistants.  They entertain people of all nations, dressed after the most ancient fashion of their respective countries.  The invited guests draw lots for tickets, on each of which is written the name or the nation of the character they are to represent.  One is a Chinese mandarin, another a Persian mirza, another a Roman senator.  A queen perhaps represents a dairy maid or a nursery girl.  A king or prince represents a miller, a peasant or a soldier.  Characteristic amusements are introduced.  The landlord and landlady, with their family, wait upon the table.

On this occasion the emperor’s eldest son, Joseph, who was the heir apparent, represented, with the Countess of Traun, the ancient Egyptians.  His brother, the Archduke Charles, and the Countess of Walstein appeared as Flemings in the reign of Charles V. His sister Mary and Count Fraun were Tartars.  Josephine, another daughter of Leopold, with the Count of Workla, represented Persians.  Marianne, a third daughter, and Prince Maximilian of Hanover were North Holland peasants.  Peter presented himself as a Friesland boor, a character, we regret to say, which the tzar could personify without making the slightest change in his usual habits, for Peter was quite a stranger to the graces of the polished gentleman.

This game seems to have been quite a favorite in the Austrian court.  Maria Antoinette introduced it to Versailles.  The tourist is still shown the dairy where that unhappy queen made butter and cheese, the mill where Louis XVI. ground his grist, and the mimic village tavern where the King and Queen of France, as landlord and landlady, received their guests.

Peter was just leaving Vienna to go to Venice when he received intelligence that a rebellion had broken out in Moscow.  His ambitious sister Sophia, who had been placed with a shaven head in the cloisters of a monastery, took advantage of the tzar’s absence to make another attempt to regain the crown.  She represented that the nation was in danger of being overrun with foreigners, that their ancient customs would all be abolished, and that their religion would be subverted.  She involved several of the clergy in her plans, and a band of eight thousand insurgents were assembled, who commenced their march towards Moscow, hoping to rouse the metropolis to unite with them.  General Gordon, whom Peter had left in command of the royal guard, met them, and a battle ensued in which a large number of the insurgents were slain, and the rest were taken prisoners and conducted to the capital.  Hearing these tidings Peter abandoned all plans for visiting Italy, and set out impetuously for Moscow, and arrived at the Kremlin before it was known that he had left Germany.