ely; and his treatment of
her was harsh to say the least. In one way Peter's early training had
done its work and Sophia had molded his character for the worse. He was
reckless and dissolute, a heavy drinker and fond of wild orgies that
lasted long after daybreak. Unusually strong himself these excesses did
not injure his health to any great extent, but it was hard for those
who had to drink with him, for the Czar expected them to go about their
affairs the next day as though they had spent the night in restful
sleep instead of some wild revel, and it is said that he had no use for
a man who would not join in the revels or who allowed himself to be
affected by them on the following day.

When still a young man there was another attempt to murder him, and to
place Sophia on the throne, but the plot was discovered and all the
conspirators were put to death, some of them with barbarous cruelties.

In 1695 the Russians went to war against the Turks and the wild
Tartars. The war is not an important one in its bearing on history, but
Peter won fame through all civilized Europe for the skill with which he
handled his army and the way in which he conducted the siege of a town
called Azov.

He then made up his mind to go to western Europe and visit the great
nations he had always admired. He went in great state and pretended
that he was bound on a diplomatic mission, but it is thought that the
real reason for the trip was his desire to see new forms and methods in
the mechanical arts. He visited what is now modern Germany and went to
Holland, where for a time he worked in one of the shipyards as a common
carpenter, dressed in a workman's clothes. He was keenly interested in
everything, and one of his biographers tells us that he even learned
dentistry and practiced his skill on the servants that accompanied him.

Peter went to England and was surprised and delighted to see the fine
metal coins that were used in that nation, as the Russian money was
printed on small bits of leather, and on his return he introduced metal
money into Russia. He also visited Vienna and Paris, and traveled in
disguise as much as possible.

While away on this trip another revolt broke out against him, and Peter
was obliged to hurry home on account of it. The conspirators were
treated with the utmost severity and were tortured and killed. There
are many ugly stories about the way that Peter behaved in regard to his
enemies, although it is true that