13 martial kill, fhould, after his death, never be suffered to fall into neglect; and at that happy time when God granted to Rufsia a glorious and useful peace with the crown of Sweden, and when the most sincere congratulations and well deserved titles of IMPERATOR, GREAT, and FATHER OF HIS COUNTRY, were presented to him; he did not forget to recommend publicly to the supreme senate, that, relying on peace, they ought not to suffer military affairs to fall into neglect. By this did he not plainly intimate that these high titles would not be agreeable to him, unless support and attention to a regular force was in future observed ?

Having cast a transient glance over the forces of Peter on fhore, which attained virility in infancy, and united victory with schoolboy-fhip, let us now, hearers! stretch our eyes towards the waters, and contemplate the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep, held forth by Peter to the astonished world.

The extensive dominion of Rufsia, like the globe itself, is almost every where encompassed by seas; and the plants them to herself as barriers. Upon all we see the Rufsian streamers displayed: Here, the disemboguements of great rivers, and new formed havens scantily contain their numbers; there, the waves groan under the weight of the Rafsian flect, while the sounds of fire-belching engines echo in the boiling whirl. pool: Here, gilded ships flourishing like the spring, reflect their images in the smooth surface, increasing their own beauty; there, the mariner having reach

ed a secure port, unloads for our use the produce of distant lands: Here, new Columbuses hasten to unknown fhores for the advancement of Russian power and fame, there, another lyphis dares to sail amid warring mountains, and wrestling with snow, frost, and eternal ice, attempts to join the eastern to the western, world. From whence in so fhort a time has the power and fame of Rufsian fleets extended itself over so many seas? from whence the materials? from whence the kill? from whence the machines and instruments necefsary in so difficult and varied an object? Have not the giants of old, tearing from the thick forest and lofty mountains, huge oaks, hurled them to the fhores? Has not Amphion with his melodious lyre gathered the detached members of these flying over wave castles? In truth, to such causes would the wonderful celerity of Peter in arming a fleet be imputed, if such an improbable, and seemingly supernatural event had happened in distant antiquity, and not in the memory of eye witnefses, and in well authenticated written documents. In these we read with astonishment, and from those in social conversation we hear with agreeable emotion, and perceive that it is impofsible to determine, whether more toils in establishing an army or creating a fleet, were endured by Peter the great. This however, is in no ways doubtful, that in both he was unwearied, in both unexampled. That he might know all that can pofsibly happen in an action on shore, he passed through all stations; and in his own person experienced all manner of work, lest he fhould overlook in any person neglect of duty, or demand more

from any one than he could perform. In like manner in sea affairs, he left nothing without examination, where it was pofsible to employ his penetrating genius or industrious hands. From the very time. of his discovering the old boat, a thing small in itself, but great in its consequences, which excited the restless spirit of Peter to the useful purpose of establishing a navy, and of manifesting the power of Rufsia on the deep, he directed and expanded the powers of his capacious soul to all the parts of this solid undertaking*. Having considered all, he was

* The penetrating mind of Peter let nothing escape his notice; and the slightest incidents suggested to him a train of the most important ideas. Perfectly unacquainted as he was in his infancy with maritime affairs, and ignorant, from the confined education he had obtained, of the uses of a navy, he chanced one day, in ne of those youthful excursions in which his active disposition kept him perpetually engaged, to find an old boat lying neglected in a smail lake. He viewed it with surprise: He instantly perceived the uses that might be made of vessels of that kind. His mind, dwelling on this idea, stretched wide, and wide, and wider still. A new creation opened to his view. He saw the future navies of Russia embracing the whole globe. Hissoul was fired at the thought; nor did he afterwards ever lose sight of it. But unlike to lefser minds, tho' he never afterwards lost sight of this for one moment, he did not abandon the other measures he saw necessary for promoting the civilization of his people, and the aggrandizement of his empire. Every one in the least acquainted with the history of Peter, knows the wonderful exertions he made to establish a taste for maritime affairs in that empire, and to create a navy; but every one is not disposed to advert to the multiplicity of objects that perpetually claimed his exertions; to the ardour with which each of them was prosecuted, and to the innumerable difficulties that were every where to be overcome at once, or to the energy with which every one of them was pursued. Those only who are inattentive can withhold their admiration of this wondertul man!

Nov. 6. convinced that it was impofsible to expect success in so difficult an affair, unless he himself fhould acquire a sufficient degree of knowledge in the intricate businefs. But where was this to be obtained? What will this great man now undertake? The innumerable multitude collected to see an enrapturing spectacle on the plains of Moscow, were astonished when they beheld our Hero, scarcely emerged from the years of infancy, in presence of the royal houshold, before the most distinguished ranks of the Russian Empire, and attended by the afsembled nobility, sometimes exulting, sometimes trembling for the health of their young master, like a master measuring out the bounds of a regular fort, like a common soldier toiling in the moats and wheeling off the earth; like a sovereign commanding, like a wise teacher and enlightener, giving example to all. But he excited more astonishment, exhibited a more interesting object to the eyes of the whole world, when, having convinced himself of the advantage of navigation, first on the fhallow waters of Moscow, then on the more extended width of the lakes of Rostouskij and Kubenskij, and lastly on the extensive White Sea, he for a time left his kingdom, and, concealing the majesty of his person, in a foreign land, amidst common labourers, did not disdain to learn fhipbuilding. Those that were engaged at the same time with him in learning this trade, were at first surprised that a Rufsian fhould, in so fhort a space, not only learn plain carpenter's work; should not only leave no one part necefsary to the building or fit

ting out of a fhip, which he could not make with his own hands, but that he should also have attained so great a skill in naval architecture that Holland.could not satisfy the extensiveness of his understanding. But afterwards how great was their amazement, when they understood that it was no common Rufsian, but the governor himself of that extensive region, who extended hands formed and anointed to weild a sceptre, to burdensome labours.*

But was it only from mere curiosity, or at most for the purpose of being able to show and direct, that he in Holland and Britain acquired perfectly the theory and practice of equiping a fleet, and of the navigating art? Every where this great man, not only by commands and remuneration, but by his own personal example, roused his subjects to exertion. I call you to witnefs ye Rufsian floods; I turn to you ye happy hores bedewed with his sweat; How did you re-echo hearty and zealous fhouts, when the massy ribs of a future fhip, scarcely moved by sinnewy workmen, impetuously rushed along at the touch of his hand; when the croud enlivened by his example, with incredible speed completed the huge edifice. What a strange, and to a zealous heart, what an affecting object, did the gathered nations enjoy, when these lofty edifices took their departure for the deep! when their unwearied founder, now

*This is no exaggerated fiction of the orator, but a well known truth. Peter, in disguise, worked for a considerable time both in Holland and in England as a common carpenter, that he might not only acquire! a real knowledge of this important art himself but inspire his subjects with an ardonr to acquire it.