suspicions hurried him away. On Monday,
the eighteenth of April, sixteen hundred and
ninety-eight, he went to Kensington, to take
leave of the king. " He thanked his majesty
for the kind entertainment and honour he
had received in his majesty's dominions, and
for the fine ship he had presented him with."
On the same occasion, Peter made a present
to his majesty of " a fine ruby of very great
value." On Wednesday, the twentieth of
April, he dined at Wimbledon with the Duke
of Leeds, the Earl of Dan by, so celebrated
in the reign of Charles the Second, and the
father of his friend the Marquis of Caermarthen.
On his return to Deptford the same night,
he found, " very fine music to divert and
serenade him." This was the last night he spent
on shore. On Thursday, the twenty-first of
April, he set sail from Deptford, for Holland,
under convoy of two men-of-war— the York
and the Greenwich— and three yachts,
commanded by Admiral Mitchell. He was
detained for some days by contrary winds, but
at last left England, which he was never to
see again. He landed at the Hague, sending
the Royal Transport yacht to Archangel, from
whence (so it was said) he was to carry it
by land to the river Tanais. Lord Caermarthen
accompanied him as far as Chatham,
to whom, however, he did not say farewell
without conferring a favour— and one of
moment. This was the right of importing
tobacco into Russia. In the first year he was
to consign three thousand hogsheads, in the
second five thousand, and afterwards six
thousand hogsheads yearly. What the marquis
made by his monopoly no one has
told us.

His physician he left behind him for two
months, that he might see Oxford,
Cambridge, and Bath, and took with him two
boys from the mathematical school founded
at Christ's Hospital by King Charles the
Second, and what the newspapers of the
time describe as, " the famous geographical
clock made by Mr. John Carte, watchmaker,
at the sign of the Dial and Crown, near Essex
Street in the Strand; which clock tells what
o'clock it is in any part of the world, whether
it is day or night, the sun's rising or setting
throughout the year, its entrance into the
signs of the zodiac; the arch which they and
the sun in them makes above or below the
horizon, with several other curious motions."
This Peter bought, but the price is not
named.

When Admiral Benbow returned to his
house at Saye's Court, great was his
consternation at finding the unnecessary damage
that had been done to it by Peter and his
retinue; still greater was the consternation
which the author of Sylva expressed when he
saw the state to which his far-famed garden
had been reduced. Benbow complained to
Evelyn, and both Benbow and Evelyn
memorialised the lords of the Treasury for
compensation for the injuries done. Their joint
memorials were referred to the surveyor-general
of works, Sir Christopher Wren, and
to his majesty's principal gardener, Mr. London,
the earliest English gardener of any
reputation whose name has reached us. Both
reported strongly in favour of the claims for
compensation. Evelyn received, "in
compensation for the damage done to his house,
goods, and gardens, at Deptford, by his
Czarises majesty and his retinue while they
resided there," the sum of one hundred and
sixty-two pounds seven shillings; and
Admiral Benbow received, "for like damage
done to his goods," the sum of one hundred
and thirty-three pounds two shillings and
sixpence. The payments were made by the
paymaster of his majesty's works, and are
included in his accounts. The in-door habits
of Peter and his retinue were, it appears
from the estimate of damages, filthy in the
extreme.

In the garden at Saye's Court was what
Evelyn himself calls an impregnable holly
hedge, four hundred feet in length, nine feet
high, and five feet thick. This fine holly
hedge was a source of delight to Peter and
his retinue. They made it a point of attack,
and were accustomed to amuse themselves by
endeavouring to drive a wheelbarrow through
it. Peter himself was sometimes in the
barrow. Such is the received story, which
I can now confirm by Benbow's claim for
compensation: his estimate for damages
including the sum of one pound for three
wheelbarrows broke and lost.

Evelyn was prepared for some damage to
his house. " There is a house full of people,"
his servant writes to him, " and right nasty.
The Czar lies next your library, and dines in
the parlour next your study. He dines at
ten o'clock and six at night; is very seldom
at home a whole day; very often in the
king's yard, or by water, dressed in several
dresses. The king is expected here this day;
the best parlour is pretty clean for him to be
entertained in. The king pays for all he
has."

London, the gardener, divided his report
(it is dated May ninth, sixteen hundred and
ninety-eight) under, " what can be repaired
and what cannot." The marrow of his report
(it is now published for the first time)
is as follows:

1. All the grass-work is out of order and broke into
holes by their leaping and showing tricks upon it.
2. The bowling-green is in the same condition.
3. All that ground which used to be cultivated for
eatable plants is all overgrown with weeds, and is not
manured nor cultivated, by reason the Czar would not
suffer any men to work when the season offered.
4. The wall-fruit and standard fruit-trees are un-
pruned.
5. The hedges and wilderness are not cut as they
ought to be.
6. The gravel walks are all broke into holes and out
of order.

The several observations were made by George