ted visit to the west of Europe.

He determined that an embassy should be sent, and that it should be
worthy of Russia. Accordingly he appointed the Swiss Lafort and two
Russian generals "the great Ambassadors of the Czar." Among their
retinue composed of two hundred and seventy persons, was a young man
Peter Mikhailof, better known as Peter Alexievitch. When the embassy
came to Riga, that young man was insulted by the governor. Peter said
nothing, but made a note of it for future use. At Koenigsberg, "Mr.
Peter Mikhailof" was appointed master of artillery by the Prussian
Colonel Sternfeld. The progress of the embassy was too slow for Peter
who had an object in view. He went ahead to Holland where he hired a
room from a blacksmith at Zaandam, bought a workman's suit, and (p. 155)
went to work in a dockyard. He often visited Amsterdam where his good
nature and passion to learn gained him the good-will of the people.
Peter then crossed over to London where he spent three months.
Competent men of every profession and trade were engaged by him
everywhere. Returning to Holland, his ship was caught in a violent
gale, which frightened even the sailors. Peter kept cool, and,
smiling, asked them if they "had ever heard of a Czar of Russia who
was drowned in the North Sea?"

Peter did not forget Russia's political interests. He talked with
William of Orange, the great opponent of Louis XIV, and with other
influential men, but he did not visit the court of France. After
satisfying his curiosity, he went to Vienna where he intended to study
strategy; but his stay was cut short by bad news from home.

Peter had met with a sullen, obstinate opposition in Russia. It was
led by the priests who said, and perhaps believed, that Peter was the
anti-Christ. It was a cause for complaint that Peter often wore
clothes of a German fashion; was the Russian costume not good enough
for him? Again, why did he not devote his time to war, as the other
czars had done? He had made a bargain with British merchants to import
tobacco into Russia; what did the Russians want with this
"sacrilegious smell?" But the climax was that a _Czar of the Russias_
should leave Holy Russia to go among heretics and heathens. Geography
was not studied in the czar's empire, and all nations on earth were
thought to belong to either of the two classes.

The trouble began among the streltsi who had been sent to Azof. (p. 156)
These citizen soldiers looked upon thei