COXE’s TRAVELS IN RUSSIA. 689

purfued his new occupation: when fuch trifling incidents as weighing anchor, andfailing acrofs a lake, are circumftantially recorded.

“ Gordon went on the i ith of Auguft to Pereflaf; and on the 14th was entertainedin due form and ceremony on board of the Admiral’s * * fliip. On the 18th,” he adds,“ we failed from one fide of the lake to the oppofite bank; on the 2iff we got underweigh, and failed to the other fide, where we again came to an anchor; on the 24thGordon attended the Tzar on {hip-board; on the 28th we departed from Pereflaf,and on the 31ft reached Alexeyfsk.” But as the limits of a lake were too confined forthe rifing ambition of the Tzar, he hurried to Archangel , where he arrived in the monthof June, 1693. “ On the 17th,” fays Gordon, “ the poll: brought the news that the

Tzar had been upon the White Sea , and was happily arrived into port, and on the nthof OClober he came back to Mofcow. In the beginning of May, 1694, he returned toArchangel , and continued in thofe parts until September; during which time he madefrequent expeditions upon the fea, and improved his knowledge of navigation.”

Thefe little adventures, which feemed mere youthful amufements, were productiveof the molt glorious event that diltinguifhed his reign. Peter, in the campaign of 1695againfl: the Turks, befieging Azof, found it impoflible to take the town without block-ing up the harbour; and as he did not pplfefs one Ihip, was compelled to raife thefiege.

His fpirit excited, rather than damped, by this difappointment, he gave orders forthe immediate conflruCtion of feveral velfels : fome were framed at Occa, and tranf-ported over land to the Don; but the greater part were built at Veronetz. In lefsthan a year he renewed the fiege of Azof, and brought before it, to the furprize ofthe Turks, two men of war, twenty-three gallies, two galleots, and four fire-fliips f.With this little fquadron, which failed down the Don into the Black Sea , he blockadedthe harbour, gained a victory over the Turkifli gallies, and took Azof. He fignalizedthis wonderful event by a triumphal entry into Mofcow, and by a medal reprefentingthe capture of Azof, with a motto in Ruffian, “ Victor by thunder and the waves.”This fuccefs was the prelude to ftill greater atchievements ; and as the fecurity of hisnew conquefts upon the Black Sea depended upon a powerful navy, he collected fromall quarters the mod expert {hip-builders, and fuperinteded the neceflary preparations atVoronetz, Azof, and Taganroc. In 1699, foon after his return from his firft expe-dition into foreign parts, he was prefent at a naval review upon the Black Sea , inWhich ten frigates were engaged, the largeft carrying fifty, the fmalleft twenty-fixguns + ; and the Ruffian navy, in the harbours of the Euxine , conltruCted and uponthe {locks, is defcribed as confiding of nine fhips of fixty guns, ten of fifty, ten of

for 1782, that a German tranflation of it is given in Part iv. of the Journal of St. Peterfburgh for 1782,which I have not yet feen.

Gordon died in 1699, much regretted by the Tzar , and, to ufe the words of his relation, “ HisMajefty vifited him five times during his illnefs, was prefent the moment he expired, and Ihut'his eyeswith his own hand.” The fame author alfo fays ,of him, greatly to his honour, “ General Gordonwas a fober man, In. a country where drinking is much in fafhion ; and though he ufed to be much inthe Tzar ’s company, His Majefty, knowing his inclinations, would never allow him to be urged. Hewas ever mindful of his bufinefs, and did great fervice to the Ruffian nation.” Gordon’s Hift. of Peterthe Great, vol . i. p. 137, 138-

* Muller conjectures that Le Fort was the admiral of this little fquadron.

f S. R. G. vol. ii. p. 226. J lb. p. 184.

VOL. VI. 4 T

forty-